Roy Sworn In As Alexandria’s New Mayor
Earlier this afternoon, Jacques Roy was sworn in as Alexandria’s 23rd mayor in an outdoor ceremony held on the banks of the Red River.
Prior to the ceremony, around two hundred people crowded the pews of St. Francis Xavier for a mass service.
After the service, the Peabody Marching Band led Roy and several others, including Ned Randolph and his wife Deborah, in a small parade down Third Street and up Jackson to the Riverfront Center.
The theme of the inauguration was “In Celebration of a Renewed Spirit,” which mimics Randolph’s inaugural theme twenty years ago, “In Celebration of a New Spirit,” and several speakers, including Randolph himself, stated their belief that Alexandria’s spirit had, in fact, been renewed by Mr. Roy’s campaign.
Roy began his speech by recognizing and honoring the service of Mr. Randolph. And I quote:
Ned Randolph carefully laid the foundation for this City—from a time when some, rightly or wrongly, felt there was no hope—and by doing so, by loving Alexandria and keeping his word to the City, we will benefit by building ever upward on that solid ground, that concrete example Ned’s pure integrity and deep kindness to his fellow man. Integrity and kindness: would that those two descriptions be said of us all. But, alas, we are blessed to reap the blossom of those powerful seeds; indeed, those twin virtues were mixed by Ned Randolph into the mortar which holds our City together—that glue that binds us has proved critical to us on more than one occasion, from attacking each other and from letting misfortune render us hopeless—like when racial tension has spiked or when we faced the closure of England Air Base.
In a very real sense, this excitement we feel now is the fruition of years of hard work and plantings; it is the promise of a bountiful harvest; it is also the burden with which you have charged me; with your trust, you say you will expect no less than full commitment to your City.
Roy’s inauguration was attended by over 500 people, including several members of government and representatives from the offices of both David Vitter and Mary Landrieu. Roy received a congratulatory phone call from Governor Kathleen Blanco about an hour before the ceremony.
Later: Roy’s Inaugural Address.
CenLamar 
Nice cameo on kalb at 6 pm lamar
who were the numbnut medvac pilots flying directly over the ceremony, note their exit was away from the conv. ctr.
That pilot would be me. As I was flying my trama patient to rapides general I noticed the inauguration event below however it was too late to change course. My nuts were kind of numb because of the rather cold weather at altitude.
Here is the entire speech:
I am honored and humbled to address you here on the banks of the beautiful Red River, as together we celebrate a renewed spirit and honor twenty years of service by Mayor Ned Randolph.
A special thanks to the Peabody Marching Band, an incredibly talented and energetic group of young people of whom we are all proud. I’d also like to thank my friends and family, many of whom are here today, for standing by me throughout the past four months—and especially my wife and closest friend. And a special note of congratulations and appreciation should issue to the recently re-elected members of the City Council—Myron Lawson, Harry Silver, and Everett Hobbs. I look forward to working with you and the rest of the City Council in writing the next chapter of our City’s history. Lastly and most importantly, I’d like to thank Ned Randolph….
Ned Randolph carefully laid the foundation for this City—from a time when some, rightly or wrongly, felt there was no hope—and by doing so, by loving Alexandria and keeping his word to the City, we will benefit by building ever upward on that solid ground, the concrete example of which was Ned’s pure integrity and deep kindness to his fellow man. Integrity and kindness: would that those two descriptions be said of us all. We are blessed to reap the blossom of those powerful seeds; indeed, those twin virtues were mixed by Ned Randolph into the mortar which holds our City together—the glue that binds us has proved critical to us on more than one occasion, stopping us from attacking each other and from letting misfortune render us hopeless—like when racial tension spiked or when we faced the closure of England Air Base.
In a very real sense, this excitement we feel now is the fruition of years of hard work and plantings; it is the promise of a bountiful harvest; it is also the burden with which you have charged me; with your trust, you say you will expect no less than full commitment to your City.
In his second inaugural address, Jefferson spoke what I certainly have felt during this process, best: That his entrance on the charge again conferred on him, required him by duty to express, and I quote:
the deep sense I entertain of this new proof of confidence from my fellow-citizens at large, and the zeal with which it inspires me so to conduct myself as may best satisfy their just expectations.
