Lenses will blur Nutter's vision

For now, Michael Nutter is Philly's unlikely new rock star, the Boss with a bald head and goatee.

You could feel the juice Tuesday as the line of citizens waiting to shake his hand snaked around City Hall deep into the night. You could feel it Monday at his swearing-in, as he committed to several of what the business world calls BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals).

You could feel it, too, last month at the Great Expectations Citizens Convention as a packed house roared approval to his riff on the phrase "Is it too much to expect . . .?"

The town's new top dog has them dancing to his music, just like back in his DJ days as Mixmaster Mike.

Just one problem: A lot of people may not have listened yet to his lyrics. As people applaud Nutter's optimism and boldness, do they really grasp the scope of the tough-minded steps he plans to take?

People want change, but will they change their own habits and attitudes as much as their new mayor may demand in his pursuit of more jobs, more sheepskins, less crime?

After Nutter left the Citizens Convention buzzing on Dec. 2, participants split into groups to discuss the Great Expectations Agenda for Philadelphia's Future. The agenda, which I helped write, offers civic to-do lists on 12 issues; its proposals bear a strong family resemblance to Nutter's platform.

In December, citizens did applaud much of the agenda. But some had big problems with crucial pieces. Many were unhappy with the realistic, long-range timetables the agenda set for some goals. They wanted everything changed now!

One of Nutter's BHAGS is cutting the homicide rate in half. In the Dec. 2 crime discussion, his support for stop-and-frisk tactics to help do that drew less flak than you might expect. More than a few African Americans are reluctantly ready to try anything.

What drew blasts of criticism at the crime forums was the agenda's notion that gun control should be considered a "long-term goal." Some citizens think stamping their feet harder will change Harrisburg's views. They don't know that the gun-loving sultans of the Susquehanna chuckle at our righteous rage. Nutter has no choice but to play a patient, pragmatic hand to get approval of even small gun-control steps, like requiring reports of lost and stolen guns.

Zoning reform is this year's Raymond; everybody loves it. Nutter promises to fix the city's zany, corruption-spawning code. Problem is, everybody has a different definition of "reform."

To some activists, it means turning Philly into a BANANA Republic, where you can Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything. That's not Nutter's idea. He'd like clear, fair rules that encourage people with capital to build in his city. This one might get ugly before it gets resolved.

Nutter's two other BHAGs were halving the 45 percent dropout rate and doubling the city's pathetic percentage (18) of adults with college degrees.

The mayor's college focus, while dead-on, runs headlong into a Philadelphia quirk.

In a city where so few have degrees, many get prickly when told that their kids need something they themselves never had. They think that's elitist, stuck-up, even racist.

"Not everyone is college material." That phrase cropped up often in Dec. 2 forums on the Knowledge Economy agenda, which set a sheepskin goal less gaudy than Nutter's. True, not everyone is cut out for campus. But a radically higher percentage of the city's youth must be, if a city whose economy hinges on education and health care wants to soar. College needn't mean Harvard; the fine community college offers a wealth of practical degrees.

Similar populist resentment will push back against Nutter's tax agenda. He knows employers won't settle in a city offering a combo platter of high taxes, low job skills, red tape and corruption.

But many Philadelphians have a huge quarrel with how capitalism works. Given how the winds of the global economy have buffeted them for 40 years, you can see why. Nostalgia for the city's lost heyday of neighborhood factories and strong unions burns bright. Many don't know what modern jobs look like, nor do they see how the tax issue links to jobs. They just view business tax cuts as favors to fat cats.

They also worry, with reason, how tax-cutting can be balanced with providing services to the needy. But a good mayor can't refuse to mount that tightrope.

Philadelphians have wonderful traits - feisty love of neighborhood, reverence for the city's green legacy, idealism about living in liberty's birthplace. These helped propel a reform mayor to his upset victory.

But some other habits - insular naivete, class envy and populist nostalgia - will complicate the pursuit of his BHAGs more than many of his rapt fans now suspect.