Milton Street “Without Question” Will Be Running for Mayor

And he'll most likely announce it at a funeral parlor.

T Milton Street

Milton Street, the former state senator, ex-inmate and convicted tax dodger, tells us he is “without question” running for mayor of Philadelphia.

His formal announcement will most likely take place at a funeral parlor, he says, to highlight the violent crime throughout the city.

“I want to demonstrate the number of lives that have been lost, the number of young people that have passed through funeral parlors too early because of violence,” says Street.

It wouldn’t be Street’s first macabre publicity stunt: When he ran for City Council at-large in 2007, he sought to bring attention to the high number of homicides in Philadelphia by hauling a coffin to City Hall and belting out the song “If I Can Help Somebody” (below).

According to police statistics, 248 people were murdered in Philadelphia last year. That represents a 37 percent decrease since 2007, the year prior to Mayor Nutter taking office.

But Street says the mayor hasn’t done nearly enough to fight crime, and he plans to make the issue a major part of his campaign.

Street will likely have a hard time raising money. But he insists it’s not a problem, saying he has more name recognition and energy than anyone in the field.

“I think I can run with less than $10,000,” he says.

Despite Street’s colorful past (and present), you can’t completely write him off: He garnered 24 percent of the vote in the 2011 Democratic mayoral primary election against Nutter, the incumbent.

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