We too must therefore be bold in our decisions. We must arrogate unto ourselves the fortune of our region for our children’s sake, protecting our precious resources, natural and man-made, from waste, but harnessing the power of those gifts to push us forward.
Stewardship means working together to solve problems. We must overcome the chains of fear that bind our minds and create hatred, racism, and suspicion. We must work together everyday, side by side. We must all make sure that we do not let fear translate into complacency and suspicion, which paralyze mankind with poisonous indecision and hatred.
We must analyze ideas for our future on the merits of those ideas, not who brings the ideas forward.
Dr. Maya Angelou said that of all virtues courage was the most important because without it none other is given effect.
This, then, is perhaps the lesson for us: are we willing to seize the opportunities presented to us; are we willing to not only handle our tough cards dealt, like sowing the proverbial silk purse from a base closure, but now seize fortune head on and ride the force of good work done into a new era of inclusive, intelligent growth of our City?
You decided part of that question when you all came together to elect a campaign of ideas.
Before we envision growth, we must commit, one and all, to work together. This includes the Administration and council. If there are tears in the fabric of trust, we will repair them; if any of you can help, you are duty-bound to come forward.
Next, we must fix the problems we currently have. While they are certainly not innumerable, we do have a few.
Specifically, I believe we must join the areas of our downtown once again with uninterrupted traffic flow; we must commit to what will become a new and central economic engine by joining 28 growth to our inner town through the Versailles connection; but we must commit, without hesitation, to continue what we started on Sugarhouse Road—lest we fail our promise to include all and create opportunity for every son and daughter of our City. Without the commitments to inclusively move our City, we fail each other as fellow participants in our community, and we betray our lofty ideals.
Now, you must take the extra step of dreaming big and working to make those dreams reality. You must hold your leaders fast to your demand for good, effective government.
There will be great obstacles to this, believe it or not. There will be more than “naysayers”; there will be “doomsayers,” and even those who would actually seek to divide us, as some did during the election, for their own gain.
Churchill said, in essence, that we should not believe a battle will ever be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on a new, different or strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. So too, we face a new voyage to define ourselves from our shared past as courageous agents for positive change.
Jefferson, ever a change agent, although not always timely with it, provided further cautionary notes about whether to move or stand still:
We cannot have a “sanctimonious reverence for the customs of” those before us; that “whatsoever they did must be done through all time; that reason is a false guide, and to advance under its counsel in their physical, moral, or political condition is perilous innovation; that their duty is to remain as their Creator made them, ignorance being safety and knowledge full of danger.” He went on and warned that acting in an ignorance-is-bliss fashion led to “counteraction of good sense and of bigotry”; that we should guard against those people against thinking and the free marketplace of ideas, who find an interest in keeping things in their present state, who dread reformation, and exert all their faculties to maintain the ascendancy of habit over the duty of improving our reason and obeying its mandates.”
Because of my commitment to check against the ascendancy of habit, I commissioned an unprecedented transition team and mandate to them. I am in the process of releasing to the press notes about my transition team’s extensive, candid, and trenchant assessment of the City’s state of affairs (including meeting with all or nearly all of the department heads and all directors).
I must tell you the early conclusion is there are numerous officials serving Alexandria in an exemplary fashion. Put simply, after transition review, the state of our City, in employment and infrastructural terms, is sound—although some “big ticket” areas need further review and action to ensure our continued progress (e.g., emergency preparedness, communications, and marketing for economic development purposes).
There are also issues, serious ones, regarding the timely filling of vacancies in positions as well as the fair assessment and then marshaling of monies needed to fund new or re-organized positions; however, dedicated public servants, who wish to continue their service, comprise the overall City employment complement.
Because of this welcome discovery, I believe it premature to move persons out of current positions without working with those individuals for a probationary period. I also believe seasoned personnel are needed to redirect or renew our energy into solving some tough problems Mayor Randolph was attempting to finish, such as emergency preparedness in the post-Katrina Louisiana along with other technological updates.
To be sure, several critical-position actors will change over time, but a wholesale replacement of the City’s unclassified staff would be premature and, in some cases, reckless. Issues ranging from serious litigation interests to operational stability require temperance in filling or changing personnel in key positions.
