How Glendale used Super Bowl to kick off development rush

By: AZ Big Media 

In 2015, the City of Glendale hosted Super Bowl XLIX, where the New England Patriots forged a stunning comeback win against the Seattle Seahawks. Eight years later, fans from across the nation gathered once again in Glendale for Super Bowl LVII, but the city — and the whole West Valley — has transformed since Tom Brady earned his fourth Super Bowl ring. 

Kevin Phelps, city manager of Glendale, took on his role in 2016 and has been instrumental in the municipality’s growth. When he started, there were .31 jobs per person, meaning that for every 100,000 Glendale residents there were 31,000 jobs. 

“The federal government defines a major job center as a community that has .5 jobs per [person],” Phelps explains. “We’ve been working on increasing that number and are about .4 jobs, which means we have close to 100,00 jobs now inside the City of Glendale.

“When you live and work in the city,” he continues, “you feel more connected to your community, have less commute time and more availability to volunteer — whether it be in your faith-based organization, coaching soccer or Cub Scouts.”

Phelps attributes the expansion of employment opportunities to establishing good public policy and executing it. He notes that previous city officials were wary of annexing land into the municipality because of the taxpayer burden associated with building new roads and infrastructure.

“When I first got here, I worked with our council through a series of workshops and made the recommendation that we get into a pro-annexation position but narrow down how and what kinds of projects we would annex,” Phelps continues. “We very deliberately said we wanted Glendale to become a job center.” 

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