Michael Nutter

I'M A WHITE male who lives in Philadelphia and a proud member of the building trades. When did it become wrong to be a white male? Am I supposed to be apologetic that I completed high school? I took a test to gain entry into Local 98. I had no family in the union. I received no extra points on the test because I am white, while minorities regularly get points on city, state and federal test. I completed a four-year apprenticeship and took advantage of the opportunities available to me. To hear terms like "economic apartheid" makes me sick.

RE YOUR editorial "If city officials love this place, don't make them resign to run," and I agree wholeheartedly. Michael Nutter is just one in a long line of councilmen who served this city well but were forced to quit to further their political aspirations. My hope is that Nutter will continue pushing important issues such as ethics if he is elected mayor. During the interim, there will be another void on City Council - a presence we can ill afford to lose. Why can't this antiquated article in the city charter be abolished?

IN RESPONSE to letter-writer Ted Lahm's May 23 question: Now what do we do about the white flight from the city at the rate of 16,000 people each year for the last 15 years? Here are a few of my suggestions: 1) Pick up the trash from most of the dirty streets in our city. 2) Fine homeowners who keep their lawns and streets full of litter. (If you don't believe that it'll work, ask our friends in Lansdowne.) 3) Diversify all Philadelphia neighborhoods, because we don't live in an all-white world.

Endorsements Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter (D.) City Commissioner Stephanie Singer (D.), Al Schmidt (R.) City Council (Contested races only.) District 10 Brian O'Neill (R.)   District 2 Kenyatta Johnson (D.)   District 8 Cindy Bass (D.)   District 6 Bobby Henon (D.)   District 3 Jannie Blackwell (D.)   At Large Dennis O'Brien (R.)

Michael Nutter, the Fourth District City Council member, has eclectic interests that serve Philadelphia well. In his eight years on Council, Mr. Nutter has pushed the city to create a civilian police review board, played a major role in raising public employee pensions without breaking the bank, created a program to help preserve the trees on city streets, and has not been shy about disagreeing with Mayor Rendell and former City Council President...

Tom Knox is bored. How else to explain the millionaire businessman's statement last week that he would not run for governor in 2014 after all and was aiming instead to inject himself into the 2015 race for mayor of Philadelphia? Back in 2007, Knox gained some credibility the way a tornado does - with brute power. He spent nearly $11 million of his own money to build an instant media brand and finish second in the five-candidate Democratic primary for mayor. The neophyte pol was leading in the polls until his opponents ganged up on him to suggest his lack of governing experience was a liability instead of an asset, and to attack some of his past business practices, notably offering high-interest payday loans when he owned a bank.

A year into Michael Nutter's first term, I interviewed several dozen civic leaders as part of a project I was working on. These were people with serious bona fides in government, politics, and public policy in Philadelphia. Nutter wasn't the subject of the project, but at the end of each interview, I would turn off my recorder and ask this additional question: What do you think of the job Nutter has done so far? Some sighed. Others rolled their eyes. Some sadly shook their heads.

REPUBLICAN mayoral candidate Al Taubenberger recently said that it was his mission to make Michael Nutter a better mayor. That may be an appropriate role for the underdog candidate, but it should also be the role of every resident of Philadelphia. With the excitement of the primary season gone and Michael Nutter virtually a lock-in to become our next mayor, it would be easy to assume that our job as voters is done. Yet, as with most things in life, you get only what you ask for. Now is the time to lay out our vision for the future of Philadelphia and to share that vision with the candidates.

I'D LIKE to congratulate Al Taubenberger and Michael Nutter for their clean campaign. I've voted in every election since I became eligible (way back when), and have never seen anything like it. There should be a national law prohibiting cutting up opponents instead of saying what they intend to do. The airwaves are full of that garbage from everywhere else, but, thanks to Al and Michael, not Philadelphia. William Palmer, Philadelphia You can tell there is a mayoral election near as there was a street sweeper in Southwest Philly for the first time since the last mayoral contest.

ON JUNE 14, you published a column by Jill Porter and an op-ed by Christine Flowers. A day earlier, Jill Porter bravely related a personal incident involving a near-sexual assault by an acquaintance. The day after the Marsalis jury returned its pitiful verdict, Jill Porter wrote another piece about the shameful practice in the Pennsylvania court system that does not allow expert testimony in rape trials, which results in allowing men like Marsalis to pay little or no penalty for their heinous crimes against women.