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Why is Philly unsafe? Young Men of Color?

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Recent surveys of Philadelphians have revealed that the #1 concern is public safety. The assumption is that the overwhelming concern is related to the rising murder rate and the resurgence of car jackings – violent acts that betray the rules of civil society. What’s left unsaid is that the lack of safety has a face. Philly feels unsafe around young men of color – and young men of color feel unsafe around other young men of color. Civil society felt safer when young of color simply attacked each other – which is still mostly the case. The public policy response has been laughable because policy making in Philly is often driven by politics and the ambition of those who already know that they don’t have solutions to the real problems. Therefore, we must endure a ridiculous ideological debate about “defunding the police” or “increasing the police presence”. Two recent proposals in City Council call for increasing the police presence in problem areas by hiring more police officers – and e
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Policy Integrity Matters

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For those who know me and still wonder why I really am the way that I am… I will tell you. When I grew up in Paschall in Southwest Philadelphia, a few blocks from the “projects”, my parents were leaders in the neighborhood church, community group, and home & school association. They were also leaders in the independent Black political movement citywide. It was the 1960’s and 1970’s. My family was part of a larger struggle for racial equality. That’s how I was raised. Fortunately, I had educational opportunities, procured by my parents, to attend elite public schools from the 5 th to 12 th grades – Masterman and Central… and then I graduated from the University of Pennsylvania the day before my 21 st birthday. I graduated from Penn, after having been threatened with expulsion in the second semester of my senior year and being brought up on student disciplinary charges in university court for my anti-apartheid activism (I organized a major sit-in in the University President’
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Launching “goodeadvises.com”!

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  Last year, I purchased the domain name “goodeadvises.com” with the thought that I might launch a website by the end of 2020.   I was anticipating my professional transition from local government as I reached my City retirement age of 55. I made the transition from legislator to public policy advisor almost 5 years ago – and I have found it to be a good fit as part of my evolution. It is an evolution that began, in earnest, during my last term in legislative office. Within weeks after winning my last general election in 2011, I travelled to New York City to be the keynote speaker for a national convening on municipal responsible banking ordinances. There I shared my experiences with other legislators and policymakers related to fair lending and community reinvestment laws on the local level.   I received a National Achievement Award for that work in 2006. As a result of that New York gathering, I would become a Founding Board Member of Local Progress – a national municipal policy
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Civil Society Solutions

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I launched this blog on my 55 th birthday two months ago, the same day I gave notice of my retirement from City government. I became employed by Philadelphia City Council at age 34, after winning election as its youngest member. I have spent the prime years of my professional life there and I am grateful for that. To have the opportunity to create and impact municipal legislation in a major city for over two decades has been a blessing. I have helped to create more jobs, better wages and benefits, substantial investment in neighborhood economic development, fairer contracting and lending – and even fairer elections through campaign contribution limits, just to name a few things that I have accomplished over those years. I am proud of all of that, but that is also why I am leaving. City government can do good things when political leaders choose to lead, but great impact can also be made in civil society from further building the capacity of nongovernmental organizations to lead on
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Economic Sharecropping Must End

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During the period of so-called Reconstruction after slavery, the system known as “sharecropping” was the basis for agricultural business in the South. Under this system, Black families would rent small plots of land to work themselves; in return, they would give a portion of their crop to the White landowner at the end of the year. The economic reality was that the White landowners could not manage the crops post-slavery without Black labor, and in most cases, Black people did not or could not own land. It was another form of legally forced servitude. The more things change, the more they stay the same – in the South, North, East and West – that includes Philadelphia, of course. Over a decade ago, I introduced a Diversity Track Record Ordinance as an amendment to the requirement for an Economic Opportunity Plan (EOP) for City contracts. The EOP should now contain a statement from the contractor, developer and/or recipient of financial assistance summarizing past practices by identi
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Fund Economic Parity

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Philadelphia government should “defund the economic disparity” is the rallying call heard by no one – until now. Of course, the rallying call to “defund the police” has drawn the attention of the entire country, presidential campaigns, and thousands of local activists. The best way to describe the demand of those activists is that they support divesting funds from the police department to be reinvested in non-policing forms of public safety, housing, social services, education and youth programs, healthcare and other community resources. Yet, "defunding" the police and reinvesting in housing and social services does little to resolve the economic disparity that communities of colors face every day – and the disparate policing of their communities. Communities of color are not policed differently just because of race, but also because of economics. For every policing dollar that is reinvested in affordable housing, how much of it will end up in the hands of people of color
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Race-Conscious Economic Justice

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There has been a debate for decades about race-conscious public policy and its legality. Many refer to it as the “affirmative action” debate, the debate over “quotas”, or even the “reparations” debate. In the City of Philadelphia, maybe the debate should have been put to rest when Mayor Jim Kenney signed an executive order in January 2020 calling for a “Racial Equity Strategy” mandating racial equity assessments and plans for each City department. The City Law Department should probably go first. Although the City Solicitor is an African American man, the department is far from diverse and there are some entrenched interests within the department that are still advocating for race-neutral policymaking over race-conscious policymaking. They clearly did not get the memo from the Mayor or filed it in the wastebasket. The most race-conscious public policy to bear fruit has been the annual disparity study and annual participation goals for City contracting that has taken disadvantaged b
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