philly

This is the letter I wrote and distributed to 100 of my neighbors. I wish I had the time to hit all 900 or so, but I just didnt'. I'll be standing at the poll in a few minutes greeting the after work rush for the next three hours though with an additional 125 palm cards.

ALBERT YEE FOR CITY COMMITTEE

I've been living in Philadelphia for the last two years and living in this division [Ward 5 Division 8] for the last nine months. I've become increasingly involved in local politics and I have decided to make the leap from activist to the ground level of elected public service – which has all the same great salary and benefits of being an activist: none!

I am doing this because I believe in this party and I refuse to give up and let it whither away. The City of Philadelphia has had an incredible Democratic tradition for quite some time now and sadly, it is rotting from the inside out. The ward committee system is dying. The committeepeople are not doing their jobs; they're simply sitting around with a title. The ward leaders don't budge to remove these ineffective committeepeople because they count on them for votes to be re-elected to their positions. We, the constituents, lose out ward by ward. I want to change that.

When was the last time you met your committeeperson? I'm sure our current committeepeople are nice people, but I've heard from a fellow resident that they've been wholly inactive during her time here in this division and she's lived here for several years. When I went around collecting signatures to be on the ballot, not a single person knew of the position, let alone who their elected public servant was. I would love to hear what you think we can do together to improve our neighborhood and as committeeperson, it would be my duty to advocate those recommendations to our ward leader and city council. I promise you that I will take a proactive role in our community. I'd like to set up a website for the neighborhood – a place where notices of local meetings, political news and general city information related to our neighborhood can be posted, read and commented on.

I'm proud to be a part of the citywide progressive movement here in Philadelphia. I was featured in a recent Daily News article about the movement which I have excerpted on the other side of this flyer. Please take a read and find out what we're trying to do and push that third button for ALBERT YEE and help me become the passionate committeeperson I strive to be.

Thank you for your vote,
[signed]
Albert Yee

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