"Anyone who says they could not make this city safer in 10 weeks" should not be a candidate for mayor, Nutter said, "or should step down right now."

Standing on a West Philadelphia sidewalk in front of the red brick rowhouse he grew up in, he recalled the recent fatal shooting, three blocks away, of Christopher Freeny, the son of a Philadelphia police officer.

"I stand here today as an outraged black man," said Nutter, a former city councilman, who in recent polls has drawn more support from potential white voters than black.

He noted that 296 out of the 406 people murdered in the city last year were adult black men, as was Freeny.

"And I'm outraged that more people of more races are not outraged."

Nutter's remarks came amid the announcement of his anticrime plan, which includes a promise by him to declare a crime emergency in certain violence-plagued neighborhoods in Philadelphia on his first day as mayor.

Doing so would mean police could prohibit people from gathering on sidewalks or other public places; enforce an established curfew; and stop vehicles traveling within those neighborhoods.

Also during his announcement, Nutter chimed in on District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham's recent criticism of the mayor. He borrowed her exact words in begging Street to "do something!" to stop the rising number of homicides in Philadelphia.

Street spokesman Joe Grace responded: "Councilman Nutter can say what he wants, but this administration every day is working on a host of fronts to reduce and prevent violence. As the mayor likes to put it, there's no magic solution to the problem of violence, which is confronting many cities right now."