Patrick Keefe Inaugurated as Mayor of Revere

Patrick Michael Keefe Jr. was inaugurated as mayor of Revere during the City Government Inauguration Ceremonies Monday, Jan. 1 at the Susan B. Anthony Middle School Auditorium.

Ashley Melnik, in her official capacity as city clerk and chair of the inauguration ceremonies, administered the oath of office to Keefe while his wife, Jennifer, their daughter, Adrianna, their son, Patrick III, and other members of the Keefe family looked on proudly in the packed auditorium.

Melnik also administered oaths of office to the members of the Revere City Council and the Revere School Committee.

Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll and State Auditor Diana DiZoglio delivered remarks before the oath-taking ceremonies. Revere Fire Chief Christopher Bright and Revere Police Chief David Callahan served as honorary marshals for the program.

Keefe received an enthusiastic standing ovation from the audience after taking his oath for a four-year term as mayor.

“I wasn’t nervous earlier,” began Keefe, eliciting a hearty response from the audience. Also, before delivering his official inaugural address, Keefe congratulated his colleagues in city government on their inauguration and thanked everyone for attending the ceremonies on New Year’s Day. He then credited his chief aide, Linda DeMaio, for her key role in organizing the program.

Mayor Keefe gave an uplifting, 10-minute address that he hoped would “foreshadow a new attitude and mindset to inspire action that reflects a revitalized commitment to the way we get things done.”

Keefe also asked all residents and city officials to unite “so we can unselfishly work together to propel Revere along an even higher trajectory than we have experienced since the start of this 21st century.”

Following is the full text of Mayor Keefe’s inaugural address:

“Under our City Charter, the person chosen by the voters as the chief executive officer begins their term on the first Monday of January following election. 

Today, New Year’s Day, I take the oath of office as the Mayor of the City of Revere.

At its most fundamental level, the act signals the start of a four-year assignment to oversee the function and business of our City.

But it is so much more.  The oath represents a personal commitment to the ideals and responsibility of government.  An oath is made publicly, before authority, and contains within it the acceptance of–and commitment to—an obligation of the highest order.

I assume this obligation knowing that the people of our city have a personal interest in this act—and in the actions I will take as Mayor.

You know, inauguration speeches tend to sound monotonous, with a uniform message about a ‘bright’ future and the challenges that lie ahead.  Maybe we hear an inauguration speech and say ‘I’ve heard it all before…”

Believe it or not, though, there’s good reason for that:  government’s function does not really change all that much year-to-year or administration-to-administration.  There is a common and reassuring momentum to government in its role to provide a basic and stable infrastructure that meets the needs of the people it serves.   We see the hand of local government every day in our various departments, and the many programs and activities run by our City.

No speech can ever change this.

But I believe an inauguration speech can foreshadow a new attitude and mindset to inspire action that reflects revitalized commitment to the way we get things done.  That’s my message tonight.

During my campaign I used the phrase “Believe in Revere.”  This was an affirmative statement that I believe in Revere:  its strength, its vitality, its people, its future. 

But it also was an appeal to everyone that we overcome the differences that impede our progress as a city.  Instead, I seek to focus—and I implore everyone who will take an oath tonight to focus—on our city from a broad perspective, and how we can unselfishly work together to propel Revere along an even higher trajectory than we have experienced since the start of this 21st century.

Revere has achieved much Since 2000,

• Revere built a new public safety facility.

• Built the Susan B. Anthony, Rumney Marsh, and Hill Schools that have improved our public education system, setting the stage for construction of a new high school.

• We have witnessed development along our beachfront that has been a topic of nearly every political campaign and inauguration since the Sixties.  Finally, our beachfront is no longer a collection of unsightly surface parking lots and barren land—today it is a symbol of a new and thriving community. 

• City Hall has been modernized with the capacity to conduct business and respond to constituent needs.

• We have upgraded our parks and recreational facilities to the point where Revere offers recreational opportunities to its residents that exceed that in communities all around us, and the recent opening of the Haas Fitness and Wellness Center is just the latest proof of our attention to constituent service.

• Our recently-opened Public Works facility will serve the growing demands of our community for years to come.

• Construction is ongoing at the long-awaited Point of Pines fire station

• Shirley Avenue has taken on a new life as a desirable neighborhood and cultural epicenter.

• The transformation of Suffolk Downs is well underway, and will influence Revere’s southern corridor for decades to come.

These are just a few of the accomplishments that exemplify Revere’s growth, and there is so much more to come. 

We are a proud community.  And , as we step into the future, we must work to build on Revere’s strengths, and at the same time work even harder to improve the ways we can serve our residents.

In the coming weeks, I will convene my transition team, the Mayor’s Power Forward committee, bringing together leaders and experts from across the region to make recommendations on the most important issues facing the city. We are privileged to have our state delegation, Senator Lydia Edwards, Representative Jessica Giannino, and Representative Jeff Turco, join this effort.

We will engage department heads, city staff, public and private sector leaders, and the public to identify objectives that will have the most benefit for our city and our residents.  We will set lofty goals and construct a plan to achieve them.

I want to know what the people of our city think of their government.  Among my first initiatives will be a resident service assessment to learn the public’s perception of our strengths and weaknesses.  I know from experience that resident satisfaction is the most important measure of success.  We will listen, and we will act accordingly. 

The voters of Revere elected me and all the honorable individuals who take an oath tonight to be their watchdog and their voice and to lead Revere as we step forward.  It is our duty to be responsive to them.

We who begin our terms of office tonight do so during a historic time in Revere.

We have big decisions to make, none the least of which are a new high school, the next phases of development at Suffolk Downs, the continued evolution of our coastal footprint, and the ongoing quest for affordable housing.  The decisions we make in the very near future will chart Revere’s course for the remainder of many of our lifetimes. 

We must lead with courage and be unafraid to be bold.

Now is the time for us to overcome fear-based resistance to change.

Now is the time to abandon unproductive attachments to an imaginary past that overlooks the shortcomings that plagued Revere’s reputation for too many years.

Now is not the time to be timid and uninspired.

• Let us loosen our grip on unyielding personal convictions.

• Let us step back from narrow philosophies and be willing to appreciate the greater context of our decisions.

• Let us never disregard the fact that our decisions will cast the foundation of the city where future generations will live and grow.

I want everyone to believe in Revere as much as I do.  I am recruiting everyone into the effort to claim the promise of our future—and I emphasize the word everyone.  It makes no difference whether you campaigned with me or against me, whether you have lived in Revere 50 years or five weeks, whether you are young or old or from any corner of our city, …if you have good ideas, a positive attitude, and can offer a constructive contribution to our city, I want to hear from you. 

I have no fear of different points of view, nor of disagreements, nor robust argument.  When engaged by fair-minded people, these produce successful answers to even the most complicated questions.

And so I welcome new ideas and stand ever ready to listen to those different than my own.    And even if, in the end, we still hold different viewpoints, let that not prevent us from working together on the next circumstance that comes along.

There is symbolism that this year’s inauguration falls on January 1, New Year’s Day.  It is a day of new beginnings, new hope, new resolutions. 

Let it also mark the beginning of our work that will continue Revere’s progress, the continuing evolution of the concept “Believe in Revere.”  We have so much to believe in.