I went out to the Society Hill Civic Association and Delaware River Neighborhood Alliance Mayoral Forum at Old Pine Church on Wednesday night. Five of the eight candidates on the ballot showed up. Absent were House Representatives Chakka Fattah and Bob Brady and Jesus White. There were about 200 people in the [gorgeous] church sanctuary. It was my first time inside the church, I've been wanting to go in for quite some time though. I made my way [after handing out flyers for Andy Toy] to the upper deck to take some photos like the one above [that's Tom Knox speaking]. I didn't take any notes, but below are some shots of each of the candidates.
Former City Councilman Michael Nutter.
All five of them up at the stage for the Q&A session.
President of the Greater Northeast Chamber of Commerce Al Taubenberger - the only Republican in the race (as of now).
Queena Bass.
PA House Representative Dwight Evans.
Really rich guy who ran an HMO Tom Knox.
And one final shot from the middle aisle of the church. You can see all five candidates up front if you look closely. I left about 40 minutes into the talk. I'm sick and I already had a long day so I went home. But the little I did hear while snapping away was casinos, casinos, casinos. I did see Ed from Hallwatch and Josh Cornfield from the Metro and the new blog Fighting for Room 215 - now that's a title. There were news cameras galore and I'm sure other bloggers were present to document the night. Nothing up on Young Philly Politics yet.
There will be another mayoral forum Friday night put on by the Energy Coordinating Agency at the Friends Select School at 17/Parkway. There will be a sustainability fair with refreshments at 5.30p and the forum will begin at 6p. It will be moderated by Committee of 70's Zach Stalberg. There will be a City Council At-Large forum at the Unitarian Church (21/Chestnut) on Saturday starting at 11a - that one is being organized by Philly for Change.
Same photos, but bigger, in this flickr set.
***UPDATE
Some writeups: Daily News, Fight for Room 215.
That last shot is really
That last shot is really cool.
thanks!
from about 20' from the front.