FightforRoom215

Nutter to call for "State of Emergency"

There's a fine line between using the city's violence as an issue to let voters know how you plan to address crime and as a campaign prop.

Seeing how Michael Nutter has said from the beginning of his campaign that his first task as mayor would be to declare a "State of Emergency," we'll call his press conference scheduled for this afternoon the former.

Nutter will walk over to City Hall to call on Mayor Street to call a state of emergency, after a weekend that saw 10 — T-E-N!!!! —homicides. Ten victims gunned down — from a 31-year-old gunned down on a North Philly basketball court to a 28-year-old woman shot multiple times in the head at 15th and Allegheny.

On any other weekend, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin's statements about the cleanliness of our city may have been the biggest drain on our civic psyche. But how could it when 10 people — 10!! — were gunned down in a little more than 50 hours?

“Over the weekend we lost 10 members of the Philadelphia community to gun violence,” Nutter says in a release. “Our city cannot continue to endure this level of violence.”

Then again, considering Nutter's relationship with Street, maybe it would be better if he called on Street to sit in his office and do nothing.

"What, Michael Nutter wants me to sit in my office and do nothing? That's it, I'm calling a State of Emergency."

(Tom Ferrick's not the only one allowed to make up conversations from the mayor).

Now that's a fundraiser

Boy, do we have a weekend for you...

The candidates will "debate" for the second time tomorrow (debate, as in repeat everything they've said at myriad forums, only this time in front of a big television audience) at 6ABC's Wynnefield office.

The debate will air Sunday morning at 10 a.m. (P.S.: Last week's debate on CBS3 is available OnDemand for Comcast customers).

Maybe we'll give you a Mimosa and Bloody Mary drinking game so you have a reason to drag yourself out of bed Sunday morning.

If debatin' ain't your thing, there are plenty of other mayoral race related events this weekend.

Bob Brady plans another in his round of pickup truck jaunts through the city, this time through crime-ridden Southwest Philly Saturday afternoon.

Dwight Evans, meanwhile, has an "R U Ready to Rumble" rally happening in Northwest Philly at the West Oak Lane Charter School at 3 p.m. Saturday.

And, if you're looking to get out of Philly and share a couch with a bald, goateed man, here's your chance for "an intimate evening" with Michael Nutter at the home of a pair of his Montgomery County supporters.

And, D-Mac reports, if you're around Center City this afternoon look and listen for a van of Dwight Evans supporters blaring "Ain't no Stopping us Now."

Over/under on the number of times we'll hear that song from the candidates: 957,425.

Nutter steps down from Convention Center

The Next Mayor is reporting that Michael Nutter stepped down from the chairmanship of the Convention Center board yesterday to focus more energy on the campaign.

Nutter's spot on the board is pretty much the only piece of "dirt" any of his opponents publicly drag up on him. They question how Nutter can talk about the evil of municipal no-bid contracts when he gives them out himself as head of the board. 

Nutter today also released to the press a letter he sent to his old pal Mayor John Street, "demanding" that he meet with the five Democratic candidates to discuss who will replace CEO Paul Vallas when he leaves the district.

Nutter shows us the money

Michael Nutter becomes the first candidate today to put out a complete accounting of where he plans to get the money to fulfill his campaign promises.

Nutter says in his "An Honest Budget Now " that the campaign promises he has made so far would cost the city $591 million over five years. In the plan — which also includes his thoughts on improving the budgeting process and addressing rising pension and healthcare costs — Nutter lays out where he would find that $591 million.

Some of the money would require reforms in government — he accounts for $72 million from government inefficiencies and $30 million from the collection of back taxes. ($300 million is available, Nutter expects to get back 10 percent).

Other funding sources include a projected $1 million from selling licensed "Philly Gear," based on New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's New York CityStore and $25 million from state and federal grants not being captured now.

The plan also lays out Nutter's ideas for reforming the budgeting process. He would work toward creating an  "outcome" budget process, pointing to Dallas' budgeting process as proof that budgeting based on the needed services rather than available money is a better way.

It would also be based on realistic estimates of future revenues. Nutter points to Philadelphia Forward research which says that the city collects $50 to $100 million more than projected every year.

He also addresses working on a "cooperative effort" to redesign the pension and health benefits for city employees, which threatens to sink the city's budget. Nutter says he plans to establish a commission of current and retired municipal employees and pension and budget experts to identify "a reform of pensions and benefits that will ensure their long-term viability and the provision of ongoing local public services..."

Nutter points out that the current five-year plan doesn't assume any increase for city workers starting in 2009.

"Candidates in this race are proposing plans that would cost a Billion dollars or more," Nutter said. "Unless they identify where the money is coming from for their proposals, these candidates are promising to spend a Billion dollars before they spend a single dollar on our municipal employees."

He also hopes to encourage funding for a public/private partnership to help design a process to give citizens more of a say in the budgeting process.

More in today's Metro.

Download the plan, which includes a promise-by-promise cost analysis and revenue sources.

Also, another look at Chaka Fattah's lease the airport idea. And, yet another look, this one from Sam Katz's blog.

"...the promise, while well-intended and smart politics, is built on a series of assumptions that, both programmatically and financially, is really a house of cards: one light blow and the whole thing falls."

Maybe "I hate John Street" ads are working

It's a poll conducted by his own campaign, but a respected polling firm has Michael Nutter surging into second place this week.

