Nutter to speak at DNC:Is this the moment we'll know if he will abandon us?

**Kukla65th** · 09-05-2012, 07:14 PM

As long as Hizzoner doesn't attempt to tout all the progress his administration has made in five years (because of course he's ignored confronting union benefits and blamed the economy for all he hasn't done) he will be fine.

They could run a retrospective film before the speech called "All Our Machine, Er, Party Has Done Since After Dilworth" and really polish the city's reputation!

They moved his speech to Thursday night, incidentally.

**2happy4u** · 09-05-2012, 07:25 PM

what can he talk about millions spent on useless bike lanes, weekends filled with murder. and raising tax every year? Oh I forgot the deteriorating school dist. hey we are going GREEN to save the planet!!!!His side kick from NJ is out on bail.

**O.H. Lee** · 09-05-2012, 11:12 PM

Did he just get pushed backed to Thursday?

**mixiboi** · 09-05-2012, 11:44 PM

He did...which makes it hard to make wild speculation about! Lol

**mixiboi** · 09-06-2012, 09:19 PM

If you missed it:

Michael Nutter Speech At Democratic National Convention: 'Mitt Romney Doesn't Get It'

We're all in this together. I learned that lesson growing up in West Philly. When I shoveled the sidewalk my parents didn't let me stop with our house. They told me to keep shoveling all the way to the corner. I had a responsibility to my community.

That's what being a mayor is about. We take care of our own. We keep our neighbors safe, clear the snow from their streets, and educate their kids. We get stuff done. For Barack Obama, that's what being president is all about. He knows coming together as a nation starts by coming together as neighbors. That's why, after graduating, Barack Obama went to a Chicago neighborhood to help jobless workers in the shadow of a closed-down steel mill.

After Mitt Romney graduated, he became a corporate buy-out specialist who closed down steel mills. Whose values do you want in the Oval Office? I know who Philly wants, who Pennsylvania wants, who you want.

Sounds to me he isn't going anywhere.

**five apples** · 09-06-2012, 10:08 PM

Originally Posted by mixiboi

If you missed it:

Michael Nutter Speech At Democratic National Convention: 'Mitt Romney Doesn't Get It'

Sounds to me he isn't going anywhere.

He was just yelling for some reason, almost unwatchable. FYI - If you actually want to see the speaker CSPAN just shows the speeches.

**mixiboi** · 09-06-2012, 10:37 PM

Yeah I learn that quickly when CNN cut to Kennedy kid interviews during the night....

here's the video:

Michael Nutter at the 2012 Democratic National Convention | Campaign 2012 | C-SPAN

**raider.adam** · 09-06-2012, 11:27 PM

Originally Posted by mixiboi

Yeah I learn that quickly when CNN cut to Kennedy kid interviews during the night....

here's the video:

Michael Nutter at the 2012 Democratic National Convention | Campaign 2012 | C-SPAN

Thanks for the link.

He talks about his kids in schools. Of course Olivia went to the equivalent of someone going to a private school on a school choice voucher. He then goes on to talk about how President Obama gave states flexibility on crafting their schools, yet Obama and the Democrats killed the school choice vouchers in D.C. that were extremely popular amongst the poor participants and also would have allowed low income students to attend the private schools Obama sends his kids to.

Then he goes into "class size doesn't matter". There is a big difference between the class being too big for the teacher to handle and too big for the physical classroom itself and supplies. And then he name drops Olivia again "it matters to Olivia", who went to Masterman, a selective school.

"It will cost fewer Pell Grants." You mean school choice vouchers for 4 post high school education that can also be used at religious institutions?

"We keep our neighbors safe."

The speech overall wasn't anything noteworthy.

**BarryG** · 09-06-2012, 11:58 PM

Originally Posted by raider.adam

The speech overall wasn't anything noteworthy.

It sucked. Did he and his people really write that?

**thoth** · 09-07-2012, 11:25 AM

Originally Posted by BarryG

It sucked. Did he and his people really write that?

No he said in NPR interview prior to speaking that it was vetted by the DNC.

**seand** · 09-07-2012, 11:38 AM

Originally Posted by raider.adam

Thanks for the link.

He talks about his kids in schools. Of course Olivia went to the equivalent of someone going to a private school on a school choice voucher.

Details matter here. His daughter went to a regular public elementary that had a history of being a small school with a small cadre of very involved parents, some of which are themselves college faculty and professionals. Its also a school where a lot of kids straight out of Mantua and West Powelton with all the problems that entail go to. It was the choice of a parent with a lot of experience on how to make the most of the current system would make. From there she got into our most prestigious and competitive academic magnet school program.

