Mayor Michael Nutter: Thumbs Up? Thumbs Down? All Thumbs?
Jan 7 2009 | Comments 7
I’m working on a story right now about Philadelphia’s mayor and the fact that everyone thinks he’s Satan incarnate. I’m wondering if any of my local readers would be interested in commenting on how they think Nutter is doing — NOT INCLUDING THE SUBJECT OF THE LIBRARIES. (I know it’s hard, folks, but let’s broaden the scope.) I’ll love you forever.
Liz | 2:37 PM | philadelphia, politics
I think Nutter is doing the best he can, given an insanely difficult set of circumstances that he had no hand in creating. I think that, once the dust settles and sanity returns to the philly-verse, he has a good chance of being set down in the history books as one of the great mayors.
It will be interesting, I think, to see what happens when the Eagles win the Super Bowl (notice I said, WHEN). Given that he threw a parade for the Phillies, and then told the Mummers that he would only pay for a portion of theirs. . . will he throw a (long overdue) parade for another set of heroes, or will he uphold his own budget constraints and say, “sorry, folks… no money, no parade.”
Or will he tell the Eagles that they can have their parade… if they pay for it themselves — and deduct those costs from the debt the Eagles owe the city..?
I think that Nutter is doing a good job with a terrible set of circumstances. He’s having to make cuts, sure, but he’s HAVING to do it — he’s not doing it because he wants to. The same expenses exist and there’s less money to pay for them. Something has to be cut, and somebody will be upset about it. Never forget that this city LOVES having something to complain about.
i haven’t seen much improvement. i was, however, glad that ramsey was holding meetings with the public to try to get ideas on how to deal with the crime rate; i think ramsey is more in touch with the public than johnson was. he seemed like just another corrupt sidekick to street.
sidenote re: mummers parade…i was actually ecstatic at the thought of no parade this year. i live in south philly and i absolutely hate it. it’s just another excuse for people to get drunk and trash this city more than it already is. how about the mummers spend their $ on cleaning UP the city instead of destroying it every new year’s day? i don’t get a rat’s patoot if it’s “tradition”. it’s stupid.
Re: The parade. The difference is that millions of people care about an Eagles parade. Dozens of people care about the awful Mummers parade, which should have been done away with decades ago.
I think Nutter’s doing the best he can in an impossible position. He’s a very smart guy in a corrupt, broken city.
I like the fact that he was able to mobilize many of our cynical citizens to volunteer to clean up abandoned lots. I like for the first time, we have a mayor who realizes the potential of our neglected waterfront. I cannot imagine anyone else coming up with a feasible way to save the fire companies. I also cannot imagine he made this decision lightly.
I have faith that Mayor Nutter is making the decisions that need to be made for our city. Nevertheless, it would be nice if his PR folks would do a better job of spinning him in a flattering way. I think ten years from now Philadelphians will appreciate him a lot more then they do now.
I guess Nutter is doing the best he can do considering his circumstances, however I would like to know what list he chooses from to do cuts. The options given were horrible. Nutter has decided to make up the bulk of the losses from parking violations. Some of the violations are completely assinine. I can’t shake the fact that he has Parking Authority harrasing people in poor neighborhoods. You never see parking violations in south philly the way you do in West & North philly. They should be ashamed of preying on the poor.
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