Corey Donald Woods (born December 7, 1978) is an American politician serving as the mayor of Tempe, Arizona since 2020. Woods is a member of the Democratic Party.

Biography

In 2000, he graduated with a B.A. in political science from the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

. In 2018, he graduated with a M.A. in educational policy from

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

. He began his career in politics as a member of the Tempe City Council from 2008 to 2016. During this time he served as Tempe's

Vice Mayor The deputy mayor (also known as vice mayor and assistant mayor) is an elective or appointive office of the second-ranking official that is present in many local governments. Duties and functions Many elected deputy mayors are members of the loca ...

. He defeated

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position. In an election, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the position that is up for election, regardless of whether they are seeking re-election. There may or may not be ...

mayor Mark Mitchell in 2020, becoming the city's first

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

mayor and Arizona's second. While mayor, he focused on the creation of

affordable housing Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median, as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on ...

. He founded "Hometown for All" which created an investment fund that would purchase properties and convert them into permanent affordable housing units. During his tenure, Tempe partnered with

and developed a wastewater surveillance process where wastewater was monitored to inform

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

case rates, the first city in the country to do so. Tempe received a grant from the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the National public health institutes, national public health agency of the United States. It is a Federal agencies of the United States, United States federal agency under the United S ...

expand the program. The

Tempe Streetcar The Valley Metro Streetcar (S Line) known as the Tempe Streetcar during planning, is a modern streetcar in Tempe, Arizona, operated by Valley Metro. The line serves downtown Tempe, Tempe Town Lake, and the Arizona State University Tempe campu ...

transit line was completed during his term in 2022. In 2022, the

Arizona State Legislature The Arizona State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is a bicameral legislature that consists of a lower house, the House of Representatives, and an upper house, the Senate. Composed of 90 legislators, the ...

named him to the bipartisan Housing Supply Study Committee tasked with developing solutions to the state's housing shortage. In July 2022, Woods was appointed by the

United States Conference of Mayors The United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) is the official non-partisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. The cities are each represented by their mayors or other chief elected officials. The organization was founded ...

as Vice Chair of the Community Development and Housing Standing Committee tasked "to influence national policies that will increase affordable and workforce housing opportunities." In July 2022, Tempe initiated a new program where 911 dispatchers would be paired with counselors who have experience in psychology, social work, and counseling to better respond to non-violent emergency calls where dispatching the police might not be the best response. Woods had previously supported the development of the $2.1 billion

Arizona Coyotes The Arizona Coyotes are an inactive professional ice hockey team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. They competed in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division (1996–1998, 2021–2024) and ...

Entertainment District (including a New Tempe Arena) that would have hosted the NHL team permanently. On November 10, 2022, the Tempe city council voted 7-0 to allow residents to vote on the project in a special election on May 16, 2023. However, the votes for the new arena in Tempe would ultimately be rejected by the city's voters. It would also be later discovered in October 2024 that Woods and several councilmembers would hold three closed meetings during the months of November and December 2022 with Strategy Forty-Eight, a consulting group the council of Tempe had hired to monitor social media opposition to the new arena plan. He also secured a city council vote for ''South Pier at Tempe Town Lake'', a $1.8 billion, 2,500 unit luxury apartment development; the project is currently on-hold due to litigation over the granting of an 8-year tax abatement to the developer and its lack of affordable housing.

References

External links

Official profileThe Tempe Accountability Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woods, Corey 21st-century mayors of places in Arizona Living people Mayors of Tempe, Arizona African-American mayors in Arizona 1978 births University of Michigan alumni 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American politicians Arizona State University alumni