#nextmayorphl

Philadelphians on important issues and the next mayor race

As candidates square off for the May 19th mayoral primary, Decarcerate PA reached out to ask them what they would do to address mass incarceration in Philadelphia.

Philly’s next mayor will inherit Nutter’s plan to spend millions on a new 3000 bed jail, as well as an inefficient and unjust court system, punitive and nonsensical bail policies, overcrowded jails, a legacy of police violence and corruption, and a series of structural inequalities that disproportionately funnel poor people and people of color into the prison system.

How will Philly’s next mayor address these problems? We sent surveys to the candidates to ask them their positions, and used that information—as well as what we know about their records—to provide candidate “report cards” that voters can use on election day. Doug Oliver and Milton Street did not respond to the survey, so their views are not reflected here.

You can see the candidates’ overall grades here, and you can view more detailed individual reports on Lynne Abraham, Nelson Diaz, Jim Kenney, and Anthony Williams, as well as their complete survey responses, by visiting http://bit.ly/MayorReport.

By Zachary Rendin

Code for Philly organized an Apps for Democracy hackathon. The event brought together journalist, data-scientist, programers, and web-designers, who spent their entire weekend in the City of Philadelphia's Innovation Lab.