Pennsylvania elected officials are mourning the death of former State Sen. Shirley Kitchen, the second Black woman to serve in the state Senate and a champion for progressive issues who represented parts of North Philadelphia for more than two decades. She died Saturdayat 79. A cause of death was not immediately clear.
Kitchen represented the 3rd Senatorial District, composed of parts of North Philadelphia, for 20 years. She is remembered by her former colleagues as a pillar and matriarch of her community who worked tirelessly to improve the lives of low-income people, even after she retired.
“She did so many things for so many people. Now that I’m old enough to appreciate it, I’m not quite sure how she did it — and she did it with such force,” said State Sen. Anthony H. Williams (D., Philadelphia), who served alongside Kitchen in the Senate and had known her for decades. Kitchen was elected to the state Senate in 1996 and served five terms before retiring in 2016.
Her former colleagues, some through tears, credited many of Pennsylvania’s recent criminal justice reforms as being born under Kitchen’s leadership, with her early legislative proposals paving the way for their passage years later. For example, Kitchen authored early drafts of what is now known as the Clean Slate Act, which automatically seals some nonviolent convictions after 10 years, hiding them from most employer and landlord background checks. She first introduced similar legislationin Harrisburg years earlier and it failed. In 2018, two years after Kitchen retired, the Clean Slate Act became law in Pennsylvania and was heralded as a first-in-the-nation model for criminal justice reform.
Elected officials across the city shared their condolences, remembering Kitchen as an advocate who cared deeply for her community.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker in a social media post on Sunday recalled Kitchen as “fighting for people who often had no one else to fight for them,” and as a trailblazer for Black women in politics.
“Shirley Kitchen cared about working people, and she cared about Philadelphia,” said Parker, the city’s first Black female mayor and a former state representative.
City Council President Kenyatta Johnson said in a statement that Kitchen “never forgot who she was fighting for,” dedicating her life to making people’s lives better.
State Rep. Joanna McClinton (D., Philadelphia), Pennsylvania’s first Black female speaker of the House, wrote in a social media post that Kitchen was “a mentor and her service in the state House and Senate inspired me greatly.”
Williams added that Kitchen also sought to elevate other Black politicians, like himself, to elected office — and laid the groundwork for much of the city’s current political progressivism.
“The reality is that a lot of the infrastructure that helps them, Shirley had everything to do with it, and more,” Williams said, noting her advocacy and experience during the Civil Rights Movement. “I would hope the progressives in this generation would tip their hat to a generation that really created the progressive movement.”
State Sen. Sharif Street (D., Philadelphia) had known Kitchen since he was a child, and said she helped him see the power a Senate seat has in improving the lives of his neighbors. When she decided to retire, Kitchen encouraged Street, who was on her staff at the time, to run to fill the vacancy in the 3rd District following her fifth and final term in the state Senate.
Williams and Street recalled Kitchen as a fair but demanding mentor.
“If she told you to do something, you better do it,” Williams said, with a laugh.
For Street, Kitchen “didn’t limit her advice. She had opinions about everything in my life, including when my wife was right and I needed to listen to her.”
Street said he spoke with Kitchen weekly, and Williams said he remained in touch with her as recently as last month. She often had ideas or issues she wanted the senators to take up. Street spoke with her last week about a forthcoming Registered Community Organization meeting that she was leading about a new proposed development nearby, emblematic of her continued involvement in her community.
Prior to her election to the state Senate, Kitchen was involved in the National Welfare Rights Movement, which was a progressive advocacy group for the dignified treatment of women and children, largely led by Black women, during the 1960s and 1970s, Williams said.
Kitchen served as the minority chair of the Senate Public Health and Welfare committee, in which she often leaned on her social work experience to inform her legislative proposals.
A Democrat in a time where Republicans controlled the state legislature, she served her entire tenure in the minority party, but was still able to garner bipartisan support for some of her legislative proposals.
“This image of her being an urban Black woman from Philadelphia would limit her ability to get stuff done in the Senate just wasn’t true,” Williams added. “She could analyze people and figure out what way to approach them with exceptional skill.”
Born in 1946 in Augusta, Ga., Kitchen attended the Philadelphia School District and graduated from Antioch University in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in human services, according to her Senate Library biography. She went on to work for former Philadelphia Mayor John Street, Sharif Street’s father, before she was elected to the state House in a special election in 1987. After she lost reelection to the seat in 1989, Kitchen returned to Harrisburg a decade later after her election to represent the 3rd Senatorial District.
“She was a transformational figure that loved her community and understood that the purpose of those of us holding elected power is to be able to make a difference in the lives of the people we serve, in a way that they can feel and see,” Sharif Street added.
Funeral services will be announced in the coming days, he said.
Senator Shirley Kitchen in the audience during speeches in honor of the historical marker that was unveiled at Sullivan Progress Plaza September 14, 2016. The plaza was the first black-owned and operating shopping center in America. Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2016.
An overwhelming majority of Philadelphians feel safe in their neighborhoods and more than 40% believe that the city has become cleaner under the leadership of Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, according to a new poll, suggesting that city residents see significant progress on the mayor’s key campaign promises.
However, there is not a broad citywide consensus on Parker’s tenure as she heads into an expected reelection campaign next year, and there were also red flags for her and the city, including alarmingly bad evaluations of the public school system.
That is according to a recent Suffolk University/Philadelphia Inquirer poll that surveyed 500 Philadelphians across the city on issues including crime, quality of life, city services, and education. More than half of those surveyed said they would rate Philly as a “good” or “excellent” place to live.
About 83% of residents reported feeling safe in the city just five years after record-high rates of gun violence in Philadelphia, with respondents in neighborhoods most affected by violent crime most likely to say they feel that crime has decreased since Parker took office in 2024.
And the city’s public school system emerged as a primary concern, with 45% saying they would rate Philadelphia’s schools as of “poor” quality, while more than half of the poll’s respondents said that schools play an important role in whether they stay in the city or move out.
The survey was conducted last week, after the financially struggling Philadelphia School District and its controversial school closure plan dominated local headlines for more than a month.
