City Council
at-large race
For district 1-10 races, go to the Districts page
Job Description: City Council consists of 10 distinct elected councilmanic districts and seven elected from the city at-large. City Council is the legislative body of the city government; it enacts all ordinances. It adopts a capital program and both the operating and capital budgets. It also sets tax rates.
To serve as a member of Council, a citizen must be at least 25 years old. Of the seven at-large seats, no more than five can be from the same party.
Term: four years
Salary: Ranging from $132,791 for the president to $105,800 for members
Qualifications: We asked about the candidates’
A. Education
B. Current occupation
C. Qualifications for office
We also asked candidates for City Council:
1. As a member of City Council, what is your plan to keep current businesses in Philadelphia?
2. In your first year of office as a member of City Council, what is your main priority?
3. As a member of City Council, what would you do to address the crime epidemic in Philadelphia?
Democrats for an at-large seat
(Vote for not more than five in your party)
Wilson Alexander
Qualifications: No response received.
Answer: No response received.
Maceo Cummings
Philadelphia
Qualifications:
Education: Philadelphia College of Textiles & Science, 1970; University of Maryland Eastern Shore, 1973
Current occupation: Vice president, Temple Group Inc. (seven years)
Qualifications for office: Chief Executive Officer, PHDC, four years, $32 million in new affordable housing; West Philadelphia Community Trust board member, helped to bring a 300,000-square-foot shopping center to West Philadelphia.
Answers:
1. As a member of City Council, what is your plan to keep current businesses in Philadelphia? Support developments that will allow the city wage tax to be reduced. Hold town-hall meetings around the city to address the needs of residents and business. Work with L&I, zoning and other municipal agencies to streamline their processes to be more user-friendly.
2. In your first year of office as a member of City Council, what is your main priority? To begin the process of rebuilding faith in our municipal government. Reach out to the people who have been disenfranchised during the past decade or so and ensure to each and every neighborhood that the restoration has begun. Our government must be of, by and for the people.
3. As a member of City Council, what would you do to address the crime epidemic in Philadelphia? Short-term strategies should be: As a Police Department, there must be a strategy to recommit to community policing so that trust can be restored between the community and the police. Better-coordinated collaboration between the judicial system and the Police Department. And build a coalition of churches, community residents and neighborhood organizations across the city.
Web site: None provided.
Michael K. Ellis
Philadelphia
Qualifications:
Education: Attended public and private schools; took college courses at CCP, La Salle, and Temple; Abington Friends School; Hampton University, B.S.
Current occupation: Director of marketing and sales
Qualifications for office: Former member of the American Marketing Association; member of the Political Science Club at Hampton University; member of Philadelphia Young Democrats
Answers:
1. As a member of City Council, what is your plan to keep current businesses in Philadelphia? My plan to keep current businesses in Philadelphia is to eliminate the business-privilege tax. I want to replace it with one standard and reasonable business tax that is lower than our current tax structure.
2. In your first year of office as a member of City Council, what is your main priority? My main priority is education. I believe that we can increase our graduation rate and decrease our poverty and crime rate through better education. My mom is a schoolteacher in the Philadelphia public-school system, so I know how important education is.
3. As a member of City Council, what would you do to address the crime epidemic in Philadelphia? A majority of our crime is committed by young people. I believe that the city of Philadelphia and School District of Philadelphia should work as partners by incorporating violence-prevention programs in middle and high schools. The city is filled with organizations that have expertise in managing programs for at-risk and adjudicated youth.
Web site: http://www.ellis07.com
W. Wilson Goode Jr.
Philadelphia
Qualifications:
Education: University of Pennsylvania, B.A., political science
Current occupation: At-large member, Philadelphia City Council. Chairman, Commerce and Economic Development Committee
Qualifications for office: Landmark legislation includes: tax credits for job creation and neighborhood economic development; living-wage standard for all city employees; fair lending and community-reinvestment goals from depository banks
Answers:
1. As a member of City Council, what is your plan to keep current businesses in Philadelphia? My tax-credit programs are offering targeted relief to businesses while creating over than 2,500 new jobs and providing $25 million for community economic development. I successfully advocated for over than $65 million for neighborhood commercial corridors. I also support elimination of the gross-receipts portion of the business-privilege tax.
