A look at Cherelle Parker’s proposal to bring National Guard to Kensington | 100th Mayor Newsletter
Today we’ll dive into Parker’s latest public safety proposal, plus talk about the end of straight-party voting and Mayor Jim Kenney’s costumes.
Happy Halloween from The Inquirer City Hall bureau’s wicked witch and ghoulish goblin. 🎃
We’ve got plenty of tricks and treats in today’s newsletter, which just so happens to mark one week 🗓 until Election Day (*screams*). We’ll talk about how last week’s debate went, including Cherelle Parker saying she may seek to bring in the National Guard. We promise it will get lighter from there.
A quick note: We think Philly is better off when everyone has the facts needed to make an informed decision about this election. If someone forwarded you this newsletter, sign up for free here.
Hope you have a warm beverage or some apple cider by your side. Let’s get into it.
— Anna Orso and Sean Collins Walsh
Last week, we were watching a mayor’s race town hall hosted by 6ABC (during an NLCS game, so we can only imagine we were among about 12 viewers) and we heard Philadelphia’s likely next mayor say something we hadn’t heard her say before.
Asked if she’d consider calling on the National Guard to address crime in the city, Parker responded: “Will I call on them to help us, for example, shut down the open-air drug market in Kensington that’s being allowed to prevail? They will be a part of the solution.”
That answer was newsworthy for a few reasons:
Activists and some officials — including City Councilmember Cindy Bass — have asked Mayor Jim Kenney to seek help from the National Guard amid record levels of gun violence. But Kenney has strongly rejected those calls because the Guard isn’t trained in urban policing and can’t make arrests.
It was another example of Parker embracing a tough-on-crime tactic that Kenney would not. She’s also in favor of police using stop-and-frisk, and she’s been clear that some Philadelphians will not like how her administration addresses “lawlessness.”
It shows that she’s thinking about trying something new in the open-air drug market in Kensington, long one of the city’s most intractable problems. The Kenney administration has tried to avoid criminalizing addiction or showing large displays of force.
Parker in some ways positioned herself to the right of her Republican opponent. Oh is against using the National Guard on Philadelphia streets as a crime-fighting tactic, and he opposes stop-and-frisk.
Parker was asked about her comments on the National Guard multiple times during Thursday’s debate and clarified her remarks. She said it’s “myopic” to associate the Guard with military fatigues and long guns — though, to be fair, that’s what the Guard looked like the two times they patrolled Philadelphia streets in 2020.
“People forget that the National Guard was deployed to Hurricane Katrina,” Parker said. “The National Guard does more than just carry weapons. The National Guard can assist in providing medical assistance. The National Guard can help in the distribution of food.”
💥 The bottom line: This proposal is obviously controversial, but Parker cannot do it alone. Mobilization of the National Guard needs to be signed off on by the governor. Gov. Josh Shapiro and Parker know each other well, but he hasn’t said whether he’d support deploying guardsmen in this way. We’ll wait to see what he and the city’s next police commissioner think about bringing in another agency to patrol Philly streets.
Spotlight on: Tracking Parker’s promises
This fall we’ve been looking at some of the promises Parker made on the campaign trail. Here’s what you need to know about four more of her plans, and how they all have one thing in common.
The “uniformity clause:” Parker recently said she wants to apply a higher real estate tax rate for commercial property owners and use the extra revenue to lower the city wage tax. But that’s not possible now due to the Pennsylvania Constitution’s “uniformity clause,” which requires all people subject to a given tax be charged the same rate. Making that change will not be easy because it requires the state General Assembly to approve a constitutional amendment in consecutive sessions.
Affordable housing: Parker has said she is committed to creating 30,000 new units of affordable housing. Some will be new construction, and some will be converting existing stock. But she has acknowledged that neither the city nor the federally funded Philadelphia Housing Authority can pay for them. So she wants to boost funding for housing from all levels of government.
