Back to podcast

Meghan Mills

Hello and welcome to The City Citizen, the podcast series from EY, examining how cities can transform to be more resilient and sustainable places to live and work.

I'm your host, Meghan Mills, Strategy and Operations Leader, Government and Public Sector for EY. Each episode, we are joined by expert guests for their specialist insight into our theme.

Joining us from Arizona is Kate Gallego, Mayor of Phoenix. Hi, Kate, and welcome.

Kate Gallego

Thank you for having me.

Mills

Kate, you're one of the youngest big city mayors in the US and the Mayor of Phoenix since 2019. What for you makes Phoenix and its people so special?

Gallego

Phoenix is an incredible city. We're the fifth-largest city in the United States, and we're the fastest-growing big city. Part of that growth means we're a very welcoming community; the different backgrounds of all the people moving to the community make it an ideal team. We bring incredible diversity of thought and experience.

We have many of the top companies, great entrepreneurs, but also wonderful culture. We have more acres of parks than any other city in the United States. We’ve some of the best food. If you're a Netflix fan, you may have seen a great special highlighting Pizzeria Bianco, often known as the best pizza in the country. So, regardless of what you're looking for, we think you have a good chance to find it in Phoenix — unless it's cold and snow.

Mills

You're also fairly unique in that you are one of the few big city female mayors.

Gallego

I love being a mayor. We all collaborate together. We're willing to share ideas. I am lucky to come into office at a time when we are seeing more and more female mayors.

When I filed to run for office in the fifth-largest city in the country, none of the top 15 had a female mayor. And now we are seeing more and more elected. Most recently, Los Angeles elected the first woman to lead the city.

Mills

So Phoenix is aiming to be the most sustainable desert city in the US. Goals include zero waste through the circular economy and a 100-year water supply. Just outline the transformation challenges you face on this journey.

Gallego

We want to make sure that we're responsible, as a growing desert community, so water management and planning for the long term is incredibly important to us. We want to choose building styles and materials that make sense for a hot desert environment. We have a great program around heat, including the first permanent office of heat response and mitigation of any city in the US.

We care how we generate our electricity. We have more solar installed on city facilities than any other city in the United States. Very reliable to have good sunny weather out here. A little bit of trivia: Many of the world's pilots are trained in the Greater Phoenix area because they're looking for open skies and reliable sunny weather.

We are getting into green financing and, actually, an EY leader helped us with our first ever green bonds. We issued those to invest in our water system and make sure we were ready for more severe droughts.

A different EY leader is helping us with our citywide bond, where we'll be reinvigorating our riverfront as well as investing in more solar and EVs. So we're really thankful to so many partners that have helped us become more sustainable.

Mills

And so one of the things about being such a great city that's focused on community and innovation and great climate and all of those things, there's been an 18% population increase since 2010, and so I assume that really impacts some of these decisions, thinking about how you have significant population growth, tackling water shortages, access to water for citizens, other challenges like jobs and housing and things like that. How does that factor into some of the transformations that you're leading the city on?

Gallego

One of the areas that I've tried to focus on is making sure we have the chance to build a more urban footprint. Phoenix is more than 500 square miles; unlike many of our peer cities, we don't have land constraints. I have really put a lot of time into supporting growth in our urban cores, as well as a transit system to support that. We are tripling our light rail system. We will be the host of the Super Bowl in Arizona this year, in 2023, and so many of the mega events wanted to be along our transit system because they knew it would be the best way to get large groups of people to parties.

And speaking of mobility, when we welcome you to Phoenix, we could pick you up in an autonomous electric vehicle. Waymo now has Jaguars driving through our city streets with no one in the front seats, and the steering turns itself.

Mills

Kate, have you ever ridden in a robo-taxi?

Gallego

I have, and I loved the experience. With this particular vehicle, it had my initials on the top, so I knew it was the one that I had hailed. You get in and the steering wheel turns itself.

There's actually a very funny scene of a comedian who was in Phoenix riding in one of these, and he looks at his phone camera and says, “Guys, the future is happening right now. It's happening in Phoenix, Arizona,” and I loved that particular scene. It's just neat to see the car navigate on its own.

Mills

I mean, I'm always amazed at the innovation and technology, and the rate in which some of these things are being introduced and adopted in cities, and I'm sure that's a big draw, which is a great segue to one of your programs, the Cool Pavement Pilot Program, which is using a different type of innovation, right, to address a significant challenge that you're facing in Phoenix.

Gallego

We are proud to have the largest Cool Pavement Program in the nation. So the coating we put on the streets reflects heat and energy. Arizona State University is our wonderful partner on the program, and they have found that the treatment reduces heat by 10 to 12 degrees. That helps reduce the urban heat island. It makes the communities more comfortable for our residents and it gets people talking because it's a different color than you're used to seeing. It's more of a gray color in the community.

Mills

What I especially love about this is touching on, you know, it's not just addressing a climate-related issue. You mentioned social equity and inclusion, and it really brings innovation right within reach.

Gallego

In government, as in business, people are policy, and where you allocate human capital, you get more solutions.

Mills

And now the city is one of the leading emerging life science markets, and with a large semiconductor manufacturing company setting up operations, you're becoming a hub for chip manufacturing. How are you attracting investment and driving this type of growth?

Gallego

For us, it's been a very intentional strategy. Phoenix was deeply impacted by the downturn in the housing market. We were quite dependent on housing and development as an industry. Many of the largest home builders are either based in Phoenix or have a strong tie there. And we made an intentional decision as a community that we wanted to diversify.

