City Councilman Michael Johnson District 8 Inaugural Address

Thank you Mayor Rimsza, Honorable Council Members, Honored Guests and Friends. I stand before you humbled by the support I received and ready to serve Phoenix and District 8, as I continue to serve the public.

I know I have a lot to learn. I believe my previous job will be helpful. One thing we learned pretty early on as police officers was that we could not succeed without the help of the citizens we served. We had to work together if we really wanted to catch criminals and then keep them out of our neighborhoods. We learned we had to work in a collaborative effort with the courts, the county, the state, the schools and everyone else if we really wanted to make a long-term impact on crime.

Because neither the behavior of the criminal nor the impact on the neighborhood happened in a vacuum. We needed to work together!! I intend to bring that same sense of cooperation and community to this great new opportunity and challenge.

For example, I believe neighborhood public schools could be year-round resources for the local community. But how do we do that? The starting point is to bring parents, teachers, neighborhood representatives, school district representatives, people from the city, county and state together in a collaborative effort. Then, together, we start to meet them.

Here's another example: We need to identify every place in District 8 that stores hazardous materials. Make sure they are in strict compliance with the law and make sure that those that are not either clean up their act or close down. That sounds like politician tough-talk, doesn't it? And the truth is, I can't do that by myself. We need to involve local residents, the business community, the city and county, the state Department of Environmental Quality and anyone else who can help us to accomplish that goal, as well. If we really want to protect the water we drink, the air we breathe and the yards in which our children play, we have to work together.

Moms and dads have enough to worry about these days without having to wonder if the air their baby breathes or the ground their boys and girls play on is safe.

I know some District 8 neighborhoods need and deserve to just be left alone - any development would irreparably harm the character of those neighborhoods. Other areas desperately need the economic stimulus provided by new development and neighborhood improvements. Any attempt to try to find one solution to both challenges will have missed the point - each neighborhood deserves its own solution. And each neighborhood deserves an equal voice at the table when the solutions are being discussed and the decisions made.

And that's my point - everyone deserves a seat at the table. Everyone. That doesn't mean everyone always gets what they want or even goes away happy. But it does mean they deserve to be where the decisions are made and they deserve to be heard. It is amazing the number of solutions that can be found when there are more being offered.

People like to say American changed forever on September 11. Maybe, in some ways, it has. But, if there has been any change in the basic spirit and determination of the people in our district, it's that both are stronger than ever.

With Americans now ready to be more involved in our communities, more courageous in our actions and more steadfast in our beliefs, we have a golden opportunity to involve more citizens than ever in the decisions of municipal government. We've faced tragedy and come back stronger than ever. It's an important part of my job to reach out and bring people into the process. I can't do it alone, but together we can't fail. I hope you will join me. Thank you!