Minimum wage: The minimum wage in Pennsylvania is $7.25 per hour, the lowest rate allowed under federal law. Parker wants to raise it to as much as $17.53 in Philadelphia and have automatically increases to keep up with inflation. That will require convincing Harrisburg to either raise the statewide minimum wage or let the city set a higher rate for itself.
Speed cameras: The use of speed enforcement cameras has grown in Philadelphia, and Parker is a fan of their public safety benefits. She recently told the local AARP chapter that she wants to see them “across all neighborhoods.” That will require working with either the Philadelphia Parking Authority, which manages the relatively new cameras on Roosevelt Boulevard, or PennDOT, given that many major roads in the city are state-administered.
What do these plans have in common? The mayor can’t get them done alone.
Some of Parker’s plans should be relatively easy to achieve, like adding more traffic cameras. Others will require Herculean efforts, like the state constitutional amendment. But it’s notable how many of her proposals require money or approval not just from City Council, but from other levels of government.
A former state legislator, Parker has touted her intergovernmental experience and ability to work across the aisle. If she becomes mayor, much of her success will depend on whether she can deliver with those skills.
Mayoral history moment: Jim Kenney’s costumes
We know the above photo is from Christmastime. Bear with us.
Usually this space is dedicated to a moment in Philly history involving a mayor or a mayoral campaign. In the spirit of Halloween, we thought we’d review our current mayor’s very clear penchant for a good costume, sort of inspired by his trip to the White House last week in which he dressed up in a tux. Not something you see every day!
We have to start with Buddy the Elf. Kenney went through a multi-year phase where he dressed up once annually as the tights-donning, oversized Christmas elf, and it was amazing. The pic above is from 2015, when Kenney was merely the mayor-elect. Those were simpler days.
There was that time in 2017 when he wore Easter bunny ears, and the day in 2019 when he put a Lego head over his face while playing dress-up with some kids.
There also exists a photo of then-Councilmember Kenney apparently dressed as some version of Beetlejuice (?) at one of Philadelphia’s most legendary Halloween parties.
And we can only assume there is a photo somewhere of Kenney strutting during a Mummers Parade. Right?! We at least know they have photos of him.
An assignment: If you, by some miracle, catch the mayor tonight in costume... you know where to send pictures.
How it works: No more straight-party voting
All eyes are on a couple races for Philly City Council, and there are a number of variables that could affect the outcome. A district Council race in Northeast Philly is very competitive, and the battle for two at-large seats set aside for minority parties appears to be a tossup.
One thing that could make a difference is entirely out of the candidates’ control: the fact that there is no more straight-party voting in Pennsylvania (meaning you can’t press a button and just pick all the Democrats or all the Republicans at once).
This is the first Council and mayoral election since the state did away with straight-party voting in late 2019. According to PennLive, about a third of voters statewide cast straight-party ballots in 2018 (though Philly wasn’t part of their analysis).
The 30,000 foot view: It’s hard to say who the absence of straight-party voting will help or harm. It usually benefits candidates running in lower-profile races like City Council who happen to be the same party as the strongest candidate at the top of the ticket.
And it might have an impact on voter participation in less prominent elections. Without straight-party voting, it’s possible a higher number of voters will cast ballots for top-of-the-ticket races like state Supreme Court and mayor and leave everything else blank. It’s also possible some voters might be more likely to consider third-party candidates, like the members of the Working Families Party seeking spots on Council.
What else we’re reading
Inquirer columnist Helen Ubiñas wrote about the mayoral debate. Safe to say she was underwhelmed.
New Jersey’s legislature has been controlled by Dems since before the first iPhone came out. Is it at risk of flipping to Republican?
Council candidates are trying to tie their opponents to the national political environment. But they control local policy, and this is where each candidate stands on big issues.
Scenes from the campaign trail
Oh answers questions from reporters after the one and only debate of the campaign last week.
That’s all for us today. We’ll be chasing down the candidates for mayor and Council over the next seven days. Can you believe that the next time we’re in your inbox, it’ll be Election Day?
See you then,
Anna and Sean