Brett Mandel Explained

Brett Mandel
Office:Democratic Committeeperson
Constituency:8th Ward

Brett Mandel is the author of two books about baseball and another about urban policy in Philadelphia.[1]

Early life and education

Mandel was born and raised in Philadelphia, and is an alumnus of Northeast High School. He graduated magna cum laude as a Public Policy major from Hamilton College before receiving his Master's Degree in Governmental Administration from the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania.[2] [3]

Political career

He served as Director of the Financial & Policy Analysis Unit in the City Controller's office under former Controller Jonathan Saidel.[4] He is the primary author of Philadelphia: A New Urban Direction, written while working under Saidel, which won the Association of Government Auditors Special Project Award in 1999.[5]

In 2003, he was a member of the Tax Reform Commission, in addition to serving as Assistant Policy Director of the Philadelphia Independent Charter Commission.[6]

Bulldog Budget

On January 23, 2013, Mandel unveiled his "Bulldog Budget", a data visualization of the operating budget of the city of Philadelphia.[7] This digitized budget tool, built by Ben Garvey, shows how each department in the city spent its part of the $3.5 billion budget for fiscal year 2012. The data, collected by Mandel through a series of Right-to-Know Requests, includes individual salaries of all city employees.[8] [9] The tool was criticized by Mandel's opponent Alan Butkovitz for what he argued were inaccuracies in the data.[10]

Advocacy

Mandel is the former Executive Director of the National Education Technology Funding Corporation (Eddie Tech), a private, non-profit organization helping local public school districts to finance construction, renovation and modernization.[11] He was Executive Director and founder of Philadelphia Forward, a non-profit organization promoting civic engagement .[12] [13] [14]

Writings

In addition to Philadelphia: A New Urban Direction, the book co-authored by Mandel on Philadelphia government,[15] he has written two non-fiction books on baseball. Minor Players, Major Dreams tells the inside story of a minor-league baseball career, and Is This Heaven? The Magic of the Field of Dreams chronicles Mandel's pilgrimage to the set of the movie, Field of Dreams.[16] [17] [18]

Notes and References

  1. http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Brett+Mandel&qt=results_page WorldCat author listing
  2. Web site: Hamilton College. College News: Brett Mandel '91 in Inquirer. 29 April 2013.
  3. Web site: Econsult Solutions. About Us: Brett Mandel. 29 April 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20140409135008/http://www.econsultsolutions.com/our-people/senior-advisors/mr-brett-mandel/. 9 April 2014. dead.
  4. Web site: Shaheeli. Joe. Mandel Makes it 3 in Controller's Race. The Public Record, Philadelphia. 30 April 2013.
  5. Web site: Association of Local Government Auditors. Past Winners of ALGA's Special Project Award. 25 April 2013.
  6. Web site: Committee of Seventy . City Controller Candidates . 30 April 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130809175520/http://www.seventy.org/City_Controller.aspx . 9 August 2013 .
  7. Web site: Technically Philly. City of Philadelphia Budget Visualization. 23 January 2013 . 28 April 2013.
  8. Web site: Mandel. Brett. Bulldog Budget. 29 April 2013.
  9. Web site: City Paper. Pet Therapy, Plasma TVs and more finds from new budget database. 30 April 2013. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20130717071028/http://www.citypaper.net/blogs/nakedcity/Pet-therapy-plasma-TVs-and-more-finds-from-new-budget-database.html. 17 July 2013.
  10. Web site: Zimmerman. Alex. Fels Graduate Vying for City Controller. The Daily Pennsylvanian. 29 April 2013.
  11. Web site: Eddie Tech. Who We Are. 25 April 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130825151014/http://eddietech.org/who-we-are. 25 August 2013. dead.
  12. Web site: Otterbein. Holly. A Primer for WHYY's City Controller Debate. 30 April 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304120236/http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/item/53359. 4 March 2016. dead.
  13. Web site: Philadelphia Forward. About Us. 30 April 2013.
  14. Web site: Philadelphia Forward. The Push for Ethics Reform. 30 April 2013.
  15. Book: Saidel, Jonathan. Philadelphia: A New Urban Direction. 1999. Saint Joseph's University Press. Pennsylvania. 0916101282.
  16. Book: Mandel, Brett. Minor Player, Major Dreams. 1996. University of Nebraska Press. Lincoln, NE. 080328232X.
  17. Book: Mandel, Brett. Is This Heaven? The Magic of the Field of Dreams. 2002. Taylor Trade Publishing. Lanham, MD. 1888698411.
  18. Contemporary authors new revision series. Volume 129 Gale, 2004.

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