Mayoral candidates
deliver their pitch

By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer

Half of the major candidates for mayor were in Northwood last week for a forum sponsored by the Frankford Business & Professional Association.
Democrats Michael Nutter and Tom Knox and Republican Al Taubenberger attended the forum, held March 27 at St. James Lutheran Church.
Democrats Chaka Fattah and Bob Brady, both congressmen, were scheduled to attend but were voting in Washington, D.C. Democrat Dwight Evans had a scheduling conflict.
Don Brennan, director of special projects for the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority and former editor of the News Gleaner, served as moderator.
The candidates addressed four topics: crime and safety, taxes, economic development and zoning. They also answered written questions from the crowd.
Taubenberger, a Fox Chase resident who is president of the Greater Northeast Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and the Burholme Community Town Watch and Civic Association, is unopposed for the GOP nomination.
A former aide to City Councilwoman Joan Krajewski and ex-chief of staff for Councilman Jack Kelly, he thinks he has the experience and leadership to be mayor. He wants to end the pay-to-play culture in government and promised to hold monthly forums in each councilmanic district as mayor.
If elected, he would add 600 police officers. He supports a proposal by state Rep. John Perzel to add 10,000 police officers across the state. Philadelphia would get 1,400 of them.
Taubenberger served on the Tax Reform Commission, which recommended aggressive cuts to business and wage taxes. Many of the recommendations have been ignored by city government.
"As mayor, I would implement all of that plan," Taubenberger said.
The Republican praised the Mayor’s Business Action Team — MBAT’s Northeast representative, Mike Kowalski, was in attendance — and indicated he would increase funding for the unit. He would also give greater support to community development corporations across the city.
Nutter, a Wynnefield resident, served 15 years in City Council before resigning last summer to run for mayor. He’s perhaps best known for introducing the bill that led to a smoking ban in public places in the city. He described himself to the crowd as "just an unemployed guy from West Philadelphia looking to serve you."
The candidate wants to hire 500 police officers in three years. He would add police officers and social service representatives to 12 areas of the city that have seen the most murders and shootings. He would work to create a safety plan for every public school in the city.
"We have a crime emergency in Philadelphia," said Nutter, adding that he would aggressively pursue policies to seize illegal guns and encourage businesses to hire prisoners leaving jail to lower the recidivism rate.
As mayor, he would open an Office of Business Services and push landlords to do something with vacant storefronts. Every commercial corridor in the city would have a manager in a Nutter administration. He would raise money for his initiatives, in part, by having the sanitation department make weekly recycling pickups rather than every other week.
In Council, Nutter said he helped establish the Tax Reform Commission and voted for lower business and wage taxes.
"I’m the only Democrat running for mayor who’s ever reduced a tax here in Philadelphia," he said.
Knox, of Rittenhouse Square, has made millions of dollars over the last 40 years as a businessman and investor.
His campaign themes include hiring 1,000 police officers and working with the Department of Licenses and Inspections to tear down drug houses. He’d support the prosecution of students who attack teachers and seek a change in the makeup of the School Reform Commission, which consists of two mayoral appointees and three from the governor.
"We need three votes," he said.
If he makes it to City Hall, Knox would increase the career training in schools and prisons to give individuals a reason to reject a life of crime and to entice business to Philadelphia.
"It’s a lot cheaper to train them than to incarcerate them," he said.
Describing Philadelphia as "the highest-taxed city in the country," Knox — a former deputy mayor in charge of management and productivity — vowed to eliminate the gross receipts portion of the business privilege tax and reduce the earned income tax. He’d pay for the lost revenue by ending no-bid contracts, waste and nepotism.
To build neighborhoods, he would follow what former Mayor Ed Rendell did in Center City in the 1990s. That is, add police officers, clean streets, remove graffiti and fix potholes. ••
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215-354-3034 or twaring@phillynews.com