Powel is not the equivalent of "private school" by any means. Its just a small public with history of strong parental involvement. Olivia Nutter's track is not the default experience of most Philly public school parents but its the exact same one that, for example, the folks that own my local coffee shop followed with their kid, just about simultaneously. Its one available to regular parents but very likely parents who know how the local district works and how to transfer within district schools.

Nothing about that path is even remotely like the school district directly handing out money for people go to parochial or private prep schools. Its "school choice" of the, lots of charters and magnets, entirely public model at best.

Originally Posted by raider.adam

He then goes on to talk about how President Obama gave states flexibility on crafting their schools,

Which is exactly the kind of all public non-voucher flexibility that Nutter took advantage of.

Originally Posted by raider.adam

yet Obama and the Democrats killed the school choice vouchers in D.C. that were extremely popular amongst the poor participants and also would have allowed low income students to attend the private schools Obama sends his kids to.

I thought the D.C. mayoral elections really killed that.

Sidwell Friends is way out in the burbs and currently $34k a year to attend. I actually went to Quaker Meeting and summer camp with a lot of the staff and their families and never had a dream of my family coughing up what it costs to go there. Even if Fenty's version of vouchers remained in place, the number of families from Anacostia who could get the money to attend Sidwell Friends I would estimate to be around exactly nill.

**seand** · 09-07-2012, 12:12 PM

Actually this Aug. 8 Washington Post article says that D.C.'s voucher program is still in operation for the small number of D.C. families poor enough to qualify. And if you qualify, its still a lottery process to get the voucher.
Private-school vouchers go to about 300 D.C. students - The Washington Post

To be eligible, applicants’ families must live in the city and either receive food stamps or earn less than 185 percent of the federal poverty line (about $42,600 for a family of four).

More than 1,400 kids are already receiving vouchers. An additional 1,300 applied for open slots this year. Of those, 505 were found eligible and entered a lottery Tuesday, and 299 were selected for vouchers.

So of 1,700 kids in the disctrict at less than 184 federal poverty line who won the lottery, the most they can get is $8 grand for elementary school, $12 for middle/high.

Voucher recipients can get up to $12,205 to attend participating private high schools and $8,136 to attend elementary and middle schools.

Sidwell costs $33,268 for primary, $34,468 for middle/upper. So a qualifying family from say Anacostia would still have to come up with around $22 k / $24 k per year to put them in Sidwell Friends where Sasha and Malia go (and Chelsea Clinton went).

The parents using this are going to cheaper parochials and Christian schools, I'm sure.

**O.H. Lee** · 09-07-2012, 03:51 PM

Originally Posted by raider.adam

?.......

"We keep our neighbors safe."

The speech overall wasn't anything noteworthy.

What city was he referring to with that statement?

**annie** · 09-07-2012, 03:58 PM

Commentary: Will Mayor Nutter match his education rhetoric to reality? | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

I agree with Helen Gym but then I tend to.

**seand** · 09-07-2012, 04:18 PM

I'm not sure she said anything any more substantive in that particular one than Nutter said at convention. Basically, Nutter sounded like an advocate but he doesn't oppose Knudsen/Boston Group plan, which she does. And that he should be a strong advocate for more state funding, which by PA standards (which are pathetic these days) he is.

Its not like everything he's done to move towards property taxes as a stable source of revenue for PSD has made him Mr. Popularity, locally.

I'm also a little more dubious on her beef with the "esoteric" comment which was obviously in relation to his role as cheerleader-in-chief for a big private foundation handing out money to both local public and private schools. As mayor he doesn't take sides, its all good for Philadelphia. He's the mayor for people who believe in parochials, too. Thats very different from a statement about how taxpayer funding for publics should be spent and its fairly sketchy how she deliberately misreads the comment.

I'm also kind of put off by the whole "I'm lukewarm on whether Obama is enough a tru-blue education supporter" tone of her piece.
Does she really think public education will do better under Romney-Ryan? Really?

In a lot ways this piece reminds me of what I didn't like about YPP. Marking local ideological differences leading to ridiculous statements about national politics because its more important to be a real Philadelphia "progressive" than to say protect Federal funding for schools nationally.

I'm in particualr flashing on a statement once about "Progressives don't believe in standardized testing and Nutter supports standardized testing therefore Nutter is not a progressive" on YPP that Gym didn't bother to take the slightest issue with. That kind of stuff is just silly and counterproductive by being so out of touch with the greater political realities of our state and nation.

**BarryG** · 09-07-2012, 04:46 PM

His speech was just meat to throw at the teachers unions for political purposes (and weak stuff at that). I don't see any relevance in his speech for Phila. That's why I doubted that he played much of a role in its conception and writing.