Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s office on Tuesday declined to say whether the city will save money after pop star Christina Aguilera, who was scheduled to headline the city’s free July Fourth concert, ended up not taking the stage Saturday due to the weather delays that pushed much of the concert and the subsequent fireworks display into the early morning hours of Sunday.
Parker spokesperson Joe Grace said the city had “no comment as yet” on whether the city would be refunded in light of the change in plans triggered by Saturday’s severe thunderstorms.
Aguilera was the only artist who ended up skipping their set, and Grace emphasized Parker’s role in ensuring the rest of the performers returned to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to restart the show around midnight after it was suspended about 9 p.m.
“We’re focused on the performers who did return and put on a tremendous show once the storms subsided,” Grace said in a statement, noting that the Roots, Kathy Sledge, State Property, Meek Mill, Will Smith, and DJ Jazzy Jeff all performed after the concert restarted. “In the evening, those artists came back, at the request of [concert producer] ESM and Mayor Parker — and put on a great concert. … All the evening artists credited the mayor with bringing them back to perform.”
The decision to restart the concert pushed the fireworks display to about 2:30 a.m. Sunday.
“After the storms passed, there were a lot of people who could have called it a night,” Parker said in a statement Tuesday. “Instead, we made one more call. The Roots and the other artists, including Will Smith returned. Thousands of people returned. Our city employees never stopped working. Our first responders stayed at their posts. Together, we finished what we started. That’s who Philadelphia is.”
Smith, in an Instagram post on Monday, said he returned to the Parkway to perform in the Independence Day concert after midnight after receiving a personal call from Parker.
Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff (left) perform at One Philly: Unity Concert for America on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway Sunday, July 5, 2026, in Philadelphia.
Parker’s administration this year agreed to pay $15.5 million to ESM Productions, a for-profit Philadelphia-based company known for putting on major events on the Parkway, to organize the show. The city paid ESM at least $10 million prior to July Fourth, but it is unclear if any money was paid out to performers in advance of the show.
The annual concert was previously managed by the nonprofit Welcome America, a public-private partnership organized by the city in the 1990s, and cost taxpayers far less.
The last July Fourth concert cost Welcome America about $3 million to produce, according to a person with knowledge of the event who was not permitted to discuss details about its costs. Welcome America’s entire budget for 2024 — its salaries and office expenses, a concert that featured Kesha and Ne-Yo, and several smaller events it organizes — totaled about $6.6 million, about $5.3 million of which came from government grants, according to the group’s most recent federal nonprofit disclosure.
It is unclear how much Aguilera was supposed to be paid for her performance this year.
ESM’s original $10 million contract with the city, which was obtained by The Inquirer, included a nearly $3.4 million budget for “talent.”
The contract between the city administration and ESM did not include a breakdown on how much each artist would be paid, and it did not include details related to artists’ pay in the event of canceled performances.
The city also signed a $5.5 million contract amendment with ESM that did not include budget details.
ESM Productions declined to comment.
Fireworks fill the sky at the One Philly: Unity Concert for America on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on Sunday, July 5, 2026 in Philadelphia.
United Talent Agency, which represents Aguilera, did not return a request for comment. The pop star on Sunday posted videos from her rehearsals prior to the show on social media.
“Philly, we had such a special 4th of July show planned for you!! 😭😫☔️🌧️,” Aguilera wrote on Instagram. “We poured so much heart and soul into this one, but safety always comes first—and sadly, the storm meant we couldn’t give you the show we worked so hard to bring to life 💔 Thank you to everyone who came out, and to my team for all the hard work that went into building this show… I hope to be back to Philly soon! xxxx.”
The city’s payments to ESM are only part of the taxpayer costs for putting on the annual concert. The city also increases hours for city workers such as sanitation workers and police officers to put on the event.
Grace on Tuesday declined to share the total cost of the concert, and reiterated Parker’s previous promise to lay out all expenses related to it at a future date.
“As we’ve said previously, we will account for all expenses associated with the concert, along with producing an analysis of economic benefits accruing to the city, and release a report at a later time,” he said. “We want the report to be comprehensive.”
With the eyes of the nation on Philadelphia for America’s 250th birthday, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration this year took over management of the city’s free July Fourth concert, which for years was produced by a nonprofit established by the city: Welcome America.
The mayor instead hired ESM Productions, a for-profit company, to put on the annual show featuring musical acts and fireworks over the Ben Franklin Parkway, and she changed the name from Wawa Welcome America to the “One Philly: Unity Concert for America” — a version of Parker’s well-known slogan, “One Philly: A United City.”
Another change: It will cost taxpayers far more than in the past.
The city is due to pay ESM Productions about $15.5 million for the show, which will be headlined by Christina Aguilera, Jill Scott, and The Roots, and feature rapper Meek Mill, according to a copy of the city’s contract paperwork with ESM, obtained by The Inquirer. The city in March signed a $10 million contract with the Philadelphia-based company, as well as a $5.5 million contract amendment.
By comparison, Welcome America’s budget for all of 2024 — including that year’s July Fourth concert,the numerous other events it manages in the build-up to the concert, and the salaries of its staff — was about $6.6 million, only about $5.3 million of which came from government grants, according to the group’s most recent federal nonprofit disclosure.
Welcome America, which is a public-private partnership with the mayor serving as a board member, receives city and state funding, as well as a corporate sponsorship. The organization has been involved in Philly’s July Fourth celebrations since 1993.
Fans react to the music as the Wawa Welcome America Festival concluded July 4, 2023 with a free concert featuring Ludacris on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
Last year’s iteration of the Wawa Welcome America concert cost the organization about $3 million, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to disclose that information.
The Philly taxpayer money paid to the concert’s producers does not cover additional expenses borne by the city, such as pay for police officers and sanitation workers staffing the event.
Parker’s office declined a request from The Inquirer for a copy of the contract or information on the cost of this year’s concert. Chief Deputy Mayor Vanessa Garrett Harley said in an interview that the administration would publicly disclose the costs and economic benefits of the concert after it was over.
