Tired of politics as usual, Andrew Hohns wants to shake up Philadelphia's political scene. The 2000 Wharton graduate is shooting for the city's top job. Where others see desolate back alleys, Hohns sees vibrant commercial corridors punctuated with fountains to bring the city together. To solve the city's tangled web of purchasing land, Hohns wants to give it away. Inspiring, yes. Practical, maybe. But the 22-year-old Hohns believes that such an open outlook is the key to Philadelphia's future. "I'm just a normal person," Hohns said. "I just happen to want to be mayor of the city in the short term." Hohns was born and bred in Center City, and it's hard to separate him from his hometown. The number of bricks in City Hall? Eighty-eight million, he answers without hesitation. How often has he read the city's legal framework, the immense Home Rule Charter? He claims to have ventured from cover to cover "less than two" times, but adds that he devised a "tremendous index" to cut down on the reading. For Hohns, not even one year out of school, the desire to lead Philadelphia is not some post-Penn crisis -- he's yearned for an office in City Hall since sixth grade. And he's been campaigning since his freshman year in the Quad. "He got a big kick of taking individual people downtown one by one," said former roommate and current College senior Miller Brownstein, describing how he met Hohns. "Everybody knew of the bars downtown and the Art Museum, but he took them into the little nooks and crannies that only he knew of. That's how he sort of stood out in everybody's mind." The urbanite in Hohns was not content in the Quad, however. Following their freshman year, Hohns and Brownstein felt the need to "live a city life." They wound up on Elfreth's Alley, the nation's oldest street. "We imagined that we were the two undergraduates living the farthest away from Penn... back there in Old City before it was truly hot," Hohns said. Back in the classroom, however, Hohns found the Wharton curriculum "uninspiring," causing him to drift over to legal studies and classics. Legal Studies Professor William Laufer, who taught Hohns in a criminology course and still acts as his mentor, remembers asking Hohns to accompany him on a police tour of the city. "I asked him to come along as someone who could provide additional detail -- he took over and gave the tour," Laufer said. "He has a deep knowledge of Philadelphia that is remarkable." 2000 Penn graduate Troy Madres says it's not likely that Hohns -- a self-proclaimed SEPTA "junkie" -- will leave Philadelphia anytime soon. "If you're a 22-year-old with a Wharton degree, you can go many, many places in the world.... You have to have some compelling reason to stay," Madres said. "He sees his future in the city." Many feel that Hohns is ideally suited for the life of pressing the flesh and kissing babies. "He has a foot in pretty much every Center City social group that exists -- from the snobby martini crowd to the Dirty Frank's [a neighborhood bar] crowd," Brownstein said, adding that Hohns attends political rallies "not necessarily to support anyone, but just because he's interesting in seeing what the vibe is around the city." College junior Elizabeth Goodman, who met Hohns in a Greek history course, calls him a "showman," saying it's an essential characteristic for a politician. She remembers attending a parade with Hohns two years ago when Hohns saw SEPTA's top official riding in a convertible as part of the parade. "[Hohns] jumped the barriers, ran up to this guy, and threw his hand in his face and said, 'I'm Andrew Hohns,'" Goodman said. "The SEPTA official was taken aback by the [obnoxiousness] of this young kid." His single-minded devotion often manifests itself in creative ways. When learning to speak Portuguese -- for fun -- one semester, Hohns covered every object in his apartment with Post-It notes labeled with the appropriate foreign word. "Our dog was walking around for a few days with a Post-It note on it," Brownstein said. Hohns will be the first to say that his desire to transform Philadelphia is larger than only him. "It's not about me, it's about you, it's about each of you that's willing to look at the city from a different perspective," he said. To generate the "ultimate public policy" for the city, Hohns and Madres founded a group called the YIPs, Young Involved Philadelphia, last November. Now numbering about 12 members, most of whom have their own political ambitions, they meet weekly to plot their course for the city's future. "What we're talking about doing is just restoring a vital culture to the city -- that's the only goal that we have," Hohns said. "It's not to install ourselves as lifelong bureaucrats at all." Others have said that the YIPs are all talk, but member Job Itzkowitz says that these are only the group's initial steps. "We're not an activist group, we're an advocacy group," Itzkowitz said. "We don't claim to be the know-alls, but we'd like to learn." A major part of this growing movement, Hohns has not officially announced his candidacy for the next mayoral election in 2003. But his desire to "do right" for the city makes it not a question of if, only when. "We'll run when the voice of Philadelphia urges us to run -- we are not afraid to run in 2003," Hohns said. "All of the feedback that we've been getting is that there is a window here that is wide open." Hohns said that his first action as mayor would be to staff City Hall with a representative 24 hours a day, seven days a week to symbolize the city's newfound openness. "The city will be with us because we're doing right on behalf of the city," said Hohns, a Democrat. "I defy anyone to say that they'll work harder on behalf of the city than we will." Despite Hohns' good intentions, some political stalwarts doubt his dreams will come to fruition, even though he will meet the age required to be elected mayor -- 25 -- by the next election. "He hasn't run for anything but he's going to run for mayor -- what is he smoking?" asked Frederick Voigt, director of the non-partisan political watchdog group Committee of Seventy. "Don't be so presumptuous that you're going to be taken as a legitimate candidate for mayor." Veteran Democratic campaign consultant Neil Oxman -- who was a top adviser to former Mayor Ed Rendell -- believes that a lesser office might be a better start for Hohns. "If he runs for mayor in a crowded Democratic field, he'll be silly. If he runs for City Council, he'll be very credible," Oxman said. Hohns accepts their criticism, but remains undeterred. "When you have a clear and persuasive vision for the city -- not only for today but for the future -- it's something you need to take advantage of."
The Daily Pennsylvanian is an independent, student-run newspaper. Please consider making a donation to support the coverage that shapes the University. Your generosity ensures a future of strong journalism at Penn.
DonatePlease note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.
