Council Members Insist Their Summer Recess Is Not 'Laying On The Beach'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Some call it a two-month paid vacation, but City Council members insist that their annual summer recess involves mostly work and little time, if any, relaxing on the beach.
When City Council recessed Thursday, it brought to a close a packed legislative agenda. A host of issues remain, but they will not be tackled until the fall.
The lawmakers have no hearings scheduled this summer, and the next formal meeting is not until September 10. Thus City Council continues its long tradition of a more-than-two month recess.
Council President Clarke says it's not a vacation.
"If you talk to the Administration, they may be quite happy that we decide a to take a two-month recess." said Clarke. "Every legislative body takes recesses during the course of the year. This is no different. It's not something that I created."
But Council members are clearly sensitive to the perception that this is a vacation, and they are quick to insist that these months are packed with official business, like private meetings and community forums.
"I think if you follow a lot of us around, you'd see for most of the time we're not on said Councilman-at-large Bill Greenlee.
"If some major issue came up," Greenlee adds, "we could always meet. So I've always thought that whole issue was a little overstated. This break isn't like everybody laying on the beach for two months, you know."
When reporters asked Clarke where he would vacation this year, the Council President stood firm. He doesn't plan to take a single day off.
"I don't take a vacation." said Clarke. "I work hard. I work hard for the citizens of Philadelphia, 24/7, 365."
The tradition of City Council adjourning for the summer is thought to have begun decades ago, before air conditioning was commonplace and the building was often sweltering in July and August.
Now Council chambers are fully air-conditioned, sometimes so much that jackets or sweaters are needed in June.