Mayor-elect Michelle Wu’s swearing-in ceremony will be held at noon on Tuesday, November 16 in the Boston City Hall Council Chamber.
“Given the shortened transition and the urgent challenges facing Boston, we’re getting right to work on November 16th,” said Mayor-elect Wu. “While we plan for a full inauguration with public events in January, alongside the Boston City Council, I’m thrilled to mark the quick start of our Administration with a moment in the City Council Chamber next week. Boston City Hall was designed to reflect transparency and a commitment to public service, and the work of building a Boston for everyone means empowering all of city government to move with urgency and build community.”
After a brief oath of office ceremony, Wu will head to the Mayor’s office on the other side of the 5th floor to get to work. The transition marks a full circle moment: she first started in city government as an aide to the late Mayor Thomas M. Menino, working in the very same offices on the 5th floor that she will work in day to day starting November 16.
As a City Councilor for nearly eight years, the Council Chamber holds special meaning for Mayor-elect Wu. During her tenure as Council President, Mayor-elect Wu led efforts to make the City Hall Council Chamber more accessible, including a comprehensive redesign that involved adjusting aisle widths, floor heights, and public lecterns to make them more functional for individuals facing barriers to mobility, as well as making the Chamber more energy efficient. She also introduced video-conference testimony and advocated for closed captioned transcripts of meetings, to make it possible for people across Boston to learn about and participate in City Council meetings.
In the long-running debate about the seat of Boston’s city government, the Mayor-elect has been a consistent champion of City Hall and its brutalist architecture, even inviting detractors on architectural tours of the building.
Mayor-elect Wu’s swearing-in will come two weeks after her history-making election on November 2, when she became the first woman and first person of color to be elected Mayor of Boston. More information about the swearing-in ceremony, including how people can watch live, will be announced in the coming days.
To learn more about Mayor-elect Wu and the transition, visit www.AllAboardBoston.com or connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.