David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center in Boston, said the poll provides Philadelphia policymakers with a blueprint for how to keep people in the city: continue progress on crime and improve the public schools.
“If that happens,” he said, “then Philadelphia is poised to be a renaissance city.”
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker attending the Juneteenth Block Party at the African American Museum in Philadelphia on June 19.
Parker said in a statement that her administration “values both qualitative and quantitative information.”
“The real-life, lived experiences of people in this city are what matters most,” she said. “Polling is not my North Star in how I govern. My solutions always come from the ground up, from what people can see, touch, and feel.”
For Parker’s political fortunes, the poll represents mixed results. It showed that the substantial base of support that lifted the mayor to office in 2023 is holding up, with Black residents and older Philadelphians most likely to say they have a favorable view of her and see progress on her campaign promises.
But Parker has not consolidated broad citywide enthusiasm, with 44% of respondents saying that they have a favorable view of the mayor and 35% saying they have an unfavorable one. That is positive territory for Parker more than halfway through her first term, but not overwhelmingly so.
Her biggest vulnerability is with young people — respondents under age 45 were more likely to say that they had an unfavorable view of the mayor than a favorable one. White residents were also more sour on Parker.
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Paleologos said that the poll shows there are “pockets of strength” that make Parker, a centrist Democrat, electorally strong, but that he would not consider her support broad-based.
Those results come as the city’s most prominent progressive political groups are weighing whether to mount a challenge against Parker next year. As the incumbent, Parker would be the hands-down favorite in any contest, as no Philadelphia mayor has lost a campaign for reelection in modern history.
Aren Platt, the executive director of People for Parker, the mayor’s political arm, said in a statement that Parker’s support “has always been under-counted, especially in public polling.” He cited polling conducted during the 2023 mayor’s race that showed her tied with or trailing her top opponents in the Democratic primary, in which Parker prevailed by a commanding 10 percentage points.
Platt also said the Suffolk University/Inquirer poll is not necessarily predictive of how the mayor could perform in a theoretical reelection race. The poll was of Philadelphia residents, not likely primary voters.
“This poll may reflect the demographics of Philadelphia, but elections are decided by the people who show up to vote on election day,” he said. “In Philadelphia, those are two very different universes.”
The poll also showed relatively positive marks for one of Parker’s potential successors: City Council President Kenyatta Johnson. He has said that he supports Parker for reelection, but Philadelphia mayors are limited to two terms and Johnson is widely seen as a potential future contender for the city’s top office.
Overall, 48% of respondents said they had a favorable view of Johnson and only 12% had an unfavorable one. Johnson is also far less publicly known than Parker, with 40% of those surveyed saying they had either never heard of him or were undecided on their view of him.
Negative reviews of the Philadelphia School District
About one in five respondents said that schools and education are the most important issue in the city, making it second only to crime. Paleologos said that is somewhat unique to Philadelphia — in other major cities where he has polled public opinion, he said, respondents often rank jobs and the economy as greater concerns.
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Nearly 75% of respondents said they would rate the quality of Philadelphia’s public schools as “fair” or “poor.” Younger residents were far more likely than older ones to rate the schools as “poor,” and more than half of all respondents said the public schools are an important factor in determining whether they and their family stay in the city or move away.
“That’s a big number,” Paleologos said. “That research alone gives the policymakers a bird’s-eye view of what they need to do to keep people here in Philadelphia.”
The survey also shows that residents see issues across the school system. When asked what should be the highest priority in improving the schools, there was little consensus among respondents: About a third said teacher pay, while a quarter said school safety, and another quarter said building repairs.
Just 4.4% said the highest priority should be instituting year-round school, an initiative that Parker campaigned on and that the district is piloting.
Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr., School Board President Reginald L. Streater, and Mayor Cherelle L. Parker stand together during an announcement at the School District of Philadelphia Headquarters on June 10.
In a statement provided to The Inquirer after the initial publication of this story, Monique Braxton, a spokesperson for the School District of Philadelphia, said district leaders share “the public’s sense of urgency to significantly improve public schools in the City of Philadelphia.”
She said the district is making progress toward the superintendent’s goal of making the district the “fastest improving large urban district in the nation.”
Braxton added that the district’s own survey suggests most parents are satisfied. The district’s 2024-25 survey, Braxton said, found that 90.3% of more than 26,000 parents whose students attend district schools said they were pleased with the quality of education their child received.
The quality of Philadelphia’s public schools has been a perennial concern, and city leaders have long pointed to the chronic underfunding of the Philadelphia School District. In 2023, the state Commonwealth Court ruled that Pennsylvania had for years unconstitutionally deprived students in low-wealth districts of an adequate education, and state lawmakers are now funding schools under a new formula.
District leaders have undertaken significant efforts in recent years to improve academic performance. There have been some positive results, including improvement on test scores and a recent report that said Philadelphia School District students’ learning post-pandemic was tops in the nation among large urban districts.
The district also earlier this year adopted a sweeping, $3.3 billion effort to renovate and modernize 169 schools. That multiyear plan was hotly debated, as it included the closure of 17 schools.
Councilmember Nina Ahmad shows off her T-shirt during a rally outside of the School District of the Philadelphia School District headquarters building on May 28. Council members rallied to oppose the school closure plan.
Parker said the Commonwealth Court “got it right” in declaring that low-wealth districts like Philadelphia’s are chronically underfunded.
“If we had all the resources we need, we’d see even more enhanced improvements in our schools,” Parker said. “I’ll never stop fighting for our children and their right to a high-quality education.”
Crime is the top concern, but most residents feel safe
Despite rates of violent crime in the city plummeting to record lows under Parker, public safety remains the top concern for three in 10 Philadelphia residents, suggesting that people who live in the city are still anxious about crime.
When asked about whether they believe crime in their neighborhood has increased or decreased over the last two years, a third of respondents said they believe it has increased, about 32% said it has decreased, and 28% said they believe it has stayed the same.
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A closer look at the results shows that a plurality of respondents in the neighborhoods most affected by violent crime, including North and West Philadelphia, believe that crime has decreased.
