According to the online encyclopedia - which has a well-earned checkered reputation as both an everyman's Britannica and a site where bias, slander and outright untruths reign - Mayor Street once played Bozo the Clown.

Wikipedia's bio on the mayor included: "At the same time that Street practiced law, he also began a media career in Philadelphia. Street worked for television station WPSG-TV and, for a four-year period, he played the character Bozo the Clown on Philadelphia's Bozo the Clown children's television show. When Street ran for Philadelphia City Council, he ceased his media career."

"I'm sure that isn't true," said Joe Grace, Street's spokesman. "Wikipedia has had many problems with people sabotaging other people's Web sites."

Founded in 2001, Wikipedia is the online encyclopedia that allows most anyone to create and edit its content, which means it can change daily. Sure enough, hours after we talked to Grace, the mayor's bio had been changed.

In his nearly 30-year public-service career, Street has appeared on TV many times and in many capacities, including a recent plug in which he wore pajamas to show that Philadelphia is better when people stay over. But, as far as we know, he has never played Bozo the Clown. - Marcia Gelbart

An invitation, not an announcement

Officially, U.S. Rep. Bob Brady hasn't decided whether to run for mayor. Unofficially, it sure looks like a go.

How else to explain the fancy-looking invitation that was forwarded to The Inquirer this week that reads: "Friends of Bob Brady cordially invites you to a reception honoring Robert A. Brady, Candidate for Mayor of the City of Philadelphia"?

The congressman and city Democratic chairman has hired Andi Pringle, a veteran of national Democratic campaigns including Howard Dean's 2004 effort, as a spokeswoman. Also expected to join his team: consultant Saul Shorr, a veteran of Peter Hearn's 1991 mayoral effort.

Of course, the invitation could be a typo and Pringle and Shorr could just be helping the Democratic City Committee get its message out. Stranger things have happened. Somewhere.

"Reach whatever conclusion you want," said Ken Snyder, another Brady spokesman. - Michael Currie Schaffer

A managing director's proud moments

Phil Goldsmith was a busy man for the two years he served as Philadelphia's managing director. He went to fire scenes. He found new money by cutting the city's fleet of cars by the hundreds. He fought against long-term city tax cuts.

But ask him what he considers his top three achievements, and Goldsmith, who resigned in March 2005, might give the answer he gave last week:

"Taking the job. Surviving the job. And leaving the job." - Marcia Gelbart

A helping hand, not an endorsement

When U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah, who has declared a run for mayor, rolled out a package of anticrime measures at a crowded West Philadelphia speech earlier this month, he repeatedly cited the influence of Lawrence Sherman, a prominent University of Pennsylvania criminologist.

Fattah said Sherman had met with

his exploratory committee in developing

the proposals, which focus on targeting guns.

But in an interview, Sherman made it clear that he hasn't endorsed Fattah and isn't working on his campaign.

"I've done similar briefings for the other candidates," he said. "I want to be a resource for everyone . . . As a criminologist, we're in the business of testing hypotheses, not endorsing candidates."

As for Fattah's anticrime measures, Sherman said his conversations with the campaign were evident in the pieces of the proposal that focused on illegal guns.

"I had one long session with them, which is reflected in one section," he said. "Other sections, they came up with on their own."

For the record, though, Sherman said he believed Fattah's crime package was "excellent."
- Michael Currie Schaffer