Michael Nutter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements since June 2007 | Living people | Pennsylvania politicians | People from Philadelphia | University of Pennsylvania alumni | Wharton School alumni
Michael Anthony Nutter (born June 29, 1957) is the Mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Elected on November 6, 2007, he was sworn in on January 7, 2008. Nutter is a former councilman of the city's 4th Council District, which includes the neighborhoods of Wynnefield, Overbrook, Roxborough, Manayunk, East Falls and parts of North Philadelphia, West Philadelphia, and West Mount Airy. He has served as the 52nd Ward Democratic Leader since 1990. He and former mayor John F. Street clashed over policy and reform. On June 27, 2006, Nutter resigned from the council to run for mayor.[1]
BackgroundNutter was born and raised in the Cobbs Creek neighborhood of West Philadelphia. He graduated from Saint Joseph's Preparatory School and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1979. Nutter worked as an investment manager at Pryor, Counts & Co., specializing in municipal finance, before being elected city councilman in 1991. [2] In 2001, Nutter was appointed to the Board of City Trusts, which manages money and property left to the City of Philadelphia. The Board administers more than 110 trusts for a wide variety of charitable purposes, the most significant being Girard College and the Wills Eye Hospital. [3] Nutter has served as Chairman of the Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority Board since February 2003. He crafted a pivotal labor-management agreement which was signed July 2003, and he is now spearheading a $630-million expansion of the Center. [4] Nutter worked with administrators from the Philadelphia School District, city representatives and community leaders to revitalize the schools and to resolve housing issues in the East Falls section of the city. [5] PolicyNutter supports reducing or altogether repealing the city's Business Privilege Tax and Wage Tax. Using the information and recommendations developed by the Tax Reform Commission, Nutter has pushed for a gradual elimination of the Business Privilege Tax (BPT) since 2004.[citation needed] On four occasions, bills were approved by City Council, but vetoed by the mayor. He also drafted legislation that reinstated reductions to the city wage tax after the Mayor introduced a budget that would have halted them. In September 2004, as councilman, Nutter introduced legislation creating an independent Ethics Board. In addition, he proposed changes to the City's Ethics Code to provide for routine training and education of all City officers and employees, the issuance of advisory opinions, the adjudication of violations, and the imposition of civil fines. These measures were adopted at the end of 2005. On May 16, 2006, voters approved the Ethics Board ballot question with over 81% voting “Yes,” and was installed November 27, 2006. [6] Nutter sponsored "The Clean Indoor Air Worker Protection Law," expanding the definition of "public places" where smoking is not allowed to include restaurants and many bars, which Mayor Street eventually signed into law. [7] Nutter's "Philly First" program, which took effect on July 1, 2004, gives preference to Philadelphia businesses in competitive bidding on City contracts greater than $25,000. [8] In January 2005, the City announced a library reorganization plan in which 20 branches would shift from full-day service to half-day service, and that many head librarians had been laid off. Library supporters rejected these changes and petitioned the mayor and City Council to restore service and staffing levels. Then-councilman Nutter called for an investigation to evaluate the Library System and explore alternatives to find additional funding in order to restore service.[citation needed] City Council rejected the Administration's cut, funding was restored, and by the Fall of 2005 all library branches had full-day service, Saturday hours, and a head librarian. He supports having the City of Philadelphia declare a "Crime Emergency" in selected areas of Philadelphia.[citation needed] This would station more officers in certain areas of Philadelphia, limit the ability to gather on public sidewalks, impose a curfew for all residents, and limit the ability to travel in certain areas. The proposal includes a warrant-less police search technique known as "stop-and-frisk." Nutter claims that this approach is sufficiently similar to one that was found to be Constitutional by the United States Supreme Court in 1968 in Terry v Ohio.[9] Nutter supports the eviction of the Cradle of Liberty Council of the Boy Scouts of America from their headquarters on the Ben Franklin Parkway. In a televised debated on NBC 10 Live @ Issue he said, "In my administration, we will not subsidize discrimination." [10] Nutter endorsed Hillary Clinton for the 2008 US Presidential Election. 2007 mayoral raceNutter has positioned himself as a reformer.[11] On April 27, 2007, The Philadelphia Inquirer announced that it would endorse Nutter for the Democratic primary.[12] Nutter has also been endorsed by the Philadelphia Daily News[13], Philadelphia magazine[14], Northeast Times[15], Philadelphia City Paper[16], Philadelphia Weekly[17], Philly for Change[18] (a local affiliate of Democracy for America), The Daily Pennsylvanian [19], the Penn Democrats[20], and Clean Water Action.[21] Nutter won the May 15 Democratic primary election with 37% of the vote in a five-man field, thus making himself the assumed victor of the overall election in this overwhelmingly Democratic city. On November 6, 2007, Nutter was declared the winner of the general election after only one percent of the returns had come in. In a historic landslide, Nutter won with 86% percent; his opponent, Al Taubenberger, received 13% percent of the vote. One of the most successful commercials that Nutter ran during his campaign for the Democratic nomination for the 2007 Philadelphia Mayoral Election featured his daughter, Olivia Nutter. During the political advertisement, Nutter's daughter discusses the daily activities of her father and mentions that Nutter was the only candidate with a child attending Philadelphia public school.[22] The campaign was a success and was seen by many political commentators as humanizing the candidate.[23] The New York Times deemed Nutter "the Seabiscuit of this year’s urban politics."[24] External linksReferences
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