2. In your first year of office as a member of City Council, what is your main priority? My top public-policy priority will continue to be the creation of new economic opportunities for Philadelphia. My legislative work is supporting the creation of thousands of new jobs with more livable wages; more home mortgages and small-business loans for working-class neighborhoods; and increased investment in public schools.
3. As a member of City Council, what would you do to address the crime epidemic in Philadelphia? I will address the issue of crime through my support of smarter policing and parole efforts, but also by providing ex-offenders with alternatives that increase their available economic opportunities. My newest initiative gives businesses a tax credit for hiring ex-offenders who otherwise would return to a life of crime.
Web site: None provided.
Bill Green
Philadelphia
Qualifications:
Education: 1992, Auburn University, B.A., summa cum laude; 1995, University of Pennsylvania, J.D.
Current occupation: Attorney
Qualifications for office: I traded options overseas and in New York, I have been a software CEO and a lawyer in Philadelphia with a record of creating jobs. My unique worldview, budgetary and planning experience are needed.
Answers:
1. As a member of City Council, what is your plan to keep current businesses in Philadelphia? Build upon existing industries, phase out the gross-receipts portion of the BPT and offer tax credits for capital investments by existing and new businesses. Seek input and ideas from businesses and engage them in promoting the city. Expand revitalization to our neighborhood commercial locations.
2. In your first year of office as a member of City Council, what is your main priority? Write a business plan to end the cycle of poverty that the bondholders will invest in. Use my technology background to put everything online, increasing productivity and openness by having a paperless city government wherever possible. Encourage a “customer-service” mentality. Pass an ordinance requiring elected city employees to disclose all outside income.
3. As a member of City Council, what would you do to address the crime epidemic in Philadelphia? Violence is an epidemic that threatens our neighborhoods, our families and our economy. Making Philadelphia’s streets and schools safe is a moral obligation and we must do whatever it takes. However, we can’t arrest our way out of the problem. We need to provide education and economic opportunity.
Web site: www.greenforphiladelphia.com
Derek S. Green
Philadelphia
Qualifications:
Education: 1992, University of Virginia, B.A.; 1998, Temple Law School, J.D.
Current occupation: Attorney
Qualifications for office: Chief legislative aide, City Council; Deputy City Solicitor; Assistant District Attorney; assistant branch manager, board director, West Philadelphia YMCA and Urban League of Philadelphia; president, East Mount Airy Neighbors
Answers:
1. As a member of City Council, what is your plan to keep current businesses in Philadelphia? My plan is to introduce legislation that reduces and ultimately eliminates the gross-receipts tax. As a small-business owner, I know the impact of paying this tax before any profits are earned. Consequently, this tax hurts our ability to bring and keep businesses in Philadelphia.
2. In your first year of office as a member of City Council, what is your main priority? My priority is to introduce legislation that will empower our communities for a safer city. This legislation will provide resources to grass-roots organizations that are reducing crime and violence; create a citywide job program; and invest in our recreation centers to make them the true anchors of our neighborhoods.
3. As a member of City Council, what would you do to address the crime epidemic in Philadelphia? Through my legislation, we will address the crime epidemic by working with our communities to change the city’s culture of violence, by providing young people an opportunity to develop careers, and by creating safe havens for kids, teens, adults, and seniors to play, grow, exercise, and learn.
Web site: http://www.dereksgreen.com
William K. Greenlee
Philadelphia
Qualifications:
Education: 1979, Temple University, B.A., journalism
Current occupation: City councilman
Qualifications for office: City councilman at-large, 2006 to present; Americans for Democratic Action, chairman, 1994-96; Fairmount Civic Association, board member, 1980s; Democratic 15th Ward leader, 1994 to present
Answers:
1. As a member of City Council, what is your plan to keep current businesses in Philadelphia? I believe we need to: A) continue with measures that lower the business-privilege tax; B) improve education, thus enhancing the functional capacity of our pool of possible employees; C) continue 10-year tax abatements in specified areas; D) reduce the city wage tax.
2. In your first year of office as a member of City Council, what is your main priority? Reducing violence on the streets of Philadelphia.
3. As a member of City Council, what would you do to address the crime epidemic in Philadelphia? I will be a forceful advocate for stronger gun laws in the city of Philadelphia. Unfortunately, City Council is forbidden from enacting legislation. For serious change, we need local control. In the meantime, the city must find ways to better fund rec centers and job programs for youth and ex-prisoners. We must also improve our schools.
