Listen in as Mayor Joe Pizzillo discusses his vision for making sure the city of Goodyear is a complete city - and a great place to live, work and play.
SOTC-Mayor Pizzilo-Full Episode-Edited
Thu, Feb 09, 2023 9:42AM • 24:31
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
goodyear, city, mayor, people, hosts, residents, built, restaurants, hear, challenges, amenities, money, community, talking, traffic, tammy, growing pains, growing, water, employment centers
HOSTS: Coming up on this episode of Growing Goodyear
MAYOR PIZZILLO: What I'm hoping to see - in not quite that long - is a downtown that's vibrant, all walkable, that's got a little bit of something for everybody. And not only that, it will be the beacon for the West Valley.
HOSTS: Welcome everyone to the Growing Goodyear podcast. I'm Jordan Byrd. And I'm Tammy Vo. You know, Tammy, it's a special time in the city right now as we look back on all of the accomplishments that have taken place here in the city of Goodyear in 2022. And as we start to look forward to what is already taking place, and what the future still holds for the city in 2023. It really is an exciting time to be in Goodyear right now.
HOSTS: It is, and we always say the phrase, Jordan, "It's a great time to be in Goodyear." I'm sure a lot of our listeners have heard that before. But, I really feel that way right now. I mean, you talked about it being a new year. We think about this past year, when really so much happened that we look back on new events at the city. We always are looking forward to new businesses opening up as the nation's ninth fastest growing city. Boy, it seems like left and right, there are new businesses that are saying, "Hey, we want to come to Goodyear, we want to make this this our home."
Yeah. And with the thriving, growing city, things are constantly changing, things are constantly evolving. I mean, I'm sure anyone who drives within Goodyear notices it on a daily basis when you're seeing new construction or roadway expansion or widening. It just really is a great time to kind of reflect on where Goodyear has been and where they're going. And I think that's why this is going to be a special episode because, you, the listener, are going to get an opportunity to hear from the mayor of Goodyear, Joe Pizzillo, on some of these accomplishments and also some of the challenges that still lie ahead for the city and the rest of the region here in Arizona.
And before we hear from him, Jordan, we thought it would be fun to take the question of, "Hey, what would you do? If you were mayor?" We take that question to some of our youngest and brightest students at Mabel Padgett Elementary right here in Goodyear and ask them that very question. What would you do if you were the mayor of Goodyear?
STUDENT: So, if I were mayor, I would I would make a party at the fire station, and it will be free. It's gonna be dancing... food.
STUDENT: I would build a five star hotel for the poor so they can have stuff to eat. I would create a program so it provides education and jobs for homeless people so they can become more self sufficient.
STUDENT: Plant more trees at our local parks to provide more shade.
STUDENT: If I were mayor, I would make an animal shelter that specialized in certain ways for getting more animals adopted.
STUDENT: First, I would add a dog and cat cafe. Its name is going to be Ken's Cuddles Cafe. And it's going to be separated between dogs and cats.
HOSTS: Well, Tammy, we really have some bright, smart children here in the city of Goodyear. Some cute kids, maybe also some future leaders of the city of Goodyear right here in our own backyard already.
HOSTS: They might even say maybe no school for half the year.
Yeah, that could be a campaign item that they could definitely make them win election.
HOSTS: Love hearing from them. But right now we want to get into really the the heart of our conversation and our podcast today. We got the opportunity to sit down with Mayor Joe Pizzillo to talk to him about what's going on in the city now, what do we have to look forward to in the future. So, thank you so much, Mayor Pizzillo for for joining us today. And congratulations on the recent election.
MAYOR PIZZILLO: Well, listen, thank you. I'm very proud and honored to be serving as the mayor. I've been on the council since 2009. Have a great respect and a passion for the city. So looking forward to making this a city that we all be proud of.
HOSTS: I know it might be tough to sum up how you feel about Goodyear, and how you feel about this community, but with where Goodyear has already been, where the city is going in the future - if you had to wrap all of that emotion, that feeling in one word, what would that be?
MAYOR PIZZILLO: I think our success number one, and I get great pride (unintelligble) our financial policies. You know, we're very conservative financially; we set money aside to ensure that we can replace and keep up, you know, with the trends out there. And to me, itself, it's made this a whole city. So to me, that's the foundation. And where we're going, I'm looking forward to this new downtown we're building right now at Civic Square. Residents have been clamoring for more amenities, more restaurants, more entertainment, you know, more amusement. And you're starting to see some of it kind of transform right around City Hall right now. You're gonna see a vibrant downtown. It's got a little bit of everything for everybody.
HOSTS: We talk a lot about today and the future, but let's look back for a moment to your history in our great city. Tell us a little bit about you know, when you came to Goodyear, and what brought you here?
MAYOR PIZZILLO: I came to Goodyear in 1997 as an employee. I was hired by the city manager at that time to be a management analyst. My job was kind of looking at some of the deals that came through, to make counter proposals, see if that's, you know, the pluses and the minuses to the city itself. That's how I started out. I believe, at that time, there might have been 118 employees. Since then it's grown tremendously. I moved to the city in 2002 and bought a house. I liked where the city was going as far as development. And we were just getting started at time. PebbleCreek was just getting started. And the vision at that time was to make sure we had the infrastructure in place, as you're seeing around, because without water, wastewater, etc, you're not going to grow your city. So that's kind of where I came from. That's kind of my backgroung. I ended up retiring in '08 as the budget manager. So, I got a very diverse background on all aspects of the city. Being a budget manager, you kind of know where all the money's being spent and how it's being used. So it gives you a lot of insight as you kind of move forward in this position.
HOSTS: It was interesting how you said that the foundation sort of of our city does go back to our fiscal priorities or our responsibilities with with the way the city spends the money. You really have not only the background of being the budget manager during that tough time as we went into the recession. But I mean, going back to your roots of starting back in the city in the early 2000s, of when you were crunching all the numbers.
MAYOR PIZZILLO: Yeah, it was quite interesting back then because we had very few people. And in those days, we were getting the city started at such a pace. We come in at seven, our (council) meetings on Monday might go to, you know, 11 o'clock at night. And we're back at the city at seven in the morning, again, for a small handful of us. So yeah, that was a major challenge. But I get back and I look and I think we've come a long ways. And still trying to keep that small town feel is going to be the biggest challenge as we grow. We've got a housing shortage now we have to meet. We've got housing that is very, very expensive. That's one of our challenges, as well as water. Water is always the key. But I can tell you, we've got great staff here and we're on top of water. And what I mean by we're on top of the water, we're always forward looking when it comes to water. And not only that, we're always looking for ways to save water, as well. And conserving, because a drop saved is a drop you don't have to pump. So conservation is also key.
HOSTS: It really is amazing. I have to imagine for someone who has been here 20 plus years in Goodyear, to see the growth, to see the development. But for you on a personal level, you know, you've finished raising your family here, you now have grandchildren that are being raised here in Goodyear. What does that mean to you personally, to have those deep seated roots in this city?
MAYOR PIZZILO: Well, even though my son has grown up, I have two granddaughters I'm very, very close with. In fact, they travel a lot when I go wherever, whether it's in a parade or several of our events. And I want to make sure I leave a city for them, number one that they're very proud of. And we've got a complete city for them. And I'm thinking of the future for my grand girls. And that's why I'm really passionate about building a quality city for all here in Goodyear.
HOSTS: We are the ninth fastest growing city, the nation's second fastest growing in Arizona. What do you think it is That's just bringing so many people to Goodyear right now?
MAYOR PIZZILLO: I think it's the sense of the community itself. People are happy here, for the most part. We survey our community every two years. And the reason being is we want (unintelligible) for providing those services to our residents that they want. Number one is that the level of service that they want. And we're finding that the last survey we had was like 94 of our residents think Goodyear is a good or great place. And I think that's important because we're getting feedback constantly from our residents. We have a great volunteer community out here that also kicks in and helps us out as well. And, I think that's what they love about the city - that closeness and the thing about Goodyear is we involve the community when we build these plants, we don't do it in a vacuum. We asked for them input. You know, the other day I was at our rec campus, and I had somebody come up to me say,"Man, we really liked what we did. I said, "You should, you built it." She says, "What do you mean?" We ask people, what do they want and where do they want it? And as a result, this is what you see in the rec campus. So it's your building of this thing in essence. And she goes, "Oh, I didn't realize that." So we utilize our residents in a lot of things we do. And I think that's part of it. We get their input and we follow what they want to see in their city.
HOSTS: You've mentioned already some of the challenges that the city of Goodyear in the state of Arizona is facing affordable housing, water transportation, as the leader of the city, how do you manage looking at some of the short term challenges that might present themselves versus some of those long term like water, which is, you know, always going to be something that is vital to good year and vital to Arizona? How do you manage those short term challenges that go along with those long term challenges?
