Last Thursday, I went to a meeting at the Academy of Music, site of today's ceremony, to go over details of the media coverage of the event. This is my first mayoral swearing-in as a member of the media and, on top of that, the first one that I'm really paying attention to. When Street was first sworn in back in 2000, I was safely tucked away as an academic in Chester County.
However, even having never fully experienced what's about to happen today, I still got a sense from the questions that were being asked on Thursday morning and from the sheer amount of people who were at the meeting, that this one is special. The media is paying extra special attention to this one.
Who knows why? Perhaps, we, like everyone else, are being swept up into the stratospherically high expectations that are being heaped onto mayor-elect Nutter and want to give our readers, listeners and viewers the kind of coverage that we think they want. Maybe, after 8 years of a mayor that has had somewhat of a bunker mentality when it comes to the press, we're all looking forward to dealing with an administration that, at least so far, values free and open communication. Or possibly, we are all just a bunch of Philadelphians (city and suburban) who want the city to do well and are pinning our own hopes on this new administration. As such, we all just want to be there and, in our own very small way, be a part of history.
The end result is, yes, we are going to cover that crap out of this event. Here's the whole schedule in today's Daily News.
Starting at 10am, a whole slew of Daily News reporters, Susan Phillips from WHYY and I will be at the Academy of Music for the pomp and circumstance for an event that is basically a very well-attended City Council meeting. About an hour into that meeting, Michael Nutter will be sworn in and then deliver his inaugural address.
You can see the entire thing, starting at 10, on WHYY's Digitial Channel 12.3 which can be found on Comcast Digital Cable Channel 242 or Verizon FiOS 873. If you can't get to a TV or don't have digital cable or FiOS, we'll be rebroadcasting the swearing-in and inaugural address part, tonight at 11 PM on Channel 12, which you can still get with a good set of rabbit ears until 2009.
Shortly after that, I (and I'm sure a whole bunch of the press corps) will head over to City Hall for the public swearing-in of the mayor's new cabinet. That event is scheduled for 12:30pm. I'll most likely get a little video and share that later today on the blog. This is being touted as a first. The first time, the cabinet is being sworn in as part of a public ceremony.
Nutter then heads to the Bellevue for a "Mentorship Luncheon" for city students and their mentors. As of now, I'll probably head over and see if I can get some of his remarks on video to share later today as well.
Finally, after a nice long day for everyone, I'll be among the numerous press at the "Philadelphia Realized" inaugural festivities down at the Cruise Ship Terminal in the Navy Yard. Nutter is expected to deliver a speech at around 10pm (just in time to go live on the 10pm newscasts and get taped and edited for the 11pm). Video (very unedited) of that will also be available much later tonight.
All of this coverage is subject to change (ie, if my battery goes dead, there may some video I don't get). Check back here throughout the day for updates.
Comments (2)
did your battery go dead?
Posted by Anonymous | January 7, 2008 2:43 PM
The important question on everyone's minds at the inaug: Will The Next Mayor be renamed?
Posted by Goose | January 7, 2008 3:50 PM