New year, new South Bend mayor

SOUTH BEND - Pete Buttigieg?s first glimpse into a day in the life of?South Bend?s mayor came nearly 15 years ago when he was a student at?St. Joseph?s High School.

As part of the school?s career day, he and a few other students shadowed Mayor Stephen Luecke, riding around the city in a van to meet with various groups and witness the workings of local government.

At the time, Luecke was new to the job and probably didn?t imagine he would stay in it for 15 years to become the longest-serving mayor in South Bend history.

Buttigieg was interested in government even as a high school student. ?But if you?d asked me that day if I was going to come back 15 years later and be taking office as mayor,? he said, ?I don?t think I would have believed you.?

Luecke will pass the torch to Buttigieg today, when he?s sworn in as the city?s 32nd mayor at 5 p.m. at Century Center. Buttigieg also will introduce his team of department heads and administrative staff during the ceremony.

Buttigieg won the mayoral election in convincing fashion last year.

He captured 55 percent of the vote in a four-candidate Democratic primary in May, and topped Republican and Libertarian opponents with 74 percent of the vote in the November general election.

The 29-year-old former business consultant said his campaign was based on the idea that all types of people throughout the city can pull together to create a better South Bend. That idea works, he said, only if the mayor is on the ground, talking and listening, as Luecke was on that career day 15 years ago.

?Election Day was great because it was a lot of folks in the community agreeing about something,? Buttigieg said.

?Capturing that spirit is going to be really important ? and it?s hard,? he said. ?When you make actual decisions, it becomes much harder for everybody to stay together, but I think what the campaign unleashed was this sense in the community that we can all agree on some things. We can pull together.?

Buttigieg said it falls on him now to harness that energy and turn it into results.

?I can lead it,? he said, ?but I can?t do it without everybody else.?

Staff writer Kevin Allen:
kallen@sbtinfo.com
574-235-6244

Source: http://www.southbendtribune.com/news/sbt-new-year-new-south-bend-mayor-20111231,0,3978151.story?track=rss

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