MAYOR PIZZILLO: Well, I can tell you usually when you hear me out there speaking, the first words out of my mouth is a great team. There's no I in team, and we have a great one here at the city of Goodyear. Have relied very heavily on management very heavily on staff, to deliver what we have, and I'm very proud of the work we have and the employees we have that deliver this. So, when you're talking about short term and long term, we're constantly looking at ways again from a water standppoint, is ensure our portfolio is sound to meet the current needs. And we're always looking outwards to make sure we have those needs as we grow. You know, Arizona has a thing where you build, you have to have 100 year water supply. And I do believe down the road, when we did our conservation, we utilizes the residents to come up with a plan that was actually adopted. And I'm a firm believer, at some point, you're going to see different types of modalities for reuse of some of our water. You're also going to see ways that we can conserve, whether it's plants, whether it's in our parks, we're going to keep looking for ways to save.
HOSTS: Mayor, we often hear a lot of comments from our residents when it comes to growth. Residents want the restaurants, they want the retail, they want the entertainment. But at the same time, they kind of want that small town feel, which you talked about before. How do we kind of achieve both of those?
MAYOR PIZZILLO: It is a great challenge, because it's a balance. You want the retail, you want the restaurants and you want entertainment. Here's the challenge - it's density. You've got to trade off some of that density to get what you want. And if you talk to a restaurant owner, daytime traffic is what they want, which means offices and people that were growing here, and that's where the apartments - help us on the water. And they help us on the money that we need to run the city. So that's how you have to try to kind of do the balance. And I think sometimes people don't like that because you got to enforce traffic. And that's what we're working on right now to take care of some of our our streets that have to be widened or added extra lanes to get that done. It's growing pains.
HOSTS: So let me break that down just one more layer. So what you're seeing basically is if I want a Trader Joe's down the street from me, just because I'm going to shop there doesn't mean that it's enough for them to come. What they want to see more people, more shoppers. And that might mean more people in a tight space. When you say density. Apartment complexes, multifamily housing - is that what we're talking about?
MAYOR PIZZILLO: Density is the key. Look at BJs. If any of you have tried to get into BJs here recently, that's the result of what we've been doing around here. We've been trying for years to get those quality restaurants. But it's the density that draws and if you go to any of these restaurants, even now during the day, try to get in at BJs or Cheddars at 11 or 11:30. So that's what they're looking for. They keep the traffic coming in.
MAYOR PIZZILLO: You mentioned the phrase earlier building a complete city. And I think for the average resident, the average citizen, they hear that and they think about some of these tangible things like restaurants, retail, even widening roads, the transportation aspect of it. But for those who may not fully understand like myself, what does that really mean to you about building a complete city? And what are maybe some examples of that?
MAYOR PIZZILLO: Well, I think the three buzz word is work, live and play. You want a place where they can actually work in your community, not have to get out on I-10 and try to get to work heading east. Play, you have enough amenities here like we've just added. There was a point in time where we had no gathering places, actually zero. You could call spring training, maybe a gathering place. But I'm talking about a real gathering place we can have events. The rec center, now you've got a little bit of everything, you can put events on there. We've never had that before. And then you got Civic Square, another one that just recently opened. So when I talk about play, I'm talking about people can go and unwind, whether it's ride a bike, whether it's actually getting exercise by playing tennis, playing baseball, you know, swimming, that's kind of the play part. And you know, I said well, live, work and play. Yeah, work here. Play, yes. And then have those amenities that I'm talking about where people can go to a restaurant, if they want to go out and get some entertainment, which we really don't have a whole lot of. But that makes it a complete city. And people want to be here because of that.
HOSTS: We're at such an interesting time, right now in our city. There's so much happening, so much to be excited about. But if there's a couple of topics that we hear so much about, from our residents, it's the topic of apartments and the topic of warehouses. People saying they don't want them here anymore. You talked a little bit about the growing pains that come along with transitioning from a smaller city to a bigger one. Is that what you kind of consider the growing pains? And what do you tell people when you hear that?
