MAY 20, 2020

SLC THROWS OUT PARKING REQUIREMENTS NEXT TO SINGLE FAMILY HOMES

SLCPD WORKING ON 250 OLD RAPE KIT COLD CASES WITH ONE DETECTIVE

SLC SURPRISE CLOSING OF STREETS ANGERS RESIDENTS AND HURTS BUSINESSES

SLCPD HAS 62% INCREASE IN HOMELESS CALLS

STILL NO FUNDING FOR PARK RANGERS AND MOBILE COP CAMS

SLC APPROVES LOAN THAT EFFECTIVELY REZONES PROPERTY WITHOUT HEARING

SLC THROWS OUT PARKING REQUIREMENTS NEXT TO SINGLE FAMILY HOMES

  Over the last few months, there have been a lot of complaints about a proposed project by Peter Corroon, the former County Mayor, called Cleveland Court.  Despite significant neighborhood anger against the proposal, the local community council hearing on the project was not attended by the neighbors (they were not told about the meeting on the project).  So the Planning Commission and City Council was told that the local community council approved of the plan.  That is how important these community council meetings are.  I tried to explain during the presentation that the proposal to rezone the property to FB-UN1 would remove all parking requirements.  FB-UN1 is supposed to be a zone next to a fixed transit station.  Cleveland Court (1400 S and 400 East is a mile away!  The property was a single family home and it will be developed into 2 and 3 bedroom apartments and a studio.  The developer says that it will be affordable for middle income.  But there will only b 7 off street parking spaces when the regular multi-family zone would require 13 spaces.  

  Councilman Darin Mano said that this was a difficult decision but he voted to rezone the property to no minimum parking requirements.  Councilmembers Amy Fowler, Chris Wharton and Dan Dugan voted against the rezone.  The rest of the Council voted for it and it passed 4 to 3.  

  This is a big deal since it is the first time a developer has been able to convince the City to remove all parking requirements for a building that is next to single family homes.  I expect many other developers to ask for similar consideration and approve their minimal or no parking onsite projects.  I urge everyone interested to email the Council and Mayor at council.comments@slcgov.com, mayor@slcgov.com and tell them what you think.  And please attend your local community council.  I put the 2020 list of councils and contacts and their meeting information in a download button in the top right.  These community councils are extremely important and influential.  Some rubber stamp proposed projects without even discussing them.  If you want your City to work better you need to spend a little time at these meetings.  Just 2 hours a month and they are now online!

SLCPD WORKING ON 250 OLD RAPE KIT COLD CASES WITH ONE DETECTIVE

  I put the May 19 SLCPD report to the City Council in the right on a download button.  Some important issues discussed included the number of rape kits being processed.  In 2018, there were 218 processed and in 2019, there were 225 processed.  Some kits are taken but not processed until the victim agrees to the processing of the kit.  The rape kit is stored until then.  In Utah, the victim has the choice to restrict the kit from processing until they agree to do so.  But that stops the potential to identify serial rapists.  At Utah State, in the last ten years, there were two separate rapists that had committed many rapes and the only way that they were identified was when at least one victim came forward.  But if all rape kits are processed, and entered into a database, if a pattern is noticed, the rapist can be identified quickly.  

  Many experts think that most rapists commit many rapes and are not stopped until they are caught.  In addition, many women are charged for the rape kit that is collected at a hospital.  Usually insurance covers it but there is also a fund to pay for it.  But that should be automatic.  Women who are raped should never get a bill for a rape kit.  The State should cover the cost automatically (Utah does not).  Despite the obvious need for more victim advocates, it appears that there is a hiring freeze and more won’t be hired for a while.  In 2019, 149 victims declined to prosecute!  They shouldn’t have to decide.  If there is a pattern of abuse, and all rape kits are processed and entered into a database, the rapists can be identified.  If a rape victim does not want to participate in the prosecution, that is her choice.  But the rape kit should be processed.

  Women have to run a gauntlet to report and help prosecute rape.  They shouldn’t have to.  The military has recognized that even reporting a rape can result in repercussions against the victim.  The military can offer to restrict the report and only additional reports, or the victim agreeing to prosecute, will result in full prosecution (although the rapist can still be held accountable).

  Chief Brown, in his presentation, also noted that there were 752 cold case partially tested rape kits, some going back to the 80s, that just made it to through the initial test and they are going to new DNA testing.  768 kits were never sent to the crime lab.  So far, the SLCPD has tested 250 of the old kits for DNA and there is one additional detective added to work on these old cases (which probably include murderers)!  The SLCPD should add more detectives to this work.  It should be a higher priority.

  Chief Brown also mentioned that domestic violence calls were up 13% since the COVAD 19 restrictions.  He also said that there were 600 registered sex offenders in Salt Lake City.

SLC SURPRISE CLOSING OF STREETS ANGERS RESIDENTS AND HURTS BUSINESSES

  During this week’s City Council meeting, Councilwoman Amy Fowler expressed concern about a large number of angry emails that she has received that complained about “closing” of Stratford Avenue (around 27^th South) from 1300 East to about 2000 East with no notice.  The community and Sugar House Community Council was told the night before that the street was going to be repurposed to a Stay Safe, Stay Active multipurpose street that allows and encourages pedestrians and bicyclists in the street.  It encourages local traffic only.  Councilwoman Fowler said "Quite a lot of the neighbors (were) incredibly upset and thought that they were blindsided….they didn't know it was coming”.  I have also heard from businesses on this street and others that they are concerned that just when they thought that they were going to get their customers back, the customers are being discouraged from driving back to their stores and restaurants.  Stratford, 900 South and other streets have neighborhood, locally owned small businesses.

  The City says that it was intended to be a benefit to everyone in the neighborhood and that they were surprised at the backlash since the other areas seemed to be more accepting.  The Stratford Avenue repurposing was the only street with significant pushback.  Many community councils in the other areas ignored the new street purposes because the City Transportation Department did not reach out to ask what they thought.  The Department utilized a one week long survey (easy to stack one way or the other) with over 6000 responses.  But only 3700 commented and half of the commenters were against allowing pedestrians and bicyclists to block vehicles.  The City said that they did do public engagement but I go to a lot of community council meetings and have friends in many others and the City implemented many streets without telling the community councils.  Admittedly, it was rushed to be implemented before traffic returned to normal.  The complaints, after the new signs designating the street as shared and local traffic only, were directed at the local council chair and Councilwoman instead of at Transportation.  The survey should have received more time and news publicity since it was clear that these streets were nominated for change.  But the City’s avoiding taking the issue to community councils questions their public engagement.  I put the email and phone number to complain or comment below.

  The Transportation Director, Jonathan Larsen, said that the Administration is looking for more signage that makes it clear to residents and businesses that traffic is still allowed to the businesses.  The Administration wanted more of a fun atmosphere…something to get people out… and they did not see any angry emails.  

  From the website:

 tinyurl.com/slcsafeactivestreets

“Salt Lake City is expanding its temporary measure to adapt to changing conditions and needs due to COVID-19: opening certain streets for community recreation, such as foot and bicycle traffic, while maintaining access to local traffic. This opening of streets follows a week-long survey in which the City asked residents for feedback on which streets they would like to see used for recreation.

Opening certain streets for community recreation, such as foot and bicycle traffic, will make it easier to maintain six feet of distance from others while recreating. Vehicle access on these streets will be maintained for local traffic.

Motorists are asked to drive slowly and with extra caution. Foot and bicycle traffic are asked to be extra cautious around motorists and to respect their right to access homes and businesses by moving to the side of the road when necessary to allow them to pass.

Consider the street to be shared. All users should respect others, allowing each to use the street together.

Parking may be impacted on some streets.

Factors that helped determine which streets to open include community survey feedback, street walkability, community visions for their streets, geographic equity, ease of implementation, connections to parks and trails, hospital/emergency routes, transit routes and traffic patterns. Streets opened so far include:

500 North between Redwood Rd and 800 West

900 South between 300 East and 700 East

600 East Between South Temple St and 900 South

Wasatch Dr between Crestview Dr and 1300 South

Stratford Ave between 1300 East and 2000 East

4th Avenue between A Street and N Street

200 West between North Temple and 600 North

Streets that were suggested on the survey are:

Q Street

Westminster Ave

Garfield Ave

500 North

N Street

1200 West

Emery Street

800 West

200 West

Wasatch Dr

Stratford Ave

1900 East

1500 East

11th Ave

900 South

4th Ave

700 South

Kensington Ave

800 East

600 East

  Before converting anymore streets to a STAY SAFE, STAY ACTIVE Street (open to walking and bicycling), the City should adopt some basic rules before further implementation.

1. Get local/community councils’ input, discussion and recommendations on which streets are appropriate (Ironically part of a recently adopted policy to encourage more public engagement.).

2. Do not discourage local business with local traffic only signs (streets with many local businesses should not be considered).

3. Do not increase congestion or pollution by forcing traffic and walkers and bicyclist to be in one lane (forced by medians 600 E/800 E).

4. Monitor the street and remove it from this purpose if there are too many concerns and problems or businesses are impacted.

  If you have comments or complaints or would like to report issues on any of the open streets, please email communityoutreach@slcgov.com or call our comment line at 801-535-7711.  

SLCPD HAS 62% INCREASE IN HOMELESS CALLS

  During the recent SLCPD report to the City Council, Chief Brown said that dispatch calls for service were up 6% but the police are discouraging tickets, engagement and bookings.  Homeless calls were up 62% but there is little that they can do now other than see if they need help.

  Community and Neighborhoods Department (CAN) also said that they are proposing a budget to pay for one half of the cost of biocleanup on private property.  They have received 26 requests so far this year but until the budget is passed, they cannot help.  They also need more help funding for camp cleanups with the homeless and County Health.  Public Services budget, discussed next week, also has funding for the homeless.

STILL NO FUNDING FOR PARK RANGERS AND MOBILE COP CAMS

  SLC still has not budgeted or asked for grants for more of the very effective (in the words of Chief Brown) 24/7 mobile cop cam trailers which cost $40,000.  The State Halfway House funding (which gave extra money to communities with most halfway houses) was used in the past to buy the trailers but the State budget is now up in the air and the City is not sure that they will get more funding.  Both Councilman Rogers and Mano pushed for more funding for the trailers.  Many community councils are begging for them.  The Chief said that he understands and that they work well at reducing crime.

  The SLCPD reorganized in January to increase patrol officers and as of May 19, the City has 5 unfilled sworn officer positions.  But the City loses 2 or more each month to retirement or recruitment by other County law enforcement and it will be down almost 30 by the end of the year.

Communities impacted by violence and drug dealing are begging for more visible police officers.

  The City is still not funding Police/ Park Rangers other than with overtime.  Staffing will not be available until August at the earliest.  A Sergeant has been assigned and is drafting the rules, procedures and recommendations to implement the SLCPD's proposal.  If any community has recommendations, let your local CIU (Community Intelligence Unit Officer) know (Google SLC.gov and CIU).  The Chief said that they are asking communities for suggestions and recommendations for the patrol.

  There was also a discussion about police vehicles.  The SLCPD has 32 Chevy Impala patrol cars that are over 10 years old (and worth about $2500).  They have an average of 97,000 miles on their engines but the engines and transmissions need replacement.  Although the mileage is low, the constant idling exhibited during patrol increases wear and tear by 2.5 times than normal.  A new vehicle costs $30,000 plus $10,000 to make ready.  The City just bought 106 hybrid vehicles that the Chief said are working great.

  The City is buying new bodycams that activate when vehicle lights are engaged or a weapon is drawn.  In addition, the City is considering a new app from Axon, the cop cam leader, that allows regular phones to be used as a body cam.  The goal is to ensure that every officer in the field has access to and is using a body cam.

SLC APPROVES LOAN THAT EFFECTIVELY REZONES PROPERTY WITHOUT HEARING

  The SLC RDA Board, earlier this month, approved a loan modification that allowed a project developer to borrow money before a property is rezoned for development!  That essentially means that the project rezone (to be done by the same Council/RDA Board members) is a done deal.  The project is Richmond Flats on Richmond (1220E) just north of Elgin.  The area is surrounded by single family homes but they will now not have a respectful chance to comment or object to the project.  

  The RDA Board should adopt a policy of NOT allowing loans to projects (like Richmond Flats) that imply a "done deal".  Millcreek and Sugar House have not been allowed a respectful public engagement on this development and any further similar decisions should be allowed appropriate public engagement. Again, the RDA Board, as the City Council, recently adopted a policy of: " increasing awareness/participation for City projects".  The RDA loan modification approval ignores that policy.

MAY 7, 2020
COMMUNITY COUNCILS NON ATTENDANCE COMPLAINTS
AGAINST SECRET MEETINGS AND DECISIONS
UTAH PUBLIC NOTICE WEBSITE INOPERABLE FOR 2 WEEKS WITHOUT NOTICE
UTA CELEBRATES TRAX MILK RUN
UTA TO KILL BUSES FOR MONEY
UTA REFUSES FREE FARE BUT HOW DO WE PAY
AIRBNB ALLOWED TO BE USED FOR ADU ADDITIONS
UTAH COULD GET MORE RADIACTIVE WASTE FROM ESTONIA
1100 EAST TRACES' TREES MURDERED
SLC DISCUSSING ALLOWING LIMITED CAMPING IN PARKS 
SLC FOOTHILL FIRE MITIGATION PERMITS NEED BETTER CALL2HAUL RULES
STRATFORD AVE EAST OF 1300E TO BE LOCAL SLOW TRAFFIC STREET
SLC LIBRARY PLANS TO REOPEN
SUGAR HOUSE WILL BE PERMANENT CONSTRUCTION ZONE FOR 5 YEARS

COMMUNITY COUNCILS NON ATTENDANCE COMPLAINTS
  During another public hearing on Peter Corroon's Cleveland Court proposal to rezone a single family home property to multi family, and that provided 8 off street parking spots for 7 apartments (many are 3 bedrooms), many more complaints emerged about the lack of notice to attend the local community council that heard and supported the proposal.  This is a constant complaint by neighbors of new projects.  The City needs to constantly remind citizens and businesses of the importance and influence of the local community councils.  I put the SLC recognized community councils in a download button but you can Google SLC community councils and get it. 
  These community councils are extremely important and influential.  Now, during the virtual meetings that they are running, it is easy to participate.  Please understand that all projects that do not meet zoning, must go to community councils.  Although not all agree to have a hearing on the projects, all projects have to give a 45 day notice to the local community council.  If neighbors do not like the project, the best place to object and influence the outcome is at the local community council.
  I like Peter Corroon more than I like this project.  This rezone to the FB-UN1 zone should not be granted since it encourages patchwork quilt zoning throughout the City.  One of the most important reasons for zoning in a City is to decrease fighting between neighbors and to assure property owners that their rights will be protected.  If they move into a single family home neighborhood, they assume (and are assured) that the area will remain a single family home neighborhood.  The FB-UN1 zone was for transit stations, not next to single family homes (even if there are some multifamily homes in the block).  SLC zoning should be respectful and reasonable.  This property should not be rezoned to FB-UN1.
  The SLC Council, after hearing many more comments against the project, closed the public hearing and differed action to another time.

AGAINST SECRET MEETINGS AND DECISIONS
  Several years ago, Mayor Jenny Wilson, when she was a Councilwoman, expressed frustration at a County Department that she thought was keeping secrets.  Although she has appropriately responded to the emergency of homeless and COVID 19, she has decided to keep secret the facilities that are used to alleviate issues due to this emergency.  Whether they are used by homeless or anyone else, this information is important for nearby residents and for the County's citizens to see that the County is appropriately and respectfully acting during this emergency.
  It is disrespectful to the citizens of this County to hear that elected officials don not trust us to know what is decided.  I, and I believe the majority of County citizens, do not like secret meetings and secret decisions.  The County should release the locations used to mitigate COVID 19. 
  Mayor Wilson's office responded to my concern with:
"There are several county-owned buildings across the valley that are in use as part of the COVID-19 response. Their use does not present a threat to neighborhoods or communities in any way. Some buildings are for warehousing and storage, some are alternate care sites, and some are safe social distancing facilities for people in our community who have no place else to go. The county is not publicly identifying which facilities function as what due to medical privacy concerns, and because facility uses change frequently as the needs of the response evolve."

UTAH PUBLIC NOTICE WEBSITE INOPERABLE FOR 2 WEEKS WITHOUT NOTICE
  Utah Interactive, which operates the Utah Public Notice Website, upgraded the website software two weeks ago and almost no one noticed that it essentially made it worthless.  Although it still gave the meeting notices, it did not allow the documents to be downloaded!  And almost no one complained for two weeks!  I did but it took another week for them to believe me.  When another complaint was received, they finally believed me and recognized that their software upgrade broke the system.  It only allowed downloads of the documents, packets and agendas in PDF formats if one removed the secure from secure.utah.gov (and the document link).  Otherwise, the attempt to download documents resulted in a technical difficulties notice.  Utah Interactive solved the issue with a newer update this week.
  The most important point should be that not enough people care about government meetings.

UTA CELEBRATES TRAX MILK RUN
  UTA officially agreed with Salt Lake City's plan to put in another TRAX station downtown at 650 S. Main Street (discussed over the last year in this blog).  This makes TRAX essentially a streetcar and milk run through downtown SLC.  Making a rail line a milk run is not a good way to increase mass transit ridership.
  Salt Lake Tribune's Lee Davidson had a great story on the questionable rail projects, especially the Airport TRAX line at:
https://www.sltrib.com/news/politiccs/2020/05/05/new-study-pans-airport/
  Anyone interested in mass transit should read the article.  It is a good reality check.  For years we fought against the almost $100 million flying bridge TRAX reconstruction plans for the Airport.  Even after the Acting Airport Director pointed out the unrealistic plans (pointing out that the flying bridge maintenance would require shutting down the Airport entrance and hide the beautiful new terminal), many influential people tried to push their expensive and wasteful dream.

UTA TO KILL BUSES FOR MONEY
  UTA is going to replace 20 diesel buses with electric battery operated vehicles using the Volkswagen settlement.  This blog discussed this over a year ago.  The plan will include funding for supporting charging infrastructure.  UTA will get 65% of the "lowest price quote for each new replacement vehicle....The total maximum combined funding assistance awarded to UTA is $13,079,240. 
  Each UTA vehicle replaced through the funding must be permanently disabled within 90 days of entering the replacement vehicle into service. To disable, each vehicle must have a three-inch by three-inch hole cut in the engine block and the chassis must be disabled by cutting through the frame rails on both sides of the vehicle between the front and rear axles. For reimbursement a certificate of destruction must be submitted."
  UTA should charge money to watch the show.

UTA REFUSES FREE FARE BUT HOW DO WE PAY
  Despite requiring regular passengers to use the rear doors entering and exiting buses, UTA still requires money for fare and that requires going to the front of the bus and interacting with the driver.  Instead of giving everyone free fare, which the sales taxes can cover, especially with the recent big tax increase giving 40% of transportation taxes to UTA, UTA insists of people paying when the crisis is setting mass transit ridership back a decade.
  To watch the freefall in ridership, go to UTA's data portal:
https://data-rideuta.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/rideuta::uta-mode-level-boardings-weekday-averages

AIRBNB ALLOWED TO BE USED FOR ADU ADDITIONS
  Recently, the Planning Commission was required to approve the conditional use of an ADU at a home on Wasatch Blvd on the East Bench that was being used as a defacto motel through Airbnb.  The East Bench Community Council objected but were told that there was nothing that could stop it despite the fact that SLC Code Enforcement found that the homeowner was doing up to THREE short-term rentals on AirBnB in his home, and without a business license to do so. They brought this up at the meeting along with the problem with parking for tenants. The Planning Commission only required that the owner provide off-street parking for all tenants.
  Salt Lake City needs standard rules for ADUs to ensure that they don't use and haven't used Airbnb.  These rules should require more parking. 
  Salt Lake City Planning responded to complaints to the Mayor and Council with this:
 "A short term rental is allowed in the zones that allow other nightly rentals, such as hotels, motels, and bed and breakfasts.  In those zones, someone has to license their unit as one of these types of uses to do nightly or short term (less than 30 days) rentals. The only residential zones that allow one of these uses (bed and breakfast) are the mixed use residential districts (RB, RMU-35, RMU_45, RMU, RO). It is possible that there could be single family dwellings in these zones.  In these zones, ADUs are permitted uses because the zones already allow duplexes, townhomes, and multi-family developments. A Bed and Breakfast is also permitted in a designated Landmark site with a conditional use. These could be in any zone but they have to be a landmark site and the building has to be over 7,000 square feet in size."
  But that does not change the issue of ADU applications are being used for Airbnb rentals and it results in higher housing costs!  Planning does not do zoning enforcement but it is handled by Civil Enforcement (within Building Services).
  Planning is a complicated issue now in Salt Lake City since it has 56 districts.  In 1927, it had 6 districts. 40% of the work in Planning is in Historic Districts.  The City has 1400 lots in the Avenues which are historic and the City is in the top ten in the Nation for Historic District lots.  The City's Planned Development projects generally happen when there is a 75 foot wide lot that is 300 feet deep.  Planning gets about 1200 land use requests a year.

UTAH COULD GET MORE RADIACTIVE WASTE FROM ESTONIA
 "Energy Fuels, which is incorporated in Canada and headquartered in Colorado, recently applied for permits to store more radioactive material in its impoundment ponds, including waste imported from the country of Estonia. A public comment period on the company’s application runs through June 5 with the Utah Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control." (Google it and please tell them not to allow foreign radioactive material in Utah.

1100 EAST TRACES' TREES MURDERED
  The old Traces gift shop and nursery on 1100 East took out most of the mature trees in the property and no one, not even the community council complained!  Even if the City plants a thousand new miniature 2" trees a year, the City appears to be losing thousands of mature trees due to construction!  The City used to be called a Tree City.

SLC DISCUSSING ALLOWING LIMITED CAMPING IN PARKS 
  Salt Lake City is discussing allowing a limited camping in parks for the homeless.  At the same time, the Health Department along with the Police disrupted homeless camping in Sugar House Park at the beginning of April!  I, and I think most people, believe that the best place for homeless to camp in tents or in their vehicles would be near the homeless services in the Rio Grande area.

SLC FOOTHILL FIRE MITIGATION PERMITS NEED BETTER CALL2HAUL RULES
  The Salt Lake City Council is setting a public hearing date for Wildfire Mitigation.  Permits for Wildfire Mitigation should include dumpsters for removing scrub oak cuttings that are difficult to fit in garbage cans.  Call2Haul does not allow them.  Please tell the City Council at the public hearing on June 2 to include Call2Haul flexibility.  The East Bench Community Council has expressed concern many times about this issue.

STRATFORD AVE EAST OF 1300E TO BE LOCAL SLOW TRAFFIC STREET
  Salt Lake City has announced another local traffic only street.  It is Stratford Avenue from 1300 East to 2000 East.  Unfortunately, there are several businesses that may be impacted by that.  It will take a while to see the effect.

SLC LIBRARY PLANS TO REOPEN
  SLCPL Public Library has announced plans to reopen in phases.  When the Library is convinced that there are enough disinfecting products, and personal protective equipment to support operations, they will start staffing a building at a time and start taking and processing library returns.  There will be quarantining and disinfecting procedures in place.  The Library hopes to start by the end of May.
  Then, after successful operations of above, there will be curbside pickup of materials.  Locations will be phased for opening one by one but not all at once.  After those are operated successfully, the Library will allow a limited number of patrons in the building at a time and requiring masks (if legal allows it).  There will be employee protections in place.
  When governments decide that it is appropriate, occupancy limits will be relaxed.  Small groups may be allowed to use a room but larger group use will probably wait for a while.

SUGAR HOUSE WILL BE PERMANENT CONSTRUCTION ZONE FOR 5 YEARS
  I put the Sugar House projects for SLC and UDOT in the downloads section in the right.  The first page is a map of all of the construction and road and highway projects for Sugar House in the next 5 years.  It means that Sugar House will be a permanent construction zone for the next 5 years. 
  The 1300 E. and 1700 E bridges will be replaced.  The 2000 East bridge, in coordination with SLC's 2000 East project, will be replaced.  Those bridges and the resurfacing/reconstruction of I80 with low noise pavement, will take place over 2 summers to avoid school traffic.  The City also is planning to put in a new water line on 2100 South from 700 East to 1700 East.  Highland will have sewer line work.  There will be many streets in the area reconstructed or resurfaced. 

APRIL 19, 2020
UTA SECRETLY PLANNING LEHI DRAPER TRAX WITH EIS GRANT APPLICATION
LEGISLATURE URGES STATE AGENCIES TO REFRAIN FROM NEW EXPENDITURES
UTA PAYING $20 PER RIDER SUBSIDY FOR RIDERS
LEGISLATURE SHOULD MANDATE FREE FARE TO SAVE TRANSIT IN UTAH
WHERE DO THE HOMELESS GO WHEN THEY TEST POSITIVE FOR THE VIRUS
SECRET MEETINGS AND DECISIONS AGAIN INVOLVING HOMELESS
DID EARTHQUAKES AFFECT PRISON BUILDING SITE?
PUBLIC HEARING CONTINUED ON CLEVELAND COURT REZONE WITHOUT PARKING 
2166 SOUTH PROJECT ADDS SECRET THIRD FLOOR AND REMOVES PUBLIC SPACE
SLC FOOTHILL TRAILS PROJECT SHOULD HAVE PRIORITY OVER BYWAYS
BUSINESSES WANT UNSAFE TWO WAY SHARED STREET CONCEPT FOR MCCLELLAND 
LIBERTY PARK BASKETBALL HOOPS REMOVED DUE TO PARTY GAME

UTA SECRETLY PLANNING LEHI DRAPER TRAX WITH EIS GRANT APPLICATION
  UTA's Board of Trustees have approved a grant application for the BUILD program with the Federal Transit Agency to fund an EIS for the Point of the Mountain project.  Although it is supposed to wait for the study on the potential projects and alignment, UTA is committing to building a project that will probably be a rail line, the TRAX from Lehi to Draper that has a lot of pressure from those with political influence and property in the area.  The legislators that own property plan commercial and residential areas but have resisted using assessment fees and seem to want taxpayers to fund their dream projects that will theoretically increase their properties' value.  There will be many millionaires made with the project.  The BUILD grant application is for around $200,000.  The U.S. Cares Act, the stimulus package passed by the Congress, provides billions in funding to transit agencies without any match required.  I expect UTA to try for many more applications for funds for projects.  The Federal Rail Agency has just announced a $311 million dollar fund available for transit agencies.
  I and I believe the majority of UTA transit riders are against the BUILD Grant Application for Point of the Mountain Transit Environmental Study.  UTA should stop all projects during this emergency and focus everything on providing bus service as much as possible.  If you have any comments to the Board, their email is boardoftrustees@rideuta.com.
  In addition, the Station Center Project and UTA/TOD proposal (authorized by Sen. Harper's SB150) should be postponed during this emergency.

LEGISLATURE URGES STATE AGENCIES TO REFRAIN FROM NEW EXPENDITURES
  Interestingly enough, after I commented to the Board about putting off projects until after the emergency, one of the first bills that the special session of the Legislature passed was HJR301.  It "urges state agencies; state and local government entities; state boards,  ...to: limit expenditures to essential costs during the remainder of the fiscal year ....avoid unnecessary spending during the remainder of the fiscal year ...refrain from committing to new or expanded expenditures for the fiscal year".  HJR301 was enrolled April 17th.  Essentially, the Legislature is telling every public agency to "refrain from new expenditures, including, projects like rail, TODs and other projects that are not as important now, compared to the serious decrease in sales tax revenue that is expected over the next few years while we recover our economy.  
  Despite this Resolution, UTA's Board, with pressure from influential leaders in the State, seems intent on using sales tax money to build more rail projects and buildings.  This includes the parking garage next to the Rio Grande area and several BRT projects.  The Transportation Commission is also considering funding the BRT projects around the State.  The funds could be and should be used for roadway projects but the Legislature has authorized the Transportation Commission to use those funds for transit projects.  I was the only one who commented against those transit projects at the Transportation Commission and more should argue against the funding.  Please consider telling the transportationcommission@utah.gov what you think about funding these projects when we should be tightening our belt.  The Commission is meeting April 24th.

UTA PAYING $20 PER RIDER SUBSIDY FOR RIDERS
  UTA has claimed that their "experiment" to provide more transit options in the southwest part of Salt Lake County is a great success.  In reality, it has resulted in an average of $20 subsidy for each rider.  This has got to be a record.  Unfortunately, it is not.  There are claims that some FrontRunner trains are running with fewer than 10 passengers!  (UTA says FrontRunner ridership is down over 85%.)  So that means that UTA is paying hundreds of dollars per rider to ride FrontRunner!  It may even be $1000 per rider subsidy.
  Transit ridership is down over 70% as of last week and may take a decade to return to the 3% of citizens using transit.  Personal vehicle use will increase due to the decline of transit service and social distancing encouragement and it will be difficult to recover transit ridership.  That is another reason not to invest in projects but focus on bus service.  No matter how many hundreds of millions that UTA spends on projects, ridership will not return when it is competing with pandemic fears and the enjoyment of the freedom and efficiency that a new personal vehicle brings.  
  UTA should reevaluate if all day FrontRunner and TRAX makes cost effective sense if only 10 passengers ride the trains.  UTA should consider using express buses on freeways to substitute for rail service if it is more cost effective.  Taxpayers will never forgive spending a thousand dollars subsidy per rider on FrontRunner.
  Hundreds of millions of dollars are being planned by UTA for projects that include double tracking FrontRunner and electrifying the trains (which involve billions) and include spending billions on the Lehi Draper TRAX extension.
   I acknowledge the serious issues facing UTA but I urge UTA to stop all projects and focus all funding on bus service.

LEGISLATURE SHOULD MANDATE FREE FARE TO SAVE TRANSIT IN UTAH
   Loss of a robust bus system will result in many buying cars which will set back mass transit use a decade.  I suggest that the Legislature or UTA implement free bus fares in order for bus drivers to not have to interface or deal with riders.  The free fare cards that are provided to low income and homeless need to be punched by drivers which is another situation that should be avoided.

WHERE DO THE HOMELESS GO WHEN THEY TEST POSITIVE FOR THE VIRUS
  Several weeks ago, the emergency homeless shelter had reports of a lot of the users hearing a lot of coughing at night.  Anyone could have guessed what that means.  Like many of the homeless shelters around the Country, the homeless shelters are a perfect incubator for getting and spreading COVAD 19.  At times (until April 15 when it was supposed to close) up to 175 homeless used the Sugar House emergency shelter at night.
  We have asked many times over the last 5 years to allow use, for the homeless, of the many vacant buildings and properties that SLC RDA owns near the Weigand and Vincent DePaul Centers and Fourth Street Clinic (7 of 15 acres - some properties vacant for decades). 
  When the homeless start exhibiting signs of the virus, others that are in contact with that person cannot just isolate themselves in emergency shelters or resource centers.  They will need an area to allow them to keep (6 feet or more) away from others.  The best option, in my opinion, is to allow them an area to camp, in their tents or cars or area that they can live in near to homeless services.  Salt Lake City should plan and consider on providing a camping area near to the concentration of homeless services now.  
  Of Course, if the homeless are going to be allowed to camp anywhere (and the City now seems to be allowing open air camping), they should be encouraged to camp near services which includes proper sanitation systems including hand washing stations.  It took way too long for the City and County to provide them for the hepatitis outbreak.

SECRET MEETINGS AND DECISIONS AGAIN INVOLVING HOMELESS
  I hate secret meetings and secret decisions.  Salt Lake County Mayor Wilson has provided one of the silliest reasons for her decision to rent, at a very reasonable cost, a secret hotel for the homeless to self isolate.  She has said that she can't tell anyone where it is since it would violate the homeless privacy rights!  I think that the decision was appropriate and reasonable but the reasoning to keep it secret was silly and dangerous.  Government decisions should not be secret.  She may be a good Mayor but she is opening up  a big argument against her continuing to be Mayor.

DID EARTHQUAKES AFFECT PRISON BUILDING SITE?
  Despite all of the earthquake news, along with lots of aftershocks, no one seems to have checked on the status of the new prison that is being built on land that is perfect for acting like quicksand during a nearby earthquake.  And the Magna 5.7 earthquake was near enough to be destructive of building on soil that has been recently compacted on soil that was never compacted and is like quicksand when shaken.  Someone needs to check and verify what the damage was to the new prison building.

PUBLIC HEARING CONTINUED ON CLEVELAND COURT REZONE WITHOUT PARKING 
  Sometimes bad developments happen to good people.  The Cleveland Court project that is near 1400 South and 300 East is one of those projects.  It makes one of my favorite developers look bad.  It had so many speakers argue against it that the City Council kept the public hearing open and is expected to have another hearing on it on May 5.
  This proposal misuses the FB-UN1 zone and should be rejected.  Parking is important in the single family home neighborhood.
In addition the front and rear and garage setbacks create what I call a modern brutalist architecture that is not appropriate in an area that is trying to protect the many single family home zoning in the area.  This rezone WILL encourage destruction of the blocks of single family home zoning across the street.
  Similar higher density housing in the area has become run down and attracts a lot of criminal activity and has caused a reputation of criminal activity.  The area already has problem controlling crime in the area and increasing density would exacerbate the situation.
  Ironically, State Street is a few blocks away and could, should and would provide better mixed use and mixed income housing and that should be the priority.
  This project WILL replace a single family home.  Single family home neighborhoods should be protected and walkable neighborhoods with mixed use and mixed income should be encouraged on streets like State Street.  Look at the pictures in the Staff Report.  They show single family homes surrounding the project.  Multi-family units within 3 blocks is not a good reason to destroy a single family home neighborhood.
  A majority of a significant number of neighbors that attended the Planning Commission were furious at the proposal (many more than 2) and also commented against it during the City Council meeting.  Good government should not be making citizens angry.
And I still love Peter Corroon (the developer).

2166 SOUTH PROJECT ADDS SECRET THIRD FLOOR AND REMOVES PUBLIC SPACE
  There is a rebuild project at 2166 South 900 East that is converting a commercial space to a two floor restaurant.  Unfortunately, during the confusion caused by the COVAD19 pandemic, the City is ignoring proper inspections and seems to be allowing a secret, non-approved rooftop facility with railing and three accessory structures.  It supposedly is a bar.  It is not on the approved permit and the permit allows the landowner/builder to lease property next to the sidewalk, literally, for a raised patio that is about 3 feet wide.  So the City is giving away space that should be used for wider sidewalks that are recommended for the area and allowing it to be used for the restaurant!  There is a vaping shop next door and I want to see what happens when a person that is smoking or vaping on public property on the sidewalk is next to the diners.  Zoning is supposed to be used to decrease conflicts between citizens.  This project seems to be meant to increase the conflicts between citizens.

SLC FOOTHILL TRAILS PROJECT SHOULD HAVE PRIORITY OVER BYWAYS
  During one of the recent SLC City Council meetings, there were several grant applications for bicycling amenities that impacted personal vehicle travel.  In addition, Budget Amendment 4 had some money ($300,000) for the SLC Foothill Trails program.  That project should have more money and the City should be applying to the federal government for some of the funds in the stimulus act.  The federal government is expected to pass another stimulus bill that encompasses more infrastructure, and the majority of SLC suggestions for using the funding should go to the potential for a world class Salt Lake Foothill Trails System.  I support the $300,000 budget amendment for the Plan but more should be going towards it.
  There are several grant applications that I am against.  Grant Applications for the 600/700 N FTN and 800 E Byway are questionable.  The Grant Application for the 600/700 N FTN should stop if buses cannot reach the curb.  UTA's managers in charge of the leased bus tires have expressed concern about scuffing of the tires and have ordered drivers to stay one to 4 feet from the curb!  So, even a million dollar bus stop is a waste of money if riders have to step further down into the street and further up onto a bus.  It will discourage ridership.  The $228,000 grant application should be used to provide more frequent bus service.
  The 800 E. Neighborhood Byway is already walkable and the $210,000 is a lot of money that could be better spent.  If the money is to be used to install right hand only turns, I and I think the neighborhoods are against it.  The 600 East Bicycle Boulevard plan did not make clear that there would be right hand only turns installed and they increase pollution.  SLC should not increase air pollution.

BUSINESSES WANT UNSAFE TWO WAY SHARED STREET CONCEPT FOR MCCLELLAND 
  Last year, the Sugar House Community Council Transportation Committee approved a suggestion for the the McClelland Street reconstruction that would provide a shared street and a slow one way (going south) road that could be pedestrian and bicycle friendly.  The adjacent businesses were against it and the plan is now for a two way shared street!  A two way shared street is incredibly unsafe.  And the suggestion that the left hand turn from 2100 S to McClelland going south be stopped has been reconsidered since the businesses want it.  But that is one of the most dangerous corners for pedestrians!  The City seems to be making it safer for pedestrians at many other intersections on 2100 South but on the McClelland, so called walkable street, safety is planned to go downhill!

LIBERTY PARK BASKETBALL HOOPS REMOVED DUE TO PARTY GAME
  Okay, so some people are ignoring the social distancing directives and orders and have been seen playing basketball.  The City has responded, after complaints, by taking down the Liberty Park basketball hoops!!!  So one on one between family members (son or daughter and parents) are outlawed and now impossible.  That is another reason to have a single family home and yard that allows things like basketball.  Other problems at Liberty Park include the keep off the playground signs have been removed (apartment dwellers have no other way for their kids to play) and the fence around the southeast fountain keeps getting torn down. 
  I keep hearing complaints from virtual meeting participants that some park goers are walking their dogs in the park and playing with their kids in the park.  I think that people should not try to tell others what to do and follow the Governor's suggestion of using good sense.  That's why he issued a directive and not an order.  PLEASE DO NOT GO UP TO SOMEONE WITH A DOG AND TELL THEM TO GO BACK INSIDE AND SELF ISOLATE THEMSELVES.  I keep thinking that someone is going to get bitten by a dog while confronting their owner.  People don't need to be reminded about the pandemic.  They know and it can be just as dangerous getting in the face of someone who you think is acting dangerously.  I have heard several people claim that they have tried talking to others about social distancing in the park.

MARCH 19, 2020
SLC OFFERS $7.5 MIL FOR ALLEN PARK
MILLCREEK SAYS SLC WILL DO SECRET ROAD DIET ON HIGHLAND
ANTI CELLPHONE BILL DIES AFTER OPED PUBLISHED
LEG, UTA & SLC GIVE PRIORITY TO SPENDING TRANSIT MONEY TO BUILDINGS
EFFORT DIES TO GIVE DEVELOPERS MORE TRANSPORTATION MONEY FOR PARKING LOTS
LEGISLATURE CELEBRATES ELECTRIC VEHICLES WHILE NICKEL AND DIMEING THEM
LEGISLATURE MAY PUSH SLCO 3 DISPATCHES TO COMBINE
SLC QUESTIONS ALLOWING 190 FOOT BUILDING IN RIO GRANDE AREA
SLC MAYOR TEACHES COLD HEARTED A LESSON
SLC POISED TO ALLOW DEVELOPERS NO PARKING REQUIREMENTS
SLC IGNORES SUGAR HOUSE PUSH FOR WIDER SIDEWALKS
SLC PUSHES PROTECTED BIKE LANES
BETTER ANTI GAMBLING BILL MAY HIT CRIME SLC MAGNET
ANTI CATALYTIC AND MAIL THEFT BILLS DIE
DOGS STILL BANNED IN CANYONS
WHY USE SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETERS DURING EMERGENCIES
MORE SLC ALLEY VACATIONS
HUNDREDS OF CARS STOLEN LAST YEAR WITH KEYS OR RUNNING
UTA STILL REFUSES TO PAY DRIVERS REASONABLE RESPECTFUL SALARY 
SAFETY STOPS AUTONOMOUS SHUTTLE BUT ALLOWS SIMILAR BUSES
EASTSIDE SLC DOWN 17 COPS IN FEBRUARY
LEGISLATURE PUSHES PATCHWORK QUILT OF TIMEZONES
UTA SHOULD PROVIDE FREE FARES TO DECREASE DISEASE SPREAD
17TH SOUTH ROAD DIET ON HOLD DUE TO COST
ANTI DOMESTIC VIOLENCE BILL SB 46 DIES IN LEGISLATURE
LEGISLATURE FINALLY PASSES ANTI PREDATORY TOWING BILL

SLC OFFERS $7.5 MIL FOR ALLEN PARK
  SLC has submitted an offer to the Court appointed fiduciary for Allen Park
From the Council briefing document yesterday:
"A 7-acre parcel is being considered for purchase in Salt Lake City. Last summer, a fiduciary was assigned to sell the property and has engaged a local real estate agent to list the property for an undetermined amount where all "highest and best" offers were submitted July 31, 2019. The City engaged an MAI appraiser to estimate the value based on the development and infrastructure limitations that came in at $6,990,000 not considering development limitations. However, based on current high demand for the property and the outpouring of public support for the City to purchase the property coupled with a rapidly increasing real estate market, a Letter of Intent has been submitted at the Mayor's request for an offer amount at $7,500,000. In a previous budget amendment, budget amendment #1 of this fiscal year, $4,000,000 was allocated. Public Utilities contributed $1,000,000 and $3,000,000 came from parks impact fees. This budget amendment is requesting an additional $3,500,000 from parks impact fees.
A signed Letter of Intent has been sent to the fiduciary in behalf or the City pending approval of this budget amendment."
  During discussion with the Council, it was stated that the City originally offered $4 million and it was declined in favor of another offer that was withdrawn (theoretically the developer).  The City attorney asked for limited public information until the public hearing but the Council took a straw poll and everyone was for the City going forward with the purchase although, officially, the City can decide next Tuesday after the public hearing in order to make it official and legal.  If the City needs to move faster, the Mayor can contact the Council for quicker legal permission.
  Good news all around.

MILLCREEK SAYS SLC WILL DO SECRET ROAD DIET ON HIGHLAND
  Millcreek City is about to restripe Highland Drive to improve traffic flow and encourage safer bicycling.  It is essentially a test and will result in the grinding down of the present lane markings and repainting for this plan.  Millcreek will test the new layout and it may change the final plan after a year or two.
  I put the Highland Drive Study in the upper left TRANSPORTATION DOWNLOADS.  But Millcreek has also said that it expects Salt Lake City to also restripe the portion of Highland Drive north of 3000 South that Salt Lake City owns.  Millcreek has had several public outreach events and a public hearing last week but Salt Lake City has had no public hearings or engagement. 
  The first discussion with the Sugar House Community Council was Monday during a ZOOM virtual meeting.  Several participants expressed interest but others expressed concern.  The City's representative and project leader, Lynn Jacobs, said that Salt Lake City was concerned that the roadway in Salt Lake City is in worse condition than the Millcreek portion and the Millcreek plan to temporarily grind down the present striping is not wise for the poor condition of the Salt Lake portion of the roadway.  In addition, there has been no public engagement and very few people know about this plan so Salt Lake City was not planning as of this week on restriping the roadway.
  But Millcreek is operating on the assumption (this week) that a restriping of Highland must be and will be coordinated and done with Salt Lake City and is planning on starting the restriping in April!
  My concerns about the plan are below.  It is not a good plan.
Comments on proposed road diet on Highland Drive
Buses need a turnout lane to allow traffic to pass when picking up passengers.  When the 1300 East road diet was implemented, buses were so frustrated at the traffic backup that they stopped in the middle of the lane (making transit riders work/walk to the bus in the street and discouraging mass transit ridership) and backed up traffic (that was already backed up).  That resulted in vehicles sometimes taking 15 minutes to go 4 blocks which led to significantly higher pollution levels.
Only allow left hand turns and lanes at cross streets.  All businesses should be encouraged to use side streets for in/out to decrease potential backups with one lanes configuration (2100 South backs up at 1250 East due to that problem).
Encourage right hand turns only in most cross streets to decrease pedestrian and bicycle dangers (and accidents).
Reconfiguration should not decrease service of street grade.
No road diet without broad public engagement and significant notification of local residents and businesses and community councils.
Removing left hand turn lanes except at cross streets will allow wider bike lanes and decrease pedestrian (and bicyclist) conflicts and accidents.
WFRC projected ADT on Richmond appears extremely low.  I would say that it has doubled in the last ten years.
Right hand turns only should be allowed on Richmond due to the high speed limit (and the speed should be reduced south of Elgin.
Projected completion of development seems too optimistic.  Sugar House targeted development took almost 20 years.  Millcreek is competing with SLC's Station Center and Ballpark, South Salt Lake City and Murray.
(Although finding a way to create a special character that would attract mixed use would help.)
All development should be mixed use and mixed income or a road diet may increase problems.  ADT can double if all new buildings are apartments.  The projected apartments vrs commercial/retail space seem low.  Avoid zombie buildings with lack of ground floor retail/restaurants.
The Mountair proposal on the east side should really be a super wide sidewalk with ability to host food trucks (with power outlets) to encourage public engagement.  I don't think residents east of Mountair want to open their street to more pedestrian traffic.
During discussions at SLC RDA on the Richmond Street affordable apartments loan, RDA was asked to ensure that pedestrian and bicycle paths to Brickyard be addressed for safety.
Road diets should only be realistically considered for roads with maximum hourly traffic of less than 700 vehicles (750 from federal government).  Highland appears to be approaching that figure.  3300 South seems to have similar traffic volumes according to the Highland Drive Corridor Traffic Impact Study.  If so, a road diet should not be considered.  UDOT obviously should be providing feedback on this proposal.  What do they think??
Adding more right hand turn lanes on Highland (at cross streets) may help decrease potential backups.  Any curb cuts/entrances to businesses (right hand turn only exits) should have a right hand turn lane, even if it interferes with a bike lane.  The purpose is to decrease stop and go traffic and pollution.
No roundabouts should be considered since they appear to decrease walkability.  
Crosswalks should be fewer due to potential to increase traffic interference.
Raised center landscaped median is a maintenance nightmare and decreases valuable bike lane widths.
Curb extensions/bulbouts interfere with bicycling/lanes.  They tend to force bicyclists into traffic increasing danger.
Soren Simonsen had some ideas on this when he was on SLC Council and should be contacted for input if he hasn't been before.
Pedestrian access to and from adjacent neighborhoods is not inhibited.
Businesses should first be encouraged to allow long term parking, even for drivers that want to shop next door or down the street.  It ensures walkability.
Ensure that any road diet does not increase pollution with a full analysis of any lane reconfiguration.
I like "consolidating business accesses" but they should all have access from side streets.  I like closing driveways, especially near cross streets.  I like bus pull out lanes but note that UTA is having a Jekyl/Hyde moment - they are telling drivers to stay 1-4 feet from the curb so bus stop amenities are a waste of time.  All curbs should be vertical.
Wider shared sidewalks should allow for kids and families to bike safely with pedestrians on the sidewalks.  There is a difference between commuter bicyclists and recreational cyclists.
There should not be access to businesses near the intersections to allow for longer left hand turn lanes. (Highland/33rd and 1300E/33rd have these conflicts.)
Highland needs a right hand and left hand turn lane in both directions on 33rd South.  Too much traffic is turning left and right.  Any bike box or other bicycle/pedestrian infrastructure should not interfere with traffic or increase pollution.
Note that Fehr and Peers proposal to remove the Highland Drive 2100 South right hand turn lane significantly increased backups and pollution.
5 foot bike lanes are too small.  They should be 8 feet to allow side by side bicycling.
Miller Avenue from Brickyard Rd should be reconfigured to have one light and a straight connection to Brickyard Rd to decrease traffic accident potential.

ANTI CELLPHONE BILL DIES AFTER OPED PUBLISHED
  Rep. Moss's HB101 has been killed a couple of days after the Salt Lake Tribune published my opinion piece against decreasing the penalties for texting and driving and making all cell phone use (without hands free technology) while driving illegal.  The plan makes all cell phone use in hands while driving an infraction.  Now the law says that it is illegal to use a cellphone while driving and violating traffic laws.  The proposed bill was supposed to make all use of cell phones in drivers' hands illegal.
  During the first Legislative committee hearing, several law enforcement personnel said that they observed drivers violating traffic laws while using phones (and an IPAD!) but felt that they couldn't give a ticket since they couldn't prove that the violation was related to cell phone use!  They even mentioned that they observed a truck driver driving while talking on a hand held cell phone.  That is already a federal crime and that driver should have been ticketed and fired.  I know that UTA has fired several bus drivers for using a cellphone while stopped, parked and waiting for the next run!  This law is not needed.  We don't need more laws to force enforcement, we just need the laws we have enforced.
  Lee Davidson had a great story on it in the SLTrib.  But the opinion piece ran in Friday's paper and the bill was sent to Senate rules after the second reading vote to approve it (bills generally require 3 readings and votes) on Tuesday.  Since it had a fiscal note over $10,000, the last day that it could be considered was the next day.  It is my understanding that there was enough concern about the bill in the Legislature and by constituents, that there was no taste for a big argument about it and it died in Senate rules.
  The link to the Salt Lake Tribune commentary is:
https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2020/03/05/george-chapman-cell-phone/

LEG, UTA & SLC GIVE PRIORITY TO SPENDING TRANSIT MONEY TO BUILDINGS
  Senator Wayne Harper has had several great bills this session.  They include the anti-predatory towing bill (see below) and a public safety retirement bill that increases options to increase the retention of public safety personnel.  But Senator Harper's SB150 is not a good bill.  It gives UTA the ability to assist developers by spending money and providing land to developers for projects called transit oriented developments (TODs - are supposed to increase transit use and the federal government gave UTA money to buy property for transit use).  The Legislature previously limited TODs supported by UTA to 8.  SB150 removes the limit.
  The last audit of UTA, in 2014, and the reason that the federal government insisting on a federal monitor, was questionable deals between UTA and developers that utilized federal money used to purchase property.  
  UTA has given property in the past to developers for so called TODs that are really zombie buildings that do not encourage mass transit use.  They are apartments without any ground floor engagement which does not encourage walkability and the result is no encouragement to use mass transit.
  At the same time, UTA is limiting rail transit use because the parking lots of many FrontRunner and TRAX stations are full and UTA would rather save the land for projects with developers instead of expanding parking lots.  For instance, UTA's Roy FrontRunner station has acres of vacant property that could be used to expand the usually full parking lot.  But Roy and UTA want to encourage development of buildings.  This bill allows it and it passed the Legislature and awaits the Governor's signature.  There are many other stations that have parking lots that are usually full.
  SB150 also reinforces the increase in electric vehicle registration fees (see below) and it also allows Uber and Lyft vehicles at the SLC Airport to be stopped and inspected.  The early version also increased rental vehicle taxes but that was dropped in the enrolled version.  I put UTA's presentation in the TRANSPORTATION DOWNLOADS.  It makes the highest priority project SLC RDA's Station Center (used to be called Depot District) Rio Grande area.  Other area possible projects include the 1300 South Ballpark station (see last page for list of projects and priority).

EFFORT DIES TO GIVE DEVELOPERS MORE TRANSPORTATION MONEY FOR PARKING LOTS
  Senator Cullimore failed to pass SB108 which would have encouraged transportation funds to be used for parking lots in his Cottonwood Heights area (which already had parking lot funding for former Senate President Wayne Niederhauser's Canyon Center project).  This bill would have pulled together transportation project surplus funding (not needed for projects) and put it into a loan fund to encourage more developer parking lot projects.  It would have made Wayne Niederhauser and the Legislature look bad, in my opinion.  Despite SLCO Transportation's support, it died.  

LEGISLATURE CELEBRATES ELECTRIC VEHICLES WHILE NICKEL AND DIMEING THEM
  The Legislature celebrated their efforts to encourage electric vehicle use by allowing Rocky Mountain Power to use customer funding to support building more charging stations.  But at the same time, the Legislature repeated the plan to significantly increase electric and hybrid vehicle registration fees (with SB150) since electric vehicles do not pay their fair share of road use.  Big rigs pay over ten thousand dollars a year for road taxes and many in the Legislature feel that electric vehicles will take over the roads and Utah will not be able to pay for roads.  In my opinion, Utah will probably not get over 5% electric vehicle use.  Trucks and SUVs (according to Ford) will take over.  Essentially, the Legislature is on the fence on electric vehicles.  The road usage charge test has 500 signing up but it still seems unrealistic.  It will be interesting to see the result.  Oregon had 5000 sign up but the results weren't encouraging with a lot of extra tracking costs.

LEGISLATURE MAY PUSH SLCO 3 DISPATCHES TO COMBINE
  Senator Harper also sponsored SB130, which encourage the Utah Communications Authority to fix the issues that the 911 audit found last year in emergency dispatch centers.  In one case, a Park City heart attack victim call was routed to Salt Lake County VECC dispatch (cell phone towers switch calls to the dispatch center that takes the most calls).  But when VECC realized that the victim was in Park City, it was switched to the Park City Police.  But medical in Summit County and Park City is handled by Summit COunty and valuable time was lost in the process.  The House committee (Public Utilities) strongly recommended that the Legislative Audit Team return during interim and report on the resolution of the problems.  SB130 provides authority to the Utah Communications Authority to encourage solutions.  The best solution would be one 911/emergency dispatch in Salt Lake County (which has 3 emergency systems now).  Weber and Morgan County combined their 911 systems with great results.

SLC QUESTIONS ALLOWING 190 FOOT BUILDING IN RIO GRANDE AREA
  SLC RDA owns 7 of 15 acres in the Rio Grande area and is having an argument about allowing a developer to build a higher project than presently allowed in the area.  But much of the RDA owned property is vacant and has been for decades.  SLC should not be arguing with a developer about how high a building can be.  The present height limit is 120 feet.  The developer wants to build 190 feet.  SLC RDA seems to be waiting to develop the whole area with UTA instead of allowing piecemeal development.  Building anything would decrease the crime that comes with vacant buildings.

SLC MAYOR TEACHES COLD HEARTED A LESSON

  I have fought with Erin Mendenhall often over the last few years but I have to say that her recent actions have been amazing.  The homeless were recently faced with the Leonardo turning on the sprinklers to "test the system" when it was obviously an attempt to punish the homeless camping by the Leonardo and encourage them to move.  Despite denying that the decision was cold hearted, it was obvious that it was directed at the homeless.  Although the SLCPD were asked to warn the homeless campers before the sprinklers were turned on (in the dead of winter), when some didn't move, the new Mayor saw the sprinklers on and irrigating the homeless and ordered the sprinklers turned off.  She had City staff do it since it appeared that the Leonardo was unable to?  Way to go Mayor Mendenhall.  This is a great reason to throw out the Leonardo from the City owned building.

SLC POISED TO ALLOW DEVELOPERS NO PARKING REQUIREMENTS
  Peter Corroon is one of the good guy developers in the City.  I have known and worked with him (when he was County Mayor) for over 10 years.  But his plan to only provide 8 parking spaces for a property called Cleveland Court near 1350 South and 300 East when present zoning says that 13 spaces are required is wrong.  The request to rezone the property to FB-UN1, (which has no parking requirements and is meant to be for mixed use near rail stations - to encourage walkability), is wrong and makes this request a bad development.  The public hearing is on April 7.  The rezone should be denied.  Sometimes bad developments happen to good people.

SLC IGNORES SUGAR HOUSE PUSH FOR WIDER SIDEWALKS
  The Sugar House Business District Design Standards are in the process of being changed but several residents of the area argued against the changes since they do not include wider sidewalks that were in the Sugar House Circulation and Amenities Plan.  The new design standards do not force ground floor retail and restaurants and public engagement and therefore destroy the character of Sugar House which started with window shopping.

SLC PUSHES PROTECTED BIKE LANES
  Salt Lake City is applying for grants from the County Transportation funds to build more protected bike lanes.  But the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety reports that they can be unsafe when there are many driveways.  Unfortunately, they also cannot be maintained properly and regularly by the City.  They also limit emergency maneuvers by bicyclists when trying to avoid crashes.  There was one good plan, I thought, and it was for the Main Street going up to Capitol Hill from the Temple grounds.  That street needs a separated bike lane and there are few driveways.  Ensign Peak is a world-famous destination and the route needs a better safe cycling system.  The 45 degree angle parking on East Capitol Boulevard is dangerous for bicyclists.  Unfortunately, the separated bike lane only goes to the Capitol (high vehicle traffic during rush hours make it dangerous for cyclists past the Capitol.
  Priority to encourage more cycling in Salt Lake City should be given to a pedestrian/cycling bridge over the 900 South railroad tracks.  And the 9 Line Trail.  And what happened to the Mayor's pet project, the McClelland Trail to Brickyard.  Nothing so far in the grant applications.  SLC should not be applying for grants for projects that it cannot maintain properly.

BETTER ANTI GAMBLING BILL MAY HIT CRIME SLC MAGNET
  Senator Mayne's bill to expand the definition of gambling machines that are illegal in Utah passed the Legislature and may help stop the loitering around Wayne's Corner (13th South and State) that is protecting some of the drug dealing and crime in the area.  When police try to break up the loitering, they say they are waiting for the machines.  Hopefully, this bill will give the SLCPD more ammunition to fight the crime magnets of the State.

ANTI CATALYTIC AND MAIL THEFT BILLS DIE
  Several good bills died in this last Legislative session.  They include the bill that required anyone turning in a catalytic converter for scrap (and getting around a hundred dollars) to provide ID and proof that they owned a car it came from and a bill that increased penalties for identity theft by stealing mail.  Both died.

DOGS STILL BANNED IN CANYONS
  Rep. Acton's bill to allow dogs in the Wasatch Canyons if they stay in the car died due to the Forest Service insisting that it is enforcing the federal ban on dogs in the Canyons.  But Park City allows dogs on their trails, in the watershed.  The Forest Service is pressuring Park City to make all dogs illegal on their trails.  In addition, Park City has said that it is okay to travel with a dog from Park City, over Guardsman Pass and into Salt Lake City via the Canyon, but the Forest Service is telling Park City to stop saying that.  
  Interestingly, Salt Lake County allows a limited number of dog permits for $100 for property owners in the Canyons.  Ironically, sheep are allowed in the Canyons and dogs are usually with sheep.  
  Despite the bigger danger from lack of appropriate restrooms for the 6 million visitors a year in the Canyons and not enough law enforcement to stop the graffiti, Salt Lake City contends that it would be almost impossible to stop dogs in the Canyons unless they banned them in cars.

WHY USE SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETERS DURING EMERGENCIES
  If you have been watched elected officials making statements about our recent and continuing emergencies, you may have noticed a plethora of sign language interpreters.  But most hearing impaired would benefit more from digital displays of the text, like closed captioning systems on TV.  Why isn't that being used?

MORE SLC ALLEY VACATIONS
  Salt Lake City Council will take up several more alley vacations in the next few months.  It appears that the Ballpark Community is pushing one but a crime magnet motel is bordering the alleyway and may stop the effort.  One is Sugar House/East Liberty Park seems more likely since it is already encroached by individual property owners building fences.

HUNDREDS OF CARS STOLEN LAST YEAR WITH KEYS OR RUNNING
  The SLCPD is again reminding vehicle owners that they are getting hundreds of vehicles stolen every year with the keys in the car (running or parked)!  In the first two months of this year, the Police report almost 100 stolen.  Please do not leave keys in the car.

UTA STILL REFUSES TO PAY DRIVERS REASONABLE RESPECTFUL SALARY 
  As of March 18, UTA and the bus drivers' union have not reached agreement on a new salary contract.  Hope is dimming since the Covad 19 is actually cutting transit use by over 50% in some cases.  It may stay that way for a year.  So the plan to expand service seems to be put on the backburner.

SAFETY STOPS AUTONOMOUS SHUTTLE BUT ALLOWS SIMILAR BUSES
  UTA stopped operation of their autonomous shuttle after the federal government expressed concern about the danger to riders in a crash, even a low speed crash.  Unlike regular buses, a crash in these shuttles (and in the popular BRT vehicles) results in riders being thrown violently inside the bus.  If the federal government expressed concern about the shuttles, why is the federal government encouraging BRT vehicles with the same problem?

EASTSIDE SLC DOWN 17 COPS IN FEBRUARY
  SLCPD said that in January, the Eastside service precinct was down 17 police officers.  11 new police recruits were graduated from the Police Academy last month.  But that still leaves a big hole in the funded police officer ranks.  Despite years of attempts, SLC is still unable to increase police by 50 new officers.  The City is still losing 2 to 3 a month to retirement.

LEGISLATURE PUSHES PATCHWORK QUILT OF TIMEZONES
  Senator Harper's bill to make Utah a daylight savings timezone permanently passed the Legislature.  If Congress allows it and 4 of 8 surrounding Western states also agree to it, there will be a patchwork quilt of timezones in the West.  The reason we have time zones is to increase transportation efficiency of goods and people.  If there are several time zones to cross going through 3 states, each with their own timezone, it is a problem that should not happen.  Hopefully, Congress will not allow a patchwork quilt of timezones.

UTA SHOULD PROVIDE FREE FARES TO DECREASE DISEASE SPREAD
  Several transit agencies are decreasing the threat of Covad 19 spreading and risk by removing the fares for transit ridership.  The risk goes down significantly if money or punch cards is not used.  UTA should consider this use of free fare to counter the significant decrease in ridership on mass transit.  Otherwise it will increase use of cars and transit ridership will never increase.

17TH SOUTH ROAD DIET ON HOLD DUE TO COST
  The 17th South road diet is on hold due to the construction bids coming in too high.

ANTIDOMESTIC VIOLENCE BILL SB46 DIES IN LEGISLATURE

  Senator Iwamoto's bill to increase penalties for domestic violence and shift much of the prosecution to district courts (and decrease the repeat testimony required of victims) has died due to the CCJJ not supporting it.  But 42% of Utah homicides are due to domestic violence and the highest risk is if it is done in front of a child (which this bill would have covered).  But another big issue that resulted in the bill dying was the increased cost and need for more district court judges and the State has not agreed to pick up the cost.  Utah needs 7 new district court judges and the Legislature just added only 2 more.

LEGISLATURE FINALLY PASSES ANTI PREDATORY TOWING BILL
  Senator Harper and Rep. Maloy finally were able to pass an anti-predatory towing bill that makes signage for parking lots that allow towing standardized and visible.  Towing operators will provide the signs.  This bill has been tried for years and it has finally passed.  It helps protect businesses that impacted by adjacent businesses utilizing predatory towing tactics.

FEBRUARY 18, 2020
SLCO ROUSTS HOMELESS CAMPERS FOR PRESIDENT'S ADVISOR
PRESIDENT'S HOMELESS ADVISOR IN TOWN
LEGISLATURE WANTS LOANS FOR DEVELOPER PARKING
HOMELESS NEED CONVENIENT STORAGE OPED PUBLISHED
WORLD CLASS FOOTHILLS TRAIL SYSTEM POSSIBLE WITH FUNDING
TICKETING LITTLE DOGS IN CARS IN CANYONS QUESTIONABLE
HOMELESS NEED CONVENIENT STORAGE OPED PUBLISHED
UTA PRESENTATION TO LEGISLATURE
UTA STOPS TRAFFIC WITH SALT
SLC SPENDING ALL EXTRA MONEY ON UNSAFE CYCLE TRACKS
ANTI PREDATOR TOWING BILL ALMOST PASSED
LEGISLATURE ABOUT TO INCREASE PENALTIES FOR VIOLATING SCHOOL BUS LIGHTS 
UTA BUS STOP ISSUES DISCOURAGE RIDERSHIP
799DRUG
BLUETOOTH USED TO FIND COMPUTERS IN CARS
17 CARS STOLEN LAST MONTH WHILE IDLING
PALMER COURT MEDICAL CALLS STILL HIGH
900 EAST ROUNDABOUT PROBLEMS' PLAN

SLCO ROUSTS HOMELESS CAMPERS FOR PRESIDENT'S ADVISOR
  In the week before the U.S. Homeless czar, Dr. Marbut, visited Salt Lake City, there were around 50 campers around Taufer Park (300E 700S) and a couple of dozen near the Main Library.  In the next week, there were none.  The County Health Department took the blame but I suspect many government entities were involved in the effort to hide our homeless issue.  It is a sad commentary on our society and City when governments think that they have to hide the less desirable.

PRESIDENT'S HOMELESS ADVISOR IN TOWN
  The U.S. Homeless coordinator, Dr. Marbut, came into town to address the State Homeless Coordinating Council and the Pioneer Park Coalition.  During his presentations, he pointed out that when the federal government stopped funding social services along with housing, homeless numbers went up.  So, going forward, the federal government will restart funding social services along with housing to ensure that the homeless placed in housing get the social support that they seem to need when transitioning into housing.  Whether it is mental health issues or substance use disorders (SUDs), success at housing plummets after 2 years.  It can take 4 to 5 months to get people into housing  but the placement does not always work due to lack of social services support.  The HIPA privacy issues sometimes get in the way and often, the best players are not funded.  I agree that the best homeless service provider (considered by me and the homeless), the Weigand Center, is not always given priority in funding.  A few years ago, Salt Lake City (David Litvack) tried to cut Weigand Center funding and when the news found out and asked the Mayor about it, she reversed David’s decision and the Weigand Center got their funding.
  Dr. Marbut also said that homeless services decisions have to have a good relationship with the community, which has often been missing in Salt Lake City and County.  There have been too many backroom and secret decisions.  The recent emergency shelter in Sugar House decision was made without public engagement.
  Dr. Marbut also said that affordable housing construction costs and fees need to be reduced.  Ironically, over a year ago, the Salt Lake City Council punted a decision to lower impact fees for 20% affordable housing.  The proposal could have the lowered fees $500,000 for a 200 unit apartment with 20% affordable!  The decision is still tabled.
  Dr. Marbut also said that the predators issues need to be figured out but there are federal rules that have to be followed.  His proposal, now in place, to allow paying for social workers and therapists with housing requires a much higher and respectful salary.  A recent open position for a therapist for homeless paid about $20 an hour for a certified therapist (who can make double that in the market). 

LEGISLATURE WANTS LOANS FOR DEVELOPER PARKING
  On February 11, Senator Cullimore presented his SB108 that would essentially push funding for a parking garage from the County transportation funds.  The parking garage could and would theoretically go to the parking garage mentioned by and being constructed by the Canyon Center project (partially owned by the former Senate President).  Instead of funding more appropriate projects like 3 new east west freeways and desperate roadway maintenance, the Senate Committee passed through the SB108.  The last time the transportation funds were used for a parking garage was with the Block 67 project from Riches and Garn ($15).  I argued against the bill since there is not a lot of transparency and the person that will eventually get the millions, is known but not publicized.  Funding should have gone to weekend and daily year round canyon bus service.  Instead it is going to a private developer.

WORLD CLASS FOOTHILLS TRAIL SYSTEM POSSIBLE WITH FUNDING
  Salt Lake City just had a public hearing on the Foothills Trail system plan.  It is an almost 200 MB download (Google it).  But it is getting minimal funding and only for the first phase from Capitol Hill to the Avenues.  It deserves more and it could easily, with the available funding from the County TIF Transportation Funds, become a world class system that could also become world famous.  Riding or hiking in the foothills of Salt Lake County is awe inspiring due to the view.  The Trails deserve more funding, more than the cycle track grant applications below.

TICKETING LITTLE DOGS IN CARS IN CANYONS QUESTIONABLE
Representative Acton is sponsoring HB245 which restores common sense to protecting the watershed.  It just passed the House Committee and is being considered in the House.
  Salt Lake City Public Utilities has provided safe drinking water to many of the citizens of Salt Lake County for over a hundred years. But to provide that, the City received significant responsibility in extraterritorial jurisdiction over the watershed over several counties in Northern Utah. The justification was fighting diseases like cholera that were attributed to polluted water. 
  In the last hundred years, we have come a long way. We now regularly treat and test water for safety. We have significantly reduced e-coli bacteria in our watershed. This has been accomplished despite the 6 million visitors in our Wasatch Canyons that provide most of our drinking water. Those 6 million visitors have very few restrooms, although Salt Lake City Public Utilities does "budget operational funds to clean and maintain many of the restrooms in the canyons, including the USFS restrooms when they have budget shortfalls." (according to SLCPU Director Laura Briefer). 
  Despite the significant potential of e-coli from the millions of visitors, and diseases and parasites from the wildlife in the Wasatch Canyons, Salt Lake City has focused on enforcing its ban on domestic pets, especially dogs, in the Canyons. Their reasoning is that humans generally will seek privacy when they poop or pee in the watershed and would probably be almost impossible to stop with ticketing. But a blanket ban on dogs, even in cars, would seem to be more easily enforced. Their watershed protection regulations are enforced by the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office/Unified Police Department, SLC Public Utilities, the County Health Department, the U.S. Forest Service and Alta's Marshal's Office.
 The result is that anyone driving up the Wasatch Canyons that ban dogs, with a dog, can receive a citation or be arrested! Over 600 violations a year are given that can cost over $600. Having a dog in a car in Canyons that ban dogs constitutes a Class "B" misdemeanor. 
  I am sponsoring a bill, HB 245, that restores some good government sense to the situation and hopefully will redirect appropriate and respectful law enforcement to focus on the real problem, criminal behavior and unsafe activities in the Canyons. This bill says that: A political subdivision or state agency may not prohibit an individual from transporting a dog in a watershed area if the dog remains at all times in the passenger compartment of a motor vehicle (including in a motor home) used to travel in the watershed area and an individual who holds a valid driver license remains in the passenger compartment of the motor vehicle with the dog at all times the motor vehicle is in the watershed area. 
  The impetus of this bill is to stop the unreasonable enforcement of watershed rules that can result in arrests of law-abiding citizens that inadvertently have a dog in their car with no intention of letting the dog out during travel through the Canyons. We invite visitors from around the world and they sometimes bring campers and their pets with them. They sometimes even go over Guardsman Pass, which is allowed with a dog "as long as they don't stop and continue on through". Park City is much more amenable to dogs and has many hiking trails that allow dogs in their watershed (which also supplies SLC water).
  HB245 is a reasonable way to rein in over-zealous enforcement of a watershed law that was developed in the dark ages of disease fighting. Theoretically Salt Lake City could ban all motorized boats, vessels and use on reservoirs, including swimming. The next step would be to ban all fish in streams to stop all the fish pee and poo from contaminating the water.

HOMELESS NEED CONVENIENT STORAGE OPED PUBLISHED
  The Salt Lake Tribune published my opinion on questions for the U.S. Homeless Coordinating Committee Executive Director.  I essentially said that we still need convenient and secure storage for the homeless.  The present storage system is only open 4 hours a day which is almost impossible to use.  The opinion is at:
https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2020/02/08/george-chapman-questions/

UTA PRESENTATION TO LEGISLATURE 
  I put the UTA presentation to the Legislature in the TRANSPORTATION DOWNLOADS.  During the presentation, UTA gave another another push to double track FrontRunner, despite some runs that only have 60 passengers.  The report shows that ridership has essentially been a little down and Rep. Nelson asked why not improve bus service since it looks to be more cost effective than expanding rail.  The UTA Executive Director, Carolyn Gonot, said that she believed that we need a mix of bus and rail.  Rep. Nelson is right we need more service on buses before expanding rail.  UTA and Utah taxpayers do not have billions to spend on rail.

UTA STOPS TRAFFIC WITH SALT
  UTA admitted, during the Legislative presentation, that its trains were stopped by salting snow plows.  The salt made it appear that there was a train on the tracks when there wasn't one.  So it stopped all car and train traffic!  UTA has asked all snow plows to not salt around the rail lines.  This is Utah and that is almost impossible with all of the rails on streets!

SLC SPENDING ALL EXTRA MONEY ON UNSAFE CYCLE TRACKS
  The Salt Lake City Council had a public hearing today (February 18) to consider grants for the County Transportation Fund that is generated by the SB136 tax increase.  The City is applying for around $20 million in funding for bicycle/active transportation projects throughout the City (Listed below).
  But where are the projects that the communities have been pushing for including the 900 South Trail, the 900 South railroad pedestrian/bicycle bridge, the 700 East bicycle path and the McClelland Trail?  Salt Lake City should start a priority list with the community councils with their priorities to get a better more realistic and respectful list.
  Interestingly, the McClelland Trail was a pet project of Erin Mendenhall when she represented District 5 on the City Council.  But the City was supposed to use the million budgeted for the Trail from 900 South to the Brickyard.  The million was all spent on the alleyways north of 2100 South.  Salt Lake City should make the completion of the McClelland Trail, using the Jordan/Salt Lake Canal easement, a high priority.  There is no safe way for a bicyclist or pedestrian to safely go to Brickyard from Salt Lake City due to the Richmond St/1300 East road being above the sidewalk.
  Lost in the continuing effort by SLC to push separated bicycle lanes/cycle tracks on streets is the report last year from the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety that pointed out that cycle tracks can be unsafe if there are a lot of driveways (there are in these proposals).  Cycle tracks limit emergency maneuvers of bicyclists during emergencies.  In addition, maintenance of cycle tracks is almost non-existent.  When the first one was put in on 300 South, the City was unable to maintain and clean it for a year until the City bought and modified equipment that could do the job.  Maintaining cycle tracks is almost impossible but should be done everyday.  Any debris can cause a danger for bicyclists.  In a wide bike lane on a street, the debris generally moves to the gutter.
  Children should be riding bikes on wider sidewalks, not in cycle tracks.
  Other issues that I have with the list of grant applications are:
  The proposed grant  applications would seem to be lower priority than safe wide bike lanes that are needed Citywide.  The Foothill Trails proposal should get the money before the separated bikelanes.
  I am generally against using valuable transportation funds for BRT and the required separated bus lane on 200 South.  I am also against the transit center ($400,000 alone) that the City, until today, was suggesting to be at 700 East 200 South.  The Transportation Director said today that UTA may want it a t 200 South and State.  But UTA should move all bus stops to corners (on State they are midblock and half a block away from bus transfers) first.  Bus riders should not have to work to use UTA.
  The Main Street project should have raised bike and pedestrian paths in accordance with completer streets (the report is due in a few weeks). 
  The Beck Street bicycle path will require daily maintenance to remove the significant gravel that accumulates from the many construction trucks that use Beck Street.
  The 600/700 North bulbouts endanger cyclists.
  The proposed 300 West cycle tracks are a problem for small businesses that utilize parking in front of their stores, sometimes perpendicular, and they will go out of business if their parking is removed.

$9 million for the 200 South dedicated transit lanes and upgraded bus stops and a transit center.

$3.5 million for a Main Street High Comfort Bikeway (Life on State Network) with a raised or separated bicycle lane from South Temple to 2100 South.

$3 million for the Grit and Gravel Trail (Beck Street Trail) that re-engineers the 2.5 mile multi-use paved trail between SLCO and Davis County.

$2.4 million for mid-block pedestrian crossings, curb extensions (bulbouts) and raised separated bicycle lanes on 600/700 North.

$2.1 million for the 300 West project for separated bicycle lanes(500 South to 2100 South).

$1.8 million for Surplus Canal Trail (Jordan River to I215) Improvements.

ANTI PREDATOR TOWING BILL ALMOST PASSED
  HB057, a bill to decrease surprise predator towing, sponsored by Rep. Maloy and Senator Harper (I mentioned it in an oped against SB136 a couple of years ago.) has passed both the House and the Senate Committees and is in the Senate for a final vote to pass it.  My area in Salt Lake City, the 9th and 9th area, has had many issues with predator towing.  A store next to a popular restaurant had a small parking lot and after it closed at 5pm, it had anyone parking there towed.  The signs warning of towing were not obvious.  It was a classic case of predator towing.  Rep. Maloy's bill would decrease the problem by requiring standard signage that would be provided by the towing companies and that would be very visible.  It has been a long time coming.  These bills have usually been stopped at the last minute at the Legislature, for years.

LEGISLATURE ABOUT TO INCREASE PENALTIES FOR VIOLATING SCHOOL BUS LIGHTS 
  Every year, the State reports the times in one day that motorists violate the red school bus lights that are supposed to stop motorists from passing stopped school buses.  The lights are supposed to protect kids getting on and off the bus.  But the number of times that are reported during the one day a year when the school bus drivers note the violations is usually around 1000 times a day Statewide.  It ranges from 900 to 1100 opportunities to lose a child's life.  Rep. Hall and Sen. Weiler has HB 084 that increases minimum fines for violating this law.  It is about to get a final vote in the Senate and be enrolled/passed to the Governor.

UTA BUS STOP ISSUES DISCOURAGE RIDERSHIP
  Bus ridership is not increasing and one of the reasons is the buses are increasingly staying one to four feet from the curb.  The reason is that they have been ordered to to protect the leased bus tires from being scuffed.  So bus riders have to work, or navigate snow and ice in the gutters or step up or down to get onto the bus from the street.  Spending millions on upgrading bus stops seems useless when bus drivers are ordered to ignore bus stops and stay away from them!  In addition, after spending ten thousand on brand new bus stops, ADA compliant, there are no no parking signs to keep cars 10 plus feet from the stops so buses cannot get close to the curb anyway.

799DRUG
  If you have been concerned about a lot of traffic going in and out of a house or building that is out of the ordinary, call 801 799 DRUG and report the address.  That is the SLCPD narcotics team.  They collect those addresses and start investigating this residence as a potential drug house.

BLUETOOTH USED TO FIND COMPUTERS IN CARS
  Recently, an app has showed up in the App Stores that allows a phone to be used to detect a nearby bluetooth computer or accessory.  It is allowing thieves to locate hidden computers in cars and quickly break in and steal the computer.  Please consider turning off bluetooth when not using your computer in standby mode.  Turning most computers off will turn off bluetooth but standby often still sends out bluetooth signals.

17 CARS STOLEN LAST MONTH WHILE IDLING
  17 cars were stolen in Salt Lake City in January while they were idling.  Please don't idle your cars.  They tend to encourage car thieves.  Do not encourage them.

PALMER COURT MEDICAL CALLS STILL HIGH
  Recent data shows that medical responses from the SLCFD to Palmer Court have consistently been high.  It is still the second highest medical response draw in Salt Lake City.  It is a 100% supportive housing facility and is the biggest argument against going over 20% affordable in housing.  It tends to encourage and enable substance abuse disorder. 

900 EAST ROUNDABOUT PROBLEMS' PLAN
  The problems of the 900 East roundabout have resulted in a plan to correct the problems.  One problem is trying to decrease the speed since it is possible for someone to speed downhill and launch over the roundabout (as has happened throughout the County in other cities).  The City's plan is:
"We’ve received several comments and questions after the project was completed last month, and we want to provide an update to address them.
This information was also previously shared during our visit at the East Liberty Park Community Council meeting last week, and it includes the tasks we’ll work on over the next few months. Most of these tasks will be completed once warmer temperatures are back in the spring:
The concrete medians at the McClelland Street crossing will be replaced with lower height medians that will be easily mountable by large vehicles making wide turns; this will help drivers avoid traveling over the landscaped bulb-outs and tracking mud onto the roadway. This task is expected to be completed during the second half of February.
Crews will also increase visibility of the concrete islands, so they are easier to spot in low light conditions.
Pavement striping will be redone with a more durable paint and thermoplastic material to increase durability and reflectivity.
The 1200 East crosswalk will be marked in the spring using this reflective material.
Crews will also be contacting property owners to inspect irrigation systems and make sure these are working properly. They will also check those installed at the roundabout.
Over the next couple of months, crews will be installing bike racks near businesses to increase the current number of bike parking facilities along the 9-Line Trail.
Once the Salt Lake City Arts Council selects an artist and this artist finishes the art piece, it will be placed at the center of the roundabout. We’ll provide updates about this effort to the East Liberty Park Community Council as we receive them. 
The red concrete ring around the roundabout is not recommended for walking activity. Please do not attempt to use it as a walking path; it is intended for larger vehicles, like semis and fire trucks, to drive over it if needed when making tight turns.
Parking studies along 900 South will be conducted soon around the 9th and 9th area, and the Central 9th area. The results will be released soon after they’re concluded.
*Construction activities are subject to change due to weather or unforeseen circumstances."

FEBRUARY 6, 2020

NEIGHBORHOOD TARGET COMING TO SUGAR HOUSE

DOWNTOWN ALLIANCE WANTS TAXPAYERS TO PAY FOR MARKET
INN BETWEEN STATUS
LEGISLATIVE INTERNS LIST AVAILABLE
DESERET NEWS STORY ON WORKING WITH THE LEGISLATURE
REP MALOY ANTI PREDATORY TOWING BILL
UTA GPS SYSTEM DOWN FOR WEEKEND
UDOT AVOIDS FREEWAYS TO WIDEN LANES
UTA PUSHES STUDY OF LIGHT RAIL
BALLPARK GETTING WEEKLY CLEAN TEAM
ALLEN PARK HEIRS WANT AREA TO STAY A PARK
SUGAR HOUSE DRUG USERS LEAVE NEEDLES IN PARKS
HOMELESS STORAGE ONLY 4 HOURS A DAY
COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS FACILITY BROKEN INTO
SHERIFF CAN'T HIRE ENOUGH DEPUTIES
TAUFER PARK AND ADJACENT SR CENTER HOSTS HOMELESS
EMERGENCY SHELTER STATS
PMA GUN RANGE CLOSED
UTA RIDERSHIP DATA ONLINE
JOURNALISM PROJECT INVESTIGATES STATE FUNDS TO SENATOR
BALLPARK'S DARIN MANO IS NEW SLC COUNCILMAN
UTA TRYING FOR MORE NON-TRANSIT PROJECTS
SLCO HAS DATA ON SOBER LIVING PROGRAM
SLC PRESENTATIONS ON STREETS AND WATER PIPES


NEIGHBORHOOD TARGET COMING TO SUGAR HOUSE
  Target is scheduled to open a 31,000 square foot Neighborhood Target store in the Sugar House Shopping Center by October.  Regular Targets are 141,000 square feet.

DOWNTOWN ALLIANCE WANTS TAXPAYERS TO PAY FOR MARKET
  The Downtown Alliance is continuing their efforts to get taxpayers to pay for a Downtown Market in the Rio Grande Deport or nearby.  Salt Lake City already reported on the 2018 study but the Alliance wants another study that taxpayers would pay $300,000 for.  They are asking the Legislature to fund the study.  The Depot is already undergoing a study to determine the best use and cost of a better use of the Depot.  To make the structure earthquake proof would cost millions.  Salt Lake City is still thinking of using $31 million of taxpayer money to build a market that would take the place of the Pioneer Park Farmers' Market.  I put the SLC study in the DOWNLOADS SECTION.

INN BETWEEN STATUS
  The Inn Between is well liked by the Legislature and it is asking for $500,000 to increase their beds to 50 a night.  They now have 30 to 35 homeless using their beds including several registered sex offenders.  The neighborhood is still polarized about the TIB. 
  One of the long-term residents is the homeless person that was hit in the head by a brick.  That was one of the incidents that forced Operation Rio Grande.  Two died in the TIB in a recent week.  The average stay is 3 months but sometimes it is only a couple of days. 
  The facility on 1300 South and 1216 East in Salt Lake City is zoned as an eleemosynary/congregate care facility which limits it to 25 beds.  Without the zoning limitations, it could handle 75 to 80 beds.  TIB needs $1.5 million a year funding if Medicaid is not allowed.  Medicaid usually does not allow housing to be funded and some of the work that they do is considered housing.  Now the TIB gets about $300,000 a year in government funding of some kind and the rest is donations. 
  TIB expects to serve 130 in the next year.  About 50 homeless die each year in a shelter of some kind which includes the TIB.  In the last fiscal year, TIB served 87 and 15 died.  Since life coaching is a big part of their service, they have succeeded in getting 8 into housing.  They are attempting to go to local foundations to help fund the TIB.  They are also trying to work with hospitals to fund and coordinate respite care.  It is important to note that hospitals DUMP patients at the Weigand Center in just a dressing gown and wheelchair.
  There is a Neighborhood Advisory Council Meeting scheduled for Tuesday April 14, 2020 at 6 PM.

LEGISLATIVE INTERNS LIST AVAILABLE
  For those interested in a closer contact with their legislators and they are willing to use their interns, the 2020 Legislature's Intern List is available from Ryan Hunter, the Intern Director at 801 538 1032 or at rhunter@le.utah.gov.

DESERET NEWS STORY ON WORKING WITH THE LEGISLATURE
  The Deseret News had a great comprehensive story on working with the Legislature at:
https://www.deseret.com/2019/1/27/20634345/utah-state-legislature-civic-involvement-bill-status-contact-representatives
  It is from the original 2019 story but it is updated.  I recommend reading it along with the upper left downloads of How to work the Legislature and How a bill works.

REP. MALOY ANTI PREDATORY TOWING BILL
  HB0057, a requirement to have respectful signage before towing an improperly parked car, is about to pass the House.  It is on the third reading.  Many of us have been pushing for this bill for years.  It would have stopped predatory towing that is still a problem in the 9th and 9th area.  Sen. Harper is co-sponsoring the bill.

UTA GPS SYSTEM DOWN FOR WEEKEND
  Last month the UTA GPS system that fed apps with locations of buses and TRAX was down for almost a week.  A vulnerability in UTA servers was identified and the servers were shut down until the problem was solved.  But when they were turned on, the GPS locations were not actively feeding the apps.  It took a few days for UTA to notice and restore the many transit apps.

UDOT AVOIDS FREEWAYS TO WIDEN LANES
  UDOT is planning on expanding several roads in the south of the Salt Lake Valley.  90th South and 106th South are scheduled to be enlarged from 5 lane roads to 7 lane roads.  They need to be freeways.  With 7 lanes, adjacent homeowners, residents and businesses will experience significantly more pollution.  The expansion is expected to be finished in 2022.

UTA PUSHES STUDY OF LIGHT RAIL
  I put the UTA study of light rail proposal in the TRANSPORTATION DOWNLOADS.  It is the result of pressure from developers that still think that rail is an efficient way to move people and pressure from construction companies that want more construction contracts and the millions of resulting profits.  Bus service is likely to suffer even more.
  Sen. Anderegg is also pushing SB92 which encourages a Utah statewide rail system with a study to base rail expansion plans on.  The effort is for materials and people.  I expect this to be folded into the oil and coal rail proposals.  Sen. Anderegg is trying to push a rail line down 5600 West.  He failed last year to convince truckers that rail is efficient over short distances.  This year he is just asking for UDOT to coordinate rail plans.  It passed the Senate Committee this week.

BALLPARK GETTING WEEKLY CLEAN TEAM
  Ballpark (1300 South between 300 West and Main Street) is about to get weekly clean team service to clean up feces, needles and other garbage in the area around the Miller Homeless Shelter.  This is due to the complaints from nearby residents and businesses.  The local homeless community outreach group also emphasized that grants are available for nearby residents and businesses for security, plantings and other upgrades.

ALLEN PARK HEIRS WANT AREA TO STAY A PARK
  During a recent discussion in Sugar House about the proposal to fill Allen Park (1300 East across from Westminster) with 63 new residences, it was pointed out that the heirs have been shut out of the selling of the property.  The heirs would like the area to stay a Park but the Probate Court turned the decision over to a fiduciary who has decided, questionably, to sell the property.  The only protection seems to be the Salt Lake City ordinances to protect riparian corridors like the Emigration Creek that runs through the property.  It could also limit construction due to the many septic tanks in the Park.  Some in attendance questioned if there was any collusion between the developer and the fiduciary.
  ABC 4 repeated a story about Allen Park that is very appropriate and shows the interesting area and why it deserves saving.  It is from the Wirth Watching program from a few years ago.  It is at:
https://www.abc4.com/news/top-stories/hobbitville-allen-park-a-curious-place/

SUGAR HOUSE DRUG USERS LEAVE NEEDLES IN PARKS
  The SLCPD has identified a group of homeless drug users that have been discarding needles around Fairmont Park.  Complaints about the sharps box, used to safely discard used needles, led to it being moved further north on 1100 East.  But discarded needle complaints are rising and the Police are asking anyone finding one to call 801 799 3000 and report it before discarding it (safely).

HOMELESS STORAGE ONLY 4 HOURS A DAY
  During this week's discussion at the Salt Lake City Council on the Emergency Shelter in Sugar House, storage was discussed but the staff was not sure about the amount and time limits.  The service providers cleared up the confusion.  The City set up a storage facility of bins that is open from 7 to 9 AM and from 5 to 7 PM.  Hundreds of bins are available but sometimes there are no open bins available.  The limited nature of the facility hours, in my opinion, has resulted in many homeless still carrying around or wheeling around shopping carts full of their belongings.  It discourages work and encourages staying homeless and camping in parks.

COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS FACILITY BROKEN INTO
  Despite warnings several years ago that the Salt Lake County Emergency Communications Facility is not secure, the County did nothing when the adjacent South Salt Lake Shelter was finished.  Homeless have been found in the facility after sleeping in it overnight.

SHERIFF CAN'T HIRE ENOUGH DEPUTIES
  The Sheriff still can't hire enough deputies to provide full service to the County Jail.  The Jail is still not able to provide jailers for 120 to 174 beds in the Oxbow Jail. 

TAUFER PARK AND ADJACENT SR CENTER HOSTS HOMELESS
  Taufer Park, 700 South and 300 East, next to the Liberty Senior Center, had about 50 homeless campers recently.  16 were camping at the Library Square recently.  The adjacent Senior Center is trying to be a good neighbor and allowing use of their facilities despite cleaning issues and overdoses.  Some homeless advocates are disappointed in what they are finding with the treatment that substance use abusers are undergoing.  The stats seem to show that out of 160 arrested, 68 chose to go into treatment and only 6 completed months of treatment.

EMERGENCY SHELTER STATS
  The Salt Lake City Council this week got a report on the use of the Sugar House emergency shelter.  It is averaging 118 per night and it ranges from 75 to 145 beds utilized for week 2 of its operation.  Men are averaging 84 and they have ranged from 53 to 100 beds used.  Women have averaged 32 and have averaged from 47 to 22 beds used.  There has not been a reduction in use of other shelters which are 96% utilized.
  They are having issues with transportation and are using the Weigand Center to coordinate transportation.  Cab vouchers are available.  They are using a bus to transport homeless that want shelter to the emergency shelter (which will close in April) once in the evening and bus them back to the Weigand Center (which has showers and amenities) twice in the morning. 
  There is private security and two additional officers.  The bike squad patrols all of the shelter areas and they can run until 1 AM.  The homeless service providers have weekly meetings with the City every Thursday.  They have used about 70 motel vouchers for women.  Only 4 have been used for men.  Outreach is continuous with VOA and SLCPD Community Connection Team.  The County Health Department does a separate homeless camp abatement.  The SLCPD discourages arresting homeless campers since they don't want to voucher every item they would have to confiscate if they are arrested.  Utah Community Action is the intake coordinator. 
  The SLCPD gives two days’ notice for curfew violations and the recent effort on Washington Square was a problem due to the local riot group.  The Police will only discard abandoned stuff.

  The City does not have the numbers of how many are refusing to go into shelters.  The shelters do a bed check at 8 to see if the workers come back.  I think that that is too early.  The City staff mentioned that they had 20 spots available for storing their gear but the individuals needed a case manager for the "a place for your stuff".  I double checked with the service providers and they told me that was incorrect.  See the story above.  There is no time limit.
  In November, there were 66 calls for service in a three block area around the Sugar House Emergency Shelter (before it opened).  It is too soon to know if there is a crime issue.  The calls went from 59 in December to 75 calls in January.  Seven of those calls were for service at the shelter, opened for a little over a week.
  Despite initial concerns from the community at the surprise decision to put the shelter in Sugar House, without a public hearing, the community seems to be okay with it.

PMA GUN RANGE CLOSED
  The famous east bench PMA Gun Range has closed.  The City was unable to find a suitable nonprofit to take over the insurance and other requirements to safely operate the gun range.

UTA RIDERSHIP DATA ONLINE
  Rideuta.com/data has the ridership data by route.  It is an important gage on how successful we are in encouraging mass transit use.  I am still disappointed that we don't have enough drivers to expand bus service and that the City doesn't use the million in unspent transit funding to encourage $1 fares.

JOURNALISM PROJECT INVESTIGATES STATE FUNDS TO SENATOR
  Eric Petersen of the Utah Investigative Organization (formerly worked for the City Weekly and has regular SLTRIB investigative stories) recently did a story on how former Senate President Wayne Niederhauser used his SB71 that encouraged toll roads on Little Cottonwood Canyon and on any new freeways, seems to be benefiting from his bill.  It was an open secret that he wanted the tolls to be used for a parking garage.  He admitted it in a Committee hearing.  Eric Petersen went into detail on how his bill benefits him directly.  His story is recommended reading and is at:
http://utahinvestigative.org/cash-canyon-former-lawmakers-bill-allow-canyon-tolling-benefit-development-project/

BALLPARK'S DARIN MANO IS NEW SLC COUNCILMAN
  Longtime Ballpark Community Council Board member has been appointed to fill the seat vacated for District 5 City Council.  He is an architect. 

UTA TRYING FOR MORE NON-TRANSIT PROJECTS
  I put the UTA proposal that is going to the Legislature to allow spending transit money on buildings instead of on service.  UTA is allowed to spend money on up to 8 Transit Oriented Developments.  Unfortunately, most do not have ground floor retail and restaurants that encourage walkability and use of mass transit.  Many have complained (like the last UTA Audit) that the money that UTA should be using for service is being used to benefit developers.  The list of proposed TODs is in the proposal in the TRANSPORTATION DOWNLOADS.

 SLCO HAS DATA ON SOBER LIVING PROGRAM
  I put the SLCO Sober Living Program study results in the upper right CRIME DOWNLOADS SECTION.  It shows a significant decrease in recidivism with the supportive housing of the program.

SLC PRESENTATIONS ON STREETS AND WATER PIPES
  I put the SLC presentation on Asphalt Maintenance and Water Infrastructure in the DOWNLOADS SECTION.

JANUARY 17, 2020

SLC WANTS TO LOCATE HOMELESS EXPANSION NEXT TO LIQUOR STORE
SLC STREETS PRESENTATION IN DOWNLOADS
9TH SOUTH ROUNDABOUT BROKEN DUE TO BAD DESIGN, BLOCK BUSES
EAST BENCH WATER PIPE BURSTING EPIDEMIC NOT SOLVED
BLASTING AT PARLEYS POINT IMPACTS HOMEOWNERS AND FUTURE BONNEVILLE SHORELINE TRAIL 
ONE MAN EAST BENCH CRIME WAVE
SLC DISTRICT 5 CANDIDATE SUMMARIES

SLC WANTS TO LOCATE HOMELESS EXPANSION NEXT TO LIQUOR STORE
  Salt Lake City, in another secret decision without public discussion, decided to locate the temporary emergency homeless overflow shelter in the old Deseret Industries Building owned by SLC RDA.  But there is a State liquor store a block away.  There is already a problem with homeless getting drunk and passing out at the adjacent Fairmont Park.  There was a brief discussion on the crime issues at the Park but David Litvack, the City's homeless coordinator for this project, felt that there shouldn't be much of a problem.
  The City is allowed to rezone property for an emergency for up to 6 months according to C10-9a-S504 Temporary Land Use Regulations (in the SLC DOWNLOADS).  Municipalities can rezone property for emergencies for up to 6 months, which in SLC's Attorney's opinion, allows the decision to be made without public comment.
  I disagree since locating the shelter next to a Park that already has had deaths of homeless due to alcohol and cold and is also next to the liquor store is a tragedy about to happen.
  Over 140 homeless would essentially be encouraged or enabled to obtain and utilize liquor from the State Liquor Store a block away because it is so convenient.  But if refused entrance to the shelter due to inebriation or if they just pass out in the Park, the death of homeless due to cold could significantly increase.
  The adjacent pocket library would need to have its security expanded since there is none now.  The Main Library has banned many homeless due to behavior that they can't control and I expect that the library will need more security, including police, to control any problems that develop.  There is not enough room for more than 4 computers.  That will create conflicts that cannot be easily resolved.  
  The adjacent construction site could be impacted without significantly more security.
  The real solution, that we have been trying to get SLC to implement, is to use the secret cots at the King Shelter to allow transferring the 40 women from the Miller Shelter and free up the 40 beds there for men.  Everyday 5-7 men are refused beds at the Miller Shelter AND THEY REFUSE TO BE DRIVEN TO THE SOUTH SALT LAKE SHELTER!  Women are the most victimized homeless and they should not be forced to or even allowed to sleep in the cold.  Going over the 200 bed limit should be allowed publicly.  I would also suggest a police walking patrol in the area that was often promised.  It would also help fight the parking garage drug shooting gallery across the street.
  We asked many times over the last 5 years to allow use of the many vacant buildings that SLC RDA owns near the Weigand Center.  Many of those buildings have been vacant for decades.  SLC RDA owns 7 of 15 acres near there.  One of those buildings was suggested and pushed by us and Stan Penfold but the SLC Fire Department refused since it did not have sprinklers.  It turns out that the Temporary Land Use Regulations, used for this project, allow ignoring fire regulations and it would be faster to locate the emergency overflow shelter next to the Weigand Center.  
  The Council did discuss the issue of moving the homeless between the shelter and the Weigand Center.  It should be relatively easy if UTA restores the Rio Grande 200 South bus stop.  Buses or the Blue Line connecting to the S-Line would get the homeless there quickly.  But it would be better if the overflow were located near the Weigand Center since it has all of the support services.  
  The City also needs a camping area since many homeless want to have their own piece of property even if it is in a tent.  The City also needs a car camping area.
  This decision is wrong and it could result in more homeless deaths.  Also, on February 12, Dr. Marbut, the President's Homeless Czar is coming to town.  I don't think that he will appreciate the problems with SLC Homeless.

SLC STREETS PRESENTATION IN DOWNLOADS
I put the discussion by Street Engineering for the SLC Council earlier this month in the SLC DOWNLOADS section (upper right).  It is called the Asphalt Maintenance.pptxIt has a map of the overlays and chip seal projects for the next year.

9TH SOUTH ROUNDABOUT BROKEN DUE TO BAD DESIGN, BLOCK BUSES
  At Yalecrest and East Bench Community meetings, there were complaints about the 9th South/11th East roundabout creating backups with large vehicles going east stopped.  The SLCFD is reviewing the problem since it could eventually impact emergency fire dispatch.  One comment at their frustration at being behind one of the buses was traffic calming works!  SLC Engineering is evaluating the issue and will discuss it at the next ELPCO meeting.

EAST BENCH WATER PIPE BURSTING EPIDEMIC NOT SOLVED
  During a discussion on water pipes bursting and causing significant costs to the homeowner, it was determined that the cause is still not clear.  It could be settling of the soil that cause the pipes to burst, or improper piping with the soil material or it could be a bad pressure regulator.  The recent burst pipes have been cleaned up but the bill is still at the City and they may decide that they are not at fault.  If not at fault, they would send the bill to the homeowner's insurance company.  So the homeowners won't know how much they will have to pay for a while.  
  The SLC Public Utilities gave a presentation on water pipes and where the water pipe bursting occurs.  I put the presentation in the SLC DOWNLOADS SECTION.

BLASTING AT PARLEYS POINT IMPACTS HOMEOWNERS AND FUTURE BONNEVILLE SHORELINE TRAIL 
  During discussion of the Parleys Point project northeast of Foothill and I80, there were complaints about the blasting impacting nearby homeowners!  But the project will also donate 300 acres to the City as open space and for the future path for the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.  Concern about the steep incline of the proposed Trail path resulted in a promise of an 8% grade which requires it to swing back and forth to keep in under 8% grade.  As mentioned in the last blog, the SLC Foothill Trails Plan is going to eventually be implemented to Parleys Canyon.  It is starting north of the Capitol.  There is more information at 
www.bonnevilleshorelinetrail.org

ONE MAN EAST BENCH CRIME WAVE
  Recently, the East Bench of Salt Lake City has had a spike in burglaries and larcenies/thefts.  It appears that one person has been responsible for the 70% of the crimes.  He was released in October from jail and after another spike in crime, he was arrested at the end of December.  The SLCPD would like to send him to the Federal Court system since there doesn't appear to be enough money to prosecute and keep him in County jail.  There have been 80 crimes that have mostly been perpetrated by one person although they often have connections to a group operating together.
  The East Bench also discussed whether the new management of the Skyline Inn is having results.  Years ago, there used to be over a 100 police dispatch calls a month within a block of the Inn.  In December 2019 there were just 12 calls and all were not related to the Inn.  The residents, mainly skiers, are not now a problem.  Before, State prisoners recommended the Inn which caused issues for the neighbors due to increased crimes.
  In another crime related discussion, the SLCPD recommended calling 799-3000 if they see a drug deal going down.  But I recommend that SLC Dispatch decide if a drug deal in progress should send a police response.  Calling 911 make take 5 minutes to get an officer to respond (dispatcher giving call to police officer on patrol) but at least the dispatcher decides the priority.  Calling 799-3000 in my opinion just provides a report, which doesn't stop the drug dealing, generally.

SLC DISTRICT 5 CANDIDATE SUMMARIES
Richard R. Graham 36 years in SLC Public Services Dept, including 19 years as Director.  Working for SLCO since 2016.  I know Rick and consider him to be the ultimate public servant.  Whenever there was a concern or problem, he would resolve it or explain what limits resolution.  He cares about the City and I would love to have Rick Graham to work for me again (I want it.)  I did an oped about him 4 years ago.

Amy Hawkins Has served as Ballpark Chair and Vice Chair since 2013.  She has a PhD in Human Genetics and teaches at the University of Utah.  I have seen a lot of leaders in my time in politics (since the 1970's) and consider Amy Hawkins to be one the best natural born leaders that I have seen.  I believe that it is in the best interest of the City and District 5 to encourage development of her talents and ability.

George Chapman is a local community activist (and writer of this blog) who ran for SLC mayor in 2015 and District 5 in 2017.  I have been going to all of the District 5 community councils, listened to or attending all UTA and SLC Council meetings and many other City community councils for over 7 years.  I write regular opinion pieces for the newspapers.

Jason Stevenson works for the ACLU as Strategic Communications Manager.  Before that he worked for the Utah Health Policy Project on Medicaid Expansion (Healthy Utah).  He is also Chair of ELPCO which manages the 9th and 9th Street Festival.  He ran for SLC School Board in 2016.  I have known and worked with Jason for several years.  I consider him to be an asset to Utah and ACLU.  Until he joined ACLU, I considered ACLU to be useless.  Before Jason, ACLU refused to fight an horrendous anti abortion bill and refused to question the Operation Rio Grande that dispersed the criminal element throughout the City.  Jason changed that and I believe that the City and Utah and ACLU would worse off if Jason leaves ACLU (He has said that he would resign from ACLU if he is appointed to the Council.).

Bill Davis has been Chair of the Ballpark Community Council, the Liberty Wells Community Council and Downtown/Rio Grande Community Council.  He also has been on the Historic Landmarks Commission.  He ran for City Council District 5 in 2013.  He also started the British Field Day vintage car show 28 years ago.  He also pushed for and developed the City's biggest downzone in the Ballpark neighborhood.

Grant Miller is a public interest lawyer and public defender.  He has volunteered at the Homeless Court and has "been on the front lines with Salt Lake's homeless population".

Steve Quinn is a firefighter in the County's Unified Fire Department.  Interestingly, he researched and reported on transport engine/ambulances for UFA.  80% of firefighter calls are for medical.

Shawn Teigen is a legislative advocate specializing in poverty and low income housing.  She is Vice President of the Utah Foundation and Research Director and she has authored many of their reports.  She also is on the boards of Envision Utah, the SLC Housing Authority and the Bicycle Collective.  She also has worked for the Peace Corps.

Zachary David Bartholomew is Vice Chair of the Liberty Wells Community Council and Chair of British Field Day Car Show.  He works as a training specialist for UHEALTH.

Murry Mullenax has been Chair of the East Liberty Park Community Organization (ELPCO), helped rekindle the 9th and 9th Street Fair and worked with UDOT and CDBG funding to plant trees in the median of 700 East.  Murry is working as a construction surety bond underwriter (reviewing finances and projects).

Darin Mano is on the SLC Planning Commission and RDA Advisory Committee.  He also is on the Ballpark Community Council Board.  He is an architect and owns Raw Design Studio.

Crystal Otterstrom has served on many boards including Planned Parenthood, Better Utah Institute, Alliance for a Better Utah and Utah Cultural Alliance.  She also has worked in marketing for the Utah Symphony and Utah Opera.  She also has been chair of her school's community council and former Treasurer of the Utah Democratic Party.

Earl Robert Comstock has been a community activist for decades.  He has run for City Council and Mayor in the past and teaches carpentry at several schools.  He is also an accomplished soloist in several choirs.  He 

Sarah Reale is Director of Digital Marketing at SLCC and teaches political science courses.  She has a Masters in Science, Politics and Policy and is on the SLCO Open Space Trust Committee.

Nancy Philipp is a human resources professional at Dominion Energy.  She has worked for Salt Lake City in the past in the SLCPD and SLCFD.

Enrique Arce-Larreta is a West High Physics Teacher who developed its award winning Robotics Program.  

Rebecca Bailey is a lawyer who also has a chemistry degree (they say chemistry and law are the two hardest degrees to earn).

Annastasia Kaessner is a Real Estate Agent, Sundance Film Festival Manager, and programs coordinator in the SLC Arts Council and Utah Arts Festival.  She is an advocate for women and was Chair of Women Run the City.

Clint Campbell is a student at the University of Utah and a University Planning intern.  He is also a bicycle mechanic and enthusiast.

Misty Snow made history as the Democratic candidate for the 2016 U.S. Senate election.

Joseph Quinton is a cost control engineer and owner of an engineering and retrofit firm making homes more energy efficient.

Jessica Gezon is an Editorial Content Manager at Western Governors University

Jenny Hobbs is a student at the University of Utah.  She works for a company that focuses on effective diversity training.
Karel McDonough is a Junior High School band teacher.

Carol Rogozinski worked for almost 20 years at Utah's Department of Workforce Services and managed client caseloads.  She also has worked for VOA providing youth support.  She is presently working for UTA managing over 100 active vanpools.

Michael Ramon Aguilar is Marketing Director at Mark Miller Subaru.  He has also been Program Director at Ronald McDonald House Charities.  He serves on the Board of Directors of Planned Parenthood and the Utah Pride Center.

Tammy McKelvie works as a virtual executive assistant Worxbee.  She has also worked as an executive assistant for CEOs of several large companies.

JANUARY 15, 2020

8 ACRE ALLEN PARK/HOBBITVILLE DEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL
OFFSTREET PARKING MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS DECREASING
NEW UTA ROUTE DATA SHOWS SIGNIFICANT ROUTE 9 RIDERSHIP
UTA FINALIZES FREE FARE ON BAD AIR DAYS
CLUELESS RIOT 2.0 STILL THINKS HOMELESS DON'T GET FREE FARE NOT)
SLC FOOTHILL TRAILS EXPANSION WITH RANGER PROPOSED
LIST OF DISTRICT 5 CANDIDATES AND QUESTIONS ASKED
CLEVELAND COURT REZONE FOR NO PARKING PASSES COMMISSION


8 ACRE ALLEN PARK/HOBBITVILLE DEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL
  Developer Rinaldo Hunt has offered to buy and develop Allen Park (1300-1500 East north of Westminster Drive and east of Westminster University) with 63 residential units and the offer is in escrow now.  It is theoretically possible for the offer to fall out of escrow or for the City to make another offer to keep the property continue as it essentially is now, an 8 acre park.
  The City offered about $12 million for the property which has 16 homes that are not being lived in now.  The developer is proposing that the main historic home be moved and the 63 units be spread out on the edges and internally around the property.  The riparian corridor around Emigration Creek would be kept open space and the property would have a public footpath through a portion of the property.
  The developer believes that some of the old growth trees are too unsafe to remain there and will have to be cut down.  Unfortunately, the SLC Tree Removal ordinance (in DOWNLOADS) only protects "specimen trees" that the City wants to keep.  So undesirable trees can be cut down without recourse.  Only so called important trees have to be replaced.  The replacement is to be a 2 inch diameter tree for every two inches of original tree diameter (a 24 inch tree would need 12 2" trees planted).
  Almost all of the over 100 attendees were against the loss of the Park and development of more density in the area.  This is the first step in a complicated dance that will include refining the development plans and a parallel effort to have governments buy the property and keep it a park.  The Sugar House Community Council has the plans (Google it) online.

OFFSTREET PARKING MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS DECREASING
  The new SLC Offstreet Parking Ordinance with reduced offstreet parking requirements passed the Planning Commission.  In one of the most important issues ever to go through the Planning Commission, only 5 people showed up to comment against the Ordinance.  My main objections, at length are in the January 10 blog entry but, again, my major concerns are:
  Despite averaging 1.6 stalls per unit for SLC multi-family residences, the Ordinance lowers those minimums.  Lowering off street parking minimums encourages driving/relocating or shopping to areas outside of Salt Lake City with a resultant increase in driving and pollution.  Studies show that limited parking near transit hurts transit ridership increases.  When parking is unobtainable on the street, residents tend to want to move to suburbs with less density.  Salt Lake City actually encourages car lots but, in this Ordinance, it is discouraging everyone else to have cars.  The City should go slow (unlike the Legislature's tax cut/increase) and not decrease parking minimums.  The best way to increase affordable housing is with inclusionary zoning or decreasing impact fees.
  Specifics in the Ordinance allow building built before 1944 to be redeveloped without added parking requirements (a warehouse converted to apartments could have no added parking) and lockable bicycle storage counts as a parking space.
  Other parts of the Ordinance proposal (it now goes to the City Council with a positive recommendation) with my comments include:
  "It is important to note that in Salt Lake City, "Typical multi-family developments in the general context are averaging about 1.6 stalls per unit."  That shows that parking requirements/minimums should not be reduced, especially in the Transit Context which has no minimum parking!!
  Lowering parking requirements for residential units will discourage car owners and shift the units to mostly low income which will defeat the SLC housing policy of mixed income. 
  Despite public comments to increase parking requirements, the Commission pushed Planning to reduce parking minimums.  The proposal ignores the large car lots that Salt Lake City encourages due to the large tax revenue that they generate.  I am against these proposals: 
  Building use or expansions of more than 25% would require new parking regulations with no additional parking in D1 D2 D3 and Urban Center context and Transit Context areas when there is a change of use.  Buildings older than 1944 do not require more parking for adaptive reuse.  All lots other than single or two family dwellings smaller than 5000 sq ft created prior to April 12, 1995 have exemptions to parking requirements   but any parking needs City approval.  Currently D2 and D3 less than 1000 sq ft is exempt from parking requirements.  There is a minimum parking of 3 per 1000 sq ft (now)adds 5 max per 1000 sq ft.  I disagree with these reductions in parking.
  "In many cases the minimum requirements have been reduced or eliminated altogether (Transit/Urban Center Contexts), but in a few cases (notably retail and restaurant uses) the exceptionally low standards in the current ordinance have been increased in order to reduce overflow parking in neighborhoods."
  "day cares, parks, warehouses, and several industrial uses, do not have maximum parking requirements in the revised chapter."
   I still disagree that parking requirements should be reduced.
  The parking proposal allows secure/enclosed bicycle parking to reduce parking in half; and the Planning Director can modify parking requirements, using approved adjustments to reduce requirements by up to 40%. I am against both of those.
  It increases shared parking from 500 ft away to up to 1200 ft.  All multi-family or commercial properties within a 1/4 mile of a fixed transit station can reduce parking minimums 25% (used to be decreased 50%) (changed to radial straight line) (Transit Context minimums not changed). I am against that.
  Income restricted and/or age restricted units minimum parking reduced to 25%, with a further 15% reduction within a quarter mile of a high frequency bust route stop (2, 9, 200, 205, 209, 217 220).  Developments with 100 or more parking spaces could reduce 7 spaces for each van pool space.  Valet stalls can reduce parking one for one.  Developers can submit parking studies to justify reducing parking.  I am against that.
  Salt Lake City should slow down this process until the public are fully informed with a more thorough outreach   Otherwise, this process will be less popular than the recent so called Utah tax cut/increase.

NEW UTA ROUTE DATA SHOWS SIGNIFICANT ROUTE 9 RIDERSHIP
  UTA has new data on ridership (in the TRANSPORTATION DOWNLOADS)at: 
https://data-rideuta.opendata.arcgis.com/
  It shows significant ridership increases on route 9 and a constant 1300 riders a weekday on the S-Line.  During the presentation by SLC Transportation last week at the Ballpark Community Council meeting, transit service increases were discussed and I took issue with the significant ridership increases that resulted from Salt Lake City using sales tax increase money for transit service increases.  I was under the impression that the weekday ridership increases were minimal (see UTA August change day in TRANSPORTATION DOWNLOADS, a presentation from the September 11 UTA Board meeting) and that there was no Sunday service on bus route 9 before August.  The big takeaway from UTA and SLC's statement that weekend bus service on route 9 increased 147% was that someone was trying to pull the wool over our eyes.
  But, despite the questionable 147% (in UTA and SLC documents), I reviewed the latest ridership data and found that I was wrong and the SLC Transportation Department was right that ridership on weekdays more than doubled (to 1300+)!
  I sometimes ride route 9 but have found it to be almost always empty.  I assume that the ridership increase is mostly on the west side and I urge SLC Transportation and UTA to determine where the doubling of ridership is coming from, and, if it is on the westside, it would show that the westside needs more transit options and service.
I apologize for my questioning of ridership increases and I am glad that SLC Transportation knows more than me, as it should.

UTA FINALIZES FREE FARE ON BAD AIR DAYS
  UTA has approved the contract with the State of Utah that will provide up to 7 days of free fare during bad air days to encourage mass transit ridership.  "Upon approval of this contract, UTA will work with the Division and provide up to seven free-fare days to specified riders on designated days. The program will cover a 25-month period from January 1, 2020 through February 28, 2022 with a maximum total of seven days spread over a 25-month period.  The services offered will include FrontRunner, TRAX, local bus, Express bus, streetcar and paratransit. UTA will offer ski service if it is feasible to include it. 
  I complained before about UTA's claim that ridership on mass transit increased before on free fare days but it really increased on FrontRunner due to parents taking their kids on an E ticket ride on a train.  The parking lots at the stations are still full and if they continue to be, you won't be able to pay people to take the train.

CLUELESS RIOT 2.0 STILL THINKS HOMELESS DON'T GET FREE FARE (NOT)
   The anarchists that are continuing to riot around the City Hall (2 get togethers/protests last week, including last Wednesday) are still insisting that there be more beds for the homeless and that they get free fares on transit.  The reality, lost on the protesters, is that Lt. Gov. Cox is in charge of the State Homeless Coordinating Committee and he made the decision to close the Road Home before there were enough beds to keep the homeless from freezing to death outside.  Lt. Gov. Cox is running for Governor and he is the person most likely to get more beds for the homeless (since the Council and every homeless service provider has been pushing for it). 
  In addition, and to show how clueless the protesters are, UTA already gives out free fare passes to the homeless through homeless service providers.  At today's meeting, they considered changing the system slightly but the homeless still can get free fares.  Protesting to get homeless free fares when they already get free fares is clueless, in my opinion.
  "Currently UTA has partnerships with several homeless service agencies to purchase discounted fare products. The agencies distribute fares free to the homeless population.  During fare policy discussions, the Board of Trustees has expressed an interest in developing a pilot program which would make discounted fare products available to all Human Service Agencies that provide assistance to low-income individuals.  A low-income pilot is being pursued in order to understand the needs of human service organizations and their clients, strengthen and expand our partnerships with these organizations, begin the transition towards electronic fare media, and provide feedback on administrative capabilities.  UTA will pilot a program by working directly with Human Service Agencies. UTA’s role is to administer a contract, provide discounted fare products, and receive payment. The Human Service Agency’s role is to determine client elegibility, purchase fare products, administer the transit program, and distribute the fares at no cost to the client."

SLC FOOTHILL TRAILS EXPANSION WITH RANGER PROPOSED
  The full Foothill Trails Plan is online (130-190MB) at
 https://www.slc.gov/parks/TrailsPlan
  The City Council is interested in expanding the Trails system along the foothills of Salt Lake City, focusing on the area above Capitol Hill and the Avenues to Emigration Canyon.  Later the system will be expanded to Parleys Canyon.  Of note, the City is planning on decommissioning 25 miles of existing trails that are "unsustainable".  The City is also proposing an $80,000 park ranger for the foothill trails.  The system would need $3 million for the trail improvements and $2-5 million in trailhead improvements.  Maintenance would be $400,000 annually.  Dog use and restrooms will need further idscussion.  Parleys Pointe (just north of Parleys Canyon will provide 300 acres for the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.
  "Decommissioning Plan: Both “passive” and “active” decommissioning is recommended for about 25 miles of existing trails that are unsustainable because of their environmental impact, safety risks or topography. Passive decommissioning is much less expensive and is recommended for about 80% of these undesirable trail-miles.
  The Plan acknowledges that access to the Foothills Trails system is “problematic,” in part because there is little trailhead infrastructure, even in areas where easements were retained by the City during residential development in the 1980s and 1990s. The Plan’s section on trailheads and access points (pages 62 to 66) includes references to suggested trailhead and access improvements that would require substantial expense for installation and maintenance. Depending on the site, they include new parking areas; curbs and gutters; pedestrian and bicycle “undercrossings” at major streets; high quality signage; fencing and gates; tree and turf planting; restrooms; and new property acquisition. The cost for these items has not yet be estimated and so is not included in the budget."

LIST OF DISTRICT 5 CANDIDATES AND QUESTIONS ASKED
  The list of candidates that are applying for the vacant District 5 City Council seat has been finalized.  The citizens applying are:
Murry Mullenax
Amy J. Hawkins
Shawn Teigen
Alexander Zaharoff
Tammy McKelvie
George Chapman
Zachary David Bartholomew
Annastasia Lisa Kaessner
Joseph Blake Quinton
Steve Quinn
Richard Graham
Carol Rogozinski
Sarah Elizabeth Reale
Darin Masao Mano
Carlos Enrique Arce-Larreta
Jason Stevenson
Misty K. Snow
Earl Robert Norman-Comstock
William (Bill) Davis
Crystal Young-Otterstrom
Grant Amjad Miller
Jessica Gezon
Michael Ramon Aguilar
Clint Campbell
Jenny Hobbs
Nancy Philipp
Karel Joy McDonough

  The City Council will give candidates 5 minutes for a presentation on January 21.  Although the Council did not decide on a real interview or asking candidates questions verbally, they did give the candidates these questions which need to be turned in by Friday at 3PM:

1.    What do you think are the top issues facing District 5 and how would you approach each of them?

2.    With limited budget resources and unlimited wants, prioritize what you see as the top three infrastructure needs for Salt Lake City over the next five years and explain your choices.

3.    What do you believe your role is as a City Council Member?

4.    What is an example of a City project or program that you think was a success, and why do you think it was successful?

5.    What are the most important values you will bring to your time on the City Council?

6.    What else would you like the Council to know that you have not had a chance to share?

CLEVELAND COURT REZONE FOR NO PARKING PASSES COMMISSION
  The Planning Commission has forwarded a positive recommendation to the City Council on the 1430 S. 400 East project called Cleveland Court.  Eleven neighbors spoke against the project (3 spoke for the project) and mainly objected to the minimal offstreet parking.  Unfortunately, they did not go to the Liberty Wells Community Council meeting that discussed this issue, even though the Council meets just a few blocks away (second Wednesday of the month at Tracy Aviary).  So the Council attendees almost unanimously endorsed the project and the Planning Commission gave that great weight.  ATTEND YOUR LOCAL COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEETINGS!
  The neighbors intend to object to the project at the City Council meeting.  The big issue to me is the rezoning to FB-UN1 which is supposed to be next to rail transit stations (Sugar House and 9th South TRAX).  There are no parking minimums.  Although this project has 7 parking spaces off street, there are 15 bedrooms and neighbors believe that over 10 cars will be using the residences.  The City has said that the average multi family residence uses 1.6 parking spaces.  So this development should have over 10 parking spaces. 

   The zone meant for transit stations should not be allowed for anyplace else since it will impact the community negatively, in my opinion.  I do not like on street parking.  Off street parking should be encouraged.  For those bicyclists that are reading this, the less parking on street, the safer it is for bicyclists.

JANUARY 7, 2020
AIR QUALITY AFFORDABLE HOUSING HOMELESS WISH LIST PUBLISHED
SLC PLANNING COMMISSION PUSHING NEW LOWER OFF STREET PARKING LIMITS
NEW PROJECT ASKS FOR NO OFF STREET PARKING REQUIREMENTS
UTA BUS STOP HELL KILLS PEOPLE
BEST SUGAR HOUSE NEWS IN YEARS
MARIJUANA PHARMACIES LIST
NEW SLC MAYOR WANTS TO EXTEND S-LINE
SLC DISTRICT 5 VACANCY HAS 14 APPLICANTS 
SHELTER TURNS AWAY SLC HOMELESS WHO WANT TO STAY IN SLC
FORCING ANYONE TO STAY AWAKE IS TORTURE
SLCPD STILL DOWN 40 POLICE
1100 EAST ROAD PROJECT WILL BANKRUPT SUGAR HOUSE BUSINESSES
SOUTH SLC DEVELOPMENT DISCOURAGES MASS TRANSIT USE
MAYOR'S 130 PAGE PRIORITY LIST AVAILABLE
STATE 911 AUDIT SHOWS THAT 911 DOES NOT WORK IN SLCO
UTA STILL DOWN 100 DRIVERS AND WON'T BUDGE ON UNDERPAYING DRIVERS

AIR QUALITY AFFORDABLE HOUSING HOMELESS WISH LIST PUBLISHED
  The Salt Lake Tribune published my wish list for SLC on this past Sunday.  I suggested that the City focus on discouraging idling diesel trucks which can pollute hundreds of times more than cars.  I have complained about the many road projects that have many dump trucks idling for hours.  SLC needs to update their idling ordinance, which is now allowed due to recent Legislative changes, to allow citiations for idling diesel trucks after one warning.  It is my understanding that SLC's present ordinance has only been used once to cite a driver in the last few years.  I still think that it is wrong and a waste of police resources to go after idling cars.
  As I mentioned over the last few months, Salt Lake City has not spent about $1 million of the prison tax increase that was to go to mass transit expansion.  The bus routes that SLC paid to expand (2, 9, 21) have had minimal weekday ridership increases.  A better use of the money would be to have UTA lower the fare to a dollar.  I do not agree with the rioters who demand free bus service for the homeless (see below).  Studies show that increasing so called undesirables on mass transit discourages long term ridership increases by those with cars.  Do we want to encourage fewer cars on the road or do we want to solve the homeless problem with free bus service. 
  Another issue is the lack of a robust bus service recommended by the last UTA audit in 2014.  UTA bus service is still cut 30% from 12 years ago (due to spending money on rail).  A robust bus system/service increase was promised by UTA if they got a tax increase.  They did not keep their promise.
  Salt Lake City should speed up the effort to encourage redevelopment of State Street since it has the best potential to provide affordable housing (thousands of new residential units predicted) in a mixed income, mixed use setting.  The City's (and the new Mayor's) plan is to expand Single Room Occupancy citywide, including in single family home areas!  I disagree since low cost housing is not as useful as mixed income housing.  When a high percentage of housing is low cost/affordable (like the motels on State Street and North Temple), there is a tendency to enable/encourage criminal or addictive behavior.  That is why Palmer Court (run by the Road Home) is the second biggest draw for SLCFD for medical response.
  The Mayor's transition team included a recommendation for a safe camping area with toilet and washing facilities.  Many of us have been pushing that for years.
  The link to the SLTRIB story is: https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2020/01/03/george-chapman-wish-list/

SLC PLANNING COMMISSION PUSHING NEW LOWER OFF STREET PARKING LIMITS
  On January 8th (Wednesday) at 530PM, at City Hall, the SLC Planning Commission (last item on the agenda) will hear a proposed change to the SLC parking ordinance.  Based on previous Planning Commission work sessions, the Commission pushed Planning to reduce parking minimums.  The proposal ignores the large car lots that Salt Lake City encourages due to the large tax revenue that they generate.  So, with the exception of car lots, the reduced parking minimums are:  
  Building use or expansions of more than 25% would require new parking regulations with no additional parking in D1 D2 D3 and Urban Center context and Transit Context areas when there is a change of use.  Buildings older than 1944 do not require more parking for adaptive reuse.  All lots other than single or two family dwellings smaller than 5000 sq ft created prior to April 12, 1995 have exemptions to parking requirements   but any parking needs City approval.  Currently D2 and D3 less than 1000 sq ft is exempt from parking requirements.  There is a minimum parking of 3 per 1000 sq ft (now)adds 5 max per 1000 sq ft.  
  There are 4 different areas that the City is categorizing as General Context, Neighborhood Center (not well served by transit like 9th & 9th and 15th & 15th), Urban Center (dense pedestrian oriented like the Sugar House Business District and areas adjacent to downtown), and Transit Context (downtown core, surrounding mass transit facilities which may be exempt from minimum parking like Central 9th, North Temple and 400 South).
  "In many cases the minimum requirements have been reduced or eliminated altogether (Transit/Urban Center Contexts), but in a few cases (notably retail and restaurant uses) the exceptionally low standards in the current ordinance have been increased in order to reduce overflow parking in neighborhoods."
  "day cares, parks, warehouses, and several industrial uses, do not have maximum parking requirements in the revised chapter."
  The parking proposal encourages parking garages for multiple properties; multifamily developments must provide Electric Vehicle ready parking stalls (which increase costs); ADA - parking with 4 or fewer spaces do not require ADA space with signs but require 1 space with appropriate dimensions; secure/enclosed bicycle parking reduces parking in half; and the Planning Director can modify parking requirements, using approved adjustments to reduce requirements by up to 40%.
  It does remove on street parking credits ( used for a 900 E. 27th S. project), pedestrian amenities credits, and use of excess parking in a park and ride lot.  It increases shared parking from 500 ft away to up to 1200 ft.  All multi-family or commercial properties within a 1/4 mile of a fixed transit station can reduce parking minimums 25% (used to be decreased 50%) (changed to radial straight line) (Transit Context minimums not changed).
  Income restricted and/or age restricted units minimum parking reduced to 25%, with a further 15% reduction within a quarter mile of a high frequency bust route stop (2, 9, 200, 205, 209, 217 220).  Developments with 100 or more parking spaces could reduce 7 spaces for each van pool space.  Valet stalls can reduce parking one for one.  Developers can submit parking studies to justify reducing parking.  
  During public engagement, the public wanted 2 spaces per unit.  Planning Staff, under pressure from Planning Commission, reduced it to 1 per studio and 1 bedroom and 1.25 for more than 1 bedroom.  
  It is important to note that in Salt Lake City, "Typical multi-family developments in the general context are averaging about 1.6 stalls per unit."  That shows that parking requirements/minimums should not be reduced, especially in the Transit Context which has no minimum!!
  Lowering parking requirements will actually encourage residents to relocate to the suburbs, and, if done for stores, it will encourage driving to nearby cities to spend money and increase pollution.  In addition, the pre-eminent study on fare elasticities (Booz Allen Hamilton) show that lack of parking at transit stations discourage mass transit ridership.  And lowering parking requirements for residential units will discourage car owners and shift the units to mostly low income which will defeat the SLC housing policy of mixed income.  Salt Lake City should slow down this process until the public are fully informed with a more thorough outreach.  Otherwise, this process will be less popular than the recent so called Utah tax cut.
  I put the new parking proposal in the upper right downloads section.

NEW PROJECT ASKS FOR NO OFF STREET PARKING REQUIREMENTS
  The Planning Commission on January 8, at their regular Wednesday meeting, will also consider rezoning a proposed new development at 400 East and 1430 South.  Cleveland Court is asking to remove all parking requirements for their 7 unit row house project. The property is now zoned RMF35 and they want to rezone it to FB-UN1 zoning which has no parking requirements.  The developer would then provide 8 parking spaces for the 7 units which include 2 three bedrooms, 4 two bedrooms and 1 one bedroom apartments!  Form based zoning was the zoning next to rail stations and deliberately (we protested) had no parking requirements. 

UTA BUS STOP HELL KILLS PEOPLE
  UTA has constantly removed bus stops from convenient corners to allow easy transfer to other buses.  Instead of convenient bus stop locations to allow easy transfers between 2nd S. and 900 E. buses, UTA places two stops hundreds of feet away from the corners.  The same with many other corners like 39th S. and 900 E. and 3300 South and 950 West.  
  The bus stop at 3300 South and 950 West is half a block away from the 900 West light and effectively across the street from the 1000 West Mens Homeless Shelter!  It should have been obvious that an obviously questionable bus stop location would end up killing someone.  It did, kill, two so far.  Since the Homeless Shelter was also concerned, for some odd reason, they painted a crosswalk across the street to the bus stop without telling anyone!!!  UDOT had them remove it.  
  A month after we pointed out that the bus stop would obviously kill homeless, they have agreed, under pressure from UDOT (which may takeover UTA after a study that the Legislature asked for is finished), to move the bus stop.  I hope that it won't take more deaths to move bus stops to more reasonable stops.  It shouldn't take half a block to transfer to another bus, unless UTA is actually trying to discourage transit ridership.

BEST SUGAR HOUSE NEWS IN YEARS
  Despite being ignored by many news organizations (except for a couple of TV stations), the Sugar House Boys and Girls Club is finally going to get a remodel and expansion and it was announced by the outgoing Mayor in her last week in office.  (From a previous blog entry) Dell Loy Hansen, owner of Real Salt Lake and a head of a real estate company, is going to pay for the expansion of the Sugar House Girls and Boys Club.  The plan is to provide several more large indoor and outdoor courts that could also be used by the public.  It could expand the building to 27000 Square Feet with 127 to 305 parking spots underground (the $5 million cost of the parking garage would not be covered and other funds would be necessary - but SLCO and SLC gave another developer $15 for an underground parking garage).
  The recent survey of the tennis courts that Salt Lake City has allowed to remain decrepit for over 10 years resulted in 1100 responses.  The only  question that received an overwhelming agreement was that housing should not be an option and that it should stay as open space.  The plan to expand the Girls and Boys Club will still need to obtain funds for the parking garage and an agreement from the City (that is assumed to be done deal) to allow shared access with the public and several hearings to allow building on the open space tennis courts that would result some restrictions on access.  When it happens, it will be another major destination in Sugar House.

MARIJUANA PHARMACIES LIST 
  The Salt Lake City marijuana pharmacy list is out (it covers all of Salt Lake County) and the companies and pharmacy locations are: 
Beehive's Own at 1991 S. 3600 W.
Justice Grown Utah at 242 East Broadway (300 S.)
Dragonfly Wellness at 711 S State Street
  The Salt Lake City ordinance for marijuana is supposed to allow the pharmacies in commercial areas.  

NEW SLC MAYOR WANTS TO EXTEND S-LINE
  During a discussion with the Deseret News Editorial Board, Erin Mendenhall, the new SLC Mayor, said that "She wants to lead the development of a new transportation master plan that includes extensions of the S-line trolleys that currently connect TRAX to Sugarhouse."  Erin has often said that Salt Lake "needs to put a head on the snake" when referring to extending the S-Line up 1100 East.  That will bankrupt even more local businesses than the upcoming road work.  Note that the recommended width for a TRAX/S-Line is 14 feet (which requires at least 28 feet street width for two rail lines up and down the street) would require removing all parking and trees and stop most bicycling (rail lines should not be around bike lanes).  It will also cost $100 million local funding to get to 17th S. which is what Westminster has been pushing for.  If the line is extended, it should go east towards Sugar House Park which is the greatest destination in the area.  The line gets 1300 riders a day (not an increase due to the double tracking) on weekdays and up to 1600 riders a day on weekends.  
  On a side note, the UTA ridership dashboard is offline due to embarrassing data.  But the definitions for the dashboard are still online.

SLC DISTRICT 5 VACANCY HAS 14 APPLICANTS 
  This is from the City Recorder's Office (which is now under the City Attorney's Office) regarding the process to replace Erin Mendenhall on the City Council.  The deadline is January 14th at 5PM.
"SALT LAKE CITY CORPORATION
NOTICE OF MIDTERM CITY COUNCIL VACANCY
REQUEST FOR APPLICATION OF APPOINTMENT 
CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT FIVE
PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that, as of January 5, 2020, there will be a Midterm Vacancy in Salt Lake City Council District Five. Any person interested in serving as City Council Member in District Five, who meets the following eligibility and residency requirements is hereby invited to submit an application of interest to the City Recorder. The appointed City Council Member will serve through the vacated term ending the first Monday of January 2022.
Eligibility and Residency Requirements:
Be a registered voter of the Municipality.
Have resided in Council District Five for 12 consecutive months immediately before the date of the appointment and remain a resident of District Five throughout the term of office.
In accordance with Utah Constitution Article IV, Section 6, a mentally incompetent individual, an individual convicted of a felony, or an individual convicted of treason or a crime against the elective franchise may not hold office in this state until the right to hold elective office is restored under Sections 20A-2-101.3 and 20A-2-101.5.
Application of Appointment:
Applications shall be submitted, in person, to the City Recorder, Cindi Mansell, 451 S. State St., Room 415, Salt Lake City, Utah 84111 and received by the deadline, January 14, 2020 by 5:00 p.m.
Applicants are encouraged to include a letter of interest and resume to highlight their qualifications for the position. Applicants are reminded that all information provided will become part of the public record. Applicants may not be employed by Salt Lake City if selected for the vacancy. Applications are available beginning Monday, December 16th online at:  www.slcdocs.com/recorder/application.pdf.
Public Meetings:
The City Council will hold a regular public meeting January 21, 2020 to interview applicants. If needed, applicants should also be available for additional meetings to continue interviews January 23, 28, 30 or February 4, 2020. The City Council could appoint an applicant as the Council Member to represent District Five at any of those meeting dates. Meetings will take place at the City & County Building, 451 S. State St., Room 315, Salt Lake City, Utah 84111. For further information, contact the City Recorder’s Office at 801-535-7671, elections@slcgov.com.
Timeline:
1/14/2020 – Deadline to submit application to City Recorder (5pm)
1/21/2020 – City Council meeting to interview applicants
1/23, 1/28, 1/30, 2/4/20 – Potential added meeting dates for interviews
1/21, 1/23, 1/28, 1/30 or 2/4/20 – Council appointment of New City Council Member by majority vote, City Recorder swears in new Council Member.
Salt Lake City Code 2.06.050 Vacancy Filling
In the event of a vacancy in the council, it shall within thirty (30) days of the occurrence and declaration of such vacancy, by majority vote of the remaining council members, appoint a qualified elector of the city to fill the unexpired term. The appointee shall serve with all of the rights and powers of a duly elected council member, until the next election and the date a successor is duly elected, qualified and sworn into office. A vacancy shall occur if a council member shall die, resign, terminate legal domicile within the corporate limits of the city and the appropriate council district boundaries, or be judicially removed from office.
See also, Utah State Code 20A-1-510 Midterm Vacancies in Municipal Offices
Applicant List as of 1/3/2020 4 p.m.
Darin Masao Mano
Carlos Enrique Arce-Larreta
Jason Stevenson
Misty K. Snow
Earl Robert Norman-Comstock
William (Bill) Davis
Crystal Young-Otterstrom
Grant Amjad Miller
Jessica Gezon
Michael Ramon Aguilar
Clint Campbell
Jenny Hobbs
Nancy Philipp
Karel Joy McDonough

SHELTER TURNS AWAY SLC HOMELESS WHO WANT TO STAY IN SLC
  Despite the claims that the homeless campers could move into the shelters which have open beds, the reality is that when men go to the Gail Miller Shelter on Paramont, last night seven homeless were refused beds but offered transportation to the South Salt Lake Shelter in the middle of nowhere (which required a death defying walk to the bus stop if they want to get a snack).  The homeless refused the transportation (effectively saying that they would rather face deadly cold than go to the South Salt Lake Shelter).  
  A confusing note is that the City said two months ago (noted in a previous blog entry) that the City would not roust homeless during the cold weather.  The previous Mayor repeated that but the Police are participating in the homeless rousting which the Mayor said was being handled by the County Health Department.
FORCING ANYONE TO STAY AWAKE IS TORTURE
  During the last City Council meeting of the year, one comment made to the Council pointed out that forcing anyone to stay awake is effectively torture.  He was referring to the Weigand Center that opens their doors at 9 PM to those who can't find a mat at the adjacent Vincent De Paul Center.  The homeless who avail themselves of the "torture" need to be around the Center so that they can go to work.  They are willing to stand in line before the 9 PM opening.  Homeless should not have to stand in line in the cold; they shouldn't have to worry about where they will stay overnight; shouldn't have to be forced to stay awake all night.

SLCPD STILL DOWN 40 POLICE
  In case anyone cares, Salt Lake City is down 40 cops.  For years, the City has been trying to expand their police force by 50 cops.  Despite all of the efforts, the City has failed.

1100 EAST ROAD PROJECT WILL BANKRUPT SUGAR HOUSE BUSINESSES
  Salt Lake City will reconstruct 1100 East around the 2000 South Post Office (across from Hollywood) this year (despite the fact that the 1300 East project is still not finished and the two projects will result in significant congestion and pollution).  The biggesst loss will be the businesses on 11th that are an eclectic group of shops but may and will go bankrupt without City help.

SOUTH SLC DEVELOPMENT DISCOURAGES MASS TRANSIT USE
  The Salt Lake Tribune recently ran a story that implied that the significant number of new developments on the S-Line in South Salt Lake City were due to the rail line.  But the City has been trying to develop the area west of State Street and south of 2100 South for decades.  The City refused to support the Market Street proposal then and the area has been underutilized since.  When the WinCo moved in, there was new hope.  Grocery stores encourage development, more than rail lines.  But UTA moved the S-Line station a half block away from the State Street bus (typical) and the new development actually blocked access to the WinCo grocery store!  And the new developments are not ground floor retail, just apartments and offices.  South Salt Lake also closed a street east of State Street for a car lot expansion.  In other words, South Salt Lake is NOT good at encouraging walkability, mixed use and encouraging mass transit use.  

STATE 911 AUDIT SHOWS THAT 911 DOES NOT WORK IN SLCO
  The State Legislature had an audit performed on the 911 system in Utah.  It found that there were major problems with the system that included mainly the inability to have the calls handled in an appropriate municipal organization whether police or fire.  When the Legislature passed the last two significant 911/phone tax increases, there were complaints that giving a tax increase before the Salt Lake County's three 911 systems are combined, is an unwise and irresponsible action.  The audit proved that when calls are made to the wrong 911 system, which often happens when the caller is near a cell tower located in another area, it takes too much time to transfer calls to the appropriate 911 dispatch.  SLCO 911 systems need to combine into one system Countywide like the Morgan Weber Dispatch system. 

UTA STILL DOWN 100 DRIVERS AND WON'T BUDGE ON UNDERPAYING DRIVERS

  As of this last weekend, UTA is still refusing a reasonable salary for its bus drivers.  The result is that UTA is down over 100 drivers and it will be impossible to expand service in 2020.

DECEMBER 10, 2019
UTA MAY NOT INCREASE SERVICE UNTIL 2021!!!!!

UTA MAY NOT INCREASE SERVICE UNTIL 2021!!!!!
  UTA is considering not increasing service until 2021!  Claiming that the UTA does not have enough space for buses (in a garage), Commissioner Christensen said that the UTA is considering not increasing bus service until 2021.  The UTA Draft Service Plan is going to be discussed at the December 10 UTA Board of Trustees meeting.  I put the Plan in the upper righthand corner (I am in the process of relocating downloads to another page to make the website easier to navigate.).  The Plan has the list of bus routes and the proposals.  Tier 1 is 15 minutes service.  But the proposal is ignoring the best routes for increasing ridership, those with the most riders and those which often are standing room only.  Bus 200 State Street and bus 217 Redwood Road, and several others that can efficiently operate with 10 minute frequency, are still limited to 15 minutes.  
  But UTA is planning on providing 10 minutes service when spending $40 million on a Bus Rapid Transit System on 48th South instead of  increasing frequency now!  A BRT is not needed to increase frequency.  Drivers and mechanics (and buses) are needed.  I consider UTA's explanation of why they can't increase service now or possibly until 2021 to be covering up the lack of drivers and mechanics.  Every bus does not need, or shouldn't need, a complete bus garage overhaul facility like the $100 million project being built in the Depot District.
  Some examples of important service priorities are 200, 217, 33, 4, 209, 220, and possibly the Draper/Lehi bus which should be more used before even thinking of a billion dollar TRAX to Lehi from Draper.
  Please tell the UTA Board of Trustees to increase service now and not wait until 2021.  The email is boardoftrustees@rideuta.com.  UTA only gets one comment each meeting, if any.  More riders need to step up and demand more service, especially after UTA promised that bus service would need to be increased within a year if sales taxes were raised in Prop One (which SB136 did to overrule the voters).  I also put the UTA final draft budget in the upper right.  UTA only received 4 comments on it!  Those comments are at the end of the document (My comments were cut off.)  
  I would like to remind readers that bus 9 service expansion, paid for by SLC with 1/4 of the prison tax increase, is providing minimal service increases that seems to cost over $100 per rider!  UTA needs to consider the cost per rider to provide a realistic cost benefit analysis.  
  During the last Tax Restructuring Task Force public hearing, one speaker complained about the 1996 bus ridership that, if that service was continued, would provide a larger ridership than is now riding UTA.
  UTA is also going to be providing bike racks that can handle 3 bikes on all buses with a long predicted service life.  UTA is also planning on spending $7 million on a parking garage at SLC Central Station to assist SLC RDA in developing the Depot District area!  It's too bad since $7 million would provide almost all of the service increases in the attached 2020 Draft Service Plan (since a robust bus system will increase fare revenues systemwide).

DECEMBER 8, 201

CUTTING TAXES BY INCREASING TAXES DOES NOT MAKE SENSE

Cutting taxes by increasing taxes does not make sense
   The Utah Legislature's attempt to justify a large income tax cut seems to be running out of reasonable arguments. Despite claims that the goal is to cut taxes, the last meeting of the Legislature’s Tax Restructuring and Equalization Task Force provided predictions that their efforts may increase taxes for individuals with less than 2 exemptions. 
  The Task Force staff also admitted that the proposal was “a little complicated”. Most Utahns would have said that the proposals are super duper complicated. They are so complicated that the Utah Tax Commission will have to hire hundreds of high caliber and professionally capable government staff to wade through the rules and determine appropriate taxes. Even some of the Task Force members indicated that the proposal to tax services will require a lot of tweaking since the proposal raises more questions than settles questions. 
  The final list of taxable services is still in flux and will probably only be revealed a few minutes before the Legislature votes on it in a special session. But it is possible that hair braiding, lemonade stands, lawn mowing (by the neighbor’s kid) and piano teaching may end up being taxed. Ironically, two of those were recently made legal by the Legislature! The goal of taxes should not be make it legal then tax the heck out of it (like marijuana). 
  Lost in the rush to tax services is the fact that product oriented companies generally have up to 10 times the valuation of service oriented companies. Companies that provide services are valued at up to 2 times the annual revenue versus valuation of 2 to 10 times the annual revenue for companies that provide products. Taxing services, is not only unfair, but if they are taxed, it will have a negative impact on some of Utah’s fastest growing companies.
  During discussion, data on internet taxes were not available. The numbers are now available and they show that internet sales tax revenue is growing exponentially!  The number of accounts have almost doubled in the first 3 quarters with tax revenue increasing about 50% in the first three quarters. The last quarter is predicted to have a much larger tax revenue due to the major shift to internet sales and year end/Christmas sales. It would be reasonable to assume that taxable revenue from internet sales should double this year. Internet taxes may provide $50 million in State sales taxes (local taxes would be about half of that) this year and many experts believe that internet sales will increase at least 50% each year. Justifying a tax increase on services by claiming a large reduction in sales tax revenue seems wishful thinking.
  One of the Task Force members, a respected expert, expressed support for consumption taxes since we have a choice. I know him and his reasoning but he energized opposition by ignoring the fact that food is not a choice. And the proposed fuel tax (over 10 cents a gallon), would hurt rural drivers more since they often have to drive farther for necessities. Cars make our families more efficient. An increase in gasoline taxes argued due to reduced gasoline sales is countered by the shift to larger and more fuel burning SUVs and trucks! But the Legislature should give counties the option to increase gasoline taxes to provide more specific highway projects.
  The biggest and scariest proposal is to cut the Utah State income tax which would automatically decrease education funding. The Legislature has said before that reducing income taxes (to a flat tax) would not decrease education funding but it has. The education of the rising generation should be the second highest priority of society (after worship of God). Cutting education funding, even with promises to restore funding, would seem to throw priorities out the window.
  Legislators should acknowledge that cutting taxes by increasing taxes does not make sense, decreases respect for government and increases government bureaucracy. A tax cut with a tax increase is still a tax increase.

DECEMBER 3, 2019
HOMELESS RESOURCE CENTERS INSTALLING COTS
SLCPD WILL NOT ROUST HOMELESS BELOW 35 DEGREES
DOES SOMEONE WANT MICHAEL CLARA DEAD
SLC WANTS YOUR OPINION EXCEPT WHEN GIVING DEVELOPERS MONEY
HOMELESS DEATH DUE TO BAD BUS STOP
COUNTY BUDGET APPROVED WITH TAX INCREASE JAIL BEDS NOT USED
TAX INCREASES WHILE CLAIMING TO CUT TAXES IS SADLY LAUGHABLE BUT USUAL
DOWNLOADS HAVE REPORTS ON INTERNET TAXES, SLCPD PARKS, SLC HOUSING, HOMELESSNESS, STREETS TRAFFIC CALMING, DUI, SCOOTERS, SRO AND BOARDED UP BUILDINGS

HOMELESS RESOURCE CENTERS INSTALLING COTS
  The new Homeless Resource Centers model may be working sort of.  They filled up so fast that the Centers are bringing in cots to use for semi overflow.  Although the Centers promised to limit residents to 200 (300 in South Salt Lake City), many of the new residents don't spend every night in the Centers.  But they keep their bed reserved.  That is one way to encourage homeless to stabilize.  But due to the open beds that are reserved for specific homeless, the number of homeless in each center is below the limit set in the law, ordinances and agreements.  So to allow more individuals to access the facilities, and attempt to keep the limits, the Centers are bringing in cots.  If it is for a few days to figure out what happened to the person not using the empty bed, that can make sense.  But without a plan, and acknowledgement with the neighbors, the cots could end up being permanent and the Centers' population could significantly increase.

SLCPD WILL NOT ROUST HOMELESS BELOW 35 DEGREES
  During discussions at the SLC Council, the City has decided to stop rousting/pushing out homeless campers.  "For example, based on discussions last week in two separate levels of meetings, it was determined that if the temperature falls consistently below 35 degrees Fahrenheit at night, (law encampment) cleanup crews will not take tents, coats, waterproof sleeping bags or items that protect unsheltered campers from winter weather. It also was determined that cleanup crews will not clean up encampments if is it raining or snowing or when daytime temperatures fall below 25 degrees Fahrenheit with wind chill."  I put the rules in the DOWNLOADS section.

DOES SOMEONE WANT MICHAEL CLARA DEAD
  In one of the strangest stories this year, Michael Clara, a community activist and advocate for the Poplar Grove Neighborhood Alliance, was driving around his neighborhood (900 West and 200 South) and someone in a stolen vehicle with a front snow plow started ramming into him from behind.  It appeared that the driver was trying to get Michael to pull over (like in movies where the bad guy tries to get the victim to stop and get out of their vehicle so they will be defenseless).  Michael pulled over and the stolen vehicle turned around and looked like it was coming back for him!  Michael took out his concealed carry permit gun and started firing at the vehicle!  Unfortunately, a couple of shots went awry and hit another vehicle.  The stolen vehicle ended up being abandoned on property owned by Erin Mendenhall (soon to be mayor) and Kyle LaMalfa!  And, even more surprising, Michael Clara has been asking questions about their property that is being developed with Salt Lake City giving up alleyway property to assist in the development!  I find it hard to believe that someone wants Michael Clara dead but....

SLC WANTS YOUR OPINION EXCEPT WHEN GIVING DEVELOPERS MONEY
  Salt Lake City has been taking a lot of surveys lately.  It is asking for citizen feedback on garbage fee increases (does anybody really want higher taxes), scooters (does anybody want scooters on downtown sidewalks), and several street projects.  Salt Lake City seems to want to ask which is better than they have done before when they went ahead and just did the project and asked when it was too late, what citizens thought.  The City increased many taxes this year and allowed scooters on sidewalks without surveys.  So the City should be thanked for asking before but.... The City is not running surveys on what people think of SROs (soon to be allowed Citywide, not just in commercial areas), rail projects (millions for more TRAX stations), and giving developers sweetheart deals worth millions of property for free (just today the $4+ million Utah Theater property).  Maybe next year they will ask before they give developers millions if property for free.  And the $4+ million could be used to build 40 apartments for affordable housing but the developer will now get so called affordable rent.

