You can thank Frank Rizzo.
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No, You Can’t Fire Mayor Parker During the Stenchful Philadelphia Strike
Mayor Cherelle Parker isn’t exactly at her height of popularity right now. We’re almost a full week into the big Philadelphia strike, and there’s no end in sight. There are massive piles of garbage growing all over the city. LL Cool J and Jazmine Sullivan dropped out of our Fourth of July festivities in solidarity with the union. And most everybody seems to be blaming Mayor Parker for all of this muck and mayhem. So it’s not the least bit surprising that I’ve seen suggestions out there on social media that we should recall, a.k.a. fire, Mayor Parker. But it can’t be done, all thanks to Frank Rizzo.
In 1951, reformists wrote the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter, setting some ground rules for how things should operate in the city. One of the main points of the charter was a new prohibition on elected city officials running for another election position in the city, which is why you see Philadelphia politicians, like, say, a City Councilmember, resigning to run for mayor. That’s exactly what Parker did in 2022. And the 1951 charter did, in fact, include a provision for recalling any elected official in Philadelphia…