Speaking on his home court, to a friendly audience at a Chestnut Hill church, Republican mayoral candidate Sam Katz said last night that he's the candidate of change while his opponent represents the status quo.

Given the kudos that have come to the Rendell administration over the last seven years, calling yourself the man of change might seem to be a foolhardy position.

But in a spiel that he's honed to perfection, Katz noted that during the years of the Rendell miracle, for which Democratic contender John Street later took considerable credit, jobs and population have left the city in droves.

And for all Rendell's political skills, he's been unable to strike a bargain with Harrisburg Republicans to fund the city's public schools at a dramatically higher level. Republican Katz figures he has a better shot at a compromise on the political dilemmas of school funding and vouchers than Street.

Business, Katz said, is often the victim of overzealous city bureaucrats who give the message "don't let the door hit you on the way out," while out-of-town businesses get tax breaks to open in the city.

On the Applause-O-Meter, Katz clearly was the victor in separate appearances before community associations from Chestnut Hill and West and East Mount Airy.

It didn't help that Street was unable to show up for the planned joint appearance with Katz, or that he was fashionably late for his solo performance.

But while perhaps a third of the audience left before Street finally stepped to the microphone, those who stayed heard his passionate defense of a moderate tax-cutting plan that would, in his view, leave sufficient tax dollars to reinvest in the city's tattered neighborhoods.

Street was asked whether his year-long stall on legislation clearing the way for Temple University to build its new basketball venue didn't amount to a "hidden tax" on the university.

The former Council president simply ignored the substance, never mentioned the housing funds he won for a North Philadelphia community group and proceeded to say that city government has become more "business friendly than ever before. We've got a reputation for getting things done."

Street continued to rip the Katz tax-cut plan, saying it would cost at least $250 million over four years, requiring the slashing of 5,000 city government jobs.