The Next Mayor Community Forums
Community Forum #7
Entrepreneurship was the dominant theme of Community Forum #7, whether it be as a suggestion for a course of study in the schools or as a way to approach the city's problems. Click on the picture for video 6 to hear our participants talk about their own horror stories of dealing with city government. That video also includes an especially unique suggestions for each of the candidates.
Click on each of the pictures below to see what the participants had to say about those issues. Click here for the names and brief bios of this discussion's participants.
You can see this program in its entirety from 6pm to 7pm, January 22th to the 26th, on WHYY's Wider Horizon's Channel, Comcast Digital Cable Channel 242, or in the "News and Public Affairs" section of WHYY's "Get Local" section on Comcast's Video On-Demand Service starting in mid January.
2. Education
Initially a discussion about crime, this group made an important connection linking that to education.
4. Leadership
For this group, leadership comes from the ability to communicate, a willingness to take risks, to "try anything" and be open to new ideas.
6. Dealing with "The City"
Click on the picture above to see perhaps the best suggestion to come out of the community forum process.
1. Entrepreneurship
Can a mayor cultivate an entrepreneurial spirit to find creative and innovative ways to solve this city's problems?
3. Planning and Development
Former city planner Craig Schelter and the rest of the group talked at length about the need for comprehensive planning to guide development.
5. Environment
What started as a discussion about a creek in Germantown became a testament to the need for an environmentally conscious mayor.
Information about video sharing
Bloggers and others with websites who are interested in posting these videos on their sites can find the necessary coding on youtube.com. Click on the following numbers to link directly to the respective video:
This forum was convened on October 11, 2006. Participants included:
Deborah Bruns-Thomas: Artist and teacher at Drexel University, Moore College of Art & Design, and Philadelphia University. Lives in Hilltown Township, Bucks County. Former resident of Graduate Hospital area but now commutes by car for a 3-hour round trip to and from work.
Lucy Kerman: a senior fellow at the Fels Institute of Government at Penn and Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition (GPUAC).
Charles Parsons: Germantown resident and president of the Monoshone Watershed Association, a group devoted to bringing a dead creek back to life.
Craig Schelter: Prinicipal, Schelter and Associates. Worked for the City Planning Commission from 1968 to 1993 and the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation from 1983-2002. Worked directly with Ed Rendell creating the Avenue of the Arts and has had a hand in projects ranging from the revival of Society Hill in the 1960s to the building of the Gallery and Market East. Vice Chair of public policy for the Urban Land Institute, board member of the Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia, steering committee member for the Design Advocacy Group.
Dan Neducsin: Neducsin Management is largely credited with transforming Manayunk in the late 1980s into the energetic hillside neighborhood with a thriving retail and restaurant presence that it has today. Grew up in Cheltenham, now a resident of the Rittenhouse Square neighborhood. Former Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce Small Business Person of the Year.
Fran McClafferty: founder of InventIT metals, a North Philadelphia-based automotive recycler aggressively focused on shattering the existing economics of Philadelphia's automotive recycling industry. Former analyst with a Boston-based think tank. Board treasurer for The Empowerment Group, whose mission is to accelerate economic growth in distressed urban communities by cultivating local entrepreneurship. Drexel University graduate.
Lorene Cary: author of several books including The Price of A Child, selected by Mayor Street to be the inaugural One Book One Philadelphia selection in 2003. Founder of the Art Sanctuary, a lecture and performance series that brings black thinkers and artists to speak and perform at the Church of the Advocate in North Philadelphia. Lecturer in creative writing at Penn. Winner of multiple awards and writing fellowships. Lives in Philadelphia with her husband and two daughters.
Program Description
Throughout 2006, as part of the Next Mayor Project, WHYY has been recruiting people from all walks of life, in the city and the suburbs, to come together, sit in small groups and brainstorm with their fellow citizens about what they think the most pressing issues are and suggest possible solutions for the city of Philadelphia and for the Greater Philadelphia region .
The groups met at WHYY Studios on Independence Mall. They included movers and shakers, business people, activists, academics and everyday residents just trying to make life better. We gathered groups of people who might not otherwise interact with each other and put them at the same table to hash out what exactly it is they want the candidates for mayor to talk about, putting the focus on issues, not potential candidates.
Intro Video for Community Forums.
Full Credits for Community Forums
Check Out All Of The Forums
(originally aired December 11-15, currently available in its entirety on Comcast Video OnDemand)
(originally aired December 18-22)
(originally aired December 25-29)
Community Forum #4
(originally aired January 1-5)
Community Forum #5
(orignally aired January 8-12)
Community Forum #6
(originally aired January 15-19)
Community Forum #7
(originally aired January 22-28)
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