Paul Steinke (photo from Linked In)
West Philly resident Paul Steinke, the former general manager of the Reading Terminal Market, will officially announce tomorrow that he will run for City Council.
Steinke’s announcement that he will run for an at-large Democratic seat in the May 19 primary was expected after he stepped down as general manager at the Terminal Market in early December. The announcement is scheduled for Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at the Field House, a sports bar adjacent to the Market.
The former finance director of the Center City District and the first executive director of the University City District, Steinke, 49, has overseen a 30 percent increase in visitors and $4 million in renovation and expansion of the Market in the 13 years he has overseen operations there, according to a statement from his campaign. Steinke is a 1986 graduate of Penn State University.
Steinke hopes to be the first openly gay person elected to citywide office. He lives in the Spruce Hill neighborhood with David Ade, his partner of nearly 20 years.
All 17 City Council seats are up for election in November – 10 district seats and seven at-large seats.
– Mike Lyons
January 12th, 2015 at 4:44 pm
Awesome, best of luck Paul. Interested to hear from someone more familiar with Council than I am – how many of these at-large seats are really up for grabs and how many are likely to go back to incumbents? There are a few people running for at-large seats right now that I’m excited about and I wonder how good their chances are.
And sigh, if only Paul could take Jannie’s seat.
January 13th, 2015 at 1:16 pm
Good luck to you! I love Reading Terminal mkt. I buy my produce there, just because it’s so much fun, clean and cheerful a place. The man responsible would certainly get my vote, and will.
January 13th, 2015 at 2:57 pm
Please take Blackwell’s seat. She really needs to be shown to the exit.
January 14th, 2015 at 9:52 am
Good luck Paul. Unfortunately, Councilwoman Blackwell has legions of (blindly) devoted voters who won’t sway. She’s also lined up a few pet projects in the most blighted neighborhoods that will make some voters think that she is really concerned about them.
January 14th, 2015 at 11:10 am
Since he is running for an at large seat he would not be running against Blackwell.