Standing next to police officers outside Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Kenney made the comments shortly after midnight, about two hours after shots were fired and chaos ensued during the city’s annual Independence Day celebration on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. “There’s not an event or a day that I don’t lay on my back at night, staring at the ceiling and worrying about things,” he said in response to questions about the administration’s response to gun violence. “Well, everything we’ve had in town for the last seven years, I’m concerned. I don’t enjoy the Fourth of July. I didn’t enjoy it [2016] Democratic National Convention. I didn’t like the NFL Draft. I keep waiting for something bad to happen. “So I’ll be happy when I’m not here — when I’m not mayor and I can enjoy some things.” A reporter asked: “Are you looking forward to not being mayor?” “Yeah,” Kenny said with a smile, “actually.” Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw began speaking and reiterated the focus on responding to the shooting, which left two officers injured. Both were treated and released Monday night. No one had been arrested as of Tuesday morning. The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday morning. Kenney’s moment of candor quickly gained national attention and was criticized Tuesday by his colleagues at City Hall. A handful of Philadelphia Democrats who are considering running to replace him have been especially hard-line, or called for Kenney — who leaves office in January 2024 — to step down now. One of them, at-large council member Derek Green, said Tuesday morning that Kenney should resign, saying that while he sympathizes with the mayor, CEOs cannot express defeat. “This is a position that people choose to run for and people look to for leadership in times of crisis,” Green said. “[Kenney] he said in his statement that he wants to be happy. That’s what he said. This is his chance to be happy again.” Council member Allan Domb — who is also considering a run for mayor — rallied, saying Kenney should resign because his comments amounted to abdication of his oath of office. “His remarks showed, to an extent, that he has given up on the city and the people he is supposed to serve every day,” Domb said. “Public leaders swear to serve those they represent. …You can’t have a captain who is the coach of the team and throws in a white towel.” Other potential candidates have stopped short of calling for Kenney’s resignation, but have criticized his administration’s response to gun violence. Comptroller Rebecca Rhynhart, a frequent critic of Kenney who has said the city lacks strong executive leadership, called the mayor’s statement “irresponsible” on Twitter. And at-large Council Member Helen Gym, the progressive powerhouse also among the possible mayoral candidates, said in a statement that “Jim Kenney may be defeated, but this city will not be defeated,” later tweeting that “the most offensive part of the Mayor’s statements last night is not about him feeling defeated, but the implication that he doesn’t have to care when he’s not in office.” He added: “Put on your big pants and go to work!” Kenney’s midnight comments contradicted messages he tweeted from his official account minutes later, where he wrote that his administration would “continue to do everything we can to combat gun violence in our city.” . “I love this city,” the tweet said, “and as Mayor, I want nothing more than to help solve this problem and keep our residents and visitors safe.” Kenney’s admission that he’s looking forward to not doing that job anymore was somewhat unsurprising from a term-limited mayor who appears increasingly isolated and disengaged in his second term. It was also indicative of how fed up he is with the spate of shootings in Philadelphia that began in 2020 and led to last year being the deadliest in the city’s recorded history. » READ MORE: Mayoral fadeaway: The strange final chapter of the Jim Kenney administration He said his government is doing everything it can to stem the tide. The Police Department made arrests for illegal gun possession at a record rate, and the city will spend millions of dollars next fiscal year on various non-law enforcement anti-violence programs. But Kenney often blames the GOP-led state legislature, the national political environment and society. After last month’s mass shooting that left three people dead and 11 others injured on South Street, he made his first public appearance two days later after returning home from a conference in Reno, Nev. He said that without stricter gun regulations at the state and federal levels, the proliferation of firearms in the city will continue. “I’m not giving the money to the legislature or the U.S. Congress, but it really makes it more difficult,” he said last month. After the police shooting late Monday night, Kenney also blamed a recent Supreme Court ruling that struck down a New York law intended to limit the public carrying of firearms. “We live in America and we have the Second Amendment and we have the United States Supreme Court telling everybody they can carry a gun wherever they want,” he said. “We have to understand what this country is right now. We had a beautiful day out there today, except for some locals… who has a gun and probably shouldn’t have.”