HOMELESS DEATH DUE TO BAD BUS STOP
  Nine years ago, I started getting involved in the issues regarding homeless.  A homeless man, with all of his belongings in a shopping cart, had bought some eggnog to celebrate Thanksgiving Eve but was killed crossing the street by a UTA 455 bus (455 route can fry a driver's brain so that they just follow lights and don't always see someone too slow to cross the street in time for the pedestrian lights).  The death resulted in a small paragraph in the Deseret News (and a mass for the man) and I wrote that it was a sad commentary on our society that a man's death on Thanksgiving Eve got just a little note.  I found that there were a lot of other issues that were being ignored by the City Administration despite claims that they solved the homeless problem!  
  This last week, a homeless man was killed on 33rd South around the new South Salt Lake Homeless Resource Center.  The problem appears to be that the nearest bus stop going west is halfway down the block from the lighted intersection with a pedestrian light.  To cross efficiently, but unsafely, to and from the shelter, to the bus stop requires crossing a dangerous high speed 6 lane road without any street lights.  It is really dark and dangerous.  Due to the placement of the Shelter in the middle of nowhere, if homeless want something, anything, they need to use the bus.  It seems that the bus stop actually encourages dangerous and deadly behavior.  That bus stop (all bus stops) should be moved to the corner to encourage safe crossing of streets.
  On a separate note, Salt Lake City Police have been using jaywalking violations to stop and frisk homeless to confiscate drugs and illegal items.  That has almost always been the way it works.  The philosophy of disruption is the police term to discourage illegal behavior.  But a few years ago, the police stopped enforcing jaywalking laws, partly due to the high cost and the complaints from SLC visitors and tourists.  But the enforcement never really went away.  The SLCPD is using the jaywalking violations like drug stops.  It should be noted that drug users do not usually commit victimless crimes.  But until there is a system to settle the issue with one person with treatment or jail, ticketing and arresting homeless and/or drug users is a waste of time and valuable police resources.  Some homeless/drug users/criminals have been arrested over 100 times!

COUNTY BUDGET APPROVED WITH TAX INCREASE BUT STILL JAIL BEDS NOT USED
  The Salt Lake County Council approved the County's tax increase but there are still 120 beds unused at Oxbow Jail due to underfunding and the DA is still only getting a third of the personnel he needs to prosecute and lock up the threats to society, the real criminals.

TAX INCREASES WHILE CLAIMING TO CUT TAXES IS SADLY LAUGHABLE BUT USUAL
  The Legislature is scheduled to have one more Tax Task Force meeting Monday, December 9 with an attempt/push/forced special session on the 12th of December to cut taxes by increasing taxes.  The claim that sales taxes are decreasing is false when you factor in the special exemptions that Utah keeps giving to special interests and the internet sales tax revenue.  I put the internet sales tax data (Wayfair) in the DOWNLOADS section.  It looks like internet sales tax revenue will double this year and is predicted to increase a minimum of 50% each subsequent year.  Utah may get around $50 million in internet related/remote sales tax revenue this year when all quarters are counted.  Local governments would get about half of that.

DOWNLOADS HAVE REPORTS ON INTERNET TAXES, SLCPD PARKS, SLC HOUSING, HOMELESSNESS, STREETS, TRAFFIC CALMING, DUI, SCOOTERS, SRO AND BOARDED UP BUILDINGS
  I put lots of interesting downloads in the downloads section of this blog.  It includes: up to date data on internet sales taxes (Wayfair Remote Sales 2019), the SLCPD parks patrol proposals, the latest SLC housing Funding Our Future data, the City's homelessness facts, the latest street reconstruction lists, a Traffic Calming 2.0 proposal, the DUI data for the State, the latest SLC Scooter ordinance proposal, the SRO expansion areas (not limited to just a few areas) and the SLC Boarded Up Buildings data (as a prelude to changing the demolition ordinance to decrease vacant buildings that are crime magnets). Interestingly, SLC RDA owns 7 of 15 acres in the Depot District, of which many buildings are vacant and have been for decades.  The City has ignored the philosophy that vacant buildings encourage criminal behavior and thinks that the Rio Grande area is proof.  Not.

NOVEMBER 21, 2019
WAR ON CARS WINS BATTLE FOR 500E
900 EAST RECONSTRUCTION DESIGNS COLLECTING COMMUNITY INPUT
CLUELESS RIOT
COUNTY DA FOCUSES ON SPECIAL VICTIMS
SUGAR HOUSE BOYS/GIRLS PLANS TO EXPAND
FOOTHILL SAFETY FOR PEDESTRIANS GOING DOWNHILL
HOMELESS SHELTER PROBLEMS
LIBRARY WANTS BETTER SECURITY NOT COPS
NEW DOWNTOWN SUPPORTIVE SHELTER LIKE PALMER COURT
BUDGET AMENDMENT 2 WITH SLCPD POLICE PATROLS
SROS ABOUT TO TAKEOVER SLC
UTAH AUTOMOBILE CRASH AND DUI ARRESTS, INJURIES FATALITIES
STOP TRYING TO CUT TAXES BY INCREASING TAXES
SAFECAM SLC STOPS, SLC ACCEPTS RING NEIGHBORS
UTA BUDGET HEARING RESET FOR NOVEMBER 19 TUESDAY
UTAH CREATES A MOBILE MENTAL CRISIS SYSTEM BUT RUINS IT

WAR ON CARS WINS BATTLE FOR 500E
 Salt Lake City has just about finished their design for the 500 East reconstruction from 1700 South to 2100 South.  The project will have southbound shared bicycle lane that will require vehicle traffic to follow bicyclists.  If the vehicle traffic is unable to pass (with at least 3 feet clearance), cars and buses will be forced to drive at around 10 MPH!  The shared lanes on Sunnyside and 17th South going downhill effectively give bicyclists an easy way to go 20 MPH and minimally impact vehicle traffic.  The shared lanes on South Temple and Sunnyside have 2 travel lanes so passing bicyclists is relatively easy. 
  But Salt Lake City has decided that after spending a lot of money on the 600 East bicycle boulevard and the 300 East bicycle lanes (way too skinny for encouraging cycling), that a major bus, public safety and vehicle route needs to give priority to bicycles over vehicles.
  The plan is also to consolidate bus stops for "faster service" but if a bus has to go 10 MPH behind a bicyclist, it is not going to be faster service.  In addition, moving or eliminating stops should not be expected to improve ridership since many people do not want to walk more than a block.  Salt Lake City recognizes that when it puts crosswalks and lights at half block intervals downtown and on State Street (recently).  
  There will be reaised crosswalks on 500 East at "Downington, Ramona and Hollywood which will be designed for 30 MPH travel, fire trucks, buses and snow plows.  I want to see snow plows trying to drive 5 MPH behind a biyclist going south on 500 East!  The final draft drawings are now at www.slc.gov/mystreet.
  The City will also be replacing a 42 inch aqueduct pipe on Downington to Coatsville, water mains and storm drains.  The City presently claims that they haven't found any trees that are definitely going to removed.  The City recognizes that the large mature trees are important to the community and will try to minimize removal.  Parking on the east side will be removed which appears to be a big issue with residents.  Removing parking will concentrate parking on the west side which will cause safety concerns for residents trying to back out of their driveways and trying to see past cars and trucks parked near their driveways.  I expect that this project will decrease respect for the City.  The 900 South and 2700 South projects are still not finished but are expected to finish before Thanksgiving.  The 1300 East project is going to take a year longer than expected and will effectively take three years.
900 EAST RECONSTRUCTION DESIGNS COLLECTING COMMUNITY INPUT
  Also at www.slc.gov/mystreet is preliminary designs for the 900 East reconstruction plan.  Please provide your comments.  Some of the comments (that the City is seriously considering) include removing/moving the east west crosswalks on Sugarmont and Simpson.  There are 3 crosswalks that could be made safer by moving the 2 southernmost crosswalks to south of the Simpson road that goes west.  That would decrease the left hand turning safety concerns affecting pedestrians.  Other concerns are trying to increase the left hand turning lanes near 2100 South so that the backups do not interfere with through traffic.  That would also limit left hand turns into the Walgreens parking lot near the light (allowing left hand turns north of the building).  There is a design proposal to have a raised shared path under the I80 overpass between Ashton and Parkway.  I have asked that the center turn lane be removed and the space used to provide 9+ wide bike lanes.  If SLC really wants to increase bicyling, it should plan for wide bikelanes since bicyclist really like to ride side by side, not tandem.  But citizens need to emphasize that, if you agree, when providing comments to the City.  
CLUELESS RIOT
  Last week, at the Salt Lake City Council formal meeting, a large group of activists disrupted a meeting of the Council in an attempt to keep The Road Home homeless shelter open.
  It seemed that the group wanted to create a riot and force the City to do something about the sad state of affairs in the homeless community. But the group was preaching to the choir. When they demanded answers on keeping The Road Home open, the Council would not answer. The Council normally doesn't try to answer or engage in debate during public hearings. Their goal is to hear comments and opinions from the citizens of the City. When the group started shouting demands, the Council walked out.
  Ironically, the last time the Council walked out was when homeless advocate Bernie Hart wouldn't stop speaking about the sad state of affairs in the homeless community last year! Bernie and his wife Marita are famous nationwide for organizing a homeless Tai Chi program. https://www.msn.com/en-sg/lifestyle/lifestyle-news-feature/homeless-people-find-friends-ease-stress-in-tai-chi-class/ar-AAJgocT?li=BBr8OIU#image=AAJgocT_1
  It recently received State funding in recognition of their successful work. Bernie also provided the Legislature's Road Home Audit personnel with a three day education of the homeless issues that needed solving. It is even more ironic that Bernie forced the Council to walk out by himself when it took a hundred to force the Council to walk out this week.
  The group that were trying to disrupt the Council meeting seemed to be clueless about the Council's attitude towards the homeless. Three of the 5 Councilmembers at the hearing this week are involved daily with working with the homeless as part of their job. One works for VOA. Another works for nonprofit community services. And another worked as a legal aid attorney helping homeless navigate the legal system everyday. Another tries to help the homeless while operating her business. Their disruption of the meeting would seem to actually do the opposite of what they wanted.  
  The riot seemed to start when citizens commenting on a Budget Amendment that would increase overtime for police officers to patrol parks.  The proposal was first presented to the Council in May but the Council balked at sending SLPD personnel into parks while in uniform saying that "certain demographics are intimidated by uniformed police officers" and can't enjoy parks.  The Council agreed to allow police bicycle patrols in the "less intimidating" bicycle cop uniforms in parks but did not fund the proposal until Budget Amendment 2.
  The prime driver for the Police Chief's proposal was the many community councils that were asking for uniformed police patrols of parks.  The parks in Salt Lake City were deteriorating, according to nearby residents, with drug and criminal behavior significantly increasing.  Part of the reason was Operation Rio Grande, called Operation Leaf Blower by the County police chiefs, which caused much criminal activity to be displaced to the City's parks.  The County Jail aggravates the situation since criminal behavior, even if it threatens others, does not usually get booked into jail and the mental health and drug issues usually don't get treated.  So parks are getting the homeless that don't feel comfortable in the Rio Grande area due to the drugs and criminal activities in that area along with the criminals that are pushed out due to the Operation Rio Grande.
  Residents deserve to get walking police patrols, in uniform, of parks.  It is a sad commentary on our society if the first time someone is exposed to a police officer is during a criminal investigation.  Citizens, especially children, should be exposed to police in parks to show them that cops are approachable and are good.  When I suggested that Budget Amendmment 2 should be approved to allow police patrols in parks with overtime, not just to increase safety for people in parks but also for the homeless in the parks (2 homeless were killed which gave the excuse for Operation Rio Grande), the audience in the Council hearing yelled out that "homeless are people too".  
  It went downhill fast.  The activists demanded that the the Council answer their demands and when they didn't they kept yelling out "what will you do", louder and all at once.  They jumped on a table in front of the Council after the Council walked out and yelled demands for about 10 minutes then left.  A few of the activists stayed behind.  
  I reminded those that stayed, during a subsequent grant proposal hearing, that some of us have been trying to keep the Road Home open for years.  And I asked for part of the grant application to be used for a clean team that could clean the areas around the new homeless shelter.  Some of those that congregate around the shelters, leave the shelter grounds to party and they leave everything from needles to piles of feces.  Neighbors of the shelters need clean team more than neighborhood outreach/public relations people.
  At the public comment section, I asked that the Council allow uniformed police patrols in parks on electric scooters.  Despite the arguments against it, Sandy places uniformed cops in parks and the County pays SLC to have cops patrol the Jordan River Parkway.
  For those interested, HB441 in 2017 set the plan to close the Road Home in motion by setting up a process to choose the last homeless shelter site.  Only one person argued against HB441.  
COUNTY DA FOCUSES ON SPECIAL VICTIMS
  During the Salt Lake County Council discussion on the budget for the District Attorney, there was a long discussion on the lack of prosecution of rapes.  The DA is asking for an increase in personnel to create a special victims section that will focus on and help prosecute rapes and domestic violence cases.  Up to 50% of domestic violence cases used to be dismissed.  Over the last year, in Salt Lake County, around 20% have been dismissed.
  The DA estimated that out of 100 rapes, 88 are not reported.  Out of 12 rapes that are reported, with the expectation that they will help prosecute, the DA is only able to bring charges against 4.  Part of the problem is that prosecution victimizes the victim more due to being in an environment that may not be safe. 
  (The military recognizes that reporting rape can result in retribution against the victim.  The military places rape reports in a restricted file until the perpetrator is arrested and charged.  The civilian world should implement a similar system to protect victims and encourage rape reports.)
  DA Sim Gill said that we can do more on the victim side.  Although the Rape Recovery Center used to have maybe one referral a day, they now get two a day and Councilwoman Ghorbani is on board with the effort to expand discovery and prosecution of rapes and domestic violence(County Councilwoman Shireen Ghorbani is on the Rape Recovery Center Board).  
  Although the DA is only asking for less than 10 new investigators and prosecutors to create the special victims task force, he says that he needs 30 more to do what he should like to do.  Mayor Jennie Wilson gave an emotional plea to support the DA expansion.
  Councilman DeBry, a good friend of the DA, again questioned some of the DA's budget requests for more personnel.  This year he questioned the DA's hiring of former Sheriff Jim Winder as the Chief Investigator supervisor.  DeBry questioned why the investigators needed a supervisor.  DA Gill responded that investigators needed to have priorities set and coordinate with prosecutors and Jim Winder had the experience to understand the important priorities.  DeBry complained that the DA is not a police department and that we have too many police departments.  I agree that there are too many police departments in the County and that Salt Lake County law enforcement should all be under the County Sheriff, including the UofU police (along with one DA and 911 system).
  Another important effort of the DA was his plan to decrease cash bail and he believes that the 30-35% of non violent offenders could get out of jail with just text notification of court hearings (about 300 fewer beds would be used).  He believes that his pilot program will help 10,000 people in 18 months (the DA has about 20,000 prosecutions a year)
SUGAR HOUSE BOYS/GIRLS PLANS TO EXPAND
  Dell Loy Hansen, owner of Real Salt Lake and a head of a real estate company, is considering helping to pay for the expansion of the Sugar House Girls and Boys Club.  The plan is to provide several more large indoor and outdoor courts that could also be used by the public.  It could expand the building to 27000 Square Feet with 127 to 305 parking spots underground (the $5 million cost of the parking garage would not be covered and other funds would be necessary - but SLCO and SLC gave another developer $15 for an underground parking garage).
  The recent survey of the tennis courts that Salt Lake City has allowed to remain decrepit for over 10 years resulted in 1100 responses.  The only  question that received an overwhelming agreement was that housing should not be an option and that it should stay as open space.  The plan to expand the Girls and Boys Club will depend on further fundraising and an agreement from the City to allow shared access with the public and several hearings to allow building on the open space tennis courts that would result some restrictions on access.  If it happens, it will be another major destination in Sugar House.
FOOTHILL SAFETY FOR PEDESTRIANS GOING DOWNHILL
  During a discussion at the East Bench Community Council, the sorry state of Foothill Boulevard was discussed.  Decades of complaints have been ignored and many studies have been undertaken.  The biggest complaint has been due to traffic increasing (much due to the 1300 East reconstruction/closing) and the University of Utah's efforts to increase density and building and use of their property which increases vehicles.  
  Pedestrians (and bicyclists) are significantly threatened by left hand turning vehicles which often back up traffic behind them.  One school near Foothill has stopped providing crossing guards (the principal tries to function as one).  There are several schools near Foothill and parents almost always try to drive their kids to school due to safety concerns.  One proposal is to implement no left hand turns going east west on an intersection by intersection basis.  UDOT has said that that requires more study!
  There is also the concern that snowplows throw snow onto Foothill sidewalks.  It is almost impossible for residents to clear that snow.  The principals are going to try to be certified as crossing guards to help increase safety.  The community is actively going to push for better amenities and solutions and expects to have a follow up meeting in the new year.
  And finally, UTA has just one major full service route, Route 4 that is 45 minutes to 30 minutes weekday service!  Despite that fact, UTA and WFRC (at WFRC.org) has put a $600 million plus BRT (TRAX on wheels) in the future plans for the corridor.  Just a few million a year would provide a 10 minute frequency bus but UTA would rather do projects.  They are spending a lot of money to try to increase ridership of the BRT 35 MAX on 35th South (with a poor 3200 passengers a day ridership).  If you take away a lane of traffic for a bus, it should get more than 5000 riders a day (2 lanes should get 10,000 riders) since a lane of roadway can easily handle 5000 vehicles a day.
  For those drivers who seem to think that the Foothill/East Bench areas are lawless areas, traffic citation more than doubled in the last few months for the area.  Due to many complaints from residents, the SLCPD seems to focusing on the streets that are near Foothill.  Be forewarned.
HOMELESS SHELTER PROBLEMS
  The homeless resource center on Paramont (15th South and 300 West) has been causing a lot of problems with neighbors.  Although the center allows the homeless to park in their parking lot, many homeless who park in the neighborhood say that they are not allowed to park in the lot and therefore park nearby (the shelter is supposedly full since homeless reserve a bed and they keep it even if they don't show up).  Neighbors are upset about the intimidation from "friends" that party nearby.  They defecate on the sidewalk and the police and homeless security personnel will not rouste the sidewalk loiterers.  Part of the problem is the Jail booking restrictions.  Neighbors have been attacked and the cop cam trailer that was supposed to increase neighborhood security was busted temporarily with a baseball bat (SLC needs more cop cams).  Despite promises to place on site police, the security is operated by a private company, much like The Road Home.
  The City is planning on two neighborhood outreach coordinators to help neighbors find solutions to the problems that the new shelters may (and do) bring.  One of those positions should go to actual clean up teams (like the Rio Grande clean team that cleans sidewalks).  The Ballpark community is upset that the neighborhood is getting a coordinator instead of someone who can actually do something instead of talking.
  The City is providing grants to individual residents and businesses between 17th South and 13th South to mitigate any problems that the shelters may cause.  Grants can be used for things like security cameras and systems.  Unfortunately the residents within a block of the borders are also impacted but are unable to get the grants.  Rawleigh.Greenhalgh@slcgov.com is the coordinator and should be contacted with questions.
LIBRARY WANTS BETTER SECURITY NOT COPS
  The SLC Public Library has decided that they want better security but they don't want cops to provide security, despite calling and using police response regularly.  The increased cost will be $221,000 for 4 more security personnel whihc is close to the cost of the present 5 contract personnel.  "The Library System already has a security supervisor and two full-time in-house security personnel.  The advantages to hiring the four personnel include more cohesive security operations and potentially less turnover than among contract security personnel, according to Library System administrators. The four would be trained to work with the varied fabric of people who use the Library System.  The four also would not carry firearms."  But it seems cops, are too intimidating for library patrons?!
NEW DOWNTOWN SUPPORTIVE SHELTER LIKE PALMER COURT
  Dan Lofgren of Cowboy Partners is asking the City to allow "65 furnished studio units of permanent supportive housing for transitioning from chronic homelessness.  Potential tenants will be drawn from current residents of the Homeless Resource Centers (HRCs) and will qualify for this housing only if their incomes are 25% AMI or less, and they otherwise meet Salt Lake City Housing Authority and Federal Section 8 requirements. The Road Home will be the service provider of onsite case management during business hours, as well as manager of the facility, which will include 1,200 square feet of common areas, clinical and counseling areas, and space for other organizations that provide addition services for tenants."  
  The developer, who has a good reputation of building mixed income and affordable housing is asking for the property behind the old SLCPD building (Pipeline Building) to build the housing in addition to a loan.  
  The Palmer Court supportive housing has a bad reputation as the second biggest medical response draw (after Rio Grande) due to drug and alcohol problems.  It will be interesting to see how this new housing works.
  "The Administration has indicated they are happy to provide an update on
these negotiations (about developing the rest of the Pipeline Building property) to Council Members in a small group meeting format (a secret meeting that the SL Council is regularly having, much like many of the elected governments in Utah).
BUDGET AMENDMENT 2 WITH SLCPD POLICE PATROLS
  SLC Budget Amendment 2 with the SLCPD overtime budget has this in the Council packet:  "The Council may wish to discuss which problem(s) the funding is intended to solve.  Staff heard the following mentioned during previous briefings: (1) increase patrols on Washington Square and in the City & County Building, (2) officers assist Parks employees with closing restrooms at night, (3) increase patrols in City parks and urban trails and (4) officers spend more time in identified crime hotspots which could include parks but is flexible to respond to changing crime intelligence, reports and community perceptions. The Council may wish to clarify the intent of funds added."
  The Police do not specify where in a park the crimes are occurring.  So, for instance, there is a large number of reported crimes shown at 600 East and 9th South since that is the address of Liberty Park.
  An interesting admission by the Administration is "for overtime to help with homeless mitigation in City Parks. The Police Department will be providing 35 hours of overtime in City Parks. This will help with the increased homeless activity seen in City Parks."
  Funding Our Future Neighborhood Safety will also provide funds for:
* Police Salary Adjustments and Police Salary increases for other police officers so the City can be more competitive in hiring and retention.
* Enhanced Body Cameras that activate when the gun is removed from a holster.  The City is evaluating whether to go through the State or by itself.
* The SLCPD is still scheduled to buy 100 new miniature hybrid police vehicles (according to police officers who would rather drive e-scooters).  20 vehicles have been received so far.
  The City redefined Neighborhood Safety so that the funds could be sued for dispatcher and fire fighter salary increases.
  On a side note, the City Parks restrooms closing schedule is:
"These parks are being closed until winterized fall of 2019:
- Liberty Park
- Fairmont Park
- Memory Grove
- Riverside Park
- Cottonwood Park
- Jordan Park
- 1700 South River
- Glendale Park
These parks will be added for closing in the 2020 summer closing:
- 9th South River
- West Point
- Warm Springs
- Rosewood
- Herman Franks
Tentative dates when these restrooms will be closed. All other restrooms in the parks have been
- Liberty Park- 12 doors- will shut down Oct 3
- Fairmont Park- 4 doors, will shut down Oct 31
- Memory Grove, 4 doors- shut down middle of November
- Riverside Park, 12 doors- shut down middle of November
- Cottonwood Park, 2 doors- will be locked during the week and opened on weekends, shut down
October 31
- Jordan Park, 2 doors - shut down middle of November
- 1700 South River Park - shut down middle of November
- Glendale Park, - shut down middle of November
In total there are:
- 81 SLC City Parks
- 1,694 acres of Natural Lands
- 47 miles of paved and unpaved trails"
SROS ABOUT TO TAKEOVER SLC
  Salt Lake City is pushing to allow SROs in more than commercial areas.  SROs have had a bad reputation (since I got involved in community activism in the 1980s) since they tend to devolve into crime magnets that especially attract prostitution and drug use.  The City policy to encourage mixed income seems to be going out the window and we could see a large number of crime magnet motels and mini Cabrini Greens.  Even the best managers, like at the Skyline Inn on Foothill Boulevard, were not able to stop the criminal activity.  North Temple and State Street should show that caution is warranted with SROs.  But the Council has asked that the Planning staff expand the area to more residential areas.  The implied promise of single family home neighborhoods may be at risk
UTAH AUTOMOBILE CRASH AND DUI ARRESTS, INJURIES AND FATALITIES
  "It is too soon to assess the impact of changing the statutory level to .05, though there did not appear to be a significant change in arrests after the implementation date."  There were 9,995 DUI related arrests in FY2019, 388 fewer than in FY2018.  But "the numbers of DUI/alcohol-related crashes, injuries, and fatalities all increased this year, particularly fatalities, after several years of stability or decline."
  The dispositions resulted in about 5500 substance use disorder screening and assessment orders, substance use disorder treatment (SUD) in about 4,400 cases and about 3200 educational interventions.
  There were 3,835 drivers license hearings in FY 2019 to determine if there was sufficient information to warrant the suspension or revocation of the individual’s driver license.  2,905 (76%) involved at least one of the parties calling in for the hearing.  In 1,293 cases (34%) no action could be taken!
  "The most common drug types found in drug-positive driver fatalities in CY 2018 were marijuana/THC; stimulants (e.g., methamphetamine); depressants (e.g., sedatives); and opioids (e.g., oxycodone)."
  There were 64,340 automobile crashes in the year 2018 and only 1968 were alcohol related with 1057 drug related.  Drug related crashed are increasing quickly while alcohol related crashes have been slightly decreasing (but up 8% this last year)
  There were 18,141 injuries in automobile crash in 2018 and only 1,223 crash injuries were alcohol related and 774 were drug related.
  There were 48 DUI related fatalities in 2018 which were 33% more than 2017.  There were 97 drug positive driver fatalities in 2018 (2017 had 88) which is three times more than in 2010.
STOP TRYING TO CUT TAXES BY INCREASING TAXES
  SLTRIB just published my opinion piece on "Promises to cut taxes usually end up increasing our taxes".  Despite significantly increasing taxes in the last few years, the Utah Legislature is pushing on cutting taxes by increasing taxes.  Utah seemed to think that internet taxes would provide over $200 million in new State revenue a couple of years ago and "promised" to cut taxes so that Utah wouldn't use the windfall that the new taxes would provide for new State spending.  Now the Legislature is saying that sales taxes are not expanding fast enough to provide enough general fund revenue!  But internet taxes are expanding, or should be expanding 20 to 50% a year!
  Utah should not be saying that we need to increase sales tax revenue when we supposedly just did with internet sales taxes!  The bureaucracy required to manage new services taxes like lemonade stands and piano teachers and braiding services will overtax even the very capable Tax Commissioner Valentine.
  I think that the proposed gasoline tax increase makes sense but it should be up to county councils.  If Salt Lake County wants to increase gasoline taxes 20 cents a gallon for 3 new east west freeways, they should have the authority.  I don't think that rural counties want higher gas prices.  I also would advocate for a simple 5% income tax to properly fund Utah education.  The Legislature changed the final day for comments from the 21st of November to the 25th of November.  I submitted the oped before the changed date so the Trib's oped had the 21st date.  You can also submit comments at strongerfutures.utah.gov.  The oped is at:
https://wwww.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2019/11/20/george-chapman-promises/  
SAFECAM SLC STOPS, SLC ACCEPTS RING NEIGHBORS
  The attempt by SLCPD to use Safecam to access neighborhood internet connected cameras, has been stopped.  The City and SLCPD are now using Ring Neighbors.  "Anyone can download the Ring Neighbors app to see what's going on in their neighborhoods, and other areas, by viewing surveillance clips, alerts and other information those with Ring doorbells are sharing on the site.  Although the system has privacy issues, if you know what you are doing, you can restrict access and increase security while optionally providing the neighborhood with access to the video.  Please set up the system with care.  There has been talk in other cities that has given out rebates to encourage buying the Amazon Ring doorbell cameras (that usually cost over $150).

UTA BUDGET HEARING RESET FOR NOVEMBER 19 TUESDAY (NOT WEDNESDAY)
   Almost no one showed up to comment on the UTA budget.  UTA originally had the hearing set for Wednesday November 19, which is a Tuesday.  UTA changed it a few day beforehand to Tuesday November 19.  Again, my comments on UTA budget proposal:
  I am against using the new increased taxes for anything other than service increases. Salary of drivers needs to be increased and is not in the budget. A 50% turnover of first year drivers is poor management! 
UTA should not be cancelling many of their bus buys but actually increasing buses if they really want to increase service. 
The Depot Garage project (going over $100 million) should be scaled back and the outlying garages proposed for later should be rushed forward to decrease the large number of empty deadhead buses. 
UTA should be spending a lot of money on increasing parking lots which are limiting ridership increases (see Booz Allen Hamilton reports/studies).  Vineyard needs a big parking lot before double tracking.
UTA should be negotiating with SLCO to decrease fares or implement a $25 a month pass to increase local bus ridership. Proposals to lower fare to zero will increase the use of UTA by so called undesirables and studies show that that decreases ridership increases.
UTA's data shows that frequency needs to be increased on the most used routes like Redwood Road and State Street now.  The 1-3% increase in ridership on weekdays with the new service is almost nothing! UTA should be providing direction to SLC on how to appropriately spend their transit dollars instead of wasting them. 
(UTA should analyze the $4 million that Salt Lake City is spending on new route 2, 9, 21 service increases as the cost per rider to give a better view of the use of the money.  So if the $4 million added 100 new riders (weekend and weekday) a day, then the cost per rider would be about $100!)
Efforts to buy electric buses should be cut back until their reliability is better.
UTA should return to the simple bus stop signs with the time the bus will be scheduled to be at the stop.  UTA used to do it.  Telling riders to work to find out the time is not service oriented.
UTA should not be spending money on bus stop amenity improvements until UTA stops telling drivers to stay 1-4 feet from the curb.
Despite ad revenue, putting window wraps on the buses, decreases ridership. The second biggest reason people like buses (after a pleasant driver) is clean windows.
The budget includes $1.4 milion for a Clearfield Station trail.  But the Station needs parking desperately!  
Other questionable expenditures includes end of line projects on North Temple and at the University of Utah at $2.5 million each. Think of the service that $2.5 million could bring! A more robust bus system does not just increase fare revenue on the new services but also systemwide.
There is also a budget line item for a 33/35th South optimization but those funds should be used to expand regular bus service.  The 35Max BRT has not increased ridership much over 3200 daily passengers since it started.  In my opinion, UTA does not know how to do BRTs.  The free BRT in Provo is not comparable.  To be considered successful, a BRT should be carrying a minimum of 5000 passengers a day since it is taking up 2 lanes of traffic that could be used for 10,000 daily vehicles!  The same goes for the 48th South BRT (despite promises to legislators to build it.
UTA is giving the credit of ski bus service to the Central Wasatch Commission, with an add on layer and cost of bureaucracy. Again, the complaints about lack of parking at the mouths of the canyons are going to limit their use for skiing.  
Note that UTA's bus stop amenity improvements on 500 East are despite the raised crosswalks and shared street (with bicycles) will decrease the effective speed of the buses.  And the buses will stop all traffic which will significantly increase pollution.  Some of the stops now are at bulbouts (which effectively stop traffic).  UTA should use bus pullouts at their bus stops to decrease pollution increases which would be more cost effective than so called ADA compliant bus stops.`
UTAH CREATES A MOBILE MENTAL CRISIS SYSTEM BUT RUINS IT
  Utah's attempt to create an effect mobile mental crisis system that is on call (sponsored by Senator Eliason) is an important effort to create a cost effective and better system for handling mental health issues, especially suicide and depression patients.  When police are called, the large response can make the situation worse due to the noise and massing of personnel.  In addition, the police say that they sometimes wait at the jail for hours to book a patient!  It puts patients in crisis in a "deeper and darker hole".
  A 23 hour short term observation at a hospital costs $1,250.  A one time MCOT (Mobile Crisis Outreach Team) visit that allows the patient to be treated at home costs $380.  The call center costs $40 for a call.  But, in Utah, the system is not completely implemented so MCOT must use an ambulance with disturbing, to a patient, sirens and an overwhelming personnel response, which often aggravates the patient's condition.  The service providers also need more certification.
  It is a partnership with Salt Lake County and OptumHealth providing crisis services to County residents. UNI MCOT is an interdisciplinary team of licensed professionals and certified peer specialists available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Services include: crisis resolution services for anyone experiencing, or at risk of, a mental health crisis, and who requires mental health intervention; rapid response-face to face assessment and crisis intervention anywhere in Salt Lake County; consultation and support to individuals of any age, families, and treatment providers; and follow-up services including information and referrals, linkage with appropriate community based mental health services for ongoing treatment. UNI accepts most major insurance providers.  The Receiving Center at UNI is a short-term (up to 23 hours) secure center providing:
therapeutic crisis management,
an assessment based on strengths and psychiatric needs,
medication intervention, and
wellness recovery/discharge planning.
  The service can provide free crisis response and hospital diversion programs that aim to keep all our family members, friends, and neighbors safe. The community crisis service programs are designed to provide community members with a full range of options to help solve the crisis in the best setting possible.
  The crisis number is 801 587 3000.  Unfortunately many 911 systems are not passing callers to this number and service.  Police response, as mentioned above, can make the situation worse.  It can result in a major fight with significant injuries and in some cases, death due to poor training and a stressful situation.  
  Other contact numbers for similar issues:
WARMLINE: 801-587-1055 For residents in Salt Lake County who are not in Crisis but are seeking support in: support, engagement, and encouragement.
Services are available 24/7 both locally and statewide as the Utah affiliate for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255
Callers may speak with peer specialists daily from 8 am to 11 pm

NOVEMBER 6, 2019
UTA BUDGET STILL DOES NOT INCREASE SERVICE & NEEDS COMMENTS
BRENT TAYLOR LETTER ON DISCOUNT PASSES
EMPTY JAIL BEDS, SSLC SHELTER JAIL OVERFLOW, SLCO TAX INCREASE
ACLU SUGGESTS THAT OPERATION RIO GRANDE WAS NOT THAT SUCCESSFUL
HOMELESS TAI CHI GETS NATIONAL NEWS ATTENTION
INLAND PORT STARTED WITH RALPH BECKER
SLC PUBLIC HEARING COPS IN PARKS UNIFORMS NOV. 12 7PM
LAWSUIT AGAINST SLC PRIORITY DISPATCH
SUGAR HOUSE JUST LOST MOST PUBLIC ON STREET PARKING
NEW ESCOOTER PROPOSAL NEEDS COMMENTS
UNIVERSITY OF UTAH PROVIDING FREE AIR SENSORS FOR POLLUTION
WALK WITH A FLASHLIGHT
GRANITE SCHOOLS MAY CLOSE ROOSEVELT ELEM 800 EAST 3300 SOUTH
BILL DAVIS CALLS SLTRIB FAKE NEWS
REASONS TO READ NEWSPAPERS, EVEN DESERET NEWS

UTA BUDGET STILL DOES NOT INCREASE SERVICE & NEEDS YOUR COMMENTS
  The UTA Budget is out (and I put it in the TRANSPORTATION Downloads in the upper right).  There will be a public hearing on November 19th at 6PM at the HQ on 669W 2nd South supposedly on a Wednesday.  But the 19th is a Tuesday so I expect that they will change it.  You can and should comment on the UTA budget by emailing boardoftrustees@rideuta.com.  Or you submit a comment at:
https://www.rideuta.co/about-UTA/Public-Hearings/UTA-2020-Tentative-Budget/Tentative-2020-Budget-Comment-Form
I hope that you complain about the lack of service increases, the focus on projects not service, the lack of parking, the lack of lower fares and the administrative costs that seem to be increasing.  The most important takeaway is that it does not really increase service although there is a proposed plan to increase service in August 2020.  But there is a minimal salary increase for drivers in the budget.  There will probably be an amendment after the negotiations with the Union which is taking place now.  It is important to recognize that there is a 50% turnover of new bus drivers in the first year.  The split shifts are part of the problem but the minimal wage is also a big factor.  UTA pays drivers $17.76 an hour to start.  Interestingly, the wage to pay no more than the recommended 30% of wages for housing in SLC a few years ago is $17.77!  I would expect the wage recommended now is over $20/hour.  Even new drivers at services at the University of Utah make a starting wage of $15/hour.  But drivers are responsible for the safety of their passengers which can number over 50.  That should be the focus of the next budget.
  I am also concerned about the perception that is being pushed (by SLC and UTA) that the SLC bus service expansions are exceptional.  One to 3% increase in ridership for weekdays is not exceptional.  Weekend increases for route 9 (Sunday is listed  as 145%) is a percentage instead of a number and that is important since route 9 did not used to have Sunday service.  It is like saying DUIs in Sugar House are up 900%.  That statement means nothing without the real numbers (DUIs in Sugar House used to average about 2 a month but recently it has been around 18 per month).  The $4 million that Salt Lake City is spending on new route 2, 9, 21 service increases should be listed as the cost per rider to give a better view of the use of the money.  So if the $4 million added 100 new riders (weekend and weekday) a day, then the cost per rider would be about $100!
  There also needs to be increased funding to attract and keep more maintenance workers since UTA cancelled buying many new buses saying that they can keep up their buses.  But they have been having trouble keeping buses serviced which resulted in some well used routes getting the 28 seat ski buses (which will have more seats added for ski service - see below) instead of the 55 seat regular buses.  I know that UTA is trying to buy electric buses (the first ones went to Park City and the University of Utah) but there is a 5 year backlog to buy or lease electric buses.  The effort to increase production of electric buses has stalled since they have been having maintenance issues.  One big transit district had to return all of their buses due to breakdowns.  They are a new technology and it will take a while to make them reliable.
  UTA is starting to place new signs on their bus stops but they make riders work.  They are not simple and do not really tell riders much other than service is good and text a number to find out when the bus is going to show up.  UTA Transit Tracker (free with ads) tells a smartphone where the bus is.  UTA used to have simple signs with a list of when the bus would be at the stop.  But UTA is getting fancy (and spending a lot of money on signs that make riders work.
  UTA is also forcing riders to work harder to get onto the buses.  Drivers are still told to stay 1-4 feet from the curb so riders have to step into the street then up onto the bus!  So UTA spending $2.5 million on bus stop improvements in Salt Lake County seems to be misplaced.  UTA should just tell drivers to get next to the curb to minimize the step up onto the bus.  When that is done, studies show that bus service and rail service is equivalent.  In other words, riders do not like to step  up onto buses.  Interestingly, the fast buses that have fancy reclining seating and 5-10 minute ADA wheelchair loading require step ups, lots of step ups.
  The budget includes double tracking of FrontRunner near Utah County's Vineyard but without more parking, it seems to be a waste.  There does not seem to be much in the proposed budget for more parking.  So even if the fares go to zero, it will be frustratingly impossible to actually increase mass transit use while decreasing vehicle travel.  The Booz Allen Hamilton study showed that lack of parking (and ticket machine throughput) limits mass transit ridership increases when fares decrease.  The standard is now at -.40 so cutting fares in half would be predicted to increase ridership 20%.  Also, except for the rush hours, FrontRunner usually runs with 60 passengers.  That is not sustainable.  Again, the important takeaway is the proposed UTA budget does not significantly increase parking at parking lots that are already full!  
  Proposals to decrease fares to $1 also were not considered but they should be tested.  Unfortunately, the UTA budget is not suggesting that.  Salt Lake City has been trying to increase mass transit ridership with the HIVE UTA pass which is about $40 a month.  But that is about the same as a senior pass and the attempt to sell 6000 has been a failure.  Only about 2000 have been sold.  Spending hundreds of thousands on marketing did not really increase the use.  If Salt Lake City negotiated like BYU and UVU, they could provide their residents with free or almost free passes for the $4 million.  UTA and Salt Lake County should set up some tests to see what will actually increase ridership with lower bus fares (not TRAX since their parking lots are full) with a free TRAX transfer or a lower monthly pass.
  The bond refunding is in process and should decrease some of the future interest plus principal payments (That were going to increase 50% in the next 6 years!).  But the bonds are also going to be used for the Depot District garage with the explanation that the increased efficiencies will compensate for the deadhead buses that will continue to go to outlying areas empty in the morning (to bring in workers from the suburbs) and return at night empty (after taking workers to the suburbs after work).  I disagree that the deadhead increases will be compensated with increased efficiencies.  The plan was to build garages in the southwest and southeast areas to decrease deadhead/empty buses.  And so UTA is actually making its workers drive more to get to the central garage!  I think that UTA will have to eventually build those outlying garages.  UTA is counting on a total cost of over $100 million with $17 million already spent.  22% of the capital budget is being proposed for the Depot garage.  UTA expects the federal government to provide a 50% match to their $40 million but the last TIGER grant from the federal government gave us $20 million if we matched it with $80 million in local funding.
  I still think that putting ads on windows, decreasing outside views, discourages ridership but UTA is getting about $4 million from these ads and they think that they are more important than riders (in my opinion).
  The budget also includes $1.4 million for a Clearfield Station trail.  But the Station needs parking desperately!  Other questionable expenditures includes end of line projects on North Temple and at the University of Utah at $2.5 million each.  I think that the $5 million should be used for service increases.  There is also a budget line item for a 33/35th South optimization but those funds should be used to expand regular bus service.  The 35Max BRT has not increased ridership much over 3200 daily passengers since it started.  In my opinion, UTA does not know how to do BRTs.  The free BRT in Provo is not comparable.  To be considered successful, a BRT should be carrying a minimum of 5000 passengers a day since it is taking up 2 lanes of traffic that could be used for 10,000 daily vehicles!
  Also, UTA is going to give the credit of ski bus service to the Central Wasatch Commission.  Another layer of bureaucracy adds to the cost of providing service!  The CWC is nothing more than an attempt to give ski resorts more of what they want to expand and to make taxpayers fund a rail line up the canyons to benefit the resorts.  Before the CWC, UTA provided annual ski bus service.  So the $120,000 for the CWC's Ralph Becker added to the staff cost and the new UTA executives actually increases the cost of administration to provide mass transit service in UTah!  Surprise!  The biggest complaints about the ski bus service includes 28 seat buses but UTA has agreed to increase the seating.  UTA should have increased seating when they were using the ski buses on regular crowded UTA routes!  Again, the complaints about lack of parking at the mouths of the canyons are going to limit their use for skiing.  The potential of sitting on a bus for up to 3 hours is a big turnoff (It only takes about an hour to go to the ski resorts from the canyon mouth if traffic is flowing well.).  
  The service will be as much as 15 minute service with ski bus routes 972 going from 61 to 79 runs everyday (eliminating Bingham Junction stop - starting at Midvale TRAX) and route 953 going from 17 to 35 runs everyday.  There will be no change in route 994.
  I also put the UTA microtransit proposal in the TRANSPORTATION downloads.  The proposal will provide $2.50 fares to access rides to the nearest operating bus or rail stops mainly in the southwest corner of Salt Lake County.

BRENT TAYLOR LETTER ON DISCOUNT PASSES
  I am disappointed that Salt Lake County elected leaders are not negotiating with UTA as well as BYU and UVU.  A summary of the questionable passes that UTA is giving to BYU and UVU was laid out in a complaint by Brent Taylor (before he was killed in Afghanistan).  I put the letter in the upper right TRANSPORTATION downloads.  Salt Lake County citizens deserve at least as much but I agree with Brent Taylor in UVU and BYU got a sweetheart deal.

EMPTY JAIL BEDS, SSLC SHELTER JAIL OVERFLOW AND SLCO TAX INCREASE
  Salt Lake County still has unused beds at Oxbow Jail (mainly due to lack of staff), the County Jail still functions as a revolving door jail which will result in the South Salt Lake Shelter being used as a jail overflow and the County is proposing a tax increase while still playing a shell game with the $9.4 million repurposed jail bond.  The tax increase will have a public hearing on December 3rd, probably at 6PM along with the hearing on the proposed budget.  I encourage everyone to provide comments to (cut and paste all together if you want):
shireen@slco.org,arbradshaw@slco.org,agranato@slco.org,anewton@slco.org,mburdick@slco.org,jbradley@slco.org,sdebry@updsl.org,mhjensen@slco.org,mayor@slco.org,
  My main comments include the County is still ignoring the promise made several years ago when the Mayor and Council repurposed the $9.4 million jail bond for the Pay For Success program meant to reduce jail use.  But the maximum that the County will pay out if the PFS program is successful is $11.4 million!  So what happened to the rest of the over $50 million (so far) of funding for public safety?  The DA workload is still 30% more than recommended.  At least they got 3 new investigators last year (too late to save SSLC Officer David Romrell, who was killed by a criminal who would have, should have been in jail for manslaughter except for the lack of DA investigators to provide evidence about the manslaughter).  But the jail dashboard (Google slco.org and Jail Dashboard there are 5 pages updated daily) shows that the average previous bookings of inmates is 11!  And some inmates have been arrested hundreds of times!  In other words, the police are being used as mental health professionals and wasting their time since anyone they take to jail is almost immediately released.  There have been several recent situations where an arrest for rape would have been justified, but the rapist of underage girls was not arrested!
  So the SLCO Jail still has booking restrictions.  The 300 beds provided by other counties (at about $55/bed/night versus a cost of $101 per night at the SLCO Metro Jail) have been decreased to less than 100 (I put the Sheriff's presentation in the CRIME/HOMELESS downloads column.).  And Oxbow Jail still does not have enough jailers to man and open up 128 beds that are available at the Jail!  The Sheriff admitted that staffing is still a problem, mainly due to compensation.  UPD Millcreek Captain DeBry, who is also a Councilman, said "jail is a hellhole".  The Jail is authorized to have 560 allocations but 94 are unfilled.  The plan is to have 87 hired this year (while 46 were hired last year).
  Tooele County Jail stopped providing 48 beds.  Two counties still provide some beds.  SLCounty had 2276 operational beds last year and they have 2231 beds now.  184 beds at Oxbow Jail are available but 120 beds are still not open.  Personnel are being lost to local law enforcement.  Part of the problem is the JRI which is dumping prisoners into the county jails without financial help.  Without adequate jail space, the South Salt Lake City Shelter will function as a jail overflow since it is only a few blocks away.  Drug addicts do not generally commit victimless crimes and that shows the importance of adequate funding for jail space.  In addition mental health treatment does not generally work on the street.  Giving a person in need of mental health treatment a bottle of pills and sending them on their way just results in most selling the pills for money to buy heroin.
  The public safety bureau (not UPD) has 135 allocations and 18 are unfilled.  But recruitment is ramping up with 35 in process (passing initial investigation) this year while 6 were in process at this time last year.  Some will get a 2.57% salary increase but most will get a 5.56% raise.  There is also an increase in uniform allowance from 900 at hiring to 1100.  Since the County requires all uniforms to be bought from one supplier, a shirt can be $60 and a vest can be over $600.  In the jail environment, replacement is needed more often (Firemen get $1200.).
  In my opinion, there still is no adequate reasonable respectful public safety funding.  The $9.4 million jail bond that was to be used for public safety/Pay For Success has disappeared into a black hole and the tax increase will result in a $369,000 residence paying $34 more a year and a $368,000 business paying $61 more a year.  Property owners have been getting tax increases of hundreds a year recently and this is another insult.  If you care, one way or another, comment to the emails above or at the public hearing.

ACLU SUGGESTS THAT OPERATION RIO GRANDE WAS NOT THAT SUCCESSFUL
  ACLU released a report that questions the damage that arresting and/or ticketing the same person hundreds of times.  The report, that I agree with, is at:
https://www.acluutah.org/images/aclu_uT_ORG_Endgame-final-public.pdf
  I also think that the report should point to the waste of resources when the same person is requiring hundreds of hours of public safety resources.  Part of the issue is the jail booking restrictions and revolving door jail.  Essentially, it comes down to inadequate public safety funding in Salt Lake County.

HOMELESS TAI CHI GETS NATIONAL NEWS ATTENTION
  Bernie and Marita Hart have been providing Tai Chi to homeless at Pioneer Park and the Main Library for several years.  They have become respected by the homeless community and have provided important information on the homeless problems.  They provided education and direction to the Road Home Audit personnel.  The article is at:
https://www.msn.com/en-sg/lifestyle/lifestyle-news-feature/homeless-people-find-friends-ease-stress-in-tai-chi-class/ar-AAJgocT?li=BBr8OIU#image=AAJgocT_1

INLAND PORT STARTED WITH RALPH BECKER
  I was reminded that former Mayor Ralph Becker started the proposal to create an inland port in Salt Lake City.  His website is at:
http://www.ralphbecker.com/a-jobs-economic-development-blueprint-for-a-great-american-city

SLC PUBLIC HEARING ON COPS IN PARKS OVERTIME AND UNIFORMS ON NOV. 12 7PM
  The SLC Council will have a public hearing on Budget Amendment 2 which will authorize SLCPD overtime to provide police patrols of parks (they do it now).  Tentatively, the Council believes that the police patrols in parks should be in less intimidating bicycle cop uniforms.  I feel that this is wrong.  If the first experience with a cop is during a criminal investigation, especially with a child present, society is losing.  Kids and people should feel that cops are not intimidating and can be approachable.  Patrolling parks in regular uniforms would help.  I am repeating the blog entry from last month:
  A recent SLC Council discussion took place regarding the controversy of using SLCPD in uniforms as park rangers.  When the Council balked due to uniforms being intimidating for a certain demographic, the proposal stalled.  Although it could have been implemented by October of 2019 with the help of a new graduating class from the Police Academy,  the Council now says that the soonest that police functioning as park rangers would take a year.  If Salt Lake City allows overtime to be used, park rangers can start by November.  The City is tentatively having a hearing on the proposal on November 12 at the SLC evening 7 PM formal meeting.  Although the discussion is still up in the air about how Budget Amendment 2 "relates to the upcoming park rangers program".  Please tell the City Council that we want SLCPD patrolling the parks in uniform.  The Council discussion included these notes:
"The Administration is recommending an increase in the Police Department overtime budget to accommodate requested
changes in staffing....for overtime to help with homeless mitigation in City Parks. The Police Department will be providing 35 hours of overtime in City Parks. This will help with the increased homeless activity seen in City Parks."
  But the important issue is would you like cops patrolling in bicycle cop uniforms or regular uniforms?  Please email the Council with your comments at: council.comments@slcgov.com or show up and comment at the November 12 public hearing.

LAWSUIT AGAINST SLC PRIORITY DISPATCH
  There are lots of issues with Salt Lake County emergency dispatch services.  There are three separate organizations and numbers!  And each gets calls from areas that should be for another area due to cell phone systems.  And if the dispatch operator is not sufficiently trained and is not knowledgeable enough to understand an emergency and send the police to the correct address, people die.  A person who almost died at the hands of a criminal (who never should have been released from prison) tried 3 times to get police but the dispatch operator did not understand the emergency or address (they should have recognized the emergency and sent cops).  The recent audit confirmed that part of the problem is the Priority Dispatch script that is more useful for fire department and medical professionals.  The Fire Department likes it.  The police hate it.  I was quoted in a Salt Lake Tribune article 5 years ago about a caller reporting a robbery in progress who was ordered to walk through the script!  That has continued until recently when the Matrix 911 Audit of SLC's system suggested changes that the administration agreed with.  My blog entry from May 29 2019 summarizes the report (in the CRIME/HOMELESS downloads column):
911 AUDIT SHOWS TIME TO DISPATCH CAN BE OVER 700 SECONDS
  Matrix has submitted an audit of Salt Lake City's Dispatch Center.  The data is not good.  The average time to queue a call is 41 seconds and the time to send a call to dispatch is 139 seconds.  There is a big difference depending on the priority.  SLC 911 Dispatch "does not meet the secondary NENA standard of 99% of calls answered within 40 seconds" (in SLC it is 96.7%).  The elapsed time from the call to dispatch of field units is excessive in some cases.  
  The median time a call is received to queue /to dispatch is:
       priority 1 35/183 seconds
       priority 3 44/700 seconds!
       priority 4 47/2036 seconds
average is 41 seconds/139 seconds
  The 90% of the time a call is received to queue/to dispatch
       priority 1 146/519 seconds
       priority 3 146/4,634 seconds
       priority 4 151/13,928 seconds
average is 452 seconds/4,777 seconds
  What the statistics show is that it can take almost 10 minutes for 10% of the priority one calls to be sent to officers on patrol by dispatch!  "10% of calls (even Priority 1 calls) take more than 2 minutes and 19 seconds for call takers to code them for a dispatcher.  A review of the data showed that 66% of calls are coded within one minute."  The audit showed that the times for Sandy 911 calls were better and the median call to queue versus to dispatch was 30 vrs 103 seconds.
  Part of the problem was the Priority Dispatch system that SLC Dispatch has used.  "some dispatch staff and many (patrol) field staff believe that the Priority Dispatch ProQA system hinders the level of service.... to officers in the field and.... to the emergency requestor....Those who hold this sentiment believe that the rigidity of ProQA inhibits call takers' ability to interact with callers using common sense, quickly obtain and relay the most vital information and correctly determine the level of priority for calls".  Salt Lake City agrees with that assessment.  It has decided to move away from Priority Dispatch and has committed to work with UPD to use their system.  There was a 2010 story in the Salt Lake Tribune about the problems with Priority Dispatch.  In one case, it took several minutes for a dispatcher to acknowledge a robbery in progress since the caller did not recognize the script and the questions from dispatch did not make sense.  
  The audit recommended that "the 911 Center should prepare citizens to use 911 and enhance public relations and recruitment efforts by continuing to build its public education program."  Several years ago, the SLCPD Community Intelligence Officers did go through the long script priority list in an effort to educate the public about how to get higher priority responses.  For instance saying skateboard in progress will get a faster response than skateboard.  Or saying breakin means slower response than breakin in progress.  Also saying homeless will put you on the bottom of the priority list while saying prowler in progress/now will put you at the top of the priority list.
  The audit recommended eliminating the PBX Operator jobs which are taking the non emergency calls.  But the PBX operators cannot take incident reports since they are not fully certified dispatchers.  PBX operators are paid 13.69/hour ($139,500 annual funding) while certified dispatchers are at $15.20 per hour.  It is important to note that some starting positions at some McDonalds in this State pay more!  The audit recommended that the City "reformulate how it handles non emergency call volume".  As of April 2019, all PBX operator positions have been moved to dispatchers.  There is also a goal of 22% limit to turnover but it is questionable that that can be met in this labor market.
  The audit also recommended 20 new positions to handle the call volume.  SLC Dispatch recommended 9 new dispatchers but the Mayor suggested 6 in her budget proposal.  The "majority of residents believe 911 dispatch is doing a good to excellent job overall" but they are more satisfied with dispatchers than with the time to respond.  The audit recommended that dispatch tell callers the estimated arrival time and also tell callers what the estimated hold time is if they are put on hold.  The City has also adopted the recommendation that the system "allow responders to view calls to optimize level of required support".
  The bottom line is that the 911 system in SLC has not been as effective as possible, even though the vast majority (82%)of callers are satisfied with the service.  The non-emergency calls are now being taken by better trained personnel and 911 Dispatch has a goal of answering 95% of calls within 15 seconds.  13% of callers are being put on hold for a median of 2 minutes.  They are answering 93.5% of calls within 20 seconds.
  Interestingly, 10 minutes was the median reported wait time for services (Fire/EMS/Police) to arrive while average was one hour (page 59 of 911 audit)!  "SLC customers reported a median wait time of 15 minutes for officers to arrive, compared to 10 minutes for Sandy City customers."
  SLC 911 admits that police dispatcher positions should be 79 while currently at 58.  "But 21 additional employees would be a significant financial burden to the City so the City converted most shifts to 12 hours from 10 hours."

  I recently confirmed that SLC Dispatch is not using the Priority Dispatch for law enforcement calls but is using it for fire/medical calls.  The County's Valley Emergency Communications is also using Priority Dispatch.  The Priority Dispatch system was developed in Salt Lake City and promoted by SLC Dispatch Director.  I still think that it is a waste of time and endangers the public.

SUGAR HOUSE JUST LOST MOST PUBLIC ON STREET PARKING
  Due to the pending construction of the Fairmont on the southwest corner of ELm and McClelland, both sides of McClelland south of Elm/Wilmington are closed to parking.  Local businesses are significantly negatively impacted.  38 to 50 parking spots are lost until construction is finished!  The Boulder Ventures project on the east side of McClelland is also stalled due to funding (supposedly they are suggesting that UTA get the Legislature to allow UTA to give more money to the project to finish it as a TOD even though is not mixed use that TODs are supposed to be - this was the company that got $10 million for not building a parking garage and was one of the big issues with the last UTA audit).  SLC should make McClelland one way going south and allow parking on both sides with just one travel lane and pedestrian lanes.  Otherwise up to 10 more businesses will fail in the next year.  Local small businesses need parking to survive.

NEW ESCOOTER PROPOSAL NEEDS COMMENTS
  I put the new SLC E Scooter proposal in the TRANSPORTATION downloads column in the upper right.  I still think that they don't belong on sidewalks.  I do think that bicycles should be allowed on all sidewalks including downtown.  15mph vehicles should not be creating hazards on sidewalks.  Email dockless@slcgov.com with comments or to file a complaint and take the survey at:
https://www.slc.gov/transportation/sharedmobility/

UNIVERSITY OF UTAH PROVIDING FREE AIR SENSORS FOR POLLUTION
  The University of Utah is providing free air sensors to those interested in allowing them to be mounted on the outside of their homes.  The sensors will be used to monitor pollution.  Those interested in being considered for an air sensor station, email kerry.kelly@utah.edu.  This is part of a study by Ayana Amaechi and Danny Bae for AirU to measure air quality around the Salt Lake valley.  WiFi is needed and a sheltered location along with 5V power.

WALK WITH A FLASHLIGHT
  With the time change, it is getting dark fast.  Please consider carrying a flashlight when walking and turning it on when crossing streets.  Kids should always carry and use a flashlight when crossing the street.  Walk safely.

GRANITE SCHOOLS MAY CLOSE ROOSEVELT ELEMENTARY ON 800 EAST 3300 SOUTH
  Granite School District is considering closing Roosevelt Elementary on 800 East and 3300 South in the near future.  They may discuss it at their next meeting on November 12 at 7 PM (at their offices on 2500 S. State Street).  The present Roosevelt Elementary is between 800 and 850 East and between 3200 and 3300 South.  It mainly serves the refugee community since local attendance is down significantly due to the demographics of the local neighborhood.  The District is building a new Roosevelt Elementary west of I15.  I mentioned several months ago that Ivory Homes has expressed interest in building homes on the property.  It will be an interesting meeting.  The notice is not up yet but the Superintendent's Office confirmed that the Board may hear the plan at the November 12th meeting. 

BILL DAVIS CALLS SLTRIB FAKE NEWS
  In an effort to support Erin Mendenhall's campaign for mayor of SLC, Bill Davis, a community leader and someone who I respect, called me a lier in his op-ed in the Salt Lake Tribune for listing some news stories of Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall's efforts to increase taxes, secret meetings and increase her salary. The Trib also questioned my so called facts until I provided them with links from Trib stories that supported my facts.  That is the only reason they published my oped explaining why I felt that Senator Luz Escamilla would be a great mayor for Salt Lake City.  Interestingly  Bill and I agreed that Erin could hit the ground running with her knowledge of the City.  Bill Davis, I still love you but calling me a lier is like calling the Salt Lake Tribune fake news.

REASONS TO READ NEWSPAPERS, EVEN DESERET NEWS
  Salt Lake City is in the process of electing a new mayor. The decision of voters, hopefully, will depend on the facts and issues and stories that the Deseret News and other newspapers have published in the last few years. There has never been a more important time to encourage regular readership of newspapers. (I did not create clickable links below for Deseret News, FYI.)
  Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall has a lot of knowledge on the workings of the City since she has served on the Council since being elected in 2013. She served as Chair of the Council last year and led the negotiations with the Legislature on accepting the Inland Port. Senator Luz Escamilla has experience working in business, finance, in banking, in business development and working successfully with the Legislature to find common ground and solutions. She has passed over 50 bills. 
  I have been attacked recently for pointing out that Senator Escamilla’s history seems to predict a very successful mayoral administration if she is elected mayor of Salt Lake City. I also said that Councilwoman Mendenhall can hit the ground running due to her experience on the City Council. I acknowledge that I encouraged voting for Senator Escamilla due to several important Deseret News articles that have discussed City Council actions since 2013. They include many tax increases, secret meetings and a Council salary increase. 
  The Deseret News has had several articles and opinion pieces that justify my concern about the homeless shelter sites’ decision process. The articles include:
https://www.deseret.com/2017/3/2/20607343/in-our-opinion-new-homeless-plan-shows-important-lesson-for-government, https://www.deseret.com/2017/1/7/20603627/inside-the-newsroom-the-homeless-debate-is-different-on-the-street-corner, and https://www.deseret.com/2017/1/5/20603437/salt-lake-city-went-about-homeless-site-selection-all-wrong#file-salt-lake-city-council-members-and-mayor-jackie-biskupski-listen-to-public-comment-during-a-council-meeting-at-the-city-and-county-building-in-salt-lake-city-on-tuesday-jan-03-2017. The importance of newspapers in a good and public decision by elected leaders is shown by the lack of public involvement in the process.  The Deseret News said “If there’s a lesson to be learned, it’s about whether or not it’s wise to go ahead with these kinds of projects without encouraging and respecting input from the public most affected.... That decision backfired.” Jay Evensen pointed out that “This has not been the city’s finest hour….Salt Lake City’s leaders ought to have announced the sites under consideration, listened to the people, then made the case and announced a decision. Holding a hearing before a decision becomes final gives the public at least a fighting chance to influence the outcome or provide important information.”
  Over the last year, there have been Salt Lake City tax increases on sales taxes (used for streets, police, affordable housing and transit) and on water, sewer and storm water fees. The sewer rates have been set to more than double since 2017. The Deseret News stories are at:
https://www.deseret.com/2019/6/2/20674715/salt-lake-city-water-sewer-bills-will-keep-getting-more-expensive-for-years-to-come-in-proposed-plan and  https://www.deseret.com/2017/4/22/20610819/salt-lake-city-officials-proposing-water-sewer-rate-increases-over-next-five-years. 
  Interestingly, the last big property tax increase in Salt Lake City was in 2013 when the City Council approved a 13.8% tax hike mainly for streets’ maintenance. The Deseret News articles are at: https://www.deseret.com/2013/6/18/20453872/salt-lake-city-approves-13-8-percent-tax-hike-despite-mayor-s-threat-to-veto and https://www.deseret.com/2013/6/22/20521531/a-rocky-road-funding-salt-lake-street-repairs-after-a-recession#barry-jacobsen-picks-up-construction-cones-off-400-south-in-salt-lake-city-on-friday-june-21-2013. The City rescinded the increased streets’ maintenance funding the next year. Ironically, Bill Davis, who has expressed concern about publicizing these tax increases, was quoted in the Deseret News complaining about a $500 car repair caused by a pothole in 2013.
  The Salt Lake City Council, with Chair Erin Mendenhall’s leadership, voted to give themselves almost a $10,000 pay increase last year. That story is at: 
 https://www.deseret.com/2018/12/11/20660952/salt-lake-city-council-votes-to-give-themselves-a-nearly-10-000-pay-bump.  
  I know most of these stories since I was at the meetings mentioned in the stories. A concerned citizen does not have to go to all of these meetings. We have newspapers to cover these issues. My main point is that newspapers are important to provide a better analysis and decision by elected leaders and citizens. I have my opinions but I encourage others to learn about the issues from our newspapers and express their opinions and vote. Our free press helps in the success of this Country, our State and our cities

OCTOBER 23, 2019

DUELING OPEDS FOR LUZ AND FOR ERIN
3 PLUS VAPING BILLS COMING AT LEGISLATURE
SLC PARK RANGERS/BIKE PATROL OVERTIME DISCUSSION
SLC SCHOOLS ENCOURAGE LOWER ENROLLMENT
27TH SOUTH STREET PROJECT PROBLEMS WITH WATER LINES
9TH SOUTH STREET PROJECT FINISHES OCT 31?
IIHS DESTROYS CYCLE TRACK SAFETY MYTH
SUGAR HOUSE WANTS TRAX TO SUGAR HOUSE PARK
NEW SHOPPING CART PHONE NUMBER
25MPH DECREASES SPEEDING BUT MAY INCREASE POLLUTION
SUGAR HOUSE PARK RESTAURANT NOT LIKELY AND ROSE GARDEN STILL DEAD
SUGAR HOUSE PARK EFFORTS TO DETER ILLEGAL ACTIVITY
UNLICENSED APARTMENT FOR EX PRISONERS GIVEN LICENSE APPLICATION
TELL SLC AND SLCO TO LOWER BUS/TRAX PASS TO $25/MONTH
9TH SOUTH 1100 EAST ROUNDABOUT NEED BIG SCULPTURE
DEVELOPER TRIES TO IGNORE PARKING REQUIREMENTS
SLC PUSHES RIGHT HAND ONLY TURNS WHILE ENCOURAGING LEFT HAND TURNS
MENDENHALL STILL PUSHING SRO CRIME MAGNETS IN ALL NEIGHBORHOODS
1100 EAST PROJECT TO ADD TO 1300 EAST PROJECT TRAFFIC DELAYS
SLC MAY DECREASE BILLBOARDS BUT INCREASE RAIL POWER LINES  
SLC RDA OWNS 7 OF 15 ACRES IN DEPOT DISTRICT NORTH OF 600S
UTA DESTROYS HAMBLIN FURNITURE FOR $500,000 
UTA TRYING TO NOT PROVIDE BETTER BUS SERVICE
UTA NEW BOND BUY $540 MILLION FOR PROJECTS
UTA FRONTRUNNER ALMOST KILLS 100
NOISE COMPLAINTS 
WHY ISN'T SLC TICKETING IDLING TRUCKS (ESPECIALLY AT INLAND PORT)
SLC CAN'T STOP EVICTIONS OF LOW INCOME SENIOR

DUELING OPEDS FOR LUZ AND FOR ERIN
  I still think Luz would be a better mayor for SLC
  I had an oped Saturday explaining why I thought that Luz Escamilla could be a great mayor of Salt Lake City at https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2019/10/20/george-chapman-escamillas/
  Yesterday, Bill Davis, who I have a lot of respect for as a community leader, had an oped that said my oped "contained, in my opinion, some outright lies".  It is ironic that the Tribune also questioned some of my statements and only published my oped after I provided links to SLTRIB.COM stories that proved my statements to be true.  I have listened to almost all of the City Council meetings in the last 8 years and have attended most of the community council meetings (I write a news blog at georgechapman.net that provides a lot of news that local newspapers miss.).  I know this stuff.  
  I still think that Bill Davis would be a better Councilmember than Erin Mendenhall and when anyone, Bill or Ralph Becker or anyone calls me a lier, I laugh because it is laughably dumb to call someone who knows this stuff a lier.  (Ralph called me a lier for passing out a flyer that I agreed to change to his language before I passed it out!  He must have forgot when he sent thousands of letters to my friends and neighbors up to a mile away, calling me a lier.  I laugh everytime I think of it.) I still love you Bill.  You make me laugh.
  Bill claimed that the secret meetings setting the homeless shelter sites were not Erin Mendenhall's fault but she and the Council did go into closed sessions many times to unanimously agree to four sites.  I was watching at the Council when they did it!
  This year, the Council voted for many tax increases (sales, water, sewer, transit) and a 40% Council salary increases.  The Council also voted for a Transit Master Plan with a local cost of over a billion dollars of projects.  Erin led the effort to try to get a $125 million parks bond and, at several recent meetings, has seemed excited at the potential for SLC being able to borrow more money for projects.  
  Erin also has defended her support of her fellow Councilmembers' concern that some "demographics" are intimidated by cops in uniform functioning as park rangers.  She reiterated that support at the June Liberty Wells Community Council meeting.  I watched the May 2019 meeting where Chief Brown made the proposal.  After his presentation, Erin said that she was excited (since most of her District 5 community councils wanted park rangers or more police patrols).  But she backed off when most of her other colleagues expressed concern about intimidating park users.  The Council is submitting a Budget Amendment 2 in November to arrange for overtime for cops to provide patrols (The Council wants them to be in "nonintimidating bicycle cop uniforms".) in parks.
  Erin also has admitted to secret Inland Port meetings and led the effort to try to stop funding of a City lawsuit against the State.  The Mayor filed before Erin succeeded. 
  The secret meetings on the shelters' sites resulted in (according to several Councilmembers) unanimous agreement that sited 4 shelters, including one in Sugar House.  Erin backtracked after she saw the backlash and refused to agree to the agreement.  Her leadership as Chair of the Council led to the Council trying to stop funding of a lawsuit against the State's Inland Port efforts.  The Mayor filed a lawsuit before Erin's efforts were in place.  Most of these facts can be seen by Googling the words and sltrib.com or deseretnews.com.
  I have listened to most of the SLC Council meetings and have attended many of the community council meetings in the last 8 years.  The news, in the past, has used me for referrals to City employees to develop stories and I try to provide information that is not put in the news that is important for the citizens of the City.  I know the facts and I know this stuff.  
  I do it because I love Salt Lake City and the individuals, like Bill Davis, who try to make the City a better place.  Bill and I may disagree but I still respect him and have to laugh at his attempt at an insult.  I still think that he would have been a better City Councilmember than Erin. 

The links are:
  On the $8.4 million tax increase (done before Erin took office) over Becker's veto, she and the rest of the Council voted to repurpose it (take it away) the next year.  Charlie Luke often expresses regret at allowing Becker to do that:
Parks, streets still hurting in tight Salt Lake City budget May 2016 Christopher Smart.
https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=3940271&itype=CMSID
and 
https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2017/02/23/salt-lake-city-council-wants-to-pay-for-street-improvements-but-how/

  The adopted SLC Transit Master Plan, adopted a couple of years ago, has rail lines on 1st S/2nd S streetcar, 400 S to Central Station (the Black line TRAX), and a 400 W streetcar.  Each will cost local taxpayers about $100 million (if the feds match 50/50 but last fed grant was 20% for bicycle infrastructure).  The S Line TRAX/Streetcar (Erin has said several times that "we have to put a head on the snake") in the Transit Master Plan is to go north on 1100 E to 17th S then to 900 E to 400 S (note we tore up 900 E twice in the last 10 years to take out rails and ties- SLC did not do it right the first time).  That will cost local taxpayers as much as $400 million.  (Utah's RTP set TRAX costs at $75 million per mile for just rail not including stations and power).      
  Interestingly, I got my start as a mass transit activist in the 80s, in San Diego fighting a similar proposal that we stopped.  The Transit Plan also has  South Davis BRT on 200 S ($67 million), and a Foothill Drive BRT ($200 million).  The cost of the rail lines and BRTs is in the Utah 2015 RTP at WFRC.org under the transit list, Salt Lake County.

  The sewer rates were agreed to double in 5 years by the Council (and a recent new story explained that the doubling was to construct a new plant) and a good story link is:
SLC sewer rates may double, officials say your waste is worth it
https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=5217220&itype=CMSID

  The $125 million Parks Bond proposal from a few years ago (with Kyle LaMalfa) was to be used to convert Glendale Golf Course to a regional park and for other SLC park upgrades.  Erin was the Council proponent of the so called compromise.  The link is:
https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=2850828&itype=CMSID&fullpage=1

  The million for the McClelland Trail (alleyways) was driven by Erin as her pet project.  It was to go to Brickyard.  I tried to support the effort to provide a safe link to Brickyard.  But the money ran out after the alleyways were done north of 21st S.  That's why Lisa Adams, when she left the Council, gave Erin a plaque with LOVES ALLEYWAYS.

  The secret meetings link can be found at:
https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2016/11/04/slc-residents-won-t-get-a-say-on-homeless-shelter-sites-until-after-theyre-picked/

  Her secret meetings continue, not just with the homeless shelters and the Inland Port, but also with so called small group meetings that are out of sight of the public.  The Council calls fewer than 4 Councilmembers a small group meeting and they are given reports outside of the public eye (like the list of thousands of properties that SLC owns).
  And, SLC taxpayers continue to fund her emails with her news of Council accomplishments that continue up to elections (3 sent in the month before the Primary).
  My opinion piece, I thought was done respectfully and Bill Davis and I agreed when I said Erin can hit the ground running (Bill said she can hit the deck running.).  But my concerns about Erin as SLC mayor continue.  Her election could result in much higher taxes, questionable projects and impact many citizens and will further hurt affordable housing (housing taxes went up hundreds of dollars a year this year).  

3 PLUS VAPING BILLS COMING AT LEGISLATURE
  In the last few weeks, Utah has clamped down on vaping amid the many new instances of vaping related, serious lung problems.  My opinion piece from August in the Trib listed many of the concerns about vaping.  It is at:
https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2019/08/31/george-chapman-vaping/
  Utah is removing the ability of vape shops to carry flavored vaping materials which will only leave tobacco licensed facilities (I put the SLC new cannabis related zoning restrictions in the downloads section.  Only agricultural and manufacturing zones will be able to do cannabis related businesses.) that can carry flavored vaping liquids.  The industry, nationwide, is suing to stop the efforts of many states to to limit access to vaping liquids that are attracting use by kids.  In Utah, vaping companies have claimed that there is "no scientific evidence that vaping flavored electronic cigarette products is the cause of the recent illnesses that underpins the reason for the emergency rule".  Utah's Health Department have said "While we won’t speak directly to the claims made by the plaintiffs in their lawsuit, we can say protecting the public’s health by stopping the outbreak of vaping-related lung injuries is our top priority."
  I put the presentation from last month's Interim hearing on vaping in the downloads (ctrl f ecig).  This month 3 bills were introduced and appear to be headed for quick passing in the 2020 General Session.  Rep. Lisonbee is sponsoring a bill to remove the tobacco license of any vaping store that sells vaping materials to underage customers.  There is no leeway and one time could result in removal of the license.
  Although THC and CBD vaping liquids (due to mislabeling and contamination) have been implicated in many vaping related medical incidents, and the American Association of poison control centers considers CBD to be an emerging hazard, only individual states have taken action to reduce the risks.  The federal government is almost clueless or not able to decide on how to proceed.
  I think that this all started when the Legislature, forced by a small majority of voters, labeled marijuana a medicine.  Remember that old joke about military intelligence (George Carlin).  That is what the term medical marijuana reminds me of.  Medical professionals have been warning of the "potential for addiction and abuse".  
  Any claims that marijuana has been considered to be safe for thousands of years reminds me of the claim that tobacco has been claimed by Americans to be safe for thousands of years (medicine pipe) and by Europeans for hundreds of years.  Even when it was proven to cause many types of cancer, not just lung cancer, and it was proven to cause heart disease, people kept saying that it has been proven to be safe for hundreds of years!  What part of don't put crap in your lungs don't you get!  Utah needs more education on the potential health risks of vaping and marijuana.  It needs more laws to discourage use.  It needs more data to determine how many are using medical marijuana with a doctor's permission.  And it needs real, not theoretical, studies on the safety of THC, vaping and CBD use.

SLC PARK RANGERS/BIKE PATROL OVERTIME DISCUSSION
  A recent SLC Council discussion took place regarding the controversy of using SLCPD in uniforms as park rangers.  When the Council balked due to uniforms being intimidating for a certain demographic, the proposal stalled.  Although it could have been implemented by October of 2019 with the help of a new graduating class from the Police Academy,  the Council now says that the soonest that police functioning as park rangers would take a year.  If Salt Lake City allows overtime to be used, park rangers can start by November.  The City is tentatively having a hearing on the proposal on November 12 at the SLC evening 7 PM formal meeting.  Although the discussion is still up in the air about how Budget Amendment 2 "relates to the upcoming park rangers program".  Please tell the City Council that we want SLCPD patrolling the parks in uniform.  The Council discussion included these notes:
"A-10: Police Overtime
The Administration is recommending an increase in the Police Department overtime budget to accommodate requested changes in staffing.
The first change is to accommodate enhanced security staffing at the City and County building. The Police Department will staff an officer each day from 8:00- 12:00 and an officer each day from 15:00- 19:00. The officer will support the CBI security team and provide Police presence at the City County Building. The staffing for this will be done via overtime. This will result in an additional overtime costs for the Department.
The second change is for overtime to help with homeless mitigation in City Parks. The Police Department will be providing 35 hours of overtime in City Parks. This will help with the increased homeless activity seen in City Parks.
? Policy Question –The Council may wish to request a closed session with the Administration to discuss how the additional police officer patrols fit into the security systems for the City & County Building.
? Policy Question –The Council may wish to ask the Administration if this funding is approved, then which City parks will see additional officer patrols? The Council could also ask how this relates to the upcoming park rangers program, and if the voluntary overtime shifts could go unfilled.

SLC SCHOOLS ENCOURAGE LOWER ENROLLMENT
  SLC Board of Education is concerned about the lowered enrollment of students in the School District.  A good example is Bennion Elementary on 8th East between 4th and 5th South.  Bennion's enrollment is about 200 with a goal to reach 300 within a few years in order to justify keeping it open.  But the after school program at Bennion only pays $7.50 to $10 an hour to after school employees!  Many have quit for better paying jobs and parents that need daycare are sending their kids/students to schools that have openings for after school programs.  Which discourages enrollment at Bennion!  The Board of Education needs to recognize this instead of ignoring it.

27TH SOUTH STREET PROJECT PROBLEMS WITH WATER LINES
  The 27th South reconstruction project is almost complete.  It's completion was delayed due to finding many water lines to houses on the street that were significantly deteriorated.  Many of the pipes had to be replaced.  Other street projects should expect the same problems.

9TH SOUTH STREET PROJECT FINISHES OCT 31?
  The City is claiming that the 9th South project between 1300 East and 1050 East will be completed by October 31.  We will see.  Then the 9 bus route detour will be removed.  It took a couple of months, but UTA eventually put a Route 9 bus stop on 8th South and 900 East to allow picking up passengers next to Smith's, since it detoured past there anyway.  The only way to know when the Route 9 detour will be removed is to watch the bus path on UTA Tracker or subscribe to UTA Twitter.

IIHS DESTROYS CYCLE TRACK SAFETY MYTH
  The Insurance Institute of Highway Safety recently did a study on separated bicycle paths/cycle tracks and found that they are not necessarily safe.  If they cross a lot of driveways, there are safety concerns.  That is what we have been trying to tell Salt Lake City for years.  The City creates skinny bike lanes and cycle tracks that do not allow safe escape from dangers like road debris, car doors and vehicles exiting the driveways.  In addition, on 300 South, the cycle track collects water and is used by delivery trucks with ramps crossing the cycle track!  The best cycle tracks are where there are few driveways crossing them.  One of the best places is 700 East between 9th South and 21st South.  Unfortunately, UDOT and SLC is not planning on a raised shared use path like on the 9 Line (which will be completed to Liberty Park in a couple of years).  The next story suggests a better plan in Sugar House with a shared use path.

SUGAR HOUSE WANTS TRAX TO SUGAR HOUSE PARK
  The County has given millions for a study that will determine transportation amenities and plans from Sugar House (13th East and 2100 South) through Millcreek and South Salt Lake City to Holladay.  Millcreek wants the S-Line to go south on Highland, despite SLC's Transit Master Plan calling for the S-Line to go north on 1100 East.
  The Sugar House Community Council's Transportation Committee heard a presentation about the study and provided initial input on what the community wanted.  Soren Simonsen said that the S-Line should go two blocks to the east to 1300 East since the Sugar House Park is the greatest destination in the area and on weekends, thousands use it.  This was his argument during the public outcry on the plan to send the S-Line north on 1100 East.  I agree.  Hopefully, this will happen in the next few years.  The cost would be less than the $15 million given to the Ritchie's Project on Block 67.  
  The Transportation Committee also suggested preference for wider sidewalks that can function as shared use paths for bicycles and pedestrians.  They would be at least 10 feet wide and similar to the 9-Line raised Trail.
  During the meeting, Soren reminded the City's Project Manager that the Sugar Plans included a road diet on 2100 South with bike lanes (going from 4 lanes to 2 travel lanes).  He believes that traffic would not be negatively impacted with such a road diet.  He pointed to 900 East.  But the 900 East road diet took place after Hwy 15 was reconstructed and that took traffic off of 700 East and 900 East and 700 East could take traffic from a road diet on 900 East.  Without proper planning, a 2100 South road diet on a road around 20,000 ADT could create a lot of congestion, pollution and encourage more traffic to go through neighborhoods already impacted by increases in traffic.
  Road diets should also allow for buses to pull out of traffic lanes so as not to block traffic and increase pollution from backed up automobiles.  The other side of the argument is that it can be difficult for buses to reenter traffic after stopping.

NEW SHOPPING CART PHONE NUMBER
  The Good Neighbor Handout for SLC has a bad number for shopping cart pickup.  The correct number is 801 403 0564.  He will only pickup empty carts.

25MPH DECREASES SPEEDING BUT MAY INCREASE POLLUTION
  The plan to reduce speeds on many roads in Salt Lake City (including State Street and 900 South) is being pushed by studies that show that a speed limit reduction reduces potential pedestrian and bicyclist injuries, but also can reduce speeding above 35 MPH.  Studies show that there is a reduction of 29% of speeding above 35 MPH when speed limit is reduced to 25 MPH.  But it should also include potential impacts to adjacent neighborhood streets that often get the rerouted traffic that does not want to travel on 25 MPH roads.

SUGAR HOUSE PARK RESTAURANT NOT LIKELY AND ROSE GARDEN STILL DEAD
  The proposal to put a restaurant in Sugar House Park is dead because the Conservation Easement does not allow it.  The destruction of the rose garden was essentially useless.  There is still a proposal for using the land behind the garden center for a community garden.  Salt Lake City should not be removing old plants and trees without replacing an equivalent plant.  If a 24 inch diameter tree is cut, 100 small 2 inch trees should be planted to replace it.  The City now allows for 12 2 inch trees to replace a 24 inch cut down tree.  Removing an old rose bush should be countered with planting 10 new roses.
  Salt Lake City is reconstructing the Fairmont Park Stream and has said that it could cut down a 24 inch tree adjacent to the stream.  After an outcry, they now say that they won't.  But sometimes, the trees are not protected.  The original plan was to cut it down and replace it with 4 2" trees.

SUGAR HOUSE PARK EFFORTS TO DETER ILLEGAL ACTIVITY
  The SLCPD is redoubling its efforts to deter illegal activity in Sugar House Park and Fairmont Park.  The Sugar House Park is trying to remove shrubbery that is hiding some of the activity.  
  Fairmont Park's Skate Park has become a great place to pickup THC, Spice and other vaping materials.  That is one reason why the SLCPD have placed Fairmont Park, Liberty Park and Sugar House Park on the top 3 priorities for patrol by police.

UNLICENSED APARTMENT FOR EX PRISONERS GIVEN LICENSE APPLICATION
  1612 and 1614 South 500 East appear to be apartments that now focus on serving ex prisoners.  When the City received complaints, zoning enforcement agreed that it was illegal since it did not have a business license.  So zoning enforcement gave them a business application license!  This is a failure of Utah's Adult Probation and Parole.  This is functioning as a halfway house and ex prisoners should not be housed together without more supervision.

TELL SLC AND SLCO TO LOWER BUS/TRAX PASS TO $25/MONTH
  Universities in Utah, specifically UVU and BYU have agreed to give $1 million a year to UTA for 10 years of up to 100,000 free bus passes annually.  Salt Lake City has not spent about 
one million of the tax increase slated for transit in the City.  If universities in Utah County can get such a deal, why can't Salt Lake City citizens?  I would expect that UTA could benefit from more mass transit ridership if the County and SLC got together and provided citizens with the opportunity of a $25 a month bus and TRAX pass.  Contact your elected leaders (email addresses on the left) and demand equal rights as the Utah County citizens and provide a $25 a month bus and TRAX pass.  With UTA extremely large sales tax increase, UTA would not really lose money.

9TH SOUTH 1100 EAST ROUNDABOUT NEED BIG SCULPTURE
  East Liberty Park Community Council was told last month that the City is going to offer artists a chance to submit plans for art for the roundabout on 900 South and 1100 East.  The artist call is fall of 2019.  The City's art plans include 9-Line Bike Park Murals.
  I personnally think that the symbol of ELPCO, big tree, should be the sculpture.  A sculpture of wood in the form of a beautiful tree would be very appropriate.
  In another matter of art, the City Council intends to give $35,000 to an artist to paint a picture of the Mayor to be placed in the 3rd Floor City Building hallway.

DEVELOPER TRIES TO IGNORE PARKING REQUIREMENTS
  A respected developer is trying to reduce parking requirements for a 7 unit complex on 400 East and Cleveland.  The property is now zoned RMF35 and he wants to rezone it to form based zoning which has no parking requirements.  He would then provide 8 parking spaces for the 7 units which include 2 three bedrooms, 4 two bedrooms and 1 one bedroom apartments!  Form based zoning was the zoning next to rail stations and deliberately (we protested) had no parking requirements.  

SLC PUSHES RIGHT HAND ONLY TURNS WHILE ENCOURAGING LEFT HAND TURNS
  SLC biking infrastructure plans recommends putting right hand only turns for vehicles on neighborhood byways that are to increase safety for bicyclists.  Kensington Avenue is scheduled for a neighborhood byway with a CIP application being submitted to the City.  
  At the same time, the City is encouraging left hand turns with road diets that have a center turn lane allowing for MORE left hand turns.  That does not make sense.  I am against right hand only barriers at intersections.  They increase pollution and traffic in quiet neighborhood streets.  I am against center turn lanes except at intersections and at lights in order to decrease the turns that injure so many bicyclists and pedestrians.

MENDENHALL STILL PUSHING SRO CRIME MAGNETS IN ALL NEIGHBORHOODS
  Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall has confirmed that she and the rest of the Council intend to allow SRO (like crime magnet motels) in most areas of the City, after the election.  We thought that the Council was going to stop the effort when the last public hearing went nowhere.  But Erin confirmed that the proposal is not dead and she agrees that they should be allowed Citywide.  This is despite the fact that she, and the City, have not removed the crime magnet motels on State Street (and North Temple).

1100 EAST PROJECT TO ADD TO 1300 EAST PROJECT TRAFFIC DELAYS
  The 1300 East project was supposed to be finished this year but it looks like it will take another year.  But the City postponed the 1100 East resurfacing project (around 1900 South) so as not to impact traffic detours.  So the citizens of the area will have to traverse work areas on two important adjacent streets that were supposed to function as detours.

SLC MAY DECREASE BILLBOARDS BUT INCREASE RAIL POWER LINES   
  SLC is suggesting that the billboards on 600 South offramp into Salt Lake City from Hwy 15 are a blight to the area.  Their plan is to remove the billboards and make the area's "gateway to the City" more beautiful, much like the Chamber's efforts a couple of years ago to make 600 South a grand boulevard like the 28 foot wide sidewalks around Paris' Champs Elysees.  When this was floated at the Legislature, we reminded the Committee that when adjacent landowners agree to give up 28 feet of their property, then we could realistically consider making 600 South a grand boulevard.  
  But SLC owns almost half of the area and has allowed it to deteriorate (see story below).  It also has allowed a bunch of tax generating car lots (block wide in some cases) that discourages walkability and should stop all consideration of a grand boulevard.  
  So the attempt to blame billboards for the blight, in my opinion, is misplaced.  The City is more responsible for allowing the so called blight with allowing buildings to sit unused (without an adequate demolition ordinance - used to discourage more surface parking lots); allowing block wide car lots and for encouraging more power lines for TRAX (which destroys our views of the mountains).

SLC RDA OWNS 7 OF 15 ACRES IN DEPOT DISTRICT NORTH OF 600S
  SLC RDA has a report that indicates that it owns 7 of 15 acres in the depot district.  It has allowed many of the buildings that it owns to be vacant.  Vacant building encourage criminal behavior and, in my opinion, has allowed the Rio Grande area to go downhill, despite promises, assurances and plans to build a research park between 600 South and North Temple and between 400 West and the railroad tracks.  One of the reasons for UTA building a new $100 million bus garage is to repurpose their bus garage for the research park.

UTA AGREES DESTROYS HAMBLIN FURNITURE FOR $500,000 
  Since 2010, UTA has pushed eminent domain on the small business Hamblin Furniture.  The Hamblin's have spent their whole savings on trying to defend themselves against this government taking without compensation.  UTA originally offered a $100,000 for the old building that was allowed to continue to make furniture due to being grandfathered out of new expensive safety equipment (fire suppression by decreasing dust).  UTA destroyed their equipment when they moved it (UTA leased a building next to the new homeless shelter!) and the business is essentially bust.  UTA and the Hamblins, in a mediation led by the Utah Property Ombudsman, have agreed to have UTA give the Hamblins almost $500,000 to release all claims.  The Hamblins still lost their business and have to pay out much of the money to lawyers.  Another eminent domain tragedy.

UTA TRYING TO NOT PROVIDE BETTER BUS SERVICE
  In the UTA trying to not provide better bus service column for this week/month, UTA has cut the number of buses scheduled to be bought/leased from 45 to 10!  UTA thinks that they can maintain the buses that they have.  But UTA does not have enough maintenance personnel!  This is similar to the lack of drivers due to the lack of adequate pay and split shifts (in addition to the daily problem with homeless and criminals causing problems (A recent drug addict on spice tried to take control of a bus!  Why was he on the street?  Due to lack of enough jail beds.)
  Two years ago, we asked why UTA couldn't participate in the Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust Funding Assistance Program for Replacement of Diesel Buses.  We were told that UTA would have to shoot the engines of buses to permanently disable them and they didn't want to do that.  UTA has now decided to consider accepting $13,079,240 for permanently disabling up to 20 older diesel buses!  But UTA also thinks that they can maintain them??

UTA NEW BOND BUY $540 MILLION FOR PROJECTS
  On October 30, UTA will have a hearing on a $540 million bond buy.  The State Bonding Commission is only allowing it to decrease the interest and interest payments (if the interest rates go up, the authorization cancels).  Some of the funding will be used for a bunch of construction projects that Commissioner Christiansen has said are the first phase of increasing service, which is capital intensive.  More projects, less service.
  During the last interim, John Dougall, the State Auditor, pointed out that the last bill that changed the governance of UTA did not explicitly detail whether UTA was a State entity or a local district.  The intent of Harper's SB136 was to keep it a local district since the Legislature did not want to take on the significant UTA debt.  But if the Governor can remove the trustees, it is under the State.  But the trustee nominees come from the cities and the counties.  Senator Harper is going to sponsor another bill, the second to tweak SB136, to emphasize that UTA is a local district so that Utah taxpayers do not have to pay for UTA projects and borrowing (as if).  We asked the State Treasurer, several years ago, if the lower interest rates that apply to Utah would help the significant bind that UTA finds itself in with the 50% increase in payments over the next 5 years for the bonds.  The Treasurer felt that taxpayers would not want that burden.  Again, I have to emphasize that the bond buy will decrease the higher interest rate bonds but also place the tax increase from SB136 into stone.

UTA FRONTRUNNER ALMOST KILLS 100
  UTA has killed around 100 in the last 30 years (report is in the Transportation downloads but is 2 years old).  It recently escaped another death due to the heroic efforts of a Utah Highway Patrolman.  They save lives.  They put themselves in harm's way.  They get hit doing their job.  When you see a Highway Patrolman, thank them for their service and sacrifice.
  The proof of how bad it is is a quote from the driver of the FrontRunner train that hit the vehicle on the tracks a second after the driver was removed by the Patrolman:  "My first day of training, I was told, ‘Welcome to FrontRunner. You’re going to hit something".  And in another important note, the FrontRunner train carried 60 passengers!  Is it really cost effective to run a train with 60 passengers?

NOISE COMPLAINTS 
  I was recently asked how to complain about loud vehicles in a Salt Lake City neighborhood.  UTAH Code 41-6a-1626 states:
  Mufflers -- Prevention of noise, smoke, and fumes -- Air pollution control devices 
(1) (a) A vehicle shall be equipped, maintained, and operated to prevent excessive or unusual noise.
(b) A motor vehicle shall be equipped with a muffler or other effective noise suppressing system in good working order and in constant operation.
(c) A person may not use a muffler cut-out, bypass, or similar device on a vehicle

  In Salt Lake County, noise complaints are handled by the Health Department at 385-468-8888 or online here:
  https://slco.org/health/noise/

  If you want to report a loud or polluting vehicle, call the SLCPD non emergency number at 801 799 3000.

WHY ISN'T SLC TICKETING IDLING TRUCKS (ESPECIALLY AT INLAND PORT)
  Most of the backlash against the Inland Port is due to the concern of air pollution increasing with a big increase in high polluting big trucks.  They are allowed to emit the pollution equivalent of over a 100 new cars!  So why isn't SLC getting some leverage by using Rep. Arent and Sen. Bramble's bill from last year that allows cities to pass laws allowing ticketing of idling vehicles, after one warning, to actually pass that law.  
  SLC now has an essentially educational bill and, although I don't agree with the Legislature's bill, SLC should ticket idling trucks that won't stop idling.
  And SLCO residents should also acknowledge that the airport is also providing a lot of pollution of the increase in jet traffic.

SLC CAN'T STOP EVICTIONS OF LOW INCOME SENIORS
  The Ballpark Apartments on 1300 South and West Temple was built with the help of State funds, and with considerations from SLC that provided more flexibility for design and parking.  But, it recently started evicting low income seniors with just a three day notice, during a three day holiday!  So much for government handouts being misused.  Salt Lake City says that they can't do anything about it. 

SLC MAYORAL ELECTION OPINION 

ERIN WON MONDAY'S DEBATE BUT I AM STILL VOTING FOR LUZ

The SLC Tribune/Fox13 mayoral debate took place earlier this week and it introduced a new system that was original and very informative.  The moderators gave a subject or issue and asked for comments or arguments from the two candidates, Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall and Senator Luz Escamilla.  That format allowed a free and vigorous back and forth that other debates lacked.
  The first subject was "what would you drop" which led to Erin saying that she would drop impact fees in return for more affordable housing.  When Salt Lake City placed a temporary moratorium on impact fees, housing starts significantly increased.  But last year, when she was Council Chair, the Council discussed reducing impact fees in return for more affordable housing.  If 20% of the units were affordable in a 200 unit project, impact fees would be removed, saving the developer a half a million dollars!  But the discussion went nowhere and nothing has been accomplished since!  Salt Lake City may be getting thousands of luxery apartments but affordable units are lacking.
  On transit, Erin said that she was responsible for three new circulator buses and is supporting a proposal to provide free transit with downtown event tickets.  But the three so called circulator buses that the City Council and Administration put money into already existed (2, 9 21) but had very limited weekend and night service.  The latest UTA ridership figures show minimal ridership increases on weekdays, and significant gains on weekends (which show that a robust bus system is most effective at increasing mass transit ridership).  Luz was concerned about the inequities in the transit system with 8 north south bus routes on the east and 3 north south routes in the west (with several milk run zig zags of routes).  The City provided twice as much increased service on the east side as on the west side with the higher frequency.
  The moderators took Twitter questions including from Crossroads' Bill Tibbetts, low income activist.  Bill asked what will be done about the shelters that are already full.  The City Council, including Erin, have claimed until recently, that the three new shelters will be enough to house the homeless.  But homeless women are being turned away already!  The original City Council proposal was for four 150 person shelters.  The reality now is that there will be many left on the street this winter to camp out.  They will camp out at the Library, downtown, alleys and parks.  And due to the full shelters, they won't be able to be stopped from camping (due to many court decisions).  Despite the reality of full shelters, the State and downtown developers are insisting in tearing down the Road Home.  Even Luz believes that it needs to be torn down due to the drug problems.  The new shelters already have drug problems!  
   But Luz said that the women with kids, and the women who are pregnant should have housing and not be in shelters.  "No kid or mom should be in a shelter.  They should be in a home".  That would be a better solution but what would the Midvale family shelter then accept?  Erin said that she championed the 700 S women's shelter (and originally, until the significant backlash, the Simpson Avenue shelter) and without adequate shelter facilities, we should look at keeping the Road Home open.  That statement got a big applause.  Luz correctly pointed out that the homeless crime problem is worse than it was 5 years ago.
  The discussion then turned to camping at the Main Library and will you (candidates) allow overnight camping.  Erin said that we need to look at what the camping ordinance should be and that it is not as simple as getting rid of camping.  Moderator Ben Winslow asked several times of Erin, is that a yes or no.  He finally, in frustration, said that he would take it as no.
  On the Inland Port, Erin said that "we both support litigation".  Erin continued, saying we don't trust the State to do our taxes and zoning.  That also got plenty of applause.  She effectively parried anyone focusing on her leading the City Council vote to eliminate funding for litigation.  She also slammed Luz with a "Surprised you don't know this already" statement!
  E-scooters were the next subject and Erin said that the City should install red light cameras to catch sidewalk scooters riding on the sidewalk and bill the companies when caught!  But that seems very unrealistic.  Enforcing no scooters on the sidewalks would also negatively impact the present ban on bicycles on downtown sidewalks which the SLCPD is not enforcing.  
  Erin is a big bicycle proponent and has pushed full implementation of the 4 year old Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan (with just a couple of pages on pedestrians).  The plan includes lowering many street speeds to 25 MPH and putting in more east west 700 East bicycle and pedestrian crossings.  
  The next subject was air quality, not regarding transportation.  Both candidates were able to claim many accomplishments on air quality from Erin's getting involved in politics due to air quality concerns and Luz's many environmental accomplishments in the Legislature.  Luz was able to double fines for environmental crimes and doubled the statute of limitations.  Luz also passed a bill to study and set a baseline for Inland Port environmental standards.
  Both expressed concern for attracting families.  Erin suggested more after school programs.  Ironically, Luz is the expert and has successfully passed bills that increased after school programs' quality and grants.
  Towards the end, Erin said that she is helping to increase westside property values with the 9-Line and 9th S. 9th W. RDA expansion areas.  The State Street RDA expansion area is part of the proposal.  But, like the City's inability to figure out what to do with the 7 acres in the Depot District/Rio Grande area (out of 15 acres) for decades (resulting in vacant buildings and increased crime), the City's RDA is slow.  It took 20+ years to start development of Sugar House and North Temple and Central 9th.  It has taken 5 years to get the 9th and 9th and State Street expansion area approved by the Board of Education.
  Erin also claimed that the City will invest in catalytic projects to encourage development (like the 650 S. Main Street TRAX station?!).  She also pointed to the 900 W. road diet project that has created dissension and a court case due to the community being against it and the 300% increase in accidents!  Bicyclists seem to like it but everyone else seems to hate it.  The 35 MPH speed seems to be too high and there have been several rollover accidents. 
  Erin was more polished and provided an effective delivery but she seemed determined to ignore the past 5 years of her time on the Council.  If she wins the general election, she will be able to hit the ground running.  But I am still voting for Luz Escamilla for mayor of Salt Lake City.  I feel that her executive experience as a community development banker and her efforts in the Legislature show that she will help Salt Lake City more than Erin Mendenhall.  
  I admit that part of the reason that I am voting for Luz is because of Erin's constant secret meetings (on homeless shelters and the Inland Port and many secret small group meetings with 3 or fewer Councilmembers), her efforts to increase taxes (including water, sewer, lighting, sales taxes and bonds) and her plans to spend hundreds of millions on projects are a concern to me.  Her efforts to increase taxes will result in higher housing costs and a decrease in affordable housing.
  The next mayoral debate is October 21 from noon to 1 PM on KSL TV and sponsored by KSL and the Pioneer Park Coalition.   Whatever your opinion, please vote.

OCTOBER 9, 2019
9TH SOUTH SPEED TO BE REDUCED TO 25 MPH FOR 9-LINE
MAYORAL DEBATES SCHEDULED
PARAMONT HOMELESS SHELTER BECOMES RIO GRANDE
GIANT FAIRMONT PARK TREE TO BE REPLACED BY 4 MICRO TREES
SUGAR HOUSE 9TH EAST TENNIS COURTS PROPOSED TO BE BIGGER GIRLS BOYS CLUB
DISTRICT 7 COUNCIL DEBATE
UTA CEMENTING SALES TAX INCREASE WITH BONDING
OVER 30% OF TEENS VAPED
SLC SPENDING TAX INCREMENT ON NEW DOWNTOWN TRAX 
SUGAR HOUSE DUI INCREASING 900%
SLC HOUSING STILL REFUSED PERMIT TO DEMOLISH BALLPARK VACANT HOMES
TREES ON HIGHLAND AT RISK
SLC COUNCIL EMAILS PROMOTE CANDIDATES UNINTENTIONALLY
REASONS FOR IDLING FIRE TRUCKS
UTA IN ERROR PUTTING SKI BUSES ON POPULAR ROUTES
ACE MONEY FROM SLC AVAILABLE FOR COMMUNITY EVENTS

9TH SOUTH SPEED TO BE REDUCED TO 25 MPH FOR 9-LINE
  Salt Lake City, which received millions from Salt Lake County transportation funds (from the SB136 sales tax increase) to continue construction of the 9-Line from 1050 East to 900 West, is planning to decrease the speed on 9th South to 25 MPH and add a separated bike lane from 1050 East to State Street.  The path for the shared pedestrian/runner/bicycle trail will be on the south side of the road.  The plan will start being implemented after a parking study for the area that will start in January at community councils.  The link to the reduced 9mb version and the 54mb version is: 
https://www.slcdocs.com/transportation/Studies/9Line/9LineStudyFinal
http://www.slcdocs.com/planning/masterplansmaps/9lcmp.pdf
 http://www.9linecorridor.com 

MAYORAL DEBATES SCHEDULED
  The Salt Lake City mayoral candidate debates seem to be flying under the radar.  Greater Avenues had a meet and greet on the 7th.  Almost no one knows about the Impact Hub debate proposal and I am not sure that it will happen.  The Community Network is hosting a 7AM meeting! featuring Erin and Luz on October 10th at VOA 888 South and 400 West in the very small upstairs meeting room.  Sometimes just 5 attend the meeting which is for the chairs of the Salt Lake City community councils.  The Salt Lake Tribune and FOX 13 News are hosting a Salt Lake City mayoral debate on Monday, October 14 at 7pm at the SLC Main Library auditorium for an hour.  The debate will be broadcast on TV at 12pm on Tuesday, October 15 on FOX13.  The candidates have totally different plans, in my opinion, and these debates are important.  The new mayor of Salt Lake City will determine the future of the City and whether taxes will increase and what projects are going to be prioritized.

PARAMONT HOMELESS SHELTER BECOMES RIO GRANDE
  Despite all of the congratulations about the opening of the new homeless shelters and the news that adjacent residents and businesses are happy, the reality is neighbors are upset about the open use of alcohol in front of their businesses and homes by the homeless friends of the new shelter residents.  There is also no community advisory committees set up which were promised.  The contact for the coordinator for Salt Lake City is Zoe Morgan (zoe.morgan@slcgov.com).  She has indicated that the shelters are low barrier shelters and that there will be regular disinfecting of nearby sidewalks (which will panic adjacent residents and businesses).
  There is an increase in public defecation near the shelters and downtown.  That is partly due to Salt Lake City removing th downtown toilets.  Homeless have to go to the Weigand Center or Vincent De Paul and Fourth Street Clinic to relieve themselves.  There is an effort to threaten the homeless to move to the new shelters, including banning some homeless from the Main Library for years.  There is also a problem with drugs in the shelters and reports of regular sweeps to decrease the drugs.  But it is difficult to stop the homeless from bringing drugs into the shelters.  Matt Minkovitz has tried for decades.  How do you search for drugs when the women regularly bring them in in their bras.  
  The shelters are becoming like the Rio Grande area and neighbors are complaining and pointing out that nothing seems to be working.

GIANT FAIRMONT PARK TREE TO BE REPLACED BY 4 MICRO TREES
  The City is planning to refurbish the stream that runs through Fairmont Park (east of the Girls and Boys Club) and they contend that a big 24+ inch diameter tree needs to b cut down.  Instead of the regular 12 micro trees to replace the big tree (2" diameter trees are supposed to replace the diameter of the cut tree.), the City is proposing to plant just 4 new 2" trees!  There will be a meeting next week to finalize the plan.

SUGAR HOUSE 9TH EAST TENNIS COURTS PROPOSED TO BE BIGGER GIRLS BOYS CLUB
  There is a proposal to allow the Girls and Boys Club in Sugar House (on Sugarmont Drive and east of 900 East) to expand onto the tennis courts and allow the community access to the new courts that are proposed to be indoors.  It is early in the process and the community will be involved in the planning.

DISTRICT 7 COUNCIL DEBATE
  This week, there was a debate with the District 7 Council candidates, incumbent Charlie Luke and Dan Dugan.  The small group at the Anderson Foothill Library submitted questions that were answered by the candidates.  
  The first question was regarding the University of Utah Police.  Charlie Luke discussed taking over the UofU Police with SLC Chief Brown since several recent incidents were close to the east bench/District 6 neighborhoods.  The Fire and emergency services already cover the University.  In addition, the SLC Police were not contacted on the trailside shooting last year, according to Charlie.  The reason for the separate police force has generally been due to the student body being given more leeway than regular citizens (that's why the SLC Drug Court was closed - they didn't want 
"hard drug users" to mix with marijuana smoking students).  But Charlie is right.  The UofU Police force, in my opinion, has exhibited some very unprofessional actions, that has led to the death of a student.  Dan Dugan expressed support for the Eastside Precinct proposal.
  There was also a question about zoning and the lack of protection of single family zoned neighborhoods.  Charlie explained that he fought the ADUs but lost.
  Dan Dugan took a hard line completely against the Inland Port and pushed for more clean air initiatives.  Charlie explained that the City was going to lose in a fight with the Legislature and the Council negotiated a better deal, not perfect, but better.
  Both were against the Call2Haul program.
  Although not publicized, 2100 South is planned in a couple of years for a reconstruction and many in the Sugar House Community Council are pushing for a road diet to take the street down to two travel lanes from four.  Charlie pointed out that he fought the Sunnyside proposed road diet and will fight against the 21st South proposed road diet.  Dan expressed concern that the road diet will increase traffic on overloaded Foothill.
  Both expressed support for ADA wheelchair access.

UTA CEMENTING SALES TAX INCREASE WITH BONDING
  UTA is planning on a bond refinancing plan that will cement the SB136 sales tax.  If there is no bond involved, the sales tax, which gives 40% of the tax increase to UTA (and which voters turned down but the Legislature with SB136 passed) will never go away and UTA will have a regular revenue source to develop more projects.  Fasten your seatbelt.

OVER 30% OF TEENS VAPED
  During the Legislature's Interim meeting last month, data was given (in the downloads) that showed that over 30% of high school students had tried vaping!  Former Senator Shiozawa also recommended an educational program to decrease the number of underage vaping.  The American Medical Association found that 70% of CBD products were mislabeled.
  A statement was made that for thousands of years, marijuana was shown to be safe.  For thousands of years, Americans thought tobacco was safe (hundreds of years for Europeans).  Even when it was proven to cause cancer and heart disease, many claimed that the hundreds of years of so called safe use overrode science!  
  It appears that there will be many new proposed bills that try to reduce vaping and especially marijuana use.  Utah needs more educational outreach, more laws, more data to see how many doctors are seeing patients without hospitalization and also more studies.  What part of don't put crap in your lungs don't you get.

SLC SPENDING TAX INCREMENT ON NEW DOWNTOWN TRAX 
  Salt Lake City expects to get about $20 million in tax increment increases can be generated by the new State Street and 9-Line CRA over 20 years.  The Council, sitting as the RDA Board, is pushing to use several million of that to build a 650 S. Main Street station for TRAX!  This is almost end any chance of new parks and bicycle infrastructure around the Ballpark area.  And this will also end the 17th South proposed station that Ballpark wanted.  The City Council is still thinking of how they can convince UDOT to close the 9th South ramp (costing over $20 million).  The COuncil is spending money it does not have!

SUGAR HOUSE DUI INCREASING 900%
  Sugar House is developing a reputation as a great bar entertainment district.  The SLCPD reports that the usual 2 to 3 DUIs caught in the area a month are now 18 a month which is about a 900% increase!  But buses/transit stops at midnight, still.  So expect more DUI blitzes in the area.

SLC HOUSING STILL REFUSED PERMIT TO DEMOLISH 
  There was a story in the Salt Lake Tribune recently that blamed the Salt Lake City Housing Authority for not demolishing some vacant homes that they own and have been trying to demolish for years.  The Ballpark Community Council has expressed anger at the lack of progress.  The issue is the Salt Lake City Council is not allowing a demolition ordinance change (they heard a report on it a few months ago).  The City has been discouraging demolitions without an approved permit for a replacement building!  The City does not want to encourage parking lots.  So the Salt Lake City Housing Authority, which has money for demolition but not for a new building, has again been refused a permit to demolish the vacant buildings, after the story was published!

TREES ON HIGHLAND AT RISK
  There are several projects on Highland between 2100 South and the I80 Freeway overpass that appear to threaten many of the trees on the street.  There is a canal underneath Highland that will be reconstructed (at the same time as 1300 East project is completing - at the same time as the 1100 East Post Office street reconstruction!!) next year and the trees on the west side of the street may not be able to be saved!  There is a project called Sugar Alley south of Buffalo Wings that will also probably destroy the trees on the west side of the street.  Oh well, Sugar House trees were nice while they lasted.

SLC COUNCIL EMAILS PROMOTE CANDIDATES UNINTENTIONALLY
  In the last few years, the City Council has collected email addresses from various individuals (usually at community council meetings) that the Council uses to send out emails of news about Council actions and meetings.  Although the emails from the Council are not supposed to be campaigning, because they are sent out so often and they are so positive about the work of the Councilmembers, they can appear to be campaigning.  For instance, in the month before the primary, Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall sent out 3 emails explaining what she and the Council did and she included valuable information.  The Council is trying to fill a void caused by the lack of news coverage of the important work of the Council.  And all emails are sent to individuals who have asked for it.  But, in my opinion, the large number of emails could skew an election.  Congress restricts mailers, paid for by taxpayers from being sent within 90 days of an election.  
  The City Council should reevaluate the policies on sending out taxpayer funded emails before an election.  The Council could send out a general Council news but now each Councilmember gets their own email with photo sent out, sometimes weekly.  Much of the information is valuable, especially if you don't sit through the meetings.  But the number of emails may result in unfair advantage of incumbents.
  The number of emails sent are: District 1: 487, D2: 532, D3: 505, D4: 763, D5: 923, D6: 1,414, D7: 780

REASONS FOR IDLING FOR TRUCKS
  Last blog pointed out that 80% of nationwide emergency calls are for medical emergencies.  Many have complained about the idling of big fire trucks while answering medical calls.  The reason for the idling of the big trucks is often due to the turbos in the engine need to continue to be cooled and if they shut of the engine when they are hot, the engine turbos could be damaged by lack of oil for cooling.  In addition, idling fire trucks provide much needed electricity for the many electronics in today's fire trucks.
  As I mentioned in a previous blog, the Salt Lake City Council is asking for a report on expanding the medical SUVs that are used downtown in the homeless areas (that get 10 or more calls a day).  But the medical response team often finds that they need four or more individuals to help with the medical response.  It could be a loose dog or a very upset companion of the patient.  Fire Department personnel often find that all four (standard manning of an engine) are needed during a medical emergency.

UTA IN ERROR PUTTING SKI BUSES ON POPULAR ROUTES
  UTA erred when they put some ski buses on a popular route that is usually full and standing room only.  They are only supposed to use the 28 seat buses, which get better gas mileage (and need to be regularly run to maintain them) on "circulator" routes with short trip times and fewer passengers.  But UTA "found an error in 2 of the 10 bus block assignments that service the 209. These two blocks were incorrectly labeled as ‘circulators’.  We are changing their designated label now so that our morning sign out team correctly assigns them to the lower ridership circulator routes." 
  I give credit to UTA for responding to the complaint.  The complaint was given to th Board of Trustees and to rideuta@rideuta.com.  If you see a problem, complain.

ACE MONEY FROM SLC AVAILABLE FOR COMMUNITY EVENTS
  "The ACE Fund application for the 2020 event year is now open! This funding opportunity is administered by my office (Mayor of SLC) to promote and support neighborhood and community events across our City.
  Events supported by ACE ultimately help support Salt Lake City's goals which include city-wide economic development, bringing arts to all communities, and promoting diversity and inclusion. With awards ranging from $100 to $10,000, both large and small events are encouraged to apply!
  Applications for the 2020 event year are open until October 31, 2019
https://www.slc.gov/mayor/ace-fund/

SEPTEMBER 25, 2019
NEW UTA SLC SERVICE INCREASES RIDERSHIP ON WEEKENDS
WASTEFUL SLC TRANSIT PROJECTS INSTEAD OF MORE SERVICE
COPS ARE TOO SCARY IN UNIFORM
900 S OFFRAMP COULD TAKE UP ALL RDA FUNDING
SLC GOING TO TEMP CONTRACTOR TO PROVIDE CROSSING GUARDS
3 CREEKS CONFLUENCE PARK COMING TO 1300 S JORDAN RIVER
SLC HOMELESS SHELTER PROBLEMS AHEAD
ROOFTOP BAR QUESTIONS
SLC CHANGING TRAFFIC SIGNALS TO DECREASE IDLING
SLC APARTMENT/RENTALS REPORT WE CAN'T BUILD OUR WAY OUT
LIBERTY PARK CRIME CONCERNS
TREES REALITY
CCS MAY BE KICKED OUT OF DOWNTOWN
MCCLELLAND CLOSED TO PEDESTRIANS?!
ROCKY MOUNTAIN POWER WANTS TO CHARGE ACCORDING HOURLY USE
900 EAST STREET RECONSTRUCTION BEFORE UTILITY DIGS
SHOPPING CARTS NO LONGER CONFISCATED
I LOVE ROCKY BUT
SLC SCHOOLS SHAFT AFTERSCHOOL PROGRAMS


NEW UTA SLC SERVICE INCREASES RIDERSHIP ON WEEKENDS
  UTA is providing data on the ridership on buses and other transit at rideuta.com/data.  One month after the August 11 Change Day, the results on the SLC service increases show minimal increases in ridership (1-3%) on routes that were changed (I put the sheet with the data from UTA in the downloads.).  That is one reason that SLC is considering a free fare for some of the routes.  
  Unfortunately, the Council does not want to benefit the other cities' residents, even though they provide the most ridership for buses and TRAX and that results in the greatest decrease in pollution (use of transit for a 2 mile trip saves a fraction of pollution compared to a non SLC resident traveling 10 miles).  Redwood Road and State Street are some of the most crowded and well used buses in the system but SLC does not want non SLC residents to benefit (and pollution therefore is increased). 
  But the big news is the significant increase in ridership on the 200 S., the 2100 S. and the 900 S. bus routes on weekends.  I believe that that shows that service increases are more important than projects.  The weekend bus route ridership increases are:
200 S. +35% Sat, +48% Sun.
2100 S. +34% Sat, +90% Sun.
900 S. +138% Sat, +145% Sun.
  In addition, UTA is funding a $925,000 micro transit pilot program with a $800,000 service funding.  I also put the Future of FrontRunner presentation in the downloads.  There are proposals for electrifying the line (to increase speeds/throughput faster than diesel) and double tracking to get 15 minute frequency during the rush hour when the trains are standing room only.  But lost in the excitement of potentially expanding the service, is the fact that most FrontRunner parking lots are full (same with most TRAX stations' parking lots).  That is the limiting factor in trying to increase ridership according to the industry standard Booz, Allen, Hamilton study.  That is where UTA should spend money before any big projects like rail, bus stations (200 S. 700 E.), BRTs or extending TRAX to Lehi.  Who needs TRAX to Lehi if FrontRunner will have 15 minute service.

WASTEFUL SLC TRANSIT PROJECTS INSTEAD OF MORE SERVICE
  The Salt Lake City Council has agreed to use SB136 funds ($4.3 million) from the County for the design and construction of the 9-Line Trail from 940 East to 600 West.  The City is completing the Trail from Sunnyside to 940 East and is expected to be finished in a few months (although contractors are having serious problems).  But the railroad tracks that have killed several pedestrians and bikeriders on 900 South are being ignored.  Those railroad tracks, under I15,  divide the east and west side of Salt Lake City.
  The City is also going to use $2.8 million for "mobility and safety improvements" on State Street from 600 South to 900 South.  The plan is to widen sidewalks, improve transit stops (which are unfortunately not at corners but require a little walking - missing a bus by a minute due to the distance of inconvenient bus stops will discourage ridership), and slowing speed (to 20 MPH according to one plan if UDOT agrees), putting in bulbouts (inconvenient for bicyclists), removing driveways, installing street furniture and trees (obstacles for pedestrians, bicyclists and scooters - note that bicycles are not to ride on sidewalks north of 500 South downtown) and mid block crossings.  The plan is also to work with South Salt Lake to create "high-comfort bike routes" on streets on both sides of State Street from 900 South to 3300 South Street.
  The City also is going to spend $942,500 of the County funds to develop a "multi-modal circulation plan, preliminary engineering of selected street and trail corridors, and the completion of a transit alternatives analysis for an extension of the S-Line streetcar line or other Sugar House to Millcreek transit."  This, in my opinion, is Millcreek's effort to get the S-Line/Streetcar/TRAX to go south on Highland to 39th South.  He believes the claim that the S-Line resulted in billions of new development in Sugar House.  He ignores the reality, in my opinion, that Sugar House development is due to the large concentration of open space and parks in the area, unmatched anywhere in Utah cities (except for the new Draper park).
  Salt Lake City is also using $400,000 of the funding to design 200 South between 600 West and 900 East to "function as a transit corridor and a transit hub incorporating walking, bicycling, shared mobility, private automobiles and freight. It should be noted that the Transit Master Plan identified the “East Downtown,” vicinity of 200 South and 700 East as a location that would “provide additional layover capacity to support implementation of the FTN (Frequent Transit Network).  Potentially, the location would be in the 200 South Street right of way."  (UTA, Davis County and Salt Lake City are planning a $67 million BRT since they have so much new funding for projects.)  The original plan, from the SLC Transit Master Plan, was to put in a $400,000 transit hub on 200 South and 700 East.  This is the start of the process.
  "The final study involves using a $300,000 allocation to identify a site for a multi-modal hub facility and develop a preliminary facility and cost estimates for a multi-modal bus hub near North Temple and Redwood Road."

COPS ARE TOO SCARY IN UNIFORM
  The Salt Lake City Council adopted several "intentions" which are plans that they want to implement.  These are the intentions from the adopted Legislative Intent followed by my opinions/analysis.
"1. Park Ranger Program. It is the intent of the Council that the Administration develop a proposal for Council consideration that addresses the overall goal of increasing the perception of safety in parks, including the concerns raised by community and Council Members that uniformed police officers could cause fear or uncertainty among minority and at-risk populations, interfering with their enjoyment of these public spaces."
  But people should not be afraid of police officers in uniform but they could become so if their first interactions with police are during criminal complaints.  Police in uniforms in parks are what communities want and they believe, as Chief Brown said, a visible cop is a great deterrent to criminal behavior.  Police in regular uniforms in parks decrease the perceived fear of cops.
  Parks already asks for the SLCPD to close the restrooms in the parks at night due to their perceived danger from transients and drug users.  The City Council later agreed to allow police to patrol in bicycle uniforms, which are not as intimidating!  And due to the lack of personnel (down 40), the Council intends to support a Budget Amendment 2 that would allow those bicycle patrol police to be paid overtime.  That budget amendment may be done in a few months but bicycling in wintertime is not realistic when it snows.  That is why the Chief wanted to use regular uniformed cops in vehicles, bicycles and on foot.  But the "uniformed cops are scary",  group of City Council members decided to only use bicycle cop uniforms.  Fairmont Park (spice and THC sales market for kids), Sugar House Park and Liberty Park are the highest priority.  The Jordan River Parkway is being patrolled with police paid for by the County.

"2. Funding Our Future - New Sales Tax Funds for Public Safety. It is the intent of the Council that the definition of “public safety” include the Police Department, Fire Department, and 911 Dispatch for
allocation of Funding Our Future revenue."
  What happened was the 911 Audit indicated that the PBX operators that were used to answer 799-3000 non-emergency calls to cut costs (they weren't paid much more than regular operators, much less than dispatchers) were causing problems with not taking crime reports so the City agreed to make them all trained dispatchers which is now being funded by the new prison sales tax funds that were to go to police staffing increases.  And the SLCFD firemen and women were not being paid much, having to work other jobs during off days, so they needed a salary increase too.  The effect is SLCPD is still losing a lot of trained and experienced cops with institutional knowledge due to not being paid as much as other jurisdictions in the County.  SLCPD should have all of the funding from the sales tax increase and the SLC General Fund should pay a decent salary to 911 dispatchers and SLCFD personnel.

"3. Green Team Metrics. It is the intent of the Council that the Administration work with its Green Team partners to develop metrics that track tangible improvements in job-related skills among participants, in addition to graduate employment rates."

"4. Sustainability – Rate Increase. It is the intent of the Council that the Administration conduct public engagement on various options for a waste collection rate increase, in time for an updated proposal to be considered in the FY21 budget."
  So the City Council is preparing the groundwork for a waste collection rate increase, another tax increase like the 4 from last year (prison, SB136, water, stormwater).

"5. Complete Streets Definition. It is the intent of the Council to ask the Administration to clarify the components of the “complete streets” concept and evaluate whether there are additional opportunities to include pedestrian and neighborhood safety as it relates to any future CIP project and, specifically, to consider how pedestrian and neighborhood safety can build on the current ordinance." 
  The City is going to get the results of the Transportation Department's "completer streets study" next year that, I think, will result in lowering speed limits.

"6. Golf Food and Beverage Options. It is the intent of the Council to ask the Administration to examine the open space zone ordinance, with the goal of removing barriers to providing flexible food and beverage options in golf courses. To the extent that barriers exist in State law the Council requests an analysis of those, and that changing them be identified as a future legislative priority"
  In other words, the City Council wants to have more public use of the City's golf courses.  They want to encourage use of drinks on the golf courses and encourage liquor licenses for contracted service providers and create a more inviting facility for the neighborhood.  They want to use more social media promotions to encourage luncheons with the Council on the golf courses.

"7. Fire Department Medical Response Team. It is the intent of the Council to ask the Administration to continue to evaluate call volume over the next 12-18 months to determine the cost/benefit of a
Medical Response Team approach for other areas of the City with a high volume of medical calls."
  This makes a lot of sense since running big rigs with high volume screaming sirens to respond to a medical emergency seems questionable.  80% of fire department calls, according to national statistics, are for medical response.  Although the SLCFD contends that they need staff to be ready for all emergencies while responding to medical, the success of the downtown medical response team should justify expanding that system.

900 S OFFRAMP COULD TAKE UP ALL RDA FUNDING
  I put the 900 S. Offramp study by Salt Lake City Transportation in the downloads section.  Many in the Ballpark Community still have bad memories of the UDOT/SLC construction of the 900 S. Peoples Freeway Offramp that divided a neighborhood.  The study was to provide reasons and a plan to cut back the offramp and put it onto 300 West and reclaim the property for more "beneficial uses".  But the traffic using the offramp for access to downtown is significant and the 300 West redesign create problems.  In addition, UDOT does not seem to be interested in moving the offrampl.  If the offramp is moved, SLC was thinking that the 
RDA for the State Street area tax increment could pay the cost.  Unfortunately, that would leave almost nothing for parks and other amenity improvements for the area. 

SLC GOING TO TEMP CONTRACTOR TO PROVIDE CROSSING GUARDS
  SLC needs crossing guards and has been unable to pay them enough.  So it is going to a temp contractor/temp agency to provide crossing guards.  But the cost for a temp agency to provide the crossing guards is much more (usually 30-50% more) than paying them a better salary to attract them.  In addition, the crossing guards, working for a temp agency, may not be as vetted (despite assurances) as te guards are now.  The City needs a reality check on appropriate and respectful salaries, for cops, dispatchers, fire department personnel, and crossing guards.

3 CREEKS CONFLUENCE PARK COMING TO 1300 S JORDAN RIVER
  I put the Three Creeks Confluence Park map in the downloads section.  It is expected to be open in two years after the City buys the towing/automobile service station in 2020.  It will eventually cost about $4 million.

SLC HOMELESS SHELTER PROBLEMS AHEAD
  The Paramont Homeless shelter is open and accepting women.  The problems that are still obvious include putting women on the top floor which will be difficult to evacuate in a fire; the staff are not trained on and have access to opioid overdose systems like Narcan; there is still a lice contamination problem without resolution (testing, detecting, and treating); not many trees outside for pets and people; no cat facilities; minimal pet cages; and no petfood.  I realize that this is a work in progress but these are concerns that need addressing now.  Women are no longer allowed at the Road Home but they do not want to go to the shelters.  So they will increase the camping out on the sidewalks in the downtown area.  
  Other areas are also affected.  In Sugar House, by the S-Line, an old homeless women camps out and refuses all offers to move to a shelter.  She wants to stay outside with a man she is attached to.  I think that it needs more social services personnel.

ROOFTOP BAR QUESTIONS
  2166 S. 900 E. is a remodeling project that is proposed to be  bar and restaurants.  Although the neighborhood is concerned about the parking limitations in the area (Many patrons of the nearby restaurants park at Smiths.), during the community meeting, concern was also expressed for the potential of noise that the tenant, a proposed rooftop bar, will cause.  Sugar House continues with supergentrification.

SLC CHANGING TRAFFIC SIGNALS TO DECREASE IDLING
  SLC Transportation has a new traffic signal analysis and presentation that I put in the downloads section.  The City, along with UDOT (building on their Cottonwood Heights Purdue Study from last year) reset the timing in several areas, mainly in the Downtown Area (DA).  The result was a decrease of time traveling downtown by almost a minute and for almost half a minute time saving for the other areas reset (1300 S., 1300 E., 2100 S.).  This technology/software/data driven decision making is the future and will significantly reduce idling.  The impact of this will eventually be greater than almost anything else that we do to decrease pollution.  Unfortunately, the Utah Regional Transportation Plan and Utah Transportation Plan have minimal funding proposed for these resettings.

SLC APARTMENT/RENTALS REPORT WE CAN'T BUILD OUR WAY OUT
  The Salt Lake City Council was given a report on the state of rentals and the rental market in Salt Lake City.  I put the report along with the 2018 report in the downloads section.  The bottom line is that we cannot build enough apartments to meet demand.  This year, to June, 2200 new apartment units came online.  Last year there were 3000.  
  And the remodeling that has been happening is part of the affordability crisis for housing in Salt Lake City.  The presenters pointed out the case of an $800 a month apartment complex on 27th South that was bought by a California company and remodeled and it was charging $1800 a month after remodeling. 
  The presenters suggested that "we can't build our way out of this but we may be able to rehab our way out of this".  They pointed out that ADUs are the low hanging fruit (but the cost is over $90,000 and out of reach or uninteresting to 90% of the population).  In addition, they asked, how do you stop ADUs from using AirBnb.  The problem is to keep housing affordable and not lose it.  Now may be a cheaper time to build and opportunity zones may help (but the New York Times pointed out that the projects are for high end apartments and units and are not redeveloping the needed areas).
  During the 2014 moratorium on impact fees, Salt Lake City gave out, at most, 1693 permits in a quarter.  In June 2019, Salt Lake City almost hit that peak.  Interestingly, the City Council buried the proposal to decrease impact fees for inclusionary zoning projects with 20% affordable units.  
  The City is also under the mis-impression that rail lines, like the S-Line, increases development.  But the park next to the S-Line ges more use than the S-Line and is the big draw.  Only one building has affordable units out of all of the new projects!
  The recommendation that Salt Lake City use ADUs and SROs to increase housing should not be followed until Salt Lake City gets their act together regarding unsafe property owners.  State Street still has the best potential for significantly increasing housing that is mixed income and mixed use.  But that project has been going around in circles for five years.  I also put the City's housing permits and affordable units built in the downloads section.  Although the City has helped build thousands of affordable units, that is a drop in the bucket of housing needs.  We needed 7500 four years ago.  We are not building enough to decrease our housing needs.
  An interesting side note is that part of the reason that the Rio Grande area has become so run down is that Salt Lake City owns 7 acres out of about 15 acres in that area, called the Depot District.  For decades, the City refused to develop or sell the properties and they sat vacant and they increased blight and crime and drug use.  I guess that I am trying to make the point that the City is part of the problem.  Although the City Council took the housing funds away from the Administration and put them into the RDA, the RDA is the problem if they refuse to develop property or sell it to developers for appropriate development.  
  The RDA did recommend loans for developers to rehabilitate the senior housing at 1962 S and 200 East (managed by SLCO and SLC), a loan for building 10 units at 1700 S. and 501 E., and the big 242 unit project on 1700 S. and 204 W. was not recommended for a loan but it probably will still be built.

LIBERTY PARK CRIME CONCERNS
  The Liberty Wells neighborhood (west of Liberty Park between 900 S. and 2100 S.) had a public safety meeting (like the meeting the same week in Ballpark).  I put the notes from the meeting in the downloads/crime column.  The community wants more police patrols in Liberty Park.  Also, the Tracy Aviary has had issues with people jumping the east gate and cutting cages (3-4 times in the last year but it could be happening everyday).  In August 2019, there were 71 calls to the SLCPD about criminal activities in Liberty Park.  The community wants police patrols now, in uniform.
  There are homeless drug addicts walking around committing crimes with victims.  90% of homeless drug addicts do not commit victimless crimes.  The cause is not enough cops (a visible cop is the most effective deterrent to crime), not enough jailspace (the revolving door jail with booking restrictions does not allow cops to arrest and jail threats to society) and not enough funding for the DA to prosecute even so called victimless crimes that still involve victims.

TREES REALITY
  Recently, Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall, running for Mayor, promised to plant thousands of trees on the westside of Salt Lake City if she  is elected.  But she is capable of doing that now but hasn't.  She did increase the funding for Urban Forestry a couple of years ago (I think it was $500,000.) to increase tree planting.  I give her credit for that.  That would give about a thousand new trees planted (see the Tree Removal information in downloads).  As I pointed out in a recent blog entry (CTRL F Cory Davis), the City charges $172 per caliper inch for "important trees" that are removed for development.  The City is losing about 3000 trees a year and replacing a thousand a year is not keeping up our urban forest or canopy.  This has been a consistent problem for over 10 years.  Back when Miller Park was remodeled after the oil spill to make it more beautiful?!, Salt Lake City cut around 200 old trees down and has been using Roundup to try to kill the sprouts!  But the label on Roundup says that it "should not be used in or near freshwater to protect amphibians and other wildlife".  So if anyone is wondering why the birds haven't returned to the Miller Park Bird Sanctuary, blame the City and Roundup.  Also the hundreds of thousands spent on new plants were a waste of time since most died because they use inadequate tubing for watering and, in one year, they didn't turn on the water to save water!

CCS MAY BE KICKED OUT OF DOWNTOWN
  The Salt Lake City Council is considering a business improvement district (BID) for the Rio Grande area to make everyone pay for the improvements that they want to make in the area to attract development (which they have not allowed since they owned almost half of the acreage in the area and it has been vacant for years).   This could be a way to force homeless service providers out of the area.  Although the St. Vincent De Paul kitchen and the Weigand Center and Fourth Street Clinic are not supposed to go anywhere after their big remodeling investments, this BID could result in pressure to move to a less costly area.

MCLELLAND CLOSED TO PEDESTRIANS?!
  Despite all of the efforts to ensure that Sugar House remain friendly and inviting to pedestrians (with weekly calls to the City to insist on it when new permits are scheduled), last week, the City gave a permit to tear up the west side sidewalk on McClelland on the site of the future Fairmont office and residential building.  So pedestrians had to fight the cars and walk in the street.  The Boulder Ventures project shut down and they do not have pedestrian facilities on the east side.  After many complaints, the City admitted that the permit was wrong and pedestrian access should have been protected.  But the project is supposed to be finished for now.  The City has promised to work with Transportation and Permits to not have this happen again.  Note that it took a year to get the City to force Boulder Ventures to return the planters to the Parleys Trail to protect pedestrians from the speeding cars.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN POWER WANTS TO CHARGE ACCORDING HOURLY USE
  Rocky Mountain Power is considering changing power meters to allow new "pricing options".  What that means is that they want to charge more for power when the renewable and lower cost power providers are not producing enough power.  This is part of the plan to combine the 38 plus Independent Service Providers under California ISO to "harden the grid" but really to stop Utah from burning coal.  Large customers already have hourly rates according to time of day.  Customers who supposedly opt in will be charged lower fees when power is plentiful from renewables but will pay more when renewable power is not available.  Recently, in Texas, the cost went to $9000 per kilowatt hour due to renewable power not generating much power!  "Fasten your seatbelts.  It's going to be a bumpy ride!"

900 EAST STREET RECONSTRUCTION BEFORE UTILITY DIGS
  The 900 East reconstruction project from Hollywood to 27th South is going to end up a waste of time since the area around 2100 South is undergoing a significant building boom.  So, after putting in a brand new pavement, the road will have to be torn up for all of the new buildings' utilities (sewer, water, gas) and the road will look as bad as it does now.  Street reconstruction should not be on streets that are undergoing supergentrification.

SHOPPING CARTS NO LONGER CONFISCATED
  During the crime meeting in Ballpark, it was pointed out that police won't take shopping carts (unless there is a big pressure put on them like at the Library last year) since the stores won't prosecute them.  The City provided a phone number (on the Good Neighbor Handout) to call about shopping carts but it doesn't work.  And the Mayor's office does not have a working number for reporting shopping carts!

I LOVE ROCKY BUT
  A recent column by former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson in the Salt Lake Tribune expressed concern about "control of our government by special interests, contrary to the public interest." He explained that, "Now, we're threatened with the prospect of a Mormon mayor...My obvious concern was not about religion. It was about continued domination of our government."
  I find arguments for the concern questionable. The concern about overly influential religion is valid but I would rather have religion having influence in our society than living in a Karl Marx invented communist country where religion is treated as useless. In such societies, the people at the top tend to think that they are gods and basic ethics and respect seem to be missing. Although organized religion has had many instances of horrible large scale murders of millions, their evils are nothing compared to the godless communist genocides in China, Russia, Ukraine and Cambodia. Belief in God and the ethics that it entails makes society in general better.
  I agree that religion should be more compassionate but calling out one religion when many religions could use more compassion seems to be questionable. Rocky's concern about "legislators who blindly toed the line drawn by the Mormon Church on Prop. 2" also raises questions. I know many legislators and find them to be reasonable and respectful, even if I don’t agree with them. Although I am against the medical marijuana compromise (and any legalization of drugs) that most of the backers and opponents agreed to, both sides seemed to be working with and agreeing with the compromise, even if some people like Rocky Anderson don't agree with it.  
  The big issue in this State really comes down to whether the citizens can enact policies that may be detrimental to society. Many religions want the laws of our society to create a better society, even if we always don't agree with them. For instance, many Utahns believe gambling, euthanasia and recreational drugs should be legal; hard liquor should be in grocery stores; and cars should be able to drive without a speed limit. Some limits are good for society. We may not always agree but it is important that we have a reasoned analysis of some laws before citizens pass laws.   
  One of the advantages of our Republican form of government is that we can decrease the influence of the tyranny of the majority. So a citizen's initiative that could legalize prostitution is not going to pass the Legislature. Rocky's concern about special interests of a religion seem to ignore the worst case scenario of the tyranny of the majority. I would rather have a reasoned debate with our elected representatives than a mass of initiatives like California keeps pushing.
  Rocky's concern about the Inland Port is partially valid but inappropriately directed at just one of the two candidates for mayor of Salt Lake City. The other candidate for mayor of Salt Lake City pushed for agreeing to an Inland Port that gave a little back to the City while agreeing to give up a quarter of our property! Senator Escamilla supported the lawsuit against the State from the beginning while her opponent, who led the push for the so called compromise with the State, questionably pledged to continue the lawsuit. Complaining that Senator Escamilla was unable to stop the funding of the Inland Port Commission is unrealistic.
  If Rocky really was concerned about undue influence, he should focus on the City Council sending out 3 emails promoting Erin Mendenhall in the month before the election. 
  Rocky Anderson was a great mayor in my opinion. He left the City in great financial shape with a 17% financial cushion. He hired Chris Burbank as Police Chief. He cares about the underdog.  But his attempt to blame a religion for not agreeing with him is wrong. But good ole Rocky, I think I'll still love him.
  Note Erin Mendenhall pledged to continue the lawsuit in the Deseret News  (Erin Mendenhall’s ‘strong ground game’ helped her clinch Salt Lake City mayoral primary, August 14, 2019), but the reality is that she and the rest of the Council ordered the Mayor to stop the lawsuit!

SLC SCHOOLS SHAFT AFTERSCHOOL PROGRAMS
  The Salt Lake City Schools was warned that this was coming.  The low pay for after school program caregivers (starting at $7.50 per hour but averaging $10 per hour) is the problem.  Many quit because you can make more at McDonalds and the responsibility is a tenth of the responsibility of taking care of kids.  Some more education is needed at the Salt Lake City School Board.  Also lost is the potential for increasing enrollment in the regular school (that could be planned for closing) if there is an afterschool program that is open.  Parents are more likely to have their children enrolled in that school if there is an afterschool program. 

SEPTEMBER 11, 2019
SLC LIBRARY NEW PLANS FOR NON UNI-SEX BATHROOM
SLTRIB OPED FOR VAPING TAXES & BANNING THC VAPING
SLCPD STILL DOWN 40 BUT PARK BICYCLE COPS WITH OVERTIME
2 KINDS OF HOMELESS AND POLICE CAN'T TAKE SHOPPING CARTS
UOFU TOBACCO FREE BUT MARIJUANA OK?
FORT DOUGLAS SHOULD BE RENAMED FOR BRENT TAYLOR

SLC LIBRARY NEW PLANS FOR NON UNI-SEX BATHROOM
  The SLC Library, earlier this year, suggested a remodeling of Sprague Library in Sugar House that included a universal/uni-sex bathroom.  It allowed for "direct entry from a public space into toilet rooms".  The design was "deemed by the City's Code Examiner to be out of compliance with current building code".  
  The Library has submitted a compromise that divides the men and women's area and provides more of a private area for both (in the SLC DOWNLOADS).  Although the universal washroom design is still available, the "plans include multiple washroom options for patrons including a single handicapped accessible stall upstairs as well as a separate bathroom for children/families downstairs". 
  Although the Library felt that the original design enhanced safety, many in the community disagreed.  They felt that privacy was more important and the original design did not respect privacy (in their opinion - which I agreed with). 
  But since the International Code Council (ICC) adopted a new International Building and Plumbing Code to "explicitly allow for universal washroom design".  The Code is expected to be officially published in 2021.
  The community seems to have accepted the new proposal but it will be interesting to see if the design is actually accepted and built.

SLTRIB OPED FOR VAPING TAXES & BANNING THC VAPING
  The Salt Lake Tribune published my oped on vaping at 
https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2019/08/31/george-chapman-vaping/
  I reminded readers that, for several years, many of us have tried to warn of the dangers of vaping that involves putting chemicals, untested for safety, into lungs.  Rep. Ray and Sen. Christensen are resubmitting a bill to tax vaping materials.  It has failed for many years.  I also suggested that it does not make sense to legalize THC vaping when it appears to be harmful.  The special session of the Legislature should remove the legalization of THC vaping.

SLCPD STILL DOWN 40 BUT PARK BICYCLE COPS WITH OVERTIME
  During a special joint meeting of the Ballpark Community Council and the Central 9th Community Council, Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall mentioned that there will be bicycle cops patrolling parks when they adopt a budget amendment (nr 2 in the next month or two) that allows overtime for park patrols with bicycle cops.  Again, the Council decided that the Chief's suggestion to use regular police in cars to patrol parks was too intimidating for some in the City!  They felt that the police bicycle uniforms were less intimidating!
  Lost in the announcement is the fact that the Police Chief suggested starting police patrols as park rangers in parks by October of this year.  But with the Councils stall, the bicycle patrols won't start until spring of next year at the earliest.  The Council also repurposed the sales tax increase (from the SLC Prison "accommodation") that was to go to SLC Police to cover the budget problems with 911 SLC Dispatch and SLCFD.  So the SLCPD only got $4 million worth of new hybrid vehicles and a 2% pay raise for police (a 6% raise for over 10 years of service) and that is why we are down 40 police that are funded but aren't available.  
  Admittedly, a large issue with the lack of police, is the poor retirement system that causes SLC to lose double the average loss per year of police in the U.S. due to retirement.  Utah law enforcement has an unfunded actuarial liability of $57 million which is the impediment to changing the retirement system to stop the encouragement of law enforcement professionals to leave Utah and law enforcement jobs.

2 KINDS OF HOMELESS AND POLICE CAN'T TAKE SHOPPING CARTS
  During the joint meeting mentioned above, a young girl explained the situation with the homeless in very intelligent, reasoned and realistic terms.  Half of the homeless seem to be down on their luck and don't have housing.  The other half are drug addicts that don't care and will use drugs even next to school children waiting for their schoolbus.  She explained the issue better than anyone else that night.  
  Those who use drugs and are drug addicts do not commit victimless crimes.  But due to the repurposing of the $9.4 million County Jail bond annually, there is not enough jail space to keep those drug addicts that keep committing crimes with victims.  There is not enough jail space; not enough DA funding to prosecute criminals and keep them in jail; and not enough police (see story above) to stop the criminal homeless that have spread throughout the area from Operation Leaf Blower. 
  During the meeting, the SLC Police said that they couldn't confiscate the many shopping carts that are proliferating throughout the neighborhood.  Walmart and the other stores refuse to prosecute for shopping cart theft and they even refuse to prosecute for shoplifting since the same individuals keep doing it and they are never kept in jail.

UOFU TOBACCO FREE BUT MARIJUANA OK?
  The University of Utah has announced that the University campus is officially tobacco free.  Smoking has been banned for a year with warnings issued when caught but now it is official.  Unannounced, but obvious to everyone, is the fact that marijuana is used/smoked/vaped regularly and campus wide.  In fact, it is so prevalent that the Salt Lake City Justice Court was disbanded because the judges that ran it felt that it was a bad idea to have students who were caught smoking pot in the same room with addicts caught with cocaine or heroin.  One of the complaints about the UofU Police Department, and one of the reasons that they are a separate force, is the prevailing philosophy of the University that students should be given a "little" leeway.  
  Of course, they recently changed the free access that visitors had to spend the night on campus with residents of the on campus housing.  Visitors are limited in how many nights they can spend and they have to be signed in and tracked by residence hall managers.  That should have been changed a long time ago.  It shouldn't have taken a murder to provide the impetus to actually make it safer for students.

FORT DOUGLAS SHOULD BE RENAMED FOR BRENT TAYLOR
  A recent letter in a newspaper suggested that Fort Douglas, named for Lincoln's opponent in the 1860 Presidential election, be renamed.
  I agree.  It should be renamed for Major Brent Taylor to remind everyone in this State that there are citizens of our society that are willing to fight for our freedom and to risk their lives,and lose their lives, in the process.  Fighting for freedom is not easy.
  The State does not want Fort Douglas to be renamed.  The State wants it turned over to the University of Utah.

SEPTEMBER 4, 2019
SLC BD OF ED DOES NOT LIKE RDA PROJECTS
48TH SOUTH ABOUT TO BECOME SUPER CONGESTED
SLCO CLOSING TWO POPULAR NEIGHBORHOOD LIBRARIES
MILLCREEK/SLC LAND TRANSFER MAPS
GREENBIKE PLAN FOR NW CORNER 9TH AND 9TH
SLC NEW TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS
SLC UTA SERVICE NEEDED 50 NEW EMPLOYEES
SLC MAY USE SALES TAX MONEY FOR FREE FARES
IS UTA REALLY SERVICE ORIENTED WHILE SPENDING ON PROJECTS
UTA SERVICE CHOICES REPORT BY JARRETT WALKER
SLC HOUSING FUNDING RESULTS IN 458 AFFORDABLE UNITS IN 7 YEARS
SLC SPENDING $250,000 TO REMOVE BILLBOARD AT 400 S 200 E

SLC BD OF ED DOES NOT LIKE RDA PROJECTS
  During the Board of Education meeting on Sept 3, SLC's RDA gave a report to the Board on their proposal (submitted almost 2 years ago to the Board) to expand the Salt Lake City RDA areas to State Street from about 600 South to 21st South and from about 200 East to 300 West (see report and map in the SLC DOWNLOADS SECTION) and surrounding the 9 Line west of I15.  The project prediction would provide millions more to the School District that they would not have otherwise but the SLC RDA is going to get several times more than that to use for providing amenities that encourage development in those areas.  The amenities could be parks, plazas, transportation amenities and infrastructure.  The State Street area was chosen by the SLC Council, sitting as the RDA Board, almost 5 years ago due to the potential for new housing, especially affordable housing.  SLC RDA expects at least 1800 new units are possible in the area with RDA encouragement.  The plan is to run 20 years which is down from the original 25 year plan.  There is some argument about when to start the 20 year countdown, when the Board and other taxing entities approve or from 5 years ago (which would give SLC RDA immediate tax increment funding to spend.
  The SLC Board of Education has held up the proposal since it is concerned that not enough kids will be provided with the plans.  SLC RDA is emphasizing the potential for ADUs in the area and has said that they will prioritize 3 bedroom or more apartments.  Most Board of Education members expressed concern that the plans do not include homes since homes are what families want.  I agree that most families want single family homes with a yard for their kids to safely play in.  Unfortunately, most infill homes have minimal yards that can only barely fit in a trampoline!  Several Board members said that even with all of the new developments in Salt Lake City, no extra students turned up!  That is one of the reasons that there is a concern about closing Bennion on 800 East between 4th and 5th South.  It presently has 211 students and is trying to attract 300 students.  Washington Elementary also has low enrollment (in the 400 North area).  Ironically, Bennion has an after school program that could attract more students, if it could hire enough student child care workers.  But the base salary is only $7.50 an hour and students can get $15/hour with on campus jobs.  (I put the SLC Bd of Ed salaries in the SLC DOWNLOADS SECTION.)  So the afterschool program, that is full, if it paid a fair and attractive salary (watching kids should attract the best who should be paid more than minimum wage), could attract more workers, open up more slots for afterschool care and those kids would be enrolled, usually, in Bennion for the school day.  But the Board of Education does not seem to get that reality.
  Back to the SLC RDA proposal to expand RDA areas (now called Community Reinvestment Areas) about which the Board of Education has concerns.  Only one Board member, Nate Salazar pushed for adoption of the proposal.  Lost in the discussion is the fact, the most important fact, is that the RDA tax increments can be used to provide amenities like parks (like the linear park along the S-Line) that attract families to an area.  One of the reasons for the hyper development of Sugar House is the incredible concentration of open space with Forest Dale Golf Course, Fairmont Park, Sugar House Park and the Parleys Trail (going to the Bonneville Shoreline Trail and eventually to the Jordan River Trail).  RDA can fund those parks and amenities like pocket parks and playgrounds that attract families.  When new apartments in an area become enticing to local single-family home owners, they encourage those owners to sell their homes that are often too big for just one or two and move into a nearby apartment.  The result should be, if done right, a large increase in families with young kids to the area.  AMENITIES ATTRACT FAMILIES!  SLC residents should email the SLC Board of Education members (Google SLC Bd of Ed) and tell them to help increase affordable housing in SLC by allowing expansion of the SLC RDA areas.

48TH SOUTH ABOUT TO BECOME SUPER CONGESTED
  I put an updated map of the expensive BRT plan for 48th South on the TRANSPORTATION DOWNLOADS.  The UTA Board is continuing to prioritize the plan.  In my opinion, it will make a super congested road more congested.  UDOT says that the road often is in a failure category (F).  But many legislators believe that it will save the day and they are pressuring UTA to complete it.  I still believe that UTA does not know how to do BRT.  The BRT on 35 South is not successful since it only saves 15 minutes on a 70 minute regular bus run.  People do not like to walk more than a block and 4 blocks is too much.  Which brings me to the effort of Salt Lake County to encourage more driving, to libraries!

SLCO CLOSING TWO POPULAR NEIGHBORHOOD LIBRARIES
  Salt Lake County has approved closing two popular and well used libraries in order to build a brand new eye candy library on the site of the former Granite High School.  It will be 30,000 square feet and the County believes that libraries need to be bigger to fulfill their expanded mission to encourage business development (by providing incubating business services).  But the libraries scheduled to close, Smith on 33rd and 800 East and Columbus on 25th and 500 East are considered to be amenities for the area and walkable.  Millcreek has an eastside library that was recently expanded and remodeled (Evergreen) but the westside only has Smith.  Millcreek's Economic Development Director, Mike Winder, seems to back the plan.  But the Millcreek Community Council has been pushing for a library to be around 10th East and 44th South at the site of a closed school.  And the plans for a Millcreek downtown around 33rd South and Highland Drive would seem to be a better place for a new library that serves Millcreek residents.  The preferred method of crossing 700 East is by car.  And so the plan is going to encourage driving!
  I believe in pocket libraries with meeting space for local community councils and lots of computers for kids (and adults) and students to use.  The Smith Library computers are well used and there is a school a block away.  Many areas of the County need a library and the County should not be encouraging driving but should be encouraging local neighborhood libraries that provide character and stability in the neighborhoods.  Walkability should be more encouraged.

MILLCREEK/SLC LAND TRANSFER MAPS
  I put the Millcreek SLC land transfer maps and report in the SLC DOWNLOADS COLUMN.  The transfer allows Millcreek to better plan their new downtown and wide linear park along the earthquake fault between Highland and 1300 East.  (I wonder why Questar Gas/Dominion Energy put in a big natural gas pipeline from 33rd South to 1300 East when an earthquake fault is a block away?  I would think that a concentration of new development should be away from a natural gas pipeline.)  (Of course, maybe the County should not be building libraries on the street with a natural gas pipeline that runs on 33rd South by Granite High block.)  The transfer also allows Millcreek to beautify the 2300 East roundabouts that are entrances from I80 to Millcreek.  SLC didn't seem to be interested in beautifying anything, including the 1300 East I80 exit (which is still being complained about by the community).