“At a later time, we could certainly be doing a full accounting, as we’re not trying to hide anything and always want to be transparent,” Garrett Harley said.
Chief Deputy Mayor Vanessa Garrett Harley speaks at Belmont Plateau in Philadelphia on May 28.
Following the interview with Garrett Harley, The Inquirer later obtained the contract, and the mayor’s office on Tuesday did not respond to follow-up questions about the cost of the concert.
ESM’s original $10 million contract with the city included a breakdown of costs, ranging from $5,000 for “furniture” to nearly $3.4 million for “talent.” It also included $1.2 million for “ESM Productions Fees” and $1 million for “Above the line Producer’s Unit.”
The contract amendment for $5.5 million, signed June 26, did not include details on costs.
A spokesperson for ESM declined to comment.
Founded in 1996 by Scott Mirkin and Jenny Woo, ESM has previously produced numerous high-profile events on the Parkway, including the 2015 papal visit and Jay-Z’s Made in America concert.
David L. Cohen, a Philly political powerbroker and former U.S. ambassador to Canada, said he has hired ESM to produce events going back to when he was chief of staff for then-Mayor Ed Rendell in the 1990s.
“They’re incredibly competent; they’re incredibly good; they do an excellent job,” he said. “I really do think they’re the best event producers in Philadelphia.”
In paperwork submitted to the city, ESM said it “has a long standing relationship” with Cohen and pointed to events he hired the company to produce at the U.S. embassy in Ottawa, Canada, as examples of its past work.
Michael DelBene, president and CEO of Welcome America, said that, despite no longer being the producer for the concert, his organization is still managing more than a dozen Semiquincentennial-related events in partnership with the city. The events kicked off on Juneteenth and will run through the Fourth.
“The celebrations that happen in the city are the implementation of the mayor’s vision, and if she chooses a team to implement that vision, that’s great, and we all support that person and that team,” DelBene said in an interview. “We’re all going to row in the same direction to make sure the city shines.”
Drama and infighting had plagued a series of nonprofit efforts and federal commissions meant to coordinate the festivities. And the COVID-19 pandemic pushed party-planning way down the priority list for the city and for state leaders who could have previously led the charge, former Mayor Jim Kenney and former Gov. Tom Wolf.
Those delays likely squandered any opportunities for a monumental building project, such as the Please Touch Museum building, which was constructed for the 1876 Centennial Exposition, or the Ben Franklin Bridge, which opened for America’s 150th birthday in 1926. They may have also cost Philly the chance for an appearance by a high-profile dignitary, such as when Queen Elizabeth II visited for the 1976 Bicentennial.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker heads to the stage at the Independence Visitor Center Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025 to announce a new initiative that puts city neighborhoods at the forefront of the city celebrations of America’s 250th birthday in 2026.
But the mayor eventually embraced the task in a more public way — following some public prodding from City Councilmember Isaiah Thomas — and the city’s Semiquincentennial celebrations will very much bear her stamp.
Parker has pledged to spend $120 million this year to mark the occasion, and she has made investing in communities across the city, not just the historic district, a major focus as Philadelphia this summer is also hosting World Cup games and the MLB All-Star Game. Much of that spending will pay for street work and beautification projects in neighborhood commercial corridors, 250th-themed block parties, and extra funding for annual events like the Odunde Festival.
“We want to make sure that any and everybody can participate in this regardless of your station in life,” Garrett Harley said.
‘This is her big concert’
With the official Independence Day parade — still organized by Welcome America — scheduled for Friday, July 3, there is surprisingly little in the way of official patriotic proceedings taking place on July Fourth itself.
Parker at 10 a.m. will lead a Philadelphia Freedom Awards ceremony at Independence Mall, honoring seven people, including Cohen and actor and Philadelphia-native Colman Domingo.
At 5 p.m., the concert will kick off on the Ben Franklin Parkway. Performers include Aguilera, Will Smith, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Jill Scott, The Roots, Meek Mill, and Seal. The city’s official fireworks show will begin at the show’s conclusion, around 11:30 p.m.
Fans during the Wawa Welcome America July 4th Concert on the Parkway in Philadelphia, Pa. on July 4, 2022.
Parker has several times compared this year’s show to Live Aid, the 1985 benefit concert staged in Philadelphia and London that featured in its 10-hour stateside lineup Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Madonna, Phil Collins, the Beach Boys, the Four Tops, Santana, Run-D.M.C., and many other musical A-listers.
“If you remember Live Aid and you think about the legacy experience we’re trying to create … that’s what we’re trying to do on July the Fourth,” Parker said in March.
Garrett Harley on Tuesday conceded the concert lineups may not be exactly comparable, but said the mayor was “really talking more about the scope and the magnitude and just the memories.”
“But to certain kids it’s gonna be bigger than Live Aid, because Christina Aguilera means to them what Stevie Wonder and some of the folks who ran Live Aid meant to others,” Garrett Harley said.
Garrett Harley disputed the notion that renaming the concert “One Philly: A Unity Concert for America” meant that it now bears Parker’s branding.
“I don’t know how a ‘Unity Concert for America’ is Parker’s branding because the whole point of this is about unity,” Garrett Harley said. “The branding is really about reminding people that we need to unify, we need to be one America, despite everything that may be going on in the country right now.”
The mayor frequently concludes speeches by asking crowds to raise their index fingers and say in unison, “One Philly: A United City.” She has also had the slogan printed on city trash trucks and cans, along with her name.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker raises a finger with her call-and-response “One Philly, A United City” mantra ending her speech during a ceremonial meeting of the Pennsylvania Senate at the National Constitution Center across the mall from Independence Hall on May 5.
“Even if it is Parker’s branding, if that’s how people see it, what would Wawa Welcome America be if not branding?” Garrett Harley added.
(Wawa, a longtime corporate sponsor for the city’s July Fourth festivities, pays Welcome America to include its branding in the event, defraying costs for taxpayers.)
Branding or not, Parker’s vision guided the planning for the concert, Garrett Harley said.
