Phoenix mayor surprises residents to ask for advice
Oct 26, 2012, 4:04 PM | Updated: 4:04 pm
PHOENIX — Mayor Greg Stanton crashed a food truck event on Friday to get input from the residents of his city.
Hundreds of people having lunch in downtown Phoenix got a visit today from Stanton. He asked those at the Food Truck Fridays event to give him their ideas on how to improve the city.
“The city of Phoenix is doing our general plan process,” said Stanton. “It’s our guiding document for the future of the city. We decided to go at it in a very fun way by just asking people ‘What’s your big idea for the city of Phoenix?'”
We walked with Stanton as he talked with people and heard their ideas.
John Anderson told Stanton, “I’d like to see us expand the light rail up north. The bus scene is great, but I’d love to take advantage of the light rail.”
Celeste Johnson suggested that the city “tear down Metrocenter and Castles ‘N Coasters, and put in a major amusement park.”
Stanton then turned to Johnson and joked: “I went to Cortez High School. You’re too young to remember this, but I did cruise Metrocenter back in the day.”
Stanton said a lot of people are telling him they want a major amusement park.
Other people told Stanton they would like to see the city have a better arts scene.
“The whole point is not to get ideas just in the standard public meeting setting, but go to where the people are,” said Stanton. “The people out here are a wealth of great ideas, and we’re going to grab those ideas.”
Stanton also plans to talk with light rail riders and visit with customers in barber shops.