This group agreed on four items that make Philadelphia's quality of life good: the arts, mass transit, the park system and the ``positive, progressive'' attitude that has spurred changes in attitudes among residents. Their optimism echoed a session Jan. 17 in Center City -- another refutation of the assumption that folks in the neighborhoods are downtrodden, negative-leaning.

Among the 15 participants were two married couples, one of whom actually lived in the suburbs after 20-plus years in Oak Lane, and one retired gentleman who moved back to the city after living on the Main Line. The ethnic mix included three African American men, four African American women and one Korean man.

The group wasted no time getting down to business, either in their small groups or in the questioning of the Oprah-style panel. Housing, education, jobs, transit and race relations topped their issue lists. They didn't prioritize them, because, as someone pointed out, fixing one means pretty much fixing all and therefore they couldn't rank them in priority order.

The 2010 Philadelphia began with the new mayor making a careful analysis of what drew businesses and jobs away from the city (among the problems the wage tax) and what drew people back -- specifically tax breaks for businesses involved in tourism (hotels, transportation, entertainment). The new mayor also started wooing high tech and insurance companies back into the city by targeting college grads who would stay (because they love the arts and culture of the city) if they could get work.

The new mayor stressed putting these jobs back in neighborhoods, where walking to work or taking the bus would make life easier for workers (and cheaper). The new mayor dealt with race relations candidly and up front, by diversifying his cabinet and installing smaller offices throughout neighborhoods. The new mayor acknowledged and welcomed input from the ``new Philadelphians'' -- immigrants and other minorities -- as he drew up plans to revitalize neighborhoods. (One panelist pointed out that in this election cycle for the first time, minorities are the majority of registered voters -- whether or not they vote.)

The new mayor used new businesses to drive improvements in health care, social services and education -- providing tax breaks to businesses that cooperated on child care arrangements; funding job training programs specific to their industries in the public schools , and encouraging hospitals to stay in the area. The new mayor drove a hard bargain with the teachers union, traded new funds for smaller classes and longer school days from the new governor in return for teacher accountability for student learning as measured by test scores.

Interestingly, despite what politicos (and journalists) often assume, crime did not take up much time in the discussions -- because, as one Citizen Voice said, ``Better schools brings better jobs, means less drugs, means less crime." The new mayor began this trend by setting the right priorities, the group said.