Malden Mayor Gary Christenson was sworn into office during the city's 130^th mayoral inaugural ceremony Monday night, in which the new mayor pledged to bring more transparency and economic stimulus to the city.

The event brought out a who's-who of Malden political, educational and religious leaders, including Congressman Ed Markey, for whom Christenson worked as a young intern over 25 years ago.

Markey also praised outgoing Mayor Richard C. Howard as “just about as great a mayor as you could ever hope for.”

“I've known (Christenson) since he was a boy,” Markey said. “...He has spent his entire life getting ready to be the next great mayor of the city of Malden.”

Christenson was sworn into office by his father, Jeff Christenson. After applause and hand shakes, Christenson took to the mic and told those in attendence he remembered speaking on the same stage, running for school President as a student at Malden High School.

“Tonight marks the second time I have given the most important speech of my life, from here on this stage,” Christenson joked.

His speech touched on themes of streamlining and improving city hall services with technology and social media, tackling the recession at a local level and moving City Hall to reconnect Pleasant St.

“We could choose to accept that the economic storm is out of our control,” he said. “We can wait for help to come to us, or wait for it to recover on it's own. That's one choice – but not mine.”

Christenson also pledged to add more police officers, tackle illegal apartment dwellings and take citizen input seriously.

“As I've said when I first entered public service – the voice of the people should be the loudest,” he said.

The new mayor echoed this theme in his closing remarks.

“27 years ago, a young man stood alone on this stage, presented with an opportunity to make a difference,” he said. “Tonight, that same man is standing on this stage, presented with the same opportunity – but this time, he is not alone.

“There are 60,000 neighbors, friends, business owners, students, teachers, veterans and residents of Malden standing with me. My greatest strength as mayor is the strength of this city. I believe in Malden, I want us all to believe in Malden.”