*****************************************************************
Update 2/18/02 @ 5:00 p.m. FINAL REPORT released.
Common Ground Principles

PRINCIPLE 1 Every neighborhood should have a similar, widely known way to convene civic groups and concerned individuals for input into project review.

PRINCIPLE 2 All projects of a certain level of impact, whether as-of-right or requiring variances, would benefit from public input.

PRINCIPLE 3 When assessing a [...]

So much has happened since Michael Nutter was sworn in as Mayor of Philadelphia two years ago. Even for his supporters, it’s probably hard to remember the euphoria of that day. Finally, we thought, here’s a man who knew how city government worked but was also fed up with its inefficient ways.

In his inauguration speech [...]

Asking a politician to grade another politician, who lives in the same city, who shares the same political party, and have the same constituent base is not asking for the harshest of critiques. But given that It’s only fair to hear how someone like U.S. Congressman Bob Brady views the mayor’s first two years in [...]

Phil Goldsmith takes the hard line on Mayor Nutter saying that past Philadelphia mayors have accomplished more in their first two years. Gee, Phil, tell us what you really think. Goldsmith’s views are worth thinking about even if you don’t fully agree. This is after all a major global recession that has hit every level [...]

WHYY is running short essays this month on what people think of Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter’s first two years in office. One of the challenges in doing this is how to factor in The Great Recession. On January 7, 2008, few people knew that the housing market would collapse, banks would become toxic sites, and [...]

In January 7, 2008 Michael Nutter was sworn in as Philadelphia’s mayor. During his inauguration speech he made many bold promises. One of the major ones was on improving education. Here’s what he said:

If our young people are ever going to have the opportunity to begin college, let alone earn a degree, then they must [...]

In April 2009, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter released a plan called Greenworks. It is his administration’s vision of how to make Philadelphia the greenest city in the nation. Many of the ideas in the Greenworks plan can be traced to The Next Great City Initiative that challenged citizens to help develop policies that would [...]

The Philadelphia Office of Arts and Culture closed under Mayor John Street in 2004. One of Mayor Nutter’s campaign promises was to reopen it. In the fall of 2008, Gary Steuer began as the head of the new Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy. We invited two arts bloggers to give us their [...]