“At the end of the day, this is [Philadelphia’s] 100th mayor,” Garrett Harley said of Parker. “This was her biggest concert, and probably will be the biggest that she will ever do. She’s the first female mayor. She’s the first African American female mayor. This is her big concert.”
Bucks County authorities have charged a nurse with child endangerment for allegedly harming a Bensalem 3-year-old for whom she was providing in-home services, according to a criminal complaint filed last week.
The parents of the child reported Cindy Desser to child welfare authorities after seeing home surveillance video footage in which she “smacked and slammed” the child, who was born early and has “multiple medical issues,” according to the complaint filed by Bensalem police.
The child “lives with a trachea,” according to the complaint, and one video showed the Desser “pull the trach out” and take “her time putting the trachea back in.” The child could be heard “gasping for air,” and Desser, who was the child’s “night nurse,” was recorded saying, “You did this,” the document said.
An attorney for Desser did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The family hired Desser, who lives in Jamison, Pa., through Dynamic Home Health Care, according to the complaint. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
The parents told the channel they wished to remain anonymous.
“Thank God my daughter is so strong,” the mother told 6ABC. “It was just horrific. I just couldn’t believe it. It’s like almost like monsters come out at night.”
Philadelphians are facing a growing affordability crisis, and City Hall needs to act quickly to counter the impact of funding reductions from the federal and state governments, leaders of the progressive group POWER Interfaith said Monday.
“Living comfortably in our city is becoming unattainable,” the Rev. Cean R. James, senior pastor of the Salt + Light Church, said at the gathering at Arch Street United Methodist Church. “The mayor’s recent budget does focus on economic mobility, and that is noble. But it does not go far enough. It’s not sustainable.”
POWER, an influential coalition that includes more than 50 congregations in the city, on Monday released a report based on interviews with 750 city residents at church meetings, neighborhood gatherings, and other events. The informal survey found:
About two-thirds of respondents had to forego another bill to pay mortgage or rent, and 80% struggled to afford property taxes.
A majority of congregations surveyed have seen the number of unhoused members in their congregations increase.
Ninety percent of respondents said the city hasn’t done enough to “invest in their community’s needs.”
POWER leaders on Monday called on City Council to hold a hearing on affordability. But the report did not include policy prescriptions for addressing the crisis it described, and it’s far from clear what city lawmakers or Mayor Cherelle L. Parker can do to make it easier to get by in the city.
Philadelphia already has a relatively small property tax burden, and the city has some of the strongest protections in the nation for people struggling to stay in their homes.
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker speaks to City Council, guests, and dignitaries at start of her budget presentation in Council Chambers last Thursday.
But with little ability to affect the cost of goods and state-imposed restrictions on how it can collect taxes — preventing the city from imposing higher rates on wealthier residents — Philadelphia officials have limited options when it comes to addressing affordability.
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The POWER report acknowledged the predicament.
“To be very clear: There are no easy answers to these challenges,” the report said. “We must prepare serious and sober projections about the impacts of the impending revenue losses we face, and then we must develop a menu of policy options to soften those impacts and mitigate harm to residents. And we must ensure that any actions we take do not make the current cost-of-living crisis even worse.”
The city’s limited options on addressing affordability won’t stop it from being a major topic during this spring’s budget negotiations. Affordability has recently become a political buzzword, and Democrats are hoping to win back Congress in November in part by blaming rising costs on President Donald Trump’s administration.
This year, thousands of Pennsylvanians are abandoning the state’s Affordable Care Act insurance exchange after congressional Republicans declined to renew expanded healthcare subsidies. Trump’s efforts to increase tariffs and the war with Iran threaten to increase inflation nationwide. SEPTA last year increased fares and is still facing a fiscal crisis due, in part, to objections by GOP lawmakers in Harrisburg.
It’s unlikely the city could meaningfully address any of those losses without significantly increasing taxes, which would in turn make Philadelphia less affordable. And hiking any of the city’s three major sources of local revenue — the wage, property, and business taxes — all come with significant downsides or political roadblocks.
Increasing the wage levy alone would make the city’s tax structure more regressive, meaning a greater share of the overall tax burden would be paid by poorer workers.
Increasing the real estate tax rate could make the tax structure more progressive, because property owners tend to be wealthier than the average resident. But POWER and other left-leaning groups generally oppose that option due to concerns about displacing low-income homeowners.
And when it comes to the business income and receipts tax, or BIRT, City Hall has recently been moving in the opposite direction of POWER’s goals. Council last year approved a proposal championed by Parker and Council President Kenyatta Johnson that will provide annual cuts to the BIRT rate over the next 12 years.
Philadelphia City Councilmember Isaiah Thomas addresses members of POWER Interfaith during a news conference on affordability at Arch Street United Methodist Church. at Broad and Arch Streets, on Monday.
POWER leaders have called on lawmakers to pause those reductions or even increase the tax. But the political headwinds they face in City Hall were evident at Monday’s news conference. Two of three Council members in attendance voted for the business tax cuts last year: Democrats Jamie Gauthier of West Philadelphia, and Isaiah Thomas, who represents the city at-large.
“It’s very difficult, as we discussed in the past, for local government to be able to step up and address some of these concerns,” Thomas said at the event. “There’s not much we can do as it relates to the catastrophe that we’re seeing around healthcare. There’s not much we can do as it relates to all the tariffs and the cost of living that’s going up significantly. But there are things that we can do, that we control.”
The Rev. Carolyn C. Cavaness, pastor of Mother Bethel AME, said she understands that lawmakers have to deal with complicated political dynamics. But she said she hopes that POWER’s focus on the affordability crisis will reset the conversation.
“I always think about context. … Sometimes we’re in tight spaces,” Cavaness said at the POWER event. “I think also conditions then were much different than what they are now. … We’re really back to ground zero.”
The first time Philly hosted a major presidential nominating convention was in 1848, when the Whig Party, meeting in Sansom Street’s long-gone Chinese Museum building, nominated Zachary Taylor, who went on to win the White House.
