Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego will deliver her annual State of the City address Friday afternoon.
It will be her third State of the City address since being elected mayor in 2019 after serving on the Phoenix City Council for 4 and a half years. It also marks a return to large in-person events for Phoenix. Gallego’s last State of the City address, in 2020, was virtual.
The address will also be livestreamed on azcentral.com.
Gallego has steered Phoenix through wins, federal investigation
It’s been a busy first term for Gallego.
The majority of her first term as mayor has been in a pandemic. In that time, she’s steered the nation’s fifth-largest city through big economic wins and increased scrutiny.
She oversaw wins for the city, such as when she traveled to Taiwan and successfully landed the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
She’s also led the city through tough times. The US Department of Justice in 2021 launched a probe into the Phoenix Police Department over claims of abuse, excessive force and discrimination.
Gallego has used address to tout wins, push for causes
Gallego has used previous State of the City addresses to tout big economic wins for the city and push for regional investments.
She used her first State of the City address, in 2019, to defend the light rail just months before an election that could have derailed plans for expansion. She touted the service as an economic boon to the cities it runs through: Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa.
In her most recent address, she touted the jobs that the Taiwanese semiconductor company would bring to Phoenix and announced a new partnership with Arizona State University’s Thunderbird School of Global Management, which in 2020 moved from Glendale to downtown Phoenix.
She also gave a glimpse that year at Phoenix’s plans to reduce the urban heat island effect and bolster its water supply as Arizona cities braced for historic Colorado River cutbacks.
And she outlined plans to change policing, which came under increased scrutiny in 2020 and 2021.
By the summer of 2021, she voted to form the Office of Accountability and Transparency, which was tasked with investigating claims of police misconduct. The measure narrowly passed with a 5-4 vote.
Months after that, the US Department of Justice announced its investigation into the Phoenix Police Department. Gallego at the time said the city’s police would benefit from the Justice Department’s recommendations.
“Comprehensive reform of policing in the city of Phoenix has been my priority since the first day I took office,” she said. “Along with the City Manager, and Chief of Police, I stand ready to support the USDOJ throughout this review process.”
Gallego did not deliver a State of the City address in 2021, instead holding an informal question-and-answer session with the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce.
Reach reporter Joshua Bowling at [email protected] or 602-444-8138. Follow him on Twitter @MrJoshuaBowling.
Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.
Comments are closed.