Inquirer Editorial: Mayor Kenney's first year was mostly a success, but challenges await

Philadelphia Mayor Kenney's collaborative style and focus on inequality helped drive what has been a mostly successful first year in office.

He won a pitched battle to tax sugary drinks in City Council and so far in the courts, giving him new funding to expand Pre-K, reduce poverty in the nation's poorest big city and raise the quality of life in struggling neighborhoods. Community schools, which bring essential social services right into neighborhood schools, are opening. He also added bike lanes for millennials who are revitalizing parts of the city.

The summer's successful Democratic National Convention was unmarked by violence, bringing to the fore Kenney's efforts at enforcing the peace. That trait has helped him carve successful new relationships with former colleagues on City Council.

Kenney will need that skill when he negotiates pivotal city contracts. He should reconsider his hands-off position on the so-called DROP program, an unaffordable pension perk that cost the city $101.6 million this year and $1.4 billion since its 1999 inception. The fund needs the wasted money.

Outside City Hall, he's going to have to referee the building boom. Construction of a new high-rise condo imperils historic Jewelers Row, a city jewel itself worth preserving. Kenney is working to expand the Historical Commission, but those plans must include a protected inventory of important buildings before sly owners let them deteriorate into hazards requiring demolition. An improving business climate is good, but it still needs the city to help by untangling layers of business taxes.

One of Kenney's greatest challenges in 2017 will be actually executing the centerpiece of his agenda: providing pre-K and fixing libraries, parks and recreation centers. That agenda will be made more difficult by President-elect Trump's low interest in urban issues, even in controlling gun violence.

Philadelphia has a higher per capita shooting rate than other major cities, in part, because the illegal gun trade is enabled by a state legislature under the National Rifle Association's thumb. But Philadelphia's leaderless Harrisburg delegation seems incapable of helping.

That means Kenney has to play a more serious role in politics and policing as his administration works on new solutions to this health crisis. Fighting gun violence goes along with cutting fatal drug overdoses expected to reach 900 for 2016. That's alarming, especially when compared to the 1,000 in New York City with 5.6 times the population.

Trump's anti-immigrant policies mean Kenney will have to decide whether he wants to risk federal funds to maintain Philadelphia's status as a sanctuary city, which does not use its overburdened police to do the federal government's job of rounding up undocumented persons.

Kenney should also exert more leadership in cleaning up his own Democratic Party. Despite ethics reforms by former Mayor Michael Nutter, 15 elected officials were guilty of corruption charges in the last three years. Kenney's own hanging cloud is his friend John "Johnny Doc" Dougherty. The powerful electricians union leader is the subject of a sprawling federal probe that includes the FBI's interest in funds used to elect Kenney as mayor.

Despite looming challenges, Kenney should have something to smile about as he heads up Broad Street for the New Year.