Compared to his 12 percent showing in the Keystone Poll released last week, Nutter is in second with 18 percent of the vote in the poll conducted last Monday and Tuesday. He also has a lead among undecided voters, according to the campaign.

Knox leads in the poll with 27 percent of the vote, as compared to the 24 he picked up in the Keystone Poll. Chaka Fattah (15), Bob Brady (11), and Dwight Evans (6) follow. Twenty-three percent are still undecided, according to the poll of 403 likely Democratic voters. (Margin of error= +/- 5 percent).

Nutter says his poll is more realistic because it takes into effect his first round of TV ads, which started just as the Keystone Poll wsa being conducted.

"Keystone went in the field as our ads were starting," Nutter said, "people really didn't see anything. People are having a very favorable reaction to our ads and the other things I've been doing."

Nutter points to the fact that he's only missed two forums and compares his campaign style to that of Gov. Rendell.

Nutter just released his third ad of the campaign this morning. It features his daughter talking about how much she hates John Street talking about her father's accomplishments and how he's the only candidate with a child now in public school. At the end, Nutter is seen taking his daughter to school.

A Queena moment

"We might see the fountain spray on...but...all we need is Love."

Got lost for a moment at whether I was watching Michael Nutter's arts and culture policy plan rollout or a Queena Bass press conference this afternoon at LOVE park. That line pretty much sums up Bass' speech at the Next Great City initiative forum last month.

Meanwhile, while Bass fights the forces of evil threatening to shut off her water and evict her from her apartment, Nutter became the fourth candidate to unveil an arts and culture plan.

Like the rest, he would reestablish the shuttered office of arts and culture (shouldn't cost much as most of the workers were sent elsewhere, he said) and pledge to increase the city's share of the Cultural Fund by $1 million in his first year. He wants to raise its operating budget to at least $6 million in four years.

He would also seek to increase funding for the Greater Philadelphia Film Office and assist arts and cultural organizations in the region.

Nutter ad: I won't be John Street

Someone doesn't like John Street.

Michael Nutter released his first campaign ad of the season this weekend. It doesn't touch on his plans for addressing crime, or zoning, or, well anything else he's addressed so far. If Tom Knox is defining himself as the "reformer candidate," Nutter's cornering the market on the anti-John Street vote.

"Only one candidate for mayor stood up to John Street when he was wrong — Michael Nutter," says the political ad voice. He stood up to him on ethics. Then on tax cuts. Then on money for more police.

"Philadelphia's next mayor must run this city differently than John Street has. Michael Nutter will."

Getting his message out

Michael Nutter doesn't shy away from reporters. He'll give us what seems endless quotes on, well, anything.

But that hasn't translated into success in the polls released so far. The most recent, a computerized poll from NBC10, has him languishing in last place. (Knox was in first, by the way).

Campaign watchers and voters are questioning whether they should start to support other candidates because of Nutter's polling. And then there was City Paper's insider column today that questions what's gone wrong with Michael Nutter's once-promising campaign?

Today, Nutter responds in a big way, announcing that his media consulting team will be headed by Neil Oxman, of the influential Campaign Group.

Oxman is responsible for the TV ads for mayoral race victories for Ed Rendell (1991 and 1995) and his runs for governor in 2002 and 2006.

Not all of his campaigns have been successful, of course. Oxman also worked on Sam Katz's mayoral campaigns.

UPDATE: Oxman won't say when TV ads are coming, but that they'll be up "with plenty of time in the campaign."

He says not to put any weight in the current discussion about Nutter's campaign. He said they've done a good job so far and Nutter has come across well at the forums and in what Oxman calls "the most aggressive schedule" of any of the candidates.

"It's nine weeks till the election," Oxman said. "It's a long way to go. Chaka Fattah hasn't been on TV yet, Dwight Evans has been on TV for a literally a miniscule amount of money."

With Penn watching over him

The cameras were at City Hall, catching the tail end of the Greatest Political Rally in the History of Philadelphia, but Michael Nutter pushed on with a small group of media to unveil his plan for zoning and planning reform.

The plan includes Nutter's goal to reestablish the planning commision as "the nation's preeminent city planning agency," reforming the zoning board and the appeals process, revising the antiquated zoning code and working with community leaders and citizens on a zoning reform process.

We heard something about the site being near where a controversial condominium is being built, but we figure the real reason it was at Welcome Park was for the replica of the William Penn statue, at left. 

When the phone fails

Sometimes, the political props come easy.

Michael Nutter got a feel for what public transit commuters go through daily, unable to use his cell phone before the start of a press conference to unveil his emergency management plans.

From Brian X. McCrone's report inside Suburban Station:

 

“I can’t even call a campaign aide,” an exasperated Nutter said.

He then used the temporary communications blockage to began talking about his emergency preparedness and management policy, which calls for an improved communications system for police and firefighters and the establishment of separate command center outside of Center City.

Nutter's plan calls for finally fixing the radio communications issues plaguing the police and fire departments, building a new joint operations center outside of Center City, modernizing city codes to give the government the powers it would need to protect lives and property in a natural disaster or terrorist attack, improving the emergency preparedness of the city's ports and implementing the 200 recommendations made by the Emergency Preparedness Review Committee.

More:

Metro: Nutter: City is ill prepared