The respondents most likely to say that they believe crime in their area has increased live in Northeast Philly. But public data maintained by the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office show overall crime has decreased there, too. There are five Northeast Philadelphia police districts, and the total number of crime incidents reported to police declined in all of them between 2023, the year before Parker took office, and last year.
Despite the mixed poll results, a vast majority of Philadelphians — nearly 83% — said that they feel safe in their own neighborhood.
That is good news for Parker, who ran for office as a tough-on-crime Democrat amid a historic wave of gun violence and who vowed often to “bring order back to our city.”
Philadelphia police officers stand along the 2800 block of Kensington Ave. after a police involved shooting on May 23. Police shot a robbery suspect.
Parker said in a statement that the polling results are evidence that her public safety strategy is working, calling it her “number one priority.”
She also vowed to continue her administration’s efforts in Kensington, the epicenter of the city’s opioid crisis. The Parker administration has deployed a multipronged approach, including increased police patrols in the neighborhood and an expansion of offerings for people in addiction.
But 53% of poll respondents said they do not believe the mayor’s efforts there are working, and those who live closest to the problem were the least supportive. In the region that encompasses the Lower Northeast and the river wards, where Kensington is located, 68% of people said Parker’s strategy is not working while only 18% said it is.
The mayor’s overall favorability was also lowest in that area of the city, the only region where more respondents said they had an unfavorable view of the mayor than a favorable one.
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Parker acknowledged that there is “much more work to do” in Kensington and said that “changing culture and going to war with the status quo is never easy.“
Parker’s ‘clean and green’ message is landing
For a city derisively called “Filthadelphia” and where cleanliness has been a longtime concern, a significant number of people seem to think Philadelphia is getting cleaner.
When asked about trash and litter, 41% of poll respondents said they believe the city has gotten cleaner over the last two years. Just 19% said Philadelphia has gotten dirtier, and 38% said it has stayed the same.
A sanitation department truck is seen along Cresson Street at West Earlham Street in Philadelphia on the first day of trash collection after a strike on July 14, 2025.
Those are positive marks for a mayor whose slogan is “safer, cleaner, greener” and who has instituted new programs including twice-weekly trash pickup in the densest parts of the city.
Despite those efforts, Philadelphians gave worse reviews to the overall quality of city services in their neighborhood. About six in 10 respondents said the quality was either “fair” or “poor,” while 40% said “good” or “excellent.”
Staff writer Michelle Baruchman contributed to this article.
Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr. and City Representative Jazelle Jones, who are married, are poised to collect up to $752,000 in combined payouts from Philadelphia’s widely criticized Deferred Retirement Option Plan, an early retirement incentive that two decades ago sparked a major scandal in City Hall.
But neither of the city officials is actually retiring.
DROP is available to all city workers. But both of the Joneses are using the program in a way that is not available to a vast majority of municipal employees:temporarily retiring and immediately returning to their jobs, allowing them to receive their DROP payouts before the end of their city government careers.
Curtis Jones, 68, who has represented the 4th District for 18 years, is able to access that perk because he is a long-serving lawmaker. Jazelle Jones, 70, a high-ranking appointee of Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, received an exception from the mayor to be rehired after her DROP retirement.
Following her one-day retirement, Jazelle Jones also received a $97,000 payout for unused sick and vacation time, a benefit normally reserved for employees permanently departing from city government.
FILE – Curtis Jones, Jr. declares victory with his wife Jazelle and his family in the Council race in his home in West Philadelphia on Tuesday, May 15, 2007.
Lauren Cristella, president of the government watchdog group Committee of Seventy, said the administration’s handling of the situation further undermines public confidence in the DROP program.
“Rehiring an employee to the same position the day after she collects a DROP payout defeats the purpose of the program,” Cristella said. “DROP exists to manage workforce transitions, not to serve as a bonus for employees with no intention of actually leaving.”
Established in the late 1990s during Mayor Ed Rendell’s administration, DROP was originally pitched as a cost-neutral way to give the city predictability over retirements and entice high-earning employees to step down early.
But the program ended up costing the city far more than expected, andvoter frustration withelected officials’ enrollment in DROP was credited with ending the political careers of several Council members.
At the height of that controversy in 2010, Curtis Jones voted to enact a law banning future elected officials from accessing DROP. But he and others already serving at that time were “grandfathered” in, Curtis Jones said.
He would be eligible to collect a $432,000 lump-sum DROP payment in August 2028. However, Curtis Jones said he plans to run for a sixth Council term in 2027, using the loophole to briefly retire to collect the payout before resuming his post.
In interviews, the Council member, who earns $165,000 annually, said he instead plans to retire in December 2027, collecting a reduced DROP payment closer to $350,000. If he is reelected, the maneuver would allow him to hang on to his Council seat for another four years by being sworn back into office the following month.
He justified his enrollment in DROP by saying that times have changed since the 2010 vote — both for the city’s finances, which have dramatically improved, and for his health. He said he is suffering from glaucoma, an incurable disease that causes vision loss.
“Over the years, I’ve had four surgeries on my eyes,” said Curtis Jones, who represents the Northwest and West Philadelphia-based Council district. “I’ve actually lost 40% of my vision.”
Curtis Jones said he enrolled in DROP “so that if I was blind, I wouldn’t have been without resources.”
A centrist Democrat, he endorsed Parker’s 2023 campaign for mayor and is viewed as her most reliable ally on Council.
His wife, Jazelle Jones — who receives a $199,000 annual salary for serving as an ambassador for the city and planning special events — temporarily retiredfor one day last year and was then immediately rehired by the city with a $4,000 raise.
The Philadelphia Administrative Board, which oversees personnel matters, granted her an exception to return to her job. That board is led byParker, a staunch defender of DROP, and other top officials in her administration.
The mayor said she personally asked Jazelle Jones to return to work, and defended the decision.
Parker cited Jazelle Jones’ “lived experience” and the potential disruption her departure could cause for major events this year, like the city hosting World Cup games.
“The essential nature of her role is why I asked” Jazelle Jones to continue working, Parker said Tuesday in a phone interview. “And I’m unapologetic about asking. It’s one of the most important decisions I’ve made as mayor.”
