DN Editorial: Kenney needs to be more than a visionary manager

IF MAYOR KENNEY was looking not to raise expectations too high in his inaugural address Monday, he succeeded.

The new mayor said the "vision" that would guide his administration would be to "deliver efficient, effective services to all Philadelphians."

Is vision the right word to describe Kenney's goals?

Surely, making the buses run on time, keeping the streets clean and offering good policing are admirable goals, but they don't represent the pinnacle of what government should accomplish; it's the base line.

As taxpayers, we have the right to expect honest, efficient and effective delivery of services - at the very least. We also recognize how hard it is to get it right, given human frailties and limited resources.

But getting that piece right doesn't make you a visionary, it just makes you a good manager. And we don't need a mayor as manager - he has actual managers to perform that role.

We need a mayor whose reach exceeds his grasp, who is willing to take risks, and step on toes, to get his agenda achieved.

And what should that agenda be?

Well, we certainly don't need a grandiose "I will change the world in four years" agenda that promises more than a mayor can ever deliver.

As Philadelphians, we know progress comes in smaller increments - a block here, a neighborhood there.

We've also learned to live without any progress at all, where our future is held back by our past - by a political culture resistant to change, a business sector satisfied with the status quo, and racial, ethnic and class divisions.

All of them combine to sap our strength and prevent the kind of civic cohesion and energy needed for the city to advance.

What we need is a mayor who will wrestle with these issues. A mayor who transcends the pettiness of our politics and the obstacles created by our entrenched animosities.

We don't need a Superman. A decent man will do - as long as he burns with a passion to see the city prosper and growth.

A courageous man will do - one who is unafraid to confront the forces that push back against change out of fear it will upset the deals they have engineered over the years.

An impatient man will do - one who won't listen to excuses about why inaction is the best possible course.

A savvy man will do - one who understands politics, people and makes best use of the powers at his disposal as mayor.

They say Philadelphia is a city of neighborhoods. That's really another way of saying it is a city of tribes: business tribes, union tribes, racial and ethnic tribes, regional tribes - a vast collection of people who find it hard to see beyond their own interests and needs.

We need someone who can not only rise above these narrow tribal interests, but bring others along with him on a journey to the mountaintop. A leader who will appeal - as Abraham Lincoln said in his first inaugural - to "the better angels of our nature."

We can't have a united agenda without a united effort.

We need a leader who can get us to set aside our differences and selfish interests to work together for the betterment of the city. Philadelphia deserves no less; it needs no less.

We hope Jim Kenney is such a man.