Grid Magazine March 2023 [#166]

THE GRID MAYORAL VOTERS GUIDE 2023

BALLOT QUESTIONS

When it comes to critical sustainability issues, where do our mayoral candidates stand?

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Alex Mulcahy

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Nic Esposito

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Timothy Mulcahy

tim@gridphilly.com

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Sophia D. Merow

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Michael Wohlberg

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Bernard Brown

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Bryan Satalino

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A Few Endorsements

Despite having a balky knee, mayoral candidate James DeLeon forgoes the inconveniently located elevator and takes the stairs to our third-floor office. DeLeon needs a minute to rest his knee, and he mentions that he first injured it decades ago on the basketball court, landing badly after a slam dunk. Though I never scaled those heights playing hoops, I commiserate with him about the toll of high-impact sports. The aches and pains of running have driven me to the pool, though swimming feels like a foreign language. In fact, I tell him, as I spend more time swimming, my neck is beginning to hurt.

DeLeon’s eyes light up. He knows what the problem is. “Turn your body, and look up and back when you breathe.” How does he know? “I’ve taught over 5,000 kids how to swim,” he says.

Next time I go to the pool, I do exactly what he says, and not only does the neck pain disappear, I’m able to swim faster than I ever have.

GRIDPHILLY.COM

If you’re wondering if this story is leading to a mayoral endorsement, it isn’t — though I wholeheartedly endorse DeLeon as a swim instructor. Our endorsement will occur later, closer to the May 16 primary. This issue is an impartial voters’ guide, funded in part by the Lenfest Foundation for Journalism

We submitted questions to all 10 candidates running for mayor. Two of them, Amen Brown and Warren Bloom, did not respond to our requests, and Republican David Oh announced his candidacy too late in our production cycle to be included. We will continue to reach out to them, and publish answers online if we receive them.

as we spent time with the candidates during their respective photo shoots, we largely kept the conversations light and apolitical, and that made for some entertaining revelations.

For example, we discovered that Allan Domb has a pocket full of finger puppets, just in case he encounters any kids. When he finds out I have a seven-year-old, he gives me one for her. I know technically I shouldn’t accept the gift, but I just can’t refuse the kindness.

We get the best pictures of Derek Green when he explains why Tupac, for him, is not a top-five all-time hip-hop artist. The music connoisseur also reveals his go-to karaoke song: “The Humpty Dance.” I fully endorse this choice.

Jeff Brown expresses his certainty that the Eagles are going to win the Super Bowl (sigh). I talk with him while Rebecca Rhynhart and Grid operations director Nic Esposito share some laughs.

Helen Gym mentions the restaurant in Chinatown that her kids call “their true mother.”

Maria Quiñones Sánchez shares some hilarious takes on a few of her fellow candidates, and Cherelle Parker exudes great humor and confidence during her shoot, determined to show off her stylish white pants. There’s plenty of personality to be found in this field of candidates.

But, of course, we wanted to document the substance of the candidates, so we asked specific, detailed questions that we hoped would force the would-be mayors to skip the platitudes and explain their plans. We made the editorial decision not to limit the word count; we wanted everyone to have the ability to fully articulate their answers. I hope you enjoy reading this issue. There’s a lot at stake in this election, so let’s dig in!

The Waterborne Boat-Building program was implemented at Glen Foerd in the summer of 2021. Our staff works with schools to build 12-foot-long wooden rowboats. Students then decorate and launch the rowboats on local waterways at the end of the program. All our boatbuilding takes place on-site at the students’ schools and materials and tools are supplied.

Glen Foerd’s Riverways Ambassador program is designed to be a hands-on learning opportunity for Philadelphia high school students. The program aims to increase awareness and knowledge of the Delaware River Watershed, provide opportunities for on-water and land activities, and promote community outreach and stewardship.

Ambassador Applications will open in Spring 2023.

GLENFOERD.ORG

Mixing It Up

The owner of Hank’s Cinnamon Buns transitions from making music to baking pastries

For most young people graduating from high school and embarking on a musical career, the road is tough. But for musician-turned-baker Hank McCoy (his given name is Ronald Spencer), he quickly found success after graduating from Penn Wood High School in 2006.

McCoy’s music was featured on ESPN, an MTV show and multiple commercials, and, most notably, he was a go-to producer for acclaimed Philly-based musician Chill Moody. By 2017, McCoy began to pursue a career as a DJ, performing all over Philadelphia and the region. But in 2020, with the pandemic shutting down music venues across the country, McCoy was at an impasse and needed to find a new path.

“Baking has always been something I’ve done, but never as something I would pursue professionally,” McCoy explains. “Sometimes I would bake for family dinners or other times impressing girls with it.”

One person he impressed with his baking, Roxanne Davis, became his fiancée, and, in the fall of 2022, his wife. With the pandemic

also disrupting the couple’s outings to cafés, Davis had a craving for cinnamon buns. Although that was one thing McCoy had never made, he wanted to impress Davis, so he set to work researching recipes. When the time came to sample the final product, McCoy was unprepared for the reaction.

“She immediately was just like, ‘Yo, seriously, you should really try selling these.’”

McCoy readily admits that he has always been the kind of guy with a million ideas that he rarely follows through on, but his fiancée’s emphatic response inspired him

to take it seriously. McCoy baked enough cinnamon buns for 25 four-packs and announced to friends and family on Instagram that they were for sale. Within a few days he was sold out.

Serendipitously, McCoy’s longtime musical collaborator Chill Moody had started his own line of kombucha and was selling it at Weavers Way. Seeing the buzz on social media, Moody called Candy Hasan, vendor diversity program coordinator at Weavers Way, and let her know about McCoy.

“Weavers Way came reaching out to me, and I immediately had to make everything legit ... and have the proper licenses and everything.”

“They helped me a lot just in terms of brand recognition and being in the three stores from the beginning of my business,” McCoy says. “It gives me a bit of credibility in the consumers’ eyes.”

McCoy also speaks highly of the vendor diversity program. In his view it’s not just a way for Weavers Way to get individual businesses in the store, but also brings those businesses together so they can share tips, make connections and have someone else to lean on when growing a business gets tough.

As for McCoy, the growing part is no longer a worry of his. Since launching in Weavers Way, Hank’s Cinnamon Buns can also be found at three farmers markets and five cafés as well as various pop-ups throughout the region. This type of success has left McCoy with no regrets for trading his turntable mixer for a stand mixer.

“It’s similar to music in a way that I’m creating, going out to the public and getting a response from them. It’s pretty amazing to know that people are really enjoying what I do.”

Hank McCoy credits Weavers Way Co-op with opening up many doors for his business, Hank’s Cinnamon Buns.

It’s pretty amazing to know that people are really enjoying what I do.”

— hank mccoy, owner of Hank’s Cinnamon Buns

The Weavers Way Vendor Diversity Initiative provides assistance, support and shelf space for makers and artisans who are people of color.

It is with great honor and excitement that we present our voters guide for the Philadelphia mayoral election. As you might expect, we focus on the candidates’ sustainability platforms. The winner will likely guide the city for the next eight years, so it’s critical we choose well.

