Original Message from Derek
- I’m a teacher’s kid — my mom taught for more than 31 years as a proud union member in the School District of Philadelphia.
- My dad is my fraternity brother — he’s also a Korean War veteran and career civil servant for the Federal Equal Opportunity Commission.
- I belong to the Canaan Baptist Church of Germantown, where my parents were married 53 years ago, where I grew up, and where I married my wife 27 years ago.
- As parents of a son with Autism, my wife and I started the first Autism support class at Houston Elementary School for Julian and others like him.
- I was a small business lender in North Philadelphia and, together, my wife and I opened a community-based, retail shoe store in Mt. Airy.
- I served as a prosecutor in Philadelphia and Delaware and worked as a city attorney.
- I was your Councilmember At-large for the city of Philadelphia for six years.
I’m a lot of different things to a lot of different people in my life — all at once. I believe the same should be true of our City.
Philadelphians are tired of being told that they have to choose between the things they care about most:
- Public safety OR criminal justice reform.
- Reducing taxes OR providing city services.
- New development OR affordable housing.
As a Councilmember At-Large, I refused to choose when I authored the Green Plan this year to pass a budget that worked for all Philadelphians. My plan provides tax cuts for small businesses and residents AND increases funding for police officers and public safety initiatives.
And as your next Mayor, I’ll do the same.
- We can reduce gun violence AND protect the civil rights of our citizens.
- We can help businesses create high-paying jobs for our residents AND grow City services.
- We can bring manufacturing jobs back to Philadelphia so people can pick up a paycheck AND put down a gun.
- We can demand a school system that prepares our children AND invest in making school safe.
- We can grow our City AND develop more affordable housing.
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