by Joann Loviglio, Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Mayor John F. Street has come up with an unusual way to combine his enthusiasm for exercise with a new crime-fighting program: He’s hopping on a bicycle to patrol some of the city’s most notorious drug corners, and he wants citizens to join him.
Starting next week, Street plans to spend four hours a week pedaling on his donated police-issue Mercedes-Benz mountain bicycle through some of the most crime-ravaged neighborhoods and he has recruited some of the city’s top officials to ride along with him as part of an expansion of Operation Safe Streets, an aggressive crackdown on open-air drug markets.
“In the end, if you’re going to have a world-class city ... our streets have to be safe and free of drugs and all the violence that goes along with that illegal activity,” Street said Friday.
Beginning May 1, hundreds of officers took position at more than 200 corners and blocks to eradicate open-air drug dealing. Police department statistics indicate that serious crime has dropped 12 percent and 16 percent in May and June respectively. U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter announced Friday that $500,000 in federal funding had been approved for the program.
Now that much of the most flagrant drug dealing has been pushed out of the neighborhoods, Street said it’s safe for citizens to accompany police officers in high-visibility bike patrols to discourage dealers from re-establishing their old corners.
And people just might be able to battle the bulge as they help fight crime, said the 58-year-old mayor, a fitness fanatic who once weighed around 250 pounds but now is down to about 190 because of a stringent diet and exercise regimen. Since taking office in 1999, he established healthy-living programs to help flabby Philadelphians lose weight and put a “fitness czar” in City Hall, and is known for getting up at 4:30 a.m. to work out before heading to his job as the city’s top official - as well as his penchant for monster trucks.
“People are getting involved, they’re getting active and they’re energized,” said Street, who will run for a second term next year. “We want neighborhood kids, everyone, to get on their bikes and come out and ride with us.”
He’s also recruiting others under his command to join his “bike posse,” including aides, community activists and the newest police academy graduates.
“You’re probably in the best physical shape in your life,” he told the graduates during their commencement ceremony Friday. “Maintain it - don’t let that drop. Stay fit.”
Street’s plan has precedent. Former police commissioner John F. Timoney used to go on bike patrol, too - and got conked with it while confronting unruly protesters during the 2000 Republican National Convention.
Timoney’s successor, Sylvester Johnson, isn’t known for patrolling the city on his bicycle, but he says he’ll be out there too.
“The mayor surprised me when he made the announcement that I would be riding a bike,” Johnson said. “It’s OK, though; it’s not a problem.”