I was lucky enough to attend the Phoenix Mayor’s State of the City lunch a couple weeks ago. It was impressive, to say the least.

The mayor, who must suffer regressive and punitive policies from the state legislature which abhors when cities make decisions for themselves, does an impressive job moving the ball forward.

As a realtor, I’m thankful for the work that he and previous mayors and city councilors have done to improve downtown and public transportation.

Here’s the link for the State of the City, if you are interested.

One of the new programs that I found particularly engaging was the mayor’s efforts to create an innovation zone around the city land fill, of all places. In addition to creating a space for small businesses to redirect city waste, such as uncompostable palm fronds, toward innovative industrial uses.

In addition, I was impressed with the new 27-acre compost facility, which will handle up to 110,000 tons of compostable materials, which can be re-used in many environmentally-friendly ways. Check out this link to learn more.

Despite the efforts of some in the Arizona Legislature, the Mayor is moving the ball forward on impressive new technologies that will make our lives better and our cities more sustainable.