Phoenix Mayor and Governor Ducey’s mask ‘fight’

Kate Gallego, the mayor of Phoenix, talked about the proposed Office of Heat Response and Mitigation. They believe it would be the first of its kind in the nation. She talked about police reform and their plans for that. The city council approved the Police Department raise along with accountability.

We also talked about the mask ‘fight’ between her and Governor Ducey. He called her policies weak on KTAR. She said that even the Trump administration is one of the things that helped Arizona get out of last summer. Gallego said masks have saved lives in AZ. She explains she is looking forward to getting rid of her mask when the time comes but believes that it is not safe to do so yet.

She said small businesses want to wear masks so they can protect their employees and the mask mandate makes it so they don’t have to get in arguments with their customers. She said, “We need these simple tools to protect our community.”

She said over Easter weekend their parks were open but they had “some common-sense policies in place” to follow CDC guidelines. She explained that they tried to keep parks open while managing their crowds.

We talked about their plans for helping with the air quality problem in Phoenix. Their plan includes a Tree and Shade Administrator recommended by the Environmental Quality and Sustainability Commission. The negative impacts from climate change and increasing Phoenix temperatures call for strategies to address negative impacts to air quality from pollutants and carbon emissions.

The growing hazard of urban heat to the public, particularly vulnerable populations such as the homeless, require a forward-thinking approach to provide for a sustainable environment for city residents. Lastly, we talked about their newest solar project and all of the other investments they are looking at right now to help with climate change.