Before it was a $2 billion plan, Mayor Cherelle Parker’s housing strategy was a clever diversion.

In the leadup to the 2023 mayoral primary, during a Fox29 candidates’ forum , Parker was asked about her stance on the Sixers’ controversial downtown arena proposal. Her response was a virtual non-answer — she vowed to evaluate all the data and speak with all the impacted parties before coming to a conclusion — and it did not create headlines. Instead, it was the content of what Parker said before that, while back-pedaling into her answer, which got people’s attention.

Listen to the audio edition here:

“I believe that the building trades endorsed Cherelle Parker because they know I have a plan to grow Philadelphia’s economy. It includes the building of 30,000 affordable units of housing t

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