Knox, Nutter Soon To Argue Over Who Commits More To Raising Gross Domestic Product

Yesterday, the five major Democratic mayoral candidates met for a debate and forum at the flower show (of course). All of them (also of course) were committed to building environmentally friendly buildings in the City of Philadelphia. The Inquirer’s Michael Currie Schaffer sums up how the forum went:

Here, the only difference was the number of trees they vowed to plant: Knox has promised 23,000; Evans, 50,000; and Fattah, 100,000 - over the course of eight years if he was elected and reelected.

Hot diggity! The Daily News‘ Dave Davies opts to focus instead on the only real testy exchange of the evening, a battle between Tom Knox and Michael Nutter:

Former City Councilman Michael Nutter drew applause for his pledge to revamp city planning and zoning procedures, and he got into the evening’s sharpest exchange after a friendly barb at Knox, a self-made millionaire.

Nutter noted that Knox had said something about avoiding storm-water fees (actually Knox said he’d paid them) and recalled Knox saying at an earlier forum that he got SEPTA’s senior discount.

“Tom, are you paying for anything?” Nutter asked, drawing laughs from the audience.

“I promise I paid more taxes last year than you ever paid,” Knox said, earning some chuckles and scattered boos.

“Obviously, you have more money than I do,” Nutter said.

Oh snap! There are forums every day the rest of this week, so there should be plenty of more amusing things the candidates will say that I can turn into crappy Photoshops or easy posts or whatever. God bless America.

Candidates go for the green at Flower Show [Inquirer]
Mayoral candidates all of a color [Daily News]
[Gilligan hat on Tom Knox via Bob Denver's official website]

Dwight Evans Set To Grab Crucial Gay Vote (Hey, For Once One Of These Headlines Isn’t A Joke)

The Dwight Evans campaign has been on a roll ever since it received the crucial 66 percent endorsement in Metro’s “Today’s Debate” last month. (If Michael Nutter had gotten two-thirds of the vote, I’m sure I would have gotten a press release about it.)

Buoyed by that strong showing, yesterday Evans courted gay and lesbian voters. Evans actually has done his fair share for gays and lesbians; for example, when the state house was attempting to define marriage as just between a man and a woman, Evans was having none of it and campaigned against it.

But that’s not all! Evans is also tonight attempting to capture the also-crucial environmental vote; he’s hosting an online webchat moderated by Alex UA (his last name’s long and I’m lazy) of YoungPhillyPolitics tonight.

Evans isn’t the first mayoral candidate to campaign for the environmentalist vote; however, now that we’re less than three months away from the mayoral primary — aka the actual election — we’re sort of running out of groups that mayoral candidates can attempt to get the vote of. Tomorrow, expect Evans to campaign for the “Catholics who wear funny hats” vote while Bob Brady looks to grab the “Athiests who wear Nikes” endorsement.

Evans courts gay and lesbian voters [Inquirer]

Leftovers: Citizen Tierney

• Steve Volk reports in an online exclusive today that management at the Inquirer and Daily News (i.e. Brian Tierney) is threatening layoffs. (And the two papers might share photographers.) Hey, they were right! Brian Tierney is their kind of people! You know, since the previous bosses were always trying to find ways to cut costs, and this one is too. [PW]

• Let’s just go and say how totally awesome this is: Frank Gehry will be designing the Art Museum’s new underground addition. I guess the board didn’t like my “boxing ring from Rocky” proposal. [Inquirer]

• As you probably know, Pat’s is now suing Rick’s for stealing their name and history and crown or something. Geno’s is suing Tony Luke’s for not being American enough. And Steve’s Price of Steaks continues to skate by, unabated. [Daily News]

• The state actually did something competent, kids! The Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board voted to curb mercury emissions from coal plants today, superceding lower federal levels. Hooray! [AP/Yahoo!]