GREENBIKE PLAN FOR NW CORNER 9TH AND 9TH
  I put the GreenBike site plan for the 9th and 9th corner in the SLC DOWNLOADS (SLC free fares transit expansion personnel GreenBike 9th 9th).  I combined the downloads for the next 3 stories in one DOWNLOAD in SLC DOWNLOADS.  The GreenBike Station still needs a site at the McClelland S-Line Station since the area between 9th South and Sugarmont is very walkable (800 East and 1000 East) and bikeable.

SLC NEW TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS
  Salt Lake City is pushing 5 new transportation projects that include the 9 Line Trail and a bus hub at 700 East and 200 South (I still do not get the reasoning on the bus hub.)  There is also a grant that SLC is applying for to pay the majority of a 300 West street reconstruction.  Due to the new homeless shelter on 300 West (around 1400 South), the City is going to install sidewalks on that area of 300 West (which will need to be partially redone when the street is reconstructed).  I put the projects in the combined file in the SLC DOWNLOADS.

SLC UTA SERVICE NEEDED 50 NEW EMPLOYEES
  Salt Lake City's new service for the 2, 9 and 21 bus routes is requiring 50 new employees.  UTA is still down almost a 100 drivers and UTA is still unable conveniently meet all of the service demands.  I put the note in the combined file in the SLC DOWNLOADS.

SLC MAY USE SALES TAX MONEY FOR FREE FARES
  It appears that the new service on the 9th South bus route is lacking except for the morning and evening rush of students going to East High and Judge.  Students go to East High from the 5600 West! but the bus only goes to Redwood Road.  It is a problem that is not totally solved by the 9th South bus service expansion.  So Salt Lake City Council is discussing using some of the money still available and unspent ($999,000) for free fares on the 2, 9 and 21 routes!  SLC still has not fixed the homeless situation and the biggest complaint by riders in the free fare zone is the large number of homeless riding TRAX and buses in the free fare zone.  UTA has to spend a lot of time and effort to "delouse" buses (that is the insecticide smell that is noticeable in some of the buses).  Free fare does not work unless the City, County and State have solved the homeless situation.  I put the combined file (with the above stories) in the SLC DOWNLOADS.

IS UTA REALLY SERVICE ORIENTED WHILE SPENDING ON PROJECTS
  UTA has acknowledged that they are spending a lot of money on the "first phase of mobilization which is capital intensive".  What that means is that the "implementation phase with new and improved bus service" will come later.  The later is planned for August of 2020 but it may be pushed back since UTA wants to finish their $100 million "gold plated" (in my opinion) bus garage (actually pushed by legislators) being built by Big D.  So the promise of UTA executives (and former Mayor Becker) that new taxes, especially Prop One funds that are now provided by SB136, that all new funds would be spent on service was thrown out.
  Again the explanation is that this is the "first phase of mobilization".  Nod, nod, wink, wink, say no more, say no more.
  UTA did say that they are using 16 vehicles to test (with Flex buses) microtransit which will run from 6am to 9pm mainly in the southwest area of the County.
  UTA and Salt Lake City, are still planning on spending money on bus stops (before service is increased) with the explanation that better bus stops are an increase in service!  But UTA orders their drivers to stay one to four feet from the curb!  So, even if you spend millions as proposed on bus stop improvements, it won't get the bus closer to the curb and make it more convenient!  Is UTA really service oriented?  You tell me (at gechapman2@gmail.com).

UTA SERVICE CHOICES REPORT BY JARRETT WALKER
  I put the Jarrett Walker Service Choices report in the TRANPORTATION DOWNLOADS SECTION (upper right).  It has some interesting information but it really is saying we want more service.

SLC HOUSING FUNDING RESULTS IN 458 AFFORDABLE UNITS IN 7 YEARS
  I put the latest housing report from RDA and SLC (as of January 2019) in the SLC DOWNLOADS SECTION.  It shows that, since 2011, Salt Lake City has encouraged and completed 458 affordable units (2011 to 2018) and a total of 840 units (not just affordable).  Salt Lake City has 566 affordable units in process with a total of 954 units in process.  The workforce and market rate (mainly market rate) completed units from 2011 to 2018 are 903 and there are 378 in process.  Four years ago, Matt Minkovich said that he and experts believed that Salt Lake City needed 7500 affordable units.  It is probably 25,000 now and we are building about 60 affordable units a year!!!!

SLC SPENDING $250,000 TO REMOVE BILLBOARD AT 400 S 200 E
  How much does the Salt Lake City Council hate billboards?  It is willing to spend $250,000 to pay Reagan Billboards to move their billboard at 400 South and 200 East (on Dunkin' Donuts property) if they can't find a better place for their billboard.

AUGUST 20, 2019
CONTRACTOR REFUSES TO BUILD UNIVERSAL BATHROOM AT SPRAGUE 
SLC LOSES GEORGIA APARTMENTS BY TWO DAYS DUE TO COUNCIL INACTION
UTA GAINS NEW EXPERIENCE CEO BUT LOSES HOW TO RUN COMPANY
NEW UTA DATA PORTAL OPENS UP UTA ALMOST ALL OF THE WAY
WHY PROTECTED BIKE LANES MAY NOT MAKE SENSE
2000 EAST PROJECT PROPOSALS SOUTH OF 2100 SOUTH
OPERATION RIO GRANDE NEW STATS
JAIL DASHBOARD FINALLY UPDATED
SLCO GANG PROJECT STATS
SLC IGNORES ORDER TO RELEASE DOCUMENTS 
WARM SPRINGS, SUGAR HOUSE, 7 CANYONS, PUBLIC UTILITIES IMPACT FEE RULES CIP PROJECTS VOTES DELAYED
S-LINE RIDERSHIP GAINS 5%, FREE AUG 31 FOR SUGAR HOUSE BACKYARD BASH
SLC ADA DOORS DON'T WORK SORRY WHEELCHAIRS
2700 S PIPELINES DELAY ROAD PROJECT INTERFERE WITH SCHOOL
SUICIDE HOTLINE DELAYED TO PUSH 999
OVER 4 BUSINESSES HAVE NOW BEEN DESTROYED BY 9-LINE CONSTRUCTION
INN BETWEEN SLAMS NEIGHBORS AGAIN
STATE HOMELESS REPORT 2019 PROBLEMS AND STATS

CONTRACTOR REFUSES TO BUILD UNIVERSAL BATHROOM AT SPRAGUE 
  The plan to build and install a universal men and women's bathroom in the new Sprague Library hit a snag.  The contractor refused to build it so it is off the table.

SLC LOSES GEORGIA APARTMENTS BY TWO DAYS DUE TO COUNCIL INACTION
  Salt Lake City Housing Authority tried to buy the Georgia Apartments but lost to a private company two days before the City Council approved the money!  The City Council recently complained that they are faster, sitting as the RDA Board, than the City Council and Mayor.  But this shows that all of the City still needs to be more flexible when trying to build or obtain affordable housing.  

UTA GAINS NEW EXPERIENCE CEO BUT LOSES HOW TO RUN COMPANY
  I forgot to add that the UTA Federal Monitor Report expressed concern over the significant loss of institutional knowledge from UTA.  Many executives and mid level managers have left UTA.  UTA is a very complicated system that is hard to manage.  Steve Meyer should be thanked for staying on after his retirement out of State.  His knowledge was invaluable to provide effective management of UTA during the transition, that is still in process.

NEW UTA DATA PORTAL OPENS UP UTA ALMOST ALL OF THE WAY
  UTA just set up a dashboard that shows ridership and other data (for those of us who are ridership dataset junkies) and trends.  For years, it took a lot of time and effort to get UTA to provide ridership numbers by route.  This new tool doesn't go as deep as specific routes but it does show trends on overall bus and rail.  There are also helpful videos that show how to use the system.  For instance, it shows that the S-Line ridership decreased a little over the last two years but the double tracking (and maybe more apartment buildings in Sugar House and South Salt Lake) seem to trend up (see story below on S-Line ridership).  This is a big deal.  This shows that UTA IS changing for the better.  But I still want more.
  The UTA data portal is at:
https://utadata-ut-transit.opendata.arcgis.com/

WHY PROTECTED BIKE LANES MAY NOT MAKE SENSE

  Sugar House 900 East from Hollywood to 27th South is scheduled to be reconstructed and resurfaced in 2021.  The SHCC Transportation Committee is discussing the plans and making suggestions over the next few months on how to reconfigure the lanes to provide bicycle lanes.  In my opinion, center turn lanes, except at high traffic turn areas (like 2100 S, 2700 S, Forest Dale Golf Course and Simpson) are not as necessary as wider bicycle lanes along the street.   Bicyclists, if they are together, prefer to ride side by side and 900 East is a popular bicycling route.  The street does need to be resurfaced since even buses bounce constantly.  Bicyclists are even more impacted.  There are many streets without center turn lanes at 30 mph (2100 East, 1100 East) that operate well. 
  Despite the interest in bicyclists to build more protected bike lanes, their cost almost depletes annual bicycle infrastructure funding.  The argument is would you rather have 20 miles of well design and wide bike lanes that can be regularly maintained or would you prefer one mile of a protected bike lane that is almost never maintained, swept for bicycle threats daily?  I think that non protected bicycle lanes would be safer since they allow bicyclists a little leeway to turn out of danger when vehicles turn into them or exit driveways or broken glass is in their path.  I remember a picture of the new 300 South cycle track that was flooded during a rain.  Not really safe to bicycle in a flooded cycle track.

2000 EAST PROJECT PROPOSALS SOUTH OF 2100 SOUTH
  The Sugar House community had a meeting earlier this week to provide comments and concerns about the proposal to reconstruct and resurface 2000 East from Parleys Canyon Boulevard (just north of I80) to the City limits south of 27th South.  The proposed plans are at:
https://www.slc.gov/mystreet/2019/04/17/2000-east-parleys-canyon-boulevard-to-city-limits/

OPERATION RIO GRANDE NEW STATS
  The new statistics on Operation Rio Grande are out and I put the 6 pages In the download section (HOMELESS/CRIME).  The Operation, that the County police chiefs call Operation Leaf Blower due to the County Jail booking restrictions and revolving door (see next story), seems to keep doing the same thing, trying to discourage crime and criminal activity.  But the same people are being arrested for the same crimes again and again.

JAIL DASHBOARD FINALLY UPDATED
  The new updated County Jail Dashboard that shows the same people being arrested for the same crimes again and again is at: 
https://slsheriff.org/page_jail_dashboard.php
  It is finally public although it shows about the same as last year when it was first revealed.  The year old version is in the downloads section.

SLCO GANG PROJECT STATS
  I put the SLCO Gang Project stats in the downloads section.  The results show 158 federal gang indictments in 2018 along with confiscation (in 2 years) of 109 pounds of methamphetamine, 10 pounds of heroin and 384 firearms.  1,163 arrests were made over the last 2 years.

SLC IGNORES ORDER TO RELEASE DOCUMENTS 
  Michael Clara and the Poplar Grove Neighborhood Alliance have been trying to get Salt Lake City to justify the 900 West road diet that has resulted in a big increase in accidents.  The State Records Committee ordered the City, after a December 2018 hearing, to provide the documents requested.  But the City has refused to comply.  The City has contended, several times, that only the Third District Court has the ability to order release of public documents.  The State's GRAMA law has been ignored many times by SLC.  
  When I asked the City to release the Council's discussion of site locations of the homeless shelters (modified by the State), the City refused with the same argument.  I lost the case at the State Records Committee.  I asked for the the recordings of the meetings because the Council Members said that they all agreed unanimously on the sites, including the Simpson Avenue site.  But after the backlash, Council Member Erin Mendenhall said that she was against it.  She tried to defend the selection at the community meeting the next day.  She backed up quickly.
  Michael Clara is right to push to make the City more transparent in its operations.  Ironically, the City Administration is finally asking communities what they want before they push new projects and road diets (going from 4 travel lanes to two.  The 9-Line project proposed a road diet on 9th South from 1300 East to 1000 East.  The City spent almost a year trying to get the community to understand and agree on a plan.  It constructed popups to see if a roundabout made sense.  It had many public and well attended meetings.  The only problem developed towards the end when the parking loss went from a couple of spaces to over 30 in the last month.  After discussing the issue with businesses and nearby residents, the City changed the plans to decrease parking impacts and proposed a more acceptable solution.  In other words, the City is now trying to be more interested in public engagement.
  The City also had many meetings on the 2700 South road project and was very interested in public feedback on the 500 East and 2000 East projects.  The City is doing better.

WARM SPRINGS, SUGAR HOUSE, 7 CANYONS, PUBLIC UTILITIES IMPACT FEE RULES CIP PROJECTS VOTES DELAYED
  I put the Warm Springs Amenity Plan, the many Sugar House CIP projects, the 7 Canyons Fountain CIP project, the Public Utilities CIP projects and the Impact Fee Rules of Thumb in one document in the SLC downloads section.  The CIP vote scheduled for August 20 by the City Council was delayed due to the RDA meeting public comments running over the predicted time.  The City will vote on these proposals in the next week.

S-LINE RIDERSHIP GAINS 5%, FREE AUG 31 FOR SUGAR HOUSE BACKYARD BASH
  I put the new updated S-Line ridership data timeline and specific data points in the TRANSPORTATION DOWNLOADS.  The ridership on weekdays was about 1200 riders per day before the $6 million double tracking proposal and project.  Originally, the project was predicted to increase ridership about 10%.  After we objected to the cost for a 10% ridership increase, UTA changed the prediction to 20%.  The figures available today indicate that the slow increase is going to end up around 10%.  It is about 1300 a day now.  
  The original prediction was 5000 a day.  UTA and SLC decreased the predicted ridership after 5 years to 3000, claiming that the calculations were updated.  But, if you look at the parking lots of the new residential buildings, they are starting to fill up  which indicates that most new residents want to drive.  
  One of the reasons for the slow growth in the parking lots filling up is many new renters are taking advantage of the first month or so free and they leave after so they don't really put down roots and get a car.  Those who stay tend to buy a car after a few months.  But cars are still the preferred means of transportation, especially for the high cost rentals that are proliferating along the S-Line.
  The community is discussing the potential of a GreenBike station at the end of the S-Line at McClelland.  One advantage is that the bicycle rental station will increase ridership since the riders will be able to get on a bike and continue their trip (the S-Line does not look like it will extend for many years).

SLC ADA DOORS DON'T WORK SORRY WHEELCHAIRS
  Salt Lake City had a federal complaint by Michael Barnes about the lack of adequate ADA compliance at the Salt Lake City County Building.  The City, after mediation, agreed to several important changes to increase accessibility to the building.  It installed a new entrance button that opened the door at the ADA entrance.  It added a phone for calling departments at the entrance.  It modified restrooms on the first floor.  The City only refused to change the elevators due to the cost.
  But recently, the super fancy new entrance button stopped working and the doors do not open when the button is pushed.  A strong guard has to come to the first floor, after being called, and open the heavy door (heavy since it is attached to a motor to open it).  It seems that the new system was so complicated that it keeps breaking.

2700 S PIPELINES DELAY ROAD PROJECT INTERFERE WITH SCHOOL
  The 2700 South street resurfacing project was supposed to be finished before school started but a bunch of pipelines in the street complicated the project completion.  It is still being worked on.

SUICIDE HOTLINE DELAYED TO PUSH 999
  Senator Dan Thatcher sponsored a bill in the Utah Legislature to provide one easy three digit number to help those who were under pressure and thinking of suicide.  Congressman Stewart took his idea and passed a bill in Congress to provide one three digit number nationally.  The FCC recently recommended 988.  Congressman Stewart has asked that it be 999 (only used for a few places in Mexico).  So 999 is probably going to be the national suicide hotline number.

OVER 4 BUSINESSES HAVE NOW BEEN DESTROYED BY 9-LINE CONSTRUCTION
  Although the City promised that there would be minimal impact on 9th South for construction of the 9-Line, businesses are being pushed out of business.  The street reconstruction is decreasing shoppers to the point that over four locally owned businesses have closed due to the construction.  The City needs more outreach to protect locally owned businesses.

INN BETWEEN SLAMS NEIGHBORS AGAIN
  During a Tuesday hearing of the Social Services Appropriations Committee, several speakers from the public expressed concern about the INN Between.  In a recent SLTRIB story, several homeless providers indicated that they were considering and planning for overflow if and when the homeless shelters are not able to provide enough beds for the homeless.  One of the plans suggested using the INN Between for overflow!  The INN Between was used by the Fourth Street Clinic and VOA to provide overflow beds to homeless that could have died on the street this last winter.  Although it was a stretch that they needed the INN Between beyond its claimed hospice and respite care, it accepted some homeless that could have died on the street.  Almost 100 homeless do die on the street every year.  The INN Between also provides beds for the many homeless who are dumped every year by local hospitals at the Weigand Center (and now directly at the INN Between) with just a dressing gown and walker or wheelchair.  
  During the Committee meeting, Rep. Ray expressed disagreement and frustration with the two speakers complaining about the INN Between saying that they will not compromise.  And another person said, as part of the presentation of the INN Between, that only 4 or 5 in the neighborhood were against the INN Between.
  I admit that there are several that have been so upset about the misrepresentations from the INN Between that they want nothing less than to have it closed.  But it is a necessary service for hospice, respite care and those who are being kicked out by assisted living centers due to non payment (despite the Legislature trying to stop it).  Over the last year, the Inn Between has provided beds to 15 who died at the facility.  It has 35 beds that are now being used and 20% are hospice clients that are expected to die soon.  In the last year, it has served 84 terminally or acutely ill homeless.  29% have been women and 9% have been veterans.  32% were aged 60 or older.  The cost to serve this population was $150 per night versus a 911 call that could cost $2000.
  The reality is that the one local public hearing on the issue (with ELPCO) had around a hundred and about half expressed concerns.  I know many in the neighborhood and they are good people who are concerned but they are afraid to express their concerns due to their worry that they will be labeled uncompassionate.  Several legislators had a meeting on the INN Between at the Capitol and only a couple spoke against it.  But the meeting was organized by the INN Between on Facebook and most came to defend it.  The INN Between was asked to create an advisory group that would include a cross section of the neighbors to help compromise and communication.  But the INN Between threatened some with legal action (in a letter from an attorney!) for Facebook comments that it deemed wrong and inflammatory.  In my opinion, Facebook postings should not be acted on.  They tend to be overdone and Facebook should be called turn around and bend over book.  Do not believe everything or act on Facebook postings!  They are inner thoughts of people, not gospel.  
  The INN Between has a value in our society.  The workers there do saintly work.  But the neighbors are concerned due to the more than a handful of registered sex offenders there, the residents' drug deals on the street (the INN Between tries to stop drugs), individuals who seem to be too healthy (as if) and refusal of the INN Between to accept concerns in a respectful manner.  The INN Between says that we don't want people dying on the street or in jail.  I think that most would agree with that but add that if a person should be in jail, if they are a threat to society, should they be released to die?  It still is not clear what effect that the new homeless shelters will have on the INN Between.  My big problem with the facility is that it is in a single family home neighborhood that does not have any stores for fast food restaurants that residents can go to.  When the high point in a person's life, whether they are homeless, or in an assisted living center, or in a shelter, is to go into a fast food joint for a hamburger and fries or to go into 7-11 to buy a candy bar, it is sad.  Except for the Ballpark/300 West shelter, all of the other shelters, including the Road Home are a ways away from regular stores and fast food restaurants.  Some are near transit but that is inconvenient.

STATE HOMELESS REPORT 2019 PROBLEMS AND STATS
   I put the State Homeless Report for 2019 along with several related reports under the HOMELESS downloads column.  They include the CDC proposals and a summary of the efforts (pass or fail) of homeless service providers.  Not much has really changed over the last few years, despite spending over a hundred million on homeless services.  There seems to be plenty of beds available but not enough homeless are taking advantage of it (due to drug issues at the Road Home maybe? or pets).  The State Workforce Services manager said that there is an alignment issue with putting the homeless in beds.  He also said that they can't, at present, track more than one person being placed in housing (which is less than 300) and there may be more but they didn't follow through and track clients past initial housing assignment!  The State believes that there are around 500 chronically homeless (for more than 12 months).  The HB437 that was approved by the federal government in 2017 to provide treatment to chronically homeless and/or involved with justice system and/or needing mental health or substance abuse treatment to obtain Medicaid coverage has not seemed to change the statistics (see the Operation Rio Grande Report in the downloads section.

AUGUST 7, 2019
SLC TAXPAYERS PAY FOR INCUMBENT CANDIDATES' EMAILS
DISTRICT 4 DEBATE SUMMARY
SOUTH SALT LAKE SHELTER MAY BECOME JAIL OVERFLOW
UTA AIRPORT $15 MILLION TRAX STATION COMPLETION IN 2021
BUS STOP MASTER PLAN IGNORES PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
SLC BIKE SHARE EXPANDS TO CENTRAL POINT, 9TH AND 9TH
FEDERAL MONITOR CONCERNED ABOUT NEW BOARD
UDOT WALKING STUDY ENCOURAGES FASTER WALKING
FIREWORKS POLLUTION VERSUS BRINGING US TOGETHER
SLC PROTECTION OF TREES
UTA EQUITY OF NEW ROUTES QUESTIONABLE
UTA ADOPTS $45 MIL 45TH S. BRT ALIGNMENT AND REQUIRES FEES FOR REPORTS
SUGAR HOUSE DEVELOPMENT ENCOURAGED BY PARKS OR S-LINE

SLC TAXPAYERS PAY FOR INCUMBENT CANDIDATES' EMAILS
  The Salt Lake City Council, over the last few years, has increased their outreach to the citizens with regular emails on how much work they are doing and important information on their Council agendas.  This outreach is important to encourage public engagement on many of the issues that they take on.  But, during elections, incumbent elected candidates benefit from this regular exposure, paid for by taxpayers.  Since July first, several Council candidates have had three emails sent out to their constituents that helped, in my opinion, their candidacy.  Councilmembers Valdemoros and Mendenhall both have had three emails, including one each in the last week.
  A recent study found that Congressmembers, running for office, were sending out much more mail (regular snail mail), paid for by taxpayers, than those not running for reelection.  For that reason, Congress increased the ban on sending mass mail before elections from 60 to 90 days.  The premise is to increase the fairness of elections and to not have taxpayers pay for candidate publicity.
  I like the ideas that the emails, opted in by citizens, are helping tell about Council actions and issues, even if they are one sided.  They provide much needed local news that should be more a part of newspapers.  So even during elections, they should continue.
  But, to make the elections fair, the incumbents' opponents should have access to the same email list that the incumbents have access to.  I am suggesting that the Salt Lake City Council provide the email list for each District to candidates running in that District.  It is probably too late to make much difference for the Primary next week, but the email list for all Council Districts should be made available to all SLC mayoral candidates.  
  And since the emails that are being sent out are "one sided" and often contain opinions of the Council (even if justified), anyone should be able to ask for and get the list.  This issue is similar to the Aaron Jones lawsuit that required the City Council to adopt a new social media policy last month in order to meet requirements of a court case back east that found that a taxpayer funded use of a social media site, that allowed comments (like Facebook) could not ban comments that it found "problematic" without justification and rules and appeal processes.  

DISTRICT 4 DEBATE SUMMARY
  A couple of weeks ago, the Salt Lake City Council District 4 candidates had a debate, sponsored by the Ballpark Community Council and moderated by Chair Amy Hawkins.  This is a summary of that debate.
  The three candidates are Michael Iverson, Ana Valdemoros, and Leo Rodgers.  Michael Iverson became chair of the Central City Neighborhood Council about 6 years ago and increased attendance from the regular three attendees (including me - there were usually more elected politicians attending than residents) to over 20 at times.  He encouraged more engagement and eventually was appointed to the SLC Human Rights Commission where he helped to change policy to quickly release police bodycam recordings.  He also was Chair of the Community Council Chairs for two years.  He also pushed for the reconstruction of Artesian Well Park.
  Ana Valdemoros has been a planner for SLC RDA where she worked on the SLC Downtown Plan.  She also is a small business owner.  She was appointed earlier this year by the Salt Lake City Council to replace Derek Kitchen who was elected to the State Senate.
  Leo Rodgers was frank about his efforts and said that he relocated to Salt Lake City when he fell in love with the City.  His goal is to push for a minimum wage law.  Leo was able to communicate very well with very similar policies with the other two.
  The first question was will the new shelter plan work?  Valdemoros and Rodgers were optimistic.  Iverson had pushed for a community advisory board (that was agreed to by the City Council) but had not seen it created yet!
  The next question was about harm reduction policies (like safe injection sites).  Rodgers likes the idea of safe injection sites as does Iverson.  Valdemoros expressed hope that the Downtown Ambassador Program will work and the new shelters will create a better and safer environment for homeless.
  On the question of how to encourage downtown companies to have employees living downtown, Iverson said the City needs to encourage more affordable housing (using inclusionary zoning that would require a certain percentage of new apartments to be affordable).  Valdemoros recommends economic development funding of startups and other incentives.  Rodgers is interested in tax incentives and wants more of an entertainment area.
  On how to address single family hoarders, Valdemoros would work with the Mayor for more effectiveness. Rodgers would use empathy to encourage selling the property and provide dumsters.  Iverson recommended working with the community.
  On how to encourage more homes, Rodgers would give priority to affordable housing and encourage minimum wage.  Iverson recommended inclusionary zoning, taller building heights, decrease parking requirements.  He expressed disappointment that his mother couldn't afford to continue to live in Salt Lake City due to being priced out of her own City.  He also was concerned about gentrification and related that it took him months to get an affordable rental while 700 were on the waiting list. Valdemoros expressed similar sentiments and complained that people can't afford to own a home.  She is pushing for more affordable housing.
  On the question of what to do with a spike in violent crime in an area, Iverson recommended strengthening community connections and encouraging community council engagement, putting the Police Chief under a community board and said that he has been advocating for the police community board for several years.  Valdemoros said that we need to be watchful and involve community members.
  On the question of how is air quality and transportation justice connected, valdemoros suggested more resources for transit. Rodgers recommended cycle tracks on every major road and longer pedestrian walk lights to make it safer to cross streets.  Iverson recommended encouraging more mass transit use, supports bike lanes and traffic calming and the downtown streetcar.
  On the vision for Pioneer Park, Rodgers is concerned about the shelters.  Iverson would encourage private public partnership.  Valdemoros would encourage more regular daily activities.
  If the Mayor's lawsuit fails to stop the Inland Port, what will the candidates do?  Rodgers said that he would chain himself to a tree.  Iverson said that we have to stop the ecological disaster and supports the lawsuit but we have to have a separate path. 
  All expressed resolve to be an aggressive advocate for the community.  Iverson also expressed concern for the watershed and Brickyard issue (Millcreek's attempt to pull Brickyard out of Salt Lake City - Note that the County had a lawsuit just after the Brickyard annexation that was settled by Salt Lake dividing sales tax revenue temporarily.)

SOUTH SALT LAKE SHELTER MAY BECOME JAIL OVERFLOW
  The South Salt Lake City Mayor has been insisting that the new South Salt Lake City Homeless Resource Center, next to the County Jail, have rules that will not allow homeless to be accepted just by walking up to the facility.  The SSLC Mayor is right to require referrals from legitimate homeless services.  Otherwise the nearby County Jail, with booking restrictions, will refuse to accept arrested criminals and they will walk to the shelter!  So that shelter will have an unusually high number of criminals that SHOULD BE IN JAIL, NOT IN A HOMELESS SHELTER!
  All shelters should have SSLC suggested rules.  Checking for outstanding warrants would have stopped the problems with the Road Home and Rio Grande area that were exacerbated by essentially allowing dealers to hide out in the shelter with REAL homeless.  The criminals were good at mixing with the homeless and that should not be allowed. 
  The requirement that drug addicts be referred to treatment also makes sense since allowing addicts into the shelter allows drugs since the Road Home DID SEARCH FOR DRUGS AND WEAPONS but they are not like a jail which does a thorough search but still doesn't catch all of the drugs and weapons.  Note that allowing drug addicts will end up with cases of on site overdoses and the Road Home had a problem treating those overdoses since they didn't allow the use of needles with Norcan due to safety concerns.  So there were cases where there was an addict overdosing on site and staff would not allow anyone to help and they had to wait for emergency services.
  The South Salt Lake City Council did not do anything when they met but just listened to the report and focused on the letter from Lt Gov. Cox that expressed concern that the limiting factor regarding the South Salt Lake Homeless Resource Center was the lack of paying contractors that are building the new shelter.  Shelter the Homeless was supposed to provide enough funds to pay the construction company but their fundraising goals fell short.  The South Salt Lake Shelter will be lucky to open by winter.

UTA AIRPORT $15 MILLION TRAX STATION COMPLETION IN 2021
  UTA has signed a contract to relocate and reconstruct the Airport TRAX station.  The cost will be about $15 million (but may go up with changes) and the project will start in "early 2020 and be completed and operational in the summer of 2021".  Despite the efforts of many to create a flying bridge, elevated rail system to the Airport (costing over $60 million), the station and rail will be a simple extension into the new Terminal.  The reason that the flying bridge was not accepted (opposed by many of us for over 5 years) was finally settled with the acting Airport Director deciding that the flying bridge would hide the new terminal building (an architectural eye candy vision) and if there were maintenance issues, vehicle traffic to the Airport would have to be stopped below the rail line!  The City Council had no choice but to accept the cheap but cost effective plan.

BUS STOP MASTER PLAN IGNORES PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
  The UTA Bus Stop Master Plan is out.  I put it in the TRANSPORTATION DOWNLOADS.  It includes a portion on the frequency of riders at each stop (that I separated out and put in the DOWNLOADS section separately) at the end of the report.  My comments and concerns about the Master Plan include:
  Buses need to get within a foot from the curb to make it easier for riders to get on the bus, but UTA policy directs drivers to stay one to 3 feet from the curb to decrease tire wear/scuffing and potential mirror hits from adjacent trees/posts!
  Providing electricity/lighting at stops should be discouraged since power has been cannibalized by individuals at other public facilities that are not locked down.
  The UTA standard for bus stops indicates that they will be decreasing bus stops and encouraging more walking.  But forcing more walking encourages private vehicle use!  Bus stops should be every block (600 ft) for urban and suburban and rural, despite what recommendations say.
  Bus stops should be on corners so transferring riders don't have to rush a long distance to catch a bus or watch themselves miss the transfer by 30 seconds!
  Shelter roofs should not be 5 feet wide.  This is Utah and shelter roofs should be much wider, even over the sidewalk so that heavy rain does not have to be "enjoyed" going from the shelter to the bus.  Those in wheelchairs, during inclement weather are significantly impacted if they have to endure heavy downpours going from the shelter to the bus.  A simple canopy would be/should be required on ADA capable stops.
  Before any bus stop is removed, community councils and the City elected leaders should know and agree or have a chance to argue against it.  When the Fairmont Park bus stop (going south) on 900 East was removed, it took years for the community to encourage UTA to restore the stop.
  Some bus stops are privately owned for advertising (39th S. and 300 East) and although the Master Plan recommends (and makes sense) removing a permanent stop, when service is eliminated, immediately, what about stops owned by others for advertising?

SLC BIKE SHARE EXPANDS TO CENTRAL POINT, 9TH AND 9TH
  UTA has agreed to support and partially fund (with the $20 million contribution from the federal government - matched by the $80 million local funding for active transportation TIGER grant award) a new Green Bike station at the end of the S-Line at Central Pointe.  UTA also agreed to a BikeShare station at the SLCO Governmment offices at 21st South and State.  But BikeShare needs a station at the end of the S-Line to make sense of the station at Central Pointe!  In addition, it would help popularize the Parleys Trail that connects to the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.  Developers in Sugar House are paying funds to SLC for BikeShare (to reduce parking requirements!) and those funds should be used to help construct a BikeShare station at McClelland and the S-Line.  9th South and 9th East is also going to get a station.

FEDERAL MONITOR CONCERNED ABOUT NEW BOARD
  The UTA Federal Monitor submitted their first report that mostly said that they are starting out to monitor UTA.  One big takeaway from the report is that they were concerned that the Advisory Committee, that has the ability theoretically to approve projects is "largely identical to the prior Board of Trustees".  They also pointed out that, in many cases, UTA is still not providing cost benefit analysis' on all projects  I put the report in the TRANSPORTATION DOWNLOADS in the upper right.

UDOT WALKING STUDY ENCOURAGES FASTER WALKING
  UDOT is continuing to use a 4 ft per second walking speed for pedestrian signal lights.  Although our ageing population should suggest a 2.8 ft per second speed, UDOT recently completed a study with BYU that indicated that the 4 ft per second speed was appropriate with 3-3.5 ft per second for special cases, school crossings or where there are heavy concentrations of elderly or children.  I put the report in the TRANSPORTATION DOWNLOADS (there is also a link below).  Robert Miles, P.E., the Director of Traffic and Safety at UDOT, summarized the report this way:
  "UDOT supported and hired BYU to conduct this in-state research to look at current state guidance with regard to pedestrian walking speeds and evaluate it for any needed changes. The report was recently completed March 2019 (4 months ago) and can be found at: https://www.udot.utah.gov/main/uconowner.gf?n=7113716195001151. 
  To evaluate pedestrian walking speeds at signalized intersections, 15 sites throughout the state of Utah were studied, producing a total of 2,061 observations of pedestrian crossing events. These crossing events were evaluated to calculate walking speeds in relation to pedestrian demographics at each location. Evaluated demographics included pedestrian group size, gender, mobility status, age category, alertness, and potential distractions. 
  Pedestrian safety is one of several areas that the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) Traffic and Safety Division focuses on as part of their goal toward Zero Fatalities.  Pedestrian safety is taken seriously and is a consideration in any design that is done.
  To promote roadway safety and efficiency by providing for the orderly movement of all road users, current practice for UDOT is to use engineering judgement in determining the walking speeds to use for timing of signalized intersection crossings, with the speed never exceeding 4.0 feet per second. The UDOT guidelines recommend pedestrian walking speeds of 3.0 feet per second and 3.5 feet per second for special case, school crossings or areas where there are heavy concentrations of elderly persons or children, and 4.0 feet per second for normal circumstances, unless engineering judgement dictates otherwise (UDOT 2017).  The data from this study suggest that Utah continue to maintain its guidance of 4.0 feet per second walking speeds at most signalized intersections, while exercising engineering judgement at locations containing high pedestrian volumes or locations containing high percentages of elderly or disabled pedestrians. We are a firm believer in engineering judgement, the requirements in the Utah MUTCD are met at a minimum level and quite often we will exceed those requirements.
  There are solutions highlighted in the study that UDOT has implemented and are continuing to look at that provide additional crossing time only when needed so the intersections can maintain a high level of efficiency. One solution that UDOT has developed and implemented is a procedure at various school crosswalk locations throughout Utah that allows crossing guards to add 10-15 seconds of extra walk time via a special key that connects to the traffic signal box. This key is used to add additional walk time during hours before and after school so that students can have additional time to safely cross the streets at their own pace. This implementation is especially useful at locations that have large pedestrian groups of students crossing during the same cycle. 
  Another solution that has not fully been implemented but UDOT is studying at select high pedestrian crossings as a pilot, is the use of extended push-button features.  Push-buttons can be adapted to manually increase pedestrian clearance intervals for those that need more time to cross at an intersection. The 2009 MUTCD mentions these devices in paragraph 09 of section 4E.06: “the additional time provided by an extended push-button press to satisfy pedestrian clearance time needs may be added to either the walk interval or the pedestrian change interval” (FHWA 2009). Typically, the push-buttons are pressed for 2 seconds in order to activate the extended crossing interval. The MUTCD has also designated specific signage for such push-buttons and UDOT is also looking at other sign options to make clear the intent of this added functionality and how to use it.  UDOT is also exploring the use of intelligent crossings that are able to detect pedestrians through the use of infrared sensor in the crossing area.  These crossings may be able to utilize these sensors in order to detect pedestrians in the crosswalk and to extend the signal phase should the pedestrian need more time to cross."

FIREWORKS POLLUTION VERSUS BRINGING US TOGETHER
  A few years ago, a Salt Lake City Councilman, Kyle LaMalfa, tried to get the Poplar Grove Community Council to back banning fireworks on July Fourth and 24th.  He spent a long time showing the pollution levels of the Ogden Utah Air Quality monitoring trailer during July Fourth.  The Community Council decided that celebrating the Fourth with fireworks, since it essentially brought us together, was too important to ban.  They did say that maybe celebrating the 24th with fireworks could be banned but didn't necessarily support the ban.  Over the years, the Salt Lake City Council has been able to cut back support of fireworks, essentially leading to the elimination of the Sugar House fireworks show (part of the issue was no business was willing to fund the whole thing).
  A few weeks ago, in the Salt Lake Tribune, there was an interesting story from Yue Stella Yu about the pollution of fireworks that went into detail about the pollution and quoted from the Ogden study.  "In Ogden, where the highest PM 2.5 level was recorded, PM 2.5 concentration skyrocketed to 900.5 µg/m³ at 10 p.m. on July Fourth in 2014, almost 70 times higher than daytime levels." (https://www.sltrib.com/news/2019/07/24/pollution-problem-utahs/) 
  But the real story was that the DEQ trailer that monitored air pollution was near the area where people were setting off their fireworks!  But when there are large fireworks displays, they generally are going high up enough to quickly dissipate.  In addition, most of the pollution is in particulate matter, not the ozone that is the main problem in the summer.
  When Kyle LaMalfa tried using the data from the Ogden trailer in 2014, I asked Utah DEQ why the levels were so high.  In response, Bryce Bird, from Utah DEQ (now Director) explained:
  "The Ogden Monitor (O2) is located on the campus of the Community Action Partnership (228 East 32nd Street) which operates a pre-school and other community services.  The property is adjacent to 2 apartment complexes where we have determined in the past that the apartment residents have used their parking areas to light the available consumer fireworks. The monitor is about 100 ft from the nearest parking lot.  In addition, the adjacent neighborhoods have many residents who use consumer fireworks (see the attached map).
  I would characterize the levels at the monitor as representing the actual exposure from many neighborhoods with large volumes of consumer fireworks.  We see similar elevated concentrations at other monitors but the location of the other monitors are at a greater distance from the local fireworks (see the attached monitoring graphs).  I would expect the levels within feet of the displays to be much higher than the 900 ug/m3 maximum hourly value at the monitor.  I could still smell the sulfur in my neighborhood when I mowed the lawn on Saturday.
  Our public message is that the exposure from personal fireworks is very high and that the public should take this into account when children or other sensitive individuals are exposed to the smoke.
  Fireworks are a source of air pollution, but the elevated concentrations are limited to a few hours on a few days each year.  At this point there have been no efforts to solve our air pollution challenges by eliminating fireworks."

SLC PROTECTION OF TREES
  The project to reconstruct 500 East next year will include digging down into the roadway and probably removing some of the roots of the big sycamores on 500 East.  Many in the community were concerned about the potential loss of those beautiful trees that make walking the area so enjoyable.  In response to the concerns, Salt Lake City's Urban Forestry Group has indicated that they are working closely with various entities involved in the 500 E. street reconstruction project to preserve as many trees as possible.  During the project, they will be involved in regular construction meetings.
  Urban Forestry also indicated that Rocky Mountain Power would be paying required tree removal mitigation fees and new trees will be planted on the streets.  They also explained the City Policy regarding tree replacement during redevelopment projects.  Only if the tree(s) has been "deemed significant due to size, species, historic significance or other outstanding qualities" will the developer be required to provide replacement value.  All trees on park strips, if removed, have to be replaced, with a mitigation fee.  I put the City Urban Forestry Policy in the downloads section.
  Cory Davis, the Salt Lake City Urban Forestry Department's Forest Area Service Coordinator had this explanation:
  "We are working closely with SLC Engineering, SLC Transportation, UTA and the other relevant entities involved in the 500 E street reconstruction project. It is always our goal to preserve as many trees and vacant planting locations as possible during any development. We’ll be evaluating all trees in the construction area and will prescribe any needed service in advance of the project. During the project, I’ll be involved in the regular construction meetings to insure that our requirements are met. Once the project nears completion, any vacant tree planting site with an adjacent homeowner willing to water will get new trees.
  I have also been working with Rocky Mountain Power regarding the upcoming Beck St. project. They will be paying the required tree removal mitigation fees (the same fees that other development projects are subject to when tree removal is required) and this money goes towards our fund which will be used for reforestation and other SLC Urban Forestry needs. Additionally, replacement trees will be planted in the locations of the removed trees when possible as well as on the opposite side of the street wherever planting vacancies have been identified.
  I feel that I need to correct your statement that reads “The City only requires "specimen" trees to be replaced to replace the diameter of the tree cut, that is only if they are considered important?” The specimen tree designation only comes into play during commercial or multifamily developments where a tree located on private property has been deemed significant due to size, species, historic significance or other outstanding qualities. In this case, SLCUF would have jurisdiction, if you will, over this tree and would require its replacement value to be paid in the form of a tree removal mitigation fee. At no other time does the city code allow SLCUF involvement with trees located on private property.
  During property development, be it commercial or residential, trees located in the park strip or public right of way that are proposed for removal are subject to our public right of way tree removal mitigation process. In a nutshell, if a tree is removed then it is required to be replaced and/or its value paid to the City. Public right of way tree removals are subject to replacement mitigation fees that are calculated at $172 per caliper inch. For example, if a development requires the removal of a 20” dbh park strip tree, then $3440.00 in mitigation fees must be paid and this money goes towards our fund which will be used for reforestation. This is applied to every project where tree removal is required. During the plan review process, it is our primary goal to work with developers to explore alternative options to tree removal. For example, sometimes a driveway can be shifted or moved in order to preserve the root zone of a nearby tree. In addition to the above, the SLC Zoning code requires a tree to be planted every 30 feet."

UTA EQUITY OF NEW ROUTES QUESTIONABLE
  UTA is required to study the equity of new routes or expansion of service and the new report shows that the new routes/service provides an equitable effort that does not discriminate against so called lower income areas, according to the UTA report.  I disagree.  Instead of the analysis of UTA, I suggest that time to go to downtown should be listed and analyzed.  Many of the eastside routes go almost directly downtown with just one turn.  But there are relatively few westside routes that go downtown efficiently.  They make lots of turns.  Westside of SLC is not getting timely service that the Eastside gets due to zig zags, turns and going around in circles.

UTA ADOPTS $45 MIL 45TH S. BRT ALIGNMENT AND REQUIRES FEES FOR REPORTS
  UTA has adopted the $45 million BRT on 45th47th/48th South preferred alignment.  But the UDOT study already shows that the road is failing due to congestion.  The BRT project may remove lanes of traffic that oculd handle 10,000 vehicles a day from a road that is already congested!  
  On a separate UTA issue, the Board of Trustees adopted a policy of charging fees for basic information.  We used to get reports for free.  Now, UTA could charge for a simple one page report.  I believe that the policy discourages public engagement.

SUGAR HOUSE DEVELOPMENT ENCOURAGED BY PARKS OR S-LINE
  During the tour of the Sugar House area, hosted by the SLC Planning Department and its Director Nick Norris, it was pointed out that the parks and open space in the Sugar House area (including Sugar House Park, Fairmont Park, Forest Dale Golf Course and the S-Line Parleys Trail) create an unusually large portion of the area devoted to greenery and urban forest.  That is a large part of what creates the character for the Sugar House area.  
  But when the tour got to the S-Line, the end of the tour, several participants claimed that much of the development in the area, almost a billion dollars, was due to the S-Line!  I, again, have to make the argument that the S-Line linear park (the Parleys Trail) and the nearby parks, and all of the open space, were more influential in encouraging development than the TRAX line streetcar.  The streetcar ridership has been essentially flat since it started, between 1000 to 1600 passengers a day.  The data for ridership after the $7 million double tracking construction that increased frequency to 15 minutes is still not available (despite many requests for the ridership numbers and promises to create an online dashboard with those numbers).  
  Around 80% still use cars and since the area still is constructing zombie buildings with no ground floor retail (dead on ground floor for public engagement), this area is still losing its walkability from supergentrification.  A new proposal for the Sugar House business district is supposed to require ground floor retail but it has not been to the City Council for adoption.  In addition, the new parking proposal decreased parking requirements in the business district!  If you go by Fairmont Park in the afternoons, parking is often overflowing onto streets from the parking lot.  

JULY 21, 2019
2 SLC MAYORAL DEBATES' SUMMARY
DISTRICT 6 DEBATE SUMMARY
ALLEYWAY CLOSURE IN SUGAR HOUSE DIES WITH TIE
RAZORSHARE ELECTRIC SCOOTER WITH SEAT IN SLC
SUGAR HOUSE PLANNING TOUR JULY 29
FULL SLC CANDIDATES ELECTIONS SUMMARY

2 SLC MAYORAL DEBATES' SUMMARY
  On January 15th on KSL and other TV stations, the Salt Lake City mayoral candidates had a one hour "debate" that appeared to be nothing more than a summary of their opinions (which I put in the candidate summaries in the downloads section and also at the end of this day's blog - which is a lot of information but does effectively summarize their opinions).  Goldberger and Huck again reiterated their opinions on putting all homeless in a camp (a concentration camp in NWQ?) and stopping the Inland Port lawsuit.  Penfold and Dabakis pushed their free fare proposal.  Garbett kept pushing his unrealistic refinery closing proposal (which will significantly increase gasoline costs for families and workers but will increase profits for the other refineries).  It would cost Salt Lake taxpayers hundreds of millions to buy the refinery (if not a billion).  Ibarra pushed prioritizing affordable housing in the City to decrease commuters (ignoring the fact that families want big homes and yards and are willing to drive an hour to get them - ask Lt. Gov. Cox).
  The January 16th debate is on YouTube via this link (after a temporary glitch): 
https://youtu.be/97Mw63jTp8M
  This debate was hosted by the local community councils and had questions focusing on community council concerns.  The biggest takeaway from the debate is Goldberger is definitely extreme (in my opinion) and called gangbangers a dirtier version of scatalogical geographic.  He piled on his description by claiming that the kid next door could be the enemy.  (Rainer Huck did not attend this debate)  The debate did not change my mind from my opinion piece in the Salt Lake Tribune https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2019/07/13/george-chapman-time/
  The specific answers by the candidates (if you don't want to watch the almost 2 hours of YouTube are:
Jason Stevenson started off by mentioning the concerns of the community councils, including in his area, parking, and explained that the questions were coming from the local community councils that were hosting the event.  The questions included: homeless, the east west divide, Pioneer Park, property crime, protecting neighborhood character, affordable housing and police protection versus complaints.
  On the subject of how to mitigate the impacts of the new shelters on neighborhoods, 
On the subject of how to mitigate the impacts of the new shelters on neighborhoods, Penfold expressed concern about the reduced number of beds.  Ibarra was concerned about Operation Rio Grande's effect that pushed homelesss to other areas, making other areas more unsafe and he wants police walking patrols.  Mendenhall said she was making sure that sidewalks are available on 300 West to help homeless get to transit and she is pushing the organizing of a community advisory board.  Ironically unsaid were her efforts (unanimously pushed by all City Council members) to put a homeless shelter in a Sugar House single family home area.  That impact organized a resistance that led to Speaker Greg Hughes pulling it back (along with the one in the Rio Grande area).  Goldberger again explained that he wouldn't allow any camping in the City and called them American refugees.  He would put a triage center for homeless at the Main Library.  Dabakis complained that Seattle allowed defecating on the street but Salt Lake City and Utah should be proud to be doing something to solve the homeless problem.  He doesn't know if it will work but at least we have a plan.
  On the question of how to overcome the east west divide in Salt Lake City, Penfold said that there is a lack of infrastructure compared to the east side of Salt Lake City.  He wants to have all neighborhoods like 9th and 9th with services and a maximum of 5 minutes walking distance to centralized hubs or transit.  In other words every block should have stores or services or a transit stop.  He wanted more connections like the Folsom Trail.  Garbett explained his successful efforts to get the homeless out of the Rio Grande area and his efforts to work for upgrading Pioneer Park and the Warm Springs Park.  Dabakis explained his work with schoolchildren and was worried about hungry schoolchildren.  Ibarra talked about Salt Lake's 87,000 trees and complained that the westside doesn't have as many trees despite room for 20,000 more.  He wants more plans for the westside since the eastside seems to have many more plans.  He would put which area is getting money spent on it in regular reports on the internet.  Mendenhall said that the City is engaged now in trying to fix the inequities with the westside food deserts, working on affordable housing (including pushing for $4.5 million of $20 million from two years ago to be spent on the westside).  She also wants to build out bus service, especially on the westside.  Escamilla agreed that there are inequities and mentioned the difficulties of parents needing to take their kids to different daycares.  She also complained about the proposed closing of Bennion Elementary on 8th East.  But, as of last week, the School District said that it is not closing (we asked about using the closed school for a daycare) and is being fully utilized.
  On the vision for Pioneer Park, Garbett suggested a private public partnership and making the Road Home property a history museum since kids already go to the Gateway children's facilities.  Dabakis wanted a more broad vision with better paying jobs and opportunities for advancement for the area.  Ibarra complained about the same questions keep coming up for 20 plus years.  He recommended doing what Houston did which built a Discovery Green Park with 600 events a year on an eyesore property.  Mendenhall said that with our City's growing population, we should be investing in streets, transit and private public parks.  Goldberger wants a permanent police station at the Park.  Escamilla is committed to providing green space for children and quality of life requires a nice, safe and clean park.  The SLC Council as RDA recently decided that their efforts to build another park were too costly due to the increase in land values so they are moving millions scheduled for the new park into Pioneer Park - expect to see many more new amenities there.  Penfold likes the idea of encouraging events like the weekly food market which is also great for meetings with friends.  He wants to encourage affordable housing around the Park.
  On the question of how to encourage neighborhood development without compromising community character (using 9th and 9th as an example), Dabakis said that he hasn't done homework on the issue but they say that they can do it but have to be open and be able to explain it.  Ibarra said that the 9th and 9th area is the heart and soul of Salt Lake City.  The development in Sugar House is probably not the way we want to go.  Zoning should keep the neighborhood character and 9th and 9th maintains the walkable neighborhood that is the way we have to go.  Mendenhalll said that that is her home neighborhood and she said that she worked on a moratorium of building when the Mutual Beauty Supply building was supposed to have minimal parking when it was proposed to be reconstructed to residences (I was involved and I don't remember her moratorium.).  There are 5 zones in the neighborhood and it is not a simple zoning issue.  Goldberger suggested micro police stations and selected fun activities for neighborhoods.  Escamilla said that it is difficult to live in Salt Lake City and gentrification is real.  She recommended inclusionary zoning (new construction has to have 10% of the units affordable).  Penfold reminded the audience that he was involved in the nonprofit that helped recover neighborhood housing around Liberty Park.  He wants more 9th and 9th areas and wants the City to support and invest in those areas.  Garbett recommended form based zoing to allow growth to happen regardless of what will happen in those areas.  Form based zoning makes it easier for developers to build if they meet basic standards, instead of going to the City with each new project.  State Street would be a good area for a form based zoning overlay with mixed income and mixed use building.  But the Sugar House area did not result in a lot of new ground floor retail (yet; but more is coming).
  On the question (by Liberty Wells Community Council), how will you address rising property crime, Ibarra repeated his interest in walking police patrols.  Mendenhall said that she worked with community councils and safety was a big concern.  She wanted a park ranger program for years but the recent police proposal was for police in regular uniforms (which she has previously said deters certain demographics from feeling comfortable in the parks).  She and the Council allowed the program to continue as cops in bicycle patrol uniforms to function as park rangers.  She also said that she pushed for hiring 52 new officers several years ago.  But Salt Lake has not been able to compete with salaries and competition from other agencies and is effectively down 23 cops that we are trying to hire.  The point was made during the debate the day before with the question: Salt Lake City hired 80 police last year and lost about 80, how do we hire more police?  
  The property crime question resulted in Golberger saying that gang bangers are domestic terrorists... (scatalogical geographics) the enemy can be the kids next door who are very dangerous with the weapons that they have.  Ibarra tried to rebut his claims but didn't really focus on how extreme his language and claim was.  Ibarra said "categorizing kids as...."  He said that targeting kids is not a way to solve this problem.  Escamilla said that we cannot have that type of language from anyone.  She said that we need more police; we need an eastside police precinct and that we need to work harder to focus on the 10% of homeless who are chronically homeless.  Penfold said that he was there when the initiative to hire 52 new officers were started (Erin and Charlie, I believe, pushed the Becker administration to add more police with a federal grant, against a significant pushback from the administration that gave in when Cindy Gust Jensen called the administration on their false claim that they couldn't do it.).  Penfold pointed out that half of all calls during the day are from non residents.  He is glad to see the park rangers proposal which he pushed for years ago (so did all community councils).  Garbett said that homeless puts a strain on Salt Lake City and the Legislature did not fully fund Salt Lake City's efforts.  He would spend more money on education, not just on police and would also push for more lively neighborhoods.  Dabakis said that it is difficult to be a police officer, going to work everyday not knowing if they'll come home.  He pointed out that they start at $21.50 and hour and the City is not doing enough to attract more law enforcement.  (The recent IACP SLCPD Study said that the major problem with turnover and retention is the retirement system in Utah.)
  The next question was from the Sugar House Community Council which complained that development in Sugar House did not include much affordable housing (Dan Lofgren's Cowboy Partners was the sole development in the last 10 years with an affordable component.) and how would candidates solve the issue?  Mendenhall said that SLC RDA (the Council) just closed 27 years of investment in Sugar House and the RDA is one of the greatest tools that they have to buy up  property to give to developers.  She wants to encourage more affordable housing and specifically a spectrum of housing for families and singles.  The City needs someone who knows how to use the tools.  Escamilla recommended inclusionary zoning (which Salt Lake City Council has been arguing about for 5 years).  It would require all new developments to have at least 10% of their units as affordable.  Penfold said that affordability is a crisis for all of us.  He believes that we need 10,000 units now.  He complains that the current administration has failed working with developers (the Council has also refused to approve many new projects).  Garbett praised his father's company that is a homebuilder (and owner of a building next to Pioneer Park).  He said that he recently was living in the Bay Area with a great rent control plan and he decried the fighting with the City Council and Mayor in Salt Lake City.  Dabakis would like to use the streets bond for affordable housing.  Ibarra believe that the solution is in the tech sector with modular homes and container homes.
  The last question was how would you work to reduce police brutality while supporting a higher police presence?  Escamilla said that we have a great police force and that we should be encouraging relationships with kids and police starting in school.  She said that she was offended with the City Council's position that police in parks should not be in uniform (Mendenhall's position)!  Penfold would increase training and try to recruit from other demographics.  Ibarra pointed out that he almost become a policeman in Sacramento (but chose Marriott).  He recommended a civil review board with subpoena power.  Mendenhall said that she agreed with everyone on the dais except for Goldberger regarding police.
  Summarizing their candidacy, Mendenhall pointed out her background in air quality.  She pointed out that for the last two administrations, 12  years, Salt Lake City has had former legislators but the State is not going to help Salt Lake City.  Ibarra reminded people of his many appointments and said that he understood government.  He also decried the disrespectful language.  Dabakis said he wants to give a voice to the people but don't alienate people (he really said that) and he has learned how to represent you.  Garbett said that the City has terrible air quality and the refineries did not have operation permits until sued.  He want to control our air quality and not wait for the government, State or federal, to act.  Escamilla asked voters to look at her record of results in the Legislature.  Penfold asked to focus more on neighborhoods.  

DISTRICT 6 DEBATE SUMMARY
  This last week also had a debate for the District 6 candidates.  J T Martin and Charlie Luke are having a rematch from 8 years ago and Dan Dugan, a retired Navy pilot (flew one of the most dangerous planes to land on a ship at sea, the A6) is joining the fight.  
  J T Martin said that he loved the job as Councilman and was deeply upset by losing but he has used the free time to lead the Airport Board and be Austria's vice counsel.  He said that he is most proud of always returning emails, the new public safety building and the 4th South Corridor.  He also complained about his efforts to restore Miller Park after the oil spill and got a million for it but the money was repurposed after he left.  His priorities are neighborhoods.  
  Dugan said that his priorities are clean air, stopping the inland port, affordable housing, the Master Transit Plan and working on solving the 80,000 cars a day Foothill traffic.
  Luke said that he is focusing on infrastructure, public safety and air quality. 
  On the question of how to work with conflicts between the Mayor and Council, Luke said that it is an "interesting relationship" and is looking forward to working with the new mayor.  Martin said that he has worked with many legislators successfully but he complained about the Council signing the Inland Port surrender/peace treaty.  Dugan suggested that arguments should be behind closed doors and not out in the open.
  Regarding the Inland Port, Martin expressed concern about the old garbage dump in the area.  Dugan opposes the Inland Port and the loss of tax money that could be used for affordable housing, better police pay, infrastructure and he opposes heavy traffic on all roads.  Luke said that the Council's efforts resulted in a plan that was only 60% bad for Salt Lake versus 100% before negotiation.  The City retained taxes on Amazon and UPS facilities.
  Discussing increasing police presence in the area, Dugan supports the eastside police precinct and more police presence on the street.  Luke supports the eastside precinct that Burbank opposed and Biskupski supports.  One negotiation fell through and the City is trying on another site.  Martin reminded attendees that he was against the 1500 East police precinct proposal (property was a closed school eventually taken over by Westminster).
  On the question of will you commit to no new tax, fee or bond increases, Luke said no but that he would require vigorous public outreach and it has happened so far.  The garbage fee increase was opposed by the Council due to no public outreach.  Luke also pointed out that the SL Police Association has endorsed him.  Martin also will not commit to not raising taxes or fees since the City is not appropriately compensated for the doubling of our population during the day.  Dugan said that we need to be efficient with our money.
  On the question of the S-Line and 2100 South, Martin pointed out that the federal funding people want unity and he doesn't see it (which is how we fought several efforts by the Becker administration and UTA to extend the S-Line up 1100 East - pointing out the fight on the issue).  Martin suggested a 1500 East streetcar since that is where is went before and it should go to the UofU.  Dugan pointed out that the density required for efficient use of rail is not there.  Luke agreed that density is not there and that this administration is against rail but has been able to work with UTA.  He said that rail on Foothill would need increased density.
  On how to involve young kids, Dugan said go to college and create a vibrant walking neighborhood to get people outside with pockets for play.  Luke said that politics is important and that we need more community council attendance.  Martin said that he went through a lot of kids at the Emigration Market (his old business) and that he wants to support our local businesses who hire our kids.
  On how to work with a hostile Legislature, Luke pointed out the State's attempts to take over the Airport and watershed.  He said some legislators want to swim in our creeks but we have to work with them.  Martin said the Inland Port sets a bad precedence and the City needs someone who has worked well with them in the past.  Dugan said the City needs a new fresh perspective (like him).
  The question of how do you contribute to our community resulted in Martin explaining how he helped Gardner buy Church property to give to Stadler Rail to locate in Salt Lake City rather than Clearfield.  Dugan said that he has spent a lot of time coaching and supporting lacrosse in Salt Lake City.  He is also involved in Utah Clean Energy.  Luke said that he has no other life than community service.
  On whether to increase lanes on Foothill Boulevard, Dugan said that adding lanes does not decrease congestion (I disagree since filling up new freeways is caused by drivers able to buy housing further out and live the American Dream.  Again, ask Lt. Gov. Cox.).  He suggested better flow via lights and roundabouts.  He said no one wants a bus because it take twice as long to get somewhere (but the UofU is pushing BRT by taking a couple of lanes from Foothill).  Luke said that we need to increase capacity but not more lanes.  He thought better transit would help but didn't think residents are ready for increased density required for TRAX.  Martin said that we can't keep adding lanes and can't understand why counties won't increase taxes for mass transit.
  Summing up their candidacies, Martin said that he was in a dark place after his loss and apologized to Luke if he was too negative about it.  They then hugged.  Dugan also asked for a hug from both, and got it.  He finished by saying that he is good at problem solving.

ALLEYWAY CLOSURE IN SUGAR HOUSE DIES WITH TIE
  A controversial effort to close an alleyway in Sugar House which divided the community with half for it and half against it failed at the City Council.  The efforts to close it were pushed by residents who were concerned about the increased illegal activities from homeless in the alleyways and their concern for their safety.  But other landowners along the alleyway were concerned that their access and neighborhood was being threatened by efforts to criminalize homeless.  The proposal, which required City Council approval failed in a three to three vote with Councilwoman Mendenhall at her mayoral debate and not at the meeting.  Councilmember Wharton said that he is always against alleyway closures and Councilwoman Valdemoros said she was against it due to the Planning Commission against it.  Chair Luke said that the Council needs to have a bigger discussion on this issue.

RAZORSHARE ELECTRIC SCOOTER WITH SEAT IN SLC
  RazorShare has new electric scooters with seats and a basket!  The cost is still $1 to start and .15 per mile.  These should be safer and be more popular since they allow for shopping and not just going to bars and getting around.  There are a large number of them in the Sugar House area.

SUGAR HOUSE DEVELOPERS SUPPORT BIKE SHARE BUT NOT IN SUGAR HOUSE
  The SLC Council has laid out plans for BikeShare expansion that limit new stations to the 1100 East and 900 South boundaries.  But developers in other areas pay BikeShare to lower their parking requirements!  So when a developer in Sugar House (2700 South and 900 East) pays the City BikeShare contributions, Sugar House does not benefit since the City is not allowing BikeShare in Sugar House (like on the Parleys Trail at McClelland and the S-Line).  The City should be using developer contributions of BikeShare funds in the neighborhoods that have the developments!

NEW BUILDINGSALTLAKE.COM FILLS NEWS NEED IN SLC
  Buildingsaltlake.com, an old website with interesting building news has two new owners, former Councilman Luke Garrott and former Tribune reporter Taylor Anderson.  They are both advocates for bicyclists and their website is a great read.  I encourage going to their site and enjoying all of the pictures that Luke is taking on Sugar House and other area developments.  It fulfills the lack of news available from newspapers and TV.

SUGAR HOUSE PLANNING TOUR JULY 29
  On July 29, the SLC Planning Department will have a tour of the Sugar House area, starting from the Sego Lily in Sugar House Park (next to 1300 East).  The Tour starts at 6 PM and goes to 730 PM.  Registration is free and recommended.  The theme is Walking to the Beet: Creating a 24/7 District in Sugar House.  "The area has seen a dramatic change is over the last 10 years.  The Tour will discuss the goals of the Sugar House Community Master Plan and the unique public spaces that help make the neighborhood one of the most desirable and livable in Utah."  For more information, go to
https://www.slc.gov/planning/2019/07/15/summer-planning-series-walking-to-the-beet/

FULL SLC CANDIDATES ELECTIONS SUMMARY
  I pulled this from the various candidates information from the City Recorder.  I also put the text in the downloads section.

Candidate for City Council District 4
Michael Iverson

Address
210 S 300 E #116
Salt Lake City, UT 84111

Phone
801-413-3167

City of Residence: Salt Lake City
Resident For: 31 years
Occupation: Communications Specialist
Age: 31
Contact Email: michael@iversonforcouncil.com

Message:
Michael is a lifelong resident of District 4, running on his experience and progressive vision for Salt Lake City. He served for six years as chair of the Central City Neighborhood Council, representing residents and business owners in District 4. He also spent four years on the Salt Lake City Human Rights Commission advocating for issues affecting marginalized communities downtown and across the city.

It’s time for Salt Lake City to set a progressive standard throughout the state. Michael believes that the city must be a leader in affordable housing, public transportation, environmental protection, and social justice. If elected, his top priorities will be to fund affordable housing developments, tackle the homelessness crisis downtown, ban discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community, implement ranked-choice voting, and stop the ecological disaster surrounding the Inland Port.

Michael is proud of his work advocating for the community over the last six years. He isn’t afraid to stand up for what’s right, either, and that’s why he called a public meeting to hold Mayor Biskupski to task for firing the city’s diversity director in late 2017. He’ll always stand up for his constituents, whether it’s standing up to the mayor or to the state legislature.





Candidate for City Council District 4
Ana Valdemoros

Address
357 S 200 E #108
Salt Lake City, UT 84111

Phone
801-410-0824

City of Residence: Salt Lake City
Resident For: 19 years
Occupation: Small Business Owner
Age: 37
Contact Email: vote@ana4council.com

Message:
Building our community is my passion. I started my career in city planning with Salt Lake City. I later opened Argentina’s Best Empanadas and co-founded Square Kitchen, a culinary incubator.

Out of 21 applicants, the Salt Lake City Council unanimously appointed me to replace Derek Kitchen in January 2019. My experience in the public and private sectors, and my extensive knowledge of Salt Lake City is what set me apart from the other applicants. I understand city planning, small business, and sustainability practices that lead to a better city. I am somebody that rolls up their sleeves and works to bring practical solutions.

Through my education, professional skills, and experience, I will continue to ensure the residents of District 4 have an energetic advocate; a partner that knows and appreciates the work of the many citizen groups that are part of the solution to our everyday issues. As a negotiator and mediator, I will build consensus among different groups.

When I’m not busy at the City and County Building, campaigning, or running either one of my businesses, you can find me happily spending time with my husband, our three amazing children, and our extremely curious cat, Alexander Kittyton.



Leo Rodgers

Candidate for City Council District 4
Leo Rodgers

Address
611 S Park St #14
Salt Lake City, UT 84102

Phone
719-334-2695

City of Residence: Salt Lake City
Resident For: 3 years
Occupation: Grocery Clerk
Age: 22
Contact Email: rodgersw3@gmail.com

Message:
Leo is a resident of the Trolley Square area of Salt Lake City, having lived in the area for the past three years with his fiancé, dog, and cat. He is dedicated to strong progressive ideals and believes the city can do more to increase the standard of living for all city residents across all walks of life. In his spare time, he is a social media manager for several progressive groups as well as the founder of his own group called Blue Utah.

His vision for the future of the city is of a city that works for all residents and does so with vigor. Increased accountability and presence of social programs



Dan Dugan

Candidate for City Council District 6
Dan Dugan

Address
2508 E Kensington Ave
Salt Lake City, UT 84108

Phone
801-791-1971

City of Residence: Salt Lake City
Resident For: 15 years
Occupation: Manufacturing manager
Age: 57
Contact Email: dan.dugan@votefordugan.com

Message:
After serving 20 years in the Navy as an Officer and Pilot, my wife and I chose Salt Lake City to raise our daughters. We’ve spent the last 15 years enjoying this unparalleled environment. I’ve spent my post-Navy career leading teams in a manufacturing environment, where we continually strive to improve quality and efficiency in production. I have a passion for problem-solving and helping the local community. My connection to the community grew when I began coaching lacrosse. Over the last decade I have coached and mentored hundreds of kids. I’m currently serving my second term as Chair of the board of the state lacrosse league. While coaching, I noticed my players suffering from the bad air. This lead me to volunteering with Utah Clean Energy, and then with Utah Community Action on renewable energy grants. My community involvement led me to this race. District 6 needs a representative to protect our kids’ health by focusing on clean air, traffic congestion on Foothill, and making sure the City controls all the land under its jurisdiction. I can’t sit idle and complain about what others are not doing. I am excited to get involved, help make a positive impact, and lead.


Candidate for City Council District 6
JT Martin

Address
201 S Main St #2025
Salt Lake City, UT 84111

Phone
801-597-9529

Salt Lake City Resident for: 22 years
Occupation: Managing Director of Integrated Energy Companies
Age: 61
Contact email: jt@jt4slc6.com

Message:
JT Martin has always been committed to his family, friends, and colleagues. When he is not with one or all his four children, JT spends his time to contributing to the community he loves. JT serves on the Salt Lake City Airport Authority Board. As board chair JT and his fellow board members oversaw the initial stages of the expansion of the Salt Lake International Airport. Together they are better equipping Salt Lake City residents with an airport that can handle the traffic expected in the future and increase the number of flights international and domestic arriving and departing our city.

Today JT is the managing director of Integrated Energy Companies (IEC). IEC operates a portfolio of companies which provides services to the energy production industry in the state of Utah and the Inter-mountain West.

In his previous term representing District 6, JT initiated policies focused on environmental quality, sustainable development and preservation of our distinct neighborhoods. Additionally, JT was passionate about the preservation of riparian environments within District six as well as maintaining and improving the quality of green space in our community. He will continue that commitment as your next Councilman.

“I ask for your Vote!”


Candidate for City Council District 6
Charlie Luke

Address
2228 Wilson Ave
Salt Lake City, UT 84108

Phone
801-554-5442

City of Residence: Salt Lake City
Resident For: 21 years
Occupation: Executive Director, Utah Association of Community Services
Age: 46
Contact Email: charlieluke@gmail.com

Message:
Thank you for your continued support. It’s an exciting time in Salt Lake City and District 6. As I have served as your Salt Lake City Council Member, I’ve made it a point to listen closely to your ideas and concerns. I’ve also worked hard to represent your views on making Salt Lake City an even better place to live.

What matters to you, matters to me. I’ve listened to you and advocated on your behalf. The following four issues are priorities that I will be carrying forward:

Priority: Public Safety
Priority: Infrastructure
Priority: Quality of Life
Priority: Transparency
To find out more about our campaign, visit www.votecharlieluke.com.

Now it is time to ask you to allow me to continue as your representative with City Hall for another four years. Each re-election campaign is a great opportunity. It gives me the chance to hear from you and to share my view of the progress we have achieved, how we can improve, and how we can continue to thrive as a city.

To do that, I thank you and respectfully ask for your continued support. Please contact me directly via email at charlie@votecharlieluke.com, or you can text or call 801-554-5442


Candidate for City Council District 2
Andrew Johnston

Address
1188 Jeremy St
Salt Lake City, UT 84104

Phone
801-440-7822

Email
andrewforsaltlake@gmail.com



Candidate for City Council District 2
Moroni Benally

Address
480 S 900 W
Salt Lake City, UT 84104

Phone
N/A

Email
moroni4citycouncil@gmail.com




Candidate for Salt Lake City Mayor
David Ibarra

Address
438 E 200 S #300
Salt Lake City, UT 84111

Phone
801-997-9057

City of Residence: Salt Lake City
Resident For: 20 years
Occupation: Community leader and business owner
Age: 67
Contact Email: david@ibarra4mayor.com

Message:
David is the son of a Mexican immigrant farm worker. David and his brother Mickey spent nearly the first 14 years of their lives in the Utah foster care system. David started his first business at age 28.

David’s business background spans highly successful careers in the hospitality, automotive, and the self-improvement industries.

Through David’s foundation he has assisted 89 students to obtain a college education. Because of the challenges David faced, he gained a passion for compassion, inclusion and fairness for all members
of our community. David is leader ready now and ready to serve SLC.


Candidate for Salt Lake City Mayor
Jim Dabakis

Address
602 S 700 E #D211
Salt Lake City, UT 84102

Phone
435-632-9462

City of Residence: Salt Lake City
Resident For: 46 years
Occupation: Retired
Age: 65
Contact Email: jim@dabakisformayor.com

Message:
Jim Dabakis is uniquely positioned to serve Salt Lake City. His experience, existing relationships, and love of people will allow him to accomplish a great deal.

He knows business. Over 30 years, his small business grew into a big business. That experience, along with a lifelong knack for hiring and developing an adept, diverse, non-partisan team will enable him to lead Salt Lake City with efficiency and aplomb.

He represented Salt Lake City in the Utah Senate for six years where he delved into the gritty details of government.

As a bridge-builder Jim will be a great ambassador for Salt Lake City and its citizens. He understands our city cannot solve the big issues of our time alone. Salt Lake City must work cordially with the State, County and other public stakeholders. Additionally, he believes success will only come as businesses, neighborhoods, religious, and civic groups unite for the common good.

Jim will serve with energy, humor, enthusiasm, and a huge heart.


Candidate for Salt Lake City Mayor
Stan Penfold

Address
P.O. Box 522437
Salt Lake City, UT 84152

Phone
801-209-3401

City of Residence: Salt Lake City
Resident For: 38 years
Occupation: Nonprofit Management
Age: 62
Contact Email: stan@stanpenfold.com

Message:
Stan Penfold is a two-term City Councilman for the Avenues, Capitol Hill, Marmalade, and Guadalupe neighborhoods and he’s running to be your neighborhood mayor.

Through his experience in leadership on the City Council, two decades of managing a non-profit, and a foundation in neighborhood activism, Stan has nurtured the relationships necessary to bring people of diverse backgrounds together to achieve common goals. He’s got a plan for Salt Lake City, involving:

No fare for clean air. Give every Salt Lake resident a no-cost Hive Pass for UTA.

Planning for a Net-Zero Inland Port that generates its own power.

Accelerating Salt Lake City’s plan to be powered 100% by renewable energy so we can be carbon free by 2023.

10,000 doors to address affordable housing and using a housing-first model to address homelessness.

Neighborhood grants to give residents funding to further enhance the character of the place they call home.

Stan has the vision, skill, patience, empathy, boldness, and experience to be Salt Lake City’s next mayor. To learn more about Stan’s Plan, please visit stanformayor.com.



Candidate for Salt Lake City Mayor
David Garbett

Address
1801 S Elizabeth St
Salt Lake City, UT 84105

Phone
801-678-9885

City of Residence: Salt Lake City
Resident For: 12 years
Occupation: Attorney, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance; Exec. Director, Pioneer Park Coalition; Special Projects, Garbett Homes
Age: 40
Contact Email: info@garbettformayor.com

Message:
As a father of two young girls, I’m constantly reminded of the extreme challenges our city faces. In the coming years, Salt Lake City will have an opportunity to lead the way in providing clean air, a stable climate, affordable housing, and resources for those in need. As an attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, I dedicated 10 years of my life to fighting for our environment and public lands; as the executive director of the Pioneer Park Coalition, I worked on the ground with those experiencing homelessness to provide greater resources. My career has been built around these challenges, and as mayor I’ll use my experiences to address our most important concerns.

As mayor, I’ll tackle air quality issues by incentivizing the closure of our largest pollution sources in the city, pursue air quality violators, and switch our electricity to supply to 100% renewables within my first term without raising rates. We’ll also be a pro-housing city where I’ll lower your cost of living by fighting to lower property taxes. Finally, we’ll help our most vulnerable populations get off the streets by ensuring we have enough shelter beds for those experiencing homelessness.

I hope to earn your vote.



Candidate for Salt Lake City Mayor
Richard N. Goldberger

Address
255 N 400 W
Salt Lake City, UT 84103

Phone
801-661-9966

City of Residence: Salt Lake City
Resident for: 55 years
Occupation: Journalist
Age: 75
Contact Email: rng2@utah.edu

Message:
Richard Goldberger was born in New York City in 1943. He attended Salt Lake Community College and the University of Utah. He is a journalist with Federated News and senior consultant for “Have Brain, Will Think”. Mr. Goldberger represents Government by Objectives. He is a commonsensecrat. He works strictly for the people to make a difference and be the difference. He believes in service to others. Regarding Salt Lake City’s homeless problem, his solution is to establish a fast, full service triage reception campus, and a massive outreach program in SLC open 24/7, 365 days a year, including a hotline number, and outlawing illegal camping 100%. Regarding the Inland Port, Mr. Goldberger believes the litigation should be put on hold and an intermodal site, park, or Utah Export Expo Center be placed on the proposed site. Mr. Goldberger would like to see more free fare on UTA and several connections and lines extended. Regarding crime, Mr. Goldberger would establish more precincts in the City like the Pioneer Precinct. Mr. Goldberger would have a mobile Mayor’s with a liaison to the University of Utah. He would like to see more grants offered for entrepreneurs, neighborhood recycling fair’s and pay raises for SLC’s public safety personnel.



Candidate for Salt Lake City Mayor
Rainer Huck

Address
Protected pursuant to Utah State Code §63G-2-305(52)

Phone
801-467-3795

City of Residence: Salt Lake City
Resident For: 70 years
Occupation: Retired
Age: 72
Contact Email: rfhuck@yahoo.com

Message:
I’m asking to be your Mayor because I see the American Dream slipping away due to ever expanding government and crushing taxation and regulation. Most of the “issues” being discussed have little or no relevance to the people who live and work in our town. As an immigrant I greatly appreciated the opportunities America provided for each person to pursue happiness and fulfillment in their own way. These opportunities are now rapidly diminishing due to government intrusion in every aspect our lives.

As your Mayor I will:

Stop police shootings and killings. Last year 19 people were killed by police bullets, more than were killed by criminal bullets.

Restore annual cleanup program

Build a homeless campus that will allow people to live with some dignity and safety. The current shelters only accommodate 700 costing $86,000 /person and will be overrun the day they open, doing little to solve the problem

Reduce water/sewer rates and prevent future increases

Save Airport parking structure and terminals

Prevent raids on illegal immigrants living and working here

Eliminate secret police

Stop arrests for victim-less crimes

Rescind sales tax increase

Roll back recent 10% budget increase

My focus is to benefit the working people of SLC




Candidate for Salt Lake City Mayor
Luz Escamilla

Address
1004 North Morton Dr
Salt Lake City, UT 84116

Phone
801-556-1029

City of Residence: Salt Lake City
Resident For: 21 years
Occupation: Banker/State Senator
Age: 41
Contact Email: luz@luzformayor.com

Message:
Luz Escamilla has nearly twenty years of leadership experience in the private and nonprofit sectors as well as the executive and legislative branches of state government. Luz considers herself extraordinarily fortunate to have had these opportunities as part of the American Dream. She has earned her Bachelor’s degree in Business and Master in Public Administration from the University of Utah.

For the past 12 years, Luz’s work with Zions Bank has focused on developing small and local businesses.

In 2008, Luz was elected to her first of three terms to the Utah State Senate, which represents the westside of Salt Lake City and part of West Valley City. Luz has worked tirelessly to pass meaningful legislation around issues of clean air, healthcare, public education, after school programs, licensing and many other issues that improve the lives of working families and residents of Salt Lake City.

Luz has been an effective Democrat in the GOP-controlled legislature because of her ability to find effective solutions, find common ground, and build bridges among those with different interests. Luz will bring her unique breadth and depth of experience and skills to the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Office.



Candidate for Salt Lake City Mayor
Erin Mendenhall

Address
P.O. Box 521385
Salt Lake City, UT 84152

Phone
216-973-4412

City of Residence: Salt Lake City
Resident for:  20 years
Occupation: Salt Lake City Councilwoman
Age: 39
Contact Email: info@erinforslcmayor.com

Message:
Erin Mendenhall is a Salt Lake City Councilwoman, now serving the 5th district in her second term. Erin graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah with a degree in Gender Studies and just recently graduated from the University of Utah with a Professional Master in Science and Technology. Prior to joining City Council, she co-founded Breathe Utah, helping to create their curriculum, which as of today, has educated tens of thousands of Utah schoolchildren on air quality issues. In addition to co-founding Breathe Utah, she currently serves as the Chair of the State Air Quality Board. She and her husband, Kyle, are the proud parents of three young children.

JULY 13
SLC SAVES WATER BUT STILL ORDERS RESIDENTS TO WATER MORE
7 CANYONS RECOMMENDED FOR WATER PURIFICATION
MCCLELLAND IN SUGAR HOUSE MISSES OUT ON ALLEYWAY MILLION
SLC 6 YEAR STREETS PLAN
ROCKY MT POWER OVERRUNS COMMUNITY FOR REFINERY POWER POLES
RECYCLING FEES DOUBLE REGULAR GARBAGE FEES
HOMELESS SHELTERS' OPENING MAY BE FURTHER DELAYED


SLC SAVES WATER BUT STILL ORDERS RESIDENTS TO WATER MORE
  Salt Lake City residents have decreased their water use since 2001 from 25 gallons er capita per day to 193 gallons per capita per day.  Those figures are for all uses including industrial, commercial and institutional uses.  Residential water use has been lowered from 154 gallons per day to 106 gallons per day (per capita).
  As pointed out by the Salt Lake Tribune's Gehrke recently, putting green carpet or not planting at least one third of a front yard will cause, upon complaint, a citation.  In other words, although our Mayor and the City is proud at our low water use, especially compared to most other cities in the State, the City is pushing residents to water more.
  Although the City recommends plantings that require little or no water (after establishment - which is a problem with SLC Parks' plantings which have a tendency to die within a year of planting due, in general, to lack of watering - Fairmont Park, the McClelland Alleyway Trail, and Miller Park are good examples), the City is not providing much flexibility now.  Last year, the Water Conservation Manager of Salt Lake City, Stephanie Duer, told a community council that if there are complaints about not enough greenery in a front yard, to call her and she would try to negotiate a compromise or solution.
  She is now saying "Current code only requires that 1/3 of a front yard be planted. A bit of a compromise, certainly, but the concern was to maintain some greenspace, as it promotes walkability and adds certain environmental values. Fortunately, there is a plethora of plants that thrive in our area that require little or no water on establishment. These options create a broad palette of design choices that do enable property owners to reduce their water footprint significantly.
We are in the process of updating our Water Conservation Master Plan, and as a part of that process are exploring a portfolio of conservation programing (sic) options to further assist both our residential and commercial customers. By this fall, we should have a draft on line for review and comment. Please won’t you help us grow and improve our program by providing your comments? When posted, you’ll find the document at www.slc.gov/utilities/conservation . For landscape information, visit www.slcgardenwise.com."
  I walk the sidewalk trails of Salt Lake City and see many beautiful yards with less than the 33% greenery required.  Salt Lake City should be flexible and allow other ways of making a yard beautiful.  I see yards with sculptures, rock art, and I even see green carpet.  They can be beautiful.  Walkability does not depend on greenery.  It depends on ground floor interesting activation of the yard or windows of businesses.  Salt Lake City does not require greenery on all of the new buildings in Sugar House so it seems the City is giving up on making Sugar House walkable?  
  Citizens should tell the City that walkable neighborhoods do not need plants as much as they need a City that pushes wider sidewalks, allows flexible ground floor activities or vision or art and all new buildings should have ground floor public amenities/stores/restaurants, not just apartments.
  Salt Lake City should allow beautiful art, sculptures and yards that are nice to look at.  Grass and greenery should not be pushed.  That actually encourages watering.  The new Water Conservation Master Plan should allow decorative rocks, carpet, and bark.  

7 CANYONS RECOMMENDED FOR WATER PURIFICATION
  The Mayor is recommending an ultraviolet disinfection system to remove harmful bacteria from the Liberty Park 7 Canyons Fountain and sculpture (for less than a million).  ABut the City Council is also going to discuss this Tuesday, whether it should fund the $2 million to tear down the sculpture and remove the sharp edges from the mountains.  The reason is the concern that children would harm themselves by climbing the mountains unless they are ground down and "blunted"!  The next you know, they will stop children from riding bikes which is 1000 times more dangerous if you look at accident numbers.

MCCLELLAND IN SUGAR HOUSE MISSES OUT ON ALLEYWAY MILLION
  When Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall got the Council to agree to a million to construct the McClelland Trail from about 1100 South to Brickyard, the money was all spent on alleyways (which is why people keep asking how do you spend a million on alleyways!?) and the money ran out at 2100 South.  So the McClelland Trail that was supposed to go from 2100 South to Sugarmont did not have any money for the last few years.  The City CIP plans are going to give a little this next year to upgrade the street to a shared street to Elm (halfway to Sugarmont) but the $500,000 asked for to make a real shared street is not recommended for funding!  It is time that Salt Lake City give the Sugar House Business District something to really encourage walkability by fully funding the shared street (a concept developed by Soren Simonsen).

SLC 6 YEAR STREETS PLAN
  I put the 6 year Salt Lake City planned streets' projects list in the downloads section.  500 East from 1700 South to 2100 South is scheduled for next year reconstruction.  2000 East from Parley's Way to Millcreek (City limit) and 700 West from 1600 South to 2100 South are scheduled for work in 2020.
  In 2021, the streets scheduled for work are 300 West from 900 South to 1300 South, 900 East from Hollywood (about 2000 S.) to 2700 South, 100 South from North Campus to 900 East and 1700 East from 1700 South to 2700 South.
  I put the list of local street projects (pages from 5 to 7) in the downloads under 6 yr pavement plan.pdf.
  "Every fall, the staff will revisit the plan."  Please tell the City what you think and get involved with your local community councils which will be helping plan new street projects.

ROCKY MT POWER OVERRUNS COMMUNITY FOR REFINERY POWER POLES
  A few weeks ago, I put the Rocky Mountain power project in the downloads section and I assumed that it would eventually result in a lot of angry people in the Rose Park and Beck Street area.  The big 60 foot power pole (used for a T-Mobile antenna but it will eventually be used by Rocky Mountain Power) that created such a big issue in the nearby area is just one pole.  The new Rocky Mountain Proposal will place many new poles and even cut down trees in the path!  The goal is to provide the refinery in Salt Lake City with more power that they say is needed for the new Tier III low sulfur gasoline that is going to be refined.  Salt Lake City should have encouraged Rocky Mountain Power to work with the community instead of having the plan be approved without public participation.  All that is happening now is telling the community that it is happening, no matter what.  That is a great way to gain the trust of a community.  Maybe the community should go to the Legislature and demand more tax credits for solar panels and require Rocky Mountain Power to pay more for net metering.

RECYCLING FEES DOUBLE REGULAR GARBAGE FEES
  Many cities in Utah are feeling the reality of recycling.  Up until a few years ago, China provided a market for our recyclables.  But the Chinese government thought that the U.S. recyclables were too contaminated so they cut back allowing our recyclables into China.  So now the recycling fees are as much as $68 per ton.  The landfill presently charges $32.85 per ton but their fees are predicted to increase.  The question for local governments is do we continue with recycling which will require a one or two dollar a month increase in fees (or taxes) or stop the recycling program.  Governments are asking if they would pay the extra one or two dollars to recycle but the reality is that the extra cost is much more for a separate pickup of recyclables. SLC just increased the trash fees but the question will keep coming up since the recycling companies seem to be desperate to continue operating and need a big increase in fees to make even a small profit.  

HOMELESS SHELTERS' OPENING MAY BE FURTHER DELAYED
  It appears that the new homeless shelter's service providers have not received their contracts so they can't hire and train staff to accept and work with the new homeless as they go to the new shelters!  So Salt Lake City shelters will be lucky if they actually open by winter!  And the Pioneer Park Coalition still says that there will be plenty of space at the new shelters.  I do not think that many homeless men will want to go to the South Salt Lake Shelter for men since it will essentially be in the middle of nowhere (except for the Maverick station on 3300 South (which already has regular robberies since it is across the street from the jail and many arrested criminals are released within a few hours).  That shelter is next to the Jordan River Park which will cause other issues.  Homeless are not dumb and do not want to be in the middle of nowhere.  It is like, as some want, putting the homeless in the west desert.  
  Bottom line is that the Road Home is still going to be needed and the developers and property owners should stop complaining about the homeless in the Rio Grande area since that is where almost all of the service providers are!  The Weigand Center, St Vincent DePaul's, the Rescue Mission, Workforce Services and Fourth Street Clinic are supposed to stay in the area.  Landowners should be telling the City's RDA Board (the City Council) to stop holding vacant property buildings in the area for decades and get developers to build something on them!
  My prediction is that there will be a lot of homeless sleeping in the downtown area this winter and many will die.  The Road Home will still be needed.  Transporting a couple of hundred to the shelters each night from the area that they frequent (downtown) is going to be a logistical nightmare.

JULY 9, 2019
SECRET SUGAR HOUSE PARKING STUDY REVEALED
PAY FOR SUCCESS WORKING
OPPORTUNITY ZONE PROSPECTUS FOR SLC RELEASED
SLC CIP PROJECTS
DOWNLOADS UPDATED WITH MANY NEW DOWNLOADS
SALT LAKE COUNTY UTA AUGUST CHANGE DAY ROUTE CHANGES

SECRET SUGAR HOUSE PARKING STUDY REVEALED
  The super secret Sugar House and Downtown Parking study has been released.  It is 32MB so I put it in two parts in the TRANSPORTATION DOWNLOADS columns in the upper far right with Recommendations as a separate file.
  The recommendations include "Design, pilot and implement a performance based parking management program"; "Revise the Residential Parking Permit program to better manage spillover parking"; "Coordinate on and off street prices"; revise zoning for parking; create a parking communications plan; require consistent parking information; update meters' system; unify parking system management; and "Coordinate transportation policy decisions across modes to support parking management".
  The main takeaway is that Downtown SLC and Sugar House has enough housing but that information is not available to drivers wanting to park in the area.  The report recommends coordinating between SLC and private sectors to address parking issues (with a parking manager that could be someone like the Downtown Alliance).  The meter technology provider (now changed due to non fulfillment of the original contract - SLC bought the system to keep operating it and recently increased parking fees).  
  There is a good recommendation to modify signage ordinance to require consistent parking information.  Senator Harper tried two years ago to require it to stop onerous towing on parking lots but failed.  A good example of onerous parking surprises is the Vue on 2100 S and Highland which charges a minimum of $10 with telling drivers before they enter the underground parking lot (that SLC paid for - as a loan but the developer paid off to decrease public parking)!  
  The real issue is the fact that SLC/Sugar House used to be a nice walkable area that you could drive to and park in then walk the area for hours.  Now, since the Vue project, the parking lots are limited to 2 hours which discourages walking the area.  It now forces people to drive from stores or restaurants instead of walking.  The good news is that the Park Avenue/University of Utah will allow free unlimited parking after 5 PM (at least proposed now).
  So, thanks to the Administration for releasing the study.

PAY FOR SUCCESS WORKING
  I put the proposal for the Salt Lake County's Pay for Success Program presentation in the HOMELESS/CRIME/JAIL downloads.  The program was generated with $11.7 million in private capitol and the County will provide $11.5 million to the private lenders if the program reaches the agreed upon outcome.  So far, the program is succeeding.   The program is managed by a community foundation and tested/studied/analyzed by the Sorenson Impact Center.  All performance metrics have been met.  The program focuses on rapid rehousing (of 315 persistently homeless) individuals that have a large number of arrests.  The REACH program focuses on decreasing recidivism first on 225 high risk criminals with a large number of arrests.  Both the housing and REACH programs passed pilot projects.  All performance metrics have been met.  The program has also provided nonchronic housing needs.  This program is the only project like it in the United States.  (If you want to listen to the presentation, it is on the June 25 Salt Lake County Committee of the Whole meeting at about 44 minutes.)
  The systems show how rapid rehousing works.  In some cases the program has roommates that essentially is shared housing.  There have been 22 roommate pairings and they have provided a lot of learning and developing of tools.  They provide mental health assessments and the recent Medicaid expansions have helped provide some of the assessments and treatments.  The program has 115 permanent supportive housing online now.  They try to only focus on high risk individuals.  Therapies target the needs that include showing how to have fun without drugs by socializing with friend and families.  But substance abuse is just one of the needs of these individuals.
  The effectiveness of a case manager that helped provide help for housing and employment was important.  A problem at work can create a rapid reversion for an individual and the case manager that intercede to keep the person in work and in housing.  The program also provides for renters insurance that landlords are starting to require.  The flexible funding has been helpful.
  Other programs that have been helpful include the Bicycle Collective (helps provide bicycles for individuals in the program), and affordable housing tax credits (for 2 projects) and First Step House (which is provide 2 of the supportive housing and 115 units).  Also the Sorenson Impact Center quality checks have helped ensure that quality drives the efforts.
  The data shows that the program has about a 50% cut in arrests and increased housing.  There is a chance that the lower arrest/incarceration rate could be from interceding of the program to stop jailing of an individual that was in the program and return them to the program instead of going to jail.  The program does not give up on an individual.
  This is a good program but the funding has come from the County's jail bond program ($9.4 million) that was repurposed to Pay for Success, despite the significant need for more jail space to provide the stick to work with the carrot of treatment and vigorous case management.

OPPORTUNITY ZONE PROSPECTUS FOR SLC RELEASED
 The Economic Development Department of Salt Lake City has prepared a Prospectus for potential interested parties to invest in the 8 Salt Lake City areas that are Opportunity Zones that allow investors to decrease capitol gains taxes (Millcreek has an area that is shared by Salt Lake City.)  The City is focusing on life sciences industry since Salt Lake City area is number 26 out of 383 life science clusters in the Country (Salt Lake City is rated number 4 in STEM careers.)
  The Granary District is considered by the Economic Development Director to have the best potential for development.  It includes the Fleet Block and the Sears Block and goes to 900 South.  I put the Prospectus in the Downloads Salt Lake City area.

SLC CIP PROJECTS
  The CIP list of Mayor's recommendations has been released and is in two parts in the downloads section.  The Facilities Index, part of the CIP presentation is separated out of the PDF to allow easy download.  The CIP minimized version has everything else including the GOLF, RDA, and unfunded projects.
  The recommendations includes providing for $730,000 for the Liberty Park Seven Canyons Fountain Redevelopment.  $850,000 was asked for.  But the City is also suggesting giving $127,000 to help the Redevelopment.
  The Pioneer Park Playground Replacement recommendation was $246,000 instead of the $400,000. But Pioneer Park is getting $3.4 million from the downtown park proposal that the City is giving up on trying to construct. 
  About a million is budgeted for transit infrastructure for bus stop creation and improvements, transit signal upgrades and first/last mile enhancements.
  The Council notes indicate that there may be questions on Projects #5 (full mayoral funding recommendation) and #41 (no mayoral funding recommendation) –McClelland Trail Improvements – The Council may wish to ask the Administration for an update on plans to implement the southern portion of the McClelland Trail from Fairmont Park to Brickyard/3300 South. The Council may also wish to discuss how to prioritize funding for improvements to the existing trail or implementing the southern portion of the trail. The Council approved slightly over $1 million in 2014 and another $203,000 in 2016 for implementing the McClelland Trail from 900 South to Fairmont Park.
  The Hidden Hollow Natural Area Waterwise Enhancements project is recommended to get $419,000 for:
The project scope includes: *Replace failing irrigation system in Hidden Hollow to support central lawn areas, native planting beds (including native gardens in NE corner), tree plantings, and habitat demonstration areas, and replace native turf and shrubs killed from lack of water. *Remove invasive trees creating hiding places for transient camps. *Complete the trail lighting project started in 2016, by installing remaining light bollards on south trail alignment. *Replace power hookup to amphitheater for Hidden Hollow concerts and events. *Refurbish damaged stone monuments and interpretive plaques.
*Replace destroyed drinking fountain and damaged benches.
*Refurbish boardwalk on north side trail. Replace native grasses and landscape plants in central meadow areas and habitat demonstration areas following irrigation
system replacement.
  The McClelland Trail and Neighborhood Street Livability Improvements project is recommended for $349,500 for:
Local residents and business owners have two desired project outcomes, based on many hours of outreach, petitioning, and collecting letters of support: (1) increase the livability near homes and businesses by slowing automobile traffic to below 25 mph, the maximum ideal design speed; and (2) improve the comfort of the six at grade McClelland Trail crossings in the neighborhood. Motorists on many of the six avenues from Harrison to Bryan, inclusive, between 1100 East and 1300 East, drive at speeds that are excessive for the residential nature of the area (35 mph is typical in some of these 25 mph zones). The recent McClelland Trail improvements, which created a comfortable trail experience between avenues, did not address high east‐west vehicular speeds. As a recent amenity, the trail compounds the need for improved roadway crossings, which are currently perceived as comfortable extensions of the trail, but do not function as such. Support for this project is found in
the Jordan and Salt Lake Canal (McClelland) Trail Implementation Plan. This section of the trail would cross seven east‐west cross streets [including Milton, if the trail had continued north‐south] in mid‐block locations. This may necessitate mid‐block crossings which increase driver awareness of the trail and its users. Options could include raised crosswalks, neckdowns, or bulbouts that also calms traffic (p. 27‐28).At each loca􀆟on where the trail intersects with cross streets, Salt Lake City may want to consider crossing enhancements to increase trail visibility and calm traffic on the streets (p. 44). Roadway design dictates transportation behavior more than any other (less effective) intervention, such as signing, speed feedback signs, or enforcement. The six avenues differ in width: either 29 (Roosevelt), 35 (Emerson, Kensington), or 39 (Harrison, Browning, Bryan) feet wide (curb to curb). Relatively narrow avenues like Roosevelt only need an improved trail crossing, while Harrison, Browning, or Bryan will likely need more changes. The City will implement context‐appropriate interventions in order to achieve the desired results. The overall goal is a low design and user speed on all six avenues. The project elements will be chosen based on community feedback (trade‐offs, constraints, opportunities), pop‐up test periods in 2020, and data collection, and will be located where the maximum return on investment can be realized without redesigning the entire two‐block length of each avenue.  Project funding will be used to analyze existing conditions and green infrastructure feasibility; perform community engagement (including a pop‐up test period); and design, prepare construction documents for, and implement the right‐of‐way elements that will lower motor vehicle speeds and improve comfort for all users of the six avenues and the McClelland Trail.
  The 1100 East Curb and Gutter project around Hollywood Ave. will remove a park strip tree and:
This project includes removal and replacement of the post office drive approach and 1000 linear feet of curb and gutter, asphalt tie‐ins, and possible removal and
replacement of a park strip tree.  This project was postponed to allow the 1300 East road reconstruction project to move further along before the 1100 East project starts.
  The Liberty Park Maintenance Yard will be paved with $193,000.
  Sugar House West Neighborhood 600 East Traffic Calming project is recommended to get $150,000 for:
The funding requested will be used to develop and implement two projects: 1) a neighborhood‐wide traffic calming plan to address vehicle speeding and excessive cut‐through issues in the West Sugar House neighborhood, and 2) improvements to the successful 600 East Neighborhood Byway.  The goal of the neighborhood‐wide traffic calming plan is to increase the livability in the West Sugar House neighborhood by slowing traffic and installing neighborhood gateway and identity features. Slowing traffic will be achieved using traffic calming measures, designed to fit seamlessly into the existing local roadway network. Reducing the speed of motorists will allow residents to more comfortably walk and bicycle around their neighborhood, to local shops and restaurants, and to the nearby S Line. In addition, lower vehicle travel speeds can lead to safer neighborhood roadways as they decrease the stopping distance of motorists and drastically increase the survival rate in the instance of a crash.  The neighbors have been working together as a group to draft a traffic calming plan. They understand that due to their location, cut‐through traffic uses local roads to
avoid the congestion on 700 E, 2100 S, and 2700 S. The residents know that not all traffic can be eliminated, rather they would like to curb the negative impacts of vehicles speeding through their neighborhood and in turn increase the livability of West Sugar House. Implementing traffic calming measures and neighborhood gateway and identity features would be an effective means to increasing the livability in West Sugar House. The second project is to improve the 600 East Neighborhood Byway though minor changes that would better accommodate bicyclists and pedestrians. The 600 East
Neighborhood Byway is a successful bicycle and pedestrian‐prioritized travelway from 2700 South to South Temple. As the City's first neighborhood byway, it has been a success and seen strong usage from bicyclists and pedestrians. The City has continued to monitor the effects of the 600 East Neighborhood Byway project and has identified areas where minor changes could significantly improve the usability. In addition, users have provided comment to the City on areas where minor changes would make walking and riding a bicycle more comfortable and convenient. Implementing minor changes to the 600 East Neighborhood Byway would complement the City's ongoing efforts to maintain a safe and efficient transportation network.

  Projects not recommended include:
 the Re-purposing the old #3 Fire Station for relocation of the maintenance shop.  "Design and construct renovations on Fire Station #3 roof, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, parking lot and landscaping. Create break room, office space, male and female restrooms, locker rooms, showers and crew rooms for Sugarhouse Business District Maintenance Crews, Fairmont Park Maintenance Crews, Supervisors and Managers. Bring building up to meet Fire, Seismic,ADA, Energy and any other building or safety codes necessary.
  The maintenance shop also asked for $5,304,000 for a new maintenance shop.
  The McClelland Shared Street Phase 2a Improvements for $500,000 was not recommended (2100 S. to Sugarmont Ave): Following nearly two years of public and business engagement, the City, property owners, and community organizations have agreed that the most effective way to achieve many of the economic, safety, and livability goals of McClelland Street is to convert it from a traditional roadway to a shared street. Motorists will be driving slower, increasing exposure to businesses on the corridor. A calm shopping and living environment, and a gateway to Fairmont Park, are unique. McClelland Street, from 2100 South (Monument Plaza) to Sugarmont Avenue (Fairmont Park), is an ideal setting for a calm street where all users are equal. This project enables the McClelland Trail to continue, from where it currently ends north of 2100 South (Phase 1, 2016) into Fairmont Park and points south (Phase 3). Elements of this project (Phase 2a) may include special paving, lighting, bicycle parking, green infrastructure and bioswales, landscaping, a more distinctive pedestrian space, public art, benches, and outdoor dining. Further proliferation of these elements is Phase 2b. Eventually, the project seeks to rebuild the street as a curbless street where all users share the same space (Phase 2c). As stated in the Sugar House Circulation & Streetscape Amenities Plan (2013), McClelland Street will become a gateway between the Business District, Sugar House Streetcar (S‐Line), and Parley's Trail. The proposed [McClelland] Trail uses McClelland Street as a link between the section of the trail north of 2100 South and the section south of Sugarmont. Since 2016, Salt Lake City's Transportation Division has sought community and stakeholder feedback regarding the design and function of this section of the street and Trail. The City wanted to ensure a balance between community desires, the needs of property owners and managers, and overall Sugar House and City goals for economic and community development, safety, and opportunity. The most common outcome from that outreach was the idea of the shared street. Now is the right time to implement these changes. Opportunities are becoming rarer and more difficult as the core of Sugar House further intensifies. Signal improvements on 2100 South (2019) will facilitate more comfortable crossings by people walking and bicycling, expanding their reach and safety within the neighborhood. Fairmont Park improvements, coupled with this project, will enhance the vitality and cohesion of the park. Creating a more accessible, freer, and more flexible public street space will also encourage people to walk and bicycle more, reducing the need for parking and roadway widening as well as increasing the accessibility of the S‐Line Streetcar and the Parley's Trail. Transforming McClelland Street into a place , rather than just a road, with bustling businesses and residences lining its edges, will afford residents, visitors, and others opportunities to shop, socialize, and enjoy their daily activities in a calm, beautiful, and comfortable env....
  Providing sidewalks on 3000 South from Highland to 1500 East for $343,000 was not recommended.
  Other issues include the information that a bond will be paid off in two years that will provide $5.5 million for CIP but Erin Mendenhall seemed to be interested in another bond (she has wanted parks bonds, bonds for streetcar extensions and more spending by the City).  She specifically asked if another bond can be created from the $5.5 saved.  She was told now is a good time to bond but it might change in a year.
  Another two items on transit were discussed during CIP presentations.  Route 9 will stop at 4th South on Redwood Rd instead of N. Temple due to asbestos at Rocky Mountain Power plant parking lot.   And Andrew Johnston asked if the HIVE pass could go lower after the study on fares is completed.  It could and should.

DOWNLOADS UPDATED WITH MANY NEW DOWNLOADS
  There were a lot of recent releases of information during the last week.  They include the new CIP recommendations, the SLC Facilities Index (part of the CIP presentation), SLC Business Survey, the Restaurant TSA area (North Temple generally) Drive Through Ordinance, the new draft Downtown Plan, the new 27th South Cottages Plan for 900 East (southwest corner that the Sugar House Community Council supports), the SLC Council Social Media Policy (Aaron Jones has filed a lawsuit against the policy that deleted his postings on their social media sites.  The Council has closed sessions to discuss the lawsuit but it appears that they will start over and allow all postings unless they don't follow the new policy - IAW new lawsuit in New York City.), the Alliance House proposal to reconstruct a motel to a real supported housing project (that the Ballpark Community Council supports), and the super secret for 4 years Sugar House and Downtown Parking Study (see above).  If you are interested, download the appropriate/interesting document.

SALT LAKE COUNTY UTA AUGUST CHANGE DAY ROUTE CHANGES
  UTA has released their new routes for August Change Day.  One of the most quetionable route changes is removing Route 500 and using Route 200/State Street to service the Capitol.  UTA is combining one of the most popular routes with one of the least popular routes (average of one rider per bus although rush hour from FrontRunner is standing room only).  That is a great way to discourage ridership, I think.  
  The other big change is the increase of service for Route 21, 2 and 9 which will increase frequency to 15 minutes until 7 PM and add service to midnight every 30 minutes.  It is too bad that the north south routes don't go to midnight.  Bus routes need a full service system that functions in all directions, not just in one direction.  The route changes are:
Route 2
In partnership with Salt Lake City’s Funding our Future program, UTA proposes to have route 2 come more often, run earlier and later, and run on Sundays. On weekdays and Saturdays, service would operate every 15 min from 6 am to 7 pm, as well as every 30 min from 5 am to 6 am and 7 pm to midnight. On Sundays, service would run every 30 min from 7 am to 7 pm.
The University of Utah previously requested that all bus routes be relocated from the University Hospital loop. As part of a collaborative process, U of U Health Sciences and UTA have agreed that routes 2, 6, and 11 will continue serving the University Hospital loop. Other routes in the area will access the Hospital from the bus stops adjacent to Medical Center TRAX Station on Mario Capecchi Dr.
In conjunction with UTA’s proposal for route 220, riders would see more frequent service on 200 South between Salt Lake Central Station and University St. Buses would arrive every 7.5 minutes on weekdays between 6 am and 7 pm, and every 15 minutes weekdays between 7 pm and 10 pm. On Saturdays, buses would come every 7–15 minutes between 6 am and 7 pm along this stretch of 200 South. On Sundays, buses would arrive every 15–30 minutes between 7 am and 7 pm.
Of the two routes, route 2 would maintain the best connection to FrontRunner at Salt Lake Central Station.

Route 2X
In response to a request from the University of Utah, route 2X would no longer service the entrance to the University of Utah Hospital. Access to the university hospitals and clinics would be available at bus stops along Mario Capecchi Dr.

Route 3
The western end of route 3 would move from Salt Lake Central Station to North Temple Station. This would provide better connections to both southbound and northbound FrontRunner trains. The 3 would continue to service 3rd Avenue, the University of Utah, VA Hospital, Research Park, and This is the Place. Route 3 would be the primary connection from FrontRunner to Research Park with the discontinuation of route 228.

Route 4
The new route 4 would partially replace service currently provided by routes 228 and 516. The eastern terminal would be at 3900 South and Wasatch Blvd. The 4 would then travel north along Wasatch Blvd, Foothill Dr, 400 South, 200 South, and back to 400 S before ending at Redwood Road. The objective of this route is to enhance east–west connectivity between the University of Utah, downtown Salt Lake, and the airport. On the eastern end, route 4 is designed to connect with routes 33, 39, and 45.
On weekdays, service would operate every 30 minutes from 6 am to 7 pm, and every 60 minutes from 5 am to 6 am and 7 pm to 9 pm. On weekends, the 4 would run every 60 minutes from 7 am to 7 pm. This would introduce new weekend service on Foothill Dr.

Route 6
The western end of route 6 would move from North Temple Station to Salt Lake Central Station. The route would no longer service North Temple. From 2nd Avenue, it would service State Street and 200 South.
The University of Utah previously requested that all bus routes be relocated from the University Hospital loop. As part of a collaborative process, U of U Health Sciences and UTA have agreed that routes 2, 6, and 11 will continue serving the University Hospital loop. Other routes in the area will access the Hospital from the bus stops adjacent to Medical Center TRAX Station on Mario Capecchi Dr.

Route 9
In partnership with Salt Lake City’s Funding our Future program, UTA proposes to have route 9 come more often, run earlier and later, and run on weekends. On weekdays and Saturdays, service would operate every 15 min from 6 am to 7 pm, as well as every 30 min from 5 am to 6 am and 7 pm to midnight. On Sundays, service would run every 30 min from 7 am to 7 pm.
The 9 would replace the service that route 516 provides within the Glendale and Poplar Grove communities. The route’s western end would be located at 400 S and Redwood Road. On the eastern end, the route would travel along South Campus Drive and Mario Capecchi Drive, before ending at the University of Utah Union Building.

Route 11
The University of Utah previously requested that all bus routes be relocated from the University Hospital loop. As part of a collaborative process, U of U Health Sciences and UTA have agreed that routes 2, 6, and 11 will continue serving the University Hospital loop. Other routes in the area will access the Hospital from the bus stops adjacent to Medical Center TRAX Station on Mario Capecchi Dr.

Route 17
Route 17 would shift from Main St to 300 West between 1700 South and 2100 South. On the eastern end of the route, the 17 would be extended to the Union Building at the University of Utah.

Route 21
In partnership with Salt Lake City’s Funding our Future program, UTA proposes to have route 21 come more often, as well as run earlier and later. On weekdays and Saturdays, service would operate every 15 min from 6 am to 7 pm, as well as every 30 min from 5 am to 6 am and 7 pm to midnight. On Sundays, service would run every 30 min from 7 am to 7 pm.

Route 200
Routes 200 and 500 would be consolidated. Route 500 would be discontinued and route 200 would service the State Capitol via Main St, Columbus St, and 500 North. This would provide 15-minute service to Capitol Hill Monday–Friday. The northern end of route 200 would move from Salt Lake Central Station to North Temple Station. Access to Courthouse Station would be made at Bus stops along State Street to make connections with the TRAX Blue, Green, and Red lines.

Route 213
In response to requests from the University of Utah, route 213 would no longer service the entrance to the University of Utah Hospital. Access to the university hospitals and clinics would be available at bus stops along Mario Capecchi Drive.

Route 220
Route 220 would shift from 100 South to 200 South between West Temple and 1300 East. In conjunction with UTA’s proposal for route 2, riders would see more frequent service on 200 South between Salt Lake Central Station and University St. Buses would arrive every 7.5 minutes on weekdays between 6 am and 7 pm, and every 15 minutes weekdays between 7 pm and 10 pm. On Saturdays, buses would come every 7–15 minutes between 6 am and 7 pm along this stretch of 200 South. On Sundays, buses would arrive every 15–30 minutes between 7 am and 7 pm.

Of the two routes, route 2 would maintain the best connection to FrontRunner at Salt Lake Central Station.

Route 223
Route 223 would receive a substantial improvement in frequency. Buses would shift from every 2 hours to every 30 minutes from 6 am to 9am, and 3 pm to 6pm; buses would come every 60 minutes from 9 am to 3 pm, and 6 pm to 9 pm. The northern end of the 223 would also be modified to serve Research Park, university hospitals via Mario Capecchi Drive, and the University of Utah via Central Campus Drive. The route would no longer service 900 South, 1300 East, and South Campus Drive.

Route 228
UTA would discontinue route 228 and replace segments of this route with routes 4, 33, 39, 45, and 223.

Route 313
In response to a request from the University of Utah, route 313 would no longer service the entrance to the University of Utah Hospital. Access to the university hospitals and clinics would be available at bus stops along Mario Capecchi Dr.

Route 354
In response to a request from the University of Utah, route 354 would no longer service the entrance to the University of Utah Hospital. Access to the university hospitals and clinics would be available at bus stops along Mario Capecchi Dr.

Route 500
UTA would discontinue route 500 and replace it with route 200. Capitol Hill would receive 15-minute service Monday–Saturday and 30-minute service on Sundays.

Route 516
UTA would discontinue route 516 and replace it with routes 4 and 9. Route 4 would operate at a similar level of service to route 516; route 9 would operate every 15 minutes Monday–Saturday and every 30 minutes on Sundays.

Route 551
Additional trips would be added on route 551, including during early weekday mornings and weekends, to meet the needs of sponsoring businesses.

JULY 5, 2019
SLC NEW PARKING PROPOSAL GOOD AND BAD
27TH SOUTH 900 EAST 26 PARKING SPOTS FOR 34 UNITS
SLC MAYORAL DEBATES
MILLCREEK INTERESTED IN HIGHLAND DR ROAD DIET
FAIRMONT PARK TENNIS COURTS QUESTION AGAIN
SLC COUNCIL ALLOWS ROAD HOME HOUSING SERVICES TO STAY
SLC MAYOR CANDIDATE JIM DABAKIS UNEDITED STATEMENT
SLC MAYOR CANDIDATE STAN PENFOLD UNEDITED STATEMENT

SLC NEW PARKING PROPOSAL GOOD AND BAD
  SLC Planning is taking comments on a new parking proposal and is already changing the proposal based on comments received.  That is proof that the City Planning Department IS listening to citizens.  The City expects to take the proposal to the Planning Commission in August.  To comment on the plans, email eric.daems@slcgov.com.
  Some of my concerns include the plan had allowed abutting on street parking to count but the City agreed and has removed allowing on street parking to count for the off street requirements.  The City will also consider defining a mass transit station to make it clear that it is supposed to be for rail, not bus.  Otherwise a high frequency bus route similar to 900 East or 900 South could throw out the minimums for retail and office space.
  The City is removing some of the credits for decreasing on site parking but near rail on 400 South, Main Street and North Temple, the City is proposing removing on site parking minimums for retail and office space!  That area is called Transit Centered.  For residential development within a quarter mile of a fixed transit station, parking requirements are reduced 50% (to 1 from 2 per unit)!  Studios have no minimum parking requirements.  Unfortunately, this area will include a lot of single family areas that may already be zoned for higher density but residents may want to not have the increased density result in overwhelming parking in their neighborhoods.
  Another area is called Neighborhood Center which is similar to 9th and 9th which cuts retail and office on site parking at least 50%!  That area had a big meeting of concerned residents and businesses in the area last month that expressed hope that before any new parking requirement reductions happen for the 9th and 9th area, the City would ask the community first.  A recent questionnaire in the community indicated that parking was the most important issue.  Reducing parking requirements in the 9th and 9th is not a good idea.  The area sued a couple of years ago when a development had less parking than what the community thought was needed.  Most businesses in the area have developed regular shoppers that drive to the area to frequent the businesses.  They want the parking.  The nearby residents do not like the overflow parking from the nearby businesses that overwhelms the residential areas.  
  The General area is generally for the residential areas and parking requirements essentially stays the same.  The parking requirements for a 2 bedroom residence is lowered to 1.5 from 2 parking spots and the parking for a one bedroom is increased from one to 1.25 spots.
  The fourth area is the Urban Center which is essentially like Sugar House Business District.  Parking requirements for Urban Center is cut to 1 per thousand square feet for office and retail from 3/1000 Sq ft for office and 2/1000 Sq ft for retail!  Restaurant on site parking requirements stay at 2/1000 Sq ft.  That significant reduction in office and retail on site parking minimums is a serious reduction and is a concern for businesses and residents.  The City will consider modifying the parking requirements for that area and also more clearly define the requirements and if the rail line will affect the parking requirements.  The City needs to be clear if the new parking standards will override the Streetcar Corridor Zoning that was passed a few years ago.  
  Another concern was the new parking proposal is happening before the full 32MB Sugar House and Downtown Parking Study is publicly available.  The City is working on that issue.  Also, before the Vue on 2100 S. and Highland was built and implemented $10 minimum parking (for the one level of public parking that the SLC RDA provided a $6.7 million loan to the developer for), visitors could park in one spot, use the library for a few hours, browse Barnes and Noble for a few hours and walk the community and use restaurants for a few hours without changing parking spots.  That is impossible now with the 2 hour limits that the parking limitations created.  If anyone needs proof that there is a lack of parking in Sugar House, that is the proof.  There is a 2 hour limit on most parking lots!
  Interestingly, the Huntsman/UofU Medical Center on the old Shopko site (called Park Avenue) will have free parking after 5 PM.  Other interesting points of the proposals are buildings built before 1944 will have no increase in parking requirements, even if they change their use.  Two wheeled vehicle parking, including bicycles will not reduce the parking requirements (as it significantly did for the 27th S. and 900 E. project below).  Also ADA requirements are a minimum of one space for a lot with at least four parking stalls and 1/25 stalls after that.  
  The parking proposal offers a 25% reduction in parking if there is a minimum of 10 affordable units plus 25% are for residents with under a 60% AMI.  I feel that fee waivers and inclusionary zoning requirements would be a better incentive to providing mixed income and affordable housing.
  Other concerns that are cropping up include a valet will reduce parking requirements; developer parking studies can change the City's requirements; no parking strip shall be used for parking (but the City is converting some parking strips in the 9th and 9th area to parking); tandem parking can be up to 2 designated for a unit and offsite parking is allowed with a contract between landowners.  The offsite parking can be within 600 feet for the General and Neighborhood Center proposals (Which means a developer in the 9th and 9th could get a contract with Rowland Hall to allow parking on their nearby lot to decrease parking minimums for a project!).  Transit Centers can have offsite parking within 1000 ft and an Urban Center like Sugar House can have offsite parking within 1200 ft!  That means that the underutilized underground parking under Bed Bath and Beyond could lower parking requirements for nearby (within 1200 ft) Sugar House developers!  Note that the underground parking for SLC employees under the Library is within 600 ft of City Hall.   

27TH SOUTH 900 EAST 26 PARKING SPOTS FOR 34 UNITS
  Salt Lake City, in the last few years, has tried very hard to ensure that citizens receive information on nearby developments that could impact them and the City has tried hard to encourage public engagement.  The City went door to door regarding the 2700 South reconstruction before deciding on a plan.  The City did the same thing with the 9th and 9th area before they finished the plan to construct the 9 Line through the area.  But parking changed and that created a backlash that the City partially corrected with a parking reduction that was a third of what originally was planned.  The City is trying (see the Tennis Courts issue below).  But...... when the City notified nearby residents about a 32 unit development on the corner of 2700 South and 900 East, with only 27 parking spots onsite, nobody complained.  The project met required parking minimums and nobody complained.  The City did not have to take the project to the local community council (since it met the required zoning requirements) but they did discuss the reasoning with community activists.  The reasoning is:
  "As per the district specific table in 21A.44.030, this project, located in the C-N zone, requires a minimum of 1 parking stall per dwelling unit and 2 stalls are provided for the commercial space, bringing the total required parking to 34 parking stalls.  As per table 21A.44.050.C.3.a, this project was allowed to reduce the minimum number of parking stalls to 75% of the minimum by fulfilling two minor transportation demand management strategies bringing the required parking to 26 stalls.  The two minor TDM strategies included 1) a permanently sheltered, covered and secure facility for bicycle parking inside the parking garage and 2) by making a financial contribution to an approved bicycle sharing program (note that Sugar House is not getting a bike share facility despite community pushing for one at the Fairmont Station).
  In addition to the 27 parking stalls provided, two of them are electric vehicle parking stalls, there are 5 more additional tandem parking stalls provided inside the parking garage and 2 on-street parking stalls provided on 900 East bring the total provided automobile parking to 34 parking stalls.
  Also, access in and out of the parking garage is on 900 east, with the driveway setback 108 feet from 2700 South."
  One of the reasons that SLC Planning is proposing to change the parking ordinance is to get rid of some of these loopholes like on street parking counting for parking minimums and bicycle facilities decreasing parking requirements.  But much needs to be done and more community engagement is needed.  Please comment on the parking issues (see the story above on parking for the email).

SLC MAYORAL DEBATES
  There are a couple of important SLC Mayoral debates scheduled in the next couple of weeks.  Ballots go out around July 24th.  Please think about the candidates and vote for whomever you think would be good for Salt Lake City.  The next couple of debates are:  
On July 15th, the Pioneer Park Coalition will host a live debate for the 8 candidates for mayor at 12 pm and should be broadcast live on several local channels.  If you would like to ask the host to ask a question, email adam@pioneerpark.co with the question.  If you would like to attend the debate, send an email to reserve tickets (which may already be fully committed) which are free.

On July 16th, many community councils in the east side of Salt Lake City are hosting a mayoral debate and meet and greet.  The location is at Westminster College's Jewett Center for the Performing Arts at 1250 East 1700 South.  The parking is just west of the Center in the parking garage.  There is a little parking just east of the Center but it is usually full early before events.  From 5pm to 6pm, there will be refreshments and a meet the candidates time.  The debate will be from 6pm to 8pm.  The event will be live streamed on Facebook.

MILLCREEK INTERESTED IN HIGHLAND DR ROAD DIET
  Millcreek Mayor Jeff Silvistrini indicated that the City is working with Salt Lake City to plan a road diet on Highland Drive to upgrade the thoroughfare and create a more walkable and bikeable street.  The street is used by many vehicles a day but the street is dangerous for bicyclists.  Millcreek is planning almost a thousand new apartments on Highland Drive and a big new (beautiful) plan for a City Center between Highland and 1300 East and around 33rd South.  It will include a 200 foot wide park from 33rd South between 1300 East and Highland Drive going north to Richmond before it turns into 1300 East.  The City is using the million dollars from the County Transportation Fund to work with Salt Lake City on planning the transportation infrastructure upgrade.  The Highland Drive proposal is to have the 4 lanes converted to two lanes with a center turn section.  I prefer only allowing a left hand turn at lights or less often than every block to increase pedestrian and bicycle safety.  I would also like to see wider sidewalks and wider bike lanes.  Many of us have been fighting for safe bike lanes on Richmond Street (1320 East) for over a decade.  I PUT THE RICHMOND BIKE LANES PROPOSAL IN A PDF IN BLUE UNDER THE TRANSPORTATION DOWNLOADS.  Unfortunately, SLC has said for years that they are waiting for federal funds to do it.  I put the proposed Richmond Street bike lanes proposal way down in Transportation downloads since it is 10 years old.  Unfortunately, there have been several new developments that will insist on allowing left hand turns into their projects which will result in safety issues for bicyclists.

FAIRMONT PARK TENNIS COURTS QUESTION AGAIN
  Salt Lake City Council, at the request of Councilwoman Amy Fowler, removed the Mayor's request for $20,000 to study putting housing on the tennis courts that the City has refused to fix on the corner of 900 East and Sugarmont Drive.  So the City is now asking the residents what they want.  The City seems to have forgotten the big fight from earlier this decade that happened because the Girls and Boys Club was asked to support a big housing development on the corner in return for a rebuild of the Girls and Boys Club (the first in Utah, with a lease through 2027).  That fight led to the City Council refusing to accept the plan.  Instead of fixing the courts, the City has insisted on letting them go downhill.  And now the City is asking the community what they want.  Again, they do not want housing on the site!  When the City put up a survey, it had 300 responses the first day.  The City did make an effort to go door to door to notify nearby residents about the survey and what to do about the property.  Many have suggested basketball courts.  Nearby residents would prefer a quiet area like a zen garden.  The Girls and Boys Club could use a few more regulation basketball courts and may be interested in managing the courts.  To take the survey, go to www.slc.gov/can for more information and a link to the survey.  You can also email the civicengagementteam@slcgov.com with questions or if you want to be put on the email notification list.  I commend the City for reaching out but the City should have been listening years ago when the community asked to keep the space undeveloped and as a recreation/park facility.

SLC COUNCIL ALLOWS ROAD HOME HOUSING SERVICES TO STAY
  The Salt Lake City Council overrode the Mayor's veto of almost all of her vetoes.  The one veto that remained was the Council's original effort to remove the Road Home's funding for housing support services that would have immediately impacted personnel who help homeless find housing.  The Council did essentially stop funding for VOA mental health outreach (which VOA may be able to temporarily help fund) and did override the Mayor's veto of the Council shifting millions of housing funds to RDA.  Although SLC Housing Authority, which administers the funds, believes that they are not impacted on the hope that RDA will approve projects faster than the City, I am not sure.  The big difference is that the SLC RDA Council, which is composed of the SLC Council and Mayor, gives much more power to the Council since the Mayor is only one out of 8 on the Council.  I still have to question the legality of that arrangement but it seems that the Administration will work with the Council on this issue.

SLC MAYOR CANDIDATE JIM DABAKIS UNEDITED STATEMENT
KEY POLICY POINTS – JIM DABAKIS
AIR QUALITY:
Without clean air, we are nothing. Air quality is the single biggest quality of life issue affecting Salt Lake City. It affects our health, our economic development, our families, our jobs, our play, and our pocketbooks. It need to be a top priority!
  We must make bold progress in a short period of time. It is time to hold public officials responsible. Cleaning our air will take a village approach – and Salt Lake City leadership must be the leader in bringing together all the other village leaders for BOLD action.
  To tackle this issue, we must first, like an alcoholic, admit we have a problem. That has proved to be a challenging first step for the Utah Legislature. 
  Second, Salt Lake City must set an example by building and producing more zero emissions buildings. 
  Third, we must provide more funding for wood burning stove exchanges. Wood stoves used during inversion periods cause a surprisingly large percentage of the most damaging type of pollution. Exchanging wood-burning stoves is an easy fix.
  Working with UTA and the legislature, we must make UTA free (or very low cost) to encourage ridership. Studies show that when free fares are offered in Utah, there is a 24% increase in ridership.  That means as much as a 24% drop in the number of cars on our roads. That is BIG! Big for everyone's lungs and for the people still using the less-crowded freeways.
  Finally, Salt Lake City and others along the Wasatch Front must work closely and effectively together—and with the Utah Legislature; this problem cannot be solved by Salt Lake City residents alone.
HOMELESSNESS:
On this topic, there is both good news, and some unanswered questions. 
The GOOD news is that there is a unified plan. The major players have united. Over $100 million dollars has been committed with much of it spent. Three major shelters are going to open in the next few months. A resource center on 700 South will open this summer to women. A resource center on Paramount Avenue with beds for men and women will also open this summer. And a resource center in South Salt Lake will open this fall to men. Together, we are fighting to be there for our homeless population.  
  The questions that remain: Is the plan working? Can we keep this broad coalition together? We will begin to answer these questions as the new resource centers open this year. While there is no quick fix to homelessness, as Mayor I will toil to keep everyone working together—our entire community united and moving forward. We must not expect miracles, but we must demand substantial progress. We must be bold in self-correcting and being flexible. 
AFFORDABLE HOUSING:
Our city must remain a place where people from all income levels can live Affordable housing has become a house-on-fire-issue, with house prices in Sugar House rising over 90% since 2012! This affordability is not just confined to Sugar House however– it is pervasive all across the city and must be addressed!
  I am not satisfied with just small, incremental steps on affordable housing. We need all the bold, imaginative, creative ideas that Salt Lake City can provide in order to bring more affordable housing to our neighborhoods. Being sensitive to resident’s concerns, we must continue to encourage development by moving the levers we can control. 
  But the city alone cannot solve this massive statewide problem. A team approach is needed. The city, strong green developers, innovative planners, problem-solving landowners, and the state must come together to solve the problem of keeping our city a place welcome to people of all incomes.
  A balance in housing is a must for great cities! The profile of our city is going to change over the next generation and as our city booms, we must not gentrify to the point where only wealthy people can live here. Salt Lake City must continue to provide a home for all ages, education levels, races, incomes, job skills, and family sizes.  
FIND OUT MORE : https://www.dabakisformayor.com

SLC MAYOR CANDIDATE STAN PENFOLD UNEDITED STATEMENT
Stan Penfold is a two-term City Councilman for the Avenues, Capitol Hill, Marmalade, and Guadalupe neighborhoods and he’s running to be your neighborhood mayor.

Through his experience in leadership on the City Council, two decades of managing a non-profit, and a foundation in neighborhood activism, Stan has nurtured the relationships necessary to bring people of diverse backgrounds together to achieve common goals. He’s got a plan for Salt Lake City, involving: 
No fare for clean air. Give every Salt Lake resident a no-cost Hive Pass for UTA. 
Planning for a Net-Zero Inland Port that generates its own power.
Accelerating the City’s plan to be powered 100% by renewable energy so we can be carbon free by 2023.
10,000 doors to address affordable housing and using a housing-first model to address homelessness. 
Neighborhood grants to give residents funding to further enhance the character of the place they call home. 
And more… 

Stan has the vision, skill, patience, empathy, boldness, and experience to be Salt Lake City's next mayor. To learn more about Stan's Plan, please visit stanformayor.com.

JUNE 26, 2019
SLC MAYOR DEBATE WASTED A LOT OF TIME 
27TH SOUTH 900 EAST HEREITAGE LOFTS ALLOWS ONLY 27 PARKING SPOTS FOR 33 MULTI BEDROOM UNITS
SLC MAYOR VETOES MOVING HOUSING MONEY TO RDA
POPLAR GROVE CITIZENS GET APOLOGY FROM SLC 
RAINER HUCK CAMPAIGN STATEMENT


SLC MAYOR DEBATE WASTED A LOT OF TIME 
  There was only a little time in the hour and a half debate hosted by the Alliance for a Better Utah Education Fund and the UofU debate society due to the many candidates.  Affordable housing, homelessness, inland port and economic development were the only topics covered since the host ran out of time to ask about other issues.  
  Stan Penfold, the former City Councilman, pointed out that he is a former chair of a community council and focused on community.  He started a nonprofit to help housing 
needs in SLC.  He also said that he is responsible for the free fare that increased transit ridership 30% for a day and would like to give every SLC citizen a free fare card.  Stan finished off his free fare statement by saying that he made it happen and it was an incredible success!
  The reality is that the free fare is only generating rides on FrontRunner by families wanting to take their kids on a big train.  That discourages long term ridership increases by commuters who find the parking lots full.  Data on the most recent free fare proves that since bus and TRAX ridership had minimal increases while FrontRunner increased over 20%!  
  Rainer Huck sent a questionable substitute who claimed at one point to not be really knowledgeable but kept pushing Rainer's anti tax increase message.  He also suggested that the homeless should all be moved to a remote campus (like NWQ) and kept there.  He also pointed out that the most important issue, police brutality was not covered (which got him applause and a reminder from the moderator to not applaud).  He said that police are killing black men everywhere and now in Salt Lake City!  I put an unedited Rainer Huck campaign statement below.
  Mr. Goldberger, a former journalist who claims to still be one, complained about refugees on the street and the homeless are human garbage and a cancer in our City.  David Ibarra debated that statement and said that there is no such thing as human garbage and this is Salt Lake City (to applause that the moderator reiterated was inappropriate).  Mr. Goldberger countered by saying that that is the perception of "third world people" as in San Francisco which has maps of where to avoid!
  Mr Ibarra explained his significant and successful businesses and the trust that elected officials have given him in his many appointments to advisory boards.  He has a lot of business owners giving him significant contributions that show that they trust him.  He said that he loves this city and walks 45 minutes every night.  He also reiterated his trust in the transportation problems being solved with electric autonomous automobiles.
  Luz Escamilla pointed out her business acumen and efforts at Zions Bank to ensure fair practices in the services for the community.  She also emphasized her successful efforts in the Legislature (she is being endorsed by a Republican Legislator!).  She did point out that she is concerned about the cost to taxpayers in Salt Lake City with some of the suggested transit infrastructure.
  Erin Mendenhall, said that she believes that implementation of the SLC Transit Master Plan, which she was involved in approving, would solve many of the air quality issues.  The SLC Transit Master Plan will cost a billion in local taxpayer funding to build projects like three new rail lines downtown and extending the S-Line up 1100 East to 17th South to 900 East to 4th South!  That is what Senator Escamilla was concerned about.  Erin also said that she was responsible for closing the last coal plant in the Salt Lake Valley!  That is not true.  I checked with DEQ over a year ago and they said that Kennecott stopped burning coal over two years ago and switch one plant to natural gas while closing the other three coal plants.  The final gas burning plant was closed recently due to Rocky Mountain Power offering to provide a cheaper source of power, their own.  Erin also pointed out that she has a proven track record of bringing communities together (except for her efforts to put a homeless shelter on Simpson Avenue in Sugar House).  She emphasized that all parts of the City have to provide increased affordable housing and it shouldn't be limited to a few spots.
  Erin also said that she supported the negotiations with the State on the Inland Port due to the State holding all the cards.  Jim Dabakis agreed but also supported the Mayor's efforts to have the courts decide the issue.  He asked, to great applause and laughter, does the State ever really listen?  Mr. Hauk and Mr. Goldberger said that they would stop the lawsuit.
  David Garbett emphasized his work on improving air quality through the Southern Utah Wilderness Society.  He also has been a director of the Pioneer Park Coalition which successfully got the City Council and State to move the shelter from his dad's investment area.  He also suggested using RDA funds to move the refinery out of Salt Lake City (there are several others just north of there).  I did not think that the Beck Street refinery was in the Marmalade RDA area but I will check.  The cost would be hundreds of millions and it could double the cost of gasoline.
  As usual, Jim Dabakis was able to make his points very well.  He reminds me of a great communicator but I might make people mad by saying he is the Utah equivalent of Ronald Reagan.  
  For a final statement, Mr. Goldberger said "I want your money!"  And so the debate ended.  Jim threw in a final statement about how the moderator was the best he had ever seen.  I have a problem with moderators trying to control public engagement in debates.  Moderators don't like that but it is important to get the audience involvement.  I don't think that applause intimidates anyone unless they are kids.  We are all adults and we should not be intimidated by applause.  Note that the Council complains about applause when I sometimes speak but I feel that they are just being thankful for ending my speaking.

27TH SOUTH 900 EAST HEREITAGE LOFTS ALLOWS ONLY 27 PARKING SPOTS FOR 33 MULTI BEDROOM UNITS
  A semi secret project on 2700 South and 900 East with 32 residential units and 790 Sq ft of commercial retail on the ground floor is starting.  Since the requirements supposedly meet the standards for the CN zone, the local Sugar House Community Council was not allowed to see it.  The property is actually 4 lots and combined into 2 lots and will be 29 ft tall with 27 underground parking stalls.  It looks like parking will continue to be an issue in Salt Lake City.  The real danger is the location on the corner of 2700 South and 900 East.  It is a significant safety issue to have the entrance and exit close to the corner although the car repair shop and cleaners on the property did not have much traffic.  32 units will significantly increase traffic in the area.
  The reason why the local community council was not allowed to review or see the plans (unless they made an appointment with the planners/permit personnel) is the project meets all of the requirements of the CN zoning and parking standards.  This is worse than the 24 parking spots for 28 condos at the former Mutual Beauty Supply building in 9th and 9th that had a lawsuit from the community council due to their concern about inadequate parking.  Note in a recent blog (and in the downloads) the City is further lessening parking requirements next to high frequency bus routes.

 The City says:  "As per the district specific table in 21A.44.030, this project, located in the C-N zone, requires a minimum of 1 parking stall per dwelling unit and 2 stalls are provided for the commercial space, bringing the total required parking to 34 parking stalls.  As per table 21A.44.050.C.3.a, this project was allowed to reduce the minimum number of parking stalls to 75% of the minimum by fulfilling two minor transportation demand management strategies bringing the required parking to 26 stalls.  The two minor TDM strategies included 1) a permanently sheltered, covered and secure facility for bicycle parking inside the parking garage and 2) by making a financial contribution to an approved bicycle sharing program.

  In addition to the 27 parking stalls provided, two of them are electric vehicle parking stalls, there are 5 more additional tandem parking stalls provided inside the parking garage and 2 on-street parking stalls provided on 900 East bring the total provided automobile parking to 34 parking stalls.
  Also, access in and out of the parking garage is on 900 east, with the driveway setback 108 feet from 2700 South." 

SLC MAYOR VETOES MOVING HOUSING MONEY TO RDA
  I agree about Mayor Biskupski's veto against the City Council shifting housing funds to the RDA due to the claim that the SLC RDA, which has an overwhelming Council majority (the Mayor is just one of the 8 members of the RDA Board while the 7 Councilmembers constitute the rest), can provide more control of the funds.  The almost $3 million affected that the Council wanted to go to the RDA and the rest being held up until further Council review is an example of the City Council pushing for more control of the funds than is really allowed (in my opinion).  
  There are several individual issues involved but most involves transferring housing funds to RDA control.  This impacts the SLC housing efforts and could also endanger the effort by SLC to buy the Georgia Apartments that evicted almost 100 low income renters.  The offer has been made but it will depend on SLC providing funds.  In my opinion, SLC RDA, mainly the City Council has been agonizing slow to provide more low income or affordable housing in Salt Lake City.  The RDA owns tens of millions of vacant and crime magnet properties downtown, mainly in the Gateway area, that have been empty for decades.  The SLC RDA removed 50 units of the SRO at 255 S State in 2013 that have never been replaced.  The negotiations on the conversion of the old SLCPD building, the Pipeline Building, into mixed income housing have been going around in circles for 5 plus years.  The efforts by SLC RDA to create a CRA investment area around State Street (the biggest potential for housing in SLC) have been going nowhere for almost 5 years.  Four years ago, Matt Minkovich, the Director of the Road Home, told us that SLC has a need for 7500 low income, affordable housing units.  So now, SLC should be requiring 20,000 housing units.  The City Council has refused to encourage mixed income housing with fee waivers and inclusionary zoning.  The City Council and Mayor have not been able to solve the crime magnet motel problems on State Street and North Temple with two exceptions that took years to get off the ground (through the SLC RDA).  I could make a good argument that when Stan Penfold left the City Council, his knowledge of RDA finances was so great, that the Council, as RDA Board essentially stopped working.
  Before the SLC Council blames the Mayor, they should look at themselves for the housing problem (although all are not blameless).  The veto should stand and the services that rely on the funding for homeless, mental health and other low income services should stay in the hands of the Housing Fund.  The City Council will decide on Friday whether to override the veto with a 5 or more out of the 7 Councilmembers voting.  I put the Mayor's official notice of the veto in the upper right downloads section.

POPLAR GROVE CITIZENS GET APOLOGY FROM SLC 
  In September 2016, T-Mobile installed a Cell Tower at 922 S. Emery Street in Polar Grove.  The tower was 60 ft tall and just a few feet from a Rocky Mountain Power pole that was 50 ft tall.  Almost immediately, nearby citizens started complaining about the illegal new pole.  Their complaints and recent City Council discussion reached a low point this month with accusations about some City employees being untruthful and evil in their work.  I disagreed with that assessment and told the community activists that it seemed that the City may have made a mistake but did not do it intentionally.  Earlier this week, Patrick Leary, the Mayor's Chief of Staff sent Michael Clara, one of the community leaders and a former School Board member a letter that explained the City's mistakes and apologized for them.  Essentially, the letter pointed out that the original inspector of the construction made a mistake by saying that the installation of the new pole was "compliant".  That started to mushroom through individual layers of the City bureaucracy that thought everything involved was done legally.  But as Mr. Leary's letter pointed out, the pole was supposed to replace the nearby 50 ft pole and it took several years to recognize that mistake. 
  Mr. Leary's apology is below along with his summary of the situation.  I must emphasize again that I know the individuals involved and all are professional and hard working who care about doing right as public servants.  The issue came down to several mistakes that created more problems and made it more difficult for the City to find a solution that was fair and legal for T-Mobile and the citizens.  I put the full letter, the new antenna fact sheet complaint, the City Council report on the issue and the new cell tower and franchchise agreements in the upper right SLC Downloads section.  Credit should be given to Michael Clara and other community leaders for pushing for a solution to this problem.  Again, it shows that citizens can make a difference by speaking up.
  This is Mr. Leary's letter (who I respect for trying to explain and apologize for the City's mistakes):
"The work under the building permit was inspected and closed in March 2017. It appears that the permit inspector focused on the installation of the electric conduit and equipment installed on the adjacent private property, and not on the new utility pole or size of the antenna. As the electrical conduit and equipment was installed pursuant to the permit, the inspector closed the permit mistakenly signaling in the computer program that the installation was compliant. Consistent with our standard operating procedures, the information entered was subsequently utilized by other city staff in decision-making and in responding to community inquiries........
At the time of the application, the zoning code permitted an antenna to be installed on a new or existing utility pole in the public way. Instead of replacing the 50' pole, RMP installed a new 60' utility pole about 20' away from the original 50' pole. RMP has a Franchise Agreement with the City that allows RMP to install new and replacement utility poles. Utility poles are a permitted use in all zoning districts and are exempted from all other zoning regulations pursuant to City Code Section 21A.02.050. The City made an additional mistake here by not identifying the fact that the 60' utility pole was meant to be a replacement utility pole under the permit application and the antenna would not be allowed on a new utility pole under the zoning code......
I sincerely apologize for the frustration caused by this drawn out process and for the inaccurate information that has been provided along the way. In an effort to be responsive and helpful, City staff provided information to address inquiries, but did not always have the correct information. These responses were offered in good faith, and there was no intent to deceive you or the public, nor to act unethically, nor to camouflage corruption. It is unfortunate when every comment made by our public servants is taken out of context, assumed to be nefarious, and the personal character of individuals are maligned. We recognize that it also frustrating when City staff doesn't get a process right. Concerns need to be addressed in a civil manner in order to facilitate productive outcomes. In this situation the City has made mistakes and those mistakes have been corrected through lawful processes."

RAINER HUCK CAMPAIGN STATEMENT
  This is Mr. Huck's campaign statement:
My campaign is focusing on issues that affect the working people of Salt Lake City.  Government over regulation, over taxation, and over policing are making life more difficult rather than better.    The ever popular annual cleanup has been turned in to a bureaucratic mess and is now practically useless.    Sales taxes, which disproportionately punish our poorest citizens, were raised to hire 50 more police at a time when crime is down 25% in the last 3 years.   The latest budget is up an additional 10% and seeks to hire even more police.   Most of police activities are in pursuit of "victimless crimes" or crimes against the state rather than crimes against people.  The way we treat people in the Salt Lake County Jail is an affront to any civilized society.  This needs to change.     The current administration seeks to more than double water/sewer rates in the next few years, further contributing to the browning of our city each summer as residents cannot afford to water their lawns.   Few people realize that city water rates have increased 10,000% in the past 50 years.      This is nearly ten times the rate of inflation over the same period.    In addition the new airport construction is horribly mismanaged, with the cost more than doubling from 1.8 Billion (which was a lot already), to over 3.8 billion now with no end in sight.   In addition, the unnecessary demolition of the beautiful parking structure and the existing terminals will be an environmental nightmare.   
Salt Lake City charges the highest permit fee in the state for roof top solar installation, at $1,000.   It is wrong for a government supposedly dedicated to environmental improvement to impede this important work by taxing it.     There should be no permit fee for solar.  
I will build a big, beautiful homeless campus where these people can live in dignity with all services being provided until they can return to society.   The current system which expels people to the streets at 6 am is inhumane and badly needs to change.  
Perhaps the biggest problem is militarization of our police which has resulted in a wave of shootings of unarmed civilians.    Our police have evolved from protectors to predators.    They are now shooting more people than the criminals.  This cannot be tolerated in a civilized society.  I would eliminate the SWAT gangs (that usually escalate situations often needlessly ending in death), undercover police, and VICE squads.    Again, these secret police organizations cause far harm to constitutional civil liberties that any benefits provided and should not be tolerated in a democratic society.   We need fewer police but police of higher quality and higher pay.   
I would build a beautiful new Salt Lake City Jail that will treat our people, who have been accused but not convicted of any crime, with dignity.    The current jail is more like a gulag than a facility for holding the accused waiting for trial.    Many of the inmates are incarcerated because they cannot pay bail, and for that they’re subjected to inhuman conditions.   
The problems clean air, parking, and transit will all be solved by the coming of the Driverless Electric Car Revolution.    Think of an Uber or Lyft service but without the drivers and therefore much more efficient and much less expensive.     Everyone can be picked up at their home and delivered directly to their destination without having to wait at a bus station or drive to TRAX.  They won’t have to find their way from the station to work because these cars will deliver them directly to their destination.      It is difficult for me to overstate the positive impact this will have on our quality of life.    We need to have a Mayor that recognizes and embraces this future.

JUNE 24, 2019
CAPITOL HILL MAYOR SPEED DATING SUCCESSFULLY ENGAGES CITIZENS
DAVID IBARRA CANDIDACY INFORMATION

CAPITOL HILL MAYOR SPEED DATING SUCCESSFULLY ENGAGES CITIZENS
  During last Wednesday's Capitol Hill Community Council meeting at the Marmalade Library, the community leaders set up a speed dating format where all of the candidates would sit at a table and the attendees would surround the tables and candidates for about 10 minutes before they would move to another candidate's table.  That seemed to be a great way for attendees to get a great feel for the candidates.  
  The evening started out with an introduction by each candidate then they answered an important question (like what would you give as a gift and to whom).  Stan Penfold, the former City Councilman that represented the area, did mention, all too briefly, the Library that he had a big part in creating.  During the Council plans, he pushed the effort to construct the Marmalade Library so much that it was built without funding for employees!  He said that the money would be found.  He was right.
  Senator Luz Escamilla pointed out that she was always against the Inland Port (compared to Jim Dabakis and Erin Mendenhall) and that she had been very effective in the Legislature with more than 50 bills passed.  Jim Dabakis was able to get one bill through, a carbon monoxide detection system requirement for every school. 
  Despite the big turnout of around a 100, about the same as the debate by the Cycling Association earlier this month.  (note Phil Sarnoff is leaving the State - He has been a great advocate for cycling in Utah.)  Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall did not attend this meeting.
  David Ibarra impressed many with his background of executive and managerial positions and his efforts to help the community with educational scholarships and leadership.  I did find his enthusiasm for automated electric vehicles a big much.  I have seen him use that as a solution when asked about transit several times and as an answer to a question about parking.  His background does seem to garner support from businessmen.
  Rainer Huck pushed his concerns about tax increases (6 last year including sales tax for offsetting prison, sales tax for SB136/transit, streets bond, water, sewer and storm water).  Some candidates have suggested a parks bond, and several more bonds for the $500 million in transit projects that some want for Salt Lake City.  Rainer had very few attendees asking him questions.
  Richard Goldberger also had very few surrounding his table.  Although they may have good intentions and questions for debates, it seems that these two would be actually encouraging a backlash against their efforts unless they can step up their message.
  David Garbett emphasized his efforts to protect the environment and against the Inland Port.  He has worked for the Southern Utah Wilderness.  His last few years have been spent at the Pioneer Park Coalition which may hurt him since many outside of the downtown area blame the PPC for pushing for Operation Rio Grande which disseminated the homeless around the City.  SLCO Police Chiefs call it Operation Leaf Blower.
  Jim Dabakis was there and as usual was able to effectively communicate his ideas.  It is a shame that he isn't more focused on Utah issues regarding the Democratic Party, which needs a better communicator leading them.  Although Ben McAdams is still thinking of running for Governor next year, issues that keep coming up deserve more discussion and the Democratic Party has not been heard lately.
  Luz Escamilla also had a lot of attendees surrounding her table.  She (and David Garbett) was against the Inland Port from the start.  It is ironic that as soon as SLC settled on a plan for the area, after much study, the Legislature pulled it away, stole the property and took a lot of tax revenue with it.  Jim Dabakis and Erin Mendenhall both helped facilitate the land and revenue grab but have lately claimed that it was wrong.   Both led the effort to agree with the Legislature!
  Stan Penfold and Erin Mendenhall both have enough experience at the City level to hit the ground running.  Senator Escamilla has the respect of Republicans and Democrats and the present Mayor.  David Ibarra has the business background and the many appointments from Governors to manage the City.  In my mind, these are the strongest Mayor candidates so far.
  The next debate is Wednesday at the Main Library at 630PM with the Alliance for a Better Utah and the UofU Debate Society hosting it.

DAVID IBARRA CANDIDACY INFORMATION
  This information is from David Ibarra's campaign:
David is the son of a Mexican immigrant farm worker. David and his brother Mickey spent nearly the first 14 years of their lives in the Utah foster care system. David started his first business at age 28.  David’s business background spans highly successful careers in the hospitality, automotive, and the self-improvement industries.  Through David’s foundation he has assisted 89 students to obtain a college education.  Because of the challenges David faced, he gained a passion for compassion, inclusion and fairness for all members of our community.  David is leader ready now and ready to serve SLC.

JUNE 19, 2019
SLC OFFERS TO BUY GEORGIA APARTMENTS 
CAPITOL MOTEL PROJECT WITH MIXED INCOME PROPOSAL
RDA EXCITED ABOUT GIVING $10 MILLION TO 255 S STATE PROJECT 
SLC PLANNING COMM. APPROVES SUGAR HOUSE MINI SIDEWALKS
SLC SUGGESTS CUTTING PARKING REQUIREMENTS NEAR BUS ROUTES
SLC ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT SUPERHERO LEAVING
KILLER RELEASED ON OWN RECOGNIZANCE THEN REARRESTED
UTA CLAIMS FIRST PRIORITY SERVICE BUT WILL WAIT
IS SNOWBIRD STILL OPEN FOR SKIIING!!!!!!!!??? 
WILL PARKING ON 500 E BE REMOVED? PLEASE COMMENT TO SLC
COUNCIL ASKS POLICE TO NOT PATROL PARKS IN REGULAR UNIFORMS
LIBERTY WELLS LOOSING COMMUNITY HERO
MARMALADE LIBRARY SPEED DATING MAYORAL DEBATE JULY 19
UTA DOES NOT OWN SOME OF THEIR 700 BUS STOPS
LIBRARY BICYCLE PARKING MACHINE PROBLEMS

SLC OFFERS TO BUY GEORGIA APARTMENTS 
  SLC Housing Authority has made an offer to buy the Georgia Apartments that the City closed earlier due to fire safety issues.  The plan, if the City provides funding, is to clean it up and provide mixed income rentals.  They would also add units.  SLCHA has had a relatively good reputation on providing and managing affordable housing.

