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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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

NEWS ON CHRISTMAS 25 December 2006

The popular singer, James Brown died at 1:45 am today in Atlanta as a result of heart failure.

Reflections about James Brown

Wow, I cannot believe it. Strange that it is Christmas also, and my birthday. I turn 50. Wow. Strange times indeed. James Brown was a good, good, good, good person. Oh yes, and he was gifted, and a genius. He suffered for his gifts, as geniuses do. He goes with an era, and the implications are not good. If there is a young person in the making, to be like him, I don’t know of one. If I needed an excuse to cry this Christmas morning, I got one.

I am glad he lived to see himself appreciated, much more so outside the US , of course. And thus the political nature of JB’s genius. This brings me back to Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Joplin, Kobain – He survived in a way these others did not, and yes, I liken him more with his fellow musical icons than with other ˜movements™, although his influence embarks all arenas. He lived a good life, a long life.
He was a fundamental part of my coming of age socially, musically, politically, in NYC during a very interesting time – he stood out among trail blazers. He may well be the best known person on the planet, even now. Wow. He is certainly a presence, the icon to represent the ‘funk’, for all those who got the ‘funk’,even now. Hate to see him go. So glad we have his music and his life, forever. Peace.

Submitted by: A. A. …….a friend of “Action Philadelphia”

“Winter Solstice at Stonehenge”

The Winter Solstice for 2006 will arrive in Philadelphia today at 7:22 PM. I will be on the road near Pittsburgh at this time. It is the longest day of the year, the beginning of Winter, and a mystical time which has been celebrated by every culture, race and religion from the American Indians, the Druids, Asian and Chinese cultures and most major world religions. An excellent source of information about the Winter Solstice can be found at www.candlegrove.com.

Teresa Ruano author of the site says that the Winter Solstice was “Celebrated among the ancients as a turning point.” She also says:
“No one’s really sure how long ago humans recognized the winter solstice and began heralding it as a turning point — the day that marks the return of the sun. One delightful little book written in 1948, 4,000 Years of Christmas, puts its theory right up in the title. The Mesopotamians were first, it claims, with a 12-day festival of renewal, designed to help the god Marduk tame the monsters of chaos for one more year.”

Well, the Monsters of Chaos have been with us this last year in the City of Philadelphia. Our city is in crises, crime and murder are at all time highs, the Pennsylvania State Government controls our School System, and the Philadelphia Parking Authority which was taken away from the City to benefit some Harrisburg politicians, has become more crass and overbearing, driving business away from the City. It is not all gloom and doom, as in Washington D.C., the leadership of the legislature has been taken out the hands of the opposition party so that Philadelphia may have a better chances in 2007.

I believe that we are at a Turning Point. The Mayors race is on and there are many bright spots and bright stars in the City. We have local groups such as Town-Watch, Endow-A-Home, and numerous other community groups having a positive impact on quality of life in the City.

More to follow about the “good guys and gals” in later posts.

Have a Happy Winter Solstice and bountiful Holiday season!

Your Blogmeister 21 December, 2006…..