By Dustin Gardiner | The Republic | azcentral
Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton gave his third State of the City address Wednesday, outlining an ambitious set of goals to make the nation’s sixth-largest city a global economic competitor by ending its dependence on construction and creating an ideas-based economy.
Stanton said that while Phoenix’s population is growing, the most valuable sectors of its economy are shrinking. The Valley must chart a new destiny, he said, creating an environment that fosters good workers and companies.
“Look, we have to be honest with ourselves,” the mayor told a crowd of several hundred business and government leaders at the downtown Phoenix Convention Center. “We have to accept that our challenges aren’t cyclical but, in fact, have been building over decades.”
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