I ask this not to be a complete snarky asshole, but because I’m newish to Philadelphia and want to know: is there anything noteworthy about this guy besides the fact that he scoops up real estate/parking lots and then capitalizes on it by holding it for years? This article was pretty much a light hagiography of the guy and just dryly mentions his business dealings, which honestly, aren’t that unique. Every city in the country has a guy who buys real estate, gouges people for rent, and/or sells it for a killing.

The unique part is he was on city council and is running for mayor. He also is behind some of the big restaurants in the city.

I mean, from what I read, he funds them with Stephen Starr or sells/rents space to bars and restaurants. I guess that’s “behind” them in some capacity, but once again, not particularly unique in large American cities.

Not trying to sound like a complete hater, but I don’t really find his journey that awe-inspiring or worthy of support (and I think most people probably don’t either). He’s a guy who buys, sells, and rents real estate.

Edit: and I think the way I described him is also relatively charitable. There are a lot worse ways to describe a guy who buys up old properties in order to gentrify them and make shit tons of money by making them unaffordable.

There may be issues/conflict of interest with voting on tax abatement as it benefits him greatly

He's pretty harmless imo. The ward council people are way worse because they have a say over zoning and land Bank disposition in their districts. They're all corrupt.

Fair point, but the article raised none of those concerns. It literally talks about his “rags to riches” story. It’s a breathless article talking about how interesting it is that this guy bought a bunch of property and then sold it or rented it out for a fortune.

> Domb quickly built a reputation as a tireless and ruthless broker who regularly worked 12 to 14 hours a day, and his travails and expertise frequently documented in The Inquirer’s real estate pages.

well if he even did 12-14 hours a week he'd be working more than our current mayor

Maybe they don’t want to highlight it as he would prob be a decent mayor. I thought it mentioned how much money he saves per year in abatement.

There also may be a risk that he gives sweetheart deals to Starr or developers… But he’s better than Kenney!!

Also, how would tenant disputes be with a tenant going up against the mayor?

What is your point? No one said he invented the atomic bomb here.

No, but it just seems like a fluff piece for a politician that makes a shit ton of money off of real estate development. I guess I was wanting to know why it wasn’t critical of that in the slightest.

Sounds like you have an axe to grind

That’s possible, I guess. I just don’t like to pretend that people who make ungodly amounts of money off of housing and speculation are moral or admirable people because of it.

You prob want this article, which was also published today. This is clearly more of a human interest story::

https://www.inquirer.com/politics/philadelphia/allan-domb-mayor-philadelphia-real-estate-properties-20221019.html

I read this article and thought, "what the fuck is this?" Ryan Briggs had an urgent deadline? It definitely fills in the gaps in my knowledge because Domb isn't a self promoter like others, but it's a totally weird piece to publish.

The wrote a separate article about those issues: https://www.inquirer.com/politics/philadelphia/allan-domb-mayor-philadelphia-real-estate-properties-20221019.html

it's weird to write about a political candidate and potential conflicts of interest if they win their election?

I think he'd be a great mayor. What creates real estate demand? Safety, population growth, and a business-friendly environment - so even if he is acting with self-interest, we all win. He supports police, actually understands business and economics, and wants oversight of the community anti-violence groups we throw so much money at... while every other mayoral candidate proposed just giving them more: https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/philadelphia-mayoral-candidates-gun-violence-plan-20220930.html

He also proposed that city council officially declare Kensington an emergency earlier this year, and said he would do it if elected. No one else has mentioned this.

I'll probably be repeating the above a lot because I think it's more than enough reason to vote for him. I haven't seen him make any delusional statements showing a disconnect from reality like other council members, or make any ludicrously stupid decisions. Rhynhart seems good too though.

> hagiography

Cool word, gonna save that one

It's weird to write a puff piece about a candidate with no real substance. The astute reader can draw their own conclusions about conflicts of interest, but this article is silent on them.

Domb potentially has more conflicts of interest than any other candidate to have ever run for Mayor in Philadelphia. The other article that was linked in the comments here addresses some of them. But if you only read one article about Domb and it's OP's, you'll go on thinking about how industrious he's been his whole life.

By the courts, same as now

No, he isn't terribly unique, even in Philly, except for the council seat.

but there are plenty out there that like to bootlick rich people, and think that makes for a good person for a political office, despite evidence that being a successful business person may not be applicable to political office, since they can be miles apart different.

Boot lick?

I think its his pragmatism that many admire and less about his business practices.

“Harmless” is an interesting way to describe a self-dealing real estate leech on a city council

Can you cite the self- dealing you refer to?

How would you describe his time as councilperson self dealing?

upvote for use of hagiography

Nothing unique which to me is a good thing. He understands the business climate here, understands the actual mechanical inefficiencies of our city governance that are holding back economic growth, and he wants to crack down on violent crime.

I guess the only unique thing - now that I think about it - is he works hard.

Scrolled all the way down and not one Dombass joke

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I know there are Domb fans, usually among the republicans here, but he seems to keep his head down until something could affect his bottom line, and we already have an empty chair for mayor.

All I know about him is that he's self-serving, which isn't much of a reputation next to the name Rhynhart's made for herself going after both Kenney and the PPD/FOP.

Man works 12-14 hours a day and is successful, News at 11…

Yeah he should be more like Kenny Johnson