City Council members weigh value of summer vacation

Philadelphia City Council is on summer recess, but members ask that you don’t call it a vacation. Philadelphia City Council will not hold regular meetings until Sept. 8, but Councilman Jim Kenney wanted to make clear at Thursday’s meeting that he won’t spend the summer just relaxing at the Jersey shore. “I guess the frustration is that is every time I read something or see a report, there’s a 12-week vacation that I’ve never had in 20 years here. We work, I’m here Monday through Friday. Sometimes I will sneak out a little early Friday or come in a little late on Monday, but generally I’m here.”

Councilwoman Marian Tasco, often mentioned as a possible Council president next year, advised Kenney not to worry so much about public perception. “Councilman Kenney, I want to say to you, ‘Have a good vacation.’ Do what you want to do, go in the sand — they know that we are here, they know we are working, but it’s good news to say that we’re not working. It’s fuel for the fodder, so go have a good time, because I am.” Council will have one task it will have to tackle this summer: redrawing Council district lines in response to the 2010 census.