The 10th and most recent time, Democrats in 2016 made Hillary Rodham Clinton the first woman to be nominated for president by a major party.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and other local leaders are hoping to make more history by landing Philly’s 11th convention in 2028. And part of the appeal is the promise of a boost to the local economy as thousands of conventiongoers buy up hotel rooms, spend money at restaurants, and visit the city’s attractions.
Philadelphia “would see substantial economic benefits,” Gov. Josh Shapiro recently wrote to the Democratic National Committee, which this week named the city as one of five finalists to host the party’s next convention, alongside Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, and Denver.
But how much do cities really benefit from hosting political conventions? Here’s what you need to know about what Philly stands to gain from hosting another DNC.
Conventions’ economic impact debatable
Tourism bureaus and convention planners often make lofty claims about the economic benefits of major events like political conventions.
Visit Philly, for instance, in 2016 commissioned the consulting firm Tourism Economics to examine that year’s DNC, and the firm found the event brought 54,300 visitors to the region and provided a $230.9 million injection into the local economy.
But economists who have studied conventions are skeptical of such claims. A 2018 study of both parties’ conventions in 2008 and 2012 found that “political conventions do not seem to have the large economic impact that is usually suggested by traditional economic impact studies.”
Officials at the time often claimed economic impacts north of $150 million for conventions. But estimates that high rely on unrealistic assumptions about how much money conventiongoers spend each day, according to the study, which was published in the journal Papers in Regional Science.
“Cities and states often tout mega events as vehicles for economic growth,” economists Lauren R. Heller, Victor A. Matheson, and E. Frank Stephenson wrote in the paper. “Hosting national political conventions generates a large inflow of overnight visitors and increases hotel revenue. However, the cumulative effect of approximately 29,000 additional room nights of lodging services and $20 million of hotel revenue imply that traditional economic impact estimates may be unrealistically large.”
Hotels are big winners
Although conventions’ overall economic impact is debatable, there is little disagreement about their benefits to one industry in particular: hotels.
“I’ve seen a lot of different large events come through [over] the years, and the DNC was one that definitely delivered,” said Ed Grose, president and CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association. “I can think of a few of examples of hotels making their annual budget based on the DNC alone.”
Grose said the benefits are widespread in the lodging industry when a convention rolls into town.
“It’s not just Center City hotels, but the airport area, the suburban hotels — everyone benefits from the DNC,” Grose said. “It’s especially good for our frontline team members; it’s good for our restaurants; it’s good for our bars. It is an event that delivers a huge economic hype.”
Minimal tradeoffs
Debates over economic impact are often centered on situations in which officials must weigh tradeoffs, such as whether to provide tax breaks to businesses promising new jobs.
For cities, political conventions are a different story. While hosting another DNC would likely require taxpayer resources from the state and federal governments, there would be little downside for Parker and the city budget.
Conventions are funded primarily through private contributions. In 2016, the DNC host committee raised about $85 million — $10 million of which came from taxpayers in the form of a state grant.
Much of the cost incurred by local governments related to security is reimbursed by the federal government. Congress has appropriated grant funding for presidential nominating convention host cities since 9/11.
In 2024, the localities hosting both the DNC and the Republican National Convention were each eligible to receive about $75 million in reimbursements.
Beyond dollars and cents
For some, the value proposition of a convention coming to town is as much about getting attention as it is boosting the economy. The 2016 DNC drew roughly 19,000 media members from around the world, according to the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Labor leader Ryan Boyer, who heads the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council and is a close Parker ally, said conventions like the DNC that bring major donors and corporations to town have the potential to result in “longitudinal jobs,” meaning they could lay the groundwork for future investments by potential employers.
He said a convention is an opportunity to showcase spots of the city ripe for investment — such as the Navy Yard, the industrial hub known as the Bellwether District, and the life sciences corridor in University City — to corporate figures who might not otherwise travel here.
“It’s a chance to show off Philadelphia,” Boyer said. “We’re a good business proposition.”
Grose said there were indirect, long-term impacts from hosting conventions.
“We get a lot of exposure from being on TV for a week. There’s a lot of things that happen during the DNC that we can’t buy,” he said. ”It’s great to see we are back in the mix after a relatively short time since hosting the DNC. That just shows what a great job we did as a city.”
David L. Cohen, the longtime Democratic fundraiser who is leading the recently formed host committee called Pick Pennsylvania, noted another reason revisiting Philadelphia could be an appealing pick for Democrats: It allows the party to dominate the biggest media market in a critical swing state.
“You own the media market for the week that you’re there,” said Cohen, a former Comcast executive who served as U.S. ambassador to Canada under former President Joe Biden. “The party couldn’t afford to pay for the positive advertising the party would get for holding its convention in Philadelphia.”
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker this week appointed former prosecutor Tito Valdes as Philadelphia’s new director of LGBTQ+ affairs.
Valdes, who graduated from Pennsylvania State University Dickinson Law, has extensive experience working on legal issues concerning youth. He previously worked as a city attorney representing the Philadelphia Department of Human Services in child welfare cases. And he is well-known for his work as a Philadelphia assistant district attorney in the family violence and sexual assault unit.
Valdes said one of his top priorities in his new role will be working with DHS to that ensure LGBTQ+ youth receive proper care in the city’s foster system.
“I am envisioning a particular focus on LGBTQ youth and care, and just ensuring that that particular population, which is in the system oftentimes because of who they are, receive services that are culturally competent,” Valdes said in an interview.
Valdes is the third person to hold the job under Parker’s administration, which began in January 2024. The previous two both left the city under unusual circumstances, and Valdes said he hopes to restore stability to the office.
“The community generally deserves and needs stability and just a sense of consistency,” he said.
Valdes assumes the role at a sensitive time for the city’s work on equality and civil rights issues. Progressives and advocates for marginalized populations have called on Parker to take a more aggressive stance against President Donald Trump’s attacks on immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community, and other groups.
