Brett Mandel is the author of two books about baseball and another about urban policy in Philadelphia.[1]
Brett Mandel | |
|---|---|
| Democratic Committeeperson | |
| Constituency | 8th Ward |
Early life and education
editMandel 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
editHe 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
editOn 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
editMandel 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
editIn 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]
References
edit- ^ WorldCat author listing
- ^ Hamilton College. "College News: Brett Mandel '91 in Inquirer". Retrieved 29 April 2013.
- ^ Econsult Solutions. "About Us: Brett Mandel". Archived from the original on 9 April 2014. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
- ^ Shaheeli, Joe. "Mandel Makes it 3 in Controller's Race". The Public Record, Philadelphia. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
- ^ Association of Local Government Auditors. "Past Winners of ALGA's Special Project Award". Retrieved 25 April 2013.
- ^ Committee of Seventy. "City Controller Candidates". Archived from the original on 9 August 2013. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
- ^ Technically Philly (23 January 2013). "City of Philadelphia Budget Visualization". Retrieved 28 April 2013.
- ^ Mandel, Brett. "Bulldog Budget". Retrieved 29 April 2013.
- ^ City Paper. "Pet Therapy, Plasma TVs and more finds from new budget database". Archived from the original on 17 July 2013. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
- ^ Zimmerman, Alex. "Fels Graduate Vying for City Controller". The Daily Pennsylvanian. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
- ^ Eddie Tech. "Who We Are". Archived from the original on 25 August 2013. Retrieved 25 April 2013.
- ^ Otterbein, Holly. "A Primer for WHYY's City Controller Debate". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
- ^ Philadelphia Forward. "About Us". Retrieved 30 April 2013.
- ^ Philadelphia Forward. "The Push for Ethics Reform". Retrieved 30 April 2013.
- ^ Saidel, Jonathan (1999). Philadelphia: A New Urban Direction. Pennsylvania: Saint Joseph's University Press. ISBN 0916101282.
- ^ Mandel, Brett (1996). Minor Player, Major Dreams. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 080328232X.
- ^ Mandel, Brett (2002). Is This Heaven? The Magic of the Field of Dreams. Lanham, MD: Taylor Trade Publishing. ISBN 1888698411.
- ^ Contemporary authors new revision series. Volume 129 Gale, 2004.