I must be careful not to forget this is about the good of all of us. We must consider those who have served and what they continue to be able to offer. Your vote was not about a person, but an investment in ideas and in a promise to commit to principled growth and inclusion in our common future.
What you have decided is that you recognize Alexandria will grow, that it can no longer be a sleepy town; for if we attempt to stay as we are, and we all think we must at times to preserve our common past and protect our institutions of faith and conservative values, we will be left behind and even experience great difficulty surviving the future. What we can do is grow, but do it our way, reflecting our shared values, and making the future mirror our notion of a model city.
Move away from being a complainer to an active participant in your City. Be an example, like our friend in Boyce, Mr. Julius Patrick, who tragically was taken from us after years of service, the only mayor to edge out in terms of years in office, our beloved Ned.
Many of you learned new things about each other in this campaign, about new people with whom you unknowingly thought you had no connection. You realized the truth of the saying we all bleed red. You realized the universal nature of our desire to protect our families, then help our communities, and finally try to make a difference in this world.
You must make sure you do not commit to courses of personal action which would offend Mr. Shakespeare, by striking heaven in the face with new sorrows that on each morn make widows howl and orphans cry. You must ask if your actions are consistent with the Golden Rule and then if you can give a little, sacrifice a little, to make Alexandria better, after first determining the needs of your family.
Some say we need to run Alexandria just like a business; that the mayor should be a CEO; but I say those people greatly underestimate the command of you in electing a leader; for if only it were one could act as a CEO, then the task I have committed to would not be as daunting. However, you and I know the task is much more than that; it is a task of business-like stewardship and CEO acumen while tempering those items which can be too married to the bottom line with sound political judgment to know when the human factor changes the balance of the cost-benefit scale, and requires informed intuition and the compassion known by true leaders as indispensable to leadership.
Our commitment must be to do what is right, but do it smartly and by attracting the big fish to our City and convincing our own to have the faith to take risks on our future, increasing economic development with the City as a support mechanism, not checkbook, for infrastructural support and ingenuity in solving big business problems.
The critical issues for this city are: first of all, stabilize the city council-mayoral relationship, or what we might call checks and balances; secondly, work together with the council to shore up existing problems with the infrastructure, and then ensure positive, fair, and controlled economic development; and thirdly, focus on the creation of new jobs and the continued fostering of existing business in the area.
As I told Ned at his farewell ceremony from his life as our leader, I can only give him the same gift I can give to you: I am proud to follow the last leader in whom you entrusted much; I am anxious, and a little anxiety-ridden, about filling his shoes, which are large; but I am galvanized to continue his example of inclusiveness, and I will usher in a new era of diversity in action, a renewal of smart, community-based planning for our City, and this model will show those who refuse to recognize the moral necessity of this action to recognize the absolute necessity for it based on economic grounds.
I will work tirelessly to prove diversity works; inclusiveness makes money; community-based planning positively affects cities.
At the risk of sounding cliché, I thought about a famous novel this weekend, which begins with the oft-quoted passage, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”; contrariwise, Alexandria is, most assuredly, in the best of times; however, we are a not-yet-told tale of two cities, really two potentialities for cities: which one we become is up to us, right now. I say with your help we become the City that must seize opportunities to move forward, not stand still and be left behind; let it be the tale of a City which worked together, not one which suffered from division.
As I said on August 7, I believe there was a time when leadership was worked for and where trust was earned. Throughout history, people have looked toward leaders with respect and relied upon those persons to share a vision of growth and prosperity for the community, for our families. Now is that time, again. I have sought and gained your trust. You have determined with your voice that we act with energy and commitment for this great city of Alexandria—my city and yours, today and tomorrow. Thank you and God bless Alexandria.
from Cenla Antics today:
love roy but concerned said…
I think Mr. Roy should be sensitive to social and racial considerations but all this bullshit about “THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST” sort of flies in the face of his current appointments. The name of his game appears to be “keep Myron happy”. That won’t get us where he is promising to take us.
I wish he would spend less time elegantly quoting Jefferson and a little more time and effort emulating him. I’m starting to smell “phoney”. Put down your Bartletts and grab the charter please!
Tuesday, December 05, 2006 8:36:44 AM
I constantly smell bs on this blog.