Mayor Kenney's First Year Marked By Success, Stress... And A Twitter Hiatus
CITY HALL (CBS) -- With this week's court decision, upholding the legality of Philadelphia's soda tax, Mayor Jim Kenney's first year in office has been a sweeping success.
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"I think it's been a successful year. We've certainly accomplished a number of things," mayor Jim Kenney said while racking up a list of accomplishments in his first year as mayor.
From getting City Council buy-in to his ambitious anti-poverty agenda, which meant passing the controversial soda tax, to improved labor relations, community-police relations, pension reform and glowing reviews for hosting the Democratic National Convention, this has been a busy first year for the Kenney administration, but he's not resting on his laurels.
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"Mission accomplished is when our poverty rate is not 26 percent and I may not see that in the time that I'm in office, but hopefully we're putting the trains on the track to move toward."
The stress of the job often shows in his face, but he said he really does like the job, though he said he's had to learn to control his temper, listen without reacting, and stop tweeting, unless it's positive.
"Sometimes it's time to grow up, it's time to realize that your job is really important, that your own personal likes and dislikes are not germane to moving the city forward," he said.
Kenney is looking forward to year two, sort of.
"It's not a job without stress, it's not a job without worrying about the unknown and I think the unknown is the most stressful of all," he said.
But Kenney said he does like the job and is determined to make progress toward his goal of reducing poverty.
Listen to full interview with Jim Kenney:
