Meet the Mayor, Greet City Hall
I STOOD IN LINE more than two hours yesterday afternoon and evening to shake Mayor Michael Nutter's hand, and this is what I saw: City Hall in all its magnificence. I was not alone. In a receiving line of more than 4,000 people that snaked around the Hall from south to north, there wasn't much to do on a balmy January dusk except stare in wonder at the architectural soul of Philadelphia, this mountain of marble and granite among us, this defining structure that we see all the time but rarely, if ever, spend a couple of hours contemplating and appreciating.
There is a there there in Philadelphia. And City Hall is as there as it gets -- the geographic center of the city, the overwhelming presence, the people's instrument of political power. And after staring at that for two hours, Michael Nutter was the human face on the other end of the receiving line. It was extraordinary, magical: boy meets girl, citizens meet mayor, life meets metaphor.
Michael Nutter must have known the weather would be delightful for Hall watching. He must have hoped for it, anyway. The ancient Greeks and Romans would have declared a 60-degree winter evening a good omen to start an administration. And there is no modern science that improves upon that perception.
Michael Nutter invited Philadelphians who already love their city -- or else they wouldn't have come -- to fall in love all over again with the looming majesty at its very core. Mission accomplished.
