Deputy Mayor

CAMILLE Barnett doesn't own a hazmat suit. She doesn't ride on trash trucks, stop at fires, manage traffic disasters or hold news conferences, as previous Philadelphia managing directors have. But Barnett says that behind the scenes she is running things in her own way. "How it works is, things that need to be done, get done," Barnett said. Since joining the administration 18 months ago, Barnett - who held top city jobs in Austin, Texas, and in Washington, D.C. - has kept a low profile.

If Mayor Nutter's personal aide has one rule to live by, it's this: "Don't mess with the playlist. " "There's some room for requests, but he drives the music choice," said Luke Butler, 28, who recently finished a two-year gig as Nutter's special assistant — a job that meant he spent more time with the mayor than anyone else in city government, traveling with him to meetings and events and listening to Nutter relive his former DJ days in...

Being raised in tough neighborhoods in Philadelphia, Jamira Burley learned firsthand the impact of drugs and violence on families in the city. Two of her brothers served time in prison on robbery charges. A third brother was shot to death in his home. It was the death of her brother, Andre, in 2005, when she was 16, that prompted Burley to turn her anguish into action, forming an antiviolence program at Overbrook High School. She has continued that mission for the last seven years, locally and nationally.

Deputy Mayor John E. Flaherty Jr., a top aide to Mayor Goode since 1985 and a key member of the transition team working to staff Goode's second-term administration, announced yesterday that he would resign from city government next month. Flaherty's resignation, coupled with Water Commissioner William J. Marrazzo's rejection last week of the mayor's offer of a similar deputy mayor's post, leaves Goode with two vacancies near the top of his new administration. Flaherty, 42, a partner in the Philadelphia law firm of Dechert, Price & Rhoads before he joined the Goode administration in the fall of 1985, said in an interview yesterday that he was resigning to "pursue career opportunities in the private sector.

RE YOUR Sept. 22 editorial, "Mayor's To-Do List, Part II": I couldn't agree more with the editorial board's recognition of the need for the administration to take a "hard look at how to reduce the prison population. " What I question is the implication that no such hard look has been taken already. The editorial even implies that the administration's efforts at managing the prison population were put on hold until resolution of the budget. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Rina Cutler, Philadelphia's deputy mayor for transportation and public utilities, has been named 2011 public works leader of the year by American City and County Magazine. The magazine cited Cutler's leadership in reconstruction of the South Street Bridge, addition of bike lanes to many Philadelphia streets, renovations of airport terminals, creation of an airport cellphone parking lot, and improved recycling rates. Cutler, a former PennDot official, was appointed to her current position by Mayor Nutter in 2008.

Water Commissioner William J. Marrazzo has turned down an offer to become Mayor Goode's point man in city government, a possible setback to Goode's planned reorganization of the city's executive branch. Goode announced last month that he was creating a new post - deputy mayor for operations - which would carry wide-ranging authority over the development of policy, and oversight of about two-dozen city agencies. According to an organizational chart released at the time, the new deputy would oversee even such high-ranking officials as the managing director and the finance director, both members of the mayor's cabinet.

Justin L. Moorhead pondered his feeling about Philadelphia, then offered an assessment that was strikingly similar to what people have to say about his reasons for leaving city government after 18 months as deputy mayor. "I like Philadelphia," Moorhead said during a recent interview. "But I have been somewhat surprised at how resistant to change certain elements in the city are . . . as well as how difficult it is for the new guy on the block to be accepted. " Moorhead, a former Wall Street investment banker, will leave the mayor's second-floor suite in City Hall tomorrow.

Democratic Committeeman Russell Bates did not anticipate his removal as deputy mayor by his own party earlier this month. "I wish I knew where this came from," Bates said. "No one has said anything to me about this. Maybe I'm in somebody's way. I don't know. " Democrats on the Township Committee would not comment on who suggested the change. They only indicated that the new year gave them the opportunity to rotate the position. Said Barbara Holcomb, Democratic committeewoman: "Obviously, if you put a person in that position who wants to do the job, chances are they'll do a better job than someone who doesn't want to do it. " She declined to comment further.

The Rendell administration will soon have its 11th deputy mayor, the result of a shake-up in one of the city's top housing and development agencies. The board of the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority will meet today to accept the resignation of Andrew Jenkins, who has headed the authority since September 1990. Jenkins will start next week as Rendell's deputy mayor for housing. His place at the RDA will be taken by Noel Eisenstat, a former Atlantic City housing official.