THE GRID

MAYORAL VOTERS GUIDE 2023

Rather than ask broad questions that might elicit generic answers, the Grid editorial staff — with the help of 24 local experts — crafted questions that require specific and thoughtful answers. Our hope was that they would reveal how a candidate would govern in practice and not just theory.

We’d like to thank the candidates for their time and for agreeing to participate. We now leave it up to you, Grid readers, to review their responses, think about them deeply and make the best choice in the May 16 primary. Let’s find the candidate best suited to ensure a healthy, prosperous and sustainable future for Philadelphia!

The Full Text of our Questions

1 ON PROTECTING TREES AND NATURAL SPACES

➽ We know that increasing tree canopy has multiple environmental and social benefits for neighborhoods. More trees is even correlated with a decrease in crime. Mayor Kenney invested in developing a tree plan for the city. Yet, between 2008 and 2018, we witnessed a 6% loss of the city’s tree canopy on both public and private land, in part due to removal of trees for development and lack of maintenance for existing tree canopy. What is your plan to protect Philadelphia’s forests and natural areas from further decline and support the growth of an equitable urban forest for future generations?

2 ON FLOODING IN EASTWICK

➽ Eastwick, a neighborhood built on a floodplain, has endured many hardships — including continued flooding — for decades. In the face of historic disinvestment and the future of heavier rainfalls due to climate change, what policies would you pursue to mitigate flooding and protect homes in Eastwick as well as limit development in floodplains in the future?

3 ON IMPROVING BICYCLING IN PHILADELPHIA

➽ Bicycling is one of the most equitable, accessible and fastest-

growing alternatives to driving a car. Mayor Kenney introduced Vision Zero to end traffic-related deaths and expanded the Indego bike share program. However, bike lane expansion remains slow, most lanes still need to be protected, and hyper-local control of transportation decisions combined with councilmanic prerogative ensures bike lane networks are disjointed. All of these issues create an unsafe biking environment. What is your plan to expand a protected bike lane network throughout every neighborhood in Philadelphia, giving all citizens access to this transportation option?

photography by CHRIS BAKER EVENS

4 ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND THE UNDERSTAFFED L&I

➽ Many laws, regulations and zoning policies are passed but go unenforced, largely due to an overburdened Department of Licenses and Inspections (L&I), with an estimated one in three inspector positions currently vacant. Sustainable building advocates want sustainable development practices such as the careful deconstruction of buildings to ensure that materials can be salvaged and the implementation of modern building energy codes to help meet local and global climate goals. Land use advocates want better zoning to protect tree canopy and green space. But laws like these require expertise and resources to enforce. How would you as mayor address these enforcement []

Full Text of our Questions CONT’D

capacity challenges to ensure sustainable development?

5 ON ADDRESSING THE CITY’S BACKSLIDE

➽ Mayor Kenney created the Zero Waste and Litter Cabinet as a “whole government” planning and implementation tool to move Philadelphia towards its goals of becoming a zero-waste, litter-free city by 2035, by addressing illegal dumping, improving recycling infrastructure and encouraging a circular economy that wastes fewer resources. Since the cabinet was dismantled, the city has experienced spikes in illegal dumping as well as dramatic reduction in the residential recycling rate, which fell to 6% from pre-pandemic rates of 22%. What’s your plan to not only halt this backslide but take us to a healthy future by reducing waste generation and litter at the source?

6 ON USING VACANT LOTS TO IMPROVE THE COMMUNITY

➽ Controlled studies conducted by the University of Pennsylvania found that the greening of vacant urban land not only reduces gun violence by 29% but also decreases feelings of depression and improves overall mental health for surrounding residents. Mayor Kenney invested in an urban ag plan and has used the land bank to reduce vacant lots, yet community gardens and green spaces continue to be threatened by development. With more than 42,000 vacant lots and a city plagued with gun violence, debilitating poverty rates and waste, what strategies will you implement with City Council and City agencies to protect existing communitybased gardens and green spaces as permanent elements of our city’s fabric while expanding community access to vacant lots?

MARIA QUIÑONES SÁNCHEZ

Quiñones Sánchez served as the 7th district City Council member from 2008 until 2022, when she resigned to run for mayor. She came to City Council after a career as a nonprofit leader and community activist.

on protecting trees and natural spaces

In my administration, the Water Department will take responsibility for our environmental justice and climate resilience strategy, as part of our comprehensive public safety agenda, which includes implementing our tree plan — removing failing or invasive trees, replacing them with appropriate species and repairing sidewalks. These investments will prioritize neighborhoods with dangerously high heat indices, high rates of health disparities and historic disinvestment. Previous efforts to improve our treescape have fallen short, in part because of capacity and funding issues within the Parks & Recreaction Department. This critical environmental justice investment is more appropriately situated within the Water Department’s $500 million budget.

on flooding in eastwick

We must improve proactive cleaning and intervention to limit flooding in areas with known risk, and target our stormwater infrastructure investments in neighborhoods of higher need and historic disinvestment.

on improving bicycling in philadelphia

The bulk of Vision Zero funding is best used for traffic calming measures, which most effectively reduce fatalities by reducing the speed of traffic flow. Our bike lane network must be better aligned with our full portfolio of public []

grid magazine’s mayoral voters guide is a part of Every Voice, Every Vote, a collaborative project managed by The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Lead support is provided by the William Penn Foundation with additional funding from The Lenfest Institute, Peter and Judy Leone, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Harriet and Larry Weiss, and the Wyncote Foundation, among others. To learn more about the project and view a full list of supporters, visit www.everyvoice-everyvote.org. Editorial content is created independently of the project’s donors.

transit infrastructure, creating more functional and usable pathways and reducing the dangers created by a patchwork map. The useful metric is not just total miles of bike lanes, but how useful and usable those bike lanes are for Philadelphians getting where they need to go, and better connectivity will ensure better and safer utilization.

on sustainable development and the understaffed l & i

After serving as chair of the Committee on L&I for my first three terms, I am well aware of the capacity challenges in the department as well as the tremendous opportunity for L&I to play a key role in a citywide public safety strategy. As part of that strategy, L&I will be tasked with implementing a new pathway of proactive building inspections, prioritizing vacant properties in neighborhoods experiencing higher crime. To address capacity issues, as mayor I will engage a comprehensive review of leadership structure and staff compensation, to align Philadelphia with national best practices and support our city workforce to lead this critical work.

on addressing the city ’ s backslide on waste management

Clean streets, picking up trash and reducing dumping is a public safety issue. As part of my comprehensive public safety strategy, the Streets Department will overhaul trash pickup practices and build out a citywide CCTV system to deter and improve enforcement against illegal dumping. We will look to invest in a more efficient vehicle fleet, along with providing standardized, lidded trash and recycling bins for all residents. As part of the Freshman 15 Good Government reforms I co-authored in my first term, we introduced key conservation and waste reduction practices, and as mayor I am committed to continuing that effort to reduce waste and invest in a cleaner Philadelphia.