But Parker has for the most part avoided direct confrontation with Trump in a strategy to prevent Philadelphia from being targeted by his administration. (One notable exception is the city’s lawsuit to preserve exhibits on slavery at Independence National Historical Park.)
“My approach will be to loudly proclaim what I believe the Parker administration does proclaim, which is that everybody deserves to be treated fairly, that we’re committed to this work,” Valdes said.
The Philadelphia Gay News first reported Parker’s appointment of Valdes, who has served on the board of the William Way LGBT Community Center and on the Governor’s Advisory Commission on LGBTQ Affairs under former Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf.
Valdes has won the Prosecutor of the Year award from the Philadelphia Coalition for Victim Advocacy and the Team Excellence Award from the Philadelphia Children’s Alliance, according to the mayor’s office. He most recently worked at the personal injury law firm Anapol Weiss.
“Tito brings years of legal experience and proven intergovernmental, collaborative leadership to this role,” Parker said in a statement. “His leadership will help ensure that LGBTQ+ Philadelphians experience a city government that is responsive, accountable, and fully committed to their safety and opportunity.”
The Philadelphia Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs works to “strengthen protections, expand opportunity, and improve service delivery for LGBTQ+ residents across Philadelphia,” according to the city.
Valdes’ most recent predecessor, Tyrell Brown, was fired last year after receiving a seminude photograph from another high-ranking city employee, then-deputy chief of staff Chris Dailey, while using a cruising app.
Inspector General Alex DeSantis said he recommended Parker fire Brown and Brandee Anderson — who was the city’s chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer — after an investigation by his office found they acted “highly unprofessionally” while discussing the photograph in the workplace.
Anderson has publicly pushed back on the city’s account, denying that she and Brown mishandled the incident and saying the administration targeted her for pushing the city to be more aggressive on DEI issues.
Brown has not commented on the incident. But they said in a statement that they were “incredibly excited and proud of Tito’s appointment.”
“This moment is about celebrating his leadership and standing behind him as he steps into this role, something I am honored and proud to do,” Brown said.
Morrison-McLean made national headlines in March 2024, two months after Parker took office, when she and her husband were arrested after a state trooper pulled her over on I-76 for multiple violations. During the traffic stop, Morrison-McLean recorded a cell phone video of a confrontation between the trooper and her husband, who had been following her in a separate vehicle and was also pulled over. The video went viral, but it answered few questions about the circumstances that led to the confrontation.
Philadelphia’s $10 billion municipal pension system is now 68% funded and on pace to reach full funding by 2032, a year earlier than previously projected, City Controller Christy Brady announced this week.
A decade ago, the pension fund was only 45% funded and appeared to pose a significant threat to the city’s fiscal health. But a series of reforms carried about by successive mayors, state and city legislators, and municipal labor leaders have fostered a remarkable turnaround.
The city’s pension system pays for retirement benefits for city workers. Benefits vary based on when employees were hired. About 35,000 people are currently receiving benefits, according to the pension board’s most recent newsletter. That includes retirees, their beneficiaries, and disability claimants.
“The fiscal health of the Pension Fund continues its relentless upward climb since many reforms were put in place 10 years ago,” Brady, who sits on the city Board of Pensions and Retirement, said in a statement. “We’ve made smart investments, doubled our assets, reduced investment manager fees — resulting in a large reduction of the overall liability for taxpayers.”
The reforms included increasing annual contributions from the city budget to the pension fund beyond the minimum amount required by state law; negotiating union contracts with higher employee retirement contributions; moving away from high-fee investment managers; and dedicating revenue from a 1% sales tax in Philadelphia to the pension fund.
Despite disagreeing on many other issues, the mayoral administrations of Michael A. Nutter, Jim Kenney, and now Cherelle L. Parker have largely stuck to the same playbook when it comes to turning around the pension fund.
“Everyone has played a role in the stabilization of our pension fund, a development with enormous fiscal consequences for our city,” Parker said last year to City Council.
The continuity is in no small part due to the influence of Rob Dubow, who has been the city’s finance director since 2009 and has encouraged mayors to prioritize improving the health of the pension fund. Dubow chairs the pension board, which in addition to Brady includes appointees from the administration and the labor unions for city workers.
The good news for the pension fund comes as Parker prepares to unveil her proposal for the next city budget to Council on March 12.
The current budget, which took effect in July 2025 and was originally projected at $6.8 billion, has grown to just under $7 billion, according to the latest Quarterly City Manager’s Report. The fund balance — the amount of money left unspent, and the city’s primary reserve for navigating unexpected crises — is now projected to close the current fiscal year at $509 million, up from an initial estimate of $471 million.
As the city chips away at the pension system’s unfunded liability, it is paying more than $800 million per year into the system, an enormous expense. But there is light at the end of the tunnel.
If Parker serves two terms, she will leave office right when the pension fund is projected to reach full funding, which will be a watershed moment and will reduce the annual pension contribution by more than $400 million.
Parker’s budget plans appear to take into account that the next mayor may have it easier when it comes to fixed costs. For instance, her 13-year schedule for reducing business income and receipts tax rates, which Council approved last year, back-loaded the biggest tax cuts until after she is likely to leave office.
Meanwhile, Parker’s signature housing initiative calls for the city to take out $800 million in bonds over the next two years. Philly taxpayers will repay that debt, along with an estimated $500 million in interest, over the coming decades.
For the third time in two decades, Philadelphia voters this May will have the opportunity to weigh in on a city rule requiring local elected officials to step down from their current jobs if they want to seek higher office.
Voters rejected City Council’s first two attempts to get rid of the resign-to-run rule, which requires a ballot measure because it is part of the city’s Home Rule Charter.
The latest proposal, which Council approved Thursday in a 15-1 vote, will go before the voters during the May 19 primary election. Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, who authored the measure, is hopeful it will be approved because his proposal is more limited than Council’s previous attempts.
“Reforming the resign-to-run rule for local elected officials is a critical first step towards ensuring Philadelphians have the best representation possible at all levels of government,” Thomas said in a statement.
