As I have stated before, I am sort of ambivalent towards Mike Nutter. He has made his signature issues a corporate tax cut, and has an ethics reform package that forgets about public financing of campaigns, by far the most effective way to clean up elections and swing power back towards communities. At the same time, he has by all accounts been a pretty good neighborhood organizer, has been listening to his constituents on the Casino issue, and has led the charge to get rid of smoking in bars around the City.

One thing certain BPT-ers don't like is when I ask how much Comcast, or Aetna will get from a BPT cut. I am reminded of my unanswered question, because Comcast and Mike Nutter are back in the news, and we are going to get a small idea of what kind of person Mike Nutter is. I explain below.

In a great column, of which you should read the whole thing, Jeff Gelles notes the following:

In a hearing at 1 p.m., Comcast officials will urge City Council members to allow them to absorb the city's last non-Comcast franchise territory: the west and northwest quadrant now served by Time Warner Cable.

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The question is: What will Philadelphia get in return?

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If there's any hope for change, a key player could be Councilman Michael Nutter, who is shepherding Comcast's franchise-transfer application. In the '90s, Nutter took fellow Council members to task for hastily approving those 15-year franchise extensions.

Nutter has said little this time around, though he hopes to finally bring public-access channels to Philadelphia, the largest U.S. city to lack this electronic-age version of a town square.

But it would hardly be a concession for Comcast to provide five public-access channels for the city, or money to build and operate a media center. All city cable franchise agreements have required that since the 1980s, but the city itself has never insisted.

This is not a newsflash to anyone who has gotten a Comcast bill, but they are absolutely sticking it to Philadelphians. Their prices are outrageous, and their refusal to sell Comcast Sportsnet to competitors such as DirecTV, lets them keep on gauging sports-crazed Philadelphia. If Comcast had to offer their channels to all companies, all of us would pay less, each and every day.

So, Councilman Nutter, where do you stand? Are you standing up for Philadelphia? Or are you helping out your buddies at Comcast? The answer is not public access channels, since that is a law that the City should be enforcing anyway. The answer is actual competition, which benefits Philly, and for all those BPT fanactics out there, makes a hell of a lot more economic sense than a monopoly.

Will be interesting to watch how it all plays out. If anyone went to the hearings, let me know.