on using vacant lots to improve the community

One of my proudest accomplishments from over 14 years on Council is the creation of the Land Bank. Additionally, I developed workable and transparent pathways to protect community gardens. But the Land Bank has never been fully funded, frustrating operations in its first years. As mayor, I will fully fund Land Bank operations and will enforce Land Bank reporting requirements to provide transparency to the entire city and ensure equity as we provide land for green space and resident use. Under my leadership, the 7th district leveraged more public land for community gardens and resident side lots than the rest of the city combined. As mayor, I will make sure this historic achievement can be put to work for the entire city. ◆

In my administration, the Water Department will take responsibility for our environmental justice and climate resilience strategy…”

ALLAN DOMB

Domb was an at-large City Council member from 2016 to 2022, when he resigned to run for mayor. He owns a real estate firm and is known as the “Condo King.”

on protecting trees and natural spaces

Iagree that Philadelphia must do more to protect its current tree canopy and, as much as possible, add to it as part of an overall commitment to improving our environment. Philadelphia has one of the best park systems, ranging from large parks to neighborhood pocket-parks, as well as a significant number of trees lining streets across the city that should be preserved and

protected. As a first step, I will fully support the goals of Philly Tree Plan and work with community groups to ensure that every community, but especially environmental justice neighborhoods, are fully represented and are able to add to their local tree canopy.

Secondly, I will ensure full implementation of the recently enacted legislation sponsored by Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson which prioritizes tree protection and replacement during development projects.

Finally, I will fully fund Philadelphia’s public parks programs, with regular public reporting on protection efforts.

If Philadelphia is going to maintain its reputation as a City of Neighborhoods, we need to make sure that we do all that is necessary to protect them. The flooding that Eastwick has too often suffered through — including the heavy damage Tropical Storm Isaias inflicted in 2020 — threatens the neighborhood itself, in addition to the investment its residents have made in their homes. I was encouraged to see that the city’s Office of Emergency Management is moving forward with a plan to create specific emergency alerts to protect Eastwick residents.

As mayor, I will support zoning changes, including limits on the type of development that can occur, to protect Eastwick. I will also work with Licenses and Inspections and community groups to increase the number of residents protected by flood insurance.

Finally, I will use some portion of the funding available to the city as part of the federal infrastructure bill passed in 2021 to improve the local infrastructure, including improved sewers, to handle any rainfall.

improving bicycling in philadelphia

Iam disappointed that Philadelphia has not used the slowdown the COVID-19 pandemic forced upon us all to fundamentally rethink how people will commute and use our streets. We have seen that people are choosing to work differently,

As mayor, I will make rebuilding our city’s workforce a priority from my first day in office, with special emphasis on the city’s Department of Licenses and Inspections.”

including working from home more frequently, and should have used the opportunity that lower traffic presented to provide more options.

As mayor, I will support efforts to make biking safer by using local, state and federal infrastructure funds to fix our roads, and, if appropriate, build dedicated bike lanes. While not every street can or should have a protected bike lane, we should create a system of dedicated bike lanes across the city similar to how we have arterial streets. As mayor, I will work with the city’s Streets Department and community groups to identify priorities for this expansion.

The large number of open positions in agencies across government is one of the biggest challenges our City faces as it tries to provide even basic services effectively and equitably.

As mayor, I will make rebuilding our City’s workforce a priority from my first day in office, with special emphasis on the City’s Department of Licenses and Inspections. The City must do more to fully staff L&I and plan to better handle any demolition and construction projects, ensure only licensed and responsible firms are doing work in the city, and that sites are regularly monitored.

The need to fill these positions, a significant portion of which do not require a college degree but rather specific training, provides an opportunity to help address the city’s poverty through active recruitment of city residents. Unfortunately, the current administration has failed at any attempt to recruit and train workers for City departments. As mayor, I will do what the Kenney administration has failed to do: recruit Philadelphia residents to fill City jobs.

on addressing the city ’ s backslide on waste management

Iwill make stopping illegal dumping and improving recycling a priority in every neighborhood (recognizing that a significant portion of illegal dumping, if not a majority, occurs in environmental justice neighborhoods). I will additionally move to clean every lot in my first 100 days, install monitoring capabilities at and around frequent dumping locations and dramatically increase the penalties for illegal dumping to include the loss of any professional licenses a company may have.

Additionally, and as detailed above, the City must do more to fully staff the Department of Licenses and Inspections to better handle any demolition and construction projects, ensure only licensed and responsible firms are doing work in the city, and that sites are regularly monitored. Preventing dumping is the best way to ensure that waste is minimized.

on using vacant lots to improve the community

As detailed in my community safety plan, in my first 100 days, I will clean every vacant lot because it is well established that vacant lots are too often used to hide criminal activity. While Philadelphia has long known where its vacant lots are, not enough has been done to continually clean them. Modeled after the successful campaign to remove 40,000 abandoned autos from city streets in Mayor John Street’s first 40 days, under my leadership, the City will quickly reclean all vacant and abandoned lots, prioritizing those in high-crime areas.

Additionally, as mayor, I will fix a land bank program that has not met its goals, to ensure that abandoned lots are effectively used to protect and strengthen communities and existing community-based gardens and green spaces are maintained as often as possible. ◆

on sustainable development and the understaffed l & i

cosmicskills.org

Our Mission is to assist people living with disabilities to learn, in a supportive environment, the necessary skills for meaningful employment and a fulfilling life.

HELEN GYM

Gym served as an at-large City Council member from 2016 until 2022, when she resigned to run for mayor. Gym is a former public school teacher who rose to prominence as a community organizer before running for City Council.

on protecting trees and natural spaces

We should think about increasing Philadelphia’s tree canopy through the lenses of public health, racial equity, climate justice and community safety. I believe deeply in the research of Dr. Eugenia South, whose work shows profound mental and physical health benefits to cleaning and greening our neighborhoods. This is why neighborhood greening is a key element of my community safety plan. Dr. South’s large-scale, ongoing, NIH-funded study will provide us with important models to scale up.

There’s growing recognition that lack of tree cover correlates to historic redlining, and threatens to significantly exacerbate inequity caused by climate change. I have strongly advocated for and championed increased funding, including winning nearly $2 million to begin implementation of the tree plan, as well as Neighborhood Preservation Initiative funds for alley tree maintenance, and investment of federal relief funds into vacant lot remediation.

I support strengthening standards for protecting heritage trees, preserving the existing canopy and increasing tree planting requirements for new development, as well as setting fees that will help support maintenance needs. Additionally, I support

the creation of an Office of Urban Forestry, which is a recommendation in the tree plan. I also believe we should fund a major workforce program to train Philadelphia public school students for family-sustaining, union, public sector jobs as city arborists to plant and maintain the urban canopy.

We cannot achieve our goals in expanding tree cover without committing to ongoing investment in creating capacity to maintain it; ensuring that residents have access to City assistance to deal with currently overgrown trees and to keep future trees healthy will be critical to building the public support that will ultimately let Philadelphia significantly scale up tree planting in the neighborhoods most in need.

Eastwick is similar to other neighborhoods overburdened by impacts of the climate crisis. There’s flooding and heat tied to historic discrimination like redlining, displacement through “urban renewal” and concentrated pollution. Authorities knew about these issues but allowed people to be harmed over decades, and we need to learn from this history so we no longer continue to repeat it.

