Nutter

IT IS A political rite of passage and every new mayor confronts it - negotiating contracts with Philadelphia's four municipal unions just months after taking office. Ed Rendell used chaos to his advantage in 1992. With the city's finances collapsing, Rendell swung a deal that froze wages while cutting holidays, some starting salaries and contributions to union health-care plans. John Street faced a stronger economy in 2000 and unions holding a serious bargaining chip - the Republican National Convention was due to start just after the contracts expired and a strike would draw national attention.

HERE'S A NEW ONE: A union president is suing the Nutter administration - because he got a raise. Michael Walsh, president of Local 2186 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, has asked a judge to halt pay raises given to him and about 5,500 other workers in October because the city bypassed laws requiring public input before changing pay levels. "You have a union president in essence trying to take money out of his members pockets, and I find that to be a little disingenuous," Deputy Mayor Everett Gillison said.

City Council members rarely take on volatile issues like the Police Advisory Board in their first term. Most prefer to get their feet wet on minor issues, make a few friends and get to know the legislative landscape before plunging into controversy. Michael A. Nutter is different. Though the police and mayor were solidly against the concept, Nutter prevailed, and now the advisory board is up and running. "I think it's important to be ready to fight for an issue which is important to your constituents - that's why I led the battle for the Police Advisory Board," said Nutter, who represents the Fourth District, covering Wynnefield, Overbrook, Roxborough, Manayunk, East Falls and parts of North and West Philadlephia and West Mount Airy.

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.

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.

IN THE MAYOR'S WING of City Hall on Friday, an enormous red carpet covered the floors, dramatic navy-blue drapes lined the halls, and gold-painted chairs filled a reception room. The guest of honor? Mohamed Bin Abdullah Al-Rumaihi, Qatar's ambassador to the U.S. The small Persian Gulf state has the world's highest per capita gross domestic product and the largest natural-gas reserve. The ambassador is visiting Philadelphia in hopes of establishing a relationship leading to investment opportunities.

As much as $150 million in aid to Philadelphia is in the crosshairs of the federal budget debate, according to an analysis by the Nutter administration. "Congress needs to act to prevent a devastating blow to cities and states across America," Nutter said yesterday, releasing a list of local programs that would be jeopardized, he said, if the Republican majority in the U.S. House succeeds in a bid to knock $61 billion out of the current federal budget. Both the White House and the U.S. Senate are fighting the GOP initiative, but the outcome is uncertain, complicated by a Friday deadline for extending federal spending authority.

The Nutter administration says it will need several changes in state law to protect Philadelphia taxpayers from unintended property-tax hikes when the city moves to a 100 percent valuation system next year. At a half-hour meeting in Harrisburg Wednesday morning with about half of Philadelphia's 25-member legislative delegation, Nutter and city Finance Director Rob Dubow outlined the city's progress in trying to determine accurate market value assessments for 577,000 city real estate parcels.

When Michael Nutter gave one of his first speeches as mayor-elect last month, it was titled "The Identity of the New Philadelphia," and it took place at the Franklin Institute in honor of the "Identity" exhibit. The first key component of the "New Philadelphia," Nutter says, is optimism. He explained that a city requires a certain confidence in itself to achieve its objectives - and that Philadelphia requires this to join the ranks among America's great cities. He challenged the people of Philadelphia to shock the first person they pass the next morning and "just say hello.

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.