Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton named among top public officials in US
Nov 14, 2017, 10:17 AM | Updated: 10:54 am
(AP Photo/Ryan VanVelzer)
(AP Photo/Ryan VanVelzer)
PHOENIX — A prominent Arizona leader has recently been awarded with a top honor bestowed upon public officials.
Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton was named among the top public officials of the year by Governing Magazine, the company announced Tuesday.
Stanton was the only mayor who made this year’s list of top public officials and is the only Arizona mayor to have ever been given the honor.
The magazine cited Stanton’s success in strengthening the city’s economy following the Great Recession as one of the reasons that he was named among the top officials in the country.
“Not only has the city unemployment rate steadily declined, but in the past year the Phoenix metro area saw the highest year-over-year wage growth in the nation,” the magazine said.
Stanton has also helped increase tech jobs in the city by more than 18 percent, while the number of tech companies in downtown Phoenix quadrupled under his leadership, the magazine said.
The magazine also praised Stanton’s efforts to make Phoenix a more sustainable city by cutting greenhouse emissions by 15 percent, replacing streetlights with LED bulbs and making city buildings more energy-efficient.
Stanton was also among the first mayors in the country to commit to fighting climate change after President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Accord in June.
He will be giving up his post as Phoenix mayor in the 2018 election, when he will run for a Congressional seat held by U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema.
As part of the award, Stanton and the other honorees will be recognized at a dinner in Washington, D.C. at the end of the month.
