Dinner's on Starr, but Nutter pays up

When you're a popular mayor, it can be a real challenge to pick up the dinner check. At least it was last week, when Mayor Nutter and two guests dined at Parc, Stephen Starr's new French bistro on Rittenhouse Square.

When the mayor signaled for the bill, the server said Starr had insisted on picking up the tab. A nice gesture, to be sure, but also a pretty clear violation of the city's ethics rules, which do not allow city employees (even the mayor) to get their meals comped by Philadelphia restaurants.

When a reporter heard of the incident and asked mayoral spokesman Doug Oliver if the mayor often ate out for free, Oliver replied: "Absolutely not."

This was just a strange case, Oliver explained. Starr had left the restaurant by the time Nutter and company finished their meals, so the mayor couldn't insist on paying.

"The rules say meals aren't free, and the mayor understands that," Oliver said. "But it can be tricky: You don't want to spit in the face of others who are trying to make a gesture of kindness, either."

In any event, Oliver said Nutter tracked Starr down the day after his dinner and "squared up" with the restaurateur. Oliver said he did not know if Nutter settled the bill before or after he learned a reporter had asked about the dinner.

- Patrick Kerkstra

SugarHouse Casino, if and when it is up and running in Fishtown/Northern Liberties, would add a new twist to the casino "comp" strategy.

As part of a deal with local neighborhood groups, SugarHouse - which is still trying to secure the necessary permits to build its 3,000-machine slots parlor - would offer freebies to local businesses. This would be a change for the casinos, long accused of hoarding customers within the timeless and disorienting environment of the gambling complex. Neighbors have raised concerns that local businesses will suffer if everyone runs to the casino for a $5.95 shrimp buffet.

Maggie O'Brien, president of Fishtown Action, stole the idea from Presque Isle Downs in Erie, where customer-reward points can be used at Wal-Mart, Target and Lowe's.

Fishtown Action, the pro-casino neighborhood group that splintered from the anti-SugarHouse Fishtown Neighbors Association, is negotiating a community benefits agreement with SugarHouse that would include at least $1 million in community give-backs.

Controversy will follow whatever agreement is signed, with Fishtown Neighbors certain to claim that any agreement without its say is illegitimate.

- Jeff Shields

When Mayor Nutter the other week hailed the police contract award as "a triple win" - for Philadelphians, the union, and his administration - he left one group out: lawyers.

They are key players on any contract talks, and it was no different in the series of arbitration hearings that led to the new police pact.

The big winner: influential law firm Ballard Spahr, home to Shannon Farmer, the city's chief negotiator, and Kenneth M. Jarin, who led the city's arbitration efforts on the police deal.

Total costs for their police work: $112,000.

There's a bonus, too.

Since the arbitration award lasts just one year, they get to come back 12 months from now and do it all again.

- Marcia Gelbart