This mayoral election - serious, but politically scattered - may not have made for the best TV.
Its results are, by definition, sure to disappoint some people who really care about the city - because each candidate is backed by people who sincerely care.
But on the grassroots level, it's been a pretty impressive display of citizen ferment.
Another case in point: The Cross City Coalition, a joint effort of seven civic associations in Center City and adjacent neighborhoods, put in an extraordinary amount of effort going back to last fall to survey a thousand of their members about which issues mattered most to them in the race.
The coalition then tried to distill those issues into a series of very specific, stand-and-deliver type questions to the mayoral candidates. (Coalition leaders' belief that you can pin down experienced politicians to yes/no commitments that you can then hold them to struck me as bit idealistic, but, hey, it's worth a try.)
The results are now posted on a blog -- www.crosstowncoalition.blogspot.com - which invites citizens to write in their reactions to candidates in action.
Good stuff. Compliments to the Crosstown Coalition. A city with citizens like these has a future.
Here's a shortened copy of the group's letter to the editor of the Inquirer, which will be published in print version shortly:
"In the past, Philadelphia has been called complacent. That description certainly does not apply in this election cycle. In a citizen-sponsored, citizen-run survey, 1,000 respondents have singled out government corruption as their primary concern. The survey showed anxiety about the effectiveness of the City’s criminal justice system as well as strong support for tax and education reform. The survey participants also registered their concerns about casinos, zoning and planning.
Seven civic associations – Bella Vista United Civic Association, Center City Residents’ Association, Logan Square Neighborhood Association, Old City Civic Association, Queen Village Neighborhood Association, Society Hill Civic Association and Washington Square West Civic Association – have formed the Crosstown Coalition with a goal of making sure that we all know where each candidate stands on the issues the citizens care about most.
The coalition conducted a survey in these neighborhoods, asking residents to rate 13 issues for the next mayor on a 1 to 10 scale from least to most important. The respondents rated municipal corruption, education and the economy the most important topics. Public safety was rated fourth.
Feedback from the survey has been incorporated into 37 questions addressed to the mayoral candidates. The questions and answers received from the five Democratic candidates have been placed on a blog –
www.crosstowncoalition.blogspot.com -- where the public can assess the responses of the candidates and post their own views, facilitating a citizen- candidate dialogue.
It is clear from the responses of the 1,000 people who participated in the Crosstown Coalition survey – as well as interest in Great Expectations project and in the TheNextMayor.com Web site run by the Daily News, WHYY and the Committee of Seventy _ that Philadelphians care deeply about developing the full potential of their city.
There is too much at stake for complacency. The Crosstown Coalition encourages you to learn the specifics of candidates’ positions and to express opinions about them.
/s
Stephen Huntington
Member, Crosstown Coalition Coordinating Committee
Past President, Center City Residents’ Association"
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