Our Streets: The Streets of Philadelphia
Section Summary
This section issues a rallying cry to stop the urban exodus, tackle rampant crime and failing infrastructure, and establish the candidate's Philadelphia roots and proven working-class background.
From Germantown Township to Northwest Philadelphia
A Safe City is a Thriving City!
How do we get Philly back? It’s time for us to “Bristol Stomp” out the root of our problems. For those of us who call Philly home and have left, I’m asking you to come back, and for those of you that want to leave because “it isn’t the city anymore,” I'm asking you to stay—because for every one that leaves, a piece of Philly’s story leaves and the city continues to crumble. I’ll always support the City of Brotherly Love because we gotta fix what’s broken before it’s too late. From a broken transportation system that doesn’t work for everyone, but takes from them, to an authority that makes you pay for a parking spot in front of your own house and wants to watch your every move, and from a school system that’s let our children down by teaching them things that they can’t use to succeed to a violence epidemic that’s shattered our neighborhoods for decades that left people debilitated, the city is falling apart and we all know it. Teen takeovers happen relentlessly, rents are now mortgages, property taxes are through the roof, and electric bills have quadrupled—it’s gone way too far. I'm locking down this runaway train, throwing Jesse James and his bandits right off the car, and steering Philadelphia back into the hands of the people who built Her. We aren't those pennies sitting on the track waiting to be flattened into souvenirs for career politicians—we’re the solid copper that’s about to derail their entire system.
Born and Raised
I don’t want this campaign to be a Mummer’s Day Parade of personal qualifications, but people will eventually ask who I am, where I come from, and what gives me the soot to lead this city. I was born at St. Agnes Hospital and went to St. Thomas Aquinas; Sixteenth and Moore it was. I moved out when I was younger and started working at fifteen, earned a second-degree black belt after over twenty-two years studying martial arts, and worked my way up from a door guard at Strawbridge’s to a store detective and later a corporate investigator. While not a combat veteran, I served honorably in the United States Marine Corps, and every day appreciate the help the VA gives me.
Proven Work Ethic
I’m a Rutgers alumnus with credits in language and linguistics and spent some years studying to be a Catholic priest. I worked with the CDC as a Comprehensive Risk Reduction Specialist at “Action AIDS” (known today as Action Wellness), graduating to Lead Mental Health Counselor for consumers living with quadruple diagnoses at Triad for COMAR, where I developed their HIV curriculum, leading groups and working one-on-one. As a natural-born teacher, I taught language and communication in some of the toughest classrooms, including Hope Charter School. I also led the first pilot immersion program for integrating world language into special education in NJ where I endured taking on a landmark federal discrimination lawsuit in Collingswood—Curcio v. Board of Education—and secured a formal court judgment in my favor. I love this city so much that in the summers while I taught, I was a tour guide for Her. I wasn’t only born and raised here; from St. Thomas Aquinas to The Ellington, I’ve pretty much lived here my whole life.
The Mayor Must Be a Caregiver
True leadership is made through invisible service, lived experience, and a commitment to preserving life and dignity. While many know how I built the world's largest, classiest Druid Order with minimal effort—bringing people across the globe into alignment and attunement while refusing to profit off prophecy or charge a single cent—my most defining story began when I met someone I call my little brother. He suffered severe, lifelong neurological damage after being trapped under pool ice at age five. What started as a friendly encounter to help someone in need, evolved into a twenty-five-year bond as the brother I always wanted and full-time family caregiver. Working, even when I wasn’t getting paid is an always on-the-job position to keep his brain and body active and his life safe. I had to fight a broken bureaucracy every single day just to secure basic dignity for him taught me more about real leadership than any career politician will ever learn behind a desk. I risked everything doing this including quitting my job, earned the certification needed, and served on the steering committee for the very first Pennsylvania Campaign for a Consumer Workforce Council, known today as the “United Home Care Workers of Pennsylvania”. I wanted to fight for decent caregiver wages, benefits, and self-directed care. By transforming personal hardship into public policy, I helped establish and expand a landmark consumer-directed care model that equips attendants to do more for their clients, proving that real leadership isn't about bragging on a resume, but walking a straight line, telling our shared stories, and doing the hard work without ever needing a spotlight.