Former Mayor Rendell has some advice for current Mayor Nutter

A former mayor says the current inhabitant of the office in Philadelphia is doing a good job generally, but falters on communication.   

Former Gov. Ed Rendell was mayor of Philadelphia and understands what it’s like to be close to not making payroll. Rendell says the recession has hurt Philadelphia, and Mayor Michael Nutter needs to be more open to the public.

“I think he should stay the course and do a little bit better job of explaining to the people of Philadelphia why he’s taking the actions that he has undertaken,” Rendell said. “Sometimes I think his heart’s in the right place and he means to do the right thing — he does the right thing pretty consistently — but he doesn’t communicate it the way that he should.”

Rendell believes that the Nutter administration is right in fighting the city workers unions for reforms.

“You’ve got to convince the unions to take benefit reform, to get rid of some of the work rules that drive up costs,” Rendell said. “The overall price of the package has to go down, there’s no question about that.”

In a written response, Nutter said he’s thankful for the good words from Rendell and he is trying to do better at communicating what are, at times, complicated issues.