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ST. LOUIS — Mayor Cara Spencer on Tuesday took the oath of office and began her campaign to fix ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½, promising to bring new urgency and creativity to the business of the city, from picking up trash and filling potholes to redeveloping north ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ and overcoming generations of racial division.

She said that under her leadership, the mayor’s office would use data and determination to deliver services that have sputtered in recent years. She said she would work to make sure everyone feels safe no matter what neighborhood they live in. And she promised bold strategies to reverse population decline and disinvestment.

“Good afternoon, ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½,â€� she told a City Hall rotunda packed with supporters and dignitaries, “and welcome to our city’s next chapter.â€�

The speech reprised many of the “back to basics� promises she made to voters frustrated with malfunctioning city services, from trash pickup to snow removal to police officer recruitment, even as city coffers bulged with pandemic aid and Rams settlement money. She rode that message to a landslide victory last week over Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, on an election day where voter after voter said they wanted change.

Her inauguration on Tuesday set the stage for a very different City Hall, with two new top leaders: Just before Spencer took the podium in the rotunda, Donna Baringer was sworn in as the first new comptroller in 30 years after defeating incumbent Darlene Green. Both Spencer and Baringer have promised voters more hands-on, pragmatic approaches to the job.

Obstacles loom. State government is taking over the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Police Department. The Trump administration is working to slash spending that funds ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ universities, nonprofits, and a good chunk of the city’s budget. Entrenched problems, like racial division and population decline, have deep roots and no simple solutions.

“She pushed all the right buttons. She said the right things,â€� said Ken Warren, the longtime ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ University political science professor and pollster, of Spencer’s speech. “But all of these things will be really hard to achieve with scarce resources. I wish her all the luck in the world.â€�

But in her speech, Spencer pointed out people in ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ have confronted big challenges before. She recalled Dred and Harriet Scott, whose fight against slavery at the Old Courthouse just blocks away helped lead to freedom years later. And she told the story of James Eads building his iconic bridge across the Mississippi River to bring railroads through ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ despite opposition from the steamboat lobby and ridicule from those who said the structure couldn’t be built.

“A brighter future will require leaning into these core values: bravery and determination, visionary thinking and tenacity,� she said.

Spencer said success would also require greater cooperation with the Board of Aldermen, where big decisions on more than $250 million in Rams settlement money and reforms of the city’s century-old charter, blamed for much of the inefficiency at City Hall, await.

And in a news conference afterward, she said any plans for the Rams money, which she called a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,â€� must be guided by a “broad visionâ€� rather than a “piecemealâ€� approach. She has supported proposals splitting the money between development downtown and in struggling north ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ neighborhoods, and has opposed legislation backed by Aldermanic President Megan Green spending the cash on childcare, college scholarships and worker training as well as development.

In the same news conference, Spencer also previewed plans for the coming weeks. She said there would be new initiatives aimed at curbing reckless driving, which she said had become an epidemic in recent years.

She said changes were coming to the Streets Department, which handles the trash pickup, potholes and snowplows in question under the previous administration, and whose director she has said must be replaced.

And she didn’t shy away from a question about her interest in having the city re-enter ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ County.

“Nothing’s off the table at this time,� she said.

Afterward, dozens of people — politicians, businesspeople, city department heads and ordinary citizens — crowded into the mayor’s office lobby to mingle, or wait their turn to visit with the new chief executive.

Among them was former Mayor Francis Slay, one of just two mayors to be reelected in the past 50 years. He said he thought Spencer was off to a good start.

“She’s got energy, she’s got talent, and she looks like she’s getting a good team around her,� he said. “She’s going to be great.�

Anna Crosslin, who used to run the refugee and immigration center called the International Institute of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½, was eager for results.

“It was a very nice ceremony. She had a lot of nice things to say,� she said. “And I’m looking forward to her implementing what she’s promised.