Web site: http://www.billgreenlee.com
Caryn Hunt
Philadelphia
Qualifications:
Education: 1993, Temple University, B.A., communications, magna cum laude
Current occupation: Writer
Qualifications for office: Corporate background, community activist, founding member of Neighbors Allied for the Best Riverfront and Casino-Free Philadelphia
Answers:
1. As a member of City Council, what is your plan to keep current businesses in Philadelphia? I am dedicated to growing a strong local economy by investing in locally owned businesses - encouraging entrepreneurship in our communities. Tax incentives should do double duty by helping businesses that are committed to helping Philadelphia achieve its larger development goals - like new job creation and the improvement of our infrastructure and quality of life.
2. In your first year of office as a member of City Council, what is your main priority? My main priority is opening up all the processes of city government to greater citizen input and scrutiny.
3. As a member of City Council, what would you do to address the crime epidemic in Philadelphia? Ideal would be to have the authority from Harrisburg to enact our own gun laws. We need greater police presence on our streets, more police targeted to high-crime areas, and funding provided for parole and probation officers, drug-rehabilitation programs, and tax incentives for businesses willing to hire ex-cons. Most importantly, we have to address root causes: improve the quality of education to our children, and the training of our work force for future jobs.
Web site: http://www.CarynHunt.com
James F. Kenney
Philadelphia
Qualifications:
Education: 1980, La Salle University, B.A.
Current occupation: City councilman at-large
Qualifications for office: City Council (at-large), 16 years
Answers:
1. As a member of City Council, what is your plan to keep current businesses in Philadelphia? The tax structure in Philadelphia is abysmal and must be addressed quickly. I support the reduction of the burdensome BPT that hampers our businesses’ ability to expand and employ more workers. Having a more-competitive tax market will also attract new businesses and grow our economy, which will benefit existing businesses.
2. In your first year of office as a member of City Council, what is your main priority? I’m dedicated to bringing a 311 call center to Philadelphia, a citywide system which allows residents to call 311 to place requests for services and obtain information on all aspects of city government. The system will enable the city to improve our neighborhoods and quality of life.
3. As a member of City Council, what would you do to address the crime epidemic in Philadelphia? I would work with police to deter the sale/purchase of illegal guns though undercover operations throughout the region and Pennsylvania. I would also call to increase the number of foot/bike patrols in violent areas. And I would fund the hiring of more police officers, and work to quickly address nuisance crimes such as graffiti.
Web site: http://jameskenney.com
Rodney Little
Philadelphia
Qualifications:
Education: 1978, University City High School; 1991 Philadelphia Police Academy; 1982-2005 U.S. Army Leadership Academies
Current occupation: Sergeant Major, U.S. Army Reserves (Activated); PHA police officer
Qualifications for office: FOHP president, five years; FOP president, Lodge 106, three years; transition-team member for Pennsylvania state attorney general, two years; police officer, 16 years
Answers:
1. As a member of City Council, what is your plan to keep current businesses in Philadelphia? Lower taxes, improve city services, make streets safer, produce a ready work force from our public schools.
2. In your first year of office as a member of City Council, what is your main priority? I want to strive to make Philadelphia safer by protecting our citizens from violent crimes, fraud, illegal drugs, child predators and numerous other threats.
3. As a member of City Council, what would you do to address the crime epidemic in Philadelphia? By bringing all of the law-enforcement agencies in Philadelphia (i.e. housing police, transit police, campus police) under the 911 system, we will mobilize these agencies. This will give us more of a police presence and more police officers to fight crime on the streets of Philadelphia, regardless of jurisdictional boundaries.
Web site: None provided.
Harry Massele
Philadelphia
Qualifications:
Education: 1974, Ursinus College , B.A. in economics; 1977, Temple University, M.A. in economics
Current occupation: I an a financial accountant, part-time real estate associate broker.
Qualifications for office: I am well-qualified for the office. I was an economic adviser, head of planning in the Ministry of Coffee and Tea Development for the Ethiopian government. I was a planner for the borough of Norristown.
