Kenney Wraps Up His First Day As Philadelphia Mayor
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Tomorrow, Mayor Kenney will begin his first full day in office as Philadelphia's 99th mayor. He's a native son of Philadelphia and tonight he kicked of his tenure with a little food truck fun.
Mayor Jim Kenney pledged to do things differently and he did tonight.
Instead of the usual, formal inauguration gala, he welcomed hundreds to a block party featuring local food trucks at the Convention Center.
Earlier in the day, Kenney took the oath of office to become Philadelphia's 99th mayor. Standing by his side were his daughter Nora and son Brendan.
"Government functions properly when it's accessible and accountable to the people it serves," Kenney said.
And Kenney wants to have an open administration.
His priorities are fighting crime and soon he'll have a new ally in the next police commissioner, Richard Ross.
A few hours after he took the oath of office, Kenney attended a fundraiser to promote another priority: schools.
He met with donors for the School District of Philadelphia, where the minimum donation was $5,000.
"I've told my staff this is going to be a crazy job with a lot of crazy responsibilities and things that happen. Unless you get me into a school once a week to be around children, I'm gonna go crazy, because I will then forget what it is we're in this for in the first place," Mayor Kenney told the crowd.
The mayor also signed six executive orders, including the creation of a Chief Diversity Officer and an order that limits how city officials cooperate with federal immigration officials.
Also today, five new council members joined the club, more new faces for an administration ready to get things done.
"I promise to serve you, to be accountable to you and most importantly, to listen and to work with you, so that we together as Philadelphians can make every single neighborhood in the city of Philadelphia the best it can be. God bless you and let's go to work," Kenney said.