I had Eastwick in mind when introducing

There’s growing recognition that lack of tree cover correlates to historic redlining, and threatens to significantly exacerbate inequity caused by climate change.”

the Community Health Act, to advance environmental justice by ensuring the City has to consider cumulative impacts of industrial activity that can harm health. There’s a need to ensure the solutions we pursue tangibly benefit residents in these communities (including repairing past harm), and are truly led and shaped by them.

I intend to aggressively pursue new federal funding through the Inflation Reduction Act and infrastructure bill to both increase flood resilience and protect current communities, and to pursue relocation when embraced and needed by residents under threat. This is also an opportunity to forge new ground by dedicating land to flood-resilient uses that also create models for community-led responses to climate change, for example, dedicating land to community-owned solar. And more broadly, it’s an opportunity to shift how Philadelphia approaches flood resilience and build support for robust action to preserve and restore floodplains. I will push the City to adopt a strong strategy to increase public engagement and understanding of the importance of mitigating flood risk. The recent flooding of 676 should be a wake-up call.

grams to encourage approaches to commuting and travel that do not exacerbate climate change and pollution.

On Council, I passed the Commuter Benefit Act, to encourage use of public transit, including a bicycle commuter benefit that will activate once restored at the federal level in the tax code. The bottom line is that it needs to be an actual priority to approach “complete streets” efforts that ensure the safety of all road and sidewalk users in a holistic, citywide way. That means pursuing reforms to reduce the time and administrative burden of planning, designing and installing safety improvements including protected bike lanes. As mayor, I will act on this because the status quo is unacceptable.

As a bicycle rider myself, I know acutely how both actual safety and perceptions of safety sharply limit who is willing to ride and how frequently. I also know our failures in this area contribute to continued tragic injury and loss of life for bicyclists and pedestrians.

I’ve pushed the City to pursue a Transit Equity Plan, and believe we need a much stronger approach to ensure that we are meeting the needs of all residents across race, language, class and neighborhood. Despite stereotypes about who rides bikes in Philadelphia, I also know that low-income and immigrant residents are very frequent bicycle commuters. Additionally, I believe we need more affirmative policies and pro-

on sustainable development and the understaffed l & i

L&I vacancies are a public safety crisis, and the department was already under-resourced to meet its diverse responsibilities. We know that failing to address vacancies increases burdens on remaining staff and fuels further loss of critical workers. I successfully championed using federal relief funds to help respond to this L&I staffing crisis, including millions of dollars to increase code enforcement and building inspector salaries and to provide City vehicles for inspectors, both identified as critical needs.

My approach would be to listen to workers and union representatives about their needs, support efforts to holistically review job descriptions, salary levels, and benefits to ensure competitiveness with private job opportunities. I’d invest in creating pipelines for Philadelphia public school students and local colleges and universities to these important positions, create training opportunities to promote lateral transfers and mid-career transitions, remove unnecessary barriers that limit access to positions, and make needed reforms to civil service hiring process to reduce lengthy delays and administrative burdens. on addressing the city ’ s backslide on waste management

It’s a critical imperative for local government to make Philadelphia reach its zero-waste, litter-free goals and support a circular economy within our city. Circular Philadelphia’s 2023 Mayoral Platform is a great blueprint to follow for us to achieve these goals. Illegal dumping in particular dramatically reduces the quality of life in our neighborhoods and adversely impacts community safety.

I support data transparency on City waste and recycling operations. I’ll reestablish the citywide litter index so we can analyze litter conditions in each neighborhood. There are also structural and operational

The bottom line is that it needs to be an actual priority to approach ‘complete streets’ efforts that ensure the safety of all road and sidewalk users in a holistic, citywide way.”

changes I intend to evaluate to make government more responsive to Philadelphia’s litter needs, such as whether we should split the Streets Department into two separate departments, one dedicated solely to sanitation.

It’s also important to acknowledge how sanitation workers were on the frontlines every day during the worst of the pandemic. These City employees are true heroes who are vital partners on the pathway to making our city cleaner. I’ll be a mayor who stands with them by improving working conditions and addressing recruitment challenges.

on using vacant lots to improve the community

Greening and vacant lot remediation is a central part of my community safety plan. I’m a gardener myself who believes that gardening and urban agriculture are critical to community health. Members of the urban gardening community are heroes who create powerful spaces of intergenerational learning, natural beauty

and food sovereignty.

I championed and won hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding this budget cycle to begin implementing the City’s forthcoming Urban Agriculture Strategic Plan. I’ve also consistently supported increasing resources for garden and affordable housing land acquisition by the Land Bank. Alongside Councilmember Kendra Brooks and community partners, I co-led a major advocacy effort to protect and preserve threatened community gardens from sheriff sale and to freeze sheriff sales of gardens, and successfully advocated for the City to purchase back liens on community gardens that are owned by US Bank.

I’ve led opposition to misguided plans by other politicians to restart mass tax lien sales, which would have destroyed the potential of the Land Bank to help communities as well as endangered countless more gardens and homes. We need comprehensive review and reform of public land acquisition, disposition and leasing to ensure that we are truly supporting these critical garden and agriculture uses, and to remove the many barriers that currently make this work harder or impossible.

I support creation of an Office of Agriculture to provide technical assistance and resources to new and existing gardens, and to expand food growing at public sites and facilities. I’d ensure strong funding and implementation support across government for Growing at the Root, the long-awaited urban agriculture strategic plan that reflects deep community engagement. ◆

JEFF BROWN

Brown is the founder and CEO of Brown’s Super Stores, Inc., which runs 12 supermarkets.

on protecting trees and natural spaces

One of Philadelphia’s greatest and most important resources is our green space. While the Fairmount Park system is perhaps the crown jewel, I am committed to building out and protecting green spaces in neighborhoods and communities across the city. We must ensure that preserving and enhancing green space is an integral part of the city planning process and that it is prioritized in new and ongoing development projects. Leveraging the private sector by providing incentives for builders and developers that advance innovative strategies for protecting and expanding green spaces is one way to accomplish that. We should also create an office that specifically creates partnerships with state and federal agencies and philanthropies to secure additional funding and resources for expanding the city’s green spaces. The Trust for Public Land believes that everyone

should have a park or green space within a 10-minute walk of their home. That’s a goal I support and will prioritize.

on flooding in eastwick

The story of the Eastwick community is one of short-sightedness and a failure to provide basic protections for Philadelphians. Flooding is one of many issues that plague the Eastwick community, and it exacerbates many of the others. Eastwick was built on contaminated, toxic land, and residents have seen a high incidence of illness, including cancer. Eastwick has also emerged as an environmental justice community. Current remediation efforts such as removal of contaminated soil, planting of trees and shrubs that serve as natural filters, etc., must be supported and expanded. My administration will also work closely with the Environmental Protection Agency, leveraging new grant funds made available by

the agency, to support the clean-up. Finally, and most importantly, we must support the residents of Eastwick, whose lives have been irrevocably damaged by a history of neglect and mismanagement by public officials.

