PHILADELPHIA—During her State of the City address on Dec. 19, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker skillfully unified establishment power-brokers around the agenda of safe, clean, green, and equal economic opportunity for all, while dismissing criticism from organized labor and advocates for the homeless and immigrants.
During her speech at Temple University, the mayor and her administrative team sought to secure support from political and business leaders midway through her first term. Attendees received OnePhilly-branded tote bags and event badges with the mayor’s portrait and a banner reading “celebrating year two in the Parker administration.” A booming emcee rallied the crowd while pre-filmed hype videos featuring members of the mayoral cabinet played.
Former Drexel University and now Temple University President John Fry opened the event by welcoming all to his new neighborhood of North Philly, where he promises to bring development similar to that which he promoted around the historical Black Bottom neighborhood now known as University City.
Dr. Ala Stanford, the pandemic-era leader of the Black Doctors Consortium and now a candidate for Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District, sat on the stage behind cabinet members. Even Republican State Senator Joe Picozzi earned a shout-out from Mayor Parker. The Mayor sees political friends in the center and to her right, not so much from the left, like City Council Minority Whip Nicolas O’Rourke.
Was this state of the city address an official mayoral event or an unofficial 2027 re-election campaign rally?
Mayor Parker, the self-described “CEO” of Philadelphia, sought to downplay last year’s embarrassments, which include the Market East development battle and the 8-day strike waged by members of AFSCME District Council 33, the lowest-paid city workers.
Despite unleashing the city’s full legal powers and hiring scabs to defeat the striking workers, the mayor and her deputies insisted they were the most pro-labor administration in history. Sanitation workers present reported that their yard supervisor ordered them to attend. The taxpayer-funded celebration of Mayor Parker also served as a 2026 tourism ad. After all, the nation’s first capital will host numerous special events during this summer’s semiquincentennial (250th anniversary) of the Declaration of Independence.
Mayor Parker has continued similar economic strategies as former Mayors Ed Rendell and Michael Nutter by enticing private development with tax credits and deregulation. During her address, the mayor highlighted both the new canned-beverage maker DrinkPak at the former oil refinery site in South Philly and the purchase of the shipyard by South Korean conglomerate Hanwha.
The U.S Navy is especially interested in the Hanwha purchase. They seek to drive production of nuclear-powered ships from Philadelphia’s dry docks to remain competitive with Chinese naval power. Hanwha will also cement Governor Shapiro’s “all of the above” energy strategy by producing liquid natural gas tankers for global export. Mayor Parker’s celebration of growth based on the war and fossil fuel economy contradicts the “safe, clean, and green” campaign promises.
The DrinkPak facility is expected to open in 2027 and hire approximately 170 employees. Those working the manufacturing lines can expect to work 2-2-3 schedules, providing for three-day weekends every other week. The catch is that workdays are 12 hours long, and manufacturers often rotate workers between day and night shifts, increasing burnout and disrupting a routine rhythm of life.
In exchange, the manufacturer reaps the profits of a 24/7 production cycle. Philadelphians may need to follow the lead of workers across the Sun Belt states who are organizing against exploitative 21st-century industries such as electric vehicles and battery plants to secure fair working conditions.
Mayor Parker concluded the event with a live signing of a new executive order to pull private and public resources together to “end street homelessness.” Outside on Broad Street in the chilly wind, members of the Philadelphia Homeless Union carrolled protest tunes drawing attention to the city’s inadequate services and protections for the homeless population. Since 2020, the Homeless Union’s “Winter Offensive” coordinates actions and protests that take place from Thanksgiving through Martin Luther King Jr’s Birthday to highlight the time of year when the poor and homeless experience the most deadly conditions and the highest rates of suicide and death.
The Supreme Court’s June 2024 decision in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson has given the green light for municipal leaders to effectively criminalize homelessness. Advocates and the mayor both compared the strategy on street homelessness to the administration’s Kensington tough-on-crime drug market approach. Removing people from the street into shelters and drug rehabilitation programs by threat of incarceration may improve the image of the city superficially, but does it solve the root cause of poverty and an exploitative economic system?
Mayor Parker concluded the ceremonies without a single word about the fragile state of our nation amidst Donald Trump’s dictatorial second term. Despite her allies’ praise for the mayor’s silence, innocent Philadelphians suffer. On the same day as Mayor Parker’s address, ICE kidnapped two people outside the city’s downtown courthouse, according to Juntos, the immigration advocacy organization.
As with all news-analysis and op-ed articles published by People’s World, the views reflected here are those of the author.
We hope you appreciated this article. At People’s World, we believe news and information should be free and accessible to all, but we need your help. Our journalism is free of corporate influence and paywalls because we are totally reader-supported. Only you, our readers and supporters, make this possible. If you enjoy reading People’s World and the stories we bring you, please support our work by donating or becoming a monthly sustainer today. Thank you!
CONTRIBUTOR
