'What changes would you like to see in your neighborhood once the new mayor takes office?"

That's the question we're asking people from neighborhoods all over Philadelphia. Below is the first of a series of 11 "Neighborhood Dialogues" that will run right up to voting day. Participants were chosen from among folks involved in the Citizen Voices project. Our focus in this first dialogue is Center City.

Our two dialogists live in different parts of Center City; each has been a resident there for at least six years. Jennifer Yuan is an electronic-publication specialist at the School of Medicine and Information Services at the University of Pennsylvania.  Ted Fry is an accountant. They spoke recently to Commentary Page editor John Timpane. 

 Ted Fry: We're justifying spending so much on Center City by saying we'll distribute the proceeds equitably throughout the city. The next mayor has to make good on that. I want a mayor who will be able to break his own ties of neighborhood and ethnicity and look at the city as a whole. I want a mayor who, when confronted by tensions within or between neighborhoods, will cut through the loyalties and insularities and say to somebody, "You're wrong: THIS is what's good for the whole city." I want a mayor with a city vision - who doesn't look at some neighborhoods the way Frank Rizzo looked at South Philly.

Jennifer Yuan: Center City is different from other neighborhoods. A high proportion of the residents did not grow up here, and they have brought in a lot of money and professional talent. The next mayor needs to think about ways to retain that mobile professional class - and that includes the students. In that, they have a lot of competition, from Washington, D.C., Boston, New York and the suburbs. It would be a shame to let so much human and community potential get away. We need a mayor who asks, "How do these people contribute to the city? How can we keep more of them? What are their needs and interests?"

Fry: We're a college town, with more students than Boston. Yet Philly loses more of its students than any other comparable city. A lot of our future is contingent on a lot of people who have no regional loyalties staying here and contributing.

 Yuan: People tell me they want to see more restaurants, more nightlife. There are a lot of professionals in Center City, a lot of single people. When they're done with work and everything's closed, that's not good.

Fry: Make business easy. Spending is an opportunistic activity. If you take the opportunities away, people will find another way to spend it. Keep things open as late as you can. It would employ more people.

Yuan: Businesses make money on people with walking-around-money. But they won't if places aren't open.

Fry: Exactly. I'd love to see more strolling opportunities. I fondly recall a slogan from the 1970s - "There's no shopping center like shopping Center City." The idea was you'll find serendipitous things just by walking around. One way to encourage businesses in Center City is to streamline the way such businesses are licensed and regulated. The next mayor must cut the Tammany Hall aspect of the politics in licensing. If you or I wanted to open a bar in Center City, we'd have to pay a lawyer $50,000 to get the paperwork done, and by the time we were done, the opportunity would be gone.

Yuan: Safety is an issue. An exodus can happen if a neighborhood is perceived to be unsafe. The Kimberly Ernest murder [in which a Center City jogger was raped and strangled in November 1995] traumatized a lot of people. The city is never as dangerous as people tend to think immediately after an incident like that, or as safe as people think immediately before an incident like that. We need to look to Boston for ideas about community policing efforts. Such efforts have really helped improve the racially charged climate of Boston. And it's well-suited to Philly because of the whole neighborhood structure.

        Fry: One of the most important questions a mayor could ask is, "What makes a neighborhood desirable, anyway?" You could ask it for the whole city: "What do you love about Philadelphia?" And start building on the answers you get.

Yuan: That's right. I chose to stay because of the history, and because I like the communal nature of the neighborhoods. I see someone I know every day, and people generally are very friendly. We have good opportunities for public recreation, and we can do even better. That's why I think this project for connecting Center City to Fairmount Park is a great thing.

Fry: Create opportunities for communal life. I remember when they gave Gregory Peck the Marian Anderson Award and showed films outside at night, people loved that. On the Fourth of July, you'll get hundreds of thousands of folks on the Parkway, and most of them will be locals. The next mayor should remember that: If you make opportunities for communal experience for the locals, they will come.

Next week: South Philadelphia.