North Philly man launches quixotic mayoral campaign, with poles in mind

There are now two candidates vying to be Philadelphia's first Latino mayor.

Judge Nelson Diaz announced last month he was running an uphill campaign for mayor, and on Thursday virtual unknown Juan Rodriguez declared that he was launching a rather quixotic effort to win the office.

To wit: There is already some dispute over whether or not Rodriguez made his announcement inside of a strip club.

"No, it's not a strip club," said campaign treasurer Nereida Zayas. "It's called 'Junior's Night Club.' It's like a bar, it's a club."

But a Philly.com photographer couldn't help but noticing a scantily clad woman depicted on the nightclub's sign, which advertises "Exotic Dancers." Zayas had trouble explaining the conspicuous metal pole near Rodriguez as he was making his announcement in the North Philadelphia "nightclub."

"There was a pole there," said Zayas. "I'm not sure what the pole's used for, but it's there. But it's not used for that. It's not a strip club."

She said Rodriguez chose the club in the 2100 block of Germantown Avenue because it's within Rodriguez's neighborhood.

Zayas described Rodriguez as a "former undercover detective" who wanted to improve the city and school district. He also ran as a write-in candidate for mayor after he lost a ballot challenge for the 7th District Council race in 2011.

But Rodriguez will likely have trouble working the polls this go round, too — Zayas said he had not yet opened a bank account for his campaign or accepted any donations.

"I'm at the bank now, I'm going to open his account and we're accepting donations as of today," she said.