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Phila. voters OK permanent panel on black men's challenges

Philadelphia voters on Tuesday approved making permanent the Mayor's Commission on African-American Males, currently a temporary panel charged with studying and addressing challenges facing that community.

Jack Drummond, 37, will head the Commission on African-American Males.
Jack Drummond, 37, will head the Commission on African-American Males.Read moreJennifer Kerrigan / Staff Photographer

Philadelphia voters on Tuesday approved making permanent the Mayor's Commission on African-American Males, currently a temporary panel charged with studying and addressing challenges facing that community.

Jack Drummond, who heads the city's Office of Black Male Engagement and will also lead the commission, said the change is needed "due to persistent inequities, ineffective representation in Philadelphia's communities, unfavorable statistical progress in life outcomes, and an overall lack of public confidence for black men."

"The new commission will continue to focus on studying the negative conditions of black men in the City of Philadelphia and make yearly reports including recommendations to the mayor on how to affect positive change around proposed ordinances and other policies pertaining to the demographic," he said in a statement.

The commission will have 30 unpaid members appointed by the mayor, at least three of whom will have to be between the ages of 18 and 35.

Voters statewide also weighed in on two other ballot questions Tuesday, though one abolishes an already-defunct court and the second did not count.

The defunct court, Philadelphia Traffic Court, was shut down by the legislature in 2013 amid scandal. The ballot question called for all language referencing the court to be removed from the state constitution.

The measure passed, with voters in Philadelphia supporting it at a ratio of about 2-1 in unofficial returns.

The voting on the other statewide question - the one that doesn't count - was too close to call. That question would have raised the mandatory retirement age for Pennsylvania judges from 70 to 75.

Legislators in Harrisburg approved putting the question to voters - but recently moved to push the question back to the November election so they could tweak the wording.

A judge last week turned down a challenge by three Democrats who wanted the vote to go forward. But that decision came too late for the question to be removed from the ballot.

tnadolny@phillynews.com

215-854-2730

@TriciaNadolny