Mayor Nutter seeks cooperation in 'burbs

Mayor Nutter fired up his hybrid SUV and dialed up GPS coordinates to preach cooperation in places that have seen few emissaries from City Hall in recent years: Doylestown, Norristown and Media.

He made a lightning sweep through county seats in Bucks, Montgomery and Delaware Counties, preaching cooperation to local officials who have heard it before - though not since Mayor Rendell in the 1990s.

Afternoon No. 102 of Nutter's mayoral administration was largely, he acknowledged, a "meet-and-greet opportunity" to exchange staff-member contact lists with his neighbors and figure out where areas of mutual self-interest lie.

Nutter's meetings occurred behind closed doors. Afterward, however, the mayor smiled broadly and described regional common interests ranging from mass transit to public safety. He discussed making five-county summits quarterly affairs.

"The future of Philadelphia is tied to the counties," Nutter said in Delaware County Courthouse in Media. "There are so many areas of mutual interest."

His goal, Nutter said in Norristown, is to "create a more regional approach to all of our activity," including mass transit and economic development.

Rendell, now governor, had also pushed regionalism and improved relationship with the suburbs, efforts that were largely nonexistent during Mayor Street's tenure.

"Say Montgomery County was trying to land a business," Nutter said. "I take it as part of my responsibility that Philadelphia plays a supportive role in helping to get a business in Montgomery County because, quite honestly, what's good for Montgomery County generally is good for Philadelphia."

In Montgomery County, officials also discussed not waging incentive wars to steal existing businesses.

"We're not going to go after each other's businesses purely for the sake of inducement to one's detriment in a temporary basis," said James R. Matthews, chairman of the Montgomery County commissioners, "because that doesn't work in the long run."

The discussions encompassed specific county needs, too. In Norristown, Nutter discussed helping handle traffic during Schuylkill Expressway traffic jams; in Media, airport flight paths over neighborhoods came up, which involves the city's discussions with the Federal Aviation Administration.

Nutter said he was sensitive to suburbanites' needs in both areas, as well as others.

He promised a trip soon to Chester County to hear out its leaders, and said the tour was intended to be a starting point instead of a cursory glance.

Cooperation with officials such as new Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman, whom Nutter met yesterday, will be easier after introductions, he said.

"Politics is one thing; personal relationships, I think, are something else," Nutter said. "If you have both working, you can get so much more done. So I'm trying to build good professional and personal working relationships."