Nutter's crime plan; Fattah's ethics plan (The Next Mayor)

Read them here:

Nutter's crime plan, which is as advertised in Catherine Lucey's story this morning;

ETA: OK, now I have taken a deeper look at both plans.

YOU SHOULD GO READ THEM.

Nutter's includes one idea that is a significant advance from the plans he has put forward before: "Declare a limited crime emergency in targeted enforcement zones, as authorized by the City Code."

That is what it sounds like: Declare that some neighborhoods are so violence-stricken that they get special treatment, from extra cops to stricter curfews.

He also supports stop and frisk and surveillance cameras in high-crime areas.

But it is Fattah's ethics plan that sent my eyebrows skyrocketing. It is detailed plan to clean up and open government to its citizens. Frankly, achieving 10 percent of these goals would be a massive step forward.

A few caveats: Many of his ideas are covered by law now or have been done before (see the part about the Inspector General). Some may not be doable, including the VERY GOOD IDEA to personally visit each of the city’s 10 Councilmanic Districts quarterly. Check this out:

"Mayor Fattah and the city’s Deputy Commissioners will conduct business from temporary offices located in recreation centers or other city buildings within each District. Modern communications technology will allow the Administration to do the work of city government from the city’s neighborhoods."

Not to mention the plan to "hold a full day of open-invitation half hour meetings with publicly-spirited citizens" every month (!)

That is a LOT of meetings. People who know more about this than me say it would be extremely difficult to pull off.

Still, the plan is broad and a powerful statement about the suprising role that ethics is playing in this election. Go read it.

Comments (7)

sj:

I'm pretty impressed. Fattah is coming out swinging to prove he isnt going to be a status quo mayor. He just made life very difficult for Nutter. I dont think he can do half of what he proposes, but his proposals are aggressive. How will Nutter respond? Same for Knox.

Posted by sj | January 16, 2007 4:00 PM

Dave

Fattah's crime and ethics plans have some pretty good content. The thing that worries me about them is that everyone says he can't possibly implement everything in them. So what parts does he plan to implement?

Posted by Dave | January 16, 2007 4:16 PM

mdcphilly

I guess we should just call Fattah and Nutter the Bobbsey Twins.

Posted by mdcphilly | January 16, 2007 10:48 PM

Ghost of John Adams :

Fattah's is the best so far. I can’t wait to see Brady's. He will probably propose more patronage in the police department.

Posted by Ghost of John Adams | January 17, 2007 8:38 AM

Tom Crowell:

Why does this blog say the proposal is a big deal when the news story say it has few details? It seems pretty limp to me....lots of things to "study".

Posted by Tom Crowell | January 17, 2007 4:22 PM

mike:

so far chakah facade has proposed a whole lot of nothing...if you want eight more years of the same thing, he's your guy. I'm sure his initiatives to study ethics reform will conveniently conclude only towards the end of his second term.

Posted by mike | January 17, 2007 10:29 PM

Esquisite:

Will Fattah get credit for saying he'll fly everybody to the moon too? More than half of what Fattah proposes, Michael Nutter has already done! Where has Fattah been?

- Michael Nutter is the only candidate who created an Independent Ethics Board.

- In May 2006, voters approved Nutter's proposed changes to the Ethics Code that would provide for routine training of City officers and employees, the issuance of advisory opinions, the adjudication of violations, and the imposition of fines.

- Michael Nutter is the only candidate to create No-Bid Contract Reform. Nutter has fought hard for transparency in the awarding of no-bid (professional services) contracts. In 2005, City Council approved reforms requiring disclosure of campaign contributions prior to and during the period of a contract. 87% voted to approve this change - the largest margin ever recorded in the City. Through Nutter’s efforts, contract opportunities and explanations of award decisions are now available to the public online.

- Michael Nutter is the only mayoral candidate to sponsor a bill that requires City candidates’ campaign reports to be filed with the City’s Records Department and posted on the City’s website. The Records Department has implemented this reform, making campaign reports available to the public online.

- Michael Nutter is the only mayoral candidate to introduce an ordinance that prohibits the receipt of City financial assistance by those who have made qualifying campaign contributions to City candidates or incumbents. It also requires those seeking financial assistance of $50,000 or more to disclose campaign contributions made in the past two years, and those awarded financial assistance to refrain from making qualifying campaign contributions for the following five years.

So my question is: Where has Fattah been? Half of his proposal already exists, because Michael Nutter created it, and fought hard to make them happen. Nutter fought for ethics reform when it was unpopular and no one wanted it. Where was Fattah, or any other mayoral candidate, when Nutter was having this one-man fight in City Hall?

Can I now say that I invented the peanut, and get credit for it? I sure eat a lot of them; it has to count for something.

Posted by Esquisite | January 18, 2007 9:12 AM

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