Thursday, November 12, 2015

Free Write: Quick Description of Phoenix City Hall

Working in City Hall has let me see the organization as a whole, starting with where thing are located on a floor by floor basis.

Towards the bottom of the building, there is a coffee stand and meeting room where sub-committees hold meetings. This is all adjacent to a small art gallery, which is nice to visit on down times. Attached to city hall is the Orpheum Theater. There is much history at this venue and I would encourage all to take a tour.

Going up to the second floor, you will find records and planning, and permits. This floor can be pretty hectic in that there are many people trying to get business done. Personally, I have spent time here with constituent concerns and have found that these people working are really a professional bunch.

From floors 3 to 10 there are service divisions such as city works and retirement office. The most useful, in my opinion, to citizens of Phoenix is the Neighborhood Services Administration. Hands down, these workers have been the most helpful when constituents of District 8 have issues that require us to look into.



The rest of the building has other important areas like economic development, city clerk, and finance. But, on floor 11 and 12 there are the city council, mayor, and city manager’s offices. These are all secured areas where badges are required. Everyone here is very friendly and helps anyone that has a concern. The people who have offices here make many different decisions, but discussions are limited due to Arizona closed-door laws. Everyone is very mindful of this fact and it is never a problem.  The best part for me is when I am allowed to sit in on meetings with high-level people involved. There are topics discussed that affect many people, which makes them important to many in the city’s government.

No comments:

Post a Comment