Nutter: No ticket? Don’t show

As Mayor Nutter continued to dodge questions about how much this weekend's Made in America Festival will cost the city, he urged those who can't afford the $75-a-day ticket to stay home and "download a CD."

During a news conference Tuesday, Nutter said two rings of eight-foot fencing spaced 16-feet apart around the venue will prevent those outside from hearing or seeing the shows during what will be the first ticketed event on the Ben Franklin Parkway.

"It will be a tremendously muffled sound and you won't be able to see anything," he said. "I mean, if you didn't buy a ticket and you want to hear some of those artists, you know, download a CD."

Nutter also sidestepped a question about the potential for violence in or around the two-day music festival.

However, in an article in the September issue of Philadelphia magazine, Deputy Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel expressed concern for potential violence at the festival this weekend.

Bethel said that a teen who allegedly shot two others two blocks away from this year's Fourth of July festivities on the parkway was one of many teens who participated in a rash of youth mob violence during the summer of 2011.

According to the article, Bethel foresees the same possibility for violence and youth mobs at the Made in America Festival.

Bethel was unavailable for comment Tuesday. Police spokesman Lt. Ray Evers said police will be monitoring social media before and during the event to attempt to thwart possible mayhem.

"There's a potential for anything but with good planning and having proper supervision and adequate uniformed patrol, I think we can handle issues that arise," Evers said.

Evers declined to release the number of officers detailed to the event but said most of the cops will be on the outside of the concert gates, though some will be inside.

Nutter said security guards at the festival will have metal-detecting wands and once attendees go through the gates, they will not be allowed to reenter if they leave.

Gatecrashers thinking about scaling the fences to get in the shows without a ticket could face prosecution, he said.

While there won't be profit-sharing from ticket sales, there will "certainly" be some cost sharing, but full details about costs to the city such as additional security or cleanup will not be available until the end of September, Nutter said.

"As we speak here today, I don't want to get in to this amount for this and this amount for that," he said.

Nutter said the boost in profile Philadelphia will receive by hosting the concert is "an opportunity to invest in ourselves."

"Certainly, based on my judgment and the judgment of others, if this was not a good thing for the city, we wouldn't be having this conversation," he said.

"We've made the decision that in the overall context of numbers and the promotion of the city of Philadelphia, this has short-, medium- and long-term benefits to this city."

Afterward, Nutter said the "lion's share" of the cost will be covered by the promoters.

Contact Stephanie Farr at farrs@phillynews.com or 215-854-4225. Follow her on Twitter @FarFarrAway. Read her blog PhillyConfidential.com.