Christine Knapp, the main organizer on the Next Great City side of things, welcomed the crowd with a few words and a quick .ppt presentation of the 10 Actions outlined in the plan for those needing a quick brush up before the event started.
The Daily News's editorial board member, columnist and blogger - Flavia Colgan - stepped up to the podium next, taking her position as the moderator for the evening. Taking a quick read over her Wiki entry, Ms. Colgan's got quite a history with some serious connections just about everywhere; I never knew. She set the tone for the evening by starting the opening with the candidates' opening statements before PA House Rep. Evans and US House Rep. Fattah arrived. As an aside, apparently, there was a Barack Obama fundraiser at the Four Seasons that evening. I presume all of the candidates were there making appearances and trying to get some money into their campaigns as well. Three of them made it to this first formal 2007 mayoral race on time, for some reason, which was not disclosed, Rep. Evans and Rep. Fattah were late.
First up for his two-minute introduction was US House Rep. Bob Brady (PA-01). Rep. Brady is also the Democratic Executive Committee of Philadelphia Chairman. I've never seen this guy before, but I'm familiar with his work. He carries the air of everyman Philadelphia. He's got the accent. He's got the face. He's got the demeanor. All wrapped up in a nice suit with union stitching.
Former Councilman (At-Large) Michael Nutter was up next (skipping over the not present Evans). Before getting into the nitty gritty of what everyone said and how everyone presented themselves this evening, let me say that Nutter shined brightest. It was a combination of him being more personable and actually answering the questions asked along with just a general horribleness from the other candidates which made him look so damn good throughout the night. He was cracking jokes, yet not going overboard corny. He made his points and stayed within time constraints. He did good.
HMO-made millionaire Tom Knox was up next (skipping over the not present Fattah). Knox was the other one who did well. He was personable and on point throughout the night.
PA House Representative Dwight Evans (PA-203) showed up 45 minutes late to the first mayoral candidates forum. 45 minutes late to a packed house with an additional 200+ watching remotely. 45 minutes late to an event put on by some large and well regarded institutions within Philadelphia. He maintained the demeanor of a bully throughout the entire evening yet also taking on a very defensive and knee-jerk reaction to several comments.
US Congressman Chakka Fattah (PA-02) was also 45 minutes late to this event. Lame. I still don't understand why he's running for mayor when he can (and should) be bringing home some serious pork from DC. Sitting pretty on the House Committee on Appropriations he could be sending some seriously needed dough Philly's way. What kind of cash is he going to bring back from Harrisburg?
The evening was 2 hours long and too much stuff for me to transcribe/recall. I took several pages of notes in my little moleskine and I'll discuss some of the questions asked/answered... Colgan asked the candidates about dedicated funding for SEPTA. First up was Fattah.
Fattah went straight into stating that Dubya has set aside $100B for congestion studies. He mentioned how London has raised $__ [didn't catch the amount] in funding with their rush hour car fee in downtown London. Her said that Americans [or was it specifically Philadelphians?] waste $63M on gas sitting in traffic each year. Fattah's full plan on transportation is viewable here.
Nutter wants to make sure that there are good representatives from Philly on the SEPTA board and wants to work with our neighboring counties instead of fighting with them for much needed funding. He said that SEPTA is the only mass transit system in the US without a dedicated funding stream. He wants to re-open the Department of Transit. He wants to change the attitude of SEPTA to "Welcome to my bus" instead of "Why are you here" - Nutter got some big applause for that.
Knox came out blasting that Philly needs a better taxi system. [What?] He said that NYC's taxis are clean and that they're cheaper [I'm 100% sure that they're waaaaaaaay more expensive]. I'm not sure if he's been in a taxi in NYC lately. The math is here: NYC and Philly. NYC has rush hour charges, additional passenger charges, night surcharges... Philly doesn't. I'm consistently shocked as to how cheap [comparatively!] the taxi rides I take in the city are [not that I take them often, but when I do, I notice].
