Phoenix Mayor Stanton praises city’s innovations as path to global success
Dec 5, 2014, 1:29 PM | Updated: 1:41 pm
WASHINGTON — Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton told a Washington audience this week that the recession sparked major improvements in higher education, transportation and other areas in the city’s “innovation-based” economy.
“I am lucky enough to be the mayor at a time where we are reinventing ourselves,” Stanton said. “In Phoenix, Arizona, this is our moment, this is our time.”
He was one of several mayors from across the nation who gathered Wednesday at the “What Works” summit to discuss successes in their cities that have contributed to urban reinvention.
The event was sponsored by Politico Magazine and was the culmination of its yearlong project focusing on innovative cities – and which actually featured Mesa in its coverage.
The daylong meeting of mayors, policy experts and economists included panels on everything from technology to Washington’s role in the future of cities to the uproar in Ferguson after a white police officer shot an unarmed black teen.
Stanton was on a panel titled “Urban Engines” that included mayors of Gary, Indiana, and Madison, Wisconsin, a businessman from Detroit and a representative of United Way Worldwide. They talked about economic growth, immigration and the workforce, and they shared ideas on how their cities have worked to ensure economic development.
Stanton said Phoenix’s ability to contribute to today’s global economy has been hard-earned, as the city has had to take lessons learned from the past when it was “overly reliant” on growth.
“We got hammered during the recession,” Stanton said. “It forced leadership to really look in the mirror and say, ‘How are we going to reinvent ourselves so that we can compete in this global economy?'”
Stanton said that Phoenix has focused heavily on education in order for it to compete and grow economically. The city has partnered with Arizona State University and the University of Arizona, getting the schools to build downtown campus locations that help develop the educated workforce the region needs, he said.