Jazelle Jones was originally scheduled to retire in September 2024. Instead, in a departure from typical DROP procedures, she continued to work as the city representative through that date and took her one-day retirement a year later, in September 2025.
None of those changes appear to have been approved at the time they occurred by the city’s administrative board. It was not until March 2026 when the board retroactively approved exceptions allowing Jazelle Jones to receive an extra year of DROP — resulting in the 2025 retirement date — and her rehiring, according to board minutes.
Parker declared an emergency in order to approve the extra year of DROP for Jazelle Jones, the mayor’s office said. The move effectively increased her retirement payout by almost 20%, to nearly $320,000.
Parker’s office did not respond to questions about the deviation in the approval timeline.
Jazelle Jones did not respond to a request for comment through the mayor’s office.
‘Tools in the toolbox’
When city employees enroll in DROP, they select a mandatory retirement date no more than four years in the future. Between the time they sign up for the program and their selected retirement date, the city pays their regular salaries and makes pension payments as if they had already retired.
The deferred pension payments are deposited into an interest-bearing account that each city worker collects in a lump-sum payout four years after enrolling. The departing employee then begins to receive standard monthly pension checks, which are calculated based on when they entered DROP.
City workers make contributions from their salaries to the municipal pension fund. But their contributions do not cover all of the pension fund’s liabilities, let alonethe added costs associated with DROP, which ultimately come out of taxpayer coffers.
Philadelphia’s original DROP law created a loophole in which elected officials, who generally serve four-year terms, can enter into the program, retire a day before their terms end, and rejoin the city workforce when they are sworn in again the following day.
The revelation that many members of Council had enrolled in DROP rocked City Hall in the early 2000s. The scandal was credited for several members’ decisions to not run for new terms in 2011 and was widely seen as the reason former Councilmember Frank Rizzo Jr. lost reelection that year.
A 2017 city controller report found that, cumulatively, the program had cost the city in excess of $277 million despite initially being projected as budget-neutral.
While DROP programs were once common in cities across the country, the Government Finance Officers Association — a national organization that Philadelphia officials regularly cite for best practices when shaping the city budget — in 2020 warned they led to unpredictable costs and detrimental impacts on municipal pension funds.
“Government defined benefit plans should not include deferred retirement option programs for a variety of reasons,” the GFOA said a statement.
Parker, however, has defended the program as a valuable recruitment and retention tool.
“Government doesn’t pay you as much as the private sector, so we offer a great benefits package,” Parker told reporters in March. “DROP, the defined-benefit pension — I’m never going to be for taking away any of the tools in the toolbox that would allow the city of Philadelphia to compete.”
‘Semi-hypocritical’
In 2008, when Council was in the early stages of considering a ban on elected officials enrolling in DROP, some wanted the prohibition to apply not just to future officeholders, but current ones as well.
Curtis Jones, a freshman legislator at the time, agreed.
“It would be semi-hypocritical if I say [end it] for only future elected officials,” he said then.
The bill that Council eventually passed did not prohibit current members from enrolling in DROP. Now, Curtis Jones is set to become the first lawmaker to benefit from the program in years.
“At the time, when I was 20/20 vision, [banning lawmakers from using DROP] was my decision. And now that I’ve had some surgeries, I’ve changed that position,” Jones said Monday. “It’s an earned benefit that I contributed to that I would like to receive.”
Cristella, of the Committee of Seventy, accused Jones of hypocrisy.
“Being grandfathered in is not the same as acting with integrity,” she said.
At left is Councilmember Curtis J. Jones Jr. shaking the hand of actor and rapper Will Smith who was honored with a street naming, Will Smith Way, at N. 59th and Lancaster, across from Overbrook High School, Wednesday, March 26, 2025.
Curtis Jones enrolled in DROP in August 2024, meaning he is required to retire no later than August 2028. He has made no secret of his intent to run for a sixth term next year, even publicly musing about delaying bridge repairs in his district so as not to subject potential voters to traffic jams.
Were he to win reelection and collect his maximum $432,221 DROP payout, Curtis Jones’ scheduled retirement date would fall within the first year of his next four-year term.
However, the lawmaker said in an interview that he intends to complete his next Council term. To achieve that, he said he would instead resign in December 2027, after the November election but just before he would be sworn into a new term in January 2028.
“I am going to resign, then be sworn in [if], God willing, I’m reelected,” he said.
In this scenario, Curtis Jones said, he would receive a reduced DROP payout by forgoing the final nine months of payments into his interest-bearing account by taking his brief retirement early. He would be effectively rehired to his city job by being sworn back into office.
He added that he hopes State Rep. Morgan Cephas, a West Philadelphia Democrat, will succeed him in the 4th Council District after the 2031 elections.
Cephas declined to comment.
In 2023, Curtis Jones ran for Council president, but lost to Kenyatta Johnson. He said he is now relieved he did not win.
“I am functional. My staff kind of helps to keep that good,” Jones said. ”I am thankful to God that I did not get elected [Council] president. Do you know how much reading they do? I could have not kept up with all of the numbers and stuff like that, so I know my limitations.”
‘I had heard whispers’
During Jazelle Jones’ one-day retirement in 2025, the 25-year city employee earned a $319,757 DROP payout and cashed out nearly 1,000 hours of unused sick and vacation time, worth $97,000, as all city workers are entitled to do upon their last day of service.
The very next day, she was back on the job, with a small raise that brought her salary to about $199,000.
Michael Newmuis (center), the city’s 2026 Director Philadelphia, rings the bell to kick off the city’s “Ring It On! One Philly, A United Celebration” at Independence Visitor Center Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025. Mayor Cherelle L. Parker announced the new initiative that puts city neighborhoods at the forefront of the city celebrations of America’s 250th birthday in 2026. At right is Jazelle Jones, City Representative and Director of Special Events.
Despite saying Jazelle Jones was needed to coordinate the city’s 2026 festivities, Parker has also appointed a separate 2026 director, Michael Newmuis, to a $175,000 position to also oversee this year’s major events.
