Mayor Lori Lightfoot took office Monday and immediately struck at the heart of aldermen’s ability to veto — or green light — licenses and permits in their wards in an effort to fulfill her promise to root out corruption at City Hall.

The new mayor's inaugural address built around the words of Chicago poet Gwendolyn Brooks, centering on Lightfoot’s pledge to increase equity in Chicago and govern with the poor, the threatened and scared uppermost in mind.

“‘We are each other’s harvest,’ she said, quoting the former poet laureate. “‘We are each other’s business; we are each other’s magnitude and bond.’”