Philly mayor John Street waited 15 hours for the iPhone — what an iDiot

Philadelphia mayor John Street was one of the first people to be in line for Apple’s newest must-have gadget, the iPhone.
Street waited for over 15 hours on a Philadelphia street corner to be able to purchase one of the multi-talented, multi-tasking phones, and when the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News reported his 15-hour vigil, they did it with a favorable nod to Street.
Both papers seemed to latch onto the positive fact that Street is a technophile, and he seemingly attends to a lot of his mayoral duties on his Blackberry device. The Inquirer ran an editorial on July 4, which even pointed out that Street is brining free Wi-Fi to the City of Brotherly Love through his personal love of technology.
But, while this paper is hardly a comparable news digest next to the likes of those daily Philly papers, I feel the bigger papers missed the reasons why most Philadelphians on the streets were upset at the mayor’s 15-hour wait for the iPhone.
It isn’t because of his desire for new technology. Heck, who doesn’t want an iPhone? Those things look like fun. It wasn’t even because he was sitting outside waiting in line when he easily could have had a staffer, or even an unpaid intern, do it for him. Or he could have been sensible and waited a few hours and gotten one on eBay. That at least would have saved taxpayer money by not having Philadelphians pay his salary while he sat in line on a weekday.
Nope, instead, what is most upsetting is the fact that he was visible for such a long period of time doing nothing at all when so many Philadelphians feel that so much needs to be done to improve the quality of life for people all over the city.
The Inquirer editorial reported that people in other cities and countries, who had heard about Street’s vigil, had applauded his efforts, and the story insinuated that Philadelphians just don’t get it. The editorial said that Philadelphians seem to feel that “Street can do no right.” But, the fact is that Street is not a visible mayor when it comes to the issues that concern most of the city. Don't get me wrong, Street has attended rallies against gun violence, but that doesn’t seem to be affecting the high rate of crime in the city. I don’t think he’s ever spent 15-plus hours on the streets of the city for any reason other than purchasing an iPhone.
He’s not holding 15-hour long rallies against violence and crime. He’s not sitting outside of a local police station in any 15-hour demonstration to rally public support for anti-gun laws, stricter citywide gun control or anything like that. In fact, he’s probably not doing anything now but programming all of his friends’ phone numbers into his new gadget while, as of July 5, the homicide rate in the city has hit an all-time high of 205 for this early in the year.
As a mayor of one of the largest and most respected cities in the country, Street is a visible figure. If he is outside (especially for 15 hours), he is in the public eye. He should be using it for a better reason than to buy the ability to watch YouTube on a cell phone.
I suggest that the next time Mayor Street feels like sitting outside for a few hours, he should sit on a street corner in North Philadelphia for the night. Or maybe he could do a 15-hour stint on a street corner in Port Richmond or Kensington. Maybe then he’ll see that real Philadelphians don't sit outside waiting to be the first to waste their money on some over-priced gadget. Instead, if they are going to sit outside, they will probably watch the streets so they can protect their family and their neighbors from the violent crime that Street seems to be so reluctant to stop.
Besides, even with all the magical things it can do, I don’t think the iPhone has a “Stop City Crime” button, which is the feature he should be most worried about right now.