If Mayor Nutter's personal aide has one rule to live by, it's this: "Don't mess with the playlist. " "There's some room for requests, but he drives the music choice," said Luke Butler, 28, who recently finished a two-year gig as Nutter's special assistant — a job that meant he spent more time with the mayor than anyone else in city government, traveling with him to meetings and events and listening to Nutter relive his former DJ days in...

Being raised in tough neighborhoods in Philadelphia, Jamira Burley learned firsthand the impact of drugs and violence on families in the city. Two of her brothers served time in prison on robbery charges. A third brother was shot to death in his home. It was the death of her brother, Andre, in 2005, when she was 16, that prompted Burley to turn her anguish into action, forming an antiviolence program at Overbrook High School. She has continued that mission for the last seven years, locally and nationally.

No decision on demolition of cathedral buildings The Philadelphia Historical Commission failed to reach a decision Friday on whether to allow the Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral to demolish two historic buildings in the 3800 block of Chestnut Street and erect a 25-story apartment tower on the site. The cathedral, around the corner on 38th Street, is seeking to tear down its own parish houses, designed over a century ago by noted church architect Charles Burns, who also designed the cathedral.

ALISA MELEKHINA didn't write her first children's book until she was 6, took two full years to graduate Drexel University, and only now, at age 20, is at Penn Law. What a slacker! The Rhawnhurst-raised Melekhina is off to St. Louis on May 8 to compete in the U.S. Women's Chess Championship. Melekhina, who has also been studying ballet since she was 6, says her father, Aleksandr, who taught her chess but soon after stopped playing against her because she kept beating him. The Ukraine-born Melekhina came with her family to the U.S. when she was 2 months old. They lived in Brooklyn until she was 5 and then moved to the Northeast.

As the man in charge of the city's sanitation, Carlton Williams has a thankless job. Despite being the innovator behind the Recyclebank rewards program and the BigBelly trash cans, his is the type of behind-the-scenes public service that usually gets noticed only when something goes wrong. That is why he was a little concerned when Mayor Nutter called him early Friday morning, while he was taking his children to school. "I said, 'Who missed their trash?' " Williams joked.

As the man in charge of the city's sanitation, Carlton Williams has a thankless job. Despite being the innovator behind the Recyclebank rewards program and the Big Belly trash cans, his is the type of behing-the-scenes public servant that usually gets noticed only when something goes wrong. That's why he was a little concerned when Mayor Nutter called him early Friday morning, while he was taking his children to school. "I said, 'Who missed their trash,'" Williams joked.

NEIGHBORS in South Philadelphia who worked all summer to restore the Manton Street Park can finally celebrate. The park's four lots had been purchased by a developer at a city auction of vacant and surplus property, but a deal has been reached to retain part of the land as a small "pocket park. " Hercules W. Grigos, the lawyer for the developer, US Construction, said his clients "had no idea this was a park. " "We had no idea of the neighbors' actions [fixing up the park]

BUDGET woes have spurred the Philadelphia Housing Authority into offering buyouts to all of its employees. PHA spokeswoman Nichole Tillman said yesterday that it's unclear how many people will apply for the buyout, which is on the table until the end of March. Employees will be offered a lump-sum payment based on the number of years they've worked for the agency. Tillman said that PHA opted to offer the buyouts because of federal funding cuts that left it with a $10.2 million shortfall in its fiscal-year 2013 budget.

Hamilton Township Deputy Mayor Charles Cain has pleaded guilty to drunken driving and refusing to submit to a breath test, according to the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office. Cain was arrested on Jan. 22, 2011, on suspicion of drunk driving. On Thursday, Cain admitted in court that he had been drinking the night he was stopped at Testa's Good Guys Pub in Mays Landing and that it "deleteriously affected" his ability to drive. Cain also acknowledged that he refused to submit to a chemical breath test, Atlantic County Prosecutor Ted Housel said in a statement.

A planned extension of Delaware Avenue in Bridesburg is tied up in a dispute between the city and the Delaware River Port Authority, which could jeopardize $15 million in federal funds awarded for the extension, according to city officials. An impatient U.S. Rep. Allyson Y. Schwartz (D., Phila.), who obtained the federal funding in 2005, said Friday that the two sides "have to work this out. " The city wants to extend Delaware Avenue about one mile, from Lewis Street over Frankford Creek and under the Betsy Ross Bridge to Buckius Street.