Erika Almiron

My parents immigrated from South America with only $50 in their pockets and a hope for a better future. I saw them work in factories, as house cleaners and then eventually small business owners. They put their entire life savings into a small shoe repair shop. Everyday after school my mom took us to the shop. I took care of my younger siblings, my mother cooked dinner on a hot plate, and my dad repaired shoes. It wasn’t easy, but my parents earned enough to buy a home and send my three siblings and me to college. The values I learned in that shoe repair shop still guide me today: When we work together and believe in each other, we can achieve things we never thought were possible. I understand firsthand, the experience of hundreds of thousands of working people in Philadelphia who are doing everything they can to make ends meet.

In college, I worked as a waitress. One day the manager handed out paychecks without our hourly pay. Guided by the values of my family, I organized everyone. We walked off the job and the next day, we all got paid. I found my voice as a community organizer for social and economic justice.

I worked at Planned Parenthood as a translator and counselor. There I met hundreds of brave young women who would travel miles to access the healthcare and supports they needed. Many times they would be walking in for an appointment only to be met by angry mobs outside trying to shame them or scare them away. It was there that I learned the importance of having someone when you walked in that speaks your language, who has shared your experiences and welcomes you in with a smile.

When I was the assistant director at the Philadelphia Student Union, I supported and mentored dozens of brilliant young people who were organizing to make their schools safer without relying on suspensions and arrests. I saw the difference a teacher or a principal can make, someone in power who understands you and is willing to work with you and support you.

For almost eight years, as the Executive Director of Juntos, I’ve worked alongside some of the most courageous Latino immigrants in Philly, many of who remind me of my very own family when we lived in South Philly. Together, these families and I, worked to build a movement of leaders poised to fight back against the criminalization of migrants, one that fights to keep our families together and to put an end to our city’s collaboration with ICE. It is through this work that I have seen how a mayor, a governor, a president or a city council can keep a family together or rip them apart, can help free women and their children from detention centers or leave them to suffer, can force people into the shadows or welcome them into the light.

I am running for City Council because I believe Philadelphia deserves an elected leader who will fight for all of us.

If elected to office I would prioritize securing additional funding for the public school system, changes to housing laws that would allow people to stay in their homes and reforming the criminal justice system so that we stop wasting money on locking too many people up and instead invest in our communities.

A fair tax structure is one of the foundations for a just society. We must prioritize funding the programs that impact people the most; education, healthcare and housing. As an elected leader I will champion a tax structure in which those who profit the most are called upon to pay their fair share. Locally, I believe we should look to raise taxes on the highest earning corporations. I believe we need to stop subsidizing luxury real estate developers and therefore need to end the 10 year tax abatement. That revenue should go to the school district and the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. I also believe our city’s mega nonprofits need to pay their fair share through a Payments In Lieu of Taxes (PILOTS) program as defined by Rendell’s 1994 memo of a rate of 50% their estimated forgone taxes.

As a legislator I would advocate for restoring the Business Income and Revenue Tax (BIRT), particularly the Gross Receipts portion of the BIRT, to pre-2018 cut levels. I also think we need to increase the Use and Occupancy tax to 1.5% and proportionally increase the tax exemption. We need to do this in a way that does not adversely affect small businesses. In order to address poverty in our city we need to reform our criminal justice system. We must stop locking people up for being poor. If we can spend 10’s of thousands of dollars locking someone up pre-trial because they can’t afford a few hundred dollars in bail, we should be able to find ways to invest in our neighborhoods and programs that help people lead healthy lives and learn skills for employment. We need to stop criminalizing addiction and instead divert funds from punitive measures an invest more in drug treatment and prevention.

I believe we need to invest more money into the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. We need to implement a policy of rent stabilization so that people are not forced from their homes and neighborhoods. City Council also needs to reform city zoning codes to allow for Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) across the city so that homeowners on a fixed income can rent out a portion of their home. ADUs would also increase the affordable housing stock in the city. I believe that councilmanic prerogative is a tradition that must be scrapped. We need citywide plans for the city that are made with community and professional input with aims towards increasing affordable housing. We can’t allow these goals and plans to be scuttled by one individual council member’s preference or connection to a real-estate developer. I think the city should invest in giving technical assistance to individuals and organizations interested in starting housing co-ops and land trusts that preserve affordable housing.

