Another Nutter Administration Official Exits City Hall

Another top official in the Nutter administration is heading toward the City Hall exit.  Andrew Altman, Nutter's deputy mayor for planning and economic development, is leaving the administration at the end of June* to become the founding CEO of the Olympic Park Legacy Company, which will oversee Olympic Park in East London for the 2012 games.

Rumors of Altman's exit have been swirling for months.  He has had his hands full in Philly, coping with the controversial development of two casinos and Nutter's desire to shift more responsibility in development to the City Planning Commission.  As the city's commerce director, Altman also served as chairman of the commission.

Nutter, in an announcement at City Hall just now, certainly seemed to understand why Altman was leaving.

"I think everyone would recognize this is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity," Nutter said. "I imagine that when London is calling it is difficult not to answer that call."

Altman said it wasn't easy to leave, but "it's an opportunity for our family we felt we wanted to do."

Altman is certainly not alone in leaving the administration, now 17 months into its first term.  Just last week, Nutter announced that Mark Alan Hughes will be leaving the administration next month.  Hughes, who served as sustainability director, also took on a role of running policy in the administration.  A former Daily News columnist, Hughes said he wanted to return to academia.

Nutter's previous policy chief, Wendell Pritchett, left the administration in August to return to teaching at the University of Pennsylvania's law school.  He is now chancellor of the law school at Rutgers University.

*The original version of this post said Altman was leaving the city on August 1. He is actually leaving at the end of June and the new job begins on August 1.