As I’ve begun my run for Democratic City Councilman At-Large some people have asked me why I am running. Certainly, for me and my family, this is no small decision. For us, the commitment is real. I had to give up my job at LISC (the Local Initiatives Support Corporation), so we will survive largely on savings. But I believe without risk, there is no reward. Late last summer we had a family discussion about the idea of my running for City Council. After my daughter Zoey helped us to chart out the pros and cons, the family decided I should go for it. The time is right and my family is behind me and beside me 100%.

So, why am I doing this? Because, as those who know me will attest, I have a passion for our City and a passion to help Philadelphia reach its full potential as one of the great cities of the world. Also, I believe with the vision, experience, integrity, and purpose that I bring to the table I am in a unique position to help our City achieve this goal. After receiving degrees in Economics and Public and Urban Policy I worked for the City’s Department of Commerce for 15 years, working to keep and attract businesses and jobs to Philadelphia and building a successful Brownfields Program. In the past 5 years I’ve worked at LISC to redevelop neighborhood commercial corridors and connect them to improving neighborhoods. Importantly, at both positions, I was able to find and leverage resources from outside of the City to create partnerships to implement best practices “borrowed” from wherever we could find them. With a new Mayor on the horizon we will have an opportunity to work collaboratively and creatively to build a new entrepreneurial spirit within the government.

From my perspective I know we can do a better job as a City in finding additional resources, bringing more partners to the table and incorporating best practices. I have seen opportunities lost or wasted over the past years; my more collaborative leadership approach will work to address this. I will help us focus on building on our strengths and assets rather than spreading resources thinly across the board. I have been a champion of this approach and will continue to support good community leadership and building on our existing historical infrastructure (not repeating “urban removal” mistakes), parks and open spaces, community arts and culture, schools, neighborhoods and our many other assets.

Finally, I will help us to be more creative, more hard working, and smarter than our competition in other cities and regions as we attract more businesses and good jobs to our city. I believe that I bring a unique combination of these qualities and an ability to work with others to get things done. And I will work to instill my sense of urgency that is commonly lacking in city government because we cannot afford to wait or point fingers while there is work to be done.