CAPITOL MOTEL PROJECT WITH MIXED INCOME PROPOSAL
  SLC Housing Authority has has finalized plans for the 1700 South State Street Capitol Motel property that will become the Capitol Homes and Apartments.  There will be 93 units on the property (along with two adjacent properties added to the development) and 31 units will be required to be market rate.  The plan is to have a 4 story building with some micro units of 357 Sq ft and 11 units of 0-30% AMI available and the rest 30-50% AMI.  All tenants will be screened and an on site manager will be managing the property for the Housing Authority.  One crime magnet motel down and 20 to go.

RDA EXCITED ABOUT GIVING $5 MILLION TO 255 S STATE
  SLC RDA messed up royally when they decided  years ago to demolish some of the best low income housing available downtown, at 255 S State Street.  The plan was to redevelop the site to a "nicer" structure but the first developer and plans fell through.  SLC RDA, in an attempt to recover something, bought the property out of bankruptcy and started from scratch to try again.  The new proposal requires another $6 million (loan) to the new developer on top of the $2 million already awarded.  The plans are to build two high rise buildings with 190 units of mixed income.  10% are 3 and 4 bedrooms while 63% are studios and 1 bedrooms.  A cashier at Harmons, making $20,000, should be able to afford a 30% AMI unit.of which there are 20 out of the 190 units.  The two towers also will allow walking through to street to the east and there will also be a plaza that can host special events. One Councilmember asked about the potential for a pocket library which has been included in some of the new affordable housing developments back east. 

SLC PLANNING COMMISSION APPROVES SUGAR HOUSE MINIMAL SIDEWALKS
  The Sugar House Business District Design Standards that are to encourage walkability in the Sugar House business district have been approved by the Planning Commission.  Unfortunately, the Planning staff and Commission allowed the 6 foot sidewalks despite the Complete Streets and Community Council 10-12 ft recommendations.  Walkable neighborhoods need wider sidewalks.  The sidewalks under freeways are wider than regular 5 ft sidewalks!  It should be the other way around.  When the Community Council complained about the narrow sidewalks west of the Granite Building with its many restaurants with doors that open onto sidewalks and blocking traffic, the City ignored the obvious problem and let it go.  It is time for citizens to push the City to make pedestians and walkability a priority!  Please email your Councilmember and ask them to increase all design standards to Complete Street recommendations of over 10 ft.  Their emails are on the left.

SLC SUGGESTS CUTTING PARKING REQUIREMENTS NEAR BUS ROUTES
  Again, Salt Lake City is pushing for a fast adoption of new parking standards.  The effort decreases parking minimums near rail and bus lines!  Although they have developed different standards for different types of areas, they are still rushing the effort before a real parking study is done.  And the City still has not released the Downtown and Sugar House Nelson/Nyggard Parking Study.  The City will have an open house in the morning and evening of July 2 at the Sugar House Fire Station and at various areas around the City.  Please email your Councilmember and tell them your opinion (emails on left).  I put the new and old parking proposals along with their different area priorities combined in the downloads section above and to the right.

SLC ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT SUPERHERO LEAVING
  Lara Fritts, the Salt Lake City Economic Development Director, recruited from back east by Mayor Biskupski, has decided to return to the East Coast in August.  She turned out to be an amazing appointment.  She won the effort to get Stadler Rail to locate their North American manufacturing facility in Salt Lake City, despite the significant efforts of Clearfield, UTA and Senator Stevenson to locate the facility in Clearfield.  That was a coup.  She also negotiated and won the effort to win the Amazon and UPS shipping facilities and they added thousands of jobs to Salt Lake City based employment.  She was amazing at economic development and made Salt Lake City a formidable employment developer.

KILLER RELEASED ON OWN RECOGNIZANCE THEN REARRESTED
  Robert Walter Baker attacked a man who later died.  He was released on his own recognizance within a day.  His previous arrests of the past few months also resulted in almost immediate release (retail theft, trespassing).  The victim that was attacked died a few days later and Baker is now back in jail with a million dollar bond.  He was homeless.  Now he will call jail home for a while.

UTA CLAIMS FIRST PRIORITY SERVICE BUT WILL WAIT
  During a UTA Advisory Board meeting this month (they meet once a month), UTA empasized that "the largest components of the tax increase will go to service but mobilization is the first priority".  What that means is that UTA is studying the issue in order to decide what the citizens want and UTA needs to increase bus facilities (including natural gas and electric charging systems).  UTA has had a delay in hiring drivers and their infrastructure (15 graduated from 40 in class in the last month).  The majority of new funds are going to facility improvements including to the "big ass garage" that is going to cost almost $100 million (note that the building will be almost impossible to be made earthquake proof).  
  UTA expects 19% of funding to go to service improvements starting in August 2020.  But UTA is having a problem with the Blue Line trains that are supposed to have a 40 year life.  The trains are 20 years old and are having a lot of maintenance issues.  So UTA is budgeting 25% of new funds to maintenance.  UTA also has to develop more maintenance capabilities.
  UTA expects to have a new executive director hired in the next week (today).  
  UTA is still studying the different priorities that different areas of the State have regarding service versus coverage.  Salt Lake County and Utah County both had a 60% ridership should be a priority and 40% should be coverage.  In Davis and Weber Counties, 60% wanted coverage and 40% thought ridership should be the  priority.  In Davis and Weber Counties, UTA only runs core routes north and south with very few east west routes.  This has been a constant complaint from residents.  Western Utah County and SW SLCO also have issues with coverage more than ridership.  "Southwest Salt Lake County clearly wanted more service".  So UTA is considering using microtransit for servicing outlying areas.  SLC's test system of microtransit on the east and west sides of the City will help define the limits of appropriate and efficiency in the proposals.
  UTA also discussed the future of FrontRunner and how to set up plans and the steps needed if the plan is going to go forward.  The proposal is to double track some portions of the track to increase frequency and also to electrify the system.  Both of those will cost over a billion dollars.
  UTA is still under pressure to build a rail line up Little Cottonwood Canyon (along with a tunnel to nearby ski resorts) and also expand TRAX to Utah County and to 5600 West (west of the Airport).  All of these proposals should have a cost benefit analysis (recommended by the last UTA audit).  Discussions of these projects should emphasize that building $75 million per mile TRAX line will take away a lot of $1 million per mile bus routes.  A Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) will cost $15 million per mile and could take away from potentially 10 bus routes.  Although operations costs would be a quarter of the cost of the 10 bus lines - which could get 4 times more riders, the analysis needs to look at the total riders per day served versus cost.  A BRT like 35Max gets 3200 passengers a day but if a regular bus along the route gets 1000 riders, then the operational cost is a third for a BRT (not considering maintenance and construction of bus lanes, signals and bus maintenance).  UTA should be asking potential riders:  Would you prefer one BRT or 10 new bus routes?
  On other issues, UTA allows a former employee to provide services or products to UTA a year after employment.  No one from the Board of Advisors questioned this issue.  Also there were no questions about the advertising policy of UTA that allows anything legal to be advertised on UTA buses.

IS SNOWBIRD STILL OPEN FOR SKIIING!!!!!!!!???
  As of last weekend, Snowbird was still open (Friday to Sunday 8AM to 2PM!  It was advanced terrain only with 91" of snow.  Year to date total is 711".  Hope skiiers enjoyed Father's Day.

WILL PARKING ON 500 E BE REMOVED? PLEASE COMMENT TO SLC
  Salt Lake City is asking the public for feedback on a draft 500 East street design from 1700 S to 2100 S.  The street is planned to be reconstructed in 2020.  To learn more and give input by Sunday June 23, go to www.slc.gov/mystreet.  
  There are two options to implement bicycle lanes (despite the 600 East bicycle boulevard).  One option is to remove parking on both sides of the street and add bike lanes in both directions!  The other option is to remove eastside parking (as it is removed from 1300 S to 1700 S) and have anorthbound bike lane on the east side of the street.
  The City is also, questionably, suggesting consolidating bus stops by removing stops!  This is exactly the opposite of the City's efforts to add midblock crosswalks since they do not believe that pedestrians will walk a block to cross the street!  So the City, in this case believes that pedestrians will walk more than a block to catch a bus!  I think the City does not understand pedestrians.  See the above efforts of the City to allow only mickie mouse sidewalks.  
  The City is also suggesting 3 raised crosswalks (at bus stops) designed for 30 MPH travel and safe for snow plows and fire fighting equipment.  This is interesting since, a few years ago, the City tried to remove bus stops due to adjacent crosswalks which the City Transportation Department considered to be unsafe.  
  At the same time, the City Transportation Department is studying modifying the City's Complete Streets Ordinance (curb to curb) to develop a completer streets (building to building) standard.  It seems that the $87 million bond is being used as an excuse to push bicycling at the expense of car use and parking.

SLC COUNCIL ASKS POLICE TO NOT PATROL PARKS IN REGULAR UNIFORMS
  The Salt Lake City Council has expressed concerns about SLCPD officers in uniform patrolling the City's parks due to "some demographics are intimidated by police" and can't enjoy parks with them.  So the SLC Council authorized the SLCPD officers to patrol parks only as bike squad officers in their "less intimidating uniforms"!  The Chief had planned on using them, depending on the circumstances, on foot or on bikes or in vehicles.  I have concerns about the Council micromanaging police and ordering them to provide a less intimidating service.

LIBERTY WELLS LOOSING COMMUNITY HERO
  Dewitt Smith has been a longtime community leader for the Liberty Wells area around Liberty Park has moved out of the Salt Lake City area.  Dewitt has been Community Council Chair and organized many of the successful celebrations in the area including First Encampment and British Field Day.  He was also instrumental on creating the Officer Ron Heaps Memorial Park to honor a Salt Lake City Police Officer who was killed in the line of duty.  He made the Community a better place and helped develop a community reputation of one of the more active and organized community councils.

MARMALADE LIBRARY SPEED DATING MAYORAL DEBATE JULY 19
  The Capital Hill Neighborhood Council is hosting a speed dating SLC mayoral debate on Wednesday, June 19, at 6:30 PM in the Multipurpose Room of the Marmalade Library on 300 West.
  If you missed the first debate, hosted by the Utah bicycling community and Utah Transit Riders Union, it is on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/bikeutah/videos/302685543951330/

UTA DOES NOT OWN SOME OF THEIR 700 BUS STOPS
  UTA has abandoned some of their bus stops during the last decade of cutting bus service.  But the shelters are still being used for advertising by other companies.  So UTA does not own all bus shelters.  Although some bus shelters provide advertising, and shelter from elements, UTA bus service may not be available unless there is a specific UTA bus stop sign.  According to UTA "UTA’s limited resources and the continuous management necessary and manpower in placing signs on the 700+ advertising shelters and/or benches is currently not feasible" (UTA can't keep track of all bus stop shelters.).

LIBRARY BICYCLE PARKING MACHINE PROBLEMS
  The broken bike rack system next to the Main Library was bought for almost $15,000.  The problems are that, since it runs off of solar power, it sometimes it ran out of power and some bicyclists had their bicycle stuck for a day.  That is thought to have discouraged further use by some.  The Library is trying to hook up the electrical system to the Library's electricity.  Other issues are that, although it looks like a Green Bike docking station, it is not and that confuses people.  
  Although it implies that a library card is needed, any barcode will work to indicate the owner.  The Library is discussing better signage after the power issue is fixed. 
  Finally, the parts necessary to repair the system have been difficult to get.  A new display took 2 months to get and it was the wrong one so the Library has to try again.

JUNE 11, 2019

POLICE SHOULD NOT BE FEARED BY PARK USERS
SLC ALMOST QUADRUPLING WATER SEWER STORM FEES 25% PARKING
SLC SHOULD STUDY AUDITS BEFORE SETTING PD/911 BUDGETS
SLC IGNORES FIRE HAZARDS IN FOOTHILLS
4TH AVENUE WELL GAINS COUNCIL REVIEW
BRITISH FIELD DAY SATURDAY LIBERTY PARK COMPETES WITH 9TH AND 9TH WALK
WARM SPRINGS PARK HAS COMMUNITY SUNDAYS
SLC IGNORES OUTREACH AND ISSUES NEW PARKING SUGGESTIONS
UTAH FOUNDATION RECOMMENDATIONS IGNORED BY SLC
THOUSANDS OF BIG TREES LOST IN SLC EACH YEAR
SLC STREETS TO BE REPAIRED/RESURFACED
UPD ANSWERS HUNDREDS OF CALLS A YEAR FROM A FEW PEOPLE
HOUSING REPORT SLCO
TAYLORSVILLE BRT RUSHING FORWARD
UTA STUDY FOR PT OF THE MOUNTAIN RUSHING FORWARD
SLC CONSTRUCTION CONCERNS ADDRESSED IN NEW AMENDMENT
SLC PLANNING PROPOSES SUGAR HOUSE 24/7 SUGAR HOUSE
FAIRMONT PARK TENNIS COURTS SAVED FROM HOUSING AGAIN
CANDIDATES LIST AND CONTACTS ON DOWNLOADS
ASSISTED LIVING CENTERS KICKING OUT OLD PEOPLE
FREE FARE DAYS RESULTS ARE NOT GOOD
BUS DRIVERS STILL LACKING AT UTA
SUGARMONT APTS FINALLY RESTORES PARLEYS TRAIL PLANTERS
SUGAR HOUSE GETTING SOME HUNTSMAN CANCER FACILITIES
SLCO SW PLANNED COMMUNITIES PRESENTATION
SLC GOLF COURSES ENCOURAGED TO HAVE BEER CARTS


POLICE SHOULD NOT BE FEARED BY PARK USERS
  The SLC Council is still dragging their feet on using SLCPD personnel in uniform to help patrol SLC's 67 parks.  Their issues mainly involve "uniformed  police officers  could  cause  fear  or uncertainty" in some populations!! 
  The SLC Council staff report said, as an unresolved issue:
"Park Ranger Program. It is the  intent of  the  Council  that the  Administration  develop  a  proposal for Council  consideration  that  addresses  the  overall  goal  of increasing  the  perception  of safety  in parks,  including  the  concerns raised  by  community  and  Council Members  that  uniformed  police officers  could  cause  fear  or uncertainty  among  minority  and  at-risk  populations,  interfering  with their  enjoyment  of  these  public  spaces".
  But that language flies in the face of efforts to encourage interaction between the police and community members!  We encourage the SLCPD to participate in the Pride Parade and we celebrate it!  The popular Poplar Grove Groove in the Grove is held at the SLCPD Pioneer Precinct in West SLC (August 9th this year and it is the best Night Out Against Crime celebration in the City - First Tuesday of August - free booth space and free to attend) and is supported significantly by the SLCPD!  The SLCPD is also asked to close restrooms in parks because sometimes homeless demand to be locked in them overnight!  Parks personnel do not want to face down desperate and demanding homeless.  The parks' restrooms also can be used for criminal activities.
  Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall (running for mayor) told the East Liberty Park Community Organization last month that some demographics are intimidated by armed police in uniforms!  But the first words out of her mouth, when Chief Brown proposed 5 officers to be used as park rangers were "This is exciting!"  She later backtracked and supported having a more thorough discussion after the budget is approved June 11.  Councilwoman Amy Fowler told the Sugar House Community Council that kids at the Fairmont Skate Park would be intimidated by armed cops.  But over half of the homes surrounding the Fairmont Skate Park on 900 East and just north of I80 have been broken into.  Cops that patrol the area complain about regular drug dealing to kids at the Skate Park!  
  The reason for the Chief's proposal is that many community councils have asked for regular police patrols working as park rangers to increase public safety.  When the downtown area had walking patrols of police, the downtown community loved it!  
 We should want cops in uniform in our parks to engage with the public and kids to encourage working with the community and building trust.  It is not just about increasing public safety and discouraging drug sales to kids.

SLC ALMOST QUADRUPLING WATER SEWER STORM FEES 25% PARKING 
  It is a little complicated, but four years ago, Salt Lake City Public Utilities proposed/predicted doubling the water and sewer fees over five years.  The following schedule of rate increases shows the predicted increases.
Year Water Sewer 
2015-16 4% 8% 
2016-17 4% 30% 
2017-18 4% 30%
2018-19 4% 30%
2019-20 4% 25% 
2020-21 4% 10% 
2021-22 4% 8% 
2022-23 4% 4% 
2023-24 4% 4% 
2024-25 4% 4% 
Ten Yr. Total 40% 153% 
  The 2020 increases "are connected in part with the need to pay debt service for bonds issued to fund significant capital improvements over the next several years (according to the City)." SLC has now set newer/higher rates for water, sewer and stormwater (4 years ago they did not expect to increase stormwater rates).  Waterates are projected to increase 5 percent each year through fiscal year 2022-23.  Sewer Rates are projected to increase 18 percent for the subsequent two fiscal years, 15 percent for fiscal 2023 and 10 percent for fiscal 2024 (almost doubling the 2015 expected rates which originally were to be a 153% increase = 300% increase or more).  The Stormwater Utility proposed rate increase is 10 percent. Additional rate increases of 10 percent, 9 percent, 6 percent and 5 percent are anticipated for the four subsequent fiscal years for stormwater.
  The summary of the rate increases are: 18 percent this year in the Sewer Utility, 10 percent in the Water Utility, and 10 percent in the Stormwater Utility.  The total impact to the average household utility bill would be approximately $5.34 per month (I think that it will be more) since some will see a decrease in water charges due to modifying the level at which higher rates for higher water use.)  
  Many comments have been made at community council meetings and at the City Council meetings (with many discussions with staff) about the "Street Lighting Utility’s replacement of older lights with LED technologies emitting light in “cooler” color spectrums, resulting in
“bluer” light that some experience as appearing with higher intensity. Community members have
pointed to efforts by other municipalities and admonitions from particular research items to move away from these “bluer” lights to adopt “warmer” lighting. Subsequent conversations with the Council have indicated energy-efficiency was to be an ongoing and forefront consideration in replacing Street Lighting. The existing Plan does not contemplate LED technology because it had not been developed at the time of the Plan’s adoption".  Recently the warmer LED bulbs have come down in price and the City still is charged on the maximum wattage of the lights by Rocky Mountain Power.  But new technologies allow more automated/lower wattage use during the later night/early morning hours or when no one is moving in the area.  SLC is not taking advantage of the new technologies and is using much more energy on streetlights than necessary.
  The City is also increasing parking charges at parking meters (that are accessible by the internet but really not secured against ransomware and hacking) by 25%!  Council Chair Charlie Luke expressed concern during Council discussion that the increase is being handed to the citizens without public outreach.  Some would say this is typical SLC administration.
  Almost no one argued against these rate increases.  Less than a handful at public hearings spoke against them.  A couple of people from Millcreek expressed concern but no outrage.  Millcreek citizens are charged about 30% more for water than SLC residents.  Obviously, citizen outreach is lacking or citizens think that their elected leaders don't listen to them.  So Salt Lake City not only increased the Council salaries 40% in the last year but also will more than double the utility fees/taxes/rates.  That comes on top of THREE TAX INCREASES last year!

SLC SHOULD STUDY AUDITS BEFORE SETTING PD/911 BUDGETS
  The SLC Council is passing a budget without a vigorous discussion and debate regarding the two studies on the SLCPD and 911 dispatch.  Salt Lake City Police Department recently received a study by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) that found that the Department is woefully understaffed.  The turnover is high and despite hiring 80 officers in the last year, they lost 80 officers.  In addition, diversity is lacking.  There is only one female officer who is a sergeant or above.  She is a sergeant.  That is a salary issue.  But the City Council essentially rubberstamped the Mayor's recommendation of a 2% increase, a 2% increase in starting salary and a 6% increase for experienced officers.  I still think that it needs to be 10% minimum increase with all of the competition for officers in the Valley.  Although the study said that SLC needs a minimum or 60 new officer positions, they recommended 133.  Chief Brown is trying to hire 23 this year.
  The 911 Dispatch Audit seems to be considered in the administration's budget.  The audit found that 10% of the time that a Priority One call is received, it takes almost 10 minutes before a police officer on patrol gets the request (519 seconds)!  The City is stopping the practice of using PBX operators to answer nonemergency calls (for a buck or two less per hour).  That assignment did not allow for crime reports to be taken by the PBX operators.  That was a big complaint of callers.  The City, in April, said that they are moving to using only dispatchers to answer calls to both 911 and nonemergency numbers.  In addition, they are investigating if a better script is available to allow dispatchers to use "common sense" when answering calls. The audit recommended 22 more dispatchers.  But again, the issue is dispatchers are paid less than $17 per hour and that is similar to McDonald's (in Park City).
  Again, before approving the SLC 2020 Budget, the SLC Council should get a reality check and look at the results of the IACP study of SLCPD and the 911 Audit.

SLC IGNORES FIRE HAZARDS IN FOOTHILLS
  Forest fire season is once again on us.  The County has a fuels team that attempts to decrease fuels in the foothills of Salt Lake County.  But SLC does not and depends on the citizens to remove flammable materials in the foothills.  Scrub oak is the main fuel potential in the foothills of SLC.  But the Call2Haul program does not allow big bunches of scrub oak to be put in the dumpsters!  So SLC is inadvertently increasing the danger of hillside fires.  Over the last year, there have been several fires in the urban/natural interface that could have and should have been averted with better fire prevention efforts supported by SLC.  

4TH AVENUE WELL GAINS COUNCIL REVIEW
  The SLC Council has agreed with many residents in the Avenues to reconsider how to reconfigure the proposed 4th Avenue well so that residents are minimally impacted.  The Council asked for a postponement of the Historic Landmark Commission hearing on it to give "addition time to coordinate together" and the Council got the postponement.
  "The Salt Lake City Council unanimously voted on Tuesday, June 4th to approve the well upgrade project of the Department of Public Utilities’ FY 2020 budget, but contingent on certain additional work and reporting to the Council. The reason for the postponement is to allow Public Utilities and the City Council additional time to coordinate together on these requirements, while continuing to prioritize the upgrade of the well. A new hearing will be scheduled with the HLC once this coordination is complete."
“We remain very concerned that the 4th Avenue Well must be upgraded and brought to the surface in a well-house at its current location,” said Mayor Jackie Biskupski. “The criticality of this well cannot be overstated – this well allowed for the successful fighting of several wildfires last year near Victory Road, Beck Street, and Ensign Peak. It also provides drinking water and fire protection for much of downtown Salt Lake City during the heat of the summer. This brief delay will give us time to do additional work with the community to resolve critical regulatory, safety and water reliability issues that affects the general public and our dedicated water operators."
  So the Council DID listen to residents who gave compelling arguments against the original City plan.  Chalk one up for citizen involvement.

BRITISH FIELD DAY SATURDAY LIBERTY PARK COMPETES WITH 9TH AND 9TH WALK
  On Saturday, June 15th from 9AM to 3 PM at Liberty Park (eastside halfway north) there is a celebration of British cars - some which are available for racing (in a small course).  Nothing can beat the thrill of racing around a 200 foot long course with your seat a couple of inches off the ground and screaming tires.  It is a great Father's Day celebration!  Kids under 12 are free and a $5 donation is asked from those older.  In the last few years, there have been displays of over 100 British cars (in great condition) and also exploded parts of a car so that one can see the complicated nature of automobiles (back in the 60s - when they were simple).
  If cars don't get you, there is a Walk the Block on Saturday June 15 from 9 AM to 2 PM to promote 9th and 9th businesses that are concerned about the ongoing street and 9Line Trail construction.  If you want a chance at a prize, get a Shopping Passport from Local First Utah to start the day and get it stamped at businesses to enter to win a prize.  The community expects to have regular Walk the Block throughout the summer.  Demonstrations of self defense, fly tying, bicycling clinic, stretching and a mini massage or manicure (at SpaDay) are available.  SLC has plenty of things to do each weekend, except UTA buses going up the canyons.

WARM SPRINGS PARK HAS COMMUNITY SUNDAYS
  Warm Springs Park, north of the new Marmalade Library on 300 West, has organized Warm Springs Community Potlucks and Planning events on Sundays from 11:00am - 1:00pm.  The City Council recently approved a budget amendment to study the needs of the Warm Springs Park Buildings.  That is the start of the process of returning Warm Springs Park to its former glory and community center.  The group is going to discuss updates about the project for a few minutes around noon.
  The events are at Warm Springs Park - 840 N 300 W, North end of the park by the historic Wasatch Plunge building.  Bring a potluck dish to share.  All ages welcome.  In case of rain, they'll move to the basement of the Plunge building.  Each week they focus on a different item:
June 16 - Events
June 23 - PR/Media
June 30 - Fundraising
July 7- Advocacy
July 14 - History
July 21 - Research

SLC IGNORES OUTREACH AND ISSUES NEW PARKING SUGGESTIONS
  SLC Transportation is proposing a redesign of the SLC parking ordinance (Transportation Demand Management) that might cut the parking requirements in half for single family home neighborhoods.  Proposing parking changes (most recently in the 9th and 9th area) has created a big backlash.  over a 100 showed up to express concern about the loss of parking in the neighborhood.  Parking has been a significant concern in Salt Lake City over the last 10 years.  East Bench had the Brew Ha Ha fight which resulted in a doubling of most parking minimum requirements.  East Liberty Park Community  Organization sued to try to stop the minimal parking requirements for a building in the 9th and 9th area (They lost the (lawsuit) battle but won the war because the developer gave up.) I put the combined presentations of the old and new Parking Ordinances along with summaries for different types of districts in the downloads section under SLC.  
  Despite what the City promised last month at the community meeting regarding the 9th South 9-Line project, to do a parking study before anymore parking changes, the City is pushing ahead with parking changes!  In addition, the Sugar House and Downtown Parking Study is still not publicly available except to a couple of high level administration executives!  SLC should not propose to change parking requirements until the promised parking study is undertaken and respectfully finished objectively.  Comments on parking changes can be sent to Eric Daems at (801) 535-7236 or eric.daems@slcgov.com

UTAH FOUNDATION RECOMMENDATIONS IGNORED BY SLC
  The Utah Foundation has released planning recommendations for Salt Lake County, Building A Better Beehive.  Summarizing the Plan, and adding my comments, it should be obvious that SLC should be following the suggestions in the Plan.
  "Nearly 76% of Utah local governments responding to a Utah Foundation survey noted that the need to increase road capacity was one of the greatest impediments to growth, with water infrastructure a close second."  Duh.  If 90+% use or need roads and the lack of roads is limiting development, we need more roads.  Trying to cure traffic congestion by decreasing capacity is like trying to cure obesity by tightening your belt.  More roads do not create congestion as many studies imply.  They allow more people to obtain the American Dream, a home and a job, even if it requires driving an hour to get to each.  The picture of a 17 lane highway with bumper to bumper traffic is evidence of the success of the American Dream.  The drivers are on their way home or to a job and that should be the focus.  Not building roads impacts our families, our economy and our Country.
  "About 64% of Utah local governments surveyed said their residents expressed “high” or “extreme concern” over increasing residential density"  Again, duh.  Citizens, when they move into a single family home area, have an implied promise that the area will stay the same in zoning.  Increasing density will encourage moving farther out to the suburbs with an increase in pollution.
  The Plan encourage preserving green spaces and natural assets, but in SLC, we are losing thousands of big trees a year (see below).  The Plan also pointed out that the areas in most downtowns have a higher value per square foot and should be focused on for higher density and mixed use.  They should have said mixed income/mixed use.  Also, the reason for the high value in many cases is the numerous car lots with their significant sales revenue and taxes.  But car lots do not encourage walking or walkability.  The Plan did recommend that high-density projects should be strategically located in commercial areas and near public transit .  The study recommended two spaces per single-family detached home in a bedroom community and 0.9 spaces per multifamily unit in mixed-use, compact developments.  Those parking minimums are way too low for reality.
  Preserving and improving community character, according to the Study, should be a priority.  "The condition of existing buildings may have a prominent influence on the character of a neighborhood. For instance, deteriorated buildings and facilities reflect poorly upon the condition and safety of the neighborhood at large. Abandoned, vacant and dilapidated buildings can be particularly detrimental. It can reflect a lack of care or value of the property. The same may be true for public facilities or infrastructure."  But SLCRDA has many properties that have sat vacant for decades!
  I agree that the City needs fee waivers to encourage inclusionary zoning, but the City Council keeps putting it off, or insists that the Mayor suggest waivers.  The Mayor already did!  The Council should discuss, modify to its liking and pass fee waivers.  They could theoretically save a developer of a 200 unit complex half a million in impact fees if they agree to 20+% affordable units.
  The Foundation Study also recommended allowing for single room occupancy developments.  I argued against it in an oped last month and at the City Council public hearing.   The Council has asked the Planning Staff to return with a Citywide plan, not just for a few areas.  Fasten your seatbelts, we may get more crime magnet motels!

THOUSANDS OF BIG TREES LOST IN SLC EACH YEAR
  SLC has acknoledged that they lose over 2000 big, mature trees a year.  Unfortunately, the City's budget for replacing those trees only allows for about 1000 to be replaced with mickie mouse/munchkin trees (less than 2 inches in diameter).  Despite the statements that the smaller diameter trees do better, the reality is the City does not have the money or staff to properly prepare a large soil area for bigger trees to thrive and grow.  So the City is relegated to statements that the small trees do better (when the soil cannot be appropriately prepared.  The bags around the trees are meant to make it easier for residents to water (once a week) for the first year or two.  Since the City does not force developers to replace so called nuisance or non specimen trees, the City ends up losing over 2000, and as much as 3000 mature trees a year.  In other words, our urban forest is declining!

SLC STREETS TO BE REPAIRED/RESURFACED
  With the new streets bond, the City has prepared a priority list of streets to be fixed/resurfaced or repaired.  Streets maintenance/Public Services repairs streets to 2 inches down.  Anything more is handled by SLC Engineering.  The map of projects currently underway is at: http://maps.slcgov.com/mws/projects.htm.

From the website, potential candidates are: 
•Dupont Avenue (Capistrano Drive to American Beauty Drive) 
•Talisman Drive (800 North to 1200 West) 
•500 North (Jordan River to Redwood Road) 
•Briarcliff Avenue (American Beauty Drive to Autumn Avenue) 
•Talisman Drive (cul-de-sac end to Cornell Street) 
•Dupont Avenue (Carousel Street to 1500 West) 
•Haslam Circle (cul-de-sac end to Garnette Street) 
•Aries Circle (cul-de-sac end to New Star Drive) 
•Ramona Avenue (900 East to Lincoln Street) 
•Elizabeth Street (Crystal Avenue to Stratford Avenue) 
•Simpson Avenue (McClelland Street to 1100 East) 
•Elizabeth Street (Stratford Avenue to Whitlock Avenue) 
•Ramona Avenue (Lincoln Street to 1000 East) 
•Coatsville Avenue (800 East to 900 East) 
•Zenith Avenue (800 East to 900 East) 
•Parkway Avenue (Elizabeth Street to Highland Drive) 
•Kensington Avenue (1400 East to 1500 East) 
•M Street (3rd Avenue to 4th Avenue) 
•L Street (7th Avenue to 8th Avenue) 
•Wall Street (Columbus Street to 400 North) 
•Cambridge Circle (Cambridge Way to north terminus end) 
•L Street (9th Avenue to 10th Avenue) 
•Alta Street (2nd Avenue to Federal Heights Drive) 
•Cambridge Way (Perry’s Hollow Road to Tomahawk Drive) 
•200 North (400 West to west terminus end) 
•Blaine Avenue (Nevada Street to Foothill Drive) 
•Greenwood Terrace (900 South to Sunnyside Avenue) 
•1900 East (Sunnyside Avenue to 900 South) 
•Kensington Avenue (Ken Rey Street to 2100 East) 
•Nevada Street (Wilson Avenue to Blaine Avenue

UPD ANSWERS HUNDREDS OF CALLS A YEAR FROM A FEW PEOPLE
  I put the County Unified Police Department summary of mental health issues in the downloads section (middle).  It appears, that due to the inadequate mental health treatment available, the Police/UPD are being utilized to fill the gap.  In some cases, one person's actions have resulted in hundreds of UPD responses.  It should be a no brainer that our mental health system is not working and that there has to be a better way and better personnel to effectively handle mental health patients than police and law enforcement.  The report is a wakeup call.

HOUSING REPORT SLCO
  I put the SLCO Housing Report, Housing Crisis Research, Obstacles and Opportunities in Public Attitudes.  It basically is a no brainer.  People do not want their neighborhood character to change and we need more housing.  The above Utah Foundation report makes it clear that housing increases and density increases should be in commercial areas like State Street.  But the SLC Council has gone around in cirlces for 5 years about State Street CRA/redevelopment and ignored the potential for an overlay form based zoning that could encourage thousands of new mixed income, mixed use housing/buildings.

TAYLORSVILLE BRT RUSHING FORWARD
  Despite UTA's inability to operate a successful BRT/Bus Rapid Transit, and with the inappropriate belief that it will lead to development and getting people out of their cars, UTA and Taylorsville and West Valley City is about to construct a BRT on 4700/4800 South which has plenty of homes and very little potential for increased density to justify the $15/mile investment.  It could end up costing $100 million although some believe that it will be closer to $67 million.  But the road is already congested and some intersections are classified as F/failing.  So essentially, UTA is going to make the road more congested.  I keep saying it (I might do an oped on it): Trying to cure traffic congestion by decreasing capacity is like trying to cure obesity by tightening your belt. 

UTA STUDY FOR PT OF THE MOUNTAIN RUSHING FORWARD
  I put the Point of the Mountain study effort by UTA on the downloads/transportation column.  It essentially preps the road for billions of projects to benefit the landowners around Draper.  The rest of the citizens of Salt Lake and Utah counties will have to pay for the TRAX extensions and maybe another FrontRunner station in the State Prison area.  The political pressure to build TRAX extensions is very powerful.  Five years ago, I got in trouble for complaining about Utah County pushing the effort and moving the TRAX to Draper to build in the next 10 years (by 2025).  The Utah Transportation Plan (UTP) eventually kept it at 2040 or later but for a year afterward, I was persona non grata at UTA and WFRC.  This project needs to stop until all of the criminals are actually and effectively kept incarcerated.  Nate Carlisle in the Salt Lake Tribune had a story last month about the efforts to discourage sentencing convicted felons to prison.  I have many more horror stories about Adult Probation and Parole recommending probation instead of prison for felons that have no problem shooting people in an attempt to kill them.  "But they didn't die so they shouldn't go to State Prison, right?!  The State should focus on public safety before lining developer pockets.

SLC CONSTRUCTION CONCERNS ADDRESSED IN NEW AMENDMENT
  In an attempt to mitigate the negative consequences of large amounts of construction in areas like downtown and Sugar House, the City is proposing limiting blockages to less than 30 days with lots of exceptions.  I keep seeing many construction sites that block sidewalks for years!  That discourages walking!!  I think that this proposal is a start but does not go far enough.  It took a year to get the construction company to return the dividers/planters to where they belong on the Parleys Trail (see below).  All sidewalks should be open except during short, days not weeks, constructions.  In one egregious situation at South Temple and 200 East, the sidewalk was blocked on the south side and pedestrians were directed across the street to stairs to get to the other sidewalk.  So they put wheelchair users and people with limitations out!  SLC should be encouraging walking.  SLC should not be discouraging walking.

SLC PLANNING PROPOSES SUGAR HOUSE 24/7 SUGAR HOUSE
  SLC Planning is again planning to encourage public engagement with SLC tours that focus on specific issues around the City.  One of the tours is on July 29th in Sugar House.  It is titled: Creating a 24/7 District in Sugar House!  But then the buses will need to run past midnight!  I hope UTA attends.  Contact www.slc.gov/planning to reserve a tour (recommended).  Other tours are:
JUN 24 // SECOND LIFE:  New Uses in Old Buildings
JUL 29 // WALKING TO THE BEET:  Creating a 24/7 District in Sugar House
AUG 26 // SEEING THE URBAN FOREST FOR THE TREES
SEPT 30 // PRESERVATION PASSPORT: Compatible Infill in Historic Districts
OCT 11 // DESIGNING DOWNTOWN:  Characteristics of People-first Places

FAIRMONT PARK TENNIS COURTS SAVED FROM HOUSING AGAIN
  Councilwoman Amy Fowler became a superhero to the Sugar House community when she convinced the City Council to remove the Mayor's recommendation for $20,000 to study putting housing on the old Fairmont Park tennis courts.  The City is now considering giving access (shared with the public) to the Girls and Boys Club to convert to something more useful and appropriate for the area that is part of Fairmont Park (even though Simpson Avenue is between the tennis courts and the rest of Fairmont Park).

CANDIDATES LIST AND CONTACTS ON DOWNLOADS
  I put the list of candidates for this year's elections in Salt Lake City in the downloads/SLC section.  This will be interesting.

ASSISTED LIVING CENTERS KICKING OUT OLD PEOPLE
  We knew this before but Matt Minkevitch has confirmed it, despite a bill from the Legislature banning or limiting the practice, assisted living centers are kicking out old people and they are ending up at the Road Home!  

FREE FARE DAYS RESULTS ARE NOT GOOD
  UTA keeps expressing their delight at the stats for the last free fare day.  Reality check, FrontRunner had the biggest increase (I put more information down below - ctrl f FrontRunner for a few stories on it.) because parents were taking their kids on the free E ticket FrontRunner ride (cheap version of Disneyland/Lagoon).  So parking was full for regular commuters, and if they got on a train, it was standing room only!  That discourages long term ridership increases!  All free fares should be on weekends where the rush hour commuters are not negatively impacted and discouraged from riding mass transit.

BUS DRIVERS STILL LACKING AT UTA
  Great news!  UTA signed up 100 at last month's job fair at Murray Central Station and 40 have gone through the first classes.  The bad news is that only 15 successfully have completed the first class.  That means that, if the results/successful training is extrapolated, UTA may have 40 new drivers by the time the new August schedules for buses are implemented.  The really bad news is that, before the new drivers, UTA needed 140 more drivers by August!  UTA needs to stop split shifts, consider offering drivers four hour a day shifts and increase the salary from $17.76 and hour.  50% of new drivers still leave within a year!  UTA needs to focus on bus service, and drivers, before any projects, including garages and TRAX extensions!  Not enough drivers is a poor excuse for not increasing service and spending money on projects instead.  I also noticed that UTA is saying that they can't implement Canyon bus service so they have to build garages!  If you believe that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn for sale.

SUGARMONT APTS FINALLY RESTORES PARLEYS TRAIL PLANTERS
  After a year, the construction company that is building the Sugarmont Apartments, on the corner of McClelland and Sugarmont Drive, has returned the planters that separate dangerous traffic on a curve from pedestrians and bicyclists using the Parleys Trail (across from the Fairmont Park pool).  For a year, everyone involved said that they will do it or that it wasn't their responsibility.  Jeff Vitek of Boulder Ventures was one but his Ascent Construction Company was the barrier.  Last week, the City Engineering Department ordered the planters back.  This will significantly increase the safety for kids, bicyclists, parents with kids on bikes, and everyone else on the Trail.  Thank you SLC Engineering (with an assist from SLC Streets Engineering who was also concerned about safety).

SUGAR HOUSE GETTING SOME HUNTSMAN CANCER FACILITIES
  University of Utah Medical is moving some of their important medical offices into the new Park Avenue facility (on the old Sugar House Shopko block).  These are very important offices.  They include the Huntsman Cancer Institute Hematology Group and the Infusion Group.  Cancer patients will find this facility a lot more convenient.  Now if we could only find a place for the Eastside Police Precinct (the 21st and 21st proposal fell through).

SLCO SW PLANNED COMMUNITIES PRESENTATION
  I put the SLCO Council presentation on planned communities (mainly in the Southwest part of the Valley in the downloads section.

SLC GOLF COURSES ENCOURAGED TO HAVE BEER CARTS
  Amy Fowler, Councilwoman golfer has been pushing for more support for golf in SLC.  She is encouraging a golf tournament and regarding "Golf Food and Beverage  Options.  It is  the  intent of  the  Council  to  ask  the  Administration  to examine the open space zone  ordinance,  with the  goal  of  removing  barriers  to  providing  flexible food  and  beverage  options  in  golf courses.  To  the  extent  that  barriers  exist  in  State  law  the  Council requests  an  analysis of  those,  and that  changing  them  be identified  as  a  future legislative priority."  In other words, beer carts may soon be on golf courses!

JUNE 1, 2019

SLC NEEDS MORE COPS & THEY DESERVE MORE PAY PUBLISHED

SLC NEEDS MORE COPS & THEY DESERVE MORE PAY PUBLISHED

 The Salt Lake Tribune just published my oped on the state of the SLCPD according to the IACP Report in the upper right downloads area under homeless crime jail column.  The IACP Report recommends 133 more SLCPD officers.  Part of the problem is that they often arrest the same person for the same serious crime 20 or more times.  The arrested do not stay in jail or are prosecuted beyond plead guilty and you get probation.  The root cause is the lack of adequate public safety funding at the County level and the State's efforts to decrease prisoners at the State Prison with JRI.  That shifted a lot of financial burdens onto the Counties.  There is also the issue, until recently, that the jailed, many of whom had drug issues, did not have access to treatment.  The County claims a 50+% decrease in recidivism with treatment but that is checking for less than a year.  

The City is going to have a final public hearing on June 4 at City Hall on the budget which includes how much the City will give to police officers and also whether to have some focus on park safety as Park Rangers.  The 4th South State Street building allows free parking for City Council meetings under the Library.  Ask the Council staff for a voucher.  I just pulled out the most important facts for my oped.  If you want the full report and data that recommends 133 more cops, see the IACP Report or you can email me at gechapman2@gmail.com.

https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2019/06/01/george-chapman-slc-police/

MAY 29, 2019

911 AUDIT SHOWS TIME TO DISPATCH CAN BE OVER 700 SECONDS
SRO IN SLC TO EXPAND CITYWIDE
SLC PARK RANGERS BEING KILLED BY COUNCIL
SLC GOLF HAS PART OF COURSE IN SOUTH SALT LAKE CITY

911 AUDIT SHOWS TIME TO DISPATCH CAN BE OVER 700 SECONDS
  Matrix has submitted an audit (in the upper right downloads section center column) of Salt Lake City's Dispatch Center.  The data is not good.  The average time to queue a call is 41 seconds and the time to send a call to dispatch is 139 seconds.  There is a big difference depending on the priority.  SLC 911 Dispatch "does not meet the secondary NENA standard of 99% of calls answered within 40 seconds" (in SLC it is 96.7%).  The elapsed time from the call to dispatch of field units is excessive in some cases.  
  The median time a call is received to queue /to dispatch is:
       priority 1 35/183 seconds
       priority 3 44/700 seconds!
       priority 4 47/2036 seconds
average is 41 seconds/139 seconds

  The 90% of the time a call is received to queue/to dispatch
       priority 1 146/519 seconds
       priority 3 146/4,634 seconds
       priority 4 151/13,928 seconds
average is 452 seconds/4,777 seconds
  What the statistics show is that it can take almost 10 minutes for 10% of the priority one calls to be sent to officers on patrol by dispatch!  "10% of calls (even Priority 1 calls) take more than 2 minutes and 19 seconds for call takers to code them for a dispatcher.  A review of the data showed that 66% of calls are coded within one minute."  The audit showed that the times for Sandy 911 calls were better and the median call to queue versus to dispatch was 30 vrs 103 seconds.
  Part of the problem was the Priority Dispatch system that SLC Dispatch has used.  "some dispatch staff and many (patrol) field staff believe that the Priority Dispatch ProQA system hinders the level of service.... to officers in the field and.... to the emergency requestor....Those who hold this sentiment believe that the rigidity of ProQA inhibits call takers' ability to interact with callers using common sense, quickly obtain and relay the most vital information and correctly determine the level of priority for calls".  Salt Lake City agrees with that assessment.  It has decided to move away from Priority Dispatch and has committed to work with UPD to use their system.  There was a 2010 story in the Salt Lake Tribune about the problems with Priority Dispatch.  In one case, it took several minutes for a dispatcher to acknowledge a robbery in progress since the caller did not recognize the script and the questions from dispatch did not make sense.  
  The audit recommended that "the 911 Center should prepare citizens to use 911 and enhance public relations and recruitment efforts by continuing to build its public education program."  Several years ago, the SLCPD Community Intelligence Officers did go through the long script priority list in an effort to educate the public about how to get higher priority responses.  For instance saying skateboard in progress will get a faster response than skateboard.  Or saying breakin means slower response than breakin in progress.  Also saying homeless will put you on the bottom of the priority list while saying prowler in progress/now will put you at the top of the priority list.
  The audit recommended eliminating the PBX Operator jobs which are taking the non emergency calls.  But the PBX operators cannot take incident reports since they are not fully certified dispatchers.  PBX operators are paid 13.69/hour ($139,500 annual funding) while certified dispatchers are at $15.20 per hour.  It is important to note that some starting positions at some McDonalds in this State pay more!  The audit recommended that the City "reformulate how it handles non emergency call volume".  As of April 2019, all PBX operator positions have been moved to dispatchers.  There is also a goal of 22% limit to turnover but it is questionable that that can be met in this labor market.
  The audit also recommended 20 new positions to handle the call volume.  SLC Dispatch recommended 9 new dispatchers but the Mayor suggested 6 in her budget proposal.  The "majority of residents believe 911 dispatch is doing a good to excellent job overall" but they are more satisfied with dispatchers than with the time to respond.  The audit recommended that dispatch tell callers the estimated arrival time and also tell callers what the estimated hold time is if they are put on hold.  The City has also adopted the recommendation that the system "allow responders to view calls to optimize level of required support".
  The bottom line is that the 911 system in SLC has not been as effective as possible, even though the vast majority (82%)of callers are satisfied with the service.  The non-emergency calls are now being taken by better trained personnel and 911 Dispatch has a goal of answering 95% of calls within 15 seconds.  13% of callers are being put on hold for a median of 2 minutes.  They are answering 93.5% of calls within 20 seconds.
  Interestingly, 10 minutes was the median reported wait time for services (Fire/EMS/Police) to arrive while average was one hour (page 59 of 911 audit)!  "SLC customers reported a median wait time of 15 minutes for officers to arrive, compared to 10 minutes for Sandy City customers."
  SLC 911 admits that police dispatcher positions should be 79 while currently at 58.  "But 21 additional employees would be a significant financial burden to the City so the City converted most shifts to 12 hours from 10 hours."

SRO IN SLC TO EXPAND CITYWIDE
  Councilwoman Mendenhall recently said that the reason why the City Council has not voted on the SRO/mini Cabrini Green ordinance is because they told planning to bring back the SRO ordinance that applies to the full City, not just some parts of it!  That should be an interesting fight.

SLC PARK RANGERS BEING KILLED BY COUNCIL
  When Chief Brown said he was proposing that five police officers would be assigned as park rangers, the first words out of Councilwoman Mendenhall were 
"This is exciting!"  The discussion by the Council went downhill from there.  The only Councilmembers that seem to be okay with having police officers function in uniform, and armed, were Councilmen Rogers and Luke.  
  The biggest concerns were that an officer in uniform creates a different experience and there was a majority's desire to have more of a park ranger style.  The Councilmembers did not understand that the SLCPD officers are required to lock up park restrooms now since there can be issues with homeless trying to spend the night in the restrooms.  The Chief recommended that they be post certified.  The old eastside bike squad was the park squad.  This should be part of community policing.  Even the IACP study recommends that "neighborhood complaints of narcotic violations should be handled by patrol officers and have the added benefit of improving community and patrol officer interaction."  If the police are not allowed to interact with park goers, there is less trust generated.
  The main reason that most community councils have asked for park rangers is because there is a concern about park public safety, especially since Operation Rio Grande disbursed the homeless and drug addicts throughout the City and especially in the City's 67 parks.  The best way to increase public safety in parks is to have police officers, functioning as park rangers.  They do it now.  They function as social workers and as mental health providers, often trying to defuse situations instead of strong arming anyone that seems out of order.  
  Councilwoman Mendenhall said that "different demographics have different views of police. Councilmembers Wharton echoed Erin Mendenhall and said that he was not sure that they needed to be armed.  Councilwoman Fowler said that the kids at the Fairmont Skate Park would not like going up to a police officer and would avoid the parks! But the drug dealing (mainly spice) at the Skate Park discourages families from using Fairmont Park.  Councilwoman Valdemoros agreed with the others but also added that a walking patrol of Pioneer Park would help but she thinks that park rangers would be better than police.  Salt Lake City should be encouraging interaction between the police and the community to break down the barriers that often keep people from trusting officers.  A police officer should be very approachable to everyone.  If uniformed officers are kept from community interactions, the trust that is needed between the police and citizens does not develop.  The Chief pointed out that the bike officers, in uniform were very approachable.
  The proposal is for one sergeant and 5 officers using cars or bikes, depending on the intelligence.  Now the City gets a grant from the DWR to provide patrols for the Jordan River Park.  The City also provides 2 for eastside and 2 for the westside parks.  The Chief made it very clear that he did not want to have officers on patrol that are not in uniform.  He said that he is concerned about asking police to put on a different uniform.  If the Council approves the 23 hiring, it would take up to 10 months to put them in the parks.  They would be concentrating on the largest parks and problem areas but they could also go to the smallest parks.  The Council said that if they have 10 months to look at how they would look, they can take their time and not agree to the proposal now.  But lateral hiring can provide a police officer in 5 months.  Councilman Johnston said that police have done a good job for outreach but recognizes that there is an ambivalent concern about it.  The Chief emphasized that the mere presence of a police officer discourages crime.  
  The Council then suggested that maybe the Parks Department should do this.  Council Chair Luke said that it was not fair to have them do the jobs of a park ranger and a police officer and the City may need to have a new program.  But most requests from citizens wanted them to have police authority.  Councilwoman Fowler said that she did not think that it is the job of the police to solve.  The Chief emphasized that the police are doing police work now at the request of Parks Department (locking restrooms) and at the end of the day, they are already doing a lot of police work in the parks.  
  Councilwoman Mendenhall suggested that social workers could work with police so that there is a balance of techniques.  Council Chair said that the Council can table the conversation today but if the Council wants park public safety, the City needs to focus on a uniformed officer.  Councilman Johnston said that a social worker he does not want to do parks work and that deterrence is what should be the focus which is a camp host.
  Anyone reading this should send their comments to the City Council (email addresses on the left) and express your thoughts.  I still think that every community council that I have attended has encouraged the City to have park rangers to increase public safety and that requires a police officer.  The City should recognize that a parks police officer functioning as a parks ranger can increase the trust and respect of the public towards officers.  That should be the City's goal.

SLC GOLF HAS PART OF COURSE IN SOUTH SALT LAKE CITY
  During the annual pulling out hair golf budget discussion, the City Council was told that the Nibley Golf Course driving range is actually in South Salt Lake City.  In addition the costs for maintaining Nibley and Forest Dale golf Courses are over $8,000 per acre while the rest of the City's golf courses have maintenance costs of around $4,500 per acre.  The City sent out an RFP for Nibley for a public private partnership to manage the course but the City received no responses since only land was available.  The Council, in the end suggested a City Council golf tournament (proposed by Councilwoman Fowler, an avid golfer) and asked for all courses to provide beer carts.  Some do already.  The State does allow golf courses to sell liquor.  The Council essentially approved the golf budget with an infusion, as usual, of general fund money to cover the overcharges that SLC Public Utilities charges the courses for water.

MAY 21, 2019
UVX BRT LEADS TO ONLY 1000 FEWER CARS ON CAMPUS
STATE CUTS HOMELESS FUNDING EXPECTING PROBLEM SOLVED
COMPLETER STREETS STUDY STARTS
SLCPD IS ASKING TO USE 5 OFFICERS AS PARK RANGERS
UTA AUGUST CHANGE DAY ISSUES

UVX BRT LEADS TO ONLY 1000 FEWER CARS ON CAMPUS
  The $200 million UVX BRT has been touted as super successful.  Over 1000 fewer car permits were applied for at UVU this year and UVX has been given the credit.  Lost in the celebrations and encouragement for more BRTs, is the reality that the ridership is FREE!  Also the two lanes of roadway have been removed from use by personal vehicles.  Each lane should be able to comfortably able to handle 5000 average daily trips or cars.  I am not convinced that UVX should be considered to be successful.  SLC Transportation is suggesting hundreds of millions for BRTs on Foothill to Wasatch Blvd and on 200 South (with the South Davis BRT).

STATE CUTS HOMELESS FUNDING EXPECTING PROBLEM SOLVED
  I put the State Homeless Coordinating Committee funding decisions in the upper righthand (middle column) downloads section.  The Committee felt that they did not have to fund most programs as much as they did in the past.  They believe, with the new shelters coming online, they are solving the problem!  Also they are pushing to add how to consider success of programs.  The general performance measures include: 
Number of clients served, 
Number of adults served, 
Number of project leavers, 
Average length of stay in project, 
Number of exits into a permanent destination, 
Number of returns to homelessness for project participants who exited to a permanent, destination 2 years prior,
Number of returns within 6‐12 months
  The Legislature’s Social Services Interim Committee also has agreed to study the data on how successful substance abuse treatment is.

COMPLETER STREETS STUDY STARTS
  Salt Lake City has started to study “completer streets” going from building to building instead of the previous curb to curb.  In addition, Transportation is considering traffic calming on 500 North (in the Community and Neighborhood budget).  I put the Public Utilities, Public Safety/Compensation, and Community and Neighborhood (CAN) budgets in the downloads area under SLC.

SLCPD IS ASKING TO USE 5 OFFICERS AS PARK RANGERS
  SLCPD Chief Brown, at the May 21 Work Session has asked for using 5 sworn officers as park rangers.  There are 67 parks.  Several councilmembers celebrated the proposal and pointed out that the expansion of trails in SLC should be encouraging the proposal.  But council asked for a real park ranger program that would be less official than a cop and be an official park ranger instead of a police officer.  Councilmembers were concerned about the perception that they could engage in immigration enforcement.  Councilmembers were concerned that an officer would be less likely to be approached by park users since a gun can be a concern!  Officers have already been tasked to close restrooms at parks to ensure that individuals do not try to sleep in the restrooms.  I disagree with the concerns that armed officers would be a concern and I support the Chief’s proposal.  The officers would use cars at first but could shift to bicycles.  There are 2 eastside park officers assigned; 2 westside officers assigned and 2 funded by DWR for the Jordan River Parkway.  The Council had a disagreement and decided to move on since the Council could not find compromise on the concerns about armed and uniformed officers acting as park rangers!  I know many community councils want park rangers!  From Ensign Peak to Fairmont Park, the City’s parks need park rangers.
  Other Public Safety presentations included $4 million for 110 new hybrid pursuit rated sedans to add to the 20 the City already has.  No patrol vehicles have dashcams.  The City is planning to use $512,000 for 400 new bodycams (to add to the 100 in use now) that are activated when a gun is removed from a holster and also that activates bodycams of officers around them.
  In addition, the City noted that the mileage of police vehicles is tracked with gasoline use.  The top 5 users each month are double checked for appropriate use.  SLC police officers who live in the City are not charged for use of the police vehicles but those who live outside of the City (up to 35 miles away) are charged a graduated rate that has not changed in 10 years.  The officers pay 50% of the graduated rate.
  SLC has 503 sworn officers and with the Airport Police, there are 580 sworn officers.  There are 120 civilian officers.  The City plans to hire 27 new officers this next year who will be on patrol within 10 months.  The City has hired about 80 in the last year and it has also lost about 80 officers!  In other words, the police officers are still not compensated appropriately.  SLCO is proposing a 16% salary increase.

UTA AUGUST CHANGE DAY ISSUES
  UTA is proposing major changes for the August 2019 change day.  This big change will affect many people who should be commenting to UTA (even though the comment period has ended).   Community councils should be aware of the major changes.  The big question is will UTA have enough drivers to serve the system.  Again, UTA is supposed to be down 140 drivers in August.
  My UTA August Change Day 2019 comments (UTA proposals are first followed by my comments).  The link with maps is: https://www.rideuta.com/Rider-Info/August-2019-Change-Day
Route 2
In partnership with Salt Lake City’s Funding our Future program, UTA proposes to have route 2 come more often, run earlier and later, and run on Sundays. On weekdays and Saturdays, service would operate every 15 min from 6 am to 7 pm, as well as every 30 min from 5 am to 6 am and 7 pm to midnight. On Sundays, service would run every 30 min from 7 am to 7 pm. The University of Utah previously requested that all bus routes be relocated from the University Hospital loop.  As part of a collaborative process, U of U Health Sciences and UTA have agreed that routes 2, 6, and 11 will continue serving the University Hospital loop. Other routes in the area will access the Hospital from the bus stops adjacent to Medical Center TRAX Station on Mario Capecchi Dr.  In conjunction with UTA’s proposal for route 220, riders would see more frequent service on 200 South between Salt Lake Central Station and University St. Buses would arrive every 7.5 minutes on weekdays between 6 am and 7 pm, and every 15 minutes weekdays between 7 pm and 10 pm. On Saturdays, buses would come every 7–15 minutes between 6 am and 7 pm along this stretch of 200 South. On Sundays, buses would arrive every 15–30 minutes between 7 am and 7 pm.  Of the two routes, route 2 would maintain the best connection to FrontRunner at Salt Lake Central Station.
Route 2X
In response to a request from the University of Utah, route 2X would no longer service the entrance to the University of Utah Hospital. Access to the university hospitals and clinics would be available at bus stops along Mario Capecchi Dr.
Route 2 schedule should be coordinated with 205, not just 220.  Sometimes 205 and 2 are within a few minutes of each other when it would increase ridership by spacing them better. Five minute frequency between 500 East and Central Station is possible.

Route 3
The western end of route 3 would move from Salt Lake Central Station to North Temple Station. This would provide better connections to both southbound and northbound FrontRunner trains. The 3 would continue to service 3rd Avenue, the University of Utah, VA Hospital, Research Park, and This is the Place. Route 3 would be the primary connection from FrontRunner to Research Park with the discontinuation of route 228.

Route 4
The new route 4 would partially replace service currently provided by routes 228 and 516. The eastern terminal would be at 3900 South and Wasatch Blvd. The 4 would then travel north along Wasatch Blvd, Foothill Dr, 400 South, 200 South, and Redwood Road before ending at the TRAX Power Station on North Temple. The objective of this route is to enhance east–west connectivity between the University of Utah, downtown Salt Lake, and the airport. On the eastern end, route 4 is designed to connect with routes 33, 39, and 45.  On weekdays, service would operate every 30 minutes from 6 am to 7 pm, and every 60 minutes from 5 am to 6 am and 7 pm to 9 pm. On weekends, the 4 would run every 60 minutes from 7 am to 7 pm. This would introduce new weekend service on Foothill Dr.
Route 4  Why is new route 4 turning onto 200 South when 200 South already has potentially 5 minute service west of 500 East.  Going straight to Redwood Road via 400 South would make more sense.  And it should operate past 7 PM since it serves downtown and shows/entertainment last past midnight.

Route 6
The western end of route 6 would move from North Temple Station to Salt Lake Central Station. The route would no longer service North Temple. From 2nd Avenue, it would service State Street and 200 South.  The University of Utah previously requested that all bus routes be relocated from the University Hospital loop. As part of a collaborative process, U of U Health Sciences and UTA have agreed that routes 2, 6, and 11 will continue serving the University Hospital loop. Other routes in the area will access the Hospital from the bus stops adjacent to Medical Center TRAX Station on Mario Capecchi Dr.  Route 6 still has too many turns in the Avenues.  The Avenues, an area full of mass transit proponents, would increase ridership  if the buses didn't keep turning (and slowing down to a milk run).  The Avenues should have 2-4 east west and 2-4 north south routes without turns.  
Route 11 has too many turns and should work with the Community Council on a better Avenues system.  Turns slow down bus schedules, increase maintenance and increase accidents and driver fatigue.  
Route 3 is a good example of how to run a bus through the Avenues except not sure about the downtown loop?

Route 9
In partnership with Salt Lake City’s Funding our Future program, UTA proposes to have route 9 come more often, run earlier and later, and run on weekends. On weekdays and Saturdays, service would operate every 15 min from 6 am to 7 pm, as well as every 30 min from 5 am to 6 am and 7 pm to midnight. On Sundays, service would run every 30 min from 7 am to 7 pm.  The 9 would replace the service that route 516 provides within the Glendale and Poplar Grove communities. The route’s western end would be located at the TRAX Power Station on North Temple. On the eastern end, the route would end adjacent to the Health Sciences Campus after servicing the University of Utah campus and hospitals.

Route 11
The University of Utah previously requested that all bus routes be relocated from the University Hospital loop. As part of a collaborative process, U of U Health Sciences and UTA have agreed that routes 2, 6, and 11 will continue serving the University Hospital loop. Other routes in the area will access the Hospital from the bus stops adjacent to Medical Center TRAX Station on Mario Capecchi Dr.

Route 17
Route 17 would shift from Main St to 300 West between 1700 South and 2100 South. On the eastern end of the route, the 17 would be extended to the Union Building at the University of Utah.

Route 21
In partnership with Salt Lake City’s Funding our Future program, UTA proposes to have route 21 come more often, as well as run earlier and later. On weekdays and Saturdays, service would operate every 15 min from 6 am to 7 pm, as well as every 30 min from 5 am to 6 am and 7 pm to midnight. On Sundays, service would run every 30 min from 7 am to 7 pm.
Route 21 should run past 1 AM.  The bars in Sugar House get a lot of college students (over 50% of UofU students are over 21) and they close after midnight.  The area is still active after midnight.

Route 200
Routes 200 and 500 would be consolidated. Route 500 would be discontinued and route 200 would service the State Capitol via Main St, Columbus St, and 500 North. This would provide 15-minute service to Capitol Hill Monday–Saturday and 30-minute service on Sundays. The northern end of route 200 would move from Salt Lake Central Station to North Temple Station. We are seeking public feedback on whether to have route 200 service Courthouse Station on Main Street to make connections with the TRAX Blue, Green, and Red lines.
Route 200 is in the top two most popular bus routes.  UTA SHOULD NOT MAKE IT A MILK RUN by routing it to the Capitol.  The 500 gets an average of one passenger a day while the 200 gets over 3400 passengers a day and is often standing room only!  200 (along with the Redwood Road 217) should be prioritized to increase frequency.  I know that there is an effort to increase frequency using an expensive BRT but the frequency can be increased faster and at less than a 15th of the cost with a bus.  This route deserves less than a ten minute frequency.  It should also have traffic light priority like the UDOT/Redwood Rd/217 system.  The bus stops on State that have been removed due to crime should be restored and if necessary have cameras and UTA cops ensure security.  Stops should be closer to the corners, especially where there are potential transfers.  In other words, changing a route to make it a milk run instead of increasing frequency is questionable.  This route, along with Redwood Road should get the highest priority for increasing service.
To serve the Capitol, consider a North Temple to Capitol (not stopping north of Capitol and not entering circle, just letting off passengers next to the circle.  If the turns and stops are eliminated, the North Temple/Capitol shuttle bus could get 20 minute frequency.  Many catch the bus to the Capitol via the Main Street/North Temple stop.  It is only a block from the TRAX station!  Why put in a bus to take passengers a block instead of walking (through a beautiful garden)?


Route 213
In response to requests from the University of Utah, route 213 would no longer service the entrance to the University of Utah Hospital. Access to the university hospitals and clinics would be available at bus stops along Mario Capecchi Drive.
Route 213 should coordinate with routes 9 and 220.  Those buses often are 1 minute apart!  A better system would have them 5 minutes apart.  This happens often on 200 South, 13th East, 9th South, State Capitol, etc.  And something should be done to make the bus stops at the Stadium TRAX Station more convenient and closer to the corners.  Note that there are ADA constraints due to the new stairs next to the law building.  Moving the stops to the corners with the lights puts the buses much nearer to the TRAX Station.  I often see people RUNNING REALLY FAST from the buses to the TRAX!  That shouldn't happen.  If people have to run to catch a transfer, it is a bad bus stop.


Route 220
Route 220 would shift from 100 South to 200 South between West Temple and 1300 East. In conjunction with UTA’s proposal for route 2, riders would see more frequent service on 200 South between Salt Lake Central Station and University St. Buses would arrive every 7.5 minutes on weekdays between 6 am and 7 pm, and every 15 minutes weekdays between 7 pm and 10 pm. On Saturdays, buses would come every 7–15 minutes between 6 am and 7 pm along this stretch of 200 South. On Sundays, buses would arrive every 15–30 minutes between 7 am and 7 pm.  Of the two routes, route 2 would maintain the best connection to FrontRunner at Salt Lake Central Station.
Route 220 should be considered to not run on 200 South.  Start at the UofU TRAX station.  (See route 213) Trying to do too much with a route actually makes it more complicated and confusing for riders who have to be encouraged, initially, to ride buses.  There is the South Davis BRT (which I am against) scheduled for 200 South.  

Route 223
Route 223 would receive a substantial improvement in frequency. Buses would shift from every 2 hours to every 30 minutes from 6 am to 9am, and 3 pm to 6pm; buses would come every 60 minutes from 9 am to 3 pm, and 6 pm to 9 pm. The northern end of the 223 would also be modified to serve Research Park, university hospitals via Mario Capecchi Drive, and the University of Utah via Central Campus Drive. The route would no longer service 900 South, 1300 East, and South Campus Drive.
Route 223 - Is 223 focusing on 1700 East and 2300 East?  Not clear.


Route 228
UTA would discontinue route 228 and replace segments of this route with routes 4, 33, 39, 45, and 223.
I agree about route 228.

Route 313
In response to a request from the University of Utah, route 313 would no longer service the entrance to the University of Utah Hospital. Access to the university hospitals and clinics would be available at bus stops along Mario Capecchi Dr. 
Route 354
In response to a request from the University of Utah, route 354 would no longer service the entrance to the University of Utah Hospital. Access to the university hospitals and clinics would be available at bus stops along Mario Capecchi Dr.
Route 313 and route 354 which runs via Foothill to Wasatch should have a higher frequency since UofU and WFRC thinks that the road can handle BRTs.  The bus service should increase frequency first before considering spending hundreds of millions on the 200 South to Foothill to Wasatch Blvd BRT.  So 313 and 354 should be combined to prove that people will ride buses on Foothill.  It requires coordination with big parking lots.

Route 470
Route 470 would be extended to Salt Lake Central Station via 400 South, 400 West, and 200 South. The current southbound 470 stop at 420 S State St would no longer be serviced by the route 470. This new routing would add a connection to Courthouse Station at 400 South and Main Street.
Route 470 should stop at corner of State and 400 South (close to the corner).  There is no excuse for missing the stop that could pick up a lot of City and State and Federal employees.

Route 500
UTA would discontinue route 500 and replace it with route 200. Capitol Hill would receive 15-minute service Monday–Saturday and 30-minute service on Sundays.
Route 500 should not be combined with 200 (see above).

Route F556 is not mentioned yet there are plans to push a billion dollar rail (first BRT) on 5600 West.  A regular frequent bus running from the International Center all the way to the Utah County line with priority lights, should be tried first.  UDOT has said that it could be an alternative bus concept.  UTA should stop asking for federal funds for the BRT on 5600 West and focus on service first.  A connection to the Airport would also be nice.  Stops can be further apart when there are few businesses.  5600 West should be number 3 on increasing service after State and Redwood Road.  

Speaking of 217, (not listed for change) there was an effort by some in WVC to have the Redwood Road bus run to the Airport a few years ago and I keep pushing to get Delta to allow Bramble to repeal his ban on fixed guideway funding from Airport Passenger Fees that could help pay for a Redwood Road better bus system (also 5600 West).  I do not think that Redwood Road has the width to lose two lanes of traffic but it could be an enhanced bus if the circles that it keeps running around State offices is removed.  This issue needs to be revisited.  Matt Sibul knows the issue.  I keep needling him about it and the FAA changed the rules a few years ago.  If you want more than 1100 passengers a day riding UTA (TRAX) to the Airport, you need more convenient and faster service.  217 and 556 could help.

Route 519
Route 519 would no longer end at Salt Lake Central Station. It would end at the Bennett Federal Building at 100 South and State Street, traveling via 200 South and better providing service to the central business district of downtown.
Route 520
Route 520 would no longer end at Salt Lake Central Station. It would end at the Bennett Federal Building at 100 South and State Street, traveling via 200 South and better providing service to the central business district of downtown.
Route 519 and 520 may be amenable to rerouting past the Capitol.  It should be studied.  And the Taylorsville State Campus also needs better connections with the Capitol and Downtown (by the end of the year).

Route 551
Additional trips would be added on route 551, including during early weekday mornings and weekends, to meet the needs of sponsoring businesses.
Route 551 needs a lot more frequency.  And maybe lower costs to ride.  

Route 871
The new route 871 would travel between Draper Town Center Station and Lehi Station. The 871 would provide service to Adobe, the Outlets at Traverse Mountain, Xactware, and Mountain Point Medical Center. Service would run every 30 minutes on weekdays and every 60 minutes on weekends.
Route 871 from Draper to Lehi should be more frequent if ridership increases.  This should apply to all bus routes.  It shouldn't wait for a change day if any routes increase ridership quickly.  If done right, like in San Francisco, ridership can increase 60%!  UTA may also consider sponsoring buses with companies like Adobe and the Outlets.  

Route 603, in Ogden, should go back to 25th Street (where the action is) and remove the turns onto 26th Street.  It should also increase frequency to 10 minutes and the stops on 25th Street should be restored (they were removed in some cases between Jefferson and Harrison).  

I look forward to the bus stop proposals.  I also want to point out that UTA's claim that there was a significant increase in route 2 ridership due to the better bus stop amenities is not what the study said.  It could not attribute the increased ridership to the better bus stop amenities.  Riders like service and frequency.  Studies show that with the same frequency, rail and buses have the same satisfaction rate (a study recently from Australia confirmed this).

MAY 9, 2019

PARKING VRS BICYCLES DRIVE COMMUNITY MEETING

PARKING VRS BICYCLES DRIVE COMMUNITY MEETING
  The 9th East and 9th South neighborhood business community held an overflow meeting Wednesday night at Liberty Park that resulted in a lot of anger and polarization of the community. The object was to clear up a misconception that the 9-Line Trail project from 1300 East to 950 East would have a large impact on parking or require a redesign of the 9-Line Trail. Neither was necessary. The project is to start next month after over a year of vigorous community engagement. Many of the 125 attendees at the meeting were there to defend what they felt was a threat to bicycle infrastructure by parking proponents.
  The community has always felt that the 9th and 9th neighborhood had parking problems. The local East Liberty Park Community Organization (ELPCO) sued a developer a few years ago due to their lack of parking for a proposed development. The project eventually was pulled although the community lost the lawsuit. 
  Nearby residents have often complained about the lack of adequate parking that results in restaurant and business patrons parking in residential neighborhoods. The area has been emphasized and encouraged to be walkable. That allows nearby residents to enjoy walking to neighborhood businesses but requires those who drive to the area to park then walk through the many businesses that emphasize window shopping. The wide sidewalks help but there is not enough parking to allow hours of window shopping and going to restaurants after parking.
  The City Transportation Department, unlike many previous major street redesign projects, engaged the community, landowners, businesses and residents in many meetings with significant feedback over the last year. The goal was to ensure that the neighborhood would approve of the project that would be a continuation of the 9-Line Trail project going from Emigration Canyon to I215. The County was providing over $500,000 for the project. The result was an agreement that the 900 South street from 1300 South to 1100 East would be reduced to 2 lanes from 4, there would be a roundabout at 1100 East and 900 South with Gilmer Drive (with a projected loss of 7 parking spaces near the roundabout) and a shared pedestrian/bicycle path raised above the street level 12 feet wide from 1300 East to about 950 East (on the south side).
  Two weeks ago at the East Liberty Park Community Organization, a neighborhood businessman and developer, Phil Winston, argued that the City plans showed a loss of 38 parking spaces in the 9th South business area!  A local online news site, Building Salt Lake, had a story that implied that the bicycle path was threatened due to concerns about parking. The local bicycling community spread the news and was at the meeting to support the plan for the 9-Line Trail. The local neighborhood residents and businesses were at the meeting to object to losing so many parking spots. 
  But the 9-Line Trail was not under threat. The project was going through. The 9-Line Trail is an extensive plan (a 57 MB file download from slcgov.com – Google it) that will encourage biking in Salt Lake County and emphasize the area's recreational assets. 
  The City presentation attempted to be structured but emphasized the previous discussions and future plans for parking in Salt Lake City instead of emphasizing that the City changed their plans (after discussing them over the last week with businesses) to result in a loss of about 20 parking spots around the roundabout, mainly in residential areas around 1100 East. The increase in loss of parking spots due to the roundabout (from 7 to over 20) was because the roundabout had to be bigger for increased safety than previously thought. The bigger roundabout has a significant negative impact on residents and businesses around it, including one who has a driveway essentially in the roundabout. 
  Tom Millar, who has managed the community engagement over the last year (He also was instrumental in getting community agreement on McClelland Street shared concept plan.) went over the history of the project for half an hour while the attendees became more and more frustrated. In answer to some questions about why the City didn’t study parking in the area before the project, Transportation Director Jon Larsen said that a parking study called a transportation demand management plan was coming and tried to describe the way that is going to emphasize proper parking standards. But again the audience became more frustrated. 
  When the Acting Director of Neighborhood Development tried to alleviate concerns about a protected bike path (actually shared and raised to sidewalk level), she defended the controversial 300 South cycle track and said that the City found that business activity/revenue actually increased in the area after the cycle track was put in. The community did not appreciate that comment, although the bicycling community attending did like hearing that.
  The main neighborhood concern was that they have spent decades trying to encourage a vibrant, walkable and inviting area in 9th and 9th and at the same time tried to ensure appropriate parking so that adjacent residential neighborhoods did not have to endure many strange cars parking in their quiet single family home neighborhoods. So the potential loss of so many parking spots was a big concern. 
  Many spoke up in favor of the project and asked that it go forward as quickly as possible. But many others, expressed concern about the City ignoring how important parking is to residents and businesses. 
  The City also emphasized the new expanded service on the 9 UTA bus that will operate earlier and later at night and on Sunday at 15 minute frequency and continue to the westside of SLC via 13th South. The service will start in August and it is expected to only be minimally impacted by the project construction.    There will also be coordination with UTA to provide better bus stops and shelters on the street. Some of the stops will be moved to provide safer stops and the stops will have bigger ADA pads. The 213 bus will move the 1100 East bus stop to the 9th South corner before the roundabout since it will no longer have to negotiate across two lanes of traffic to turn left. 
  The traffic on 900 South, around 5000 ADT, has significant traffic congestion during East High School starting and there was a concern that going from 4 lanes to 2 lanes may make the congestion worse. That issue was not able to be addressed. There was also concern that pedestrians, especially kids, walking on the roundabout raised crosswalks may face increased danger. The City expressed confidence that the 20 MPH speed required to go through the roundabout would increase safety for pedestrians.
  The result of the meeting was a lot of unanswered questions. Although many questions were answered, many nearby residents were not able to have their questions answered when the City shut down the meeting thinking that they had to be out by 8PM (the community council used it the previous month until after 830). Although the City has significantly increased public engagement with potential projects over the last year, this ended up an inadvertent complication. (The City had a big outreach and many community meetings with the recent 2700 South reconstruction and redesign.) The City went back to the drawing board to reduce the potential loss of parking in the neighborhood business area. But they should have gone door to door with notices over the last year to nearby residents and not just to the landowners on 900 South. Nearby residents on 1100 East are going to see the biggest impact but the area will have a safer bicycling and pedestrian path. The project completion will result in a safer 900 South for cars, pedestrians and bicyclists but the project designs will require further real life studies to ensure that it does not cause inadvertent negative consequences.
  Interestingly, on the same night, SLC also reached out to the local community council to start the process of resurfacing 500 East with possible design changes. The project is a year away but the City asked for feedback on possible changes to the street striping. Although 600 East is the City’s bikeway, including passing through Liberty Park, 500 East seems to have more bicycle traffic. Possible bike lanes and other changes are possible. This project design is just starting but it is nice to see that the City is getting better at public outreach and engagement. Last week, the Ballpark Community Council discussed the project for upgrading sidewalks on 300 West, which will be completely reconstructed in 2022. The community asked for the sidewalk project be speeded up for the next year even though it would require some reconstruction (at a cost of $250,000) during the 2022 project. The City is asking the community for feedback which is commendable. 
  The main takeaway from all of this is that community residents and businesses should attend their local community councils. The City goes to all of those community councils and provides a lot of information about projects, developments and public safety. They are important for providing feedback to the City which changes their designs and ordinances based on community feedback at the meetings. Please attend your local community council. The latest downloadable council list is in the upper left.

MAY 8, 2019

MAYOR CANDIDATES LAUGHABLY CLAIM TO BE AGAINST INLAND PORT
THIS WORLD WILL ALWAYS HAVE A BATHROOM PROBLEM
SLC STILL DOESN'T UNDERSTAND IMPORTANCE OF PARKING
HOMELESS TAI CHI ORDERED OUT OF RIO GRANDE STREET
CANYONS SOLUTIONS NO BRAINER. JUST DO IT
LTGOV COX AGAINST WAREHOUSING HOMELESS ARGUES AGAINST SRO
SMALL BUSES DID NOT HELP UTA
UOFU WANTS SCOOTERS AFTER SKATEBOARD PROBLEMS
UTA BONDING FOR GOLD PLATED BUS GARAGE
LANDLORD PROBLEMS WITH VOUCHERS

MAYOR CANDIDATES LAUGHABLY CLAIM TO BE AGAINST INLAND PORT
  Several candidates for mayor of Salt Lake City are trying to hide their pro Inland Port actions.  Despite Councilmember Erin Mendenhall's successful efforts to negotiate the Inland Port implementation and agreement between the State and the City Council, she now says that she does "not support the State’s tax and land use grab from Salt Lake City.....The way that those decisions have been taken from us is wrong."  But the City Council, led by Chair Erin Mendenhall, agreed to the new Inland Port bill!  Saying that she does not support the State's Inland Port land grab is laughable at best and, at worst, is a poor attempt at currying the favor of the majority of Salt Lake City citizens that are against the Inland Port.  
  The City lost almost 25% of their land with the bill.  The City, before the State expropriated the land, had passed a formal plan to develop the property and make it a redevelopment area, with the intention of it functioning potentially like an industrial development area similar to the Inland Port.  But the City Council, led by then Chair Erin Mendenhall, agreed with the Legislature and negotiated a "better?" deal to give up 25% of the City's property for nothing!
  I agree that the State Inland Port bill is unconstitutional and I support the lawsuit by the Mayor against the State.  The City Council has tried to stop the lawsuit, yet Councilmember Erin Mendenhall now says that she is against the Inland Port bill!  
  Former Senator Jim Dabakis is also running for mayor of Salt Lake City.  Although he supports the Mayor's lawsuit, he helped amend the Inland Port bill and got the City Council to accept it during the negotiations for it!  So he supported the amended bill but he is for the lawsuit?!
  I guess the operative phrase is: "how dumb do they think we are?"

THIS WORLD WILL ALWAYS HAVE A BATHROOM PROBLEM
  In a story by Dennis Romboy about the renovation of the Sprague Library (https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900068450/is-this-the-answer-to-the-bathroom-problem.html), the focus of the story was on an "all-gender, multiuser restroom or universal washroom" in the proposed design. Peter Bromberg is an amazing and respected SLC Library Director who has been active in upgrading all of Salt Lake City’s Libraries and the services that they provide. His characterization of the community meeting where the attendees hardly “blinked” is wrong. Several people (I was one, and was speaking for many around me.) expressed concern about the proposed unisex bathroom. Out of respect for Mr. Bromberg, after we gave our objections, we did not continue to argue. We love Peter Bromberg but we strongly disagree with his proposal. After the objections from the community meeting (some did like Mr. Bromberg’s idea), plans were added for another separate restroom.
  Libraries throughout the nation have had problems with some inappropriate use by homeless of services in the libraries, including in restrooms. The problems are attributable to the fact that cities do not provide enough services for the homeless, including public safe and sanitary facilities (the City only installed a couple of porta potties just a couple of years ago) and clothes and body washing facilities (except at the Weigand Center in the Rio Grande area). 
  This lack of adequate and respectful services for the homeless has resulted in the libraries being used by those without any other ways to keep clean. Peter Bromberg solved the Main Library problem of restrooms being inappropriately used, by implementing bathroom monitors next to the restrooms. It solved a lot of problems and made the Main Library bathrooms more sanitary and comfortable for patron use.
  Many other libraries in the system have had issues with inappropriate use (not just by the homeless) and librarians have stepped up to try to decrease the problems. But sometimes, at some libraries, it requires a police officer. Mr. Bromberg’s goal with his proposal is to “promote safety and better access”. The problem with the proposed design is that many people are uncomfortable around so called undesirables/homeless. Whether it is on a bus or in a restroom, it is an uncomfortable and disrespectful fact of life. Many women and men would feel uncomfortable walking into a multiuser restroom and finding a man or woman washing their clothes out in the sink and would be discouraged from using the secure stalls. Most children would be even more uncomfortable. 
  The idea of all-gender, multiuser restrooms is an attempt to solve the issues that include countering the good old boys network that hurt advancement of women in business, making people feel out of place (not just transgender), bullying in restrooms and the obvious smoking in the boys room. Historically, we have almost always had issues with toilets. I don’t think that it is realistic to go back to the ancient communal toilets with over 10 plus toilets on a stone bench side by side. Wasatch Canyon users complain regularly about lack of restrooms; Salt Lake City had to recently modify a restroom for ADA access and park users always complain about the public restrooms not being open (The City finally opened them April 20.).
  One should look realistically at the issue and realize that the only way to design a restroom “in which no one will either feel or be made to feel out of place” is to have one room compact toilet and sink facilities side by side. Instead of one public communal restroom at Sprague, which would still have difficulties monitoring for inappropriate behavior, it would make more sense to have 4 or five separate small rooms with toilets and sinks, including ADA access. That would make it easier to monitor those going in and ensuring that inappropriate use is not being allowed. 

SLC STILL DOESN'T UNDERSTAND IMPORTANCE OF PARKING
  Over the last year, there have been many cases where parking issues in Salt Lake City have created hate and discontent and, in one case, a redesign that turned out better than the first proposal.
  The 9-Line Trail in Salt Lake City, is a visionary project that will eventually connect the Bonneville Shoreline Trail with the Jordan River Trail. It received some money from Salt Lake County that is being used to change the 9th South roadway from 4 lanes to 2 lanes between about 10th East to 13th East. It will add a raised bicycle and pedestrian path for the Trail that is on the South side. It will also place a roundabout on the 11th East and 9th South intersection to increase safety for the 5 way intersection. The community had a big discussion and analysis about the project and decided that it was a good idea that would increase safety for vehicles, pedestrians and bicyclists (there are also two raised crosswalks). The community was told and agreed that losing the predicted seven parking spaces would be acceptable.
  Two weeks ago, the City acknowledged that the predictions of parking spaces lost could be much higher. The developer that is remodeling the store on the northeast corner of 9th South and 9th East to become a restaurant and separate store showed that the project could lose as many as 38 parking spaces around the 9th and 9th area! The local community council members, many of whom lived within two blocks from the project were concerned about the loss of parking. The City agreed to discuss the project (starting this month) at a special meeting on May 8 at 530PM at the Youth City building in Liberty Park (about the center of the Park).
  The East Liberty Park Community Organization - ELPCO has been so concerned about the parking limitations in the area that it sued the City a few years ago to stop development of a building that had fewer than one half spaces per residential unit. The developer gave up on the project due to the delay caused by the lawsuit.
  Another recent argument about parking happened in the Sugar House area after community input on McClelland street redesign between 2100 South and Sugarmont (next to the S-Line). The community gave its recommendation after being told that their design would lose only a couple of spaces. The businesses thought otherwise and the parking loss necessitated a redesign that actually turned out for the better as a shared street
  Also, in the Sugar House area, the 2700 South reconstruction (using funds that were originally for 300 West matching of federal grant funds) is slated to remove parking on the north side of 2700 South to provide room for a bike lane going uphill on the south side of 2700 South.  The nearby residents were upset but the City said that they found that less than 15 cars were generally parked on the north side between 1300 East and 2100 East. The redesign and reconstruction happened with just a couple of months of notice. Fortunately, the City was able to have several meetings with residents and changed some of the plans. Instead of 7 raised crosswalks, there will only be 3.  But parking is still scheduled to be removed from the north side. Many nearby residents are still upset about the removal of parking on the north side of 2700 South.
  Reducing travel lanes on 1700 South (between State Street and 300 West) in order to add bicycle lanes and parking for the new apartments going into the neighborhoods resulted in a polarizing fight that had half of the community against the travel lane reduction and half for more on street parking. Parking won this fight but the community remains divided about the plan. 
  Parking in Salt Lake City always has been a controversial issue. The City has limited demolition permits that would result in parking lots. The City policy has been to not "waste" ground floor space with parking lots. The policy, until a few years ago, was to require a half of a parking space onsite per residential unit. But when a restaurant on 2100 East (Brew Ha Ha) tried to allow over 100 seats with just 6 onsite spaces, the backlash resulted in the City changing the rules to require one onsite parking space per unit (except for SROs). One of the developers affected was Vasilios Priskos who was not allowed to demolish empty buildings downtown because the City did not want to allow more surface parking lots. But the result was empty buildings, some for over a decade. Empty buildings encourage and enable criminal behavior. But the City has ignored that and still pushes against demolishing buildings!
  One of the reasons for the big fight in Sugar House about routing the S-Line north on 1100 East was the potential for loss of parking since the street is not wide enough for the planned two TRAX trains. The previous administration paid for a parking study in the Sugar House and Downtown area but it was never officially released. The study by Nelson/Nyggard found that the Downtown and Sugar House areas had plenty of parking. Some on the City Council and others expressed concern that accepting the report would lead to less parking requirements for developers and could push retail and residential building to other nearby cities. If there is no parking in Sugar House, why not go to Millcreek just down the street?
  There are many other projects that impact parking and the City should ensure that there is adequate notice and public engagement about projects that impact parking. In several cases, the City gave the community one month's notice to decide on a road diet that could increase parking (1300 South and 2100 South). Both projects polarized the residents. The City has other projects that will increase bicycling safety but could impact parking that deserve more publicizing and discussion. 
  The City should not be telling a community like 9th and 9th that there will be a lot more parking spaces lost when the project starts next month! Businesses are already considering moving due to the construction and loss of parking. One has left already. 
  Parking is a complicated issue. Donald Shoup has a good argument that we may have too much parking in his The High Cost of Free Parking. But his arguments are countered very well by Randal O'Toole of the Cato Institute who points out that making life with a car more difficult will encourage sprawl because developers will build further away from city centers to be allowed to build for cars.
  Salt Lake City should not rush projects that have such a big impact on communities regarding parking. Well before these projects are designed and given out with a contract, there should be a clear understanding and agreement on what the project will do to the community and specifically to parking.

HOMELESS TAI CHI ORDERED OUT OF RIO GRANDE STREET
  Bernie and Marita Hart's Tai Chi program has been ordered out of Rio Grande homeless area.  The State Police were ordered to kick the homeless Tai Chi program out of the Rio Grande area (they practiced next to the closed area in the street).  They told Bernie Hart that they were ordered to ticket him if he continues.  They suggested that he go to Pioneer Park.  Bernie's program is one of the few successful efforts to provide structure, calm and respect to homeless, and obviously, it is threatening to some political leaders.  It is a non confrontational homeless program.  It has been featured in many newspapers, TV stories and in magazines.  Yet it seems to be scaring leaders.  It is interesting that the State Police are threatening ticketing when the homeless don't care about ticketing.  Some homeless get up to 100 tickets.

CANYONS SOLUTIONS NO BRAINER. JUST DO IT
  The UDOT scoping period for the Little Cottonwood Canyon EIS has been extended indefinitely.  The original EIS was to start the construction of the new lane in Little Cottonwood Canyon that the State planned to construct with the $67 million budgeted to decrease the many backups.  Former State Senate President Neiderhauser, who lives near the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon, wanted to force Canyon users to pay a toll to go up the Canyon (SB71) but UDOT is doing the EIS to see if it makes sense over some other potential solutions to the backups that extend into Neiderhauser's area.  The tolls were to go for a parking garage near the mouth, that could be near Terry Diehl's property.
  The solutions should be a no brainer.  The Canyons need bus service now year round before any tolling.  There should be options for those not wanting or able to pay a toll.  The Legislature should provide seed money to start weekend Canyons bus service this year.  Several years ago, UTA did a study suggesting that it would cost a million a year per Canyon but it has obviously gone up.
  Before any tolling is even considered, there must be options like convenient bus service with convenient transfers from TRAX and other buses so they may need to be running outside of the Canyons.  Buses may need more bicycle carrying capacity.  But it will require starting the service to find out if it works or what is needed to make it work.  
  Parking does need to be increased in and out of the Canyons but the goal of year 2000 parking standards is unrealistic.  The State and County should put in more parking up the Canyon at many trailheads along with restrooms (for environmental reasons = EIS) and secured parking outside of Canyon which does not necessarily need to be on Wasatch Blvd if the bus goes by it.  When I say secured, I mean someone or a camera has to monitor it since one breakin and people will not park there again.  Note that all parking lots should have restrooms open year round if you really are concerned about the environment and watershed.  Salt Lake City Public Utilities has refused the request from the Forest Service to connect up 6 restrooms in the Canyon.
  Several years before the Mountain Accord, the Canyon Transportation Study looked at a curb/separation between the shoulder and roadway that could be used for bicycles going up the Canyon.  The bike shoulder does not need to meet the heavy duty requirements for big trucks and buses and they should stay off the shoulder anyway.  That cycle track would be very important.
  Since avalanches close the Canyon roads often in the winter, priority should be given to construct avalanche sheds which may need further Legislative funding.  
  The priorities should be:
1) avalanche sheds
2) bus service
3) parking in and out of the canyon with facilities/restrooms open year round
4) bike lane on the shoulder going up
5) then, after everything else is in place, look at tolling again.

LT GOV COX AGAINST WAREHOUSING HOMELESS ARGUES AGAINST SROS
  Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox said at the event naming the new homeless shelter on Paramount (moved south from original entrance) that the old model “was based on warehousing,” while the new centers will offer a place where people “can come and get the resources they need so homelessness can be brief.  That is the main argument that many of us have been saying is the reason why SROs are a bad idea.  Mixed income, mixed use facilities make more sense.  It is important that residents have an interest in preserving the neighborhood and all low income facilities tend to not have that interest.  See below for the issues with Palmer Court.  
  The homeless shelter construction on Paramount is also destroying businesses.  In some cases, the businesses have lost 25% of their business!  The City has not offered compensation, or low interest loans or signs that might help.  The construction companies are ignoring the adjacent businesses and blocking their access!  The City needs to step up and do right.
  Also, there were 17 deaths at Palmer Court last year.  Palmer Court, a converted motel between Main and State just south of 900 South and operated by the Road Home, is a good argument against all low income housing.  SLCFD has had issues with the large number of medical response calls at Palmer Court which is the second biggest draw after the Rio Grande area.  Putting all low income in one facility results in encouraging and enabling bad behavior.  

SMALL BUSES DID NOT HELP UTA
  The question of why UTA does not use small buses keeps coming up.  The answer is that they tried them but they ended up costing about the same since the major cost was drivers and maintenance.  And the small Optimus buses were very high maintenance.  UTA ended up giving them to the UofU for their shuttles!  UTA maintains them with a contract but when UTA operated them, they found that they were very unreliable and couldn't be depended on for a reliable service.  The cost of operation between a big bus and a small bus is about the same.  And the convenience of having a consistent service and the ability to handle 40+ passengers during some events and rush hours is important.  
  I have tried the small buses and found that they can be crowded at certain times and wanting for more space.  I have also tried the small vans but I found them very inconvenient and poorly constructed.  The new buses are able to accept wheelchairs easily while the vans tend to need a lot more time.  Interestingly, the big express and Park City buses need forever to accept wheelchairs!  UTA really should operate the low floor, kneeling and quick ramp deploying buses exclusively.  They work.  Everything else is too high maintenance.

UOFU WANTS SCOOTERS AFTER SKATEBOARD PROBLEMS
  There have been several stories about how the University of Utah is about to accept rental scooters on campus.  Lost in the stories is the fact that the University has had a love hate relationship with scooters and skateboards.  In 2013, an accident that seriously injured a pedestrian resulted in a fight that almost banned skateboards on campus.  The present rule on campus is that skateboards are limited to 10 MPH while the electric scooters have a 15 MPH limit on a straightaway.  So the University is about to accept scooters if they can be limited to a 10 MPH speed.  The same arguments against scooters in SLC apply, mainly that pedestrians should not be threatened by scooters and rental scooters are being operated by people who are generally unexperienced which increases threats to pedestrians and riders.
  The University "policy enforces a 10-mph speed limit for all motorized and non-motorized vehicles, prohibits skateboarders from riding in parking lots or roadways, requires riders to yield to pedestrians, bans non-motorized vehicles from stairways, grass, benches, etc., among other precautionary measures."  The University's SAFE campaign "safety officers will cite violators with written warnings for their first offense. For the second offense, riders will have their vehicle impounded for a minimum of 48 hours and receive a minimum $100 fine. After the second violation, riders will have their vehicles impounded for a minimum of 30 days and be subject to an escalating schedule of fines."
  The University's commuting manager, Alma Allred, has this to say:  "Your concerns are well founded and that’s why we are investigating how we can best regulate the use of the scooters.  There are ways to limit the speeds of these scooters while within a geographic boundary that we can stipulate.  There will be lots of input with the hope of maintaining a safe environment for pedestrians while at the same time encouraging active transportation options."

UTA BONDING FOR GOLD PLATED BUS GARAGE
  UTA is pulling a fast one with the Utah State Bonding Commission.  In an effort to bond for $31 million to speed up the construction of the $100 million CNG bus garage, UTA told the Bonding Commission that they lowered the cost of the project and that they need it.  A CNG refueling facility for hundreds of buses should not cost more than $30 million.  Part of the large cost, approaching $100 million, is due to the effort to try to save and work with the old brick structure (supposedly historic) is questionable and is a poor use of taxpayer funds since it may cost 2-3 times more to build than a new building.  The old brick building is not easily made earthquake proof.  Placing all of UTA's CNG refueling systems in Salt Lake County in one area is also questionable with the threat of an earthquake.  
  A CNG facility should cost no more than $30 million since it just requires pumps (the cost really could be as little as $10 million), not a $70 + million facility.  I recognize that WFRC and UTA have been trying to push this issue (including at the federal government) for over 5 years and I have been fighting it (including for a couple of years protesting UTA secret applications at the federal government).  The old RTP (about to be updated) has it at $65 million over 5 years ago and UTA, in September, said that after a $17 million investment, it will require an additional $70.5 million.
  If UTA really wanted to be efficient, they shouldn't be running buses out to outlying areas in the morning empty (dead head buses) from the central bus garage (they have two - one south of the County Jail and another downtown) and returning empty in the evening to the central bus garage!  There are plans for new bus garages in the outlying areas which should be significantly reducing the size and cost of the $88 million garage that UTA is asking $30 million bonding for.  Both the southwest and southeast WFRC draft new RTP supposedly includes these garages.  And again, from a safety/emergency plan, all CNG refueling should not be in one place.
  UTA is under pressure to move the present bus garage since SLC wants to develop it into part of the Depot District Research Park.  The old bus garage is on the corner of 600 West and 200 South.  But UTA/taxpayers/riders should not have to pay for SLC's pie in the sky designs that increase the cost.  
  During arguments with the Board and senior management, they  indicated that it was more efficient to have drivers pick up their buses after refueling at the main bus garage (being built) instead of going across the street with a bus to refuel.  The 5 minute drive is inefficient.  But it is more inefficient to drive empty twice a day to and from outlying areas that should have their own bus garages.  Smaller bus garages would be less costly overall, more efficient and safer in an earthquake.
  UTA's statement justifying the bus garage said that "Unless UTA is able to build the Depot District Clean Fuels Tech Center, UTA is limited in its ability to expand service.  Fundamentally, increased service requires more buses, with adequate facilities to store ad maintain them."
  I disagree with that statement.  UTA's priority, before any more projects or bonding, should be to increase service.  There is no lack of space for maintenance or refueling now or in the next two years.  UTA should provide more specific justification for increasing bonding.  

LANDLORD PROBLEMS WITH VOUCHERS
  There have been several stories about trying to get landlords to accept housing vouchers.  Many landlords are leery of accepting them.  If you ask the landlords why, they say that many of the voucher users engage in criminal activity and they have difficulties evicting them.  They point out that, despite multiple arrests, SWAT raids, drug arrests, assaults, abundant police calls and underage partying, it is difficult to remove the tenants using housing vouchers.  Some have fought the efforts to evict by claiming discrimination.  I know of one case of a person who was operating a meth lab and who had a visitor arrested twice in two days with drugs who fought for a year to not be evicted.  The landlord had to pay $6000 to clean the house!  In another case, the police tried to ensure the safety of a young man who had taken drugs but the tenant refused to allow the police in.  That eviction took 6 months.  When some tenants are finally evicted, landlords find lots of needles on the floor and in the couches!

APRIL 24, 2019
UTA NEW DRIVER TURNOVER IS OVER 50%
SLC PROMISED NEW COPS BUT WHERE ARE THEY
SLTRIB PUBLISHES S-LINE AND SRO OPEDS
UTA GETS CONFLICTING RECOMMENDED GOALS SLC VRS SW SLCO

PROBLEM WITH AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN SLC IS SLC GOVERNMENT

UTA ENCOURAGES PROJECTS BY CLAIMING THAT RAIL LEADS TO 

    DEVELOPMENT

BODYCAM COSTS DECREASE WITH HELP FROM UTAH INTERACTIVE
SLC RDA IGNORES 9-LINE SAFETY & ENCOURAGES POLLUTION,    

     MILKRUNS AND VACANT BUILDINGS
SLC PARK RESTROOMS OPENED FINALLY
300 W. BALLPARK NEEDS TEMPORARY SIDEWALKS
UTA ORDERS BUS DRIVERS TO STAY AWAY FROM THE CURB
UTA SELLS SEX
TRAX EXTENSION IN LEHI/DRAPER WILL SCREW WESTSIDE 
SLC ADOPTS BUDGET AMENDMENT 5 WITH TRANSIT PROJECTS NOT SERVICE


UTA NEW DRIVER TURNOVER IS OVER 50%
  UTA is promising to increase bus service in August with many new routes for the buses that they have and expanding span of service.  We have been pushing for increasing service this August with the new SB136 taxes, and until now, UTA insisted that they will have to wait to expand service in August of 2020!  UTA is trying to expand service this August but the weak link in the effort is the fact that UTA is about to lose 30 drivers to retirement, over 50% of newly trained bus drivers (trained and given a Class B license) leave within a year.  Many leave because of the realization that with a split shift policy (work the morning and evening rush hours), they are effectively working 12 hours a day with 4 drives to work!  The pay is now starting at 17.75 an hour but the turnover is still high.  Drivers are getting a $1000 bonus for referring new drivers (who also get a $1000 sign on bonus after training).  That is still not enough.  The Union that negotiates the salaries needs to work with UTA to find a compensation that will attract and keep bus drivers.  There is also the issue of retirement.  SB136 requires that UTA study moving retirement to Utah's retirement system and report by September of 2019.  Drivers are concerned about that potential impact on their retirement.
  The number one reason that people like to ride buses is a pleasant bus driver.  We need to attract and keep more bus drivers to encourage mass transit use.

SLC PROMISED NEW COPS BUT WHERE ARE THEY
  Several years ago, the Salt Lake City Council was fighting to add more police under pressure from citizens.  The meeting devolved into a fight between Mayor Becker who did not want to hire more cops.  Chief of Staff David Everett ordered Asst Police Chief Ross to not allow the Council to hire more cops.  Councilman Charlie Luke and Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall tried to get Chief Ross to explain why he couldn't hire more cops.  He said that the SLC Police Academy could not handle more.  Council Executive Assistant Cindy Gust-Jensen (who is probably the most knowledgeable person in City Hall called him on that statement and pointed out that the Academy could handle as many as needed.  So the Council set a goal of hiring more cops (with the help of a grant).
  Several years later, under a new administration, when it became obvious that SLC needed more cops, the City and Council agreed to a tax increase (allowed with Mayor Becker's negotiations to accept the new prison) that would fund expanded transit "service", hire 50 new cops (later reduced to 23 or so), increase affordable housing and help maintain roads.  But the City also hired a labor negotiator who claimed to reduce salary increases!
  SLCPD Chief Brown helped increase the officers on patrol by repurposing officers and detectives that would not normally be on patrol, onto patrols.  In some cases, the officers were rotated onto patrol for a few weeks from their desk jobs.  The walking patrols that the City Council insisted on a few years ago downtown ceased to exist.  And Operation Rio Grande (Operation Leaf Blower is the name given the Operation by the County Police Chiefs) concentrated SLCPD officers in the Gateway area.  That increased the pressure on the City to hire more cops.  The Salt Lake City Council also increased their salary almost 50% in December of 2018 despite arguments that police deserved the salary increase more (going from 24,000 a year to 35,000 a year for a part time job which generally takes up to 20 hours a week if they are dedicated).  Councilwoman Mendenhall explained that she shouldn't be making less than her baby sitter (The City has failed for years in their efforts to establish a day care center for City employees.).
  So we are now at the point where the proposed SLC budget is about to be announced and the City administration (the Mayor) is not talking to the Police Union!  Last year, the Union and City did not talk and the City and Council set the salary increase for all employees, including cops, at 3%!  Chief Brown has touted at community councils that the City has hired 80 new officers in the last year.  But the City has also lost around 80 officers in the last year.  Where are the new cops that the City and Council promised?  
  The City, the Council, the Police Union and the Police administration need to sit down and talk now to provide compensation that will attract and keep good police officers.  If the salary is so low that only questionable candidates apply and some of the best leave, it hurts the effectiveness of police and decreases the relationship between the police and the community.

SLTRIB PUBLISHES S-LINE AND SRO OPEDS
  The Salt Lake Tribune published two opinion pieces in the last week.  Although I am usually limited to one a month, every year or so, I get several published in the month due to important issues.  The S-Line opinion piece counters some of the UTA claims about how important that the Line was to Sugar House development.  The Single Room Occupancy oped resulted in an overflow crowd at the SLC City Council hearing (see below).  
  The links to the opeds are

https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2019/04/12/george-chapman-uta-should/

https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2019/04/20/george-chapman-slc-plan/

UTA GETS CONFLICTING RECOMMENDED GOALS SLC VRS SW SLCO
  UTA has been reaching out to "community leaders" in the Salt Lake City/South Salt Lake City area and in South Jordan (SW part of the County) to find out what they recommend and want in transit expansion.  The effort is led by consultant Jarrett Walker who wrote the book Human Transit and has a blog by that name.  The attendees of the SLC/SSLC group expressed wanting more frequent service instead of coverage.  The attendees of the SW County area meeting wanted more coverage.  Unfortunately, it is not sinking in that coverage should not mean an expensive rail line that sucks out all of the potential for mass transit service expansion by bus.  As I have mentioned several times before, when LA did that, it took away from bus service and it resulted in almost no increase in ridership after spending billions.  When UTA expanded TRAX, it decreased bus service by 30% (some routes were claimed to be covered by TRAX).  
  If the SW County area does not understand what they want, they may end up with just one rail line and almost no bus service.  Salt Lake City attendees did seem to want an increase in frequent service, and span of service.  They were aware of and accepted the financial limitations of the exercise.  

THE PROBLEM WITH AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN SLC IS SLC GOVERNMENT
  The problem with lack of affordable housing in SLC is the SLC government!  Despite the claims that SROs will solve the housing crisis in the City and the County (they said that about ADUs but only 3 have been applied for and there is a $5000+ upfront cost due to impact fees), SROs will get a lot of pushback from the nearby residents and businesses.  The next to last semi SRO was closed (the Rio Grande Hotel is the last SRO in SLC and seems to be well managed) due to a resident killing a neighbor, despite onsite management.  The closest thing that we have to SROs now are the crime magnet motels that are causing problems on State Street and North Temple.  Despite efforts to close them with a civil penalty ordinance, they are still a problem.  And when we do close them, like the Capitol Motel on 1700 South, it does not result in more affordable housing.  
  The City Council, the administration and the RDA Board bought two low income affordable housing building around 250 S. State Street and tore them down to make a nicer, prettier building that was supposed to be affordable housing.  That happened 5 years ago.  The City messed up and so we actually lost the housing and it was not replaced.  The RDA is still attempting to get an affordable housing building in there.
  The City has also tried to redevelop the Pipeline Building that has been empty since the new Police HQ was built.  Still no affordable housing as promised.  Although Dan Lofgren's Cowboy Partners seems to have a plan, the Council has been arguing about how much affordable housing should be in there, as a percentage.  Dan Lofgren is one of the good guys in affordable housing.  He has a great reputation as a developer and is also adept at utilizing the State's tax credit for affordable housing system.  He was the only developer who built affordable housing, mixed income units in Sugar House (Liberty Village on McClelland).  But the City Council is insisting that it knows better and so the housing is still not being built!
  The City had a significant increase in housing starts during the Impact Fee moratorium several years ago.  But the new increased impact fees are affecting developers (and ADUs as mentioned above since they have to pay Impact Fees for single family homes to get a permit).  Last year, the City Council discussed fee waivers for mixed income with 20% affordable housing in apartments.  That could save developers of some large projects almost half a million dollars.  But the fee waiver discussion went nowhere.
  The City has a policy of mixed income but almost all approved new apartment buildings are market rate.  The City has also discussed but not implemented an inclusionary zoning policy that would require all new buildings (over 10 units) to have at least 10% affordable units.  
  The City Council, specifically Councilmembers Kitchen and Mendenhall, was able to convince the rest of the RDA Board (the Council and Mayor) to appropriate $21 million for affordable housing but the spending is slow to result in new affordable housing. 
  The RDA staff pointed out to the Council/RDA Board almost 5 years ago that the State Street area has the best potential for increasing housing in Salt Lake City and could significantly help in increasing affordable housing.  But the City and RDA have been going around in circles for almost 5 years without any result.  Recently, the RDA staff was told that the Board of Education was going to question the large area that encompassed the proposed RDA expansion area of State Street (going from 200 E. to 300 W. from 6th South to 2100 South).  So the potential for housing increasing there has hit a brick wall.  The City does not need to wait for approval of a redevelopment area.  It can easily and obviously quickly encourage affordable, mixed income, mixed use housing that allows for residents and businesses to invest in their area and encourages walkability.  Form based zoning and inclusionary zoning policies should be implemented for State Street.
  The Legislature and the municipal governments' efforts to get a handle on AirBnb also add to the increasing unaffordable housing in Utah.  That requires better data instead of using the honor system to get tax money from AirBnb and other peer to peer rental systems instead of getting the addresses and how often they are used.  In some cases, a home that rents for $1000 a month can use AirBnb to get double that or rent just half of the home for the cost of a mortgage.
  The City is using $2 million from the County transportation funds for prettifying State Street (South Salt Lake City is getting $2 million for the their area).  That money could be and should be better used to encourage mixed use and mixed income buildings along State Street.  The idea that State Street needs Disneylandish style traffic calming with roundabouts, fancy bus lanes and more trees (car lots hate trees) to meet the Life on State dream of Envision Utah before encouraging building affordable housing is wrong.  Governments should not implement visions that detract basic services and higher priority.
  Salt Lake City should stop holding property and vacant buildings for dozens of years (like the Pipeline Building and several properties around Gateway (that decreased in value due to the non use of the buildings - vacant buildings encourage crime and lower property values).  Those properties should be sold and used to encourage mixed income housing development in the City.  The City should not be thinking of using SROs to fulfill the need for affordable housing until they find a solution for and remove the crime magnet motels.  Even when the owners are on site and cameras are installed and they work with police, crime seems to be enabled and encouraged by the low cost of daily and weekly rentals.  SROs are not a solution.
  Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall, running for mayor, implied that she and the Council would vote for the SRO expansion encouragement on May 7, despite the polarizing of the citizens for and against the proposal.

UTA ENCOURAGES PROJECTS BY CLAIMING THAT RAIL LEADS TO DEVELOPMENT
  When UTA claims that the S-Line has led to billions of development in Sugar House, it encourages municipalities to demand their own rail lines.  Utah taxpayers do not have the money to pay for tens of billions of new rail lines.  UTA doesn't even have the money to increase bus service!  So again, to show that the claim that the S-Line is a boon to business development, if a rail line is all it takes to allow for exponential development, look at the 250 West and 2100 South area to State Street.  For over almost 20 years, there was no development in the area, despite a train every 5-10 minutes!  Despite the efforts of several developers.  That area, in South Salt Lake City is slowly getting some new buildings but sitting vacant for decades is not proof that rail leads to development.  The S-Line carries about 1300 riders a day (the oped link above goes into more detail) and it is not cost effective.  The efforts of some to expand it to 39th South via Highland or to the North via 1100 E. and 900 E. is a costly effort without justification, in my opinion.  And if UTA does not want the pressure to build more rail lines, they should stop saying that the S-Line led to billions of development.

BODYCAM COSTS COULD DECREASE WITH HELP FROM UTAH INTERACTIVE
  Again, the cost of bodycams for cops is coming under scrutiny.  The monthly cost is over $100 per month for bodycam storage and access via the supplier servers (like TASER now AXON).  The cost of servers and storage should be going down but the way the system is set up, the bodycams are provided with grants and when the money runs out, the police departments have to pay exorbitant monthly fees to store and access the videos.  Utah Interactive has a new product being tested that should provide much needed relief.  Their system is being built under the auspices of the Utah Department of Safety and it will be over 50% less expensive.  Companies should not continue to be used if they will not pass on the lower costs of services (storage) to their government, taxpayer supported customers.  Law enforcement entities in Utah should ask the Legislature to ensure that all video from law enforcement bodycams can be moved over, without extra cost, to new lower cost storage and access systems.

SLC RDA IGNORES 9-LINE SAFETY & ENCOURAGES POLLUTION, MILKRUNS AND VACANT BUILDINGS
  The RDA Board (the City Council and Mayor) have adopted a new budget amendment that accepts money from the County to help traffic calming on 300 West around West High.  The effort will encourage traffic to downtown SLC to use Beck Street and go through the Capitol Hill neighborhood.  The result wii be increased pollution, especially for those living on Capitol Hill.  I am not sure why that makes sense to anyone.  
  The budget and money from the County will also complete a pedestrian bridge over railroad tracks at 300 North (for West High students - a big concern).  But the City and the County are ignoring the biggest danger of the railroad tracks, which is at 900 South.  Several deaths have occurred in the last year.  But the effort to complete the 9-Line Trail is focusing on everything else but the most important part, the pedestrian bridge at 900 South.  I do not understand why the City and County are spending transportation funds on projects, like parking garages for private developers, that are not as important.  
  The RDA Board is also continuing to push for a TRAX station at 650 S. Main Street to encourage development of the Sears Block.  That would make the TRAX lines going through downtown, milk runs and result in discouraging ridership.  I asked the RDA Board to not build anymore stations on TRAX until the Green Line is allowed to go off on the spur near 1300 South to 400 West and skip the zig zag through downtown and save 10 minutes to the Airport and increase ridership.  There is also an effort and plan to build a station at 1700 South which, in my opinion, makes more sense.
  In another issue, I asked the Board to sell the vacant buildings and property that is underutilized, and in some cases, vacant for decades.  The property could be worth over $100 million but the vacant buildings around the Gateway have actually decreased in value by about $10 million in the last year!  The money could be and should be used for encouraging building mixed use and mixed income buildings along State Street.

SLC PARK RESTROOMS OPENED FINALLY
  Despite SLC Parks being utilized by many sports clubs in our spring, over the last few months, the SLC Park restrooms have been closed.  SLC Public Utilities allows opening the restrooms on April 20th this year.  They did open the restrooms but the City Parks and Public Utilities Departments have, in the past, closed the restrooms on Labor Day and at other questionable times.  I find it disprespectful at best to force kids and young women to try to find a bush to hide them while they relieve themselves.  The Park restrooms should now be open.  The City Council has been discussing, with the Budget Amendment 5 (see below), the fact that the City Public Utilities and Budgets do not really match the real life weather and dry summers in Salt Lake City.  So, sometimes, like two years ago, the City stopped watering the cemetery and medians with trees (until complaints).  The City Council has been told that there is a problem but refuses to change the policy that fixes the water budget before the summer and stops watering when the budget appropriation is reached.  So the City spends a million on prettifying alleyways and most of the plantings have died.  The City spent hundreds of thousands on plantings for Miller Park but they died from no watering.  The restrooms are like plantings in SLC, not important.

300 W. BALLPARK NEEDS TEMPORARY SIDEWALKS
  When the City did not get the $12 million grant for the 300 West traffic calming (in Ballpark), the City shifted the $2 million matched City funds to 1500 S. on the westside and 2700 South on the eastside.  But UTA will shift the 17 bus to 300 West and the 9 bus will continue to run on 300 West but expand service to the westside of the City on 1300 South (both in August).  But there are not many good sidewalks along 300 West.  Encouraging transit/bus use requires sidewalks but the City is balking at constructing sidewalks since the City will have to rip up many of them in a few years when they do reconstruct 300 West (now scheduled for 2022).  That will cost the City several hundred thousand dollars.  But sidewalks should be a priority now.  The City should do a better job planning the projects to minimize the duplicate work.

UTA ORDERS BUS DRIVERS TO STAY AWAY FROM THE CURB
  UTA has problems with bus drivers getting too close to the curb at bus stops and hitting and breaking their mirrors when there are nearby tree or sign interferences.  So UTA has ordered the drivers to stay one to four feet from the curb.  Which discourages ridership since bus riders like the ability to not have to make a big step up.  That is why rail lines seem to be nicer to ride, no step up (in general).  So the new buses (that kneel to almost be even with the curbs) are less useful.  And the bus stop amenities and platforms for buses that were built to specifically meet up with the bus entrance floor are wasted.  I asked UTA to rescind the order.  UTA should also ensure that bus stops do not have interferences that could interfere with the buses getting close enough to the curb to allow easy access for all bus riders.  The easier it is to get on a bus, the easier it is to encourage ridership.

UTA SELLS SEX
  I am old enough to not be afraid of sex but... UTA has sold a full bus wrap for the Blue Boutique, an adult (R rated sex?) store.  It drives through the City with a tag line, the greatest store on earth (sometimes misread as greatest sex on earth).  When UTA thinks that it makes sense to cover up the bus windows with a bus wrap about a sex store (which is the biggest ad complaint that they get) instead of ensuring clear and clean windows (the second greatest reason that people ride buses), that is scary.
  This effectively puts riders in a tube that is hard to see out of and it hides our beautiful city.  Riders at the bus stops have to wait to enter since they can't see in to see if riders are going to exit.  It slows down riders getting on buses.  And it makes it difficult to see the bus stop to get off at in the evening.
  Is UTA so desperate for money, despite the new taxes, that windows have to be covered?  Why wash bus windows if you dirty them up with ads for alcohol and other questionable ads.  UTA should forgo the $4 million in ads and ensure that bus windows are clean.  The new taxes should more than make up for it.

TRAX EXTENSION IN LEHI/DRAPER WILL SCREW WESTSIDE 
  Despite claims that UTA is focusing on service, UTA has agreed to study a TRAX extension from Draper to Lehi that will cost almost $2 billion.  The study is using County transportation money which is questionable since UTA Commissioner Carlton Christensen was in charge of economic development and had influence on where to spend the transportation funds.  He directed the money, before becoming UTA Commissioner, to be used for a parking garage in SLC and a parking facility in Cottonwood Heights.  I need to emphasize that the study cost is coming from the same funds that Commissioner Christensen directed a few months ago.

SLC ADOPTS BUDGET AMENDMENT 5 WITH TRANSIT PROJECTS NOT SERVICE
  The Salt City Council passed Budget Amendment 5 with minor changes that included removing $2 million from the Disneylandification of State Street since the original $4 million was to go to State Street through South Salt Lake City.  The plan is to increase safety for bicyclists and widen the sidewalks.  The Budget Amendment also provides funding for a study on Warm Springs Park which will go towards the process of upgrading the facility and opening it up for more public use.  The study is due to the activism and dreams of the Capitol Hill Community Council.  The Budget Amendment also provides funding for more prettifying of streets including 300 West in the Marmalade District (see RDA note) and moves funding to 1500 South and 2700 South from the 300 West in Ballpark area. 
  The Amendment also spends $400,000 for 2 transit hubs, one on 200 South and about 700 East (as if we really need one there) and another around Redwood Road and North Temple.  Another effort to provide projects instead of service.

APRIL 10, 2019
PLASTIC BAGS ARE NOT BAD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
SLC COUNCIL IGNORES PLASTIC BAGS AND BANS NUCLEAR WEAPONS
SUGAR HOUSE MURAL CELEBRATES THE HISTORY OF SUGAR HOUSE
UTA MAY NEED OVER 140 NEW DRIVERS IN NEXT YEAR
SLC SHOULD STOP CRIME MAGNET MOTELS BEFORE CREATING CRIME MAGNET SROS
SLC POLICE HIRED 80 BUT LOST ALMOST 80 TO GAIN NO NEW COPS
SUGAR HOUSE RENTALS NOW OVER $1.85 A SQUARE FOOT
NEW STORES IN SUGAR HOUSE NORDSTROM, MAYBE TARGET
UDOT/SLC STILL IGNORES UGLIEST OFFRAMP IN UTAH
RANK CHOICE VOTING REALITY IN SLC
CALL SLC IF THEY TICKET YOU FOR NOT ENOUGH WATER USE
SUGAR HOUSE PARK RESTAURANT COMING


PLASTIC BAGS ARE NOT BAD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
  Several recent stories in the New York TImes and on NPR have raised questions about the effect on the environment of plastic grocery bags.  The New York Times story said that: 'it takes significantly more energy to create pulp and manufacture a paper bag than it does to make a single-use plastic bag from oil....You’d have to reuse a paper bag at least three times before its environmental impact equaled that of a high-density polyethylene plastic bag used only once."  The article also pointed out that reusable bags would have to be reused up to 131 times "before it had a smaller global warming impact than a lightweight plastic bag used only once".  The stories also pointed out that studies showed that when plastic bags are banned (in California), the use of alternative disposable and more expensive plastic bags significantly increased.  In other words, people want plastic bags.  Plastic bags are about .3% of the waste in landfills, .8% of litter and 80% are reused according to the EPA.
  In my opinion, the reason why we have these efforts to ban bags and straws comes from a need, a compassion, a passion to do something to make a difference.  When we hear stories about how bad things happen, we want to change the situation and make it better.  But carried too far and the effort can lead to claims that we are having too many kids.  "Diapers create a bigger wastestream in landfills so maybe the answer is not having more kids."
  Plastic bags do not create much of a problem for the landfill.  The landfill workers just wait until the wind blows and they can easily gather them from the fences.  The real solution is to ask, educate and encourage people to dispose of their plastic bags, hopefully reused, in a manner that doesn't have them loose in the garbage.
  Plastic bags make it easier to carry groceries on a bus or when carrying a child.  Paper bags are great for car trunks but very inconvenient for mass transit.  It takes a gallon of water to make a paper bag.  Water is too important to waste on a paper bag.  The next to last thing that we need to worry about is plastic bags.  The last thing we should worry about is plastic straws.  Government should not be so big that they are telling stores that need to be micromanaged by government.
  It makes more sense to kill dead dinosaurs than live trees.
  The links to these interesting stories are:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/29/climate/plastic-paper-shopping-bags.html

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/04/09/711181385/are-plastic-bag-bans-garbage

SLC COUNCIL IGNORES PLASTIC BAGS AND BANS NUCLEAR WEAPONS
  The Salt Lake City Council, without a public hearing, voted to approve, with the Mayor, a joint resolution supporting the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.  Some of the language includes:
  "nuclear weapons are an existential threat to all higher life on Earth, including us; ... and all residents of Salt Lake City have the right to live free of the threat of nuclear annihilation; and.... the production of new nuclear weapons will threaten health and the environment by creating dangerous radioactive waste... and calls on present and future United States Administrations to show leadership and work with all nuclear armed countries to negotiate verified elimination of all nuclear weapon arsenals."
  If this actually happens, with the new law that gives the EnergySolution nuclear waste dump a bigger chance to take in nuclear weapons waste (5000 barrels so far), Utah may get a lot of these banned nuclear weapons!  So even if the whole world turns super good and governments stop being threatening (as if), and there are no more dictators in power, we will be able to verify and trust that a ban will be effective!  But how do we get a guarantee that the nuclear weapons waste will not be buried in Utah?  
  There is a chance that we could turn the nuclear weapons into nuclear plant fuel but we have not been able to design and build guaranteed safe nuclear power plants.  Utah also recently passed a resolution supporting molten salt nuclear reactors despite the fact that it creates a lot of bomb making material, the tritium release has not been solved (a dangerous beta emitter that can cause cancer), the piping become brittle in the environment with some of the most corrosive elements possible and we have not been able to plan, design, build and operate a plant to remove the dozens of incredibly dangerous actinides created in such a plant.  Experts at MIT believe that molten salt reactors need a lot of research and would not be safely available, if ever, until after 2050.  
  The Salt Lake City Council should focus on basic services period.

SUGAR HOUSE MURAL CELEBRATES THE HISTORY OF SUGAR HOUSE
  Sugar House has a new mural that is an amazingly accurate rendition of a picture is of the 1940s Sugar House 1100 East and 2100 South intersection.  It was commissioned by Jeremy Higginson of Market Source Real Estate.  It is on the north facing of the building at 2015 S. 1100 E. and in the entrance to the Sugar House Coffee and Best Friends Animal Shelter parking lot.  Jeremy also is an East Liberty Park Community Council leader.  This mural is definitely worth the walk or drive to see.  His contact number is 801 810 6773 or jeremy@marketsourceagent.com.

UTA MAY NEED OVER 140 NEW DRIVERS IN NEXT YEAR
  UTA seems to have hired many more drivers than usual in the last few months.  The reason is that UTA now needs 130 more drivers now and it is expected to need 140 more drivers in August.  UTA drivers are under a lot of pressure in a hot job market.  They are required to drive split shifts which is hard to justify.  Many drivers like the split shifts and the job but UTA is about to lose 30 drivers to retirement this year!  For those of us wanting more bus service, this is the weak link in the effort.  Without drivers, UTA cannot expand services.  A few years ago, the turnover was 20% a year and the job market has become more competitive since.  So far, UTA is making up for the deficiency with overtime, lots and lots of overtime.  When you ride the bus, give the drivers a thank you for appreciation for working in a demanding job, with split shifts, with high turnover.  We need them.

SLC SHOULD STOP CRIME MAGNET MOTELS BEFORE CREATING CRIME MAGNET SROS
  The Salt Lake City Council is planning a public hearing on a proposal to allow Single Room Occupancy (SRO) residences around the City.  SROs are smaller and less expensive (preferred term is affordable) rentals that contain either a private kitchen or private bathroom (not both). They can house one to two tenants depending on size.  The rent can be weekly and eviction is easier than regular rentals.  SROs were added to the City's Housing Plan (Growing SLC) a couple of years ago to "increase housing options, promote affordability, and build more equitable and fair housing."  Up until now, the City has been treating SROs as studios.  They are now allowed in Transit Districts like North Temple and 4th South.  The new proposal requires that a property manager be on-site 24 hours a day with security camera monitoring.
  I am against the new proposed ordinance because Salt Lake City has not solved the problem of the low cost motels on State Street and North Temple that have become crime magnets.  In a recent case, neighbors forced the closing of a low cost motel, the Skyline Inn on 17th South and Foothill Drive due to the criminal activity.  It had developed a reputation by Utah prisoners that it allowed them to rent the rooms after release from prison.  Developers bought the property to stop the criminal activity.  Without more effective policing (requiring more police, which Salt Lake City has not been able to achieve) and adequate County public safety funding (for adequate jail space and DA prosecutions), SROs could turn into the crime magnets that have been the scourge of the neighbors for decades.
  Salt Lake City has a policy of mixed income.  The reason is studies show that buildings with all low income can become like mini "Cabrini Greens".  The effect could result in the same thing that happened to Palmer Court that is a low income facility between State Street and Main Street that is the second biggest medical response draw for Salt Lake City due to drugs and alcohol issues.  David Litvack, the Salt Lake City Deputy Chief of Staff argues that the SROs are market rate so the units could be many different rents.  But the crime magnet motels can also charge what they want and they still end up being crime magnets.  
  In my opinion, SROs have a bad reputation due to historical crime issues.  The last Salt Lake City SRO had to close due to one of the tenants murdering a neighbor.
  Parking is also an issue since SROs require one half of a parking space per unit and each unit could contain 2 residents.  Parking issues have always polarized communities in Salt Lake City.
  Salt Lake City has a housing problem that I contend is due to many vacant properties around the City.  The City owns many properties that it has kept vacant for decades.  Vacant properties encourage crime in neighborhoods and could be used for residential housing development.  In addition, the City's development policies discourage housing.  Several months ago, the City Council discussed reducing impact fees for mixed income residential development with 20% of the units affordable but the effort stalled.  That could have cut hundreds of thousands of dollars from up front impact fees in developments with hundreds of units.  Salt Lake City should be encouraging mixed income housing around the many vacant lots in the City, some owned by the City.  
  Salt Lake City should be encouraging mixed income mixed use housing with affordable units around commercial areas that desperately need more nearby housing to encourage walkable neighborhoods.  SROs should not be considered near single family home neighborhoods that the proposal is suggesting.  The City Council will have the public hearing on April 23rd at 7 PM at City Hall (400 S. State Street.  The Council provides validation for parking under the Library.  You can also email the individual councilmembers (on the left) or email city.council.liaisons@slcgov.com with your comments.  I put the maps of the areas that Salt Lake City is proposing for SROs in the Salt Lake City section of downloads.

SLC POLICE HIRED 80 BUT LOST ALMOST 80 TO GAIN NO NEW COPS
  In several recent community councils, the Salt Lake City Police have celebrated the fact that they hired 80 officers over the last year.  Unfortunately the SLC Police have also lost about the same number.  Although the number on patrol has increased due to rearranging staffing and better management, the City has more vehicles and bicycles than police to staff them.  Salt Lake City cops should have to beg for a respectable salary.  They deserve a higher salary.  Last week, several SLC Police Officers asked the City Council and Mayor's Administration to at least sit down and talk about their salary instead of ignoring their requests.

SUGAR HOUSE RENTALS NOW OVER $1.85 A SQUARE FOOT
  Rentals in Sugar House are over $2 a square foot.  The only affordable residences in the new developments are the Liberty Village by Dan Lofgren's Cowboy Partners who used Utah Housing tax credits to have a few affordable units in the development.  The Westport Capitol development along the S-Line on 300 East is 85% leased except for the 15 units of three bedroom.  That development costs $1.85 a square foot for rentals.  The supergentrification of Sugar House continues.

NEW STORES IN SUGAR HOUSE NORDSTROM, MAYBE TARGET
  Nordstrom opens up a regular store next to their Nordstrom Rack mini store in Sugar House in the former Toys R Us building.  There is also discussion with Target that could result in a Target neighborhood store in the area.  The shopping center will also extend the street north of Key Bank that will go from Highland to 1300 East.  It is called Stringham Avenue.  The Park Avenue University of Utah Medical buildings on the former ShopKo property may be open by next year and then the Westport Capitol development group will start constructing the residential component on the west side of the property.

UDOT/SLC STILL IGNORES UGLIEST OFFRAMP IN UTAH
  UDOT gave a presentation to the Sugar House Community Council this week that listed the projects that the State was planning on working on in the Sugar House area.  This year, there will be maintenance on the bridges of I80 in Sugar House.  They have exhibited significant deterioration and, although they are planned for replacement in a few years, they need to be worked on to stop concrete from potentially falling onto cars.  The bridge replacement work will occur in the next 4 years (2022) and will include a wider bridge to allow bicycle lanes.  That work will also include resurfacing I80 with a surface that will result in less noise.  The present surface of I80 in the Sugar House area is almost 50 years old.  Foothill Drive is scheduled for resurfacing and restriping in 2020.  The UDOT Sugar House Community Council presentation is in the downloads Transportation section.
  One of the issues that was discussed was the poor condition of the 1300 East onramp/offramp of I80 westbound.  That area was originally planted by UDOT but the maintenance by Salt Lake City was negligible and it fell into poor condition.  The estimates to re-establish low maintenance plants and trees along with appropriate rock scape designs was estimated to be around a million dollars.  UDOT has asked the Legislature for funding without success and they have not planned on doing the project without funding.  The area is around 5 acres and an estimate from 5 years ago was $44,000 per acre for a rock with weed barrier treatment to $175,000 per acre for extensive landscaping including irrigation, sod and trees.
  This offramp to 1300 East is the main gateway into Sugar House.  Sugar House is rapidly developing a reputation as an area with character that has amenities like entertainment, shopping, medical, offices and recreation in a walkable area.  Sugar House is developing into the La Jolla of Salt Lake City!  Unfortunately the gentrification of Sugar House is also resulting in residential rental rates of $2 a square foot.
  But all of this development should be reflected in an inviting offramp from I80 that does not look like it was never maintained.  Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County and UDOT should work on a plan to create an appropriate entrance to Sugar House from I80.  The property tax increases are significant and some of them should be used to beautify that offramp.  Sugar House residents should contact their City, County and Legislative elected leaders and government public servants to ask for consideration to make Sugar House look as good as it is.  The 1300 East offramp from I80 westbound area should not look like no one cares.   
  In 2014, UDOT said that they originally installed landscaping that "included rocks, drip irrigation and plantings of trees & shrubs.  Salt Lake City initially agreed to maintain this area but after the I80 project was completed, the City chose not to commit to long term maintenance of this landscaped area as well as the various cross streets running under I80 within the jurisdiction of Salt Lake City.  Thus, the maintenance of these areas fell back to UDOT maintenance.....(The west side of the circle) was planted with a standard dry land grass which is a typical planting designed to control erosion which is typical planting UDOT includes on projects when a local government does not want to fund both the upgrade in landscaping and long term maintenance.  The installed grasses do not require irrigation, provide erosion protection and is low maintenance....(The north slope next to Sugar House Park) was maintained by Sugar House Park some years back as a turf area and irrigation was installed as well as trees and sod.  Sugar House Park has ceased maintaining this area including irrigation, however it appears the trees in the area seem to have established a good root system.....Regarding costs to upgrade landscaping...installing rock with a weed barrier or installing sod, trees and irrigation...  (These costs were taken from recent UDOT competitively bidded projects.)  The rock and weed barrier treatment runs about $44,000/acre & the more extensive landscaping including irrigation, sod and trees runs about $175,000/acre."  The area in the circle is about 5 acres.  The estimate given to upgrade the area this last week was about $1.8 million with xeriscaping.  UDOT said that they have been trying to get the Legislature to fund the effort but they have failed to get the approval.  UDOT's Daniel Page also said that they have tried to get all parties to the table to fix/beautify the eastbound offramp area onto 1300 East.
  Another project for the Sugar House area includes work on the Jordan Salt Lake Canal by the liquor store).  

RANK CHOICE VOTING REALITY IN SLC
  SLC Council Chair Charlie Luke, last week, said that the City was not going to go to rank choice voting, despite the interest and over 10 candidates for Mayor.  Rank Choice voting is claimed, in non-partisan races, to provide a better indicator of voter choice.  But Charlie said that it would be unfair, in the middle of the race, to change the voting system.  The reality is that SLCO is not able to provide rank choice voting.  I mentioned it several times in the last 6 months in the blog.  Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen said:
"our voting system won't accommodate rank choice voting.  It isn't designed to create a ballot for rank choice voting or to tabulate rank choice voting.
The new voting system that was selected by the State (ES&S) has created a software option for rank choice voting, but it hasn't been certified.  Certification of voting systems is a rigorous process and crucial to ensure their accuracy.
Therefore, we will not offer contract services to cities who choose to conduct their elections with rank choice voting"

CALL SLC IF THEY TICKET YOU FOR NOT ENOUGH WATER USE
  This is a duplicate note from last year.  During a SLC Council meeting last month, a speaker complained that a neighbor was ticketed for not having enough greenery on their parking strip.  Anyone who is ticketed for not having enough greenery should call this number.  
  WATER CONSERVATION IN SLC IS LIMITED BY THE CITY'S REQUIREMENTS FOR 30% GREEN IN FRONT YARDS. Salt Lake City requires front yards to have 30% green space and no big rocks or concrete on park strips. But the City is trying to lower its per capita use from about 90 gallons per day and many have taken the challenge and installed decorative rock or mulch along with a couple of drought tolerant plants. The person in SLC that is responsible for water conservation is aware of the potential hypocrisy and is willing to consider any homeowner that is fielding complaints from the City about not enough green space. She is Stephanie Duer and she can be reached at stephanie.duer @slcgov.com or by phone at 8014836760.

SUGAR HOUSE PARK RESTAURANT COMING
  The Garden Center of Sugar House Park on 2100 South and around 1600 East is being planned to be converted into a restaurant and event center with an upgrade.  The restaurant will be called The Mint & Rose Cafe and Event Center.  The Sugar House Park Authority is about to complete negotiations and plans with a 25 year lease contract.  The developer's press release said: 
"The Garden Center Building has been part of the Sugar House neighborhood for over 54 years. Many art markets, quinceañeras and weddings have been celebrated within its walls. The building sits on a beautiful parcel of Sugar House Park over looking the expansive green of the gardens. Garden & Park Conservancy Inc. is re-envisaging this public space so that residents can enjoy celebrations and gatherings for another 54 years and more.
The entire Garden Center Building will be renovated to allow a multi-faceted use of the space. Residents will be able to use the space for meetings, dining or evening events, such as a weddings, corporate or non-profit fundraising dinners. 




APRIL 2, 2019
SLC BUDGET AMENDMENT SHOWS WATER PREDICTIONS USELESS
SLC TRANSIT PLANS MOSTLY PROJECTS INSTEAD OF SERVICE INCREASES
DOGS OFFLEASH AND SLCO ANIMAL SERVICES STATS ON EUTHANASIA
SLC SPENDS MONEY ON FACADES
FLOURIDE/COPPER/LEAD ISSUES COULD BE COUNTYWIDE
RANK CHOICE VOTING NOT HAPPENING IN SLC
FLASHLIGHTS HELP DECREASE PEDESTRIAN DEATHS
SLC WORKING TO MAKE 1300 S 1100 E INTERSECTION SAFER
SLC DISCOURAGING POLICE/FIRE STATIONS ON OPEN SPACE 
CONGREGATE CARE FACILITY PLAN KICKED BACK TO MAYOR
NO SIDEWALKS DISCOURAGE MASS TRANSIT USE
PARKS WELL USED BY KIDS BUT RESTROOMS STILL LOCKED
SLCO JAIL MEDICALLY ASSISTED TREATMENT
UTA PRESENTATION TO SLCO BUS STOPS EXPANSION
WHY NO EXTRA BUS SERVICE UP CANYON

MILLCREEK CITY CENTER PLANS IN DOWNLOADS SECTION


SLC BUDGET AMENDMENT SHOWS WATER PREDICTIONS USELESS
  As usual, SLC ignores the issues with watering public open spaces, parks, cemeteries and golf courses in SLC.  The water budget for the City is nothing but a prediction and it encourages conservation which sometimes leads to not watering cemeteries, golf courses and parks.  SLC is finally acknowledging the issue with Budget Amendment 5.  SLC's new budget (released next month) should increase the budget for water.  Budget amendments to cover water overuse are often ignored and our trees suffer and our plants die.  The City also did not realize savings from lighting retrofits.  It is questionable why changing to low watt LEDs should not decrease energy costs.  But SLC has a contract with Rocky Mountain Power that sets the power per pole and that may be the reason why lighting costs are not decreasing for parks.
  "Salt Lake City Parks and Public Lands FY18/19 budget is experiencing a projected deficit due to over expenditures in
electrical and water costs......
Salt Lake City Parks and Public Lands water budget has not grown relative to utility rate increases incurred annually. The
budget was, years ago, set to cover an average year of precipitation and heat. With annual utility rate increases of 3-5%,
without relative budget increases, longer hotter summers, additional park acreage, the installment of more accurate water
meters by Public Utilities and ESCO payments for irrigation upgrades, the budget is no longer adequate to cover the needs
of parks in the City. The summer of 2018 was dry, with warm days and warm nights. Public Lands utilized water
minimally to protect our natural landscapes and still fell outside the prescribed budget.
The water expense for Public Lands is projected to be overspent by $137,815. There are many factors that have contributed
to the projected over-expenditures in power and water.
• Stipulated energy savings, agreed upon by contract, that was never realized
• More accurate water meter installment at parks and cemetery
• Additional park acreage
• Exceptionally dry and warm summer months
• Maintenance issues that invalidated meter readings and forced pre-estimated savings."

SLC TRANSIT PLANS MOSTLY PROJECTS INSTEAD OF SERVICE INCREASES
  Today's SLC Council will have a final public hearing on Budget Amendment 5 which spends millions of taxpayer dollars that is coming from County Transportation Choice Fund on projects instead of service increases.  Some projects like the 9-Line Trail ($4.3 million) may make sense but that project lacks a safe path for pedestrians, wheelchairs and bicyclists over the railroad tracks which still divides east and west Salt Lake City.  The Budget Amendment also includes the million dollars for a study (pushed by Millcreek) to justify the extension of the S-Line to Millcreek.  It has 
two bus transit hubs ($400,000 and $300,000) on 2nd South and 700 East (someone needs to tell the neighborhood) and "near North Temple Boulevard between Redwood Road and 400 West".  
  The westside transit hub project money would have been better spent, in my opinion, on replacing the back and forth circular route of the Redwood Road bus that is going in circles in both directions to serve Utah State Government buildings.  Redwood Road's 217 bus is one of the most popular bus routes with over 3500 passengers a day.  Even though it is 15 minutes in frequency, zig zagging and turning through streets is not an efficient bus route.  I know that UTA is doing it to prove that it is treating the westside/economic area fairly but zig zagging buses are not treating the area fairly.  They make the trip much longer than a straight shot bus.
  There is also money for the Life on State Street Implementation Plan that almost no one knows about with traffic calming (lower speeds if UDOT approves).  This plan needs more public engagement.
  The main takeaway from this part of the budget amendment is SLC is asking for almost $11 million in transportation projects that do not increase mass transit service.  The projects do not make the roads smoother for more comfortable bus rides (poorly maintained streets cause bouncy bouncy buses which are not a comfortable ride).  The money could have funded over 10 new or expanded frequency or late night and weekend service routes.  Despite claims that one time money should not be used for service increases, I can make a pretty good argument that increasing service, if done right, can prime the pump and encourage more transit ridership throughout a more robust mass transit system.  The synergy can increase also increase fare revenue, not just on the increased service routes but throughout the system.  That can provide continuing revenue to fund service increases. 
  The SLC Budget Amendment 5 information from the packet is below:

The Division of Transportation applied for and received a grant of $4,338,218 from Salt Lake County from the
Transportation Choice Fund for the following project.
This project is funding for the Center Section of the 9-Line Trail. This is the 2.0 mile section along 900 S between 600 W
and Lincoln Street (approx. 940 E), excluding West Temple.
Following the 9-Line Extension Study, the City will improve infrastructure quality, elevate the streetscape for walking,
bicycling, transit, and streamline project delivery which will ensure high-quality connectivity, high comfort facilities, and
appropriate amenities while limiting implementation time and impacts from construction.
This grant does not require a match, but does award points for additional funds dedicated to the project so the City is
providing a match of $1,800,000. $1,500,000 from Street Reconstruction General Obligation Bond and $300,000 from
SLC Sales Tax for Transit Improvements.

The Division of Transportation applied for and received a grant of $942,500 from Salt Lake County from the
Transportation Choice Fund for the following project.
The Greater Millcreek / Sugar House Circulation Plan will identify transportation infrastructure improvements to increase
connectivity by all modes, expand transportation choices, and support economic development for mixed-use areas that
share jurisdiction borders of Holladay, Millcreek, Salt Lake City/Sugar House, and South Salt Lake.
$942,500 in grants funds combined with $57,500 cash match will be used to secure services of a local/regional
professional transportation planning consultant to produce the Greater Millcreek / Sugar House Circulation Plan.
Salt Lake City would administer the multi-jurisdiction contract for consultant services.
A cash match totaling $57,500 is from the following collaborative partners: A) $40,000 from Salt Lake City sourced from
Funding Our Futures sales tax increase; B) $10,000 from Millcreek; C) $5,000 from Holladay; and D) $2,500 from South
Salt Lake.

The Division of Transportation applied for and received a grant of $400,000 from Salt Lake County from the
Transportation Choice Fund for the following project.
The 200 South Transit Corridor / Downtown Hub Study will propose a redesign of 200 South from 600 West to 900 East
to transform the function of 200 South to a premier transit corridor with a downtown mobility hub/transit mall while also
incorporating access for walking, bicycling, shared mobility, private automobiles, and freight.
$360,000 in grants funds combined with $40,000 cash match will be used to secure services of a local/regional
professional transportation planning consultant to produce the 200 South Transit Corridor / Downtown Hub Study.
A cash match totaling $40,000 is committed by Salt Lake City sourced from the Funding Our Futures sales tax increase.
A public hearing was held on 12/11/18 on the grant application for this award.

The Division of Transportation applied for and received a grant of $300,000 from Salt Lake County from the
Transportation Choice Fund for the following project.
Salt Lake City Westside Multimodal Hub Study will identify a site on or near North Temple Boulevard between Redwood
Road and 400 West best suited to host a new multimodal hub facility that connects different modes of transit, including
TRAX, bus, ride sharing services, bike share, scooters, etc.
A cash match totaling $30,000 is committed by Salt Lake City sourced from the Funding Our Futures sales tax increase.

The Division of Transportation applied for and received a grant of $4,800,000 from Salt Lake County from the
Transportation Choice Fund for the following project.
Life on State: Design and Catalytic Site Implementation is a pilot project to test transportation improvement interventions
on State Street that are recommended in the Life on State Implementation Plan 2017.
Transportation improvement interventions would include:
1) $2,9,00,000 for design and construction of mobility and safety improvements in Salt Lake City on State Street between
600 South and 900 South to include wider sidewalks, improved transit stops, slower speed design, parallel parking
pockets, reduced driveways, street furniture, street trees, and mid-block crossings;
2) $2,000,000 for design and construction of mobility and safety improvements in South Salt Lake on State Street
combined between 2100 South and Haven Avenue (approximately 2300 South) to include wider sidewalks, bus pull-outs,
and street trees; and
3) $300,000 for design of high-comfort bike routes on each side of State Street (200 East and Main Street/West Temple)
between 300 South and 3300 South with connections to State Street amenities.
A cash match totaling $400,000 is committed from the following collaborative partners: A) $230,000 from Salt Lake City
Complete Streets Enhancement Fund (8381030 - $105,000 rescope and $8419009 - $125,000) both rescoped to "Life on
State", and B) $170,000 from Utah Department of Transportation for construction of a midblock crossing on State Street
between 700 South and 800 South.

DOGS OFFLEASH AND SLCO ANIMAL SERVICES STATS ON EUTHANASIA
  SLC is in the process of changing the off leash ordinance in Salt Lake City.  The Council and Mayor are discussing the issues and how to codify the changes.  In particular, the proposed ordinance will give SLCO Animal Control authority to ticket individuals for taking dogs in closed areas of Salt Lake City.  I put the specific report in the downloads section along with the latest report from SLCO Animal Services.

SLC SPENDS MONEY ON FACADES
  I question Salt Lake City's priorities when they budget almost $500,000 for prettifying facades.  SLC Housing & Neighborhood Development Economic Development Façade Program runs it.  I put the list in the downloads section.  SLC should use their funds for more basic services like better upkeep of roads.  And if Salt Lake City really cared about facades, they wouldn't keep vacant buildings vacant for decades.  Those vacant building facades are in much worse shape than those on the list.  I also put a map of CDBG eligible areas in the downloads. 

FLOURIDE/COPPER/LEAD ISSUES COULD BE COUNTYWIDE
  Salt Lake City contends that the fluoride problem in Sandy would not occur in Salt Lake City (or Millcreek and other cities served by SLC Public Utilities).  But sometimes the system does not work right.  Even in Salt Lake City, if you notice your water having a bluish tint, it is coming from copper piping that is affected by highly acidic water.  Over concentration of fluoride creates an acidic water that can remove some copper and lead from pipes (like in Flint Michigan and Sandy).  If you notice the blue tint or have questions about your water not being clear, call SLC Public Utilities at 801 483 6900.  I have heard several people claim that they sometimes see their water turn a blue tint for a day or two (in SLC).  They generally notice it in their toilet bowl (when not using the blue sanitizer system).  If you see it, it is recommended that you run your water for several minutes before drinking it.  And call SLC Public Utilities.  

RANK CHOICE VOTING NOT HAPPENING IN SLC
  SLC Council Chair Charlie Luke, last week, said that the City was not going to go to rank choice voting, despite the interest and over 10 candidates for Mayor.  Rank Choice voting is claimed, in non-partisan races, to provide a better indicator of voter choice.  But Charlie said that it would be unfair, in the middle of the race, to change the voting system.  The reality is that SLCO is not able to provide rank choice voting.  I mentioned it several times in the last 6 months in the blog.  Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen said:
"our voting system won't accommodate rank choice voting.  It isn't designed to create a ballot for rank choice voting or to tabulate rank choice voting.
The new voting system that was selected by the State (ES&S) has created a software option for rank choice voting, but it hasn't been certified.  Certification of voting systems is a rigorous process and crucial to ensure their accuracy.
Therefore, we will not offer contract services to cities who choose to conduct their elections with rank choice voting"

FLASHLIGHTS HELP DECREASE PEDESTRIAN DEATHS
  Pedestrian deaths are significantly higher this year in Utah.  Please consider carrying a flashlight and having all of your children carry a flashlight to use when crossing the street.  A flashlight significantly increases pedestrian visibility to drivers, especially at night or near dark.

SLC WORKING TO MAKE 1300 S 1100 E INTERSECTION SAFER
  Several complaints have been received by the City regarding the 1300 South 1100 East intersection that is getting more traffic due to the 1300 East road reconstruction project.  Even the Fire Department complained about the lack of visibility.  Kurt Larson from Salt Lake City Transportation acknowledged the problem and said that they are working on making the intersection safer.  
  SLC is monitoring and "will be making slight changes to the signal timing in the area to keep traffic flowing safely.  Also, as part of a recent signal timing update, we are scheduled to make some slight changes to the amber and red clearance timing intervals you were referring.  These changes will be occurring during the spring."

SLC DISCOURAGING POLICE/FIRE STATIONS ON OPEN SPACE 
  Several years ago, there were complaints about taking Salt Lake City open space and using it for buildings like the Fire Station that was put next to the Forest Dale Golf Course.  There were also concerns that there would be a Police Station proposal for part of one of the east side parks.  Salt Lake City is changing their Open Space ordinance.  It comes too late for the Forest Dale country club Fire Station but it is never to late to change to a better ordinance.
"The Planning Commission recommended local police and fire operations not be allowed in
the Open Space Zoning District. Proposed changes reflect that recommendation.
Currently local police and fire operations are incorporated in two land use definitions:
“Governmental Facility” and “Municipal Service Uses.” The proposal removes “local police
and fire operations” from the definition of Governmental Facility and leaves it in the
Municipal Service Uses definition. The proposal allows municipal service uses, including
City utility uses and police and fire stations in agricultural and form based zones."

CONGREGATE CARE FACILITY PLAN KICKED BACK TO MAYOR
  The SLC Congregate Care Facility ordinance was kicked back to the SLC Mayor by the Council after two hours of arguments for and against the ordinance by an overflow crowd of SLC citizens (like the S-Line expansion effort in 2013).  Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall, running for Mayor, made the politically expedient motion to return the ordinance proposal to the Administration and keep the public hearing open.  I doubt if anyone running for SLC Mayor will push for this ordinance.  

NO SIDEWALKS DISCOURAGE MASS TRANSIT USE
  The plan to finally construct sidewalks on 300 West hit a roadblock when the grant application for $12 million from the federal government was turned down.  The City had budgeted $2 million to match that but repurposed those funds for 2700 South (on the eastside) and 1500 South (on the west side).  Salt Lake City is now planning to budget for and construct sidewalks on 300 West by 2021.  It is ironic that bus service is increasing on 300 West but there are no sidewalks.  No sidewalks discourage mass transit use.

PARKS WELL USED BY KIDS BUT RESTROOMS STILL LOCKED
  Spring is here and the parks are full of soccer clubs and other users of Salt Lake City's best open spaces.  But the restrooms are still closed!  The restrooms need to be open now and the City should not wait until summer.

SLCO JAIL MEDICALLY ASSISTED TREATMENT
  Salt Lake County Jail is expanding drug treatment (called medically assisted treatment - MAT) in jail.  I put the proposal and two reports in the downloads section.

UTA PRESENTATION TO SLCO BUS STOPS EXPANSION
  UTA is preparing to expand their system along with bus stop amenities.  I put their presentation to the County Council in the downloads section.

