Council President Darrell L. Clarke (5th District) recently wrote a commentary in the Philadelphia Inquirer urging Temple University address the missteps it has made with the North Philadelphia community before moving forward with its stadium campaign.
Read the commentary in its entirety on philly.com. An excerpt is posted below:
Mistrust in university leadership has reached the point where it is now hurting worthy projects that we have been working on since before the stadium debacle. The Temple College of Education’s planned 95,000-square-foot community center will offer pre-K, health services, and workforce training to surrounding residents. It is a “community school” partnership that precedes the Kenney Administration, and it pains me deeply to see it come under attack because of its association with the university.
I urge university leadership to put the brakes on its stadium campaign and address this crisis of confidence within the community. The special services district now being proposed would have been welcomed in 2012, and every year before and every year since. If Temple is serious about its commitment to North Philadelphia, new community investments should be offered without any strings attached. There is still time to rectify past missteps in building strong relations with near residents, and that – not a stadium – should now be the university’s priority.
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Council President Darrell L. Clarke is serving his second term as the President of Philadelphia City Council. He represents Philadelphia’s 5th Council District. More information at phlcouncil.com/DarrellClarke
