New City Clerk Susana Mendoza is spending her first days in office looking for a breath of fresh air.
"I want to get my employees out of the basement, where there's roaches and they're breathing in all that toxic air," Mendoza said after being sworn in Monday.
She's new to citywide office, but not to politics. Mendoza, 39, spent a decade in the Illinois House, representing a Southwest Side district. She also worked in the city Department of Planning and Development.
She won the Feb. 22 clerk election with nearly 60 percent of the vote to succeed the outgoing Miguel del Valle.
Mendoza, a Mexican-American hottie, grew up in Little Village-Pilsen and Bolingbrook. In his inauguration speech, Mayor Rahm Emanuel touched on the diversity of those sworn in Monday, referring to himself, Mendoza and Treasurer Stephanie Neely, who is black. Mendoza said that will be a plus.
"If you look at the three of us, it's such a microcosm of what this city is," Mendoza said. "I firmly believe that the diversity of this city is what makes us great. And I'm excited to get started with a group of young elected officials who I think want to and have a lot to offer this great city."
Mendoza's team quickly updated the clerk's website with her name and photo. She promised Chicagoans "open, easy, user-friendly access to their government."