The mayor said Jazelle Jones was irreplaceable given her experience managing large events like the 2015 papal visit, the 2016 Democratic National Convention, the 2017 NFL Draft, and the Eagles’ Super Bowl wins.
“Could we have hired five to 10 people to try to do the job Jazelle does?” Parker asked. “We could have tried, but there would be no reason for me to do that when I had the best person.”
Parker indicated she was aware of the steep price tag required to keep Jazelle Jones working through 2026 when the mayor first appointed her as city representative shortly after taking office in 2024.
“I had heard whispers,” Parker said. “They said, ‘You’re going to lose Jazelle.’”
City personnel records show Jazelle Jones enrolled in DROP in September 2020, meaning her first planned retirement date was September 2024, just nine months after Parker appointed her to the role.
Jazelle Jones’ $97,000 payout for unused paid time off was deposited into her account this month, four days after The Inquirer contacted the mayor’s office about her rehiring. The mayor’s office did not respond to a question about the delay in her payment.
Unlike most newly hired city employees, who are entered into a hybrid 401(k)-style pension plan, she was granted an exception allowing her to continue paying into an older, more generous pension plan.
Cristella, from the Committee of Seventy, said the decision to hire Jazelle Jones into a vital role months prior to her mandatory retirement date was irresponsible.
“It is also deeply troubling that the city would retain a high-salaried senior official with full knowledge that a large DROP payout was imminent,” Cristella said. “If city leadership knew and proceeded anyway, that is a failure of fiscal stewardship that demands explanation.”
Staff writer Max Marin contributed to this article.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and other top leaders of the city government and the Philadelphia School District will travel to Harrisburg on Monday for a high-stakes trip aimed at securing millions of dollars in new funding for the financially strapped public schools.
Parker will spend much of the day advocating for increased public education dollars as state lawmakers hurtle toward their June 30 budget deadline. The mayor is slated to host an afternoon rally in the Capitol Rotunda alongside Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr., school board president Reginald L. Streater, and City Council President Kenyatta Johnson.
Their trip to the Capitol comes after weeks of tension among those same leaders, who earlier this month hammered out a city budget deal that was in large part centered on finding new funding for the school district, which is facing a $300 million structural deficit and had planned to cut more than 300 school-based staff positions.
Parker and school officials wanted the city to levy a $1-per-ride tax on rideshare services like Uber and Lyft to secure about $50 million a year in recurring funding, but Council rejected that plan, and instead voted on a one-time diversion of money to the district that came out of the existing city budget.
Parker, who served in the state legislature for a decade before becoming a City Council member and then taking office as mayor in 2024, said when she announced the new funding plan that city leaders would be able to travel to Harrisburg “saying we’ve made tough decisions, we’ve made sure we’ve done our best to take care of our own, and we have a plan.
“Philadelphia is primed to travel to Harrisburg to advocate in unity to ensure that our children get access to the revenue that they deserve,” she said, “so that they can have a first-class school district here in the city.”
Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr., school board president Reginald L. Streater, and Mayor Cherelle L. Parker stand together during an announcement at the School District of Philadelphia Headquarters on June 10 in Philadelphia. Philadelphia School District officials will move to restore 340 classroom-based jobs that were slated to be cut, despite top district leaders saying earlier that they did not have the recurring funding needed to keep the positions.
The mayor’s message to lawmakers will be largely focused on securing capital dollars for the district’s $3 billion plan to modernize 169 aging school buildings over the next decade. In April, the school board adopted its controversial facilities plan — which includes an intention to close 17 schools — with the goal of bringing in $2 billion of that money from state and philanthropic sources.
Finding that money in Harrisburg could be a tall task as the state faces its own multibillion-dollar budget shortfall. All 203 state representatives and half of the 50-member Senate are up for reelection this year, and many lawmakers gearing up to face voters in November are averse to broad-based tax increases aimed at juicing revenue.
In addition, gridlock is commonplace in the divided legislature, where reaching a state budget deal has been a drawn-out and arduous process in recent years. Last year’s bitter negotiations stalled for more than five months, leading to mass service disruptions statewide.
Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat who is in the midst of his own reelection battle and is seen as a potential contender for president, has also said that he is generally not looking to raise taxes. Leaders in Harrisburg last month rejected a separate proposal by Parker to raise the city’s hotel tax to generate new funding for homelessness prevention programs.
However, Shapiro has positioned himself as a champion of public education, and he proposed increasing the Philadelphia School District’s general funding allocation to about $2.2 billion in the coming fiscal year, a $151 million increase over this year’s amount.
Statewide, Shapiro called for an additional $565 million for public schools as part of the state’s new “adequacy funding” formula, a multiyear plan developed to address the chronic underfunding of low-wealth school districts.
The formula was adopted in 2024 after a Commonwealth Court ruling that the state had for years unconstitutionally deprived some children of an adequate education by sustaining a funding plan largely reliant on local property tax dollars. Philadelphia is the only school district in the state that can’t itself raise taxes. Instead, it depends on the city and state governments for funding.
Parker said earlier this month that despite her own tax proposal to fund the schools falling through, she intends to “take this fight on the road.”
“We stand in unity with our legislative leaders in Harrisburg, our legislative leaders on both sides of the aisle, [and] we stand with our governor,” she said. “And we fight until the end to ensure that we do everything we possibly can to ensure that our school district has access to the resources that it needs.”
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.”
Council President Kenyatta Johnson, a Democrat who controls the flow of legislation in the chamber, said he has scheduled a hearing to take place at 10 a.m. on April 6 before the Committee of the Whole, which comprises all 17 Council members.
That means every lawmaker will have the opportunity to question members of Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration, as well as immigration advocates, about the package.
The timeline means mid-April is the earliest that Council could pass the package. Fifteen of the body’s 17 members have expressed support, and that constitutes a veto-proof majority.
City Councilmembers Rue Landau, a Democrat, and Kendra Brooks, of the progressive Working Families Party, sponsored the legislation introduced in January, which prohibits ICE agents from wearing masks, bans them from staging raids on city property, and makes it illegal to discriminate against someone based on immigration status.
The legislation also clarifies how and when Philadelphia officials can coordinate with federal immigration enforcement.
