I fully intended to live blog at the forum tonight but it seems that I overestimated the wireless connectivity of the Academy of Natural Sciences. I'll still provide a minute-by-minute account but if you were expecting to be able to refresh your screen for constant live updates, I'm sorry I disappointed you. (So I'm posting this from home after a healthy dose of the Daily Show and the Colbert Report to help me keep perspective.)
As I write this post, it's about twenty after seven and the auditorium at the Academy is just starting to fill up. Surprisingly, the crowd is just a little bit smaller than the one that attended The Next Great City's primary forum. Tonight's host, Flavia Colgan, is working the room and there are actually three television cameras stationed in the back. A number of folks from the Daily News are here as are representatives from just about every other media outlet in the city. Heck, (correction) NBC 10's CBS 3's Larry Mendte is sitting across the aisle from me. For our entertainment, we're being shown a series of pictures of greening efforts from cities around the word alternated with shots of some of Philadelphia's most picturesque green scenes (though that picture of Jefferson Square park is a lot nicer looking than the actual park).
Ok. Now that I've got you hooked with the pre-game, I know you'll be jumping at the chance to hit the "Continue Reading" and get the good stuff after the jump.
It's now about 10 minutes after the scheduled start of the event and I've only seen one candidate - Taubenberger. Bill Brown, president of the Academy is letting us know that Nutter is running a little late but he's on his way. Now he's talking about the history of the Academy - one heck of a warm up act! Now Blaine Bonham from the PA Horticultural Society, Spencer Finch of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council and Christine Knapp of Next Great City Initiative are filling time while we wait for Nutter. Spencer got to say "I'd like to thank the Academy." I'm so jealous.
Chrisine delivers the good news - the candidates are both here! She's about to introduce the candidates and tonight's host, Flavia Colgan, who delivers a few laugh lines to start things off. Now Flavia's telling a story about Time's Person of the Year (that would be YOU, by the way) and how she suggested the YouTube idea to them. Flavia introduces the candidates and the three of them take their seats on the state - Taubenberger to Flavia's right, Nutter to Flavia's left.
Ooooh... We get to see the first video question - The questioner wants to know what the first thing the mayor can do to cut the city's energy consumption and increase the production of renewable energy.
Nutter goes first. He brings up his idea of a city energy office and sustainability cabinet to figure out what the city's energy costs are. After that, he rattles off the usual list of energy conservation efforts - LEED-certified buildings, increasing recycling, switching to wind energy sources, etc.
Taubenberger gets a separate question about addressing the violent crime issue, specifically about a shooting incident at a recreation center. He starts by explaining that parks are good, violence is bad and it's a complicated situation. He offers job-creation as his end to violence. The answer touches on a number of other ideas - conflict resolution in schools, more policing of the parks, more leadership from the Commissioner. New fact - Al Taubenberger was shot at by a guy using a BB gun in a park. Not quite as dramatic as Chaka Fattah's shooting incident (remember that?) but still pretty harrowing.
So now Flavia gets a question and uses Al Gore's Nobel Prize as her hook. She asks Nutter what he is committed to do about global warming. Nutter's list of recommendations (lots of lists tonight) includes filters on vehicles and encouraging walkinig and cycling.
Now we have an actual YouTube question about for Al about vacant lots. After a brief history of Penn State as a land grant school (did you know Al has a degree in agronomy? - cue joke about shoveling manure as good training for his political career), Al talks about cleaning the lots and trying where possible to deed them over to local CDCs.
Another video question - to sum up - what can you do to foster small local businesses and encourage sustainable business practices. Both candidates get a crack at this one. Nutter starts with a plug for the Sustainable Business Network and points out that a vast majority of the city's workforce are employed in small businesses. Comparing it to Philly's success with creating jobs in the hospitality sector, Nutter says that the city, when focused, has shown and ability to attract new sectors. (Quote of the night I, from Nutter: "Should I be mayor, I won't have to argue with myself over the business privilege tax. I might actually win a few of those arguments." - in response to making the city more welcoming to new, small businesses.)
According to Al, employment in the green sector "beautifies the city" and helps us "stretch a dollar." As the financial underdog, he says, his campaign committee has certainly learned "to stretch a dollar." Al then spins off to do a book review of a book by Elijah Anderson. Oh, he's back... no wait... he's talking about the parks. And with a very un-Republican policy idea, he suggests using $30 million of city funding to bring the parks up to speed and provide job opportunities to students, etc. to do it.