WHY NO EXTRA BUS SERVICE UP CANYONS
  The Central Wasatch Commission (CWC) has been visiting community councils to explain their Commission.  After 5 years and $8 million dollars, there is still no extra year round bus service up the Cottonwood Canyons.  There is not even weekend bus service.  The parking lots are full on ski days and the buses are full.  So the reason for the CWC, which followed from the closed door meetings of the Mountain Accord (I have a screen shot on why the Mountain Accord did not have to follow the Utah Open Public Meetings Act - since thrown out by a judge.) is essentially lost.  The Mountain Accord and the CWC were supposed to be a transportation solution for the Wasatch Canyons.  When former Congressman Jasen Chaffitz tried to push the issue in Congress, he was slapped down by the Republican Chair of a Congressional Committee in his most embarrassing video.  The Chair complained that there was no transportation in the proposed bill.
  The CWC says that the billion dollar tunnel and billion dollar rail system is still on the table!  Instead of spending billions of taxpayer money on fancy projects, the ski resorts have suggested paying for a gondola between the Canyons and Park City (and paying for it themselves).  That makes more sense.  The bus service increases that we have been asking for for over 5 years is being planned by UTA but they gave leadership to CWC (to give them the credit for it and justify their existence).  So for the past 3 years, the UTA proposal has been kept locked up in the CWC!  That is not a good transportation plan.
  The CWC is also recommending turning over 8000 acres to the federal government (HB78 requires them to go to the Legislature to confirm the effort) because they believe that the federal government can better manage the Wasatch Canyons.  That effort also hit a roadblock in the Legislature this session when the effort to give CWC authority to do that was stopped (in the failed Senate resolution).
They also are proposing land swaps that give sweetheart deals (in my opinion) to ski resorts.  The ski resorts want to built gigantic 500 room Montage style resort residences in return for similar acreage (a couple of hundred acres) that is unusable due to the terrain!  At the same time, the CWC and Salt Lake City refuses to consider offers of thousands of acreage offered for conservation easement for less than 100 cabins in the Canyons.  It seems to me that 100 cabins would create less intrusion into the Canyons than a big expansion of the ski resorts.
  One of the reasons that Brighton incorporated was due to the water issues that SLC has control over and the lack of restrooms that SLC refuses to increase (they did build one last year).  6 million visitors a year in the canyon should have many more restrooms but SLC and SLCO refuses to allow more expansion (it seems).  Don't worry about dog poop.  Worry about people poop spoiling the watershed.  At least some people dispose of their dog waste properly.  I don't know anyone willing to bag and appropriately dispose of their own waste.
  In other words, I have lost all trust in the CWC.

MILLCREEK CITY CENTER PLANS IN DOWNLOADS SECTION

  I put the Millcreek City Center Plans in the downloads section under SLC downloads.

MARCH 30, 2019
SPRAGUE LIBRARY CLOSED MONDAY, TEMP OPEN APR 28

SPRAGUE LIBRARY CLOSED MONDAY, TEMP OPEN APR 28
  Sprague Library in Sugar House is closing on Sunday March 31.  It will move to the old Sugar House Fire Station on Sugarmont and open on April 28 (tentatively).  They are still remodeling the interior.  In the meantime, the holds can be picked up at Foothill Library on 2100 East and Foothill until the new temporary library opens.  The Sprague Library reconstruction will take about a year.

MARCH 26, 2019
RDA PROPERTIES DECREASE $10 MILLION DUE TO DECADES OF VACANT BUILDINGS
STATE STREET CRA HITS SLC ED ROADBLOCK
SLC PLANS TRAFFIC CALMING ON 300 WEST TO SHIFT MORE TRAFFIC TO CAPITOL HILL
BLOCK 67 DECISION COMING SOON
GATEWAY MARKET STILL BEING PUSHED
SLC RDA RUSHING 400 WEST DEVELOPMENT DESPITE GREEN LINE REROUTING
SLC RDA PUSHING BRICKYARD REDEVELOPMENT
SLC RDA PUSHING MORE GRAND BOULEVARDS
SLC RDA PUSHING WEST UNIVERSITY EXPANSION AREA
SLC RDA PUSHING S-LINE EXTENSION REINVESTMENT ZONE 
SLC RDA PUSHING EAST DOWNTOWN TRANSIT HUB 
FREE FARE SHOWS KIDS OVERWHELMED FRONTRUNNER
SLC WILL GET $5 MILLION MORE IN JULY FOR MCCLELLAND/TRANSIT/ROADS?
HB313 HIT AND RUN PENALTIES INCREASED
81 NEW POLICE IN LAST YEAR BUT LOSS IS OVER 50
HOW TO REDIRECT 911 CALLS FROM VECC FOR SLC RESIDENTS
MARIJUANA SMOKERS SHOULD NOT BE SPEEDING
GRAVEL PIT DUST WINS OVER CLEAN AIR
ANTI IDLING PASSES AND CAN STOP INLAND PORT TRUCKS
HB78 LIMIT ON FEDERAL LAND PASSES WITH BIG LOOPHOLE


RDA PROPERTIES DECREASE $10 MILLION DUE TO DECADES OF VACANT BUILDINGS
  The SLC RDA meeting on March 26 had a lot of interesting plans in their packet.  It also showed a reduction in the value of property around the Depot District.  The property that SLC RDA owns decreased in value almost $10 million!  Of course, it should have been obvious.  Vacant buildings encourage crime and result in reduced valuation.  SLC RDA has owned these properties and kept them vacant for decades.  In other words, an argument can be made that SLC RDA, with their actions or inactions, has actually caused money to be lost!  Vacant buildings encourage criminal behavior and make it harder to get private developers to develop the area.  SLC RDA should sell the vacant and unused buildings to developers since RDA is actually making the area worse.
  On a separate note, the vacant Overnighter Motel, located at 1500 West North Temple has been determined by the city to be a viable nuisance. Funds are being requested for the demolition of the property structures to make way for future construction by the developer under contract.
  The SLC RDA staff also added support for a 1700 South TRAX station (which is also in the WFRC RTP draft.

STATE STREET CRA HITS SLC ED ROADBLOCK
  The State Street CRA may need to be adjusted.  The Salt Lake City School District has expressed concern with the State Street CRA area map and feels that the CRA should be limited to State Street and not be as big from 200 East to 300 West.  The 9-Line area expansion did not generate concern.  The School District needs to sign off on the area and CRA plan before it can start.  So, after over 4 years, the area will take even longer to get underway.  The SLC RDA was also proposing bonding to create catalytic projects around the State Street CRA.  This is a big change and effect on the area. 
  The communities involved (Ballpark, Liberty Wells, Central 9th and Central City) should be involved and they should have input on changes and what they would be willing to work with.  RDA and SLC should reach out to the community councils for more discussion.

  From the RDA packet:
  "In February 2019, Agency staff met with the Superintendent and representatives of the Salt Lake City School District to discuss the potential participation by the Salt Lake City School Board of Education (School Board) for the project areas. During that meeting, the School District representatives indicated that the School Board would likely support the 9 Line project area as is. However, they indicated that the School Board would likely not support the State Street project area with the current boundaries. The general sentiment is that the project area extends too far west to be considered “State Street” and the School Board would be more likely to support a project area that is more closely aligned with the State Street corridor itself. Staff will be prepared for Board discussion and consideration of potential options for moving forward."

SLC PLANS TRAFFIC CALMING ON 300 WEST TO SHIFT MORE TRAFFIC TO CAPITOL HILL
  SLC keeps trying to prettify streets when they should be focusing on decreasing congestion.  The plans for 300 West are a good example of questionable plans.  SLC is trying to "traffic calm" 300 West from North Temple to 1000 North.  That will encourage more traffic congestion and air pollution on Capitol Hill.  300 West is a better street for high volume traffic.  The last thing that SLC Transportation should be planning on is to increase traffic volume along residential streets (on Capitol Hill).

BLOCK 67 DECISION COMING SOON
  Today, the SLC RDA is planning to discuss and vote on the Block 67 redevelopment area.  It has an impact on the rest of the Downtown RDA tax increment properties and it may not come to fruition.  The value of the underground garage, which will get a $15 million funding from County Transportation funds (to be paid back with a tax increment on Block 67), is questionable but it allows an above ground plaza around the residential and hotel buildings planned.  The Japanese community in SLC is trying to get some consideration for the impact on their adjacent properties.  Zions Bank is valuing the plan at $11.5 million.  The SLC RDA will decide the next steps.
  The Block 67 plaza that is available due to City RDA funding of the underground garage should be Japanese themed and available for two weekends a year for Japanese community festivals.

GATEWAY MARKET STILL BEING PUSHED
  The SLC RDA is planning street improvements around 400 West to 500 West to encourage and/or set the stage for a market in the Gateway area.  But the homeless situation is still fluid and a market next to an area with so many homeless services is questionable.  The Fourth Street Clinic is across the street and across the street from the center of homeless and drug activity that avoids the Road Home. 
  SLC RDA should not focus on the market in Gateway but should consider a market closer to 7th South on State or Main Street.  It could encourage proper development of the Sears block (which should have a market anyway).  It would be more helpful for development than the 650 S. Main St TRAX station (SLC please don't make TRAX a milk run).

SLC RDA RUSHING 400 WEST DEVELOPMENT DESPITE GREEN LINE REROUTING
  SLC RDA is planning to upgrade the area around 400 and 500 West for a market (see above) but also to prepare for the downtown north south streetcar on 400 West.  The 400/500 West decision should wait on the rerouting of the Green Line, decision.  The draft WFRC RTP has the Green Line rerouting (from 7th South).  It can be done quickly with the abandoned rail line spur from 13th South.  That would give SLC the north south rail that is in the SLC Transit Plan and save 10 minutes to the Airport AND help develop the Fleet Block.
  The SLC RDA packet has these plans:

8. 400 South and 400 West (Transportation Reinvestment Zone [TRZ])
• Purpose: Extend 400 South and 400 West light rail lines to support further
investment in Granary District, complete downtown rail network, and
provide improved downtown transit connections.
• Potential TRZ Term: TBD
• Potential Size of the TRZ: TBD

11. Granary District (Expansion & Extension)
• Purpose: Extend the project area term in order to leverage tax increment
as a redevelopment tool for the Fleet Block, and expand the existing
project area boundaries two blocks to the northwest to catalyze adaptive
reuse of existing warehouse properties.
• Final Year of TI Collection: 2023
• Annual TI Collected: $411,279 (2016)

SLC IGNORES RAILROAD TRACKS ON 9-LINE PLAN
  SLC is using the $2 million from the TIGER grant (UTA gets $20 million for bicycle infrastructure in return for local matching of $80 million) for the 9-Line Trail.  But the 9th South pedestrian/bicycle/wheelchair bridge is more important it would and make the 9 line trail real and not a dream.  The 9-Line Trail is a joke if there is no safe way to cross the railroad tracks on 9th South.  The bridge overpass will go a long way to stopping the division between east and west Salt Lake City.  Note that SLC is funding a pedestrian overpass on 300 West (for West High students).

SLC RDA PUSHING BRICKYARD REDEVELOPMENT
  SLC RDA is proposing to create a community reinvestment area (CRA) in the Brickyard area.  It is also working with Millcreek on the coordination with the Millcreek Center Plan.  
  Brickyard private development is not lacking.  Several big apartment complexes have been recently completed in the area and SLC RDA is not known for speeding up the development of their areas.  RDA staff is already overwhelmed with work and defocusing staff for Brickyard is questionable.  SLC appears to be under pressure from Millcreek but Millcreek priorities should not be Salt Lake City's.  The exception is the need to fix Highland Drive.
  The SLC RDA packet language includes:

4 Brickyard
• Purpose: Evaluate opportunity to create a community reinvestment area
and/or transit reinvestment zone in the Brickyard area of SLC to potentially
add housing and to further economic growth.
• Potential Project Area Term: TBD
• Potential Size of the Project Area: TBD

SLC RDA PUSHING MORE GRAND BOULEVARDS
  SLC RDA is also proposing more Grand Boulevards.  In my opinion, the Grand Boulevards vision should focus on finishing North Temple to the Airport before starting new Grand Boulevards.  Note that SLC gets a lot of money from the car lots on proposed Grand Boulevards and you can't have a Grand Boulevard with car lots.

6 Grand Boulevards
• Purpose: Create a community reinvestment area to improve the main
entrance into and exit from the City along 500 South and 600 South,
fostering a grand boulevards entry experience into the City.
• Potential Project Area Term: TBD
• Potential Size of the Project Area: TBD

SLC RDA PUSHING WEST UNIVERSITY EXPANSION AREA
  Another expansion area discussed at today's SLC RDA meeting is the West University reinvestment area. 
  Can we please finish the start of the 9 Line and State Street CRA areas BEFORE considering any other CRAs.  It seems to actually be slowing down development.  The West University Area proposal should wait.
  The packet language includes:

West University reinvestment area
The subject area consists of primarily single-family
residential zoning within the University local historic
district overlay. The Community Business covers a
short one block stretch on 1300 East with a mix of
single- and some multi-family residential uses
throughout. The corner of 500 South contains both
singe-family and high-density uses. The most
substantial opportunity for redevelopment exists at
the parking lot west of the stadium.
The local historic district overlay, which requires a
high level of scrutiny for development, poses a
challenge for redevelopment and without significant
process and initiative, changes in intensity and use
would not be expected.

SLC RDA PUSHING S-LINE EXTENSION REINVESTMENT ZONE 
  The SLC RDA is suggesting an S-Line Extension (Transportation Reinvestment Zone) that appears to be working with Millcreek on a multi-jurisdictional transit service (extending the S-Line south to Millcreek).  
  The S-Line extension for a potential transportation reinvestment zone (TRZ) is again a defocusing of stretched staff.  Note that the extension, whether north or south will cost SLC taxpayers hundreds of millions.  Streets should be fixed first to encourage mass transit use.  It is discouraging to ride buses that, due to the poor street conditions, go bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, bouncy......   
  The packet language includes:
9. S-Line Extension (Transportation Reinvestment Zone)
• Purpose: Create transit connections to and from Sugar House area while
providing multi-jurisdictional transit service and economic development
opportunities.
• Potential TRZ Term: TBD
• Potential Size of the TRZ: TBD

SLC RDA PUSHING EAST DOWNTOWN TRANSIT HUB 
  The SLC RDA is proposing how to pay for an East Downtown Transportation Reinvestment Zone (around 200 South and 700 East) to build the transit hub that the City Council expressed interest in several months ago in their plans to use money from the tax increase for a $400,000 200 South Transit Hub.  That $400,000 could provide a lot of bus service.  SLC and SLC RDA should focus on basics like streets' maintenance before any pretty vision projects.  There is no justification for such a useless project.
  The language of the packet is:

10. East Downtown (Transportation Reinvestment Zone)
• Purpose: Create a transit hub to support higher-frequency bus network,
increase transit opportunities, and support development of a mixed-use
transit hub that could be catalyst for other neighborhood developments.
• Potential TRZ Term: TBD
• Potential Size of the TRZ: TBD


FREE FARE SHOWS KIDS OVERWHELMED FRONTRUNNER
  As mentioned last blog entry, the free fare days tend to encourage families to bring kids on FrontRunner and the effect is to fill parking lots.  That, in turn, discourages potential long term ridership increases.  The pre-eminent study on transit fare elasticities from decades ago, pointed out that reducing fares only results in a -.3 to -.4 increase.  Cutting the fare by -50% results in a 15% increase in ridership.  The study showed that the increase in ridership is limited by ticket machine throughput and parking lots which are usually full.  So the stats from the free fare day show that it discourages long term ridership increases.  They show that 31,235 rode on FrontRunner (on Friday when school gets out early) compared to 19,135 normally.  UTA claimed that 10,497 vehicles were removed from the road each day.  I disagree since the cars that would normally sit in a driveway were used to drive their kids to FrontRunner rides.  
  When you look at the TRAX and bus ridership stats, the fact that FrontRunner was used for rides for children becomes apparent.  The ridership increases on TRAX and buses were increased very little.  UTA said that TRAX weekday ridership was 57,319 average ridership and the free fare went to 66,312 ridership.  Bus ridership went from 75,479 average to 83,818.   

SLC WILL GET $5 MILLION MORE IN JULY FOR MCCLELLAND/TRANSIT/ROADS?
  In July, Salt Lake City and other cities in the transit areas will start getting their share of SB136 funds that they can use for their streets' projects.  That could theoretically include more streets' maintenance upgrades or projects like the shared street on McClelland proposal (near 2100 South).

HB313 HIT AND RUN PENALTIES INCREASED
  HB313 increases penalties for hit and run drivers.  Salt Lake County has experienced an exponential growth in hit and run accidents.  This bill, on the Governor's desk, and expected to be signed, will go a long way to decrease the trend.

81 NEW POLICE IN LAST YEAR BUT LOSS IS OVER 50
  I put the latest SLC compensation study which includes the SLC police.  Around 3 police officers retire or move each month so even though 81 new police have been added in the last year, we really are only up less than 20.  One reason is the salary for officers that are willing to take a bullet for us.  According to the study, "SLC compensation for the Police Officer falls in the lower end of the reported range on scale minimum and midpoint, but then increases to the high end of the range when looking at wage scale maximum (top out).  SLC Police Officer compensation is well aligned to the market at the midpoint and maximum (top out) of the scale – though SLC could consider increasing the minimum of its wage scale and narrowing the overall range spread."
  SLC should increase the salary of police officers.  The City Council increased their salary almost 50% in December and police should get more of a salary increase than other City employees.

HOW TO REDIRECT 911 CALLS FROM VECC FOR SLC RESIDENTS
  For residents near the Salt Lake City boundaries, they can often find that their 911 cell phone calls end up going to Valley Emergency Communications Center VECC!  And despite the new Legislative bill that requires all 911 calls be handed off to 911 and not to a non emergency number (if it went to the wrong 911 center), sometimes VECC dispatch sends the call to the SLC nonemergency number!  The reason is the local cell phone tower is the deciding factor.  But if you experience this issue, call dispatch (799-3000) and complain.  The requirement of cell phone transfers depends on the number of calls going to the VECC versus SLC 911.  If over 50% of the calls from the cell tower is actually supposed to go to SLC 911 dispatch, the City can have all 911 calls go to SLC 911 dispatch first.  SLC 911 dispatch and VECC are supposed to be connected and the VECC calls can be transferred in a few seconds.  
  I still think that there should only be one Salt Lake County Dispatch system like Weber and Morgan County combined 911 system).  Unfortunately, the Legislature seems to be ignoring the problem (which sometimes results in deaths).  The 911 systems do not want to give up their systems so the County residents get less service.

MARIJUANA SMOKERS SHOULD NOT BE SPEEDING
  Several weeks ago, the DA agreed to drop charges of marijuana use by a driver that was pulled over for speeding.  Although the driver claimed that he needed it for medical reasons (in an older blog, I pointed out that the new Utah Medical Marijuana Law is making millionaires of drug dealers), HE WAS SPEEDING WHILE USING MARIJUANA!!!!!
  This driver should have had the book thrown at him.  He also lost his coaching job but he should have gotten much more punishment.  He is the poster child for NOT legalizing marijuana, in any shape or form.

GRAVEL PIT DUST WINS OVER CLEAN AIR
  Rep. Wilde's HB288, critical materials that included the gravel pits as critically important, was signed by Governor Herbert.  It increases protection of gravel pits but it also allows a city to limit expansions.  It will be interesting to see if SLC tries to limit the Beck Street gravel pits. 

ANTI IDLING PASSES AND CAN STOP INLAND PORT TRUCKS
  On a separate bill, Rep. Arent's bill to allow cities to pass anti idling ordinances that require at least one warning was passed and is expected to result in many new anti idling ordinances.  
  Despite the lack of anti idling signs and the confusion of almost 20 different municipal governments in Salt Lake County, if Salt Lake City passes such an ordinance, it could be used to payback the Legislature for the Inland Port theft.  (Note that the new Inland Port bill removed some of the new SLC economic development wins like UPS and Amazon from the area.)  I want to see SLC pass an anti idling bill that focuses on diesel trucks.  And I want to see all of the diesel trucks at the Inland Port and at the many new street projects ticketed for idling.

HB78 LIMIT ON FEDERAL LAND PASSES WITH BIG LOOPHOLE
  HB78, that required the Utah Legislature Interim Natural Resources Committee to be informed and review any attempt to encourage federal management of Utah lands.  The bill affects any property over 5000 acres.  Note that the Central Wasatch effort is around 8000 acres.  This law is really already in effect but this bill emphasizes that no one city or political subdivision can speak for all Utahns and ask to have the federal government manage Utah property.  This bill was watered down but it was generated by the closed door meetings of the Mountain Accord.  Salt Lake City believes that the watered down version is a win for their efforts to transfer management of the Central Wasatch Canyons to the federal government.

NAVAJO CODE TALKER BRAVERY RECOGNIZED WITH HIGHWAYS
  SB101 has been sent to the Governor and is expected to be signed.  As mentioned in previous blogs, this bill recognizes the bravery of the Navajo Code Talkers by naming several Utah highways for their efforts, especially in World War II.
  Again, in World War II, the Navajo Code Talkers used their Navajo language to create an unbreakable code used in the Pacific.  They volunteered for one of the most dangerous jobs in the military, radio operators.  Radio operators were targeted and high value targets.  They also knew, despite trying to keep it secret, that their squad leaders were under orders to shoot them if they could be captured.  That bravery and loyalty to our Country deserves respect.  This is one small way to give them honor and encourage respect for the Navajo.

MARCH 19, 2019
STATE STREET MAY SLOW DOWN FOR TREES AND FURNITURE
MICHAEL CLARA MAKES T-MOBILE BEND OVER AND DO OVER
SAN DIEGO THINKS UTAH SOLVED HOMELESS PROBLEM
UTA SEAT UTILIZATION IS 33% AT RUSH HOUR
BERNIE HART SHOWS THERE IS NO SUCCESSFUL HOMELESS DATA
HEATHER BENNETT SLC EDUCATION HERO DIES
SLC WORKING ON FREE TAXI RIDES TO CONNECT TO UTA
OPEN HOUSE FOR RUSHED HOMELESS HOSPICE/SHELTER AND HEARING MAR26
CWC FAILS TO GET LEGISLATURE TO ACCEPT THEIR LEADERSHIP
THREE SLC ADU APPLICATIONS DESPITE ADU HANDBOOK 
WFRC RTP IGNORES NEED FOR EAST WEST HIGHWAYS IN SLCO
MARCH 28 LAST DAY FOR SPRAGUE LIBRARY FOR A YEAR
300 WEST MONEY GOES TO 2700 SOUTH
HB252 ECIG TAX KILLED
HB324 TOBACCO AGE INCREASED BUT MARIJUANA IGNORED
GOVERNOR ALLOWS VEGETABLES TO GROW IN UTAH RADIOACTIVE WASTE
SLC FINALLY TELLS UTAH LEGISLATURE TO STOP THE INSANITY AND SUES
WARM SPRINGS GETS STUDY MONEY
SLC PARKS WATER USE GOES OVER BUDGET
SLC PHONE FRANCHISE TAXES ALMOST HALF OF 2012
MILLIONS FOR SLC TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS INSTEAD OF SERVICE

Sorry for the delay (due to Legislature wrapping up).  That is why there are so many stories this week.

STATE STREET MAY SLOW DOWN FOR TREES AND FURNITURE
  Today, the Salt Lake County Council is going to approve a transfer to Salt Lake City of funds to redesign and construct State Street with "wider sidewalks, improved transit stops, a slower design speed (pending UDOT approval), reduced driveways, street furnture, street trees and mid-block crossings".  The SLC Council will accept the funds with the Budget Amendment 5 (in downloads) with a public hearing on April 2.  The funds are $2.8 million and the language is:
 "County Transportation Funds to the City to reimburse the City for certain costs that are incurred by the City to design and construct mobility and safety improvements on State Street (US-89) from 600 South to 900 South.  Project to include wider sidewalks, improved transit stops, a slower design speed (pending UDOT approval), parallel parking pockets, reduced driveways, street furniture, street trees, and mid-block crossings.  Additionally, design of high-comfort bike routes on streets to either side of State Street from 900 South to 3300 South with connections to State Street amenities. Active transportation infrastructure to be included in accordance with Salt Lake County Bikeway Design and Active Transportation Implementation Plan and Bicycle Wayfinding Protocol."
  None of the local community councils have been made aware of the new proposals.  If history repeats itself, the councils will be told the month before the project begins.

MICHAEL CLARA MAKES T-MOBILE BEND OVER AND DO OVER
  For over a year, community activist and Poplar Grove defender has been trying to get Salt Lake City to admit that they allowed T-Mobile to build six noncomplying antennas at 922 S. Emery Street in a single family home neighborhood without a required public hearing.  So after months of denying that the City did anything wrong, the City is admitting that it did something wrong and it has set a March 27 Planning Commission hearing to replace the six noncomplying antennas  with three antennas on a utility pole.  The antennas will have a diameter of 39 inches.  But only antenna arrays with a diameter of 30 inches or less may be mounted on utility poles.  Larger antennas must be reviewed as a conditional use.  The City Planning Commission will also consider if the bigger than allowed utility box on private property is also allowed.  Lauren Parisi (lauren.parisi@slcgov.com/801-535-7226 is the planner in charge of the proposal.
  It is not often that one person can make a big company like T-Mobile turn around and bend over but Michael Clara made them do it and do it over. 

SAN DIEGO THINKS UTAH SOLVED HOMELESS PROBLEM
  If you want a job in charge of solving a city's homeless problem, tell the city that you have solved 90% of the homeless problem in your old city.  That appears to be what happened in San Diego.  A former manager in Utah Workforce Services claimed that Utah solved 90% of the chronic homeless problem in Salt Lake City with housing first efforts.  That is the same claim that former Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker made (that forced me to run against him to counter that claim).  So San Diego hired that manager in 2017 and the manager hired his former subordinate to work with him in San Diego.  San Diego thinks that that will solve the problem (despite the hepatitis A emergency).  Surprise, the manager decides to go on a mission for the JCLDS Church last year so San Diego is left with his former second in command (again from Utah's "successful reduction in chronic homeless") now in charge of solving San Diego's homeless problem.  
  I do not know why other cities keep believing that Utah has solved our homeless problem.  It seems to be that some people in charge of solving our homeless problem are claiming to have been successful.  And they may be helping solve their homeless problems by encouraging homeless to come to Utah, where we don't have anymore homeless!

UTA SEAT UTILIZATION IS 33% AT RUSH HOUR
  I put UTA's study of seat utilization in the downloads area.  UTA, during rush hours fills about 32% of their seats.  If parking lots were bigger and passes were more encouraged, it might be more.

BERNIE HART SHOWS THERE IS NO SUCCESSFUL HOMELESS DATA
  Homeless advocate Bernie Hart, supported by his spouse Marita Hart, has been trying to find out if there is data showing that SLC and Utah is solving the homeless issues in the area.  So far, he has not been able to get enough data that shows that anything is successful.  
  That frustration was shared by the Legislature when they ordered the State Homeless Coordinating Council (not the same SHCC as Sugar House Community Council) to "prepare and implement a statewide strategy for minimizing homelessness in the state; describes requirements for evaluating and reporting on progress toward the strategic plan goals".  Rep. King and Sen. Anderegg sponsored HB342 that required data to show that the State efforts to solve the homeless issues are actually working.  
  Bernie and Marita have been able to get data that showed that Salt Lake City Police have been ticketing homeless for camping in the City's open spaces and parks that started ramping up with 50 tickets in August of 2017 at the start of Operation Rio Grande (Where did they think the homeless would go if they were discouraged out of Rio Grande area?).  But after an initial surge of ticketing and rousting, the efforts have died down to less than 20 per month.
  Also Bernie received data from the HOST/SLC Police Community Outreach Team (with a police officer and a social worker) that showed 1972 contacts were made in 2018.  Only 70 citizens called asking for help regarding homeless issues.  The Team transported 100 homeless, including medically frail to the Inn Between.  There were a total of 142 who had medical referrals and 308 who had mental health referrals.  299 had substance abuse issues.  The Team helped homeless obtain benefits in 76 cases and housing in 1015 cases.
  The HOST Team can work but citizens need to call them to ask for help.  Their phone number is 801 799 3533.  They are usually out so when you call, leave a message.

HEATHER BENNETT SLC EDUCATION HERO DIES
  Heather Bennett, who has been on the Salt Lake City Board of Education since 2005, has died.  I knew her and worked with her on many issues.  She was someone who took public service literally.  She helped change the SLC Schools system for using facilities to make it easier to rent space (after the Legislature made all schools civic centers that negated a need for a separate liability policy).  
  When Operation Rio Grande disbursed the homeless and drug users to other areas, some hung out at school bus stops.  When Heather heard about it, she got in her car and went to the bus stops.  She cared about the children.  She worked with the Board, and sometimes fought with the Board, but she was able to stop the school to prison pipeline, working with Salt Lake City.  Last year, 60 students in the Salt Lake City School District had referrals to the criminal justice system.  A few years ago, there were 500 referrals a year of students to criminal justice!  
  She cared and was a hero when it came to students.

SLC WORKING ON FREE TAXI RIDES TO CONNECT TO UTA
  Former Rose Park Community Council Chair Blake Perez is going to community councils in Salt Lake City explaining the City's efforts to try to encourage more mass transit use by trying to provide a way to address the lack of mass transit on the west side of SLC (Look at the UTA map and you would see one north south route between 5600 West and 300 West while the east side has seven!).  Joining the west side, the Avenues, Rose Park/Fairpark and the East Bench all have almost no mass transit access.  Salt Lake City is considering and planning, with an RFP that is closing this week, to provide a short ride to the nearest frequent bus stop.  The justification is the subsidy that is already paid for each rider that can range from $1 for popular routes like State Street, Redwood Road and 200 South to $5 for TRAX and FrontRunner.  If more will ride mass transit with a similar subsidy for an Uber or Lyft or taxicab, then the subsidy for that ride can be justified.  
  This will be an experiment that will study if the result will decrease air pollution and use of cars.  There is a possibility that one service provider will operate electric vehicles.  Until the RFP responses are revealed, we won't know how it will work.  The suggestion/wish is that someone on 1700 South and 1700 East will call for a ride to the nearest bus stop (228 on Foothill or 21 on 2100 East) and get a ride for those 3 or 4 blocks.  44% of Salt Lake residents appear to be within 3 blocks of a bus or TRAX stop.  So most rides would be short.
  Salt Lake City is also going fund more transit amenities in their Budget Amendment 5 (in the downloads area).  The City is planning on spending about a million on: "These funds will be used for design, signal upgrades, electric bus infrastructure, bus stop improvements, ADA
enhancements, and first/last mile infrastructure to enhance walking and biking connections near stops/stations along the Frequent Transit Networks (FTN) corridors. Funding may be used to leverage UTA investments along FTN corridors such as intermodal hubs (planned for 200 South). Priority will be given to phase one routes on the FTN network (900 S., 200 S., 2100 S.).  I put more transportation projects in a story about projects instead of service below.

OPEN HOUSE FOR RUSHED HOMELESS HOSPICE/SHELTER HEARING MAR26
  Salt Lake City is rushing an Open House to answer one of the objections to the new Congregate Care Institutional Zone that is meant to justify the location and operation of the Inn Betwen.  The Open House is at 530PM at the Police Headquarters on March 20.  Katia Pace at kaatia.pace@slcgov.com or 801 535 6354 is the SLC Planner in charge of the Open House.  The Open House ends at 7 PM.  I put the map and text amendment in the downloads.  The City is allowing homeless assisted living facilities in Institutional Zoned areas (could be schools) with conditional use requirements.  But the City is not listing the requirements to meet the conditional uses.  In addition, the City is not showing the coordination, if any, with the new homeless facilities.  It should be expected, as it was explained, that the homeless shelters will be able to take in and house these individuals.  The City will have a public hearing on March 26.  If this is rushed through in secret like the old 4 homeless shelters that the City Council tried to put in residential neighborhoods, there will be a lot of hate and discontent.  It will be interesting if Utah's new hate crime law is used (Homeless and political beliefs are two new protected classes.)

CWC FAILS TO GET LEGISLATURE TO ACCEPT THEIR LEADERSHIP
  SCR10 was an attempt by the Central Wasatch Commission (CWC) to have the Legislature agree that the CWC was the entity in charge of the Central Wasatch mountains and if they recommended turning the canyons over to the federal government for management, it was the will of the citizens of Utah.  The Resolution failed.  An attempt to stop the CWC from turning over the canyons to the federal government, HB78 was watered down to require reporting the attempts to the Legislature (which is already the law).  But the big takeaway is the CWC was slapped down by the Legislature.

THREE SLC ADU APPLICATIONS DESPITE ADU HANDBOOK 
  According to SLC Planning, there have been three ADU permits applied for since the new ADU ordinance was adopted last year.  So it is slow enough that SLC is providing a booklet (in the downloads) to encourage ADUs.

WFRC RTP IGNORES NEED FOR EAST WEST HIGHWAYS IN SLCO
  I was disappointed in the RTP from WFRC.org.  It did not have the most important roads needed in Salt Lake County, east west freeways!  Olympia Hills opponents pointed out that the lack of east west freeways in the south County should stop development until the freeways are there to take on the vehicle increase.  WFRC suggests widening the roads but they should be freeways.

The road projects for widening are:

4700 S widening to 7 lanes should be a freeway
7000 S widening to 5-7 lanes should be a freeway
9000 S widening to 5-7 lanes should be a freeway
10600 S widening to 5-7 lanes should be a freeway
12300 S widening to 5-7 lanes should be a freeway
13400 S widening to 5-7 lanes should be a freeway

WFRC and Utah should recognize that without several major east west freeways in the South Valley, the citizens of the area will not allow/will fight any density or population or development.  Olympia Hills and Cottonwood Mall are two examples that would not be big fights if transportation infrastructure was able to handle the increase in vehicle trips.  That is why the WFRC should put in two or three more east west freeways.  It WILL allow more development/density increase and stop limiting Utah growth.  Also the plan should make significant use of smart real time intelligent traffic signals using Wavetronix/UDOT's system or something similar.  The Purdue study from Cottonwood Heights should be argument enough for significantly more intelligent traffic signals.

Other issues in the draft RTP (comments closed earlier this week) are:

?R-S-133 I-15 Northbound 2100 S to Bangerter Highway??  I don't understand.

R-S-141 300 W 400 S to 2100 S 7 lanes nice but does SLC plan also work.  They are going to use new bond for road diet?

R-S-146 State Street 600 South to I215 6 lanes good but SLC wants bike lanes which requires decreasing the median please

R-S-152 900 E 3300 S to 3900 S should decrease center turn lane to provide wider bike lanes (this comment applies to every super wide center turn lane including Foothill, State Street (except at lights), 200 S., and 700 E. (wasted medians).  Left hand turns on 700 East should only be at lights and bike lanes should be provided.

R-S-161 I am against taking away lanes for HOV/HOT/BRT.  Do not do harm and make more congestion (also applies to 4700 S BRT).

The questionable transit projects are:
Ogden BRT is now $95 million but it only saves 5 minutes (which is taken up by walking an extra block to a station) to WSU).

Weber State University Transit Hub $18 million  Service would be a better way to spend money. Eye candy projects are wasteful until service is robust.

Davis SLC Connector BRT $192 million
This is a waste of time when an enhanced bus is a tenth of the cost and just as effective.  Until UTA is able to prove that they can construct and effectively and successfully operate a BRT, they should not build more.  The UVX is not a good example since it is free!  The 35 Max is a better example and it saves only 15 minutes out of a 70 minute ride and those 15 minutes are wasted walking to a nearby(actually farther than most people will walk).  The 3200 passengers a day have not increased since it began and anything less than 3000 passengers a day is a waste of money.  Note that the 3500 S. is congested and bumper to bumper during rush hour and the two lanes taken up by the BRT could handle 10,000 ADT which equates to more than 15000 people a day.  That means cars are more efficient than a bus.

WFRC needs to calculate the average fuel use for a day's worth of 35 Max and compare that to the 10,000 ADT vehicles over 10 miles to see how efficient BRT is compared to a car.

State Street BRT $317 million!
Instead, use an enhanced bus or, for $1 million add another bus and double the frequency.  And don't require a BRT to increase frequency to 7 minutes!  That is what you did with UVX!  And UVX and BRTs should not have to stop at lights!!  BLIP - bus lane at intersections along with intersection traffic light priority is 10 times cheaper and as effective.

200 South BRT $67 million
This along with the 400,000 transit hub is a construction company's profit cash cow.  $1 million will double frequency and be as effective.  For $6 million, an enhanced bus would be as fast as a BRT.  Before any BRT is built (including in Davis or Weber County, adjacent landowners/homeowners need to realize that it will lead to rezonings, higher density (to justify the BRT) and property taxes.  That will stop development.

3300 South BRT $288 million
An enhanced bus should always be tried before a BRT is even thought about.  This should be a universal law.  No to BRT on 33rd but expand service to 10 minutes.

4500 South BRT $127 million
Same comments as other BRTs.  This is being touted as the Mid-Valley Connector but it makes a congested road even worse and increases pollution.

FrontRunner Doubletrack $199 million
   Ogden to Pleasant View $197 million
   Electrify $709-948 million
If the parking lots are not expanded, and the speed is not increased (double tracking may be justified after more parking is provided), ridership will not increase and these projects are a waste of time.  I need to emphasize that if the parking lots are full, doubletracking and electrifying are not an efficient use of money because they won't provide more ridership.

Black Line SLC Airport to UofU $515 million
Does anybody recognize that if you gave every student at the UofU $20,000 to buy an efficient low emission car, that you would take more polluting cars off the road than this wasteful project.  Extend a bus to the Airport and have it go to the UofU via the Highway and it will be much faster and cheaper.

Green Line from 700 South to Gateway $87 million 
This project makes some sense to save 10 minutes to the Airport and provide more development on 400 West.  Alternatives should be considered to shift from 1300 South maybe to 300 West then to 400 West.  Also the Airport TRAX should be extended to 5600 West but there is nothing in this plan for that but there should be.  

Draper TRAX $361 million this year and total is $687 million
Draper TRAX west alignment is $964 to $1.8 million
All of the TRAX extensions in South Valley to Lehi should be stopped until proof that density will support it.  FrontRunner competes with TRAX to Lehi and there should be a cost benefit analysis of ridership and the effect on FrontRunner ridership.  I believe that the total cost is closer to $2 billion to go to Utah County line with all infrastructure.

S Line extension to 400 South via 900 East $147 million
S Line extension to UofU $317 million
S Line extension to Millcreek $128 million  and up to $1.3 million to go to 3900 South
1500 passengers a day do not justify spending more than 10 million to extend the S-Line.  Go two blocks east and be done with it.  Better bus service would be more appreciated.  It was cut in half on Highland a few years ago for good reason.  A rail line through a residential neighborhood is not recommended.  And anyone who says that the reason for Sugar House development is due to the S-Line is not considering the linear park.  I can make a better argument that the parks and Parleys Trail were a bigger reason for the development than the S-Line.  All rail line extensions should have a vigorous public analysis with a financial effect (taking away from service especially important).

Tell the residents of 900 East that they will have a streetcar/TRAX train running up their street a few years after digging up 900 East TWICE to remove rails (they didn't do it right the first time) and they will tar and feather whoever tries.

400 South TRAX from SLCentral to 400 South $75 million-$112 million
NO, NO, NO

I am against the State Street BRT since you need the 6 lanes on State and an enhance bus every 7 minutes would be much cheaper.  By the way, the Redwood Road and State Street corridors have the most ridership and should have priority on expanding service NOW.

The 900 East buses may be able to handle 10 minute service if the roadway wasn't so bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, bouncy.  It is almost like a Disneyland ride!

Big Cottonwood Corridor Special Service Buses $7 million with $1.3 million per year operating cost
I think that the cost is too high.  Weekend bus service should be tried first to gauge interest.

Little Cottonwood bus is $4.3 million and $762,000 operating cost
Same as above. 

North Temple Transit Hub, 200 South Hub, UofU Hub, Central Pointe Station Hub, Murray Central Station Hub, SLCC Transit Hub, Cottonwood Canyons Transit Hub, Fort Union Transit Hub,  $14 million each!!!  
Again eye candy is a waste until a robust bus system is gained.  RESTORE THE 30% BUS SERVICE THAT WAS CUT FOR TRAX CONSTRUCTION FIRST!
These pretty buildings may be super efficient but building them is a big cost including carbon footprint.  Service before construction should be UTA's motto. 

I agree with the park and ride lots that should be expanded everywhere including at the canyons.  But Terry Diehl should not be making out like a bandit with a parking garage.

Regarding buffered bike lanes:  if there are a lot of in/out driveways and requirements for offloading stores (trucks run ramps across the cycle tracks), separated bike lanes should not be constructed.  

Wider bike lanes should be standard and all contracts should require that the resurfacing of roads should be to the curb.  The present standard contracts do not cover surfaces to the curb and so the bicyclists' travel area is not as smooth or even as the main roadway.  That is wrong and discourages bicycling.  Also, as above medians and turning lanes should be discouraged except at lights to minimize dangers to pedestrians and bicyclists. 

I am against the 300 E buffered bike lane.  500 East should be the preferred bicycle route and Liberty Park's 500 East center turn lane should be eliminated.  Put a cycle track on the east and west side of Liberty Park.  700 East could have a buffered bike lane from 900 South to 2000 South without much of a problem.  

The 1300 East to Richmond St 2700 South to 3300 South bike lane could be buffered frorm Highland to Elgin since there are few driveways.

900 South 9-Line Trail is not here and it should be.  There is also a need for a railroad bridge for pedestrians, bicyclists and wheelchairs over the 900 S tracks (SLC is doing the 400 North West High bridge).  Both the bridge and trail should be in this.  900 South could also have an extra wide bike lane.

I am against the Red Line extension to Herriman until road expansion is completed with 3 new east west freeways.  Those would be a better construction priority.

I did not see the high speed airport rail station that was in Wasatch Choice 2050 draft. If you dropped it thank you.  If it is hidden in here, darn you, and stop thinking high speed rail, or go to California.  Better yet, listen to the California Governor on the subject.  I also did not see the 400 West BRT from the Wasatch Choice 2050 Draft thank you.  The Depot District/Central Garage Project also was not in there but I have to be consistent and complain about the project.  You also took out 800 South.

I am against the 2700 S. TRAX station since it does not have the density needed.  The 1700 S. TRAX stop makes more sense in the next 10 years or now.  

Central Pointe really needs more parking than a hub.  

Why not throw out the rocks at Central Station and put in parking. 

There is also an active transportation component, bicycling.  I put the maps in the download section along with the draft RTP.
Bicycle 800 S. 
800 South from Indiana Avenue to Sunnyside seems questionable due to the hill between 1300 and 1100 East.  And the City and County are pushing for an active transportation upgrade on 900 South between 1300 and Lincoln.  This is a duplicate.  I actually would prefer 800 South since 900 S. has 45 degree parking which is dangerous for bicyclists.  And I do not think cycle tracks make sense except where there are no driveways.  Even then, cyclists would prefer wider bike lanes and the ability to get out of the way of obstacles and debris in the road.


MARCH 28 LAST DAY FOR SPRAGUE LIBRARY FOR A YEAR
  March 28 is the last day to collect library holds from the original Sprague Library.  The Library will move to the old Fire Station on Sugarmont just east of McClelland.  We have asked the City for pedestrian improvements to make the area safer for kids walking in the area.  The Library will continue children reading time at the Legacy Village on Wilmington and the new Fire Station on 900 East has a community meeting room that will be available by calling the SLCFD.

S-LINE 15 MINUTE SCHEDULE APRIL 7
  The S-Line will get a 15 minute frequency instead of a 20 minute frequency due to the $6 million double tracking project.  The new frequency will start on April 7.  Despite claims that UTA only does one change day a year, it still happens in April.  Bus 21 will also have some slight changes.

300 WEST MONEY GOES TO 2700 SOUTH
  Why did 2700 South get on the fast track project list to reconstruct the road?  Because the federal government denied giving SLC $12 million to redo 300 West.  So SLC had $2 million burning a hole in its pocket and decided to spend money on on 2700 South!  
  "As part of the FY2019 annual budget, the Council appropriated $2 million of Class C funds (gas tax) as a local match for a
federal BUILD grant to reconstruct 300 West from 600 South to 2100 South. The grant application was not awarded
funding. The street could be reconstructed using funds from the voter-approved Streets Reconstruction Bond. The
Administration requests the Council re-appropriate the funds for the general purpose of street reconstruction. The
internal Roadway Selection Committee identified reconstruction of 2700 South and 1500 South as alternatives if the
BUILD grant was unsuccessful. However, existing appropriations of Class C funds are enough for the 2700 South
reconstruction project to proceed without this additional funding.
The reconstruction of 2700 South is from Highland Drive to Preston Street. The total estimated cost for the 2700 South
reconstruction project is $2.5 million. The 1500 South reconstruction project is from Redwood Road to 2700 West. The
table below shows the Council appropriations and remaining “available to spend” balances for all Class C funds."

HB252 ECIG TAX KILLED
  Despite heroic efforts by Rep. Ray, the 86% tax on e-cigarettes/vaping cartridges and liquids failed.  So all those kids who are melting their lungs on their path to bronchitis can do it cheaply.  Utah taxpayers will go bankrupt paying for their melted lungs.

HB324 TOBACCO AGE INCREASED BUT MARIJUANA IGNORED
  HB324 raised the age of tobacco sales, slowly to 21, except for military personnel.

GOVERNOR ALLOWS VEGETABLES TO GROW IN UTAH RADIOACTIVE WASTE
  The Governor, for a very confusing reason, decided not to veto HB220 that allows one person to decide if EnergySolutions can accept more nuclear waste.  So the bill goes into effect.

SLC FINALLY TELLS UTAH LEGISLATURE TO STOP THE INSANITY AND SUES
  It should have been done months ago.  It seems that former Maor Ted Wilson (father of SLCO Mayor Jennie Wilson) was able to argue successfully in a recent oped in the Salt Lake Tribune that the City should sue.  So Mayor Biskupski is suing the State and Inland Port for taking away control of 25% of the City's property.  Finally.

WARM SPRINGS GETS STUDY MONEY
  Warm Springs Park efforts to provide funding to upgrade the area's historic buildings is getting a boost in the City's Budget Amendment 5:  "The $37,000 request is split between two areas of study. The Administration is requesting $25,000 to update and expand
on previous structural evaluations. The last study was completed in 2006....The second area of study would use $12,000 to evaluate water quality, flow, springs, existing infrastructure and feasibility of reactivating the swimming pools. The study is expected to take four to six weeks. The Warm Spring Alliance, a local nonprofit group, has conducted preliminary evaluations along with community engagement and offered to share information with the City."

SLC PARKS WATER USE GOES OVER BUDGET
  The City has been ignoring the obvious nature of nature when it budgets for water use before summer.  The City's water use again went over budget and the City Council is considering:  Budgeting for Utility Cost Uncertainty – The Council may wish to ask how the FY20 budget will accommodate the unpredictable nature of utility costs, especially since hot, dry summers are expected to become more frequent.

SLC PHONE FRANCHISE TAXES ALMOST HALF OF 2012
  SLC is losing about a million a year in franchise taxes from people moving to cellphones.  But the City gets more money from cable! In 2012, the City got $6 million in franchise taxes and this last year, they got $3 million (a decrease of a million from the year before).  But Utah has increased the taxes on cellphones, including an almost ignored tax increase on prepaid phones and on all phones for 911 service.  So the City will not suffer from lack of taxes.

MILLIONS FOR SLC TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS INSTEAD OF SERVICE
  Instead of spending money from the new transit taxes on service improvements, almost 95% of the money is going to projects!  Some of the projects (in the Budget Amendment 5 in the downloads section) are:
"E-1: Salt Lake County, Regional Transportation Choice Fund, 9 Line / Center Section - CIP $5,338,218
The Division of Transportation applied for and received a grant of $4,338,218 from Salt Lake County from the
Transportation Choice Fund. This project will fund the Center Section of the 9-Line Trail. This is the 2.0 mile section
along 900 S. between 600 W. and Lincoln Street (approx. 940 E), excluding West Temple. Following the 9-Line Extension
Study, the City will improve infrastructure quality, elevate the streetscape for walking, bicycling, transit, ensure highquality
connectivity, comfort facilities, and appropriate amenities while limiting implementation time and impacts from
construction. This grant does not require a match, but does award points for additional funds dedicated to the project so
the City is providing a match of $1,800,000; $1,500,000 from Street Reconstruction General Obligation Bond and
$300,000 from Salt Lake City Sales Tax for Transit Improvements. A public hearing was held on 12/11/18 on the grant
application for this award.
E-2: Salt Lake County, Regional Transportation Choice Fund, Greater Millcreek / Sugar House
Circulation Plan CIP $1,000,000
The Transportation Division applied for and received a grant of $942,500 from Salt Lake County from the
Transportation Choice Fund. The Greater Millcreek / Sugar House Circulation Plan will identify transportation
infrastructure improvements to increase connectivity, expand transportation choices, and support economic development
for mixed-use areas that share jurisdiction borders of Holladay, Millcreek, Salt Lake City/Sugar House, and South Salt
Lake. $942,500 in grants funds combined with $57,500 cash match will be used to secure services of a transportation
planning consultant to produce the Greater Millcreek / Sugar House Circulation Plan. Salt Lake City would administer the
multi-jurisdiction contract for consultant services. A cash match totaling $57,500 is from the following collaborative
partners: a) $40,000 from Salt Lake City sourced from Funding Our Futures sales tax increase; b) $10,000 from
Millcreek; c) $5,000 from Holladay; and D) $2,500 from South Salt Lake. A public hearing was held on 12/11/18 on the
grant application for this award.
E-3: Salt Lake County, Regional Transportation Choice Fund, 200 So. Transit Corridor / Downtown Hub
Study CIP $440,000
The Transportation Division applied for and received a grant of $400,000 from Salt Lake County from the
Transportation Choice Fund for the following project. The 200 South Transit Corridor / Downtown Hub Study will
propose a redesign of 200 South from 600 West to 900 East to transform the function of 200 South to a premier transit
corridor with a downtown mobility hub/transit mall while also incorporating access for walking, bicycling, shared
mobility, private automobiles, and freight. $360,000 in grants funds combined with $40,000 cash match will be used to
secure services of a local/regional professional transportation planning consultant to produce the 200 South Transit
Corridor / Downtown Hub Study. A cash match totaling $40,000 is committed by Salt Lake City sourced from the
Funding Our Futures sales tax increase. A public hearing was held on 12/11/18 on the grant application for this award.
E-4: Salt Lake County, Regional Transportation Choice Fund, SLC Westside Multimodal Hub Study CIP
$330,000
The Division of Transportation applied for and received a grant of $300,000 from Salt Lake County from the
Transportation Choice Fund for the following project. Salt Lake City Westside Multimodal Hub Study will identify a site
on or near North Temple Boulevard between Redwood Road and 400 West best suited to host a new multimodal hub
facility that connects different modes of transit, including TRAX, bus, ride sharing services, bike share, and scooters. A
cash match totaling $30,000 is committed by Salt Lake City sourced from the Funding Our Futures sales tax increase. A
public hearing was held on 12/11/18 on the grant application for this award.
E-5 Salt Lake County, Regional Transportation Choice Fund, Life on State: Design and Catalytic Site
Implementation CIP $4,800,000
The Division of Transportation applied for and received a grant of $4,800,000 from Salt Lake County from the
Transportation Choice Fund for the following project. Life on State: Design and Catalytic Site Implementation is a pilot
project to test transportation improvement interventions on State Street recommended in the Life on State
Implementation Plan 2017. Interventions would include:
1) $2,900,000 for design and construction of mobility and safety improvements in Salt Lake City on State Street between
600 South and 900 South to include wider sidewalks, improved transit stops, slower speed design, parallel parking
pockets, reduced driveways, street furniture, street trees, and mid-block crossings;
2) $2,000,000 for design and construction of mobility and safety improvements in South Salt Lake on State Street
combined between 2100 South and Haven Avenue (approximately 2300 South) to include wider sidewalks, bus pull-outs,
and street trees; and 3) $300,000 for design of high-comfort bike routes on each side of State Street (200 East and Main
Street/West Temple) between 300 South and 3300 South with connections to State Street amenities.
A cash match totaling $400,000 is committed from the following: A) $230,000 from Salt Lake City Complete Streets
Enhancement Fund (8381030 - $105,000 rescope and $8419009 - $125,000) both rescoped to "Life on State" and B)
$170,000 from Utah Department of Transportation for construction of a midblock crossing on State Street between 700
South and 800 South. A public hearing was held on 12/11/18 on the grant application for this award."

MARCH 4, 2019
GOVERNOR VETO HB220 STOP RADIOACTIVE VEGETABLES PUBLISHED
DON'T HATE ME FOR MY OPINION
NAVAJO CODE TALKERS SOME OF THE BRAVEST SOLDIERS OF WWII
ANTI IDLING BILL IS A ZOMBIE BILL THAT WON'T DIE
MOTHER OF ALL TAX BILLS RUSHING THROUGH LEGISLATURE
UTAH BICYCLE YIELD LAW DIES WITH BICYCLE SAFETY
UTA FREE FARE DAY OVERWHELMS REGULAR RIDERS
UVX IS NOT AS NICE AS DESCRIBED
BIG SECRET PHONE TAX INCREASE COMING
CWC TRYING TO PUSH FEDERAL CONTROL OF CANYONS
FINALLY SUPPORTIVE HOUSING NEAR A BIG STORE
WFRC PLAN COMMENTS DUE NOW
BODY CAMS MAY BE DISCARDED DUE TO STORAGE COSTS
FREE CANYON SHUTTLE SATURDAY
BEST QUOTE FROM LEGISLATURE ON MORE LAWS


GOVERNOR SHOULD VETO HB220 AND STOP RADIOACTIVE VEGETABLES PUBLISHED
  The Salt Lake Tribune published my oped on reasons for the Governor to veto HB220.  The bill short circuits the Utah Radiation Control Board staff and gives EnergySolutions a quick potential approval for bringing in more nuclear waste.  I think that I made some good arguments on why EnergySolutions does not know how to handle nuclear waste, and in some cases, does not know what is nuclear waste.  It makes nuclear power look bad.  If Utah really wants to encourage nuclear power, the companies that work in the nuclear industry need to know what they are doing.  And EnergySolutions, at one time did say that they could grow broccoli in the depleted uranium barrels!
The link to my oped, with the broccoli link is:

https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2019/03/03/george-chapman-veto-hb/

DON'T HATE ME FOR MY OPINION
  SB103, a bill that expands hate crimes and makes it easier to prosecute those crimes, is being debated in the Utah State Senate. Sen. Thatcher sponsored the bill to help problem prosecutions like the recent serious attack by a homeless man on several men that were targeted because of the claim that they were part of "the Mexican mafia". The bill adds many new categories of hate towards protected classes like matriculation (home school), homeless, and LGBTQ (already in the law as aggravating factors). One complaint raised is that it may allow students from one school that attack others from another school to be charged with a more serious crime.
  This bill may be opening a Pandora's box of protected classes that may include hair (as in NYC), homeless facilities, political opinions (gay Republicans), police (Utahns Against Police Brutality), husbands versus wives or fathers hating their daughter’s boyfriend (mentioned by Connor Boyack/Libertas), tattoos (Is it a crime to wear racist tattoos?), religious beliefs (against gay marriage or gay priests or polygamy), music (some music could be considered racist) and language.
  Utah already has a hate crime law (76-3-203.4) that allows the sentencing judge or Board of Parole to consider aggravating factors (as pointed out by former Rep. LaVar Christensen). It is concerning, to me, that the actions of a man with obvious mental health issues is the justification of SB103. Even the horror of a mentally unbalanced person shooting up a school or nightclub should not be used to make laws that ban all guns.  
  Hating people that think that all guns should not be banned (and saying that they should be shot) should not be against the law. The reality is that some people hate others for many different reasons, including a difference in philosophy. Tom Lehrer, a once popular satirist, made a point when he said "I know that there are people who do not love their fellow man and I just hate people like that." (National Brotherhood Week) 
  As much as I support our law enforcement officers (who constantly risk death, and sometimes die, in the effort to protect and serve), I do not want to muzzle people who are angry at police actions. Our society can handle a vigorous, and respectful discussion of these actions. It should not be a crime to speak against police actions and express hate towards police officers or elected leaders.
  Our laws already consider premeditation and the penalties can be as great as death. The person that attacked people he thought were "Mexican mafia" would not have been stopped by this hate crime bill. Laws do not stop mentally unbalanced people who commit horrific crimes. Better mental health treatment services can. Ironically, homeless is part of SB103 as a protected class. So it could be a possible prosecution enhancement to speak against a homeless facility and act against it or defend oneself against an aggressive homeless person or try to remove a homeless person from your property.
  Some people say stupid and hateful things. The Salt Lake County DA, Sim Gill, one of the most decent and respected men that I know, has had racist slurs yelled at him. It just proves that some people are American idiots. No law will change that. We shouldn't try to criminalize hateful and stupid speech. Unfortunately, many comments for and against Sen. Thatcher's bill express a lot of hate.  That is ironic, sad and hypocritical. 
  The goal in our Country should be to lower the barrier to working together. We rely on parents and our community leadership, including churches to teach us and lead us to treat everyone with respect. We should not have to make laws that emphasize and recognize that a soul is a soul and categorizing anyone tends to decrease respect and make it harder to work together. We do need more respect. No law, no matter how well intentioned, can force that. Please don't hate me for my opinion.

NAVAJO CODE TALKERS WERE SOME OF THE BRAVEST SOLDIERS OF WWII
  Some of the bravest soldiers in WWII were ordered to not talk about their exploits and bravery until the 1980s.  These soldiers were from the Utah and Arizona Navajo reservations.  They were the Navajo Code Talkers.  They VOLUNTEERED to accept the most dangerous of assignments, a radio operator.  In WWII, radio operators were given a high priority by the enemy to be killed.  In addition, they knew, but weren't supposed to know that if they were going to be captured, their squad leader would kill them.  They accepted those dangers even when they didn't have to.  They volunteered to fight for this Country, our Country out of loyalty and respect. Their courage, their love of and respect that they showed our Country deserves to be remembered, honored and celebrated.  
  Senators Hinkins and Iwamoto are jointly sponsoring the Navajo Code Talkers Day and Highway Designation bill, SB101 has been sent to the Governor for his signature.  The Highways designated as the Navajo Code Talker Highways are 162, 163, and 191 in San Juan County.  August 14th is the Day to remember these, bravest of the brave.  These men are special and they deserve much more attention and respect.

ANTI IDLING BILL IS A ZOMBIE BILL THAT WON'T DIE
  The anti idling bill that keeps hitting roadblocks in Committees was resurrected again and is now in the Senate.  It allows cities to ticket drivers for idling their vehicles for more than a few minutes after one warning.  Very few spoke against this bill.
  The issue should be consistency across the State, unless cities are going to erect many more signs.  Visitors to one of the almost 20 municipal governments in Salt Lake County will not know where and when they can idle.  And the new cars only pollute 1% of the cars from 30 years ago.  It seems extremely unfair to tell all cars to stop idling.  Parents should not have to check the temperature to figure out if they can idle their car to keep their kids from getting too hot or cold.
  There is a bill (sponsored by Sen. Harper) from 2012 that was meant to supercede Salt Lake City's efforts to pass an anti idling law.  Sen. Harper's bill emphasized the educational aspect of the effort and required 3 warnings before a ticket is issued.  The new bill authorizes ticketing after one warning (on public property).  Drive thru and private driveways and property are not affected by this bill.
  This bill could help Salt Lake City enforce anti idling on trucks in the Inland Port area.  This could force refrigerator trucks to stop idling!  To really reduce idling, cities need to stop creating traffic designs that actually encourage backups and idling.  Removing right hand turn lanes in order to place pedestrian bulb outs and reduce pedestrian distance to cross a street can increase backups and pollution if they are not well researched.  
  We often complain about predatory towing (Rep. Maloy's anti predatory towing bill had the sign requirement removed so it is useless) but this bill opens the door to predatory policing.  Without a sign requirement, predatory policing is almost guaranteed.  
  Capitol buses often idle and Capitol Highway Patrol Officers have constantly idled their vehicles when they leave their pets in the vehicle.  There is no consideration for public safety issues.  There is also no limit on tickets.  Although they are supposed to be like parking tickets, the SLC Airport can give a fine of $500 or more!  
  What's next?  Are we going to ban cows??!!

MOTHER OF ALL TAX BILLS RUSHING THROUGH LEGISLATURE
  One of the most complicated bills that the Legislature has developed is sailing through the Legislature.  It increase/implements a sales tax on property transfers, services, even lawnmowing companies.  Services through the internet would be significantly hurt and many Utah fast growth companies would be affected.  The Utah State Tax Commission would have to increase their staff significantly.  I do not think that Commissioner Valentine would try to knock on the door of the neighborhood kid that does lawns but someone may.  Will tips be taxed?  
  We should not tax the kid doing the lawn or lemonade stands or the piano teacher.  We should not be passing laws that encourage kids to not follow laws.  We should not be quadrupling the workload and business of tax attorneys.  Even health insurance would be taxed!!!  It is almost like the Legislature is trying to payback the effort to pass Prop 3 healthcare expansion.
  This has a major effect on businesses and should not be rushed through in the hope that there won't be time to discuss the implications and object.  A full discussion, analysis and debate should precede any important change to business.  This affects the State's healthy business environment.  A vigorous discussion analysis and debate increases the chance for good decisions.
  According to news reports, the tax bill's sponsor joked about "pissing off everybody equally".  Rep. Quinn, you should not be proud of yellow snowing everyone by acting like a turn around and bend over scatalogical geographic.
  This bill is too much government.  I believe that the vast majority of citizens and businesses would prefer a simple 10 cents a gallon gas tax increase instead of this frankenstein tax bill.  A gas tax increase of 10 cents a gallon, with a repurposing of a equivalent amount to education from transportation, makes more sense.  It would bring in $100 million annually.

UTAH BICYCLE YIELD LAW DIES WITH BICYCLE SAFETY
  Rep. Moss' bill to allow bicyclists to not completely stop at lights (when there are no other cars around) has died in Committee.  One cyclist actually asked for it to be defeated!  Rep. Moss' bill to ban talking on the cellphone while driving has died on the House floor.

UTA FREE FARE DAY OVERWHELMS REGULAR RIDERS
  UTA, again, provided a free fare day (actually two days) and it resulted in an overwhelming response from parents and grandparents taking their kids onto the FrontRunner trains.  Standing room only, if you could find a parking spot.  This plan was to encourage long term ridership increases but overcrowded trains and no parking available are not conducive to increasing ridership.  The UTA Board of Trustees has been told many times (including by transit activist Claudia Johnson) that it would make more sense to have the free fare day on a Saturday so as not to discourage regular riders and those considering commuting by train.

UVX IS NOT AS NICE AS DESCRIBED
  UVX has been touted as a super successful BRT bus system in Provo.  At times it is full but that service could have been provide by a bus at a tenth of the cost.  In addition, by driving on the left side of the streets, there are many swerves in and out of traffic which is not a very comfortable ride.  Even worse, there are portions of the BRT lane that actually has big dips for the drainage systems.  So riders can experience the bouncy bouncy bouncy bouncy bus ride.  It is almost as good as a Disneyland ride!  Oh, and the lights do not allow priority to buses which kind of defeats the purpose of a BRT.  

BIG SECRET PHONE TAX INCREASE COMING
  Sen. Harper has a bill about to be passed through the House that increases taxes on phone access points from 9 cents a month to 25 cents a month for 911 services.  I am concerned that we should not be throwing money at this County's 911 services before an audit that confirms the reasonable budgets for coordination of the SLC/Sandy and UPD/VECC systems.  We have been promised effective coordination for over a decade without results.  The prepaid cell phone tax will increase form 3.3% (it was 2.45% a year ago) to 3.7%.  

CWC TRYING TO PUSH FEDERAL CONTROL OF CANYONS
  The CWC is rushing a bill through the Legislature that supports the questionable efforts and plans to turn over a significant part of the Wasatch Canyons to federal government management.  This is a followon to the Mt Accord which has been found to be lacking in following the  Utah Open Meetings Act.  It discourages personal vehicle use, and at one time, supported a National Monument in the Canyons.  I question the collaborative process that they claim to be consensus.  The westside of the County has been left out of input regarding their recreation areas.  Despite concerns from the Chair of the Committee, Sen. Thatcher, it passed through the Committee.
  The language says:
 "BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of the state of Utah, the Governor concurring therein, reflecting the will of local communities and many interests, urge the President of the United States, Congress, and Utah's congressional delegation to pass legislation reflecting the work of the Central Wasatch Commission and the years of collaborative effort resulting from the Mountain Accord."

FINALLY SUPPORTIVE HOUSING NEAR A BIG STORE
  First Step is showing the way to real respectful supportive housing that is not in the middle of single family home areas.  It is on 500 East across the street from Smith's and near many restaurants and other amenities, including several bus and TRAX stations.  That is where all supportive housing should be.

WFRC PLAN COMMENTS DUE NOW
  The very very important WFRC RTP draft plan is out for public comment.  There is about 10 days left to comment on the issue!  March 17th i the deadline.  (Also the WFRC has moved to the Gateway, finally.)  
  I am against all of these projects until a robust bus system is restored.  Service increases should return bus service to where it was when it was cut 30%.  We do not have 5 billion to spend on these projects.  They should have a financial priority list.  I somewhat like the 700 South Green Line to 400 West rerouting and the Cottonwood Canyon buses.  I put the WFRC draft plan in the downloads section.
  The questionable projects are:
Ogden BRT is now $95 million
Weber State University Transit Hub $18 million
Davis SLC Connector BRT $192 million
State Street BRT $317 million!
200 South BRT $67 million
3300 South BRT $288 million
4500 South BRT $127 million
FrontRunner Doubletrack $199 million
   Ogden to Pleasant View $197 million
   Electrify $709-948 million
Black Line SLC Airport to UofU $515 million
Green Line from 700 South to Gateway $87 million  (this project makes some sense to save 10 minutes to the Airport)
Draper TRAX $361 million this year and total is $687 million
Draper TRAX west alignment is $964 to $1.8 million
S Line extension to 400 South via 900 East $147 million
S Line extension to UofU $317 million
S Line extension to Millcreek $128 million  and up to $1.3 million to go to 3900 South
400 South TRAX from SLCentral to 400 South $75 million-$112 million
Big Cottonwood Corridor Special Service Buses $7 million with $1.3 million per year operating cost
Little Cottonwood bus is $4.3 million and $762,000 operating cost
North Temple Transit Hub, 200 South Hub, UofU Hub, Central Pointe Station Hub, Murray Central Station Hub, SLCC Transit Hub, Cottonwood Canyons Transit Hub, Fort Union Transit Hub,  $14 million each

BODY CAMS MAY BE DISCARDED DUE TO STORAGE COSTS
  Utah Interactive is in the final stages of developing an inexpensive system to allow body cam storage for a fraction of the cost of present services.  Several small law enforcement agencies in the State are considering dropping body cams since they can cost over $100 per month per person!  The Salt Lake County UPD is one concerned about the cost.  During a presentation several years ago, Utah Interactive felt that they could provide the service for less than $40 per month.

FREE CANYON SHUTTLE SATURDAY
  "Wasatch Backcountry Alliance and Utah Mountain Shuttle are hosting the fourth annual free shuttle day on Saturday March 9th, from 7:00 a.m. -- 5:00 p.m. The shuttle will depart from the Brighton Pointe Shopping Center at 3470 East and Bengal Boulevard every 30 minutes.

https://sites.google.com/site/utahmountianbikeshuttle/

Reservations are required, but free for friends of WBA 
1. Sign up and select time.  On this page (see below)
2. Day of event, park and sign in. Look for our tent between Smiths Fuel and Arctic Circle. 3470 East Bengal Blvd. 
3. Load shuttle at time selected. Starting 7:00 am (Please be ready to load at the time) 
4. Exit shuttle. Make sure you are on the list so we can make sure we don't lose you!
5. Take a few laps. 
6. Return in shuttle. Call or flag down one of the UTAH MOUNTAIN SHUTTLE Sprinter vans"

BEST QUOTE FROM LEGISLATURE ON MORE LAWS
"Let's let the government jump in and fix the world with another law to abide by." That quote is from Rep. Francis Gibson in the 2019 Legislative session that is considering 1000 new laws.

FEBRUARY 21, 2019
INN BETWEEN GETS ZONING HEARING WITHOUT PUBLIC OUTREACH
HATE BY HOMELESS BILL ADDS HOMELESS AS A PROTECTED CLASS
UTAH CLOSER TO BE BEST NUCLEAR WASTE SITE TO GROW VEGETABLES
MILLCREEK READY TO BET TAXPAYER MONEY ON UTOPIA
GEORGIA APARTMENT OWNER THREATENED WITH JAIL TO SELL TO SLC
UTA STILL HAS LACK OF DRIVERS DUE TO MASS RETIREMENT
PREPAID WIRELESS TAX INCREASE 50% SURPRISE
GRAVEL PITS MORE IMPORTANT THAN HEALTH PROTECTIONS
UTAH POLICY TO SUPPORT MOLTEN SALT REACTOR 30 YEARS BEFORE SAFE


INN BETWEEN GETS ZONING HEARING WITHOUT PUBLIC OUTREACH
  The Salt Lake City Council has decided that there was sufficient public outreach on rezoning properties that provide homeless hospice services so they have set a public hearing date of March 26, 2019 to hear public comments at their Council formal meeting.  Unfortunately, all of the public comments and outreach were for the westside Salt Lake City InnBetween facility!  So the community around the present InnBetween near 1300 South and 1216 East has not been given the chance to participate in the normal public outreach and engagement that most major zoning issues get.  There were many public outreach meetings for the InnBetween westside facility.  Ignoring a neighborhood is not good government.  If the SLC Council insists on changing the zoning requirements that involve the InnBetween, they should have a vigorous public outreach involving the neighbors of the InnBetween.
  The proposal, in part: 
"Ordinance: Congregate Care Facilities Zoning Text Amendment
The Council will set the date of Tuesday, March 26, 2019 at 7 p.m. to accept
public comment and consider adopting an ordinance amending various
sections of the Salt Lake City Code pertaining to eleemosynary, residential
support, group home, assisted living facility, and congregate care facility uses.
The proposed ordinance would create a land use classification to address
short-term housing for the terminally ill and seriously ill. The proposal
includes reviewing compatibility concerns for how this land use, and others
like it, would impact the adjacent residential neighborhoods, particularly the
Institutional Zoning District. Related provisions of Title 21A Zoning may also
be amended as part of this petition."
  Specifically, the proposed ordinance allows a care facility, if it involves less than 17 residences, in the R1-5000 single family home zone that surrounds the present InnBetween location.  It requires a conditional use process which includes allowing for mitigating negative consequences.  More than 16 residents require the facility to be in higher density areas.  I put the compressed staff report and zoning maps in the downloads area.

HATE BY HOMELESS BILL ADDS HOMELESS AS A PROTECTED CLASS
  I have known Senator Thatcher for almost 10 years and he has impressed me with his passion.  He fought the Salt Lake County UPD fee and has been a big advocate for law enforcement in the Legislature.  I have to disagree with his effort (supported by Equality Utah) to add a great big new law called a hate crime law.  It has been encouraged and presented as being generated by several recent attacks on people due to their background or beliefs.  The main justification or energizing factor seems to be when a homeless man who obviously had mental health problems attacked several men who he claimed were part of the Mexican mafia.  
  Utah and the Country should not be making laws based on the actions of crazy people.  As much as many people want to ban all guns, just because some crazy person goes on a mass murder spree killing kids should not result in a law banning guns.  They can't be expected to follow laws and they break enough laws in the process of attacking people that they should be taken out of society for a long time.  A recent case of the murder of the University of Utah student showed how little people with mental issues will follow the law.  The murderer was not supposed to have a gun!  And that WAS a hate crime. 
  Unfortunately, the reality is that Salt Lake City has a large population of homeless individuals who have mental health issues.  The Salt Lake County Jail is said to have 80% of their population requiring mental health treatment.  The County cut mental health services 50% about 10 years ago so many of these problem cases wonder the streets, especially downtown and sometimes attack innocent pedestrians.  
  A typical case from a few years ago had a homeless man who had mental issues attacking an employee of Goldman Sachs.  The police could not do anything about the attack due to jail booking restrictions (still in effect).  So a new law to add a penalty enhancement is not going to have much effect.  Homeless sometimes attack pedestrians.  The insulting irony is that homeless was added to the category of targeted classes in Sen. Thatcher's bill.  Making homeless a protected class is an insult.  So any hateful speech that involves homeless could be claimed to be hate speech.  Complaining about homeless hanging out on your lawn should not be classified as hate speech.
   We already have a well written law on the books in 76-3-203.4 that allows a sentencing judge or Board of Parole to consider aggravating factors that meet the definition of hate crimes.  It even was applicable when people threatened Gayl Ruzicka, leader of Utah's Eagle Forum.  As Libertas' Connor Boyack pointed out, the way that the proposed bill is written, a University of Utah student could get an extra penalty for actions against a BYU student and vice versa.  A father would not be able to intimidate his daughter's boyfriend!  A West High student could have extra penalties for attacking an East High student!  This proposal is way out of line with good government.
  The one thing that would decrease these crimes is better mental health treatment.  Unfortunately, it may take a while since Prop 3 has been held up and the new law needs to be set up.  Again, we should not be making laws based on the crazy actions of crazy people.

UTAH CLOSER TO BE BEST NUCLEAR WASTE SITE TO GROW VEGETABLES
  HB220 is about to go to the Governor.  It allows one person to decide if EnergySolutions can accept nuclear waste.  During Senate debate, Senator Hemmert said that depleted uranium is used in everyday life but he ignored the reality that the barrels that EnergySolutions calls depleted uranium (ES finally said that the barrels contained depleted uranium oxide when they tried to quickly get depleted uranium munitions stored at their Clive facility) are actually nuclear weapons waste that have gone through a reactor and picked up more dangerous elements and radiation!  When they tried to accept depleted uranium munitions, they ignored the Oak Ridge Nuclear Lab's recommendation for a drier climate that is more secure than Clive.  ES, in my opinion, does not know nuclear waste.  They make nuclear power look bad.  And despite what the former CEO said, you should not grow vegetables in nuclear weapons waste.
  The most aggravating part of the bill is that it allows one person to make the decision and that could result in questionable decisions that could be labelled as government corruption.  Ironically, Envirocare, the previous name of EnergySolutions, paid a Utah government employee to allow nuclear waste in Utah.  
  The only good news is that Utah will require the DOE to take over ownership of ES' site and be responsible for long term safe storage.  The bad news is DOE does not like ES safety plan and was so upset with allowing the nuclear weapons waste barrels to sit in standing water outside, that they paid to build a storage building for the barrels.

MILLCREEK READY TO BET TAXPAYER MONEY ON UTOPIA
  Despite rapid advancement of 5G and other wireless systems that make it a lot cheaper to access high speed internet, Millcreek is very interested in fiber.  UTOPIA made a presentation recently that promised $60 a month internet if Millcreek accepted responsibility for the cost if under 30% of households used the service.  So taxpayers, even if they don't get the service, could pay.  UTOPIA, in my opinion, is not well managed.  It costs Utah taxpayers and UTOPIA customers $50 million more every year than they should due to a poor decision that their financial analyst recommended against.  They accepted a Key Bank recommendation for an interest rate swap that resulted in a higher interest payment for customers!  They are still paying and Millcreek may end up helping them pay.  
  There is a reason why Google slowed down Google Fiber.  It is more expensive to install than they thought and there are better wireless systems that can reach the same speeds.  5G in particular is around the corner.  The phones are now available although the infrastructure is slow to be available.  It is expected to roll out for much of the Valley within two years.  In the meantime, cellphone companies can provide 4K download speeds for TV and Comcast and CenturyLink provide cheaper internet.  The competition will reduce the interest in Millcreek fiber.  And hopefully, Millcreek will not burden taxpayers with heavy costs that may be useless in 5 years.

GEORGIA APARTMENT OWNER THREATENED WITH JAIL TO SELL TO SLC
  The owner of the Georgia Apartments, the crime magnet affordable housing facility on 2100 South and 200 East, has been charged with a large number of misdemeanors.  It appears, to me, to force the owner to sell to the Salt Lake Housing Authority.  Most residents seem to have found shelter that included the Road Home.  But the loss of the $700 a month apartments is a big loss for affordable housing in SLC.  Hopefully, the SLC Housing Authority will buy the apartments and clean them up and get them habitable as fast as they did with the 1700 S. Capitol Motel.

UTA STILL HAS LACK OF DRIVERS DUE TO MASS RETIREMENT
  UTA is trying to hire as many drivers as possible.  There are a large number of drivers retiring soon and finding adequate and well trained replacements is a problem.  Ask any bus driver.  It is a big issue.  Earlier this week, the 209 missed an important stop when the driver turned early.  12 waiting riders were upset at having to wait another 15 minutes for a ride home.  That is not the way to encourage ridership.

PREPAID WIRELESS TAX INCREASE 50% SURPRISE
  Lost in the thousand bills going through the Legislature is SB154 that increases prepaid wireless taxes 50%.  It is an almost done deal bill that raises the tax from 2.45 to 3.7%.  There are other tax increases coming.  Utah is about to adopt a policy that requires anyone selling through Amazon or other internet sites to pay Utah taxes if they sell 200 items to Utahns!  The limit was $100,000 but the old law did not catch the third party sellers who are generally very small but not too small for Utah to try to tax.  This bill is hurtful towards small business.

GRAVEL PITS MORE IMPORTANT THAN HEALTH PROTECTIONS
  Rep. Wilde is ramping up efforts to declare gravel pits critical materials and make it harder for communities to stop operation of them.  He has added Rep. Coleman's language that was to protect agricultural, industrial and mining facilities which stalled in Committee.  So industrial and mining facilities are more important than nearby residents.  
  From 1992 to 2014, there were 49 cases of silicosis hospitalization (generally hospitalization means endstage).  Because there are no studies on the cause of the silica dust, Utah does not know if coal miners or gravel pits are the cause.  The bill should not go through but there is a significant push to pass it.  
  Gravel pits are allowed to expand and throw out 25 extra tons of dust a year in Utah and the result is super gravel pits that were very small 60 years ago.  The residents of Capitol Hill should not have to endure the dust and potential silicosis in order to help Utah's economic development and building boom.  
  OSHA recently lowered the "the permissible exposure limit (PEL) of crystalline silica to 50 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m3) averaged over an eight-hour shift, with an action level of 25 µg/m3.  OSHA sets the standards for gravel pit cement mixing.  The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) controls standards for gravel pits and they have kept the standard at 100 micrograms per cubic meter.
  A study by MSHA from 2004 to 2008 found that 12% of sand and gravel pits exceeded "applicable or reduced respirable dust standard because of the presence of silica".  During a study of dust from a Brigham City gravel pit about 20 years ago, it said that: "since no analysis of the dust for crystalline silica was conducted, the EEP also recommends that an analysis for crystalline silica (total and respirable) in the dust be performed." 

UTAH POLICY TO SUPPORT MOLTEN SALT REACTOR 30 YEARS BEFORE SAFE
  SB24 that sets Utah policy as promoting molten salt reactors is going to the Governor.  Molten salt reactors are presently not tested for safety although there are many research projects.  A Utah company insists that it can safely build and operate a molten salt reactor within ten years.  Experts say that it will take 30 years, if ever, to prove safe design and operation of molten salt reactors.



FEBRUARY 14, 2019
900 S RESTAURANT ROW GROWING OPEN HOUSE
HB220 CHANGED TO REQUIRE FEDS APPROVE NUCLEAR WASTE 
HB78 RESULTS IN BIG COMMITTEE SHOW
500 EAST BURGLARIES/CAR PROWLS INCREASING 
MILLCREEK ROOSEVELT ELEMENTARY MAY BECOME CONDOS
GEORGIA APARTMENTS MAY BE BOUGHT BY SLC HOUSING
POKEMON GO FANS OVERWHELM CAPITOL PARKING
SB54 WATER METERING GOOD GOV NEEDS GOOD DATA
ECIG LEGISLATION STILL ALLOWS TEEN VAPING

900 S RESTAURANT ROW GROWING OPEN HOUSE
The building at 402-416 E 900 South is asking for a zoning map amendment to change the zoning of the buildings, including the Asian Market, from Neighborhood Commercial and Residential/Business District to CB Community Business District.  A building, the Asian Market, requires major repairs to stabilize a rear wall and the effort is complicated by the building being under two different zonings.  
  There will be an open house at the adjacent building at 428 E. 900 S. on Tuesday Feb. 19 from 4-530 PM.  The City will be running the open house and the coordinator is Lauren Parisi at 801 535 7226/lauren.paris@slcgov.com.  This rezone has the potential to signficantly grow the restaurant row that is happening on 900 S. west of 500 East.  The owner of the property has not been able to confirm the Asian Market is interested in continuing its lease past the June 2019 present lease.  But the owner seems to want to make the area upgraded and become closer to the 9th and 9th area, where she used to work.  It is planned to be integrated with the 9 Line Trail on 900 S. and support that Trail.

HB220 CHANGED TO REQUIRE FEDS APPROVE NUCLEAR WASTE 
  HB220 that gives EnergySolutions the ability to short circuit the Radiation Control Board and move more radioactive material into Tooelle, which keeps implying that it is only good for a garbage dump, passed the Senate Committee with only three allowed to speak against it.
  I know Rep. Albrecht, and he is a good Representative.  He is running this bill to help nuclear in Utah.  But I believe that this bill will actually hurt the potential for nuclear power in Utah.  EnergySolutons does not know how to handle nuclear waste and in the process, it makes nuclear power in Utah less realistic.
  Again, EnergySolutions has claimed that you can grow vegetables in the 5000 barrels of so called depleted uranium (DU) which is actually nuclear weapons waste.  That makes nuclear power look bad.
  EnergySolutions has claimed that the material in the barrels, which came from the Savannah River Nuclear Weapons Plant, have not gone through a reactor and been irradiated.  But the manifest clearly shows that it has been irradiated.  This material is not really DU.  It is Waste In Process (WIP) from production of nuclear bomb material that HAS gone through a reactor.  By claiming what I consider a nontruth, EnergySolutions makes nuclear power look bad.
  Sen. Stevenson said that it doesn't make sense to worry about DU munitions when they are being stored at Dugway.  He was reminded that Oak Ridge National Lab thought that storing DU muntions at Clive, Utah is questionable.  They recommended the Nevada Nuclear Test Site which is not as humid and is much more secure.

  Tank armor, aircraft balancing weight and military munitions have DU that has not gone through a reactor and have 40+% less radioactivity than mined uranium.  It is left over after the most radioactive material is pulled out for bombs and irradiation in a reactor.  When EnergySolutions does not seem to know the difference between low radioactivity DU and nuclear weapons waste, it makes nuclear power look bad.
  Also, the federal government was so upset at the lack of appropriate storage management of the 5000 barrels, left in standing water outside, that they paid for a building to store the barrels.  So the federal government thinks, in my opinion, that EnergySolutons does not know how to safely and appropriately store nuclear waste.  That makes nuclear power look bad.
  The good news is Alan Matheson, Governor Herbert's head of DEQ expressed concern about the bill.  
  Most importantly, there is a third substitute that adds language that requires legislative review with the House and Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Standing Committee Chairs be notified within 5 days of the director allowing the waste.  There is a 90 day wait afterwords to allow review.  
  AND, "The director shall require as a condition to the disposal of quantities of more than one metric ton of concentrated depleted uranium: a) a performance assessment; b) designation of a federal cell by the director; and c) that the U.S. DOE accepts long term management, title to the land on which the federal cell is located, title to the waste in the federal cell, and financial stewardship for the federal cell and waste in the federal cell."  I do not think that the federal government will agree to take over the financial liabilities of EnergySolutions.   

HB78 RESULTS IN BIG COMMITTEE SHOW
  HB78, Rep. Albrecht's bill that emphasizes that all requests for federeal designation should go through the Legislature was barely approved to go to the House floor.  The discussion centered on Emory County trying to get Congress to set a wilderness area up against the Wayne County line which restricts roads from Wayne County to Emory County.  The U.S. Senate just approved the bill.  
  But the bill also questions the Mt. Accord and CWC's efforts to designate the Central Wasatch Canyons as a National Conservation Area without going through the Legislature.
  Several southern Utah and rural representatives on the Committee questioned HB78.  They felt that local communities should be able to decide.  When the Committee Chair started questioning the opponents of the bill, in an effort to support the bill, several Committee members complained about badgering some of the Committee members.  Rep. Duckworth finally called point of order on the Chair!  The Chair, Rep. Stratton, after a long discussion with the support staff and Committee Attorney, called himself out of order.  He then called for final discussion and vote.  The bill barely passed to the House floor.  Rep. Duckworth and Rep. Stratton hugged afterwords.  It was an interesting show.  Calling point of order on a Chair is almost never done.

500 EAST BURGLARIES/CAR PROWLS INCREASING 
  SLCPD is reporting an increase in car prowls and burglaries between 300 East and 600 East and 9th South and 2100 South.  Residents on 500 East also report that most homes fronting Liberty Park have also been broken into.  Please report all prowlers and strangers walking in an area as prowlers and ask for a police officer to call back or get a case number.

MILLCREEK ROOSEVELT ELEMENTARY MAY BECOME CONDOS
  Roosevelt Elementary in Millcreek on 33rd South and 800 East may soon close.  The low local student population will not support the local school.  It has been kept open up until now due to the busing in of refugee family members.  The rumour is that Ivory Homes is negotiating with the Granite School District to buy the property and construct homes or condos on the site.


GEORGIA APARTMENTS MAY BE BOUGHT BY SLC HOUSING
  For years, the Georgia apartments at 200 East and north of 2100 South have had a reputation as a crime magnet.  As reported a few months ago, the owner lost her Good Landlord discount and now owes over $13,000 in fees to SLC.  SLC used many fire code deficiencies to finally close the facility.  All residents must be out by Saturday.  It appears that most have found new accommodations.  The Other Side Academy helped move the furnishings of some of the renters.
  The owner of the property, Carol Lunt, who lives near 1100 East and Garfield in what has been described as an ill kept home, is refusing to fix the deficiencies such as no heat, broken windows and lack of fire alarms and operating sprinkler systems.  Joe Post, of the Salt Lake City Housing Authority, acknowledged that they are attempting to reach an agreement with Ms. Lunt to buy the property and convert it in a manner like the Capitol Motel.  This story will take a while to finish.

POKEMON GO FANS OVERWHELM CAPITOL PARKING
  It appears that one of the reasons that parking is so full near the State Capitol is due to Pokeyman Go fans doing their thing on the Capitol grounds and chasing whatever Go fans chase.  They were even in evidence during a snowstorm.

SB54 WATER METERING GOOD GOV NEEDS GOOD DATA
  Sen. Anderegg is sponsoring a bill to require, over 20! years, the use of water meters on secondary residential and business water users to determine the actual usage of water in Utah.  The bill is limited to first and second class counties so most rural counties will not have to be forced to do it.  But over 20 years!?  The reason is the cost which will be about $200 million!  Over 20 years, it will be about $10 million per year.
  Although it may seem surprising, Utah does not know how much water it uses, according to the State Water Engineer.  Good government needs good data to make good informed decisions.  This is a good bill which is having a difficult time but is finally going to the Senate floor.

ECIG LEGISLATION STILL ALLOWS TEEN VAPING
  Rep. Eliason is sponsoring a bill to raise the cigarette and e-cigarette age to 19 then eventually to 21.  Rep. Ray is sponsoring a bill to add .86 of the sales price as a tax on e-cigarette materials.
  But the bills do very little to decrease the damage that Utah taxpayers will have to cover in Medicaid costs for those who are vaping.  Recent studies have confirmed that vaping is probably destroying lung tissue!  And within ten years, Utah will spend hundreds of millions more on Medicaid expenses to treat low income vaping users.  Utah now spends more than a hundred million treating cigarette smokers with Medicaid funds!  
  The Legislature needs to make it illegal to vape or smoke until 21.  Schools should be able to confiscate cigarettes and vaping items at school.  There should be a $5 per vaping cartridge tax and a higher tax on cigarettes to discourage use by teenagers.  And the medical marijuana users should not be allowed to use vaping.  These bills will have an interesting time at the Legislature.

FEBRUARY 11, 2019
SLC FLEET BLOCK FINALLY HAS A PLAN BUT
SLC ACTIVE CANDIDATES LIST
SLC SUGAR HOUSE LIBRARY MAY MOVE TO FIREHOUSE
NUCLEAR REACTOR PROPONENTS PUSH UNSAFE TECHNOLOGY
HB78 REQUIRES LEGISLATURE TO GIVE LAND TO FEDS
SLCO DA AGAINST HIGHER PENALTIES FOR 3X THEFTS
MILLCREEK BACKS DOWN ON TRYING TO ANNEX BRICKYARD

SLC FLEET BLOCK FINALLY HAS A PLAN BUT
  Salt Lake City is finalizing the plan for redevelopment of the Fleet Block between 800 and 900 South and 400 and 300 West. Unfortunately, only the neighbors and businesses around the block were involved in the public engagement.  The Ballpark Community Council, a very active community group just south of the property was not involved.  The local 9th community council group just started a few months ago and the proposed design is getting very little attention.  There should be more public engagement before this plan is acted on.  The City plans a request for proposals (RFP) in Q1 2019!
  The plan appears to try to justify a new $100 million taxpayer funded streetcar/TRAX line running west on 9th South from the present TRAX line to 400 West then north.  The idea (I believe misguided.) is to encourage development of the area on 9th South and on 400 West.  I disagree with that assumption because the TRAX lines on 300 West and 2100 South have not spurred major developments.  Some development is starting but it is minimal in my opinion.
  Ironically, the design ignores the proposal to shift the Green Line TRAX to the spur at 1300 South and use it to go to 400 West and save 5 to 10 minutes going to the Airport by avoiding the zig zag and milk run rail line downtown.
  The plan suggests an "innovation district - home to companies that shape new products and technologies".  It divides the block (note the southwest corner is used by business now) into 4 smaller blocks with internal streets being curbless.  The plan suggest building first on the south side adjacent to 900 South.  
  The best news is the City is finally recognizing the value of ground level activity that encourages walkability.  It has ignored that in almost all of the new Sugar House construction.  The plans call for 94,000 square feet of office space, 37,000 square feet of retail (25,000 square feet at ground level), and 12,000 square feet of live work units (30 units on the northwest corner for sale).  There are a total of 315 residential units with 30% affordable.  59,000 square feet are for community use.  There will be 865 parking spaces with 685 on the lot and 180 on the street.
  The Ballpark Community Council should have had more input on this plan.

SLC ACTIVE CANDIDATES LIST
  I put the active candidates list for Salt Lake City, as of February 5th in the downloads section.  This year's campaigns, especially for mayor of Salt Lake City, will be very active.  In answer to those who keep asking:  I am not planning on running for office.  I think that there are enough good candidates in this election season to make a good decision better.

SLC SUGAR HOUSE LIBRARY MAY MOVE TO FIREHOUSE
  The Sprague Library is planning to close for a year for a major renovation.  The Library has been looking for a place to temporarily relocate and it seems to have found the space at the old Fire Station on Sugarmont just west of Highland Drive.  There are still some concerns at the City but the site is recommended since there is very little minimal cost space available in the Sugar House neighborhood.  A reminder:  The new Fire Station on 900 East has a community meeting room available for local groups.  Call the SLC Fire Department if you want to use it.

NUCLEAR REACTOR PROPONENTS PUSH UNSAFE TECHNOLOGY
  The Legislature is scheduled to hear a proposed change to energy policy with SB0024 that adds a line that I find concerning.  It says, on line 42, that the energy policy of Utah is to, among other things, is to "promote the development of.... nuclear power generation technologies certified for use by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission INCLUDING MOLTEN SALT REACTORS PRODUCING MEDICAL ISOTOPES". 
  I am a former nuclear engineer and I find the promoting of molten salt nuclear reactors concerning.  I believe that we are 20 plus years away from coming close to safely design and operate those reactors, if we ever do get to that point. The reactor is a molten salt of lithium, beryllium, zirconium, flourine and thorium (which decays, with neutron bombardment, eventually, to uranium 233.  The major concerns include tritium (a beta emitter) containment has not been completely successful.  Lithium constantly decays to tritium.  Uranium 233 is a perfect bomb making material and it requires much higher security than a regular nuclear plant (which already has high security).  Many dozens of elements are produced in the molten salt and some have deleterious effects on the piping.  In particular, the preferred nuclear piping, Hastelloy (a nickel, molybdenum and chromium alloy) is impacted by selenium, one of the elements produced in the reactor.  Although the alloy is resistant to corrosion, selenium can make it brittle.  Studies to determine long term safe structural stability of Hastelloy or another better alternative will take decades.
  In addition, the best nuclear engineers in the world have not been able to design, build and safely operate a plant to remove the actinides that are produced and that poison the reaction.  Those actinides are much more dangerous than the multiclad nuclear fuel rods.  And we have not been able to safely store them!  Utah should not be producing the most dangerous radioactive compounds known to man or woman.  There is also a theoretical possibility that there could be a critical event that interferes with the standard "freeze plug" that is supposed to melt to stop runaway reactions.  If the molten salt solidifies in any way, it could solidify over the freeze plug and stop its operation.  
  Molten salt reactor technology will require thousands of engineers to research the safe design and operation of these systems.  I believe that only the Idaho National Nuclear Laboratory can provide that research in a safe area.  It is a large secure area that is not available in Utah, unless we want more dangerous material.  The bill also appears to be helping the commercial business of Alpha Tech Research Corporation that is proposing building these reactors.  Similar claims of "safe" reactor technology have been dismissed by nuclear experts before. Transatomic's claims were countered and they dissolved.  Nuclear power is not easy and I see no progress on implementing nuclear power in the next ten years.  
  Although China installed several Westinghouse AP1000 modular nuclear reactors and hooked them to the power grid last July 2 (in a bid to counter our July 4th celebration), the units were tested and wrung out by Oregon State University scientists.  But China's safety in nuclear power is untested and it may result in major accidents that further hurt development of nuclear power.
  SB0024 also adds "greater access to domestic and international markets for Utah's resources, and advanced transmission systems, energy storage and other advanced energy systems and increased refinery capacity".  In other words, it encourages a coal port effort, and development of the inland port.  The increased refinery capacity may also be concerning to those in the airshed.
  Senator Hinkins is asking for money in a separate request to set up a research facility in San Juan County that could turn into a full scale reactor.  But that will take at least 20 years if ever.  I am not against that $10 plus million request but I think that it would be more useful for teachers.  I respect Senator Hinkins and if he and San Juan County (which is also trying to force a wilderness on a large area abutting Wayne County) think that they can handle a research facility, more power to them.  But if Bill Gates can't make a billion dollars create a facility in the U.S. (he tried China until he was shut down due to concerns about technology transfer - and remember these types of reactors can make bomb material), I don't think Utah should put a lot of money in the effort.  
  Again, I am against a policy of Utah promoting a molten salt reactor in Utah.

HB78 REQUIRES LEGISLATURE TO GIVE LAND TO FEDS
  Rep. Albrecht sponsored a bill to emphasize that the Legislature has the final authority on asking Congress to take over management of Utah land.  His HB 78 says that the Legislature may review and support or deny the request by other governments, or political subdivisions or interlocals (like the Mt. Accord's Central Wasatch Commission) to turn over management of Utah property to the federal government.  The Mountain Accord required support for either a National Monument, or a National Recreation Area or a National Conservation Area (the CWC is asking for a Congressional sponsor for a National Conservation Area) for the Central Wasatch Canyons.  
  Another driver of the bill is Emory County asked Congress and got sponsors for a wilderness bill (a compromise bill) that put the boundary on the Wayne County line!  The bill was defeated in Congress due to a technical concern by Senator Lee.  But federal government management of wilderness areas includes a buffer that would extend into Wayne County!  Wayne County was furious and that is driving the HB78.  The bill was held over for more public comment by Rep. Stratton, the Chair of the Natural Resources Committee.  That is the typical action of legislators.  They try to hear all public comment, unlike the 2 recent hearings on SB96 that only allowed 5 comments against the bill.

SLCO DA AGAINST HIGHER PENALTIES FOR 3X THEFTS
  In a surprise, the Salt Lake City DA argued against increasing the penalties for stealing over a hundred dollars worth of property more than three times.  Bicycle thieves steal that much every day that they are free.  And they are free everyday.  Rep. Shurtliff's HB 189 "enhances the penalty for a person convicted of theft more than three times".  The West Valley City prosecutor asked for the tools to address the constant criminal activity, mainly driven by drug addiction, to help imprison these criminals.  But several Committee members also pointed out that the Salt Lake County Jail is full and can't take more criminals and the Legislature decreased te penalties four years ago, with the JRI.  So the Committee held the bill for later discussion.
  During discussion with William Carlson of the DA's Office, he indicated that essentially "current law indicates a theft is a felony if the value is over $500, the offender has two previous theft convictions, and at least one of the priors is a class A misdemeanor.  Current law also indicates a theft of any value is a class a misdemeanor if the offender has two priors.  See Utah Code Subsections 76-6-412(1)(b)(ii) and (1)(c)(iii)."  So the DA currently is using the $500 with the priors now when needed.

MILLCREEK BACKS DOWN ON TRYING TO ANNEX BRICKYARD
  On Monday evening February 11, the Millcreek City Council directed staff to remove any plan to annex Brickyard and tell the Legislature that HB262 is not needed and should be retracted.  Their hope is that their good faith effort will result in the cities trying to find an amenable and fair resolution to the issue. I put the Millcreek Draft Zoning Map in the downloads section of SLC items.

FEBRUARY 5, 2019
JIM DABAKIS IS UTAH'S VERSION OF DONALD TRUMP
ANTI IDLING ENGINE STOPS AT COMMITTEE NOT
LEGISLATURE PUSHES GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION
JORDAN RIVER COULD GET PARK RANGERS
SB96 NEEDS A ROLL OF TOILET PAPER
SEN. FILLMORE HELPS MENTAL HEALTH
COMMUNISM DOWNSIDES NEEDS PUBLICIZING
PUBLIC SERVANTS NEED RULES TO ACT RESPONSIBLY
2700 S PARKING REMOVED ON NORTH SIDE OF STREET
BRICKYARD ANNEXATION EFFORT

JIM DABAKIS IS UTAH'S VERSION OF DONALD TRUMP
  Jim Dabakis is running for mayor of Salt Lake City.  The Salt Lake Tribune recently showed that almost half of voters were undecided on who they would vote for.  But, of those who had decided, Jim Dabakis came out with over 20% of the poll and Mayor Biskupski came out with around 15%.
  I have known Jim Dabakis since he served as my senator in the Legislature.  His only accomplishments in the Legislature was a bill to require carbon monoxide detectors in schools.  It almost did not pass since legislators were worried about the cost to school districts.  The only other accomplishments were resolutions.  Jim had a good way of delivering his opinions but he was not able to convince his fellow legislators to take him seriously.  
  I expect, if Jim follows through on his plan to run for mayor, and wins, that we will have an administration that is as useful as Jim was in the Legislature.  In other words, in my opinion, Jim Dabakis is Utah's version of Donald Trump.

ANTI IDLING ENGINE STOPS AT COMMITTEE, NOT
  Rep. Patrice Arent's effort to put more teeth in the State's anti-idling efforts failed to advance from a House Committee hearing.  The vote was 5 to 5 on Tuesday.  But it is coming back Thursday after an agreement to pass it through.  That happens.
  Present Utah law considers anti-idling laws to be educational.  The only way municipalities can enforce their anti-idling laws is if they give 3 warnings first. Rep. Arent's HB148 removes any warnings and the educational directive and allows immediate ticketing. 
  Mayor Silvistrini of Millcreek suggested allowing one warning.  Almost everyone else supported the bill.  The Restaurant Association agreed to the substitute which removed drive-thru idling. Only one spoke against the bill.
  I am against changing present Utah law which appears to be working.  Government should not be micromanaging families.  Principals' and police requests to stop idling are generally followed.  Utah's efforts to decrease school bus idling have been very successful.  One Committee member disagreed with that.
  In my opinion, it is wrong for government to ticket families who are trying to keep their children comfortable in a car.  It is not easy raising a family and government should not interfere.
  Police should not be judge jury and revenue generator.  Police now do a good job educating drivers on anti-idling benefits.  If the bill had passed, 18 municipalities and governments in Salt Lake County could confuse drivers as they drove from city to city.  An important question from this potential increase in complexity with no uniformity probably resulted in the bill failing to advance.  Committee Chair Rep. Knotwell expressed interest in making this bill more workable but he couldn't support it as written.
  In my opinion, individual cities' traffic decisions have a bigger impact on pollution.  For instance, Salt Lake City's efforts to put lights at half blocks increases pollution.  Although the efforts are due to encouraging walking, there have been no real cost benefit analysis to recognize the impact on pollution.  In addition, in Salt Lake City, a road diet on 1300 East, going from 4 lanes to 2 lanes, resulted in a big pollution increase with congestion backing up for over a mile.  
  What's next banning diesels?   Educational efforts to decrease idling work. This was a bad bill that tried to micromanage families.

LEGISLATURE PUSHES GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION
  Rep. Albrecht's bill, HB220, to allow EnergySolutions to get quick approval to accept more radioactive waste passed the committee to the House.  It "allows the director of the Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control to authorize alternate requirements for waste classification and characteristics that would allow an entity to accept certain waste at a specific site;".
  About 30 years ago, Envirocare was implicated in a government corruption scheme when the owner provided money and gifts to the person in the Utah government that was over Envirocare.  That resulted in charges and a name change to EnergySolutions.  
  This bill opens the door to allow EnergySolutions to import more waste that puts Utah taxpayers on the hook for the cost to safely store the waste when EnergySolutions shuts down.
  EnergySolutions does not, in my opinion, know how to safely classify, understand and store nuclear waste.  When EnergySolutions agreed to take 5000 barrels of nuclear weapons waste (more properly called WIP waste in process), they called it depleted uranium (DU)!  That  belief resulted in the former CEO, Steve Cramer, saying that he believed that it could be used to safely grow vegetables (on the Red Meat Radio Hour)!  His confusion was probably from a report on DU by the UN that whitewashed the use of depleted uranium munitions in Kosovo in farmland.  Families ended up with significant urabium contamination but the UN felt that farmers were not cognitively affected.  But, from a medical standpoint, uranium is active chemically like lead.  It does affect the body.  In that case, the effect of DU is less due to radiation than due to the chemical effects.
  The 5000 barrels of so called DU held by EnergySolutions (and they want to bring in 10000 barrels more), were recently relabeled as uranium oxide because the wanted to bring in a lot of DU uranium metal munitions for disposal.  EnergySolutions asked for a quick approval but were denied.  I put more information in August and September (ctrl f uranium) and the reports are at the bottom of the downloads area on the right.
  This bill is a very dangerous bill that encourages government corruption and also opens the door to dangerous radioactive waste without thorough review.

JORDAN RIVER COULD GET PARK RANGERS
  Rep. Winder's HB123, co-sponsored by Sen
 Harper, allows spending money in the Jordan River area, "250 yards on each side of the Jordan River from the edge of the river for the entire length of the river" for new ideas for amenities such as an urban ranger or conservation corps, operated by a state institution of higher education or similar service-oriented organizations or programs: or to provide trail river, and parkway maintenance, invasive species removal and revegitation.  This a good bill that will enhance the Jordan River Park.

SB96 NEEDS A ROLL OF TOILET PAPER
  SB96 continued to ignore the public in its run to a quick passage.  The House Committee hearing only allowed about 5 to testify against the bill.  Rep. Dunnigan amended the bill to continue Medicaid coverage after the expansion, even if the federal government does not agree to the waiver request.  That was a surprise since it significantly adds to the cost and it requires the fiscal note to be changed.
  The fiscal note, according to Tax Commissioner John Valentine, one of the most respected men I know, was satisfactory the day before.  But Rep. Schultz took issue with the claim that Utah would lose, eventually billions.  The fiscal note says over $640 million would be lost if Prop 3 is not implemented.  Rep. Schultz claimed that Utah would only lose about $200 million since Utahns already get money, as a tax credit, for help for low income medical insurance.  But that is not reflected in the fiscal note!  That claim appears to be the new talking point from Republicans fighting Prop 3.  He also reiterated the claim that voters were swayed by ads.  That is similar to Sen. Anderegg's claim that the voters who voted for Prop 3 got a bait and switch.  If Prop 3 is a bait and switch, SB96 is a turn around and bend over bait and switch.  
  Rep. King pointed out that 8 states with AAA bond ratings have adopted Medicaid expansion.  Rep. Duckworth pointed out that the money from the federal government would go to the local economy since doctors and hospitals would spend the increased funds locally.  In a surprise, several Republican Representatives voted against SB96. Rep. Hall, Rep. Winder and Rep. Dunnigan joined the Democrats on the Committee voting against the bill.  
  My arguments against SB96 reiterated my previous writings against SB96.  The State will lose hundreds of millions from the federal government.  The fiscal note says that we will lose 640 million.  At the same time, Utah taxpayers will be paying hundreds of millions more with or without the waiver.  When I spoke against SB96, I started by pointing out that Sen. Christensen is a good and decent man who has devoted his life to reducing pain and suffering in children.  He deserves credit for that. Those who have worked with him in the past know that he cares and is important for keeping informed regarding Utah social services.  He does not deserve ANY disrespectful comments.  But, SB96 does not do him justice.  Rep. Dunnigan, the Chair of the Committee hit the roof and said that he would not allow personal attacks on Sen. Christiansen.  I was not trying to disparage Senator Christofferson, despite Rep. Dunnigan's concerns.  
  I also pointed out that, despite a presenter that said Maine's budget was busted by Medicaid expansion, Utah is better managed than Maine.  Utah should not be using Madame Cleo predictions to claim that Utah will lose too much money with Prop 3.  My fellow Republicans should do the fiscally responsible thing and walk the talk and vote against SB96.
  I also was upset enough to add at the end of my testimony, that SB96 does not get us back to ground zero but down the toilet.  SB96 should come with a roll of toilet paper.  I was still being respectful.  I could have said something more upsetting to Rep. Dunnigan.

COMMUNISM DOWNSIDES NEEDS PUBLICIZING
  Rep. Christofferson's bill to designate November 7 as a day to remember victims of communism is important because it reminds kids, who may not be familiar with the results of communism, that we should remember the evil that communism has caused this world.  The greatest genocides, the destruction of economies, and essentially reverting countries back to the stone age are all accomplishments of communism.  Proof that big mother government communism does not work can be found in China.  When a free market was allowed, their economy exploded.  Rep. Christofferson's bill passed through to the House.

PUBLIC SERVANTS NEED RULES TO ACT RESPONSIBLY
  Rep. Hall was requested by Utah's Auditor General to sponsor HB 163 to provide clear rules of conduct for public servants when using public funds for personal items.  The recent audit of Salt Lake County's Unified Fire Authority that showed public funds were used for personal items created a need for such a bill.  Although most public servants know how to ethically handle funds, this bill is a clear set of rules to make it easier for public servants to consistently and ethically handle public funds when used for personal use.  The Committee passed the bill to the House.

1300 EAST RESURFACING IN ASPHALT
  1300 East reconstruction was originally being considered for concrete which lasts much longer than the 10 year maximum lifetime of asphalt roads.  But the concern about noise, which is higher with concrete, and the time to cure the concrete, up to a week, ended up with the City changing to asphalt roadway on 1300 East.  Salt Lake City has set up a new website at https://www.slc.gov/mystreet/ to provide information on street projects.  

2700 S PARKING REMOVED ON NORTH SIDE OF STREET
  The plan for reconstructing 2700 South is moving fast.  The street is one of the most complained about streets in the City.  The plan is removing the parking on the north side and limiting parking to the south side in order to get more space for safer bikelanes.  There will also be raised crosswalks like in Liberty Park to keep traffic speeds reasonable and just one set of bulbouts.  Bulbouts can cause bicyclists to swerve into traffic.  So can parked cars.  One reason for allowing parking on the south side is due to the fact that it is uphill, the bicyclist's speed is lower and the potential for hitting opening car doors is minimized.  The City has been asked to make a wider than the standard 5 foot bike lane to eliminate completely dooring and requiring cyclists to swerve into traffic.  The City is planning an extensive outreach plan, with a door to door and Facebook Live effort.  There will be asphalt roadway and under road infrastructure will be replaced.  The road should not have to be completely shut down.  Again, more information will be posted at 
https://www.slc.gov/mystreet/
  Again, roadway overlay contracts apply to drive lanes, not shoulders.  The City is looking at changing contract requirements since that contract language hurts bicycling.  Full reconstruction contracts are curb to curb and will specify smoothing out the street after reconstruction.  
  The 1700 South road diet project will reconsider removing some of the center turn lanes to gain more space for bike lanes that are needed to be wider since the new parking creates a problem for cyclists.
  And the 300 West road redesign plan is still very preliminary and a design contract is coming.  There will be significant outreach.

BRICKYARD ANNEXATION EFFORT
  HB262 is an effort sponsored by Rep. Potter to allow landowners who are in a peninsula like Brickyard to petition to remove themselves from a municipality and transfer to another city like Millcreek.  It appears Rep. Mccay, who is thinking of running for Congress in District 4 is pushing the bill behind the scenes (Millcreek is in District 4) and he is being supported by Rep. Schultz.  
  It is ironic that Millcreek is trying this to gain the $3 million a year in sales taxes when the most developable property in Millcreek is west of State Street.  Almost ten years ago, Salt Lake County identified that State Street area as perfect for redevelopment and Mayor Corroon asked for and got Envision Utah to include it in their Life on State Study.  Mayor Silvistrini is pushing for a town center in the Brickyard area.  
  According to those in County Government in the 80s, "SLC annexed the Brickyard in the mid-to-late 1970s. Salt Lake County sued over the revenue grab. The city and county settled with some sort of short-term revenue sharing deal. When Mike Stewart and Bart Barker took office in 1981, they were incensed by the settlement. The County pretty much capitulated.  Later the County sought and got legislation prohibiting such cherry-stem annexations."

FEBRUARY 1, 201

SB96 MEDICAID REPEAL FRYING CHRISTENSEN'S BRAIN

SB96 REPEAL OF PROP 3 COSTS UTAH BILLIONS

SSLC DISPATCH DISCOURAGING CRIME REPORTS BEING INVESTIGATED
SENATOR TODD WEILER HAS 3 COMMENDABLE ACTIONS THIS WEEK
SALT LAKE HOMELESS GROUP MEMORIES ON DOWNLOAD
SLC COUNCIL FINAL HEARING ON INCREASING TRANSIT
AFFORDABLE HOUSING BILL PASSES COMMITTEE
SAFER BICYCLE STREETS, ESPECIALLY ON 1700 SOUTH
UTAH YIELD FOR BICYCLISTS PASSES COMMITTEE
NAVAJO CODE TALKERS DESERVE RECOGNITION FOR BRAVERY
CAPITOL ELEVATOR EATS PEOPLE
DRUG DEALERS BECOMING MILLIONAIRES IN UTAH
SOCIAL SERVICES HEARS ABOUT DISORGANIZED HOMELESS SERVICES
YOU CAN'T RIDE ELECTRIC BICYCLES WHILE DRUNK OR DRUGGED


SB96 MEDICAID REPEAL FRYING CHRISTENSEN'S BRAIN
  The Utah Legislative leadership has ordered Senator Christensen to rewrite his SB96 to lower the fiscal note.  The note came in too high and was too big for leadership to get enough to vote for it.  The arguments on the cost to Utah (the fiscal note) are in Thursday's Deseret News and there is a link below in the next story.  Senator Christensen, when I talked to him this morning, indicated that he couldn't think clearly with all of the things he had to consider and he was so frustrated that he might write his own fiscal note and be done with it.  Of course, Senator Anderegg would love to just repeal Prop 3 and not worry about the cost to Utah.  Although I disagree with Sen. Christensen, I know him to be a good and decent man who has devoted his life to relieving the pain and suffering of children.  He is a pediatric dentist.  He deserves credit for that.  He also is co-chair (along with Rep. Ray) of the Social Services Appropriation Subcommittee that is one of the most complicated assignments in the Legislature.  This shows that the Legislature does want to do the right thing and if the fiscal note is hard to swallow, the bill should be voted down.

SB96 REPEAL OF PROP 3 COSTS UTAH BILLIONS
  I had another oped in the Deseret News that pointed out  that if the federal government does not agree to the waiver request for modifying Prop 3 by April 1, Utah taxpayers will be on the hook for hundreds of millions that SB96 is scheduled to spend.  The last approved waiver took over a year to approve.  The last waiver request was not approved even after a year.  In addition, Utah is scheduled to receive almost a billion a year from the federal government due to Prop 3 matching funds.  Without Prop 3, Utah loses billions.

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900053246/guest-opinion-prop-3-may-inject-billions-into-utahs-economy.html

SLC DISPATCH DISCOURAGING CRIME REPORTS BEING INVESTIGATED
  Salt Lake City Dispatch Manager Lisa Burnette has reached out to individuals who have expressed frustration at operation of SLC Dispatch. specifically, records show very few reports of crime at a property that has had many reports on crime from neighbors and even the Police.  The Police even had a SWAT raid on the property.  
  It appears that Priority Dispatch, the SLC Dispatch script, is discouraging reports.  The website of slcpd.com has a big button to go to a form to report a crime.  That is one way to report crime.  Dispatch, both 911 and 799 3000, will be encouraged to take crime reports and not discourage callers.  Lisa also is considering providing training on the 7 page Priority Dispatch script priorities.

SENATOR TODD WEILER HAS 3 COMMENDABLE ACTIONS THIS WEEK
  sen. Todd Weiler has had an interesting week.  On Tuesday, he introduced SB57 that required Utah to not remove children or claim a child abuse case unless there is more than one case of an "accident".  He mentioned the case of leaving two toddlers in a shallow bath for a minute (to go to the kitchen) and in that minute, one toddler turned on the hot water which scalded the other toddler.  It took a year before the State finally admitted that it was an accident and not a case of child neglect or abuse.  Accidents happen but if there is not more than one case, and that case can be considered an accident, the State should not be claiming child abuse.  This bill would probably protect over 90% of mothers from overeager State staff.
  Later on in the week, during debate on the effort to repeal Prop 3 and replace it with SB96, Sen. Weiler joined all of the Democrats and voted against SB96 on the second reading (It needed to pass the 3rd reading to go to the House.  Sen. Weiler was the only Republican that voted against SB96.  One of the reasons is that there is not a fiscal note.  Friday morning, Sen. Christiansen told me that he was ordered to make changes to lower the fiscal note cost.  So the bill still does not have a fiscal note.  The fiscal note is way too high to go through.  And the bill has to be changed to lower the fiscal note to not be so high that it scares votes away.  If the bill had gone through, in my opinion (explained below in the Deseret News oped) the cost to Utah would be hundreds of millions to cover the federal 70% proposed match until the waiver is granted if ever.  On top of that, with the Prop 3 initiative approved, there is an April 1 baseline assumption of almost a billion from the federal government to provide a 90% match for Medicaid expansion.  April 1, is the baseline and the fiscal note should reflect that.
  Sen. Weiler said that he didn't know if he were brave or just stupid.  I have known Sen. Weiler for many years.  He even ran a bill for us (to reduce metal theft recycling).  He, in my opinion, is a good and decent moderate Republican.  He makes Republicans look good.  
  Sen. Weiler also does a podcast that goes into a short interview with many of the legislators.  If you want to know what their push button issues are, go to:
http://toddcastutah.libsyn.com/website/category/

SALT LAKE HOMELESS GROUP MEMORIES ON DOWNLOAD
  I put the Salt Lake Homeless Advocacy Group minutes in the downloads section as a memoir.  They are disbanding and their information and memory have been left with me as a memoir to the homeless.  

SLC COUNCIL FINAL HEARING ON INCREASING TRANSIT
  Salt Lake City is planning to have a final public hearing on the proposed interlocal agreement with UTA to increase transit service at the 7 PM City Council meeting on February 5.  The City intends to sign the interlocal on February 19th.  This process has taken over 6 months!  And the service increase won't start until August.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING BILL PASSES COMMITTEE
  Senator Anderegg's SB034, with the support of many Democrats passed through the Senate Committee to the Senate.  It provides $20 million to affordable housing programs and encourages municipalities to plan for higher density next to transportation corridors that could have transit services from buses (with long term stable contracts), BRT or rail.  This is a good government bill that tells governments that they should plan for higher density next to transportation corridors.

SAFER BICYCLE STREETS, ESPECIALLY ON 1700 SOUTH
  SLC is planning a road diet on 1700 S. that adds parking and a center turn lane and removes two traffic lanes.  Adding parking increases dangers to bicyclists that did not exist before.
  If parking is added, the center lane should be eliminated except at lights and a wider bike lane be used.  I feel that State Street should be the same way, without removing travel lanes.  
  Decreasing left turns except at lights increases safety for bicyclists and pedestrians.

UTAH YIELD FOR BICYCLISTS PASSES COMMITTEE
  Representative Moss' HB 0161 passed through to the House.  It allows bicyclists to not stop at red lights or stop signs if there is no traffic that could be a danger.
  UDOT and the Utah Department of Public Safety were concerned about the bill.
  Arguments for the bill included that most bicycle accidents on the road are at lights.  When lights turn green, bicyclists have to worry about cars behind them, beside them, cars coming from across the street and cars turning left in front of them.  If a bicyclist finds it safer to cross with little cross traffic, they should have that option.
  In addition, public safety should be focusing on more dangerous threats to public safety.  Testimony was given by bicyclists that were stopped by Police for acting in a sage manner but not stopping completely.
  Utah has had 3 bicycle fatalities in 2018 which is the least in 6 years.  95% cyclists already do not completely stop.  This bill is being called the Utah stop bill.

NAVAJO CODE TALKERS DESERVE RECOGNITION FOR BRAVERY
  Senator Iwamoto and cosponsor Senator Hinkins are sponsoring a bill and a resolution that recognizes the World War Two Navajo Code Talkers.  In World War Two, many Navajo men volunteered for the most dangerous military service, radio operators. The military used the Navajo language to provide an unbreakable code.  The Navajo Code Talkers were so important that their team leader was instructed to kill them of they could be captured.  The Navajo Code Talkers knew this. Radio operators were also priority targeted for killing by the Japanese. So these men, who did not have to volunteer, voluntarily agreed to what was essentially a suicide mission.  
  They served without recognition, honor or medals.  It wasn't until the 1980's that their service was declassified and recognized.
  SB0101 and SCR 002 names several highways in Southern Utah to Navajo Code Talkers designation and provides August 14, 2019 as Navajo Code Talkers day. 
  These men were the bravest of the brave in the most dangerous combat position.  Their courage and bravery deserve recognition, honor and respect. SB 0101 and SCR 002 passed through to the Senate by the Committee with a favorable recommendation.

CAPITOL ELEVATOR EATS PEOPLE
  This is the worst time for it to happen, but the Capitol Building elevator, one of only two public elevators, stalled with people in it, during the General Session this week.  The trapped individuals were quickly rescued but the old elevators are difficult to maintain.  Instead of building a hundred million garage and office building on Capitol Hill, elevators should be upgraded first.  

DRUG DEALERS BECOMING MILLIONAIRES IN UTAH
  The recently approved medical marijuana compromise will take a couple of years to implement.  One key requirement may not be ready until 2021.  Those who want marijuana, for medical or otherwise are turning to drug dealers.  The vaping THC liquid is especially in demand.  Otherwise the marijuana has to be in dosage form.  Until Utah is fully able to supply the drug, drug dealers will be on the path to become millionaires.
  The Utah person in charge of this effort is:
Kayla Strong, M.A., Center for Medical Cannabis, Utah Department of Health at medicalcannabis@utah.gov.  She goes into detail about medical marijuana below:
".... there are no licensed dispensaries in Utah yet. We have until March of 2020 to get everything up and running, and we have not yet issued our Request for Proposal (RFP) for the seven medical cannabis pharmacies that will be licensed by the Utah Department of Health. ....t is currently legal for some patients with qualifying conditions and physician recommendations to possess cannabis in medicinal dosage form.....
It is not legal to purchase medical cannabis from a drug dealer and any cannabis that is possessed must be in medicinal dosage form. These products typically have medicinal packaging, similar to other commercial drugs. Raw bud or flower outside of blister packs is not legal in Utah, so if a patient purchased any from a drug dealer, he or she would be breaking the law.....
I can't speak for law enforcement, but I believe they are contacting physicians who issue recommendation letters if they have cause to believe that they aren't legitimate. The medical provider issuing a recommendation must be licensed in the State of Utah as a physician, physician assistant, or advanced practice registered nurse and must also hold a Utah controlled substance permit."

SOCIAL SERVICES HEARS ABOUT DISORGANIZED HOMELESS SERVICES
  Social Services Appropriations Subcommittee heard about some of the significant problems regarding services for the homeless.  There are too many different parties that are trying to claim funds and they may be duplicating efforts to decrease homelessness in Utah.  The Subcommittee is looking into it since there is a big chance that Medicaid, that many were expecting to help fund services is being cut back, in other words not expanded by repealing Prop 3.  The State will not be able to fund a lot of what they wanted.  
  Even the INN Between is being cut ($100,000) although the Chair, Rep. Ray, is going to work with them to see if there are ways to get them the money. 
  During presentation of the Homeless Services Audit, it was also explained that the State claimed to have solved the chronically homeless (more than 12 months homeless) by fudging the data.  Although the audit said that it was unintentional since the standards for counting chronically homeless changed, this is typical for bureaucrats.  They want to look like they are doing great.  One of the managers of that period went around the Country claiming that he, and Utah, had solved homelessness.  I remember, a year after the figures were called into question, he still was claiming that he solved Utah homelessness.
  The data does not show what programs work and what does not work according to the auditors.  Those who work with the homeless already knew that.  Other findings said that bad data led to one rapid rehousing rate to be considered a failure of over 50% (68%).  And they also determined that the State Homeless Coordinating Committee (SHCC) does not know what they are supposed to do.
  The State should plan on spending hundreds of millions of Utah taxpayer dollars on Medicaid expansion since it does not appear that the federal government will give a waiver by April 1.  Also, when the new shelters open up, they may pull many from the INN Between.  There are many questions and the budget/funding should be flexible to handle the eventual resolution on Medicaid and opening the new shelters.
  Social Services Appropriations Subcommittee should plan for more beds.  If the 3000 are chronically homeless, if they are using the Medicaid waiver, (I think it is less than 1000.) we will need more beds.  
  There is potential to provide beds in jail since there are hundreds of drug dealers according to Operation Rio Grande dashboard who should be in jail, not in shelters dealing drugs.

YOU CAN'T RIDE ELECTRIC BICYCLES WHILE DRUNK OR DRUGGED
  During this week's House Transportation Committee meeting, it came out that Utah lost about $6 million in federal funds one year due to allowing two time DUI individuals to operate electric bicycles.  The Federal government requires DUI penalties to apply to Class 2 motor vehicles which includes electric assisted bicycles that can be operated solely on the electric motor.  That makes them a motor vehicle.  Because Utah did not specifically say that a person convicted of a second or subsequent DUI while operating the Class 2 motor vehicle is subject to federally required DUI penalties, Utah lost the $6 million for one year.  Utah has fixed the law which means that you can't ride an electric bike while drunk or incapacitated!

JANUARY 30, 2019
LEGISLATURE ONLY ALLOWS 6 TO SPEAK FOR PROP 3
LEGISLATURE INTERN LIST AVAILABLE
SUGAR HOUSE 2700 S RESURFACING
WATER BILL HB31 KICKED TO ANOTHER COMMITTEE

LEGISLATURE ONLY ALLOWS 6 TO SPEAK FOR PROP 3
  The effort to repeal Prop 3, the Medicaid expansion initiative that passed in Utah, was given a big boost in the Senate Health and Services Committee that heard Senator Christiansen's bill.  His original bill attempted to stop the tax increase set for April 1 but since tax changes require a 90 day notice, and the Utah Tax Commission already sent out notices, Senator Christiansen had to change his original bill to allow the tax increase to take place.  I put the comparison between the old and new SB96 in the new downloads on the left.  
  The Chair of the Committee, Senator Ronald Winterton was so new to the job that he kept mispronouncing the names of the two Democrats on the Committee, Senators Luz Escamilla and Jani Iwamoto.  He had to be corrected constantly.  He also decided to limit the public comments to 10 total individuals, although many more wanted to speak and the Room (Senate Room 210) and overflow held hundreds.  It seemed that the effort was set to push Senator Christiansen's bill forward with minimal effort and negative comments.  So, essentially, only 6 anti SB96 Sub 1 comments were heard!
  The best comments pointed out that SB96 would be asking for a waiver at the same time as putting 100,000 more on Medicaid.  Utah taxpayers would be on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars until the federal government approved the waiver, if ever.  Utah said that the federal government would pay to keep the parks open in a previous shutdown but that promise did not happen.  Federal government promises are not always fulfilled.  Puerto Rico and other disaster areas constantly ask where the promised emergency funds are.  And Representative Dunnigan, the cosponsor, had a mental health expansion that requested a waiver that the federal government was promising to approve but didn't.  That waiver request was rescinded when Prop 3 was passed!
  On the other hand, if Prop 3 is allowed to go into effect, the approval is already approved and Utah would get a financial influx of funds of almost a BILLION DOLLARS EVERY YEAR!  Economic development would be significantly helped.  Stopping Prop 3 is almost like closing half of Hill Air Force Base which spends 1.38 billion on salaries and over half a billion on contracts, construction and supplies!
  If SB96 substitutes for Prop 3, there will be a work requirement which is useless for potential mental health patients and the Operation Rio Grande stats prove it.  Out of 3000 chronically homeless (there are not really 3000 chronically homeless in Utah so the State kind of fudged on the definition which is homeless more than 12 months), only 152 are working through the Operation Rio Grande plan.  
  In addition, the Legislature is using questionable predictions, like voodoo economics, that are just guesses.  Instead of waiting a year for real facts and figures, the Legislature is claiming that Prop 3 will cause the sky to fall.  The Legislature should not engage in voodoo economics.  It should wait until Prop 3 is implemented for 6 months before it tries to fine tune it to ensure that the costs are not what experts predict.
  SB96 does add a supportive housing component which Senator Christiansen said will be approved by April 1.  Supportive housing, rent, by law cannot be covered by Medicaid.  So that part of the bill may require Congressional action.  The operative phrase is don't get your hopes up.

LEGISLATURE INTERN LIST AVAILABLE
  I put the Legislative Intern list in the new downloads section on the upper left.  If you need to get information about a Legislator's bill, it is often faster to go to their interns.

SUGAR HOUSE 2700 S RESURFACING
  Sugar House's 2700 South is one of the worst roads in the area, although it is only number 81st worst in the City.  In 2019, the City is proposing to resurface the road from 1300 East to 1930 East with new bike lanes, sidewalk repairs, access ramps and a new pavement surface.  The project is scheduled for April to November 2019.  This is a bicycling road that was actually designed by a bicyclist.  The original plan, years ago, was to put in a center turn lane.  But the bicyclist persuaded the City to not put in the center turn lane to provide more space on the side of the road for bicyclists.  The City has asked to present the project to the Sugar House Community Council in the next month.

WATER BILL HB31 KICKED TO ANOTHER COMMITTEE
  The first water bill, HB31 from Representative Coleman, was moved today from the Government Operations Committee to the Natural Resources Committee.  It will provide more transparency for Salt Lake City and other municipal water utilities' customers on how their water rates are calculated and how their fees are utilized.

JANUARY 27, 2019
KEEPING PROP 3 IS A PUBLIC SAFETY NO BRAINER PUBLISHED
DEALERS ARE STILL ABLE TO EASILY SUPPLY DRUGS
1700 SOUTH LANE CHANGE INCREASES BICYCLING DANGER
2100 EAST CONTINUES TO INCREASE POLLUTION WITH MILE LONG BACKUP
POLITICIANS PLANNING BILLIONS IN SOUTH COUNTY UTA PROJECTS
ANALIA VALDEMOROS NEW 4TH DISTRICT CITY COUNCILWOMAN
900 S RECONSTRUCTION INTERFERES WITH 9 BUS SERVICE EXPANSION
SLC DISPATCH STILL REFUSING REPORTS OF CRIME 
NEW NON EMERGENCY COUNTY SHERIFF NUMBER 801 840 4000
LIST OF INTERESTING LEGISLATURE BILLS
HOW TO WORK THE LEGISLATURE ON UPPER RIGHT DOWNLOADS
AGAIN, LAST 4 YEARS OF BLOG ON UPPER LEFT BUTTON

KEEPING PROP 3 IS A PUBLIC SAFETY NO BRAINER PUBLISHED
  The Salt Lake Tribune published Keeping Prop 3 is a public safety no brainer at: 
https://www.strib.com/opion/commentary/2019/01/27/george-chapman-keeping/

The stats from Operation Rio Grande with 3000 on Medicaid and 152 working show how well work requirements work.  To really make a dent in the drug dealing and addiction issues in Utah requires full Prop 3 implementation.  Senators Anderegg and Christiansen are proposing bills to stop Prop 3 implementation.

DEALERS ARE STILL ABLE TO EASILY SUPPLY DRUGS   
  Another important statistic from Operation Rio Grande is over 300 drug dealers were arrested but only a small fraction are actually incarcerated.  The important questions that should be asked is:  How can shelters be successful if dealers are not removed from access?  How can drug treatment be successful if dealers continue to offer drugs to those graduating from treatment.   

1700 SOUTH LANE CHANGE INCREASES BICYCLING DANGER
  The future road diet on 1700 South is continuing to be questionable since new statistics show that 1700 South and State Street have a high number of bicycle crashes.  The left hand turns, I believe are risking safe bicycling.  The road diet on 1700 South will remove two lanes of traffic, allow on street parking and add a center turn lane and bicycle lanes.  The bicycle lanes are minimal.  The on street parking will add a significant hazard to bicycling.  An old statistic on bicycle accidents showed almost 40% are caused by parked cars' doors opening onto an oncoming bicyclist.  So the attempt to increase the safety of bicyclists with a road diet will actually decrease safety.
  It is similar to the road diet on 900 West that actually increased car accidents.  SLC Transportation is not succeeding at decreasing accidents.

2100 EAST CONTINUES TO INCREASE POLLUTION WITH MILE LONG BACKUP
  2100 East continues to increase pollution levels for nearby residents with a mile long backup everyday during evening rush hour.  Drivers are trying to avoid the inadequate Foothill Drive traffic control and use 2100 East to try to avoid the backup.  But the cross traffic is minimal and it is adding to the backup.  The City and State (which controls Foothill) need to work on the pollution and congestion issue.  The City and WFRC should not be pushing removing lanes of traffic on foothill for a BRT.  That WILL increase pollution.

POLITICIANS PLANNING BILLIONS IN SOUTH COUNTY UTA PROJECTS
  UTA is admitting to a plan to study the proposed Lehi/Draper TRAX that Utah County mayors have been pushing for years.  We successfully fought the effort to build it by 2025 in the Mountainland Association of Governments plan.  It resulted in the project being returned to the 2040 plus timeframe.  But Orem and Lehi mayors have been pushing to make it happen sooner with the excuse to put mass transit in the prison site development.  So they plan to put significant pressure on making it happen within 10 years.  
  UTA will probably continue the study which will cost $800,000.  The cost of TRAX extending from Draper to Lehi and possibly to Provo will be as high as $3 billion.  Zion Bank's study showed that the most money can come from a big tax increase, if UTA is not pushed into using the SB136 tax increase (a big possibility and reason for SB136).  The biggest beneficiaries are some senior political leaders in the State.  
  The best and most fair plan would be to have an assessment area that pays for the cost of any mass transit with increased taxes on the property owners.

ANALIA VALDEMOROS NEW 4TH DISTRICT CITY COUNCILWOMAN
  Analia Valdemoros is the new Salt Lake City District 4 Councilwoman.  The SLC Council agreed to appoint her for the remainder of this year to represent District 4.  She has a background as a planner for SLC RDA and is a small businesswoman.  She also managed NeighborWorks.  She knows the City well enough to hit the ground running.  She actually has more knowledge of the City than almost all previous Council candidates over the last few years.
  The other top candidates were Breanne Miller, Ryan Parker and Michael Iverson.  During the initial vote, Analia Valdemoros was chosen as one of four best by all of the six Councilmembers.  The other top four got one or two fewer votes.  So the Council decided that, to save time, it made sense to not wait another week and vote Analia into office.

900 S RECONSTRUCTION INTERFERES WITH 9 BUS SERVICE EXPANSION
  The 900 South project to restructure and realign 900 South between 1300 East and 950 East is going to proceed and hopefully be completed in the next 12 months.  There will be a roundabout on 1100 East to reduce wait time at the 5 way stop.  The coffee shop is still an issue but the project will proceed.  
  The project timeline will also interfere with the new 9 bus service expansion that is scheduled to start in August.  Plannners said that it will only be an issue for a month or two.  But it will interfere with the bus service.  
  The project will also interfere with an alternative route to avoid the 1300 East project which already funnels traffic onto 1100 East.  Kensington is getting constant bus and vehicle traffic from 1300 East.  The 900 South project will make it worse.
  The roundabout and other new plantings create a complication because SLC has not been able to find enough funds to consistently maintain new plantings.  In 2017, Salt Lake City stopped watering tree medians, the cemetery and parks.  Most of the new plantings in Miller Park and on the McClelland Trail have died due to the water restrictions.  But, SLC will try again.  Project planners are optimistic.

SLC DISPATCH STILL REFUSING REPORTS OF CRIME
  SLC Dispatch is still refusing to accept reports of crimes from citizens.  During a recent review of complaints by residents who were complaining about constant criminal activities near Browning Avenue and 200 East, it was determined that most complaints were not registered so the property that was a criminal magnet was not listed as a problem.  This report is similar to the complaints last year from the same community.  SLC still has a Dispatch problem.

NEW NON EMERGENCY COUNTY SHERIFF NUMBER 801 840 4000
  Salt Lake County's Valley Emergency Communications Center (VECC) continues to consolidate emergency communications from the County.  The bill that significantly increased cell phone taxes a few years ago (by Senator Harper) is funneling more money into VECC than other emergency communications centers.  SLC and Sandy have another one and the Sheriff's Office has another.  But the Sheriff's communications systems is integrating with and on site of VECC now.  There is a new non emergency UPD and Sheriff's Office number.  It is 801 840 4000.  The SLC/Sandy non emergency number is 801 799 3000.  All emergency calls are now required to go to 911.  Unfortunately, the 911 cell phone calls depend on the closest cell tower to decide how to route the calls between SLC/Sandy and other County areas.  If one is near the borders, the 911 calls may go to the wrong center!  Salt Lake County needs a better 911 system that is Countywide and not divided into various areas.

LIST OF INTERESTING LEGISLATURE BILLS
  There are many interesting bills being proposed in this Legislative session.  Some of the more interesting bills include:

Rep. Moss is again trying to ban all cell phone use with HB13.  It passed Interim Committee but not unanimously and therefore needs to be reheard.

Rep. Ray is proposing, again, a bill to increase taxes on electronic cigarettes and other nicotine products and possibly increase ages.  The medical marijuana vaping may also be part of the bill.  He is also in the process of civil commitment amendments and eminent domain amendments.

Senator Bramble, the sponsor of most GRAMA bills, is in the process of updating GRAMA.  Other legislators that are working on government records bills include  Sen. Harper and Sen. Henderson.

Rep. Hutchings, the sponsor of JRI, is proposing a public school mental health amendment and a respectful modification of misdemeanor jail time to decrease potential unreasonable deportation.  Sen. Fillmore is also sponsoring a mental health amendment SB38 along with SB39 that covers assisted outpatient treatment for mental illness.  That should significantly help the drug and alcohol abuse issues that are exponentially increasing.

Senator Harper is modifying his SB136 that gives a big funding increase to UTA with SB 72.  It retracts the name change and "fine tunes" the transit issues.  He is also in process of an ignition interlock bill for DUI that corrects the problems with the present laws.  Rep. Ward is also proposing a bill to stop the required name change that was backed off of after a public backlash.  Sen. Harper is also, again, trying to pass his towing amendments bill that restores balance to those parking in parking lots that have hard to find parking signs.  It is one of the most important bills in this session.  He is also proposing a bill that modifies remote sales tax collection.

Rep. Briscoe is proposing a bill on open carry near schools.  He may lose the fight if he ddoesn't modify it to be educational.  Clark Aposhian, the Second Amendment advocate said that he would support an educational bill but Rep. Briscoe wants a bill with more teeth which could kill it.  Rep. Briscoe is also in the process of developing a bill on salees tax exemption revisions that may reduce the secrecy involving large sales tax exemptions.

Rep. Coleman has support for her HB31 which requires more transparency in water supply contracts.  Several cities outside of Salt Lake City have been complaining about Salt Lake City not being more open about supplying water.

Sen. Okerland has a lot of support for his SB17 that reins in Salt Lake City's watershed extraterritorial jurisdiction.  Other governments are concerned about the overreach by SLC Public Utilities that could impact their development plans.  Salt Lake City has listed HB31 and SB17 as a big threat to Salt Lake City watershed.  I do not agree.

Rep. Albrecht, with the support of the Commission on Public Lands, is sponsoring HB78 that requires the State Legislature to agree to proposals from local governments (like Central Wasatch Commission) to turn land over to the federal government.  The Mountain Accord (3.2.1) agreed to pushing for a National Monument, or National Recreation Area or National Conservation Area.  It took a couple of years before it was realized by the Legislature and HB78 is the result.

Rep. Musselman is pushing HB122 that threatens anyone using the Utah Property Rights Ombudsman with legal fees if they fight against recommnedations.  It further hurts private property rights in my opinion.

Rep. Winder is supposedly shopping a proposal to return Brickyard to Millcreek from Salt Lake City tax roles.  The effort is questionable legally but he has to do it since Millcreek is paying him money as Economic Development Director.  This is a direct payment that some may complain to be a bribe.  It could result in a serious legal fight.  

Rep. Hall is sponsoring HB57 that protects electronic information and data privacy and requires warrants to access our cellphone data.

Rep. Arent is again pushing air quality bills including a zero emission vehicles bill.  It will be an uphill battle but it may retract the questionable large increase in registration fees on electric vehicles from last session's SB136.  Large trucks are 500 times more 

Rep. Judkins is proposing HB66 to ask voters and Congress to allow year round daylight savings time like Arizona.  Sen. Harper and Rep. Thurston had similar bills in the last few years which didn't get to first base.  Congress really needs to settle the issue (like internet sales tax) to stop piecemeal state by state policies.

Senator Anderegg, a data specialist, is proposing a homeless shelter oversight program, to get real data.  It is ironic that no one seems to ask the basic questions: how many addicts are sober a year after treatment; how many of the 152 Operation Rio Grande employment successes are still working; and how many of the 300 plus drug dealers arrested are still incarcerated?

Rep. Eliason has HB15, a victim rights amendment that is desperately needed.

Sen. Weiler is sponsoring a military spouse licensing exemption amendments.  He is also supposed to be decreasing the 350 licenses that Utah requires.  But it is slow going.

Rep. Perry and Sen. Mayne are again trying to reset the Utah law enforcement and teacher pension system that makes it difficult to keep educators after 20 years, especially in rural areas.  Education pensions are close to being fully funded (actuarially) but law enforcement pensions are significantly underfunded.  But Utah law enforcement loses a lot of 20 year institutional knowledge that helps fight crime due to our pension system.  Hopefully Rep. Perry and Sen. Mayne will succeed in some flexibility that encourage retainment of law enforcement and educators.

Rep. Snow is proposing a dating violence bill.

HOW TO WORK THE LEGISLATURE ON UPPER RIGHT DOWNLOADS
  Again, as I did last year, I put an educational pamphlet in the upper right hand downloads area that shows how to work the Legislature.  The most important date is the Legislature will not usually develop bills unless they are suggested within two weeks of starting the Legislature.  February 7 is the last day to request bills or appropriations without floor approval.  I also put last year's How to View and Track a Bill by Leila Reynolds, the intern, last year, of Rep. Chavez Hauck. 

AGAIN, LAST 4 YEARS OF BLOG ON UPPER LEFT BUTTON
  Again, I put the last 4 years of the blog on a downloadable PDF or DOCX on the 2015 to 2018 blog page and also on a PDF in the upper left.  I kept the last 6 months of the blog on this blog page

JANUARY 22, 2019

SLC COUNCIL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

SLC COUNCIL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

  The SLC Council received 21 applications for consideration to be appointed to the SLC Council for District 4.  They will have to run for office this year.  But they will have a leg up , if they run, as the incumbent.  These are the questions that the SLC Council gave them, along with my answers.  What do you think are the important issues and answers?

Please share with the Council your view on local government, and its impact on neighborhoods. 

Local government has the greatest impact on neighborhoods with zoning and planning.  The ability to have the right mix of mixed income, mixed use and commercial retail within walking distance can create a vibrant, exciting and charismatic neighborhood.  In addition, protecting the neighborhoods from gentrifying and increasing the cost to rent and to own can protect the character and residents of a neighborhood.  
Basic services such as streets (well maintained and safe), police/public safety that works with communities and neighborhoods, and encouraging and supporting public transit are basic services that local governments should prioritize highly.


What do you think are the top issues facing District 4 and how would you approach each of them? 

Zoning, ensuring safe neighborhoods around the 7th South Homeless Resource Center, appropriate mixed use, mixed income development of the Sears Block, the Fleet Block, 9th South, State Street CRA and utilizing the Opportunity Zone in the District to encourage that appropriate development.  Affordable housing, especially with the State Street CRA (it has the best potential for significantly increased density and mixed use, mixed income) is also important.  Fee waivers may be needed to encourage mixed use, mixed income buildings.  The Granary District has much potential and deserves higher priority for appropriate development.  The Central City area needs protection of the character of the neighborhoods.  Close coordination with the Downtown Alliance and Chamber should encourage appropriate development of downtown vacant buildings.  SLC and the SLC RDA should not save vacant properties for more than a few years.  Vacant buildings encourage crime.  The Depot District also deserves more attention to ensure that the properties owned by the City quickly encourage appropriate mixed use and mixed income development.


What do you think are the top issues facing Salt Lake City and how would you approach each of them? 

Protecting single family home neighborhoods and residents from having to move due to gentrification.  SLC should be permitting thousands more  housing units a year and needs to staff up planning and zoning to ensure that it is done appropriately, efficiently and quickly.  Appropriate law enforcement that does not require the police to handle or take to jail mental health individuals.  The County and State need to step up and ensure that police fight criminals and not people with mental health issues.


We recognize that no legislative body is perfect in their budget and policy decision making. What changes would you like to see for the focus, functioning or decision-making of the Salt Lake City Council? 

Work more closely with the community councils to identify appropriate properties for higher density mixed income and mixed use development.  Communities should drive the direction of development and the City should not increase hate and discontent by unilaterally making decisions.  Housing is the biggest issue in the City now and it would seem that the focus of the Council should be to staff up planning and zoning and give it a goal of thousands of more housing units a year.  Change the demolition ordinance (in process) to encourage appropriate development instead of making landowners pay ahead of time for the permit for the final building before demolition.  Focus on the major potential housing and development areas like State Street, Ballpark, Granary, Depot District, Fleet Block and Sears Block (in District 4 and 5).  Although there are other potential development areas, those areas alone would seem to be a full time job.


Prioritize what you see as the top three infrastructure needs for Salt Lake City over the next five years and explain your choices.

Roads need to be better maintained to show good management of the City and encourage businesses to come here.  A well maintained and safe road will also encourage bicycling and walking, since "Completer Streets" include sidewalks.  Bicyclists are more discouraged from riding on bad roads than the City has admitted.  
Safe neighborhoods that don't need to have the police arrest the same individual a hundred times.  That requires pushing/working with the County and State to solve that issue.  
Appropriate zoning, as explained above, for mixed use, mixed income development while protecting residents and the character of the neighborhood.


With limited budget resources and unlimited wants, what do you believe should be the City’s priorities when it comes to spending?

Higher staffing to ensure that many times more housing units are built in each year in appropriate areas.  RDA has spent 4 years in developing the State Street/9th and 9th (westside) CRA proposal but it still is not approved!  It seems that SLC should be significantly increasing staffing (and salaries to attract professionals) to speed up the process.  Again, these areas have great potential for development but they are not developing.
Roads that are safe and well maintained should also be a priority when it comes to spending.  The budget should increase annual spending for roads (on top of the sales tax increase portion and the bond) to $20 million a year.


What do you believe your role is as a representative of the residents of Salt Lake City?

To represent the communities and work with them to find common ground and appropriate development in their areas.  
To make Salt Lake City a more inviting and livable City that protects and creates great neighborhoods (like the Fairmont Great American Neighborhood Award from a few years ago).  
To be a visible representative of the government of the City to show that the government is accessible.  
To encourage public participation and engagement to ensure policies and projects are appropriate for neighborhoods and they are what the communities want.

What else would you like the Council to know that you have not had a chance to share?

JANUARY 16, 2019
STATE IS WORKING ON INCREASING COUNTY PUBLIC SAFETY FUNDING
LT GOVERNOR COX DOES NOT THINK PROP 3 IS FULLY FUNDED BY TAX
ROAD HOME WILL NOT CLOSE IN JULY
MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION IN LAST YEAR ON JANUARY 26 
7 CANYONS WILL COST $850,000 TO RETROFIT
UTA BUS GARAGE WILL COST MILLIONS MORE TO SAVE BUILDING
TAYLORSVILLE BRT DECREASES PERSONAL VEHICLE LEVEL OF SERVICE
HIGHLAND SUGAR HOUSE CROSSWALK BY SUMMER
ELPCO ATTEMPTING ANOTHER INN BETWEEN MEDIATION WITH NEIGHBORHOOD
MILLCREEK PUSHING S-LINE EXPANSION TO BRICKYARD MISDIRECT
RALPH BECKER GETS PAY RAISE TO $120,000
1300 EAST TRAFFIC BACKUP DUE TO REMOVING TRAFFIC FROM FREEWAY
SUGAR HOUSE PLAZA POWER OUTLETS SHORT ON POWER
RANK CHOICE VOTING NOT CERTIFIED FOR SLC VOTE
PROPOSED SLC DEMOLITION ORDINANCE BACKTRACKS ON SUGAR HOLE LAW
FREE FARE FALLACIES
UTA PLANNING ON BILLIONS IN POINT OF MOUNTAIN PROJECTS 

JANUARY 16, 2019
STATE IS WORKING ON INCREASING COUNTY PUBLIC SAFETY FUNDING
  During a question and answer session with Lt Governor Cox at the Pioneer Park Coalition, the Lt Governor answered a question about lack of adequate public safety funding at the Salt Lake County Jail and DA.  He said that the State is looking at how to increase jail beds (the SLCO Jail is on booking restrictions) to ensure that the Police are able to effectively fight crime.  This may turn up during this Legislative session.  

LT GOVERNOR COX DOES NOT THINK THAT PROP 3 IS FULLY FUNDED BY TAX
  The Lt Governor said that he does not believe that Medicaid/healthcare expansion is fully funded by the new tax.  He believes that it will go forward but the Legislature will have to change some things to ensure that the cost will not be more than the new tax revenue that was part of Prop 3.
  But the suggestion to fix the issue is to implement a work requirement.  Unfortunately, 80% of incarcerated individuals have mental health issues that often exhibit symptoms of SUD (substance use disorder = drug or alcohol addiction).  Adding a work requirement, and more paperwork for the recipient of treatment to fill out/fulfill will probably result in 90% of people that could benefit from the healthcare expansion walking away from the treatment.
  Ironically, the original legislative Medicaid expansion for 3000 chronically homeless (more than 12 months homeless) was useful for many but most did not end up working.  Even the Operation Rio Grande stats show 137 working (I think that it really is less than 25 since the 137 figure is for entering the work program.).  
  Many were criminals that were drug dealers and addicts (Drug addicts were getting a free drug hit for selling 9 hits.).  So expanding Medicaid with Prop 3 will give the same government healthcare benefits that are enjoyed by criminals.  That is good.  I still think that drug addicts do not commit victimless crimes.  Whether it is leaving a used needle where it could affect children or stealing to get drugs, addicts generally are victimizing citizens and businesses.

ROAD HOME WILL NOT CLOSE IN JULY
  Lt Governor Cox also admitted that the Road Home will not close in July of 2019 as guaranteed by the Legislature.  It will have to wait for a few months for the South Salt Lake Shelter to open.  He blamed South Salt Lake City for slowing the permit process for the shelter in their City.  But the reality is that for the first few months, the State appears to have planned to transport homeless from the Rio Grande area to the homeless shelters to gradually move the homeless out of the area.  Just how gradual the effort will be is a big question. 

MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION IN LAST YEAR ON JANUARY 26 
  On January 26, at Corner Canyon High School at 12943 S 700 E in Draper at 10 AM (Saturday), the Salt Lake County Democratic Party will hold a special election to elect the new Salt Lake County Mayor.  It is public and it will determine the future of Salt Lake County.  It will affect taxes, mountain and canyon development, public safety and homeless services in the County.  It is the most important election in the last year.

7 CANYONS WILL COST $850,000 TO RETROFIT
  After a lot of arguments about what is really needed and recommendations to tear down the 7 Canyons Fountain in Liberty Park to remove the sharp "mountains" for safety for children climbing on the sculpture.  The City has decided that the best cost effective plan is to just retrofit the water features to provide a safer water experience that decreases bacteria and other harmful contaminants in the water.  The cost is estimated at $850,000.  The original suggestion of the City was for millions to do a full reconstruction.  The original suggestions are in the downloads section.

UTA BUS GARAGE WILL COST MILLIONS MORE TO SAVE BUILDING
  UTA has decided that the big old brick rail building that is south of the UTA headquarters deserves to be saved.  It will build a building inside the old barely standing, old building despite the significant cost increase.  A new building erected to earthquake resistant standards would be millions cheaper.  But UTA believes that spending millions more in a questionable effort to save a so called important building is a good idea.  Your tax dollars at work.

TAYLORSVILLE BRT DECREASES PERSONAL VEHICLE LEVEL OF SERVICE
  These are my arguments against the proposed UTA Taylorsville BRT:
  I am against UTA attempting any other large transit projects until they can show that they can successfully build, operate and get ridership on expensive projects.  The 35MAX BRT on 3500 S. has had about 3200 passengers a day despite using 2 lanes of traffic for BRT (part of the way in the most congested part of 3500 South) that could carry 5000 ADT a lane of cars with more than one passenger.  The ridership has stayed about the same and only saves 15 minutes of a 70 minute trip.  A successful BRT would generally be handling 5000 plus passengers a day.  The Provo BRT is not able to show success due to the free fare.  The Weber State Ogden BRT proposal will be spending over $60 million to save 5 minutes out of a very efficient and effective 15 minute bus ride to Weber State University.  
  The hope, of course, is to help redevelop 25th Street west of Washington Blvd.  But the single family homeowners along the route may end up fighting at every step of the construction.  The hope of development keeps coming up but I have found no real evidence that it significantly helps in Utah.  Development in many TRAX station areas is very slow.  Portland had the same thing happening.  The successful Farmington station was due to the aggressive efforts of the Farmington Economic Development team (who fought hard for Cabela's).  Most of the station developments are car oriented like Murray and Farmington and Central Pointe.  
  The large developments in Sugar House can be attributed to the linear park (Parleys Trail) and two large parks with significant amenities.  The S-Line did not result in construction of a mixed use and walkable area.  It resulted in a lot of zombie buildings with ground floors off limits to the public.  Sugar House got its character because it was walkable and had a lot of windows for showrooms.  The new developments did away with that and cars proliferated.  The S-Line ridership is about a third of what was predicted.  
  If the community knew that part of the effort of this BRT plan is to close and redevelop Fore Lakes Golf Course, UTA would be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a electric scooter.  That is reason enough to not consider this plan.  From the ESR: "development of this station depends on the transformation of the existing Fore Lakes Golf Course site into a transit-oriented development. While not currently planned, this modification could have significant positive impact on the surrounding neighborhood and community at large, in addition to enhancing longterm BRT ridership"
  But a bigger reason is to recognize and study the LA study last year that showed that, in an effort to get more ridership, LA spent over $15 billion.  It resulted in ridership, after 20 years, going from 147 million a month to 154 million a month!  Almost nothing.  Before projects, a robust bus system should be restored in accordance with the last UTA audit.
  Buses provide a cheaper, more efficient (shared with cars, the preferred choice of transportation) mass transit service.  If the State wants a nicer ride, remove the ugly coverings from the windows so riders can look out and enjoy our beautiful State (studies show that a clean window is the second biggest reason for riding a bus - right after a pleasant bus rider).  The goal should be to encourage those who can only afford an older car that pollutes more, to want to use the bus system.  But if stations are far apart (4 blocks) people won't walk to ride them.  Proof is the effort by cities to put in mid block crosswalks along State Street because they acknowledge that people won't walk half a block to the light!  A bus stop every block is the best way to encourage ridership.
  The BRT would cost about $15 million a mile while an effective enhanced bus would cost a tenth of that cost and have a lane at lights and light priority.
  The area needs a freeway more than a BRT.  According to the report, UDOT is going to add two lanes.  I wouldn't be surprised if they try to add 4 lanes (which is needed at 39,000 ADT).  The Report made the best point:  "Can BRT move enough people to allow state to forego extra lanes?" 
  The center road stations require slowing traffic for pedestrian crossings which increase pollution, especially at the Fore Lakes Station!  The center stations create danger for those who have difficulties crossing high traffic streets, like wheelchairs.  Riders tend to race across traffic lanes to catch a TRAX or bus in the center lane which is less probable if there are 6 lanes of traffic between the ride and the rider.
  If the biggest potential development areas say no, then even trying to justify the project with development potential does not make sense.  SLCC is the only potential and they do not redevelop.  The golf course is a big fight.  The low income housing will also result in a fight and will not be easily replaced (SLC lost housing despite promises to replace the redeveloped low income housing!  Low income housing loss is irreversible.  Eminent domain can be messy and unfair.  UTA has been fighting one fight for 10 years.  Sorenson Research Park estimates very low employee ridership.  I agree.  Highly paid jobs result in more cars and very little ridership.
  The BRT should not have zig zags.  They, like rail should go straight.
  Before spending money on this project, a real cost benefit analysis should take place and compare a higher frequency regular and enhanced bus with the costly BRT and loss of 2 lanes for 1.4 miles.
  Note that there is no further funding from the State but it is/will be in the next RTP.  But it is not prioritized with more important projects and service expansions.  The ESR should have that prioritization and cost benefit analysis and ridership predicted based on historical data which indicates predictions to be three times reality of ridership.
  Station concepts look like they won't work in sunshine and snow and rain - minnie mouse /tiny cover for riders?  It is time that UTA listens to riders that complain about being forced to stand in a 3 foot wide covered area.  The fancy designs look really expensive with a micro shelter!  How about a minimum of 10 foot wide shelter cover?
  In other words, I am against this project until bus service is increased.  Don't do what LA did and the study from last year (2017) showed, almost no increase in ridership.

HIGHLAND SUGAR HOUSE CROSSWALK BY SUMMER
  The planned Sugar House Highland Drive crosswalk between Kimi's Chop Shop and Buffalo Wings should be constructed and completed by summer of 2019.  So no more ignoring the signs against jaywalking and people can breath easier knowing that they can cross safely and without being ticketed.

ELPCO ATTEMPTING ANOTHER INN BETWEEN MEDIATION WITH NEIGHBORHOOD
  East Liberty Park Community Organization has been trying to effect another mediation effort with the INN Between and the neighborhood.  The advisory committee is not very effective since it only gets one or two neighborhood residents attending it.  I live 2 blocks away and I and my family are more concerned about the homeless camping in the alleyway/McClelland Trail behind our homes.  The next door neighbor's gate was broken and homeless were camping in their yard until the police removed their gear.  That is a bigger problem.  But the INN Between should be communicating with residents and neighbors, especially those who are concerned about the facility.  Without communication, the neighborhood will increase the negative attitude against the INN Between and other homeless efforts.  As I said before, the INN Between, the neighbors and the homeless all deserve respect.  And again, it does not bode well for the new homeless shelters.  Although they will have a neighborhood public engagement person (with a grant from last month).  Maybe that is what the INN Between needs.

MILLCREEK PUSHING S-LINE EXPANSION TO BRICKYARD WITH MISDIRECT
  Millcreek's suggestion that Brickyard be returned to Millcreek and provide a significant increase in tax revenue seems to be a misdirect.  Millcreek really wants the S-Line to go south on Highland to 33rd South!  And the Legislature will be discussing all of these items and it will be a good way to "compromise" on a rail line to Millcreek.  Note that last month's grant to expand the Sugar House Circulation and Amenities Plan from several years ago to Millcreek and to South Salt Lake City sets the stage for the expansion of the S-Line.  This will be a suspenseful soap opera.

RALPH BECKER GETS PAY RAISE TO $120,000
  The Central Wasatch Commission (CWC) has given former Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker a raise to $120,000 a year.  That is just a little below the salary of the Salt Lake City Mayor!  And the CWC is not having much luck convincing the Legislature that it is making sense.  It is interesting that the Mountain Accord claimed such agreement between all parties (without complying with Utah's open meetings act) that recommended a tunnel and train and discouraging personal vehicle travel and a national monument for the Canyons.  But now, the CWC that is set up to implement the Mountain Accord, is being questioned by the Legislature.  The CWC is preparing a bill for Congress to make the Wasatch Canyons a National Recreation Area and trade a couple of hundred undevelopable acres for a ski resort to build a 500 unit Montage style complex.  
  The CWC is also claiming that landowners are trying to steal the Canyons for development and ruining the watershed.  The reality is that the landowners want to build less than a hundred cabins and provide conservation easements on thousands of acres.  It will be another interesting and suspenseful soap opera at the Legislature.  But Ralph Becker will be well compensated.

1300 EAST TRAFFIC BACKUP DUE TO REMOVING TRAFFIC FROM FREEWAY
  Several people have complained to the Sugar House Community Council about traffic backing up on 1300 South just south of the I80 intersection.  The backup can often go to 27th South.  UDOT recently completed a study with consultants and Salt Lake City that eliminated or significantly reduced the backup of vehicles that were trying to exit onto 1300 East from I80 eastbound.  So the lights were timed to increase the time to allow those exiting vehicles higher priority.  That resulted a big backup to 2700 South.

SUGAR HOUSE PLAZA POWER OUTLETS SHORT ON POWER
  With the millions spent on the Sugar House Plaza at 2100 South and Highland, one would think that the power outlets on the Plaza would provide sufficient power for special events.  Unfortunately, there is not sufficient power for special events.  The solution may cost hundreds of thousands more.  
RANK CHOICE VOTING NOT CERTIFIED FOR SLC VOTE
  I was asked to confirm that SLCO is not going to provide rank choice voting after a blog entry in November.  This is what County Clerk Sherry Swenson said:
  "My answer to the Council wasn’t that my office isn’t certified for rank choice voting, but that our voting system won’t accommodate rank choice voting.   It isn’t designed to create a ballot for rank choice voting or to tabulate rank choice voting.
  The new voting system that was selected by the State (ES&S) has created a software option for rank choice voting, but it hasn’t been certified.  Certification of voting systems is a rigorous process and crucial to ensure their accuracy.  
https://www.eac.gov/assets/1/28/Cert.Manual.4.1.15.FINAL.pdf
http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/voting-system-standards-testing-and-certification.aspx
  Therefore, we will not offer contract services to cities who choose to conduct their elections with rank choice voting."
  Former Downtown Community Council Chair Christian Harrison had a well reasoned opinion piece in the Salt Lake Tribune earlier this month that suggested rank choice voting for Salt Lake City's upcoming elections this year.  So, unfortunately, Salt Lake City will not be able to use Salt Lake County for the election, if rank choice voting is used. 
PROPOSED SLC DEMOLITION ORDINANCE BACKTRACKS ON SUGAR HOLE LAW
  The Other Side Academy asked to demolish an old literally falling down home next to the main facility last year.  Unfortunately, Salt Lake City had an ordinance that did not allow that.  The ordinance was implemented to stop projects that demolish a building but leave an empty lot like the Sugar Hole on 21st South and Highland.  That building was built after the City gave the developer, Craig Mecham, almost $7 million for a public parking lot on one of the levels.  Mecham had the last laugh by requiring a minimum parking charge of $10.  
  The City also owns a lot of vacant properties that increase crime in their neighborhoods.  Landlords also want to start demolition but the City requires money up front to pay for permits for the replacement building.  That actually discourages demolition of vacant buildings.
  The good news is that Salt Lake City is rethinking their demolition ordinance.  The proposed language includes:  
  "The requirements  for  either  a permitted  replacement  use or  a  landscape  plan  and bond have  been removed
It no longer  cites  the  following  purposes: 
   o avoid demolition of  buildings  in a  manner  that  disrupts  the  character  of established neighborhoods 
   o avoid  demolition  until a  complete  building  permit is  submitted 
   o avoid the  creation of  vacant  sites  with minimal  or  no landscaping"

FREE FARE FALLACIES
Several Legislators have suggested that UTA provide free fare on red air days.  Studies show (including one in San Francisco a few years ago) that that does not help.  People want to minimize their outdoor time during bad air days and actually drive more.  In addition, and most importantly, studies also show that free fare transit attracts so called undesirable riders (mostly homeless in SLC).  Bad air days are generally during the hottest and coldest days of the year and UTA transit provides a welcome respite from heat and cold for people that do not have shelter.  The result is, according to studies, the effort results in fewer long term ridership increases since way too many people do not want to be exposed to homeless on the seat next to them

UTA PLANNING ON BILLIONS IN POINT OF MOUNTAIN PROJECTS 
  Unfortunately, much of the increased revenue for UTA is going to be spent on projects in South County at Point of the Mountain.  Citizens and taxpayers want better service before more projects.  The UTA Board of Trustees and Advisory Board heard the Plan for the Point of the Mountain proposed TRAX from Draper to Lehi.  UTA should follow the recommendations of the last audit and restore a robust bus system before more expensive projects.  The study last year on LA transit spending showed that spending $15 billion on transit projects got almost no increase in ridership and actually encouraged more car use.  LA went from 147 million a month to 154 million a month after 20 years and $15 billion. 
  Much of the effort is due to the perception/belief that rail will encourage development.  But I can argue that the reason for the hyper, super-gentrification of Sugar House was encouraged by the linear park and other parks in the area, not by the S-Line.  Another argument against rail helping development is the 2100 South area by Central Pointe.  That has been undeveloped/underdeveloped for 20 years, despite great transit.

December 31, 2018

BRENT TAYLOR COULD HAVE BEEN, SHOULD HAVE

BEEN, WOULD HAVE BEEN GOVERNOR

ALL RACCOONS DIE

THE INN BETWEEN AND RESPECT OPED PUBLISHED

TAYLORSVILLE BRT IS A $70 PLUS MILLION WASTE OF

MONEY

RED LINE TRAX STOPS AT 4TH SOUTH IN MAY

CIP GOING YEAR ROUND BUT NEVER MIND

UTA CAN'T HIRE AND KEEP BUS DRIVERS

BEST CLASS ON LEGISLATURE BY LIBERTAS SILICOSIS IN UTAH

BRENT TAYLOR COULD HAVE BEEN, SHOULD HAVE BEEN, WOULD HAVE BEEN GOVERNOR

  I agree that Brent Taylor should be Utahn of the year.

  Many of us in Utah were in shock and sad at the news that North Ogden Mayor Brent Taylor was killed in Afghanistan while serving as a Utah National Guardsman Major. Brent Taylor was a father of seven and devoted husband who was on his fourth tour of duty in a combat zone. Those who knew him and worked with him felt that he was capable of being governor of Utah. Many also felt that he was going to be governor of Utah. He was that special.  You had to work with him to see his leadership ability and concern for the taxpayers.

  To understand how much we lost, you would have had to watch him fight the good fight, against all odds, to make sure that government was for the people. When he was appointed by Weber County to represent the County on the UTA Board of Trustees, he had to fight to join the Board. Brent Taylor wanted government, and UTA in particular, to be more responsive to the public. He wanted to have more public engagement. One of the first proposals that Brent Taylor brought to the Board was to broadcast the meetings on the internet.  The Board Chair immediately agreed and implemented that policy.  He questioned UTA staff recommendations to ensure adequate cost benefit analysis, something that the last UTA Legislative Audit recommended.   

  He also also pointed out inappropriate and questionable actions by the Board members. Despite embarrassing questions, the Board slowly changed its actions to reflect more analysis of projects. Their questions increased during and after Brent Taylor's time on the Board.  Before Brent Taylor's time on the Board, there were few questions about staff recommendations. In other words, the Board was following a genuine leader, someone who people wanted to follow.

  His words were inspiring and deserve to be remembered. He said, when he announced that he was going to go on another deployment to a combat zone, “There are three great loyalties that have guided my life and everything in it: God, family and Country… I have given my life to serve all three of these loyalties whenever and however I can. And right now there is a need for my experience and skills to serve in our Nation’s long-lasting war in Afghanistan.” 

  Brent Taylor’s death made national and worldwide news and emphasized his belief that fighting for freedom is important and his belief that giving his life to service is what he believed in. Brent Taylor made Utahns and those who protect and serve look good. Brent Taylor reminds us that those who serve in uniform are risking their lives to defend the freedom that is this Country's greatest accomplishment.     It was obvious that he was going to be a great leader in Utah. He seemed to want to do the right thing and make government better, even when it seemed that everyone was against his recommendations. Utah did not just lose a loving father and husband. Utah also lost a hero and someone that should have been and would have been governor. Brent Taylor should be remembered for the love he had for his Country, his State, his wife and his children.

  Brent Taylor was willing to die for the freedoms that we have and that he hoped everyone had. He said it best when he said "the secret to happiness is freedom". His last words to his family seemed to be and should be acknowledged and celebrated as his most important words: "God bless America" (it is worth fighting for). 

  There are others who offered to fight for America and returned after facing deadly fighting.  They may have medals but they don't receive the recognition that they deserve.  I encourage all veterans to consider becoming more involved in politics.  Utah can benefit from more veterans in elected positions.  The same respect that Brent Taylor earned is also yours, if you will please step up and run for office.  This State and America needs you.

ALL RACCOONS DIE

  At one time, we were told that SLC and several other cities in Salt Lake County includin the County, paid to have raccoons in the area caught and released in the wild away from populations.  But recently, it has become clear that the raccoons are killed in a "humane manner".  That usually means in a carbon monoxide chamber since many animal control officers are leery of trying to inject a wild raccoon.  I do not think that a carbon monoxide chamber is humane.  It can take 30 seconds or more for the animal to lose consciousness and even then, some recommend placing the body in the freezer to "kill it".  That is why all but two animal control departments in the State have stopped using chambers.  Several legislators have tried to pass a law banning CO chambers without success.  

  Raccoons are destructive to Utah wildlife and can spread rabies and mange.  The service that SLC and some of the municipalities in the County uses can provide a free trap but prefers that residents buy them for about $40.  They emphasized that they will give a free trap if they feel that the person cannot afford a trap.  They recommend that sweet bait like vanilla be used for raccoons since cats will avoid it (hopefully).  They will also catch skunks.

  They also said that they sometimes have problems with coyotes in the Avenues and Capitol Hill areas.  That is another problem that has to be addressed by the Council.  If you have a problem with raccoons and want them dead, call 385 419 3405.

THE INN BETWEEN AND RESPECT OPED PUBLISHED

  The Salt Lake Tribune published an oped that summarizes the issues between the INN Between (TIB) homeless hospice and respite care facility and some of the neighbors.  It is at:

https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2018/12/30/commentary-inn-between

  The INN Between has been on a crusade to justify their new facility at 1216 East and 1300 South (the facility also fronts on Sherman Avenue.  The INN Between provides a necessary and compassionate service for the homeless of Utah.  Hospitals “dump” some of their homeless patients downtown in a diaper and hospital gown and TIB provides them with needed respite care.  

  The most important point is that everyone, including homeless want a comfortable and safe place to live, free from crime and conflict and to be respected.  The INN Between should not negatively impact neighbors. If TIB cannot work with neighbors to address problems and develop reasonable rules, it is a

sign that the future homeless resource centers in other neighborhoods will also fail in their efforts.

  The oped is a summary of the issue.  The most important part that didn't get published is:

  Although 2 blocks away, my family is not really negatively impacted.  We are adjacent to the McClelland Trail Canal and homeless sometimes camp out in the neighborhood alleyways next to us.  Last week, some homeless busted a back gate next door and started camping in the back yard next door - the police removed the camp.

  Those issues are more important.  But the neighborhood on Sherman is impacted and upset and have not spoken up en masse due to concerns about being labelled as uncompassionate and

unChristian.  They are intimidated.  I had an old SLTRIB oped about homeless shelters that urged them

to be closer to commercial facilities like stores and fast food restaurants.  In my opinion, it is disrespectful to expect dying to spend the last few months of their lives in a room.  They deserve to be able to walk to the store for cigarettes or coffee or a burger or a soda.  This was the best option though for those dying.  I have watched this issue explode from the beginning.

  I watched how upset the Poplar Grove Community Council was, concerned about the INN Between. (I was at one of the first meetings about using the old Guadalupe School.)  I watched the discussion in the City Council. (The SLTRIB had some interesting comments from then City Councilman Kyle LaMalfa on the subject.)  I asked the community leaders about the recent issues and they said that they were solved with the community advisory board. (Even though several community members said that there were constant complaints about the problems with smoking and the homeless wandering the neighborhood.)  That is why I asked the INN Between at last summer's ELPCO meeting if they would invite the neighborhood to participate in a community advisory board to identify and address concerns from the neighborhood.  I did not expect it to devolve into a knockdown dragdown fight to the death (literally) with threats of lawsuits and police intimidation.  

  I asked the Legislature's Social Services Appropriations Interim Committee (meeting at the INN Between) in October to help get the parties to talk and try to work things out with a

mediation.  Representative Ray and Senator Escamilla agreed to try to mediate the issues.  Sofia tried to address the meeting at the INN Between but the police were called and she was ordered to leave the premises.  Those police called their supervisor who allowed Sofia to address the Committee while being escorted by the police.

  The next attempt to mediate was a semi secret meeting at the Capitol on a school night that was announced on Facebook by the INN Between.  I was concerned that it might be one sided since the invitation should have been sent out to everyone involved.  I told Sophia about the meeting and I heard it from others that I work with in the community that fight for the homeless.  The meeting ended up as a discussion about how important the INN Between is and almost ignored addressing the issues that the neighborhood legitimately feels are a threat.  Patients out after 10PM, getting drug deliveries, four registered sex offenders without evaluating the potential for threats (ensuring that no one in the neighborhood is threatened) and evaluating problem cases that refuse to follow rules or threaten neighbors.  My efforts to try to get a mediation have failed and the neighborhood has started making arrangements to use the questionable zoning application to stop operations of the INN Between.  I think that they have a 25% chance of succeeding.

  Last Friday, again, the INN Between had a gathering of their friends and decried the attempts to close the facility.  There should be enough common ground to provide rules that comfort the neighbors and promote safety for the patients.  Without reasonable and respectful rules, the facility could have real problems.

  If TIB does not work with the neighborhood and develops trust with reasonable rules, the neighbors could force a lawsuit that could close the INN Between.  We should try for more communication now.

  Ironically, Salt Lake City recently got a grant to help public engagement for the omeless Resource

Centers.  Shelter the Homeless and VOA will provide outreach for 1/2 mile from the Resource Centers.  The City will have a Funding Our Future Dashboard about the grant (and others).  Based on the results of Palmer Court (the second biggest draw for medical response in Salt Lake City), the City, and County will need more to have a real chance at a respectful public engagement.

TAYLORSVILLE BRT IS A $70 PLUS MILLION WASTE OF MONEY

  I am against UTA attempting any other large transit projects until they can show that they can successfully build, operate and get ridership on expensive projects.  The 35MAX BRT on 3500 S. has had about 3200 passengers a day despite using 2 lanes of traffic for BRT (part of the way in the most congested part of 3500 South) that could carry 5000 ADT a lane of cars with more than one passenger.  The ridership has stayed about the same and only saves 15 minutes of a 70 minute trip.  A successful BRT would generally be handling 5000 plus passengers a day.  The Provo BRT is not able to show success due to the free fare.  The Weber State Ogden BRT proposal will be spending over $60 million to save 5 minutes out of a very efficient and effective 15 minute bus ride to Weber State University.  

  The hope, of course, is to help redevelop 25th Street west of Washington Blvd.  But the single family homeowners along the route may end up fighting at every step of the construction.  The hope of development keeps coming up but I have found no real evidence that it significantly helps in Utah.  Development in many TRAX station areas is very slow.  Portland had the same thing happening.  The successful Farmington station was due to the aggressive efforts of the Farmington Economic Development team (who fought hard for Cabela's).  Most of the station developments are car oriented like Murray and Farmington and Central Pointe.  

  The large developments in Sugar House can be attributed to the linear park (Parleys Trail) and two large parks with significant amenities.  The S-Line did not result in construction of a mixed use and walkable area.  It resulted in a lot of zombie buildings with ground floors off limits to the public.  Sugar House got its character because it was walkable and had a lot of windows for showrooms.  The new developments did away with that and cars proliferated.  The S-Line ridership is about a third of what was predicted.  

  If the community knew that part of the effort of this BRT plan is to close and redevelop Fore Lakes Golf Course, UTA would be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a electric scooter.  That is reason enough to not consider this plan.  From the ESR: "development of this station depends on the transformation of the existing Fore Lakes Golf Course site into a transit-oriented development. While not currently planned, this modification could have significant positive impact on the surrounding neighborhood and community at large, in addition to enhancing longterm BRT ridership"

  But a bigger reason is to recognize and study the LA study last year that showed that, in an effort to get more ridership, LA spent over $15 billion.  It resulted in ridership, after 20 years, going from 147 million a month to 154 million a month!  Almost nothing.  Before projects, a robust bus system should be restored in accordance with the last UTA audit.

  Buses provide a cheaper, more efficient (shared with cars, the preferred choice of transportation) mass transit service.  If the State wants a nicer ride, remove the ugly coverings from the windows so riders can look out and enjoy our beautiful State (studies show that a clean window is the second biggest reason for riding a bus - right after a pleasant bus rider).  The goal should be to encourage those who can only afford an older car that pollutes more, to want to use the bus system.  But if stations are far apart (4 blocks) people won't walk to ride them.  Proof is the effort by cities to put in mid block crosswalks along State Street because they acknowledge that people won't walk half a block to the light!  A bus stop every block is the best way to encourage ridership.

  The BRT would cost about $15 million a mile while an effective enhanced bus would cost a tenth of that cost and have a lane at lights and light priority.

  The area needs a freeway more than a BRT.  According to the report, UDOT is going to add two lanes.  I wouldn't be surprised if they try to add 4 lanes (which is needed at 39,000 ADT).  The Report made the best point:  "Can BRT move enough people to allow state to forego extra lanes?"    The center road stations require slowing traffic for pedestrian crossings which increase pollution, especially at the Fore Lakes Station!  The center stations create danger for those who have difficulties crossing high traffic streets, like wheelchairs.  Riders tend to race across traffic lanes to catch a TRAX or bus in the center lane which is less probable if there are 6 lanes of traffic between the ride and the rider.

  If the biggest potential development areas say no, then even trying to justify the project with development potential does not make sense.  SLCC is the only potential and they do not redevelop.  The golf course is a big fight.  The low income housing will also result in a fight and will not be easily replaced (SLC lost housing despite promises to replace the redeveloped low income housing!  Low income housing loss is irreversible.  Eminent domain can be messy and unfair.  UTA has been fighting one fight for 10 years.  Sorenson Research Park estimates very low employee ridership.  I agree.  Highly paid jobs result in more cars and very little ridership.

  The BRT should not have zig zags.  They, like rail should go straight.

  Before spending money on this project, a real cost benefit analysis should take place and compare a higher frequency regular and enhanced bus with the costly BRT and loss of 2 lanes for 1.4 miles.   Note that there is no further funding from the State but it is/will be in the next RTP.  But it is not prioritized with more important projects and service expansions.  The ESR should have that prioritization and cost benefit analysis and ridership predicted based on historical data which indicates predictions to be three times reality of ridership.

  Station concepts look like they won't work in sunshine and snow and rain - minnie mouse /tiny cover for riders?  It is time that UTA listens to riders that complain about being forced to stand in a 3 foot wide covered area.  The fancy designs look really expensive with a micro shelter!  How about a minimum of 10 foot wide shelter cover?

  In other words, I am against this project until bus service is increased.  Don't do what LA did and the study from last year (2017) showed, almost no increase in ridership.

RED LINE TRAX STOPS AT 4TH SOUTH IN MAY

  The Red Line TRAX will have to stop at 400 South in May, after UofU classes end for the semester, in order to upgrade the 400 South and Main Street curve rail system with a safety stop to deter contact between trains.  UTA expects to have a bus bridge to take passengers from the Courthouse to the Library.

CIP GOING YEAR ROUND BUT NEVER MIND

  During the last SLC Council discussion on CIP projects that started in May and finished in October, the Council asked that CIP applications be accepted year round to reduce the backup.  But the system still is set up to only have one set of CIP Advisory Board meetings a year.  So, until the City sets up more CIP Advisory Board meetings, the citizens of SLC will still have just one chance a year to ask for funds for their pet projects (generally endorsed by the local community council).   It is a little complicated so this is the email that explains it all:

  "I’m following up on your Capital Improvement Program (CIP) questions as discussed after the Council’s formal meeting last night. The Administration is accepting applications year-round. The deadline for an application to be included in the Fiscal Year 2020 batch was September 28. Applications received after then will be included in the Fiscal Year 2021 batch.

  The Community Development and Capital Improvement Program resident advisory board will review the Fiscal Year 2020 batch of applications over several meetings during January – March. Their funding recommendations go to the Mayor who provides a separate set of funding recommendations in the Mayor’s Recommended Budget. The Council receives the advisory board’s and Mayor’s CIP funding recommendations for consideration and ultimately decide which projects receive funding.   You can learn more about CIP such as the application, process, and timeline at this website: https://www.slc.gov/hand/capital-improvement-program/

  The old process accepted CIP applications for approximately one month typically in the fall. This created a rush of applications and associated spike in workload for departments and HAND staff to review, analyze, adjust and coordinate with the applicant. Opening up the application period to be year round alleviates that rush of applications and crunch of associated workload. This allows more time for thoroughly reviewing applications and is intended to improve the quality and process of the CIP program.

  The Council prefers reviewing all CIP applications together each fiscal year. CIP funding is very competitive. Reviewing all applications in a batch provides a fuller context of the City’s various competing capital improvement needs so elected officials and the resident advisory board are able to make more informed recommendations."

UTA CAN'T HIRE AND KEEP BUS DRIVERS

  UTA was able to hire a total of three bus drivers over a recent two months!  The ability of UTA to recruit, train and retain experienced drivers is decreasing.  This is the weak link in the plan to significantly increase bus service in Salt Lake County (many seem to want to go to Utah County).  A complication in keeping experienced drivers was the federal law that makes use of a cell phone while driving a bus or any mass transit or train illegal.  But bus drivers were being fired for talking on their cell phones before the bus started their route run and while they were outside of the bus.  Maybe UTA should consider a little flexibility.  UTA is constantly begging for drivers to take overtime. 

BEST CLASS ON LEGISLATURE BY LIBERTAS

  Connor Boyack is probably, in my opinion, the most effective Utah citizen working with the Legislature.  He was instrumental in getting Proposition Two passed and working with the Legislative leaders on the compromise.  Every year he conducts a class on how to work with the Legislature.  I consider the class important and useful for anyone interested in politics.  There is a chance to see how it is done, how to be effective and you could even talk to elected leaders.  It is on Saturday, January 26 from 9 AM to 1 PM.  It is called the 2019 Pre-Legislative Bootcamp and it is at the Utah State Capitol.  Although it is free, you must RSVP to get a free ticket.  The link is:

https://libertasutah.us5.list-

manage.com/track/click?u=2243d8fae3f290c0d90e2c101&id=bb5cfa0a9e&e=30a4f7d5f4

eventbrite.com has the ticket at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2019-pre-legislative-bootcamp-become-an-effective-citizen-advocatetickets-53839712028?utm_source=Libertas+Institute+Newsletter&utm_campaign=9fc8daa956-

EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_12_21_02_50&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a6fc0d365a-9fc8daa95685709725&mc_cid=9fc8daa956&mc_eid=30a4f7d5f4

If you have problems, email info@libertasutah.org

"Be sure to RSVP and invite your friends who would be interested in learning the nuts and bolts of how the legislative process works and how you can make a difference. "

SILICOSIS IN UTAH 

  Utah will study the effect of a gravel pit at Point of the Mountain in Draper in the next year.  We tried to get the State to include the residents and employers around the State Capitol and in the Avenues and around Beck Street (large gravel pits).  But the Salt Lake County Health Department has to ask for it.  I have heard anecdotal stories of residents that have a lot of dust in their high rise apartments and cases of silicosis.  According to the State, "Between 1992 and 2014 (our latest year of available data) there were 49 cases of hospitalizations due to silicosis statewide."  This should be a bigger study that includes checkups for residents in certain areas and buildings that have a case of silicosis (a condition in the lungs that decrease oxygen for the body due to dust in the air).

DECEMBER 14, 2018

CHRISTMAS COMES EARLY TO SLC COUNCIL WITH 50% PAY

RAISE

INN BETWEEN SECRET MEETING WITH LEGISLATORS

THE INN BETWEEN VRS NEIGHBORS FIGHT ESCALATES

ENERGYSOLUTIONS TO BURY SAN ONOFRE NUCLEAR PLANT

IN UTAH

SLCO SURPRISES SLC WITH CHRISTMAS OFFER TO FUND

ANYTHING AND DOES

UTA MAY SHOOT BUSES (REALLY, I AM NOT KIDDING)

CHRISTMAS COMES EARLY TO SLC COUNCIL WITH 50% PAY RAISE

  Only one person spoke against the SLC Council pay raise that was passed unanimously last night.  Despite concerns that they are giving themselves a pay raise, cops are not getting a raise and that they had 3 tax increases this year and lots of secret meetings, Merry Christmas.  Obviously, I was against this.  Unfortunately no one seems to care enough to comment on it.  They also pointed out that they should have a salary 25% of the City's Mayor and closer to the County Council's #40,000 a year.  But the County Council's budget is 5 times more than the City's budget.  I don't think that politicians are more important than cops.

INN BETWEEN SECRET MEETING WITH LEGISLATORS

  Several of us have asked the Legislature to attempt to mediate the fight between the INN Between and the neighborhood.  Representative Ray and Senator Escamilla agreed to help mediate the

concerns.  Unfortunately, the only thing that developed since that October agreement/meeting is the INN Between put out a notice on Facebook for their followers to attend a meeting at the Capitol this Thursday, December 13th at 6 PM to discuss the issue.  That kind of defeats the purpose when the two parties are not really being encouraged to talk.  This results in one side having their presentation and one sided opinion creating even more animosity.  

  The neighborhood is upset that a homeless shelter is suddenly being put in their residential neighborhood and they can't do anything about it.  There are four registered sex offenders residing at the INN Between and there are no rules (that appear to be followed) and the neighborhood is concerned about homeless walking the neighborhood at late night when they are supposed to be in the facility.  Several of the residents refuse to abide by the attempt to stop their leaving the facility at all hours of the night.  The announcement on Facebook is below:

The INN Between 

Legislative Community Meeting

https://www.facebook.com/events/1835156139914871/

Thursday, December 13, 2018

6 PM – 8 PM

Utah Capitol, Room 210

Now that The INN Between has been open for six months, Senator Escamilla and Representative Ray are hosting a Community Meeting to gather neighborhood feedback. Please join us to share your experience of having The INN Between as a neighbor.

The event will be held in Room 210 of the Senate Building (the East building with the cafeteria). There is free parking in the visitor parking or on the street. You can enter the building through the east facing doors, then proceed to the second floor

THE INN BETWEEN VRS NEIGHBORS FIGHT ESCALATES

The INN Between put out an invitation to their Facebook friends to attend a meeting with Senator Escamilla and Representative Paul Ray December 14 at the State Capitol.  Some of the neighbors that had been fighting against the INN Between (TIB) found out and tried to voice their concerns during the meeting.  The meeting had been requested as a way to get the two sides talking but it ended up as a dog and pony show that extolled the benefits of TIB.  But that should not have been the issue.  The issue is that neighbors, some of whom actually work with hospice and homeless, are upset that drug dealing and questionable behavior by some of the patients are being allowed to be tolerated instead of being stopped.  In addition, some of the residents are not really dying.

  TIB serves a valuable function for a society.  Homeless should not be dying in the street.  TIB allows them to die with some dignity.  Hospitals are also dumping patients at the Rio Grande homeless area at the Weigand Center with just a dressing gown and a diaper!  TIB also is used to provide respite care for those people who hospitals dump.  These, generally, are homeless who can barely walk, if they can walk.  It was also assumed that TIB would also provide housing for those undergoing continuing treatment for cancer and other diseases.  

  Unfortunately, the neighbors demand for answers has resulted in intimidating the director of TIB who sent two police officers (acting outside of official capacity) to tell Sophia Anderson, the leader of neighbors concerned about the impact on the neighborhood, that she and the rest of the neighborhood would not be allowed on the property of TIB!  So the advisory board that was supposed to encourage comment and discussion and communication between TIB and the neighbors was essentially flushed down the toilet.  TIB also sent a cease and desist letter to the neighbors about their online social media campaign against TIB in their neighborhood!  Yes TIB really did tell them to stop their lies on social media. 

  I have to, out of fairness, acknowledge that the mayor of Salt Lake City once sent a letter my friends, neighbors and acquaintances up to a mile away claiming that a flyer that I was passing out was full of untruths.  I thought that was hilariously dumb because I changed the flyer to exactly what he wanted before I passed it out (out of ill placed respect).  I gave a copy of the proposed flyer to all of the Councilmembers and they did not suggest any changes.  So I admit that I get a little touchy when people try to stop opposition to anything that impacts the community.

  When questionable people follow neighborhood girls, TIB needs to be encouraging reporting that in order to reevaluate the person for safety.  When patients call up and have their drugs delivered to the curb across the street, the patients need to be reevaluated.  TIB should not ignore or allow such neighborhood crime.  TIB should not have a negative impact on the community.

  Allen Johnson, the former planning director of Salt Lake City, pointed out that TIB and Salt Lake City did not seem to be following the law when it allowed TIB to move into the former nursing center in June.  That could justify an ugly lawsuit, and, due to the failure to find common ground and work things out, that lawsuit could happen at any time.

  Representative Ray said that he thought that it would be illegal to withhold funding for TIB (I asked in order to get some rules that would force rules and enforcement and consequences for breaking the rules at TIB.).  He also got upset and called out some neighbors for acting in an unchristian manner when they said that TIB did not belong in their residential neighborhood.  So the discussion devolved back into TIB is a godsend and you can't say anything bad about it.  Several walked out at a perceived lack of respect and refusal to hear concerns that impacted the neighborhood.

  East Liberty Park Community Council Chair Jason Stevenson offered to help mediate and find a resolution to the issues.  Co-Chair Darryl High offered that the community is a great and welcoming and compassionate community.

  Senator Escamilla recognized that part of the problem was caused by the failure of the Road Home at its location.  I disagreed.  The Road Home did not fail due to its location.  I do not even think of the Road Home as a failure.  The failure was the inadequate public safety and mental health fundin that resulted in the significant increase in drug use and criminal activity around the Road Home.     Also Representative Ray was concerned about the homeless congregating in the parks.  But after the SLC police started rousting the homeless that went to the parks after being encouraged to move from the Rio Grande area, (the police went through the parks in the City around 2 AM to try to move the homeless out) nearby residents complained that the result was homeless camping in the many alleyways in residential areas.  So the police stopped rousting homeless camping in the parks.

ENERGYSOLUTIONS TO BURY SAN ONOFRE NUCLEAR PLANT IN UTAH

  Almost no one knows about this but EnergySolutions has been given a contract to bury the San Onofre nuclear plant in Utah's Clive facility!  The plant will have most highly radioactive materials removed but.... Utah will finally get a nuclear plant!

SLCO SURPRISES SLC WITH CHRISTMAS OFFER TO FUND ANYTHING AND DOES

  The Salt Lake County, when SB136 allowed the County to increase sales taxes for transportation, decided to use the funding for debt paydown.  In July, UTA will start getting 40% of the taxes and the rest will be divided by the cities and the County.  Until then, the County has control of the money.  But the County semi secretly changed their mind and in a rush to put together grant proposals, the SLC

Transportation Department put together a list that the County Council approved before the SLC Council had their public hearing!  The City Council was warned that essentially, the Mayor's administration had submitted the grant proposals and the County Council would probably approve them before the formal public hearing.  The County appeared to approve some of the projects before the City Council approved them.  Two that did not appear to be funded were the Jordan River recreation area and the 2100 South bus stop improvements.

  I put the County Transportation Funding packet in the downloads section and the last two pages show the passed/agreed upon projects.  They include a $400,000 indoor bus garage on 200 South (homeless will love it) and other 200 South improvements.  Bigger and better bike lanes from 400 West to 900 East are planned.  The language in the grant says:

Study to determine new design to have street function as a transit corridor and transit hub incorporating walking, bicycling, shared mobility, private automobiles, and freight.

  The 9-Line Trail gets around $4 million to help finish the Trail but the most important part, a pedestrian/bicycle bridge over the 900 South train tracks is not planned!  There is a million for a Millcreek/Sugar House Circulation Study, a continuation of the Sugar House Circulation and Amenities Study from 5 years ago, that shows a potential streetcar extension going south to Brickyard.  Millcreek is trying to get the Legislature to approve it (with their Economics Development Director and Representative Mike Winder pushing for it at the Legislature).  The language says: Creation of circulation plan and the completion of an Transit Alternatives Analysis for the S-Line extension or other SH-Millcreek Transit.

  The Parleys Trail gets almost $4 million for: 

Construction of a 10' foot wide concrete paved pedestrian/bicycle trail, installation of a ramp and bridge over 900 Wet and a bridge over the Jordan River.

  The City also had their Life on State implementation partially funded that will lower the speed limit and place many more mid block crossings (if UDOT approves) on State Street.  It will also put in trees in the median instead of widening a bicycle lane without removing a traffic lane.  The City wants to use it to provide catalytic development of the Sears property.  Although not sales tax funded, the City is getting $4 million for the study.  Bus service is not increased.  Think of what $4 million would have given us!  The language in the grant is:

Design and construction of mobility and safety improvements at two (2) locations on State Street (600 S to 900 S and 2100 S to Haven Avenue). Projects include wider sidewalks, improved transit stops, a slower speed design, parallel parking pockets, reduced driveways, street furniture, street trees, and mid-block crossings. Additionally, design of high-comfort bike routes on each side of State Street from 900 South to 3300 South with connections to State Street amenities.

  The Bonneville Shoreline Trail will be upgraded, hopefully with restrooms like those planned for Immigration Canyon (where e-coli counts are high).  400 bicyclists use the Bonneville Shoreline Trail between the Capitol and the UofU everyday.  The language says:

Survey to determine BST alignment, conceptual design, and construction including trailheads and a determine public access points and connectivity to regional amenities and adjoining jurisdictions. Focus of funding will be to purchase public easements and/or private land purchase in order to construct the BST.

  I wish that some projects like lowering speed limits on State Street and $400,000 for an indoor bus station on 200 S. for the homeless had more public input.  People want service increases first before projects and State Street and Redwood Road bus frequency improvements.

I urge SLCO and UTA and SLC to work with mass transit riders to actually provide better service soon, and not wait until August 2020.  The SLC argument that they wanted to spend their sales tax dollars on only their City's property hurts air quality.  Since SLCO is now allowing use of funds for transit now, instead of debt paydown, service should have been the priority, not projects.  Service increases from SLCO transportation funds were.... zero!

UTA MAY SHOOT BUSES (REALLY, I AM NOT KIDDING)

A year ago, I asked the State of Utah manager of the VW settlement money if UTA could use some of the funds for electric buses.  I was told no because UTA would have to permanently take the bus out of service.  UTA has decided to shoot the buses to get electric bus funding from the VW settlement!  UTA found out that they could be eligible for the funding if they shoot the engine block of the diesel buses (with a gun powerful enough to go through an engine block)!  UTA should consider raffling the chance to shoot a bus if the State agrees to give them money from the VW settlement.  I know many people would love to shoot UTA.  I mean a UTA bus.

  On another matter, Steve Meyer, the last most knowledgeable person left at UTA has agreed to consult part time with UTA to ensure an appropriate change in leadership.  He said last week no chance that he would stay but he would answer the phone.  But, after an offer he couldn't refuse, he agreed to stay on, the phone (while he vacations in Arizona) for the next three months and several days a month at UTA.  He will get a little over $100 an hour for up to 29 hours a week.  I think that if Steve left, the loss of institutional knowledge would seriously degrade UTA service.  It will take years to develop the knowledge needed to successfully and efficiently manage UTA.

  I put the list of grants that UTA is asking for funding in the Excel spreadsheet in the downloads section.

DECEMBER 10, 2018

TOMORROW SLC COUNCIL BIG SALARY INCREASE FOR CHRISTMAS?

SLC COUNCIL CONSIDERING A BIG SALARY INCREASE FOR CHRISTMAS AT TUESDAY DECEMBER 11 7PM

  The Salt Lake City Council is considering increasing their salary 50%. The effort is a continuation of the effort earlier this year by Council Chair Erin Mendenhall to increase her salary to $35,000. Her justification was that the low salary limits the pool of potential candidates for the Council and the time commitment has increased. But the earlier discussion was shut down due to concerns about the several tax increases this year making a salary increase for the Council look bad. A Councilmember's salary is now at $25,525 while the Mayor's salary is $139,514. Of course, increasing the Councilmember's salary would also suggest increasing the Mayor's salary.

  Studies by the Council staff said that there "was no consensus from the data about what salary is reasonable/appropriate for Salt Lake City elected officials." Without a higher salary, the potential candidates for Council could be limited to persons of financial means. The time commitments have increased, not just from all of the meetings that are often not public (the Council can legally hold meetings if less than four Councilmembers attend so called small group meetings) but also due to the increase in community organizations in Salt Lake City that expect elected representatives to attend. Although not required, many Councilmembers do attend the one to three community councils meetings a month in their district. In addition, recent efforts by the Council to negotiate unilaterally and in secret with the Legislature on the Inland Port also took extra time.

  The discussion is now being driven by the idea that "All local elected officials should be compensated reasonably in a manner that is fair to both the taxpayers and those serving in office." But if the Council really wanted to be fair, they should be giving the Salt Lake City Police Officers a bigger increase than the minimal increase, similar to regular City employees, that the SLCPD has been given over the last ten years. Law enforcement officers go to work everyday and face the possibility of not living through a confrontation with criminals. They deserve a pay increase more than the Councilmembers.

  Originally, the Council was supposed to be part time and require about 10 hours a week. But many say that the commitment is really 20 hours a week. Some Councilmembers have to make up the hours that they take off from work during the two or three meetings a month. The Council staff has also pointed out that the SLC International Airport project should justify a higher salary. On the other hand, the City's regular budget is about 20% of the County's budget and the County Councilmembers only get $40,356 annually. Utah legislators are paid less than $20,000 a year.

  Previous Council discussions have suggested higher salaries for members serving in leadership roles and considered vehicle allowances. The proposals have not discussed waiting until after the next election before increasing the salary.

  Councilmember James Rogers, during previous discussions, was concerned about a higher salary creating professional politicians instead of the present system of encouraging citizen legislators.

Councilmember Charlie Luke suggested not increasing salaries until roads are in better shape. Councilmember Amy Fowler said that she didn't know that the position had a salary when she agreed to run for the office. That is the kind of public servant I want. I want someone who is so dedicated to the citizens, the taxpayers and those who work in the City, that they are willing to work as a public service. It is not a good time to increase salaries for the Salt Lake City Council, especially with two sales tax increases, a doubling of water and sewer fees, a secret Inland Port deal and an $87 million bond increase.

The SLC Council will have a public hearing on December 11 at 7PM at their formal meeting at SLC City Hall (400 South and State Street) and could decide on increasing their salary that night.

DECEMBER 6, 2018

SLC SCREWS BICYCLISTS WITH ROAD WORK STANDARDS

NEEDLE DISPOSAL BOX TO BE INSTALLED AT RECOVERY

CENTER

PARTIES AND AIRBNB GETTING OUT OF HAND NEAR UNIVERSITIES

SLC SCREWS BICYCLISTS WITH ROAD WORK STANDARDS

  Recently, Salt Lake City has been giving contractors work to resurface and smooth out SLC streets.  But the contractor for several streets, including 21st East did not sufficiently smooth out the street after laying down the new surface.  The City pointed out that the contract called for meeting the American Public Works Association standards so the contractor, at great expense, was forced to go back and smooth out the streets that were being called the waves.  But the contractor refused to do the side of the road on the shoulder after pointing out that APWA standards DO NOT COVER SHOULDERS!  So bicyclists in so called bicycle friendly Salt Lake City will have to endure the jarring shoulders that essentially discourage bicycling.  Hopefully, SLC will get their act together and realize the significant negative impact ignoring shoulders where bicyclists ride when the City spends $87 million to repair and maintain streets.   

NEEDLE DISPOSAL BOX TO BE INSTALLED AT RECOVERY CENTER

  The sharps boxes have had significant problems since they were installed a year ago.  They are to encourage safe disposal of needles.  But they were originally installed by Salt Lake City out of compliance with the County Health Department (the City and County Health teamed up on the installations).  The City made the boxes such that people could reach in and get needles!  After that was fixed, there were still issues with nearby residents complaining about the big red sharps boxes were labeling their area as a drug area.  Even the Fourth Street Clinic did not want to host the sharps container.

  Recently, Fairmont Park got a sharps box.  But because there is not clear and simple instructions on the box, people were jamming up the drawer with big containers of needles!  And, as was pointed out in a community council meeting, why not just call them needle disposal boxes?  Obviously, the County has realized their mistake and is working on providing a simple label.  But due to the problems with the Fairmont Park sharps box, it will be moved.  Right now, the One Voice Recovery Center near 1400 South and 1100 East has volunteered to host the box.  They have told the City that their neighbors have no problem.  

  But consider the implications of a drug injection needle disposal box next to a drug recovery center.  Doesn't the box essentially say that the drug recovery center does not work?  It also is in a single-family home neighborhood and near day care facilities and an elementary school!  Salt Lake City has the responsibility for siting the box.  Someone needs to tell SLC that they need to rethink their thinking on this.  

  The sharps box near Rio Grande was broken for a while, in the area that most needs it.  The drawer was jammed shut and the City assumed that someone hit it with a car or something heavy.  All of the drawers are now locked and smaller holes /inserts are installed to eliminate jamming with big containers.  

  But the County Health Department is now considering putting small needle disposal boxes in parks' restrooms where they think that most drug injecting is done.  But then parents, and most regular people will avoid the restrooms since they will assume that they are drug injection restrooms!  What parent will let their kid go into a restroom with needle disposal boxes??

  Maybe the thinking should be drug addicts are not usually committing non violent crimes.  Stealing to get drug money involves violence and using needles without safely disposing them is also a form of violence. 

PARTIES AND AIRBNB GETTING OUT OF HAND NEAR UNIVERSITIES

  SLC zoning is trying to move constant complaints about violating zoning to small claims court where a court order can be more effective.  But the proliferation of AirBnb rentals is causing a backlog of complaints.  If there is a problem, complain.  The Legislature effectively made AirBnb legal if more than 30 days.  But AirBnb is on the honor system in paying taxes and they do not provide a list of renters so that the municipalities can check for compliance with Utah and municipal laws.  The Legislature needs to require AirBnb to provide cities with a list of renters.

  Part of the reason that zoning is under pressure to enforce zoning ordinances is the large number of illegal rentals near universities.  Parking and noise from parties is a constant complaint from neighbors.  The SLCPD has a special recommendation to fight wild parties.  The SLCPD are now suggesting that when you file a complaint or call dispatch about a noisy and wild party that has underage drinking or if it is out of control, you should tell dispatch that you are reporting a "problem house" and to have the officer call back. When you talk to the officer, ask them to report the incident as a problem house and ask them to file a wild party/problem house report. The fine for a problem house that is having a wild party is $300. Landlords will clamp down faster when they know that there is a continuing problem.

  In addition, the Good Landlord Program is being used to remove the significant cost saving of City licensing of rentals ($20 a unit) if the landlord complies with the Good Landlord Program.  If they have a property that receives a lot of complaints, they can remove the discount and that can mean ten thousand dollars of extra cost.  The Georgia Apartments on 200 East and 2100 South is one property that had their Good Landlord discount pulled.

DECEMBER 5, 2018

SLC COUNCIL MAY INCREASE SALARY 50% DECEMBER 11

MERRY CHRISTMAS

SLCO DA WILL GET 3 MORE INVESTIGATORS AND 3 MORE

ATTORNEYS

UTA GETTING SB136 FUNDS IN JULY BUT WON'T INCREASE

SERVICE 

SLCO 911 NOW INTEGRATED WITH SHERIFF'S DISPATCH

CANNABIS ACT "COMPROMISE" LIMITS ACCESS TO UNDER 21

PARKS IN SLC

EASTSIDE PRECINCT QUESTIONS AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING MAP

SLC COUNCIL MAY INCREASE SALARY 50% DECEMBER 11 MERRY CHRISTMAS

  Salt Lake City Council Chair Erin Mendenhall's attempt to increase her salary 50% continues.  During the November 27 discussion, the Council agreed to a public hearing on December 11 (at the 7PM formal Council meeting) and they could decide then about the issue.  I urge everyone to comment, however you would like, to the SLC Council's email addresses to the left of this column.   Or:

james.rogers@slcgov.com,derek.kitchen@slcgov.com,charlie.luke@slcgov.com,amy.fowler@slcgov.com, erin.mendenhall@slcgov.com,andrew.johnston@slcgov.com,chris.wharton@slcgov.com

  The effort is to increase the salary to $35,000.  The SLC Mayor makes $139,514 and the SLCounty Council makes $40,356 with a County budget over 5 times the SLC budget.  The Council Chair claims that she has to attend 6 community councils (including another one that just developed) and that her leadership of the Council should justify her being paid more.  The Inland Port negotiations, in secret without public comments, also should justify increasing Council salaries.  The Council also has a lot of secret meetings that the public is not allowed to see, including small group meetings that supposedly involve less than 4 Councilmembers.

  But Salt Lake City also is not giving what I think is adequate salaries to public safety personnel.  For many years, the City has only given their police the same salary increase as the rest of the City's employees.  That is one reason why SLC is having such a hard time increasing the number of police personnel.  I believe that before the Council increases their salary, they should give police officers a 10% pay raise.  And, as Councilmember Charlie Luke said, before increasing Council salaries, the streets need to be in better shape.  Ironically, the last streets tax increase from 6 years ago, that was going to give streets $8.4 million a year more for maintenance, was rescinded the next year for a salary increase.  That salary increase included the Council and Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall voted for it and benefited from it.

  The Council is supposed to be a part time job.  If the Councilmembers want it to be a full time job with a full time salary, the citizens and voters of SLC should decide that.  Utah legislators are paid less than $20,000 a year to ensure a part time citizen legislature.  The Council should remember that.  They should also remember that they increased sales taxes twice this year, doubled water and sewer fees, increased SLC's bonding by $87 million and had way too many secret meetings.  Now is not a good time to increase salaries for the Salt Lake City Council, even though it is Christmas.

I put the SLC Council packet on the compensation report in the upper right downloads section.  The text of it is below:

COUNCIL STAFF MEMO

DATE: November 27, 2018

RE: Salt Lake City Council Compensation

Policy Considerations

The City conducted salary surveys of elected officials in other municipalities most recently in 2015. The results showed significant variation in annual salary between cities. There was no consensus from the data about what salary is reasonable/appropriate for Salt Lake City elected officials. In addition to the inconclusive survey data, some challenges arise when comparing salaries for elected officials such as differences across forms of government, separation of duties/powers, demographic and economic variations, actual hours worked, and other factors. It is particularly difficult to identify comparable situations due to the population of the City vs its role as the Capital City and its role as a regional hub.

BALANCING POINTS

Value Statements – Many, sometimes conflicting, values exist when discussing compensation for municipal elected officials. Some examples include:

1. Local elected office is a public service and should be compensated minimally. vs.

Absent reasonable compensation, the pool of potential candidates could be inadvertently limited to persons of financial means.

2. The office of Mayor should be compensated at a rate similar to the top full-time City employees and City Council Members should be considered more like volunteers with a stipend. vs.

All local elected officials should be compensated reasonably in a manner that is fair to both the taxpayers and those serving in office.

3. Discussing elected official salaries can be a controversial topic, therefore it is easier to evaluate them very infrequently. vs.

It is best for the public to be aware of the compensation level and have the opportunity to comment on those salaries each year, or at some regular interval.

Participating in Grassroots Democracy – Community organizations expect elected

representatives to attend constituent meetings, requiring a significant investment of time. Each City Council district currently has 3-8 community councils with regularly scheduled, typically monthly, public meetings. District 7 is the exception with only the Sugar House Community Council which covers a population significantly larger than other community councils. There are currently 27 community organizations registered with the city. When the form of government was first established, and the salary ratios were set, the entire City had only eight community councils.

Schedule and Time Demands – The Council was originally intended to be truly part-time. The

salary was originally set to be 25 percent of the Mayor’s salary, with the expectation that Council Members would meet roughly 10 hours per week during the evenings. The evening meetings have been replaced with all-day meetings that extend in to the evening, thus requiring time away from fulltime employment.

As additional time during the traditional workday is required to fulfill Council responsibilities, it is possible that the pool of candidates could be inadvertently limited – teachers, and anyone who has specific responsibilities tied to specific hours incur greater expense than they originally did when the ratio of salaries between the Council and Mayor was initially set.

Unique Challenges – Elected officials in Utah’s capitol city face unique challenges, with some

growing in significance such as the Northwest Quadrant Inland Port Authority, serving the central business district, an international airport, provision of water outside of City boundaries, and regional coordination on issues of air quality, transportation, transit, homelessness and growth. In the face of the switch from evening to daytime and evening meetings, additional community organizations to coordinate with, more complexity in collaborating with other entities, and increasing Council Member responsibility in representing the City with Regional and State entities, Council Members are dedicating more time than they did in the early years of this form of government. The public expectations of Council Members evolved since 1979 but the compensation has not been updated. A significant salary adjustment was recommended since that time, but the Council in office at the time elected to adopt an increase in the Mayor’s salary but wait to further evaluate the Council salary. The Council did not schedule the City Council compensation question for further discussion in the years that followed.

Salaries – In 2017-18, an individual Council Member’s salary ($25,525) is 18.3% of the Mayor’s salary ($139,514). Conversely, the Mayor’s salary is equivalent to the salary of five-and-a-half Council Members.

Council Staff conducted an analysis of Mayor and Council salaries since the City form of government was changed. While both Council and Mayor salaries have increased over that time period, the Mayor’s salary has increased at a rate 97% faster than the Council’s. Given that the Mayor’s salary is full-time and therefore started out higher than the Council’s part-time salary, any across the board cost of living adjustments would require a periodic reset to maintain the 1:4 ratio.

NOTE: THE CHART HERE IS IN THE UPPER DOWNLOADS COMPENSATION PDF

If the Council salary were to be increased to match the rate of increase of the Mayor and maintain the

1:4 ratio, the Council’s salary would be $9,450 higher than it is currently, for a total of $35,741 annually. This increase would not address the additional time that Council Members spend in their official capacity.

As a double check on this approach to reviewing the salary, the Council staff checked with Salt Lake County on the level of compensation for County Council Members. Their current compensation is $40,356 annually, which is $14,065 more than Salt Lake City Council Member compensation. POLICY CONSIDERATIONS / QUESTIONS

1. A key tenet of the City’s form of government is for people elected to City Council positions to bring a ‘citizen perspective’ to the office. As a matter of public policy, the balance the elected officials typically seek is a compensation level that is fair to both the taxpayers and the general public. Some possible analysis factors to evaluate Council Member compensation within the unique context of Salt Lake City could include:

a. What is the ratio between the Council salary and the Mayor’s salary, and how has this changed over the years?

b. Is the salary sufficient to cover expenses associated with the increased time demands of the position, including the cost of time off from full time employment, child care expenses, out of pocket expenses, etc.

c. Does the practical time demand of the job combined with compensation affect who can afford to serve in the office of Council Member?

2. The Council may wish to discuss what barriers currently exist to residents serving on the City Council and how compensation changes would affect those barriers.

3. Ratio of Mayoral to Council Member Salary – Does the Council want to explore adjusting the Council Member to mayoral annual salary ratio (currently 5.5 Council Member salaries to 1 mayoral salary)? The Council could discuss similarities and differences between elected

official’s hours worked, areas of responsibility and other factors to determine if a different ratio makes sense.

4. Does the Council want to consider pay differentials for members serving in leadership roles? Council Members serving in leadership positions spend significantly more time conducting official government business. (Leadership positions include: City Council Chair and Vice Chair, and Redevelopment Agency Board of Directors Chair and Vice Chair.)

5. Does the Council want to consider adding vehicle allowances and/or increased allowable vacation maximums to Council Members compensation? This supplemental pay and benefit variance are currently available to the Mayor and Department Directors but not available to Council Members. 6. Options could include:

a. Do not adjust the salary

b. Adjust the salary to be the equivalent to the Salt Lake County Council

c. Adjust the salary to reflect the ratio between the Council Member and Mayoral salaries as originally established, but not recognize the increased demands of the Council position and the shift to daytime meetings

d. Adjust the salary to reflect the ratio between the Council Member and Mayoral salaries as originally established, AND recognize the increased demands of the Council position and the shift to daytime meetings

e. Adjust the salary to reflect the benefits that the Mayor and Department Directors receive in the form of vacation pay and auto allowance, and reconsider the requirement that City Council Members return pay to the City based on missing more than 3 meetings in a calendar year.

If the Council is interested in pursuing this change it would require an ordinance to amend the Elected Officials component of the Compensation Plan. The Council Office budget could accommodate this adjustment for Council Members without a budget increase in this fiscal year. Staff can also conduct analysis based on other factors if the Council is interested in evaluating this change.

SLCO DA WILL GET 3 MORE INVESTIGATORS AND 3 MORE ATTORNEYS

  The final budget for Salt Lake County will add 3 more investigators and 3 more attorneys to the DA staff (above what the Mayor originally recommended).  The increase was obviously needed after the death of South Salt Lake Officer Rampell by a criminal who should have been in jail and prosecuted for an automobile homicide earlier this year.  The lack of enough investigators slowed down prosecution and more investigators and more adequate public safety funding would have saved, in my opinion, a cop's life.

UTA GETTING SB136 FUNDS IN JULY BUT WON'T INCREASE SERVICE 

  UTA's Interlocal agreement with Salt Lake City is in the upper downloads section and it will have a public hearing on December 11 at the 7PM formal Council meeting.  I still think that the westside is getting screwed.  The 900 South line is to be extended to the westside and 13th South but the westside and eastside really need better north south service.  The Redwood Road and State Street bus routes have over 3000 riders a day and are often overcrowded.  But SLC does not want to provide bus service increases to the riders that start or end their trips outside of Salt Lake City.  It is almost like Salt Lake City is cutting off an appendage to spite themselves.  

  Ironically, and sadly, the County's portion of SB136 funding reverts to UTA starting in July of 2019.  That 40% of SB136 funding should provide plenty of money to work with SLC to increase service on Redwood Road and State Street.  Again, the lowest paid workers in Salt Lake City that work downtown, do not have the money to park downtown and often have to park far away and walk to work.  Even TV employees are in the same situation.  This is wrong.  

  The City also is trying to upgrade bus stop amenities but that will unfortunately make the situation worse.  Projects are not what transit riders want.  They want service!  And many bus stops are not convenient for transfers.  They are often hundreds of feet away from the corner.  So spending a lot of money on creating a nice bus stop far away from a transfer route, actually discourages ridership, permanently.  Many people won't walk half a block, according to Salt Lake City.  That is the reason for their efforts to install crosswalks at half block intervals.

  The County and the City and UTA should work together to provide service increases within a few months of getting SB136 funding.  UTA now says that they will not increase service until August of 2020!  But they are getting the money in July of 2019.  If the start date of SLC's transit improvements is August 2019 (I thing that it should be sooner since UTA will get the money in January.), the SB136 funds should be used to work with the City to expand service Countywide.  The County Advisory Board, composed of several mayors, will decide on the projects.  From the August blog:

  The SLCO mayors and elected government officials (COG) appointed three members of the UTA Advisory Board that need to be in place by

November 1.  The COG wanted to ensure that there was a geographic diversity on the Board so they appointed Draper Mayor Walker, Herriman Mayor Watts and Midvale Mayor Hale to the Advisory Board.  Magna Township Mayor Peay will be one of the alternates.  They will have indefinite terms that appear to start at 1.5 years but the COG will revisit the issue in January of 2020.

  Many of the mayors in the COG also expressed interest in being on the County Transportation Advisory Board.  Salt Lake County Mayor McAdams will be appointing six members and the COG will appoint seven.  Mayor McAdams is still deciding on his appointees and they could include some of the mayors who wanted to be on the Advisory Board.  The County Transportation Advisory Board will decide how to spend the millions that will eventually come from the SB136 tax increase.  The first revenue will pay down the debt from transportation projects so there should not be a rush to need a decision on new projects.

SLCO 911 NOW INTEGRATED WITH SHERIFF'S DISPATCH

  Salt Lake County Valley Emergency Communication Center (VECC) is now integrated with the Salt Lake County Sheriff's dispatchers.  The Sheriff's dispatchers now sit in the Center.  Previous Sheriffs had an issue with the VECC deciding on how to handle law enforcement and emergency calls.  But the significant tax increase from the 2017 legislative session gave most of the money to VECC and it was obvious that the Sheriff's dispatch system was going to be hurting.  The Legislature ignored the effort to force a combination of all the County's 911 systems into one system like Morgan and Weber County completed several years ago.  So Salt Lake County now has two systems, VECC and SLC/Sandy.  This causes issues with law enforcement in the Valley.  Due to the way cell phone 911 systems are working, if a caller is in Salt Lake City but near the boundary of the City, the call will probably be routed to VECC instead of Salt Lake City.  

  The County needs one 911 system.  Now, the Sheriff's 911 calls go to VECC and Sheriff's dispatchers are sitting next to VECC dispatchers.  The Sheriff's dispatchers still get the 801 743 7000 calls that are now for non emergency calls.  Previously, the 743 7000 number was also used for emergencies.  Now, 911 should be called for all County emergencies.  I believe that Salt Lake City dispatch will eventually be forced to combine with VECC since VECC is getting the majority of the tax increase revenue.  

CANNABIS ACT "COMPROMISE" LIMITS ACCESS TO UNDER 21

  Lost in the Cannabis Act "compromise" fine print is an effort to discourage use by those under

21.  Due to exponential increase in vaping by teenagers, there is a concern that the THC vaping oil that is going to be legal, could be misused by teenagers and further increase teenage vaping.  The hope is that the implementation of a board to agree to use of THC by a person under 21 will limit access to underage marijuana use.  Don't get your hopes up.  I expect that the Legislature will add more requirements, including increasing the age limit for vaping to 21.  Other fine tuning of the Act will also take place and it will forestall implementation of medical marijuana for a couple of years.  The card holders, when they get them, will get their marijuana from out of state.  I wonder how the State will stop mail orders?

PARKS IN SLC

  A question came up last month about how many parks does Salt Lake City have compared to other cities.  "SLC exceeds the national target ratio of 6.5 acres per 1000 people of parks, natural lands and golf courses (which the previous administration wanted to close).  In 2012, the City's ratio was 10.3 acres per 1,000 people (from Plan SLC)."

  Although the City has more parks per person than Seattle, Salt Lake has about half the park acreage per person than Portland.  Minneapolis/St. Paul (that had a recent NYTIMES article celebrating their parks) has about 50% more acreage than Salt Lake City.

  But Salt Lake City also has the mountains and trails just outside of the City limits.  I think that when that is all considered, Salt Lake City has much more acreage available for recreation within a couple of miles from the City than most other cities.

EASTSIDE PRECINCT QUESTIONS AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING MAP

  I put an interesting discussion about the Salt Lake City Eastside Precinct, supposedly being considered for 21st and 21st on the upper right downloads.  The concern is about the space required.  I also put the affordable housing map information in the upper right downloads section.

NOVEMBER 30, 2018

DISTRICT ATTORNEY FUNDING ALLOWED COP KILLER TO

KILL AGAIN

SLC DISTRICT 4 CITY COUNCIL POSITION IS GOING OPEN IN

JANUARY

DOWNTOWN ASSESSMENT HAS ONLY TWO MINOR

OBJECTIONS

UTA GPS PROBLEMS NEED REPORTING

UTAH MAY BAN CELL PHONE USE WHILE DRIVING

SLC TRYING TO MOVE GENERAL AVIATION TO TOOELE &

WEST JORDAN

UTA AND SALT LAKE CITY TO EXPAND SERVICE EXCEPT ON WESTSIDE

DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S LACK OF FUNDING ALLOWED COP KILLER TO KILL AGAIN

  Lost in the tragic death of a police officer last week, is the reality that Felix Anthony Calata, who hit and killed Officer Romrell, had been investigated for automobile homicide for driving in an accident earlier this year that killed a woman.  Although Calata was shot and killed during the confrontation, the fact that he was free and engaging in criminal activity was frustrating.  The DA and police and investigators were going back and forth gathering more information to charge Calata.  It was obvious that the lack of investigators was hampering the investigation.  Ironically, the DA's request for 3 investigators is still up in the air at the County Council which will have a public hearing on the budget next Tuesday December 4. 

SLC DISTRICT 4 CITY COUNCIL POSITION IS GOING TO BE OPEN IN JANUARY

  Councilman Derek Kitchen has decided to resign from the City Council in January to take his new position as State Senator for Utah District 2.  He could have stayed in the position but felt that it was a good tradeoff.  Hopefully, he will use his RDA Chair background to have the Legislature work with Representative Briscoe to get an affordable housing bond (the Governor refused to allow more than a few million for a bond) in Utah that significantly increases affordable housing funding and also energizes the SLC RDA expansion area of State Street which also includes one of the opportunity zones.  The synergy of those three should speed up housing construction around State

Street.  Unfortunately, SLC takes a while and a good example is the reason Derek chose to run in the first place.  The Fleet Block between 800 and 900 South and between 300 and 400 West, a 10 acre vacant lot (the City ownes 8 acres) that has been unused for over a decade.  It is still vacant and the plans to utilize and develop the property are still going around in circles.  The City wants to spend $100 million of local taxpayer money to build a streetcar along 400 West first!  But a better idea would be to route the Green Line to 400 West using the rail line property from 1300 South and avoid the time consuming zigzag through downtown that discourages ridership.

  So, in January, the City Council will choose a replacement.  The best candidate so far is Michael Iverson who is chair of the Central City Neighborhood Council.  He has increased participation and he also managed Erin Mendenhall's successful re-election campaign last year.

DOWNTOWN ASSESSMENT HAS ONLY TWO MINOR OBJECTIONS

  The SLC Council is about to approve the Downtown Assessment District again and only two minor

(less than 1% of the landowners) objected.  One objection was due to the homeless issues downtown.  Another came in last minute but again, less than 1% objected so it looks like it will be approved.  The language from the proposal says:  "Resolution: Central Business Improvement Area 2019 Designation The Council will consider adopting a resolution to designate an Assessment Area for the purpose of levying assessments against properties within the Assessment Area to continue to promote business activity and economic development in the central business area of downtown Salt Lake City by assessing benefited properties within the Assessment Area for the costs of such economic promotion activities for a period of three years and to fix a time and place for protests against the Assessment Area and its assessments, and related matters."

UTA GPS PROBLEMS NEED REPORTING

  UTA has noticed problems with their GPS Automatic Vehicle Locator program.  They discovered an unbalanced load between servers and it was "causing some minor delays in Automatic Vehicle Locator information.  That issue has been resolved."  Also there has been some delay in GPS information a couple of buses but those issues seem to have been resolved.

  If you notice that the GPS location of a bus or train is not up to date, please email the information to dgoeres@rideuta.com.

UTAH MAY BAN CELL PHONE USE WHILE DRIVING

  Due to the frustration of many who feel distracted driving is mainly due to cellphone use, the Legislature will again try to ban cellphone use.  Representative Moss was almost able to push through her bill banning cellphone use while driving unanimously, which would have allowed it to pass through the next session with minimal hearings.  Fortunately Representatives Ward and Daw voted against it and that meant that the Utah House will have to have a hearing on it.  Representative Perry, a Utah Highway Patrol Officer, the Chair of the Interim Committee, complained about not being able to stop the use of cellphones since they are usually only caught when there is a traffic violation.  Even then, it is difficult to confirm use of the cellphone while violating traffic laws.  He and Representative Moss both felt that banning cellphone use while driving would significantly increase driving safety.

  BUT, as was pointed out during the hearing, trying to ban mothers from answering a call from their kids or spouse is almost impossible.  It would be harder to enforce than the 55 mph speed limit.  In addition, the in car digital displays, up to 11 inches, are an even greater distraction.  So why would Utah, and other states, allow those in dash displays that encourage drivers to take their eyes off the road when they decrease safety?!  Studies show that talking during driving can also be distracting.  

  In my opinion, focusing on the real problem of texting and driving would be better.  Banning cellphone use will be ignored and that will justify texting and driving.  Utah's present law increases penalties for violations of traffic laws while using a cellphone.  It was sponsored due to an accident caused by a teen driver texting and driving that killed a husband and critically and permanently injured his wife.  Utah should focus on texting and driving and not create another 55 mph speed limit that will be ignored.  I agree with Representative Daw that this proposed bill is not changing the situation due to the increased distractions in the vehicle.  Representative Moss is sponsoring a bill to allow Idaho stops.  That is when a bicyclist does not have to stop at a stop sign when there are no other moving vehicles around.  I support that bill.  It died due to lack of time at the last Legislative session.

SLC TRYING TO MOVE GENERAL AVIATION TO TOOELE AND WEST JORDAN

  Salt Lake City, which is responsible for the International Airport in Salt Lake City, is also responsible for West Jordan's airport and Tooele's airport.  West Jordan has issues with Salt Lake City's control of their airport but it may become a more interesting fight due to Salt Lake City's efforts to transfer all of the 238 plus general aviation aircraft that operate out of Salt Lake City International Airport to West Jordan and Tooele.  Salt Lake City is especially trying to focus on Tooele but their airport does not have water or sewer service.  Efforts are underway to fix that issue.  Tooele is the fourth fastest growing county in the U.S. and Salt Lake City believes that there is enough space around their airport to expand significantly.  Moving all general aviation aircraft to Tooele and West Jordan (which is limited due to nearby homes) will help decrease the scheduling conflicts with major airlines caused by much slower general aviation aircraft.  In some cases, the delays can be over 30 minutes.

UTA AND SALT LAKE CITY TO EXPAND SERVICE EXCEPT ON WESTSIDE

  Salt Lake City is having public hearings on their proposal to contract with UTA to provide increased span of service on 200 South, 900 South and 2100 South bus routes.  But the westside of SLC is not getting the increase, except for a future expansion of the 900 South route to 13th South and then west.  The main reason that SLC is asking UTA to expand these routes using the increased sales taxes (passed by the Council this last year) is because these are routes that are in Salt Lake City.  The best potential routes for increased span of service and frequency are Redwood Road and State Street.  Those routes get about 3500 passengers a day while 2100 South and 200 South get about 2000 passengers a day!  I support the 2100 South expansion since it goes past the Sugar House entertainment district (note that the Sugar House Business District Design Standards are going to be discussed at the December 12th Planning Commission work session).  Unfortunately, SLC does not want to benefit transit riders outside of SLC and in the process actually increases pollution!  SLC should be working with SLCounty to use SB136 funds for increasing service on State Street and Redwood Road.  

  During discussion of the plan at the Tuesday City Council meeting, several Councilmembers agreed that the westside needs more service and it will get it in phase 2 of the expansion plan.  I do not think that that is enough.  

  The plan also suggests increasing amenities like better bus stops.  But some of the bus stops are in the middle of the block, far away from transfers to nearby streets.  For those who say that walking half a block should not be a problem, I point out that SLC keeps putting in crosswalks at half block intervals (two on State Street this year) to make it easier to walk (since walking half a block to a light is too hard).  The result is increasing idling of cars waiting for pedestrians and an increase in pollution.  If bus stops are upgraded and they are away from cross street transit transfers, transit ridership is discouraged.  All money should go to service increases and not bus stop amenities.

  Also, UTA is going to get the money from the sales tax increase by February (it started being collected October 1).  But the service increases do not start until August of 2019!  Service increases for span of service (increasing hours of operation) can and should start no later than February.

  The Salt Lake City Council is discussing the issue now and will have a final public hearing on the contract with UTA on December 11 at their 7 PM Council meeting.  On December 12, at UTA's Board meeting, there will be a vote on the UTA budget and another discussion about the SLC contract.   Again, I am against using any UTA funds to reduce debt principal (payments will double in ten years).  All funds should be prioritized to service increases first.  All funds generated by one time sales should also go to service increases since, if it is done right, it will generate increased revenue, not just from the new service but from the synergy of a more robust bus system.  Priming the pump should be a priority.  

  I also asked that UTA release grant applications to the federal government.  All grant applications require broad public support but if the applications are secret, there is no broad public support.  Another comment by Claudia Johnson, who is a regular UTA Board of Trustees meeting attendee, suggested Saturday free ride day since parents usually have kids in school during the weekday.  FrontRunner is also packed during rush hour on weekdays.  A free UTA day on Friday like last year actually will discourage ridership.  Also UTA was asked to coordinate with SLC to ensure that sidewalks and bus stops between downtown's Social Hall Avenue and 200 South on State Street are kept open during the two big construction projects.

NOVEMBER 27, 2018

DEMOCRATIC LEADER MARY BISHOP DIES

DESIGN REVIEW OF SUGAR HOUSE SUPPORTS ZOMBIE

BUILDINGS

NEW SLC TRANSIT EXPANSION SHAFTS WESTSIDE

MARIJUANA EXPANSION DESERVES MORE ANALYSIS

DEMOCRATIC LEADER MARY BISHOP DIES

  Mary Bishop, the former Chair of the Salt Lake County Democratic Party died this month, the day before election day.  She had a long history of fighting for a fair redistricting plan for Utah and also Medicaid/healthcare expansion.  Her spirit was obviously present in the wins for Prop 3/Medicaid expansion and Prop 4 redistricting plan.  I knew her from her political work while I was supporting Republican candidates in Salt Lake County.  She was an impressive and fair leader.  I always felt that she was one of the best.  I wrote an oped in 2014 that was inspired by her.  In it, I mentioned, that although I supported Republican candidates, I also knew and respected their Democratic opponents.  I said that I felt that whichever won in the races, I felt comfortable with the result since I knew both sides of the ballot.  Mary was one of those that I would have felt comfortable if she won, even though I was supporting her opponent, and my friend, Gary Ott.  Even though she told us she had been diagnosed with cancer just before the election, I felt that it shouldn't enter into the vote.  Ironically, Gary also had medical issues that I also felt shouldn't have entered into the vote.  Some people may have issues with that.  But I felt, at the time, that both were capable of doing a good job as County Recorder.  

  She lost her husband three years ago, in a surprise diagnosis that came during their celebration of her cancer remission.  I would see her in her classic British sports car/convertible and tell her that both she and her car looked good.  She always looked good.  I am sorry to hear that she died.  She was one of the good ones.

DESIGN REVIEW OF SUGAR HOUSE SUPPORTS ZOMBIE BUILDINGS

  During a preliminary discussion on the design standards for the Sugar House business district, the plan did not support having public retail on the ground floor.  Despite Sugar House's development and history as a walkable area due to the many ground floor retail properties, Salt Lake City has consistently ignored encouraging walkability and allowed zombie buildings to proliferate.  They are dead on the ground floor.  There are many apartments but almost no retail.  If State Street redevelopment proceeds like that, it will destroy the Street and the chance for a walkable neighborhood development, much like Sugar House development destroyed walkability.  

  The City did take the concerns about lack of requiring ground floor retail and said that they will consider them.  It will be interesting to see what happenns.

NEW SLC TRANSIT EXPANSION SHAFTS WESTSIDE

  The new agreement between Salt Lake City and UTA to use part of the sales tax increase to increase span of service on eastside routes.  "The Council prioritized 200 South, 900 South, and 2100 South for the first phase of transit improvements, with later improvements planned for 600 North and 1000 North."  So the westside is essentially getting screwed again.  The goal, according to the agreement is (from the packet):

• Increasing coverage for under-served areas, particularly the West side but not excluding other underserved areas of the City;

• Increasing ridership, particularly in the City’s downtown core;

• Building out infrastructure on Transit Master Plan routes;

• The budget and timeline are based on 1000 North, 600 North, 200 South, 900 South, 2100 South. 400 South will be the last route implemented.

  But again, the most used routes that serve the underserved areas of the City are Redwood Road and State Street.  Those routes should have a higher priority than other routes.  The City is even prioritizing potential rail since it is part of the Transit Plan!  400 South and 200 South routes are already well served and increasing frequency on those routes seem to be duplicative.  In addition, the routes are not going to expand until August of 2019 despite UTA being paid starting in January of 2019.

MARIJUANA EXPANSION DESERVES MORE ANALYSIS

  During the discussion and public hearing on the so called compromise Medical Cannabis Act, several new and very important points were brought up.  Due to the language that pharmacists have to dispense the marijuana, and the federal prohibition on that, the federal government can stop implementation of the Act.  In addition, the Act may allow the Native Americans in the State to provide their own marijuana pharmacy system dispensing marijuana!  The State would have to reach an agreement with Native American reservations if the State wants to limit or control the situation.  In other words, if it is legal in Utah, it can be legally available on reservations.  Also, the Act is silent on Section 8 HUD requirements so there could be issues on that also.  And the only limitation on jobs, is the requirement for drug tests.

  I am against implementation of Prop 2 and the compromise Act.  Among the many reasons, are that public safety was not involved in the so called compromise.  Utah has spent decades ensuring better public safety with respect to alcohol use and driving.  Utah is about to implement a .05 DUI at the end of the year to discourage impaired driving.  But the compromise Act does nothing to discourage marijuana impaired driving.  There are no scientific standards to educate users on when to not drive, or carry guns.  Pharmacists are always asking "are there any questions about using this drug?".  But pharmacists do not have the answers that should be provided like when can one safely drive or carry a gun (with a concealed carry permit) after taking a marijuana pill.  Utah, several years ago, increased the penalties for using a cell phone while committing traffic violations.  But Utah has not even started on increasing penalties for using medical marijuana, or other pills, while driving and Utah should have those increased penalties provided to users.  Public safety is a legitimate function of government but it is not part of the so called compromise.

  Vaping is another concern.  Utah, and other states, have problems with an explosion of teenage vaping.  Increasing marijuana access and providing vaping systems with this Act will only exponentially increase teenage vaping.  We don't have to worry about the candy flavors in vaping systems encouraging teenage vaping!  Before implementation of any marijuana expansion system, the age for legal vaping should be increased to 21.

  Potential lawsuits against pharmacists and insurance increases for managers, pharmacists and drivers in the system are also a concern.  Even all Utah drivers may see increased insurance rates.  And will insurance companies get access to the list of patients and what will be the result in that?  

   What if one parent wants to use it or have their kids use it but they don't?  How will courts be involved it the issue?  Back in the 1970s, many said that cocaine was not addictive.  We do not know the effect on medical marijuana users and there should be a way to track and study the effect.

  The unintended consequences of a secret compromise to expand marijuana availability will be many.  But the reality of the fine print indicates that it will significantly delay medical marijuana expansion past 2021.  Despite that, medical marijuana expansion should be delayed to allow further study and mitigation of the potential public safety issues.

  The passage of the Prop 2 marijuana initiative was close.  The result is a polarization of the citizens of

Utah.  It may have led to a surprising turnout of over 80% but it is going to have significant repercussions.  Some think that the Proposition is sacred law and it should be implemented as written.  But that is the same argument as California's Prop 8, the anti gay marriage initiative.  We are not just a democracy, but a democratic republic.  It can help decrease the potential for mob rule.  I am not talking about Trump.  I am talking about stopping large influential organizations from overwhelming the citizens or influencing citizens to do wrong.  It could be as simple as dumping tea into a harbor or as serious as exterminating a religious sect in Pakistan or a culture in Myanmar.     A large majority of citizens think that drinking should be allowed at 18.  Many think that gambling should also be allowed and texting and driving.  Many also think that prostitution should be legal.  Many think that we should give up fighting the war on drugs because it is a failure.  But we have failed to stop teenage drinking but that doesn't mean that we should stop fighting the fight.  There are significant negative implications with these so called rights of free "men".  

  Expanding marijuana access should have more careful thought than mob rule.  Utah should not have encourage a new slogan "Life Elevated Get High".

NOVEMBER 26, 2018

SLC COUNCIL DISCUSSES CHRISTMAS PRESENT SALARY

INCREASE

UTA AND WFRC NEEDS COMMENTS ON THEIR LACK OF MASS TRANSIT SERVICE INCREASES

SLC COUNCIL DISCUSSES CHRISTMAS PRESENT SALARY INCREASE

  On Tuesday, November 27, the Salt Lake City Council will discuss, again, increasing their salary.  A few months ago, when Council Chair Erin Mendenhall pushed it, she was told that it wasn't a good time by other Councilmembers.  Now the Council is going to discuss it again during Council work session.  The tentative time that it will be discussed is at 5:15 PM.  The Council packet online does not have any information.  

  After a sales tax increase this year, a doubling of the water and sewer fees, after another sales tax increase (SB136), after an $87 million bond increase, the Council is going to discuss giving themselves a

50% salary increase!  The 50% increase was what was discussed earlier this year and suggested by Council Chair Erin Mendenhall who complained that her babysitter  is paid more.

  But the Council meets a couple of times a month for around 8 hours.  Dedicated Councilmembers do spend 20 hours a week working for the citizens and taxpayers.  They also work for community councils after hours.  There are also a lot of so called small group meetings that the Councilmembers meet at to discuss more issues outside of the public.  These secret meetings are not public but they should be.  I do

not agree that the Councilmembers should get a salary increase for making more work for themselves.  There are also the arguments that the Council should not become professional politicians.  These are supposed to be part time jobs.  That ensures that only dedicated public servants actually try to run for the positions.

  The Council also gave a minimal salary increase to public safety personnel earlier this year.  Cops handle the most dangerous criminals who don't hesitate to kill cops and others.  The recent death of a cop by a committed criminal is evidence that cops deserve a higher salary before Councilmembers.  Fire

Department personnel have to work two jobs to be able to afford to live in Salt Lake

City.  Councilmembers should pay public safety more well before even thinking of a salary increase.   Ironically, and sadly, the Council used the last tax increase for streets, passed five years ago, that provided $8.4 million (almost doubling streets maintenance) for a salary increase the year after the tax increase.  Streets lost the $8.4 million a year, until the recently passed streets $87 million bond.

  Considering a 50% salary increase after agreeing to the inland port without citizen input is an insult to the public.  Considering a salary increase when meetings are kept secret is wrong.  Before considering a salary increase for the Councilmembers, all meetings should be public and there should not be anymore secret meetings.  Public meetings should be public.

  On another important issue, the Council will take public comment on their plan for transit improvements using the sales tax money that is being provided to UTA in January.  The tax was collected starting in October.  But the service increases are not being put into place until August of 2019!  The proposal with UTA is to increase span of service (hours of service late night generally).  But the routes are only 200 South, 900 South and 21st South. There is no increase on the most used routes going north and south, Redwood Road and State Street.  Those are the routes used by low wage workers that are not able to park downtown.  Those routes should have had the highest priority.  Salt Lake City should insist on an increase in span of service for those routes starting in January when UTA is getting the money.  

  Again, the public should comment tomorrow night or email their Councilmembers with their comments.  Also, UTA is taking public comment Wednesday November 28 during their 130 PM meeting.  Those comments should also be given to UTA.  UTA is selling property but not using the money for service increases.

UTA AND WFRC NEEDS COMMENTS ON THEIR LACK OF MASS TRANSIT SERVICE INCREASES

  I urge everyone interested in mass transit to comment on the UTA budget and WFRC Draft 2050 Plan.  The UTA budget is online and comments can be made by Googling Rideuta.com and Board of Trustees.  There should be a link to comment on the budget. 

  As I said above, UTA is taking public comment Wednesday November 28 during their 130 PM meeting.  UTA is discussing selling property but not using the money for service increases.  I believe that that money should go to service.  I am tired of the money that UTA gets going to other things than service.   My comments are below:

Summary:

The budget hearing and UTA meetings should not compete with Legislature's Interim Days.

The early debt service retirement reserve ($15 million increase) should go to bus service/span of service increase first and all other one time funds can go, if UTA wants, to early debt retirement reserve.

UTA should increase service and span of service on several north south heavily used routes, now, like State Street and Redwood Road.

I question the use of funds for the South Davis BRT, parking for developers, TODs and the bus garage.

UTA should plan on increasing bus service NOW since taxpayers are paying the money NOW.  At the latest, bus service from SB136 should start in December 2019.

The specifics are:

1. I am concerned about the significant contribution to early debt retirement reserve (from $6 million to $23 million) since that money should be used for restoring a robust bus system that the last UTA audit recommended.  It also may encourage more borrowing in the future by UTA for big expensive projects.  That $17 million could/would/should be used to expand span of service and eliminate the zig zag bus routes that discourage ridership.  Theoretically, it could be used for a 25% bus service increase.

2. Not sure why the operations support detail is pulled out of the bus/rail separate line items and 48 million sounds high.  I have the same concern about the general and administration detail not being included in individual line items.  And if they are part of the line items, how were they divvied up.

3. What are the current and future grants anticipated

4. The Main St./400 South Half Grand Union Interlocking Replacement project should fix the TRAX that blocks the crosswalk at a red light!  There should be no reason for TRAX to block a crosswalk.

5. I do not support the effort to electrify FrontRunner.  If UTA proceeds with the plan, it should not be spending $3.9 million on locomotive engine rebuilds.

6. The $2.5 million for outstanding right of way acquisitions for the UVX/BRT needs clarification.  Is the property under eminent domain?  (I remember the presentation on the splitting of the assessment value but did it get accepted by the landowners?

7. UTA should be asking Delta and SLCIA and the Legislature for a $23 million contribution from Airport Passenger Fees for the Airport TRAX station.  It will require that Senator Bramble's old bill be changed.

8. The TIGER Grant of $20 million should have specified that local match is $80 million.  I am not convinced that that is a good reason to actually do the projects.  Being paid to burden taxpayers 80/20 is not good government.  What UTA projects are part of the $15 million 2019 cost?

9. I would like UTA planning to record the ridership on the S-Line to see the actual increase and if it matches the predicted increase (UTA started with a 10% increase in the 1400 passengers a day then changed it to 20%.)  Taxpayers and UTA planners should get the real effect results.

10. The Sandy $3.4 million property sale should have gone to bus service increase or early debt service retirement.  There should be an evaluation on the effect of eliminating 900 parking spaces with this project.  It would seem to deter ridership increases in a high growth area.

11. Priority should be given to use Davis/Weber County Prop One funds for service increases and not shelter improvements.  The BRT that Ogden government wants and is pushing is a $62 million waste of money for a route effectively and efficiently served by the 603 bus.  The BRT will not stop as often; it goes through a lot of residential neighborhoods that will fight redevelopment; and it will only save 5 minutes on a 20 minute trip!

12. The South Davis BRT project pulls money from a good east west expansion bus route system for a project that duplicates the Red Line and FrontRunner!  It is cheaper to implement more east west lines that funnel into FrontRunner and the other bus lines that go to downtown SLC and the UofU.  This project is especially wasteful if UTA constructs the Black Line.  It also forces Salt Lake County taxpayers, if the BRT is pushed to the UofU or even downtown, to pay valuable funds that should be used for transit service increases in the County.

13. This may be a good time to reevaluate the Atlanta FarePay service.

14. Bus signage improvements should be real time bus/train arriving at the stop.  UTA does not have to pay the patent troll that has been collecting money for the bogus patent.

15. The Capital Expenses chart should include the $4+ million for the questionable, in my opinion, garage.  (It is listed in the line item but it should be noted on the chart as the biggest item capital outlay.

16. What are the TIGER Program of Projects that will cost $3.6 million local and 1 million UTA funding. 

17. UTA funds should not be used for TOD or parking for development or station area planning.  UTA should focus on service and not expose itself to potentially questionable deals that profit developers.

18. Several north south UTA routes should be immediately increased in frequency and span of service.  State Street and Redwood Road (maybe without the going in circles routes) and 220 should provide service to downtown employees that can't afford to park downtown but start work at 4AM or leave after midnight.  (There are a lot.)

19. If UTA is getting SB136 funds in October, UTA should not wait until 2020 to increase service.  It should increase service by December 2019!

20. Spending $70 million, for a bus garage, "for 5,000 additional daily riders by the year 2050" seems to be a poor investment.  Why not increase frequency service/span of service.  A high frequency core network would be more effective.  I am not sure that the cost of stabilizing the roof will make the building earthquake resistant.  An independent structural engineer should analyze the structure thoroughly.  I believe that the cost for a new building would be less expensive (although I am against it).

21. UTA should provide all applications for projects and plans that require federal funding.  For the last few years UTA has stopped providing grant requests due to the concern that some projects did not have broad public support.  That is one of the requirements of federal funding.  UTA, and SLC, were afraid that the proposed projects would cause citizens and taxpayers to fight the applications at the federal government.  We actually did in two previous years!  We were able to stop the efforts and applications to extend the Sugar House S-Line up 1100 East.  It is typical backroom politics when the public is not brought into discuss the projects.  These projects are built on the backs of taxpayers.  They deserve a voice.

22. UTA should allow/encourage the public to comment on the recent Wasatch Front Regional Council Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP which is just for 5 years while the WFRC 2050 plan is for 3 decades).  The TIP did not include the desperately needed east west freeways in south Salt Lake County.  The TIP includes:

The UTA bus garage with $56 million local funds and a total of $75 million total cost.

The local funds for clean fuel buses and related equipment in the next 5 years totals $165 million, spending 18 to 27 million each year.

The extension of the FrontRunner to the Business Depot Ogden with a station is $32 million with half local funding.

The BRT to WSU will cost about $65 million and half will be from local funds.

A Sandy S. Jordan circulator will cost $30 million with half locally funded.

The TRAX extension from Draper to the County line will cost $460 million with $92 million funded locally.  Note that the actual cost with infrastructure and stations will be closer to a billion dollars.

There is a plan to extend the 3500 South BRT to Wasatch Blvd which will cost $12 million and $2.4 million is local funds.

Taylorsville/Murray transit improvements (BRT) will cost $52 million with 26 million locally funded (by 2020).

New TODs will cost $12 million with an "estimated" local cost of $2.4 million (which is what keeps draining money from service increases).

Intelligent transportation systems are budgeted at $30 million with $6 million local (synchronizing and intelligent traffic lights to decrease congestion).

The South Davis BRT will cost $80 million with $32 million locally funded.  This is the BRT that will go up 200 South to the UofU.

The UofU will get a $4 million intermodal hub.

There will be a Layton Station parking structure that will cost $4 million (since UTA gave too much property away for development (much like several other projects/TODs).

Salt Lake County signal control software will cost $5.5 million.

Layton and Davis County will add 2 ski bus routes and servicee at a cost of $1 million.

Little Cottonwood Canyon park and ride restroom $822,000.

There is a $50,000 budget to design a North Temple separated family friendly bikeway through downtown SLC.

  The above and the below are my comments on the WFRC Draft 2050 Plan:

WFRC 2050 PLAN SHOWS LOTS OF SLC STREETCARS AND TAX INCREASES

The Wasatch Front Regional Council 2050 Plan (maps for highway, transit and active/bicycle transportation in upper right downloads section) is recommending that the S-Line TRAX/so called streetcar be extended up 1100 East to 1700 South then to 900 East and north on 900 East to 400 South!  This is another unrealistic proposal but it is in the plan, and could be in the RTP and Utah

Transportation Plan by next year (needed to get federal funding).  SLC City Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall has indicated several times that she wants to "put a head on the snake" of the S-Line and send it up 1100 East. 

There are also 2 downtown streetcars and an extension of the 400 South TRAX to the Central Station

(SLC is asking for a grant to obtain property to move the plan along).  Each project will cost taxpayers

(who have had 5 Salt Lake City tax increases this year and 3 more potential ones on the ballot) about $100 million in local funding.  These projects will destroy any chance of affordable housing in Salt Lake City.  No one will be able to afford to live in the City!  

There is also a Foothill Drive to Wasatch Blvd BRT (about $600 million) and an extension of the 3500 South 35M BRT to Wasatch Blvd, even though the ridership has stayed at about 3200 passengers a day since it began operation.  

State Street is planned to get a BRT but it needs more frequent and less expensive bus service more than a State Street BRT which stops every 4 blocks.  SLC and UDOT are putting in crosswalks on State Street between 600 and 900 South since they don't think that pedestrians can walk half a block to a light.  So why do they think that pedestrians will gladly walk 2 blocks to a BRT stop instead of half a block to a regular bus stop.  

Another planned BRT is on 700 East but UTA had to decrease service on 700 East due to poor ridership.  Planning with wishful thinking is not good government.

The billion dollar plus (as if we had the money) Draper Lehi TRAX extension is also in the plan.  All these planned transit projects ignore the LA study from last year that found that, after spending $15 billion on transit projects, ridership stayed the same!  It went from 147 million a month 20 years ago to 154 million a month last year.  Bus service was cut back (like the 30% bus service cutback that SLCO residents experienced over the last 15 years) in LA which encouraged people to buy more cars.  They bought more cars.  Just like Utahns, who double car sales in the last 10 years!  Transit service should be increased first and milk run buses should be eliminated.  And the $1.50 bus fare with FAREPAY cards should be publicized.  That is the way to encourage mass transit ridership.  By the way, both LA and UTA get about 3% transit ridership.

One last issue is the lack of east west freeways in the southern end of Salt Lake County.  Instead of a Taylorsville BRT, the money should be spent on freeways around 60th South and around 10000 South that connects the east bench with the westside of the County.  One of the reasons for the backlash against the Olympus Hill project and other high numbered residential developments in the County is the lack of adequate roads to handle the traffic increase.  Neighbors adjacent to the congested roads receive a significant amount of pollution due to the traffic backup and idling cars and they should be interested in selling out to allow the road to become a freeway.  We need several new east west freeways in Salt Lake County.

The WFRC has now moved their move to Gateway to sometime in the spring of 2019.  Hopefully, more people will start attending the meetings and comment on their plans.

  Both the UTA Budget and WFRC Draft 2050 Plan have deadlines for public comments on November

30.

NOVEMBER 19, 2018

CATHOLIC COMMUNITY SERVICES IS NOT MOVING FROM

DOWNTOWN

UTA BUDGET HAS TOO MANY QUESTIONS

SMOKING AT THE AIRPORT IS BEING KICKED ACROSS THE

STREET

CONVENTION HOTEL IS GOING TO COMPETE WITH AIRBNB

CENTRAL WASATCH COMMISSION DISCUSSES RAISING CANYON FEES

FAIRMONT PARK IS GETTING MORE SIDEWALKS AND

LIGHTING

SLC GOOD NEIGHBOR PAMPHLET SHOULD BE IN EVERY

HOUSE

SLCO IS NOT READY TO IMPLEMENT RANK CHOICE VOTING

CATHOLIC COMMUNITY SERVICES IS NOT MOVING FROM DOWNTOWN

  Catholic Community Services (CCS) has received the contract to manage the Ballpark (Homeless) Resource Center for men and women on Paramont Avenue (300 West and around 1500 South).  It does not mean that they will be moving from downtown and Rio Grande Avenue.  In fact, the St Vincent de Paul facility is planning a $1.5 million remodel to help create a culinary training kitchen to train homeless and some of the refugees that CCS resettles.  It will also continue to serve meals to those that are in the area and the many whose food stamps run out.  The Weigand Homeless Resource Center will continue to serve those who choose to live on the street.  The good news for Ballpark is CCS has been very successful in creating a stable and secure facility at the Weigand Center.  That success bodes well for their success at managing the Ballpark Homeless Shelter.

UTA BUDGET HAS TOO MANY QUESTIONS

  Taxpayers, citizens and mass transit proponents have until November 30 to submit comments to UTA about their proposed budget.  Although the next Board of Trustees meeting (with the two Commissioners) will have public comment in December, it will probably be decided before that.

  These are my concerns:

1. I am concerned about the significant contribution to early debt retirement reserve (from $6 million to $23 million) since that money should be used for restoring a robust bus system that the last UTA audit recommended.  It also may encourage more borrowing in the future by UTA for big expensive projects.  That $17 million could/would/should be used to expand span of service and eliminate the zig zag bus routes that discourage ridership.  Theoretically, it could be used for a 25% bus service increase.

2. Not sure why the operations support detail is pulled out of the bus/rail separate line items and 48 million sounds high.  I have the same concern  about the general and administration detail not being included in individual line items.  And if they are part of the line items, how were they divvied up.

3. What are the current and future grants anticipated

4. The Main St./400 South Half Grand Union Interlocking Replacement project should fix the TRAX that blocks the crosswalk at a red light!  There should be no reason for TRAX to block a crosswalk.

5. I do not support the effort to electrify FrontRunner.  If UTA proceeds with the plan, it should not be spending $3.9 million on locomotive engine rebuilds.

6. The $2.5 million for outstanding right of way acquisitions for the UVX/BRT needs clarification.  Is the property under eminent domain?  (I remember the presentation on the splitting of the assessment value but did it get accepted by the landowners?

7. UTA should be asking Delta and SLCIA and the Legislature for a $23 million contribution from Airport Passenger Fees for the Airport TRAX station.  It will require that Senator Bramble's old bill be changed.

8. The TIGER Grant of $20 million should have specified that local match is $80 million.  I am not convinced that that is a good reason to actually do the projects.  Being paid to burden taxpayers 80/20 is not good government.  What UTA projects are part of the $15 million 2019 cost?

9. I would like UTA planning to record the ridership on the S-Line to see the actual increase and if it matches the predicted increase (UTA started with a 10% increase in the 1400 passengers a day then changed it to 20%.)  Taxpayers and UTA planners should get the real effect results.

10. The Sandy $3.4 million property sale should have gone to bus service increase or early debt service retirement.  There should be an evaluation on the effect of eliminating 900 parking spaces with this project.  It would seem to deter ridership increases in a high growth area.

11. Priority should be given to use Davis/Weber County Prop One funds for service increases and not shelter improvements.  The BRT that Ogden government wants and is pushing is a $62 million waste of money for a route effectively and efficiently served by the 603 bus.  The BRT will not stop as often; it goes through a lot of residential neighborhoods that will fight redevelopment; and it will only save 5 minutes on a 20 minute trip!

12. The South Davis BRT project pulls money from a good east west expansion bus route system for a project that duplicates the Red Line and FrontRunner!  It is cheaper to implement more east west lines that funnel into FrontRunner and the other bus lines that go to downtown SLC and the UofU.  This project is especially wasteful if UTA constructs the Black Line.  It also forces Salt Lake County taxpayers, if the BRT is pushed to the UofU or even downtown, to pay valuable funds that should be used for transit service increases in the County.

13. This may be a good time to re-evaluate the Atlanta FarePay service.

14. Bus signage improvements should be real time bus/train arriving at the stop.  UTA does not have to pay the patent troll that has been collecting money for the bogus patent.

15. The Capital Expenses chart should include the $4+ million for the questionable, in my opinion, garage.  (It is listed in the line item but it should be noted on the chart as the biggest item capital outlay.

16. What are the TIGER Program of Projects that will cost $3.6 million local and 1 million UTA funding. 

17. UTA funds should not be used for TOD or parking for development or station area planning.  UTA should focus on service and not expose itself to potentially questionable deals that profit developers.

18. Several north south UTA routes should be immediately increased in frequency and span of service.  State Street and Redwood Road (maybe without the going in circles routes) and 220 should provide service to downtown employees that can't afford to park downtown but start work at 4AM or leave after midnight.  (There are a lot.)

19. If UTA is getting SB136 funds in October, UTA should not wait until 2020 to increase service.  It should increase service by December 2019!

20. Spending $70 million, for a bus garage, "for 5,000 additional daily riders by the year 2050" seems to be a poor investment.  Why not increase frequency service/span of service.  A high frequency core network would be more effective.  I am not sure that the cost of stabilizing the roof will make the building earthquake resistant.  An independent structural engineer should analyze the structure thoroughly.  I believe that the cost for a new building would be less expensive (although I am against it).

SMOKING AT THE AIRPORT IS BEING KICKED ACROSS THE STREET

  By the end of the year, the smoking areas just outside the terminal, supposedly more than 25 feet away from the entrances, will be moved across the street to an area that should be less intrusive on airport users.  The smoking outside the terminal significantly increased when the indoor smoking rooms were removed.  Unfortunately, the Airport is still having problems with construction workers and others walking while smoking next to the terminal.  

  On another issue, the Seattle Visitor Pass Program that allows visitors to go through security without a ticket to visit with transferring 

passengers is not planned, at present.  The large families and our hub airport create issues that may decrease security.

CONVENTION HOTEL IS GOING TO COMPETE WITH AIRBNB

  The Salt Lake County Council and Salt Lake City Council have approved turning over the southeast corner of the Salt Palace to a private developer for a convention hotel.  But the plan was developed well after the biggest convention in town, and the only one that needed the hotel rooms, left for Colorado.  Dave Robinson had helped fulfil that convention's housing by running something like airBnb.  Of course, now, airBnb is taking away business from hotels.  Although the hotel has a post performance tax credit of $75 million, to get that, the Legislature agreed to pay all local hotels if their facilities are impacted and they have less than 65% occupancy!  So taxpayers are going to pay a lot without knowing how much!

CENTRAL WASATCH COMMISSION DISCUSSES RAISING CANYON FEES

  The Central Wasatch Commission (CWC) has always had the ability to set fees for the Wasatch Canyons.  That was one of the recommendations of the Mountain Accord in order to reduce use.  That was why many of us fought the creation of the CWC.  I put the recent PDF of the CWC on the upper downloads section that goes into detail about their plans to increase fees.  I think that it will result in a lawsuit.  At least UDOT does an environmental impact report before implementing tolls (authorized by SB71) in Little Cottonwood Canyon.  But the CWC fee increase will only be stopped by the County Council who has to approve the fee.  It will be close.

FAIRMONT PARK IS GETTING MORE SIDEWALKS AND LIGHTING

  Salt Lake City is planning to spend almost a million dollars putting more light and a sidewalk in Fairmont Park.  The sidewalk is to run just south of the homes on Simpson Avenue from the 900 East sidewalk, east to the main sidewalk through the Park.  The lighting throughout the Park will be increased, supposedly without increasing the light pollution in the area.  Unfortunately, the area of the Park that needs the most attention, the old tennis courts west of the Boys and Girls Club is not getting any change.

SLC GOOD NEIGHBOR PAMPHLET SHOULD BE IN EVERY HOUSE

  I put the Salt Lake City Good Neighbor Pamphlet on the upper left.  It should be in every home in Salt Lake City.  Or in every phone and computer in Salt Lake City.  It has almost every phone number that one needs to access services in the City.  It even has information on how to handle raccoons!

SLCO IS NOT READY TO IMPLEMENT RANK CHOICE VOTING

  During the last County Council meeting, County Clerk Sherry Swenson indicated that the County, although authorized, is not able to implement rank choice voting in the next few years.  They do not have the equipment to provide such a system.  Some other counties do and they can decide by the end of the year if they will implement the system.  One of the local United Utah candidates, Cabot Nelson running for House 25 against Democrat Joel Briscoe, supported rank choice voting.

NOVEMBER 15, 2018

PUBLIC SAFETY IN SALT LAKE COUNTY IS LOSING

PUBLIC SAFETY IN SALT LAKE COUNTY IS LOSING

  The Justice Reinvestment Act of Utah was passed on the assumption that drug addicts do not commit victimless crimes.  For those who believe that, here is a reality check.  Drug addicts do not commit victimless crimes.  They create victims with their criminal actions.  During the discussion at

Wednesday's Judiciary Interim Committee, the legislators heard the good news that the JRI is meeting its objectives!  Prison beds went from almost 7400 beds five years ago to 6519 recently.  I put the CCJJ Justice Reinvestment effect on the jail in the downloads area in the upper right of the page.  

  One objective is to support local corrections systems.  Local jails, including the Salt Lake County Jail have been overwhelmed by arrestees that should be in prison.  Cops, if they are even allowed to book a criminal caught in the act, can sit in their car 15 minutes later doing their report and watch the arrestee walk out!  Over 10 have been arrested over 100 times according to the Jail Dashboard.

  The SLCO DA has tried to convict and send people to prison but Adult Probation and Parole have recommended probation!  In one case where a convicted shooter who emptied a clip of bullets into a car full of people, the Judge castigated APP and sentenced him to jail!  One of HB348 objectives is to focus prison beds on serious and violent offenders.  But if a drug user, every day he is on the street, steals, hundreds of times, maybe he should go to prison because local public safety is not able to handle those committed criminals.  Car thieves, who have been arrested many times in stolen cars are released due to the overwhelmed system.  Drug users do not usually commit victimless crimes.  That should be considered violent, especially when it happens everyday.

  JRI has had the unintended effect, with a well intentioned bill, to frustrate prosecutors, police, and crime victims who stop reporting further crime.  I urged the Committee to discuss how to mitigate the significant negative consequences of JRI on local corrections systems and crime victims.  

  I also put the Sheriff and DA presentations in the upper right downloads area.  The Sheriff only received a $200,000 allocation for scheduling software and her budget is still less than 30% of what she recommended.  A Sheriff's deputy spoke about the budget complaining that she gets under $22 after 11 years!  In addition, the County Building deputies have been removed from the budget but that issue may be revisited.  The Sheriff was specifically asked if she is satisfied with the budget.  She said that she is!  But Oxbow Jail still has 160 beds open and only 2165 beds are available, including outside the County jail beds.  Last year, there were 1986 before Operation Rio Grande.  In other words, the revolving door jail and booking restrictions are still in effect.

  The DA presentation shows that they are underpaid for the extremely high workload and the DA expects almost 20,000 cases to be filed this year by his office.  He argued for at least three new investigators but the County Council said that they would discuss it next week.  

  As proof of how bad it is, at every community council there are people who say that they are not reporting crime because it doesn't seem to do any good.  Please report all crime and get a case number.  That is the only way for government to recognize that public safety is underfunded at the County.  Only two showed up to demand more public safety funding!

November 5, 2018

VOTE FOR A BETTER GOVERNMENT

SLCO PUBLIC SAFETY FUNDING STILL NOT ADEQUATE

SECRET SLC POLICE STATION SOAP OPERA

HOW MANY TIMES DOES IT TAKE TO STOP ADDICTION

FIRE STATION NOISE IMPACTS NEIGHBORHOOD SURPRISE

BRENT TAYLOR WOULD HAVE BEEN GOVERNOR

MILLCREEK STUDIES HUNDRED MILLION DOLLAR PROJECT

WAR ON BILLBOARDS IS MISDIRECTION

CRIME MAGNET APARTMENT LOSES STATE FUNDING

SLC COMMUNITY INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS ROTATED

SCOOTER INJURIES EXPONENTIALLY INCREASE

RACCOON ABATEMENT IN SLC IS FREE, DO NOT PAY

FAIRMONT PARK SHARPS BOX

ENERGYSOLUTIONS PRESENTATION DOWNLOAD

PLEASE USE FLASHLIGHTS WHILE WALKING AT NIGHT

VOTE FOR A BETTER GOVERNMENT

  One of the advantages of our democratic republic is the competition that results from regular elections.  Although much of the electioneering is disrespectful and misdirection and even lies, there are some gems in the campaign ads.  The best ad that I have seen is from Mitt Romney who encourages voting period.  I agree.  There is no better time to make your voice heard.  Please vote.  If you haven't turned in your ballot by Monday/today, you must go to one of the voting centers.  Some of the facilities are expecting large lines due to the effort to encourage mail in voting.  Although the vote shows more participation, even more will show up on election day.  Get there early and thank you for ensuring a vibrant County, State and Country.

SLCO PUBLIC SAFETY FUNDING STILL NOT ADEQUATE

  The Salt Lake Tribune published this oped on the situation on public safety issues that I listed over the last few months. https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2018/11/02/commentary-salt-lake/

  In summary, ACLU finally, after being silent for the last year, pointed out that the many arrests and tickets have resulted in making it more difficult for the homeless to try to leave their situation.  The SLCO Sheriff candidates both agreed that the SLCO Jail is underfunded and the County needs more jail beds.  The SLCO Jail Dashboard showed many are arrested and jailed hundreds of times!  Without enough jailers, the only way to open up the 380 free beds at Oxbow was to close one pod at the main jail to allow one pod to open at Oxbow (leaving one other pod at Oxbow still closed).  There is an 18% turnover in jail staff and 20% are involved in assaults by jailed criminals! 

  Many officers watch the person that they just booked walk out of the jail while the officer is doing their paperwork. This results in frustration on the part of the officers which can lead to significant turnover, lack of officer retention and recruitment challenges.  Law enforcement has been complaining for years about the revolving door Salt Lake County Jail which is now, again, implementing jail booking restrictions.  The DA said "Not only have cases increased, but violent crime and sexual assault cases in particular have increased". 

  SLCO Mayor McAdams keeps saying every year that public safety is his top priority of the budget.  His recommendations are much less than recommended by the DA and Sheriff.  The budget needs to have increased funding to not just open up all jail beds in the County, but continue to pay for the 300 out of County jailed inmates which will provide the 600 jail beds that the DA recommended for Operation Rio Grande.  Without adequate public safety funding, Salt Lake County will continue to operate a booking restricted or revolving door jail.  Without sufficient jail beds, there is no threat of long term incarceration if the individual does not stay in addiction treatment.  We are way beyond "we can't arrest our way out of this". The revolving door jail and booking restrictions have to

stop.  Criminal behavior should result in jail. 

  If you care about this issue, please email the County Council and tell them what you think.  Let me make it easy.  These are their emails:

mayor@slco.org,jwilson@slco.org,rsnelgrove@slco.org,jbradley@slco.org,arbradshaw@slco.org,mhjen sen@slco.org,anewton@slco.org,Agranato@slco.org,sldebry@slco.org,mburdick@slco.org

SECRET SLC POLICE STATION SOAP OPERA

  One of the most interesting semi closed meetings of the City Council took place last week in a quickly arranged meeting with one day notice that was to discuss and approve keeping $221,000 in impact fees that were to be used for an eastside SLC Police precinct.  I am not sure of the legality of the City being able to keep unspent impact fees that the State requires to be refunded to those who paid them within 6 years.  And the deadline of October 31 was known months in advance.  So the rushed meeting was questionable.  

  The Council came out of the closed meeting talking about the "DI" property.  They spent several minutes talking about the acreage of the property.  They finally were given the acreage as 1.8 acres.  The DI property that they were talking about could be the DI and Fire Station property or the 2100 South DI property.  They also spent time talking about the impact of the police precinct on adjacent homes in the neighborhood.  Chief Brown pointed out that the Pioneer Precinct in Poplar Grove has a large grass area used for community events and has had no complaints from the adjacent single family homes.  They also asked about the 1100 East earthquake fault (used as the route of the Jordan and Salt Lake Canal and the McClelland Trail) that is nearby.  Chief Brown said that any building would be earthquake proof and it should not be a concern.  They anticipated the extra cost.  

  The Council also asked about a substation instead of a full precinct.  Chief Brown said that the last substation in 2010 cost $10 million.  The Council also spent time hearing about the time it takes officers to respond from the Poplar Grove precinct versus the downtown police building.  It was about 17 minutes.  The Chief also said that it can take 40 minutes to respond from the far eastside to the far westside of Salt Lake City.

  Finally, at around 45 minutes of the work session October 31 video, after the quick formal meeting in the same room, the Council reconvened as the work session and Mike Reberg said "so we go ahead with ....... the 21st and 21st property?"  And Council Chair Erin Mendenhall's eyes bulged out of her head and said that we are done.  I am not sure why the discussion on the DI took place when Mike was implying, at the end that the 21st and 21st property was being considered but the video is there and take it all with a grain of salt.  I have seen misdirection at the highest level of City government so this was not a surprise.

HOW MANY TIMES DOES IT TAKE TO STOP ADDICTION

  During the last couple of years, addiction treatment for those with substance use disorder (SUD) has been much more available.  The statistics available show successful treatment after 30 days for about 20% (almost half in some reports).  If anyone thinks that opioid or alcohol addiction can be successfully treated in 30 days or even in 60 days, they are ignoring the federal government and many studies.  The federal government says that the best addiction treatment is only 5% effective.  Operation Diversion said that there was less than 20% successful treatment after 6 months.  The reality is that many, as many as 50%, leave the treatment program after 30 days.  Some of those are being recorded as successful!  Many also leave because of the requirement to stop smoking tobacco, which some say is more addictive than other drugs.  The reality is even the best that we can hope for is 5%.  BUT WHEN

DRUG DEALERS ARE READILY AVAILABLE AND NOT IN JAIL AND OFFER FREE SAMPLES TO THOSE OUT OF TREATMENT, THIS IS A POOR SOLUTION.  We cannot treat our way out of this issue.  Drugs should not be readily available.  There are many homeless walking the streets that have been in and out of treatment many times.  In one case, a homeless person has said that he has tried to stop his alcohol addiction through treatment 17 times.  Opioid addiction is even worse.

FIRE STATION NOISE IMPACTS NEIGHBORHOOD SURPRISE

  During the SLC City Council meeting on the eastside precinct, it was revealed that the new fire stations had a lot of complaints from neighbors due to their loud intercoms.  It should have been expected since that was one of the reasons for the fight against the fire station on Forest Dale Golf Course.  The intercom noise has been decreased but discussions are continuing.  The Fire Department has a policy to not start their sirens on the vehicles responding to emergencies until further away from the station but the mechanical, testing and intercom noise is making neighbors angry.

BRENT TAYLOR WOULD HAVE BEEN GOVERNOR

  I and many others in Utah are in shock and sad at the news that came to us Saturday. Mayor Brent Taylor, father of seven, mayor on North Ogden, Utah National Guard Major on a one year deployment to Afghanistan, has been killed in action.  I firmly believed that he was capable of and going to be governor of Utah, even as soon as 2020.  He was that special.  You had to work with him to see his leadership ability and concern for the taxpayers.

  To understand how much we lost, you would have had to watch him fight the good fight, against all odds, to make sure that government was for the people. I first came to know Brent Taylor when he was appointed by Weber County to represent the County on the UTA Board of Trustees.  He and I had several long talks about the issues and intricacies that were involved in the complicated management of UTA. Although the new Board, led by Robert McKinley had made a concerted effort to develop a Board that responded to the public concerns and that did not rubber stamp UTA staff recommendations, there were still questionable actions.  Brent Taylor wanted government, and UTA in particular, to be more responsive to the public.  He wanted to have more public engagement.  I was often the only member of the public attending and commenting on the proposals at UTA Board of Trustees meetings.  Although the Board and the CEO Jerry Benson always treated me with respect, I felt that the Board needed more public input.  

  One of the first proposals that Brent Taylor brought to the Board was to broadcast the meetings on the internet.  The Board Chair immediately agreed and implemented that policy.  He questioned the staff recommendations to ensure adequate cost benefit analysis, something that the last UTA Legislative Audit recommended.  One of his last concerns, before resigning to accept posting in Afghanistan, was how to tell if the Provo BRT $200 million project was cost effective.  With a free fare, there was no way to show data that indicated that it was worth it.  

  He also also pointed out inappropriate and questionable actions by the Board members.  Despite embarrassing questions, I believe that the Board slowly changed its actions to reflect more analysis of projects.  Their questions increased during and after Brent Taylor's time on the Board.  Before Brent Taylor's time on the Board, there were few questions about staff recommendations.  In other words, I saw the Board following a genuine leader, someone who people wanted to follow.

  During the short time that I knew him, and watched him, it was obvious that he was going to be a great leader in Utah.  I even thought that he would eventually become governor, a great governor.  He seemed to want to do the right thing and make government better, even when it seemed that everyone was against his recommendations.  I truly believe that Utah did not just lose a loving father and husband; Utah also lost a hero and someone that should have been and would have been governor.

  Brent Taylor was willing to die for the freedoms that we have and that he hoped everyone had.  He said it best when he said "the secret to happiness is freedom".  His last words seemed to be and should be acknowledged and celebrated as his most important words: "God bless America" (it is worth fighting for).

MILLCREEK STUDIES HUNDRED MILLION DOLLAR PROJECT

  I put several reports on the efforts and proposals for Millcreek City to redevelop the area surrounding Brickyard around 33rd South and 1300 East/Highland.  The reports are extensive but

informative.  Since they impact the Salt Lake City Sugar House area, I recommend reading about the future plans.  The McClelland Trail extension to Brickyard is suggested and other roadway improvements.  I hope that the Sugar House Community Council and SLC and Millcreek work together to create a vibrant "downtown Millcreek".

WAR ON BILLBOARDS IS MISDIRECTION

  Ralph Becker, the former mayor of Salt Lake City is continuing his war on billboards.  He has created a new group, with his wife, to fight the proliferation of billboards, especially in Salt Lake City.  In several stories about the issue, it was reported that Reagan Advertising, the largest billboard company in Utah, provided billboard advertising for all the mayoral candidates running against Becker.  I was one of those candidates.  Although I asked for billboards that listed the issues, Reagan put my picture on the billboards.  I am not so vain to think that anyone would vote for me based on my face but it was Reagan's money and property.  The billboards encouraged interest in the mayoral race, and I felt that it was better than ignoring the race.  

  I also have to report that Reagan has given me contributions for my past campaign.  But my philosophy on billboards has not changed.  Billboards can energize and activate an area.  Times Square is full of billboards.  I have urged electronic billboards downtown to advertise the many almost ignored and unknown restaurants, stores and facilities that make the Salt Lake City downtown an entertainment center.  Everyone knows about the big shows that come to town but not the smaller venues entertainment.  In my mind, if you are going to allow buildings that are hundreds of feet tall, billboards should not be an issue.  They break up the canyons of concrete and steel.

  I find it hypocritical to fight billboards but encourage block long car lots (that Mayor Becker supported) that discourage walkable neighborhoods.  There was an effort several years ago in the Legislature to try to remove the billboards on 6th South, the freeway entrance into downtown SLC.  The Downtown Alliance wanted to create a "grand boulevard" like Paris' Champs Elysees.  They wanted tens of millions from taxpayers to buy out the billboards and bury the power lines.  I objected to the use of taxpayer money for that plan when landowners should first offer up 28 feet of their property for wide sidewalks (like on the Champs Elysees).  I also felt that coming into town on a street that had a lot of poorly designed and used buildings was more of a problem than billboards.  The billboards on 6th South, and in many other areas of the City provide an inexpensive but effective advertising of SLC local amenities and facilities.  They help local businesses.  You do not see many billboards that refer to national issues (although there are many that refer to God).  Billboards are the least of our problems.  The billboards on 6th South help  downtown local businesses.

  On the other side, I would like to see the electronic billboard intensity decreased in the later evening.  After midnight, most billboards can still be effective at a tenth of the brightness.  I think that there is room for compromise.  They are important for local businesses; they can be used for art and public service messages; and they activate an area.  

CRIME MAGNET APARTMENT LOSES STATE FUNDING

  Although it is supposed to be a secret, due to privacy issues, the crime magnet Georgia Apartments lost their State funding which was $300 per month due to continuing crime issues (and other nuisance issues).  This should be a wake up call to apartment owners that get State or local funding to increase their revenue.  The Liberty Wells area is continuing to hear complaints about the local apartments and motels that seem to breed and encourage criminal behavior.  They may just allow the crimes to continue and feel powerless but recent developments are putting the pressure on these problem properties.  Salt Lake City has started a CAT team that brings together the Health Department, law enforcement, zoning and nuisance abatement and community liaisons to discuss, identify and propose solutions to some of these properties.  We should be hearing more about these efforts in the next few months.

SLC COMMUNITY INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS ROTATED

  The Salt Lake Community Intelligence Officers have rotated their assignments.  The good news is they are moved to another City District area's community councils.  So Detective Pederson that served and became knowledgeable about District 5, is now working over District 4.  Detective David King from District 4 is now working on District 5.  This is better than a few years ago when, every 18 months, the community councils lost their police liaisons, the Community Intelligence Officers.  This shifting to adjacent areas allows for the police to become more knowledgeable and share insights gained from fighting crime and the same criminals in other areas.  

SCOOTER INJURIES EXPONENTIALLY INCREASE

  Salt Lake City is insisting that scooters are the future of transportation.  Despite the fact that electric scooter injuries are skyrocketing (one fire station had 20 scooter related injuries in the last month including some pedestrians injured) the City is planning on asking the Legislature to change the law to allow scooters on more roads.  Unfortunately, the City is ignoring the decrease in safety for pedestrians.  So much for creating a walkable City.

RACCOON ABATEMENT IN SLC IS FREE, DO NOT PAY

  A recent City Council email was sent out that referred to a wild animal removal service to help with raccoon problems.  That is a paid service and although the information in the referral link is valuable, it is a paid service.  But Salt Lake City pays for a contract with the Salt Lake City Animal Control to provide free traps, and help in removing the caught animal.  Raccoons and skunks are supposed to be included.  There were several times when there were problems and confusion when the new administration took over, and even recently there have been questionable recommendations on how to get rid of raccoons.  CALL 385 419 3405 to talk to the animal control people that are paid to take care of the problem.  If you have a problem, email me at gechapman2@gmail.com.  This keeps cropping up.  It should be a no brainer.  SLC pays for the free service for citizens.  Do not pay for raccoon or skunk removal!

FAIRMONT PARK SHARPS BOX

  The County Health Department installed a Sharps Box (there is a picture on the right towards the end of the pictures), a big red box to encourage safe disposal of needles used by drug addicts.  Although most homeless in the Fairmont Park area were abusing alcohol (the State Liquor Store is next to the Park) and the spice that is sold around the Skate Park, Operation Rio Grande/Leaf Blower has pushed some needle users into the Park and that is why the Box was installed.  

  But there are some diabetic users who are trying to put bigger containers into the box.  The bigger containers with used needles will not fit or go all the way down and are blocking the box openings and when needle users deposit their needles, they don't go all of the way down and allow for innocent children to be exposed to needles.  The boxes can attract unsupervised children!  The County is considering moving the box to stop the problem.  The Community Council has been notified of the problem.  This was an unforeseen consequence of a well intentioned effort to decrease improperly discarded needles. 

ENERGYSOLUTIONS PRESENTATION DOWNLOAD

  I put the extensive and interesting Utah DEQ scientific report and response to EnergySolutions effort to store depleted uranium metal from munitions at Clive, Utah.  The best picture is towards the end, a corroded uranium bullet that shows the complications that result from improper storage of depleted uranium.

PLEASE USE FLASHLIGHTS WHILE WALKING AT NIGHT

  I will continue to make these recommendations.  Two schoolchildren were hit last week while in a crosswalk.  With many children and pedestrians walking in the dark, I strongly recommend using a flashlight when crossing the street.  They are small and cost a dollar but provide invaluable increase in safety.  Please consider buying flashlights for all of you kids if they walk alone.

NOVEMBER 1, 2018

Prop 2 encourages drug use and abuse

Prop 2 encourages drug use and abuse

  Proposition 2, on the ballot this year, is an effort to legalize medical marijuana use with minimal restrictions. It will allow medical marijuana cardholders to buy pot from dealers with minimal legal risk since it will be almost impossible for the State to supply all of the marijuana that people want to use. Law enforcement will have their hands tied when trying to investigate drug dealing and impaired driving.  Proposition 2 will allow the personal growing of cannabis plants by patients. The police will be hard pressed to ensure legal growth of marijuana and use.

  The pressure to allow significantly increased use of a drug is shown by a recent arrest in Summit County. A driver was arrested with almost 10,000 THC vaping cartridges. Since vaping is legal, marijuana use is almost impossible to stop if the THC is in vaping liquid. Utah should not be encouraging drug use.

  Utah is leading the nation in efforts to stop the loss of innocent lives by impaired driving. We are about to implement a .05 DUI limit. DUI is so bad that this last week 6 innocent Utahns were killed by one impaired driver! Marijuana use by drivers has led to deaths. Unfortunately, passing Proposition 2 will surely increase use of marijuana while driving. We do not give medical cards for alcohol and we should not give medical marijuana cards that will be used to justify driving during or after use. Utah should not legalize use of drug until it studies the impact on driver reaction and sets standards. What will be the penalty if there is THC is in the blood of a driver causing a deadly accident? Legalizing this drug in any way should not happen until we have a complete set of laws to ensure the safety of Utahns on the road.   Studies show that cannabis misuse can impact teen memory recall, reasoning, impair cognition and lead to substance abuse (admittedly like alcohol). Utah goes to great lengths to discourage teen use of alcohol.  We do not have the laws and system to decrease the availability and use of marijuana by teenagers if medical marijuana is expanded. A medical marijuana card will force a police officer to look elsewhere even when there is a complaint about medical marijuana use is done in front of children or driving. Even if it is smoked illegally, how will the police be able to enforce the law without a complete law and punishment system. In a medicine cabinet, it will be found and could be abused by a young child.

  Many have expressed concern about the potential of medical cannabis use in rental housing without allowing landlords to ensure safe use that is not encouraging visitors to try the drug. Again, Utah does not have a complete set of laws to ensure that innocent adjacent neighbors are not negatively impacted.

The proposition could allow growing marijuana (up to 6 plants), even in an apartment!

  Even the Legislative compromise proposal, which limits some of the forms of the drug, does not really ensure safe use while driving or ensure that children do not have increased access to the drug.   This State will handcuff law enforcement and apartment owners if Proposition 2 passes and allows almost unrestricted marijuana use. When any patient can claim a need, and get a medical marijuana card, it increases drugs in our society, increases exposure to children and teens and makes our roads more unsafe, at any speed.  The threat to innocent law abiding drivers will increase.

  If someone has a medical marijuana card, it is a get out of jail free card, whether they are driving a car, a big truck, in an apartment with kids, or next to an apartment with kids, or working at a company in Utah.  Marijuana users will not be limited in their use. Proposition 2 should not be passed and the Utah Legislature should not encourage drug use.

OCTOBER 29, 2018

IT'S BACK!  JAIL BOOKING RESTRICTIONS

SLCO BUDGET PUBLIC SAFETY CONCERNS AND PUBLIC

HEARINGS

ENERGYSOLUTIONS TOLD NO BY EVERYONE REGARDING DU

ACLU REPORT AND FORUM LINK

300 WEST STREET IMPROVEMENTS INCLUDE MID-BLOCK CROSSINGS

SLC TREE REPLACEMENT POLICY

UTA STARTS SOUTH DAVIS/SLC 2ND S BRT WITHOUT PUBLIC

COMMENT

BLACK LIMOS TAKE OVER SLC AIRPORT

FLEETWOOD MAC IS DEAD BUT STILL LIVES ON

IT'S BACK!  JAIL BOOKING RESTRICTIONS

  Don't tell anyone.  It's a secret.  Jail booking restrictions are back at the Salt Lake County Jail.  Law enforcement officers have to call the jail to see if they will accept criminals that they arrest for booking at the County Jail!  This is worse than the revolving door jail.  Public safety should be a higher priority.  Instead of acknowledging that public safety funding at the County is a problem, and admitting that the only reason that they could open one pod at Oxbow (instead of the two pods that the Mayor promised to open) is to close a pod at the Main Jail, the County Sheriff is now forced to implement a booking restriction policy.  This leaves criminals on the street and victimizing the general public.  That is not putting public safety at a high priority.  

SLCO BUDGET PUBLIC SAFETY CONCERNS AND PUBLIC HEARINGS

  The Mayor's proposed budget for Salt Lake County was released last week and it shows how bad public safety funding is in the County.  Summarizing the issues:  Only 22.5% of employees in the DA's office are properly compensated.  This leads to high turnover that some say is 30%.  The DA says it is 10%.  I think that it is 30%.  There are other reasons for the high turnover.  Heavy workload, increased caseloads ("Not only have cases increased, but violent crime and sexual assault cases in particular have increased") that are near to 20,000 cases in this year, and lack of enough prosecutors and investigators.  The jail is in even worse shape.  There is an 18% turnover and 20% are involved in assaults by jailed criminals!  The DA is asking for 5 more prosecutor positions (which will go unfilled if compensation is not adequate) and 3 more investigator positions.

  Due to the complexity and significant issues involved, I am putting the information from the budget for the DA and Jail below:

PROSECUTORS

West Jordan – 2 (Special Victims, General Felonies)

Since adding the additional jurisdictions of Murray and Cottonwood Heights to the West Jordan court caseload, our number of cases has increased significantly. Not only have cases increased, but violent crime and sexual assault cases in particular have increased. These heavier, more complex cases require more work than other crime. This jurisdictional change has not decreased overall caseloads, prohibiting us from transferring 2 attorneys from downtown to West Jordan.

Adult Screening – 2

Almost each month sets a new record for cases screened. We are on track to screen nearly 20,000 cases this year. Nearly one-third of those cases are in-custody cases. These cases require immediate personnel resources to screen jail cases, which means non-jail cases have to wait to prevent failure to file released. Two additional prosecutors in screening would allow us to more quickly screen and file jail cases and reduce the risk of someone being released due to a failure to file within the allotted time. It would also allow us to address the large amount of non-jail cases sooner more quickly.

1 Attorney – SVU

SV cases are considered specialty cases that are handled in our downtown and West Jordan offices.

SV cases downtown are handled by the SV team. SV cases in West Jordan are assigned to designated SV attorneys, who also handle other types of cases. We manage the allocation of SV attorneys in WJ by the demands of case numbers. For instance, unlike the downtown SV team that gets all the SV cases that are filed downtown where a fixed number of attorneys are assigned based upon the team’s over all SV case numbers, WJ SV attorneys are assigned on an ongoing basis influenced by overall case numbers with the number of SV case particularly considered. The downtown SV team recently needed another SV attorney based upon unacceptably high caseloads each attorney was handling. We addressed by moving attorney from WJ that was handling SV cases. That left WJ down an SV attorney. The request for an SV attorney is to bring WJ back to the number of SV attorney they need to continue to handle SV cases.

INVESTIGATORS

We currently have two investigators assigned to handle the felony investigative caseload for West Jordan. The special victim caseload, as well as other criminal investigative work (gang, fraud, theft, violent crime) is distributed evenly between them. We need one additional investigator who can handle

special victims cases in their entirety, including child victim cases, Children’s Justice Center (CJC) cases, SVU screenings and follow up investigation work for sexual assault and domestic violence cases. Currently, if one investigator is engaged in a CJC matter, the rest of his workload is either somewhat absorbed by the other investigator (as best he can) or delayed until the investigator can get back to regular work as these cases require constant attention. The existing two investigators would continue to perform work on gang cases, fraud and theft cases, violent crime, etc.

1 Legal Investigator – Computer Crimes

With the explosion of computer crimes and the ability to use computers forensically to solve crime, we have dedicated a great deal of investigator resources to technological solutions for fighting crime. In recent years, as we have gone through the recruitment process, we have focused on candidates who have developed this highly specialized skill set in their law enforcement careers. However, we only have one dedicated investigator for this area of investigation. All our remaining investigators are assigned to specific teams to provide badly needed investigative support for prosecution. Hiring another legal investigator would allow us to shift those with more extensive technological expertise into this area and supplement the investigative support work needed on our prosecution teams. 1 Legal Investigator – Juvenile, Misdemeanor, Restitution Enforcement, Major Crash, Arson Currently, we do not have the investigator resources to devote to these areas of prosecution. In the past, as the need arises, we have attempted to assign these matters on an ad hoc basis to any of our investigators who may have capacity. Unfortunately, we have found them to have less and less capacity to take these assignments. An additional Legal Investigator would allow us to adequately staff these types of cases.

SLCO JAIL

SWORN COMPENSATION: Increasing wages for sworn correctional line Deputies is the main priority to address hiring and retention issues. This request includes a structural grade increase for Deputy II and a merit increase for all sworn staff. The structural grade increase will eliminate the existing career ladder moving all Deputy II positions to a Grade 15 maintaining their current step. The merit increase will provide a 2.75% step increase for sworn members with a 1% longevity for those at the top of the range. SWORN COMPENSATION: This request includes a compression adjustment for Deputy I positions as well as an annual merit increase. The merit increase will provide a 2.75% step increase for sworn members of the Public Safety Bureau, with a 1% longevity for those at the top of the range. 

OXBOW ANNUALIZATION_PRIOR APPROVED 2018 BUDGET: This request will annualize the

2018

funds allocated for the opening of two modules at the Oxbow Jail

TEMPORARY PART TIME PSYCHIATRIST: As the inmate population of the jail increases, the demand for psychiatric services has also increased. The psychiatric needs of the Salt Lake County Jail inmates are currently budgeted for one full-time and one half-time Psychiatrist allocations. Due to the difficulty in filling these merit positions, part-time temporary staffing has been utilized to fill the halftime position. This request will increase the amount budgeted for part-time Psychiatrists due to the increased cost of temporary staffing to ensure annual coverage.

Salt Lake County Jail provides safe living quarters for prisoners work environment for employees.

Goals include:

1) Reduce the number of assaults against staff by prisoners from 20% incidents as of the start of the year 2019 to 10% incidents by end of the year 2019.

4) Reduce employee attrition rates from 18% separations as of the start of January 2019 to 10% separations by end of the year 2019.

ENERGYSOLUTIONS TOLD NO BY EVERYONE REGARDING DU

  In an amazing presentation by the staff of Utah DEQ and their contractor, they showed that the idea of allowing depleted uranium munitions/metal into Clive should not be allowed without going through a performance assessment.  It was one of the most thorough explanations that I have heard about the significant differences between DU metal and DU oxides (which are in the barrels of nuclear weapons waste presently stored at Clive by EnergySolutions.  The Director of the Radiation Control Board has final jurisdiction on the license to take in the DU metal (the Board has no jurisdiction).  He denied the license.  On the separate question of whether to grant EnergySolutions the exemption to allow the company to bid on accepting and storing DU metal from munitions at ES, the Board unanimously denied the exemption.  Everyone but EnergySolutions spoke against it in the public hearing.    Again, it was noted that EnergySolutions had 2 fires (in 2002 and in 2007) with handling DU.  A backhoe started a fire by scraping DU metal and paper on fire.  It was promptly put out.  The performance assessment for the barrels of so called DU is expected in March of 2019.  The agreement between EnergySolutions and Utah a decade ago said that a performance assessment is needed for more than a ton of DU imported.  The company noted that 40% of the DU metal is already stored at the Tooele Army Depot. 

  The main reason for denying the license and exemption is that EnergySolutions has not demonstrated that an exemption from Utah regulations will not result in undue hazard to public health, safety or environment.  Other requirements that are not satisfied include the NUREG 1573 recommendation that it needs understanding of events likely to affect long term performance and computation of doses to members of the general population.  The NUREG is not compulsory but if it is not followed, there is a need for the reasons to be explained.

  Other reasons, and my reasons against storing more DU metal include:

* Depleted uranium metal is pyrophoric and should not be stored in a humid environment Utah has three to five times the rainfall than Nevada.

* Uranium oxides are safer than metal due to the potential oxidation or hydriding of DU metal in presence of water/rain.

* Security at the Nevada Test Site is significantly better than Clive, a few miles from the major east west freeway of the United States

* I agree with the assessment of Oak Ridge National Laboratory that all forms of depleted uranium should be stored in a secure and dry environment such as the Nevada Test Site.  

* "Disposal of DU at Envirocare appears to be questionable" according to the best analysis of storing all DU forms by Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

  My main reason against importing and storing more DU:  YOU DON'T WANT UTAH TO END UP AS A FOOTNOTE IN A REPORT ON NUCLEAR ACCIDENTS.

ACLU REPORT AND FORUM LINK

  For those interested in the ACLU forum that took place to discuss the ACLU report that

showed/proved that Operation Rio Grande is hurting homelessness solutions, here is the link.  The audio is poor so be forewarned.

https://www.acluutah.org/resources/articles-position-papers/item/1497-calculating-the-real-cost-ofoperation-rio-grande

300 WEST STREET IMPROVEMENTS WILL INCLUDE MID-BLOCK CROSSINGS

  The SLC Council approved the CIP budget and project list two weeks ago.  One of the items is the 300 west street improvements which will cost $3 million in CIP funding.  The City hopes to get the rest of the $12 million in a grant from the federal government.  The specifics from the CIP item are:

"The Council approved $2 million in Class C Funds (gas tax) as part of the FY19 Budget adoption on June 12. This is in addition to $1 million in FY18 CIP Class C funds the Roadway Selection Committee identified for the project. This provides a $3 million local match to fund reconstruction of 300 West from 600 South to 2100 South. The total project cost is $15 million. The Administration submitted a $12 million application for a Federal BUILD grant (replaced the TIGER grant program).  In addition to a full street reconstruction, Engineering stated the “project will improve facilities for pedestrians and bicyclists per the Complete Streets Ordinance. The project includes constructing sidewalk where it’s missing, widening sidewalks, bus stop enhancements, installing mid-block crossings, and bike lanes. The planned improvements are necessary to accommodate the anticipated increase in pedestrian traffic along the 300 W corridor. USDOT is expected to announce BUILD grant recipients in December."

SLC TREE REPLACEMENT POLICY

  The below is an email that the City Forest Area Service Coordinator, Cory Davis sent to me about how many trees removed from a demolition project will be replaced.  The project is on 1710 S. West Temple.  In summary, the trees removed will be replaced or compensated for by the contractor/developer.  The fine print in the SLC ordinance is that only specimen trees (able to thrive in our "arid" environment) are covered.  Hopefully, the City will change the ordinance to require that all trees be replaced.  The full email from Cory is below and I recommend reading it to get the fine print points of SLC's tree ordinance:

"The project at 1710 S West Temple St. is called The Edith and will be comprised of several townhomes. This location previously contained two residential dwellings that were set back from the street at a similar distance as the nearby homes on this street. The new dwelling’s setback from the street has been minimized greatly, placing the townhomes much closer to the sidewalk than the previous homes were. The preexisting trees in the park strip adjacent to these parcels were mature ash trees with a large, spreading canopy. Unfortunately, preservation of these two trees was not a reality at this site for a few reasons. The first reason is the setback issue of the new building. Over 1/3 of the tree canopy (in the least) would have to have been pruned in order to make way for the new building footprint. This would have required pruning several large branches or leads on only one side of the tree. These large wounds, the resulting off balance canopies and just the sheer amount of material removed would not be considered sound pruning practices according to industry best practices. Another reason that tree removal was necessary is root zone disturbance. Excavation of the root zones of these trees was extensive. The excavation was required for footing & foundation and new utilities installation. Our number one priority and guiding principle of our department is public safety. Several large, stabilizing roots were cut in order to install the new foundation of these buildings. If the trees had remained during this process, they would have potentially been destabilized resulting in an unsafe condition. Additionally, the removal of many of the fine, fibrous surface roots, which are responsible for water and nutrient uptake, would have had a detrimental effect on the tree as well.

The negative effects of construction related root damage often don’t manifest for at least 2 years, and sometimes as long as 5 years after damage occurs. As is sometimes the case in tree damage during construction, our department doesn’t know about the damage until the tree is nearly dead. That is to say, a building could be built and damage to trees could occur without our knowledge. Since trees are large organisms that are often slow to react to construction related root damage, the developers are then well on their way to the next project and the City (SLC Urban Forestry) is left to deal with the declining or nearly dead or dead tree. In most cases of this nature, tree removal is the only course of action. It is for this reason that we mandate tree protection during construction. This is often as simple as fencing around the root zone defining a “no go” area for any type of construction activity. It is important to note that tree protection during construction, while always our goal, is not always a reality and can’t be applied to every situation. The Edith project being an example of that.

Another case where park strip trees may need to be removed rather than preserved and protected is in an instance where a new driveway to access the property is required. In these cases, as in the case of The

Edith, we require tree replacement on a 1 diameter inch for 1 diameter inch scale. For example, if a 10” diameter park strip tree is removed, the developer must plant 5 trees that are 2” in diameter to replace this tree. If the frontage space only allows room for one tree, we have a dollar value mitigation replacement. Using the 10” dia. tree example, if one 2” tree is planted as a replacement, the developer then owes 8”. We use a formula created by Mike Kuhns of USU to determine a monetary replacement value. This figure is $172/diameter inch. So again in the 10” tree example case, the developer owes 8” so 8 x $172 equals $1376.00. I hope this helps in explaining how we approach park strip tree removal mitigation.

SLC Urban Forestry’s involvement with private property trees during construction is very limited. The code only allows us to place a value on “specimen trees” during development projects that are multi family or commercial in scope. Given the arid nature of our landscape, very few trees fit this description and the code only allows for minimal “specimen tree” designation. In the event that a specimen tree must be removed, it must be replaced on a 2 diameter inch for every 1 diameter inch removed basis. For

example, if a 20” dbh (diameter at breast height” specimen tree were removed from private property, the developer must then replant 40 inches. Again, if there is insufficient space for the required replacement trees, the mitigation cost must be paid.

With regards to the size of replacement trees, we require 2” caliper trees (as the minimum size) to be planted in park strips. Very generally speaking, 2”-3” trees establish and begin vigorously growing faster than trees of a larger caliper. Additionally, 2”-3” caliper trees are the most widely available size trees at nurseries and are the most cost effective, not just in terms of purchase price, but in ease of installation as well."

UTA STARTS SOUTH DAVIS/SLC 2ND SOUTH BRT WITHOUT PUBLIC COMMENT

  UTA's Board of Trustees, in their final meeting, started the process to design and do an environmental assessment of the South Davis BRT that will cost over $70 million.  Half of it will be paid by SLCO.  The plan is to have it go up 200 South to the University of Utah.  I am against it since $70 million would be, could be and should be better used for providing more bus routes, more frequent bus service and better span of service.

  On another matter, as usual, UTA will hold a public hearing on the budget for 2019 on the same day and time as the once a month Legislature Interim day, which will have an interesting special session on marijuana.  Tough choice, marijuana or mass transit.  

BLACK LIMOS TAKE OVER SLC AIRPORT

  In an interesting upgrade from the typical yellow cab taxi service that has serviced the airport for decades, has almost been replaced by black SUVs/black limousines!  The reason is that the $25 in town and $35 outside SLC fares has encouraged private owners to invest in "high class" large black SUVs.  This was unexpected and maybe a good thing.  UBER and LYFT still operate at the airport and are in the regular drop off/pickup area for cars (past the taxi/shuttle/bus/black SUV lane).  Those wanting to ride in style can have an attendant just outside of the baggage pickup and exit from the airport terminal wave one of the SUVs to the curb for you.  A few years ago, only  those going to Park City and VIPs had the black SUVs.  Now we all have them.  Unintended consequences of a poorly intentioned and planned bill from the SLC Council.

FLEETWOOD MAC IS DEAD BUT STILL LIVES ON

  Recently, Fleetwood Mac was so disappointed that Lindsey Buckingham did not want to tour with the reunited Fleetwood Mac, that they decided to tour without him.  Lindsey Buckingham turned around and sued Fleetwood Mac.  It is all a sad commentary on one of the best and most creative teams in rock music history.

  I thought that the original Fleetwood Mac was great with Peter Green compositions and great blues music but they surpassed that incredible accomplishment with the reconstituted Fleetwood Mac with John McVie, Christine McVie, Mick Fleetwood and Lindsey Buckingham who insisted on bringing on his love Stevie Nicks.  The resulting Fleetwood Mac and Rumours albums were two of the most incredible creative accomplishments in music.  They still create excitement and emotion.  They became the anthem of a generation and a presidential campaign.  

  I did not think that Fleetwood Mac or its individual musicians could ever reach such a high bar.  And I bought a lot of their later LPs and CDs in hopes that they could have the same creative energies of that past Rumours and Fleetwood Mac.  

  I just heard the Lindsey  Buckingham and Christine McVie CD.  It comes close to the magic that I felt listening to the 1976-77 albums.  Red Sun, especially, sounds close to the music of 1977's

Rumours.  Mick Fleetwood and John McVie also  collaborated on it.  You should give it a chance and believe that magic is still possible after 40 years.  The Salt Lake City Public Library has it in their catalog if you have any doubts of how good it is.  The catalog also has The Chain 25 Years which compiles the many different genres of Fleetwood Mac music.  "Sometimes I wonder, if you ever think of me." (from Red Sun)

OCTOBER 22, 2018

2100 SOUTH TO GET 4 CROSSWALKS IN TWO BLOCKS

INNBETWEEN CALLS POLICE ON NEIGHBORS

SLC COUNCIL CIP VOTE IGNORES PUBLIC HEARING

SLC COUNCIL VOTES TO NOT PROTECT SINGLE FAMILY

NEIGHBORHOODS

ACLU FINALLY ACKNOWLEDGES OP LEAF BLOWER ANTI

HOMELESS

BEST NON MOVIE JURASSIC PARK IS IN SLC

UTA BUS SERVICE INCREASES SCHEDULED FOR AUGUST OF

2020

DARK AGES WATER LAW SHOULD BE UPDATED

2100 SOUTH TO GET 4 CROSSWALKS IN TWO BLOCKS

  SLC is planning on installing 3 crosswalks between 900 East and 1100 East on 2100 South.  They are at Lincoln (950 East), 1000 East and McClelland (1050 East) to join the 900 East and 1200 East crosswalks.  The crosswalks will have crossing lights like the 1200 East pedestrian lights that stop traffic while crossing.  This road carries almost 20,000 Average Daily Trips a day in vehicles and it appears that the plans will significantly increase pollution although it should make it safer for pedestrians if they don't breathe.  These are dangerous crosswalks now (without lights) and pedestrians are often ignored when in the crosswalks.

INNBETWEEN CALLS POLICE ON NEIGHBORS

  The InnBetween fight with the local neighborhood is getting serious.  There are now four registered sex offenders in the facility at 1216 East and 1300 South including one convicted of child kidnapping.  Note that most of the patients/residents are really not a threat to the neighborhood.  But some are threatening and are a threat to the neighbors.  During the Legislature's Social Services Appropriations Subcommittee meeting, legislators allowed neighbors to provide public comment on the effect of the InnBetween on the neighborhood.  One of the neighbors had the SLC Police called on them to remove them from the facility before commenting.  But the SLC Police determined that it was in the best interest of everyone to escort the banned neighbors into the Subcommittee meeting room and allow them to comment.  Four commented about the neighborhood concerns regarding the InnBetween.  I asked for help from the Legislature to have the InnBetween and the neighborhood and mental health professionals and law enforcement to talk and work together for a solution to alleviate concerns regarding the impact on the neighborhood.  It could be removing some troublemakers that do not follow rules or are of too big a concern to be safely in the neighborhood with children walking to

school.  Whatever the solution, Representative Paul Ray and Representative Rebecca Chavez Hauck will attempt to mediate the disagreement.   

SLC COUNCIL CIP VOTE IGNORES PUBLIC HEARING

  During the last public hearing on the SLC CIP project list, there were about 20 individuals asking for consideration for and against some of the projects on the list.  Unfortunately, the City Council had already decided the issues (with two exceptions that were decided after printing up the CIP list for the meeting).  Even though some people asked for the 1100 East pavement work around the Hollywood Avenue/Post Office area, the Council decided the week before to stall it until after the 1300 East mother of all road reconstruction projects is finished (since 1100 East is an alternate).  No one really told the crowd that their public comments meant nothing.  There were also comments for and against the 1700 S. road diet.  So when the vote came, Council Chair Erin Mendenhall told the crowd to go out of the meeting and the staff would tell them what the Council voted on!  (The road diet was approved and the Seven Canyons Fountain will have a redesign.)  The list was in the packet but speakers were not told that the Council would ignore all public comments.  That is not a good way to encourage public engagement.  Encouraging public comment when the vote is already taken (in a "straw poll" the week before) is not respectful.

SLC COUNCIL VOTES TO NOT PROTECT SINGLE FAMILY NEIGHBORHOODS

  The City Council also encouraged public comment on the ADU question before the City Council last week but they voted the week before on the issue!  Only Councilman Charlie Luke voted against the ordinance.  If it destroys the character and stability of single family home neighborhoods in Salt Lake City, residents will just move to the suburbs for the single family neighborhoods that they desire and increase pollution in the valley by driving into the City for work.  Although the Council indicated that it is a start and that it can be changed depending on the results, it is a threat to zoning in SLC since the City does not have the ability to ensure that ADU conversions to not negatively impact the residents.

ACLU FINALLY ACKNOWLEDGES OPERATION LEAF BLOWER ANTI HOMELESS

  The ACLU of Utah finally reached the conclusion that Operation Leaf Blower is not effective at helping the homeless.  It actually increases the hassles that homeless have to endure and further criminalizes them.  This has been the complaint of many for years.  In 2015, Dave Robinson, a candidate for SLC mayor, told of many homeless that had so many tickets that they gave up  trying to get out of their situation.  But over the years, Utah ACLU ignored the impacts on the homeless, until this report.  ACLU ignored the constant quality of life enforcement, the shopping cart confiscations, the loss of property confiscated and stored at impossible to reach locations, arrests that left homeless sleeping on the jail ramp after release during the winter cold at 2 AM, the requirement of an ID to get basic homeless services and lack of effective sanitary facilities that led to a hepatitis A epidemic.  It will be interesting to see if the report (in the upper right downloads section) is actually acted on by ACLU.

BEST NON MOVIE JURASSIC PARK IS IN SLC

  The best Jurassic park in Utah is now on 900 East around 1500 South.  You can't miss it.  With a T Rex, a couple of rapters and a line around the block, it is a popular and free attraction.  Ammon Smith is effectively competing with films and with Ogden's dinosaur park. 

UTA BUS SERVICE INCREASES SCHEDULED FOR AUGUST OF 2020

  UTA has indicated that the new Prop One tax increase that was forced on SLCO citizens and taxpayers will not result in service increases until August 2020.  UTA indicated that they needed to buy new buses.  That is the excuse that they are using to spend $50 million of local taxpayer money along with $20 million of federal funding for their $70+ million clean fuels facility that is across the street from the present bus garage.  UTA did not want to have their drivers have to drive the buses to the refueling facility from across the street so they are building a new $70+ million garage.  So instead of spending $50 million on restoring a robust bus system first, as recommended by the last audit, UTA is spending millions to help construction companies get a large profit.  UTA also is trying to defend their plan to electrify and double track FrontRunner at a cost of hundreds of millions.  All of that money could be, should be and would be better spent on providing a decent and respectful bus system (in my opinion).  I am sure that the Transportation Coalition is enjoying the thought of getting contracts worth billions from UTA.  The Salt Lake City increase in service on several streets is still scheduled to start in August of 2019.

DARK AGES WATER LAW SHOULD BE UPDATED

  The Legislature heard several reports from interested parties that were trying for compromises on Utah water laws that give extraterritorial jurisdiction to cities of the first class like Salt Lake City.  Over the last few years, there have been many complaints by landowners and canyon users about the questionable tactics and rules for canyon recreation by Salt Lake City.  The City is allowed to control use up to 15 miles from a water source and 300 feet on either side which the City interprets as ridge line to ridge line in the Central Wasatch Canyons.  Theoretically, SLC could stop swimming in reservoirs like they say they can stop putting feet in streams.  But the Utah Constitution protects the right of recreation and use of the navigable waterways so banning people is unrealistic, although the City tries.  The House Natural Resources Interim Committee members were doubtful about any large extraterritorial jurisdiction and seemed to suggest that a big change is necessary.

  The compromise group added a few new animals to acceptable use of the canyons but did not add dogs, despite their use when working with sheep which are acceptable.  If SLC really is worried about fecal matter and e coli, they should build more restrooms for the six million people that use the canyons (literally) every year and stop worrying about dogs.  I, and the Legislators that heard the reports were concerned that the City may try to limit or ban people.  Interestingly, some in the City and County are considering that.  There have been reports that the Central Wasatch Commission is considering fees to discourage use of the Canyons!

  I pointed out that the law that originated over a hundred years ago, in the dark ages of disease fighting, during a cholera problem and now we have that problem solved along with successfully controlling e coli contamination of our water system.  Representative Noel was concerned about Salt Lake City's efforts to ban fish in the streams due to fish pee.  That should give you an idea of where the Legislature is headed.

OCTOBER 21, 2018

ENERGYSOLUTIONS SHOULD NOT STORE ANY DEPLETED URANIUM AT CLIVE, UTAH

ENERGYSOLUTIONS SHOULD NOT STORE ANY DEPLETED URANIUM AT CLIVE, UTAH   This is what I sent the Utah DEQ regarding the ES proposal to store more depleted uranium.  The deadline to comment is October 22.

dwmrcpublic@utah.gov 

public comment on EnergySolutions' request for an exemption

  EnergySolutions should not be asking for an exemption from Utah Aministrative rules R313-25-9 (5) for disposal of solid metal depleted uranium penetrators.  In fact, I would counter the request by referring to the ORNL Assessment of Preferred Depleted Uranium Disposal Forms.pdf ORNL/TM-

2000/161 (attached), the best analysis of depleted uranium storage by Oak Ridge National

Laboratory.  Storing depleted uranium at Clive is "questionable" according to Oak Ridge's assessment.

  A summary of the important issues are: 

Depleted uranium metal is pyrophoric and should not be stored in humid environments.  The

Assessment points out that the Nevada Test Site has low rainfall and evaporation is 14 times rainfall.  It is important to note that Salt Lake City and nearby Clive, Utah have up to 5 times more rainfall and is near a large body of water.

Security at the Nevada Test Site is significantly better than Clive, Utah and will last much longer than the private EnergySolutions facility which could close at any time.

I quote from the Assessment: "In summary, the current WAC suggest that the acceptability of DUF6 conversion material for disposal at Envirocare of Utah is questionable."     (note that DUF6 is safer to store than U3O8 or depleted uranium munitions metal due to further encapsulation required) 

From the ORNL Assessment of Preferred Depleted Uranium Disposal Forms.pdf ORNL/TM-2000/161: Reacts slowly with moisture to form oxides in the presence of oxygen; condensed moisture promotes generation of H2

Reactions may form pyrophoric surface in absence of O2 

.....

Metal. 

Depleted uranium metal reacts slowly with moisture under ambient conditions to produce DU oxides and hydrogen. The oxide layer normally spalls, allowing the reaction to continue with a fresh metal surface. Reaction rates in air are slow, ranging from 2 ×10-5 to 4 ×10-4 mg/cm2. Much higher rates are observed under saturated anaerobic conditions. No detectable hydrogen is formed in the presence of oxygen except under circumstances that permit condensation of water on the metal surface and limit the transport of oxygen from the gas phase to the metal surface. There are a number of anecdotal reports of bulk uranium ignition that have been attributed to the formation of uranium hydride layers under saturated anaerobic conditions produced in storage containers [e.g., see Biwer et al. (2000)]. However, a recent evaluation of DU metal ignition potential concludes that hydriding is not required to explain such events (Epstein et al. 1996). In addition, while the conditions that had been thought to result in hydriding could occur in both disposal and storage environments if a water layer sufficient to inhibit access of oxygen to the uranium surface (Biwer et al. 2000; Duerksen et al. 2000) is present, such conditions are not likely to be significant in arid climates and unsaturated soils. Thus, it does not appear that hydriding or hydrogen generation should be significant problems under disposal conditions expected at arid sites such as the Nevada Test Site (NTS).

.....

All

have low to very low solubility in water, and all react very slowly with water to yield degradation products that are typically more stable and have a lower density (and hence greater volume) than the parent species. None of the reactions occur at a rate which would make the materials “reactive” as the term is generally interpreted in the context of managing wastes. One potential exception involves hydrogen production or pyrophoricity of hydride layers on DU metal. This concern is unlikely to be significant in an arid disposal setting such as the NTS.

.....

3.1 ACCEPTABILITY OF DU WASTE FORMS AT THE NTS

The NTS is a vast area of land north of Las Vegas, Nevada, within the Nellis Air Force Range.

The NTS is a secure site with an area of 3500 km2, which is large enough to include all of the District of Columbia and all of its adjoining cities and communities (Fig. 1). The average annual rainfall at the NTS ranges from 10 to 15 cm. However, the annual evaporation is approximately 14 times greater than the amount of rainfall.

.....

Pyrophoric. Wastes accepted for disposal at the NTS must not be pyrophoric as defined in the NTSWAC. Any material considered to be pyrophoric is required to be treated, prepared, or packaged to be nonflammable. For uranium metal or DUO2 powder, this requirement could lead to additional packaging costs or extended reviews of the waste program or waste stream profile. The need for additional treatment, preparation, or packaging of wastes would be addressed as part of the waste program and waste stream profile reviews prior to approval or shipment of the waste.

.....

addendum or supplement to the PA, which could introduce additional requirements for the disposal of DU at the NTS, may be needed. Based on the contents of the existing PA, larger amounts of any of the DU product forms should be acceptable with the addition of a thicker cap to impede radon emanation.

.....

Envirocare. Disposal of DU at Envirocare of Utah, Inc., as LLW is not specifically addressed by its WAC, but the following WAC, provisions would require further attention:

• The DU activity concentration must be less than 370,000 pCi/g, which is equivalent to DU with an assay of 0.2% 235U and an activity concentration of 234U less than natural. This criterion suggests that determining the acceptability of DUF6 conversion materials as LLW at Envirocare would require additional investigation.

• Disposal of DUF6 conversion material as 11e(2) by-product material is limited by a waste acceptance criterion of 4000 pCi/g for natural uranium or for any radionuclide in the 226Ra decay series. This concentration is two orders of magnitude less than the concentration that would be expected to be present in any DUF6 conversion material.

• Special Nuclear Material (SNM) quantity limits have been imposed by the NRC on Envirocare of Utah (NRC 1999). Under these limits, Envirocare of Utah can accept waste containers with uranium enrichments less than 10% and a maximum of 20% MgO that have a maximum 235U concentration of 1900 pCi/g. With assays of 235U in DU conversion products ranging from less than 0.2% to natural, the concentrations of 235U in DU conversion products would range from 4300 to 15,000 pCi/g, clearly exceeding the SNM limit at Envirocare.

In summary, the current WAC suggest that the acceptability of DUF6 conversion material for disposal at Envirocare of Utah is questionable. Further investigation is required before a definitive determination can be made.

.....

The NRC staff’s views concerning the viability of DU disposal as DUF4 appear to have been based primarily on an analysis of a hypothetical near-surface disposal facility having characteristics typical of a humid southeastern site (Kozak 1992). In particular, this analysis considers intruder scenarios and dissolution and transport by groundwater that are not as credible at the arid NTS, where future intruder access is likely to be precluded by institutional control and groundwater is found only at significant depths with no recharge from the surface in areas where LLW disposal occurs.

Regarding disposal of DU in metal form, the NRC staff expressed a preference for uranium oxides over metal in comments on the PEIS concerning long-term management of DUF6 (DOE 1999a). This preference may be based on the potential oxidation or hydriding of DU metal in the presence of water, and the resultant potential for radiological and environmental consequences. The NRC’s concerns about DUF4 and DU metal as disposal forms are certainly appropriate for humid sites, such as may have been contemplated for the LES facility in Louisiana. However, such concerns do not appear to be as applicable to a controlled, arid site such as the NTS, where (1) the average annual potential evaporation is 14 times greater than average annual rainfall and (2) the presence of water in the near surface is expected to be ephemeral. Current measures to prevent intruder access are being considered by DOE for long-term stewardship of the NTS. The only significant performance issue is expected to be radon release, and this can be controlled using an impermeable cap such as those used at uranium mill tailing sites. 

  Therefore, I recommend that this form of DU, different in properties from the U3O8 that is stored in the barrels and that is undergoing a performance assessment be analyzed in a separate performance assessment.  Humidity, stability of the mortar or other storage encapsulation and cap require additional assessment that is different, should be different from the U3O8 that is in the barrels.  The lifetime of the specific mortar proposed to be used also should be proven.  Many mortars have a lifetime of less than 100 years.  

  Note that the barrels contain material that has gone through a reactor and they contain, according to the manifest:  depleted uranium (U238), Plutonium 238, 239, 240, 241 and 242 (Plutonium 240 increases in radioactivity 5 times in 100 years.), Technetium 99, Neptunium 237 and other actinides introduced when exposed to fission neutrons.  

  I agree with the assessment of Oak Ridge National Laboratory that all forms of depleted uranium should be stored in a secure and dry environment such as the Nevada Test Site.  Storage should not be at Clive, Utah, a few miles from the major east west freeway of the United States. 

  I am a former nuclear engineer and I have worked with depleted uranium penetrators (Phalanx at China Lake).  I believe that storage of any kind of depleted uranium at Clive, Utah will be unsafe and unsecure for the long term compared to the Nevada Test Site.

OCTOBER 15, 2018

STUDY SHOWS INTELLIGENT TRAFFIC SIGNALS SAVES $2.2 MILLION

SLC IMPACT FEES GOING TO ZERO

MILLCREEK PLANNING ON DEVELOPMENT EAST OF

BRICKYARD

TUESDAY SLC COUNCIL FINAL HEARINGS ON ADU AND ROAD DIETS

INN BETWEEN HEARING AT 115PM TUESDAY

STUDY SHOWS INTELLIGENT TRAFFIC SIGNALS SAVES $2.2 MILLION

  UDOT is going over the final draft of the Purdue study of using Wavetronix (the UDOT traffic detection and optimizing system) to control traffic in Cottonwood Heights.  According to the project manager, Mark Taylor, the "project was very successful and resulted in some of the following benefits:

* The travel time was reduced by 3 minutes across the four corridors on average, amounting to user benefits of about $2.2M annually.

* The % of vehicles arriving on green increased by 4% from the before to intermediate phase and 2% from the intermediate to after phase.

* Volume-weighted split failures decreased by 35% from the before to intermediate phase, and decreased an additional 4.5% from the intermediate to the after phase.

* Throughput increased 4% from the before to the intermediate phase.

  Intelligent traffic signals detect traffic in all directions and calculates in real time, based on preconfigured standards, how to reduce idling and increase traffic flow with less stop and go.  The system gives a green signal to the majority of traffic and, as Mark Taylor indicated, pollution and time savings were significant.  The WFRC has a line item on their 2050 Plan (still taking public comments until November on the draft) for intelligent traffic signals but it is just a few million.  Utah should invest much more in these systems that can immediately decrease pollution and the WFRC should significantly increase the recommended funding for intelligent traffic signals.  If Utah is not going to invest in streets, we should invest in intelligent traffic signals.  

  SLC is going to replace some of the traffic signals in Salt Lake City with systems that can detect bicycles and cars.  It is part of their CIP project list but it is a regular replacement of around 10 traffic signals a year.  

SLC IMPACT FEES GOING TO ZERO

  The SLC Council is discussing a proposal to decrease impact fees for affordable housing offset projects to zero.  I put the proposal on it, Impact Fee Waivers for Mixed Income Housing in the downloads area (upper right).  It will be discussed at the October 16 City Council work session.  This will reduce the prepaid impact fee requirements for a 200 unit residential project from around $500,000 to zero if there are a significant number of affordable housing units.  This is a big deal that could have a significant effect on the housing supply in Salt Lake City.

MILLCREEK PLANNING ON INCREASING DEVELOPMENT EAST OF BRICKYARD

  Back in June, I had this blog entry:

  Millcreek also is about to finalize high density, mixed use and mixed income town center zoning in the area from about 1200 East to Highland and from northern City boundaries to 3400 South.  The project should lead to a lot of construction in the area.  Unfortunately, it is near one of the Wasatch Front faultlines and it is also next to the 3300 South/1300 East high pressure natural gas pipeline.  In the next big one, the whole area could be incinerated with a rupture of the pipeline.  It also points out that the 911 system in Salt Lake County needs to be consolidated into one system.  If there is a rupture or accident or problem at 3300 South and 1300 East, three separate emergency numbers and responders need to be notified to respond!

  Last week, Millcreek had an open house that showed their three proposals and the public comments.  I put the public comments in the downloads section and the three proposals are going to be made "public" soon.  Right now, Millcreek does not have the proposals, just the consultant.

TUESDAY SLC COUNCIL FINAL HEARINGS ON ADU AND ROAD DIETS

  At 7PM at SLC City Hall, during the October 16 formal City Council meeting, there will be two important public hearings on a road diet project on 1700 S. and the accessory dwelling unit (ADU) ordinance.

  The 1700 South CIP project is proposed for a road diet (going from 4 travel lanes to two travel lanes) and it has polarized the neighborhood.  50% are for it and 50% are against it.  Michael Clara, from Poplar Grove has been fighting SLC road diets and the 900 West road diet debacle that has led to a significant increase in accidents.  

  Although many road diets are proposed to increase bicycle safety and bike lanes, this is one of the cases where it may not be as beneficial as promised for bicyclists.  Due to the train tracks there (road diet standards say that train tracks and average and peak travel of vehicles are part of the consideration and decision), congestion and air pollution can be expected to increase.  And the community proposal to put in a TRAX station will increase pollution even more.  The proposal also adds parking and that can be a threat to bicyclists from dooring.  Opening a parked car door into a bike lane can lead to bicyclists' deaths.  According to Utah law, vehicles have to give bicyclists a three foot leeway when passing.  If a bicyclist is in the right hand lane, vehicles must move into the left lane to pass.  That would seem to be safer for bicyclists.  

  This proposal is similar to the 1300 East road diet that significantly increased pollution in the area.  But some of the residents like the increased parking that it allowed.  But when it leads to traffic backups of a mile, it results in air pollution that residents and bicyclists have to breathe.  Four lanes were safer on 1300 East for bicyclists.  Also, buses stopped pulling over because they couldn't get back into traffic after stopping.  So vehicles backed up even more!  

  (From Michael Clara's presentation) "In the fall of 2017, the Salt Lake City Transportation Division completed its 900 W. Road Diet project, spanning North Temple to 1700 South (2.5 miles). Glendale and Poplar Grove residents noticed an immediate increase in accidents along the corridor.

The 900 West Road Diet is a DISASTER because the Salt Lake City Transportation Division failed to meet the following standards for successful lane reduction projects:

1. The project satisfies the purpose and needs of all stakeholders. 

2. The project is safe for both the user and the community. 

3. The project is in harmony with the community. 

4. The project exceeds the expectations of both designers and stakeholders. 

5. The project involves efficient and effective use of the resources of all involved. 

6. The project is designed and built with minimal disruption to the community. 

7. The project is seen as having added lasting value to the community [11]"

  In other words, Salt Lake City has increased the hate and discontent in the west side of the City.  

  The ADU ordinance will have a public hearing at the same time (right after the CIP/road diet public hearing).  It increases density allowances in single family home areas, removes parking requirements and is claimed to threaten single family home neighborhoods.  The main arguments against the ADU ordinance are:  it is everywhere including in single family home areas;

parking requirements are eliminated within 2 blocks of a bus stop or if there is on street parking;

enforcement funding is missing;

AirBnb can use ADUs for short term rentals;

Owner occupied is impossible to enforce;

The SLC ADU ordinance is a threat to the stability and character of the City's single family home neighborhoods.

  Please consider providing comments to the City Council at the public hearings during the Tuesday formal SLC Council meeting.

INN BETWEEN HEARING AT 115PM TUESDAY

  The INN Between provides hospice, end of life care to the most vulnerable of our citizens.  Without the INN Between, over 50 homeless would die on the streets each year.  It also functions as a respite care facility to house those who have been recovering from a hospital stay and should not be without shelter.  It also provides housing for outpatient medical treatment of cancer and other serious diseases.  In short, it provides real charity care in Salt Lake City.

  But the facility also is caring for some homeless individuals who have never been able to be controlled or follow rules and have lived a life of criminal behavior.  Despite heroic efforts by Kim Correa, the Executive Director, to ensure that patients are not threatening or creating dissension in the facility and neighborhood, it should be no surprise that one or two of the patients will refuse to follow rules and they have created a concern for all neighbors in the single family home neighborhood (on

Sherman).  Residents no longer feel that it is safe to allow their children to walk alone to the elementary school 2 blocks away.

  The reality is that it is almost impossible to tell a dying drug addict that they can't continue to use drugs as they die.  They will get drugs and they do get drugs.  It also has the potential to expand drug use in the neighborhood.  That is a source of concern in the neighborhood and it should be a source of concern to all Utahns.

  These problems will be multiplied when the new homeless shelters are opened.  The homeless that threaten neighbors can actually end up hurting the potential to help alleviate the homeless problems in Utah.  Utah and Salt Lake City should consider solutions to this neighborhood's concerns that has devolved into a no more talk, time to threaten lawsuits situation.  

  Whether the solution is more security or an on site police officer or kicking out the troublemakers or drug users or drug dealers, there should be a solution before the other shelters are open.  I urge the Legislature and City and County to study possible solutions, work with the neighborhood, the INN Between, medical professionals.

  At 1:15PM, on October 16, at the INN Between on 1216 E 1300 S, the homeless hospice, respite care and medical housing facility in the single family home neighborhood, there will be a Legislative hearing on various topics that include complaints by neighbors about the perceived threats to their children who are unable to walk to school alone anymore.

  The homeowners in the neighborhood are concerned about the facility which they believe is functioning as a homeless shelter.  The neighborhood and the INN Between are now threatening lawsuits to each other.  The INN Between has ordered all neighborhood residents to not participate in the community advisory committee meetings.  This is not a good situation.

OCTOBER 9, 2018

SLC MAKING MILK RUN OUT OF TRAX

SLC RDA EMPHASIZES WORKING WITH UDOT ON BICYCLES

ON STATE ST

COMPLETE STREETS EXPONENTIALLY INCREASES COSTS TO

REBUILD ROADS

SLC UTA SERVICE INCREASES IN AUGUST 2019

SLC SALARY CHART FOR 2019

TRAFFIC CALMING ON 300 WEST WILL IMPACT CAPITOL HILL

DAYLIGHTING 3 CREEKS $1.4 MILLION (1.9MIL TOTAL)

SEVEN CANYONS FOUNTAIN PLAN DESTROYS SCULPTURE

9 LINE SECTIONS MISSING

1700 SOUTH ROAD DIET WILL INCREASE POLLUTION

SLC MAKING MILK RUN OUT OF TRAX

  SLC RDA is still planning to spend over $500,000 on a 650 S. Main Street TRAX Station to encourage redevelopment in the area.  The total cost of the station will be close to $3 million since the last station about 10 years ago cost $2 million.  This will make a milk run of TRAX and discourage ridership.     Despite the fact that many workers in the downtown area must walk a mile or more after parking cars (if any) far away from 2 hour maximum and/or expensive parking, SLC wants to build projects instead of providing better transit service. 

  Also, the station is proposed to be across the street or a half block away from a proliferation of car lots.  The below is from the RDA packet on the issue:

650 S. Main Street Light tRail Station $ 558,000 None.

Subtotal - West Temple Gateway Fund Projects $ 558,000

In addition, such infrastructure improvements are identified in the West Capitol Hill Redevelopment

Plan (1996), where it states development objectives for “urban amenities”, including the following:

• Improve the streetscape environment with features such as landscaped parking strips with street trees, adequate curb and gutter sidewalks, street center island medians, boulevard street and pedestrian scale street lighting, and designed gateway images.

• Provide for improved pedestrian circulation.

In addition, the RDA is required to allocate tax increment funds to the project as a term of the Project Area's extension (Interlocal Agreement for West Capitol Hill Redevelopment Project Area, 2013). Funding will be utilized for construction of a new light rail station at 650 S. Main Street. Demand for the stop will come from the proposed 650 Main office development and potential redevelopment of the Sears property. The project aligns with the Downtown Master

Plan by improving transit access and addressing transit gaps between the downtown and surrounding neighborhoods. The project will also facilitate economic development around the station by providing a link to downtown and other major destinations. It is anticipated that these funds would need to be supplemented by surrounding development in order to construct the station pursuant to actual cost estimates.

SLC RDA EMPHASIZES WORKING WITH UDOT ON BICYCLES ON STATE ST 

  SLC Council, sitting as the RDA, has emphasized working with UDOT, which owns and manages State Street, to create bike lanes on State Street (see downloads).  But, to put in bikelanes, parking needs to be removed, according to Jon Larsen, SLC Transportation Manager.  He said that there are many small shops that do not have off street parking and State Street needs parking.  I, and many others, believe that State Street can add bike lanes without removing traffic lanes or parking by removing most of the center medians that are unused.  Left hand turns would only be allowed at traffic lights or at fewer portions of State Street.

  Interestingly, Mr. Larsen said that parking could be removed on Redwood Road.  Ironically, UDOT has removed bikelanes further south in the County.  But the Redwood Road Corridor Study (see downloads) seems to allow it.  The Study also recommended 10 foot wide sidewalks.  All new building should require 10 foot sidewalks!  Pedestrians are more important than bicyclists, in my opinion.  And I am a former high mileage daily bicyclist.

COMPLETE STREETS MAY EXPONENTIALLY INCREASE COSTS TO REBUILD ROADS

  SLC is updating the Complete Streets (see downloads).  But the effort to ensure that all roads should be Complete Streets will exponentially increase the costs, well beyond the $87 million streets bond on the ballot.

  Transportation is worried about writing a memo everytime that a slurry seal is installed.  But Jon Larsen, the Transportation Manager, is worried about the work becoming a conflict when putting in a bike lane requires removing parking.  Although SLC does a Complete Streets review, during new road work, there are many missed opportunities between engineering and streets.  Engineering is doing so much work on so many streets, it is difficult for Transportation to analyze everything.   Transportation pointed out that some streets are not able to comply with the Complete Streets standards.  1300 East was suggested as a good example where a bike lane would not be safe next to the grand canyon of a gutter system.  But the complete rebuild will allow for a bike lane to be installed.   Jon Larsen said that parking versus bike lanes is often the issue for slurry seals.  Although

Transportation reviews slurry seals through the lens of Complete Streets, the SLC ordinance does not require slurry seals to have a bike lane installed at the same time. 

  SLC has a goal to implement streets with separated bikelanes and fewer traffic lanes and traffic calming. The level of documentation multiplies if there is a controversy.  Councilman Kitchen appeared to push for more pressure to implement bike lanes.  Councilman Johnston asked if a road was getting a road diet would it be documented. Jon Larsen said yes.

  Jon Larsen also presented a new study that will, with a $20,000 match for a $100,000 grant, look at all streets building to building.  The goal is to understand the real Complete Streets issues including sidewalks.  It will look at all City streets and include 10 to 20 different types of streets.  It will take about 9 months.  Previous studies looked at curb to curb issues which ignored sidewalks.

  Councilman Derek Kitchen mentioned the recent UN report that recommended that cities should be designed to be walkable and urban.  Derek complained about the 2100 South failed attempt to implement a road diet and he implied that it led to a recent death.  Councilman Charlie Luke jumped on that comment and complained that Councilman Kitchen keeps bringing up the failure of implementing the 2100 S. bike lane.  He said that he doesn't always agree with the administration but that he supports the administration's decision.  He reminded the Council that there are very few east west streets that allow transfer between east and west sides of the City and pretending that every street is the same and that every street has the same number of cars is unrealistic.  He said that the 2100 South issue was not a political issue and that the street going from 4 lanes to 2 lanes to 4 lanes was not in accordance with Complete Streets.  Councilman Luke also pointed out that the death was of a pedestrian, not a bicyclist.  Council Chair mentioned that the issue is a more complicated and nuanced situation and there will be more 2100 South similar issues.  Wait until we get to the 1700 S. discussion next week!  At the end of the discussion, Derek invited Jon Larsen to ride a bike up 2100 South with him which resulted in the Chair suggesting that the "discussion" be taken upside.

  The Council also was told that there were issues that the Legislature may need to legislate.  These issues include:  "Motorized wheelchair users are most often legally considered to be pedestrians, but questions may arise whether motorized wheelchairs may also be used in bike lanes, especially protected bike lanes. Neither Utah nor Salt Lake City codes currently address this potential use. Some states, including Oregon and Rhode Island, have statutes that permit motorized wheelchairs to use bicycle lanes.

Utah statute is currently silent on the topic of skateboards, roller-skates, and other similar devices being used on roadways, other than to allow local governments to regulate these uses. Additionally, state law protects these users as “vulnerable users” in a recent statute providing that motorists must give at least three-feet of clearance to bicyclists, pedestrians, and others. The City’s current ordinances regarding skateboards, inline skates, and non-motorized scooters provide that these devices may be used in bike lanes while having the responsibilities of pedestrians – thus facing traffic rather than going with the follow of traffic."

SLC UTA SERVICE INCREASES IN AUGUST 2019

  I put the information on the SLC agreement with UTA on use of the increased sales tax for

transit.  Note that there are several east west streets in the expansion of service that SLC

wants.  Unfortunately, the increases in service will not be implemented until August of 2019.  And there are no north south routes like State Street and Redwood Road and 1300 East that are getting a span of service increase.  As I said above, there are many workers in the downtown area must walk a mile or more after parking cars (if any) far away from expensive parking.

  In addition, the Council has asked for studying increases in service on other routes including 400 South. The Council asked why electric buses and natural gas buses were not included in the agreement.  The agreement will need to be provided to UTA before their December 2019 budget (before November for public comment). 

SLC SALARY CHART FOR 2019

  I put the discussion information for the Salt Lake City Compensation Report in the downloads secion.  Note that, despite pressure from Council Chair Erin Mendenhall, the salary of the City Councilmembers will stay at $26,291.

TRAFFIC CALMING ON 300 WEST WILL IMPACT CAPITOL HILL

  SLC is planning 300 West streetscape improvements that will "Modify the streetscape character through landscape appearance to soften the appearance and lessen the impact of the roadway as a barrier to the neighborhood...Modify parking lanes along 300 West with curb extensions at intersections to allow for easier pedestrian crossings and to protect parked cars."

  The project will include "infrastructure improvements including street trees and landscaping, improved pedestrian crossings" and traffic calming from North Temple to 1000 North on 300 West.  If it is not done correctly, it will significantly increase the traffic that is inundating Capitol Hill.

DAYLIGHTING 3 CREEKS $1.4 MILLION (1.9MIL TOTAL)

  The effort by SLC to create a Three Confluences Creek (1300 South and 900 West) is underway but the added plan to daylight the rivers will cost an additional $1.4 million.  The total cost of the project is about $2 million.  The cost could go up if the adjacent garage is bought out.

SEVEN CANYONS FOUNTAIN PLAN DESTROYS SCULPTURE

  The contractor, CEM Aquatics, is recommending significant changes to the Seven Canyons Fountain in order to open it up again with the water features that are important to get the full effect.  The biggest changes are tearing out the rocks and stream beds!  The costs breakdown are below.  But all that is needed to restart the Seven Canyons Fountain is to have a sign that makes playing in the water prohibited.  The concern of the County Health Department is that dog feces may be in the water and babies sometimes are exposed to the water.  But babies are exposed to the grass in Liberty Park and it should be common knowledge that dogs do their business everywhere in Liberty Park.  We shouldn't close use of the grass because of it and we shouldn't close the Seven Canyons Fountain because of it.   The Council almost also added $120,000 to the Seven Canyons Fountain repair/refurbishment/renovation/restoration.  But Erin Mendenhall agreed to remove the $120,000 from the Seven Canyon's Fountain if  the Council would add money to fix the Fountain when the design is agreed to.

  The specific recommendations from the CEM Aquatics team are:

8. From CEM Aquatics – Rock/Rock-like Feature Safety Violations

The existing rock and rock-like features in and adjacent to the 7 Canyon stream beds are in violation of the code as it relates to an Interactive Water Feature. The rocks appear to be too tall, too closely spaced and too jagged to meet the minimum standards for interactive play in water features. Our assessment is that it would take extensive changes and reworking of the rock and rock-like & Canyon stream beds in order to make them code compliant. Essentially they would need to be torn out and redone.

9. From CEM Aquatics – Water Feature Safety Hazards

The existing water feature has water falls, site walls, rocks, etc. that allow for fall

distances in excess of the building code requirements as well as sharp edges, and other

safety hazards. The code states “All parts of the interactive water feature shall be designed, constructed, maintained, and operated so there are no slip, fall, or other safety hazards, and shall meet the standards of the construction code adopted by the Utah Legislature under Section 58-56-4”

The full packet discussion is:

Project #45 – Seven Canyons Fountain Design Solutions – Council Members asked what health and safety problems were identified at the fountain. See Attachment VIII for a summary of the violations and current issues. Health and safety issues relate to drowning hazards, disinfection systems, hot synthetic turf in the summer and rock and water features not being up to current safety code standards. a. Cost Estimates – In May 2017, the Administration worked with CEM Aquatics to identify two options to resolve health and safety issues. The cost estimates below may need to be increased to account for inflation and impacts of tariffs and the ongoing trade war. The Administration is currently exploring an Option C with another contractor to only address Utah Code violations. i. Option A ($795,000 to $895,000) – perform the necessary work to get the 7 Canyons Water Feature code compliant with the state health code. This option leaves the upper half of the fountain dry and opens the lower half with water. Page | 3

ii. Option B ($1.85 million to $2 million) – upgrade and enhance the 7 Canyon’s Water Feature in a new and unique way, while maintaining the history and integrity of the original feature’s design and intent. This is a full re-build. iii. Option C - PENDING

5. Project #46 – Fairmont Park Stream Access and Beautification – Council Member Fowler asked how this project would impact the recent pond renovation. The Administration responded that the project would have a positive impact for bank stabilization, supporting native plant compositions and creating greater stream accessibility for kids and other residents to interact and play in the water (which is not allowed in the adjacent pond). The project is estimated to save $1,000 annually in future maintenance.

Summary of Issues at Seven Canyons Fountain in Liberty Park From Salt Lake County Health Department:

1. Violation 4.12.1 Access Barriers – Required

As the "wading pool" area of the feature has at least 12 inches of standing water when the feature is open and operational the feature is required to have an access barrier that is at least 6 feet in height with a self-closing and self-latching gate to provide complete perimeter security. Openings through the fence or barrier, shall be rigid enough to prohibit a sphere greater than 4 inches from passing through it at any location. This is to help prevent a drowning incident. Also violation of Utah State Pool Rule R392-302-14- Fencing.

2. Violation 4.16.2 Outlets – Existing Pools

The "wading pool" area of the feature is not currently compliant with federal law-- Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act (VGBA)--as it only has a single main drain with a drain cover that is also not VGBA compliant. Also violation of Utah State Pool Rule R392-302-18-outlets.

3. Violation 4.28.4(iii) Interactive Water Feature – No Ponding

Water from interactive water feature ponds on the floor in the main pool area approximately 12 inches deep while the feature is open and operating which is currently a drowning hazard. Also violation of Utah State Pool Rule R392-302-31(6) (d)Special Purpose Pools.

4. Violation 4.28.4(vi) Interactive water Feature – ORP Controller Required

Interactive water feature lacks required secondary disinfection system which shall be in operation whenever the feature is open for use. Also violation of Utah State Pool Rule R392-302-31(6)(f) Special Purpose Pools.

5. Violation 4.28.4(v) Interactive Water Feature – 3-Foot Wide Deck Required

Interactive water feature lacks a continuous unobstructed deck at least three feet wide all the way around it. Also violation of Utah State Pool Rule R392-302-31(6)(c) Additional Issues Identified by the Administration:

6. Salt Lake City Staff & KSL News – Hot Synthetic Turf

Synthetic turf has been placed in the landscaped area above the fountain to control erosion and to prevent organic matter from entering the fountain area. The turf gets extremely hot in direct sunlight during the summer months. See related news article https://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=45066889&nid=1171&title=artificial-turftemperatures- too-hot-for-young-athletes-ksl-investigates 7. Salt Lake City Staff & CPTED Principles

Upper landscape area of the fountain is not CPTED compliant. There are many hiding places that are conducive to crime and drug use. CPTED = Crime Prevention Through

Environmental Design

8. From CEM Aquatics – Rock/Rock-like Feature Safety Violations

The existing rock and rock-like features in and adjacent to the 7 Canyon stream beds are in violation of the code as it relates to an Interactive Water Feature. The rocks appear to be too tall, too closely spaced and too jagged to meet the minimum standards for interactive play in water features. Our assessment is that it would take extensive changes and reworking of the rock and rock-like & Canyon stream beds in order to make them code compliant. Essentially they would need to be torn out and redone.

9. From CEM Aquatics – Water Feature Safety Hazards

The existing water feature has water falls, site walls, rocks, etc. that allow for fall distances in excess of the building code requirements as well as sharp edges, and other safety hazards. The code states “All parts of the interactive water feature shall be designed, constructed, maintained, and operated so there are no slip, fall, or other safety hazards, and shall meet the standards of the construction code adopted by the Utah Legislature under Section 58-56-4”

9 LINE SECTIONS MISSING

  During discussion of the 9 Line Trail, the City Council was concerned about the lack of completion of the Trail.  Recent blog entries discussed the main issue, the 9th South train tracks that were the scene of the 999 bicycle rider death.  Unfortunately, SLC and SLCO are not prioritizing a safe overpass for bicyclists, pedestrians and wheelchairs.

The full packet information is:

7. Completing the 9-Line Trail – The Council asked how many sections of the 9-Line trail are

unfinished. The Administration provided the following response: “The only truly finished section is between Redwood Road and 700 West. There are 4-5 unfinished sections, depending on how you slice them, totaling a minimum of about 5.5 miles and a maximum of about 8.5 miles. These are listed from west to east and include a little about what we know or are doing at this point.” Transportation stated the existing maintenance funding level is sufficient but additional funds will be needed as more sections of the trail are completed. According to the 2018 9-Line Extension Study, the total estimated cost to complete the 9-Line is almost $21 million. However, this does not include potential land purchases that may be necessary. See Attachment XI for the full study and page 91 for cost estimates.

a. Surplus Canal to Redwood Road: 0.90 miles (including two potential new crossings at Indiana

Ave and at Redwood Road)

b. 700 West to Lincoln Street: 2.5 miles (includes the 300 West to West Temple Central 9th section of the trail headed up by JP and currently looking for maintenance funds [capital funds are secured])

c. Lincoln Street to 1300 East: 0.5, 0.75, and 0.81 miles, which are all three route options to be built eventually between 1100 East and 1300 East (one is currently in design and pending a budget increase request that was submitted about 3 weeks ago, to be decided in November or

December and to be potentially built in spring 2019)

d. 1300 East to Guardsman Way: 0.70, 0.50, and 0.64 miles, which are all three route options to be built eventually east of 1300 East

e. Foothill Drive to Emigration Canyon: 1.16 miles (includes Arapeen Drive to This is the Place western entrance section in front of Matheson State Park,

1700 SOUTH ROAD DIET WILL INCREASE POLLUTION

  The 1700 South road diet has polarized the community.   The issue has divided the community, much like the other attempted road diets of 2100 South and Sunnyside and the implemented road diets of 900 West and 1300 East.  SLC activist Michael Clara has been pointing out the inadequate planning for the 900 West that has led to a significant increase in accidents along 900 West.  The community is upset about the road diet but bicyclists think that it is a better road.  The downloads has the new CIP list and it has this comment on the issue from SLC: "Recommended for funding by the Sustainability Dept. Increases opportunities for active transportation, and has high potential to reduce vehicle miles traveled and associated pollutants. Increased connectivity, and bike and pedestrian safety."  Next week, at the October 16 SLC Council 7 PM formal meeting, there will be a public hearing on the issue. 

CIP DISCUSSION DROPS 1100 EAST ROAD PROJECT

  During discussion of the CIP projects, the 1100 East Road Project to repair the road by the Post Office and Hollywood Avenue, the Council dropped the project due to concerns about impacting traffic that use 1100 East as an alternate to avoid the 1300 East road project.  

OCTOBER 4, 2018

SPRAGUE LIBRARY REDESIGN HAS UNISEX SHARED BATHROOM!

SPRAGUE LIBRARY REDESIGN HAS UNISEX SHARED BATHROOM!

  In a surprise announcement, SLC Library Director Peter Bromberg has recommended that the Sprague Library bathroom be one bathroom with secure private stalls.  The water sinks would be shared in the open part of the restroom.

  The Director was warned that if a homeless person or a person that appeared to be a threat is in the restroom, no parent and probably no woman would want to use the private stalls.  The audience seemed to be very concerned about the issue.

  The Sprague Library will close by April 30, 2019 and hopefully reopen after 8 to 12 months of construction, by the end of the year.  The Library is still looking for alternative library space since the goal is to keep the Library services available to the neighborhood.  The Library is also looking at the Fire Station on Sugarmont that should be vacant by then.

  The Library still does not have parking for the Librarians so they will still have to use the underground questionable spaces below Bed Bath and Beyond.

  The Library will build a wall around the underground stairwell and raise the steps to the upper level patio so that further floods will not affect the underground level.  The cost will be around $4 million.

OCTOBER 3, 2018

SLC COUNCIL INCREASED DENSITY HEARING ON ADU OCT 16

SLC WATER RATE STUDY COMPARES WATER CHARGES IN

UTAH

SLC TRYING TO WORK ON ROADS THAT ARE BEING USED AS DETOURS!

SLC PARKS TRYING TO CLOSE HANDBALL COURTS

SEVEN CANYONS SUMMARY SHOWS CONTRACTOR WANTS

INCREASED COSTS AND SCULPTURE DESTRUCTION

900 WEST ROAD DIET SHOWS SLC DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO

DO ROAD DIETS

LEGISLATURE TO HAVE HEARING AT INNBETWEEN OCT 16

SLC CIVIL PENALTIES ORDINANCE USELESS ON MOTELS

ALL PEDESTRIANS SHOULD CARRY FLASHLIGHTS AND HELMETS 

SLC COUNCIL INCREASED DENSITY HEARING ON ADU OCT 16

  The SLC Council seems determined to shove ADUs down the single family home neighborhoods, despite their opposition.  The biggest problems is parking requirements are significantly reduced and there is no real enforcement mechanism for what we have now.  It can take a year for a problem house to be forced to change, if ever.  I put the latest ADU file from the City in the downloads area.  It has many of the comments from citizens.  On page 80, there is a summary of the parking issues.  It says: "Current parking requirement: requires one stall for the ADU. Parking requirements can be waived if the principal dwelling meets the current parking requirement (two parking stalls per single-family dwelling) and one of the following is satisfied: o The property has on street parking in front of it; or o The property is within ¼ mile of a transit line or bus stop."

  This is a serious change to the character of neighborhoods.  It is being driven by people who feel that we have too many cars and there is a high cost to free parking (lunch seminar by biggest proponent of the high cost of free parking tomorrow morning sponsored by SLCO Transportation).  They feel that it should be acceptable to park a block away!  

  The only good news is that the Council is slowing it down with the requirement (if it stays in through the final vote) of going through the conditional use permit process if it changes zoning

density.  Hopefully, the SLC permit process and cost will also deter large scale increases in density in single family home neighborhoods.  

  There is one last chance to fight this monster.  On Oct 16, there will be a final hearing on the SLC ADU new ordinance at the 7PM SLC Council formal meeting in the 400 S. City Building.  Last chance!

SLC WATER RATE STUDY COMPARES WATER CHARGES IN UTAH

  I put the newest version of the SLC Water Rate Study in the downloads area and it compares the cost of water and sewer Countywide.  It deserves reading since SLC residents and businesses will eventually pay 100% more for sewer and water fees from two years ago.  The study also did not change the significantly increased costs for parks, open space and golf course watering.  They are still on 4 tiers and that is why some SLC open space properties have stopped watering!  Last year, the City tried to stop watering the City Cemetary (until complaints poured in).

SLC TRYING TO WORK ON ROADS THAT ARE BEING USED AS DETOURS!

  The number 10 rule of good government is do not do roadwork on streets that are planned to be alternate routes to avoid construction on nearby streets.  SLC does not seem to get this rule.  1300 East is undergoing a major two year reconstruction project (the mother of all street projects) and two of the nearby streets used as alternates are scheduled for CIP projects.  The SLC Council ignored the fact that

1100 East and 1900 East are being used as alternate routes and detours around the 1300 East project.  The 1900 East project impacts those trying to use 2100 East from the University to 2000 East in Millcreek.  Someone in the Administration needs to recognize the increase in pollution that will result from violating this rule of good government.

SLC PARKS TRYING TO CLOSE HANDBALL COURTS

  SLC Parks is going around to local community councils to try to justify a $700,000 project to pave a new path into the Liberty Park maintenance yard.  The project will close the well used handball and tennis ball wall that is north of the pool.  Despite objections by the Liberty Wells Community Council, SLC Parks showed up at another community council meeting trying to justify the project.  SLC Parks should actually listen to the residents of the area.  They plan on going to the Central City Community Council meeting tonight.

  This project is on the CIP list but not recommended.  There will be a hearing on October 16 at the SLC City Council formal meeting at 7 PM.

SEVEN CANYONS SUMMARY SHOWS CONTRACTOR WANTS INCREASED COSTS AND

SCULPTURE DESTRUCTION

  I put the Seven Canyons Fountain Summary in the downloads section.  It shows why the interactive water feature was closed and how a contractor, CEM Aquatics, is recommending solutions.  It shows that their recommendation is to destroy the sculpture (in my opinion).  

"8. From CEM Aquatics – Rock/Rock-like Feature Safety Violations

The existing rock and rock-like features in and adjacent to the 7 Canyon stream beds are in violation of the code as it relates to an Interactive Water Feature. The rocks appear to be too tall, too closely spaced and too jagged to meet the minimum standards for interactive play in water features. Our assessment is that it would take extensive changes and reworking of the rock and rock-like & Canyon stream beds in order to make them code compliant. Essentially they would need to be torn out and redone.

9. From CEM Aquatics – Water Feature Safety Hazards

The existing water feature has water falls, site walls, rocks, etc. that allow for fall distances in excess of the building code requirements as well as sharp edges, and other

safety hazards. The code states “All parts of the interactive water feature shall be designed, constructed, maintained, and operated so there are no slip, fall, or other safety hazards, and shall meet the standards of the construction code adopted by the Utah

Legislature under Section 58-56-4”

  Someone, anyone, everyone, should tell SLC Parks to stop trying to spend more money in the process of destroying art.  This project is on the CIP list but seems to be just design.  There will be a hearing on October 16 at the SLC City Council formal meeting at 7 PM.

900 WEST ROAD DIET SHOWS SLC DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO DO ROAD DIETS

  I put the 1700 South road diet survey in the downloads section.  It shows that the proposal has polarized the neighborhood.  The number 9 rule of good government is do not polarize neighborhoods with projects. 

  There will be a hearing on this project and the othe CIP projects on October 16 at the City Council

formal meeting at 7 PM.  The 900 West road diet that significantly increased traffic accidents shows that

SLC DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO DO ROAD DIETS.

  Another CIP project is recommended to give $2 million to the 300 West traffic calming and road diet project that the City is hoping will get $12 million from the federal government.  In other words, the City is planning road projects involving traffic calming/road diets instead of basic road upkeep and filling potholes.  

LEGISLATURE TO HAVE HEARING AT INNBETWEEN OCT 16

  I put the Legislature's Social Services Appropriations Interim Committee hearing scheduled for October 16 at the INNBETWEEN in the downloads section.  If you want to comment, you must sign up a day ahead of time.  The announcement of the public meeting is: Tuesday, October 16, 2018 1:15 p.m.

The INN Between

1216 East 1300 South

Salt Lake City, UT 84105

Enter through the main door on the east side of the building. Front desk staff will direct you to the downstairs conference room. Parking is available in the east lot or on the street.

  I expect many neighbors will have concerns that the Committee should hear about the INNBETWEEN.

SLC CIVIL PENALTIES ORDINANCE USELESS ON MOTELS

  KSL Investigates showed that the lauded and celebrated SLC Civil Penalties Ordinance does not work on motels.  Although there have been 366 cases investigated, none involved the problem motels.  The Gateway Inn was served with a notice of nuisance and hopefully that will work on crime magnet motels

SEPTEMBER 25, 2018

WILD PARTIES CAN BE FINED $300

SLC ADU ORDINANCE MAY INCREASE HOUSING COSTS

RACE IS ON TO REPLACE DEREK KITCHEN

SLC NEEDS CAMERAS SINCE THEY CAN'T HIRE MORE COPS MORE PEOPLE USE PARLEYS TRAIL THAN S-LINE SLC HAS 1900 CITY OWNED PROPERTIES!

PROPOSITION 3 HEALTHCARE EXPANSION NEEDED FOR LAW

ABIDING CITIZENS

SEVEN CANYONS DOES NOT NEED ANYMORE SURVEYS

FAIRMONT PARK SOCCER PARKING SHOULD BE OPEN

SUGAR HOUSE FIRE STATION OPEN OCTOBER 10

SLC SCOOTERS DAMAGE PEDESTRIANS, RIDERS AND PLANTS!

DANNON YOGURT GETS $200,000 FROM SLCO AND POLLUTES NEIGHBORHOOD

WILD PARTIES CAN BE FINED $300

  The SLCPD are now suggesting that when you file a complaint or call dispatch about a noisy and wild party that has underage drinking or if it is out of control, you should tell dispatch that you are reporting a "problem house" and to have the officer call back.  When you talk to the officer, ask them to report the incident as a problem house and ask them to file a wild party/problem house report.  The fine for a problem house that is having a wild party is $300.  Landlords will clamp down faster when they know that there is a continuing problem.

SLC ADU ORDINANCE MAY INCREASE HOUSING COSTS

  In the effort to increase housing in Salt Lake City, the Council and Mayor are pushing a new ADU ordinance.  The biggest issues are that parking requirements will be minimal, there is still minimal enforcement of zoning and problem issues now and it now seems that the ordinance could increase housing costs.

  It turns out that with the Legislature making Airbnd and other house sharing apps legal State wide, the increase in auxiliary dwelling units/cottages/mother in law apartments could attract more owners to take advantage of the temporary renters that housing apps are catering to.  The result could be similar to what has happened in many other cities.  Housing costs could significantly increase since Airbnb allows residents to charge and get much more than regular monthly rents.

  The City should limit ADU approvals to 25 a year until they get a handle on how to respectfully and reasonably protect the character and livability of single family home neighborhoods.

RACE IS ON TO REPLACE DEREK KITCHEN

  Several individuals are thinking of and exploring the possibility of replacing Derek Kitchen on the SLC Council when he is elected (assuming he is elected) to the State Senate.  I have reminded them of my old blog post in March that indicated that it will depend on the State Senate if he can keep his position on the City Council.  As RDA Chair, he has a lot of influence in his area and the area around his business.  He has been a good representative of his City's citizens although I don't always agree with him.  He will be much better than his predecessor, Jim Dabakis, who still thinks that he should be considered to be mayor material.  Most any citizen can get more done at the Legislature than Senator Jim Dabakis has in the time he has been in office.  He only has sponsored one bill that has been passed, a carbon monoxide detector in schools bill.

  The March blog post with Justin Lee of the Lieutenant Governor's Office email is below:

AN DEREK KITCHEN BE BOTH A COUNCILMAN AND SENATOR YES, BUT

Several people have asked me whether Derek Kitchen, SLC Councilman for District 4 can be a State

Senator at the same time.  It appears that he can but it will probably end up with a decision in the State Senate who can decide whether he can be seated, if he wins Senate 2 election this November.  I asked Justin Lee, the Director of Elections in the Lt Governor's Office the question.  Here is what he said:

I'm not aware of a definitive statement or opinion on that issue, although it comes up from time to time.

20A-9-201(2) says that an individual cannot be a candidate for more than one office in any election year.

With the elections being on different years, that doesn't really apply. 

Article VI, Section 6 of the Utah Constitution says "No person holding any public office of profit or trust under authority of the United States, or of this State, shall be a member of the Legislature: Provided that appointments in the State Militia, and the offices of notary public, justice of the peace, United States commissioner, and postmaster of the fourth class, shall not, within the meaning of this section, be considered offices of profit or trust."  I have heard several opinions as to what this means, but no definite interpretation. 

Article VI, Section 7 reads "No member of the Legislature, during the term for which he was elected, shall be appointed or elected to any civil office of profit under this State, which shall have been created, or the emoluments of which shall have been increased, during the term for which he was elected."  This makes it seem fairly that legislator cannot run for local office, but does not definitely state that someone in local office cannot be a Senator. 

The most important section is probably Article VI, Section 10 which states "Each house shall be the judge of the election and qualifications of its members". This indicates it would really be up to the Senate to decide whether or not he could be seated in the Senate if he also wanted to keep his council seat. 

Justin Lee

Director of Elections

Office of the Lieutenant Governor

State of Utah 801.538.1129 justinlee@utah.gov

  Another issue is the Hatch Act (1939 not named for the Utah Senator) that bars state and local government employees from running for public office if any federal funds support the position, even if the position is funded almost entirely with local funds (Jason Miller The Unwise and Unconstitutional Hatch Act).  The Democratic Party of Utah sued to stop Ogden City Police Chief Jon Greiner from serving as State Senator.  Although the U.S. Office of Special Counsel agreed that the Chief took federal funds (for bulletproof vests for his cops), Greiner was still able to serve his four year term in the State Senate.

SLC NEEDS CAMERAS SINCE THEY CAN'T HIRE MORE COPS

  New information, this week, has SLCPD reporting that they have five mobile camera trailers with one brand new one from a grant and four older trailers that were recently overhauled (A few weeks ago, the City only had one operating trailer.).  The SLCPD is asking to "get the grant renewed to build a 6th trailer, and then overhaul the other three to newer standards.  These trailers are constantly tasked out based upon departmental priorities and then needs with in the community.  They cost roughly $53,000 new,  for a lower tier high end set up and have to be custom made, about 4-6 months based upon parts availability."

  Sgt Marshall from the SLCPD said "From my experience and from an operational standpoint, I personally would rather have more mobile trailers, and more covert camera systems than a fixed point camera in a park.  It is rare that the fixed  camera will pick up a felony level crime with enough clarity for good prosecution.  A fixed camera will pick up a bunch of misdemeanor level stuff that very likely will not get prosecuted. There are some arguments for fixed position cameras, but I would make them for street coverage on major downtown intersections and other major intersections within the city.  It comes down to needs and resources, I have need for mobile trailers to move around the city to help with hotspots and problems areas with a high level of visibility.  I have need for more covert systems to gather intel to help with drug, vice, and gang houses to build cases and secure warrants for those issues.  Fixed cameras in parks is more of a feel good solution to a problem.  Pioneer Park and the 500 West area is very heavily covered in cameras and not much of a deterrent at all to the crime, we don’t have the staffing/resources to monitor or react to real time events regardless.  I appreciate any and all support in these endeavors, but feel a fixed position camera in the parks would not be cost effective, nor a significant deterrent at this junction in time."   My opinion is:

  The Pioneer Park cameras did not work and were recently removed.  But with today's technology, remote cameras can be always on and capturing video or even stop motion pictures of high definition and when a serious crime is reported, the images can be used for prosecution, or making prosecution easier.  

  Sgt Marshall is right.  Misdemeanor cases are not usually going to go to the trouble of using video.  But they can be used by prosecutors as leverage to plead out cases.  Also thefts and other crimes will not be even investigated unless there are images or evidence that can help police with a lead.  

  I want to emphasize this.  Police can use video or stop motion images recordings to start investigating when they would normally stop with a police report.  Police need more than a police report to justify going after so called minor crimes like drug dealing, bicycle theft, package theft, car breakins, or simple assaults.  

  These crimes are not being reported to police now.  This issue is City wide.  Crime victims are confused and disturbed and distressed about police and dispatch responses (dispatch especially) and they stop reporting crime.  Video and or images can help counter this attitude.

  The video does not have to be monitored, just recorded.  When officers want to investigate a report, they will have resources (an image or video) to start their investigation.  Recording a week's worth of one 4k image a second can be had with less than $500.  The infrastructure is coming with 5G anyway and the City can use that infrastructure to incorporate a very inexpensive solution.

  The best deterrent to crime is a visible police officer.  The next best (actually after adequate jail and DA funding) is knowledge that criminal actions will be recorded and can be used to catch and prosecute criminals.

  I urge all community councils to ask for park and crime area cameras to decrease criminal activity.  The community councils have wanted park rangers for years but the City does not have the funding and cameras can fill some of the need.  I also think that the administration should take the lead and show the citizens that they have a way to fight crime that is proactive and does not depend on the failure to hire more cops.

  Since every city in this County has a problem hiring enough cops, we need alternatives that can help fight crime. 

MORE PEOPLE USE PARLEYS TRAIL THAN S-LINE

  Over the summer and great Salt Lake City weather, it should have been noticed that the S-Line Trail, the Parleys Trail that follows the S-Line/Sugar House Streetcar is getting more use than the streetcar/TRAX train itself.  There are still about 1500 passengers a day riding the train.  But many more are using the adjacent Parleys Trail!  Despite the argument that many of the new apartments and residences that have been built in Sugar House over the last ten years have been built due to the many parks, including the Parleys Trail linear park, people still hear that the streetcar helped development.  I disagree and still complain about the $6 million that the County and UTA are spending on the double tracking in South Salt Lake City to increase the streetcar frequency to 15 minutes from 20 minutes.  If all of the costs, including double the cost of the 21st South bus service that goes to the UofU, you can come close to $5 cost per rider on the streetcar.  Most of that is subsidized by taxpayers since most use it as a transfer from other UTA routes.  It is more than that when you factor in the 30-40 year lifetime of rails.  The curves on TRAX are being replaced (7th South curve last year and 4th South curves this year) much earlier due to wear and tear.  

  The figures should be a cautionary tale for anyone thinking that spending billions on rail is a reasonable and financially sound idea.  Last year's LA study found that after spending over $15 billion on rail projects, the ridership stayed almost the same!  Utah should not make the same mistake.  But wait, the Mountain Accord/CWC committee chair has indicated that the billions for the rail and tunnel are still on the table and the County tax from SB136 can be used!!

SLC HAS 1900 CITY OWNED PROPERTIES!

  During a recent SLC Council meeting, it was mentioned that Salt Lake City has 1900 City owned parcels.  The administration is working on providing the Council with a "working list" and it is forthcoming.  The staff also pointed out that they gave the Council a list of 60 City owned properties but that is unofficial and not available to the public so far.  It is also a working list.  The Council had a little argument about what to call the reports so that they are not official.  "The 1900 plus parcels list is not validated."

PROPOSITION 3 HEALTHCARE EXPANSION NEEDED FOR LAW ABIDING CITIZENS

  I had an oped in the Deseret News a few days ago that pointed out that the Legislature has expanded healthcare for criminals and drug addicts but law abiding citizens should also be included in healthcare expansion.  Government should not be in the business of encouraging lawlessness.  The link to the Deseret News opinion piece is: https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900032992/guest-opinion-some-law-abiding-citizens-cant-affordhealth-care-prop-3-can-change-that.html

  Ironically, an argument against Proposition 3 healthcare expansion complained about most Medicaid recipients are unemployed childless adults.  But the Legislature did that when they expanded healthcare to chronically homeless!  Other arguments are that the program is unsustainable and we should not be committing ourselves to the federal government requirements.  Again, ironically, Utah gets a lot of money from the federal government and much of it requires a local taxpayer match.  For instance, UTA got $20 million if Utah taxpayers would put up $80 million to fund active/bicycle infrastructure!  UTA is trying to get $20 million for a bus garage that local taxpayers will fund with $50 million out of our pockets.  Utah gets federal money, and matches much of it for freeways, roads and even for military bases.  The Proposition 3 proposal will get more than ten times what Utah taxpayers put in.  It is the best potential federal funding plan ever!

  I also alluded to the fact that mental health treatment (which Utah is applying for but Proposition 3 will probably beat to implementation) is lacking due to a 50% cutback at the County level.  That affects those in the criminal justice system (could be over 80% of incarcerated) that need mental health treatment but do not get it when they are released.  Again, ironically, kidnapper Barzee would be helped (if at all) by more mental health treatment.

  Proposition 3 is the best thing to happen to Utah in a decade, even better than Mitt Romney.

SEVEN CANYONS DOES NOT NEED ANYMORE SURVEYS

  SLC Parks and Open Space has been suggesting a design review and survey to see what the community wants for the redesign of the Seven Canyons Fountain in Liberty Park.  It was closed due to health and safety concerns since kids and dogs were using the water features and safety could not be guaranteed.  All that the City had to do was rope it off from children and cement over the adjacent grass (which muddied up the filters).  Dogs go on the grass everywhere in parks but we do not close parks because of it.  Dogs should not be an issue in the Fountain.  And it shouldn't need millions to make it operational.  The City Parks has been trying to close the handball courts at Liberty Park and use the courts as a driveway for the maintenance yard and thinks that that should be a higher priority than the fountain.  The community disagrees.  When Kristin Riker suggested a survey to see what the community wanted, Council Chair Mendenhall said that the community does not need any surveys.  It should be clear that they want the Fountain operational again.  It was such a great feature that news stories about Liberty Park still use video of the operating Fountain for background about the Park!  The City Administration should stop futzing around and just spend a couple of hundred thousand to make the Seven Canyons Fountain operational NOW.

FAIRMONT PARK SOCCER PARKING SHOULD BE OPEN

  Yesterday, the final concrete pour was completed for the Fairmont Park Skate Park parking lot that is desperately needed for the Impact Soccer tournaments.  Staker Parsons, the contractor has said that the parking lot should be usable now!  But the City wants to keep most of it closed to store salt.  But snow is not due for another month?  And the soccer tournaments attendees and players and coaches are inundating 900 East and Simpson Avenue resident with cars!  The parking lot should be open now.  If it is not, call the City and complain.  We all want our City to work but sometimes we have to complain to make it happen.

SUGAR HOUSE FIRE STATION OPEN OCTOBER 10

  The Sugar House Fire Station Number 3 is scheduled to finally open October 10.  There will be an open house in the morning.  

SLC SCOOTERS DAMAGE PEDESTRIANS, RIDERS AND PLANTS!

  It is finally sinking in that Salt Lake City's efforts to bring in electric scooters to Salt Lake is a problem.  Hospitals are reporting lots of injuries, mostly minor.  And it appears that the electric scooters are not just a hoot for parents who want to give their children a cheap thrill ride.  Drunks like them too!  Many of the injuries reported are due to drunk driving of a scooter.  This may force the Legislature to ban all alcohol in the State!

  Many others have complained that the City is allowing them to be parked on park strips which are owned by the City.  But many respectful residents have made their park strips into mini parks and the idea of a scooter being thrown onto a garden of plants and in the process maybe breaking sprinklers, is horrifying.  But SLC has authorized it!  This is worse than parking a shopping cart on a park strip, I think.  But it is not as bad as a homeless person sleeping on a park strip.  They seem to be more respectful of gardens on the park strip.

  They are considered the herpes of the transportation world and they should not have been authorized without limiting their speed to 5mph since they are mostly used on sidewalks.  Pedestrians should not have to play dodgeball with scooters.  The only way to protect yourself and especially with kids downtown is to get in a car and drive!  SLC is asking for comments at: https://slcgov.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3ylDs8MlrWCAFMN

DANNON YOGURT GETS $200,000 FROM SLCO AND POLLUTES NEIGHBORHOOD

  Dannon Yogurt received a rebate on taxes after protesting about their appraisal earlier this year at the County Council.  The Council agreed and returned $200,000 to Dannon.  It turns out that Dannon is a bad neighbor and is smelling up the neighborhood with their manufacturing.  Someone should call Dannon and remind them that they should have used the $200,000 to install more effective filters in their plant.

SEPTEMBER 18, 2018

SLCO JAIL DASHBOARD SHOWS AVERAGE ARRESTS IS 11!

ENERGYSOLUTIONS MAKES NUCLEAR POWER

QUESTIONABLE

SPRAGUE ELEVATOR IT'S ALIVE!

SLC MAY END UP WITH JUST ONE PAPER

ADUS ARE COMING BACK, FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS

BROWNING CRIME LORD FINALLY BUSTED

SLC BOND APPROVAL BY COUNCIL DESPITE ISSUES

CWC DEMANDS ALL ADVISORY MEMBERS AGREE ON

PREVIOUS GOALS

CIP LIST HAS POLARIZING ROAD DIET AND 1100 EAST ROAD

PROJECT

SMOKERS CAN'T GET ADDICTION TREATMENT

1300 EAST SEGO LILY PROJECT MAY BE AT RISK

PARLEYS TRAIL COMING CLOSER TO FINISHING EASTSIDE POLICE PRECINCT 18TH SOUTH STATE? ATTEMPT FOR SLC CHILD CARE STILL FAILING

SLCO JAIL DASHBOARD SHOWS AVERAGE ARRESTS IS 11!

  The Salt Lake County Council is getting a presentation on the new Jail Dashboard today.  I put the screenshots and presentation on the upper right downloads section.  The Dashboard is important.  It shows that the average prior bookings is 11!  Utahns should not have to put up with criminals using a revolving door jail to their benefit.  Salt Lake County is still not providing effective and efficient Jail funding.  

  Other data says that the average number of days in jail for current inmates is 107 days.  But the average length of stay (Prior 30 days) is 21.  The current jail population is 2,194.    60% are unemployed and 82% are classified as white.  91% are male.  363 are felony 1 offenses.  643 are felony 2

offenses.  838 are felony 3 offenses.  289 are misdemeanor A and 62 are misdemeanor B.   THERE ARE SOME IN JAIL THAT HAVE OVER 100 BOOKINGS!!!  According to the presentation, over 9 have had over 100 bookings and two inmates had over 180 bookings!!

  Salt Lake County needs more public safety funding to fully open up Oxbow Jail and fund appropriate prosecution of criminals to keep them in jail.

ENERGYSOLUTIONS MAKES NUCLEAR POWER QUESTIONABLE

 EnergySolutions is attempting to get super fast approval of their request to accept 6000 tons of depleted uranium (DU) munitions/metal.  The deadline is October 9 for submitting public comment (see official notice below).  During the public hearing last week, HEAL UTAH said that depleted uranium is depleted uranium  ("there is no difference between the metallic and oxide forms of uranium") and that the present process of requiring a performance assessment for EnergySolutions should continue and the DU should not be allowed until the performance assessment is finished and finally approved (probably in the next few years).  The performance assessment started in 2010.

  But depleted uranium is not depleted uranium.  The material that EnergySolutions has been calling depleted uranium in the barrels from Savannah River Nuclear Weapons Plant, HAS BEEN IRRADIATED, and is now being called depleted uranium oxide by EnergySolutions and the new material that they want to store is depleted uranium metal (according to EnergySolutions).  That is, scientifically, two completely different materials, although the majority of the materials are Uranium 238.  The 2011 email from John Hultquist at Utah DEQ is below and goes into detail about the technitium and plutonium and neptunium in the barrels.  DEPLETED URANIUM IS NOT DEPLETED URANIUM!

  Depleted uranium metal from munitions is pyrophoric when in a humid environment and there is oxygen or air.  EnergySolutions has planned on grouting the bullet of DU (30mm) before burying it.  But, depending on the uranium form, uranium 3 oxygen 8 is not pyrophoric but it is usually a fine powder which is a danger if inhaled and requires more encapsulating for safety.  

  But uranium trioxide, the majority of the material in the barrels can be pyrophoric!  One of the reasons that DOE paid for and built a storage facility for the EnergySolutions barrels, according to DEQ staff, is that DOE found some barrels in water!  Salt Lake City gets about 15 inches of rain a year.     BUT, the preeminent study on depleted uranium storage from the 2000 Oak Ridge study said: "Disposal of DU at Envirocare (EnergySolutions' previous name) appears to be questionable."  The study recommended that depleted uranium be sent to Nevada's Nuclear Test Site which gets a third to a fifth of the rain that SLC gets.  They recommended a secure facility.  EnergySolutions is not very secure and a few miles from a major highway.

  The study pointed out that uranium metal from DU munitions, should not be stored if water or humidity is present.  The Nevada Test Site is an area of 3500 square kilometers with 3 inches per year off rain.  They also recommended that storage in the ground have a thicker cap to impede radon emanation.

  "The NRC has expressed concern about the viability  of near-surface disposal of DU in some specific chemical forms and about near-surface disposal of large amounts of DU in any  form. However, these concerns appear to be based on disposal scenarios involving  humid sites, which have  much greater limitations than the arid, controlled-access setting  at the NTS."

  "Depleted uranium  metal reacts slowly  with moisture under ambient conditions to produce DU oxides and hydrogen, such conditions are not likely  to be significant in arid climates and unsaturated soils.  Thus, it does not appear that hydriding  or hydrogen generation should be significant problems under disposal conditions expected at arid sites." (ITEMS IN QUOTES ARE FROM THE DEPLETED

URANIUM STUDY FROM 2000)

  Interestingly, EnergySolutions said that there have been fires started while moving the barrels from sparks created from the loaders.  

UTAH DEQ NOTICE OF PUBLIC COMMENT 

Request from EnergySolutions for an exemption from R313-25-9(5) of the Utah Administrative Code 

The Waste Management and Radiation Control Board has directed the Director of the Division of

Waste Management and Radiation Control to solicit public comment on a request from EnergySolutions for an exemption from R313-25-9(5) of the Utah Administrative Code. This rule requires a performance assessment as a condition of receipt and disposal of concentrated depleted uranium in excess of one metric ton total accumulation. 

The rule can be found at https://rules.utah.gov/publicat/code/r313/r313-025.htm#T9. 

EnergySolutions, a radioactive waste management company with facilities in Tooele County, Utah, wants to dispose of 2,668 cubic yards (approximately 6,000 metric tons) of solid depleted uranium metal from the disassembly of munitions from the Department of Defense. Under the rules, a performance assessment is required to demonstrate that the applicable performance standards will be met prior to disposal of more than one metric ton (total accumulation) of concentrated depleted uranium. If the exemption is granted as requested, EnergySolutions would not be required to complete a performance assessment. 

The public comment period to receive comments on EnergySolutions’ request will commence on September 6, 2018 and end on October 9, 2018. 

Documents related to this request can be reviewed at the following location: 

Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control 

Multi Agency State Office Building 

195 North 1950 West, 2nd Floor 

Salt Lake City, Utah 

For the public’s convenience, an unofficial copy of EnergySolutions’ request is available on the Internet at https://deq.utah.gov/waste-management-and-radiation-control/waste-management-radiation-controlpublic-notices. 

Written comments will be accepted if received by 5:00 p.m. on October 9, 2018 and should be submitted to the address below. Comments can also be hand delivered to the Division address above and must be received by 5:00 p.m. on October 9, 2018. 

Scott T. Anderson, Director 

Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control 

Department of Environmental Quality 

P.O. Box 144880 

Salt Lake City, Utah 84114-4880 

Comments can also be sent by electronic mail to: dwmrcpublic@utah.gov. Comments sent in electronic format should be identified by putting the following in the subject line: Public comment on

EnergySolutions’ request for an exemption. All documents included in comments should be submitted as ASCII (text) files or in pdf format. All public comments will become of the official administrative record for purposes of judicial review.  Page 2 of 2 

For further information, call Don Verbica or Helge Gabert of the Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control at (801) 536-0200. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, individuals with special needs (including auxiliary communicative aids and services) should contact Kimberly Diamond-Smith, Office of Human Resources at (801) 536-4285, TDD (801) 536-4284 or by email at kdiamondsmith@utah.gov.

The last e-mail from John Hultquist on the Radiation Control Board/DEQ staff is:

On 1/12/11, John Hultquist <jhultquist@utah.gov> wrote:

> Mr. Chapman:

> Per our discussion on Tuesday, January 12, 2011, the depleted uranium

> material in barrels out at the Clive disposal facility are not reprocessed

> nuclear fuel rods. The Savannah depleted uranium trioxide material was

> produced during the manufacturing of nuclear materials (primarily for

> nuclear weapons purposes).  Uranium target materials were irradiated to

> produce plutonium for the nuclear weapons program. These irradiated targets

> went through two processing cycles to remove the vast majority of fission

> isotopes.  However, not all of the fission isotopes and plutonium was

> removed from the depleted uranium. A small fraction of the technetium and

> other radioactive materials remained with the depleted uranium. In addition,

> I have inspected the manifest and they identify Technetium-99, Plutonium

> 238,239,240,241 and 242, and Neptunium 237, and of course Uranium 238. As

> far as the military and DU littered from their ammo all over their west > Desert target range, I cannot confirm or deny your statement. Please feel > free to contact me if you have further concerns. Thank you.

> John Hultquist

SPRAGUE ELEVATOR IT'S ALIVE!

  The Sprague Library elevator works!?  The Library's "elevator company made some adjustments, and in a follow up email wrote,

"We had some valve and hoistway magnet issues that we have adjusted and believe are resolved. I apologize for the inconvenience that this has caused to the staff and patrons of the library.

Unfortunately it is common that we have a few bugs that need to be worked out on newly modernized elevators"

The elevator passed fire inspection and is safe to use.  The fire department may have suggested an out of order sign be placed on the elevator immediately following the glitch, but they have not indicated that the elevator is unsafe or should not be used."

  Use at own risk.  Again, the Library reconstruction will not occur until next year due to the extensive engineering challenges to keep the Library flood safe.

SLC MAY END UP WITH JUST ONE PAPER

  Lost in the layoffs at the Salt Lake Tribune is a comment that Paul Huntsman made during the layoff meetings that implied that in the 2020 Joint Operating Agreement negotiations, there is a potential that only one newspaper will end up being printed in Salt Lake City!  

ADUS ARE COMING BACK, FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS

  During last week's discussion on Accessory Dwelling Units (that the Council likes calling them cottages) had several issues came up that may be a problem for single family home residents.  The Council is discussing waiving parking requirements if there is on street parking or if the ADU is within 1/4 mile of a transit stop!  They are discussing allowing a driveway to satisfy ADU parking.  This could be a brew ha ha type issue for communities.  Also short term rentals need to be addressed.

  More importantly, there is no added enforcement to ensure that the adjacent residents and businesses are not impacted.  I put the presentation in the downloads section.

  "One of the issues with the conditional process is that a conditional use is required to be approved if impacts can be mitigated. Conditional uses in the city are required to go through an early notification process and be presented to community councils. Often times it is stated that a community does not  support an ADU and that it should be denied. Legally the city cannot deny a conditional use based on lack of support. The only way a conditional use can be denied is if there is a detrimental impact that cannot be reasonably mitigated.  The conditional use process may not appease all concerned stakeholders. The Planning  Commission cannot consider “public clamor” when considering a conditional use. Public clamor can be summarized as emotional or baseless opinion on a matter. Examples of public clamor include statements like “this proposal will lower my property value” or “this proposal will make it impossible to drive up and down my street.” These are opinions that are not typically backed up by any facts.  Conditional uses legally have to be approved if a reasonable, detrimental impact can be mitigated. Mitigated means reduced and does not necessarily mean eliminated or even substantially eliminated. This has been determined through case law in Utah. HB 377 Land Use Amendments is a proposal before the Utah Legislature to codify this by adding the following statement to state code section 10-9a-507(2)(a)(ii):

The requirement described in Subsection (2)(a)(i) to reasonably mitigate anticipated detrimental effects of the proposed conditional use does not require

elimination of the detrimental effects.  For example, if a neighbor raised a concern that a dumpster location for a business is right next to their fence and is concerned about the odor, overflow of garbage, and the dumpster attracting rodents, then the Planning Commission can require the dumpster to be located further from the property line to lessen the detrimental impacts of the use.  The conditional use process is a good way to inform the community about development proposals and identify potential impacts. It also establishes a “record” of decision making that is kept forever and used during an appeal  process. These considerations often outweigh the negatives of the conditional use process.  The conditional use process does provide the city with additional enforcement tools if an owner of an ADU violates any applicable regulation or condition of approval. It does not make it easier for the City to deny a conditional use for an ADU because it is highly likely that any detrimental impact could have conditions imposed that would reduce detrimental impacts."

  In other words, the City is planning on using the conditional use process for R1 single family home area ADU applications in order to help decrease "real" negative impacts on single family home neighborhoods.  It would add 60 to 90 days to the approval process.

BROWNING CRIME LORD FINALLY BUSTED

  After a long term investigation, one of the Browning and 1300 South/State area's most infamous crime supporters on Browning Avenue, was arrested in a SWAT raid for selling spice.  He has also had complaints of assaults and bicycle sales with his chop shop.  Unfortunately, as mentioned above, the jail won't hold him for long.

SLC BOND APPROVAL BY COUNCIL DESPITE ISSUES

  Salt Lake City Council will have their final public hearing on the $87 million bond on the ballot tonight

but they will also vote to finalize it on the ballot.  I am fighting against it because it is a way for government to get and spend more money.  About 5 years ago, the City Council repurposed the $8.4 million tax increase from the previous year for street maintenance and used it for salary increases, including the Councilmembers.  I think that was wrong and the City's streets are suffering due to that decision.  The City Council blames former Mayor Becker but that assumes that the Council is powerless.  The recent actions of the City Council in approving the State's takeover of Inland Port/Northwest Quadrant shows that the Council is not powerless. 

  In addition, the Salt Lake City Council asked for and got a tax increase that the County voters voted down but the County Council approved this year that provides funding for roads, in addition to 40% for

UTA (starting next July for UTA but the County increased it starting in October).  AND the City

Council increased sales taxes for roads, police (not being increased in reality), affordable housing (nothing done with $20 million from 3 years ago), and transit (but UTA will get 40% of the new County taxes!)!!  There will also be, eventually, a doubling of the sewer and water fees and also a property tax increase due to the Legislature removing the property tax valuation limit.     In other words, Salt Lake City 

 So Salt Lake City will have increased funds for streets maintenance.  One of the big issues and concerns is the lack of listing of possible projects that the funding increases will fund.  It is possible that, with all of the money becoming available, that the Council will push for pet projects and not use all of the funds for maintenance.  There is no guarantee that all of the funds will be used for basic maintenance and, as governments like to do, there is a tendency to use funds for monuments to elected officials and beautification and traffic calming projects.  Roads should be brought up to basic service levels before trying big projects to make them pretty or decreasing travel lanes. Every time Salt Lake City suggests decreasing travel lanes, no matter how beneficial it could be, the neighboring communities become polarized.  Ironically, 1700 South (see below) appears to be planned for a road diet, on today's agenda but the public hearing will take place next month.

CWC DEMANDS ALL ADVISORY MEMBERS AGREE ON PREVIOUS GOALS

  The Central Wasatch Commission (CWC) is creating a Stakeholder Council that will ensure that those who will be affected by the CWC will have a voice in the process.  But "As a condition of being appointed, Stakeholder Council members agree to support a consensus-based process for issues impacting the CWC's area, share information, and collaborate with other stakeholder council members."

  This is a laughable requirement for an advisory committee and is an effort to muzzle community opposition against the Mountain Accord and the follow on CWC.

CIP LIST HAS POLARIZING ROAD DIET AND 1100 EAST ROAD PROJECT

  The new CIP list (in the downloads section upper right) has several new approved by the Council projects including the 1700 South road diet/lane reconfiguration that is polarizing the Ballpark Community Council.  The Chair of Liberty Wells asked their community about the issue and they supported the lane reconfiguration.  The Chair, Bill Davis, was also chair of Ballpark CC until two months ago.  I put the latest CIP Impact Fees presentation in the downloads section.

  The 1100 East project, if approved will destroy one of the few alternative routes to avoid the 1300 East years long project.  The Sugar House Community Council has asked that the project on 1100 East be limited to pothole repair.

  CIP applications are being taken through September 28 at: https://www.slc.gov/blog/2018/08/17/salt-lake-citys-capital-improvement-program-is-now-acceptingapplications-for-funding-public-infrastructures/

  It is important that applicants understand that the City is changing the CIP system to be year round so that it doesn't end up with a bunch of projects at the end of the year.

SMOKERS CAN'T GET ADDICTION TREATMENT

  One big limitation of addiction treatment is the fact that most drug addiction treatment programs do not allow tobacco use.  But nicotine addiction is even harder to kick and by limiting or trying to stop tobacco use, it seems to be leading to the significant turnover in addiction treatment beds.  We are still waiting, after a year, to see how our treatment program is working.

1300 EAST SEGO LILY PROJECT MAY BE AT RISK

  The new million dollar Sego Lily design and art project that is in Sugar House Park just east of 1300 East, seems to have not included an appropriate drainage system.  So there is a chance that the whole system could be destroyed by increased water pressure from lack of drainage.  This was a bad decision that could cost the City and County hundreds of thousands of dollars.

PARLEYS TRAIL COMING CLOSER TO FINISHING

  The design for the continuation of the Parleys Trail is coming closer to finishing.  The South Salt Lake portion from State Street to 300 West is being designed and is 60% finished.  When finished, it will be implemented but South Salt Lake City needs funding for plantings.  The 900 West portion will require a long bridge over the Jordan River and that will require the Corps of Engineers to analyze and approve the design.  That could take one or two years.  When finished, the Trail is be an important part of one of the biggest, longest trail systems in the U.S. 

EASTSIDE POLICE PRECINCT 18TH SOUTH STATE?

  Today, the City Council was told that the closest that they could get to finding property for the Eastside SLC Police Precinct is property around 18th South and State Street (100 East)!  The attempt by the City to find property around Sugar House would cost around $8 million.  So the City is still looking for property around Sugar House.  Note that the similar efforts to find property for another downtown park has taken 5 years and is still in process.

ATTEMPT FOR SLC CHILD CARE STILL FAILING

  SLC Council was told today that the City's attempts to provide City employees with a child care service have stalled.  The City will continue to work on the effort.  The attempt to use the Library failed due to the need for extensive earthquake security work.

SEPTEMBER 10, 2018

JUVENILE GANG CRIME WAVE

HOUSING STORY IN SLTRIB DOES NOT TELL WHOLE STORY

THREATS TO SOCIETY CONSTANTLY RELEASED FROM SLCO

JAIL

CAMERAS SHOULD BE IN ALL PARKS

UTAH HIGHWAY PATROL TARGETING CRIMINAL SHOPPING

CARTS

MICHAEL G KAVANAGH SLC GOLDEN AGE RADIO DJ DEAD

ENERGYSOLUTIONS IS CLUELESS ABOUT DEPLETED URANIUM

JUVENILE GANG CRIME WAVE

  The SLCPD has identified a significant threat to SLC residents and businesses in a gang of 16 juveniles that has participated in 6 armed robberies in the last two months.  The gang is located around 1500 S. and West Temple.  It has been seen in Fairmont Park and at Liberty Park.  The gang has had a total of 21 arrests in the last two months!  The Police also had to disrupt a party at their house recently.  

HOUSING STORY IN SLTRIB DOES NOT TELL WHOLE STORY

  Tony Semerad had a great story in the Salt Lake Tribune on a new SLC housing dashboard.  The City put housing statistics and rental and housing costs by area on the dashboard.  The story is at: https://www.sltrib.com/news/2018/09/09/having-trouble-finding/

  I wish that we were doing better on housing but figures the City gave me, see below, show that we are doing much worse than 2 years ago.  I asked the City Council a few weeks ago to work with the administration to fine tune the impact fees which doubled for housing units and may be hurting housing starts.  Although permit time has been cut in half, housing starts are half of what they were two years ago. 

  The issues are more complicated than just impact fees. Even ADUs won't help.  There will be a limit on ADUs (the previous proposal had a limit of about 25!) and even before only two were applied for.  The cost to build an ADU in accordance with City requirements is $40,000 to $90,000!  Not many people are willing to spend that much money to get a little extra rental money.

  I am holding out hope for State Street, which was one of the reasons that SLC pushed a CRA for the area; it has the best potential for housing.  But it has taken 4 years to get off the ground and it took 20 years for Sugar House housing to be built.  That is not a good sign.  A good form based design should encourage rapid development of State Street.

  The figures that SLC provided in May showed that:

Pending issuance: 11 single-family homes, 0 duplexes, 69 condos and 602 apartments.

FY to May issued permits: 37 single-family homes, 0 duplexes, 38 condos and 353 apartments.

FY 2016-17 built: 63 single family-homes, 14 duplexes, 49 condos and 2322 apartments. FY 2015-16 built: 47 single-family homes, 0 duplexes, 0 condos and 1183 apartments.

THREATS TO SOCIETY CONSTANTLY RELEASED FROM SLCO JAIL

  Last week saw a typical example of the disfunction of the Salt Lake County public safety system.  An obviously deranged man was arrested several times in a month and quickly released from jail.  After being released from jail (for trying to kidnap a baby!), he tried to kidnap a woman!  

  We have been fighting for years about the inadequate public safety funding at Salt Lake County.  The jail and the DA are still underfunded.  Almost every week, I report on criminals being released by the revolving door jail.  Police often see the criminals they arrest walk out of jail while they do the paperwork!  150 of Operation Leaf Blower (the term SLCO Police Chiefs call the Rio Grande effort) arrestees have been arrested 5+ times!  

  The DA asked for 6 prosecutors and 600 beds.  We had to fight to even get 2.  We only got 300 beds.  One pod at the jail is still not able to open.  And even if it does, Mayor McAdams insists that we can't arrest our way out of it and he does not think that the criminals should be in jail.  He is trying to return the 300 out of County jailed inmates to SLCO Jail!  So SLCO will not get any extra jail beds!  And threats to society will continue to be quickly released!

  Citizens blame the police but it really comes down to not enough jailbeds and the repurposing of the $9.4 million jail bond a few years ago.  The Salt Lake County budget is going to be discussed in the next month and released by the end of October.  This is the time to tell the County Mayor and Council that we need more adequate public safety funding.  The Salt Lake City Police share the frustration of the citizens impacted by crime that is visible everyday.  The psychological impact to police when they can't keep the criminals in jail is significant.  Some may say that we can't arrest our way out of this but we are way beyond "we can't arrest our way out of this".  This should be the highest priority for Salt Lake County.

THE COUNTY REVOLVING DOOR JAIL HAS TO STOP

CAMERAS SHOULD BE IN ALL PARKS

  The Salt Lake City Police have almost given up on trying to remove homeless from City parks.  They have realized that when they push them out of the parks, they go into residential and business areas and crimes of opportunity increase.  Many have suggested that all parks need to have a park ranger.  But the high cost and the proliferation of pocket parks is preventing that solution.  Cameras could provide an alternative.  Pioneer Park has changed many times over the past few decades in attempts to remove the homeless who engage in criminal behavior.  The homeless criminals are still there and sometimes, one can see a pile of bikes in a makeshift bicycle chop shop!  Pioneer Park should install cameras and test their use by the SLCPD to monitor and reduce criminal behavior.  Their use and test could provide guidance to full implementation of cameras in all parks, even pocket parks.

  Fairmont Park should also have a remote camera installed.  Since the Police can't park in the torn up parking lot now, and the City Parks Department discourages driving on sidewalks (that could result in damage to sprinklers), cameras would seem to be required.  

UTAH HIGHWAY PATROL TARGETING CRIMINAL SHOPPING CARTS

  In an effort to practice quality of life enforcement, the Utah Highway Patrol is targeting shopping carts that are used by homeless to cart all of their belongings.  The enforcement has been targeting the explosion of homeless around the Main Library and just west of the Public Safety Building (ironic!).  When the Highway Patrol dumps all of the homeless belongings on the ground, they unintentionally encourage the homeless to stay there since they can't move their belongings easily!  The Highway Patrol uses a private company to collect and pick up the shopping carts to deliver them to their stores.  (I wonder if shoppers know and want to use a shopping cart that the homeless have used!?)     This practice has been tried many times in the past few years.  Former Mayor Becker had Police Chief Brown enforce quality of life laws but at least he gave the homeless a garbage bag for their belongings!  One of the interesting problems that could develop in the push to remove homeless is if the homeless refuse to leave their belongings and the police try to arrest them.  The police would then have to collect their belongings and store them for 90 days in police storage.  Taking the belongings to storage (far west side of SLC) and cataloging the items would/could take hours!  I am not sure that police want to do that.

  So if you are wondering what is causing the proliferation of homeless around the Main Library, it is encouraged by the quality of life enforcement effort (inadvertently).

MICHAEL G KAVANAGH SLC GOLDEN AGE RADIO DJ DEAD

  Michael G Kavanagh, one of several DJs during Salt Lake City's golden rock and roll era, has died.  Michael and the other DJs helped many of us endure the tumultuous 60s and 70s.  They were our friends and they provided a lot of comfort to us.  It wasn't just the music.  It was the DJs.  

  Michael cared about us.  He comforted those who lost loved ones or had troubles.  He did that on and off the radio.  His passing is a great loss to those of us who used to think that they were more important than the President of the United States.  Michael also was a fixture at the Sugar House Community Council and important to the facilitation of the Fairmont Skate Park.  He continued to care about kids until the end.

  For more about Michael and the famous DJs, see: https://www.sltrib.com/news/2015/09/15/whatever-happened-to-knak-and-kcpx/

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/600140235/DJs-of-yesteryear-were-easier-to-reach-by-phone.html https://www.deseretnews.com/article/647729/Whatever-happened-to----.html

https://cosmicaeroplane.wordpress.com/2016/05/09/slc-am-radio-b-c-before-cosmic-aeroplane/

ENERGYSOLUTIONS IS CLUELESS ABOUT DEPLETED URANIUM

  EnergySolutions effort to bid on a contract to dispose of an unusually large amount of depleted uranium munitions has shined a light on the confusing labeling of the depleted uranium (DU) barrels that ES accepted in Utah (before Governor Huntsman put a stop to it).  ES used to call those barrels DU but now is calling them "DU oxide".  This still is mislabeling in my opinion.  The barrels contain nuclear weapons waste from Savannah River Nuclear Weapons Plant!

  The large amount of DU munitions that ES is trying to store in the Clive, Utah facility is questionable since they have not proven that they know what it is they have.  The former CEO thought that you could grow vegetables in the stuff!  DU munitions may not be as dangerous as the stuff in the barrels but it is like super lead and ES should not be allowed to store it.

  I had an oped in the sltrib at:

https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2018/09/09/commentary/

  In summary, EnergySolutions should not be asking for a quick exemption from Utah Aministrative rules R313-25-9 (5) for disposal of solid metal depleted uranium penetrators.  Several recent news stories implied that the solid metal uranium 30mm penetrators are similar to the depleted uranium oxide in the barrels.  Confusion may be generated by the same names being given to two totally different wastes.

  More specifically, the main issue is that the material that EnergySolutions calls depleted uranium oxide has gone through a reactor and, as ES has said, is much more dangerous than the depleted uranium metal.  But EnergySolutions keeps denying that the depleted uranium oxide has gone through a reactor.   The depleted uranium oxide, in the barrels that came to Utah from the Savannah River Site, according to the manifest, contain depleted uranium (U238), Plutonium 238, 239, 240, 241 and 242 (Plutonium 240 increases in radioactivity 5 times in 100 years.), Technetium 99, Neptunium 237 and other actinides introduced when exposed to fission neutrons.  The depleted uranium used in metal penetrators is Uranium 238 which has had most of the unstable and fissionable uranium removed which reduces radioactivity by 40%, has not gone through a reactor.

  Until EnergySolutions makes it clear that it knows the difference in actinides and other dangerous radioactive materials in the depleted uranium oxide versus depleted uranium metal, ES should not be rushing into asking for a quick exemption to depleted uranium rules.  It should also make it clear in any press releases so that the news media is not confused by the two totally different items.  There is too much of a chance that ES will mix up the two different materials and claim that they are essentially the same.  ES has done this before.

  I am a former nuclear engineer and I have worked with depleted uranium penetrators (Phalanx at China Lake).

  Please consider telling Utah DEQ that ES should not be accepting more DU.  The public comment period ends October 9.  The official notice is:

Request from EnergySolutions for an exemption from R313-25-9(5) of the Utah Administrative Code

The Waste Management and Radiation Control Board has directed the Director of the Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control to solicit public comment on a request from EnergySolutions for an exemption from R313-25-9(5) of the Utah Administrative Code. This rule requires a performance assessment as a condition of receipt and disposal of concentrated depleted uranium in excess of one metric ton total accumulation.

The rule can be found at

https://rules.utah.gov/publicat/code/r313/r313-025.htm#T9.

EnergySolutions, a radioactive waste management company with facilities in Tooele County, Utah, wants to dispose of 2,668 cubic yards (approximately 6,000 metric tons) of solid depleted uranium metal from the disassembly of munitions from the Department of Defense. Under the rules, a performance assessment is required to demonstrate that the applicable performance standards will be met prior to disposal of more than one metric ton (total accumulation) of concentrated depleted uranium. If the exemption is granted as requested, EnergySolutions would not be required to complete a performance assessment.

The public comment period to receive comments on EnergySolutions’ request will commence on September 6, 2018 and end on October 9, 2018.

For the public’s convenience, an unofficial copy of EnergySolutions’ request is available on the Internet at https://deq.utah.gov/waste-management-and-radiation-control/waste-management-radiation-controlpublic-notices.

Written comments will be accepted if received by 5:00 p.m. on October 9, 2018 and should be submitted to the address below. Comments can also be hand delivered to the Division address above and must be received by 5:00 p.m. on October 9, 2018.

Scott T. Anderson, Director

Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control

Department of Environmental Quality

P.O. Box 144880

Salt Lake City, Utah 84114-4880

Comments can also be sent by electronic mail to: dwmrcpublic@utah.gov. Comments sent in electronic format should be identified by putting the following in the subject line: Public comment on

EnergySolutions’ request for an exemption. All documents included in comments should be submitted as ASCII (text) files or in pdf format. All public comments will become of the official administrative record for purposes of judicial review.

For further information, call Don Verbica or Helge Gabert of the Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control at (801) 536-0200. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, individuals with special needs (including auxiliary communicative aids and services) should contact Kimberly Diamond-Smith, Office of Human Resources at (801) 536-4285, TDD (801) 536-4284 or by email at kdiamondsmith@utah.gov.

AUGUST 28, 2018

SLCO JAIL TURNS AWAY ANYONE CLAIMING A MEDICAL ISSUE

OPERATION RIO GRANDE RESULTS 150 HAVE MORE THAN 5

ARRESTS

CRIME IS NOT REPORTED TO KEEP LOWER INSURANCE RATES

UTAH LAKE WATER IS IN SALT LAKE COUNTY STREAMS

SPRAGUE LIBRARY ELEVATOR EATS LIBRARIANS

TIP APPROVED BY WFRC WITH LOTS OF QUESTIONABLE PROJECTS

SLCO JAIL TURNS AWAY ANYONE CLAIMING A MEDICAL ISSUE

  Last week, I mentioned that a counterfeiting ticket criminal was not arrested due to a medical issue that would cause the jail to refuse to book him.  It appears that the issue is more serious than just that one person.  In the past, the Salt Lake County Jail has decreased intake/bookings by having the nurses check the arrested before they are booked.  Any concern on their part will result in the refusal to book the arrested into jail.  In some cases in the past, the jail used the nurses to decrease the bookings!     Career criminals know that they can stop their booking by just saying that they have chest pains.  That forces the officer that arrested them to take them to the emergency room at a hospital!  The nurses seem to be very liberal in their diagnoses that end up refusing booking into the jail.  

  In other words, Salt Lake County is trying to not arrest criminals that could cause too much medical cost for the County!  Salt Lake County will be discussing the new budget for the Jail and Sheriff in the next two months.  Please let the County Council and Mayor know that you want more adequate public safety funding.

OPERATION RIO GRANDE RESULTS 150 HAVE MORE THAN 5 ARRESTS

  In the celebration for the one year anniversary of Operation Rio Grande, the stats showing thousands of arrests did not show that less than 30 were sent to prison.  Many more, over 150, had more than 5 arrests.  In other words, Salt Lake County still has a revolving door jail.  With just one pod open at Oxbow and any open beds being populated by the incarcerated returning from other county jails, Salt Lake County criminals are almost getting a free ride.  The "we can't arrest our way out of this" philosophy is still operating in the County.  I think that we are way beyond we can't arrest our way out of this.

CRIME IS NOT REPORTED TO KEEP LOWER INSURANCE RATES

  Crime in the South Track around State Street north of 2100 South (North Track is the SLCPD term for North Temple crime magnet area) is significantly impacting residents and businesses.  It is to the point now that residents and businesses are NOT REPORTING CRIME since it is so bad that it will make insurance rates go skyhigh or be cancelled.  That is why residents are frustrated.  The incidents below are from just one small area around 1300 South and State:

  A teenager was killed this week in the area that made the news.  There was another murder about a block away last month. The rest of the crimes did not make the news.

  The bicycle chop shop in Apartment 9 at 204 Browning Ave. seems to be continuing.  The occupant has many stolen bikes in his apartment and gets into fights with people who come by to check out bikes.  A woman was beaten severely with a metal rod by the occupant of Apartment 9.  The police were called but they decided not to make any arrest.  204 East Browning continues to have fights, assaults, stolen bike operations and drug dealing and many other problems but the victims keep refusing to press charges.  The dealer in Apartment 10 was evicted but several other units have violent people in them.  Home invasions and break ins are a regular occurance in the neighborhood but the residents do not want to call police due to insurance issues or because they may not be documented or they may be involved in illegal activity themselves.  The crime is encouraged to increase.

UTAH LAKE WATER IS IN SALT LAKE COUNTY STREAMS

  Despite assurances from Salt Lake City Public Utilities that there is no algae toxins in Salt Lake

County rivers (caused by Salt Lake City moving Utah Lake water through the canals to the County streams), yesterday, the Salt Lake County Health Department tested several areas that were positive for the algae toxins.  The Jordan River and the Wheeler Farm canal that is next to Little Cottonwood Creek both tested positive.  It is strongly recommended that all contact with streams, rivers and waterways in Salt Lake County east of and including the Jordan River be avoided.  Salt Lake City is moving Utah Lake Water through the Jordan and Salt Lake Canals and that water is getting into the City's streams and Liberty Park Lake.

SPRAGUE LIBRARY ELEVATOR EATS LIBRARIANS

  Despite significant costs to repair and upgrade the Sprague Library's elevator (in Sugar House), the elevator seems to be going after librarians.  Yesterday, it broke down again and the SLCFD had to be called (again).  A couple of weeks ago, it broke down again with a librarian in it!  It is now out of order permanently until the major upgrade of the Library scheduled for next year.

TIP APPROVED BY WFRC WITH LOTS OF QUESTIONABLE PROJECTS

  The Wasatch Front Regional Council just approved billions in possible transportation projects for the next five years.  This Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) is just for 5 years while the WFRC 2050 plan is for 3 decades.  The TIP did not include the desperately needed east west freeways in south Salt Lake County.  The TIP includes:

The UTA bus garage with $56 million local funds and a total of $75 million total cost.

The local funds for clean fuel buses and related equipment in the next 5 years totals $165 million, spending 18 to 27 million each year.

The extension of the FrontRunner to the Business Depot Ogden with a station is $32 million with half local funding.

The BRT to WSU will cost about $65 million and half will be from local funds.

A Sandy S. Jordan circulator will cost $30 million with half locally funded.

The TRAX extension from Draper to the County line will cost $460 million with $92 million funded locally.  Note that the actual cost with infrastructure and stations will be closer to a billion dollars. There is a plan to extend the 3500 South BRT to Wasatch Blvd which will cost $12 million and $2.4 million is local funds.

Taylorsville/Murray transit improvements (BRT) will cost $52 million with 26 million locally funded (by 2020).

New TODs will cost $12 million with an "estimated" local cost of $2.4 million (which is what keeps draining money from service increases).

Intelligent transportation systems are budgeted at $30 million with $6 million local (synchronizing and intelligent traffic lights to decrease congestion).

The South Davis BRT will cost $80 million with $32 million locally funded.  This is the BRT that will go up 200 South to the UofU.

The UofU will get a $4 million intermodal hub.

There will be a Layton Station parking structure that will cost $4 million (since UTA gave too much property away for development (much like several other projects/TODs).

Salt Lake County signal control software will cost $5.5 million.

Layton and Davis County will add 2 ski bus routes and servicee at a cost of $1 million.

Little Cottonwood Canyon park and ride restroom $822,000.

There is a $50,000 budget to design a North Temple separated family friendly bikeway through downtown SLC.

  Obviously, the Transportation Coalition and construction companies are chomping at the bit.  These projects, many that I think are questionable, will provide a lot of business for them.  Note again that it appears that the WFRC will move their offices from the International Center to the Gateway by the end of the year.  This should result in much more public engagement.

AUGUST 23, 2018

WFRC 2050 PLAN SHOWS LOTS OF SLC STREETCARS AND TAX

INCREASES

UTA STARTS BIG ASS BUS GARAGE PROJECT WITH PHASE

ONE

UTA AGREES TO INDEPENDENT MONITOR CONTRACT

PROVO OREM BRT MAY HAVE LOST $600,000 PER YEAR IN

REVENUE

GOVERNOR INTERVIEWING POTENTIAL UTA

COMMISSIONERS 

SLCO APPOINTS UTA ADVISORY BOARD

SLCO APPROVES $400,000 TO VOA DENVER ST/2100 S. 40 BED

HOMELESS

INN BETWEEN THREATENS NEIGHBORS WITH LAWSUIT

CRIMINALS DO NOT GO TO JAIL IF THEY ARE SICK

UTAH SUPREME COURT SAYS SEIZING CASH

REQUIRES COURT HEARING 

THE HIGH COST OF FREE PARKING SHOUP COMING TO TOWN

SLC AGAIN CLOSES RECREATIONAL AREAS DURING PEAK SEASON

WFRC 2050 PLAN SHOWS LOTS OF SLC STREETCARS AND TAX INCREASES

  The Wasatch Front Regional Council 2050 Plan (maps for highway, transit and active/bicycle transportation in upper right downloads section) is recommending that the S-Line TRAX/so called streetcar be extended up 1100 East to 1700 South then to 900 East and north on 900 East to 400 South!  This is another unrealistic proposal but it is in the plan, and could be in the RTP and Utah

Transportation Plan by next year (needed to get federal funding).  SLC City Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall has indicated several times that she wants to "put a head on the snake" of the S-Line and send it up 1100 East. 

  There are also 2 downtown streetcars and an extension of the 400 South TRAX to the Central Station

(SLC is asking for a grant to obtain property to move the plan along).  Each project will cost taxpayers

(who have had 5 Salt Lake City tax increases this year and 3 more potential ones on the ballot) about $100 million in local funding.  These projects will destroy any chance of affordable housing in Salt Lake City.  No one will be able to afford to live in the City!  

  There is also a Foothill Drive to Wasatch Blvd BRT (about $600 million) and an extension of the 3500 South 35M BRT to Wasatch Blvd, even though the ridership has stayed at about 3200 passengers a day since it began operation.  

  State Street is planned to get a BRT but it needs more frequent and less expensive bus service more than a State Street BRT which stops every 4 blocks.  SLC and UDOT are putting in crosswalks on State Street between 600 and 900 South since they don't think that pedestrians can walk half a block to a light.  So why do they think that pedestrians will gladly walk 2 blocks to a BRT stop instead of half a block to a regular bus stop.  

 Another planned BRT is on 700 East but UTA had to decrease service on 700 East due to poor ridership.  Planning with wishful thinking is not good government.

  The billion dollar plus (as if we had the money) Draper Lehi TRAX extension is also in the plan.  All these planned transit projects ignore the LA study from last year that found that, after spending $15 billion on transit projects, ridership stayed the same!  It went from 147 million a month 20 years ago to 154 million a month last year.  Bus service was cut back (like the 30% bus service cutback that SLCO residents experienced over the last 15 years) in LA which encouraged people to buy more cars.  They bought more cars.  Just like Utahns, who double car sales in the last 10 years!  Transit service should be increased first and milk run buses should be eliminated.  And the $1.50 bus fare with FAREPAY cards should be publicized.  That is the way to encourage mass transit ridership.  By the way, both LA and UTA get about 3% transit ridership.

  One last issue is the lack of east west freeways in the southern end of Salt Lake County.  Instead of a Taylorsville BRT, the money should be spent on freeways around 60th South and around 10000 South that connects the east bench with the westside of the County.  One of the reasons for the backlash against the Olympus Hill project and other high numbered residential developments in the County is the lack of adequate roads to handle the traffic increase.  Neighbors adjacent to the congested roads receive a significant amount of pollution due to the traffic backup and idling cars and they should be interested in selling out to allow the road to become a freeway.  We need several new east west freeways in Salt Lake County.

  Finally, WFRC is now planning on moving to the Gateway in the fall of 2018.  This should give many people a chance to comment on the planned RTP that will be developed from the WFRC 2050 Plan.

UTA STARTS BIG ASS BUS GARAGE PROJECT WITH PHASE ONE

  The UTA Board of Trustees approved a $4 million plus contract to begin phase one of the $70 plus million bus garage that UTA has been insisting that it needs for 5 years.  This contract is to prepare the ground and stabilize it for the future construction.  Most of the funding is to come from local taxpayers.  UTA is going to get a lot of money and construction companies will get most of it.

  The Trustees approved the contract unanimously despite arguments that the last thing that the Board should do before the governance takeover is give out multimillion construction contracts.  Those decisions should be made by the future UTA Commissioners and the Advisory Board (see story of Advisory Board appointees below).  There was also no cost benefit analysis.  UTA insisted that it is inefficient to take a bus from across the street from the present bus garage and drive it to the CNG refueling station next to the new bus garage.  It would waste manhours.  But the problem with a central bus garage is that it continues the wasteful use of buses that drive out to the outskirts of SLC empty every morning and drive into SLC empty every evening.  A more efficient plan would be to have distributed bus garages to stop the need for wasting all of the time and efforts and gas/diesel/CNG on empty/dead head trips.  (note that I have used the dead head buses and find them very convenient but almost no one knows about them and how to catch them)  Ogden, Utah County will have bus garages and there is also one planned by UTA for the southwest of SLCO.

  The plan to build a bus garage to put 200 buses into the building is also concerning when you think about the potential for an earthquake.  Even though the plan and contract will ensure earthquake resistence, it is planned to use the very old and crumbling brick building as the basis for the bus garage.  It would be nice to have an independent review of the plans.  Very little has been discussed on this important topic.  

  There is also the questionable use of $4 million on a project that could/would/should be better spent on increased bus service.  Despite arguments that one time money should not be expected to be used on service increases, there is a more appropriate argument that one time money should be used for service increases.  The $4 million could be used on span of service increases and/or new bus routes and, if it is done right, the increased fare revenue will come from the new service and routes and also the synergy of a more robust system.  In other words, there should be an increase in ridership throughout the system and an increase in fare revenue system wide.  That should come close, again if done right, to making up for the one time funding.  It is called priming the pump.

UTA AGREES TO INDEPENDENT MONITOR CONTRACT

  Due to several significant questionable actions by previous UTA staff and Board of Trustees, the federal government required UTA to agree to an independent monitor to deter any further questionable actions using federal funds.  The UTA Board of Trustees agreed to a contract with a law firm Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP that starts with $400,000 and could be as much as $900,000 for monitoring that could run through 2021.  The language and explanation from the agenda packet is:

"In April 4, 2017 UTA executed a Non-Prosecution Agreement (“NPA”) with the United States

Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah (“USAO”). Pursuant to the NPA, USAO conditionally agreed not be bring any criminal actions against UTA related to past conduct identified in USAO’s ongoing investigation. However, USAO identified four issues of concern (the “Core Issues”) with respect to UTA: (a) inadequate controls over federal funds and drawdowns from federal grants; (b) improper handling and disclosure of property acquisition and disposition, including inadequate oversight of transitoriented development projects; (c) non-compliance with ethical standards, resulting in benefits to UTA and employees and members of UTA’s Board of Trustees; and (d) improper approval of executive bonuses. In October 2016, UTA provided USAO with a summary of institutional controls and organizational reforms (collectively the “Reforms”) that have been adopted by UTA since the commencement of USAO’s investigation. The Reforms are described in Attachment A to the NPA.

USAO acknowledged the Reforms in the NPA. As a condition to the USAO’s non-prosecution covenant, UTA has agreed to retain an independent third-party monitor to: (i) verify continued compliance with the Reforms; and (ii) recommend additional reforms necessary to address the Core Issues."

PROVO OREM BRT MAY HAVE LOST $600,000 PER YEAR IN REVENUE

  UVX, the Provo Orem BRT may lose about $600,000 in revenue from fares from the bus routes that are being cancelled and replaced by UVX.  Other data provided at the UTA Board of Trustees meeting included that sales tax receipts went up significantly over the last year (to year) of 9%.  Also, about 120,000 riders a month have their fare payments/tickets confirmed which is about 10% of riders on TRAX.  The percentage evading fares used to be 5% but appears to be about 2.5% now.  

GOVERNOR INTERVIEWING POTENTIAL UTA COMMISSIONERS 

SLCO APPOINTS UTA ADVISORY BOARD TODAY

  Governor Herbert is interviewing the potential UTA Commissioners today in order to appoint them and have them in place by Novermber 1.  The SLCO mayors and elected government officials (COG) appointed three members of the UTA Advisory Board that need to be in place by November 1.  The COG wanted to ensure that there was a geographic diversity on the Board so they appointed Draper

Mayor Walker, Herriman Mayor Watts and Midvale Mayor Hale to the Advisory Board.  Magna Township Mayor Peay will be one of the alternates.  They will have indefinite terms that appear to start at 1.5 years but the COG will revisit the issue in January of 2020.

  Many of the mayors in the COG also expressed interest in being on the County Transportation Advisory Board.  Salt Lake County Mayor McAdams will be appointing six members and the COG will appoint seven.  Mayor McAdams is still deciding on his appointees and they could include some of the mayors who wanted to be on the Advisory Board.  The County Transportation Advisory Board will decide how to spend the millions that will eventually come from the SB136 tax increase.  The first revenue will pay down the debt from transportation projects so there should not be a rush to need a decision on new projects.

SALT LAKE COUNTY APPROVES $400,000 FOR VOA DENVER ST/2100 S. 40 BED HOMELESS

  Salt Lake County is contributing $400,000 to the VOA for their addiction treatment and live in 40 bed homeless shelter that is south of and across the street from Home Depot on 2100 South.  Hopefully, they will engage the public and work with the neighbors in a better manner than the Hillside Inn Between (see next story).

INN BETWEEN THREATENS NEIGHBORS WITH LAWSUIT

 The lawyers for the Inn Between have sent a cease and desist letter to the neighbors that are trying to

organize and fight expansion over 25 beds for the homeless hospice center between Sherman Avenue and 1300 South and around 1250 East.  The neighbors have been passing around flyers, posting to Nextdoor and Facebook and they have set up a Go fund me page to help pay for their attorney.  The neighbors have hired an attorney.  

  As I mentioned a few days ago, the neighbors are being intimidated by homeless that seem to be targeting them for objecting to a homeless hospice facility that was implemented without much public input.  Homeless are going into backyard parties uninvited, sleeping on porches in the day and intimidating people who they think are trying to stop them from being there.  

  The neighbors are trying to organize and the attempt by the Inn Between to stop the neighborhood organizing is concerning.  We had been assured that the Inn Between would work with neighbors.  This is effectively mafia style intimidation (in my opinion).  Just because everyone posts to Facebook, or Nextdoor or passes out flyers without using the phrase "in my opinion", should not give lawyers the ability to threaten people.  This crosses the line.  I put the cease and desist letter in the upper right hand downloads section.  Alex B. Leeman from Prince Yeates and Geldzahler, a professional corporation - lawyers is representing the INN Between and said in the letter: " The INN Between demands that you immediately cease and desist all publication of flase or misleading information about the INN Between or its Facility, and remove the false and fefamatory statements addressed herin from your online GoFundMe, Facebook, and NextDoor.com pages imediately.....The INN Between appreciates active community involvement and open dialogue..."

  I think that the INN Between is not really wanting open dialogue.  (in my opinion).

CRIMINALS DO NOT GO TO JAIL IF THEY ARE SICK

  Just like Utah County, where the Sheriff resigned due to underfunding the jail, which had a large medical bill for a criminal, Salt Lake County Jail is refusing to jail a person who has been traveling the Country scamming and selling fake tickets worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.  The criminal was "refused jail booking due to medical issues"  So he will go free and try his scam in another city!  This happened about two years ago when some credit card skimmers from a national gang were arrested but were released from jail almost immediately before the FBI could stop them.  Released to victimize hundreds of more victims.  Public safety in Salt Lake County needs more funding.

UTAH SUPREME COURT SAYS SEIZING CASH REQUIRES A COURT HEARING 

  Connor Boyack and the Libertas Institute deserve credit for trying to stop illegal and unethical asset seizures.  They supported a Utah Supreme Court case that asked to reverse the Utah Highway Patrol seizing $500,000 in cash and turning it  over to the federal government to discourage attempts to recover the money by the owner.  The Utah Supreme Court just found that the seizure and transfer was illegal.

THE HIGH COST OF FREE PARKING SHOUP COMING TO TOWN

  On October 4, Donald Shoup who wrote the High Cost of Free Parking is coming to Salt Lake County and the Country Transportation Department is hosting a discussion at the Viridian Event Center (several blocks from a TRAX station/Red Line) from 1130 AM to 130 PM.  For free tickets (until sold out) go to www.slco.or/planning-transportation and the event should be one of the buttons on the page.  

SLC AGAIN CLOSES RECREATIONAL AREAS DURING PEAK SEASON

  From SLC:

City Creek Canyon will be closed Monday through Wednesday as crews repave the road and repair potholes.

The road above the Department of Public Utilities’ water treatment plant will close all day on Monday as crews fill potholes that have created hazards for bicyclists and motor vehicles. The work will begin by 6 a.m. and continue until dark.

Comment on this story

The entrance road to the canyon at Bonneville Drive and the main parking lot will be closed on Tuesday and Wednesday from 6 a.m. until dark. Crews will mill away crumbling asphalt and then repave and restripe parking spaces. The canyon will reopen Thursday and resume the regular “odd-even” schedule through Labor Day. Bicycles — but not motor vehicles — are allowed on odd calendar days. Motor vehicles — but no bikes — are permitted on even days. Walkers and runners are allowed every day.

Between Labor Day and Memorial Day, there are no calendar-day use restrictions in the canyon.

AUGUST 21, 2018

BRING BACK CRUISING ON STATE STREET

SLC APPROVES DRAFT CDA FOR STATE ST/9 LINE AFTER 4

YEARS

SLC GRANT APPLICATIONS FOR 300 WEST AND BLACK LINE

ZOMBIE BUILDING ON 2100 SOUTH 1000 EAST STOPS TRAFFIC

DOWNTOWN MEDICAL RESPONSES SAME BUT SAFER

UTAH LAKE WATER MAY BE IN SLCO STREAMS

USA SUICIDE HOTLINE STARTED WITH UTAH SEN. THATCHER

UTA TRYING TO GIVE BIG D $4 MILLION PLUS BEFORE

CHANGEOVER

HILLSIDE HOMELESS SHELTER COMPLAINTS

SLCO ABOUT TO APPOINT TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY

COMMITTEE

CWC SECRET MEETINGS WERE NOT AS SECRET AS HOPED

BRING BACK CRUISING ON STATE STREET

  Lost in all of the efforts to redevelop and revitalize State Street, is the potential for energizing the

Street by bringing back/allowing/legalizing cruising on State Street.  It is now against the law and SLCPD is tasked with enforcing and checking if cars go past the same point on State Street more than once.  Maybe SLC should focus its law enforcement on going after real criminals instead of cruising and scooters and bicycles on sidewalks.  I still think that electric scooters should be limited to 5MPH on sidewalks and bicycles and scooters and skateboards and hoverboards should be allowed on sidewalks downtown.  They are now illegal.

SLC APPROVES DRAFT CDA FOR STATE ST/9 LINE AFTER 4 YEARS

  The RDA Board (the SLC Council and Mayor) approved the 9 line/State Street CDA expansion plan which is expected to take 4-5 months if other taxing entities agree with it.  

  It took 4 years from conception to now and Kyle Lamalfa asked, and the Board agreed, to negotiate with the taxing entities to see if the tax increment can be from backdated to September 2014.  That would allow more money now but other entities could lose $4 million or more from past revenue.

  Also several residents around the  State Street area were concerned about eminent domain and tax increases.  Council staff have their contacts.  They complained that they only got one notice and didn't know about the Community Council meetings.  They were part of about 50 residents concerned, many attending the meeting.  They complained that they were never told about the plan before the one letter they just received.  But they live next to the SLCC campus on 1700 South and Liberty Wells has had a meeting there recently.  Both Ballpark and Liberty Wells has discussed the Plan extensively.

  My specific comments on the Plan are:

Housing in State St area should not be "likely to increase" but should be the goal.

Pedestrian oriented blocks and/or walkways should not interfere or create traffic obstructions on the "auto-oriented corridor".

Standards to Guide Project Area Development should have a form based mixed use zoning with significantly higher density at traffic nodes like on 500, 600, 900, 1300, 1700 and 2100 South.

Automobile dealerships should be discouraged, especially when trying to implement a walkable area.  Consider working with dealerships to create a dealership area.  They seem to like the areas near the on and off ramps which are not really walkable.

I am against the future BRT on State since a more frequent regular bus is 10 times cheaper and can be implemented now.  Note that it is not safe enough to have the regular bus stops on State Street due to high crime complaints/stealing bicycles at bus stops.

Encourage MIXED USE residential and commercial development.  Not the too close to skinny sidewalks apartments only projects (zombie buildings that have no energy/action/engagement on the ground floor) that destroy Sugar House walkability.  

NEIGHBORHOOD REVITALIZATION should not include maintaining an inventory of vacant, blighted and underutilized property.  SLC has too much RDA owned property that is vacant for decades and that encourages crime.

I do not know of any historic buildings on State Street that deserve preservation.

Caution on trees when awnings will work better.  Trees interfere with wide sidewalks that encourage walkable and shareable sidewalks.

Main Street should have extremely high density at high traffic nodes.

Housing should be mixed use, mixed income and also have some ownership units.

There should not be any more State Street crossings that interfere with traffic flow.  I am against the Life on State traffic calming suggestions (Disneyland style design is not appropriate in Utah.).  

I am against any more TRAX stops on streets that could have a road diet (1700 South).  The increase in pollution on those streets caused by vehicle backup from TRAX stops is significant.  I am still against the 650 S. TRAX stop.

I would like more information on Block 16/Sears which will provide the first tax increment revenue.

Bus stops should be moved to corners to decrease need to jaywalk.

The 300 West proposed traffic calming project (about $15 million) is going for a grant application at tonight's City Council meeting (August 21) and it should not be made until the Community Councils agree with the project's specific designs.  See next story.

SLC GRANT APPLICATIONS FOR 300 WEST AND BLACK LINE

  The SLC Council is having a public hearing for a grant application for a 300 West project.  

The packet says:

Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) Transportation

Discretionary Grant (300 West: Building a Complete, Safe, and Smart Street)

Purpose/Goal of the Grant: The grant monies will fund pavement upgrades, intersection and traffic calming improvements, detached sidewalks, bicycle lanes, transit stop amenities, and fiber optic infrastructure to develop the 2.1 mile portion of 300 West between 600 South and 2100 South.

Grant Amount: $12 million dollars

Requested by: The Department of Community & Neighborhood, Division of Engineering

Match Requirement: $3 million (non-federal match) – Source: $1 million from Class C FY 2017- 18 funds and $2 million from Class C FY 2018-19 funds, which have already been appropriated by the Council.

Funding Agency: U.S. Department of Transportation in collaboration with the Utah Department of Transportation

  SLC should not have a grant application without going through the Community Councils first.  At the last Ballpark CC meeting, they were told that it is still being discussed.  Approving the grant application, and getting the $12 million grant will not allow the community to stop it if they don't like it.  The SLC Council has said before that if and after they get the grant, they will have a public hearing on the proposal.  But, trying to turn down $12 million, is impossible.

  The TRAX right of way on 400 South between 500 and 600 West is a support for a $100 million project that SLC cannot afford until our basic infrastructure, our streets, are brought up to at least acceptable.  

The packet says:

Purpose/Goal of the Grant: The grant monies will fund the purchase of 0.174 acres of private property to secure right of way for future development of new light rail along 400 South between 500 West and 600 West.

Grant Amount: $333,049 (land value)

Requested by: Salt Lake City Department of Community & Neighborhood, Division of Transportation

Match Requirement: In-kind match of $333,049 The land purchase will secure the right of way for future development of the new light rail along 400 South between 500 West and 600 West. The City’s in-match commitment is the land value of 0.174 acres owned by Redevelopment Agency of Salt Lake City that abut the 0.174 privately owned acres proposed for purchase.

Funding Agency: Salt Lake County, in collaboration with Utah Transit Authority.

ZOMBIE BUILDING ON 2100 SOUTH 1000 EAST STOPS TRAFFIC

  The zombie building (no ground floor engagement) on 2100 South and 1000 East has removed a traffic lane on 2100 South in order to finish the building.  It was designed so close to the sidewalk and road that that the only way to finish it is by stopping a lane of traffic!  SLC permits should not have allowed this.  Complaints to the City have been ignored.  

  The good news is that workers on site believe/hope/pray that, with sub contractor good efforts, the project, road and sidewalk will be finished in 3 weeks.  I know that I am not supposed to talk to workers but they seem to know the issues related to projects.  The Fire Station on 900 East on the Forest Dale Golf Course parking lot was supposed to be finished in July.  Workers said that they thought it would be finished in the fall.  It is now scheduled to be finished by September 1 but......

DOWNTOWN MEDICAL RESPONSES SAME BUT SAFER

  According to the SLCFD which provides medical response to medical emergencies in Salt Lake City, the average monthly responses have remained about the same after Operation Rio Grande but the response units no longer require police protection.  The Fire Department personnel feel much safer in the Rio Grande area.  The Rio Grande area still has about 300 requests for medical assistance per month and Palmer Court has about 30 responses per month.  Those numbers are about the same from two years ago.

UTAH LAKE WATER MAY BE IN SLCO STREAMS

  Several canal water users have been complaining that it looks like Utah Lake water is being channeled into SLCO streams.  Caution is recommended and the water in streams, canals, and even in the gutters could be contaminated with toxins that have killed pets.

USA SUICIDE HOTLINE STARTED WITH UTAH SEN. THATCHER

  Lost in the news is that the President has signed a bill (sponsored by Sen. Hatch and Congressman Stewart) that requires the FCC to set up a system for mental health and suicide issues much like the three digit 911 system nationwide.  This bill was originally sponsored by Senator Dan Thatcher and  Rep. Eliason in Utah.  Senator Thatcher deserves credit for a national three digit phone number.  This is a big deal.

UTA TRYING TO GIVE BIG D $4 MILLION PLUS BEFORE CHANGEOVER

  Tomorrow, at the UTA Board of Trustees meeting, there is a rush to sign a contract with Big D construction for a big $70 bus garage.  The initial, phase one contract is for $4 million but it will eventually be $7 million for phase one.  The complete project will cost $70 million and most of that cost will come from SLCO taxpayers and the SB136 funds. This contract deserves more public attention.

HILLSIDE HOMELESS SHELTER COMPLAINTS

  The residents of Sherman Avenue next to the Hillside Medical Homeless Hospice/Inn Between have retained an attorney to fight the Inn Between from expanding over the 25 resident limit that is now imposed.  The potential residents could be up to 70 if the State approves.  The community is already upset about the increase in homeless sleeping on their front porches when they get home from work, homeless people walking/stumbling through the neighborhood while high, walking into backyards during family barbeques, neighborhood drug deals, physical threats from The Inn Between residents (police report filed), needles discarded throughout the neighborhood, homeless bathing in church pond and discarded shopping carts around the neighborhood.  The neighborhood children are intimidated by "scary looking" strangers walking through the neighborhood.

  There are still questions about how The Inn Between will be licensed, whether drug testing is going to be required, whether The Inn Between will be responsible for ensuring that all registered sex offenders have their data updated, and how will there be effective outreach and working with the neighbors when the residents of The Inn Between are already intimidating neighbors.

SLCO ABOUT TO APPOINT TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE

  On Thursday, at noon, the Council of Governments COG, is going to appoint 3 members of the UTA advisory board and several members of the County Transportation Advisory Board.  Unfortunately, almost no one knows about this meeting at S1-195 in the County Government Building.

CWC SECRET MEETINGS WERE NOT AS SECRET AS HOPED

  During lunchtime at the State Capitol, several Inland Port subcommittee members grouped together and visited with the lunchtime crowd.  But when we checked the public meeting notice website utah.gov/pmn/index.html, we couldn't find the notice.  It turned out, according to the Inland Port administrative assistant, Mr. Shepard, that the Committee did not feel that they had a quorum on the subcommittee so that they didn't have to have a public meeting.  Note to secret meeting attendees, don't let dozens in a cafeteria know that you are going to have a secret meeting.  Katie McKellar at the Deseret News broke the secret/not so secret meeting to the rest of Utah. 

AUGUST 14, 2018

INVASION OF SCOOTERS AND BICYCLE REGISTRATION AT

LEGISLATURE

WATER CONSERVATION IN SLC DEPENDS ON REQUIREMENTS

FOR 30% GREEN IN FRONT

PUBLIC SAFETY FUNDING IN SALT LAKE COUNTY IS LACKING

HOMELESS AT LIBRARY GET SHOPPING CARTS CONFISCATED

SPRAGUE LIBRARY FLOOD POTENTIAL INCREASES AND WILL

CLOSE IN MARCH

FAIRMONT PARK SKATE PARK PARKING CLOSED AND

SOCCER TEAMS IMPACTED

ROAD WORK ON 2100 SOUTH FROM 300 W TO STATE ST 

1300 EAST MEETING CONFLICTS WITH EAST BENCH

COMMUNITY COUNCIL

300 EAST GETTING NATURAL GAS PIPELINE INSTALLED

ALTA LODGE OWNERS WORKING HARD WITH POLICE

SLC IS INCREASING TAXES AGAIN

RACCOONS IN SLC ARE REMOVED BY SLCO ANIMAL CONTROL

INVASION OF SCOOTERS AND BICYCLE REGISTRATION AT LEGISLATURE

  Tomorrow morning, August 15, at 830 AM at the State Capitol (Senate Building 210), there will be a meeting of the Transportation Interim Committee which will have a presentation and discussion of the new SLC scooter law and also a presentation on bicycle registration.  

  The scooter law that has resulted in a large number of scooters on sidewalks downtown is concerning to many who walk and work downtown.  The scooters are limited, by governors, to 15MPH but hitting a pedestrian at that speed can result in serious injury.  I had an oped in the Deseret News that summarizes the issue at:

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900028008/guest-opinion-utah-and-salt-lake-city-need-to-rethinkscooters.html

  In addition, in short:

 15 MPH scooters and pedestrians are a dangerous mix 

Despite Utah law that requires motorized vehicles to operate on roads, not sidewalks, many scooters are operated on sidewalks. 

Downtown workers and visitors have been complaining about being threatened with and being hit by scooters that can go up to 15 MPH. 

Part of the reason is the street traffic downtown is not very safe to bicyclists, or scooters. 

Salt Lake City bans bicycle operation on downtown sidewalks but many Green Bikes are on the sidewalks, ridden by tourists. 

Most people riding bicycles are well experienced on safe operation and control of a bicycle. 

Most people operating an electric scooter are not very experienced and that can significantly increase the danger for the rider and pedestrians. 

If a scooter rider hits a pedestrian at 15 MPH, there will be injuries. 

If the rider gets back on the scooter and rides off, there is no way to identify the scooter since there is no license number easily visible.

The number of families living downtown with kids are increasing, but we shouldn't require kids to ride in the streets whether on bicycles or scooters.

Parents seem to be renting the scooter for their kids to have a fun ride so many of the riders are visibly younger than 18.

Electric scooters should be limited to 5 MPH and bicyclists should be able to ride on sidewalks including downtown and in parks as long as they do it safely. 

Pedestrians should not have to wear helmets to be safe walking on sidewalks

  I encourage respectful comments to the Transportation Interim Committee and/or to jon.larsen@slcgov.com with your comments.  The Committee will take public comments after the presentation.

  There will also be a presentation on the new SLC Bicycle Registration Program and why Utah needs a simpler and statewide system to discourage bicycle thefts.  I put the presentation in the upper right downloads section.

  The other interesting presentations include Evidence Based Interventions To Address Homelessness

(the hearing was held today) and I put the presentation in the upper right downloads

section.  Essentially it says that the homeless need housing.  There will be a discussion on water and the CWC/Central Wasatch Commission tomorrow morning at Natural Resource Interim Committee at 830AM in House 30.

WATER CONSERVATION IN SLC DEPENDS ON REQUIREMENTS FOR 30% GREEN IN FRONT

  Salt Lake City requires front yards to have 30% green space and no big rocks or concrete on park strips.  But the City is trying to lower its per capita use from about 90 gallons per day and many have taken the challenge and installed decorative rock or mulch along with a couple of drought tolerant plants.  The person in SLC that is responsible for water conservation is aware of the potential hypocrisy and is willing to consider any homeowner that is fielding complaints from the City about not enough green space.  She is Stephanie Duer and she can be reached at stephanie.duer @slcgov.com or by phone at 8014836760.

PUBLIC SAFETY FUNDING IN SALT LAKE COUNTY IS LACKING

  Over the last few years, there have been many complaints in Salt Lake City about lack of visible cops.

The Salt Lake City Mayor and Council have attempted to solve the problem by trying to hire 50 new police officers. But the issues relating to public safety run deeper than just the number of officers. The issues include drugs and drug trafficking, homelessness that breeds crime, a revolving door jail, difficulties prosecuting criminals, public chastising of police officers, recruiting competition with other law enforcement entities, and retirement limits.

  The issue of drugs, not just drug addiction and drug trafficking, is a major problem in our society.

Many of those on drugs are unable to work and are attracted to crime to get money for their addictions. Substance use disorder (drug addiction) is a major cost for Utahns. It may take many tries at addiction treatment for the person to stop using drugs. The statistics of Operation Diversion tend to show that the success rate may be similar to the U.S. Government's standard for opioid addiction treatment success, around 5%. As long as there are drugs in our society that make it almost impossible to hold a regular job, there will be crime and crime victims. Drug addicts victimize through crime.

  The homeless issue, for years, has resulted in drugs being almost encouraged in the homeless area of downtown. That made the situation almost catastrophic for residents and businesses. Operation Rio Grande was supposed to fix the problem and in the area around the Road Home, it has decreased criminal activity significantly. But the effort is called Operation Leaf Blower by the Salt Lake County police chiefs because the criminal activity has been disbursed throughout the valley. 

  The jail was recommended to have 600 beds and they got 300. The Salt Lake County DA recommended 6 prosecutors for the Operation and he got two after a big public fight. The result is a continuation of the revolving door jail that releases arrested criminals almost immediately. Salt Lake City Police Chief Brown, in an effort to put a good face on a poor situation, calls policing with a revolving door jail, philosophy of disruption. In other words, making it inconvenient for a few hours for criminal behavior is the best that police can do. The State is also causing problems with attempts to discourage criminals from being sent to prison. In a recent case, Adult Probation and Parole (APP)recommended time served for a criminal convicted of shooting up a car with passengers! The DA attempted to have him sentenced to prison. The judge admonished APP but sentenced the convicted person to jail.

  Although the treatment phase provided hundreds of treatment beds, the success is still up in the air. The third phase of the Operation, putting the homeless to work, has resulted in only 65 working according to last week's report to the Legislature. The lack of storage is a big problem when homeless are trying to work. Salt Lake City's storage for homeless is full and has not been expanded.

  Another issue is loud complaints from citizens angry at police for perceived injustices. During recent Salt Lake City Council hearings, there were many complaints against police and arguments against hiring more police. Lost in the argument is the fact that more cops lead to less violence. Two police tend to discourage fighting with police. A recent attack on a cop at Fairmont Park was evidence of that fact. The SLCPD recently doubled up police in patrol cars, by pulling from other SLCPD areas for that reason (also to put more patrols on the street).

  The inability to hire more police is evidenced by the difficulty to hire enough personnel to open up Oxbow Jail's 380 open beds, Herriman's complaints that Unified Police can only staff 12 out of 18 officers that they paid for and Millcreek's trying to increase police to 58 from 47 officers. Salt Lake City reduced their planned increase of officers to 27 from 50 but when SLC loses 2 to 3 20 years officers to retirement a month, and the next class will probably only have 12 in the Academy, hiring even 5 more will be difficult. (SLC expects to have 31 graduate by October.) Adding to the difficulty in hiring police is the competition between municipalities and governments to hire police.

  And finally, despite years of efforts, Utah encourages law enforcement retirement after 20 years to help the Utah law enforcement unfunded pension actuarial liability of $544 million. Officers are lost to Arizona and non governmental jobs for at least a year due to our pension law. Those new jobs tend to turn into permanent jobs and Utah loses many police in the process.

  Utah needs to discuss these issues and find statewide solutions instead of each city fighting other cities for police officers. Public safety should be a much higher priority for government.

HOMELESS AT LIBRARY GET SHOPPING CARTS CONFISCATED

  In another attempt at quality of life enforcement, shopping carts of homeless are being confiscated and the belongings of the homeless are being dumped on the sidewalk.  The Salt Lake Tribune's Robert Gehrke wrote about a homeless woman who had her property dumped by someone confiscating her shopping cart (I would not want to use a shopping cart that looked like it had been used by homeless - and I have seen several in stores that look pretty gross.).  Salt Lake City still does not have storage space available for homeless storage and until they do, they really can't work.  Despite what the State says, Operation Rio Grande is not really a success.  My guess is about 50 homeless got jobs.  Despite thousands of arrests, only a handful were given jail terms of more than a month.  And as I pointed out above, the Salt Lake County police chiefs call Operation Rio Grande Operation Leaf Blower because it pushed drug dealing into their areas when it didn't exist before.  Robert Edgel had a great oped on the subject at:

https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2018/08/11/commentary-leaf-blower/

SPRAGUE LIBRARY FLOOD POTENTIAL INCREASES AND WILL CLOSE IN MARCH

  With the new draw under 1300 East and Sego Lily flood control art system (you should see it; it looks beautiful), the Sprague Library flood potential increased.  The Sego Lily flood control design was designed to channel overflow water from the Sugar House Park into Hidden Hollow which was the source of the last flood that caused millions of dollars of damage to the Library.  The Library is checking with engineers to see how to mitigate the significant increase in flood danger.  In addition, the Library will not close this fall and the closing is now scheduled for March.  

FAIRMONT PARK SKATE PARK PARKING CLOSED AND SOCCER TEAMS IMPACTED

  The Fairmont Park Skate Park parking lot is closed and will be until spring.  Impact Soccer and the Boys and Girls Club use the field regularly.  The Boys and Girls Club has told patrons to use the parking lots next to their buildings and Impact Soccer is warning its teams of the issue.  The City plans to store salt and sand for winter streets and will close the parking lot each October.  Although the City has said that this should increase public safety, many of the problems at the skate park are due to local, walking distance individuals who are causing most problems.  In addition, the hundreds of cars, that some games generate, will now have to park on the street and in front of houses on 900 East.  The City decided to close and repair the parking lot during peak soccer season instead of waiting until after game play ended.  Not a good respectful decision.

ROAD WORK ON 2100 SOUTH FROM 300 W TO STATE ST 

  Salt Lake City is resurfacing 2100 South (along with State and County funding) and will be restricting lanes from 7 PM to 7 AM.  By doing this at the same time as the 1300 East Project, the I15 alternative to decrease 1300 East traffic is discouraged.  

1300 EAST MEETING CONFLICTS WITH EAST BENCH COMMUNITY COUNCIL

  The East Bench Community Council will have their regular meeting on August 15 and have an important discussion on the future of Lamplighter Square and Skyline Inn, two of the most important issues in the community.  But, Salt Lake City, again, messed up their outreach on the 1300 East project by scheduling the main outreach meeting at the same time at Westminster!!  

300 EAST GETTING NATURAL GAS PIPELINE INSTALLED

  Along with all of the other projects increasing congestion in Salt Lake City, there is a project by Dominion Energy to install a new natural gas pipeline under 300 East.  

ALTA LODGE OWNERS WORKING HARD WITH POLICE

  The Salt Lake City Police are giving credit to the new owners of the Alta Lodge on State Street next to the County Government Complex.  They are kicking out the potential criminal behavior individuals and working with the police to decrease criminal activity.  This is a big deal for the crime fighting in the area.

SLC IS INCREASING TAXES AGAIN

  I am guessing that almost no one will show up to object, but Salt Lake City Council will hold a Truth

In Taxation hearing tonight that WILL increase property taxes.  This has become the year of the tax increases.

RACCOONS IN SLC ARE REMOVED BY SLCO ANIMAL CONTROL

  It took several months a couple of years ago, but we finally got confirmation that the City signed a contract with the County (with Mike Reberg setting up the system before he went to Salt Lake City) to catch and remove raccoons from Salt Lake City (and other cities in the County that signed up for the service).  The cost to Salt Lake City was about $40,000, I think and after a few hiccups, the County Animal Control agreed to have the USDA certified removal expert (removed the raccoons to other wild areas) also provide cages that could catch the critters.  Salt Lake City used to provide cages with a $25 deposit but they stopped the service when the County contract was signed.  The County Animal Services is at 385 468 7387.  And I have heard from several people that they still are not clear about their obligation, so if you have any problems with County Animal Control balking at providing a cage and removing caught raccoons, tell Salt Lake City's Mike Reberg at mike.reberg@slcgov.com.

AUGUST 7, 2018

WEIGAND CENTER CLOSES AND HOMELESS TURN INTO

ZOMBIES

POLICE ORDERED ZERO TOLERANCE FOR HOMELESS

900 SOUTH OVERPASS MAY HAVE BECOME MORE REALISTIC

OXBOW JAIL OPENS PARTWAY BUT BEDS FILLED BY OTHER

COUNTY'S INMATES

CENTRAL WASATCH COMMISSION ORDERED TO GET

CONSENSUS

UDOT PROPOSES THREE PARLEYS INTERCHANGE PLANS

200 EAST ROAD DIET STUDY

2700 SOUTH REMOVED FROM RESURFACING LIST 

2100 EAST RESURFACING WORK RESULTS IN THE WAVE

TWO BIG BICYCLING PROJECTS PLANNED

SPRAGUE REDESIGN OPEN HOUSE AUGUST 9

HIVE PASS PLANS ON GIVING FREE GREEN BIKE PASSES 

SCOOTERS TO BE DISCUSSED AT THE LEGISLATURE UTA OLD PROP ONE PROPOSAL ON DOWNLOADS

WEIGAND CENTER CLOSES AND HOMELESS TURN INTO ZOMBIES

  The Weigand Center has to close for one or two days each year to wax the floors and provide other preventive maintenance.  Its importance to providing services to the homeless in the area was emphasized by the resulting crowd of homeless that normally congregate in the Weigand Center courtyard spilling into the streets yelling and screaming.  There are many inadequately treated mental health issues in this population and without the stability and services that the Weigand Center provides, the homeless sometimes scare people (even more) with their uncontrollable actions.  So the street in front of the Weigand Center turned into a mass of yelling screaming group of really scary homeless.  And the SLCPD didn't seem to be around.  Maybe they were too scared to be there.  Or they wisely did not want to make the situation worse by confronting the crowd (probably the best solution).     Again, this proves how important that Catholic Community Services are to the homeless and to the adequate support that they need.  When the Road Home closes in a year, I expect to see the same problems develop.  Turning homeless into the street is never a good idea.

POLICE ORDERED ZERO TOLERANCE FOR HOMELESS

  A pastor at a downtown church was upset with the homeless harassing their churchgoers and it appears that the result is that the SLC Police have been ordered to put pressure on the homeless near the Library neighborhood.  It is a mini quality of life enforcement to discourage the homeless from harassing those in the neighborhood.  Police should not be used for quality of life enforcement of homeless without other options like storage, safe beds and other facilities.

900 SOUTH OVERPASS MAY HAVE BECOME MORE REALISTIC

Several weeks ago, a bicyclist was killed on the 900 South railroad tracks while riding in a group of bicyclists (the 999 Thursday bicycle ride that I have written about before).

   I know the area well and it is a deathtrap for bicyclists.  It is difficult for bicyclists to quickly clear the

tracks after stopping.  Note  that the 999 group should not have been crossing train tracks by policy.  This is also a concern to those in wheelchairs or using walkers or slow walkers.  

  SLC should not be spending money on Sunnyside  ($2.7 million and 1100 E. ($500,000) to make an enjoyable 9 Line Trail when such a danger exists. 

  At the same time, Salt Lake City and County are planning on giving a $15 million loan to a developer for a downtown parking garage.  That money should be used for a 900 South overpass. 

  If Salt Lake City wants a safe 9 Line Trail and development of the area, including the Fleet Block, it needs to provide a safe pedestrian, bicycle and wheelchair path across the train tracks.  Councilman Andrew Johnston said that he would ask the Council to send a letter asking to prioritize the 900 South overpass project.  

  Note that (according to UTA) at the rail crossing on 900 South, I-15 passes over the rail crossing diagonally covering the west side on the crossing on the north and covering the entire rail crossing on the south side of 900 South. The trail is on the south side of 900 South. 

  There is no vertical space available to construct an overpass on the south side of 900 South and obtain the required 23’-6” vertical clearance over the train tracks.  An overpass would have to cross the tracks on the north side of 900 South and then loop or ramp down in the haunted house property and the trail would have to cross 900 South at grade to get back to the south side of the street.  

OXBOW JAIL OPENS PARTWAY BUT BEDS FILLED BY OTHER COUNTY'S INMATES

  The lack of enough jailers restricted the full opening of Oxbow Jail.  But the plan to fill any open beds with some of the incarcerated in other counties due to Operation Rio Grande (Operation Leaf Blower to police) is in full swing.  

  The logistics of driving prisoners back and forth to Vernal is challenging and the County Mayor wants to stop spending money on it.  At the same time, Mayor McAdams refuses to increase the jail budget.  So the County Jail will continue to have a revolving door.  The County Council will start looking at the budget in the next month.  Time to push for adequate public safety funding.

  One of the first persons arrested in August 2017 for selling drugs during Operation Rio Grande was Cory Lee Bertelsen who was almost immediately released after being arrested.  He was arrested again this last week after a short chase.  He keeps running from police and has a long and dangerous charge sheet.  He should not be released to threaten society so fast. 

CENTRAL WASATCH COMMISSION ORDERED TO GET CONSENSUS

  The Central Wasatch Commission (CWC) is attempting to implement the Mountain Accord that is presently being sued for not following the Utah Open Meetings Act.  A large part of the plan was to give the ski resorts a lot of land for a major expansion of their resorts with minimal trade of land that is essentially hard to traverse.  Recent meetings of the CWC have had a lot of pushback.  The hope that the CWC plan would be sponsored by Congresswoman Mia Love was dashed when she pointed out that she wasn't going to do anything until there was real consensus!  So the controversial land trades are going to hold up the Mountain Accord process while the CWC and Executive Director Ralph Becker spend millions on staffing and offices.

UDOT PROPOSES THREE PARLEYS INTERCHANGE PLANS

  I put the presentation on the proposals in the upper right downloads page.  I expect the Sugar House Community Council will discuss these plans in the next month.

200 EAST ROAD DIET STUDY

  Salt Lake City Transportation is studying the feasibility of doing a road diet and reducing the number of travel lanes on 200 East.  It is part of a study to restripe 200 East.

2700 SOUTH REMOVED FROM RESURFACING LIST 

  It appears that an effort by SLC Public Utilities to put in a water pipe under 2700 South derailed efforts to provide minor resurfacing on 2700 South.  It is now number 82 on the list of important street projects.

  But after stalling the project, the City decided that it couldn't use 2700 South and must use another street.  But until they find a suitable route for the water system replacement, they will have to stall 2700 South resurfacing.  

2100 EAST RESURFACING WORK RESULTS IN THE WAVE

  There have been many complaints about the wave that is the result of work on repaving the road of 2100 East from 1700 South to 2100 South.  But the work was not complete when the complaints mushroomed.  The City still had to replace the manhole covers and after that, it will check the profile and ensure that the roadway is smooth and not waves.

TWO BIG BICYCLING PROJECTS PLANNED

  The first is a Beck Street Separated Bicycle Facility. The $50,000, 2018 FY TAP-funded project will design a more comfortable and separated facility on the Beck Street frontage road near the StakerParson quarry, from Chicago Street (1820 North) to the existing two-way path on the west side of the frontage road several hundred feet south of the Salt Lake/Davis County line. The project, when constructed, will add physical separation, reduce potential turning and other conflicts, presumably reduce maintenance needs, and provide a safer commuter and recreational connection between North Salt Lake and Salt Lake City.

  But the maintenance of the cycle track is a problem and is not being planned.  Due to the many trucks carrying gravel in the area, daily sweeping of the track will be needed for safe bicycling.  Or the bike path could be redesigned to become a more adequate bikeway that is separated from traffic and does not collect dirt and dust and rocks from trucks in the area.  

  The other project is the 600 East Neighborhood Byway. Refinements are currently under design, with changes to the crossings at 800 South, 1700 South, and possibly 2700 South in the works. The Transportation Division is doing some assessment of the area south of 2100 South to determine if the new TOUCAN has increased traffic on 600 East or cut-through traffic on neighborhood streets. A traffic diverter had originally been planned for the area as volumes on 600 East are higher than neighborhood byway guidelines. This project is anticipated to go out to bid over the winter for 2018 construction.

SPRAGUE REDESIGN OPEN HOUSE AUGUST 9

  On August 9, all day from 10 AM to 4 PM, at the Sugar House Sprague Library, there will be architects that have been tasked with refurbishing the Sprague Library which will close this winter for a year.  They will answer questions and they will have two presentations from 5 to 630 and from 7 to 830 PM.  

  I bet that they are not taking into account the new flood diversion system at the DRAW east of 1300 East that is designed to channel flood waters to Hidden Hollow and increase the flood threat to the Library.  Basement property will be at risk.

HIVE PASS PLANS ON GIVING FREE GREEN BIKE PASSES 

  The HIVE pass is planning a new marketing plan and one of the new proposals is to give free Green Bike passes to those who buy a HIVE pass.  It will be interesting to see who takes advantage of this new and original concept.

