State of the City

On Wednesday, as part of my internship, I attended the mayor’s State of the City Address. It was an awesome experience and not quite what I expected. My supervisors and I left City Hall around 11:15 am and walked to the Phoenix Convention Center located a few blocks away. When we got to the North Ballroom, there were numerous dining tables set up leading up to the stage. What I did not realize was that it was a luncheon. I had been expecting everyone to be sitting in some sort of auditorium, somewhat similar to the State of the Union. Anyways, a delicious three course meal was served leading up to the mayor’s speech and I spent time meeting and chatting with city workers from various city departments. The mayor delivered a great speech and touched on a lot of points that people were looking to hear about. It was exciting to hear the mayor emphasize his desire to pursue and increase business with cities in Mexico. Mayor Stanton has done a great job in the short amount of time he has been in office at being involved with Phoenix Sister Cities and showing interest in our international partners, which includes Hermosillo, Mexico. There were many at the Hermosillo Committee meeting that I had attended the night before that were definitely looking forward to what the mayor had to say, particularly about the city’s dealings with Mexico, so that is why I made it a point to listen for that. It was a great experience and I look forward to being able to attend more State of the City Addresses.