Parker, 51, a Democrat with years of political experience, took the helm of the nation’s sixth-largest city in a ceremony Tuesday at the historic Met in Philadelphia.
“We’re going to have a data-driven and research-based approach that is put together by the best law enforcement and public health professionals that we can find,” she said. “But I want you to know everyone is not going to be happy when we make these decisions.
Her administration pledged to eliminate some barriers for city jobs such as college degree requirements. She also announced intentions to keep school buildings open longer; to review the city’s Lank Bank to better understand developing city-owned property to make way for more affordable housing; reducing the red tape to do business in the city; and a new approach to solving the city’s issues with dumping, litter, abandoned cars and potholes.
“This opportunity to deliver in a meaningful way for the city of Philadelphia — not just for the next four years, but the work we do now — it should be a foundation for the future,” she said. “I’m not talking about incremental change. I’m talking about bold transformative steps, that when people walk outside of their houses, they can touch, see and feel the results of our labor. If they don’t see it, it’s on us.”
Across the state in Allegheny County, home to the state’s second-largest city of Pittsburgh, Sara Innamorato took her oath as county executive on Tuesday. Innamorato is also the first woman to serve in the role and, she joked, perhaps the first with tattoos. She won on a progressive campaign, envisioning a green, sustainable city that is “union-made and union-run,” while compassionately tackling issues of poverty, crime and addiction.
Dressed in all white — a nod to the suffragettes — she promised, “In my administration, the community’s priorities will be the county’s priorities.”
The reality is, she told supporters, there are people in the county living vastly different experiences.
“In too many cases, those differences stem from shortcomings in our approach to economics, to social services and to justice,” she said. “Now we don’t need to be ashamed of these facts and where we fall short, but we do have to acknowledge it. We have to be comfortable identifying injustices, naming them and understanding them because only then can we root them out, repair our foundations and rebuild on stronger footing.”
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