Murphy Bannerman Would Like to Bring a Solutions Focused Approach to District Six of the Phoenix City Council

Murphy Bannerman has spent a large portion of her adult life dedicated to serving the public.

She has been a photo journalist, a community organizer, a leading member of the Arizona Legislative Campaign Committee, a major organizer for the Women’s March in Phoenix, a Co-Director of the We the People Summit, and Deputy Director of Election Protection Arizona.

Ms. Bannerman would like to take her extensive public experience and apply those lessons as the District Six Representative of the Phoenix City Council.

Pledging to utilize a solutions focused and collaborative approach to governing, Ms. Bannerman wants to work on increasing affordable housing, reducing pollution and heat in Phoenix, economic development, and law enforcement reform if elected to the City Council.

Ms. Bannerman graciously took the time to interview with Blog for Arizona and discuss her candidacy.

The questions and her responses are below.

1) What are at least two reasons you want to run for a term on District Six of the Phoenix
City Council?

“Over the last several years, I have seen a lot of the disagreements at the City Council level, such as the contentious votes that have taken place. I seek to be a solutions-focused person who can build strong coalitions between parties who usually don’t see eye-to-eye and have effective conversations and build the city that we all want to live in.”

2) What are at least qualifications that you have to serve on the Phoenix City Council?

“My work as an advocate over the last several years as well as in non-profit work has challenged me a number of times to work with community members as well as our elected officials, hearing both sides of some of the limitations we may be facing at a state level and some of the real concerns the community has. Using my skills to bring together coalitions, whether its community groups or other individuals who are active in the community, as well as different parts of our government, to have tough conversations so we can find solutions.”

3) What are the three most important issues facing Phoenix that you would like to work
on if elected to the City Council? Please explain.

“I have many, many issues I would like to tackle but included in the top three would be housing. Phoenix is facing an extreme housing shortage which is causing rents and housing prices to skyrocket. While this may be good for investors, the sharp incline in housing costs is freezing out working families and exasperating our ongoing homelessness crisis. I believe that as the fifth largest city (in the United States,) we can begin to tackle this by prioritizing workforce and affordable housing. We should also look at current zoning ordinances and the understaffing at the city which has caused backlogs in building permits.”

“We have to address climate change. Every year, it continues to get hotter and hotter in our city and it is a result, without a doubt, of climate change. Without thoughtful and decisive action, Phoenicians will continue to feel the effects of the heat and the rising costs to cool our homes and businesses, the toll the heat takes on our car battery and tires. Additionally, residents are facing heat-related illnesses and respiratory complications from air pollution.
Some of my ideas to address this are:”

1) “To bring more electric buses to our public transportation as a way to address our air
pollution.

2) Incentivizing businesses to adopt green roofs and cool roofs. Cool roofs use reflective paint materials or other materials that will reflect the heat away from the structure or use green roofs to grow vegetation on the roof.”

“Those are some innovative ways that have worked in other cities that I think we can bring to Phoenix as a way to address our environmental concerns.”

“Additionally, our economy, although our economy is booming, too often Phoenicians are working multiple jobs to make ends meet. So, when bringing new businesses to Phoenix, we must ensure these companies are fairly paying their employees and providing good benefits.”

“We must also support small businesses. Neighborhood coffee shops, breweries, and gyms make our communities home. New developments of commercial buildings must include office space and room for small shops. Further, right now we have some grants available to businesses at a city level thanks to the American Rescue Plan. I would like to see those grants become sustainable and ongoing grants for local businesses even after the pandemic.”

4) Do you have anything you would like to add for the readers that was not addressed in the first three questions? Please explain.

“One additional point is also community safety and revitalization. We know over the last several years the Phoenix Police Department has faced a number of allegations that have sparked national headlines. We have to address it. We can’t continue to sweep it under the rug and act as if this isn’t happening in our city. We need to make sure we are holding our officers accountable while addressing that there is a real shortage in our current number of officers that we have in the police department. I think with that shortage, there is a real opportunity to increase our CAST Program, which sends out more social workers to speak with either homeless individuals or respond to non-violent situations. We don’t need to have armed officers in that situation which might exasperate the potential mental health crisis that is happening. I think we have a real opportunity to move forward in a very thoughtful way and actually listen to the community that has been urging the Council to act on this issue for a long time.”

Please click on the below social media sites for more information on Murphy Bannerman and her candidacy for the Phoenix City Council, District Six.