MAYOR PIZZILLO: Well, in the first place, when it comes to warehouse, a lot of warehouses are an area around the airport, which is the only things that you can put a (unintelligible). On 303, when you see that and I like to call them employment corridors, okay. And that's what they are, they're employment corridors. People are getting paid - like it's Sub Zero to make refrigerators or at Ball, where they're making cans. Now, that's all that can be built along there. A lot of people don't realize that they're in the Luke (Air Force Base) contours. That's the place where it gets a little tricky if an airplane has some issues. So that's all that can be built there. A lot of people don't realize that and then you'll see the big ones going up on Bullard. That's around that airport, as well. And a lot of them don't realize they're not warehouses, they're employment centers. You've got Amazon there. Okay, that employs 1000s of people. You've got data centers there, and you've got the highly paid individuals making sure they stay open. But we have several ofthose come in and they generate a lot of money that contributes to our police and fire and whatever. So when I hear about warehouses, there's I think, a lot of misnomer out there. Yeah, there's some out there that are strictly moving product, but a lot aren't. A lot of them are actually employment centers.
HOSTS: And they can't just go up anywhere in the city, right?
MAYOR PIZZILLO: No, they gotta be zoned for it.
HOSTS: And when it comes to industrial buildings, what other ways do they contribute to the city in terms of financially?
MAYOR PIZZILLO: Well, from an industrial building, you have people working there, and then they're working during the day number one, and hopefully they're spending money in our restaurants and retail as they move through. The second thing is, depending on the setup, a lot of them you will have rent, so they're renting space inside. And there's rental tax, commercial rental tax, in which the owner of the property will lease all these different facilities. They're paying rent to somebody for all of that, which is sales tax, so they are contributing. And the factor here - that's daytime traffic. You've got city employees in here, daytime traffic, that's going to help support the restaurants.
HOSTS: One of the things that, for me personally, still kind of boggles my mind is with as much growth as we've seen here in Goodyear over the last few years, last few decades. Goodyear is still only about 12% built out within city limits, which is still just amazing to me. And when you first moved to Goodyear, first started working for Goodyear 20 some odd years ago, this area looked completely different to what it looks like today. So looking into your crystal ball 20 years from today, what do you think Goodyear is gonna look like?
MAYOR PIZZILLO: What I'm hoping to see in not quite that long, is a downtown that's vibrant, all walkable, that's got a little bit of something for everybody. And not only that, it will be the beacon for the West Valley. So people will be coming here all over to enjoy the various things we have here, whether it's our rec, whether it's entertainment, whether it's retail, whether it's high quality restaurants, that's all part of what I'm hoping to see in 20 years. And I'm hoping we managed to growth to the extent we can get traffic moving through here. And that's really important. Because in the Valley, right now, it's a little difficult. Traffic is going to be key. And I hear that all the time, you know, especially if you're used to small town and when you got here, it was nothing. The dynamic is not to get it too dense, where we have people standing in line for two hours to eat breakfast or lunch or dinner, but at the same token bring enough in. And that's why we've got to convince some of these big name restaurants or whatever that were underserved here. BJs for their first weekend of opening beat all records for the last 10 years. Here, in Goodyear. I mean, it's just amazing. Everybody underestimates us. What's the balance? And that's what I try to explain when I'm out there in the public. Yes, you're worried about traffic. But I'm going to tell you, the people in these apartments around here are paying anywhere from $1800 to probably 25 $2600. They're paying more in rent more than likely than you're paying for your mortgage. And then trust me, that's a challenge because it's making it more difficult for the disposable income for them to contribute in the community. So these are the type of issues that we're working on right now. That keeps the old brain running to say, Okay, how are we going to address this issue to make us all successful. And again, it all comes back to the team. We have a sound Goodyear City Council. We've got a sound management team. We've got people who are really interested in serving this community. And that's what makes us grea.
HOSTS: On the topic of affordable housing, you often hear from people who think that the city sets the rental rates for apartment complexes, for example. That's private industry, right?
MAYOR PIZZILLO: That we do not set. The market is going to drive that, and the problem is right now is we have a housing shortage - supply and demand. There's not enough housing for the people coming here, hence, the prices are going up. And I'm afraid that now, you know, they're getting more and more people that are having to share apartments, whether it's the parent and their children, or other people because they just they can't afford the$ 1800 or $1,900 a month rent. So what we can do about it - cost is all part of it, all's we can try to do is speed up the process of clearing, the actual permits, the grading, etc., because time is money to business, period. So that's one thing we can help, but I'm not sure how much that will drive it down because the market ultimately will set the prices. We have a lot of workers out here, we're bringing in jobs, and then we're charging a fortune to to rent. So that's our biggest challenge.