on improving bicycling in philadelphia

The city has been slower than many to completely embrace biking as a viable transportation alternative. Aside from being an environmentally friendly alternative, biking also provides a lower cost transportation alternative for Philadelphians across the city. My administration would prioritize working with the many local organizations that support biking. We would coordinate directly with neighborhoods and communities to expand availability and we would explore public-private partnerships to advance this goal. In addition, I have called for the development of a Public Safety corps—individuals who can provide public safety support outside of the traditional law enforcement officer model. These individuals would be charged with helping to enforce laws and regulations that do not rise to the level of needing armed officer intervention. These individuals, deployed across the city, would serve as an additional layer of safety and support for biking lanes.

on sustainable development and the understaffed

l & i

L&I is terribly overburdened, significantly understaffed and organized in a manner that prioritizes building safety. It is not equipped to execute on new policy priorities. We must re-envision the

Successfully embracing green strategies requires that we find ways to make them integral parts of our overall city strategy.”

structure of L&I, reconsider the qualifications of inspection personnel and expand the agency to provide proactive support. The current L&I structural model is outdated and must be reconsidered. My administration will take a critical look at every major City agency, work directly with the labor unions that represent City employees, as well as convening residents, local nonprofits and other thought leaders, and explore how we can do things better.

on addressing the city ’ s backslide on waste management

Illegal dumping is a major concern for the city and addressing it will be a day one priority for my administration. We will expand the presence of cameras in areas that are notorious dumping sites and we will prioritize prosecuting those violations. My administration will make it clear that we are putting an end to illegal dumping. As for recycling, I want to make sure that everything that can be recycled in the city is being recycled. It will have a cost but I believe it is worth it. I look forward to collaborating with the environmental community and rebuilding the infrastructure we need to progress towards a greener future.

on using vacant lots to improve the community

Ibelieve we have to re-envision the way the Land Bank is structured and administered. In a city where we have a major affordable housing crisis, I would want to provide access to portions of the Land Bank inventory to builders who commit to

building and maintaining affordable housing for Philadelphians. I also believe that maintaining and growing community gardens and green space should be prioritized, and I would advocate streamlining the pro-

cess for neighborhood groups to gain access to plots held by the Land Bank. Successfully embracing green strategies requires that we find ways to make them integral parts of our overall city strategy. ◆

We must support the residents of Eastwick, whose lives have been irrevocably damaged by a history of neglect and mismanagement by public officials.”

CHERELLE PARKER

Parker served as the 9th district City Council member from 2016 until 2022, when she resigned to run for mayor. From 2005 to 2015 she served as the state representative for the 200th district.

It is my fervent belief that neighborhood access to green space that is clean and safe for our residents to enjoy is a critical component of quality of life issues that affect the people living in communities all across the city.

city often have green neighborhoods with abundant trees. On the other hand, areas of the city with the least amount of trees also tend to be neighborhoods that are largely Black and Brown. This all contributes to the urban heat island effect.

You will find I am passionate about quality of life issues. During my time on City Council, I established PHL-TCB: Philadelphia Taking Care of Business, putting local residents to work maintaining clean streets and ensuring a sense of pride in one’s own community. As the mayor of Philadelphia, I will fight to make our city safer, cleaner and greener, with economic opportunity available to all, regardless of what area of the city you come from.

I am disheartened about the 6% loss of the city’s tree canopy between 2008 and 2018. In 2022, I was proud to vote for Councilperson Gilmore Richardson’s bill which prioritizes tree protection and replacement during development projects. Hopefully this legislation will reverse the negative trend of loss of tree canopy.

Numerous studies have shown that tree cover is not distributed equally across the city. As a result, more affluent areas of the

I believe we can enact a balanced approach to protecting our tree canopy. While there may be some loss of trees due to an increase in development, this can be offset through implementing an aggressive plan for urban tree planting. We’ve seen cities like L.A. and New York use urban tree planting to cut down on air pollutants, lower energy costs and even improve mental health. I would work with some of the brightest minds in our universities who are studying urban forestry, along with state experts in DCNR and federal partners at the Department of the Interior to leverage resources available to municipalities to plant more trees and promote greener spaces that cool our neighborhoods that have become small heat islands.

What’s going on in Eastwick reminds me of the first time I was on a picket line, advocating for the Logan Sinking Homes in the 1990s. At a minimum, we need to have better zoning procedures in areas designated as floodplains. But we need to bring in our partners at the state and federal level — like the Army Corps of Engineers — to help us assess the problem and bring greater resources to bear to save this neighborhood.

Finally, I will use some portion of the funding available to the city as part of the federal infrastructure bill passed in 2021 to improve the local infrastructure, including improved sewers, to handle any rainfall.

on protecting trees and natural spaces

In an ideal, modern-day, 15-minute city, a green space where kids can play, and adults could walk through, jog, or relax while reading a book is an essential part of any thriving community.”

on improving bicycling in philadelphia

Enabling bicycling as a means of transportation helps cut down on traffic congestion, promotes an active lifestyle and helps reduce the city’s overall carbon emissions — which helps improve our air quality and do our part to tackle climate change. As mayor, I would finish the necessary protections for established bike routes and support bike share programs across the city. Ideally, everyone should only be a few blocks away from a protected lane. We can also explore how to support the bike share services so that the price point is more accessible to all residents of Philadelphia who want to take advantage of easier, cleaner modes of transportation.

on sustainable development and the understaffed l & i

L&I is the victim of “mission creep,” having had its core responsibilities diluted by regularly being tasked with duties that do not fall under the primary function of ensuring that buildings are safe for the residents who work, live or worship in them. I would return some functions that have been asked of L&I to a City agency more suited for the task.

That being said, proper enforcement cannot happen when our enforcing departments — Streets, L&I, Health, etc. — are facing staffing and resource challenges. Many of these departments have effectively been flat-funded for at least the past 15 years (adjusting for inflation), and yet at the same time, they have been tasked with more and more responsibilities. In order to ensure proper enforcement, I would be steadfast in ensuring these departments would have the necessary funding and staffing to do what they are tasked to do.

Consequently, I would increase funding for the department and seek out the best and brightest subject-matter expert to serve as deputy mayor for labor, who would oversee a task force on misclassification and enforcement.

on addressing the city ’ s backslide on waste management

As previously discussed, I am a firm believer in maintaining neighborhood streets that are free of debris. As such, I would look to restore the Zero Waste and Litter Cabinet, and give it the funding and resources it actually needs to be effective.

on using vacant lots to improve the community

Iam a self-described data nerd, and I have closely followed the research put forward by Dr. Eugenia South and her colleagues. In 2021, after reading her fantastic JAMA research regarding the city’s Basic Systems Repair Program and block-level crime, I had my team reach out to her for a meeting. Dr. South’s approach is exactly what I would employ as mayor —

using data by trusted researchers to advance policies.

Additionally, as councilperson, I held hearings to examine the decision to permanently move sheriff sales online, and further investigate the ramifications of any unintended consequences that may arise from this decision. During the hearing, we heard extensively from concerned individuals about how online sheriff sales could lead to the loss of beloved neighborhood community gardens and community access to vacant lots. I would explore using American Rescue Plan dollars in order to buy back $10 million in liens to protect community gardens and lots from sheriff sales.

