Transit, Climate, and Housing Innovations with Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego

In this week's episode, host and NewDEAL CEO Debbie Cox Bultan speaks with Phoenix, AZ, Mayor Kate Gallego about how personal obstacles have motivated her public service and why NewDEALers from across the country will descend on Phoenix this month. They discuss her early career in economic development, how the 2008 recession inspired her to focus on bolstering manufacturing jobs, breakthroughs in the city’s efforts on housing and climate change, and how she is leveraging historic investment by the Biden-Harris Administration and private-public partnerships to create a national hub for the semiconductor industry in the Valley of the Sun. Gallego also explains how her experience after suffering a seizure led her to fight for major infrastructure and transit investments to connect communities and reduce car dependency. Tune in to find out what she thinks it will take for Democrats to be successful in Arizona this November, and the projects she’s excited to share with the NewDEAL Forum at the annual Ideas Summit in Phoenix.

The NewDEAL Forum is the sister organization of the NewDEAL, the producer of this podcast. For more information on the NewDEAL Forum’s Ideas Summit, an annual convening focused on empowering forward-thinking policy solutions, head to https://www.newdealforum.org/forum-events/24-ideas-summit.

• [02:20] How a mayor’s role can create meaningful change.

• [04:38] Why it’s important to diversify Phoenix’s economy and how Mayor Gallego is doing it.

• [08:03] Ways that the federal government and Biden Administration have aided her efforts.

• [10:28] Reasons that Mayor Gallego has prioritized transportation (and the future of transit) in Phoenix. 

• [14:10] The role of new technology in building a better Phoenix.  

• [16:41] Affordable housing innovations.

• [18:57] Climate change and how Mayor Gallego is tackling Phoenix’s unique challenges head-on.

• [22:28] How the mayor found her way to public service.

• [26:36] Her assessment of the current state of democracy in Arizona in this key election year. 

• [28:59] Gallego’s advice for Democrats on how to better connect with voters heading into November.