Candidate Profile: Verna Tyner

Editor's Note: This is the first in a series that will run throughout the week in which we publish question and answer sessions with each of the seven candidates in the . Each candidate will answer the same five questions. We'll also run videos of the candidates talking specifically about Chestnut Hill issues.

Today's featured candidate is Verna Tyner. Watch her video here, and remember, Election Day is May 17.

Tell us about your background and why you’re running for city council?

Well my background includes 40 years of community service, dedicated service I started out young, at the age of 10, helping my neighbors, moved on to become a junior block captain. Then I became the block captain and served for 15 years. I also became a committee person, served as both secretary and now the chair of the 11th Democratic Ward. I’ve always been an organizer and I’ve always been a people person. I’ve always believed in the power of the people.

I was working for Al Stewart, when he served as the councilperson in the 8th District. I then worked as Chief of Staff for Councilman Cohen for 16 years. After Councilman Cohen passed, I served as Chief of Staff for Councilman William Greenlee. I pride myself on the fact that we provided good, quality constituent services.

So I have the experience of both community and city government, which is unique in this case, because no other candidate has those tow that they can bring to the table. I know all of us have something but that this council district needs, at this moment is someone to be able to hit the ground running, and create more harmony, facilitate more open communication, come up with creative ideas and ways to implement them. I’ve done that in the past, and I know that I can do it for the 8th District, working with the people.

How would you, as a City Council member, work with the School District of Philadelphia to improve students' performance?

I started off very young, which gave me a lot of values about youth participation. I would create funding for after-school programs. Music is what kept me in school. So I think we need to create more programs for after-school and at-risk children. I think we need to involve them in the community issues of today. We need to educate them why it’s important for them to be a part of the legacy in the communities. We need to provide our kids with better and safer childcare. All of these things I will be advocating for. And because we know that our school district is not in control of the city, we can still have forums. I plan on hosting a forum with every public, private, parochial, charter school in the 8th Council District, and there are a lot of them here, to get all of us to understand that the main, important focus is the education of our youth. What avenue we take to get there can be discussed, but as long as we stay focused on the bottom line, that’s first and foremost.

I do want to start a campaign to improve our education by trying to get our parents more involved in the school district. Not just their child’s school but in the school district’s policies and procedures all collectively.

I also want to try to build more employment opportunities for our youth in a tier process, because I rose through different levels, because I was a junior block captain and then a block captain, so I believe our young people need to have a ladder to climb. I want to give them, not only an option for school, but an outlet for creative ideas.

In the city's budget, where would you like to see more funding, and where do you think cuts should be made?

Reassessing all of the agencies and departments in the city. I think it takes more than just budget hearings; I think we need to do a whole assessment of each department so we can see where duplication is coming into play. With this modern technology, I think we need to spend the money to be able to get the city up-to-date with modern technology to help us wean out the duplication of services that I believe will save the city some money.

Where do you stand on DROP?

I’ve said it over and over again, from someone who was there at the time the legislation was introduced, and from someone who was there who heard the testimony of the people, and understood the purpose of DROP, I currently support DROP for city employees. But, the interest rate is way too high. I don’t, at all, support  DROP for elected officials. Now, people say why? It’s there money. But the interest is so high, it’s eating into the city’s budget. And for that reason, elected officials should not participate. I do not support elected officials taking a DROP payment and then running again for office. The voters are the deciders, if they decide they want to support a DROP candidate, I can’t take away their rights, I support their decision.

How would you work to fill vacant properties and revitalize business districts?

I already started that. The thing is, with me, I’ve seen the need for a plan. But I also understand that the need for a plan is not as essential as a plan to implement the plan. For example, in 2004, our community organization planned to rehab six houses for homeownership. Well, just now, in 2011, are we implementing that plan, because funding is not as easy to come by as many people may think that it is. Subsidy dollars, everyone is trying to get at the same time. So, what I’ve done in our own community, I hosted a developers tour. I invited over 100 people to attend and they did. They mayor came out and he spoke on a commitment to help communities rebuild themselves. We equipped each of these people with information on what was available in the community, in terms of city-owned, PHA and private-owned. We equipped them with, if they were privately owned, how much was owed on them, and how to contact the owner. We also equipped them on our plan that our community worked with city planning to develop. We also equipped them with a zoning remapping, that showed them what the zoning currently is for each of those vacant lots or abandoned buildings. The last thing we equipped them with was our latest developments, which was over $5 million in development surrounding that area. All of this was given to them to inform them, to persuade them and to encourage them to think about doing some future development in the district, in the Tioga section, I should say.

I want to take that, and do the same thing throughout the whole 8th Council District. I want to bring city planning to the district, which is currently there to serve the constituents, and many people don’t even know it exists. Some of the communities may need to be rezoned. We need to indentify exactly what we have in our community, which is going to require homework. We’ll put it all together in a report that makes sense to all of the residents and make a plan, and figure out how we are going to get it.

I see creating more of those opportunities for us to network in the district, for us to discuss the future of development in our district. I also will not support any development unless it has been discussed with the community. That will be a mandatory policy that I will implement.