Mayoral Inauguration

On January 3^rd I was able to attend the Mayoral/Council inauguration.  The inauguration was at the Orpheum theater which is connected to city hall, which meant we were able to go through the back way, where the Mayor Gordon and Mayor-Elect Stanton were.  Stanton was extremely exited and very nice.  The pre-ceremony performances were diverse.  There was a women’s choir and well as men in Irish skirts playing bag-pipes, as well as firefighters marching with flags.   During Mayor Stanton’s speech, an interesting dynamic happened.  Stanton was talking about a new biotech campus in the north valley, and Phil Gordon who was sitting behind the podium, was starting to look very frustrated.  My co-worker told me that the bio-tech facility was actually Gordon’s idea, yet Stanton did not recognize Gordon at all, but presented the idea as if it was his own.  His speech went on for about 15-20 minutes and Gordon looked mad for most of it.  That was the only tense part.   Only three Council members were inaugurated- Bill Gates, Daniel Valenzuela, and Michael Nowakowski.  To be honest, listening to Gate’s speech was a little uncomfortable.  He kept trying to insert jokes, but they sounded really awkward.  I felt bad for him, because one a few people in the theater gave “courtesy” laughs.  Overall, this was a very interesting and amusing day.