Mayor Nutter unveiled the slate of new members selected for the civilian oversight commission to the Philadelphia Police Department, and an openly gay attorney and leader in the HIV/AIDS community are on the list.
Chuck Volz, senior adviser to Philly Pride Presents, which stages the annual Pride parade and festival and OutFest, and Ronda Goldfein, executive director of the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania, were two of the nine new appointees to the Police Advisory Commission announced Tuesday.
Volz and Goldfein were appointed directly by the mayor, along with Bishop Audrey Bronson, Edward Kung, Veronica Castillo-Perez, Joe Garcia, Mumin Islam and Jordan Harris and alternate Joseph Mead.
William Johnson, PAC executive director, said that of the 12 current commissioners, eight have expressed interest in serving another term and will be asked to submit applications, along with any other interested individuals, as the rest of the commission is decided upon in a public-hearing process before City Council.
Michael Weiss, co-owner of Woody’s and president of the board of Voyeur, who was indicted in January for underreporting income at one of his clubs, was not on the list of current members planning to seek another term.
Johnson said all of the new commission members were selected for their outstanding contributions to the city, which he expects they will continue to make through their service to the PAC.
“Traditionally, mayors have always endeavored to select individuals who are among the best and brightest Philadelphia has to offer, and these appointments are no less indicative of those qualifications,” he said. “These individuals are people who will be people of integrity, people of good backgrounds and they will significantly help us to move the agenda of the commission forward.”
Volz, an attorney for more than 30 years, has been teaching criminology courses at the University of the Sciences for about a year and said his passion both for law and his hometown fueled his interest in joining the commission.
“I’m not a newcomer to the city — I’m a lifelong Philadelphian — and I think you have to live here to really appreciate what needs to be done,” he said. “So I’m definitely very interested in how the community’s doing and how safe it is or isn’t.”
Franny Price, president of Philly Pride Presents, who’s worked in that capacity closely with Volz for years, said his background in law, his leadership in the LGBT community and his position as a bar owner — of Finnigan’s Wake — give him well-rounded experiences for the commission.
“Through all of the experiences he’s had in his life and everything he’s done, he has so much to offer,” Price said. “And one of the best things about him is that he’s so fair. He’s probably one of the fairest people I’ve ever met.”
Goldfein said she has accrued that same sense of fairness through her years at AIDS Law Project.
“I’ve learned that there are always two sides to a story, and you want to be really open to listening to the facts,” she said. “At the AIDS Law Project, we’re often oriented toward the client, but it doesn’t serve anybody if we don’t have a clear assessment of the client’s claim. It’s a skill that I’ve developed over so many years of not reading into a story or not letting a sympathetic person influence your decision. You have to hear the facts and just do the best job you can of sorting through those facts.”
Goldfein said the commissioner position meshed well with her role as an attorney.
“It’s about due process. Everyone needs to have an opportunity to come forward and talk about their concerns in a safe forum, just as the person accused also needs a safe forum to make a response,” she said.
As the only openly gay member, Volz said he’s eager to represent the LGBT community and bring their concerns to the commission.
“I’m going to be there as the voice and the ears of the gay community, so I’m sure I’ll be focusing on that more than anything else.”
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].