The tension's been building for months between Councilman Frank DiCicco and freshman Bill Green. Rolled eyes. Ill-concealed snickering. And plenty of behind-the-back badmouthing.
Today it all went public. In a scathing (and frankly kind of hysterical) letter addressed to Green (and thoughtfully CC'd to the mayor and all of City Council), DiCicco let it all hang out.
It begins: "I read with interest your letter in today's Daily News and continue to marvel at your inexperiences, your political naivete and your inability to see an issue for what it truly is."
The letter only gets better from there, closing with the strong suggestion that Green alter his "tactics" and "tone."
Read the whole thing for yourself here.
At issue is a letter to the editor Green wrote to the Daily News in defense of Rick Olivieri, owner of the soon-to-be-evicted Rick's Philly Steaks at the Reading Terminal market. The letter was in response to a Jill Porter column on the same subject earlier this month. Green doesn't mention DiCicco by name in his Daily News letter, but it seems to have ticked the veteran councilman off regardless.
"In the future," DiCiccio's letter to Green reads "I would encourage you to focus on the issues themselves rather than merely attempting to grand stand (sic) and gain public notoriety."
Do we detect a note of jealousy?
Update: This wasn't the first letter DiCicco sent Green re: Rick's. We'll try to track the others down, leaving no aspect of this crucial story uncovered.
Update 2: It seems Green first raised his concerns back on June 4 in a tartly-worded letter to DiCicco (who serves on the Reading Terminal board of directors) that more or less suggests DiCicco and the Reading Terminal board were not above board in their reasons for booting Rick out of the market: "The operations of entities involved in tourism and economic development should be conducted in an open and transparent mannger and apperances of impropriety, including cronyism, should be avoided." Our emphasis. Clearly DiCicco didn't fire the first shot here, Green did. Now the freshman councilman plans to hold hearings on the matter, though they'll have to wait until September when council's recess ends.
We asked Green for his reaction to DiCicco's most recent letter. Green's reply? "Methinks he doth protest to much."
Wethinks Green is making some powerful enemies, but it sure will be interesting to watch those hearings.
I love it - we had our shake up at the Mayors Office and it is paying off well - time to shake up the rest of city government!— Bender- As a taxpayer, I resent Mr. DiCicco using his time drafting petty personal attack letters on city paper instead of focusing on the issues important to our city. Grow up, Frank! Don't be so full of yourself, you're not as well liked or high and mighty as you portray yourself. Thank god we finally have some people on Council who refuse to kiss his ring.— PHL87
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