A little bit of freezing rain didn’t stop
Philadelphians from joining the Next Great City for its Philadelphia Mayoral
Candidates’ Forum on Tuesday, March 3.
Despite the weather, the room was packed
with nearly 500 folks who were eager to hear the insights of six candidates – Senator Anthony Hardy Williams, former District
Attorney Lynne Abraham, Judge Nelson Diaz, former Councilmember Jim Kenney,
Reverend Keith Goodman, and Doug Oliver – on the six recommendations
put forth in the Coalition’s 2015 agenda to help make Philadelphia the Next Great
City. The conversation was robust and we thank our moderator, Dave
Davies of WHYY FM, who did a masterful job in guiding the discussion.
 |
| From left to right: Former District Attorney Lynne Abraham, Doug Oliver, Reverend Keith Goodman, Dave Davies, Senator Anthony Hardy Williams, Judge Nelson Diaz, Former Councilmember Jim Kenney. |
For those who couldn't be there, we pulled a snippet from each candidate that participated in the event:
“The issue of asthma is something that is not
a theory for me but is an actuality. As a young child, I lived in a tenement,
where there was mold, rats, cockroaches and, as a result, I was a very sickly
kid until the age of ten when I was first able to sleep in a room by myself in
public housing. I then became healthy. It’s important to provide housing that
is clean and affordable.”
- Judge Nelson Diaz on
Healthy Houses
“I think one of the things that can be done
is creating businesses locally to provide that fresh food. Right now it may be
that we are getting the food from some other part of Pennsylvania but why can’t
we use vacant property and create urban farms, partner with organizations like Manna,
partner with the Food Policy Advisory [Council] to find ways to grow that food,
get it there, and find a way to invest in small business to make sure that if
they don’t have capacity, that they can develop capacity? Perhaps breaking the
school district [requests for proposal] into smaller sections…to allow small businesses
to participate.”
- Doug Oliver on
Nourished Students
“…we ought to create…new ways of helping fund
some of these small businesses. Their credit is not built up so it’s very
difficult for them to get a loan when they go to a Wells Fargo or to a Citizens
Bank so we need to create something like a micro-lending system where they can,
based upon their performance, be able to access capital and, when they do well,
access more capital.”
- Reverend Keith
Goodman on Strong, Local Businesses
(Reverend
Goodman has since dropped out of the race.)
“So there are people who ride bikes because
they can and there’s some people who ride bikes because they have to… Bike
share is expanding – it’s not just in certain neighborhoods – it’s across
Philadelphia…I think it’s wonderful…There has to be a broader base of all types
of Philadelphians providing experience and involved in that process. So that
means when you come to communities where they have to ride, a $100 deposit is
not necessarily the smartest thing to do…For those who can ride, we need to figure
out a structure for them to supplement those who can’t ride. I think that this is a marvelous opportunity
where we can intersect the quality of life, the dignity of human experience,
and most importantly enjoy all of Philadelphia at the same time.”
- Senator Anthony Hardy
Williams on Trail and Bike Lane Access
“My answer is yes [to a single-use bag fee.]
My sister lives in Canada; they charge a fee for bags and guess what? Everybody
brings a bag with them from home...I bring [a bag] with me every place I go.
Plastic bags are an environmental nightmare – they pollute our streams and our
rivers and they clog up everything and they’re an eyesore and they never
biodegrade.”
- Former District
Attorney Lynne Abraham on Clean Public Spaces
“Frank DiCicco and I introduced a bill a
number of years ago to do just that [implement a single-use bag fee] and we were defeated and I’ll take another
run at it as mayor. Using the fee to supplement street cleaning and other types
of sanitation issues I think is a smart way to find money to do additional
things. Also I think that recycling needs to be really a business in the city
where we’re taking those tires that are being short dumped and turning them
into products that can be marketed and also turning the operation into job
creation.”
- Former Councilmember
Jim Kenney on Clean Public Spaces
Ideally, this conversation is far from
finished. As a Coalition, we are invested in improving neighborhood quality of
life across the city and look forward to continuing our productive relationship
with our partners in city government in the coming years. This will require
everyone's help. Keep the conversation going on our Facebook,
Twitter,
and Instagram
pages, and check our website periodically for news and events
related to the Coalition.
Katie Bartolotta is PennFuture's Philadelphia
Outreach Coordinator. She tweets @KatieBartolotta.
