UPDATED: New Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings to officially take office Monday

by Michael Davis of Dallas Progress, PegNews wire

The work starts now.

Mike Rawlings

Starting today, we will have a new mayor and a few new members of the Dallas City Council.

I'm willing to give Mayor-elect Mike Rawlings a fair shot. Council should be interesting these next two years, because the makeup of council is different than in years' past.

Several people have asked me if current Mayor Caraway and his successor can get along in the coming council term. Of course they can; to suggest otherwise is simplistic thinking. If President Obama can appoint former Senator Clinton as secretary of state, I'm sure the incoming and current mayors can get along just fine as mayor and mayor pro tem. It's the politically mature thing to do, on both sides.

I will point out that while it was identified as a "beachhead" during Rawlings' campaign, a lot has been done in the Lancaster-Kiest area (led by Mayor Caraway), such as multiple motel closings (which cleared the way for this), renovation of the Crest Shopping Center, and incoming new development within that corridor. It would be wise to build upon that which has already been done.

Rawlings' appointment for chief of staff is more than capable of navigating the waters of City Hall, but a lot has to be acted on right out of the gate. The Gas Drilling Task Force. The city budget. What to do about the Trinity. The budget. Did I mention the budget? OK, just checking.

The work starts today. I wish the entire Dallas City Council the best.

UPDATE: For those who missed it, below is a PDF of Rawlings' speech he gave Monday morning as he was sworn in: