Okay in continue my conversation with myself ;->
I realize that setAttribute should be passed a list of "streetWidth" values something like:
def setStreetWidth(name,edges):
count = 0
edgeList = edges*[0]
while (count < edges):
attr = "streetWidth"
edgeList[count] = 1
count += 1
ce.setAttribute(name,attr,edgeList)
-Jack