Posted on 01/02/2004 6:24:41 AM PST by Theodore R.
'Steadfast' mayor sworn in for 4th consecutive term By Tom Bailey Contact January 2, 2004
Mayor Willie Herenton started his historic fourth consecutive term Thursday saying he might have to keep running for mayor because there isn't another "elected official in the City of Memphis I would have confidence in doing this job."
That may sound self-serving, the 63-year-old acknowledged. But he said no other Memphis official has the vision, managerial abilities or political courage he has.
"That's why we don't have consolidation" of city and county government and schools, he told reporters after the inauguration ceremony.
The 6-foot-6 mayor towered over Inauguration Day festivities marking the beginning of his unprecedented fourth consecutive term.
Children took the stage to call him their hero.
Fifty ministers scattered about a crowded ballroom stood and extended their arms toward Herenton as they prayed.
Even TV news anchors, emceeing his Inaugural 2004 Prayer Brunch and the swearing-in ceremony, gushed about his achievements.
"Dr. Willie Herenton is why we're all gathered here today," Alex Coleman of News Channel 3 said at the inauguration at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts.
Of course, City Council members, City Court judges and the City Court clerk also were being sworn in and shared the stage. Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Adolpho A. Birch Jr. administered the oath of office to everyone shortly after noon.
City Councilman Myron Lowery kicked off the inaugural festivities at 9 a.m. with his New Year's Day Prayer Breakfast at The Peabody.
Three hundred people attended, many of whom headed from there to the Memphis Cook Convention Center to catch Herenton's annual State of the City Address at the mayor's Inaugural Prayer Brunch.
Fifty-four tables jammed the convention center ballroom.
The crowd of 540 seemed to anticipate another rousing, no-holds-barred annual address from Herenton. He didn't disappoint, wielding the microphone with the verve of a Pentecostal preacher.
His message was a mix of hellfire and atonement.
In his address a year ago, he blistered suburban mayors and residents who don't want their schools consolidated with Memphis City Schools. But this time, Herenton changed his tone.
"I am bringing into the new year a resolve to improve my relationship with suburban mayors," Herenton said. He said he would ask the senior suburban mayor, Millington's George R. Harvell Jr., to consider convening a meeting with him and the other mayors. He wants to talk to them about taxation and school consolidation, he said.
Herenton admitted speaking so aggressively in the past about consolidation that many in suburban cities, which generally oppose consolidation, view him as arrogant.
"I'm not arrogant. I'm confident. I'm steadfast."
Herenton said, yes, he has an ego. "But if you are a leader, you must have some ego."
Later Thursday, Harvell responded. "I don't have any problems sitting down and talking with (Herenton). I've always had a good working relationship with Mayor Herenton."
A mayors' meeting would be good, Harvell said.
"Everyone can see what everyone else's concerns and problems are and help to resolve them."
Herenton sounded feistier Thursday about his "enemies."
"Some are on the County Commission, some are on the City Council. Some are looking at me right now," he said, causing the audience to stir and clap.
City Council members have expressed doubts about the qualifications of some of the people Herenton has nominated to head Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division and the city's 12 major operating divisions.
The council must confirm or reject his nominees.
Herenton seemed most upset that one official called two of his nominees "rejects."
The mayor indicated he'll wage whatever kind of battle his opponents force him to.
"I want to say to the political establishment, don't bring me no mess and there won't be no mess," he said to a loud ovation.
The state of the city is strong, he said.
Unlike some other large cities, Memphis has money and good credit. "I'm an African-American. There was always a misconception we could not manage money. All these other governments managed by people that don't look like me, and they're in trouble."
Some black constituents criticize him for paying too much attention to the redevelopment of downtown, Herenton said. But downtown is the hub and a key to the city's growth, he said, adding that the next four years will bring more hotel rooms and conventions.
In his first 12 years in office, Herenton said, he has removed much of the blight from such neighborhoods as Hurt Village, LeMoyne Gardens and Greenlaw.
Riverfront redevelopment will get a boost within two years with the construction of Beale Street Landing, tying the river to the entertainment district, he said.
FedExForum is still going up "despite enemies of progress, the naysayers," Herenton said.
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital continues to expand so much that "you will not know that campus in a couple of years," he said, and the city's parks are undergoing $300 million in improvements.
Still, he said, "our best days are ahead of us. God has been good to Memphis."
He concluded by saying, "Four terms. Four terms. That means the majority of the voting populace appreciates what we are doing."
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It seems that Mayor Herenton forgot that biblical admonition where it says "a man ought not to think too highly of himself." But if one is indispensable, he feels prone to say so! I imagine the citizens of Memphis could not imagine life without their indispensable mayor.
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