Reeves re-elected Mayor

Reeves re-elected Mayor; Cambridge's inaugural, winter wonderland!

 

By Wilmot Max Ramsay

CAMBRIDGE CITY HALL, Mass., Jan. 3.

     Happy New Year!  In an unprecedented move, Jamaican Mayor Kenneth Errol Reeves, Cambridge's first Black Mayor in its 148-year history, took the oaths of office, first to the Council as a member, and afterwards, at 11:15 am, as the 27th Mayor under the Plan E City Charter form of government here in Massachusetts.  Mayor Reeves, who was first elected to the Cambridge City Council in 1989, begins his second term as head of the Council.  The 3Ps -- Pomp, Pride and Pageantry -- were alive and well, today, Monday, January 3, 1994.  It was a Cambridge inaugural, winter wonderland, especially, following a recent snow storm and a northeaster being forecast for the area.

 

     They were the only tickets in town worth vying for.  It was a Cambridge city holiday!  The marching bands, the Cantabrigians, the cheerful children some of whom served as ushers and carrying flowers and of course fellow West Indians.  It was a representation of the past with former mayors and councillors, a continuation of traditions with the present crop of council members and the younger citizens representing the future.

 

     The balcony, here at City Hall, overflowed.  The Sullivan Chamber was jam packed with standing room only.  Cantabrigians were out in their numbers to witness their city democracy at work.  The "Inauguration Exercises" were called to order a few minutes shy of 10:30 am by the presiding officer, D. Margaret Drury, city clerk, followed by the invocation which was given by Reverend Paul W. Hurley of the Blessed Sacrament Church.

 

     Next was a poem for the city written and read by John "The Cobbler" Gimigliano followed by a well received musical rendition by Ruth E. Hamilton.  Then came the "Examination of Credentials" when the Counilllors-elect gave proof of their identity.  They were pronounced Councillors as they uttered the oath of office, one after the other: Kathleen L. Born, Francis H. Duehay, Jonathan S. Myers, Kenneth E. Reeves, Sheila D. Russell, Michael A. Sullivan, Timothy J. Toomey, Jr., Katherine Triantafillou and William H. Walsh who kept his campaign promise and voted, a second time, for Ken Reeves as Mayor.  The meditation was delivered by Rabbi Sally R. Finestone of Harvard Hillel.  The election of the mayor and the administering of the oath of office preceded a "reflection" given by Reverend Robert W. Tobin of Christ Church.

 

     Sheila D. Russell was elected and sworn in as Deputy Mayor.  The new Council dealt with its General Business followed by the Benediction which was pronounced by the Reverend Kim K. Crawford Harvie of the Arlington Street Church.  Then it was off to the Cambridge Marriott Hotel for added treat and festivities.