Tigre Hill's Shame of A City

Last night I visited the Trocadero for the first time sober. The event was a FREE sceening/DVD release party for Tigre Hill’s The Shame Of A City sponsored by Joe Sweeney and Philebrity (which is a fun website, with a fabulous name http://www.philebrity.com/ - Thanks Joe)Amazon.com describes the films: In 2003 filmmaker Tigre Hill chronicled the Philadelphia mayoral race between Democrat incumbent mayor, John Street and Republican challenger Sam Katz. Early polls showed Katz with a small lead. Hill had inside access to the Katz campaign and although rebuffed by the Street campaign, managed to get footage. Twenty-seven days before the election an FBI bug was found in the mayor's office. It looked like 1904 all over again-blatant corruption. The discovery of the bug at first seemed like a death knell to the Street campaign and a near certain victory for Katz. How did the mayor react to the bug? This powerful documentary shows how-drum up support by polarizing the electorate. **John Street went on to win the election, and the very next day cut the one program that curtailed crime and murder in out streets "Operation Safe Streets" which paid had many officers patrolling the streets in the most crime strickened neighborhoods. Nowadays Killadelphia is known as the Murder Capital of the US. Furthermore it turned out the bug was not some sinister campaign ploy from the government, but a legitimate drug investigation, that later exposed the City's "Pay to Play" way of doing business, but don't take my word for it BUY THIS VIDEO and see the truth unfold. (photo stolen from Phillygossip.com, who I am sure stole it from someone else)After the screening there was a quick Q&A about the mayor’s race featuring Larry West and Council Man Vern Anastacio. The Q&A was moderated by City Paper, Brian Hickey. Pictured here: Philebrity's Joe Sweeney, Director Tigre Hill, Mayoral wannabe "Mohawked" Larry West and Vern Anastasio (1st District) OK much to my surprise and to the audiences, Chaka Fattah showed up. (The surprise part was that he showed up, maybe even watched the movie which he was realistically depicted as being so far up the embattled corrupt Mayor's ass that they probably needed surgery to separate them.) (Michael Nutter was a no show, but we won't hold it against him, and neither will Tigre Hill who changed his Republican registration to Democrat so he could vote for the Nutter in the Primary MAY 15, 2007; Nutter gives an impressive interview in the video)If there was a pergatory, Chaka was in it right about now. Larry West had just finished skewering him for being an Street ass kisser, er I mean insider who supported Street on many of his failed initiatives. Although Larry was on point in his questioning of Fattah, he often relied on his showmanship "I AM SO OUTRAGED he screamed, before getting to the point. According to Philman on Phillyblog.com: What the film does make clear is the great extent to which the Street campaign engaged in intimidation, disruption, and race-baiting. We are introduced to union leader John Dougherty's chief "thug" (and business manager) who relentlessly stalks Katz on the campaign trail. We see local politicos like Bob Brady, Chaka Fattah, and Joe Hoeffel blatantly labeling the FBI investigation a racist tactic, along with Democrat celebs like Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and James Carville visiting town to point their fingers squarely at John Ashcroft and George Bush. Finally, we learn of several "irregularities" on election day, such as reports of voter registration books not being delivered to certain districts, in additon to news accounts of Katz supporters being physically assaulted. Tigre Hill the director speaks. (During the Q&A Chaka declared that he didn't believe in undermining other candidates or bullying tactics, which gave the audience a good laugh.) Vern has the floor. He is a community leader who founded the Bella Vista United Civic Association, created the National Italian Memorial Foundation, and served on the city's Gaming Task Force to demand community input, running for councilman in the First District. Tigre Hill and Mike Toub discuss the film. Tim and Larry West, the youngest candidate for mayor; great ideas, but reminds me of the seasoned Milton Street too much. http://www.larrywestformayor.com/home.html Here's a great website to check out info on who is running: http://www.thenextmayor.com/nutter.html And finally the sad fact is sure I hate John Street, I have always hated John Street, and had he been someone decent and my candidate, I might have thought there was a connection between Bush and the wiretapping, except this was John Street and he was, is and always will be corrupt. Months later as the countless indictments against his inner circle were served it only supported my suspicions. Why the Philadelphia citizens never vote on issues and character will always amaze me. They complain that John Street did nothing when he was a councilman, that he was a thug and self serving, but they voted for him inoffice twice. Now there is your connection with George W Bush.