Nutter

TIANJIN, China - This port city of 13 million on the coast of northern China could really give an American mayor a serious case of investment envy. For Mayor Nutter, that moment may have started from the moment he boarded a bullet-train in Beijing's Jetson-style rail station for the 33-minute, 69-mile journey to Tianjin. Or maybe it was when his police escort here took him past some of the factories for 185 of the world's Fortune 500 companies, including GlaxoSmithKline. Or when he viewed a model of a master plan for an economic development zone rising from salt flats and equal in size to Center City and South Philadelphia.

City Council will hold hearings this fall on the proposed sale of six hospitals owned by Allegheny University Health Systems to the Vanguard Health System, fearing that their purchase by the for-profit company could drastically alter the image and mission of these traditional, not-for-profit institutions. "There's a great amount of legitimate concern about what the true impact will be," said Councilman Michael A. Nutter, who introduced the resolution Thursday. "Most non-profits have some level of charitable work and commitment to the community, and we don't have any information that tells us whether or not this would continue.

THE ESCALATING battle between the Nutter administration and the city's largest union is shaping up to be a lightning rod for public-sector labor interests unhappy with the mayor. Seeking legal permission to impose contract terms on blue-collar District Council 33, the administration on Tuesday asked the state Supreme Court to fast-track its case. The union struck back Wednesday by blasting Nutter for what it sees as an attempt to erase decades of progress for organized labor. And the stage is being set for a dramatic legal battle that could change the nature of labor negotiations across the state.

After almost a year of attacks by Democratic challenger Michael A. Nutter, City Councilwoman Ann Land held a no-holds-barred press conference yesterday to call him a racist and a liar, and to slam the city's two major newspapers for endorsing him. The allegations touched off a day of events that included a hunt for Nutter's academic records, demands by both candidates for apologies from the other and a spat between Land and Mayor Goode over whether...

Although Mayor Nutter captured the Democratic nomination Tuesday, the nettlesome fact remains that a recent convict who owes nearly $800,000 in taxes snatched one of every four votes from a reformist mayor who four years ago drew crowds to City Hall just to shake his hand. Nutter interpreted the 24 percent of voters who backed T. Milton Street Sr. as a reflection of an electorate angry with a shortage of jobs and rising costs, a ripple effect of the national economic crunch. But one person with a different view is John F. Street.

After almost a year of attacks by Democratic challenger Michael A. Nutter, City Councilwoman Ann Land held a no-holds-barred press conference yesterday to call him a racist and a liar, and to slam the city's two major newspapers for endorsing him. The allegations touched off a day of events that included a hunt for Nutter's academic records, demands by both candidates for apologies from the other and a spat between Land and Mayor Goode over whether...

HAS MAYOR NUTTER's clout fizzled with the failure of the soda tax? Last Thursday, City Council ignored his frantic lobbying and failed to enact the levy on sugary drinks, choosing on the same day to override his veto of a bill allowing paramedics to remain in the fire union. The override effort was led by Councilman Jim Kenney, for years one of Nutter's closest friends and allies. The votes mark the second straight budget season in which Council rejected many of Nutter's tax proposals.

Looking back, there were some hints. Like the rectangular clock that sat on City Councilman Michael A. Nutter's desk for more than two years. Decorated with pictures of fireworks and the phrase The Big Day, the clock counts down, second by second, to Jan. 7, 2008 - the day Philadelphia's next mayor gets sworn into office. Yesterday, as Nutter packed up his belongings and ended his 15-year Council career, that clock went with him. (Time left: 548 days, 11 hours, 20 minutes, and 57 seconds.

A power struggle over the future of the Philadelphia Sheriff's Office has pitted the Nutter administration against the First Judicial District, with tensions running high as officials scramble to meet a timetable to return to selling foreclosed properties by March. Common Pleas Court President Judge Pamela Pryor Dembe has proposed leaving the Sheriff's Office largely intact and appointing an advisory board to recommend reforms. But the Nutter administration seeks a significant role in daily oversight of the office.

AFTER YEARS of stalemate, the Nutter administration on Friday asked a judge to allow the city to impose the mayor's "final offer" on the city's largest union. Nutter is seeking permission from a Common Pleas judge to implement the plan he presented two weeks ago to District Council 33, which represents 11,000 blue-collar workers. The plan includes incremental pay raises, cost reductions in overtime rules, possible furloughs, a less-generous pension for new hires and other changes. "Union leaders have held our public employees and the taxpayers hostage," Nutter said at a news conference.