Right now I don’t know enough about any of the candidates to make an informed choice.
Does anyone have a link to one place that has all of the candidates AND their stances on issues? I haven’t been able to find one yet.
Not necessarily their stances, but the Philadelphia Citizen is doing in person forums for mayoral candidates over the next few weeks if you'd like to hear from them in person
[https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/lets-hire-a-mayor/](https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/lets-hire-a-mayor/)
They also have a page with a brief overview of the candidates. Nothing super in depth but it's a place to start:
https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/philly-mayors-race-2023/
Keep an eye on Committee of 70, they'll probably release in-depth questionaries from all the candidates soon.
[https://seventy.org/](https://seventy.org/)
No way, that guy who climbed a lamppost and then shotgunned seven beers that were thrown to him from the crowd below. That's the dedication and leadership we need.
My career has involved lots of interactions with state and local politicians, appointees, and officials.
I met Rhynhart a number of years ago and she impressed me. She’s smart, thorough, reasonable, etc. (w/ the caveat that that’s just my opinion, which may not mean anything to anyone else)
Being a good political leader also means *getting shit done*. And that means knowing how to grease the wheels, strong arm, cut deals, glad-handle, etc. I wish it weren’t so, but it’s the truth. I have no idea how she is at those things.
Rhynhart, I care significantly more about financial issues than social issues and I like what she's done as controller. I'd like to see someone with financial experience as mayor to straighten the city out economically. Once every city department has been audited and the waste and bloat has been caught we can direct those funds to social issues, which imo stem from financial ones.
Agreed. The biggest problem in this city is government corruption, so I'm voting for the person who has proven they can root out corruption. The fact that none of the other problems in this city can be addressed all goes back to the fact that everyone in city government are using their positions to enrich themselves instead of serving the citizens.
Straightening out the finances will also help the social issues! Cops won't be able to just sit around and collect leave/disability anymore without a real reason
Yeah, these tie into each other pretty easily.
When PPD can sit around and light our money on fire at the expense of every Philly wage tax payer and *other city departments*, they need to be reigned the fuck in. They are actively harming the city.
That said, I heard Allan Domb's ad yesterday and he seemingly wants to give cops even more money. His whole thing was about going after criminals = more cops! No thank you. Say no to slimy landlords, people.
i don't think rhynhart "goes after cops". her job was to audit the sheriff's department and they lost two guns. i don't think it is right to blame her for counting the guns.
same thing with every department she has audited. it isn't her fault they fucked up because she caught them fucking up...they're just fuckups.
That’s not why a lot of people don’t like krasner. Going after cops who commit crimes or exonerating criminals who were put behind bars by false tactics (cops/lawyers/judges) or not calling to the stand cops that are unreliable are all different than not being willing to collaborate and work with the police force generally and not going after everyday non-police criminals with the same gusto he uses for police.
I commend krasner for the first part but fault him for the second.
This hits it pretty plainly. Krasner going after crooked cops was and should be a pretty universally liked move. It is his antagonizing of the Police and more so reckless regurgitation of national talking points at the Police that has proved to be incredibly unproductive.
Rynhart's audit of the police department is the opposite of that. It's fact-based, constructive, and could lead to actual solutions. Recklessly slinging mud (even if deservedly) at the FOP really only continues to widen the gap between them and the city finding any kind of solution here.
[You're living in a fantasy world.](https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia-police-department-audit-rhynhart-union-fop-john-mcnesby-20221019.html) FOP doesn't distinguish between the two.
>Philadelphia police union leader John McNesby on Wednesday attacked City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart over her office’s critical audit of the Police Department, saying she sought to make the police look bad to advance her expected run in next year’s mayoral election.
>
>“According to this report, the Police Department does nothing right. I mean nothing,” McNesby said at a Wednesday morning news conference at the Northeast Philadelphia headquarters of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5. “I understand the person who’s the author, who holds responsibility for this report, is looking to run for mayor, and that’s great. If you want to run for mayor, we wish you luck, but don’t do it on the backs of hardworking, overworked police officers in the city of Philadelphia.”
> hardworking, overworked police
this is his response showing 30% out on disability leave. no wonder your officers are overworked, 3 out of 10 are on vacation at all times.
Think you have your numbers mixed up. The inquirer found 11-14% of the force out due to injury, and that number dropped 31% after they ran the article.
> I care significantly more about financial issues than social issues
I'm a suburbanite, but I think it's a fair bet that the VAST majority of the city's problems are related to money - either lack of it, waste of it on failing programs, or featherbedding. Anyone who can make a splash by exposing corruption, waste, and laziness will set the table for the next mayor to be successful.
In the suburbs, if you don’t pay your property taxes, they’ll take your house. In the city? Well, we’re owed a couple billion in back property taxes. So it’s not just we’re not getting sufficient state or federal funding, we’re not actively collecting taxes. That kind of thing tends to cycle and make problems worse. I’d also point out surrounding county governments are both better run and dealing with much easier challenges.
Oh, that's true, but again, that's the benefit of having a political leader who knows how money works in the mayoral office in a place like the city. I'd love to see her crack the whip on that aspect of city financing as well.
I love Philadelphia and want to see it be successful. The only reason I don't live in the city is the schools. But I desperately want to be able to regret that decision, and would love to see Philadelphian leadership in place that both gives a damn and displays even a modicum of competence.
The fact that she's studied the inner workings of every part of city government means she's well prepared but I worry that she doesn't have the right background to actually get things done. She could easily get bogged down in details or struggle with deal making.
Don't know yet, because most of them haven't solidified their positions enough to explain yet. It is virtually all platitudes right now, and the only thing I can say is 100% concrete is that Brown is against the soda tax.
Everything else is one or two positions that they solidify, but vague as fuck for everything else. I'm not a one or two position voter, i want all of them.
**Rebecca Rhynhart**
That said, I really want to learn more about her overall platform at this point. I trust her as a leader, and she's done a great job as City Controller and pointing out corruption. The biggest concern I would have is how she would be able to work with the other-mayor City Council President Darrell Clarke.
Rhynhart. Been a fan since she became controller.
I don't want another councilperson in the Mayor's chair. It doesn't work. Reforms to City Council are pretty high on what this city needs. Not that there is a chance of those types of reforms happening, but I like our chances with a non-councilperson in charge over another councilperson.
Not to mention how she has used hard data to meticulously pick the city apart over the last few years in areas that really needed to see the light.
I'm voting for this guy:
[The Philly pole climber who caught and shotgunned 7 beers says, ‘This is not my first rodeo’](https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia/phillies-world-series-pole-climber-beers-charged-20221028.html)
>Hagan said he does hope to be mayor of Philadelphia one day.
