Why did Ori Feibush cancel a Milton Street event at his Fairmount coffee shop?

For weeks, mayoral candidate T. Milton Street Sr. had been planning to hold a Tuesday night fund raiser at the OCF Coffee House in Fairmount.

Considering that OCF is owned by Ori Feibush, the real estate businessman who is challenging for the Second District council seat — and considering that Milton + Ori = a pairing so ostentatious it might cause a warp in the space-time continuum — this was an event that NinetyNine so wanted to see.

That’s how WHYY’s Katie Colaneri ended up at 21st Street and Fairmount Avenue around 7 p.m. Tuesday., where she learned that the event had been canceled about an hour before it was scheduled to begin.

We’ll let Colaneri and Street take it from here:

When we showed up (fashionably late) to OCF Coffee, we found only a handful of people working on their laptops. No sign of Street.

A friendly barista told NinetyNine that a political fundraiser had indeed been scheduled for that evening, but no one had arrived and no one had told him that it had been cancelled.

Reached on his cell phone about 30 minutes later, Street told NinetyNine that Feibush himself had called off the fundraiser around 5 p.m. Street said he did not know why. (However, Street mentioned that Feibush brought up all the media calls about the unusual relationship during that convo, intimating that perhaps that had something to do with it.)

The two men have a cordial political relationship, mostly based on Street’s disappointment in Second District Councilman Kenyatta Johnson.

It’s worth noting that Feibush was Street’s only donor (at the maximum of $2,900) when 2014 campaign finance reports were released last month.

In any event, Feibush campaign spokesman Gregg Kravitz told NinetyNine that he “can’t speak to any of that,” and would have someone who could speak to any of that get in touch with us later Wednesday.

That’s exactly what Daren Berringer of 3D Political did around 10:15 p.m., after having a chance to speak with Feibush about this very important issue.

Here’s what Berringer told NinetyNine:

“Ori has raised some money for Sen. Street as well as for other mayoral and city council candidates. The event with Sen. Street was cancelled once for weather and Ori just didn’t have time to organize a fundraiser on the eve of getting all his petitions filed.

“The event with Sen. Street may be rescheduled but Ori will continue to be helpful to candidates as time permits.”

Oh, side note: Street will finally hold his twice-cancelled (on account of snow) formal campaign launch at 5 p.m., New Jerusalem Baptist Church (2119 W. Diamond St.), amid questions about whether he’s eligible to run in a Democratic primary.

Hopefully, we don’t get there only to learn it’s been thrice cancelled.