Dinner Cruise Company Stymied By Nutter Administration

The Daily News told you a story 12 days ago about a dinner cruise company from Norfolk, Va. that wanted to open a business in Philadelphia but ran into problems finding a home along Penn's Landing for the triple-decker paddle-wheel vessel it wanted to bring here.  The company estimated the "Freedom Belle" would employ 40 people full-time and pump about $4 million per year into the city's economy.

Mayor Nutter promised in June to reorganize within a month the Penn's Landing Corp., a city-founded non-profit that runs the waterfront.  Nutter still hasn't followed through on that promise, although his staff told the Daily News two weeks ago that something is coming soon.

So what about Cruise Ventures Inc., the company that has been asking for help in bringing business to Philadelphia?  Tom Mountjoy, an executive with the company, e-mails that he still can't get a response from the city.  Mountjoy continues: "Actually, it seems typical of our experience in Philadelphia over the last several months. We meet with people, call, make proposals, offer ideas, send emails, etc. and never even get the courtesy of a reply in most cases. Not even a "thanks and we'll get back to you". A hard place to do business. I realize that our proposed business is not the end all for Philadelphia, but there are some benefits as we outlined, and we're not asking for much of anything except for a thoughtful response and at least a little "can-do spirit" (as opposed to the exact opposite)."