Celebrating Jannie L. Blackwell

Jannie L. Blackwell is a fireball of energy who even after leaving City Hall, is still making a positive difference in the lives of many Philadelphians.

- Thera Martir

Retirement for Jannie L. Blackwell simply means she works from various locations now, no longer having a home base at City Hall.

For someone who is well past her 50th birthday, you would never know it by the way she still manages to show up at significant and meaningful programs all around town.

Jannie Blackwell shared, “I first met Lucien when he was running for Business Agent of local 1332 International Plumbers Association, AFL-CIO. We helped him campaign and all of that.

Then, lawmakers decided to create a new legislative seat, the 188th District. Lawmakers wanted someone to get that seat who was respected and who people from the community would listen to. They asked Lou to run, and he did; he won, and served as a PA State Representative for two terms, which totaled four years.

When the late Charles Durham, a former Judge, decided to leave his City Council seat and become a judge, Lou decided to run for City Council. Lucien went into City Council when Frank Rizzo was there, and George Schwartz was President of City Council. Jannotti was Majority Leader. We go back a long time--anybody who served with us goes back a long, long time.

“Lucien and I were the first couple ever elected in the nation on the same day,” Jannie stated. She went on to say, “As the story goes, Congressman Bill Gray announced he was stepping down, so there was a vacancy in the 2nd Congressional District.

That’s when Lucien decided to run for Congress, and I ran to become a Philadelphia City Councilperson, taking on the seat my husband had held for so many years.

A city of Philadelphia worker for 48 years, Jannie Blackwell shared that even though she had worked in the City Council office of her husband when he was a councilman, she still felt the desire to show people that she could stand on her own as a City Council person.