Question 1: What talent, experience, and expertise would you bring to the office of state representative?
I believe we cannot keep sending the same kinds of people to Harrisburg and expect different results – which is to say I believe that there are enough career politicians and political insiders in Harrisburg and it’s time for fresh air. As a Progressive small business owner, husband of a union organizer, proud member of the AAPI community and a person who has proudly championed a living wage & delivered it within my power, I present a choice voters will notice and be proud to make. No other candidate in this race has been on the ground dealing with many of the issues that are critical to understanding these issues as I have. I am a service worker first, and a small business owner second. I am a Barista, a coffee roaster and have worked with my team in the highest risk environments since the beginning of the pandemic. I understand the need for everyone to have access to health care, because like so many others, I’ve been caught between being on Medicaid and affording Obamacare. I understand what it’s like to live in fear of a landlord. I understand what it’s like to work as an adult for an unlivable wage. I also understand the reality of owning a small business nearly crushed by the pandemic, left to figure out how to care for a staff through those turbulent times. If we are going to move forward, if we’re going to act swiftly on these specific issues and create sustained progress, we need someone who will be able to articulate the needs of the people and I believe I can be that voice.
Who I Am & My Politics
I am the son of a Chinese immigrant from Taiwan and a lifelong Philadelphian of Jewish descent. As a biracial person, my parents made sure that I knew that I was all Chinese and all Jewish and that I should be proud of both equally. My mother’s family came to the Philadelphia area in the late ’60s and early ’70s and my father’s side has been in Philadelphia for generations. When I was four we moved to Vermont, where my sister and I grew up.
My home growing up was a Progressive home politically. Stories of my father protesting the Vietnam War and the construction of the Vine Street expressway here in Chinatown were often told. Leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt, Fannie Lou Hamer and Bobby Kennedy were frequently part of the conversation in our home and those leaders informed my political views early on. My father was the Director of Curriculum for Vermont in the early ’90s and at a young age I was able to meet Bernie Sanders who was then our Congress member and who also deeply influenced my political views.
Growing up in my home, the sense was that it was vital that we made sure all voices were heard and that great skill lived often in the quietest people. Being shy by nature, I knew very well what it was like to be lost in the shuffle and to feel unheard. Beyond that sense of inclusion of all being paramount to any shared success, I was taught to always take the high road, to always do the right thing, to never give up and to never compare myself to those doing less.
Activism & Understanding
Leadership and politics became more and more a part of my life in high school, being elected as the student head of school (president of the student council) at the Putney School and becoming more and more aware of the political landscape across our country. My political activism took shape with my protesting the Iraq War in the early 2000s in the streets of Boston and New York, supporting my then Governor Howard Dean’s run for President, supporting my cousin who was deeply involved in the Occupy Wall Street movement, marching for reproductive rights and immigrant rights, and marching against senseless wars. I surrounded myself with like-minded friends who were a part of the Progressive movement.
As someone who has worked for an unlivable wage, I understand the importance of a living wage and swore that if I ever had the opportunity to take care of workers, I would do the right thing. I am proud that at OX Coffee, from our roasters, to our baristas at the cafe, everyone makes a wage of at least $15/hr. I have long supported the Fight for 15.
Resilience
In 2012, when Hurricane Sandy tore through the area of Brooklyn where I worked as a coffee roaster, the factory I worked at was all but destroyed. I was laid off at the time and could’ve stayed put, awaiting word on things getting back on track. Instead, a friend and I decided to open OX Coffee here in Philadelphia and nearly 10 years later, we are still here, navigating our way through the pandemic, caring for our workers and working to build a better community with other like minded small business owners and residents.
Supporting & Building Community
Through OX Coffee, we’ve established a coffeeshop softball league across the city, supported local musicians and artists, partnered with Philabundance to help those in our community who live with food insecurity, hosted some of the very first Philadelphia Museum of Art Union meetings, organized with other small businesses across the city to raise funds to combat Trump era policies targeting immigrants and reproductive rights by supporting Planned Parenthood and the ACLU and brought residents and small business leadership together to push back against corporations like Target from moving in to communities where their presence would hurt rather than help.
