STATE OF THE CITY
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego announced a global initiative with ASU, touted big jobs to come from a Taiwanese manufacturing company’s move to the city, and called on Gov. Doug Ducey to impose a statewide mask mandate during Tuesday’s State of the City address.
This year was a turning point for the city as it dealt with the challenges of COVID-19, and it is going into 2021 stronger, Gallego said.
“We didn’t stop and didn’t give up when times were hard,” she said. “Phoenix is now poised to charge full-force out of the pandemic and lead the nation’s recovery.”
Gallego delivered the speech virtually on Zoom, in partnership with the Greater Phoenix Chamber. The theme of Gallego’s speech was creating a “stronger, smarter, greener and better” city.
Along with her job and business announcements, Gallego made a pledge to increase police training and change policing practices to try to “reduce dangerous interactions between police and the public.”
Gallego said she is looking forward to her first full term after campaigning for the past four years.
“I am so ready to let that part of my life rest for a little while (not forever!) while I focus on leading this, the fifth largest city in the country,” Gallego said.
Gallego was first elected in March 2019 to serve out the remainder of former mayor and now Congressman Greg Stanton’s term after he resigned to run for Congress. She was easily reelected this month to a four-year term.
She leads a city that is the fifth-largest in the country and growing quickly, giving it a leg up as it tries to weather the economic effects of the pandemic.
A Stronger, smarter, and greener Phoenix
The city will become stronger and smarter, she said, in bringing more high paying jobs and partnering with colleges on new programs.
She announced a new initiative called Phoenix Global Rising, a partnership with Arizona State University’s Thunderbird School of Global Management, which moved from Glendale to downtown Phoenix this year, that will “link private, public and nonprofit sectors to advance the city’s global presence.”
She also touted Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s move to Phoenix as “the biggest job-creating, economy-driving deal in the city’s history,” saying it will create $16 billion in economic impact.
The Phoenix City council is set to vote on Wednesday about whether the city should spend up to $205 million in public infrastructure as part of the development agreement with the company.
Gallego mentioned ASU’s new Health Futures Center in north Phoenix where the college will partner with Mayo Clinic to host programs and conduct medical research.
The city will become greener, she said, by increasing electric vehicle infrastructure, securing a 100-year water supply, reducing the urban heat island effect and attempting to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 as state utility regulators impose new mandates on utilities.
Gallego called attention to the regional Rio Reimagined project that intends to develop land along the Salt River, including a new development in south Phoenix that will bring a farmers market, a food distribution center and education about food to the community through a federally funded program run by the city.
Gallego calls for mask mandate for entire state
On coronavirus, she called on Ducey to impose a statewide mask mandate and called for the federal government to provide another round of relief funding to the city.
Her call comes as the state sees another surge of the virus, with hospitals seeing the most COVID-19 related patients since August.
“The need has not passed,” Gallego said. “I have added my voice to the chorus of mayors and other leaders across the country who are calling for another round of pandemic-relief funding.”
Gallego spent much of her 30-minute speech focusing on the incremental changes she said the city has made in bringing new business, increasing sustainability and attempting to stop the spread of COVID-19.
“While consistent work may not feel as exciting as big announcements, it is the thing that brings big ideas into focus, gives them energy, and makes them happen,” she said.
In introducing Gallego, Todd Sanders, the president and CEO of the Greater Phoenix Chamber, thanked her for her leadership during COVID-19.
Gallego emerged as a leading voice nationally during the spread of the virus as she called for governments to do more to protect public health.
Sanders said, through it all, Gallego also kept her focus on “diversifying the economy, strengthening infrastructure investment, and working to make phoenix a leader in sustainability.”
Some critics have said, though, that the mayor has not done enough to protect businesses during mostly state-imposed shutdown measures.
Mayor makes a pledge to change policing
Gallego outlined ways that Phoenix will continue to respond to the call for more police oversight.
She pledged that, by the end of the year, the city will have changed eight police use-of-force practices that have been recommended by a nonprofit campaign called Eight Can’t Wait.
The campaign is run by We The Protesters, a national organization that aims to end racism and police violence.
Phoenix already bans choke holds, requires a verbal warning before shooting, requires officers to exhaust all alternatives before shooting, requires officers to provide medical care after using force, follows what’s called a “use-offorce continuum,” and requires comprehensive reporting, according to a city spokesperson. By the end of the year, the city will follow suggested de-escalation tactics and put in place a ban on shooting at moving vehicles, according to the spokesperson.
The Eight Can’t Wait campaign’s website also asks cities to “divest from police.”
But Gallego said the Phoenix City Council approved hiring new officers and increased the department’s budget by $25 million.
She said the city has “dramatically changed the curriculum at the Police Academy to move away from militarystyle training and toward scenariobased training,” invested in body cameras and supported a civilian oversight office.
She also said she is soon going to propose an expansion of a new program that diverts calls for police service to mental health experts.