Rather than eliminating the resign-to-run rule, Thomas’ proposal would amend it to allow all elected city officials except the mayor to run for state or federal offices without resigning. (Council members would still have to step down if they wanted to run for mayor, and mayors would still have to resign to seek any other office.)
What was this week’s highlight?
Why stop there? Councilmember Jeffery Young Jr. cast the only vote against Thomas’ proposal.
He said afterward that he believes a measure to alter the resign-to-run rule should be paired with another charter amendment: one that would impose term limits for Council members.
“I do believe that we should be limited as elected officials,” said Young, a first-term Council member representing North Philadelphia and parts of Center City. “I do think that as a public office, we shouldn’t do these jobs forever.”
Young’s position echoes that of the Committee of Seventy, Philadelphia’s business-backed good-government group. Committee of Seventy CEO Lauren Cristella told Council last year that pairing a resign-to-run change with term limits would provide “comprehensive, not piecemeal, reform.”
The group proposed limiting Council members to three four-year terms. Young said he is open to negotiating about what the right number of terms should be.
What else happened?
Never read the comments: Is serving on City Council a “real job”?
Not according to a recent Instagram comment from Young, whose taxpayer-funded salary is about $166,000 per year.
“Jay Young is a joke of a councilperson and I cannot wait till he’s replaced,” wrote Fisher, who posts about urbanism issues and has thousands of followers across his social media accounts.
Young replied: “me too so I can get a real job.”
After Council ended Thursday, Young said the comment was not an indication of his political future.
“I’m joking,” he told reporters. “The guy called me a joke, and I made a joke.”
Councilmember Jeffery Young, Jr. in chambers as City Council meets Dec. 11, 2025.
The backstory: Young, who represents the North Philadelphia-based 5th District, had proposed a zoning bill to prevent the former Hahnemann University Hospital site on North Broad Street from being redeveloped into housing. Young said he was hoping to see the site return to being an employment hub.
But instead, his efforts to change the area’s zoning led to a rush of housing permit applications from developers hoping to beat him to the punch as his proposal made its way through the legislative process. He has since pressed pause on the bill, and The Inquirer video laid out how the saga had unfolded.
In a Council speech Thursday, Young appeared to walk back his comment, although he did not directly mention the episode.
“People say a lot of vile stuff about us. It seems like we’re not allowed to have a sense of humor about it,” Young said. “But I want my constituents to know that in the 5th Council District, we are fighting each and every day to improve their lives.”
The Instagram comment was not the first time Young has provided curious commentary about his political future.
Late last year, when The Inquirer asked if he planned to run for reelection in 2027, Young said: “It’s not up to me to make that decision. … It’s up to the people of the 5th District.”
Usually, the people’s will is discerned through elections. Young, who has already drawn a potential opponent in next year’s race, said he will instead take the pulse of the 5th District by reaching out to people before deciding whether to seek a second four-year term.
At the time, Young seemed to think being a member of Council was a real job.
“I like doing my job,” he said last year.
Quote of the day
Jerome Richardson, 21, a senior at Temple who is a native of St. Paul, has been charged along with journalist Don Lemon for an anti-ICE protest at a Minnesota church last month.
Temple student honored: Council on Thursday recognized Jerome Richardson, a Temple University senior who was arrested by federal authorities on charges connected to a January protest in his native St. Paul, Minn.
During the surge in immigration enforcement activities and civil unrest in the Twin Cities this winter, protesters interrupted a service at a church whose pastor is also a federal immigration officer.
The fallout from the demonstration led to the controversial arrest of former CNN anchor Don Lemon, who live-streamed the event and said he was covering it as a journalist. Richardson said in a video he assisted Lemon “by helping with logistics and connecting him with local contacts” and posted a text-message exchange in which Lemon said Richardson could “produce” for him.
Richardson turned himself in to federal authorities in Philadelphia earlier this month. His case is pending, along with those of Lemon and other defendants.
“Whenever journalists are under attack, we are all under attack,” Richardson said in a speech to Council.
Staff writers Anna Orso, Jake Blumgart, and Ryan W. Briggs contributed to this article.
At the end of the event, the moderator, 21st Ward Leader Lou Agre, allowed the candidates to ask one another questions. Their choices offered hints as to which of their rivals the candidates view as most threatening.
Dr. Ala Stanford, who appears to be the strongest candidate among the non-elected officials in the race, questioned the accomplishments of State Sen. Sharif Street, who is seen by many as a frontrunner after being endorsed by the Democratic City Committee and building trades unions.
The 3rd District covers about half of Philadelphia and is, by some measures, the bluest seat in Congress. The Democratic primary is May 19.
The forum was initially scheduled to be held in-person at the Polish Legion of American Veterans’ Adam Kowalski post in Roxborough, but it was moved to Zoom due to the blizzard on Sunday and Monday.
Here are the issues the candidates debated Monday night.
She began the candidate-on-candidate questioning on Monday by asking Street for instances in which his work has helped constituents in tangible ways, setting up a juxtaposition with her record.
“In a time when the people are asking for new leadership, they’re asking for innovation, they’re asking for not the same politics as usual … can you tell the people a time when the seas were rough and you stepped up and delivered for them that they felt it?” Stanford asked, adding: “Can you share what you can do during the chaos that people can feel — and where was it during COVID?”
Physician Ala Stanford (left) and State Sen. Sharif Street at a December forum hosted by the 9th Ward Democratic Committee.
Street began by saying that, as the top Democrat on the Senate Banking & Insurance Committee in Harrisburg, he boosted Stanford’s work during the pandemic by pressuring insurance companies to reimburse her fledgling organization, which provided testing and vaccinations for thousands of Philadelphians in disadvantaged neighborhoods.
“Independence Blue Cross was not moving forward with the reimbursement rates for the Black COVID Doctors Consortium,” Street said. “I spoke with you, and I helped, and I reached out to them to make sure that [the Medicaid plan] Keystone First would begin to pay the reimbursement in an immediate way.”
He also said his office distributed food to constituents and helped process rent rebates during the pandemic.