Parker has said an executive order signed by her predecessor remains in place, limiting some cooperation between law enforcement and ICE. But the legislation that Council is considering goes further, codifying a prohibition on city officials assisting ICE and prohibiting data-sharing agreements.
Interfaith religious and community leaders prayer vigil outside the Philadelphia U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office at 114 N. 8th Street in Center City on March 2.
It comes as the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is undergoing a revamping to its leadership structure. President Donald Trump on Thursday ousted Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and said he intends to nominate U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R, Okla.) to replace her.
Several local officials said this week that they’re worried the federal government will surge enforcement efforts in Philadelphia in order to fill the centers, and that the city must move quickly to pass its legislation.
“I’m extremely concerned,” said City Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, a Democrat whose North Philadelphia-based district has a large immigrant population. “We need to really figure out what our position is as it relates to working with ICE very closely. We have community residents that we should be protecting.”
Two are in Pennsylvania and could reportedly hold about 9,000 beds in total.
Spotlight PA reported Tuesday that ICE is referring to a facility in Tremont, located in Schuylkill County, as the “New ICE Philadelphia Mega Center” and one in Upper Bern Township in Berks County as the “New ICE Philadelphia Processing Center.”
Landau said Council is “paying close attention to these developments and the questions they raise about the expansion of detention facilities in our area.”
“The majority of Philadelphians are deeply disturbed by ICE’s tactics,” she said.
Johnson said in an interview last month that the detention centers are a reason to move swiftly on the ICE-related legislation.
The proposed laws, he said, are a means to “be out in front” of a potential surge of immigration enforcement in the city.
“Some people say, ‘Well, they’re not even here yet.’ But they just built a warehouse in [Berks County],’” Johnson said. “I believe that was strategic. It took some planning to say ‘We want to set up shop right in your backyard.’”
City Council on Thursday formally honored a Philadelphia-born Palestinian American who was killed last month by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
In a unanimous voice vote, Philadelphia lawmakers passed a resolution to celebrate the life of 19-year-old Nasrallah Abu Siyam, who was fatally shot during a violent clash in a village on Feb. 18, the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Members of Abu Siyam’s family appeared in Council chambers Thursday alongside representatives from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, who called for an independent U.S.-led investigation into the killing.
“You don’t know what it means to live under occupation. You don’t know what these settlers are doing,” said Abdelhamid Siyam, Nasrallah Abu Siyam’s uncle. “When justice is attacked, silence is treason. … We should stand together and pressure all those elected officials to stand with justice.”
City Councilmember Rue Landau, a Democrat who authored the honorary resolution in partnership with Councilmember Nicolas O’Rourke, said Thursday that other members of Abu Siyam’s family are trapped in the Middle East after flying there after his death.
They are unable to travel home, she said, due to the ongoing war in Iran and restrictions on airspace.
Landau also called on the U.S. State Department and the Department of Justice to “conduct a full investigation and pursue justice for Nasrallah.”
“We demand accountability so that no other family here or abroad has to stand where this family stands now,” she said during a later event alongside Abu Siyam’s family.
Thirty U.S. senators signed a letter to President Donald Trump’s administration Thursday calling for an independent investigation into Abu Siyam’s killing. Pennsylvania’s two senators, Republican Dave McCormick and Democrat John Fetterman, did not sign it.
Here’s what else happened in Council on Thursday.
What was the highlight?
Prioritizing transit-oriented development: Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration is pushing Council to approve a package of legislation that makes it easier to build apartment buildings near SEPTA stations, measures that proponents see as a way to boost ridership and increase the city’s housing stock.
Parker transmitted a package of zoning bills to Council on Thursday, but no member formally introduced it. Members said they saw the legislation for the first time on Wednesday and want more time to review it before introduction.
Mayor Cherelle Parker (center) rides the SEPTA Market-Frankford Line to an event in the Kensington section of Philadelphia, Pa. on Thursday, April 11, 2024.
The bills are aimed at advancing Parker’s goal to build, preserve, and repair 30,000 housing units.
Most crucially, one bill expands an existing law that says properties within 500 feet of a Council-designated SEPTA station can receive benefits allowing developers to build more homes. Parker’s legislation increases the radius to 1,320 feet, or a quarter of a mile.
What else happened?
Smoke-filled doom: Lawmakers continued their crusade against smoke shops and so-called nuisance businesses Thursday, with Councilmember Katherine Gilmore Richardson bringing legislation to hold commercial landlords accountable for renting to illegal smoke shops.
This file photo shows a city smoke shop exterior on the 1000 block of Chestnut Street in July. City Council has advanced several pieces of legislation aimed at curbing smoke shops.
Gilmore Richardson introduced a second bill to establish a new license requirement for stores selling products like hemp-based THC and kratom. The ordinance would define the products as “intoxicating substances” and establish a 21-plus age minimum.
What’s next?
Block off your calendar: Next week will be a busy one. Parker is scheduled to deliver her annual budget address to Council on Thursday, when she will outline her vision for the coming year.
The speech will kick off weeks of hearings before Council, when members will have the opportunity to question administration officials from every major department, as well as the leaders of other agencies that receive city dollars, including the city courts, the district attorney, and the Philadelphia School District.
Quote of the week
Philadelphia City Council President Kenyatta Johnson questioning Dr. Tony Watlington, Superintendent of School District of Philadelphia, during a hearing with board members of School District of Philadelphia, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026.
A little school district shade: That was Council President Kenyatta Johnson chiming in on an effort to rename a North Philadelphia street after the late Constance E. Clayton, Philadelphia’s first Black and female schools superintendent.
It was at the end of last year in the hazy stretch between Christmas and New Year’s when time doesn’t feel real, and some of Philly’s top Democrats were huddled around a secret proposal, racing to meet a deadline.
The group — convened by Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, her aides, and some key Philadelphia boosters — was preparing a lengthy bid to bring the Democratic National Convention back to the city in either 2028 or 2032, a potential economic boon and a chance to show off in front of lawmakers, celebrities, and international media.
