Letters: Mayor Kenney needs to take charge

ISSUE | MAYOR KENNEY

Mayor Kenney has hammered out a sweetened-beverage tax, which hopefully will give more disadvantaged children the benefits of a pre-K experience. He also is pushing for the establishment of community schools, which could save the future of public education in the city.

But Kenney has been conspicuously silent about some nagging issues, some of which he pledged action on during his mayoral campaign:

Getting rid of the Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP), a perk that's costing the pension fund hundreds of millions of dollars.

Ending or limiting the often-detrimental exercise of power known as councilmanic prerogative.

Urging the School District and teachers' union to hammer out a contract; they've been without one for five years. The union backed Kenney in his run for mayor.

Protecting our city's architectural and cultural treasures from the allure of new development. Case in point: Toll Bros.' plan to raze five properties on Jewelers Row, America's oldest jewelry district, for a 16-story residential building.

A mayor, like any other chief executive, has a bully pulpit from which he or she can weigh in on important matters impacting the city and the citizens he or she represents. Kenney can't legislate, but he can stimulate civic engagement and grassroots action. That's an integral part of being a leader. We need the mayor's leadership.

|Jack R. Butler, Philadelphia, jackrb1@verizon.net