Nutter meets public on budget

Kicking off his public budget campaign, Mayor Nutter visited barber shops, beauty parlors and churches this weekend, asking residents to work with him to manage the grim financial problems facing Philadelphia.

"It is time for us to turn toward each other, not away from each other," Nutter said last night at St. Matthews AME Church, in West Philly. "We don't know when it's going to be over, but we know it's going to be tough times."

Nutter last week said that the city faces a new $1 billion funding gap over five years, and could end this fiscal year in the red. The dire news came just three months after officials announced their first $1 billion gap, which was closed through cuts and layoffs.

After public outcry over the financial cuts made by the city in the fall - in particular, the decision to close 11 libraries and eliminate seven fire companies - Nutter outlined a massive public-engagement process to get citizen input on how to balance the next budget.

"I think it's very important to be out in the streets with people," said Nutter after appearing at St. Matthews, where a service was held to install Rev. Ellis Washington for another term as president of the Black Clergy. "Increasingly, people know that this is bad. There's a consistency now in message at the ground level with me and, nationally, with the president."

Nutter said that he also wants citizens to better understand how the budget works. He stressed that even before the budget crisis hit Philadelphia, he had wanted to open up the budget process.

Nutter said that he hoped to get people to understand the budget process by comparing it to the way they think of their household budget. "I think that the education process, this information process, is central to at least better understanding," he said.

Nutter has stressed that all options are up for consideration in balancing the budget, including tax hikes, service cuts and layoffs of city workers. Department heads have been asked to prepare scenarios for how they would cut 10, 20 or 30 percent of their budgets - data that will be used as the city talks with residents about spending cuts.

Next month, four community workshops will be staged by the city and the University of Pennsylvania Project for Civic Engagement to get citizen input on budget choices.

Churchgoers last night said that they appreciated what Nutter was trying to do.

Audrey Harris-Talley, 61, of Overbrook, said she was glad that Nutter was making the effort, "because I get very offended when you make decisions and don't talk to the public."

And Antoinette Robinson, of Wynnefield, said she was hopeful "as long as people are aware of what's going on and can be part of the solution."

But Robinson added: "I wouldn't want to be in his position. Because you can't please everybody."