Mayor Cherelle Parker starts bringing all city employees back to office

This story originally appeared on 6abc.

Office buildings in Center City are starting to fill up again as more companies are mandating a return to in-person work.

Now, Philadelphia’s new mayor, Cherelle Parker, is doing the same.

Monday is the first step in the process of bringing all city employees back to the office.

It’s a return to full-time, in-person work for some Philadelphia city employees as 71 top city workers go back to the office.

They are people who report directly to the mayor, cabinet members, commissioners, directors and deputy directors.

Mayor Parker says the goal is to eventually bring all 25,000 municipal workers in Philadelphia back to the office.

“You need something else to do besides being home. You need to change the environment itself, so I understand why she wants them to go back,” said Jacqueline Carr, from West Philadelphia.

Mayor Parker says this is all part of a plan to see a thriving downtown.

She wants more people walking around the city, shopping at stores and strengthening the economy.

According to the 6abc data journalism team, the average volume of people in Center City is now at 372,000 a day. That’s about 83% of pre-pandemic levels.

“I think she wants to revitalize Center City and bring more business back to Center City, but I think it takes away from businesses in the other neighborhoods,” said Bebin Abraham, of Northeast Philadelphia.

In nearby Old City, one restaurant said they’re excited about the mayor’s plan and what it could mean for their neighborhood.

“It’s amazing to see because that’s more business for us,” said Isabel Heller, the manager of an Old City restaurant. “More people on the street just means more for us — more word of mouth, and it can only be a good thing not just for us but for everybody on the block.”

However, not everyone is on board with the plan.

One local union that represents municipal workers told Action News last week that if they’re called back to the office, they could seek remote work elsewhere.

Some of them work a hybrid schedule and want to keep it that way.