A Year End Review

For me, as I look back on the year 2024, everything became real as we witnessed the swearing-in of our city’s 100th Mayor and our city’s first woman Mayor, Cherelle L. Parker. What a way to start a New Year. As our Mayor came into office, she came in with a breath of fresh air, demanding that we listen to what she says and then watch what she does. She kicked off her Clean and Green initiative starting from day one, and so many other strong initiatives she announced. Sadly on December 29, 2024, the world learned of the passing of former President Jimmy Carter, who was 100 years old.
2024 was a Presidential election year, and the people of the two main political parties were each anticipating a big win on General Election Day. The interesting twist to the story is that while we started the year out thinking we knew who the two main political candidates would be running for President, things certainly changed at the end of the summer of 2024. With just a little over 100 days to campaign, when the Democratic party essentially deserted Joe Biden, calling him too old to win the election, Vice President Kamala Harris stepped up to the challenge.
SEPTA Transport Workers Union and AFSCME District Council 33, Municipal Workers Union (both) avoided strikes this year at the 11th hour, another opportunity to showcase how the Parker Administration knows how to sit down at the negotiating table and hammer things out.
Parker, about a month into her tenure, hired an outside accounting firm to audit the city’s Office of Homeless Services after financial irregularities inside the department became public in late 2023.
Philadelphia City Councilman Kenyatta Johnson was sworn in as City Council President the same day. Johnson has been impressing city council visitors and colleagues alike as he’s been able to start City Council sessions on time every Thursday, which is very impressive.
December 2024 showed itself as a time of another victory for Mayor Parker. Despite strong Asian community opposition, the Philadelphia City Council approved a $1.3 billion plan to build a downtown basketball arena next to Chinatown for their hometown 76ers that had been championed by Mayor Cherelle Parker.
The votes to ratify a package of bills authorizing the Sixers to proceed, mostly by a 12-5 margin, capped more than two years of wrangling over an 18,500-seat arena that supporters said would create thousands of construction jobs, particularly for Black and Hispanic residents, and help to revitalize the Center City neighborhood.
The vote also represented a signature win for Mayor Parker at the end of her first year in office, as well as her allies in the building trades unions, who were among the project’s most vocal proponents. She is expected to sign the legislation before the end of the year.
In 2024, we saw educator Veronica Joyner closing her very successful charter school, the Mathematics Civics and Sciences Charter School at Broad and Spring Garden Street. The good news is that Joyner has not thrown in the towel on our children. Instead, at the same address, she has now opened the Mathematics, Civics, and Sciences Education Center. She’s offering free tutoring services for school students enrolled in public schools.
After years of battling Pennsylvania to level the playing field with wealthier school districts, some of the state’s poorest districts got a new influx of money this year to bring them closer to that goal.The $500 million increase in state funding was just the first step of a nine-year plan to send $4.5 billion to districts deemed inadequately funded or overburdened by local property taxes.
Violence and the murder rate have gone down in 2024 in Philadelphia. However, as our Mayor put it, that doesn’t mean a damn thing. One death, one murder, one crime is too many, so we have much work yet to do in that area.
On a national level, Protests in the name of Palestinians prompted some colleges to change their policies this year, while others continued to welcome all kinds of demonstrations. Nationwide, protesters took the media by storm as they set up encampments, refused to leave colleges and universities, and were subsequently arrested.
On an international level, fighting continued this year between the Israelis and the Palestinians with no real end in sight. Same story for the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. Wars in Libya, Syria, and Yemen have also wound down in 2024, but without lasting accommodation among the parties or even, in Libya and Syria, a political track worth the name.
As the year started coming to a close, Americans witnessed what appears like Donald Trump getting away with a lot of crimes. Because he won the General Election in November, it seems that his criminal cases, one by one, will disappear between now and the time he gets sworn back into office as Commander In Chief of the United States.
Finally, this Year End Review would not be complete unless I listed some of the many famous people who made the transition in 2024. Amongst the famous African Americans whom we lost in 2024, there was Motown Founder Quincy Jones. He died on November 3, 2024, at the age of 91.
Judith Jamison, famed dancer, choreographer, and former artistic director of the Alvin Ailey Dance Company, passed this year and died at the age of 81.
Philadelphia Radio personality and all-time Diva, Mary Mason, passed this year.
Community activist and former Chair of the National Action Network, Philadelphia Freedom Riders Chapter, Paula Peebles, passed this year.
On a national level, Cissy Houston passed this year. She was a Grammy-winning singer and the mother of Whitney Houston. Houston died on October 7, 2024, while under hospice care for Alzheimer’s disease. She was 91.
Former Philadelphia 76er Dikembe Mutombo passed in 2024. He played 18 seasons in the NBA, playing for such teams as the Denver Nuggets and the Houston Rockets. Dikembe Mutombo died on September 30, 2024, at the age of 58.
James Earl Jones made transition this year. He debuted in the movie “Dr. Strangelove” in 1964 and went on to appear in “Coming To America” in 1988, and “Field of Dreams” in 1989. Jones died on September 9, 2024. He was 93.
Actor John Amos also made transition in 2024. He starred in the hit TV show “Good Times,” which aired from 1974 to 1976, and in the iconic 1977 miniseries “Roots.” John Amos died on August 21, 2024, at the age of 84.
Willie Mays, one of the greatest baseball players of all time, made transition this year. Willie Mays died on June 18, 2024, at the age of 93.
O.J. Simpson, the former football great, passed this year. He was accused of and ultimately acquitted of the brutal 1994 slayings of his ex-wife and her friend, who died on April 10, 2024, according to his family. He was 76.
Actor Louis Gossett Jr. is most known for his role in the 1982 film, “An Officer and a Gentleman,” a role that earned him a Golden Globe and a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. He was 87.
Now, on to 2025!