Nutter and Vento try burying the spatula

While Mayor Nutter struggles to forge closer ties with City Council - especially after Council turned down his soda-tax proposal - he's had more success at shoring up another relationship.

The mayor met in his office last week with U.S. Rep. Bob Brady (D., Pa.) and Joey Vento, owner of Geno's Steaks in South Philadelphia.

The meeting followed what Vento took as a snub when the Nutter administration in April rejected his offer to donate two horse trailers to the Police Department for its mounted patrol. Vento wanted a plaque on the trailers identifying him as the donor, but Nutter aides said it was against city policy to do so - much as police don't wear bulletproof vests saying Nike or another company name.

Vento had already felt he was getting picked on. Last year, the city told him that he needed permits for outdoor seating, and the Health Department cited him for wearing "excessive" jewelry at his cheesesteak grill. (The citation was dropped.)

Nutter last week declined to talk about his 20-minute mend-the-fences meeting with Vento. And the normally outspoken Vento didn't return calls.

But Brady, who in his typical matchmaking ways helped bring the men together, said a truce had been reached.

"The mayor said, 'I am absolutely not persecuting you,' " Brady recalled. "They shook hands, and they're going to keep the lines of communication open."

- Marcia Gelbart

Giving Council a break over break

For a guy on the verge of a summer vacation, Councilman James F. Kenney seemed pretty annoyed at the end of last week's meeting, the last until September.

Kenney, a 20-year veteran of Council, said he got annoyed at the beginning of every summer recess.

And what is the source of his hot-weather irritation? The constant sniping that he and his colleagues take a 12-week vacation during the summer months.

"The point is that we work all summer long," he said. "It's just really annoying, on a personal level, that I'm somehow on a golf course for 12 weeks or lying on a beach for 12 weeks."

The real reason Council doesn't do official business in the summer, Kenney said, is that "senior members of government" take vacations and aren't available.

So why do people have this - in his words - unfair misunderstanding of the recess? Well, Kenney blamed the media - and he may not be entirely wrong. Over the years, a number of outlets have used the summer recess as a stick to bash Council as lazy and out of touch.

But Majority Leader Marian B. Tasco told Kenney not to worry about it.

"Councilman Kenney, I just want to say to you, 'Have a great summer. Go on vacation. Go in the sand,' " she said, drawing laughter from the chamber. "Because no matter what you do, you don't have enough ink to counter what they write in the newspaper. . . . Go have a good time, because I am."

- Troy Graham