See above answers.

As an elected representative I will advocate for more school funding from Harrisburg on behalf of the people of Philadelphia. Locally I will work to end the 10-year tax abatement for new construction so that money can come back to the district. I will promote the use of PILOTS and work to ensure that our city’s largest and most profitable corporations are paying their fair share.

Even though much of the state charter law lies with the state I will be a tireless champion for increasing charter school oversight and a charter school moratorium as an elected representative of the people of Philadelphia. I will be an advocate in Harrisburg to reform charter school laws so that the city and district can have more oversight over charter school operations, funding and expansion. Locally I will use the bully pulpit to shed light on unfair practices and failures in statewide charter law. Specifically the inability of the district to close failing charters or charters with irresponsible financial practices. I will use city-council hearings as an opportunity to educate the public about failures in the charter school law. I will advocate that the mayor appoints school board members who support a charter school moratorium.

I believe we should end stop and frisk. Not only is it a humiliating practice to those who are profiled and stopped. It is illegal. According to a January 2018 ACLU report the PPD continues to illegally stop as many as 20,000 people without justifiable reason. The policy is also ineffective. Less than 1% of stops result in the recovery of a firearm. African Americans still account for disproportionate amount of stops even after the 2010 court order that required reforms to the Stop and Frisk policy. This leads me to conclude that this policy cannot be reformed and that it needs to be stopped.

I support giving more power to the Police Advisory Commission and that we should increase its funding to $1.5 million.

I believe we should invest in more diversionary programs that keep people out of the criminal justice system, especially for crimes of desperation.

I support giving returning citizens job training, housing support and counseling services. I also think all Philadelphia colleges and Universities should Ban the Box and not ask applicants about their criminal history.

I do not support the privatization of any of the city’s public assets, including but not limited to, parks, water, PGW, schools, public school nurses, public school substitutes, public school janitorial services etc. I believe that commons should remain public and to the benefit of all of Philadelphia’s residents.

I have spent the last 8 years as the executive director of Juntos, a latino immigrants rights group in South Philadelphia. Our organization was at the forefront of pressuring the city to implement the most progressive sanctuary city model in the country. Philadelphia’s Sanctuary City model, that was shaped by Juntos, adapted by over 200 other municipalities around the country. Philadelphia has taken great strides to become welcome to immigrants and we have further to go. I will work to get ICE out of our court system. I believe the city should start a municipal defense fund for Philadelphia residents who are immigrants and under attacks from ICE. Locally I will encourage all Philadelphians to get a municipal ID so that the ID’s don’t become scarlet letters for undocumented immigrants. Nationally, I will stand up to attacks from Washington. Many of my policy priorities benefit immigrants. Immigrants like all Philadelphians want live free of fear of police abuse, eviction and having to send their child to an underfunded school.

Greenhouse gas emissions are the fundamental factor causing climate change. It is for this reason that I won’t accept any fossil fuel money as I run for city council.

There are a number of ways to reduce carbon emissions in Philadelphia and I believe we need to prioritize emission reduction and elimination strategies that immediately impact people’s lives for the better. I support increasing funding to the Weatherization Assistance Program that make homes more energy efficient for long-term home owners who wouldn’t be able to afford repairs without the fund. I support making SEPTA a more appealing option than cars by capping daily/weekly/monthly fares, eliminating transfer fees, free rides for children under the age of 18 and bringing the regional rail system’s prices and frequency inline with the rest of the system.

I support a public study to figure out a fossil fuel free future for Philly’s energy systems. How to transition to a system that create well-paying, unionized work for an energy system that is publicly owned.

For far too long our schools have been crumbling around us and causing our children and our teachers to get sick from toxic infrastructure. From asbestos, deteriorating roofs, outdated heating systems, water supply concerns and lead paint we must prioritize the cleaning up of our schools to ensure the best environment for our children to learn in. I plan to support using any additional funding for our schools into solving this problem and to begin with the schools who need the most help. I support an urgent bond issues to clean up our schools.

I also want to ensure that the small landlords (own less than 4 properties) who make up 40% of landlords in Philadelphia are able to adequately maintain their properties and earn a stable living. I would like to study and hopefully expand the pilot program to hand out repair loans to small landlords so that they can make sure their properties are safe and lead free.