Leadership Style
I hope to be down to earth, compassionate, considerate and cooperative in my working and personal relationships. My lived experiences have informed many of my feelings toward policy, from being caught between Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, to working for an unlivable wage, to living under the threat of a greed-ridden landlord. As a small business owner who had to nearly close down while navigating the pandemic, I see clearly the insufficient support in our society that begins with caring for our people and our workers and thereby caring for our communities and our city and Commonwealth.
2nd Ward
As a Committee Person in the 2nd Ward, I have done my best to participate at the highest level possible, to involve all voices and include all residents. When I have found myself in positions of leadership, I have made sure that our wins in the 2nd Ward were wins for all of us and the community. Educating the public has been something that brings me an incredible sense of pride as a Committee Person. I have turned non-voters into voters, have helped residents make confident and informed decisions, and have worked as an election board worker to ensure election integrity.
Unions
I am proud that my family is a Union family. My father was a member of the faculty union at Temple University from 1999 until the day he retired from Temple in 2017. My wife, Lindsey Bloom, was one of the original organizers and currently serves as Vice President of AFSCME Local 397, the newly formed Philadelphia Museum of Art Union. Unions bring Democracy into the workplace and give workers the voice and the power they deserve. Watching Lindsey and her colleagues push for a safe working environment and adequate pay for PMA workers has been inspiring and has solidified my belief that unions and unionization must always be possible and protected.
Question 2: What is your plan to win this election with regards to fundraising, field, and votes?
Since launching in Mid-December, we have raised nearly $40k and will be moving to public in-person fundraising events in the next few weeks. I’m proud to say that the vast majority of donations were from right here in Philadelphia and that nearly half of the 250 individual donations so far are of $25 or below.
Our first in person fundraising event will be at K’Far just off Rittenhouse Square on the 3rd of March at 6pm and I invite you all to attend! To stay competitive, we will be raising between 150-200k for this campaign.
Our petition program is locked in place and will be both volunteer and paid. We WILL be on the ballot. We have nearly 50 local volunteers already accounted for to lead the charge on petitions and our field program with a mail and digital program currently being planned as well. Our field operation and Election Day program will be aggressive and wide in scope.
Using the last three election cycles as criteria, we will need between 5,000 and 6,000 votes to win this primary election.
Question 3: What endorsements do you have or are you seeking, if any?
I am currently in the process of collecting endorsements. As endorsements arise, I will report them back to the 2nd Ward.
I am currently working on securing endorsements from:
- AFSCME DC 47
- Make the Road
- Neighborhood Networks
- One PA
- PASNAP
- PFT
- Philadelphia 2nd Ward
- Philadelphia 5th Ward
- Philadelphia 8th Ward
- Philadelphia 30th Ward
- Philly DSA
- SEIU
- Working Families Party
Question 4: What would be your three highest priorities as a legislator?
- A Living Wage for PA
- Housing as a human right
- Healthcare as a human right
- Healthy schools that inspire our children
- A Green New Deal for PA
To me these 5 areas represent the building blocks for a sustainable and successful future for all. Without these pieces assured for all, we can only expect things to descend and get worse over time. We happen to live in the richest country in the history of the world and yet, so many suffer everyday from hunger and food insecurity, from lack of a safe home, from lack of being able to see a doctor, from going to a school filled with poison and from lack of a safe and healthy environment. No one is truly free until these issues are confronted and addressed. No one is free, really, until we guarantee a decent life for everyone in our society.
Question 5: What actions should the Pennsylvania legislature take regarding PK-12 school funding in the Commonwealth?
I support fair funding in schools and believe that those schools that need the most attention, deserve the most attention. Our schools should not only be free of asbestos, lead, mold and crumbling walls, but should be places of inspiration for our children. Unfortunately, in too many of our communities, particularly in communities of color, this simply is not the case. The fair funding formula as it stands is not doing enough because it is not being used the way it was designed to. If we do not process all funds through the formula it will not function as it should and right now that’s exactly what’s happening. Without using the formula for 100% of the funds distributed, we will continue to face the inequalities that harm far too many of our children, their teachers, school staff and the larger community.
