Emanuel sworn in as Chicago's new mayor

[onehandle]

Source: AP

CHICAGO – Former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel was sworn in Monday as Chicago's first new mayor in two decades, a historic power shift in a city where the retiring Richard M. Daley was the only mayor a whole generation of Chicagoans have ever known.

Emanuel was sworn in during a morning inauguration ceremony at the popular downtown Millennium Park, one of the signature accomplishments in Daley's efforts to transform the city. Emanuel later planned to head over to City Hall and, for the first time since he was elected in February, walk into the fifth-floor office that was Daley's lair for 22 years.

"We must face the truth," Emanuel said in his inaugural speech. "It is time to take on the challenges that threaten the very future of our city: the quality of our schools, the safety of our streets, the cost and effectiveness of city government, and the urgent need to create the jobs of the future right here in Chicago."

"The decisions we make in the next two or three years will determine what Chicago will look like in the next 20 or 30."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110516/ap_on_go_ot/us_chicago_mayor