Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker Names First Kensington Drug Czar

Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker, who just appointed a Kensington drug czar (image courtesy 6ABC)

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Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker Names First Kensington Drug Czar

Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker has promised to end the open-air drug market in Kensington. And on Thursday morning, she took one big step towards potentially solving that problem. At a press conference at the 24th Police District headquarters — that’s the district that covers the Kensington area, among several other neighborhoods — Parker and new Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel announced the first-ever Kensington drug czar: Pedro “Pete” Rosario.

Oh, Parker and Bethel didn’t call Rosario the Kensington drug czar, of course. Rosario, a near 30-year veteran of the Philadelphia police department, has been appointed to a newly created deputy police commissioner position. He’s notably the first Hispanic person to hold a deputy police commissioner position in Philadelphia. While the six other deputy police commissioners have broad and expansive responsibilities, Rosario’s “sole responsibility is to work in partnership with all involved to do the work to restore the hope and dignity to the Kensington area,” Bethel said at the press conference. “That is his sole focus,” Bethel added.

The press conference was short on details, including whether Parker is still planning on bringing the National Guard into Kensington. But there was one poignant moment during Parker’s remarks, when she made sure to talk about Rosario’s qualifications before mentioning why his appointment was historic.

“I was very intentional by affirming his qualifications before his race and ethnicity,” Parker explained. “When you’ve lived at the intersection of race and gender your entire life, there’s nothing more frustrating than someone affirming your race or ethnicity and not first the qualifications and hard work and dedication that have earned you access to an opportunity.”

In addition to other experience, Rosario previously served as captain of the East Detective Division, which includes Kensington.

About That Measles Problem

The parents of juvenile Patient Zero reportedly ignored quarantine instructions and sent the kid to daycare anyway. Paging Jawn Morgan!

No More Degrees at PAFA

Thousands of people have received BAs and MFAs from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. But no more. The school is doing away with all degree programs. Students will still be able to learn art there. They just can’t graduate with an actual, you know, degree. Students who were expected to graduate in 2024 or 2025 will still be able to get a degree from PAFA, but students with graduation dates beyond that will have to transfer to another school.

Reader Mail

My Tuesday column about the William Penn statue in Old City and the Christopher Columbus monument at Penn’s Landing definitely stirred the pot, but even some pro-Christopher Columbus people agreed with me that the monument is one ugly piece of public art.

Rich said this: “This monstrosity was always an insult to Columbus.”

Dan felt that the William Penn statue should stay (as it will) but noted that Welcome Park, where it’s located, leaves a lot to be desired:

In truth, Welcome Park is actually not very welcoming. It’s just a bunch of cobblestones with a statue and is rather dreary. Yes, the statue IS important (this was Penn’s residence, after all) so I’m glad they’re keeping it. But bring in some greenery, benches, whatever and turn it into a vest-pocket park. Make it an attractive oasis.

And then there’s conservative firebrand and columnist Christine Flowers, who weighed in with this:

I’m tired of people erasing things they don’t like, or understand. As someone noted, this was designed by two of country’s most famous architects, Venturi and Brown, Philly natives. The quality of the work is exceptional, and if people don’t like the symbolism, they can ignore it. Frankly, some of these ridiculous murals around the city are second class but I’m not pushing for the mural of Soviet lover and friend of Stalin, Paul Robeson, to come down (at least not anymore.) The more art, the merrier. Add, don’t subtract.

She’s right about at least one thing: There are a lot of second-class murals in this town.

Speaking of Murals…

The Phillies just announced a contest searching for an artist to paint a new Philadelphia-themed mural at Citizens Bank Park for the upcoming baseball season.

Local Talent

After a bit of a hiatus, Pica’s lover Tina Fey is headed back to television. Netflix just ordered up eight episodes of The Four Seasons, a show based on the 1981 rom-com starring Alan Alda and Carol Burnett. Fey isn’t just starring in the show. She co-created it.

By the Numbers: The Storm Edition

10,825: PECO customers still without power as of Thursday morning. That’s down from more than 200,000 during Tuesday night’s storm. Some customers aren’t expected to have their power restored until at least Saturday night.

2,000: Delco 911 calls received in just six hours of the storm.

100: Approximate number of cars that stalled along Admiral Wilson Boulevard in Camden on Wednesday thanks to floodwaters. And not just floodwaters. But floodwaters that may have been contaminated by fuel.

And from the Circles-of-Hell Sports Desk …

The Sixers were in Atlanta to play the Hawks, still lacking the ailing Joel Embiid and Robert Covington. Per usual, they managed to keep it close through the first quarter, with the Hawks only up 34-31. And Marcus Morris Sr. got serious in the second quarter, hitting threes to give us the lead on a 9-0 run.

https://twitter.com/sixers/status/1745253462420451666

He and Tobias Harris had the hot hands, but the Hawks warmed up and charged back in front. Trae Young always seems to smoke us somehow. We crawled into the lead again, and Mo Bamba made back-to-back incredible plays to make it 66-59 at the half before the refs took his buzzer-beater back: Make that 64-59.

Mo Bamba with the greatest 4.7 seconds in NBA history

alas, there were only 4.6 seconds left in the half

— Mike Lynch (@SportInfo247) January 11, 2024

We held onto the lead in the third, albeit barely, 98-95, before the Hawks reeled off a 10-2 run at the start of the fourth. Why does every Embiid-free Sixers game seem to follow the same script? They were only down by one with three minutes to go, and Tyrese Maxey had finally come alive.

Didn't know Tyrese Maxey had this kind of poster in him. He got up in traffic. pic.twitter.com/dxFJc2fXzC

— Mike Vorkunov (@MikeVorkunov) January 11, 2024

His trey put us up 125-121 with under a minute left. We were clinging to the lead by one with 15 seconds to go … and Maxey fouled Trae Young. Who else? The Sixers challenged and lost; Young missed his first foul shot (that was a miracle!) and made his second. Maxey tried a layup and thought he was fouled, but we were headed to overtime. This team kills me, just kills me. Tyrese picked up his sixth foul in the OT — on Young, of course — and was gone with a team-high 35 points and the Sixers up three; a foul by Morris on Jalen Johnson let the Hawks tie it with a minute left, then go up three on a Johnson trey. Grrrr.

#Sixers lose to the #Hawks in OT.

Referees had it out to make the #76ers lose tonight. Maxey and Harris both with great performances, but ultimately the team doesn’t come out on top #BrotherlyLove pic.twitter.com/FnnIHI8vp6

— Philly Sports (@PhillyGameDay) January 11, 2024

They play the Kings in our house on Friday, 7:30 start. Joel. Please.

Sigh. And in College Hoops?

The Temple Owls started out strong but then fell behind East Carolina, trailing 33-31 at the half. Alas, the Pirates opened the second half with a 14-4 run and ended up with the 73-62 win. St. Joe’s, on the other hand, made mincemeat of hosting St. Louis in the early going, leading 43-33 at the half. But the Billikens (pfft) worked their way back to a 65-63 lead in the second half. St. Joe’s mounted their own mini-comeback; with five seconds left, the Hawks were only down by one point.

Could they pull off the miracle? Nope. The final: 88-85. La Salle was neck-and-neck with the UMass Minutemen through the first half, only down 32-31, but — stop me if you’ve heard this — UMass ripped off a streak to start the second half and wound up with the 81-65 win. Not a great night for local college hoops. Tonight, we’ve got Drexel at North Carolina AT&T, tip-off at seven.

The Flyers also played.

All Philly Today sports coverage is provided by Sandy Hingston.