HOSTS: When people will look back at your time as the Mayor of the City of Goodyear, and your legacy here in this city, what do you want people to say about that?
MAYOR PIZZILLO: Well, from a legacy standpoint, I want people to say it was a team effort for all of us, not just me, and that we built a quality city while we were here and we delivered the amenities that the public wanted. That's what I'm hoping to remember me by. Want to keep this as small town as possible. And I know that gets very difficult as we grow. And that's why it's important to have a balance between our revenues and our expenses. What I mean by that, as we recruit, we want to recruit those type of businesses that generate the money that we need to provide the public safety and the fire and all the amenities that people want. If you build something that doesn't generate that, you're going to find yourself in trouble. And I go back to our policies. We have such fiscal sound policies that we have money that's set aside every budget for replacement equipment. So they don't have to fight for any new money coming in to replace. So in other words, we're constantly taking care of ourselves on how we budget and that's, that's really critical. Those cities that don't or don't use one time money for one time issues, or don't use ongoing money for ongoing issues, finding themself in trouble. And they did in '08 when we had the Great Recession. They started tapping into their reserves thinking well, it's going to be short term. And we know that wasn't short term. We immediately made the changes so that we could live on what we had. And that, hence, was when the volunteer program started kicking off. And they helped us a lot. Saved us a million plus, over time, as a result of all the hours they put in. Our volunteers are a real critical part of the city. And that's just not us. You have Carebears in PebbleCreek. (unintelligble. I'm also on the board of directors for Southwest Lending Closet. We lend non-motorized equipment to anybody for 90 days, no questions asked. So, again, it's a community with a lot of volunteers. And I think that's what makes us great.
HOSTS: Well, Mayor, we thank you for your leadership of the city of Goodyear. And we know when it comes to talking about the priorities, it always for you, I know, it goes back to the residents, whether we're talking here in front of a microphone, or we're just talking in the hallway. I know that's always a priority for you. You're personally invested in the city and in so many ways. And for me, you know, just thinking about your history with the cit, you're not one of these mayors that just just walked in yesterday and ran for office. I mean, you have such a long history in the city. And I think it really just speaks for itself in terms of your leadership. So thank you, and congratulations on on the election again.
MAYOR PIZZILLO: I appreciate it. Like I say, I've gotten I don't have any little kids I'm raising but I have grandkids I'm very invested in I want to make sure I'm leaving them a quality city.
HOSTS: What an insightful conversation with Mayor Pizzillo. You know, Tammy, I still find it so fascinating, and the mayor touched on it briefly, that this is a community that's only 12% built out. And with as much as Goodyear is growing, it really is refreshing and also reassuring to have leaders like Joe Pizzillo, and the city council and others here in the city that are working to keep that in mind that this is still a growing area that really is going to be best served for the residents as that growth continues.
And it's not just about today. I mean, when you think about 12 to 13% built out as a city, really, our city leaders, our our mayor and our council are really looking down the road for our city and what is really going to make this a complete city, not only now but in the years to come. And really when you think about that, it is just just truly exciting.
Well, and especially when Mayor Pizzillo is talking about the challenges, being aware of what those challenges are and then to address those challenges, I think it's something that, as I mentioned earlier, reassuring for someone here in Goodyear to see that this council, this mayor, they have that eye towards the future of making sure that this is a prosperous community for generations to come.
And what's important to our mayor and council and the rest of the city is really that public engagement and involvement. We really invite all of our residents to come and be active in their city and the city's future. We have a lot of committees and ways that people can join and be active, but really, on almost a weekly basis, we have our city council meetings and those take place generally on Monday evenings at 5 p.m. You can always check the calendar on our website at Goodyearaz.gov. But really come to the meetings. Be engaged. If there's one thing that I think our mayor and council love to see, it is our residents there in person, being engaged and active, asking questions and sharing their input on what the future of our city should look like.
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Growing Goodyear as you were able to hear personally from Mayor Joe Pizzillo about all that still is to come here in Goodyear. Thank you so much for taking the time and joining us and listening to the Growing Goodyear podcast. And don't forget, it's a great time to be in Goodyear.
That concludes this episode of Growing Goodyear. Make sure to leave us a review and subscribe on your favorite streaming or podcast player app. If you have any questions or comments, email us at communications@goodyearaz.gov, and don't forget to follow us on the city of Goodyear's social media pages.