In the run-up to the 2020 election, Street, as chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party at the time, repeatedly fought in court against President Donald Trump’s campaign over election administration issues. In her question, Stanford asked Street to focus on what he delivered for his constituents — “not that you sued Donald Trump 20 times and won every time, because how do the people feel that?”
“Donald Trump wanted to challenge people’s ability to vote in some of the most vulnerable communities,” he said. “I went to court, I stopped him, and I made sure that they had the right to vote, and that was why we were able to pass the vote to remove him from office.”
Street and Rabb clash over hate-crime legislation
When it was his turn to pose a question, Street pressed Rabb on why the progressive was opposed to hate-crime legislation, an issue the two had sparred over at a forum last week.
“You and I have worked to fight for regular folks, for disadvantaged people, for a long time. I was shocked that you … want to prevent hate-crimes legislation,” Street, a centrist Democrat, said to Rabb. “I’ve heard from so many trans women of color, who are most likely to be victims of hate crimes, and they don’t understand.”
Rabb responded by saying that Street’s line of attack was “shameful and unnecessary.”
“I know you want to win. I just thought you would do it with honor,” Rabb said. “I am an active member of the LGBTQ Equality Caucus. I am the father of a queer son. I represent an active queer community. … To use this as a political punching bag is just — man, it’s beneath you.”
At the end of the forum, Street clarified that he has no doubts about Rabb’s commitment to the LGBTQ community.
At a December candidates forum in Mount Airy, (from left) State Reps. Morgan Cephas and Chris Rabb and physician David Oxman.
“I had a policy dispute about hate crimes,” Street said. “I did not mean to question your commitment to the trans community or to your kid.”
The dust-up got in the way of a meaningful debate over hate-crime laws, which increase sentences for people convicted of crimes that prosecutors prove were motivated by prejudice against particular groups.
Such laws are common across the country, but they have long faced criticism from the libertarian right, which fears that such regulations could be used to target citizens for political views. The laws have also faced pushback from some on the progressive left, who contend that they contribute to mass incarceration.
“Politicians tout hate-crime laws as proof they care about the marginalized,” Rabb wrote in an op-ed for PennLive last fall. “In reality, the main outcome is more policing, more prosecution, and more incarceration.”
Street said last week that people who oppose hate-crime laws on the “far left … don’t want to address the antisemitism on the left or the right.”
The Pennsylvania House in 2023 approved a bill to expand the state’s law that criminalizes ethnic intimidation to include sexual orientation and disability status. Rabb voted for the bill, which ultimately died in the Senate amid GOP opposition, but said he had “considerable reservations.”
“We should collectively focus on structural violence and hatred that has been cultivated by the very institutions that have been asked to address this legislation,” Rabb said at the time.
Cephas presses Stanford about her government contracts
Cephas, who represents a West Philadelphia district and chairs the Philadelphia delegation to the state House, questioned how much money Stanford’s nonprofit organization has made from government contracting since the onset of the pandemic.
“You oftentimes quote that you, as a private citizen, came in and saved Philadelphia from COVID, and, you know, there are a number of people on this [Zoom] call that stepped up during COVID,” Cephas said, noting that she worked with Stanford to set up clinics in her district during the pandemic.
“We all did it in our own individual capacity, and we didn’t receive government contracts for it. … How much in government contracts did you receive during the COVID-19 period?”
Stanford noted that she initially launched the Black Doctors Consortium with her own financial resources to serve neighborhoods that were not being reached by existing healthcare and government institutions. She said her first $1 million city grant for testing came months after she began her work.
In 2020 and 2021, Stanford’s groups received $2.5 million in grants and contracts from the city, state, and federal governments, according to Stanford campaign manager Janée Taft-Mack. That money covered costs including supplies, staff, mobile medical units, personal protective equipment, and facility rentals, Taft-Mack said.
Since then, Stanford hascontinued partnering with government agencies to address healthcare inequality. She has opened the Dr. Ala Stanford Center for Health Equity in Swampoodle and secured a $5.38 millioncontract for the Black Doctors Consortium to work at Riverview Wellness Village, the city-owned drug recovery home.
The total amount Stanford and her organizations have received for work since 2021 was not immediately clear.
Philly’s most famous culinary offering has proven politically hazardous over the years, such as when John Kerry catastrophically asked for Swiss cheese while visiting Pat’s King of Steaks during the 2004 presidential election.
This year’s congressional hopefuls were better prepared than the Massachusetts senator.
Agre, the moderator whose ward includes much of Roxborough, interjected to insist that Dalessandro’s served up the best steak sandwiches in the city.
At a candidate’s forum on Feb. 9 at the Church of the Holy Trinity, (left to right) Alex Schnell, physician Dave Oxman, State Sen. Sharif Street, physician Ala Stanford, State Rep. Morgan Cephas, and Pablo McConnie-Saad.
Cephas said she orders Cooper Sharp at Angelo’s Pizzeria. Stanford’s go-to is American from Dalessandro’s. Street, a vegetarian, said he gets non-meat cheesesteaks from Hip City Veg and enjoys the cheese they use. (Mozzarella, per Hip City’s website.)
And Rabb shouted out the cheesesteak egg rolls from Black Dragon, a West Philadelphia establishment offering a “unique fusion of Black American cuisine presented with the familiar aesthetics of classic Chinese American takeout,” according to its website.
Still tense from the previous questions and perhaps a bit peckish, the candidates declined Agre’s offer to deliver closing remarks.
Staff writers Max Marin and Ryan W. Briggs contributed to this article.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration last August told the U.S. Department of Justice that Philadelphia remains a “welcoming city” for immigrants and that it had no plans to change the policies the Trump administration has said make it a “sanctuary city,” according to a letter obtained by The Inquirer through an open-records request.
“To be clear, the City of Philadelphia is firmly committed to supporting our immigrant communities and remaining a welcoming city,” City Solicitor Renee Garcia wrote in the Aug. 25, 2025, letter. “At the same time, the City does not maintain any policies or practices that violate federal immigration laws or obstruct federal immigration enforcement.”
