Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter was a guest for It's Our City's kick-off event in June

One of the big differences between former Mayor John Street and the current Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter is their attitudes towards the media. For Street, his idea of media was anything on his Blackberry or IPhone. It’s too bad because there may have been things he did right but we’ll never know. He hated the media. He only appeared on Radio Times once as Mayor and that was a brief interview by phone and that was it.

Since being elected in January, Nutter has been gracious enough to appear on Radio Times two times. The first time was the morning after his big victory on 11/7/07, then he appeared on 4/23/08 for his reaction to the PA Primary results.

Tune in to 91fm this morning at 11:00am when Mayor Nutter will again be Marty Moss-Coane’s guest,  There’s a lot Marty and the mayor can talk about, the city’s projected $450 million dollar budget gap. Basically if the city keeps spending at the current level for the next five years, we won’t have enough money coming in to cover the bills. Education is big issue, He wants to lower the student drop out rate and boost the number of college graduates. But probably the toughest issue to deal with is crime. While his administration has made progress in lowering the homicide rate by 20% we’ve had a spate of unnerving crimes, like the recent hammer attack on the SEPTA subway, that sure don’t make you feel safe.

Also, crime itself has taken a toll on the Philadelphia Police Department. Yesterday two police officers were shot, one died from a gunshot to the chest, while the other was listed in stable condition after being shot in the hip.

This mayor seems to be ernestly trying to improve for the better how the city runs, and most Philadelphians are rooting for him to succeed. But one thing Nuttter has always said and it bears repeating that we all need to become more involved helping a government work better. It’s easy to dismiss calls for citizen involvement if you believe local government is made up of a bunch of corrupt officials hell-bent on enriching themselves and their friends. But if you believe that this mayor is different, then it’s time to speak up and pro-actively looking for ways to improve the city. Help the Rec department clean up local playgrounds, report departments that are misusing funds to the City Inspector General, or assist the Police Department by signing up to be a Town Watch member.