Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter campaigned last year on what he called a reform agenda. The idea was that he would bring transparency and accountability to city government and change the way the city operates. Now that he’s in office, a lot of folks are going to want to see if he can live up to those promises.
WHYY and the Philadelphia Daily News launched a new project this week called It’s Our City. It’s a continutation of The Next Mayor project which the two news organizations partnered on during the campaign.
For the past week I’ve been helping develop content for the It’s Our City web page which officially went live yesterday. Our goal is to hold Mayor Nutter accountable to his campaign promises, but also to cover news and issues affecting the Philadelphia region.
Last night we kicked things off by hosting an hour-long TV interview program with Mayor Michael Nutter. Questions were posed by Philadelphia Daily News Senior Writer Dave Davies and from members of the live audience. Some came from the folks sitting in the studio while others came in via email or phone. If you missed the broadcast, you can see some of the highlights in this video produced by It’s Our City managing editor Alan Tu and WHYY’s Dan Pohlig.
It’s been fun digging back into Philadelphia politics after two years away. It’s remarkable how many things have changed and how many things have not.
The web site (and the project itself) is still a work in progress, but our hope is that we can spark a wider discussion of the issues that matter to Philadelphians. If there are issues you think we should be covering, feel free to contact me.
thnks