The Metro was able to find one of the few folks who were willing to go on the record with less than glowing praise for yesterday's City Hall open house:
Political watchers said yesterday that Nutter’s open house may set the tone for the kind of administration he hopes to have, but was little more than a well-executed public relations stunt.
“What the hell else can be behind it other than a good public relations move?” asked Larry Ceisler, a political consultant. “Michael’s about transparency and accessibility in government, and this is a good mechanism to set that tone.”
My own cynicism was very much muted after experiencing that line yesterday. Now we just have to see what's going to happen when the real work begins. As one of my co-workers just said to me after seeing the coverage of yesterday's event on the news, "I feel like were in a movie right now and I just hope that it ends well."
Don't worry, there are plenty of other items in the news for me to be sarcastic and less than 100% hopeful about today - not the least of which is a candidate for President convincing a small New England state that she's the candidate of "change" just by saying the word 3000 times - so the blogger you've come to know and be ambivalent about will return soon.
Comments (5)
Dan, Mr. Bitter! I thought I was bitter. Good public relations is not a crime. It doesn't make you less sincere for engaging in it.
Will Nutter have to enact FMV, cut PHA funding from the city, start charging PHA property taxes or otherwise force PHA to sell a tiny fraction of its $969,000,000 million in land, buildings and assets that it can't use, esp. the land, and will Street set about a hue and cry of the end of the world, sure.
Nutter will have to collect the $567 million in overdue property taxes, esp. in the neighborhoods where half of all owners owe more than one year of property taxes, and will the council set up a howl, of course.
Does the city have to be less optimistic? No. People will move, rent, change, adjust. Who moved their cheese? It's the new Philly Reads book of the Nutter administration -- assigned to all of Council and everyone who wants to stop the circle of life -- "Who Moved My Cheese?" or how I learned to grow a smarter, smaller, more efficient government and got reelected and ran for governor and won.
Posted by Anonymous | January 9, 2008 11:46 AM
Then ran for president, and won more than Iowa.
Posted by Anonymous | January 9, 2008 11:46 AM
Will Carl Greeene cry that he has to use asset based management? Apparently so. Will he have to raise rents? Uh, since they only take in about $30 million, uh, yeah. Raising everyone up a tad is a good thing. Moving to work, readying for the marketplace realities and all that.
What else will they call the end of fed block grant pay to play, the end of the Democratic party, the end of neighborhoods, community, and cheap, fast votes from people who don't care if you appoint your son to the ZBA but the END TIMES of A CARING CITY.
Not to just pick on PHA, because they do a lot of great stuff, but the way the politicos feed at that trough while kids have schools that are a crime to send a kid to, that's a little crazy. Do we really need 6 housing/development agencies in one city?
Can you say redundant? So, yeah, Nutter needs to engender good will and keep the faith. Can the press bear through the inevitable put off so long by Street without trying to eviscerate the best manager the city has had since David Cohen (Comcastic, not the Councilmanic)?
It's up to the press to take in the numbers and let off the dysthymia for a term of office.
Posted by Anonymous | January 9, 2008 11:54 AM
Well, no, there wasn't much substance to Nutter's open house, but I'm not sure if it was a publicity stunt or if he was trying to get Philadelphians excited about their city and less cynical about their government (of course, both of those takes are sort of like different ways of saying the same thing).
Regardless, I'll be watching what happens in city government pretty closely this year -- and will need all the help I can get from the media in that regard. I have high hopes for the Nutter administration and hope for this city's sake that they are realized.
Posted by Dave | January 9, 2008 12:05 PM
I waited in line for an hour and a half before having to give up (which I think a lot of people did). Nonetheless, I met a lot of really cool people and excited people. Everyone in the line was friendly. The little marching band was quite a refreshing sight.
Posted by Mike | January 9, 2008 1:11 PM