Middle class a major focus as mayor sworn in

Mayor Martin J. Walsh has kicked off his second term in office with a vow to fight for the middle class — a promise echoed at his inauguration by former Vice President Joe Biden as talk builds around his possible White House run in 2020.

But Walsh also said he would work for the disadvantaged and promised to rebuild the bridge to Long Island that was closed in his first term — shuttering the island’s homeless shelter and addiction recovery services — while pushing private companies to donate $10 million to create 200 units of supportive housing over the next four years.

At Walsh’s request, Biden presided over his swearing-in ceremony at the Cutler Majestic Theatre yesterday, which was also attended by Gov. Charlie Baker, House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo and Attorney General Maura Healey, as well as U.S. Sen. Edward J. Markey and Boston U.S. Reps. Michael E. Capuano and Stephen F. Lynch. The City Council was sworn in at the ceremony as well.

Walsh defeated Tito Jackson in a landslide victory last November after a campaign where Jackson tried to emphasize income disparity in the city and repeatedly blasted Walsh for the Long Island bridge’s closure. City officials said it will cost between $40 million and $100 million to rebuild the bridge, and the island’s programming would not include the homeless shelter but would focus on restoring recovery services instead.

Walsh said he was announcing the plans now to avoid politicizing the issue.

“I didn’t want to make an announcement in the campaign; I didn’t want people to think I was doing it just as a campaign promise,” Walsh said after the ceremony.

At the ceremony, both Biden and Walsh repeatedly referred to middle-class struggles as the city’s major issue with Walsh emphasizing improving city schools and creating more housing.

“The great challenge of our time is to create once again a growing, thriving middle class,” Biden told the audience. “I don’t think there’s a mayor in America that better understands the middle class ... than your mayor.”

“Our middle class is under attack. These are efforts to break up and tear down the middle class that built America’s prosperity and is building Boston’s future,” Walsh said in his inaugural speech. “In my second term, I will prioritize the fundamentals of middle-class opportunity in our world-class city.”

“As a country, we need to go back to the middle class and that’s important as we move forward here,” Walsh added after the ceremony. “For the people that are poor in our city, our goal should be to pull them into the middle class.”

But Walsh said he didn’t know if Biden would make that a campaign platform if he decides to run against President Trump in 2020. Biden is viewed as a top candidate, with former Democratic National Committee Chairman Ed Rendell saying yesterday that he would “win overwhelmingly,” but Walsh said Biden did not discuss his future plans.

“We did not talk about that today,” Walsh said when asked if Biden should run. “I’m going to wait and see what he decides. The vice president is a person I care deeply about.”

Biden and Walsh have been close for several years and the former vice president repeatedly praised the second-term mayor at the ceremony, saying Walsh was the equal of past mayors and that “there is not a phony bone in this guy’s body.”

“This is a match made in heaven — Marty Walsh and Boston,” Biden concluded.