Richard Riordan’s Inaugural Address

I stand before you today as your servant. The people of Los Angeles have entrusted me with the future of our city.

I am truly honored and also very humbled.

I give my oath to serve you to the very best of my abilities. Together we must face the future with hope and pride.

My fellow Angelenos--the time has come for all of you to take part in the healing of our great city.

When I began my campaign last November, I made one promise: to turn Los Angeles around.

From San Pedro to Sylmar, from Boyle Heights to the Westside, from South-Central to Sherman Oaks, I saw a city in need of a new kind of leadership. I saw a city in need of safety and economic opportunity. I saw a city desperate for hope.

As I walked through the city, I met many of our fellow citizens along the way. People from every walk of life.

From Margaret Ensley who lost her son, Michael, to a bullet at Reseda High School; to the Schultz family in the Valley who were thinking of leaving Los Angeles for a safer place; to Steve Durnham who lost his job and lost all hope.

I pledge to them and to every other citizen of Los Angeles: that this City will be turned around.

The success of a city can be measured by the safety and security that is provided to its citizens.

I pledge to you as mayor, the city’s first responsibility is to provide for the safety and security of its citizens. I pledge to you as mayor, city government will become a partner with business--particularly small business--not an enemy. I pledge to you as mayor, this city will be one that educates all of its children so that they have the skills to compete for the jobs of the future; not the jobs of the past.

Los Angeles will be a place where talent and innovation can flourish, not be stifled.

Fellow Angelenos: The time has come to rekindle in our city and bring back the spirit of personal responsibility. We must together create a will among all Angelenos to take our neighborhoods back.

As Greg Fischer, whom I have yet to meet, wrote in a letter to me last week: We must create a sense of pride and identity in our neighborhoods again. From Carthay Circle to Leimert Park, (from) Beverlywood to Crown Hill, (from) Silver Lake to Belvedere Gardens, we need to become neighbors again.

I will work closely with President Clinton, Gov. Wilson and the City Council to turn our city around. But in the end, it will be you who will turn Los Angeles around.

Robert Kennedy said: “The future is not a gift; it is an achievement.”

And turning L.A. around will be your commitment.

It will be your achievement. Together, we will take back our communities; together, we will restore jobs and justice; together, we will nourish our children so that they can become the leaders of the future, and together we will return Los Angeles to greatness.

My fellow citizens, the nation looks to us today. This is a challenge, an opportunity, to show that all of us--of every race, gender and religion--can strive together to make a better Los Angeles.

As a city, we must live up to G.K. Chesterton’s two tenets of theology: first, each one of us as an individual is important; second, everybody else around us is equally important.

From a homeless person to a bank president, from a person with AIDS to a schoolteacher, and to each and every child, every citizen of Los Angeles is important.

I will be mayor for the whole city.

I promise to share power and credit with each and every one of you. I promise to restore pride that we are Angelenos. I promise to honor the sacred trust you have placed in me today.

Let us go forward with confidence and a common purpose.

The Scripture says to us: “Do not lose heart--and the city shall be renewed.”

My fellow Angelenos: Don’t lose heart, because Los Angeles will be renewed.

Thank you.