Overseeing Quality of Life with a Catholic Conscience

Bridget Collins-Greenwald feels up to the task.

The view from Bridget Collins-Greenwald's seventh-floor office in Philadelphia's City Hall – a stunning one that overlooks Dilworth Plaza and provides a clear sightline down the beautiful Benjamin Franklin Parkway to the iconic Art Museum - is drastically different from the vantage point of the Marsden Street apartment and Ditman Street rowhouse in Tacony that she once called home. As the Commissioner of Licenses and Inspections, Quality of Life Division, newly appointed by Mayor Cherelle Parker, Collins- Greenwald is grateful, not only for the incredible vista, but also for the vote of confidence and the vibrancy of her new post. Appropriately, she has been tasked with improving the views of citizens in neighborhoods across the city.

The former Commissioner of Public Property, Collins-Greenwald's new role has been streamlined through the Mayor's decision to split the massive L&I department, a department that was part of Philadelphia's original charter, into two separate departments with specific focuses. Basil Merenda will head up the department's new Inspections, Safety and Compliance Division, concentrating on building safety and permitting. Collins-Greenwald will work on educating businesses on how to become compliant and enforcing that compliance, will oversee the clean and seal teams to address the neglect of vacant and abandoned properties, and will partner with the Clean and Green team, the Community Life Improvement Program (CLIP) and other city agencies to identify and improve corridors that are in dire need of a cleanup.

Collins-Greenwald feels up to the task - not only because of her long-standing relationship with so many of the blue-collar union workers and a strong and committed executive team who make up the department - but also because she feels supported in this new challenge by the Mayor, the City Council members and the workers themselves. Most especially, she feels prepared because of the empathy she learned through her Catholic upbringing, at St. Leo's grade school, at St. Hubert's High School where she serves as the Secretary of the Board, and at Holy Family University, from where she received her master's in Human Resource Management in 2008.

"You get such a good sense of what people are really going through when you are out walking in the neighborhoods," she said. "It helps you to identify their pain points. I think I learned to listen and be empathetic to different people's situations through my Catholic education. I think that was instilled in me to have a moral obligation to do good and to fight the good fight. That Catholic foundation went through all of my classes, at every level. It taught me to respect others, to allow them to be seen and heard, and to try to understand where others are coming from. I also learned safety and trust from my Catholic education, and the importance of creating an environment that is built on those things."