Answers:
1. As a member of City Council, what is your plan to keep current businesses in Philadelphia? If it is possible, eliminate the business-privilege tax. If it is not possible, then lower the rate. Have tax incentives for small businesses and retain big businesses, so that they can create more jobs and hire more people and we will have more revenue. It is economics. Stop mandatory payment of next-year taxes currently imposed by the city. I think it is not right. Lower wage tax so that people can have more money and spend more money in the city, and we will have more money circulating in the city. Business will remain in the city and there will be plenty of jobs and money.
2. In your first year of office as a member of City Council, what is your main priority? School Funding: Have stable, permanent funding for School District of Philadelphia. My motto is: Education! Education! Education! If we have good education, we can create jobs, eliminate crimes. Introduce a bill for term limits for Council so that young people can aspire for higher office.
3. As a member of City Council, what would you do to address the crime epidemic in Philadelphia? Fight for gun-control legislation in Philadelphia. Have safety and security through community policing with a trained police force. Have a police mini-station in every community. Work with block captains. Educate parents and the communities at large to discipline our children and our youth. We must have after-school programs.
Web site: http://www.massele.com
Benjamin Ramos
Philadelphia
Qualifications:
Education: Southern New Hampshire University, 1990-92, M.S.; Community College of Philadelphia, 1974-76; Temple University, 1976-78; Harvard University, 1997
Current occupation: Consultant
Qualifications for office: Deputy mayor, two years, city of Philadelphia; state representative, six years, Pennsylvania House of Representatives; acting secretary, five months, commonwealth of Pennsylvania; director, constituent services and chief of staff, four years, city of Philadelphia
Answers:
1. As a member of City Council, what is your plan to keep current businesses in Philadelphia? Continue to lower the wage tax; lower and eventually end the business-privilege tax; consider lowering gross-receipts and net-income taxes; streamline all city agencies providing services to small businesses; make the department of licenses and inspections (L&I) more friendly and sensitive to small business.
2. In your first year of office as a member of City Council, what is your main priority? Support anti-crime initiatives in City Hall; support funding for the School District of Philadelphia, in conjunction with the assurance that the City Council insists on accountability for the system; ensure open and transparent government; assess financial and structural condition of Philadelphia Gas Works; lead the effort to improve the relationship with the General Assembly in Harrisburg.
3. As a member of City Council, what would you do to address the crime epidemic in Philadelphia? Funding the necessary crime-fighting initiatives; ensure public involvement; support police-force deployment according to our crime-fighting needs.
Web site: http://www.benramos.net
Juan F. Ramos
Philadelphia
Qualifications:
Education: National Labor College, B.A.
Current occupation: City Council at-large
Qualifications for office: One-term councilman seeking re-election
Answers:
1. As a member of City Council, what is your plan to keep current businesses in Philadelphia? I plan to continue the tax reductions as outlined in the Five-Year Plan.
2. In your first year of office as a member of City Council, what is your main priority? My main priority will be to continue to fight crime, drugs and violence in our city.
3. As a member of City Council, what would you do to address the crime epidemic in Philadelphia? I plan to continue a call for the creation of a commission to define and measure crime as a public-health issue; increase city funding for the Adolescent and Youth Violence-Reduction Programs; 200 more police on the street and increase funding to the department to deploy police; better enforcement of curfew and truancy laws; lobby Harrisburg and Washington for gun-control laws; increase city funding for gun court; increase awareness for missing persons.
Web site: http://myspace.com/reelectcouncilmanramos
Blondell Reynolds Brown
Philadelphia
Qualifications:
Education: Girls High School; Pennsylvania State University, B.S. in elementary education, M.S. in education
Current occupation: Councilwoman at-large
Qualifications for office: Councilwoman, seven years; charter class, Philadelphia Urban League Leadership Institute; graduate, University of Pennsylvania community-leadership program; former elementary-school teacher; proud parent and spouse
Answers:
1. As a member of City Council, what is your plan to keep current businesses in Philadelphia? I have supported reductions in the BPT every year. I have authored legislation that reduced red tape for small business and sustained businesses in their infancy. I host a biannual roundtable series that helps local businesses grow their contact base and earn them contracts. I plan to continue these efforts.
2. In your first year of office as a member of City Council, what is your main priority? I focus my legislative efforts primarily in three issue areas: children and youth, small-business development, and arts and culture. Working to enhance what is known as the creative economy encompasses all three priorities and I plan to kick off my third term with initiatives to grow this economic sector.
