Three’s company
in Fifth District

By Diane Villano-Prokop
Times Staff Writer

In his quest for a third four-year term in the 5th Councilmanic District, Darrell Clarke will face off against Haile Johnston and John Longacre in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.
Clarke, 54, is a lifelong resident of the district who, as chairman of the influential Public Works Committee and vice chairman of the Appropriations and Rules committees, helped bring in almost $1.5 billion in affordable housing investment. Clarke also served as Mayor John Street’s chief of staff, when Street represented the 5th district.
Clarke’s challengers may be new to politics, but Johnston and Longacre bring with them a wealth of community-building experience and are determined to bring a better quality of life to the residents in their district. They say they are involved in their neighborhoods and make things happen.
Johnston, 34, is a Wharton School of Business graduate and hails from Strawberry Mansion. He co-founded the East Park Revitalization Alliance with his wife Tatiana, collaborating with agencies such as the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Philly Green to plant more than 300 trees, and with the city’s Mural Arts Program to transform neighborhood eyesores into eye candy.
Longacre, 35, attended Temple University and worked as an intern in the city Commerce Department when Ed Rendell was mayor, working on economic development.
Longacre, who grew up in Mayfair, lives in Fairmount and is a founding member of the Francisville Neighborhood Development Corporation, which he still serves as treasurer on its board of directors. He started his own real estate development company and transformed an old South Philly nuisance bar into an award-winning one.
Comprised of distinct neighborhoods across the city, including four divisions in the 23rd Ward in Northwood, along with North Central Philadelphia, Strawberry Mansion, lower Hunting Park, Ludlow, Yorktown, West Poplar, Fairhill, Brewerytown, Francisville, Spring Garden, Fairmount, Logan Square, and parts of Fishtown, Northern Liberties and Center City, many of the 5th district neighborhoods are going through a transformation of sorts.
Though located across the street in the neighboring 1st Councilmanic District, the proposed SugarHouse casino could bring a good deal of change to Fishtown and Northern Liberties.
Though some say the casinos will bring much-needed jobs to the community, Longacre believes local businesses would suffer. Longacre also opposes casinos if affected communities have no voice in the process.
Johnston supports Casino Free Philadelphia’s No Way Without Our Say referendum. The candidate does not believe casinos would provide stable, high-wage jobs for the community.
Violence and guns are a top issue across the city, but especially in 5th district neighborhoods, such as crime-ridden areas of North Central Philadelphia.
Clarke co-sponsored a bill in City Council last week to limit gun purchases to one a month and require gun owners to report lost or stolen firearms.
Though the state has usurped the city’s ability to pass its own gun laws, Council plans to file a lawsuit against the Pennsylvania Legislature to allow the city to enact its own laws — an issue on which Clarke and his opponents all agree.
No Republican filed in the 5th district, so the winner of the Democratic primary is assured of victory in the general election. ••
Reporter Diane Villano-Prokop can be reached at 215-354-3036 or dvillano@phillynews.com