Cherelle Parker Is Now Philly’s 100th Mayor
by Alex Lloyd Gross
Cherelle Parker is now the 100th Mayor of the city of Philadelphia. She took the oath office at the Met, on North Broad Street earlier today. This is the same ceremony that saw Kenyatta Johnson get elected President of City Council. In a ceremony filled with political dignitaries, Parker took the podium and laid out her vision.
The first is to increase more police on the streets. In fact, Parker signed a Public Safety Emergency ch gets priority to get resources to fight crime.
“Police Commissioner Kevin J. Bethel will deliver plans for those crises and other crimes — like car theft, shoplifting, and the illegal use of ATVs—that diminish quality of life in our city.We’ll use a holistic approach in our efforts to address public health and safety. We’ll stay focused on prevention, intervention, and enforcement.Now, some people won’t like the decisions we make, especially around public safety.” Parker said.
Alex Lloyd Gross Photo-Delaware Valley News.com Phila Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel
Part of that must include District Attorney Larry Krasner actually prosecuting for the crimes of retail theft. When word on the street gets around that there are no repercussions, it entices more people to steal. That brings the quality of life down.
Alex Lloyd Gross Photo-Delaware Valley News.com Cherelle Parker and Kenyatta Johnson
Parker knows that a college degree is just a piece of paper that says “You learned”. She is going to get rid of the requirement of a college degree for most city jobs. Someone that has professed an interest in a specific field, and reads about it and studies it is way more qualified to work than those that simply posses a degree in an unrelated field.
The ceremony started about 20 minutes late. That and speeches that went on. A good number of people tuned out and went to their phones, 10-15 minutes after Kenyatta Johnson started to speak. The same with Parker. That caused the ceremony to run over and it was not done until 1:15 PM. Parker was going to swear in Kevin Bethel as Police Commissioner at 1:30 PM, that got pushed back and so did Parker’s first bill signing and press conference.
Everyone that attended was given a copy of Parker’s first 100 days in office. That includes stopping short dumping, clean litter and graffiti .You can read it for yourself, here. .
Alex Lloyd Gross Photo-Delaware Valley News.com Cherelle Parker takes the Oath of Office.
Council President Kenyatta Johnson had the honor of introducing Parker who was sworn in by Marcia L. Fudge, Housing Secretary. Before her remarks, Johnson grabbed Parker and the two went to center stage in an arm in arm salute.
Parker has a gala tonight at the Fillmore. That should start about 8:00 PM.