3. As a member of City Council, what would you do to address the crime epidemic in Philadelphia? My office has been a primary sponsor of the Guns for Groceries program, which provides a $200 grocery voucher in exchange for a firearm. We have collected more than 600 guns in 2007, and will continue in this and every effort, both legislative and programmatic, to make our streets safer.
Web site: http://www.blondellonline.com
Matt Ruben
Philadelphia
Qualifications:
Education: 1991, Carnegie Mellon University, B.A.; 2007 (expected), University of Pennsylvania, Ph.D.
Current occupation: Teacher
Qualifications for office: Activist: Planned Parenthood, NARAL/PA, Kensington Welfare Rights Union, ACT UP Philadelphia, 1993-97. Youth Health Empowerment Project co-founder, 1994-97. Graduate Student Unionization: University of Pennsylvania, 2002. President, Northern Liberties Neighbors Association, 2002-06. Steering Committee, Neighbors Allied for the Best Riverfront, 2005-present
Answers:
1. As a member of City Council, what is your plan to keep current businesses in Philadelphia? Nurture neighborhood commercial corridors, and recreate our waterfronts to be well-planned, casino-free, with mixed residential, commercial and industrial/port uses. Use tax and zoning policy to attract new businesses and expand existing ones, reward affordable housing, build up neighborhood infrastructure, and prevent economic growth from displacing low-income residents.
2. In your first year of office as a member of City Council, what is your main priority? Restore our sense of safety and security in our neighborhoods, revive our educational system and our economy to reduce crime in the long term, and reclaim our government and city for its people. My top issues are: education, job creation, public safety, neighborhood development, gambling in Philadelphia, and fiscal stability.
3. As a member of City Council, what would you do to address the crime epidemic in Philadelphia? We need to address the root causes: poverty, hopelessness, and lack of opportunity. We must effectively lobby in Harrisburg so Philadelphia can pass its own gun-control laws. The police need more officers, more vests, renovated precinct houses, and police-community partnerships, with more police officers on bicycles and walking beats.
Web site: http://www.mattruben.com
Marc Stier
Philadelphia
Qualifications:
Education: 1976, Wesleyan College, B.A.; 1989, Harvard University, Ph.D.
Current occupation: Professor, Temple University
Qualifications for office: Founder, Neighborhood Networks, working for ethics reform, increased minimum wage, gun control; founder, NeighborhoodDefense.org, protecting communities from unwanted development; president, West Mount Airy Neighbors; leader, Pennsylvania Transit Coalition; political scientist for 25 years, studying public policy
Answers:
1. As a member of City Council, what is your plan to keep current businesses in Philadelphia? Tax restructuring, including BPT reductions; investments in our commercial corridors - lighting, sidewalks, facades; small loans and advice for startup businesses; a simplification of business licensing and regulation; day passes for SEPTA lines in business districts; better education will not only keep current businesses but bring us new ones.
2. In your first year of office as a member of City Council, what is your main priority? Our problems in this city are so interlocked that a Council member can’t have one priority. High crime rates, bad schools, and a lack of jobs are all found in the same neighborhoods. We have to address these problems together and focus on strengthening communities.
3. As a member of City Council, what would you do to address the crime epidemic in Philadelphia? In the short term, we need smart policing to remove guns from the streets and control our epidemic of violence. In the medium term, we need after-school, recreational and mentoring programs for our young people, especially those at risk. In the long term we need good jobs for everyone.
Web site: http://www.stier2007.com
Sharif T. Street
Philadelphia
Qualifications:
Education: 1996, Morehouse College, B.A., cum laude; 1999, University of Pennsylvania Law School, J.D.
Current occupation: Attorney
Qualifications for office: As an attorney, my focus is both on homes - from market-rate housing to affordable and mixed-use developments - and the needs of individuals, as counsel to nonprofit rehabilitation programs like One Day at a Time
Answers:
1. As a member of City Council, what is your plan to keep current businesses in Philadelphia? The city should invest in its ports to increase Philadelphia’s prominence as a cargo-distribution center, thereby creating family-sustaining jobs; develop its hospital and biomedical industry; coordinate and revitalize the commercial corridors of the neighborhoods, train and educate the juvenile and adult populations for growth-industry employment.
2. In your first year of office as a member of City Council, what is your main priority? Improving the quality of life for people in each of our neighborhoods will be my top priority. That can be achieved by taking swift steps to address crime, education and opportunity for every Philadelphian. To that end, I will work to make our communities safer by securing dedicated funding for Treatment Court.