Flavia uses Al's reference to the parks to point out that Philadelphia has lost two hundred thousand trees in the last 20 years. Al answers the question for about 15 seconds before he talks about his fear of heights and having to climb a tree.
Another YouTube question! This one is about litter. How would keep the city clean, Michael Nutter? Nutter says that during the course of his campaign and getting to travel the city, he's learned a few things, one of them being how dirty the city is. (Quote of the night II from Nutter: "There are only 5 things that fall from the sky, rain, snow, sleet, hail and blessings from the Lord.) I'm sensing some genuine outrage from the candidate as he talks about what he'd like to say to people who throw litter on the streets. He pledges a massive citywide clean-up of the city shortly after he's election with a full blown advertising and public relations blitz, calling it "Keep it Clean, Philly."
Next question for Al from Flavia. Flavia just a read a "recent" City Controller report which stated that bringing the recycling rate up to 35% would save the city $17 million. Al's answer - I would start doing it! He seems to be saying that the problem is that recycling only happens every other week.
Apparently there's a question for Nutter somewhere in a promotional video about the Schuylkill Banks. Flavia saves it by asking about Nutter's plan for the riverfronts. Nutter gives props to the Schuylkill River Park folks for "literally creating something out of nothing" along the that river's edge. He says that he's ready to take on the challenge of developing the Delaware waterfront as well, while staying true to good planning and design principles.
Video question for Al - what can you do to cut down on the number of vehicles and make it more bicycle friendly? Al goes right after SEPTA on that one - more funding, more seats on the SEPTA board, etc. Al promises to ride his bike from Northeast Philly. A bell goes off in the room, to which Nutter says "it's the bell on your bicycle Al." Al replies, "well, we could get a bicycle built for two and ride it in together." Nutter: "I think we spend waaay too much time together already." A light-hearted moment in an otherwise predictable forum. Nutter takes a shot at making the city more cyclist friendly by offering a full and complete educational program for cyclists, motorists and pedestrians. He also proposes a department of transportation to regulate these activities.
Another video question to Al Taubenberger seems pretty similar to an earlier question about the safety and quality of the parks as well as funding. Al pledges his full commitment to full funding recreation. He talks about his first visit to FDR park and the "eyesore" created by all of the trash in FDR's lake. ("The government didn't put it there," says Al.) He pledges to increase fines for littering and enforce thosse fines.
The next question for Nutter seems to take the form of another promotional video - this one about green building (very slickly produced, by the way). The question, what would you do to incentivize green building. Nutter answers by saying that as the city goes through the zoning reform process and rethinking the building code, the city should begin to require in these green building principles. (Quote of the night III, in response to Nutter's admission that he personally has no "green skills" and that every plant he's ever owned has died, Taubenberger says, "I definitely feel like I have the advantange here.")
Oh good, it's questions from the audience time! A softball question for Al asks how he would protect community gardens.
Next up, does the governance of Fairmount Park needs to change? Nutter agrees that the "selection process" of the Fairmount Park Commission needs to change. But he makes the point that while the focus has been on governance, the main problem is that the park is underfunded (he brings up the Chicago example again - $400 million for their 7300 acres of Parks and Rec facilities compare to our $14 million for the parks and $40 million recreation department).
Al veers from a question about green infrastructure to say something about how PGW was unable to bid to put gas heat in the Comcast Tower.
Final question from the audience - how can the city work with the region's colleges and universities to push the goals of sustainability. Nutter talks about opening the office of university relations to take advantage of the economic engines that universities provide. "Every city department and agency should have college students and high school students as interns," says Nutter comparing it to a program in New York that serves as a "pipeline" to get talented college graduates into city government.
One final video question is coming up but first, Flavia gives a plug for The Next Mayor forum! (Yay!)
Final question - when your term is up, what will be your green legacy?
For Taubenberger it's about the parks - fully funding the parks and making them a place for families to go. After that, he talks about city efficiencies so that we can lessen our dependence on foreign oil ("The can drink it if they want to," says Al about what middle eastern countries can do with the oil when we don't need it anymore.) And the night wouldn't be complete without a mention of William Penn and the "greene countrie towne." Thanks, Al! He'll also help Nutter "raise those plants."
Nutter says he's been reluctant to get into the legacy question "for a job I don't have yet." His list includes: a better recycling program; planting hundreds of thousands of trees; revising the zoning and building code to make LEED standards the norm; fully funding the parks and using them to attract people to Philadelphia and use those parks as a "regional asset" in its dealings with neighboring counties. "People would look back on this time and see this as a Renaissance period in Philadelphia," says Nutter, "where green was the word of the day."
And that wraps it up.