Consider community

It’s safe to say Jim Kenney has been busy since he was elected as mayor of Philadelphia in early November.

So far in 2016, he’s had to address a Philadelphia Police officer being shot by a man pledging allegiance to the Islamic state and controversial happenings at the Mummers Parade involving racial and anti-transgender protests.

Last month, he also voiced his opinions about one of the most important news stories involving Temple: whether the Board of Trustees should approve the construction of a 35,000-seat stadium on Main Campus.

Kenney told multiple news outlets he wants university officials to discuss stadium plans with the surrounding community. His spokeswoman, Lauren Hitt, told the Inquirer in December Kenney had a productive meeting with university officials about the possible stadium.

“He told the representatives at the conclusion of the meeting that he had concerns about Temple’s relationship with its surrounding neighborhoods, and that he would like to see them address some of those long-standing issues before he would reconsider his position on the project,” Hitt told the Inquirer.

We’ve urged the university to make a considerate decision, so it’s nice to hear the same from the 99th mayor of this city.

Talks about an on-campus stadium have been ongoing, and we commend university trustees and officials for not rushing such an important decision.

“We all take our roles very seriously and take a lot of time to look at this stuff,” trustee Joseph W. “Chip” Marshall III told The Temple News in late October. “We sweat the details.”

We ask, however, that President Theobald—who has stated multiple times he supports a stadium—and other officials heed the advice of Kenney, and continuously reach out to the North Philadelphia community before choosing whether to build a stadium on campus.