If you thought the mayoral election provided a lot of fireworks, just wait until John Street's first year in City Hall.

It turns out that raising nearly $9 million, undergoing a withering barrage of TV attack ads, and holding together the Democratic coalition in the face of an almost perfectly run Republican campaign was the easy part.

In his first 12 months in office, Street as mayor will have to negotiate contracts with city labor unions eager for a pay raise while carrying out a promise to continue reducing the city wage tax and keeping the budget balanced.

What's more, he must carry out his proposal of budget brinksmanship with Harrisburg, seeking a greater role for PICA, the city financial control board, while convincing reluctant lawmakers to fork over cash to keep the schools running.

He must try to fulfill campaign promises to launch a $250 million blight-removal program to clean up run-down neighborhoods and to greatly expand after-school programs.

And then there's the big-picture stuff - trying to grow Philadelphia's beleaguered economy and somehow stem the flow of tens of thousands of residents to the suburbs that continued unabated even during the eight-year reign of a highly popular mayor, Ed Rendell.

All of this will come under extra scrutiny next summer when the national media and political bigwigs arrive in Philadelphia for the hot lights of the Republican National Convention.

More so than what happened during the 1999 campaign, it will be what takes place in 2000 that will most define John Street and his place in Philadelphia's history - and its future.

Many of his supporters hope he can rise to the occasion like his predecessor, Rendell, who surprised even his biggest fans to the degree with which he became a master pitchman and even a symbol for his hometown.

"What they need now more than anything is someone who can make a decision," Ray Jones Sr., a Philadelphia native and longtime Street supporter, said at the mayor-elect's victory party last night.

"I know they say he is autocratic. To be a mayor of a city, you have to be like a father. We have to have someone who can give a firm course. You don't need people learning on the job."

Before he even takes the oath of office, Street must assemble a transition team that will help him pick his key department heads. At community appearances across the city, Street promised that he would ask neighborhood activists to play a bigger role than usual.

Most experts will watch closely this month and next to see if Street does rely on a broad group of advisers, or if he relies mainly on his tight inner circle of advisers that includes communications expert Bruce Crawley, lawyers Ron White and Carl Singley, and others.

Only one selection is for certain: After weeks of pressure from Katz, Street finally said he would keep popular police commissioner John Timoney on the job.

Street has already made it clear what he expects his economic policy will be in the early months of his administration. He has said that will adhere closely to the five-year city economic plan prepared by the Rendell administration, which calls for gradually reducing the city's wage tax to 4.45 percent, down a tad from the current 4.61 percent.

He will need to work to win approval from City Council for a bond issue that would pay for his most ambitious proposal: A four-year, $250 million program to clear lots and removed blight from the city's most impoverished neighborhoods.

During his seven-year reign as City Council president, Street was able to cobble together large majorities for his proposals, although that seems less likely under a Street mayoral administration.

Several issues will loom large in 2000.

One is the still unresolved issue of whether the Phillies and the Eagles will build new stadiums, and where they will go. Street has made positive comments about a location in Center City, but has not committed to any one site.

The other is the city's labor contracts, which will mostly expire in June. Street joined with Rendell in taking a hard-line stand on labor issues in the contentious 1991 negotations - a showdown that the current labor leaders remember with some bitterness.

The biggest issue for Street, however, will be education.

Street has said that within 30 days of taking office, he will call together a group called the Public Education Oversight Task Force, which he expects will draft legislation that would allow the state oversight board that now monitors city spending to oversee the schools as well.

If he could win such legislation - and most political experts are dubious, given highly negative comments from Gov. Ridge - he would then seek to get lawmakers to agree to investing more money in the troubled system.

Street has said that the added funds could help Philadelphia reduce class sizes, lure better teachers who are going to the suburbs, increase after-school programs and take on other much needed improvements.

The key date is the start of the 2000-2001 school year next September, when experts feel the schools will run out of cash without state aid. Current law allows Harrisburg to take over the city schools if the budget is out of whack.

One person who must be breathing a sigh of relief this morning is schools Superintendent David Hornbeck.

While Katz had pledged to seek Hornbeck's ouster, Street seems inclined to honor his contract until 2001, when the schools chief would be evaluated anew.