Meet Philadelphia's Republican mayoral candidate: David Oh

🏡 What neighborhoods have you lived in? Kingsessing and Cobbs Creek.

🍽️ Favorite Philly restaurant: Shing Kee.

🏢 Favorite downtown building: Philadelphia Museum of Art.

📺 Favorite Philadelphia TV show: "Good Day Philadelphia."

💰 How much did your property taxes go up last year? 95%

🏈 Favorite Philly athlete (past or present) and why? Former Eagles player Vai Sikahema because he embodied the Philadelphia spirit as a great athlete and readily used his celebrity status to help good causes and those in need.

🚗 Savesies: Pro/con? You do the work, you claim the spot.

🏙 How would you enhance the vibrancy of Center City in the post-pandemic era? Place visible police patrols throughout Center City so people feel safe.

• Enforce all criminal, public safety and traffic laws.

🕯️What's the one moment in your life that most shaped you? The day my father died. I realized how much of his life was dedicated to getting me on the right path and how much I wanted him to be proud of me.

🥋 What's one fun thing voters don't know about you? I periodically organize free martial arts programs for children and women who are victimized or bullied.

📉 Sum up the state of the city in five words or less. Unsafe and getting worse.

And, of course, why do you want to be mayor? This city needs an overhaul. It needs a mayor to lead its rebirth as a safe, prosperous and dynamic city.

On the issues

Would you increase (⬆️), keep level (⏸️), or decrease (⬇️) the police department's budget?

• ⬆️ Increase

What's one big idea you have to address the ongoing gun violence crisis?

• Restore the full roster of police by hiring 1,300 new officers and enhance their effectiveness by utilizing technology, such as drones.

Do you support the 76ers proposal to build a new arena in Center City? Yes (✅) or no (❌)

• ❌ No

Explain your answer, in 1 sentence.

• I await the actual written plan. But it's a bad location and the public engagement process has been very divisive and detrimental to our city.

Do you support installing permanent public bathrooms in the city? Yes (✅) or no (❌)

• ❌ No

Explain your answer in 1 sentence.

• At this time, public bathrooms are likely to become public nuisances because this city is poorly run and unable to provide core services in a reliable manner, let alone manage public bathrooms.

🏢 What's your plan to get more workers back in offices in Center City and throughout Philly? (2 sentences or less)

• I'll deploy police throughout Center City and the public transportation system serving it. Drones will monitor the streets to ensure they are safe and cleaning crews will pick up trash and debris to ensure they are clean.

What's 1 big idea that would be a game-changer for Philly? (2 sentences or less)

• Make Philadelphia safe by hiring 1,300 new police to restore the full roster of officers.
• Enforce all criminal, public safety, traffic and quality of life laws through law enforcement and city lawyers deputized to prosecute categories of crimes not being prosecuted by the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office.

🪓 What law, tax or program would you scrap immediately, and why? (2 sentences or less)

• I would work to end the sweetened beverage tax (also known as the soda tax) because it is an unnecessary, regressive tax upon the poor and the funds are not being properly used for their benefit.

💡 What is one big idea or policy being used in another city that you want to bring to Philadelphia, and why? (2 sentences or less.)

• In 2015 [when I was on City Council], I brought to Philadelphia the company that manufactured and installed subway platform automatic glass doors in Tokyo and Seoul. (Editor's note: The project didn't come to fruition.)

👉 Read Axios Philadelphia's candidate questionnaire with Oh's opponent, Cherelle Parker.

This Q & A may be updated as the election season continues.