"I will...aggressively seek savings and efficiencies."

Michael Nutter, "An Honest Budget Now: The Nutter Plan to Bring Fiscal Integrity to City Government,"

The mayor-elect did something subtle, yet interesting on Wednesday when he announced additional appointments to his administration: he took one senior executive position outlined in the Home Rule Charter and turned it into two:

First, I want to point out that candidate Knox gets the official "you’re so money" award for being the first Democrat in Philadelphia history to use the word "productivity" in the way that it was intended to be applied to economic development thinking. Without endorsing Knox, I recommend that other elected officials and candidates for office follow his lead and research how productivity drives competitiveness and supports high and growing wages. Get it, preach it.

In keeping with the theme of harnessing Philadelphia's entrepreneurial potential - in every corner of the city - as the most pressing issue on our agenda, I am going to ignore Knox's sections on violence, education, and fighting addiction and skip right to "Upgrading Philadelphia’s Workforce." Other than K-12 public education, obviously vitally important to our economy, this seems to be his only economic development thinking to-date. (Mr. Knox, you’ve know that you would be running for how long now? Get with the program.)

Also, in fairness to candidates Fattah and Nutter, who seem to be leading the way as it relates to fairly exhaustive (which, note, does not necessarily always mean good) policy ideas, Knox’s "On the Issues" section seems to be less "I am passionate about these issues, and my ideas represent the results of many sleepless nights poring over them" and more "My staff threw some ideas on my website because people at YPP pointed out I am the only Democratic candidate without ideas online."

Another installment in the "Congressman, your 'Plan to Promote Philadelphia's Small Businesses' is not that good" series. I would just like to point out that virtually all of the questions raised in Monday's post, "Where are all the rock star entrepreneurs?" still exist.

Today's Focus: Fattah's Plan Ignores Labor Force Competitiveness (Comments appreciated)

Much has been said here at YPP in support of Congressman Fattah’s focus and accomplishments on the education front, specifically CORE and GEAR-UP. (As an aside, am I the only one upset about the fact that new hokey acronyms have not been announced by the campaign yet?) Despite this apparent focus on education as a means of marketable skills development, however, why does the Congressman’s small business plan ignore Philadelphia’s under-educated existing labor force, perhaps the most uncompetitive characteristic of our current business environment?

Anyone who followed "Where are all the rock star entrepreneurs?" regarding Philadelphia's entrepreneurial imperative (and how Congressman Fattah's "Plan to Promote Philadelphia's Small Businesses" fails to adequately address this imperative), knows that significant and as of yet unanswered questions remain about Congressman Fattah's proposals (pls see comments section). David Wade chimed in and used a lot of words to say much of nothing, while Ray chimed in to say that my ideas were similar to the Congressman's (which they are not, as I will fully detail in frequent posts about the flaws in the Congressman's proposals), but did not address a single question I raised about any of his proposals.

I'll intro this by saying that Congressman Fattah’s small business plan proves that Democrats looking for a bold new vision for Philadelphia’s economic future might just want to look elsewhere. True, the Congressman is confronting a central challenge while other candidates fiddle – and this warrants credit. But a plan without vision is a plan without vision, whether it’s February 5th or May 15th.

To put it all in context, the realization of Philadelphia’s entrepreneurial potential is the central issue of our time. The impact of stronger entrepreneurial activity is the capacity to change the life of literally every Philadelphian. Democrats not casting a vote in 2007 for a candidate with a vision for a more entrepreneur-focused Philadelphia cast a vote for lagging job and wage growth, an expensive bureaucracy, and ultimately a vote against those with the brilliance, courage and vision to declare that the market has missed an opportunity.

The problem with the Congressman's plan that I would like to discuss today involves the lack of data used to inform, generate, and/or support each of his proposals. Simply put, on the important issue of our time, Philadelphians deserve a candidate who has put in the time to study the numbers. Tell me, how would you rate a police commissioner who released a report on the murder rate that included no quantitative analysis of the wheres, whys, and hows of the city's murders?

Enjoy...

Nike recently posed this question to the post-Prefontaine running world, but it's a far more compelling one here at home. (Note: This piece is excerpted from one written to generate discussion among entrepreneurs, but it crosscuts issues discussed here at YPP. Would appreciate any substantive feedback. The opportunity to go 3 and 0 in debates with Price would also be greatly appreciated.

Harnessing Philadelphia’s entrepreneurial potential – in every corner of the city – should be our most pressing agenda item. While entrepreneurial activity, particularly in our poorest neighborhoods, lags behind other cities, we fight over marginal tax reductions and the ethnicity of city procurement. While job growth lags and unemployment in our poorest neighborhoods is three times that of the region, your Chamber of Commerce counts a smoking ban and runway expansions among its legislative successes. Make no mistake – Philadelphia has a tax problem, and there’s much work to be done on the minority business front. But, simply put, it’s time to change the subject.

Improved entrepreneurial activity requires a bold new dialogue on entrepreneurship, one inspired foremost by trillions in global market opportunity, and why it’s ours for the taking. To be successful, this dialogue must be led by those with the hustle and brilliance to remind us of our potential, those visionaries for whom everything is on the table, for whom risk is not a political calculation, but an essential part of the day, and those who – sadly – seem least likely to be heard on this important issue: our successful entrepreneurs.

A bold new dialogue might include the following underlying tenets: