If the city isn't moving forward, it's going backwards, and then we're dead!

An Anti-Crime Commitment, also known as a crime commitment, is a binding executive promise to use every tool of municipal authority to restore safety, back law enforcement, and eliminate daily street chaos. To protect our streets and commercial corridors day and night, this calls for an unyielding commitment to four core actions. My first commitment is reestablishing tough correctional facilities that actually deter crime. My second commitment is fully replenishing our police force to 8,000 sworn officers. My third commitment is ending public homelessness once and for all through mandatory treatment pathways. My fourth commitment is fiercely defending private property from government overreach, which in fact is also a crime. These four action items sit directly at the core of our crime pillar to keep our neighborhoods secure and out of government overreach. Make no mistake: if the criminal element goes beyond my control as mayor—meaning if it goes beyond any acceptable measure and local resources are maxed out—I will not hesitate as an absolute last resort to call in federal partnership and emergency powers to restore complete order. Without strong protection against everyday turmoil, our city won’t survive much longer—especially with leadership who sit around as confused as a tourist not knowing whether to go to Geno’s or Pat’s (no offense yourse guys).  

We only have one defibrillator left, and we need to use it to bring back a true 24-hour city that’s fully accessible and where every resident feels secure enough at any hour of the night. Wouldn’t that be awesome? You ought to be able to get up at 3 AM, ride the subway from Olney to Ellsworth, grab some scrapple and dippy eggs at the Broad Street Diner, and get back home completely safe without a teenage lunatic in a Purge mask chasing people asking them if they want to die. Just like the movie, hat is what these flash mobs are all about, they’re purgers. We also don’t want to go everywhere and find someone begging for change, because giving someone a dollar isn’t going to help them; it’s only going to enable them, and with me, their request for change will be answered. We also won’t be a commuter town anymore. The days of being a glove compartment city are over on Day One. We are ending the era of the ghost-town economy. Businesses will no longer lock their doors early out of fear, because we are building a vibrant, twenty-four-hour city where opportunity doesn't punch out at five o'clock. You won’t be trapped ordering delivery to your doorstep either—because under my administration, you will finally feel safe enough to walk down your own street and sit at a neighborhood restaurant by yourself or with your family completely safe. Philadelphia will be safer than Mesa, Arizona. In Philly, there won't be an empty storefront left.

For law-abiding Philadelphians and those who wish to become legal citizens, you don’t have to worry about me being your mayor, I’ll defend you tooth and nail. Be warned, for those who refuse to follow the law and continue breaking it, I’ll be your migraine and there’ll be no pharmaceutical commercial offering a cure for it. Also, because of the way I’ll design this, there’ll be no Larry Krasner to come to your aid either. Enforcing tough laws is ensuring tough love, because keeping a city secure isn’t about being nice; it’s about being good.

If you want me to win to be your Philly Mayor 2028 in January of that year, you’ll have to generate enough energy to vote me in November 2027. Here’s how it works: You create your own local groups, build your own coalitions, launch your own peer-to-peer texting drives, come to my events and create your own, have me on radio shows, invite me to your podcast, dominate social media, run and develop your own ads—especially for the policies you like that appeal to you and your group—and work to get me on the ballot. I do enough talking, so I want you to become the voice of this platform. For example, if you like my green policies, form coalitions for that; if you like my free market policies, form groups for that; if you like my left of center policies, form factions for those; if you like my right of center policies, focus on those. I did all of this same thing during the Bernie Sanders era; we can do it again for common sense. Remember, focus on the things you like. I want this to be a serious, and at the same time fun, movement. 

What is Councilmanic Prerogative? While on the subject of “power,” we all know City Council currently runs Philadelphia while the mayor gets treated like a figurehead, but a true mayor focused on commitment and action can change that balance using direct executive orders and steady pressure. Recovering the executive branch means using the bully pulpit in the press to rally voters in key districts against this corruption, forcing council members to answer to their constituents whenever they stall progress. We can take charter amendments straight to the ballot to strip away Council’s decades-long “councilmanic prerogative,” ending the rigged system that lets district council members block growth for their own self-interests. If they are not working with me, and for the very things you elected me for, we will bypass them so that are as insignificant as a spec of sand on the Atlantic City Boardwalk.

When an Independent takes office without a party organization behind them, they build an administration by drawing talent from four primary non-partisan sources rather than relying on ward leaders or party patronage books. First, instead of clearing out department heads to reward party loyalists, my administration will rely heavily on promoting high-performing deputy directors, bureau chiefs, and veteran civil servants who already know the day-to-day operations and budget mechanics required to keep city services running without interruption. Second, without party loyalty tests, we can recruit talented, pragmatic individuals from any logically reasonable "side" who were previously sidelined by party boss politics, assembling a cabinet based on pure competence rather than political pedigree. Third, for complex, technical departments like Transportation, Water, Information Technology, and Aviation, we will utilize national executive search firms to bring in top-tier executives from the private sector or other major cities without any local political baggage. Fourth, we will tap grassroots networks—including local non-profit directors, community advocates, and business leaders who hold real credibility in the neighborhoods—to build direct public goodwill and completely bypass traditional political ward leaders altogether.