Garcia sent the letter last summer in response to a demand from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi that Philadelphia end its so-called sanctuary city policies, which prohibit the city from assisting some federal immigration tactics. Bondi sent similar requests to other jurisdictions that President Donald Trump’s administration contends illegally obstruct immigration enforcement, threatening to withhold federal funds and potentially charge local officials with crimes.
Although some other cities quickly publicized their responses to Bondi, Parker’s administration fought to keep Garcia’s letter secret for months and initially denied a records request submitted by The Inquirer under Pennsylvania’s Right-To-Know Law.
The city released the letter this week after The Inquirer appealed to the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records, which ruled that the Parker administration’s grounds for withholding it were invalid.
The letter largely mirrors Parker’s public talking points about immigration policy, raising questions about why her administration sought to keep it confidential.
But the administration’s opaque handling of the letter keeps with the approach Parker has taken to immigration issues since Trump returned to office 13 months ago. Parker has vowed not to change immigrant-friendly policies enacted by past mayors, while avoiding confrontation with the federal government in a strategy aimed at keeping Philadelphia out of the president’s crosshairs as he pursues a nationwide deportation campaign.
Although U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers operate in the city, Philadelphia has not seen a surge in federal agents like the ones Trump sent to Minneapolis and other jurisdictions.
A spokesperson for the Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Immigrant advocates have called on Parker to take a more aggressive stand against Trump, and City Council may soon force the conversation. Councilmembers Rue Landau and Kendra Brooks have proposed a package of bills aimed at further constricting ICE operations in the city, including a proposal to ban law enforcement officers from wearing masks. The bills will likely advance this spring.
Advocates and protesters call for ICE to get out of Philadelphia in Center City on January 27, 2026.
Parker’s delicate handling of immigration issues stands in contrast to her aggressive response to the Trump administration’s removal last month of exhibits related to slavery at the President’s House Site on Independence Mall.
The city sued to have the panels restored almost immediately after they were taken down. After a federal judge sided with the Parker administration, National Park Service employees on Thursday restored the panels to the exhibit in a notable win for the mayor.
Bondi’s letter, which was addressed to Parker, demanded the city produce a plan to eliminate its “sanctuary” policies or face consequences, including the potential loss of federal funds.
“Individuals operating under the color of law, using their official position to obstruct federal immigration enforcement efforts and facilitating or inducing illegal immigration may be subject to criminal charges,” Bondi wrote in the letter, which is dated Aug. 13. “You are hereby notified that your jurisdiction has been identified as one that engages in sanctuary policies and practices that thwart federal immigration enforcement to the detriment of the interests of the United States. This ends now.”
“Sanctuary city” is not a legal term, but Philadelphia’s policies are in line with how the phrase is typically usedto describe jurisdictions that decline to assist ICE.
Immigrant advocates have in recent years shifted to using the label “welcoming city,” in part because calling any place a “sanctuary” is misleading when ICE can still operate throughout the country. The newer term is also useful for local officials hoping to evade Trump’s wrath, as it allows them to avoid the politically hazardous “sanctuary city” label.
Philly’s most notable immigration policy is a 2016 executive order signed by then-Mayor Jim Kenney that prohibits city jails from honoring ICE detainer requests, in which ICE agents ask local prisons to extend inmates’ time behind bars to facilitate their transfer into federal custody. The city also prohibits its police officers from inquiring about immigration status when it is not necessary to enforce local law.
Renee Garcia, Philadelphia City Solicitor speaks before City Council on Jan 22, 2025.
Garcia wrote in the August letter that Kenney’s order “was not designed to obstruct federal immigration laws, but rather to clarify the respective roles of the Police Department and the Department of Prisons in their interactions with the Department of Homeland Security when immigrants are in City custody.” The city, she wrote, honors ICE requests when they are accompanied by judicial warrants.
Immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility, and — in a case centered on Kenney’s order — the Philadelphia-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled in 2019 that cities do not have to assist ICE.
The court, Garcia wrote, “held that the federal government could not coerce Philadelphia into performing immigration tasks under threat of federal repercussions, including the loss of federal funds.”
City loses fight over records
In Pennsylvania, all government records are considered public unless they are specifically exempted from disclosure under the Right-To-Know Law. In justifying its attempt to prevent the city’s response to the Trump administration from becoming public, the Parker administration cited two exemptions that had little to do with the circumstances surrounding Garcia’s letter.
First, the administration argued that the letter was protected by the work product doctrine, which prevents attorneys’ legal work and conclusions from being shared with opposing parties. Given that the letter had already been sent to the federal government — the city’s opponent in any potential litigation — the doctrine “has been effectively waived,” Magdalene C. Zeppos-Brown, deputy chief counsel in the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records, wrote in her decision in favor of The Inquirer.
“Despite the [city’s] argument, the Bondi Letter clearly establishes that the Department of Justice is a potential adversary in anticipated litigation,” Zeppos-Brown wrote.
Second, the city argued that the records were exempted from disclosure under the Right-To-Know Law because they were related to a noncriminal investigation. The law, however, prevents disclosure of records related to Pennsylvania government agencies’ own investigations — not of records related to a federal investigation that happen to be in the possession of a local agency.
“Notably, the [city] acknowledges that the investigation at issue was conducted by the DOJ, a federal agency, rather than the [city] itself,” Zeppos-Brown wrote. “Since the DOJ is a federal agency, the noncriminal investigation exemption would not apply.”
Garcia’s office declined to appeal the decision, which would have required the city to file a petition in Common Pleas Court.
“As we stated, the City of Philadelphia is firmly committed to supporting our immigrant communities as a Welcoming City,” Garcia said in a statement Wednesday after the court instructed the city to release the letter. “At the same time, we have a long-standing collaborative relationship with federal, state, and local partners to protect the health and safety of Philadelphia, and we remain [in] compliance with federal immigration laws.”
Staff writers Anna Orso and Jeff Gammage contributed to this article.
