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Kenyatta Johnson had a turbulent year as Philly’s top lawmaker, from school board spats to the Sixers arena fiasco

Johnson enters his second year in office bruised by the Sixers debacle but in firm control of the chamber, enjoying support from the vast majority of his colleagues.

Philadelphia City Council President Kenyatta Johnson gavels the first regular meeting of the year into session last Thursday.
Philadelphia City Council President Kenyatta Johnson gavels the first regular meeting of the year into session last Thursday.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

It was the mayor who broke the news about the Sixers arena.

Over the phone on a frigid January weekend, City Council President Kenyatta Johnson learned that the $1.3 billion deal he had spent much of his first year shepherding as the city’s top legislative leader had imploded. The victory he and Mayor Cherelle L. Parker celebrated just weeks earlier was now kaput.

The basketball team — unbeknownst to city lawmakers — abandoned its long-fought plan to build an arena in Center City, instead opting to stay in South Philly, leaving Philadelphia’s top officials looking flat-footed and Council members outraged.

Johnson reflected on that moment recently in his City Hall office, taking a sip of tea. He leaned back in his chair and grinned.

“My initial reaction when I heard it was, ‘We put a lot of time, work, and effort in this process,’” he said. “And I wanted to know, how do we move forward?”

His recollection was classically Johnson: the City Council president, who is still relatively new at the job, generally keeps his moves close to the vest, avoids bombast, and almost never engages in a public takedown, even when some of his colleagues would.

Through Johnson’s first year helming an at-times unruly bunch of 17 lawmakers, his leadership style has come into clearer view. In moments of controversy, he has been ultra cognizant of his image as a leader, and he’s earned goodwill — even from onetime opponents.

Johnson enters his second year as Council president bruised by the Sixers debacle but in firm control of the chamber, enjoying support from the vast majority of his colleagues. Public criticism of his leadership has been minimal, and as Council’s top legislator, he’s mended relationships with some of his former adversaries.

» READ MORE: After the Sixers arena debacle, Philly City Council is back and ready to work on anything else

That wasn’t promised for Johnson, 51, a Democrat from South Philadelphia whose elevation to Council president a year ago was the culmination of a political comeback story that saw him rise after being acquitted of federal corruption charges. Two years ago, his legal troubles were the talk of the city’s political class. These days, they seem like ancient history.

Still, his biggest challenges may be yet to come. He enters the year with his reputation hanging in the balance after spending much of the fall shepherding the controversial arena project through Council, which the Sixers then scuttled. His members’ relationship with Parker is tenuous, and if it frays, could make basic governance a painstaking process.

The tests ahead are clear to Johnson. In a recent interview, he said he’s prepared to meet the moment, maintaining his even-keeled approach — with plans to be more proactive in negotiations for the new Sixers arena.

“That’s when leaders lead,” he said.

Overseeing a Council in transition

It was early last year, and it already felt like everything in City Hall was changing: new mayor, new Council president, and one of the greenest City Councils in recent memory after a wave of departures.

Johnson was replacing Darrell L. Clarke, the outgoing president seen as an elder statesman who knew how the body worked because he’d spent four decades in it. Johnson, first elected in 2011, has been a member for 13 years, but had never been in leadership.

A month into Johnson’s tenure as president, the one other person who knew how to run the show was gone. Michael A. Decker, Council’s chief clerk and top administrator, died unexpectedly in February. He had effectively presided over meetings and ensured rules were followed.

There was no obvious successor.

“Things got real,” Johnson recalled. “You’re talking about years and years and years of this institution operating that could possibly collapse if not handled correctly.”

Johnson called off that week’s meeting and moved to find a replacement. Within a week, he’d convinced Elizabeth McCollum-Nazario, a former staffer who’d left Council years prior, to return to be the body’s chief clerk.

Members said they were impressed by Johnson’s steady hand in taking over for Clarke.

“Just look at the last year as it relates to new leadership, new staff, new everything,” said Isaiah Thomas, a Democrat who represents the city at-large. “I commend Kenyatta for what he’s done to put us in a position that we’re in now.”

