Rendell to Kenney: Lighten up!

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney has by most accounts had a successful first year in office. But one renowned former mayor thinks hizzoner could use a little attitude adjustment.

Kenney is generally regarded as a likable, down-to-earth guy who wants to do good things. But he’s also known for, well, not smiling a lot — in interviews, at public events, lots of places.

Which leaves former two-term Mayor Ed Rendell puzzled.

“I can’t understand why he seems to be angry all the time,” Rendell said. “He’s doing a good job. He’s fighting the good fight. He should relax and enjoy it, because it goes by awful fast.”

Rendell made his remarks in an exchange with reporters in the lobby of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York during Pennsylvania Society weekend last month.

One of the reporters — OK, it was me — noted that Rendell himself sometimes had a short fuse as mayor and would lose his temper with reporters or staff.

“I would lose my temper, but I enjoyed it,” he said. “In fact, I enjoyed losing my temper.”

At least that’s the way he remembers it now.