Jabari Jones/Facebook photo.

Jabari K. Jones, a community advocate and small-business advocate, announced his candidacy for the City Council’s 3rd District seat on Friday. He will run against incumbent Jamie Gauthier in the 2023 primary election. Gauthier kicked off her re-election campaign on January 21.

“I have been called to run for this seat by residents that want results over rhetoric and problem solving over photo ops,” Jones said in a statement prior to Friday’s event. “Our community deserves bold leadership that understands the effect of legislation and holds the government accountable to the people of the Third District.”

Jones has said that gun violence, housing, and developing economic opportunities for the community are the reasons he is running for City Council. As The Philadelphia Inquirer (subscription-based service) noted last week, Jones would focus more on solving crime than unproven prevention strategies.

“You can’t have prevention when you’re already having the crimes happen,” Jones told The Inquirer. “When you have a fire in a building, when the fire department shows up, they don’t show up with smoke detectors. They put the fire out first.”

Jones has criticized Gauthier’s approach to development in the District, saying affordable housing requirements in projects could scare developers off. He proposes that the city develop properties with affordable housing on vacant land parcels it owns.