Andy Toy – a New Face

Profile of a Candidate: City Council Democratic Race

Andy Toy

A New Face for City Council

By Leo B. Fox 18 January 2007

Andy Toy launched his first political campaign on Saturday, 13 January during a cultural event at Ms. Mabel’s Joy Tsin Lau Restaurant on Race Street in Chinatown. Andy made a tour of the room meeting people and shaking hands like a true politician. On the table there was literature about him in Chinese and English. I had a chance to meet him, shake his hand and wish him well. Over the weekend, I did some research about him and found out that he has a long career of community and public service. He is not a politician but a seasoned professional. The best site for information about Andy Toy is the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Asian Affairs where he is a commissioner. As a Wharton Graduate MBA, I was impressed with his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. Andy’s vita is excellent. Thus, I wanted to meet him again to get more information for this profile.

We met at the charming Café de Laos in South Philly. It was an excellent lunch with Andy, Anthony (his campaign manager) and Han Pan, a journalist for the Sing-Tao Newspaper Group. During lunch it became very clear that Andy running for councilman at large is not just a candidate for Chinatown but a viable candidate for many diverse Philadelphians; Asians, Latinos and South Americans, Africans and African Americans and many other ethnic and neighborhood groups. Andy Toy is knowledgeable and articulate. He says that he will listen and be responsive to Philadelphia residents independent of color or origin. His extensive community development experience will appeal to many traditional Americans living in Philadelphia neighborhoods who are in need of more jobs and business opportunities. He also has an understanding of a range of community problems, such as crime, health care, drugs and lack of city services.

I wish him the best in the primary race on May 15th. His web-site: www.andytoy07.com should be on-line shortly.

PS. Voters - Andy Toy is an athletic, attractive guy who is like a Chinese John F. Kennedy Jr. Keep your eyes on him, he looks like a winner! Paraphrasing the Sage who writes Chinese Fortune Cookies: ” Andy, you have a bright future ahead”.

LBF 1.18.2007
Revised 1.20.07

For personal replies: actionphiladelphia@yahoo.com
For Blog comments note below.

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Activists rally for Johnson (Daily News 1/4)

Activists rally for Johnson
By DAN GERINGER
geringd@phillynews.com 215-854-5961

A mayoral candidate (Tom KNOX) and dozens of community activists rallied yesterday to support Philadelphia Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson, who was publicly criticized in the wake of last year’s 406 homicides, many of them drug-related.

Held in front of Police Headquarters, this second grass-roots pro-Johnson rally in a week was led by Mel Wells, president of One Day at a Time drug rehab, who said he had “personally” seen Johnson go into a prison and into a crack house to bring men to ODAAT, where they turned their lives around.

Wells said that he “used to stand on the corner and sell drugs” himself before his father, ODAAT founder Rev. Henry T. Wells, “got sick and passed the One Day at a Time torch to me.”

He said in an interview that he had seen his father and Johnson save many an addict, including comedian Buck Wild, who spent five years in prison before Johnson and Wells straightened him out.

“[Drug violence] is not a police problem,” said Iman Suetwedien Muhammad, longtime leader of the Masjid Muhammad of Philadelphia mosque in Germantown, which Johnson has attended for the last three years.

“This is a community problem,” Muhammad said. “I’ve lived in this city for 42 years. This is the best police commissioner we ever had… He has bridged the gap between people in the street and people in the Police Department.”

Democratic mayoral candidate Tom Knox warned those who sell guns and drugs “to our children” to “get out of town” when he’s elected, promising to fight them by hiring more police.

Wells ended the rally by falling to his knees and praying that the “brothers and sisters” in city jails would “not only be incarcerated but they will be rehabilitated.”

Copyright: Daily News – 2007

Submitted unedited except for bold emphasis to add clarity. Links to resources also added.. Please comment to the Author, Dan Geringer: gerhd@phillynews.com ………LBF 1/4/07

To see a YouTube video of the event and the Inquirer story, go to www.knoxforphilly.com……..LBF 1/6/2007