VIDEO: Rep. Cherelle Parker talks about holding elected officials accountable

Councilwoman Marian Tasco’s office confirmed on Tuesday that she’ll be retiring after her current term in City Council ends at the beginning of next year. The news was first reported by Philadelphia Magazine, after State Representative Cherelle Parker released a statement praising Tasco’s seven-term tenure on Council.

Rumors have been floating around for some time that Parker, a former aide in Tasco’s Council office, would campaign for the 9th-District seat if Tasco, who is 77, decided to retire. At a forum in December, in which City Council President Darrell Clarke and other Council members previewed a neighborhood data tool called the Community Sustainability Initiative, Parker took to the microphone to speak about the importance of inter-governmental cooperation. She got applause for saying constituents should use data to hold their officials accountable while Tasco, who has endorsed Parker for the Council seat, looked on.

Parker has not yet officially announced whether she’ll run for Council.

Watch the video below. For the full presentation, click here. No word yet on when the data tool will be publicly available.

http://www.viddler.com/v/c67c7129