Weavers Way shoppers were surprised by the arrival of Mayor Michael Nutter in the Mt. Airy store a little after noon Saturday as he toured the co-op and stopped by several other neigborhood businesses at the corner of Carpenter and Greene Streets.

The visit was part of the mayor’s effort to encourage Philadelphia residents to support local business, particularly during the holiday shopping season.

“There is a tremendous amount of local business that goes on in Philadelphia,” said Nutter. “[The Buy Local campaign] is a great idea—somthing we’re clearly behind.”

The mayor shook hands with shoppers, tasted local apples and was introduced to a wide range of locally-made foods and products on the co-op's shelves. Dressed in a University of Pennsylvania sweatshirt with a red cap on his head, he looked every bit like the local shopper for whom his message was intended.

“You look so much more casual in person,” one shopper remarked when she realized who he was. Nutter laughed and said it was one of the rare times he was not in a suit.

Local entrepreneurs are “pure community development,” Nutter said, and he thinks the co-op, in particular, is clearly “a winner,” having been in Mt. Airy for almost 40 years. Nutter was particularly impressed by the co-op’s partnership with C.W. Henry School across the street and its efforts to involve young people in local business through the Henry Got Crops program.

“You’ve got third, fourth and fifth graders selling produce,” Nutter said, “and that’s a lot better than selling candy."

Several Weavers Way members took advantage of the mayor’s appearance as an opportunity to voice their displeasure with the passage of several zoning ordinances by City Council on Thursday that enabled the development of the former Magarity Ford site at 8200 Germantown Ave. 

All that stands in the way of the Bowman Properties project now is Nutter’s signature.

The proposal outlines plans for a five-story building, containing a Fresh Market supermarket and residential housing. The Chestnut Hill Community Association unanimously approved the development plan in a special meeting on Monday, in a move that a group of near neighbors described as “betrayal by a neighborhood association that did not stand up for us.”

“The community is not behind it,” said Terry Halbert, a Chestnut Hill resident and Weavers Way member. She and other near neighbors gathered signatures from approximately 600 Chestnut Hill residents opposed to the development. “Near neighbors were never polled; we were just told that ‘this is what is happening.’”

Nutter said he had thought there was community support for the Bowman plan. After hearing concerns about the rezoning issue from at least four different people on his way through the co-op, Nutter pledged to look further into the matter before signing the ordinances into law. “I will investigate,” he said.

Asked whether the spot zoning ordinances for a national grocery chain contradicted the “buy local” message, Nutter said that ultimately the choice comes back to the consumer.

“We do live in a free enterprise environment,” he said, “and if there is reasonable plan development it’s better than a vacant store. We’re a city that can sustain development.”

But Nutter also emphasized that a range of factors have to be considered in making zoning decisions, including traffic flow and density. “There has to be legitimacy in the process,” he said. “As the government, I can’t support this store and not the other.”