The confidential proposal to the Democratic National Committee included everything from the city’s hotel space to police outfitting to nitty-gritty details about the electrical grid and voltage capacity at Xfinity Mobile Arena. SEPTA officials drafted a section about the public transportation Philadelphia could offer visitors, and tourism agencies chipped in with insights on hotels and restaurants.
David L. Cohen, a longtime Democratic fundraiser and the president of the recently formed nonprofit host committee called Pick Pennsylvania, said that while the mayor led the effort, the bid also emphasized the “unity of the region and the commonwealth.”
“She wanted it to be really clear this is more than a Philadelphia bid,” he said. “This is a unified Pennsylvania bid.”
It appears the Democratic National Committee was impressed. On Monday, the DNC announced that it is considering five cities, including Philadelphia, to host the 2028 convention, where a Democratic presidential nominee will be coronated. The party is also looking closely at Atlanta, Denver, Chicago, and Boston to hold the early August event.
What comes next is a campaign to lure the convention to Philly, complete with a carefully coordinated public relations effort and a significant fundraising push. Philadelphia’s host committee for 2016, the last time the city held a presidential nominating convention, raised more than $85 million.
The DNC has asked host cities to raise $5 million before being selected. Philly’s fundraising, Cohen said, “will be substantially higher than that number.”
In this 2021 file photo, David L. Cohen speaks as Philadelphia Soccer 2026, the city’s World Cup 2026 bid committee, launched an interactive exhibit at the Independence Visitors Center in Philadelphia. He is now heading an effort to bring the Democratic National Convention to Philadelphia.
Cohen, a former Comcast executive and erstwhile chief of staff to former mayor Ed Rendell, is leading the effort alongside Daniel J. Hilferty, now the CEO of Comcast Spectacor.
Hilferty and Cohen have worked together repeatedly over the last two decades to bring major events to Philadelphia, including a successful bid to become one of a handful of North American cities to host World Cup games this year.
Also involved in coordinating the DNC proposal was Erin Wilson, a Philadelphia native who was a top aide to former Vice President Kamala Harris. She was the national political director for former President Joe Biden’s campaign and planned his 2021 inauguration.
When the DNC comes to town
DNC officials are expected to make a final decision on the 2028 site later this year. That call will likely be made by chair Ken Martin in consultation with top advisers and the committee’s Technical Advisory Group, which assesses logistics and operational matters.
Philadelphia could also have an advocate in State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, who represents parts of North Philadelphia and is a DNC vice chair. He is known to have a close relationship with Martin.
Committee officials and the advisory group will tour each of the five finalist cities for a yet-to-be-scheduled site visit this spring.
If history is any indication, the city will roll out the red carpet. In 2014, when 18 members of the DNC came to Philly to check out the city ahead of the 2016 convention, the host committee spent six figures to charm them.
The trip included a tour of Philly’s most popular sites, like Reading Terminal Market and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, as well as a swanky rooftop party and a breakfast at the Comcast Center. Predictably, cheesesteaks were also involved.
“The site visits are as much about feel as they are about technical details,” Cohen said. “After site visits, the teams who are making choices leave here and they have their socks knocked off. They can’t believe how vibrant the city is.”
In this 2014 file photo, Congressman Bob Brady, left, talks with DNC CEO Amy Dacey, center, as they have lunch at Pat’s Steaks in South Philadelphia.
Ryan Boyer, the head of the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council and a close Parker ally, said one of Philadelphia’s best assets might be its mayor. Parker is an unabashed cheerleader for the city and is leading preparations for several major events this year, including World Cup games, the MLB All-Star Game, and the commemoration of America’s 250th anniversary.
“She’s the most effective advocate for bringing people together,” Boyer said, “with just her level of passion, her love of the city, and her love of the job.”
Cohen said he spoke to Parker last year about the potential to bid for the convention, and when she asked him to lead the host committee, he said yes because the city has “a serious chance.”
“As a friend and longtime supporter of hers, if I didn’t think we had a legitimate shot, I would try to talk her out of it,” Cohen said. “If anything, I have poured gasoline on her flames of enthusiasm and said, ‘We should be all in for this.’
”I said, ‘Do what you do best,’” he added. “Get everyone excited about this.’”
That means there is a chance that Shapiro, who was raised in Montgomery County and whose family still lives there, could be nominated in what is essentially his hometown.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro speaks during the Democratic National Convention Aug. 21, 2024, in Chicago.
In a letter to Martin, Shapiro wrote that Philadelphia “would see substantial economic benefits” from hosting the convention and vowed that the state would be “prepared to ensure our infrastructure, public safety agencies, workforce, and business community are equipped to host thousands of delegates and attendees.”
What’s next: a close look at security and logistics
Behind the pomp of the DNC’s spring site visit will be a serious evaluation of security, transportation, hotels, and arena logistics.
The DNC said in a statement Monday that it will value “new and innovative approaches” to hosting a large-scale event that is likely to bring thousands of tourists. In 2016, the convention drew more than 5,000 attendees and an additional 29,000 visitors — nearly 20,000 of whom were media members.
Nominating conventions are typically designated as National Special Security Events, meaning the federal government leads security because the event is deemed at high risk for terrorism or other criminal activity. That means planners need to know specifics about law enforcement staffing, gear, and other capabilities.
Placards promoting Philadelphia as the host city of the Democratic National Convention in 2016, while the Democratic National Committee was touring the city in August.
Support will also have to come from outside the city. During past conventions, federal law enforcement teamed up with Philadelphia police to secure the venue, and they were joined by officers from across the region.
The DNC also said in its announcement Monday that the committee would prioritize “the importance of forging a strong partnership between the DNC and the host city, including its community, political, and business leaders.”
To that end, the host committee and Parker asked elected officials and civic leaders from across the state to write letters of support that accompanied the city’s bid.
Authors ranged from City Council President Kenyatta Johnson, whose district includes the South Philadelphia stadium complex, to labor leaders to Democrats from the Philadelphia collar counties.
Montgomery County Commissioner Neil Makhija, who wrote a letter to the DNC boosting the bid, said it is important for the committee to see that local governments and law enforcement agencies outside the city are willing to offer support, because “pulling something like this off requires a lot of cooperation on many different fronts.”