We looked at what our existing strengths were. Companies such as Motorola had strong legacies in the Greater Phoenix area, and we knew we could do well in the semiconductor space, so we worked hard to recruit in that area.

I am so proud to have been part of our largest economic development deal in city history and the largest foreign direct investment we've had in the state of Arizona, which is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation investing in our community. We will be making the most high-tech chips in the world in Phoenix, Arizona.

We've been working with more than 40 international companies who want to relocate in our region because of that great semiconductor ecosystem. And it's changing lives. We have now, I think, 9,000 construction workers helping make this project a reality. Intel is also investing in the Greater Phoenix area, along with other companies.

We're seeing individuals who really struggled to find employment get high-wage jobs. We're also doing the same thing in biosciences. We have wonderful universities in our community, and we are really investing in providing early-stage companies with lab space, with the talent they need and strong community support.

We've gotten a great concentration of companies that do advanced testing. So if you're trying to catch a diagnosis early, Phoenix may be a big part of it. We also just saw Bristol Myers Squibb announce they're going to make the most advanced cancer-fighting drugs in Phoenix. We have top Alzheimer's and pain control research happening in the community. It's really inspiring, and it means our residents can have the best medical care, as well as great high-wage jobs.

Mills

So you know, you mentioned economic development and jobs. Are there other programs that you've been launching in this city that will help, you know, upskill or reskill people who are already living there? I'm feeling like I need to move to Phoenix, at this point. It sounds like just an incredible place to live with so much going on, very dynamic. But the population that has been there for a while, any special programs around upskilling or reskilling for the jobs of the future?

Gallego

First, we'd love to have you in the EY office in Phoenix — it looks over the beautiful downtown skyline, as well as the Phoenix Suns arena. So we think it can compete well. But for those residents who are already here, one of our key partners has been the community college. We know a lot of people were disrupted by the economic events of the last few years, and we wanted to make sure that our residents had a chance, as we all think about what our career paths are in the future, to find the job that they would be most inspired by.

We partnered with the community college to make these advanced jobs in biosciences, semiconductors, electric vehicles available. Our residents can get support to pursue a traditional degree. Or we have a Semiconductor Quick Start program that's just a few weeks and can expedite a resident getting the skills he or she needs to go into that advanced field.

Dr. Jill Biden, the First Lady of the United States, was just in Phoenix to highlight that program, including a class of all women going into semiconductors. And we are hoping to be top of the nation in developing talent in these areas.

We have a very burgeoning electric vehicle industry and that's one where we think a little bit of training can make a big difference in both having a career that's rewarding as well as financially stable.

Mills

Amazing. And again, you know, taking challenges and coming up with creative solutions that really lift up the entire community. I think I heard that Phoenix has launched some really interesting and successful public outreach programs to gain citizen involvement, get citizens’ ideas of new programs and things that they would like to see that are important to them.

Gallego

We like to have fun with it while going out into our community. We know there are some people who love coming to a city building and having a conversation. But the vast majority of our residents do not. When we did our 10-year plan, so our long-term strategy for the city, we held meetings in all sorts of locations. We went to one of our most prominent African American barber shops. We went to a great ice cream parlor in one part of our city.

People had their chance to engage with traditional planning tools, but they could also vote via what type of ice cream they wanted to get involved. And we just found that we reached a lot of people, including busy parents that we might not have otherwise.

We have funds set aside for community-driven budgeting that we call participatory budget. And that's a chance for residents to share what their priorities are. We also have a great online budget tool where people can make their own budget, which — I've heard feedback — people find harder than you’d think because there are so many great things happening in the city, and where do you put resources? An enjoyable but challenging discussion. So we try to engage in all types of events and strategies.

When we have high-profile problems such as our water supply, we do like to go out and do community forums, provide experts but also community-driven conversations. And that's been successful as well. We're always trying new tools, including new online engagement.

We continue to invest in our city app, which can do everything from more of a policy input to just report a pothole, since we have not solved all of them yet. So it's been an ever-evolving strategy, but we think we learn and improve every year.

Mills

You mentioned earlier the Super Bowl is back in Glendale, just northwest of Phoenix, in 2023. The State Farm Stadium in Glendale is the home of the Arizona Cardinals. I have to ask, are you a Cardinals fan?

Gallego

I am a Cardinals fan. I just had the chance to see them play a home game in Mexico City, their international trip. But I think what's more important to me as mayor, about the Super Bowl, is that it's a chance for us to tell our story to an international audience. The game is broadcast in 130 countries; we will have 5,000 credentialed media. It's my sense that people don't know we’re the fifth-largest city in the country or that we're leading the way in making the most advanced chips that you'll want in your holiday presents in a few years.

We're going to highlight our sustainable programs. Super Bowl programs powered by renewable energy. We will have the most advanced circular economy programs, including composting and waste management. And speaking of waste management, the Greater Phoenix area will host, in the same week, the best-attended golf tournament in our country — also known as the loudest golf tournament in our country — with a lot of great engagement and fan participation.

Mills

Well, it has been really great speaking with you, Kate. I appreciate your leadership. Phoenix and you are certainly a city and a mayor to watch for sure. And I look forward to keeping up with what Phoenix has going on and with getting out there at some point to see this great city.

Thank you so much for being on the podcast.

Gallego

Thank you for having me.

Mills

Do join us again to meet more special guests discussing the future of cities. Also, you can subscribe to this series, so you won't miss an episode.

From me, Meghan Mills, and Kate Gallego, thanks for listening, and goodbye.

Back to podcast