Phoenix Mayor Calls For Statewide Mask Mandate In Speech: WATCH

PHOENIX — The coronavirus was top-of-mind during Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego's first official address since winning re-election Nov. 3.

The theme of Gallego's 'State of the City' address, which took place virtually on Tuesday, was creating a “stronger, smarter, greener and better” city.

Gallego, a Democrat, won re-election for her first full term as mayor of the nation's fifth largest city after she previously won a special election to replace now Congressman Greg Stanton in March 2019. Gallego said she will continue guiding the city as it continues to recover from the ongoing pandemic.

“We didn’t stop and didn’t give up when times were hard,” she said during the broadcast. “Phoenix is now poised to charge full-force out of the pandemic and lead the nation’s recovery.”

A study from WalletHub said Phoenix was among the cities bouncing back the fastest from the coronavirus.

She also called on Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey to institute a statewide mask mandate as the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise. The Arizona Department of Health Services reported 3,206 new cases and 53 confirmed deaths Wednesday, with an increase in hospitalizations and ICU stays.

"While Phoenix has had a mask requirement in place since June, there is still no statewide mandate,” she said. “We can stick to this piecemeal approach, or we can do it right."

She also called on Congress to pass additional CARES funding to help Arizonans struggling with the economic fallout of the pandemic.

Elsewhere in the speech, Gallego announced the Phoenix Global Rising, a partnership with Arizona State University's Thunderbird School of Global Management that aims to make Phoenix a global center of innovation and inclusion. The Thunderbird School will complete its relocation to downtown Phoenix in 2021.

The partnership will focus on these five areas, according to a news release:

1. Strengthening the Global Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
2. Fostering International Trade and Investment
3. Achieving the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals
4. Promoting the Full Inclusion of Immigrants and Refugees
5. Advancing Urban Innovation and a Smart Community with Sister Cities Worldwide

In a year marked by protests against police brutality in Phoenix and beyond, Gallego pledged that the city will have changed eight police use-of-force practices recommended by the nonprofit campaign Eight Can't Wait by the end of the year. The city 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 a "use-of-force continuum," and requires comprehensive reporting.

Phoenix has "dramatically changed the curriculum at the Police Academy to move away from military-style training and toward scenario-based training," she said.

Those changes do not include any efforts to defund the police, however; the Phoenix City Council voted earlier this year to increase the policing budget by $25 million and approved the Phoenix Police Department to hire more officers.

Gallego also touched on some of the city's wins in 2020, including its deal with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company to establish a new plant in Phoenix that will inject new life into the economy.

“As we head into 2021, we are at an inflection point,” she said. “This has been a good year in spite of everything COVID threw at us. The virus did not defeat us; it made us stronger. As Phoenix emerges, we will be better than ever.”