The legacy of Mayor Nutter, in the eyes of Penn

Left with fewer than four more weeks until Democrat Jim Kenney takes over as Mayor of Philadelphia on Jan. 1, Penn students reflect on Mayor Michael Nutter’s achievements for the city during his tenure.

After being on the city council for two years, he was elected in a tough race against two sitting Congress members. Since then, he has served two terms as mayor, complete with a legacy of educational, public safety and sustainability reforms.

Entering his first term with a citywide $1 billion deficit, Nutter was challenged immediately to help financially fix a city in debt turmoil. And his partial turnaround of the city’s debt situation is acknowledged as one of Nutter’s biggest achievements for the city.

“He came in during the recession,” College junior and Penn Democrats Political Director Sam Iacobellis said. “People forget how close we came to Great Depression levels of unemployment. We are still the most impoverished big city, and Nutter always has known that education is a huge part of that and has worked to improve it tirelessly.”

Other publicly acknowledged achievements of his tenure include increases in environmentally sustainable practices in the city, strengthening of the educational systems against a tide of decreased educational funding and a decrease in youth violence and crime.

“I think a lot of people criticize Mayor Nutter in part for policies that can be seen as over-policing. I think that’s a legitimate criticism. But I also think people understate the value of public safety and crime rates going down,” College junior and Penn Political Coalition Co-Chair Shane Murphy said. “The city is objectively the safest it’s been since the 1960s.”

Since being appointed mayor, Nutter has managed to entice a papal visit and a tentative Dalai Lama visit, increasing both national and international attention for the city of Philadelphia. Though opinions vary on some of his more controversial policies regarding education and public safety, general opinions of Mayor Nutter remain largely positive.

“I think on balance, he’s made Philadelphia a more prominent city in the national discussion than it was before. A big part of his legacy is definitely outreach and evangelizing for the city of Philadelphia, which has garnered him some criticism, but I think it’s been a generally good thing,” Murphy said.

Looking to the newly elected mayor, Kenney, a similar promise of future reforms, city growth, educational focus and LGBT anti-discrimination laws appear likely, following Nutter’s recent approval of a bill mandating that all single occupancy bathrooms in the city be gender neutral.

“Kenney and Nutter have always obviously had some differences, even when they were St. Joe’s classmates. But people tend to really think he has some promise to build off of the legacy of success that Michael Nutter has built,” Iacobellis said.

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