“A real concern now when you’re thinking about hosting a political convention is ‘How are we going to manage public safety and a threat environment?’” he said. “There are a number of reasons to point to our region and see a level of collaboration that inspires confidence.”
Reginald Streater, president of the Philadelphia Board of Education, opened his testimony before City Council last month by introducing himself as “Reggie from Germantown,” a graduate of two district schools that no longer exist. Germantown High and Leeds Middle both closed. He knows what it means to lose a building. He’s also voting to close 20 more.
The conflict playing out in Philadelphia isn’t only about schools. It’s about the fact that the school district and City Council have different responsibilities for the same places, and the new facilities plan brings that conflict into sharp focus.
On Jan. 22, Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. released a facilities master plan proposing to close 20 schools, colocate six, and modernize 159 others. On Feb. 26, he presented an amended final plan to the Board of Education, which was updated from 20 school closures to 18. Russell Conwell Middle School and Motivation High School were removed from the closure list.
The district has lost 15,000 students in a decade, carries 300 buildings, many of them 75 years and older, and runs some schools with more than 1,000 empty seats, while others are overcrowded. Concentrating students means Advanced Placement courses in every high school, algebra for every eighth grader, and real career and technical pathways. The current spread of half-empty buildings makes all of that impossible to deliver consistently or fairly.
The facilities plan is doing exactly what it was designed to do. The trouble is that everything it was not designed to do.
A Philadelphia neighborhood school isn’t just one institution. It’s four, sharing an address. There’s the instructional platform: courses, teachers, schedules, the district’s domain. There’s the civic anchor: the building that signals to a neighborhood that its children count, and they belong. There’s the distribution node: where meals are served, where social workers operate, and where there is, most days, someone watching. And there’s the pathway to the future: where a counselor knows a family by name, where a student learns there’s a college or a trade or a life beyond the block.
In places like Kensington, schools have absorbed those responsibilities over time.
When that school building closes, all of those other things close with it. Some of those functions were formal educational programs. Others accumulated because families had nowhere else to go for them. The school became the place where paperwork was explained, problems were addressed and solved, and someone always knew which door to knock on next.
Supporters of Harding Middle School protest at a City Council hearing with school board members earlier this month.
Residents and families filled the chamber. Parents stood along the walls long after seats ran out, some holding infants, others carrying school backpacks. The hearing lasted hours.
The debate sounded like a disagreement about the plan, but it was really a disagreement about who is responsible for what the plan leaves behind.
What closes with a school building is not limited to instruction. Council’s budget is the instrument for the functions the facilities plan does not govern: housing investment, community infrastructure, colocated services, and neighborhood anchors that exist independent of school enrollment.
The district held 47 public listening sessions and surveyed more than 13,000 people before releasing this plan. The fight at City Hall last month wasn’t because communities weren’t heard. It’s because what they described was a loss that the facilities plan was never designed to address. That’s not a failure of process. It’s a mismatch of jurisdiction.
The district’s plan answers an educational question. What replaces the neighborhood functions housed in those buildings is a civic one.
That answer does not sit with the school district.
Amanda Soskin is a Philadelphia resident and consultant who writes about neighborhoods and civic infrastructure at Neighborhood Fundamentals.
Philadelphia is the birthplace of American democracy. It is also a city that understands democracy is strongest when rooted in truth.
That is why the January removal of slavery exhibits from the President’s House site in Center City was so deeply concerning. I am happy National Park Service workers restored the exhibits on Feb. 19, but they are only back up in their rightful place because of U.S. District Judge Cynthia M. Rufe’s order directing the NPS to restore them.
Rufe made it clear in her Feb. 16 ruling that historical truth cannot be dismantled or rewritten, and that the federal government and President Donald Trump’s administration do not have the authority to erase or alter facts simply because they control a national site.
At the President’s House — located within Independence National Historical Park — visitors learn about George Washington’s early presidency. But equally important, they learn about the nine enslaved Africans who were forced to live and work in Washington’s Philadelphia household. Their lives unfolded in the literal shadow of a building where liberty was debated and declared.
That story is not just an aside in our nation’s founding — it is essential for understanding both America’s ideals and its contradictions. Removing those interpretive panels is more than just an administrative decision; it’s an effort to alter the narrative of our shared history.
Signs and notes placed by visitors at the President’s House in Independence National Historical Park on Feb. 2 replace the panels about slavery that were removed in January by the National Park Service.
The City of Philadelphia sought an injunction in federal court on Jan. 22 to preserve the integrity of this significant site. This battle goes beyond signage; it’s about whether we are prepared to face the full truth of who we are as a nation.
There is no harmful ideology in recognizing that slavery existed at the highest levels of early American government. There is no political agenda in naming the enslaved men and women who lived at the President’s House. There is only a duty to tell the truth.
The President’s House memorial opened in 2010 after years of research, advocacy, and public engagement, led by the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition and supported for decades by the city of Philadelphia and the NPS.
It reflects Philadelphia’s long-standing commitment to the honest telling of history. We acknowledge that our nation’s founding documents proclaimed liberty while millions remained enslaved. We understand that progress arises not from denial, but from reckoning.
A worker pauses while rehanging panels at the President’s House in Independence National Historical Park on Feb, 19.
Philadelphia will always remain dedicated to sharing the full history of our nation, not just the easy parts, but the whole truth.
Our children deserve to learn that America’s greatness is not in pretending we are perfect, but in working to become a more perfect union every day.
Restoring these exhibits at the President’s House is not about politics. It’s about principles. It’s about making sure that a site visited by people from all over the world, especially on the 250th anniversary of the United States, reflects the full scope of our history, including both triumphs and injustices.
As the fight over the President’s House continues through the federal court system, I will continue to support our efforts to ensure the exhibits remain at the site permanently.
We must not let Trump whitewash African American history. Black history is an integral part of American history.
Kenyatta Johnson is City Council president and represents the 2nd Council District in Philadelphia, which includes parts of Center City, South Philadelphia, and Southwest Philadelphia.