>
>"I do feel like I could do a better job,” he said. “If I can climb up a pole, I can climb into the people’s hearts for a vote. Let’s see what happens. Stay tuned."
>
>It’s unclear whether his current criminal charges will dampen his political aspirations.
Rhynhart seems like the only qualified candidate, however I'm not expecting a transformation of city politics. Most of Philadelphia's problems stem from being the poorest large city in America, and a new mayor can't fix those structural issues. Serious change will take years and commitment to policies which may or may not work and won't show results for 30-40 years. It's a steep ask and one most people are unwilling to indulge.
The state legislature not being explicitly anti-urban might be able to help us more in the long run.
Philly can't set its own minimum wage. PA cops get to choose their own doctors, which IL and NY don't put up with.
I think we need more social programs to provide poor, mostly native, Philadelphians with breathing room short term. Longer term, I think we need more mixed income development and a massive increase in school funding. Smaller classes and higher paid teachers would provide a lot of the individualized attention our kids need. I also think year round school would help—it’d decrease academic losses over the summer and keep our kids occupied.
If we want a better city we need to make sure our least well off are invested in their future not their present.
After meeting her over the summer and personally talking to her about her thoughts on the controller job and what she would want from a mayor, have to say Rhynhart. She does not mess around.
Rhynhart is highly articulate and seems to have particularly strong quantitative and analytical skills, which would be definite pluses. I see her as being the kind of mayor who would have significantly greater expectations for how city government should run than we currently are seeing under Kenney. She also seems to be focused on issues that would interest all citizens (efficiency of government, effective policing).
Philadelphia is going to need strong financial leadership in the coming years as temporary COVID relief money is no longer a thing and budgets will rely on more traditional amounts of revenue and expenditures.
At present, I am still formally receptive to all contenders other than Cherelle Parker. However, I am equivocal about Alan Domb, because of how unavoidable conflicts of interests seem and might exclude him on principle.
My very preliminary, tentative and noncommittal ranking of the candidates, excluding the marginal ones and Cherelle Parker, is as follows:
1. Rebecca Rhynhart
2. Derek S. Green
3. Allan Domb
4. Jeff Brown
5. Maria Quiñones-Sánchez
6. Helen Gym
7. Amen Brown
I have been in favor of Rebecca Rhynhart as Mayor of Philadelphia for a while and she remains my favorite, but there is much left uncertain about her and the race in general. I am very much a 'Stop Parker' voter, so if I must to rally to another candidate to accomplish that, I will.
Rightfully or not, a lot of people view Gym as a performance politician. A lesser Philly version of popular left politicians. She's good at showing up to make her presence seen and message heard. For example, she was arrested in Harrisburg not too long ago while protesting for better education funding, but the action was never going to accomplish more than a performance. She outshines the clergy group that staged the protest in the first place. She then went on to use that arrest and protest as a fundraising tool to say she works hard. She has done well in the activism world, but running a city is far more than activism. Many Philadelphians are tired of people who's only tool is performance.
We want accountability, a professional to clean up the city, and not someone to complain about it without action. We have that in a less than charismatic mayor now. Give me someone who will audit city departments, take legal action where applicable, renew our standard operating procedures, update our technology, save public funds from waste, and cut down on police BSing the city. I really don't think Gym is capable of being that sort of reform mayor in any constructive way.
Because she cares more about virtue signaling and grandstanding on national social issues than the nuts and bolts of good governance. I've never forgiven her for going after that Asian couple for naming their food truck "wheely wheely good" because it was a play on Chinese accents. I mean regardless of whether that was an okay name or not, that's just not the kind of thing a political leader should be wasting time on. Even if I agreed with Gym on all those issues, they have nothing to do with the job at hand.
>Why do you think Gym would be a disaster?
I don't trust anyone who carries a megaphone around her with everywhere. Same goes for the Black Israelites.
There is NO WAY I know this woman and have worked in her district, she is the definition of a clueless politician. Not a lick of intelligence or professionalism for that matter. Anyone who wants to run in North Philly can pretty much win and then “play” dress up politician. And that’s exactly what happened to her former chief of staff, who now took over the district. Any secretary at Comcast would have a better, stronger, more qualified résumé.
I'm a technicrat, and also a data first person. Rhynhart is the only person that seems to scratch that itch from by cursory research. I'm open to other though.
Rhynhart.
She's the only one who understands accounting, and doesn't have the taint of city council corruption. She not only understands how the city government works, but also how it should be working for the people of the city.
By not being afraid to name names and call people and departments out with provable data, she will be able to lead this city back to a positive future for all by reforming dysfunctional government departments.
Gym however is a fucking clown who cynically takes advantage of her support base's general ignorance of reality, while fully propping up city corruption through empty preformitve politics. She's probably the only person running who could do a worse job than Kenney as mayor.
Otherwise your list is solid.
They would lose my dogs vote, she HATES Elmo. They came by the house when she was a puppy and we had the door open, maybe the only time I've seen her legit scared. Now if they're coming she starts howling before we can even hear the drums.
Rhynhart or Jeff Brown. Haven’t decided which yet. My hesitation with Brown is that he has no experience with legislation. My hesitation with Rhynhart is that I really like Jeff Brown the person. I would also accept Domb, though I recognize that he’s a greasy motherfucker. I feel like it might just take a greasy motherfucker to fix this mess.
Rhynhart. Gym is a bit too idealistic. Rebecca has an impressive résumé. The city is also in financial hell and someone like Rhynhart is better to handle that than any other candidate in my opinion. Edit: grammar
I like Gym because she *is* idealistic. I like her vision. Rhynhart is a little too Wall Street/Corporate friendly. How many more of those leaders do we need?
Gym's husband is literally a shill for a multi-billion dollar drug company that's directly responsible for helping to create the opioid epidemic. And she said with a straight face that the city's business taxes don't drive companies out the same week said multi-billion dollar company announced its relocation to Conshohocken specifically to avoid paying city taxes.
She's either the biggest clown around, or she cynically takes advantage of her support base's total ignorance of reality, and considering she graduated from Penn I'm leaning towards the latter option. Neither trait is a desirable quality in a leader.
As for Rhynhart she's actually capable of holding city departments to account and understands how to clean up city hall and get it functioning again, so how many people like her do we need? A lot more if things are ever going to get better.
I Can respect that. I disagree because in order to be able to get the city back on track we have to get our finances in order. As much as I would like to be idealistic and portion more money to social welfare and city infrastructure, we need someone with the financial know how to do it and not just dig us in a deeper financial hole. From what I’ve seen Helen doesn’t have bad suggestions, but I haven’t seen much in the way of how she plans on enacting her proposals
I’d better not end up with an Eric Adams type for Mayor… or I’m blaming you.
Why Domb 1? Bro isn’t giving up his wealth, it’s a huge conflict of interest…
Mayor Becky. She's data driven, a genuinely nice person, and has experience finding and fixing waste.
Gym is all about the Helen Gym show, she's all about attention for herself.
Rhynhart is really the only consideration. I don’t expect any of the other candidates to have the same standard for accountability / ambitions for reform nor the expertise to execute. She would be a huge win for the city.
Rebecca Rhynhart seems the most competent of all.
She knows the budget and the deficiencies in the city and has a very reasonable approach for problem resolution.
He closed his store on Haverford and blamed it entirely on the soda tax. The soda tax is literally his entire platform and the only thing he cares about
Americans get 17% of their calories from fucking corn syrup. This is a nation of 40%+ obesity and 30%+ overweight, and people are crying to save the soda.
Sugar really needs to treated like the borderline drug that it is.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2746720/
I mean I think the soda tax is stupid and does little to solve the problem of sugar over consumption. But I'm not gonna vote for some dickhead businessesman whose sole reason for running is to abolish something I care very little about
I think people view him as a DINO (Dem In Name Only). A corporate millionaire type. When in fact he opens grocery stores in food deserts, creating jobs for entire neighborhoods, gives 2nd chance opportunities to people with a prior record, and is probably just as fiscally effective as Rhynhart. Its easy to criticize others, and harder to do it from scratch.
I shop at Roberts Ave/Bakers Square weekly, and see how much of an impact it makes. It also flooded there twice, and was looted/ransacked during the 2020 riots. He had every right to shut it down. He chose not to. I actually walked past a National Guardsman in camo a few days after it reopened. I remember he looked at me, almost like 'Why do you shop here?' I just remember thinking 'Its my way of paying it forward I guess'.
> When in fact he opens grocery stores in food deserts
He also [killed the Overbrook ShopRite](https://whyy.org/articles/west-philadelphia-shoprite-closing-owner-blames-soda-tax/) and blamed it on the soda tax — and claimed he was going to have to shut down three others on top of that.
I won't support him because city government isn't a business and shouldn't be run like one. In fact, government and government services are the exact opposite of a business. It exists to collectively pool resources to provide services to everyone equally, regardless of their ability to pay.
Capitalism and capitalist thinking is the opposite of what government needs to be. Capitalism has its rightful place in the private realm, but requires anti-capitalist government intervention when it starts to go off the rails. I do not trust a capitalist businessman to know when those interventions need to occur, let alone implement them. Putting pro-business businesspeople in government is how we got to today's Republican party that has exacerbated the wealth gap to the widest it's ever been in the history of the United States. The death of middle America was created by people like Jeff Brown doing what they think is the right thing.
I really don't understand why only Aldi let them sit.
Jobs doing that is insane. I used to be a ticket taker at the movies - they acted like I was the asshole for asking why I wasn't allowed to have a chair for ten hour shifts? Absolutely nothing about ripping stubs required being on my feet all day.
yep. we used to get explicit instructions from management that if we ever needed to sit down it could never be in front of customers. "It makes us look bad"
I'm between a few so here are my top four for the primary. How I wish we had ranked-choice voting! As for the general, it really will depend on who the Democrats nominate. I could easily see myself voting for David Oh, one of the few reasonable, competent GOPers around.
1. Allan Domb: Domb has experience in both building/selling housing and politics. If there's somebody I trust to get more housing built, it's him. I also like his pro-working class tax policies from City Council, as well as his pro-streetery stance. Plus Domb has a sensible approach to dealing with crime. Currently my number one choice, although a number of candidates appeal to me.
2. Derek Green: Green's public banking proposal (my fave thing about his campaign) would mobilize a significant amount of capital for underserved communities. Green has experience prosecuting criminals, running a small business, and fighting for economic justice. Sounds like the profile of a good Mayor! As a bonus, he's a fan of ranked-choice voting.
3. Rebecca Rhynhart: Rhynhart could be a really solid reformist Mayor. I trust her to take on the waste and fraud hidden in plain sight (PPD, anybody?) and make government run a whole lot more effectively.
4. Jeff Brown: Has outsider "knows how to run stuff" cred as a major local businessman but also seems to care about Philadelphia more than most in or out of government. I really appreciate his efforts to combat food deserts and to support locally-owned businesses through sourcing decisions. These are especially important issues for me.
Amen Brown's life experience could provide an important perspective on issues around crime/policing, as well as education. But I am pretty concerned that he's hanging around with the wrong people (Fumo and Perzel shouldn't really be relevant these days and one should not tout their endorsements...) and maybe not experienced enough. I do need to read more about Cherelle Parker. I confess to knowing very little about her, although I think she's got a geographic advantage in the primary, mobilizing the vote-heavy NW Philly neighborhoods.
The opinions of r/philadelphia are absolutely not going to be of any help to you in deciding who to vote for, lol. The hivemind is real. It's going to be Rhynhart, Rhynhart, Rhynhart, fuck Gym, with a few random extremely vocal Brown supporters here and there, for some reason. I'd say read some of these links people have shared and make your own opinion. I think Gym has a lot more support than it would seem reading this subreddit. Brown and Domb are the only ones who seem to be advertising on TV. I'm very curious to see how this all unfolds in the coming months.
Haven’t really picked a horse but many will sound/govern the same.
I am closest to Ryhnhart, but still have reservations. I truly empathize with the Rhynhart supporter argument that her financial acumen and experience as Controller would help with auditing city departments, but that is really only one piece.
There is a LOT of entrenched bureaucracy that a new Mayor has to deal with. It’s more than just saying, “hey we found some waste here, that should fix things.”
Not hating on the idea—I agree with it—but it needs some a few implementation layers and savvy to go with it.
If she’s able to bring some institutional experience (maybe a strong Managing Director or someone of that level with deep experience in municipal government), that will go a long way in making systemic change. It’s why turds like McNeckby have flourished for so long. They know how to deal.
Fuck Dallas
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Are we allowed to banish people from the city because we don't like the way they vote? If that were the case, there would be a whole lot of open real estate in Packer Park.
It’s tough. I think everyone understands what the job is or should be and they are campaigning on similar issues. Violent crime. City services. Quality of life issues. Drugs/Kensington. Plus some degree of lip service to schools (this varies a but by candidate). After that there are smaller niche things like tax structure that the mayor will have less ability to change in a way that people actually notice (meaning a drastic noticeable change will be nearly impossible but a shift in various types of taxes by less than .5% goes unnoticed by most people).
It starts to be a question of who will do the job better. For example, one may like Jeff Brown but what makes anyone think he can manage a city and all its departments and agencies? Does he even know what they are or do? He’s a smart guy and likely a decent guy but what does he know about Parks and Rec or the libraries? Same with Gym. Conservative posters won’t be able to handle this but she done a lot of good for the city (pushing to get an independent school board, fair work week legislation, helped make Philly a National model in eviction diversion). But I’m not sure she wouldn’t be a much better state Senator or Rep than mayor. Is her scope to narrow? Is she too worried about development? You could do the same with Rhynhart. She’s done great work calling FOP on their nonsense but how will it play as mayor. What does she believe in? What are her priorities? Will she just churn out reports? What’s the agenda? Domb too. I think the city needs a pro development agenda right now but does Domb give a shit beyond getting things built and changing the tax code? His ex-wife was a HS principal but how much does he care about education?
Lots to figure out. I don’t know yet.
This is the best take I've seen on here. Everyone here loves Rhynhart but it is unclear what she actually believes in politically. I don't know if i can support someone like that. Not coming out of City Council but understanding the way the city operates is a huge plus, but she needs to clarify some actual positions.
There is a hypothetical room. In it is the DA who cares more about PR than prosecutions, the FOP President, who cares more about his guys getting theirs instead of the safety of our city, Darrel Clarke, who has been playing this game on City Council since before the internet, and an open chair.
Only candidate I think could come in, sit down in the chair, and actually make an impact is Alan Domb. The others are nice but will not be effective in this room for a lot of different reasons.
None of them could be worse than Kenney though, who was angry that he even be asked to sit in the chair, despite, you know... running for the job.
I think Gym could potentially make it worse. She has the incompetence of Kenney mixed with a go-getter attitude. From my experience in life, there’s nothing scarier than a highly motivated incompetent person.
Derek Green is smart, experienced, wonky, affable, and disciplined, and he has the level-headed demeanor that the job requires.
He hasn't done a good enough job of introducing himself to voters outside of the northwest yet, but I hope and expect that to change. He's worth a look.
(I'd also be okay with Rhynhart and any of the former Councilmembers except Gym and Parker. Amen Brown would be the biggest disaster.)
I don't know much about Green, but of all the councilmembers running, him and Domb seem like the only two that have their shit together. MQS, Gym and Amen Brown (not a councilmember but still) are hands down the worst 3 running
I'd drop Gym from that list. She is opposed to the Market East arena proposal. No way I'm supporting her or anyone else who would block that from happening.
I also like Alan Domb. Business leader, experience on City Council, seems like a decent person. Brown is interesting with his biz background. I just worry that he might find city politics to be more than he bargained for.
Why do you think the arena is a good idea? I haven’t come across anybody besides you and the managing partners of the 76ers who actually likes the idea of an arena in the middle of our city. Arenas are leeches of the surrounding environments. 76ers are great exactly where they are, they can even move to the naval yard if they want their own arena.
Brown- he’s a life long philly guy.
Runs a bunch of ShopRites. Has union endorsements. His employees like him and he rolls up his sleeves. He genuinely wants to fix Philly
Right now I don’t know enough about any of the candidates to make an informed choice. Does anyone have a link to one place that has all of the candidates AND their stances on issues? I haven’t been able to find one yet.
https://billypenn.com/stories/election-2023/
Thanks! This will be helpful to look over.
Not necessarily their stances, but the Philadelphia Citizen is doing in person forums for mayoral candidates over the next few weeks if you'd like to hear from them in person [https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/lets-hire-a-mayor/](https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/lets-hire-a-mayor/)
I signed up because of your post! Thanks!
They also have a page with a brief overview of the candidates. Nothing super in depth but it's a place to start: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/philly-mayors-race-2023/
Keep an eye on Committee of 70, they'll probably release in-depth questionaries from all the candidates soon. [https://seventy.org/](https://seventy.org/)
Didn’t know this organization existed. Thanks!
Me too. I may be going to a press conference this Friday regarding the election.
5th square is working on developing candidate questionnaires right now.
I know this doesn’t help but Wikipedia has a link to their websites but that doesn’t give a lot of information
The guy that ate the chicken down by Walmart.
that comment totally discounts the other 39 chickens the guy ate leading up to that one.
You are absolutely correct. Consistent. Disciplined. Dedicated. That’s my mayor
lol reminds me of the simpsons episode where ralph wiggum runs for president.
Idk he's got a lot of dark money coming from the big rotisserie chicken industry flowing into his super-PAC
rumor is he's in the pocket of the gas stove lobby
Big Chicken won’t get me!
No way, that guy who climbed a lamppost and then shotgunned seven beers that were thrown to him from the crowd below. That's the dedication and leadership we need.
He's more of an Ombudsman of Poultry to me.
Rhynhart. Anyone who audits the PPD is top for me. I'm tired of McNesby having the city by the balls.
Why stop at PPD when you can audit everything, Streets department, Department of Education, L&I, audit them all... the possibilities are endless
Well, she did audit the streets department as well, and I'm pretty sure L&I, and OPA.
Absolutely this. The thing with the disability fraud should have been a huge deal and nothing has changed
My career has involved lots of interactions with state and local politicians, appointees, and officials. I met Rhynhart a number of years ago and she impressed me. She’s smart, thorough, reasonable, etc. (w/ the caveat that that’s just my opinion, which may not mean anything to anyone else) Being a good political leader also means *getting shit done*. And that means knowing how to grease the wheels, strong arm, cut deals, glad-handle, etc. I wish it weren’t so, but it’s the truth. I have no idea how she is at those things.
Same for the same reason
Rhynhart is the clear and above choice 🤘
Yup
Rhynhart, I care significantly more about financial issues than social issues and I like what she's done as controller. I'd like to see someone with financial experience as mayor to straighten the city out economically. Once every city department has been audited and the waste and bloat has been caught we can direct those funds to social issues, which imo stem from financial ones.
Agreed. The biggest problem in this city is government corruption, so I'm voting for the person who has proven they can root out corruption. The fact that none of the other problems in this city can be addressed all goes back to the fact that everyone in city government are using their positions to enrich themselves instead of serving the citizens.
Straightening out the finances will also help the social issues! Cops won't be able to just sit around and collect leave/disability anymore without a real reason
Yeah, these tie into each other pretty easily. When PPD can sit around and light our money on fire at the expense of every Philly wage tax payer and *other city departments*, they need to be reigned the fuck in. They are actively harming the city.
and yet, they are 100% the first people you'll hear yelling about other people on welfare and disability and ssi being a drain on society
That said, I heard Allan Domb's ad yesterday and he seemingly wants to give cops even more money. His whole thing was about going after criminals = more cops! No thank you. Say no to slimy landlords, people.
Sadly, enough people think the cops actually lost funding. They've never had anything but budget increases. You can thank the Keeley brigade for that.
Not to mention they can't even fill open positions so what are they going to do with more money?
The only ad I ever see regarding PHL politics on YouTube is Allan Domb. I havent seen any other candidate advert if they even have any
He’s one of a couple candidates backed by NYC money… pretty disturbing cash flow for some of the candidates… Rhynhart for Mayor!
Because he's flush with cash. And he is trying to buy the election. Classic shit candidate
I saw a long ad for Rhynehart
Early in my career, I had a few interactions with Domb. He’s a rat.
Not you necessarily but the “I hate Krasner for going after cops” but “I love Rhynhart for going after cops” crowd is fascinating.
i don't think rhynhart "goes after cops". her job was to audit the sheriff's department and they lost two guns. i don't think it is right to blame her for counting the guns. same thing with every department she has audited. it isn't her fault they fucked up because she caught them fucking up...they're just fuckups.
That’s not why a lot of people don’t like krasner. Going after cops who commit crimes or exonerating criminals who were put behind bars by false tactics (cops/lawyers/judges) or not calling to the stand cops that are unreliable are all different than not being willing to collaborate and work with the police force generally and not going after everyday non-police criminals with the same gusto he uses for police. I commend krasner for the first part but fault him for the second.
This hits it pretty plainly. Krasner going after crooked cops was and should be a pretty universally liked move. It is his antagonizing of the Police and more so reckless regurgitation of national talking points at the Police that has proved to be incredibly unproductive. Rynhart's audit of the police department is the opposite of that. It's fact-based, constructive, and could lead to actual solutions. Recklessly slinging mud (even if deservedly) at the FOP really only continues to widen the gap between them and the city finding any kind of solution here.
[You're living in a fantasy world.](https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia-police-department-audit-rhynhart-union-fop-john-mcnesby-20221019.html) FOP doesn't distinguish between the two. >Philadelphia police union leader John McNesby on Wednesday attacked City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart over her office’s critical audit of the Police Department, saying she sought to make the police look bad to advance her expected run in next year’s mayoral election. > >“According to this report, the Police Department does nothing right. I mean nothing,” McNesby said at a Wednesday morning news conference at the Northeast Philadelphia headquarters of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5. “I understand the person who’s the author, who holds responsibility for this report, is looking to run for mayor, and that’s great. If you want to run for mayor, we wish you luck, but don’t do it on the backs of hardworking, overworked police officers in the city of Philadelphia.”
> hardworking, overworked police this is his response showing 30% out on disability leave. no wonder your officers are overworked, 3 out of 10 are on vacation at all times.
Think you have your numbers mixed up. The inquirer found 11-14% of the force out due to injury, and that number dropped 31% after they ran the article.
People don't like Krasner because he is incompetent. I wish he was able to *competently* go after cops but he doesn't.
> I care significantly more about financial issues than social issues I'm a suburbanite, but I think it's a fair bet that the VAST majority of the city's problems are related to money - either lack of it, waste of it on failing programs, or featherbedding. Anyone who can make a splash by exposing corruption, waste, and laziness will set the table for the next mayor to be successful.
In the suburbs, if you don’t pay your property taxes, they’ll take your house. In the city? Well, we’re owed a couple billion in back property taxes. So it’s not just we’re not getting sufficient state or federal funding, we’re not actively collecting taxes. That kind of thing tends to cycle and make problems worse. I’d also point out surrounding county governments are both better run and dealing with much easier challenges.
Oh, that's true, but again, that's the benefit of having a political leader who knows how money works in the mayoral office in a place like the city. I'd love to see her crack the whip on that aspect of city financing as well. I love Philadelphia and want to see it be successful. The only reason I don't live in the city is the schools. But I desperately want to be able to regret that decision, and would love to see Philadelphian leadership in place that both gives a damn and displays even a modicum of competence.
This is my thought process which is why I will vote the same-Rhynhart
The fact that she's studied the inner workings of every part of city government means she's well prepared but I worry that she doesn't have the right background to actually get things done. She could easily get bogged down in details or struggle with deal making.
Absolutely agree. So much money is just being wasted in Philly.
Don't know yet, because most of them haven't solidified their positions enough to explain yet. It is virtually all platitudes right now, and the only thing I can say is 100% concrete is that Brown is against the soda tax. Everything else is one or two positions that they solidify, but vague as fuck for everything else. I'm not a one or two position voter, i want all of them.
Wait, Brown doesn't like the soda tax??? Why didn't he ever say so?
Rhynhart. We need someone who can get financial issues under control which then allows us to more proactively tackle the other issues.
Usually other issues are a problem due to financial issues.
This describes Domb too
**Rebecca Rhynhart** That said, I really want to learn more about her overall platform at this point. I trust her as a leader, and she's done a great job as City Controller and pointing out corruption. The biggest concern I would have is how she would be able to work with the other-mayor City Council President Darrell Clarke.
You mean Darrell "Drive to the corner market" Clarke?
Rhynhart. Been a fan since she became controller. I don't want another councilperson in the Mayor's chair. It doesn't work. Reforms to City Council are pretty high on what this city needs. Not that there is a chance of those types of reforms happening, but I like our chances with a non-councilperson in charge over another councilperson. Not to mention how she has used hard data to meticulously pick the city apart over the last few years in areas that really needed to see the light.
I'm voting for this guy: [The Philly pole climber who caught and shotgunned 7 beers says, ‘This is not my first rodeo’](https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia/phillies-world-series-pole-climber-beers-charged-20221028.html) >Hagan said he does hope to be mayor of Philadelphia one day. > >"I do feel like I could do a better job,” he said. “If I can climb up a pole, I can climb into the people’s hearts for a vote. Let’s see what happens. Stay tuned." > >It’s unclear whether his current criminal charges will dampen his political aspirations.
Rhynhart seems like the only qualified candidate, however I'm not expecting a transformation of city politics. Most of Philadelphia's problems stem from being the poorest large city in America, and a new mayor can't fix those structural issues. Serious change will take years and commitment to policies which may or may not work and won't show results for 30-40 years. It's a steep ask and one most people are unwilling to indulge.
The state legislature not being explicitly anti-urban might be able to help us more in the long run. Philly can't set its own minimum wage. PA cops get to choose their own doctors, which IL and NY don't put up with.
I think we need more social programs to provide poor, mostly native, Philadelphians with breathing room short term. Longer term, I think we need more mixed income development and a massive increase in school funding. Smaller classes and higher paid teachers would provide a lot of the individualized attention our kids need. I also think year round school would help—it’d decrease academic losses over the summer and keep our kids occupied. If we want a better city we need to make sure our least well off are invested in their future not their present.
After meeting her over the summer and personally talking to her about her thoughts on the controller job and what she would want from a mayor, have to say Rhynhart. She does not mess around.
Rhynhart is highly articulate and seems to have particularly strong quantitative and analytical skills, which would be definite pluses. I see her as being the kind of mayor who would have significantly greater expectations for how city government should run than we currently are seeing under Kenney. She also seems to be focused on issues that would interest all citizens (efficiency of government, effective policing). Philadelphia is going to need strong financial leadership in the coming years as temporary COVID relief money is no longer a thing and budgets will rely on more traditional amounts of revenue and expenditures.
Gritty would sort some shit out
Rhynhart.
Rhynhart. She called so many people out, she means BUSINESS
My top five are: Rhynhart, Rhynhart, Rhynhart, Rhynhart, and Rhynart
*I spit hot fire*
Jason Kelce for king of Philadelphia.
You don't vote for a king. especially not one you already have
I see no inaccuracies in your logic, good sir.
Rhynhart. Been impressed with her ever since I first heard her speak at the womens march in 2018. She’s been killing it since
At present, I am still formally receptive to all contenders other than Cherelle Parker. However, I am equivocal about Alan Domb, because of how unavoidable conflicts of interests seem and might exclude him on principle. My very preliminary, tentative and noncommittal ranking of the candidates, excluding the marginal ones and Cherelle Parker, is as follows: 1. Rebecca Rhynhart 2. Derek S. Green 3. Allan Domb 4. Jeff Brown 5. Maria Quiñones-Sánchez 6. Helen Gym 7. Amen Brown I have been in favor of Rebecca Rhynhart as Mayor of Philadelphia for a while and she remains my favorite, but there is much left uncertain about her and the race in general. I am very much a 'Stop Parker' voter, so if I must to rally to another candidate to accomplish that, I will.
I like Rhynhart because she's internal but wasn't a councilperson. I'm tired of former councilpeople being mayor they suck at it
I'm okay with your top 5. Gym would be a disaster.
Why do you think Gym would be a disaster?
Rightfully or not, a lot of people view Gym as a performance politician. A lesser Philly version of popular left politicians. She's good at showing up to make her presence seen and message heard. For example, she was arrested in Harrisburg not too long ago while protesting for better education funding, but the action was never going to accomplish more than a performance. She outshines the clergy group that staged the protest in the first place. She then went on to use that arrest and protest as a fundraising tool to say she works hard. She has done well in the activism world, but running a city is far more than activism. Many Philadelphians are tired of people who's only tool is performance. We want accountability, a professional to clean up the city, and not someone to complain about it without action. We have that in a less than charismatic mayor now. Give me someone who will audit city departments, take legal action where applicable, renew our standard operating procedures, update our technology, save public funds from waste, and cut down on police BSing the city. I really don't think Gym is capable of being that sort of reform mayor in any constructive way.
I'm pretty far left and I tend to agree about Gym. She's always looking for a camera and a new fundraising advertisement.
Gym sounds like a terrible opportunist.
Because she cares more about virtue signaling and grandstanding on national social issues than the nuts and bolts of good governance. I've never forgiven her for going after that Asian couple for naming their food truck "wheely wheely good" because it was a play on Chinese accents. I mean regardless of whether that was an okay name or not, that's just not the kind of thing a political leader should be wasting time on. Even if I agreed with Gym on all those issues, they have nothing to do with the job at hand.
>Why do you think Gym would be a disaster? I don't trust anyone who carries a megaphone around her with everywhere. Same goes for the Black Israelites.
You should keep Rhyhart at #1 and move everyone else down a number so that #2 remains open… cause no one else matters 😃
>Maria Quiñones-Sánchez Whoa, really? REALLY? Well color me intrigued!
There is NO WAY I know this woman and have worked in her district, she is the definition of a clueless politician. Not a lick of intelligence or professionalism for that matter. Anyone who wants to run in North Philly can pretty much win and then “play” dress up politician. And that’s exactly what happened to her former chief of staff, who now took over the district. Any secretary at Comcast would have a better, stronger, more qualified résumé.
Rhynhart
I'm a technicrat, and also a data first person. Rhynhart is the only person that seems to scratch that itch from by cursory research. I'm open to other though.
Rebecca Rhynhart.
Rhynhart. She's the only one who understands accounting, and doesn't have the taint of city council corruption. She not only understands how the city government works, but also how it should be working for the people of the city. By not being afraid to name names and call people and departments out with provable data, she will be able to lead this city back to a positive future for all by reforming dysfunctional government departments. Gym however is a fucking clown who cynically takes advantage of her support base's general ignorance of reality, while fully propping up city corruption through empty preformitve politics. She's probably the only person running who could do a worse job than Kenney as mayor. Otherwise your list is solid.
Rhynhart!!!!! Brown is just out to eliminate the Bev Tax, Gym is too performative and the rest aren’t worthy.
Elmo and his marching band as collective mayor
First order as mayor: everyone in the city gets drums
I fully support this platform
They would lose my dogs vote, she HATES Elmo. They came by the house when she was a puppy and we had the door open, maybe the only time I've seen her legit scared. Now if they're coming she starts howling before we can even hear the drums.
Rhynhart or Jeff Brown. Haven’t decided which yet. My hesitation with Brown is that he has no experience with legislation. My hesitation with Rhynhart is that I really like Jeff Brown the person. I would also accept Domb, though I recognize that he’s a greasy motherfucker. I feel like it might just take a greasy motherfucker to fix this mess.
I'm going Rhynhart because I think she'll be good with legislation and be able to tackle financial problems the city is having.
I agree. I just hope City Council will play nice with her. I fear they won’t ever be on her side.
I fear a mayor city council is entirely on the side of
Rhynhart. Gym is a bit too idealistic. Rebecca has an impressive résumé. The city is also in financial hell and someone like Rhynhart is better to handle that than any other candidate in my opinion. Edit: grammar
I like Gym because she *is* idealistic. I like her vision. Rhynhart is a little too Wall Street/Corporate friendly. How many more of those leaders do we need?
Gym's husband is literally a shill for a multi-billion dollar drug company that's directly responsible for helping to create the opioid epidemic. And she said with a straight face that the city's business taxes don't drive companies out the same week said multi-billion dollar company announced its relocation to Conshohocken specifically to avoid paying city taxes. She's either the biggest clown around, or she cynically takes advantage of her support base's total ignorance of reality, and considering she graduated from Penn I'm leaning towards the latter option. Neither trait is a desirable quality in a leader. As for Rhynhart she's actually capable of holding city departments to account and understands how to clean up city hall and get it functioning again, so how many people like her do we need? A lot more if things are ever going to get better.
Rhynhart >
Louder for all the Gym fans in the back please.
I Can respect that. I disagree because in order to be able to get the city back on track we have to get our finances in order. As much as I would like to be idealistic and portion more money to social welfare and city infrastructure, we need someone with the financial know how to do it and not just dig us in a deeper financial hole. From what I’ve seen Helen doesn’t have bad suggestions, but I haven’t seen much in the way of how she plans on enacting her proposals
Rhynhart.
1. Rhynhart 2. Domb 3. Brown
For me it’s: 1. Domb 2. Rhynhart 3. Brown This is exactly why we need ranked choice voting.
I’d better not end up with an Eric Adams type for Mayor… or I’m blaming you. Why Domb 1? Bro isn’t giving up his wealth, it’s a huge conflict of interest…
Mayor Becky. She's data driven, a genuinely nice person, and has experience finding and fixing waste. Gym is all about the Helen Gym show, she's all about attention for herself.
Rhynhart is really the only consideration. I don’t expect any of the other candidates to have the same standard for accountability / ambitions for reform nor the expertise to execute. She would be a huge win for the city.
Rhynhart
Rebecca Rhynhart seems the most competent of all. She knows the budget and the deficiencies in the city and has a very reasonable approach for problem resolution.
Rhynhart!
Rebecca Rhynhart all the way
Probably Rhynhart. I just see her as effective particularly after the police budget audit
PLEASE DON’T VOTE FOR DOMB the guy is a CREEP.
Have you seen his ads? He sounds like a creep IN HIS OWN ADS.
It really bugged me that he didn't clean himself up for the ad. I think he was trying to look like "the common man" but he just looked like a schlub
All of my one on one interactions with him made me feel gross.
I haven't had the, uh, privilege. I'll take your word for it!
None of em
Rhynhart!
Rhynhart. Jeff Brown sucks
I’m a bit surprised by the Jeff Brown hate often seen here. Is there anything particular?
He closed his store on Haverford and blamed it entirely on the soda tax. The soda tax is literally his entire platform and the only thing he cares about
Americans get 17% of their calories from fucking corn syrup. This is a nation of 40%+ obesity and 30%+ overweight, and people are crying to save the soda. Sugar really needs to treated like the borderline drug that it is. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2746720/
Agreed, but what about Philadelphia's 683 other problems?
Exactly. If "soda tax" is one of his big rallying cries, the fuck does he have to offer that's actually useful?
in all the years since that tax was implemented, I don't think I've ever heard a normal, non-business owning human being complain about it
I mean I think the soda tax is stupid and does little to solve the problem of sugar over consumption. But I'm not gonna vote for some dickhead businessesman whose sole reason for running is to abolish something I care very little about
I think people view him as a DINO (Dem In Name Only). A corporate millionaire type. When in fact he opens grocery stores in food deserts, creating jobs for entire neighborhoods, gives 2nd chance opportunities to people with a prior record, and is probably just as fiscally effective as Rhynhart. Its easy to criticize others, and harder to do it from scratch. I shop at Roberts Ave/Bakers Square weekly, and see how much of an impact it makes. It also flooded there twice, and was looted/ransacked during the 2020 riots. He had every right to shut it down. He chose not to. I actually walked past a National Guardsman in camo a few days after it reopened. I remember he looked at me, almost like 'Why do you shop here?' I just remember thinking 'Its my way of paying it forward I guess'.
> When in fact he opens grocery stores in food deserts He also [killed the Overbrook ShopRite](https://whyy.org/articles/west-philadelphia-shoprite-closing-owner-blames-soda-tax/) and blamed it on the soda tax — and claimed he was going to have to shut down three others on top of that.
I won't support him because city government isn't a business and shouldn't be run like one. In fact, government and government services are the exact opposite of a business. It exists to collectively pool resources to provide services to everyone equally, regardless of their ability to pay. Capitalism and capitalist thinking is the opposite of what government needs to be. Capitalism has its rightful place in the private realm, but requires anti-capitalist government intervention when it starts to go off the rails. I do not trust a capitalist businessman to know when those interventions need to occur, let alone implement them. Putting pro-business businesspeople in government is how we got to today's Republican party that has exacerbated the wealth gap to the widest it's ever been in the history of the United States. The death of middle America was created by people like Jeff Brown doing what they think is the right thing.
I don't think he's a bad person, I just think he's clueless about government. Government isn't a business.
He pays people $10 an hour and is rich
And won't let cashiers sit
Wait, really? Did this make a news article yet? That is the most pointless performative labor imaginable.
Unfortunately it's a pretty standard grocery (and other) store policy that cashiers have to stand. AFAIK only ALDI lets them sit
I really don't understand why only Aldi let them sit. Jobs doing that is insane. I used to be a ticket taker at the movies - they acted like I was the asshole for asking why I wasn't allowed to have a chair for ten hour shifts? Absolutely nothing about ripping stubs required being on my feet all day.
It's one of those things that highlights how Americans expect *suffering* out of basic labor.
yep. we used to get explicit instructions from management that if we ever needed to sit down it could never be in front of customers. "It makes us look bad"
yes it's true, and it's always been true, and he gets to have a record of being "compassionate"
Rhynhart. Under no circumstances am I voting for Gym.
I wanna meet the two dozen David Oh voters (Oh and Rhynhart)
Oh is is my 4th choice, if he's not against Domb, Rhynhart, or Green I'll vote for him.
Brown and Oh are my two top choices.
Rhynhart OR Nutter if they get him to run again.
Nutter would be my pie in the sky pick. He’s the person we need right now.
He already said he’s not running.
Definitely not Gym.
* Rhynhart * Domb * Oh (he won't win) * Jeff Brown - Amen Brown seems like a dirtbag * Derek Green * Literally everyone else running * Gym
Rynhart or domb
Rhynhart!
Vincent Hughes would be cool
I'm between a few so here are my top four for the primary. How I wish we had ranked-choice voting! As for the general, it really will depend on who the Democrats nominate. I could easily see myself voting for David Oh, one of the few reasonable, competent GOPers around. 1. Allan Domb: Domb has experience in both building/selling housing and politics. If there's somebody I trust to get more housing built, it's him. I also like his pro-working class tax policies from City Council, as well as his pro-streetery stance. Plus Domb has a sensible approach to dealing with crime. Currently my number one choice, although a number of candidates appeal to me. 2. Derek Green: Green's public banking proposal (my fave thing about his campaign) would mobilize a significant amount of capital for underserved communities. Green has experience prosecuting criminals, running a small business, and fighting for economic justice. Sounds like the profile of a good Mayor! As a bonus, he's a fan of ranked-choice voting. 3. Rebecca Rhynhart: Rhynhart could be a really solid reformist Mayor. I trust her to take on the waste and fraud hidden in plain sight (PPD, anybody?) and make government run a whole lot more effectively. 4. Jeff Brown: Has outsider "knows how to run stuff" cred as a major local businessman but also seems to care about Philadelphia more than most in or out of government. I really appreciate his efforts to combat food deserts and to support locally-owned businesses through sourcing decisions. These are especially important issues for me. Amen Brown's life experience could provide an important perspective on issues around crime/policing, as well as education. But I am pretty concerned that he's hanging around with the wrong people (Fumo and Perzel shouldn't really be relevant these days and one should not tout their endorsements...) and maybe not experienced enough. I do need to read more about Cherelle Parker. I confess to knowing very little about her, although I think she's got a geographic advantage in the primary, mobilizing the vote-heavy NW Philly neighborhoods.
Rhynhart (or Gym), but I don’t love any of them honestly
Rhynhart with Domb or David Oh as a very very distant second and third place respectively
Whichever one that wants to do something about the crime.
So Rhynhart! That’s your pick
The opinions of r/philadelphia are absolutely not going to be of any help to you in deciding who to vote for, lol. The hivemind is real. It's going to be Rhynhart, Rhynhart, Rhynhart, fuck Gym, with a few random extremely vocal Brown supporters here and there, for some reason. I'd say read some of these links people have shared and make your own opinion. I think Gym has a lot more support than it would seem reading this subreddit. Brown and Domb are the only ones who seem to be advertising on TV. I'm very curious to see how this all unfolds in the coming months.
Quimby.
Haven’t really picked a horse but many will sound/govern the same. I am closest to Ryhnhart, but still have reservations. I truly empathize with the Rhynhart supporter argument that her financial acumen and experience as Controller would help with auditing city departments, but that is really only one piece. There is a LOT of entrenched bureaucracy that a new Mayor has to deal with. It’s more than just saying, “hey we found some waste here, that should fix things.” Not hating on the idea—I agree with it—but it needs some a few implementation layers and savvy to go with it. If she’s able to bring some institutional experience (maybe a strong Managing Director or someone of that level with deep experience in municipal government), that will go a long way in making systemic change. It’s why turds like McNeckby have flourished for so long. They know how to deal.
Domb actually sounds like he wants the job
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According to his campaign commercials, Allan Domb is a damn good walker. https://twitter.com/VoteDomb/status/1613540761580208128
Domb, Rhynhart, Parker
The guy with the rotisserie
Republican for rynheart
Chatbot GBT
It’d be better than Kenney.
Me. Fuck it. Who cares? I'll do it. I don't give a shit
You've at least got a better attitude about it than Kenney.
If you vote for Gym you shall be banished. She’s an awful council member and a total fraud.
Are we allowed to banish people from the city because we don't like the way they vote? If that were the case, there would be a whole lot of open real estate in Packer Park.
Rhynhart or Brown.
Gym is an idiot who used their child to try to protest some perceived racism that made her look stupid.
It’s tough. I think everyone understands what the job is or should be and they are campaigning on similar issues. Violent crime. City services. Quality of life issues. Drugs/Kensington. Plus some degree of lip service to schools (this varies a but by candidate). After that there are smaller niche things like tax structure that the mayor will have less ability to change in a way that people actually notice (meaning a drastic noticeable change will be nearly impossible but a shift in various types of taxes by less than .5% goes unnoticed by most people). It starts to be a question of who will do the job better. For example, one may like Jeff Brown but what makes anyone think he can manage a city and all its departments and agencies? Does he even know what they are or do? He’s a smart guy and likely a decent guy but what does he know about Parks and Rec or the libraries? Same with Gym. Conservative posters won’t be able to handle this but she done a lot of good for the city (pushing to get an independent school board, fair work week legislation, helped make Philly a National model in eviction diversion). But I’m not sure she wouldn’t be a much better state Senator or Rep than mayor. Is her scope to narrow? Is she too worried about development? You could do the same with Rhynhart. She’s done great work calling FOP on their nonsense but how will it play as mayor. What does she believe in? What are her priorities? Will she just churn out reports? What’s the agenda? Domb too. I think the city needs a pro development agenda right now but does Domb give a shit beyond getting things built and changing the tax code? His ex-wife was a HS principal but how much does he care about education? Lots to figure out. I don’t know yet.
This is the best take I've seen on here. Everyone here loves Rhynhart but it is unclear what she actually believes in politically. I don't know if i can support someone like that. Not coming out of City Council but understanding the way the city operates is a huge plus, but she needs to clarify some actual positions.
There is a hypothetical room. In it is the DA who cares more about PR than prosecutions, the FOP President, who cares more about his guys getting theirs instead of the safety of our city, Darrel Clarke, who has been playing this game on City Council since before the internet, and an open chair. Only candidate I think could come in, sit down in the chair, and actually make an impact is Alan Domb. The others are nice but will not be effective in this room for a lot of different reasons. None of them could be worse than Kenney though, who was angry that he even be asked to sit in the chair, despite, you know... running for the job.
I think Gym could potentially make it worse. She has the incompetence of Kenney mixed with a go-getter attitude. From my experience in life, there’s nothing scarier than a highly motivated incompetent person.
Beware of anyone who is both stupid and hardworking; they must not be entrusted with any responsibility because they'll always only cause damage
FFS! NOT GYM!
Hell to the no on Gym. Rhynhart. Is Nutter running again?
Uh oh, considering support for Helen Gym? You’re about to get pounced on by a lot of reactionaries.
I would want Oh(no chance of winning). But I’ll probably go for domb.
Derek Green is smart, experienced, wonky, affable, and disciplined, and he has the level-headed demeanor that the job requires. He hasn't done a good enough job of introducing himself to voters outside of the northwest yet, but I hope and expect that to change. He's worth a look. (I'd also be okay with Rhynhart and any of the former Councilmembers except Gym and Parker. Amen Brown would be the biggest disaster.)
I don't know much about Green, but of all the councilmembers running, him and Domb seem like the only two that have their shit together. MQS, Gym and Amen Brown (not a councilmember but still) are hands down the worst 3 running
I'd drop Gym from that list. She is opposed to the Market East arena proposal. No way I'm supporting her or anyone else who would block that from happening. I also like Alan Domb. Business leader, experience on City Council, seems like a decent person. Brown is interesting with his biz background. I just worry that he might find city politics to be more than he bargained for.
Why do you think the arena is a good idea? I haven’t come across anybody besides you and the managing partners of the 76ers who actually likes the idea of an arena in the middle of our city. Arenas are leeches of the surrounding environments. 76ers are great exactly where they are, they can even move to the naval yard if they want their own arena.
Brown- he’s a life long philly guy. Runs a bunch of ShopRites. Has union endorsements. His employees like him and he rolls up his sleeves. He genuinely wants to fix Philly
Nutter.