CHESTER, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — The city of Chester will be getting a new mayor. He has the unenviable task of getting the city out of bankruptcy and off of Pennsylvania’s list of financially distressed cities.
Chester native, Villanova University graduate and City Councilman Stefan Roots beat out the incumbent, Thaddeus Kirkland, in the city’s Democratic mayoral primary on Tuesday.
He said his work in journalism helped prepare him for a career in politics.
“One of my supporters just said: Hey man, you already know what’s going on in city government. You’ve been following it for so long. You’ve been tracking everything out of the city government, out of the school district, out in the streets, sports, whatever. Those are the skill sets that are really valuable in city government.”
Roots says getting the city’s finances straight is a top priority. Michael Doweary, the state-appointed receiver in charge of overseeing Chester’s finances, filed for bankruptcy protection.
But his recommendations have gotten a lot of pushback from Chester’s current government, and that’s something Roots wants to change — to help Chester keep its status as a city.
“The receiver has always been fair and transparent since he’s been here. His authority has been challenged the whole way.”
Roots says education is another priority his administration wants to get a handle on.
“They’re not performing well in school, according to state standards, so to the extent that state government can influence educational outcomes, we are.”
Making the city presentable is another problem he wants to tackle immediately, he added.
“If we’re going to turn this into a tourist location one of the first things we have to do is clean this place up,” Roots said.
“We have to make Chester look inviting to new businesses, to homeowners, to people that will be coming into the area.”
He’s not shy about saying there’s a blight problem in the city.
“It’s unbelievable that we have the biggest trash incinerator in the area, and we burn all of the county’s trash, but we can’t seem to get the trash that’s on the city’s street,” he said.
He says he’s looking at ways to fix that.
There is no Republican candidate currently on the ballot for mayor, so Roots will likely run unopposed in November’s general election. He would most likely start his term in January of next year.
“A lot of the focus will be on putting the pieces together to put Chester city government back together again,” he said.
Related
Related
