Passports stamps for Kenney?

If he is mayor, former City Councilman Jim Kenney likely won't have his passport stamped as much as Mayor Nutter.

Kenney's vision to get international business to Philadelphia includes expanding the port and airport, and not so much traveling overseas. The Democratic nominee for mayor stood before an international business crowd of about 200 on Wednesday night to share his ideas for bringing more jobs to Philadelphia.

"We need to get people working," he told the crowd on the top of the South Broad Street Bellevue building Wednesday evening. "The port would bring job opportunities… pick up people out of poverty."

While he was on Council, Kenney was a frequent critic of Nutter's trips to London, Israel, and Paris. Following his speech at the 5th Annual Summer International Business Reception, Kenney said he has been "perhaps somewhat unfairly sometimes," too critical of the mayor's trade missions. But he insists there are other ways to bring businesses here without spending taxpayers money on flights and hotels abroad.

"This age of information and technology and high tech, we can Skype and teleconference," Kenney said. "I would much rather bring people here to show them what we have."

However, he said he isn't ruling out taking trade missions. His concern is whether the trade missions would actually result in jobs or having international companies move to Philadelphia.

"If somebody told me that I could seal the deal by taking a trip somewhere, I would do it," Kenney said. "But I think that's what you need a commerce director for and your PIDC folks and the port development people. They are all the ones that can be doing the groundwork for you to finally hook something good."

But for right now, his focus is on the port and airport.

On the port, he said:. "Doubling the size and also dividing enough warehousing space and things for all the freight and cargo and then try to figure out where we put our cars… because they do take up a lot of space. So we're trying to figure out a way to maybe have some kind of vertical storage of our automobiles to maximize our acres."

On the airport: "The problem with establishing headquarters or offices in Philadelphia is often times the executives and people they do business with can't get directly to Philadelphia on a flight so they have to layover in Chicago or take a train from New York," Kenney said. He added that the American Airlines and US Airways merger will help Philadelphia in bringing new direct flights.

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