3. As a member of City Council, what would you do to address the crime epidemic in Philadelphia? I support a dedicated funding source for Treatment Court, which would allow nonviolent, drug-addicted offenders to be sentenced to recovery programs - a less expensive alternative to prison that reduces criminal recidivism. I also support community prosecution to increase effectiveness and efficiencies among police, courts and prosecutors’ offices.
Web site: http://SharifStreetforPhilly.com
T. Milton Street Sr.
Qualifications: No response received.
Answers: No response received.
Andrew Toy
Philadelphia
Qualifications:
Education: 1980, University of Pennsylvania, B.A. (Economics); 1981, Penn, M.A. (Public and Urban Policy)
Current occupation: Running for office full-time, so it isn’t possible to work. Previous position, until December 2006, was program officer at the Local Initiatives Support Corporation.
Qualifications for office: Commerce Department manager, 15 years, 101 Connectors, LISC’s Philadelphia Commercial Corridor Redevelopment Initiative, five years.
Answers:
1. As a member of City Council, what is your plan to keep current businesses in Philadelphia? Having run Business Services (Mayor’s Business Action Team) I know we need to cut red tape. Put MBAT person in concourse with L&I, zoning, etc. Make more information and forms available electronically. Cut gross-receipts portion and lower net portion of BPT. Ease business expansions through real estate acquisition changes.
2. In your first year of office as a member of City Council, what is your main priority? Public safety (see next). Schools too. Would promote more partnerships with universities, business, community, etc., just as I connected my son’s school to Moore College of Art after his art teacher had been cut. Bring best practices, (e.g., Bill Strickland), using arts, culture, vo-tech, sports, service learning to stimulate students.
3. As a member of City Council, what would you do to address the crime epidemic in Philadelphia? Getting pedestrian lighting on corridors and using cameras, better community-police partnerships, zero tolerance in schools, bringing in quality jobs, making schools more relevant (arts, music, voc tech, service learning, parent training), organizing communities and adding police funded by homeland security.
Web site: http://andytoy07.com
Republicans for an at-large seat
(Vote for not more than 5 in your party)
Jack Kelly
Philadelphia
Qualifications:
Education: Saint Joseph’s University, 1968; various advertising and technical schools; Roman Catholic High School, 1956
Current occupation: Philadelphia city councilman-at-large
Qualifications for office: Councilman-at-large, 2003-present; DistrictCouncilman, 1987-91; ward leader, 1988-2004; ward chair, 1982-88; committeeperson, 1976-82; Board of Revision of Taxes, 1986; special assistant to City Council president
Answers:
1. As a member of City Council, what is your plan to keep current businesses in Philadelphia? I not only think we need to keep businesses in the city, I believe we need to attract new businesses to open in Philadelphia. To do this, we must significantly reduce or eliminate the oppressive business-privilege tax, making it easier and more attractive for businesses to open in Philadelphia.
2. In your first year of office as a member of City Council, what is your main priority? Although it will not be my first year - it will be my ninth year - I am proud of my record in City Council, and it is gratifying to me to see people benefit from my assistance, whether it is having a down street sign replaced, having a pothole filled, or introducing legislation to protect our citizens
3. As a member of City Council, what would you do to address the crime epidemic in Philadelphia? As a sitting member of Philadelphia City Council, I have a proven record of consistently supporting measures to reduce crime. In fact, I recently authored a resolution in support of State Rep. John Perzel’s legislation to add 10,000 new police officers throughout the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Web site: http://www.Kelly2007.com
Phil Kerwick
Philadelphia
Qualifications:
Education: 1975, Cardinal Dougherty High School; 1979, Siena College, Loudonville, N.Y., B.S., marketing and management
Current occupation: Owner and confectioner, Blasius Chocolate Factory
Qualifications for office: Political lifetime calling for honor and integrity in this city
Answers:
1. As a member of City Council, what is your plan to keep current businesses in Philadelphia? We must have an educational system responsible to the children. The current system of forcing those who seek an education into sharing space with those who do not is unacceptable. Those who seek to improve themselves through education must be accommodated.
2. In your first year of office as a member of City Council, what is your main priority? City Council under its current Democrat leadership is corrupt to its core. The kleptocracy that is the Democrat Party in this city must be exposed and ended. As the Democrat Party becomes more extremist in its lust and greed to control the working man’s money in this society, there must be members on Council ready to expose this extremist philosophy.
3. As a member of City Council, what would you do to address the crime epidemic in Philadelphia? The culture of permissiveness exuded by the Democrat Party must be refuted and all efforts must be made to enforce all laws currently on the books.
Web site: None provided.
Patricia A. Mattern
Philadelphia
Qualifications:
Education: 1972, University of Pennsylvania, B.A and M.A.; 1975, Villanova University School of Law, J.D.
Current occupation: Attorney in private practice
Qualifications for office: More than 30 years’ experience as an attorney. Actively involved in my community as a board member of the Center City Residents’ Association helping to resolve issues affecting our neighborhood.
Answers:
1. As a member of City Council, what is your plan to keep current businesses in Philadelphia? I believe that tax reform is critical, particularly reform of the business-privilege tax. We need to reduce the overall tax burden to make Philadelphia competitive for businesses to grow in the city. We also need a well-educated work force, able to get to jobs on affordable public transportation.
2. In your first year of office as a member of City Council, what is your main priority? Public safety should be the first priority of government, which includes crime prevention and disaster preparedness. Tax reform would also be a high priority. This includes property-tax reform. We need to establish a fair system for assessing properties and phasing in increases so as to protect vulnerable residents.
3. As a member of City Council, what would you do to address the crime epidemic in Philadelphia? City Council can address the crime epidemic by supporting increased police presence on the street, vigorous prosecution of crimes and gun control. Additional parole officers and prison reform are also necessary. Generating opportunity through good schools and business development is key to long-term reduction.
Web site: None provided.
David Oh
Philadelphia
Qualifications:
Education: 1978, Central High School; 1982, Dickinson College, B.A.; 1985, Rutgers University Law School-Camden
Current occupation: President, the Law Firm David Oh, P.C.
Qualifications for office: Business owner, ward leaders, former assistant D.A., former officer, U.S. Army “Green Berets.” Serves/served on the boards of Community College, First Commercial Bank, Nazareth Hospital, Crime Prevention Association.
Answers:
1. As a member of City Council, what is your plan to keep current businesses in Philadelphia? Businesses have to know that it is worth it for them to stay in our city, both now and in the future. My plan is to remove the things that chase employers out of our city while making us attractive to new employers by moving us forward as a world-class, international city.
2. In your first year of office as a member of City Council, what is your main priority? “A rising tide lifts all boats.” My priority is to move our city into the mainstream of the global economy so that we will have good jobs, great opportunities, and the revenues to pay good salaries to our teachers, police officers, firefighters, and other city workers.
3. As a member of City Council, what would you do to address the crime epidemic in Philadelphia? In order to deal with this problem effectively we need to implement both long-term and short-term strategies. Long term, we need meaningful education, good jobs, and great opportunities. Short term, we have to deal with the drug problem and make illegal guns our number one priority.
Web site: http://www.davidoh.org
Frank Rizzo
Philadelphia
Qualifications:
Education: Villanova University: safety engineering courses; Bishop McDevitt High School; Norwood Academy
Current occupation: City councilman at-large
Qualifications for office: I was born and raised in Philadelphia. I know the city. I progressed from a PECO lineman to manager of public and city affairs; and was elected a city councilman-at-large in 1995 - and re-elected in 1999 and 2003.
Answers:
1. As a member of City Council, what is your plan to keep current businesses in Philadelphia? Just keeping current businesses is not enough; we need to attract new businesses to grow our city. Philadelphia needs to focus on competitive advantages: education, which improves productivity — a major factor in business development; decreasing wage and business taxes, and bureaucratic barriers; and free markets — not “patchwork economic development.”
2. In your first year of office as a member of City Council, what is your main priority? Education is my main priority. It’s the best solution to crime - and the best investment in economic development. Education (especially early-childhood education) increases capacity to learn, self-esteem, and ability to contribute to society - and decreases crime, and is the most important condition to ensure economic well-being.
3. As a member of City Council, what would you do to address the crime epidemic in Philadelphia? Education is the best long-term investment for fighting crime - creating economic opportunity. Short term, police must be integrated into our community with other city service providers; police need to know - and be known by - the community they serve. Bike and foot patrols should be favored - windshields get in the way.
Web site: None provided.
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