Though Johnson and Clarke rose out of separate political factions — Johnson started as an aide to State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams in West Philadelphia, while Clarke was a protégé to former Mayor John F. Street in North Philly — the men are similar in temperament. Both started out as rabble-rousing activists, then evolved into Council members who consistently sought consensus with their colleagues, even on issues that proved to be political land mines.

» READ MORE: From the ‘loudest mouth’ to Council president: Darrell Clarke reflects on his career in Philly politics

Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, a progressive Democrat who represents West Philadelphia, said Johnson has consistently made her feel heard, including during the arena negotiations when she wanted the Sixers to pay more to offset potential displacement in nearby Chinatown.

Gauthier ultimately voted against the project, but said Johnson advocated for her position through the process.

“He really did create a table that was for every Council member,” she said. “I felt that he wanted us in.”

Despite dustups, Johnson maintains his relationship with Parker

Council members quickly came to trust Johnson, but his first few months weren’t without political friction.

There were several public spats between Council members and Parker, the most high-profile of which was a fight over one of her nominees for the city’s school board, which are approved by Council. Several lawmakers took issue with Joyce Wilkerson, a sitting board member, and Johnson sided with his members, declining to even bring the nomination up for a vote.

But Parker didn’t back down. She formally asked Wilkerson to remain on the board until she picked a replacement. Nine months later, Parker hasn’t done so.

There were rumblings that Council could have sued over Wilkerson’s seating that was done without their approval. Instead, Johnson let it go.

“This back-and-forth does nothing for us in terms of moving the city of Philadelphia forward,” he said.

Such is the delicate balance a Council president must strike in maintaining a relationship with the mayor, a partnership this city has seen fray before. Former Mayor Michael Nutter’s standing with lawmakers deteriorated so much that, by his second term, he couldn’t get a single member to introduce a piece of signature legislation to privatize the city’s gas utility.

Parker and Johnson, who came into power at a time of great uncertainty in the city, know their political fates are inextricably tied. Neither can advance their priorities without the other.

After the school board spat, Council still passed the mayor’s budget proposal, advanced funding for her priorities, and approved the now-scrapped Center City Sixers arena deal that she went to bat for. Johnson said he and Parker meet weekly.

Joseph P. McLaughlin, an adviser in two former mayoral administrations, said that when Ed Rendell was the incoming mayor, Street was the Council president and told members, in effect: “There’s no way for us to look good unless the mayor looks good.” Street and Rendell had a famously productive working relationship.

“I think Kenyatta is recognizing that, especially in the first year,” McLaughlin said, “you got to support the mayor.”

Evolving from Council member to Council president

When Johnson was solely a district Council member, he at times earned the ire of activists who thought he stymied progress in his South and Southwest Philadelphia district. Traffic-safety groups and bicycle activists were furious in 2022 when Johnson used his power to block traffic calming measures on Washington Avenue in his district.

Last year, the city saw a spate of high-profile cyclist deaths, including that of 30-year-old Barbara Friedes, who was killed, police said, after a speeding driver struck her while she was riding in a bike lane.

City leaders were under pressure to act. Christopher Gale, executive director of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, said that shortly after Friedes was killed, Johnson, as Council’s president, met with advocates and told them that he could have handled the Washington Avenue situation better.

“He was like, ‘Yeah, we could be better, so let’s be better,’” Gale recalled. “He’s been very clear-eyed and has had a citywide look at how this affects not just his voters and not just his district, but the entire city. And I really appreciate that citywide view.”

After the meeting, Johnson introduced legislation to ban drivers from stopping in bike lanes, a key priority for advocates. Council passed it within weeks.

The episode and Johnson’s response to it shows how he evolved from a district Council member — whose only job was to be responsive to constituents in his corner of the city — into a citywide leader.

Last fall’s contentious arena debate was another example. Johnson set aside weeks of time to hold hearings on the Sixers’ Center City proposal, which would have resulted in the team leaving the Wells Fargo Center that sits in Johnson’s own district.

He said that through the negotiation process, he wasn’t advocating for the team to stay in South Philly.

“Being supportive of and voting for this project, which actually was leaving my district, was about me leading for what’s in the best interest of the city of Philadelphia as a whole,” Johnson said.

The Sixers’ new plan to remain in Johnson’s district happens to work out, he said.

“A win-win for everyone,” he said with a smile.