Emanuel "Energized" as Inauguration Looms
By Chuck Sudo in News on May 16, 2011 2:20PM
In just a couple of hours, Rahm Emanuel will be sworn in as Mayor. Today will be marked largely by congratulations and ceremony. The new mayor will hold an open house from 2-4 p.m. for residents, much in the same manner Richard Daley held his final open house for Chicagoans to say "thank you." Emanuel says he's awed by the challenge in front of him, but promises to find some balance between being mayor to a city of nearly 3 million people, a husband and a father.
Emanuel will face a litany of very tough decisions almost immediately that will make his already gray hair grayer: a half-billion dollar budget deficit; a creaking infrastructure: tough decisions about labor unions: messes to clean up at CTA, Chicago Public Schools and a call from city residents, community groups and local leaders to fix them now. These are all problems that Emanuel inherits from Daley that stand in stark contrast to the "you're the best mayor EVER" messaging that was pushed by the Daley administration and the media in the weeks leading up to today.
Then there's the reconstituted City Council. Who knows how long it will take Emanuel to get a lay of the land and form strategic alliances among new and longtime aldermen to help further his immediate agenda?
Emanuel has laid out an ambitious transition plan that right now reads like a high schooler's civics essay - big on ideas, but very little detail as to how to accomplish the plan. It's the very epitome of the saying, "If wishes were horses, then dreamers would ride." Emanuel gets a pass today. tomorrow he gets the accountability.
Here is the schedule for today's inauguration at Millennium Park. We'll be live blogging the inauguration starting at 11 a.m. Yours truly will also be joining a live post-inaugural chat on WBEZ.org from noon-1 p.m.