Blogicized: Goodbye, Fu Manchu

• Philebrity points out the thing we forgot about Sal Fasano’s impending move to the Yankees: He has to shave his mustache and cut his hair, per George Steinbrenner’s no-facial hair rule/no-long hair rule. Gasp! The implications of this on Sal’s Pals can not be overstated. [Philebrity]

• More Phillies news: Is the fans’ love affair with Aaron Rowand already waning? If balls keep flying over his head… maybe. [Swing and a Miss]

• That Olympics press conference is today at 4:30 p.m., where Philadelphians will learn if our Olympic bid is dead before it officially began. [Politics Philly]

• And Greenadelphia! is a new blog, apparently about, uh, Philly’s green environmental issues. [Greenadelphia]

Quickies: Tag, You’re It

• Teens and council members in Hellertown, Pennsylvania, have struck a deal to “Let them play! Let them play!” in a game of outdoor Laser Tag at dusk. Both teens are excited about their upcoming battle. [AP/6 ABC]

• A poll of local Philadelphians showed that we care most about the environment when choosing a mayor. Wait, really? Are you sure? I care most about getting out of the voting booth so I don’t have to go back for another year, and I feel most of my friends are like that, too. In response to this poll, though, Chaka Fattah has started planting flowers at Broad and Oregon, and he’s moving North until he’s cleaned up this damned city! [Inquirer]

• Four Philadelphia bars are on Beer Advocate’s list of 50 best places to have a beer in the United States, including Tria, oddly enough. Monk’s is the highest-ranked bar at number 16. (Ludwig’s Garden and Grey Lodge are also on the list.) [Beer Advocate via Blinq]

• City Hall has been named a “Civil Engineering Landmark” by the American Society of Civil Engineers. It has also, coincidentally, been named “The Best Building Ever In The History of the World” by the American Society for Refurbishing Delays. [KYW 1060]

In George Bush’s America, he’s actually doin’ alright

If you ever need to know anything about the strange, inexact science of journalism, all you need to do is look at the two following headlines. One is from the Bucks County Courier Times. The other is from the Doylestown Intelligencer. The Courier covers Lower Bucks, while the Intel covers Upper Bucks and parts of Montgomery County.

They’re both owned by the same company (Calkins) and frequently the same articles run in both papers. And the following two headlines are on the same exact story.

First, the Courier:

Good job, Fitz! Clearly your high school student council secretary look is getting your accolades. Now let’s check the Intel head:

Erhm.

The D- is a “good score” on this League of Conservation Voters report, actually. Which makes me wish I had gone to school whereever they went.

Fitzpatrick’s votes on environment commended [Bucks County Courier Times]
Fitzpatrick earns D-minus for environmental voting [Doylestown Intelligencer]

Finally, back to real Philly

The new issue of Self magazine finally includes some news that doesn’t paint Philly as “Totally hip and 100 percent the hottest city in America!” or “Wow, Philly is kinda like New York!” And, frankly, I couldn’t be happier.

This month’s issue contains the rankings for “America’s Healthiest Places for Women” — and our fair city ranks a dreadful 88th on the list. This is good, however: Philly was 100th, dead last, in last year’s issue, so perhaps we’re on the up and up after all.

There are some supplemental categories, too, including “Best Breasts.” (There’s going to be a rush of men heading to Albany, New York, which apparently has the best bosoms in America.) And Philly took first in a not-so-hot category, “Worst Environment.” We also took home the title in 2002 and 2003. (Last year, Philadelphia was named first in “Worst Air,” which is pretty much the same thing. Know what that means? Four-peat!)

Either way, phew. I was getting a little worried that our city might actually be on the rise, thereby ruining our reputation. (Or, rather, un-ruining it.) But with this list coming out, I feel a little safer that it’s just the same old Philly.

How Healthy Is Your Hometown? SELF Magazine’s 6th Annual List of America’s Healthiest Places for Women Ranks the Top Metro Areas [PR Newswire]