TOP-10 LISTS drive people crazy.
You want to start an argument that'll last for days, mention to a pal your picks for the top-10 movies of all time. Or best albums.
But a good list gets people talking, gets people thinking.
So today, as Young Involved Philadelphia prepares to wrap up the "State of Young Philly" - a two-week series of brainstorming workshops - the People's Paper offers a list of 10 up-and-comers who are playing vital roles in shaping the city's future.
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Chief of staff to City Councilman Bill Green
Green spent much of his first term tormenting Mayor Nutter about the city's budget and policies. But it was Bryan who scored the first big win on Nutter.
Bryan, 37, led a legal challenge to Nutter's plan to trim the budget by shuttering some libraries. Bryan successfully argued in court that Nutter needed Council approval for the plan.
The West Philadelphia native said she was focused at Harvard - undergrad and law school - on public service. That her mother was a career librarian was plenty of motivation in her first big City Hall dust-up.
Bryan spent a year at a law firm after graduating before heading to Delaware to work for the U.S. Attorney's Office. She came home to work at Community Legal Services, focusing on civil cases about housing. In a very un-Philadelphia way of landing a City Hall job, Bryan applied via Green's website.
"It's amazing, right?" she asked. "What a ridiculous way of getting a job." Green, who has Bryan focused on the city budget and ways to reduce the business-privilege tax, counts himself lucky she clicked on that job link.
"The best thing I ever did was put that button on my website," Green said.
- Chris Brennan
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Mayor Nutter's deputy chief of staff
Tumar Alexander was just a teenager when the proverbial lightbulb flickered above his head. He realized what he wanted to do with his life: politics.
Politics? Yeah, politics.
"I was the president of the student council at William Penn High School," said Alexander, 36. "I got the political bug. I realized that you could make a difference each and every day in the city you're living in."