Question 6: What is your position on fracking? Please address whether you support a ban on fracking or support a tax on fracking.
I believe, as most do, that we are almost out of time on this issue. If we do not act immediately on climate change we will not only endanger future generations but this planet as well and it will be no one’s fault but our own. We MUST NOT give shelter or tax relief to the fossil fuel industry or those who profit from the fossil fuel industry. Fracking MUST be banned from this and every other state. In exchange, we MUST promote green jobs and green industry in this state. Pennsylvania must be a state that welcomes innovation in these areas. On the local and community level, we must help those most deeply impacted by climate change. Those in communities of struggle where the vast majority of buildings are not energy efficient. This means retrofitting homes and re-insulating homes and rooftops. Again, like so many other issues, this IS NOT a Philadelphia problem alone, this is a Pennsylvania issue and we must act accordingly to that fact as a legislature.
Question 7: What would you do as a state legislator to address housing needs in the homeownership and rental markets?
Affordable and safe housing must be accessible to all Pennsylvanians. Period. I believe that new housing development must include affordable and safe options for tenants. In areas that are in times of particular struggle, development on housing must have a majority of affordable and safe options for tenants. I believe that wealthy landowners and landlords that do not rent their properties for an extended period of time ought to pay a vacancy tax implemented by the state. I believe the revenue from this state tax ought to go toward building affordable housing so everyone in this city and the Commonwealth has access to a safe and affordable home. A similar state tax on landlords and property owners who do not rent their storefronts ought to pay a tax which would build a small business fund for PA. This fund would directly assist small businesses hoping to provide their workers with a living wage and health care.
Question 8: What is the legislature’s role regarding reproductive healthcare?
The role of the legislature is to defend the right to a safe abortion and access to all other forms of reproductive health care as made clear in the Constitution. All forms of watering down this right or banning this right must be fought.
Republicans or those who believe they can use this issue to remain in power have not only devalued the seats they occupy, but have endangered countless lives of mothers and children.
I commit to opposing any measure and use all tools at my disposal to block attempts to limit a woman’s access to an abortion or to limit health care coverage for contraceptive care and reproductive health care.
Question 9: A small fraction of bills sponsored by Democrats move out of the House. What would be your strategy for getting things done in a highly partisan General Assembly?
I grew up in rural Vermont across the street from a dairy farm. We were known as “Flatlanders” and I was often called “Willy from Philly” (I was proud of that). Early on in my life I lived in a community with people from a very different background and I quickly understood what common humanity really meant. We all share the same short moment of life and we all desire a sense of happiness and purpose.
Those lessons learned early on in Vermont helped forge our concept for OX Coffee and will be integral in making accomplishments in Harrisburg. Our mission at OX has always been to create a community that accepts all. Not based on anything but a shared understanding and vision that we all want to be treated with respect, that we all deserve to be treated with respect and that in the end we actually all have a great deal in common. We don’t check voter registration at the door, we just focus on building community. That’s our mission and that’s the way I handle problem solving, through dealing in that concept of a common humanity.
The simple fact is there will always be those who are not going to want to work with us and we can do little about that. I think of this as an issue of finding those representatives on the other side of the aisle that will sit down to the table and talk and who will listen to the concerns that exist in every corner of this state; whether it’s the crisis of housing, of health care, of a livable wage, of the state of our schools, or on the issue of the future of our environment. From that point we can craft legislation that serves ALL of our people.
I think going directly to the constituents in these other areas of the state, these rural parts of the state, is vital as well. To make certain folks in these parts of this state know that the people in Philadelphia give a damn about them.
We all want a life that’s worthwhile for ourselves and for our children. A Progressive platform that serves the interests of the working people of this Commonwealth will protect our communities deep into the future. To bring about this change now, we’ll need to break down the false barriers that divide us as people and look at one another as allies rather than adversaries.
Together, we can absolutely do this.