The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 11, 1999

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City Hall Notebook

The ratings for Thursday's live mayoral debate are in -- and the event did just so-so. Viewers preferred Seinfeld and Hollywood gossip shows to an hour of political pontificating.

The debate, which aired from 7 to 8 p.m. on WPVI-TV (Channel 6), came in third in the network ratings for the hour. Behind Frasier and Seinfeld reruns (on WTXF-TV, Channel 29), and behind syndicated shows Extra and Access Hollywood (on WCAU-TV, Channel 10).

To add insult to injury, the government gabfest barely beat out Tinseltown's Entertainment Tonight and Hollywood Squares (on KYW-TV, Channel 3).

According to the Nielson overnight ratings, the debate averaged a 5.5 rating/10 share. The rating is equal to about 148,500 households; the share means roughly 10 percent of all TV sets that were on at the time were tuned to the debate.

FYI: Only a fourth of the available local TV audience lives -- and is eligible to vote -- in Philadelphia.
-- Tom Infield and Monica Yant

Rizzo makes list
of worst mayors

A new book by a Pennsylvania State University professor ranks the late Frank L. Rizzo as the fifth-worst mayor in the United States during the 173 years from 1820 to 1993.

Who says?
Try 69 biographers, historians and social scientists surveyed by history prof Melvin G. Holli.

His book, The American Mayor: The Best & The Worst Big-City Leaders, may come as a surprise even to Rizzo critics in Philadelphia. It notes that Rizzo, a tough police officer, was "the bete noir of white liberals, black radicals and the city's press establishment." All of which is true. But Rizzo, who reminded critics that he never was charged with wrongdoing, is lumped together with all sorts of crooks.

They include William "Big Bill" Thompson, the gang-era mayor of Chicago, No. 1 on the worst list, and Jimmy Walker, turned out as New York mayor in 1932 for corruption. Also ahead of Rizzo on the list are Frank Hague, who ruled Jersey City from World War I until after World War II, and J. Michael Curley, a twice-jailed mayor of Boston in the first half of this century.

Rizzo was Philadelphia mayor from '72 to '79. He died during a would-be comeback in 1991. The book's timing can't help Democratic mayoral candidate Marty Weinberg, who was Rizzo's top adviser and close friend.

Asked about Rizzo in Thursday night's televised debate, Weinberg responded, "Frank Rizzo did a lot of good things for the city of Philadelphia. He was not perfect -- none of us are. I believe he made a few mistakes. But nobody can ever deny that he loved this city."
-- Tom Infield

Dean Rendell?
Scoop was hoax

Speaking of mayors:
For a moment, it seemed the student newspaper at the University of Pennsylvania had cracked one of the lingering mysteries in the Rendell administration: What will the mayor do after leaving office in January?

The April 7 edition of the Daily Pennsylvanian reported that Rendell, a Penn alumnus, would take over as law school dean. Citing "sources close to the dean search committee," the paper reported that the mayor would succeed dean Colin Diver.

The story turned out to be a joke, part of the paper's annual comedy issue.

Rendell was asked about the report during a public appearance in City Hall last week.

He laughed.

"Since I haven't practiced law in eight years, I don't think it'd be a good idea," he said.
-- Peter Nicholas

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