A large and enthusiastic crowd gathered at Berkeley’s Old City Hall Thursday at 10 a.m. to watch Jesse Arreguín and three new council members — Cheryl Davila (District 2), Ben Bartlett (District 3) and Sophie Hahn (District 5) — be sworn in to office.
Berkeleyside recorded some of the event using Facebook Live (unfortunately the feed cut out before Ben Bartlett and Sophie Hahn were sworn in, and the quality of the video was fairly poor due to poor internet connectivity at Old City Hall). Watch the video below.
Those in the audience for the event, which lasted about 15 minutes, included former Berkeley mayors Shirley Dean and Gus Newport, current council members Linda Maio, Lori Droste and Kriss Worthington, former councilman Max Anderson, former mayor of Oakland Elihu Harris, and Berkeley acting police chief Andrew Greenwood.
City Manager Dee Williams-Ridley presided over the event and the swearing-in was conducted by City Clerk Mark Numainville.
Mayor Arreguín spoke after being sworn in. He thanked his parents who were at the ceremony and said he would be “not be where he’s at” without their “loving support.” He described them as his “most dedicated campaign volunteers.” He added: “In light of the national election Berkeley now more than ever needs to lead. It needs to be bold. It needs to be a beacon of hope for cities throughout the world.”
There will be a formal swearing-in at the Dec. 8 Berkeley City Council meeting and the newly elected officials will also be able to make acceptance speeches then.
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