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Former City Councilman Michael Nutter - the reformist policy wonk with a ferocious work ethic - was elected mayor of Philadelphia yesterday.
Nutter, 50, was widely expected to easily wallop weak Republican opponent Al Taubenberger and he did. With 96 percent of the vote counted, Nutter won 82.5 percent of the vote, compared with 17 percent for Taubenberger.
Soon Nutter will be packing his boxes for City Hall's room 215. In January he's taking over a city battling a devastating homicide rate, weakened by underfunded schools and facing a looming budget crisis.
Be careful what you wish for, eh?
Now that he's stuck with the job, Nutter must rapidly develop his policy plans, hire staff and manage a transition into office. And given that he's probably a little overworked, we thought we'd help him set his priorities.
So listen up, Mike. Here are the Top Five Challenges Facing the Next Mayor :
1) Crime
2) The rising cost of city pensions and health benefits
3) Neighborhoods
4) Philadelphia Gas Works
5) Restoration of civic pride
Crime
Talk about a no-brainer.
By far the most urgent problem facing the city is the horrifying rise in homicides and shootings. Just last week three Philadelphia police officers were shot, one fatally.
Starting today, the pressure is on Nutter to find ways to stem the blood.
"There won't be a honeymoon time for him," said Patrick Carr, a sociology professor at Rutgers University. "This is a problem that has festered for so long, he's in the unenviable position of having to deal with it very quickly and having very little margin of error."
Some of Nutter's initial moves are clear.
First, he needs to appoint a police commissioner. That choice is expected to come soon, perhaps in the next few weeks. The jury is still out on whether he'll pick a Philly cop for the job, or an outsider.
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