Rina Cutler Leaving Nutter Administration Next Month, Taking Job at Amtrak
By Mike Dunn
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A top Nutter administration official is leaving her post for a high-level job at Amtrak.
As deputy mayor for transportation and public utilities, Rina Cutler has overseen major aspects of life in Philadelphia, including potholes, trash collection, recycling, bicycle lanes, the Philadelphia Gas Works, bridges, the airport, and the water department.
And as Mayor Nutter noted today in announcing her departure, she's never one to hold back her opinion:
"Certainly not shy, not a wallflower," the mayor acknowledged. "You will always know what's on her mind, whether you asked or not."
Cutler is leaving to become Amtrak's senior director of major station planning and development, focusing on the Northeast Corridor, Chicago, and New Orleans.
Today, in the mayor's reception room at City Hall, she said she's thrilled about the new challenge.
"I am passionate about cities. I am passionate about airports. And I am passionate about high-speed rail. And, as it turns out, I could sort of try to figure out how to make that work in one new adventure," she said.
Nutter praised Cutler for, among other things, overseeing expansion at the airport, creating bicycle lanes in center city, improving the city's relationship with SEPTA, overseeing the rebuilding of the dangerous South Street bridge, and the introduction of single-stream recycling.
The mayor said the city's loss is Amtrak's gain:
"I can certainly tell you that American taxpayers will benefit from her passionate management style, just as Philadelphians and Pennsylvanians have since the early 1990s."
Cutler previously served as executive director of the Philadelphia Parking Authority and was a top official at Penndot before taking the deputy mayor post under Mayor Nutter during his first year in office, 2008.
She also joked today that the job's huge portfolio has certain side-effects.
"I did tell (Mayor Nutter) recently that I never drank before I had this job. And he corrected me and said, 'You didn't drink as much.' "
Cutler's last day will be April 17th. She will be succeeded by John Elfrey (at left in photo), who is currently a deputy managing director in the Nutter administration.
