Mayor Peduto sworn into office
Photo by Alyse Horn
During his inauguration, Bill Peduto takes the oath of office to become the 60th Mayor of the City of Pittsburgh.
By Alyse Horn
Bill Pudeto was sworn in as the 60th Mayor of the City of Pittsburgh at 1:50 p.m. on January 6 in Heinz Hall, 600 Penn Ave.
In his inaugural address, Mayor Peduto said he would use this momentum and turn it into an opportunity of reform.
“It is now our moment, our opportunity, our duty to create the next Pittsburgh,” Peduto said.
As the new mayor, Peduto listed three objectives that he will be focusing on during his time in office: accountability, responsibility and sustainability.
Peduto said under accountability he wants to be as open as possible with the people of Pittsburgh. With responsibility, especially financial, will be facing the facts as they are, and sustainability will be “creating a culture of governance that will last beyond any administration.”
Peduto said two weeks ago he was handed “1,100 pages of inspiration,” which was compiled by hundreds of Pittsburgh citizens with the reforms they want to see accomplished. Peduto said those pages will become his agenda.
Peduto’s family joined him on stage while he took the oath of office, as well as the parents of police officer Paul Sciullo II, who was one of the three officers killed in Stanton Heights in April 2009.
The ceremony was meant to be held outside of the City-Council Building, but harsh weather conditions led to the decision of moving the inauguration inside.
Upon learning of the brutal weather, Peduto said his transition team re-organized the event in 48 hours.
Inauguration day also meant the new elected and re-elected members of the 138th City Council were sworn in.
Daniel R. Lavelle from District 6, which includes the Northside, Oakland, Hill District and the Golden Triangle, was one of three council members re-elected.
Natalia Rudiak and Theresa Kail-Smith also won re-election in their districts.
Gloria Sheffield, a committee woman for the 21st Ward 3rd District, was asked by Lavelle to sing the African American National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
“It was a wonderful idea and appropriate for the occasion,” Sheffield said.
Sheffield said the room was overflowing with people, and not everyone was able to make it inside, noticing that some people had to sit in the hallway.
Sheffield also sings the national anthem for the Allegheny County Democratic Committee once or twice a year, and sang the national anthem for President Barack Obama on July 6, 2012 when he spoke at Carnegie Mellon University.
