Mikey and Al, Oct. 22, PECO Energy Hall

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Mikey and Al, Oct. 22, PECO Energy Hall

POSTED: Tuesday, October 23, 2007, 4:04 PM

Filed Under: Critical Mass | Last Night | What else

deesha dyer

Last night, the Urban League Young Professionals hosted Philly Mayoral candidates Michael Nutter and Al Taubenberger at the PECO Building in a friendly conversation that was led by media personalities Colby Colb (100.3 The Beat) and Natasha Brown (CBS 3/CW Philly 57). The room was set up for about 100 or so people, but at best, 50 bodies filled the venue. The pre-determined questions were a bit predictable ranging from the Philadelphia educational system, SEPTA, affordable and quality housing, customer service within the city, and retaining students after they finish at an area college. Nutter seemed to have the best answers for everything, even prompting Taubenberger to piggy back on his opponents' answers by simply replying to half the questions as "I agree with Mike", before adding his own commentary. The funniest part of the night came when an audience member stated, "I wanna know who is getting fired -because in order to fix things, the people at the top have to change." While comical, there was much truth in that statement. Nutter was honest in saying that he expects significant amount of changes, but also added, "This isn't the Donald Trump show. This is a city with a million and a half people that needs support and I take that seriously." Taubenberger's answer wasn't memorable or good enough to write down. Click below to see some boring pics, Al and Mike websites, and to read a brief outline of things discussed. Don't get too excited though -it was a basic and clean discussion, that even prompted Colby Colb to remind the candidates that they are allowed to disagree. I was quite surprised about the lack organizations represented. I do know there are a million and one debates or conversations happening like this before election day, but I figured the motivation from Sunday's 10,000 men Call to Action would have spilled over and some would have came out last night. Guess not! Both candidates agreed that SEPTA needs an overhaul and that if we are paying the most for service in the country, the transportation should be the best. Nutter plans on attacking this issue by re-opening the office of transportation in the city, and having more discussions with political leaders in the city who help choose the SEPTA appointees to make a clear and informed decision about who they choose. Taubenberger spoke of getting more input from riders to make them comfortable. As far as affordable and quality housing, Nutter made the point that half the property the city owns, it has no idea what to do with it. He would like to have the perspective communities work with developers to figure out what will and won't work and he wants to diversify construction contracts. He also said that if the city can build luxury condos in no time, then why is it that we haven't figured out how to build affordable housing for low-moderate communities across the city? As far as the customer service that is lacking in public service offices like L&I (the most obvious), Nutter said that he wants to have every public service employee go through extensive training while Taubenberger said he would have constant audits and more input from city residents. When the topic of retaining college graduates was posed, Nutter stated that he thinks the city should encourage more to go into public service and have incentives for such like help with college debt reduction. He also spoke of more internships, fellowships and mentoring programs that could happen at Philadelphia businesses and such that could influence students to stay here. Taubenberger agreed. The issue of violence wasn't mentioned and I chalk that up to people sick of hearing about what 'might' happen to curb it. Now that I think about it, the topic was indirectly addressed through discussion on jobs and education. The candidates were whisked off to another forum at around 730 p.m., clocking their appearance at about an hour. Above is just an outline and I suggest if you want to know more, then check out the candidate links below or email them (Taubenberger - mayoral2007@comcast.net, Nutter - info@nutter2007.com). They said they will get back to you. Good Luck with all of that. FYI - Voting takes place on November 6, 2007. More pictures from Conversations with the Candidates Michael Nutter website Al Taubenberger website The Next Mayor website

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Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

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