Allan Domb, a former City Councilmember and real estate developer, told The Daily Pennsylvanian that as mayor, he would partner with Penn on public safety and seek to strengthen job growth in Philadelphia for university graduates.
The mayoral candidate, who recently attended a debate at an on-campus forum, said that Penn plays a strong and central role in Philadelphia — as a university, health care provider, and innovator in mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines.
“I’m super appreciative of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Medicine,” Domb said. “Could they do more? Absolutely. We’d love them to do more, but they’ve done a lot, and I’m really, really pleased they are here.”
Domb says that he would partner with Penn, especially in public safety, to address city-wide issues and ensure students feel safe on campus.
“I was the first candidate for mayor who introduced a comprehensive community safety plan. Many people have basic plans; I have a comprehensive one,” Domb said, adding that he has 10 action steps he would take in his first 100 days as mayor, such as declaring a city-wide climate emergency and convening a public safety cabinet that would include representatives from Penn campus security.
To stimulate job growth in Philadelphia, Domb said that he would want to ensure Penn graduates have the opportunity to have a good-paying job in the city in an effort to end to the “brain drain,” an early-2000s term used to describe the exodus of recent college graduates from Philadelphia to other cities.
“We’ve done a lot better where we actually educated people, and they’re staying. I’d like to improve on that and make sure we create the opportunities, careers, and jobs that have good paying wages for Penn graduates,” Domb said.
According to Domb, this election is a “turning point,” with the potential for Penn community members to make their voices heard. He added that he would bring his legislative skills from City Council and his leadership skills from starting his own real estate business to the mayoral office.
“I’d love to be accountable, which is far from what other people will say, but my goal is to make the city so much better,” Domb said.
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