Brady went into how integral he was during the last SEPTA strike negotiations. He stressed how, time after time, he is the one called by the Governor or the Mayor to step in when things get hairy. He noted the recent SEPTA strike and the plumbers' union hassle for the Comcast Center. The results? No fare increase for SEPTA (SEPTA NEEEEEEEDS a fare increase, perhaps a 5¢ increase each year for the last decade would've done the trick instead of pushing off increases for so long fares need to jump by 50% at a time) and a secondary set of completely unfuckinguseable set of pipes installed in the Comcast Center. Wow, now those are some wonderful negotiation skills. He said that he himself would go to Harrisburg to request funding for SEPTA and not send a lobbyist. Wow, strong words. I was underwhelmed by Brady all night.
Evans, on the heels of Brady's boss-like "need" within the system said that public policy shouldn't be done one transaction at a time as Brady does via the Governor and Mayor. This was the single clearest statement Evans made all night with which I agreed. Additionally, he'd like to change the constitution in the long term to give Philly more of a say and implement a sales tax increase, income tax increase and a PA turnpike toll tax [leasing of the intrastate as Gov. Rendell proposed] in the short term.
Colgan asked the candidates on the 2005 Mayor's Climate Change Agreement. Nutter was up first in the rotisserie format of the forum.
Nutter wants to retrofit all of SEPTA's diesel fueled buses with filters. The money [$1.2M to start] is sitting there from the Sunoco settlement allotting millions to fit filters onto old city vehicles. This is one of the points in the Asthma-related action point put forth by The Next Great City. That would put a nice dent of 240 vehicles retrofitted with the filters. He also wants sustainable materials used in all new construction and updated city buildings; a LEED standard.
Knox went to the issue of the 7600 cars in the City of Philadelphia's fleet. He wants to make sure they're efficient cars. I'd like to plug my company here, as well as Mayor Street's administration, for a sec. PhillyCarShare has reduced the City's fleet by 330 vehicles and Philadelphia, under Mayor Street, became the first city in the nation to have a municipal government share vehicles with the general public [take that Berkeley, Seattle and Minneapolis! ;)]. Knox also wanted to shoot for a LEED gold status, but from what I can see on the Rating Systems page, such a distinction does not exist, it's simply LEED or not.
Brady suggested looking to bio diesel as the state will reimburse vehicles converted to bio diesel [I think that's what he said]. He noted that the school district has a contract to convert to bio diesel, but it hasn't been acted upon. Unfortunately, from what I know about bio diesel, the infrastructure simply does not exist for it to really make a difference. Gas companies have to make the change to have hundreds [if not thousands] of bio diesel pumps to make the idea viable. In all my travels in the Philly area, I am aware of two biodiesel stations, one at 12/Vine Sts and another up on City/Conshohocken Aves. Unless Brady can negotiate the city [and the state] some serious bio diesel production, it's going to take a massive used kitchen oil initiative to fuel all those bio diesel vehicles.
And what did Evans suggest? Using the oil from restaurants as a fuel source! I'd be all for it, but I don't think Philly is a crunchy enough city to do this. But who knows, perhaps with some serious collaboration with the Sustainable Business Network in Philadelphia and other groups like the Clean Air Council and the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, it could happen. I don't think, in all my rainbow-filled, liberal-hearted, zero-emission laden fantasies that this could work in such a large scale any time soon, not here, not yet. Evans also pointed to his leadership abilities; he pointed to his leadership abilities throughout the evening many many many times.
Fattah advocated for improved building standards, green roofs (like industry-leading Chicago) and improved mass transit via dedicated funding from a PA turnpike toll tax and a tax on imported oil and a congestion charge for driving in Center City during peak hours.
The final question of the evening was which part of The Next Great City's plan would be the hardest to undertake and implement. Evans was up first and said the Asthma problem was the hardest. His unsure answer made it seem as if he'd read the report.
Fattah, Nutter and Brady all said that the modernizing of the Zoning Code would be the hardest action point.
Knox lost me here as he said that all of the points would easily be accomplished with good leadership and I'm going to infer that he meant that he could get them all done.
It was an informative evening, but in my book, former Councilman Michael Nutter was a cut above the rest. I hope to see all five of them in future forums. NOTE: This is in NO WAY an endorsement of Nutter's candidacy.
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