I support increased access to green spaces for everyone in our city, regardless of zip code. In an ideal, modern-day, 15-minute city, a green space where kids can play, and adults could walk through, jog, or relax while reading a book is an essential part of any thriving community. I wholeheartedly support tasking a City department with assessing where the need for such spaces is greatest and comparing that data to areas where there are a number of vacant lots that could be better served as either community gardens or other green spaces.

DEREK GREEN

Having served as an at-large City Council member since 2016, Green resigned to run for mayor in 2022. He previously served as an attorney, including as special counsel for Councilmember Marian Tasco.

protecting trees and natural spaces

Philadelphia established an Urban Forest Strategic Initiative in 2020, which was a crucial step in formalizing efforts to preserve tree canopy and natural areas in Philadelphia. But this initiative has not been updated in nearly two years, and no future action appears planned.

As mayor, I would establish new deadlines for this initiative with clear, measurable objectives so our environment does not fall by the wayside. I would deliver on existing objectives, including strong public policy, clearly defined roles and responsibilities amongst participating stakeholders and prioritization of preservation in our most underserved communities. Preserving tree canopy needs more than conversation — it needs to be action. on flooding

in eastwick

When Tropical Storm Isaias destroyed homes and buildings in Philadelphia nearly two years ago, local residents pleaded for aid from our federal government. When they were denied, local groups came together to form a coalition called the Unmet Needs

Roundtable. Community members took it upon themselves to identify solutions and obtain funding to assist families displaced from their homes.

There shouldn’t be any “unmet needs” in Philadelphia. And if the federal government is unwilling or unable to help, then local government must be prepared to support its own communities. As mayor, I would work with the established coalitions to develop assistance programs, and go to bat for these communities to receive funding in their recovery efforts. I would also work with City leadership to develop policy that would require future development in floodplains to submit plans proving capability to handle any future natural disaster.

improving bicycling in philadelphia

We cannot protect our environment if we don’t protect individuals who make eco-friendly transportation decisions. I’ve engaged in bipartisan efforts to make bicycling a safer transportation option for Philadelphians. In 2022, I introduced a resolution calling on lawmakers to pass HB140, a Republican-authored piece of legislation that would establish parking alongside bicycle lanes, creating a buffer between cyclists and oncoming traffic. My resolution was unanimously passed by City Council.

People’s lives transcend politics. Whatever makes sure Philadelphians get home safely to their families at night is my priority, regardless of partisan affiliation.

There shouldn’t be any ‘unmet needs’ in Philadelphia. And if the federal government is unwilling or unable to help, then local government must be prepared to support its own communities.”

on sustainable development and the understaffed l & i

As the birthplace of our nation, there is no reason Philadelphia should experience a shortage of professional talent to hire. This applies across sectors, and particularly across jobs in the city’s public sector. As mayor, I would incentivize public service in the City’s Department of Licenses and Inspections by advertising the competitive pay and benefits offered by the City for these roles.

I am the only candidate promoting hiring bonuses in other understaffed industries within Philadelphia, and I believe financial incentives are critical investments in retaining top talent in our city, which in turn leads to better-enforced environmental policy.

on addressing the city ’ s backslide on waste management

As mayor, I would work with activists on the ground to identify sanitation solutions to the city’s waste and litter issues. I am currently in conversation with sanitation activists in the city to solicit policy proposals and feedback on existing waste policy, which will inform my administration’s approach to tackling phenomena such as illegal dumping and excess litter.

I will also work with stakeholders to create a plan to get our city back on track with recycling rates. I’ll not only implement solutions sourced from the ground, I’ll also implement best practices from other large cities who see significant success with their recycling initiatives, including San Francisco, Boise and Denver.

on using vacant lots to improve the community

As a council member, I spearheaded hearings to discuss the feasibility of a land value tax in Philadelphia. This would kickstart economies in underserved populations, and it would cause speculators and absent vacant lot owners to pick up the financial slack.

Unlike a traditional property tax, land value tax is assessed based on the value of a piece of land, rather than the value of the “improvement” or building. Instead of seeing taxes rise and fall based on the condition of a building, a property owner pays based on the value of the location, taking into account public infrastructure and other nearby assets. Advocates describe the approach as “progressive” and believe it discourages speculation and blight while lowering the tax burden for property owners in areas with less public investment and lower market values. ◆

I believe financial incentives are critical investments in retaining top talent in our city, which in turn leads to better-enforced environmental policy.”

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JAMES DELEON

DeLeon served as a municipal court judge for 34 years before resigning to run for mayor. He worked as an attorney before becoming a judge.

protecting trees and natural spaces

My plan to protect Philadelphia’s forests and natural areas from further decline and support the growth of an equitable urban forest for future generations would consist of following the best practices of:

1. Mapping and assessing the tree canopy to understand the current status and distribution of the Philadelphia forest and plantable areas, working with urban foresters, arborists and/or spatial mapping experts.

2. Update and, where necessary, modify the Kenney tree plan for Philadelphia to ensure optimal preservation of the city’s tree canopy by the use of reforestation efforts to remove dead and dying trees and to plant new trees as needed.

3. Use digital tools to map the city’s tree canopy with a focus on identifying areas where reforestation is critical and to direct city financial resources at those areas for immediate attention.

4. Update and/or undertake a tree inventory to assess tree health

and age, the mix of species and vulnerability to both climate- and insect-related threats and work with arborists to develop a plan to revitalize the existing tree population and to protect it from known, and unknown, insect and environmental attacks.

5. Establish goals, targets and timelines to achieve the reforestation efforts.

6. Begin community engagement efforts to involve the stakeholders in identifying problems in the Eastwick neighborhood to allow effective planning and implementation of flood mitigation measures.

7. Preparation and finalization of a checklist of goals to be achieved through the City’s plan with a timeframe for completion of each goal so identified.

8. Prioritize and create a mayor’s implementation plan and immediately start that plan in the community through identification of financial resources and City departments to carry out the plan. The mayor’s office will oversee this plan to ensure that work is begun quickly and completed in a timely manner as in the best interest of the residents of Eastwick and the citizens of Philadelphia.

My plan [is] to protect Philadelphia’s forests and natural areas from further decline and support the growth of an equitable urban forest for future generations.”

on flooding in eastwick

As mayor, I would ensure that City financial resources are directed to the City planners for use to develop policies and solutions to mitigate the flooding problem currently plaguing Eastwick that would protect homes, roadways and green spaces located in that community. These plans would include:

Limiting development in Eastwick through:

1. Land use planning, with a focus on ensuring that both new and renovation building plans conform to strict building codes developed to address the Eastwick floodplain issues.

a. Establishment of essential infrastructure repairs and modifications aimed at withstanding the stresses created by flooding.

b. Reinforcement of the framework of existing structural components currently in place to minimize and/ or prevent flooding events.

c. Ensuring that flood prone landscaping and green spaces are redesigned to ensure maximum water containment during a flooding event.

