Is Kamala Harris Dissing Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker?

Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker and Vice President Kamala Harris (Getty Images)

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Is Kamala Harris Dissing Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker?

Cherelle Parker is an amazing speaker. Nothing short of inspirational. She’s also the 100th mayor of Philadelphia, the largest city in what could be the most pivotal state in the election. And, oh right: She’s the first woman ever to serve as mayor of Philadelphia. And she’s Black! So you’d think that the Kamala Harris campaign would have Cherelle Parker front and center, talking constantly about the upcoming election. And yet …

Two stories published yesterday — one by former Philly Mag writer Holly Otterbein for Politico and another that came later from the Inquirer — point out that the Kamala Harris campaign is overlooking Mayor Parker and other local Democratic leaders who are hugely essential in the get-out-the-vote effort. And who is to blame for this? Some say Nikki Lu. That’s who the Kamala Harris campaign tapped to run their efforts in Pennsylvania. And guess where Lu is from? [shudder] Pittsburgh!

“She herself was not well-known in Philadelphia before she took this job, and I just get the sense that she’s just not great at interpersonal politics,” one anonymous source told the Inquirer of Lu and her ability to/interest in working with Philadelphia’s Democratic machine.

And this from former U.S. Congressman Bob Brady, who is pretty much the personification of Democratic machine politics in Philadelphia: “They won’t give us credit if we win, but they’ll blame us if we lose.”

A Professional Women’s Soccer Team for Philly?!

Sounds like it could happen thanks to former Eagles player Connor Barwin!

A Movie Theater for South Philly?!

Sounds like it’s happening thanks to Philly mega-developer Bart Blatstein!

By the Numbers

20 seconds: Time it took thieves to make off with about $100,000 in watches and other items at the King of Prussia Mall’s Breitling shop the other day. Don’t worry, I did the math for you: That’s $5,000 per second. Scaled up, it’s $18 million per hour. By comparison, if you take Taylor Swift’s net worth and divide it into an hourly wage based on a 40-hour workweek, the suspects earned about 36 times more per hour than Swift. Of course, they have to split the cash. But still.

$800,000: What you’ll need to buy a new townhome in Philadelphia, a small condo at the Jersey Shore, or an older home with some land in the ‘burbs, according to this new report from the Philadelphia Business Journal. Pfft. That ain’t nothing. Two minutes and forty seconds inside the Breitling shop gets the job done.

45 minutes: The furthest you’ll have to travel to enjoy one of these 18 awesome fall-foliage hikes, walks and runs. I just got back from the Poconos, and it’s absolutely gorgeous. All of that gorgeousness is moving into the Philly area right about now. So it might be time to, uh, leave your house. (Sorry.)

Local Talent

Happy 60th birthday to the Philadelphia Ballet (née Pennsylvania Ballet)! Yes, they’re doing the Nutcracker this year. But first: a swashbuckling French romance with some very hot ballet bods. Le Corsaire opens at the Academy of Music on Friday.

In the Halloween Spirit?

I’m definitely one of those people who loathes seeing [insert name of holiday here] decorations for sale in stores month before said holiday. (If you haven’t read my colleague Christine Speer Lejeune’s lamentation on the trend of too-long holiday seasons, you most certainly should.) But it being October 17th, meaning Halloween is officially two weeks away, I’m going to say it’s finally OK to get excited about this particular holiday. And we have you covered with a guide to kid-friendly stuff, a guide to grown-up Halloween, a guide to ghostly cocktails in a haunted bar, a guide to homes in Philly with a history of haunting, and, because people are absolutely bonkers when it comes to their drooling canines, a guide to, yes, I can’t believe I’m actually about to type this, Howl-o-ween. Gee, guys, do you think we have enough Halloween guides here? Don’t worry, dear reader: It’s almost time for my guide to slaughtering and preparing your own Thanksgiving turkey.

Hungry?

Make a reservation at one of the 50 best restaurants in Philadelphia, as determined by our staff through a scrupulous and exhaustive (and exhausting) process. Speaking of restaurant lists, the Inquirer just came out with its own attempt at a best restaurants list. Or, sorry, “most vital” restaurants list. They also published a runners-up list of “also-vital” restaurants. You know what else is vital, though? Journalistic integrity. So I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that one of the restaurants on that second list just so happens to be owned by the daughter of longtime lead Inquirer food reporter Michael Klein, a fact they didn’t disclose in their story. So I thought I’d mention it for them here.

Reader Mail

Yesterday, I ran a tongue-in-cheek article suggesting Donald Trump might want to cross Pennsylvania off his itinerary thanks to all the bad luck he’s had here. I was clearly joking, and I’m smart enough to know he won’t actually stay away from the state given its prominence in the election. But there was no shortage of readers ready to take me to task for my words.

Here’s what Joel had to say: “Why would you alienate half of USA by hating trump? About to cancel this subscription.”

And then there’s this from Jack:

By you suggesting he stay out of Pennsylvania, you’re suggesting he give up. That would surely satisfy your wish. Well, he won’t. What I find most disturbing is part of your reasoning includes him being shot. How dare you EVER reference someone/anyone being shot to support your nonsense. You highly suggest he stay out of Pennsylvania……I suggest you’re a coward.

As always, you can send me love or hate mail (or just general comments) here.