The Economist Magazine’s print edition has a story on how a city with high hopes with its new mayor was knocked off its track by the global recession. The story titled “A Nutter Crisis,” which is a play on the words “another crisis,” explains that the city’s falling revenue forced the mayor to announce major budget cuts in Nov. A move that didn’t sit well with residents, especially because he proposed closing 11 libraries. The story also tries to explain the Nutter administration’s legal battle over the libraries and the city’s upcoming union contracts. But the clearest story line for me was Nutter’s wild ride as mayor.

It has all been a far cry from this time last year. Mr. Nutter’s inauguration in January 2008 saw Philadelphians waiting for up to four hours outside City Hall to shake his hand. Not unlike Barack Obama, he was elected with a mandate for change, promising a “new day and a new way”. He pledged to reduce murders, add new police officers, make the city greener and bring more jobs to Philadelphia.

The story says Michael Nutter did score some solid accomplishments.

And given the budget constraints, Mayor Nutter did well in his first year. He hired 200 more police officers, though that was fewer than the 400 promised. Murders were down 15% in 2008, the sharpest decline in a decade; not the ambitious 25% hoped for, but still a worthy drop in a city once nicknamed “Killadelphia”

It’s true that Mayor Nutter was able to get these and some of his reform minded plans off the ground, like empowering the Planning Commission and even hiring a Sustainability Director. But the big question is faced with weakening revenues can he sustain the momentum.

Now faced with “another crisis” - with projected spending to exceed revenues by $1 billion over the next five years - the magazine says, the mayor is trying a new approach to the budget drafting process by seeking public input BEFORE announcing any cuts. The goal of these budget workshops is to give the public a taste of just how hard it is to make deep cuts, assess the public’s priorities in which departments to protect, and maybe win more public support for his budget that he will unveil to city council on March 19.