As we enter the new year, Metro is spotlighting a handful of news stories to keep an eye on in 2023.
Surely, unforeseen issues and trends will emerge, but here are some topics certain to make headlines over the next 12 months.
Can Philly curb gun violence?
Mayor Jim Kenney, a couple of weeks ago, suggested that the city might be turning a corner in its fight against gun violence.
“I think that all the efforts we’ve been making, both policing and with community intervention, is beginning to turn the curve down in the other direction,” Kenney said Dec. 20.
Through Dec. 28, 514 people had been killed in Philadelphia, down 7% compared to the same date in 2021, when the city experienced a record level of homicides, according to police data. The number of shooting victims – 2,245 – also represents a slight decrease.
“Obviously, that is nowhere near what we would hope for, but certainly it is better than a 7% increase,” District Attorney Larry Krasner said Thursday.
Perhaps Philadelphia’s most pressing question for 2023 is whether there will be a significant decline in gun violence. A surge in shootings and homicides began more than two years ago, coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic.
In December, Kenney’s administration revealed a plan, starting Jan. 9, to shift 100 police officers to the neighborhoods where the most violence is occurring, and state leaders announced $50 million in public safety grants.
Only time will tell whether those efforts pay off.
Race for mayor, City Council intensifies
With a term-limited Kenney leaving City Hall at the end of 2023, mayoral hopefuls have already begun jockeying for position, and the race to replace him is only set to heat up in the new year.
In all likelihood, given the city’s partisan makeup, Philadelphia’s next mayor will be determined on May 16 – or shortly thereafter – the date of the Democratic primary.
Grocer Jeff Brown, former City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart, state Rep. Amen Brown and recently-resigned City Councilmembers Allan Domb, Derek Green, Helen Gym, Maria Quiñones Sánchez and Cherelle Parker have declared for the race.
Improving public safety (see above) is expected to be the top issue during the campaign season.
Lower down the ballot will likely be a host of candidates competing for Council at-large seats. Gym’s remains vacant, and while party-selected replacements won in special elections in November to fill the others, they will not necessarily have the name recognition and typical advantage of incumbents.
Five of the seven seats will be held by Democrats, and progressives are looking to snatch the two minority positions traditionally reserved for Republicans, à la Kendra Brooks, of the Working Families Party, who was elected in 2019.
Senate weighs Krasner ouster
Krasner’s impeachment trial before the Pennsylvania Senate is set to commence Jan. 18, after a highly-politicized vote in the state House to approve seven charges against him.
A two-thirds majority would be needed to evict Krasner from office, meaning at least a handful of Democrats and all GOP members would have to find him guilty of at least one of the allegations.
In the meantime, a state appeals court is considering a lawsuit brought by Krasner challenging the removal effort as unconstitutional.
During oral arguments in the case Thursday, John Summers, one of Krasner’s attorneys, noted that the DA was first elected in 2017 and earned another term in 2021 and cast the impeachment as an attempt “to erase all of those votes.”
The GOP House members who spearheaded the impeachment accused Krasner of “misbehavior in office,” citing a few of his policies and actions in specific cases.
Decision time for Bus Revolution
Toward the end of the new year, SEPTA is expected to begin implementing changes stemming from its yearslong project to redesign the region’s bus network for the first time in decades.
But, first, the authority must finalize its plan. SEPTA made changes in December to a draft proposal in response to outcry from riders in Roxborough and Manayunk.
A more concrete reworking of the network – though still subject to change – is scheduled to be released in February or March.
City Council is expected to hold a hearing on the redesign, known as Bus Revolution, sometime in January. Lawmakers have characterized the project as a service cut, which the authority denies.