2. Use of mitigation strategies, such as:

a. Hazard specific control activities.

b. Design improvements to infrastructure or services.

c. Land use planning and future design decisions that avoids development of community infrastructure in areas prone to flood hazards.

d. Community awareness campaigns to increase knowledge of how to prepare for disaster events before they strike.

e. Community education programs to build knowledge of preparation/ readiness for flooding/disaster events.

f. Capital works construction needed to reduce flooding impacts on the community.

g. Resilience activities, including partnership building, to ensure that the community will effectively rebound from a flooding event.

h. Annual programs, such as vegetation management/removal of encroaching trees, branches, plants and/or vines from areas of essential services (e.g., power lines, sewer inlets) and reinforcement of city infrastructure (e.g., power lines, clearing of sewer inlets).

on improving bicycling in philadelphia

My plan to expand a protected bike lane network throughout every neighborhood in Philadelphia so as to give all citizens access to bike transportation would consist of:

1. Maintaining the growth of the Vision Zero initiative.

2. Fully initiating parking separated bike lanes (PSBLs) into the Vision Zero initiative, changing this from a pilot to a full program. PSBLs have demonstrated the following protections for bikers:

a. small decrease in total number of crashes and crash related fatalities.

b. 6% decrease in vehicle speeds as measured across all time frames.

c. 96% increase in the number of bikes/bikers in those areas where PSBLs had been installed, particularly on JFK Blvd. and Market Street in Center City.

d. modest decrease in average transit

vehicle speeds.

Bike lane expansion was slowed due to Governor Wolf’s veto of H.B. 140 in November 2022, which blocked PSBLs on state routes. I would pivot this restriction to an expansion of the PSBL system throughout the nonstate roads of the city while politically addressing councilmanic prerogative in an expedited manner.

on sustainable development and the understaffed l & i

As mayor, my number one priority is the safety of the people in Philadelphia. I also will demonstrate good leadership skills. One of those leadership skills will be to recognize that I, as mayor, need help to operate a City and I cannot rely on just subordinates and department heads to look for personnel to fill needed positions, such as L&I inspector shortages. To address these vital shortages, I would do public service announcements, wherein I would ask Philadelphians to come help me better run the City by applying for these vitally important positions with the City.

on addressing the city ’ s backslide on waste management

The Zero Waste and Litter Cabinet was disbanded by Mayor Kenney amid the coronavirus budget crunch of 2020. There were two staff members, and the executive director’s salary was $75,000/year. The job of this small office was to coordinate cleaning efforts across City agencies, businesses and other community groups. Over three years, between 2018-20, the cabinet created an interactive geolocated “litter in-

dex” that mapped litter levels across the city and issued a citywide plan to reduce waste, litter and illegal dumping. This committee also worked on bills to reduce illegal dumping and plastic waste and started the city’s first urban composting facility.

As mayor, I would reinstate this very important cabinet position and task it to continue, undisturbed, their contribution to Philadelphia waste management and disposal.

on using vacant lots to improve the community

As mayor, I would first attempt to identify the owners of the 42,000 vacant lots and contact each owner to meet with City officials as to their intentions related to the identified property/lot.

Those properties where the owners do not come forward within a specified time period, the City will exercise its eminent domain powers over those properties to bring them into the city’s Land Bank.

The City planners would then determine which properties and/or lots would be designated for affordable housing development, and which would be designated for green spaces — taking into consideration the University of Pennsylvania study on the greening of vacant urban land and its ability to reduce gun violence by 29%, as well as decreasing feelings of depression and the improvement of overall mental health for residents who live in proximity to those green spaces. ◆

My plan [is] to expand a protected bike lane network throughout every neighborhood in Philadelphia so as to give all citizens access to bike transportation.”

REBECCA RHYNHART

on protecting trees and natural spaces

Tree canopies help produce clean air, reduce C02, provide shade from the sun and actually reduce temperatures. Studies show the tree canopy also has positive effects on the life of our residents, facilitating higher levels of physical activity and lowering crime. A study done in 2018 showed that our tree canopy in Philadelphia declined between 2008 and 2018. Our most disadvantaged neighborhoods have the least dense tree canopies and as a result are more negatively affected by the rising temperatures associated with climate change. Restoring, maintaining and increasing our tree canopy is an issue of environmental justice that will help to create more equitable neighborhoods and a more equitable city.

The Kenney administration has commissioned a comprehensive strategy that will offer a 10-year plan to increase our city’s canopy. After delays this strategy is slated for release in the early spring of 2023. Once this study is released, I will review the findings and recommendations to best determine how to implement them to improve our city’s canopy.

Under a Rhynhart administration we will prioritize increasing our tree canopy and

focus on creating an equitable distribution of trees. We will make a tree canopy map available to the public and include overlays that illustrate other important data points such as average temperatures, poverty rates and health outcomes. By providing this information publicly we can focus our efforts and resources on the neighborhoods most in need.

My administration will set goals and create a public dashboard to show the progress made towards our goals for increasing our tree canopy. Some metrics will include number of trees planted, percentage of canopy cover, tree cover equity and diversity of trees planted. The ability to track our progress on a regular basis will help us reach our goal and make adjustments if we begin to fall short.

My administration’s relevant departments will be brought together to be in alignment with achieving our citywide tree canopy goals. These departments will include but won’t be limited to the Streets Department, the Department of Planning and Development, the Department of Licensing and Inspection and the Department of Parks & Recreation. These departments will ensure that their policies and procedures, along with their regulations and rules are aligned with maximizing our tree canopy. Any rules, regulation or policy that is detrimental to maintaining and growing our tree canopy will be re-evaluated and reissued. In addition, these departments will identify the challenges and barriers to growing our tree canopy within the purview of their authority and develop solutions to overcome those obstacles. For example, we know that areas with higher population density tend to have less dense tree canopies. To mitigate this, my administration would consider new regulations requiring trees and the conditions to grow the trees in all new developments of a certain size.

Lastly, we will build upon the success of existing programs and initiatives. We will support Councilmember Gilmore-Richardson’s bills regarding our tree canopy and close any zoning loopholes that allow developers to skirt current tree protection laws. In addition, my administration will aggressively enforce the fees associated with removing trees for development with no plan to replace them. Increasing funding to the Tree Fund will also give our city more resources to maintain the current tree canopy.

After leaving the financial industry in 2008, Rhynhart served as city treasurer and budget director. She then served as city controller for four years, resigning in 2022 to run for mayor.

If we utilize our City-owned lots, we can protect these green spaces from development and give our neighborhoods a new asset to improve their quality of life.”

on flooding in eastwick

Historical disinvestment and severe weather driven by climate change have left the Eastwick community reeling. Plans for new development and airport expansion also leave the community even more vulnerable to flooding. For decades the residents of Eastwick have participated in community meetings and studies to determine how to mitigate the extreme flooding they continually experience.

