Actual Excerpts from John Street's Class at Temple

by Tom Namako

For more than 28 years, Philadelphians were inundated with the public statements of one John Street. There were some memorable ones. "The brothers and sisters are running the city. Oh, yes," he told an NAACP convention. "I think the city has benefited mightily from my interest in technology," he said while waiting in line for an iPhone. "I'm having a great day!" he announced. All. The. Time. Even when things were going terribly wrong around him.

Street is now a private citizen, and the public is generally deprived of his unintentional comedy and accidental wisdom. But fear not: Street is still pontificating in his role as professor at Temple University. The syllabus for "Political Science 4140: Urban Politics" includes everything from violence to casino gaming to homeland security. Most importantly, it includes Professor Street's insights into the dark workings of City Hall.

Each week for the duration of the semester, City Paper plans to bring you one thought from Street's mind that probably should have stayed in Street's mind. In this first installment of "Professor Street Says," we start you off with two. First, Street on City Council etiquette:

"When I was council president I had a rule that people could sleep on the job. I modified the rule. You could actually sleep in public if you weren't sitting down. I had three people who actually perfected the art of sleeping while standing."

And second, this head-scratcher on education:

"This education thing goes round and round. It is amazing the circles it goes in. Just big circles. And then they tilt the circle and then it just goes in huge circles. We have gone though very, very much the same thing in Philadelphia."

Street has also expounded on the similarities between government administrators and NFL coaches — the former change cities like the latter change teams (OK, that actually makes sense) — and claimed that a councilwoman's district boundaries were redrawn just to include her hairstylist. Class is in session, by the way, until Monday, May 5.