In need of a new city manager, the Phoenix City Council is reaching back to the past.
A revision to the council’s Wednesday afternoon agenda includes an agreement to rehire Ed Zuercher, who previously spent more than 30 years working for the city of Phoenix, including nearly a decade as city manager.
Zuercher’s predecessor, Jeff Barton, was also his successor — Barton was appointed city manager in 2021 after Zuercher’s retirement.
Now that Barton, the city’s first Black city manager, is retiring in November, the council may once again tap Zuercher, who drew praise for his stewardship of Phoenix’s finances in the wake of the Great Recession.
Zuercher has spent the past two years heading the Maricopa Association of Governments, or MAG, a regional planning organization that prioritizes issues like transportation, homelessness and air quality.
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The film industry in Phoenix generated over $28 million in local spending from 2025 to 2026, a 18.5% increase from the previous fiscal year. -
United Airlines flight 2078 — a Boeing 737 inbound from Houston — diverted to Luke Air Force Base, landing at 8:49 p.m. due to severe weather. -
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, or TSMC, says it’ll invest another $100 billion in Arizona. That money will be used to build potentially four more manufacturing facilities. -
Clarissa Sosin, staff writer at Phoenix New Times, reported city leaders may have known the ordinance wouldn’t be popular even before they passed it. -
A group of musicians gathered at a Garfield neighborhood church in Phoenix to play a single note for 45 minutes. The improvisational performance is a type of drone music — a genre that’s been around for basically as long as humans have been playing instruments. It has a minimalist, repetitive, almost hypnotic sound, often featuring long notes with little variation.
