Mayor-elect Nutter has two key advantages that no other Philadelphia mayor has had.
First, he's had plenty of time to prepare for office. He's been a lock ever since he won the Democratic primary six months ago. With another two months to prepare (the normal time for other mayor-elects), he should hit the ground running.
His second is that he follows John Street. Street has accomplished way more as mayor than he'll ever get credit for. But he failed to grab hold of a mayor's most potent tool - the public megaphone. He's a reluctant communicator and civic cheerleader.
Street had the misfortune of following the city's all-time great communicator, Ed Rendell, who courted the press, worked the room and, if need be, jumped in a pool or cleaned the City Hall latrines to make a point.
If Street was disadvantaged by following Rendell, then Nutter, who can fashion a sound bite with the best of them, is blessed by succeeding Street.
How an officeholder relates to the press and public shapes opinion even more than the facts. Take the city's homicide toll. I bet the vast majority of Philadelphians would say the total is greater under Street than under Rendell. But they'd be wrong.
In six out of Rendell's eight years, homicides topped 400. Last year was the only time under Street that it hit 400. (This could be the second.)
And remember law-and-order Mayor Rizzo? With 1,000-plus more cops on the force, the average homicide total during his era was 10 percent higher than in the Street years. In four of Mayor Rizzo's eight years, there were more than 400 homicides.
(For details, visit my blog, philgoldsmith.blogspot.com.)
But regardless of how well a mayor communicates, the underlying facts and policy challenges remain. To best describe the challenges facing Mayor-elect Nutter, let's look at what happened to two major city departments over the last three decades.