The reality is Eastwick needs and deserves a massive investment into their local infrastructure to make their community more resilient to flooding. The best and potentially only solution to mitigate the flooding in Eastwick, while keeping the community intact, is to build and maintain a levee. This infrastructure project would be led by the Army Corps of Engineers. The City would have to identify which entity will maintain the levee and work directly with the Army Corps to facilitate its construction. This type of investment is more possible than at any point in recent history due to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Two aspects of the bill can directly help the City with the levee project. The first is the $17.1 billion investment into the Army Corps of Engineers to begin construction on projects intended to reduce flooding. Secondly, the bill includes the STORM Act, which makes available $500 million for a FEMA program that will establish loan funds for resilience projects. As mayor I will work with Governor Shapiro to prioritize the Eastwick project and ensure our city gets access to these much needed funds to build a more resilient Eastwick.

Improving our procedures and internal policies combined with strengthening our workforce will ensure that L&I is a strong partner in our sustainability efforts.”

on improving bicycling in philadelphia

Improving our bike infrastructure will help us create a safer, cleaner, more sustainable Philadelphia. In order to make our city’s bike environment more safe and accessible, my administration would work with the appropriate departments to update the existing Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan, which was last updated prior to the Kenney administration in 2015, to develop a citywide plan that will lay out specific goals for bike infrastructure in each of our neighborhoods. Once these updates are finalized, my administration will spearhead the creation and maintenance of a publicly available dashboard so that residents can see where we are making progress and where we are not. The goal of this dashboard is to help residents advocate for the infrastructure they deserve in their neighborhoods.

A primary goal of the master plan would be to expand Philadelphia’s bike lanes to create a network that reaches every neighborhood in our city. In addition to construction of these new bike lanes, the plan would ensure the ongoing expansion of the Indego bike share extends to neighborhoods where we need to create more equitable access to this service.

To improve the bike infrastructure Philadelphia has, currently, I would work with the Streets Department leadership to ensure that the proper mechanisms are in place to focus maintenance such as repainting or adding barriers in the most critical, unsafe areas. Beyond these key priorities, it’s crucial that the departments leading the charge to draft the Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan convene stakeholders from neighborhoods across the city to gather input about the specific priorities for each of our communities so that their transportation needs are met.

Philadelphia is an amazing city, and I am excited about the potential of improvements to our bike infrastructure has to make our streets safer, more equitable and more sustainable.

on sustainable development and the understaffed l & i

We must address the staffing crisis occurring in the Department of Licensing & Inspection in order to overcome the capacity challenges at L&I.

In order to do so, we first need to work directly with the union to improve working conditions within the department to retain our current inspectors. Issues with management and newly implemented policies have negatively affected the morale of L&I inspectors. We must facilitate the collaboration of management and union leadership to create internal policies that better support the inspectors and other L&I staff and allow these employees to do their job to the best of their ability.

Secondly, to ensure sustainable development standards are met, I would ask the Department of Licensing & Inspection to interview their existing personnel to determine where the biggest challenges are in fulfilling these sustainability standards so we can find solutions to overcome these hurdles.

Thirdly, we must invest in recruitment efforts to fill the open positions at Licensing & Inspection and understand what other factors may deter potential employees from applying to or joining the department. To do so, I would ask L&I leadership to study other cities’ models for their L&I departments who have seen effective results. Learning what these best practices are will help determine how we can make these roles more appealing to qualified candidates. Then, we move resources to implement those findings.

Lastly we must align Licensing & Inspections policies and procedures with our sustainability goals. We can have the proper rules and regulations written into law, but without the proper procedures for inspection in place those rules and regulations are all for naught. Improving our procedures and internal policies combined with strengthening our workforce will ensure that L&I is a strong partner in our sustainability efforts.

addressing the city ’ s backslide on waste

management

The Zero Waste and Litter Cabinet provided a strategic action plan to address issues of litter and illegal dumping and to make our city waste-free by 2035. Unfortunately the cabinet became a budget casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic before many of the action steps could be implemented. Though the intentions behind the cabinet had the potential to make meaningful strides towards accomplishing our city’s waste-free goal by 2035, the cabinet’s recommendations were hamstrung by the need to be cost neutral in their implementation. In order to not only stop the backslide and move us toward a more sustainable lowwaste future we must be willing to invest in changes and solutions that will make both short- and long-term impacts. This should include bringing back our litter index and making it available to our residents. Our resources should be deployed to the areas with the greatest need to help beautify our most vulnerable neighborhoods.

We must improve how our government handles residential and commercial trash collection and disposal. The first step we must take to improve our collection system is to improve the conditions our sanitation workers currently work in and provide an environment that sets them up for success. As an example, many of our sanitation trucks do not have working air conditioning or heat. Addressing this issue is the bare minimum we can do for our workers and will go a long way to boosting our employees’ morale.

Currently we collect trash and recycling once a week, but we lack an option for organic pickup. Residents who want to compost their organic waste can either pay for a private service to collect their compost or visit one of the locations of our community compost network. As we explore investing in waste removal technology and implementing new procedures to pick up trash more efficiently, we should shift resources

to improve the way our city recycles and live up to the industry standard for recycling. Once we raise the standard of our recycling we should explore how our city can add compost as a third type of residential waste removal. In the interim my administration will look to expand our current network of community compost centers and work to educate our residents on the importance of composting as well as how they can participate. With investments in technology we can better examine the effectiveness of our trash collection routes and more responsively adjust to trends such as increased tonnage to minimize delays. Trash pickup delays contribute to our litter problem and to our residents’ dissatisfaction with city services. As controller my office reviewed the sanitation department’s on-time trash pickup and found that on-time pickup correlated to the neighborhood where you lived. This is simply unfair and under my administration will be directly addressed. Improving our trash pickup and moving to a more efficient model will allow the City to provide more service to our residents. A more efficient and effective collection system will allow my administration to explore bringing back city bulk pickup and bringing back twice a week trash pickup.

Though our city has rules and regulations established into law that address illegal dumping, we are unable to effectively enforce those rules and regulations. To address this issue, we must increase the number of L&I inspectors and Streets Department SWEEPS officers. These employees are the teams that issue fines, identify problem areas and respond to residents’ complaints and 311 requests regarding illegal dumping and other issues with trash. In addition, we need to reevaluate the rules and regulations of our sanitation centers to ensure those rules are not an impediment to keeping our city clean.

The task of moving our city to a wastefree future will take a coordinated effort from multiple departments, the private sector, community groups and nonprofits. In order to manage this effort I will reestablish the Zero Waste and Litter cabinet to focus on making our city cleaner and greener.

The City of Philadelphia owns 8,500 vacant lots across the city. As controller, I had my office map these vacant lots and drove to a sample of the lots to understand what condition they were in. These vacant lots are by and large blighted areas burdening their neighborhoods. At the same time that the City is struggling to maintain its own inventory of vacant lots, our neighborhoods lack community gardens and green spaces and our tree canopy has become less dense.

My administration will analyze our inventory of vacant lots and determine which

lots are potentially best suited for community greening and the development of community gardens. In addition we will use GIS to determine which neighborhoods are in the greatest need for green spaces and prioritize converting vacant lots in those communities to usable green space. We have an absolute need for more affordable housing and should use this inventory to produce that housing, but we have more than enough lots to develop more affordable housing and produce more green spaces.

My administration will also create community grants to help community organizations and block captains maintain and create community gardens. If we utilize our City-owned lots, we can protect these green spaces from development and give our neighborhoods a new asset to improve their quality of life. ◆

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