City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier (3rd District), the incumbent candidate in the May primary election, will officially open the District office on Friday, March 31, at 606 South 52nd St. (52nd and Cedar). The grand opening and a ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place from 3 to 5 p.m. on Friday and all are invited.

The 3rd District office will be open to visitors from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Additional hours are expected to be added soon. Residents are invited to visit the district office to receive constituent services from City Council staff.

Councilmember Jamie Gauthier’s path to re-election got a lot easier this week when Jabari K. Jones, widely seen as a viable competitor to her 3rd District seat, dropped out of the race.

Jones, the 28-year-old head of the West Philadelphia Corridor Collaborative, positioned himself to the right of Gauthier on issues like development and crime, but withdrew from the race on Monday ahead of a hearing on legal challenges to his nominating petitions. He was one of about a two dozen candidates for City Council who faced challenges to their paperwork this week. The challenges are a longstanding tradition in Philly politics.

Lodged by three 3rd District voters and committeepeople, the legal challenges alleged that many of the people who signed Jones’ nominating petitions did not live in the District or were not registered Democrats. City Council candidates are required to submit 750 signatures to be nominated.

The 3rd District race was setting up to be one of the more competitive races in this year’s municipal primaries. There is no Republican challenger to Gauthier’s seat. All 17 City Council seats will be on May 16 primary ballots.

West Philly voters will have a chance this week to meet some candidates for the City Council’s At-Large seats and mayor at two community forums. Both events will take place on Thursday, March 16. Here are some more details about each event.

• The Enterprise Center (4548 Market St.) is hosting a Mayor 100: Minority-Owned Business Policy Forum, where Democratic and Republican candidates for mayor will have an opportunity to listen to business owners’ concerns and offer their vision for strengthening related policies in the incoming administration. The event will be moderated by WHYY’s Cherri Gregg and the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Layla Jones. Shirley Franklin, former Mayor of Atlanta, will deliver keynote remarks at the start of the event.

The forum is hosted in collaboration with Futurnet, the Urban League of Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Equity Alliance, WHYY, and other organizations. Continue Reading

UPDATE (3/2/2023): If you missed this event, you can watch a recording here.

(2/28/2023): A mayoral forum sponsored by CeaseFirePA and WHYY News and dedicated to gun violence, policing and public safety, will take place Wednesday, March 1. The “100th Mayor: Restoring Safety Forum” will be held at WHYY, 150 N. 6th St. (invite-only tickets were available for in-person attendees) and will also be livestreamed via Facebook.

The mayoral candidates will be asked some tough questions on the city gun violence crisis by three moderators: gun violence prevention reporter Sam Searles, community leader Chantay Love, and trauma surgeon Elinore Kaufman.

The forum will be held from 7 to 9 p.m.. To receive the livestream link, sign up here.

The mayor’s race is heating up and candidates will be in West Philly next month for a forum at the University of Pennsylvania.

The Philadelphia Crosstown Coalition, a non-partisan non-profit corporation, is hosting a Philadelphia Mayoral Candidates Forum on March 28, 7-9 p.m., at Penn (Houston Hall, 3417 Spruce St.). Voters can learn where the candidates stand on several issues and discuss how they plan to implement their vision for the city.

All candidates will be asked to respond to the same set of questions prepared beforehand.

The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. For more information and to reserve your spot, go here.

If you can’t make it to this event, the Crosstown Coalition will be hosting another mayoral forum on April 12 in Center City.

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City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier will open a district office in West Philly on 52nd Street this spring.

Residents can visit the district office to receive help from the Councilmember’s constituent services team on City-related matters. The plans also include using the office as a space for community events.

The Councilmember’s team will continue to host satellite office hours before and after the district office officially opens. there is a satellite office meeting coming up on Wednesday, Feb. 15 from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at The Eco Foundation (5411 Market St.). See the flyer for more details.