Great Expectations

The Inquirer reports that Mayor-elect Michael Nutter has named former Washington, D.C., police chief Charles H. Ramsey as the city's next police commissioner.

Not surprisingly, crime fighting and violence were identified by citizens as one of their top concerns during our neighborhood forums earlier this year. As such, they were featured issues in the Great Expectation's "Challenges Ahead" series. Read the segment on crime here.

What characteristics do think the next top cop should have? Any suggestions on what he should tackle first?

Michael Nutter's appointment of Chuck Ramsey to head the Philadelphia police department is a good example of how life imitates baseball.
First, there is the pattern of nice guy-tough guy that regularly happens in rotating baseball managers. The Phils go from Larry Bowa (one tough S.O.B.) to Charlie Manuel (sweet guy.)
Second, there is the pattern of insider-outsider. The decision clubs must always make in awarding the manager's job to someone from within the organization or someone from the outside. Manuel is from the outside. Bowa was home-grown talent.
So, we had John Timoney (outsider, tough guy) replaced by Sylvester Johnson (insider, nice guy) replaced by Chuck Ramsay, the outsider. Whether he's a tough guy or a nice guy is too early to say, but I am betting he will shake things up in the department.
Ramsey is also good at public relations (too good, in the eyes of some of his detractors). PR wasn't Johnson's strong point. Reporters gave him the nickname "Mumbles" after the Dick Tracy character noted for saying a lot, but not in any way that could be understood.

Citizen blogger Whitney Hoffman wraps up her take on the Dec. 2 Citizens Convention:

In the session on the knowledge economy in Philadelphia, participants seemed to have many concerns. One concern was making Philadelphia an attractive and affordable city to young graduates, which meant affordable housing for people starting out in their first jobs. Another prong of the discussion dealt with providing internship opportunities with local unions and local businesses beyond formal co-op programs, to let students take off a semester and get more experience as well as needed funds to afford higher education.

One of the most compelling suggestions was to make Philadelphia a leader in alternative energy, or make it a center for telecommuting, and invest in the regional wi-fi net that would allow people to live and work from here, anywhere, in the emerging global economy. We spoke about providing more e-learning for continuing education.

Philadelphia-area blogger and podcaster Bill Rowland discusses his impressions of the Great Expectations Citizens’ Convention held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center on Sunday December 2nd.

In this program, Bill covers the event including the welcome session, as well as discussions of three of twelve key issues found in the draft Citizens Agenda. Specifically The Knowledge Economy, City Services and Crime.

Listen in to Bill's podcast

Citizen blogger Peak Johnson graduated from high school last spring and former editor of the North Philly Metropolis. He gives his perspective on three issues he decided impacted youth in the community: poverty, crime and transportation. He writes:

Although I had blogged before as part of my after-school program, I never thought much about the medium. As a writer for my community paper, the North Philly Metropolis, I’ve wanted to reach readers in my community rather than in the cyber community. But after my friend Mr. Ben Lowe explained that the Great Expectations project was looking for citizen journalists, I decided to give blogging a shot. He thought the Citizens Convention might be of interest to me because writing is what I do. I thought that being fresh out of high school and having already built a reputation as writer in the Metropolis, I should try a new approach.

Unfortunately, I really have no sense of direction when traveling around Philadelphia – or anywhere else for that matter, even if my destination is just a few blocks from home. As I waited for the No. 33 bus, I hovered over the stack of The Metropolis that I was taking with me and repeated the directions to the Convention Center in my head. I had the reoccurring wish that someone would see me, know me, and drop me off where I needed to go. Despite the gray skies and rain, this was my lucky day. A neighbor pulled up and asked, “Where ya going?” “Twelfth and Arch, the Convention Center,” I replied. And with a wave of his hand signaling me to hop in, we were on our way.

Citizen blogger Peak Johnson graduated from high school last spring and is former editor of the North Philly Metropolis. A North Philadelphia resident, he returns to the Great Expectations blog to give his perspective on issues he thinks most affect city youth. He attended the District 5 event held Feb. 24. He reports:

Another chance to blog and another chance to be able to represent the youth of North Philadelphia. When Ms. Jodie Lowe sent out a list of the different spots of where the bloggers would be delivering the Great Expectations Agenda, I chose The Philadelphia Inquirer/Daily News building. What better place to be for a future writer?

I had managed to catch the No. 3 bus to Broad Street, where my intention was to catch the next bus and be at my destination in no time. However, the one thing I overlooked was that this bus, the C, is never known to come on time. I knew where this building was located, unlike many others, and as I did for the December Citizens Convention I received a ride from a friend, except this time I called him asking if he could drop me off.

Arriving at approximately 7:10 p.m., I dashed into the building and was directed to the event. “Just follow the balloons,” the person manning the guard station in the entryway said in a rather dull voice. The balloons were nice, but what really seemed more appealing were the framed covers and articles of the Daily News and Inquirer lining the walls.

Citizen blogger Peak Johnson's last post touched on the "stop and frisk" issue. Here, he responds to several of the comments readers made to the post. He writes:

It hasn’t been long since my last post, and already I’m writing another. Blogging is so much fun I wish I had discovered it sooner. I though I would attempt to answer some questions left for me in the comments area of my last post. My last entry revolved a little around "stop and frisk." I wrote about the opinions of the two wonderful ladies who allowed me to take their photo. The post, I don’t think, really delivered my opinion of "stop and frisk." So here it is: A lot of African-Americans see "stop and frisk" as a way for the police to abuse their power; I’m sure many are aware of this. Furthermore, it is viewed as racial profiling. However, my outlook is that if it helps limit crime in communities like mine in North Philadelphia, then it can’t be all bad. Also, if some people would not portray themselves negatively just for the heck of it, then officers probably would not have a reason to search them at all.