REPUBLICAN mayoral candidate Al Taubenberger recently said that it was his mission to make Michael Nutter a better mayor. That may be an appropriate role for the underdog candidate, but it should also be the role of every resident of Philadelphia.
With the excitement of the primary season gone and Michael Nutter virtually a lock-in to become our next mayor, it would be easy to assume that our job as voters is done. Yet, as with most things in life, you get only what you ask for. Now is the time to lay out our vision for the future of Philadelphia and to share that vision with the candidates.
Tonight at 7, the Next Great City coalition, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and the Urban Sustainability Forum will host The Next Mayor's Vision for a Sustainable Philadelphia, at the Academy of Natural Sciences. But rather than conjuring up questions to ask the candidates themselves, these groups have invited the public to submit questions to the candidates about how they plan to make Philadelphia a cleaner, greener and healthier place to live and work.
Through a mix of clips submitted on the YouTube Web site, interviews with everyday Philadelphians and audience questions, tonight's forum (moderated by Daily News editorial board member Flavia Colgan) promises to give the average person access to the candidates. More than that, this forum will press candidates on how they plan to address the issues affecting our neighborhoods.
From blight removal to recycling to air pollution, issues of the environment and sustainability are often discussed in terms of faraway places like the Arctic wilderness or the Amazon rain forests. But for those of us who live and work here, Philadelphia is our environment. We use its land, we drink its water and we breathe its air. Our neighborhoods house its parks. Our streets carry away its flooding and store its litter.
Every part of our daily lives is affected by our environment. And with energy costs rising and the threats of global warming looming, it is that much more important to our economy and quality of life to enact smart policy now that will sustain Philadelphia for generations to come.
Tonight's forum is an opportunity to let the candidates know that Philadelphians care about these issues, that we want to know their plans to address them, and that we will hold the winner accountable. In fact, it's our job to make them better at their job. *