B LOVE: So, here we are, two weeks away . . . how do you feel? What does May 16 (the day after the primary election) hold in store for you? Vacation? Cruise?

MICHAEL NUTTER: Thanks for being here. I feel great, I really do. But come May 16, I plan on catching up on my sleep.

B: We met over a year ago at Ten Stone, at 21st & South, six blocks from the South Street Bridge. That Bridge has been crumbling for years and is finally scheduled for reconstruction. The final product has been decried by neighbors, advocates, and Inquirer architect Inga Saffron because it is severely underwhelming and is a major missed opportunity. That is entirely because of its budget, which is less than fifty million dollars. We still have a chance to make it the icon it deserves to be as a bridge between an eastward expanding University of Pennsylvania campus and a growing Center City, over not only our beloved Schuylkill River but also a federal interstate highway and several passenger and commercial rail lines. What do you think?

MN: Bridge projects are always complicated. I've been through a few myself -- Strawberry Mansion, Falls Bridge, and the I-76 interchange is coming up in the district I used to represent -- they are tremendously complicated, there's no doubt about it. I think what's important is to make sure you have real dialogue from the neighbors, and the users, and then what other goals do you have? Are you trying to light it? Are you trying to highlight it? Can you make an easier passage for pedestrians? Will there be lighting elements underneath that fit into a larger strategy about bridges and how we sell them, because they hold a certain place in our hearts and our minds.

So, I think the most important component of a project like this is making sure there is as much input from nearby neighbors and users as possible and that everyone understands what the game plan is, including of course the start and finish.

South Street Bridge has a lot of history and character, and it needs to be addressed. The on-ramps are two of the worst.

B: No doubt. For bringing people into the city -- as far as bringing population back . . . have you thought about using famous faces? For example, you look at Kevin Bacon and Blythe Danner's "you're gonna love the arts in Philadelphia" ads . . . something like that. Or maybe athletes. Ryan Howard, Pat Burrell, and at least until recently, Peter Forsberg all live in the city.

MN: We need to retain more of the young people who come to school here, too. All of this goes to the three main issues I've talked about in terms of the quality of life: crime, education, jobs. I think if we attack those three issues aggressively, simultaneously and with a sense of urgency, people are going to feel safer, we'll have a more educated population, and businesses will want to be here. When you help facilitate the creation of jobs, it also creates a greater tax revenue and improves the amount of services.

Fourth after that is that we need to be more immigrant friendly. We can demonstrate that in a number of ways. The way we print our materials -- [we can do it in] a number of languages. We should print most things in at least ten different languages. That word of mouth starts to spread. We need a liaison for the various ethnic communities working right out of the mayor's office. What happens then is that people start telling their friends and relatives that this is a great place; it's friendly to us. Boston, Chicago, New York and a number of other places have been able to capitalize on that.

B: Ray Nagin's comments last week . . . that seems to be one of the major current events that hasn't been covered in a Nutter press release. The way I see it: yes, it was out of line and yes, he had no place to say that, but the question is: was he right?

MN: Well, two comments. One, I think it's unfortunate that when a city hosts another city's official or delegation . . . whatever your general observations are whenever you come to town, you thank people for the hospitality you've received and reserve any critical comments. You don't need to say something about everything. It's like going to somebody's house for dinner and then criticizing the meal. Not the nicest thing in the world.

But. As I've traveled the city, it is very clear that the city is dirty. It really is. So, [Nagin] said the right thing at the wrong time. It's inappropriate for him to say it but he's right on the issue. One of the things I plan to do is to not only clean up City Hall figuratively, in terms of corruption and crime, but also clean that building and its perimeter. I also want to have hundreds of thousands of people out throughout this entire city on a day, cleaning up Philadelphia. It needs a literal cleaning, it needs a figurative cleaning. It's a symbolic cleaning because I want people to understand that now that we've cleansed the place . . . once you've established a baseline of what is acceptable, then that should be our standard as we move on, and it's unacceptable to go back to a dirty, filthy, grimy kind of place. That's not who we are and that's not what we are about. That's what I'm trying to change.