Speaking to about 275 attendees at the Mesa Arts Center, Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton, Mesa Mayor Scott Smith and Tempe Mayor Mark Mitchell participated in a discussion hosted by ASU’s Global Institute of Sustainability.
“If you think land use doesn’t affect sustainability, drive through any of our downtowns,” Smith said during the discussion. “Look at all the vacant lots. Sprawl on the edges of cities isn’t sustainable.”
The mayors discussed not only the meaning of sustainability but also steps the cities have taken to ensure that development is sustainable, including land-use planning, improved public transportation, the importance of local communities in the push for sustainability, and local businesses and banks.
The discussion was a part of the Sustainable Cities Network, an organization within ASU’s Global Institute of Sustainability. Rob Melnick, executive dean of the institute since 2008, moderated the discussion.
Downtown Phoenix was mentioned not only as a land-use case study but also as an example of successful redevelopment. Smith said he looks at downtown Phoenix as a blueprint for the revitalization of downtown Mesa.
“It’s been exciting to watch this happen in downtown Phoenix, to see that momentum,” Smith said. “It’s better today than it was yesterday, and tomorrow it’ll be better than it was today.”
Stanton said he was committed to mitigating the urban-heat-island effect in Phoenix while filling in vacant lots.
Colin Tetreault, Stanton’s senior policy adviser on sustainability, said that on Oct. 31, Stanton will begin a new vacant-land initiative. Tetreault said 42 percent of Phoenix currently consists of empty land.
Stanton also spoke about the Energize Phoenix program to ensure buildings along the light rail are energy-efficient as part of efforts to retrofit the city.
The three cities were chosen for the discussion because they lie along the light-rail corridor, said Anne Reichman, program manager at the Sustainable Cities Network, which organized the event.
Stanton highlighted the need to attract entrepreneurs to Phoenix by branding it as a sustainable city.
“When you’re trying to attract the right entrepreneurs … to create jobs in the future … it’s an important consideration, just like arts and culture and safe neighborhoods,” Stanton said.
Stanton also said local businesses are a key to sustainability. A new local-purchasing ordinance for the city will give preference to local companies in city contracts, within limitations set by state law.
Tetreault said Stanton is focused on officially embedding the concept of sustainability and good resource management into the city’s plans.
“If I do my job right, in a few years I won’t have a job,” Tetreault said. “It will be the norm.”
Carolyn Bristo, a sustainability officer with Phoenix, said many of the practices that management has long used are simply being made into law under Stanton’s administration. For instance, the city is using less water today then it did during the 1990s, she said. But with $63 million spent on energy costs each year for everything from stoplights to air conditioning, Bristo said there is always room for improvement.
“Sustainability is inherent to what we do,” Bristo said. “(But Stanton) wants it embedded in the culture.”
Contact the reporter at cassandra.strauss@asu.edu