SCOOTERS TO BE DISCUSSED AT THE LEGISLATURE

  On August 15, the Transportation Interim Committee will discuss scooters that are proliferating in Salt Lake City, especially downtown.  I know several are upset about the issue and I expect their attendance at the 830 AM meeting at the Capitol, State Senate Building (east building) Room 210.   Kids are on them (despite the requirement for a drivers license); they are operated negligently due to inexperience and when they hit someone, they can't be identified.  Lots of reasons to rethink these issues

UTA OLD PROP ONE PROPOSAL ON DOWNLOADS

  I put the old 2015 short UTA proposal and map to increase service if Prop One passes.  Since it has effectively been passed by the Legislature, ignoring voters, the service increases are not being discussed.  It appears that projects are the plans and service will continue to suffer. 

JULY 30, 2018

JULY 31 HEARING ON BLOCK 67 HEIGHT ALLOWS COMMENT

ON

             $15 MILLION PARKING LOT FUNDING

900 SOUTH BICYCLE OVERPASS

SLC BOND COULD HURT HEALTHCARE EXPANSION

CARLETON CHRISTENSEN COULD BE NEXT UTA COMMISSIONER

JULY 31 HEARING ON BLOCK 67 HEIGHT ALLOWS COMMENT ON $15 MILLION PARKING LOT FUNDING

  Block 67 is west of the Salt Palace on the US Post Office Property.  The Ritichie Group, a developer with a good reputation and a lot of Brickyard Property and buildings, is proposing a $400 million mixed use hotel, office, retail, housing complex.

  In return for not putting parking on the surface, and creating a midblock pedestrian plaza, they agreed to build an underground parking garage in return for $15 million from County Transportation Funds.  The City RDA approved the interlocal with the County that loans $15 million (eventually $43 million compensation) to the Ritchie Group and paid back by the RDA tax increment increase over 25 years.  It would eventually have one level of public parking.

  The Utah Transportation Commission approved the use of Transportation Funds for parking lots last month.  I spoke against the proposal at the City RDA meeting on July 10 since the Transportation Funds that are being used, should be used for a regionally significant transportation project.  Some other requirements are that the funds should be for a project that has broad public support and increases safety. 

  The Legislature passed a bill last session that allowed Transportation Funds to be used for parking lots, mainly to expand transit parking lots that are already full and also to help provide canyon mouth parking lots in preparation for canyon bus service (I am pushing for weekend canyon bus service paid for by the Legislature that may be discussed by the the Interim in the next few months.).

  The Council, as RDA Board, passed the interlocal agreement with the stipulation that it did not commit the City to final agreement.  The staff warned that it did commit the City and I contend that it shouldn't be agreed to until there is a vigorous public hearing.  The City was planning on waiting until later for a public hearing.

  But, the City also wants to increase the height limits of buildings on Block 67 to what is allowed in central Downtown SLC.  That provides a public hearing and a chance to argue that the height limit should be removed if, and only if, the $15 million for the parking lot is pulled back and used for more appropriate use.  That is the only way to push the City to use the Transportation Funds for a real, appropriate project like a bicycle, pedestrian and wheelchair overpass on 900 South.

  An overpass is complicated but has been proposed several times with costs that range from $7 to 15 million depending on the design.  An overpass is possible on one side of the street under the freeway but 24 ft above the rails.  It would also be a more appropriate funding priority that the minor million dollar projects to beautify the 9 Line Trail east of the freeway, in my opinion.

  The death of the 999 cyclist, the $15 million "misuse" of Transportation Funds and other interested parties may help push this proposal to reality.  The July 31 hearing could result in the Council removing the $15 million and/or telling the staff to prepare plans and designs to build an overpass within a year on

900 South.  (The Fleet Block development would also be significantly helped.)

  I will be asking the City Council on Tuesday July 31, at 7PM, to allow the Ritchie Group to build whatever height building they want if they forego the $15 million from Transportation Funds and ask that the City plan on building a pedestrian, bicycle and ADA 14 ft wide overpass on the 900 South rail tracks.

900 SOUTH BICYCLE OVERPASS

  According to UTA: "At the rail crossing on 900 South, I-15 passes over the rail crossing diagonally covering the west side on the crossing on the north and covering the entire rail crossing on the south side of 900 South. The trail is on the south side of 900 South.  There is no vertical space available to construct an overpass on the south side of 900 South and obtain the required 23’-6” vertical clearance over the train tracks.  An overpass would have to cross the tracks on the north side of 900 South and then loop or ramp down in the haunted house property and the trail would have to cross 900 South at grade to get back to the south side of the street."   It is time to push this project to reality. 

SLC BOND COULD HURT HEALTHCARE EXPANSION

  I will also be pushing for not putting the bond on the ballot since I believe that it will hurt chances of healthcare expansion, which I think should have the highest priority.  I know that some of the bicyclists that I am encouraging to attend and comment on these issues are for the bond but I want a vigorous public hearing Tuesday.  My main reason against putting a bond on the ballot is that it will discourage voting for the healthcare expansion which I think is more important.  The bond will go on the ballot as a $46 tax increase.  SLC will also get $33 million per year from the sales tax increase and another $5 plus per year from SB136 plus another $5 million plus from the transit portion of SB136.  SLC should not need the bond as much as healthcare expansion.   I had an oped in the Salt Lake Tribune on the issue at:

https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2018/07/28/george-chapman-salt-lake/

CARLETON CHRISTENSEN COULD BE NEXT UTA COMMISSIONER

  In a surprise move, Carleton Christensen is being nominated as a third applicant for the UTA Commissioner job.  The County already submitted two names but they had issues and controversies that may have resulted in the Governor asking for more choices.  Ironically, Carleton Christensen pushed for the use of $15 million in Transportation Funds for the parking lot of Block 67.

JULY 25 B, 2018

1300 EAST PROJECT STARTS TONIGHT AT 2100 SOUTH

1300 EAST PROJECT STARTS TONIGHT AT 2100 SOUTH

  Starting tonight, the 1300 East project will begin work on replacing water and sewer lines and resurfacing the roadway and replacing the curb and gutter.  This major project will take several years and I urge anyone using the roads in the area to be aware of the effects.  For instance, tonight, the bus stop at 2100 South and 1300 East will be temporarily stopped.  It will return in the morning.  The work now appears to be done in the evening after rush hour which is helpful.  801 483 6898 is the phone number to get real time updates on the project.  UTA is working with the contractor and will reroute buses if necessary.  UTA’s Facebook, Twitter and other website notes, including customer service will be listing detours and service interruptions.  Please keep the phone number for reference during the extensive project that will go to 900 South.  I put the docx file with specifics on the upper right downloads section.

JULY 25, 2018

SLC LOSING $2 MILLION DUE TO LEGISLATIVE BILLS

OXBOW JAIL STILL NOT FULLY OPEN, LAW ENFORCEMENT

SUFFERS

WFRC 2050 PROPOSAL WITH LOTS OF MONUMENTS TO

POLITICIANS

SPRAGUE LIBRARY ELEVATOR NOW OPEN FOR A COUPLE OF

MONTHS

MOUNT OLIVET CEMETERY DRIES UP MILLER PARK

SLC LOSING $2 MILLION DUE TO LEGISLATIVE BILLS

  HB336 reduced maximum fines from $150 to $45 now.  Salt Lake City anticipates that the City will lose $2 million or more in parking ticket revenue, partly due to this bill.  The loss of several parking enforcement officers, due to illegal favoritism, also is contributing to the loss.  SLC ticket revenue is also reduced from traffic citations due to the elimination of ticket quotas.  $2 million is a big hit on the City’s revenues.

OXBOW JAIL STILL NOT FULLY OPEN, LAW ENFORCEMENT SUFFERS

  Despite all of the efforts to hire more personnel for the Oxbow Jail, the Sheriff fell short.  It is not her fault since the County Mayor is still not adequately funding public safety.  Not only are the jailers not being paid enough to stay, UPD officers are also being lost to individual cities.  With Herriman and Riverton set to jump into the competition for more officers, the UPD and Jail will continue to suffer and Salt Lake County will continue to have a revolving door jail.  The Sheriff was able to open one pod of the unused Oxbow Jail but one pod is still closed (about 180 beds).  Mayor McAdams is running for Congress and this issue may become central to Congresswoman Mia Love’s campaign.  He still is using the $9.4 million from the old jail bond for other projects that include Pay for Success which will not prove itself for several more years, if at all.

WFRC 2050 PROPOSAL WITH LOTS OF MONUMENTS TO POLITICIANS

  I put the three Wasatch Front Regional Council 2050 maps (reduced from their 30MB original files) on

the upper right downloads section.  Note that the 900 South bicycle trail (the 9 Line) is still not upgraded, even in 2050 (see the AT active transportation = bicycle map).  The transit map shows lots of rail in the Draper area and several in the Salt Lake City downtown area.  Expensive BRTs are scheduled for Taylorsville and 200 South, despite the fact that I and many others do not believe that UTA knows how to do BRTs.  With the billions in projects, elected politicians should have plenty of opportunity to get their very own monument.  But the reality is probably going to end up like L.A. that spent $15 billion on projects and got fewer riders due to more people using cars.  So we will probably call these projects follies.  Note that the 2050 Transit map has the S-Line going south on Highland!

SPRAGUE LIBRARY ELEVATOR NOW OPEN FOR A COUPLE OF MONTHS

  The famous missing in action Sprague Library (Sugar House) elevator is now working and can take passengers down to one room that was and is the children’s room.  The rest of the downstairs will wait for a complete overhaul starting at the end of the year.  That will necessitate closing Sprague.

MOUNT OLIVET CEMETERY DRIES UP MILLER PARK

  Mount Olivet Cemetery is taking water from Red Butte Creek and drying up the Miller Park Bird Refuge (which needs water and birds).  The City is trying to reach an agreement with Mount Olivet to provide some water to the Park during the irrigation season.  Complicating matters is the fact that Rowland Hall also uses the water for watering their artificial turf, which turned out to be using more water than they thought.  There is also the issue of improper installation of the original irrigation system that was supposed to water the new plants during the redesign of Miller Park.  Due to the installation being next to the path, the system was often broken.  

  The City also allows the cheatgrass and cereal rye to dry out in Miller Park during the summer but that creates a fire hazard and the City does not cut it down.  That could create the beginnings of  a conflagration.  The City is encouraging adjacent landowners to clear their property but the Park shrubs, grasses and trees go right up to their properties.  

  The City provided this information during a discussion on the issues:

“Mount Olivet Cemetery has a water right and is diverting water from Red Butte Creek. Because of low runoff, they dry up the stream every few days on their turn schedule. They are aware of community concern, especially in Miller Park. We are trying to work out an agreement with them for the future that would keep water in the stream during the irrigation season is important to point out that the irrigation system was intended to support the 2014 restoration project plantings through establishment. It was not intended or designed to keep Miller Park wet through the summer or to suppress fire danger. Native grasses, shrubs and trees intentionally planted in Miller Park during the 2014 restoration project are intended to dry out in the summer time, as they would in a natural environment. Annual and weedy grasses like cheatgrass and cereal rye are also present in Miller and our other natural areas; these grasses are biologically-programmed to complete their life cycles quickly in the winter and spring, and die off in the summer after seed-set. Excessive watering can actually encourage these grasses to become unnaturally high and unintentionally increase fire danger.

That said, we have had more than our share of challenges with Miller Park’s irrigation system due to ongoing issues with tampering and vandalism. Our crews have been up there all week working on it, and it should now be working as intended…… any neighbors notice issues with the current irrigation system, please do not hesitate to contact our offices at 801-972-7800.”

JULY 23, 2018

999 BICYCLE FATALITY POINTS TO QUESTIONABLE 9 LINE PLAN

INLAND PORT HAD TO WAIT FOR STORAGE PRESENTATION JIM DABAKIS LOOKS GOOD FOR NEXT SLC MAYOR!?

DEVELOPER MAY GET $15 MILLION FOR PARKING LOT JULY

31 HEARING

SLC BOND MAY BE PUT ON BALLOT & HURT HEALTHCARE

EXPANSION

IMPACT FEES NEED TO BE REEXAMINED

UTAH LEGISLATURE PASSES BIG INTERNET TAX BILL

TANKER ON HIGHWAY ONE OF OVER 200 TRUCK CRASHES

PER YEAR

JASON MATHIS, BEST THING ABOUT DOWNTOWN LEAVING SLC BICYCLE REGISTRATION PROGRAM OFFICIAL

999 BICYCLE FATALITY POINTS TO QUESTIONABLE 9 LINE PLAN

  I have written several stories about the 999 Bicycle SLC event that starts at 900 East and 900 South on the Southwest corner every Thursday.  It is a social event that celebrates cycling in SLC and attracts hundreds.  I put pictures in a zip file in the upper right downloads section.  The news of a longtime participant in the bicycle ride dying from being run over by a train should not be a one day news issue.    

  Salt Lake City and County are putting millions into a 9 Line trail that encourages bicycling and goes from This is the Place Monument to the Jordan River Trail.  But bicyclist crossing rail tracks is extremely dangerous.  The 999 Group urges cyclists on it's Facebook page: "stay away from trains and active railroad crossings."  All rail tracks can be extremely dangerous for bicyclists.  In Portland, several years ago, they found that over 60% of cyclists had fallen on rail tracks (their streetcars share the road with cyclists).  

  It is time for SLC and the County to reevaluate the east west bicycle trail on 900 South and consider using available funds for a bicycle overpass like on the Parleys Trail over I215.  The money is available in my mind through Utah Transportation Funds and federal government TIGER Grant funds.  Salt Lake County and City are planning to spend $500,000 on the 9 Line Trail between 1300 East and 950 East.  That money would be better spent on designing an overpass for bicyclists or for a real time display of approaching train traffic and when it is expected to clear.  

  TIGER Grant funding is available and should be considered for this project.  It took two years to find enough projects when this one was right in front of our noses.  This is not the first fatality at the crossing.  There was one in April of 2017.  

  In addition, SLC and County are considering giving a developer $15 million for a parking garage downtown (see story below) and that money could be, should be and would be better used for a safer bicycle crossing on 900 South at the railroad tracks.  Salt Lake City is also planning on spending $2.7 million on Sunnyside (part of the 9 Line Trail) and it makes more sense to spend it at the crossing.   SLC is pushing redevelopment of the area which includes the Fleet Block and the 900 South TRAX Station.  It should include a safer bicycle crossing on 900 South.  Again, it is cheap to provide a real time display of train traffic and it would also benefit vehicles on the road.  Getting from the west side to the east side on 900 South when there are trains is very frustrating.  Knowledge of when the trains will pass and provide crossing for vehicles and bicyclists would be a big help.

INLAND PORT HAD TO WAIT FOR STORAGE PRESENTATION

  I was disappointed, to say the least, in the hearing at the Legislature on the new, SLC Council negotiated, Inland Port Bill.  The hearing was sure to attract an overflow crowd and the Legislature even had an overflow room setup.  But the Committee hearing the Bill deferred to a peer to peer storage presentation and wasted almost an hour before hearing public comment on the Inland Port Bill.  This was not the Legislature's finest hour.    

  It almost looked like they were trying to rush things through.  I watched the Committee Chair, Senator Bramble, keep moving the time to end the public hearing but it only gave the public, who were overwhelmingly against the rushed Bill, one minute each to comment.  

  Even the Board of Education President Heather Bennett was kept to one minute, even though her organization could lose $500 million in education funding.  That was extremely disrespectful.   I agree with Senator Davis.  There should not be 8 voices representing SLC in this negotiation.  Although the Bill was a done deal before the public hearing in a "secret consensus", done deals and "secret consensus" are not good government.  It reminds me of the "secret consensus" on the homeless resource centers in SLC. 

JIM DABAKIS LOOKS GOOD FOR NEXT SLC MAYOR!?

  In the effort to get a "better" Inland Port Bill, Senator Dabakis and Speaker Greg Hughes offered to work with Salt Lake City to get a better Bill.  But when the Mayor saw the handwriting on the wall, she declined and the SLC Council gladly took over.  This was a chance to not only insult the Mayor of SLC, but also to put the SLC Council and Chair Erin Mendenhall forward as a better leader in SLC.  The Council has been complaining about the Mayor for years.  But much of the animosity comes from the Council pushing for Ralph Becker to be reelected.

  It became so bad during the first year, that, at an RDA meeting, RDA Chair Lisa Adams told the Mayor to be quiet!  I have heard many complaints over the years about the Mayor but I have to agree, again, with Senator Davis, there should have been only one voice in the negotiations.  And in this case, and many others, everyone is at fault.  I want my City to work better but when everyone is pointing fingers, there is no time to work at all.

  In the effort to put the Council in the driver's seat for the negotiations, Jim Dabakis came out the big hero to the Council.  Several Councilmembers are encouraged and excited at the prospect of Jim becoming Mayor of SLC.  But I have tried to work with Jim since he became my senator, without success.  I work with many other Republican and Democratic Legislators and get bills sponsored by them but I can't seem to work with Jim Dabakis.  

  He has only sponsored one successful bill (requiring CO detectors in schools) and I watched the Committee hearing the bill, a good bill, question the cost to school districts and almost not pass it.  Jim, in my opinion, is more interested in playing the white knight and being recognized and honored for that than getting things done.  All of the other Democrats on the Hill are much more successful in getting things done in the Legislature.  

  I had a My view in the Deseret News that explained in more detail that, despite Jim's belief, Utah legislators are generally respectful public servants (December 3, 2016 - you can Google it).  I have found that Legislators will listen to good ideas, even though you are not their constituent, and they generally respect the citizens of Utah.  That does not mean that they are right in their votes or bills or beliefs.  It means that almost anyone who respectfully approaches a Legislator will be heard.  I disagreed with Senator Bramble on his internet tax bill but he allowed me to make an argument against it outside of the public hearing.  His actions and respect are typical of Legislators.  

  Jim is the sole exception in my experience.  If Jim Dabakis becomes Mayor of SLC, as many

Councilmembers would like, SLC will cease to listen to the public, the citizens and the taxpayers.  Only those who agree with Jim will have a voice.

DEVELOPER MAY GET $15 MILLION FOR PARKING LOT JULY 31 HEARING

  On July 31, the SLC Council will have a surprise public hearing on whether to give $15 to the Ritchie Group in order to encourage them to build an underground parking lot.  The Council was convinced earlier this month that a public hearing should take place as soon as possible instead of waiting until October when it would essentially be a done deal.  The Council listened to citizens concerned about using valuable Transportation Funds being used for a parking lot at the same time that SLC discourages parking lots.  

   I need to digress for a minute and explain that one of unintended (or intended) consequences of SB136 is that the Utah Transportation Commission is deciding how to use new funds from SB136 for projects.  But the Utah Transportation Commission meets around the State and generally does not meet in Salt Lake City.  So it will be more difficult to make a public hearing and give testimony on questionable projects.

  Former Utah Speaker of the House Greg Curtis of GTC Consulting talked about the parking structure fund.  "HB3 directed $500,000 of general funds be used to initiate a study for locating a parking structure in Salt Lake County.  UDOT will evaluate locations for a parking structure that will assist in increasing transit ridership, carpooling and van pooling in Big and Little Cottonwood Canyon areas.     Two of the three Commissioners approved of using the funds to locate a parking structure area (during the last Legislative Session, Senate President Wayne Niederhauser suggested 9400 South and Wasatch Boulevard (near Terry Diehl's property).

  Interestingly, the Bill says that "no one entity can borrow more than 25% of parking fund"  and projects should "improve safety, reduce congestion etc."  And most importantly, projects should have high public support.  But if no one knows about the projects due to the meetings taking place in other counties, the projects should not be considered to have high public support.

  The effort by SLC and County to loan $15 million of Utah Transportation Funds to the Ritchie Group when the 9 Line project would be more effective at improving safety.  Parking garages do not improve safety.

SLC BOND MAY BE PUT ON BALLOT AND HURT HEALTHCARE EXPANSION

  We have been fighting for healthcare expansion in Utah for years.  I have consistently pointed out that one of the important reasons is public safety.  After two years, the Legislature came around and agreed but it only applied to homeless and criminals involved in drugs (for treatment).  The inadvertent effect has been that criminal behavior earns better medical care than law abiding citizens.

  The Utah ballot will have a healthcare expansion for all citizens, law abiding and not, that make less than a poverty salary.  It is a good ballot proposition.  But it requires a sales tax increase to pay for it.  If passed, it could go into effect faster than the Legislature's last attempt at expanding mental health care.     But there are other ballot propositions that could hinder voting for the proposition.  There is a question on whether to justify the Legislature's raising the gas tax by 10 cents a gallon and shifting the resulting increase from transportation and give it to education.  Utah County appears to be placing a public safety bond on the ballot for a new law enforcement building (after not having enough money to pay for law enforcement officers!).  And most importantly, Salt Lake City wants to put an $87 million streets bond on the ballot.  

  All of these ballot questions to increase taxes will, like Aesop's dog, decrease the chance of any of them passing.  Healthcare expansion should have priority and the rest of the counties and cities should back off of putting more bonds on the ballot.

  I am also against the $87 million SLC bond for streets since I believe that it will be used for road diets and cycle tracks.  Cycle track maintenance is almost 10 times more expensive than streets maintenance (cleaning, keeping free from debris and snow and water).  And finally, SLC will already get money from the Prop One zombie tax for roads and transit.

IMPACT FEES NEED TO BE REEXAMINED

  Salt Lake City looks like it can't spend enough on matching Impact Fees so that it will have to return $5 million to developers.  SLC and the Council needs to have a discussion on better solutions to this issue.  In addition, since the Impact Fees for housing doubled, housing starts have decreased 50%. 

UTAH LEGISLATURE PASSES BIG INTERNET TAX BILL

  The Utah Legislature passed a big internet tax bill (continuing this Legislature's biggest Utah tax increases in the last 20 years).  The Legislature claims that the tax on internet sales and SERVICES will be used to decrease taxes on manufacturing equipment.  

  But the effect of the Bill is to put millions of small business internet sales and service companies at risk of audits by other states.  It also ignores the overseas sales that will not pay taxes and, since the postal regulations require not interfering with the mail, it will create, in my opinion, a great big sucking sound from small businesses that are trying to work from the U.S.

  The other big effect is, due to the requirement that internet services be taxed, taxing Netflix and other internet service providers.  Due to the late providing of the bill, not available until after 9PM the night before, almost no one spoke against it.  Big companies will have no problem meeting the tax requirements of 10,000 taxing jurisdictions in the U.S.  The U.S., at least in Utah, will start paying taxes for subscription services like everyone in Britain paying for TV service.  This is happening despite the fact that we already pay franchise taxes on cable service.  This is a double taxation and no one knew about it.  This means that internet streaming and other services, including subscriptions like sports news, newspapers, etc. could be charged, and those paying for the services could be noted.

  Although most legitimate news organizations may not be a concern for privacy advocates, what about extreme philosophy services or pornography.  I find it hard to believe that the porn industry will allow it's clients to be listed.  Being able to audit, and discourage an XXX rated service may be good for society but privacy deserves more respect.

  This bill could also hurt the development of streaming niche sports that are providing a better service for some sports, better than ESPN.

  According to the U.S. Supreme Court: "Among the top 100 Internet retailers that rate (of internet sales tax collected) is between 87 and 96 percent."  Although Utah is one of 20 States that have adopted the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement, the privacy issue is still a question.  "This system standardizes taxes to reduce administrative and compliance costs: It requires a single, state level tax administration, uniform definitions of products and services, simplified tax rate structures, and other uniform rules. It also provides sellers access to sales tax administration software paid for by the State.

Sellers who choose to use such software are immune from audit liability.

  This was a rushed and not carefully submitted bill.  Senator Bramble will be at a Congressional Hearing tomorrow to try to convince Congress to get involved and answer some of the questions.

TANKER ON HIGHWAY ONE OF OVER 200 TRUCK CRASHES PER YEAR

  Another crude oil tanker crash near Price dumped around 700 gallons of crude, thick oil into a river.  This and many other truck crashes along Hwy 6, I80, and I40 should be a walkup call on considering a pipeline for transporting oil from the Uintah Basin to Salt Lake City area refineries.  Each of the roads mentioned have about 90 big rig truck crashes per year and part of the problem in the Uintah Basin with air pollution is the requirement to heat the oil, put it on hundreds of tankers and drive the oil to Salt Lake City.  The oil is so viscous that it needs to be heated or a naptha like compound has to be added to make it able to transport by pipeline (or tanker).  This is a good reason to build a pipeline to Salt Lake City (with double walls when crossing water) since the Uintah Basin oil is needed to make Utah's gasoline.  

JASON MATHIS, BEST THING ABOUT DOWNTOWN LEAVING

  I'm not just sad but upset that Salt Lake City is losing Jason Mathis.  He was the leader in boosting

Downtown SLC through the Downtown Alliance.  Lane Beatty may have been the ultimate leader but Jason was the man on the ground pushing for a better Salt Lake City.  I am upset that Salt Lake is losing such a great booster.

SLC BICYCLE REGISTRATION PROGRAM OFFICIAL

the SLC Council had already voted to approve the new free Bicycle Registration Plan several months ago.  This last week, the Mayor officially implemented it.  But without the rest of the law enforcement entities in Salt Lake County (and the rest of Utah) working off of the same registration plan, anyone questioned by a SLCPD officer about a bicycle that they have in their possession can say that they are from another city.  The Registration Plan is toothless, useless and a waste until the Legislature passes a statewide law.  The Transportation Interim Committee is possibly going to discuss this issue in a few months.  But, in the meantime, to help the SLCPD officers try to discourage bicycle theft, the Mayor should ask the Legislature to implement it statewide.

JULY 16, 2018

MESSAGE FROM SLCPD CHIEF BROWN

A WEEK IN THE LIFE OF THE EASTSIDE BIKE SQUAD

INLAND PORT SECRET CONSENSUS

INTERNET SALES TAX 

BRITISH FIELD DAY SUCCESS WITH 148 CARS

FIRST ENCAMPMENT CELEBRATION

TRANSIT FUNDS FOR DEVELOPER SWEETHEART DEAL JULY

31 HEARING

JULY 31 HEARING ON BOND FOR STREETS AND ROAD DIETS

SCOOTERS, BICYCLES, WHEELCHAIRS AND PEDESTRIANS ON

SIDEWALKS

1700 SOUTH LANE REDUCTION POLARIZES BALLPARK

SALES TAX ON STREAMING SERVICES COULD HURT PRIVACY

SUGAR HOUSE HIGHLAND DR FLASHING LIGHT CROSSWALK

BY KIMI'S

FAIRMONT PARK POND TOO HOT FOR FISH SO CATCH 'EM FAST

MESSAGE FROM SLCPD CHIEF BROWN

  Chief Brown has put out a message/letter that explains the problems that he and his Department have been having over the last few years.  

  Summarizing, it explains that his Department is undergoing an analysis of its operations to ensure efficient and appropriate staffing levels in all areas.  The goal is to have patrol officers in every beat which is not happening now.  He acknowledges that citizens want more officers, especially in each beat.  The SLCPD currently is down 13 funded officers.  "In the last 3 years, the Department has increased authorized sworn strength by 42 officers (a 10% increase).  In addition, 13 new civilian positions were funded to improve operational efficiencies.

  Mayor Biskupski has committed to fund 23 more officers next year and the Department is allowed to hire 20 more unfunded positions to cover expected turnover in personnel.  The Department has moved to year round recruiting with two more academies this year and they have implemented a recruiting bonus system.

A WEEK IN THE LIFE OF THE EASTSIDE BIKE SQUAD

  The SLCPD Bike Squad has 4 downtown squads and one eastside squad.  The downtown squad focuses on Rio Grande, Depot, Main Street, and Library Square.  The eastside bike squad focuses on Liberty Park, Sugar House, Fairmont Park and the South Track (State Street).  The eastside squad usually has Wednesday through Friday off.  During their patrols, each officer in the squad is given an assignment for increased attention.  For instance the assignments in mid June were for the Alta Motel (1899 S. State), the Georgia Apartments (200 E and 2013-2015 S), the 7-11 on 1100 E and 1700 S, the Main Street

Motel (1530 S Main Street), Liberty Park (600 East), the Wasatch Inn (1416 S. State), and the Shop and Save (old Wayne's Corner on 1302 S State).

  Zion's Motel and Alta Motel are both under new ownership and the new owners seem to be working well with the SLCPD.  There is new management of the Shop and Save (one of the biggest crime magnets in the area).  

  On June 16, at 1302 S State (Shop and Save) there was an arrest of an individual who had a warrant and also had possession of a dangerous weapon.  At 1530 S. Main St., the squad arrested a man for burglary of a vehicle and unlawful use of a stolen credit card.  Another similar arrest was made that day at 1416 S. State (theft by deception).  Another arrest was for possession (of meth) and theft and another arrest was for a parole fugitive and possession with intent to distribute.

  On June 17, they participated in the Pride Parade and kept an eye on the Liberty Park Drum Circle.   That was a typical week in the life of a bike squad member.  The rest of the time is bicycling through neighborhoods and providing a visible deterrent to crime with a visible cop.

INLAND PORT SECRET CONSENSUS

  I find it very confusing and uncomfortable for a part time City Council to manage and control the secret Salt Lake City negotiations regarding the Inland Port of Salt Lake County.  The Mayor of Salt Lake City should not have her responsibility interfered with.  In addition, this Salt Lake City Council seems to insist on secrecy.  It did the Miller Sport Arena tax rebate in secret.  It chose the Homeless Resource Centers sites in secret.  It doesn't seem to decide issues in public when it hears public testimony then waits a week before publicly voting on the issues.  The Council can meet in small groups in secret and that has been regularly happening with regards to the budget, and now with the Inland Port negotiations.  When did the City Council get the ability to ignore Utah's Open Public Meetings Act?  And the Legislature and Governor seemed to be encouraging it.  It is hypocritical to complain about deciding Healthy Utah in secret (complaints by the SLC Council) then turning around and deciding the Inland Port issues in secret.  Not only does the SLC Council want to take over management of Salt Lake City, they want to do it in secret.  This is not a good sign for respectful representation of the voters in Salt Lake City.   

  A SECRET CONSENSUS IS MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE!  You can have one or the other, not both.

  The secret consensus agreement is (not sure if the agreement allows Greg Hughes to serve on the Board but it looks like it):

         LAND USE. APPEALS & MUNICIPAL SERVICES

• More clearly define objectives of an inland port         

• More specificity on the critical uses for jurisdictional land         

• Enhance the standards for administrative land use reviews

• Clarify the Authority is an appeals board of last resort                 o Appeals to be first considered by the municipality                 o 180 days for municipal approval or denial                 o 60 days for municipal appeal

o Authority shall only approve Appeals based on defined critical uses

o Appeal authority shall issue a written decision within 30 days unless all parties agree to a later date

o “Respects the due process rights of the parties to an appeal”

o Public hearing on appeal including public notice and notice to the appeal authority                   from which the appeal is taken. Materials shall be provided prior to the hearing                   and available to the public

• Establish more clear appeals panel procedures and standards

• Align with LUDMA defined terms rather than new definitions

• More clarity on the strategies, policies and objectives of the Inland Port Authority

• Increase transparency, including public notices and processes specific to appeals

• Ensure municipalities that they will provide services and be allocated tax increment

• 2% cap on property tax differential to be used for authority operating expenses

• Language to encourage board to work with neighboring communities to develop plans to              mitigate potential impacts

• Allow the board to appoint non-voting members and advisory councils including               individuals from taxing entities, community organizations & associations

• Remove already developed areas from boundary

• Respect existing land use and other agreements and arrangements between property               owners and applicable government authorities

• Instruct municipalities with land within the boundary to adopt an ordinance allowing an               inland port as permitted or conditional use subject to standards determined by the               municipality and consistent with the strategies, policies and objectives         

         ENVIRONMENTAL

• Ensure environmental sustainability policies and best practices                 o Meet or exceed applicable state and federal standards                 o Monitoring and emissions reporting

o Strategies that utilize the best available technology systems to mitigate impact             • Non-voting members and advisory councils including environmental organizations

• Remove wetlands from jurisdictional land

• Respect and maintain sensitivity to the unique natural environment

• Improve air quality and minimize resource use

• Establish that applicable appeals require information from an appellant:                  o Whether the proposed development will meet or exceed applicable state and                   federal regulations

o The extent to which the development will include best available technology or                   systems that mitigate environmental impact

o The potential impact on air, ground water, or other aspects of the environment,                   and how the land use applicant proposes to mitigate those impacts

• Port authority annual report to include:                  o Sustainability plan that reports on regulated emissions and summarizes efforts by

                  the authority to achieve compliance with applicable regulations                   BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENTS         

• Reduce the overall size of authority jurisdictional land

• Remove wetlands

• Remove already developed areas in south east

• Remove north east corner — farmland

• Remove the airport including all land they currently own                   GOVERNANCE

• Allow the authority to appoint non-voting members and advisory councils including            individuals from:                  o Taxing entities                  o Community organizations                  o Environmental organizations

o Associations, and                  o Business organizations

• Set SLC council member whose districts includes the Salt Lake Airport in statute

• Board limitation

o Clarifies conflict language for employees or board members to mean one of a                   PRIVATE firm, PRIVATE company, or other PRIVATE entity that could receive                   a personal financial benefit

o Exempts statutorily required board members from conflict issues beyond their                   control, but still requires transparency and public disclosure of circumstances that                   would have otherwise precluded them from serving

         MORE CLEARLY DESCRIBED DEFINITIONS AND OBJECTIVES

• Inland port

• Critical land use descriptions for development and appeals            • Parameters for appeals

• Strategies, policies and objectives aligned with critical land use descriptions

         AFFORDABLE HOUSING

• The authority shall designate 10% of the property tax differential generated to be used for               affordable housing

INTERNET SALES TAX 

  Internet sales taxes, if not appropriately implemented, will create a nightmare.

It seems that, with probably millions of internet sales companies in this Country alone, trying to ensure that all provide all 50 states and possibly each separate taxing entity with proof of their sales is incredibly complicated and unattainable.

I would hope that Congress and/or the National Conference of State Legislatures or national accounting firms develop a standard reporting system that each company's accountant can submit to a clearinghouse and be available to states.  

  Otherwise, trying to identify companies that sell more than $100,000 to Utah would be almost impossible without requiring proof from each company.  Auditing millions of companies by each of the 50 states is also a burden, especially for small companies.

The proof would also have be a standard since companies like Airbnb are on the honor system and do not provide proof of their clients.

  During today's Transportation Governance meeting, it was mentioned that implementing a local option sales tax on gasoline would be almost too complicated.  That is similar to what internet sales taxes are becoming.  UDOT's Carlos Braceras and Senator Ipson both mentioned the nightmare of California's implementation of local option sales.

  Senator Bramble will sponsor a bill to implement internet sales taxes for all companies that sell more than 200 items to Utahns or $100,000 in sales to Utahns in a year.  Senator Bramble is also going to testifying in front of Congress on July 24th regarding the lack of action by Congress regarding internet sales tax.  Congress does need to take action but based on the last 20 years, expect nothing.

  My point is that I hope that Utah, and other states, carefully implement internet sales taxes and do not rush in and create a system that costs the Utah Tax Commission more to implement than the new revenue that it could collect.  This issue does not have to be decided this week.  I hope that there will not be a rush to claim internet sales taxes without a slow and deliberate discussion (since we can't collect it until January and the deadline is October 1 to request it).

BRITISH FIELD DAY SUCCESS WITH 148 CARS

  British Field Day, the Liberty Park celebration and exhibit of British vehicles, mainly sports cars was super successful this year.  Last month's event had 148 British cars including several Land Rovers, a panel van and an exploded version of a car to show everyone the complexity of cars.  Of interest to other event organizers, the City charged $310 for a "cost recovery fee" and $28 for the garbage containers.  Over 40 rides were given to kids in a British sports car running through a race course.  Liberty Wells Community Council put on the event which was started by Bill Davis, a community leader.  I am looking forward to next year.

FIRST ENCAMPMENT CELEBRATION

  The First Encampment Celebration is a celebration of the first pioneers coming into this Valley.  The pioneers first camped near 500 E and 1700 S.  There is a park there and, on Saturday, July 21 from 8 AM to 1030 AM, the Liberty Wells Community Council will serve a typical Utah pioneer breakfast.  The cost is $4 for adults and $1 for children.  Parking is at the LDS Church on 500 East and 1623 South.  At 9 AM, there will be a square dancing show and there will be a chance to learn how to square dance with instructors.

  The breakfast is also done in conjunction with a hike from 2903 Kennedy Drive above Hogle Zoo starting at 7 AM and the hike goes to the park on 500 East and 1700 South.  It is about 5 miles and registration for the hike is free.  

 This is a chance to experience what the pioneers did when they came into the Salt Lake Valley.

TRANSIT FUNDS FOR DEVELOPER SWEETHEART DEAL JULY 31 HEARING

  The Salt Lake City Council has decided to speed up the public hearing on giving $15 million in Transportation Funds (that are supposed to be used for regionally significant transportation projects) on July 31 at the evening formal meeting at 7 PM.  As I mentioned last week, the City is offering a developer $15 to build an underground parking garage.  The Transportation Commission also approved using funds for this project.  It is essentially a loan since the City and Transportation Fund will be reimbursed/paid back by the increased tax increment of the project over 25 years.  But the developer is still getting $15 million up front without risk.  In addition, the decision was essentially made without public comment (except by me at the general comments section) and a specific public hearing should be held before giving a developer millions.  Despite the decision, already made, the Council will have the hearing on July 31 to rubber stamp their decision.  But there are many other issues regarding this sweetheart deal.

  Salt Lake City RDA has agreed to sign an interlocal agreement with Salt Lake County to provide $15 million from Transportation Funds to be used for a project on Block 67 to incentive developers to provide public parking in a parking garage. The design of the block development would be enhanced by a midblock walkway if most parking is put underground. The Ritchie Group, a Salt Lake City developer that has built mostly around Brickyard, has a good reputation and the proposed design of the block has excited many in the downtown community.  The project is on the block just west of the Salt Palace (between 200 and 300 West and between 100 and 200 South).  It is planned to have 350,000 sq ft of offices, 70,000 sq ft of retail, 638 housing units and 580 rooms in a hotel.

  Salt Lake County, according to the SLC RDA, "would provide $15 million from the Utah State Transportation Fund to the developers, via the City and the RDA, for construction of what new State law refers to as “public transit project and regionally significant transportation facility” (2018 SB 128 added parking lots to the definition)." Although the money would be repaid by tax increments over 25 years, the City may be left with too little of the increased taxes to fulfill the need for increased municipal services for the several large buildings on the block.

  Interestingly, the 2016 Downtown parking study determined that there was sufficient parking downtown. The City also has been discouraging surface parking lots for years to ensure efficient use of the limited property downtown. One way to discourage surface parking lots is to require an approved plan for a new building before an old building can be demolished. This has stopped many downtown landowners who wanted to demolish older and unrepairable buildings and put in a temporary parking lot until they can get funds for development. 

  The main reason for the demolition ordinance was the demolition of the property on the 2100 South and Highland corner that ended up as the "Sugar Hole" until it was finally developed after almost 10 years. This has resulted in properties that remain vacant for decades, like Vasilios Priskos' old Zephyr Club property on 300 South and West Temple. It is also why SLC RDA has many properties that have remained vacant for years which reduces property values in the area.  Vacant buildings increase criminal activity in the area. SLC RDA property lost $5 million in value in the last year.   Ironically, Salt Lake City convinced the property owner of the "Sugar Hole" to finally build his building by giving him almost $7 million for a level of public parking (much like the proposal for Block 67). But he implemented a $10 minimum for public parking and that resulted in nearby parking lots starting limiting parking to 2 hours. That destroyed the walkability of Sugar House and increased pollution. Before the 2 hour limit, many would park in the lots and spend many hours using the Sprague

Library, eating at nearby restaurants and walking in the area while shopping. Now, after using the Library, one has to drive to another lot to eat, then drive to another lot to shop. The increase in pollution and loss in walkability is added to the inconvenience of librarians and neighborhood workers who have to park far away and in unsafe and unpopular parking lots. 

  The City RDA Board, Tuesday, approved the draft plan and draft interlocal agreement with the language added that it does not commit Salt Lake City or the RDA or Board to future approvals or actions. But the City is committed to "reasonable efforts" and as the staff has cautioned "recently the term “reasonable efforts” has been interpreted by some as an official signal of commitment, and any divergence or questioning of that

commitment at later dates is seen as an act of bad faith." So Salt Lake City's plan to have a public hearing in August or September on the final plan may be too late to change their mind on providing $15 million to the developer.

  One of the sources of the funds will be the SB136 resurrected Prop One funds that most expected to be used for public transit projects, road projects and regionally significant transportation projects. But

SB128 now allows parking lots to get the money. Cottonwood Heights also has a proposed parking lot project using these funds. Salt Lake City will have difficult time convincing its taxpayers that it needs more money for streets (with the proposed streets bond) when the Transportation Funds from SB136 that could be used for streets, instead are being used for a private developer's parking lot.   Salt Lake City needs to have a more thorough discussion about parking and using Transportation Funds for parking lots before giving $15 million to a developer for parking. Salt Lake City should not be discouraging developers from demolishing buildings and providing a parking lot while paying a developer to develop more parking. Hopefully, any new contract will stop the loopholes used by developers to gouge taxpayers and businesses. And, most importantly, Utah and Salt Lake County should have a discussion on why we are spending limited Transportation Funds on parking lots instead of on street repair and transit. $15 million could be and should be used to increase transit span of service past midnight from downtown Salt Lake City before using the funds for parking lots.

  During discussion at last week's RDA Board meeting, City Councilman Charlie Luke tried to delay the interlocal agreement approval for a month.  But under opposition from the rest of the Council, he withdrew his motion.  Although Council Chair Erin Mendenhall (Derek Kitchen is RDA Board Chair) asked "where is the public benefit in parking lots?" and was uncomfortable saying use it for more parking, she joined the rest of the Board in unanimously agreeing to the interlocal agreement and plan (Councilman Chris Wharton was not present).  The $450 million project is too big of a deal to say no to.  I like parking lots but I don't like government paying for them.

5

JULY 31 HEARING ON BOND FOR STREETS AND ROAD DIETS

  At the same time, the City Council will have its last public hearing on whether or not to put an $87 million bond for SLC streets on the ballot.  But, based on what I have heard so far, the Council would like to use those funds for more than street maintenance and repair.  They would like to use those funds for road diets, reducing travel lanes, installing separated bikeways and prettifying streets instead of basic maintenance and repair.  There is no guarantee that all of the funds will be used for basic maintenance and, as governments like to do, there is a tendency to use funds for monuments to elected officials and projects.  Roads should be brought up to basic service levels before trying big projects to make them pretty or decreasing travel lanes.

  And finally, like Aesops dog, trying for the third City Council tax increase (Sales tax, Prop One zombie tax) in a year will also hurt the chances of a vote for healthcare expansion and increased education funding.  Those two issues are also on the ballot with tax increases (the education funding is tied to a question on raising gas taxes 10 cents a gallon).  

  Again, the City Council will take public testimony on the issue on July 31 at 7PM.

SCOOTERS, BICYCLES, WHEELCHAIRS AND PEDESTRIANS ON SIDEWALKS

  Another issue from last week continues to cause ramifications for many other issues.  Salt Lake City is considering how to change ordinances to allow several companies that want to provide rental electric scooters in Salt Lake City.  Lost is the concern about electric scooters in Salt Lake City is the effect on the no bicycling on downtown sidewalks ordinance.  

  As I said last week, tourists use the Green Bikes a lot downtown on the sidewalks.  Even regular users ride on the sidewalks.  Riding on downtown streets, with all the parked cars pulling out, doors opening, unsafe automobile and truck drivers and even buses encourages bicyclists to ride on sidewalks.   But electric scooters are being pushed, by SLC, to be used on downtown streets!  Electric scooters and bicyclists should be able to ride on downtown sidewalks as long as they do it safely.  It is against the law, now, to ride on the sidewalk negligently.  This is the time for a discussion on rescinding the law against riding bicycles and scooters on downtown sidewalks.  

  It is also the time to discuss increasing sidewalk widths to accomodate safely, wheelchairs, bicycles, scooters and pedestrians.  Wider sidewalks should be part of the City's Complete Street's ordinance but they aren't.  When roadways are reconfigured to accomodate bicycles, they are not increasing amenities like sidewalk widths, for pedestrians.  The road work is just benefiting cars and bicycles.  But Complete Streets is for pedestrians, bicycles and cars.  Salt Lake City needs to have a sidewalk ordinance that increases sidewalk widths.

1700 SOUTH LANE REDUCTION POLARIZES BALLPARK

  During last week's Ballpark Community Council meeting, there was a big argument about whether to proceed with the plan to reduce travel lanes on 1700 South between State Street and 300 West.  The concern of many is that it will back up traffic on 1700 South due to the TRAX crossing.  In addition, the community backlash against travel lane reductions, road diets, and lane reconfigurations in other neighborhoods was brought up.  Sunnyside Avenue, 2100 South, 1300 East and 900 West proposals were all met with anger in the neighborhoods.  900 West and 1300 East had road diets.  The communities are still upset about the implementation of the road diets.  But more than anything, most seem to result in polarizing the neighborhoods.  The major arguments against lane reductions are that it will back up traffic like on 1300 East (which also destroyed safe bicycling on 1300 East - using the right hand lane), the constant flow of traffic will make it difficult to get out of driveways, there should be a good public outreach that provides a 75% plus approval of the project and the money could be better used for more important projects.

  At the Ballpark Community Council about 57 had signed petitions for it and the same number had signed petitions against it.  When the question was asked at the meeting, how many were for it, about 60% raised their hands.  So again, SLC has succeeded in polarizing the neighborhoods.  I still think that Salt Lake City does not know how to do road diets (I was quoted saying that in 2014.).

SALES TAX ON STREAMING SERVICES COULD HURT PRIVACY

  During the Transportation Governance Committee hearing at the Legislature today, there were several presentations on increasing revenue for road and transit projects.  Tax Commissioner Valentine pointed out that the Oregon pilot project report said that technology may not be available to do a real road usage charge for miles driven by a vehicle until 2025.  They had problems with trust and verification and drivers trying to skip the validation.  Commissioner Valentine said that "It is probably premature to implement a mandatory road usage charge."  He said that it could be done, depending on the technology with a port that all new cars have and that is accessible by insurance companies or with license plate readers.  Congestion pricing has some potential.  

  UDOT is setting up a demonstration project.  The Committee also discussed advertising on buses and trains.  But there is a chance that the Legislature may stop UTA from advertising on its system, which gives UTA $2.5 million a year in revenue.  The impetus may be the new hard liquor ads that are now able to use UTA trains and buses for advertising.  The Committee also looked at toll roads briefly.  But it is too early to discuss that potential and the discussion stopped quickly.

  Internet taxes were also discussed (see above) and the Utah Foundation report recommending taxing internet services like Netflix also was presented and discussed.  The Committee did not take public testimony and the new internet sales tax bill to be presented Wednesday may contain a few lines about taxing services.  But subscriptions like newspapers have usually been exempt from taxes and those are some of the services offered online.  We also already pay franchise fees for internet access (through the cable company).  Privacy is also at risk if services are taxed.  How do you convince the general population that any service that requires a subscription has to be reported and taxed, especially if it is for adults (even though kids seem to have access to it)?

  Finally, it seems that there is pressure to do what Britain did when it set up TV stations; it made everyone pay a monthly fee to the government for TV.  There are horror stories of the government going to great lengths to ensure that everyone paid their TV tax.  I don't want Utah to become like Britain and go after people for watching TV, on the internet.

SUGAR HOUSE HIGHLAND DRIVE TO GET FLASHING LIGHT CROSSWALK BY KIMI'S

  The Salt Lake City Transportation Department has confirmed that a flashing light crosswalk is going to be constructed this year from south of Kimi's on Highland Drive to the Buffalo Wings restaurant to the west.  As anyone who goes through Sugar House knows, that is where many people cross the street.  It is time for a crosswalk with the increase of pedestrians in the area, going to the restaurants and bars and shopping.  Walking should be encouraged and that is one way.  Removing the two hour parking limit also would help.

FAIRMONT PARK POND TOO HOT FOR FISH SO CATCH 'EM FAST

  SLC and DWR have worked together to refurbish the Fairmont Park Pond and put hundreds of fish in the pond.  Unfortunately, the fish do not do well after the trip to the Pond because the Pond is too hot.  The DWR is aware of the problem and is trying to find a solution before too many dead fish ruin the Pond's reputation.

JULY 9, 2018

FORM BASED ZONING PLANNING PRESENTATION PLUS TOURS

MILLIONS IN IMPACT FEES WILL BE RETURNED TO

DEVELOPERS

DRAPER MAYOR TROY WALKER COULD BE FIRST NEW UTA

COMMISSIONER

WINGPOINTE STORY EXPANDED

RITCHIE GROUP GETS PARKING MONEY WHILE PRISKOS

PROPERTY BLOCKED

PIONEER PARK PUSHES PIONEER PARK AMENITIES

RESTROOMS IN CANYONS CLOSED DURING HIGH SEASON

SCOOTERS IN SLC COULD CHANGE ANTI BIKING LAW

WFRC PUSHES BILLION DOLLAR TRAIN TO LEHI

ROCKY ANDERSON IS BETTER THAN SALT LAKE TRIBUNE

MCCLELLAND STREET BARRIER TO ADA USE

BOND VOTE IN SLC COULD STOP HEALTHCARE EXPANSION

TWO OF BEST MOVIES IN NORWEGIAN

FORM BASED ZONING PLANNING PRESENTATION PLUS 

  SLC Planning has prepared a great presentation on Form Based Zoning that was first used in the Central Ninth area then implemented in the Sugar Hosue area around the S-Line.  Form Based Zoning, if done right, can encourage walkable neighborhoods, encourage redevelopment of underutilized areas and encourage developers to build in areas that need more attention.  I put the presentation in the upper right downloads section along with a notice from the City on walkable tours.  The first on is today starting at 7PM at the Blue Copper Coffee 179 W and 900 S.  The others are part of the Summer Planning Series events:

July 30 Neighborhood Compatibility: Building the “good city” August 27 Walkability: Balancing scale and people

September 24 Past Forward: Historic Preservation in SLC

MILLIONS IN IMPACT FEES WILL BE RETURNED TO DEVELOPERS

  I put a summary of SLC Impact Fees presentation on the upper right downloads section (it was previously part of the CIP list).  It appears that almost $5 million in impact fees will be returned to developers this year if the City is not able to provide projects and matching funds for projects.  So far, the City is not able to provide projects.  There is also the issue of the number of housing units that are being planned for construction this year.  It appears that it will be half of the previous year's housing construction starts.  Impact fees could have been part of the reason.  SLC needs a better system to plan on using impact fees.  The Council has asked the Administration for suggestions on how to track and use more of the impact fees.

DRAPER MAYOR TROY WALKER COULD BE FIRST NEW UTA COMMISSIONER

  On Tuesday, the Salt Lake County Council will probably agree to forward Draper Mayor Troy Walker and Mountain Accord Executive Director Laynee Jones to the Governor to be appointed as the first UTA Commissioner.  Davis County is expected to provide Davis County Commissioner Brett Milburn to the Governor.  Mayor Walker may be interested in projects around the State Prison, especially the billion dollar TRAX extension to Lehi but at least he would be able to hit the ground running at UTA.  I have worked and fought with him for years while he was on the UTA Board of Directors.  But he is a professional and he seemed to provide a good and reasoned opinion and vote on the Board of Trustees.  Laynee Jones is most famous for pushing the Mountain Accord train and tunnel in the Wasatch Canyons, recommending making the Wasatch Canyons a National Monument and closing the supposedly open meetings to the public.  Mayor Walker would be a great appointment to help run UTA.

WINGPOINTE GOLF COURSE STORY EXPANDED

  The Salt Lake Tribune's Robert Gehrke did a story last week on the potential for saving the

Wingpointe Golf Course. I have been following, fighting and writing for years about the attempt by the City Council to close Wingpointe and turn it into a deicing maintenance facility.  This is the rest of the story.

  Former Mayor Becker told Hatch's Chief of Staff that SLC wanted to close Wingpointe and did not want the Senator to help keep it open.  Then several Councilmembers tried to close several golf courses, including Wingpointe and Glendale and get a parks bond to convert the Glendale course to a park  (for

$50+ million).  The Zap tax reconfiguration on the ballot stopped the parks bond.  But the effort/plan/pressure is still there.

  Last month, on June 12, the Council voted to rezone Wingpointe from open space and give it to the

Airport.  It still needs to be removed from open space list and that will be a separate hearing.  At the June 5 Council hearing, only a couple of us argued against paving over paradise, the only green around the Airport.  Erin was so upset that she argued that they were not doing that during the public hearing.  I listened to the discussion at the work session and I believe that she is trying to close Wingpointe permanently along with other golf courses.  Amy Fowler and Chris Wharton seem to be providing the biggest effort against closing more golf courses along with Mayor Biskupski.  I support their efforts to protect open space and golf courses.

RITCHIE GROUP GETS PARKING MONEY WHILE PRISKOS PROPERTY BLOCKED

  "Through SB 128 (2018) Transportation Revisions, the State Legislature provided for construction of parking facilities in a county of the first class that facilitate significant economic development and recreation and tourism within the state.  SB128 was sponsored by Senator Buxton and Representative Christofferson.  It allows County Transportation funds to go to parking facilities and also to transit projects.  Salt Lake County and Salt Lake City appear to be working on giving $15 million from the County to the City RDA to be given to the Ritchie Group for an underground parking structure for

Block 67!   The City would have to implement a new RDA area and the Ritchie Group would have to "offer a share of paid parking spaces to the public."  

  Tuesday, both the Salt Lake County Council and the SLC Council will start the process to give the

Ritchie Group $15 million.  "The RDA would repay the County for these funds with tax increment from the proposed project."

  Salt Lake City Council gave almost $7 million to Craig Mecham to help start the Vue project on 2100 South and Highland.  The money was supposed to be used to provide for a public parking level.  Meacham used the contract language to take advantage of Salt Lake City taxpayers and he implemented a $10 minimum public parking charge!  That obviously would result in a laughable public parking level.  The Kem Gardner Group bought the Vue but it still charges a $10 minimum.   What it did do is destroy the walkability of Sugar House.  When Meacham implemented the $10 parking minimum, the rest of the nearby parking lots implemented a two hour maximum parking limit.  That was despite the Sprague Library needing more parking for longer areas.  The Boyer Company refused to be flexible about library patrons and even refused to allow deliveries next to the Library.  The Library deliveries have to find regular parking spots.  Librarians have to park far away and in unsafe areas!  It also stopped Sugar House patrons from parking and walking the area for hours.  It increased pollution and destroyed walkability.  

  The irony continues when you realize that Salt Lake City has been actively discouraging parking lots, especially downtown.  The Draft Downtown and Sugar House Parking Study by Nelson/Nygaard found that there was plenty of parking but it has not resulted in anything more than the draft (Nelson/Nygaard always finds that there is plenty of parking and has come close to creating riots in various cities that they do their studies).  There is an argument in the City Administration about whether to allow more parking while also stopping demolition of buildings to turn the property into parking lots, temporarily, while the planning for the replacement project continues.  That is why there are so many vacant buildings downtown (and around the City).  The ordinance in Salt Lake City requires an approved plan before the City allows demolition of a building and a parking lot is not acceptable.  Ironically, the demolition ordinance was passed into law to stop more Sugar Holes like Meacham's (who left a big empty hole  for years after he demolished his building).

  The result is that downtown landowners like Vasilios Priskos, who owned the old Zephyr Club property on 300 South and West Temple, are not able to demolish old and vacant and drug using vagrant buildings and pave them over as a parking lot until the property is redeveloped.  In SLC, property will not stay vacant for long (unless the City owns it - RDA has almost a hundred million in property that, in some cases, has been vacant for decades).  So, a month after honoring Vasilios Priskos with a walkway named in his honor, Salt Lake City is insulting him by giving $15 million to the Ritchie Group (which has a good reputation amongst developers) for parking!

  SLC needs to have a more thorough discussion about parking before giving $15 million to a developer for parking and hopefully, any new contract will stop the loopholes used by developers to gouge taxpayers and businesses.

PIONEER PARK PUSHES PIONEER PARK AMENITIES

  Pioneer Park Coalition is pushing fundraising to create a more inviting and usable Pioneer Park.  Salt

Lake City's RDA is assisting by providing matching funds to build a playing field and other amenities.  Unfortunately, the needs of the homeless are not being met and until the City actually solves the problem (I still think that the County is most responsible for the homeless issue regarding drugs and crime.), prettifying Pioneer Park is a waste of time.  When drug users jam their used needles into the ground in the Park, the whole Park becomes unsafe, no matter how many people use it.  Drug users should not be on the street.

RESTROOMS IN CANYONS CLOSED DURING HIGH SEASON

  Salt Lake City Public Utilities is publicizing the upgrading of restrooms in the Wasatch Canyons (using $700,000 that I mentioned before).  The work is being done during the peak hiking season when there are the most users of the Canyons.  I think that one has to question why do the work during the peak season?  Providing temporary potties is not really good management.  The U.S. Forest Service is working with Salt Lake City to manage (or mismanage) this project.

SCOOTERS IN SLC COULD CHANGE ANTI BIKING LAW

  Lost is the concern about electric scooters in Salt Lake City is the effect on the no bicycling on downtown sidewalks ordinance.  Tourists use the Green Bikes a lot downtown on the sidewalks.  Even regular users ride on the sidewalks.  Riding on downtown streets, with all the parked cars pulling out, doors opening, unsafe automobile and truck drivers and even buses encourages bicyclists to ride on sidewalks.

  But electric scooters are being pushed, by SLC, to be used on downtown streets!  Electric scooters and bicyclists should be able to ride on downtown sidewalks as long as they do it safely.  It is against the law, now, to ride on the sidewalk negligently.  This is the time for a discussion on rescinding the law against riding bicycles and scooters on downtown sidewalks.  

  Another interesting discussion regarding scooters will take place at Tuesday's SLC Council work session.  They will discuss whether to "require business license applicants to provide photo identification and evidence that they possess professional certifications necessary to operate specific categories of businesses."  I know that the City wants to stop scooters on sidewalks but trying to stop them by requiring certifications is laughable!

WFRC PUSHES BILLION DOLLAR TRAIN TO LEHI

  The Wasatch Front Regional Council has provided a list of recommended projects for federal funding assist.  They include the billion dollar train from Draper to Lehi, electrifying FrontRunner and BRTs to Taylorsville, up and down 5600 South and other areas.  These billions of projects all appear to be wasteful wish lists when the highest priority should be more bus service.  

ROCKY ANDERSON IS BETTER THAN SALT LAKE TRIBUNE

  Last week, the Salt Lake Tribune did a story, "a hit piece", on former Mayor Rocky Anderson.  I know Rocky as an acquaintance but I also know many people who worked with him and under him and they have always regarded Rocky with respect.  Although a hard taskmaster, he engenders excellence and people who work under him, want to keep working for him.  I am incredulous that a well regarded reporter ignored warning signs that the story bordered on fake news!  Rocky Anderson deserved more respect and this story did not deserve to be published without a more vigorous examination of the evidence.  

  I am also surprised that the Tribune has ignored "rumors" of other politicians that have a much worse reputation.  We rely on newspapers to provide news that ensures appropriate and ethical actions by government.  But when a questionable story is published, the public stops trusting the news and one of our Nation's most important reasons for success is threatened.  The Tribune, or another news organization should follow up for the real story.

MCCLELLAND STREET BARRIER TO ADA USE

  Today, the Sugar House Community Council and Salt Lake City is hosting a discussion on the future of McClelland Street between Elm and 2100 South (about one block).  Soren Simonsen is recommending a shared street concept.  It is at Legacy Village on Wilmington (between 1300 E. and Highland) from 6 to 9 PM.  Unfortunately, the million dollars appropriated by the City to construct the McClelland Trail to Fairmont Park was all spent on alleyways so only about $100,000 is available for this project.

BOND VOTE IN SLC COULD STOP HEALTHCARE EXPANSION

  Salt Lake City Council is pushing hard for putting a bond proposal for streets on the November ballot.  The Council is hosting get togethers with the Council Chair and taking public testimony on July 10th and July 31st.  The Council is tentatively scheduled to make a decision by August 14.  But it is one of many potential tax increases this year.  Property taxes are going up, sometimes as much as 10%; the Prop One zombie tax is being implemented in October (which gives cities road and transit money); the November ballot already has a sales tax increase for healthcare expansion and a ten cent a gallon gas tax increase for education (to provide cover for the Legislature to shift funds from transportation back to education - that they pulled from about 10 years ago); and the proposals by the Legislature to increase taxes on services like Netflix and Amazon streaming!

  So now, Salt Lake City is proposing to threaten healthcare expansion and education funding increases to get more money than they already will get from the resurrected Prop One tax!  It sounds like an Aesop's Fable dog story.

TWO OF THE BEST MOVIES IN NORWEGIAN

  I received a couple of thanks for the last nod to foreign movies so I would like to suggest some more.  This time, I am recommending two Norwegian movies, Headhunters and Jackpot.  Headhunters is about a hitman and corporate recruiter.  It has action and suspense.  It deserves 90 minutes of watching.

  Jackpot is another Norwegian surprise (with some Swedish) that is as good a mystery as possible.  It will also be worth watching.  The irony and humorous plot grabs you almost immediately.

JULY 2, 2018

999 BIKE RIDE OVERWHELMS SLC

999 BIKE RIDE OVERWHELMS SLC

The 999 bicycle riding gathering that is every Thursday night at 9:30 PM at 900 South and 900 East (southwest corner) is attracting hundreds and almost a thousand bicycle riders!  This is the time of year when it gets unreal.  I put some of the pictures from last week's ride in a zip file in the upper right.  For more information go to:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/999-ride-slc/999-frequently-asked-questions/1938385479537785/

JUNE 28, 2018

REALITY CHECK ON OPERATION LEAF BLOWER BURN PLANT SUGGESTED FOR SLCO, REALLY?

MILLCREEK MUNICIPAL FIBER, TOWN CENTER, SLC LAND

TRADE

SINGLE ROOM OCCUPANCY PUSHED IN SLC UTA LOSING MORE VALUABLE PERSONNEL

UTA NOT PUBLICIZING 40% FARE DECREASE

OGDEN'S WANTS QUESTIONABLE $79 MILLION PROJECT SLCO GOP ELECTS SCOTT MILLER CHAIR

REALITY CHECK ON OPERATION LEAF BLOWER

   On Monday, the National Network of Criminal Justice Coordinating Councils, a criminal justice reform think tank, held a meeting in Salt Lake City to celebrate the success of Operation Rio Grande.  Lieutenant Governor Cox, the Utah Highway Patrol and SLCO Mayor Ben McAdams all joined in the presentations to show the Country that Salt Lake County and Utah has solved the homeless problem in Utah!  Ironically, it happened on the 5 year anniversary of the announcement that Utah and Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker had solved the homeless problem in Utah.  

  The Deseret News quoted Mayor McAdams giving credit to the Operation for putting 2,442 of Utah's very poorest on Medicaid.  Speaker Hughes gave credit to the Operation for using a sitin, an "occupy" in the Health and Human Services Department to remove the 16 bed limit on Medicaid drug treatment (put into place decades ago to protect single family home neighborhoods from large Medicaid drug treatment facilities).  280 drug dealers were arrested (and it appears that all except for 10 have been released) and a lot of drugs were confiscated.  

  If the kudos that were given to Mayor McAdams are pulled aside, the reality would have revealed that the reason for the Operation would have been revealed.  When Mayor McAdams repurposed $9.4 million a year that was going to the jail bond for his pet projects, including Pay for Success (which is still collecting information) and a salary increase for County employees, resulted in a jail that was not able to accept arrested criminals.  Former Sheriff Winder had to implement a jail booking restriction policy due to the lack of adequate public safety funding at the County Jail.  When that happened, the area around Rio Grande exploded into lawlessness.  SLC Police were not able to arrest and book and keep in jail drug dealers and other criminals.  

  The reason that the Salt Lake County police chiefs call the effort Operation Leaf Blower is because the jail is still underfunded and keeps drug dealers booked for just a few hours.  The U.S. Attorney was so upset that he books drug dealers arrested in Salt Lake County in other counties.  The rest of the municipalities are seeing a significant increase in drugs and homeless criminal behavior and complaints from the citizens.  They do not see Operation Rio Grande as the success that has been presented to the rest of the Country.

  Last week, the Legislature's Social Services Appropriations Subcommittee heard a real report on Operation Rio Grande during a deep dive presentation (in the downloads section).  There have been problems with the IDs (up to 50% are lost and need to be replaced).  Only 65 of the homeless are working (Lt. Governor Cox said 80 are working this week?!).  Crime in the area has gone down significantly but the rest of the County seems to be experiencing an increase that some attribute to drug addicts that are avoiding the downtown SLC Rio Grande area.  The drug addiction treatment for individuals with Substance Use Disorder (SUD) statistics show thousands of Utahns need treatment but success in treatment is difficult (statistics in the download section under addiction service rates).   A reality check on Operation Rio Grande/Leaf Blower would show that the effort is more of a publicity stunt to increase the visibility and popularity of Ben McAdams and Greg Hughes so that they will eventually be able to run for Governor against each other.

BURN PLANT SUGGESTED FOR SLCO, REALLY?

  The problems with recycling (see last week's RECYCLING IS DEAD) have resulted in Millcreek suggesting some solutions that include a burn plant for garbage!  In the 1980s, I helped lead a fight against a proposed garbage burn plant in San Diego County.  I ended up on the San Diego County Solid Waste Management Board.  Burning nonhomogenous waste/garbage invariably will lead to more air pollution and, even with the best pollution controls (water curtains), the ash will still be hazardous with heavy metals that are very toxic.  The burn plant in Layton (which I tried to help close in the 1990s during my monthly visits to Utah) actually burned metal car parts, batteries and even depleted uranium bullets (not the "depleted uranium" barrels in the west desert filled with nuclear weapons waste.  The plant closed recently but the ash pile still remains and is not being properly secured.  

  The idea of burning garbage is wrong since it results in significant increases in pollution in an airshed that cannot take anymore burning of anything.  Recycling needs to be reevaluated but when most of our recycled garbage is actually sent to the dump, maybe recycling is not being effectively managed.

MILLCREEK MUNICIPAL FIBER, TOWN CENTER, SLC LAND TRADE

  Millcreek is considering an expensive municipal fiber system that will cost residents $2000 to $4000 over 20 years.  The goal is to have the new City support borrowing money and constructing a municipal broadband system to provide over 100 mbps internet connections for City residents.  But 4G cellular is 3 to 12 mbps with some cities getting 35 mbps.  Netflix recommends 25 mbps download for 4K and Amazon recommends 15 mbps download for 4K movies.  So cellular is providing competition already for high speed internet.  Slower download speeds can be compensated for with buffering.     Most importantly, 5G cellular is coming and I put the SLC report on 5G in the downloads

section.  That will provide a cheaper and more cost effective installation and operation of 100 mbps download internet availability.  

  One of the reasons that Google Fiber slowed down their rollout was because of the new technology that is more cost effective than digging up sidewalks for fiber.  Google bought a company that does just that.  Even with the new microtrenching (not used in Utah yet), water and sewer lines can be cut.  SLC is experiencing a big problem with the issue of fiber construction companies breaking water and sewer pipes and refusing to fix them.  Also, UTOPIA, which showed up to support the effort, is still costing Utah taxpayers $50 million a year in a questionable interest rate swap.  The poorly managed UTOPIA buildout is the best reason not to have any municipality in Utah build municipal broadband.  It is still a way for government to get and spend more money.  Interestingly, I made that same comment years ago during a Legislative hearing on UTOPIA.

  Millcreek will have other public hearings if they decide to consider this project.

  Millcreek also is about to finalize high density, mixed use and mixed income town center zoning in the area from about 1200 East to Highland and from northern City boundaries to 3400 South.  The project should lead to a lot of construction in the area.  Unfortunately, it is near one of the Wasatch Front faultlines and it is also next to the 3300 South/1300 East high pressure natural gas pipeline.  In the next big one, the whole area could be incinerated with a rupture of the pipeline.  It also points out that the 911 system in Salt Lake County needs to be consolidated into one system.  If there is a rupture or accident or problem at 3300 South and 1300 East, three separate emergency numbers and responders need to be notified to respond!

  Another item mentioned at the Millcreek City Council meeting was that they have 47 UPD police patrolling Millcreek and they want 58.  They, the UPD, along with the other 12 law enforcement entities in the County have problems hiring and retaining enough police officers.

  And finally, Millcreek and Salt Lake City are discussing a land trade to consolidate the jigsaw boundaries between Millcreek and Salt Lake City on 1220 East/Richmond Street just north of 3300 South.  There are 4 homes just south of Elgin on Richmond that are in Millcreek and Salt Lake City takes care of the road in front of those homes.  But their sidewalks are below the road!  For over a decade, residents have complained about the safety issues and accidents in the area.  A land trade would help provide a better solution and responsibility for the area to get a safety increase (by giving the property to SLC in return for other property to provide fair compensation).

SINGLE ROOM OCCUPANCY PUSHED IN SLC

  I put the SLC proposal for Single Room Occupancy homes in the downloads section.  Of note, the parking remains at 1/2 per unit.  In addition, the rooms can contain a kitchen or bathroom but not both.  One of them has to be in the community area of the home.  This could be a concern to single family home neighbors.  The proposal was tabled for more information at this week's Planning Commission meeting.

UTA LOSING MORE VALUABLE PERSONNEL

  One of the most valuable personnel in UTA is leaving.  Rebecca Cruz, who I have been dealing with for almost 10 years, has a new degree and an offer that she couldn't refuse from Weber State

University.  Rebecca was the UTA Board of Trustees secretary.  But, in reality, she was the organizer, trainer, administrative assistant and mentor to the Board of Trustees.  She knew everything and every Trustee needed her advice regularly.  Although UTA had a bad reputation, Rebecca was always trying to respond to my  requests.  She made UTA look good.  UTA's loss of Rebecca Cruz is right up there with the loss of Jerry Benson in the effect on UTA.

UTA NOT PUBLICIZING 40% FARE DECREASE

  UTA approved continuation of the 40% fare decrease on buses (to $1.50) and 20% fare decrease for trains (to $2) when using the FarePay card system.  Unfortunately, as mentioned in the discussion, there is almost no knowledge in the general public and given to bus riders about this significant fare benefit.  So the Board of Trustees asked that the fare be marketed and publicized.  Many believe, as do I, that reducing fares on buses will lead to a significant increase in mass transit ridership.  Pass it along, $1.50 bus fare when using the FarePay card ($3 one time fee at many locations like 7/11, Walgreens, etc)!!

OGDEN'S WANTS QUESTIONABLE $79 MILLION PROJECT

  Ogden City convinced the UTA Board of Trustees to start the environmental study to start the $79 million downtown Ogden to Weber State BRT project.  The BRT will run up 25 South to Harrison Boulevard then turn south and, south of 32nd South, have a dedicated lane to continue to Weber State

University and to the McKay Dee Hospital.  It will take 15 minutes from downtown FrontRunner to Weber State University and have bus stops every 4 blocks (totaling 10-12 stops).  But the 603 bus already provides a 17 minute trip from FrontRunner to Weber State University and it stops every block!  The idea that more people will ride mass transit when bus stops are 4 blocks in between is not realistic (I am being generous!).  There are now 40 stops.  The route is popular and cost effective and spending $79 million on a project that may actually decrease ridership is government insanity.  Ogden expects the route to lead to significant redevelopment even though much of the route is next to single family homes.  Those homeowners will fight to keep their area as a single family neighborhood.  Washington Boulevard should have gotten the route.  I still do not think that UTA knows how to do BRT.  

SLCO GOP ELECTS SCOTT MILLER CHAIR

  The Salt Lake County Republican Party has elected Scott Miller Chair of the the County Party.  Scott kept the Party together and organized during the Suzanne Mulet period.  His organizational skills were important and are needed even more.  His election will help lead the Party to a more organized and effective voice in Utah politics that was missing in the last two County Party Chairs.

JUNE 23, 2018

TRANSIT PROBLEMS IN UTAH

UTAH LOSES MUCH LESS THAN $70 MILLION IN INTERNET

TAXES

RECYCLING IS DEAD, LONG LIVE RECYCLING

PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT CAN BURN HEPATITIS A COST UTAH MILLIONS ONLY 65 HOMELESS WORKING!

INN BETWEEN COULD SERVE UP TO 400

NUCLEAR POWER IS DEAD, LONG LIVE NUCLEAR POWER

THE BEAUTY INSIDE IS MORE THAN A GREAT DATE MOVIE DWR STOCKING FISH IN FAIRMONT POND

TRANSIT PROBLEMS IN UTAH

  During discussion at the Transportation Interim Legislative Committee, there were several presentations by Wasatch Front Regional Council, UTA and UDOT on the future of transportation in Utah.  UTA specifically said that they expected to only be able to increase service.  But they also indicated an effort to continue to build the $65 million bus garage and build several expensive BRT systems (at $15 million per mile TRAX on wheels).  They also expressed concerns about getting more transit ridership.

  The large number of cheap cars make it difficult to encourage ridership.  The Legislature may consider making it more expensive to keep older cars by increasing their registration fees.  It would also help air quality since the newer cars significantly reduce air pollution from their tailpipes (over 90% reduction with Tier 3 gasoline).

  Lost in the discussion is the lack of progress on homeless issues which results in our transit system providing shelter for homeless, especially in inclement weather.  Also, when someone buys a $50,000 vehicle, they will want to drive their vehicle.  The nicest train cannot compete with that.

  UTA also went through their finances over the last decade.  Interestingly, almost ignored over the last decade, UTA was on the edge of bankruptcy!  Up until a few years ago, UTA had to borrow money with a daily buy of variable interest rate.  That meant that, if the daily interest rate went up, they would not be able to meet their financial obligations.  Former GM Allegra was able to roll those bonds into longer term low interest rate bonds that were more stable and removed the potential danger of interest rates going up.  The recession actually protected UTA since the daily interest rate was unusually low.  I put their presentations on the upper right downloads section.  

  Another interesting UTA fact was the revenue from advertising.  UTA gets about $2.5 million a year for advertising on their buses and trains.  The Legislature is considering hearings on the new advertising of hard liquor on buses and trains.  If UTA accepts any advertising, they have to accept liquor advertising.  But UTA is getting 40% of the new Prop One lives! tax.  That should be enough to stop advertising on UTA vehicles.  Also, the number two reason that buses are used is clean windows (without advertising).  The number one reason is a pleasant bus driver.

UTAH LOSES MUCH LESS THAN $70 MILLION IN INTERNET TAXES

  The U.S. Supreme Court decision to allow state sales taxes on internet transactions was celebrated but in Utah, it won't result in more revenue.  And if the Legislature passes the bills that previously were filed due to the question of legality, only the small businesses that sell more than $100,000 to Utahns will have to pay the taxes.  Although the cost to small businesses to prove to 50+ taxing jurisdictions that they do not sell more than $100,000 to each state, will prove difficult.  The potential audits that states could demand will hurt.  Until Congress solves the issue, internet small businesses will have a major hurdle.  Big internet businesses have been given a big gift by the Supreme Court.  Despite Utah's assertion that Utah loses over $200 million a year on internet taxes, it is much less than $70 million due to the fact that most big internet businesses pay the tax anyway.  I don't know how Utah is going to force tens of thousands of small businesses to prove their business sales with Utahns don't go over $100,000.

RECYCLING IS DEAD, LONG LIVE RECYCLING

  The Wasatch Front Waste and Recycling District has recognized that recycling is under significant pressure since China has severely cut back on accepting recycled materials from the U.S.  Much of the recycled materials are starting to go to landfills.  There is a discussion in several cities and in Salt Lake County about how to continue recycling under the new paradigm.  Even paper is more difficult to recycle since it is difficult to separate newspapers from other paper and that creates complications for recyclers.  Any liquid in plastic containers destroys the recycle ability.  Pizza boxes have too much oil to recycle.

  SLC is renegotiating their recycling contracts under this new war against recycling.  Utahns may have to pay more to recycling companies.  And the recycled materials may still end up in the landfill!

PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT CAN BURN

  SLC has a plan to build a shade structure in Imperial Park (28th South and 1530 East) over the playground equipment.  The project will use support poles to hold up a shade sail fabric over two playground elements.  The poles should last 30 years and the shade fabric should last 10 years.  Annual maintenance and operations cost should be about $1000.  This is an important project that will protect children from burns.  All playground equipment should be shaded like this.  The local community raised funds to help pay for the $75,000 project.  The City CIP funds will provide enough funding to complete the project.

HEPATITIS A COST UTAH MILLIONS

  A presentation to a legislative committee this week went into detail about the cost of hepatitis A to Utah.  While Kentucky has had 629 cases, Michigan 837 cases with 27 deaths, California has had 704 cases and 461 hospitalizations and 21 deaths.  Utah has had 251 cases along with 135 hospitalizations (costing Utah millions) and 2 deaths.

  44% of Utah hepatitis A cases were homeless and drug users.  69% were drug users.  52% were homeless.  It could have been much worse in Utah.  Credit should go to the Salt Lake County Department of Health under Gary Edwards and the Utah Department of Health for their efforts to successfully fight Utah's hepatitis A epidemic.

  Despite the horrible sanitation facilities in the homeless areas, the SLCO Health Department was able to stem the epidemic by providing over 10,000 vaccinations and sending letters to and working with the jail, prison, restaurants, downtown citizens and agencies that deal with homeless providers.  They passed out flyers and worked with the homeless.  They gave incentives for vaccination.  They distributed special hand wipes to the homeless providers (and jail).  I put the hepatitis A presentation in the downloads section.

ONLY 65 HOMELESS WORKING!

  Operation Rio Grande (Operation Leaf Blower according to SLCO police chiefs) third phase was supposed to be the culmination of a successful plan to help the homeless.  But.... only 65 homeless are participating in the third phase that helps those homeless who want to work.  I put the deep dive homeless presentation in the downloads section.  Also note that the "Coordinated Services Card system has been less efficient than anticipated, due to the high rate of card reissuance and related costs. The program will terminate in June 2019".

INN BETWEEN COULD SERVE UP TO 400

  The Legislature has provided funding to the INN Between that could result in the program serving up to 400 in the next year.

NUCLEAR POWER IS DEAD, LONG LIVE NUCLEAR POWER

  During the Public Utilities Interim Legislative Committee, there was a presentation on the fantastic potential of the Thorium fluid nuclear reactor.  Legislators were so enthusiastic that they asked what kind of funding that they could give to help the project in Utah!

  BUT... as a former nuclear engineer, the reality is that a successful Thorium fluid reactor is 10 to 30 years away from successful and safe operation.  Although the U.S. National Science Foundation and China are working on building a research test reactor, there are problems that have not been solved and that may take 10 plus years to solve, if ever.

  We have not solved the Tritium issue.  Tritium is released and is almost impossible to restrict.  It is radioactive and extremely dangerous.  The long term structural stability of the tubing materials has not been proven.  The alloy that is used becomes brittle due to exposure to Tellurium (dozens of elements are created in the radioactive fluid).  There has never been a successful plant that could reprocess and remove the significant and dangerous actinides that are created.  And finally, if the radioactive fluid is not kept as a liquid, there is a potential to have a catastrophic critical event.  These problems should not be on any campus or in any populated area.  There is no place in Utah that should have to worry about these issues.

THE BEAUTY INSIDE IS MORE THAN A GREAT DATE MOVIE

  I was recently asked what movie that I most enjoyed.  The Beauty Inside, a Korean take on a recent U.S. effort to point out the real beauty is inside.  This is one of my top 5 foreign movies.  This is more than a great date movie.  Any couple thinking about a permanent relationship should watch this movie.  I know several women who watched it and cried by the end of it.  Super happy tear jerker.  It is on Netflix and at the SLC Public Library.

DWR STOCKING FISH IN FAIRMONT POND

"The Department of Wildlife Resources will be stocking Fairmont Pond with 50 rainbow trout. The DWR Community Fishing Program allows for keeping up to two (2) of the fish caught per individual per day. Public fishing will begin at Fairmont Pond’s grand reopening on Wednesday, June 27 at 4 p.m. For more information in regards to the Community Fishing Program contact:

The Department of Wildlife Resources

Wildlife Recreation Specialist Chantè Lundskog  

801-491-5665."

JUNE 12, 2018

GOLF SURVIVES ANOTHER YEAR BUT WINGPOINTE REZONED

HOMELESS SERVICES PERFORMANCE TO BE TRACKED

PUBLIC SAFETY SALES TAXES CAN GO TO FIRE DEPARTMENT

WHITE ASPHALT BEING CONSIDERED TO REDUCE HEAT

ISLAND

SLC RDA BOARD RENAMES WALKWAY FOR VASILIOS

PRISKOS

ALTA MOTOR LODGE CRIME MAGNET HAS NEW BETTER

OWNER

STATE STREET CAPITOL MOTEL NEEDS ENVIRONMENTAL

EVALUATION

THIOKOL BECAME ATK AND IS NOW NORTHRUP GRUMMAN COUNTY DOG PARKS DISCUSSION AT COUNTY COUNCIL SLC COUNCIL VOTES FOR EVEN MORE TAXES!

SLC COUNCIL KEEPS PUSHING FOR INCREASING SALARY

BOY SCOUT UTAH PROPERTY STAYS FOR UTAH YOUTH

BENEFITS

INN BETWEEN COMMUNITY BOARD MEETS SECOND TUESDAY

OF MONTH

RDA BUDGET DOES NOT FUND HOMELESS APPROPRIATELY

SLCOGOP TO ELECT NEW CHAIR AND COUNTY COUNCIL D4 CANDIDATE JUNE 21

GOLF SURVIVES ANOTHER YEAR BUT WINGPOINTE REZONED

  The SLC Council has approved a general fund subsidy for SLC's Golf Enterprise Fund and voted for this legislative intent:

"General Fund Subsidy for Golf. It is the intent of the Council that the General Fund subsidize the Golf Fund for one year only, allowing the Council and Administration to vet all options for improving efficiency and profitability of annual operations. The Council intends to make discussion of golf and open space maintenance a priority for the FY 2019 budget year. Further, it is the Council’s intent that the $1 per round Golf CIP fee be used to pay for capital improvements (or debt service related to capital improvements), and not be used to offset operational deficits."

  Unfortunately, Councilwoman  Erin Mendenhall moved to rezone Wingpointe open space to Airport zone which is the first step to closing Wingpointe and turning it into pavement.  Erin does not like golf courses.

HOMELESS SERVICES PERFORMANCE TO BE TRACKED

  Many have complained about the efficiency and effectiveness of homeless services and the City Council has asked the Administration to show whether the funding is appropriate and where it works and doesn't work.  The language approved is:

"It is the intent of the Council that the Administration propose a clear set of metrics to document and assess the City’s contribution to homeless services, particularly if those contributions are expected to be multi-year or ongoing in nature, or go beyond the City’s typical roles, such as funding for case management and beds in addiction treatment facilities."

PUBLIC SAFETY SALES TAXES CAN GO TO FIRE DEPARTMENT

  The City Council has agreed that new sales tax funds for public safety can also go to the SLC Fire

Department.  In addition, the Council has asked for an additional medical response unit in Fire Department.  It is sorely needed due to the large requirement from the drug issues in the homeless community.  Ten medical responses a day downtown are typical with most involving homeless drug use.  But mental health issues also are cause for responses.

WHITE ASPHALT BEING CONSIDERED TO REDUCE HEAT ISLAND

  During today's City Council meeting, in a surprise announcement, streets mentioned that they are considering white asphalt paving.  LA is starting to use the white asphalt on streets and SLC is evaluating their durability.  The goal is to reduce the City's heat island effect.  The City would start with parking lots. SLC is not super close to installing any white asphalt but if it turns out to be durable in LA, the City may pave a parking lot next summer.  Charlie Luke and Chris Wharton want to be on the paving truck that lays down white asphalt.  Council Chair Erin Mendenhall said put them on a paving truck.

SLC RDA BOARD RENAMES WALKWAY FOR VASILIOS PRISKOS

  The RDA Board has voted to rename the walkway just south of the Eccles Theater for Vasilios Priskos.  The RDA intent was "To preserve the memory of visionary Salt Lake City real estate developer Vasilios Priskos."  It will be officially the Vasilios Priskos Walkway.  Vasilios Priskos was responsible for much of the development on Main Street.  He also owned Internet Properties and was a big booster of downtown retail and entertainment.

ALTA MOTOR LODGE CRIME MAGNET HAS NEW BETTER OWNER

  The crime magnet Alta Motor Lodge at 1899 S. State Street has a new owner.  The SLCPD is ecstatic that the new owner is working closely with the SLC Police to stop the criminal behavior and to remove the criminal element.  The neighborhood should see a significant decrease in crime and drug dealing and prostitution in the neighborhood.

STATE STREET CAPITOL MOTEL NEEDS ENVIRONMENTAL EVALUATION

  Salt Lake City, through the SLC Housing Authority, has taken over ownership of the Capitol Motel at 1700 S. State.  The Housing Authority has removed many of the criminal element problems and is effectively managing the Motel to decrease its criminal magnet reputation.  The Authority is looking at potential redevelopment that would encompass all of the Motel property.  Some neighborhood residents have expressed concern about contamination of the Capitol Motel property.  Specifically, years ago, school buses had their oil changed in the garage on the property and nearby residents do not believe that that oil was properly disposed.  In addition, there is an underground stream through the

property.  Nearby residents have not had their concerns addressed and have been at several community councils and City Council meetings complaining about the issues.  Many of the concerns that are real for the neighbors involve the size and height of any new building.  Adjacent neighbors would be negatively impacted by a large building next to the property line.

THIOKOL BECAME ATK AND IS NOW NORTHRUP GRUMMAN

  My father worked at Thiokol in Northern Utah for over 20 years before retiring in the 1980s.  As a kid, I was fascinated with stories about rockets and the X51 rocket plane.  Thiokol was the technology giant that put Utah on the map.  The main reason was our dry climate (which also attracts server farms) which helps curing of solid rocket motors (moisture and humidity is problematic for solid rocket motors).  Thiokol developed the Space Shuttle solid rocket boosters (My father warned that they could explode catastrophically years before it happened during launch.), air bags (I had one of the first cars with air bags in 1971.) and low weight exotic materials.  The air bag invention is used everyday by billions of world residents.  The company morphed into other explosives and ammos and became ATK.  This month, it was sold to Northrup Grumman.  It is sad for me to see a Utah company, a company that put Utah on the technology map, is no longer a Utah name.  Although it still has operations in Utah, the world will no longer look at a Utah name that shows the world that Utah is involved in technology.  I loved the Thiokol name.  

COUNTY DOG PARKS DISCUSSION AT COUNTY COUNCIL

  The County Council is discussing the off leash dog parks in the County.  I put the report in the downloads section in the upper right.  There is plenty of pressure for more off leash parks but no new plans yet.  Stay tuned.

SLC COUNCIL VOTES FOR EVEN MORE TAXES!

  The SLC Council has decided that SLC citizens don't get taxed enough!  Despite the recent .5 cent sales tax increase for public safety, streets, housing and transit, the City Council voted for the County Council to increase the sales tax to Prop One levels.  Ignored in the discussion was the fact that the County voters voted Prop One down.  The Council noted that SLC voters voted for Prop One and that was one reason for the increase vote.  The County Council will keep the increase in tax revenue (to pay down transportation debt) until July 2019.  Then the cities will get a small portion of the increase.  UTA will get 40% of the tax increase.  I still believe that most of the revenue will be used to build new projects focusing on south County areas around the Prison property (where many legislative leaders have property that they want to develop).  It was fascinating, despite the significant tax increase, that only a few, literally a handful, showed up at the Legislature to argue against the sales tax increase in

SB136.  Note that this Friday, the sub committee of the group that recommended SB136 will meet at the Legislature at 1 PM.  You can find the meeting notice and agenda on the le.utah.gov website and calendar.

  Despite several lines of reasoning, all City Councilmembers agreed to increase taxes again.  The vote should allow the County Council to approve the tax increase officially, which will start being collected in October.  Council Chair Erin Mendenhall mentioned that she was voting for the tax increase because our streets need more funding.  It is ironic that she mentioned that point since the streets really need $40 million a year to provide regular basic recommended maintenance and repair but the City only funds it with less than $10 million a year.  The City Council approved an $8.4 million tax increase about 6 years ago but the next year, the City Council agreed with Mayor Becker to repurposed the tax increase for salary increases of 3% for all employees (and Councilmembers).  

  Lost in all of the discussion is the fact that there will be three tax increases on the ballot in November.  There will be a SLC bond of about $87 million.  There will be a ten cent a gallon gas tax increase survey that will influence/protect/allow the Legislature to increase gas taxes 10 cents a gallon and move a equal funding amount to education (The Legislature, several years ago, required 30% of all new funding to be used for transportation and education lost a lot of funding.)  Finally, there will be healthcare expansion vote that will use increased sales taxes to fund expanding healthcare.  This year is becoming the year of taxes.

SLC COUNCIL KEEPS PUSHING FOR INCREASING SALARY

  During SLC Council's June 12 work session, the Council voted to keep pushing for increasing compensation.  Council Chair Erin Mendenhall has been pushing hard for a 50% salary increase.  The vote keeps open the proposal to evaluate the elected officials compensation by asking the Citizens Compensation Advisory Committee to look at overall compensation, gather data on council members serving in leadership  roles (chair and vice chair) and make recommendations.  I know that most Utah municipalities have less compensation than SLC Councilmembers.  But the effort to increase the chair's compensation would affect Erin Mendenhall and that is not appropriate unless it is implemented after the Council members are not in office.  They should not be increasing their own salaries.  The vote keeps this open and the language is:

Evaluate elected officials compensation – The Council requests the Citizens Compensation Advisory Committee (CCAC) review compensation for elected officials in comparable cities throughout the West. In addition to looking at overall compensation, the review should gather data on compensation levels for council members serving in leadership roles such as chair and vice chair. Based on that analysis, the CCAC should make recommendations in the FY 2018 annual report for adjustments, if any, to elected officials compensation. If additional funding is needed to conduct the review, a funding request should come before the Council with sufficient time for the CCAC to incorporate the evaluation findings and recommendations into their FY 2018 annual report.

BOY SCOUT UTAH PROPERTY STAYS FOR UTAH YOUTH BENEFITS

  Many of the Utah Boy Scout troops will remove themselves from the Boy Scouts of America at the end of the year.  The property that is used by Boy Scouts today will continue to be utilized and be available to Utah scouts whatever their affiliation.  This email explains the change and minimal impact on property used by any Utah group.

"Our camps belong to the Great Salt Lake Council, or in the case of Steiner leased from the USFS, and that will not change unless the council ceases to exist someday.  We have no intention of going out of business. 

Even if we did and the camps went to the National Council, per the BSA’s bylaws they would be retained for the benefit of the youth of the territory covered by the Great Salt Lake Council.

We are not going anywhere though. We have many, many members of the LDS church who understand the benefits of Scouting, tens of thousands of current Scouts who are not members of the LDS church, and hundreds of other chartered organizations who will continue in Scouting beyond 2019. We will be smaller, but we will be fine.

We still have a very positive relationship with the LDS church so we fully intend to make our camps available for whatever the LDS church comes up and outside youth groups. As we have for decades with

our young womens’ camps. Mark Griffin | Scout Executive

BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA

Great Salt Lake Council

525 Foothill Blvd  |   Salt Lake City, Utah 84113

mark.griffin@scouting.org www.saltlakescouts.org

Scouting builds character through unparalleled, life-enhancing experiences you can’t get anywhere else!"

INN BETWEEN COMMUNITY BOARD MEETS SECOND TUESDAY OF MONTH

  Unfortunately, the INN Between has decided that their community advisory board will meet on the second Tuesday of the month, on the same day that the SLC and SLCO Councils meet.  This is a surprise since it almost seems like it is going to decrease community involvement.  They are meeting tonight.

SLC BUDGET DOES NOT APPROPRIATELY FUND PUBLIC SAFETY

  The Council should have added money in the budget for 10 more cop cams since it looks doubtful that we can hire another 27 cops, even 10 cops will be tough to hire.  The next class will probably have 12 in the Academy. And the Sugar House Fairmont Park Skate Park needs one there permanently to decrease the drug dealing and troublemaking that is a consistent problem.  But the final budget does not cover cop cams.

RDA BUDGET DOES NOT FUND HOMELESS APPROPRIATELY

  The homeless could use the blue warehouse for storage and/or camping until SLC Housing uses it, and/or use Station Center 4 or 6.  But the RDA budget does not provide for that.  The property may sit unused/vacant for another 10 years.

  The market is still there and with all of the homeless around the Fourth Street Clinic, the Rescue Mission and the Homeless Services, it does not make sense.

  Sugarmont Plaza was going to be affordable housing but it is not listed in the property list as such.   If SLC puts a TRAX station at 650West Main Street, TRAX becomes a milk run and discourages ridership.  Development of the area is discouraged by all of the car lots around the area.  It makes more sense to spend the half million on homeless storage.  But the RDA budget was approved.

SLCOGOP TO ELECT NEW CHAIR AND COUNTY COUNCIL D4 CANDIDATE JUNE 21

  The SLCGOP, the Salt Lake County Republican Party, will meet on June 21 to replace the former chair who resigned, Jake Parkinson.  Jennifer Jensen has been Acting Chair and she has been doing a great job.  In addition, due to the death of County Councilman District 4 Sam Granato, who was elected to serve until 2020, the Republican Party will be able to nominate a candidate for the ballot in November.  That candidate will run against, in all likelihood, Ann Granato, who is serving as Council member now.

JUNE 7, 2018

SUGAR HOUSE PLANS BIG PARTY SATURDAY JUNE 9

WITHOUT MORE COPS, COP CAMS FIGHT CRIME MAGNETS

COMPLAINTS ABOUT WATER AND SEWER INCREASES MOUNT

SLC RDA PLANS TO MAKE TRAX A MILK RUN

GOLF DECISION KICKED DOWN THE ROAD ONE LAST TIME

AGAIN

SLC PROJECTS/PARKS NEED MAINTENANCE AND WATERING

NEW DOWNTOWN PARK PROJECT IS STILL ON THE TABLE

COMPLAINTS AGAINST POLICE ARE MISDIRECTED

CIP PROJECTS DO NOT HAVE COMMUNITY INPUT

NEED FOR MORE DOG PARKS

NOTES ON SLC VEHICLES

SLC TRANSIT SALES TAX INCREASE MAY NOT SEE MUCH FOR 4 YEARS

WHY AMAZON DID NOT CHOOSE UTAH

SUGAR HOUSE CONTINUES SUPERGENTRIFICATION

SLC LIBRARY ADDS A CREATIVE LAB FOR POSTERS, MUSIC

AND 3D PRINTING

MISCELLANEOUS SUGAR HOUSE NOTES

SUGAR HOUSE PLANS BIG PARTY SATURDAY JUNE 9

  On Saturday, June 9, from 3 PM to 8 PM, the biggest party imaginable will have 47 bands providing entertainment for the Heart and Soul Music Stroll.  Visit heartsoul.org for more information.  It will take place in the 1530 East and 2700 South area.  There will be food trucks and even valet bicycle parking.  47 bands have to be heard.  They can't be imagined.

  Before the 3 PM Music Stroll, the Sprague Library will be celebrating their 90th anniversary from noon to 2 PM (this Saturday June 9) with cake, kids activities and other celebrating activities. 

WITHOUT MORE COPS, COP CAMS FIGHT CRIME MAGNETS

  The SLC budget is about to be passed (on June 12) and almost no one is commenting on the issues.  One of the important issues is the SLCPD salary.  The police need more personnel.  They just bought 50 new cop cars and they have plenty of bicycles.  But they don't personnel to man them (with men and women officers).  The SLC Council considered (and dropped) Erin's 50% salary increase.  So why can't SLC recognize that without better pay, SLC will not have the increased number of police that they have set as a goal.

  The alternative is cop cams.  They are portable, trailer mounted cameras that can be placed in high crime areas and feed video of the area back to the SLCPD.  Community councils have been begging for them.  They decrease crime and discourage criminal activity in the adjacent area.  But SLC only has one operable cop cam trailer.  It needs 10 to provide each Council District a trailer, with spares.

  Another use of the cop cam trailers is it will fight human trafficking/prostitution.  It can provide video of pimps so that not just johns and prostitutes can be arrested, but also those who are the real threat, the pimps who actually do the human trafficking.

  SLC's budget needs to budget for cop cams.

COMPLAINTS ABOUT WATER AND SEWER INCREASES MOUNT

  The last few budget public hearings have had a few citizens complaining about the water and sewer fee increases.  Unfortunately, Salt Lake City (which also supplies water to Millcreek, Holladay and Cottonwood Heights) has not clearly explained why the rates were approved last year and are set to double within four more years.  The City decided to build new facilities (reconstructing a plant) to meet new guidelines and requirements.  To build those big projects will require a doubling of water and sewer fees. I don't agree with the process or increase but the decision was made last year.  Ironically, the citizens of SLC are using less and less water.  The water use for SLC has actually gone down!   The Salt Lake Tribune had a great story on the issues.  I recommend reading it.  Google SLC sewer rates may double and sltrib.com.   http://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=5217220&itype=CMSID

SLC should better explain to its residents why the increase is coming instead of just sending a card saying that it is being proposed.

SLC RDA PLANS TO MAKE TRAX A MILK RUN

  SLC RDA/City Council is proposing to start a TRAX station at 650 South Main Street with RDA funds and hope that the rest of the money will come from grants.  This extra station will essentially make TRAX a milk run.  The longer it takes to get to downtown and Temple Square, the less likely people will take mass transit.  If it takes longer to go from 700 South to Temple Square than to drive from 6500 South on the freeway to downtown, people will drive more.

  The Green Line would probably be most negatively impacted.  The Airport gets just over 1000 riders a day on TRAX due to the zig zag through downtown.  Adding another stop will discourage using TRAX to the Airport.  

  When the Green Line went to the Airport, UTA stopped their Airport bus.  Although few used it, it went from downtown, on the freeway, to the Airport, in 15 minutes.  That is half the time that it takes the Green Line to get to the Airport.  Buses work.  Ironically, the Redwood Road and 5600 West buses are not being considered for service increases (with the SLC sales tax increase) and they could easily and cheaply be expanded to the Airport.  SLC's plan will not increase mass transit ridership.

GOLF DECISION KICKED DOWN THE ROAD ONE LAST TIME AGAIN

  Amy Fowler is becoming the Salt Lake Champion of golf.  She argued for and convinced the Council to provide funding for the golf fund for another year.   

  Charlie Luke agreed to the one year general fund subsidy but wants the Council to work on this issue and provide an alternative well before the next budget cycle.  He did not think that golf issues will be able to be solved in the next two weeks before the budget is approved.  Charlie said that "we are all getting on our soapboxes but... we aren't getting anywhere with this".

  Erin Mendenhall has been trying to close golf courses and complained that the administration is not motivated to solve this issue.  She agreed with former Mayor Becker that SLC needs to close some golf courses.  During the public hearing on June 5, after I pointed out that Wingpointe is valuable green space and should not be rezoned, she argued that the rezone will not automatically result in paving it over.  I disagree since I have seen the plans to put a deicing maintenance facility on Wingpointe golf course if the Airport can take over the course.  I pointed out that the problem with golf is that SLC does not treat golf, open space, parks and the cemetery as amenities and overcharges for water and labels those properties as a burden.

  Most of the Council agreed to the funding because they do not want anymore 2 hour discussions on this issue without a better plan.  

SLC PROJECTS/PARKS NEED MAINTENANCE AND WATERING

  During the golf discussion, Amy pointed out that we build parks and projects but the City does not provide maintenance funding.  James Rogers agreed that the City cannnot even maintain the 300 West streetscape.  Last year, the City had to start watering the cemetery after complaints from

VIPs.  Maintenance should include watering.  But SLC requires a three tier fee system for watering to encourage using less water.  The parks, golf courses, open space, urban forest and cemetery are amenities and the City should stop treating these amenities as poor stepchildren and stop forcing them to stop watering them.  Our urban forest provides a natural way to decrease pollution and to cool the buildings in the City.  Charlie Luke said that we need a policy discussion on maintenance.  "Everything we build we will have to pay for... just because we get the grants, if we don't have the money to maintain them, maybe we shouldn't do the project."  Charlie Luke is right.  The City needs to have a discussion on maintaining the projects that we build.  In addition, green space in SLC should be planned and protected with proper maintenance and watering.

NEW DOWNTOWN PARK PROJECT IS STILL ON THE TABLE

  During the June 5 work session, the City Council reiterated the intent to build a downtown park.  There are a couple of potential sites but the cost of property acquisition is continuing to grow.  When $900,000 was appropriated in 2014, no one thought that the cost would increase as much as it has.  The City would need to come up with $1.6 million to buy a 2 acre site.  But, until SLC solves the homeless issues, another park in the downtown area will just create more problems for the adjacent neighborhood.

COMPLAINTS AGAINST POLICE ARE MISDIRECTED

  Over the last few months, at every SLC City Council formal meeting, there have been a large turnout of demonstrators complaining about police brutality and murder.  Signs that say BLACK LIVES MATTER and other similar thoughts are constantly in the City Council chambers during the formal meeting.  The complaints are directed at the governance of the Mayor and City Council.  They include complaints that the Council ignores police complaints and refuses to acknowledge that there is a problem.  They also question why Salt Lake City needs 50 new police officers.  And they often complain that the Council members do not understand the reality on the streets regarding police/community interactions.

  But those demonstrators ignore the reality in Salt Lake City.  All of the Council members, and I have watched and listened to them for years, are concerned about police issues.  They have increased training to ensure professional conduct.  I remember former Police Chief Burbank pointing out, several years ago, that he was in 13 situations where he would have been justified in shooting individuals but his training helped him defuse the situation without shooting.  The Council was impressed and continues to ask if more training is needed.  The last time Chief Brown was in front of the Council, they insisted that he ensured that every patrol officer had an operable body cam.

  In addition, Councilwoman Amy Fowler deals with individuals everyday who have been arrested by police.  She is a public defender.  She knows the reality better than any or even all of the

demonstrators.  Although she is new, having been in office for six months, she is making a big difference on the Council.  She does care and her questions are appropriate and cover the concerns of the demonstrators.  

  Regarding 50 new cops, the best deterrent to crime is more visible police officers.  Every community council that I go to complains about not enough visible police.  The demonstrators may feel that there are too many police but most citizens want more visible police.  Unfortunately, as I mentioned in a recent blog entry, SLC may never be able to get to even 20 new police officers.  There is too much competition for police and the benefits are not very competitive with non governmental work.     The demonstrators are way off and seem to be clueless about the reality in SLC.  Salt Lake City's Council and Mayor are working hard to ensure that unprofessional police actions are identified publicly.  From rapid releasing of bodycam footage (faster than any other municipality in Utah) to ordering the Chief of Police to apologize to a Young African Killer gang member who was selling spice and was shot while refusing to stop attacking someone.  I disagreed with that order because I had heard many complaints about the YAK gang selling spice in the Rio Grande area and I watched the body cam footage.  I felt that the shooting was justified.  The reason DA Sim Gill (who is very evenhanded in his investigations of police shootings) is charging the YAK gang member who was shot with drug dealing, is he was drug dealing!  

CIP PROJECTS DO NOT HAVE COMMUNITY INPUT

  The CIP list of projects is available and in the downloads area (upper right hand column).  Unfortunately, many of the projects have not been sent to community councils for feedback.  Each project has a line item that lists Community Support.  Many of the CIP items have NA on the that line.  That is wrong.  Some examples of questionable projects include the 1100 East driveway into the Post Office replacement that will cost $226,000.  That money would be better spent on the McClelland Street project that is only able to get $100,000 to spend on what could be a walkable street that could be a centerpiece for Sugar House.

  There is also an item to provide a new maintenance yard at Liberty Park that would cost

$735,000.  That money would be more appropriately spent on the Seven Canyons Fountain system near the maintenance yard.  The City Council will have a more robust discussion about the CIP project list later on in the summer.

  Another project is the 1700 South project to remove 2 lanes of traffic on 1700 South between 300 West and State Street.  But the neighboring commercial businesses are not enthused about the project and are objecting.  Notice on the 1700 South project description below that the Community Support is NA.

  This is the CIP line item project description:

1700 SOUTH STATE STREET TO 300 W LANE RECONFIGURATION   M19-48-TRN

1700 S\State Street to 300 W Lane Reconfiguration Request: $ 105,000

TRN - C CDCIP Board Recommendation: $ 105,000

New Request Mayor Recommendation: $ 105,000

External Funding: NA

Partner Organization: NA

RDA Project Area: No

Project Elements Funded Separately: This project can't be broken down into smaller funding requests.

Full funding is needed to complete a slurry seal and restriping and marking of the street.

Cost Savings Combining Multiple Projects: NA

Project Timeline: Construction date: Spring/Summer 2019

Master Plan Implementation: Transportation Master Plan and Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan

Included in the Capital Facilities Plan: No

This project would entail a lane reconfiguration of 1700 S between State Street and 300 W. To accomplish this, the street would be slurry sealed and then restriped. The currently existing lane configuration of a five lane section (two travel lanes in each direction and a center turn lane) and bike lanes will be changed to a three lane section (one travel lane in each direction and a center turn lane), bike lanes, and parking. Impact Fee Eligibility: 0%

Budget Details: NA

Renewable Energy \ Sustainability Goals: Changing from a five lane with bike lanes street section to a three lane section with bike lanes and parking will provide additional safety to pedestrians which will encourage more people to walk to destination along this section of 1700 S. The more people walk rather than driving will help improve air quality and personal health, while reducing the City's carbon footprint.

SUSTAINABLILITY DEPARTMENT SUPPORTS THIS PROEJCT, feedback: Recommended for

funding by the Sustainability Dept. Increases opportunities for active transportation, and has high potential to reduce vehicle miles traveled and associated pollutants. Increased connectivity, and bike and pedestrian safety.

Future Maintenance: Regular, on-going maintenance of the striping, markings, and signing would continue.

Community Support: NA

Legal Requirements: The striping and marking of the street must be done to city standards

Public Health & Safety: Changing from a five lane with bike lanes street section to a three lane section with bike lanes and parking will provide additional safety to pedestrians walking along and crossing this section of 1700 S.

Life Expectancy: With regular striping, marking, and signing maintenance, this project will be in place until removed or changed.

NEED FOR MORE DOG PARKS

  Council member Chris Wharton emphasized that Salt Lake City and especially the Avenues needs more dog park space.  He pointed out in a recent City Council work session that Lindsey Gardens' dog park area is too crowded and due the number of dogs, they often go over the invisible line dividing the dog park from the rest of the park.  A fence may be needed to control and alleviate problems in the park.  A better solution is to add another park, maybe closer to the foothills.  Chris Wharton may be the hero that dogs are looking for.

NOTES ON SLC VEHICLES

  During a recent budget hearing on SLC's fleet, it was noted that the City's fleet maintenance budget has tripled.  Even though the City recently bought 50 new police patrol cars at a cost of $36,000 each, they are still being outfitted.  Unfortunately, the City only buys $20,000 insurance for the $36,000 vehicle and when the vehicle is damaged beyond repair, the City loses $16,000.  Fire Department vehicles are not usually damaged which is fortunate since they typically cost $1.2 million.

  The City recently bought some Chevy Volt for the compliance unit (tickets).  They have a 10 year battery warranty and replace the vehicles that used to idle much of their work day.  The 335 miles (400+ in ads) range allows the City to use it without recharging for 8 hours a day.

SLC SALES TAX INCREASE FOR TRANSIT MAY NOT SEE MUCH FOR 4 YEARS

  During discussion on using money from the recently approved SLC sales tax increase for transit

service increases, it was pointed out that phase one of the service increases may take 4 to 5 years to get going.  The money won't start coming in until 2019 and even then, the City has to negotiate and agree with UTA to provide the service increases.  The list of priority projects include 200 S (increasing frequency from 15 minutes), 1300 South, 900 South, 2100 South, 600 North and 1000

North.  Unfortunately, there is no proposal to increase service or span of service on State Street and

Redwood Road.  And the zig zag west side routes are still being allowed (to meet Title VI requirements - I still contend that zig zag milk runs do not show respect for economically disadvantaged areas).  Another proposal to increase bus service on 400 South was not recommended because it would require a new bus facility which would increase cost.  Interestingly, Representative Schultz pushed for funding for the new $65+ million bus garage and, with new SB136 tax increases, the garage is a sure thing. 

WHY AMAZON DID NOT CHOOSE UTAH

  Utah submitted a proposal to Amazon to locate its second headquarters here and it was rejected.  The reasons given were that the workforce in Utah presented a challenge due to the lack of tech workers.  Amazon also wanted a more urban environment.

ANN GRANATO NEW COUNTY COUNCIL WOMAN REPRESENTING DISTRICT 4

  Unfortunately, almost no news organizations reported it, but recently deceased Sam Granato's better, and smarter half, has been elected by the Salt Lake County Democratic delegates to succeed her husband on the County Council.  The County Council swore her into office the next day, June 5.  I know all of the County Council members and I believe that she is the smartest out of all of them, despite being a Democrat.  Nobody's perfect.

SUGAR HOUSE CONTINUES SUPERGENTRIFICATION

  The old parking lot on the southwest corner of Elm and McClelland, across the street from the Sugarmont Apartment complex being built, and just north of the England car detailing business, is proposed to become a 6 story apartment and office complex.  There will be about 60 apartments and about 79 parking spaces in the projects.  The ground floor is designed to have offices but the project developers say that they will provide for future retail if there is sufficient economic viability of retail in the area.  Mixed use encourages walkability and the Sugar House Community Council is redesigning McClelland to encourage walkability.  The project should be encouraging ground floor restaurants and retail.  The project is called the Fairmont.

SLC LIBRARY ADDS A CREATIVE LAB FOR POSTERS, MUSIC AND 3D PRINTING

  The Salt Lake City Main Library has built a creative lab area that has rooms to quietly make music, make large posters and even has a 3D printer.  The Friends of the Library helped bring the project to reality.

MISCELLANEOUS SUGAR HOUSE NOTES

  The redesigned Fairmont Park pond will be finished by June 27.  The 2100 South and 1000 East project has removed the covered sidewalk which is resulting in many pedestrians walking in the street next to the project.  The construction company has said that the new sidewalk should be ready by July 4th but construction companies cannot be counted on to meet deadlines.  Someone could get killed.  The new 900 East Sugar House fire station is projected to be finished by September 1.  It was originally scheduled to be finished in July.  Wilmington, just west of 1300 East is scheduled to be finished by June 15 and traffic will return to two way on the street.  

  Sprague Library's elevator continues to cause problems and stops the effort to open up the downstairs area.  The elevator had to have a motor replaced and the Library is waiting for an inspection.  The Library still has not found a replacement facility to take over when the Sprague Library closes for a year in the fall.

  The Community Council has asked for a cop cam trailer to decrease the drug dealing (usually spice) around the Fairmont Park skate park.  The Police Department is also having the nightime lights turned off earlier to decrease potential criminal activity.  There was an attack on a police officer last week that resulted in a threatening crowd.  

  Unfortunately, Sugar House Park fireworks are not going to happen this year.  One of the recent organizers pulled out because he wanted to charge but the Park's Board did not want to charge people to use the Park.  And all fireworks are banned in Sugar House Park, even snakes.  In fact, Salt Lake City is banning fireworks east of 900 East this year (supposedly).

MAY 31, 2018

POLICE MAY NEVER ADD MORE COPS

SLC POLICE MAY NEVER ADD MORE COPS

  During Tuesday's SLC Council meeting and discussion with SLCPD Chief Brown, it became clear that SLCPD may never be able to add enough cops to get to about 200 on patrol.  There are 138 staffed in patrol now and the Chief would like to have almost 200 on patrol.  During recent interviews set up with law enforcement officers from other jurisdictions, about 12 set up interviews but only 3 showed up.  The other law enforcement departments in the Valley are all competing for the same personnel.  31 officers are in training now and, of those, 10 of them have law enforcement backgrounds and are transferring laterally from other departments.  They will be ready for patrol in August.  The other 21 applicants in the Academy will be out of training in October.   But SLCPD is losing 2 to 3 20 year experienced officers to retirement each month so SLCPD may never be able to add  more cops.

  In order to get the patrols up to where the Chief wants them, the Department will transfer, temporarily, everybody that can patrol, except for the undercover narcotics officers, to patrol.  They will double up with another regular patrol officer to provide a two man patrol.  Since most calls require two officers to respond anyway, personnel staffing won't be affected much. 

  Regarding the bike squad, the Chief said that the squad will go where it is needed.  Most were transferred to help Operation Rio Grande and they are now moving to patrol State Street.  Several Councilmembers expressed concern about the visibility of the bike patrol around the City, especially around the Jordan River Trail and the westside.  The Chief emphasized that if there is a need, "we will provide resources to where they are needed."  But they need more officers first.  They have plenty of bikes but they need personnel to man them.  "We need people over equipment."

  The City has provided a cellphone to each officer to help with crime scene photographs so that the officers do not have to wait for the Crime Lab techs.  The TASER and body cam officer safety program has plenty of in warranty TASERS (5 year warranty) but the body cams do not have many surplus to replace defective equipment.  The Chief said that they will ensure that every officer on patrol will have an operable body cam.  

  The biggest cost coming up will be the accreditation of the crime lab but the Department will cover it over a few years. 

  The 911 system, which is separate from the Police Department, has 5 vacant positions.  They are having a problem hiring more personnel since UTA pays $27,300 to starting operators and even Panda Express in Heber starts at $13 per hour.  SLC 911 provides $15.81 per hour.  Dispatchers have to be POST certified and there are 6 in the Training Academy. The acting, soon to be permanent, manager, Lisa Burnette, said that she would like to get her personnel into the community so that the communities learn the issues that dispatchers have and how to work with them.  There are about 8 complaints a year but I have seen many more at each community council.  The manager also said that she has only 5 out of 65

speaking Spanish and she wants 20 Spanish speakers.  She has 3 who speak Tongan.  Dispatchers are still seeing a lot of overtime.

MAY 30, 2018

SLC COUNCIL QUESTIONS ERIN'S SALARY INCREASE AT

WORST TIME

SLC COUNCIL QUESTIONS ERIN'S SALARY INCREASE AT WORST TIME

  During discussion at almost 9 PM on Tuesday's SLC City Council work session, Erin Mendenhall, the

City Council Chair (Chris Wharton was chairing this meeting) asked for a $10,000 salary increase for City Council members.  Several Councilmembers thought that the conversation needed to take place but that this discussion, at this time, the worst possible time, was not a good time to discuss a salary increase for the Council.

  Derek Kitchen said that "this is an important conversation... this is not a sustainable job" but maybe a gradual increase may be more appropriate.  

  Andrew Johnston agreed that this is a bad time but the salary "is a problem for a lot of people who are trying to make ends meet and serve this community....this is a problem for me".  He said that this is not going to be fulltime but doing this at an appropriate time and place would be appropriate.  Maybe looking at other benefits may be more acceptable.

  James Rogers agreed that this is not a sustainable position (serving on the Council).  "I do it as a service."  He said that a salary increase would eliminate people who have a full time job and eliminate those who want to do service.  It would create full time politicians.  We would end up with an Orrin Hatch.  He pointed out that "we get reimbursement for home internet and for cell phones."  "What is

$10,000 going to do that we don't have now....I don't have data that shows that we are underpaid."  Councilman Rogers said that the Council position "takes away from my job" but a salary increase would eliminate people who have full time jobs who want service.  He pointed out that the Council is already looking at a childcare facility for employees.

  After pushback from Erin Mendenhall who questioned whether James was implying that Erin is not doing her job, she said that he is pointing out issues in the extreme.  She said that her $35,000 proposal is not a full time professional salary but it can pay for child care, make the position more democratic and "for me a 10000 raise will put me on par with my babysitter".  She complained that "we have potential councilmembers in my district who would be great on the Council but their families can't handle it."   Charlie Luke said that "there is never a good time to have this discussion ...but this is the worst time to have this discussion.... with a sales tax increase and a bond on the November ballot."  "We are compensated better than the Legislature...  What will the Legislature say if we do this.. ..There is always someone ready to run."  "It would only be appropriate to have this discussion as soon as all of our roads are fixed, as soon as public perception of public safety but we are not even close."  "What are we not going to do that we could be doing if we do this?"

  Chris Wharton said that the City could look at child care reimbursement or an additional stipend.   Amy Fowler said that "after 8 hours and after 9PM, this is not the time to talk about it.  If we continue, we will be here until midnight.... When I ran, I did not know that it was a paid job."  This is not a good time, not on the eve of approving budgets.  "Put this as a priority but I can't support it now but I want to have the conversation."

  Erin finished the conversation by complaining that we will "never be at 100% on streets" and we should be encouraging diversity financially and socially.  Erin said that "I appreciate everybody talking about it."   And then there was silence.  After some awkward silence, Chris moved on to the next agenda item.

MAY 25, 2018

SLC COUNCIL DISCUSSES THEIR 50% SALARY INCREASE

NEW INN BETWEEN FOR HOMELESS HOSPICE DRAWS ANGRY

CROWD

REP. SCHULTZ CLAIMS LEGAL THREAT AFFECTED UTA

MEETING 

ANN GRANATO IN RACE TO REPLACE SAM AT SLCO COUNCIL

5600 W. PLAN GOES FROM OLD BINGHAM LRT TO SLCIA TO DOWNTOWN

SLC COUNCIL DISCUSSES THEIR 50% SALARY INCREASE

  The SLC Council has added a discussion to increase the Councilmembers salary 50%, to the SLC budget discussions.  Council Chair Erin Mendenhall confirmed the discussion to increase their salary from about $24,000 to $35,000 during Thursday night's ELPCO community council meeting.  Erin said that she does not have enough votes, at that time, to pass a salary increase but that the Council will discuss it at the next SLC Council work session on May 29.  Erin said that it is important to attract the best possible candidates for the office and that the time commitment to effectively work on the Council is much greater than the present salary would imply.  She also pointed out that she pays her babysitter more than she gets. 

  The nominal salary is one way to ensure that elected officials don't look at elective office as a career.  It encourages those willing to serve for the benefit of taxpayers and Utahns to run for office.  The relatively low salary discourages professional politicians.  Utah has had great success in ensuring that professional politicians are discouraged.  Utah has a part time Legislature and most municipal elected offices are part time.  Even some mayors are part time.  

  But the most concerning aspect of this proposal is almost nobody in Salt Lake City knows about this discussion to give a 50% salary increase to SLC Councilmembers.  It also is hypocritical to consider a

50% council salary increase and balk at providing SLC Police with more than a 3% salary increase.  Police go to work everyday and face the most dangerous individuals in society.  They are willing to take a bullet for us.  They deserve more than the same 3% salary increase that the rest of the City employees are going to get in this budget.

  The salary increase proposal is under unresolved issues and I put the document on the upper right downloads section (along with many of the items mentioned in the blog).  The Council will have two more public hearings on the budget on June 5 and June 12.  The Council expects to vote on the budget and this issue on June 12.

  The item says:

"g. Council Member Compensation – Over recent years, Council Members have struggled with balancing an interest in discussing different ways to address Council Member compensation with budget constraints and public sensitivity. The interest based on (1) the higher level of expectations and demand for time placed on elected officials now than when the salary levels of Council Members

were first initiated (1/5 of the Mayor’s salary) and (2) a desire to consistently maintain a pay rate for the City Council Members that makes it possible for people from all income levels to serve. Expenses are naturally created when serving as a part time elected official (time away from regular job or business, babysitting costs, etc.) If the pay for the position doesn’t at least cover the expenses associated with the job, only individuals who are able to ‘subsidize’ their City Council service through other personal resources or the support of a partner are able to fill the positions, and the field of candidates is narrowed to the point that it could exclude low income people or single parents.

i. Shifting to a Policy Approach – The Council may wish to discuss shifting to a policy approach to determine appropriated (sic) compensation for elected officials. The City conducted salary surveys of elected officials in other municipalities most recently in 2015. The results showed significant variation in annual salary between cities. There was no consensus from the data about what salary is reasonable / appropriate for Salt Lake City elected officials.

ii. In addition to the inconclusive survey data, some challenges arise when comparing salaries for elected officials such as differences across forms of government, separation of duties/powers, demographic and economic variations, actual hours worked, and other factors. 

iii. The Council is always torn about whether and how to adequately address the question of compensation. One option some communities have used is to make any changes effective after the next election cycle."

NEW INN BETWEEN FOR HOMELESS HOSPICE DRAWS ANGRY CROWD

  Thursday night, May 24, the East Liberty Park Community Council hosted a forum and question and answer meeting regarding the proposal/plan to move the INN Between to 1250 East and 1300 South(Sherman Avenue).  The overflow crowd of almost 100 were mostly upset about the potential increase in homeless in their neighborhood of single family homes.  There was also a large segment of the group that appreciated the work that the INN Between was involved in, ensuring that homeless were able to die in a safe and indoor facility instead of searching for a cubby or underneath a car when they feel that the end is near.  That was a real comment from a dying homeless man a couple of years ago.  Over 50 homeless a year die each year and most die outside in the open.  They sometimes freeze to death in public spaces but most of the time, if they are outside, they die alone.  The INN Between provides basic charity and Christian care to the dying. 

  Hospitals also dump patients at the Weigand Center many times a week.  These respite care patients are also taken in by the INN Between.  They may need recovery from surgery or cancer

treatments.  They are vetted and validated by hospitals before they are accepted by INN Between.  It is expected that about 30% of the patients may be respite care or recovering from medical care.  Sometimes, the homeless die within a few days of entering the facility.  It is difficult to argue with the charity that the INN Between is providing.

  But the valid community concerns included registered sexual offenders could be patients and two schools are nearby.  Also, visitors may increase the number of homeless walking the neighborhood.  And tobacco, marijuana and spice smoking may be sensed in the adjacent neighborhood.

  Most of the attendees were furious when Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall said that there is nothing that can be done to stop the INN Between from locating in the neighborhood.  I disagree; but my concern, is that the homeless hospice patients are effectively in a prison since there are no nearby stores to provide treats or other items that are not available in the facility.

  I also asked and received assurances that a community advisory board would be set up to ensure that complaints are quickly addressed and that will allow communicating the background of registered sex offenders that are put in the facility.  The previous INN Between location does have a successful community advisory board that seems to be working well, according to the neighbors and community leaders.

REP. SCHULTZ CLAIMS LEGAL THREAT AFFECTED UTA MEETING 

  UTA was under the gun by Representative Schultz and Senator Harper to revisit the constructive termination of Jerry Benson last month before his position was done away with.  I had the oped in the Salt Lake Tribune last week that expressed my belief that Jerry deserved the minimal severance of 9 months.  When he negotiated the contract to be general manager, he received assurances by UTA Board of Trustees Chair David Burton that he would have complete authority to hire and fire staff and be given more authority than previous general managers.  Jerry did not want the job since it came with such political pressure.  Jerry was an operations expert and did not want to fight the political battles.  During the discussion that ran over 2 hours, Jerry's lawyer mentioned that if the UTA Board did anything else but affirmed Jerry's termination and severance, there could be a legal case.  I had mentioned that a few minutes earlier in my comments to the Board.  Representative Schultz claimed that the legal threat was the determining factor in the 6 to 5 vote to affirm Jerry's severance.   I disagree.  The issue that resulted in reaffirming the severance was May 8 was the effective implementation date of SB136 that changed Jerry's job title and authority.  The new commissioners that would essentially replace Jerry would be installed BY November 1.  But the language of the bill would allow the commissioners to be put into place on May 9 and the Board had to make a decision on the issue before then.  Most of the Board that voted to affirm felt that the May 8 date was the date everything changed.  Despite Representative Schultz's claim and interpretation that it did not mean May 8 was when the new governance was to be in place, the wording specifically says May 8 is when the governance change becomes effective.  And several Trustees mentioned that laws should not be left to interpretation by interested parties but should rely on the words.  SB136 was not a great bill and should be fine tuned.  But to imply, as Representative Schultz did, that his interpretation should be gospel, was an insult.  Interestingly, the discussion almost revisited the outrageous severance of Jerry's predecessors.  But that was stopped when it was pointed out that that kind of discussion should be done in closed session.

  Jerry is enjoying his retirement and expects to stay in Utah.  He joked that he had no plans but to spend more time with his lawyer.

ANN GRANATO IN RACE TO REPLACE SAM AT SLCO COUNCIL

  In the next few weeks, Ann Granato, the wife of Sam Granato, may be elected to replace her husband on the Salt Lake County Council representing Millcreek and adjacent areas of the County.  Others are running for the position but Ann appears to have a lead with the obvious name and good will of the Democratic Party.  The Democratic delegates from Sam's district will vote to pick Sam's replacement.  Ann would be a great replacement for Sam Granato and would carry on his respected work representing his district.

5600 W. PLAN GOES FROM OLD BINGHAM LRT TO SLCIA TO DOWNTOWN

  Utah seems to be moving forward on an express bus from the Old Bingham TRAX station traveling north on 5600 West to the International Center and then to the SLC International Airport then to Downtown SLC.  The plan replaces the previous expensive BRT project.

MAY 22, 2018

SALT LAKE TRIBUNE LOSING NEWS REPORTERS

ROAD HOME AUDIT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN A SURPRISE

AIRPORT REZONE OF WINGPOINTE COMMENT ON JUNE 5

SLC DEMOLITION ORDINANCE ENCOURAGES DRUGS AND

SQUATTERS

SLC HOUSING DECREASES TIME TO BUILD WHILE NOT

ENOUGH HOUSING

SLC TRANSPORTATION ADDING STATE STREET PEDESTRIAN

CROSSING

UTA REPEAT MEETING MAY 23 UNDER LEGISLATIVE PRESSURE

SLC COMMUNITY COUNCILS NEED INPUT ON TRANSIT TAX

HERRIMAN POLICE FORCE WILL HURT CRIME FIGHTING

OPERATION RIO GRANDE DOUBLED JUSTICE COURT

ARRAIGNMENTS

LEGISLATURE ALLOWS CITIZENS TO ADD TO INTERIM STUDY

UTA COULD HAVE BEEN CALLED TRANS UTAH

ELPCO HOMELESS HOSPICE 6 PM THURSDAY MEETING

WATER METERS DECREASE WATER USE 

UTAH LOSES AROUND $100 MILLION ON INTERNET TAXES 

SLC MAY HAVE TO PAY RECYCLERS TO TAKE RECYCLING

SLC DISCUSSES PROS AND CONS OF INCREASING TAXES SLC COUNCIL FIGHT FOR INLAND PORT BOARD

SALT LAKE TRIBUNE LOSING NEWS REPORTERS

  I have been working with reporters at the newspapers and TV stations for almost ten years.  These are reporters who care about making my City, my County and my State a better place with a better government.  I have watched the issues regarding the joint operating agreement and the Salt Lake Tribune which are best labeled as a no win situation.  The situation came to a head at the Salt Lake Tribune last week when 30% of some of the most experienced reporters in Salt Lake City were laid off from the Tribune.  

 Our freedom of the press, along with the required freedom of speech is important for the success of our Country.  Countries without freedom of the press can’t improve their societies and systems without a truthful analysis of their government and businesses and systems.  When people say that China will overtake us, they ignore the value of free speech and free press.  The unexamined life won’t improve and without questioning government and society, that government and society won’t improve.  Freedom of press and access to information should be a higher priority in our society.

  I also need to expand on one reporter in particular, Chris Smart.  I first came to know Chris Smart while I worked in California.  I would come back every month to visit my family and I noticed the City Weekly stories about the Salt Lake City Mayor.  Chris Smart was editor of the City Weekly at the time.  I asked for my family to collect and save the City Weekly issues.  The City Weekly was uncovering a fraud perpetrated by the SLC Mayor that she led before she became Mayor.  Interestingly, about a decade later, ENRON went bankrupt using similar illegal actions.  But only the City Weekly was aggressively reporting on the issue.  Chris Smart and the City Weekly should have won a pulitzer for their reporting.  City Weekly is not as aggressive in their reporting as before and now with the loss of Chris and several other reporters from the Tribune over the last few years, Utah has lost most of their aggressive reporting.

  A couple of years ago, I was asked to share information on questionable deals by legislators.  The reporters on the case showed me a box of documents.  They showed questionable and illegal actions.  My comments included that the issues were coming up because the legislators felt that their actions were helping economic development for the State and were not just benefiting themselves.  But those reporters left and the box is not being reported.

  In other cases, TV reporters told me that their corporate attorneys shut down reporting that they wanted to report regarding several senior elected officials.  So the TV station reporters are muzzled and the newspapers are losing aggressive reporters.  That does not bode well for Utah's good government.   Another example, is the Gary Ott situation.  Katie McKellor, a great reporter, finally broke the issue of Gary Ott.  I was a friend of Gary Ott's and everybody in the County Government buildings knew of his issues.  It wasn't a secret.  He had several hours of lucidity a day and he trusted his staff to manage the office.  But it took a good reporter to report the issue and start a discussion on the situation.  I did not like the result.  But the discussion did need to happen.

  I will continue to try to fill the need of local reporting of news.  I will continue to attend many of the community council meetings and listen to or attend many of the other government meetings.  I hope that my blog will continue to provide important news and information that is not available on other news outlets.  If you would like your local news reported on this blog, you are invited to tell me/email me at gechapman2@gmail.com.  Your community council meetings provide a lot of news that I would like reported.  But with some community councils meeting at the same time, I can't be at all of the community councils.  There are five community councils meeting on the first Wednesday of the month.  There are three meetings of community councils meeting on the third Wednesday of the month.  And, usually, no reporters, are attending.  Email me if you would like me to report your news.

ROAD HOME AUDIT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN A SURPRISE

  The Road Home and homeless services preliminary audit came out and reported what we already knew.  The Road Home has a problem keeping out drugs and crime.  When homeless say that they do not want to stay in the Road Home because of drugs and crime, they are being honest and frank.  Last year, I reported that drug dog inspections of the Midvale family shelter resulted in many drugs being discovered, next to children.  I also pointed out that the SLC Police were finding it difficult to do drug sweeps with dogs in the downtown Road Home.  Last month, I reported that the Road Home staff would not help overdoses in the Road Home.  And there were a lot of overdoses.  The Road Home Director, Matt Minkovitch has a difficult and impossible job trying to keep out drugs.  The addicts are not locked up and they are a large part of the homeless population despite their continuing to victimize citizens and homeless.  I blame the lack of keeping addicts in jail or treatment and that is a County issue.  I still believe that the biggest issue is due to lack of inadequate public safety funding in Salt Lake County.  The issue will not change until there is a separate facility with much more oversight that will allow anyone, including pets, alcoholics, drunks, and spice zombies to be inside or in an area that had medical care available and basic safety enforcement.  The Road Home cannot close but should be much safer for those who are homeless.  Drugs should not be in any of the shelters.

AIRPORT REZONE OF WINGPOINTE COMMENT ON JUNE 5

  SLC Council intends to have a public hearing on rezoning Wingpointe Golf Course and permanently closing it and turning it over to the SLC Airport for other development.  The Council wants to close the Course.  Amy and Charley seem to want to keep it open but Erin and others want golf courses closed.  If you care about golf, and green space, please go to the City Council 7 PM public hearing on golf on June 5.  SLC golf maintains 6 courses with $9 million.

SLC DEMOLITION ORDINANCE ENCOURAGES DRUGS AND SQUATTERS

  Last year, I reported that Peter Corroon, the former SLCO Mayor was unable to demolish an empty house and it ended up being used by drug addicts and eventually burned out.  The SLC demolition ordinance discourages demolishing a house or building unless an approved plan to replace it is agreed to by the City.  That leads to many vacant buildings, downtown and throughout the City that are magnets for criminal activities, especially drug use.  Ballpark Community is also full of buildings that are vacant and instead of encouraging demolition, since they are uninhabitable, they encourage criminals to use the buildings.  A few months ago, 1700 South had a big fire in a vacant building and it is a continuing issue.  The SLC Council refuses to consider reviewing the demolition ordinance.  One reason is the concern about allowing more parking lots when a building is demolished. Many on the SLC Council thinks that there are too many parking spots in the City and they encourage using cars.

SLC HOUSING DECREASES TIME TO BUILD WHILE NOT ENOUGH HOUSING

  Last week, I congratulated SLC Housing for cutting in half the average time to get a building project approved.  But lowering fees does not appear to be increasing housing permits.  SLC Housing has just released the statistics on housing being built in SLC.  Keep in mind that in 2015, SLC needed 7500 affordable housing units.  I believe that it is closer to 25,000 needed now.  And one reason that I encourage State Street redevelopment, is because it has the best potential for significant housing

units.  The latest housing stats for SLC are (WE NEED MORE HOUSING): 

                                        in process or pending issuance         FY to date issued     FY16-17    FY15-16 single family

homes       11                                                                      37                            63              47                  duplexes/twin homes      0                                                                        0                            14                0 condominiums and townhomes 69                                                      38                           49                0 apartment units            602                                                                   353                        2322         1183

SLC TRANSPORTATION ADDING STATE STREET PEDESTRIAN CROSSING

  SLC transportation appears to have an agreement with UDOT to allow installing a midblock crossing between 6th and 7th South on State Street.  Ironically, there is a block long car lot between 5th and 6th South which seems wasteful.  The City is trying to encourage more walking in the State Street 6th to 9th South area.  The reason for the midblock crossing near 7th South is due to the nearby homeless resource center.  

UTA REPEAT MEETING MAY 23 UNDER LEGISLATIVE PRESSURE

  UTA is going to have a repeat meeting on May 23 at 1:30 PM regarding the Jerry Benson termination and the appointment of Steve Meyer as interim General Manager.  My oped in the SLTRIB laid out the issue and I have a problem with Representative Shultz and Senator Harper spending 20 minutes complaining about everyone else, especially UTA, misdirecting attention from Jerry Benson to the name change.  My oped is at (feel free to comment):

https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2018/05/17/george-chapman-uta-name-change-does-notdeserve-mud-slinging/ My oped is:

UTA name change does not deserve mud slinging

  This week, Representative Schultz and Senator Harper, the sponsors of the SB136 bill that increased transit taxes, changed UTA governance and changed the UTA name, held a press conference. They said that they were going to stop the UTA name change. They used statements that indicated their frustration with the backlash from the public about the name change. They said that they felt that the $50 million cost to change the UTA name was "incorrect" and that it was a diversion from the recent termination of UTA General Manager Jerry Benson with 9 months severance pay. 

  They felt that UTA was stonewalling the name change. But UTA, after SB136, was not able to spend more than $200,000 without special approval, above the budget, until the new commissioners are appointed to manage UTA. Representative Schultz and Senator Harper were putting a lot of pressure on UTA staff to quickly change the name despite many, including the Governor, who felt the name change was "silly".

  Representative Schultz said that he felt that the UTA actions regarding Jerry Benson were "criminal". He cited a letter from the State Attorney General that said that the termination should have been noticed at least a day ahead of time instead of just notifying about a closed meeting on personnel. Ironically, a few days later, the Sandy Police Chief was terminated without notice or public hearing and the Attorney General did not express concern about that.

  When Jerry Benson took the General Manager's job, with reluctance, he agreed to decrease his compensation, if terminated, from 18 months to 9 months. Jerry's reluctance was due to the constant political pressure for more projects. Jerry was an operations expert and UTA benefited from his time as General Manager. I fought SB136 and felt, among other issues, that it would result in many managers with institutional knowledge leaving UTA. I was not surprised at the public notice the day before the closed session that said there would be a closed session regarding personnel matters and I assumed that UTA would be losing someone important. 

  Watching UTA and attending Trustee meetings over the years, I felt that the Legislature had more influence and control of UTA than UTA staff. The Legislature supported TODs and the Swiss trip. Legislators wanted more projects, and SB136 will provide many new transit projects. Legislative leaders, including Speaker Hughes, were often on the Board of Trustees and provided significant direction to UTA staff.

  The disturbing claims that UTA actions were "criminal" and that they broke the law are a surprise coming from Representative Schultz and Senator Harper. I know these Legislators and have worked with them (and fought some of their efforts) for many years. I consider them both to be committed public servants. Senator Harper sponsored one of the best bills last session that would have decreased onerous towing traps in parking lots (it ran out of time in the session). He has always been respectful to me during our arguments. I watched Representative Schultz spend 30 minutes, listening to workers interested in one of his bills and trying to find an acceptable path forward. 

  Representative Schultz and Senator Harper should not be claiming misdirection about the UTA name change and should not be using terms like criminal or breaking the law. UTA did not try to misdirect anyone on the issue. I watched and listened to UTA continually try to follow their orders to act. I do not believe that termination of a valuable employee requires a public notice. Former SLC Mayor Becker terminated SLCPD Chief Burbank without notice. It should be obvious that the law wasn't broken.    I believe that it makes more sense for everyone, including these two legislators, to focus on appropriately implementing SB136 than on blaming UTA or claiming breaking the law.  We need to work together and not blame those we have to work with. The UTA name change issue does not deserve mud slinging.

SLC COMMUNITY COUNCILS NEED INPUT ON TRANSIT TAX

  Unfortunately, SLC Council is prioritizing transit service projects without going to SLC community councils.  Community councils should be part of the conversation but, so far, they have not been asked to participate.  Of particular concern, is the fact that the west side of SLC has a lot of zig zag/milk runs that are due to trying to meet the Title VI requirements that transit services not discriminate based on social issues and income of census tracts.  But those zig zags, in my opinion, make it harder to have a good encouraging transit ridership.  It encourages car use.  In addition, every turn increases the accidents for buses.  It is not a good system.  Interestingly, Norwalk is looking at using a new Ford system called TransLoc to allow smaller on call minivan conversions to provide transit service.  It will be a lower cost system than would be needed with big buses that would mostly be empty.  The link to the story is: https://www.thehour.com/business/article/Norwalk-to-pilot-Uber-for-buses-concept-12931813.php

HERRIMAN POLICE FORCE WILL HURT CRIME FIGHTING

 I have been fighting, writing and arguing on law enforcement issues for over 10 years in Salt Lake County.  I have a lot of public safety opeds in the newspapers and I write this blog.

  In the last month, I have written about the salaries of UPD versus other departments including SLCPD.  I even put the comparison of UPD versus SLCPD salaries and benefits on my blog's downloads.  I think that I know the issues very well and I would encourage you to ensure that you are aware of all of the pros and cons regarding UPD versus a separate police force before you make a final decision.

  SLC has set a goal to hire 50 new officers but the City loses three 20 year officers to retirement a month.  The issue has been discussed at length during several City Council meetings.  The City is down 60+ officers from where they wanted to be.  They are increasing retirement benefits 6% this year and a 3% pay raise is scheduled.  But it is not enough to hire and staff 50 new officers (to bring the staffing level of patrol officers to almost 200).  The City is pursuing a vigorous recruitment of experienced officers from other jurisdictions.  They only need half of the training time as new recruits.  Due to these issues, SLC recently decreased the staffing approved last year of 50, to 27.  

  In addition, there will probably only be 12 new recruits in the August SLC Police Academy class.  The City got 300 applicants but only about 25 have passed the screenings so far (about 50% of those will pass the full background check and end up in the next class).  Remember, at the same time, SLC will lose over 12 officers to retirement. 

  I recognize that Herriman contracted for, bought equipment for and expected 18 officers to patrol Herriman.  But it should not be a surprise that, just like SLC, UPD is having staffing issues.  Ten years ago, over a thousand applied to each Police Academy class.  Now it is down to a few hundred.  And, as seen in the screening results, these are not the best recruits if only 12 of 300 pass the screening.

  Part of the problem is the pension law in Utah that was changed a few years ago to discourage adding to law enforcement retirement benefits after 20 years (Utah has a law enforcement pension unfunded actuarial liability of $544 million!). In Salt Lake City that means that a 20 year retired officer would only have about $30,000 annual retirement pay. If they choose to go to work for a government in Utah, including school districts or other police departments, they are unable to earn further retirement benefits for a year. That is a big disincentive for attracting police recruits.  The year after the pension change passed, Utah lost 80% of their 20 year experienced officers.  Many UHP officers leave Utah for Arizona after 20 years.

  Herriman’s complaint of not enough police staffing is repeated Countywide and if Herriman separates from the UPD, Herriman will have to compete with other jurisdictions for officers.  The biggest cities, with the most officers, will have more benefits and salaries to offer law enforcement officers.      I also would like to point out that the inefficiency caused by having over 11 different law enforcement departments in Salt Lake County is taken advantage of by criminals, especially car thieves and drug dealers who use the many different jurisdictions to their advantage.  Drug dealers have historically loved driving to an area close to another jurisdiction and after the deal, they can drive within a minute to another jurisdiction.  SLCO has a drug problem and the more law enforcement jurisdictions, the worse it will become.  The resulting crime will increase. 

  Also there are three separate County dispatch centers that add to the difficulty in catching criminals (Valley Emergency Communications 911 -VEC, SLC/Sandy 911 and UPD/Sheriff at 743-7000). Near municipal borders, 911 may route an emergency call to the wrong dispatch center. A 911 call close to Millcreek, reporting a crime in SLC may go to VECC instead of the proper dispatch center.  Separating from UPD will make it more difficult to report crimes and get police response.

  Herriman should thoroughly analyze the pros and cons of the plan to leave the UPD because it will hurt crime fighting, require Herriman to compete for and keep police officers who will be recruited by other jurisdictions and create an unknown for businesses and potential economic development due to questions of where Herriman will be in public safety in the next few years.

  I believe, with a thorough analysis, that it is fiscally responsible for Herriman to stay in the UPD and change their contract to lower the charge by UPD, to a level that UPD can provide staffing to support.  Herriman has options and I encourage full evaluation of those options.

  Interestingly, Millcreek Mayor Jeff Silvistrini and I were on opposite sides of a similar discussion 10 years ago.  Jeff was chair of incorporating Millcreek study group and I was on the against incorporation study group.  I felt that there were too many pro incorporation folks listening to Cottonwood Heights about starting a new police force and it could hurt crime fighting.  Sheriff Winder agreed with me and just before the first incoporation vote vocally argued against the plan to incorporate and start a new police force.  That first vote stopped incorporation.  But, eventually Millcreek incorporated and Jeff became Mayor and is now Chair of the Unified Police Department.

OPERATION RIO GRANDE DOUBLED JUSTICE COURT ARRAIGNMENTS

  Operation Rio Grande doubled SLC Justice Court arraignments.  During the first 9 days of Operation Rio Grande, there were 1795 filings in Justice Court.  The previous year, during those 9 days had 632 filings.  The calendars had 200-300 cases.  The Justice Court had to bring in more judges due to the 40% increase in workload in the first month of Operation Rio Grande.  They are now at a 25% increase and they expect it to go down to a 10% increase.  Book and release still happens but not as bad as before.  Every class B misdemeanor can be booked but they will not be held.

  The SLC Justice Court judges are paid about $117,000 but the most recent Legislature changed the standard salary to $149,000.  And some of the SLC Justice Court judges may have 3 jury trials in one week while other cities may only have one a year.  The Court does not expect to see an increase in DUI case loads with the new .05 law taking effect at the end of the year because if the driver is not visibly impaired during standard tests, it will not result in a breatalyzer or blood test and therefore not result in an arrest.  Also the homeless court is still full.  Last Friday's homeless court heard 49 cases in 3 hours.     SLC used to have a drug court.  But judges realized that students arrested at the University for smoking pot, were put in the same area as addicts arrested for heroin and cocaine and injecting drugs.  The judges stopped that system and stopped the SLC drug court.  To start it up again would require, in order to be successful, a probation system with arrest powers to ensure that those going through the court know that they can be rearrested for using drugs.

LEGISLATURE ALLOWS CITIZENS TO ADD TO INTERIM STUDY

  One of the unnoticed changes to Utah's Legislature is HJR 16 which allowed the first Interim

Committee hearing, last week, to add study items to their interim agenda.  Previously, only the Legislative Management Committee could add study items.  They met last month.  But with the new system, citizens were able to add several items to the Transportation Interim Study Agenda.  Those items included: Considering and expanding SLC's new bicycle registration program, considering ads on buses and trains about alcoholic drinks, eminent domain, State funding of year round canyon bus service and renaming a highway for the Navajo Code Talkers.  Senator Van Tassel's Native American Liaison Committee will add that last item to its interim agenda and Senator Iwamoto will sponsor a bill to rename a highway.  

  My point is that citizens are encouraged to be involved and work with legislators.  They do listen.  Several legislators have started carrying bills/opening bill files on suggestions from citizens.  Representative Briscoe is opening a bill file on allowing a City to have an affordable housing bond and opening another bill file on a way to decrease school lockdowns from open carrying of weapons.  If you have a suggestion on a worthy reasonable bill, please contact your legislator.  

UTA COULD HAVE BEEN CALLED TRANS UTAH

  Dave Robinson, a former candidate for SLC mayor, had the letter of the week in the Salt Lake Tribune.  He pointed out that Utah could have had a transit system called Trans Utah with the potential for even more interesting fun.  I urge everyone to read his letter and laugh at: https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/letters/2018/05/21/letter-of-the-week-of-course-they-will-call-it-transutah/

ELPCO HOMELESS HOSPICE 6 PM THURSDAY MEETING

  Again, the East Liberty Park neighborhood will have a meeting at 6 PM at Tracy Aviary in Liberty Park this Thursday May 24 regarding the INN Between plan to open a 65 bed homeless hospice and respite facility on 1300 South and 1250 East in a former nursing facility.  The community is concerned about smoking of tobacco and marijuana and homeless walking the area who will not be able to be arrested due to their health.  If you are interested in this issue, please attend the meeting and comment on the issue.

WATER METERS DECREASE WATER USE 

  Interestingly, adding informational water meters to secondary water systems in Morgan and Weber Counties have decreased water use 30%, according to an Interim Natural Resources Committee report.  The systems have one charge without changing due to water use but the meters actually resulted in less water use.  Interesting report.

UTAH LOSES AROUND $100 MILLION ON INTERNET TAXES 

  The Utah State Tax Commission, in a figure that they don't want quoted, have said that the State probably loses from $70 to 140 million a year in taxes from the internet.  I still think that if there is a $100,000 sales to Utah residents before the tax is required to be collected from remote sales, the internet taxes that we lose is more like $25 million or less.  Another report at Interim Business and Labor included a new car sharing service and how to tax that service.  The rental car industry is complaining that, even if they are not at the Airport, they are charged Airport fees and the car sharing service, essentially a car rental system, is not going to pay their fair share.  I expect a bill on this issue at next session. 

SLC MAY HAVE TO PAY RECYCLERS TO TAKE RECYCLING

  SLC is no longer making money from recycling and recyclers want to be paid to accept material.  This is a big change and potentially result in a higher cost.  Regarding the solar panel installation reduction of fees (last week), the lower solar fees are going to industry best practice.

SLC DISCUSSES PROS AND CONS OF INCREASING TAXES

  During the May 22 Council meeting, the Council heard about the pros and cons of asking the County to increase taxes.  SB 136 alows the County to impose the sales tax but, according to WFRC Director Andrew Gruber, "If the county imposes (the tax), then from Oct 1, 2018 - June 30, 2019, the full .25 would go to the county, and those funds would be used for debt service and regionally significant projects, which could include projects in SLC.  Starting on July 1, 2019, the cities get .1, transit .1, county .05. If the county does not impose, the city could impose beginning July 1, 2020, although the tax probably wouldn’t actually take effect until Jan 1, 2021, based on Tax Commission rules. Starting then, the city would get .125, and transit .125, ie, nothing to the county. So the city would not get anything for 18 months later than it would if county imposed; it would take 6 years at 1.25 to make up for the delay in starting the tax." 

  These issues had a significant discussion at the Council.  Concerns included the effect of SLC's recent sales tax increase, the planned general obligation bond, the potential County sales tax increase and the gas tax increase with the voters.  The gas tax increase, if it happens, will result in about $1.4 million more (from the 10 cent a gallon increase with 30% going to cities and counties) for SLC.

  Millcreek, Midvale, Kearns, Alta and White City have adopted the tax increase so far.  Holladay is expected to.  Most cities have it on their planned agendas and are having a significant dialogue.  SLC is concerned about how to influence and have their priorities addressed with a Countywide tax increase.  Councilman Johnston was concerned about most money being used in Bluffdale/Point of the Mountain projects.  Councilman Rogers is also concerned about all of the other tax increases including water and sewer fees.  Therefore, the Council will ask the County to specify how the County will decide on projects and how to spend the increased revenue and how to prioritize the County's $40 million a year.  Interestingly enough, the City cannot bond on a revenue stream that the City does not impose but if SLC does impose the tax, it can be used for a bond.

  The Council also discussed the SB136 Transportation Reinvestment Zone.  It will allow value capture of the property tax increase expected from transportation investments by using the increased value, the tax increment increase to fund transportation projects.

  Through all of this, my concern about SB136 remains that the Legislature is pushing a great big tax increase down our throats.  I still have to call it a turn around and bend over tax increase.  And public safety funding should have a higher priority and needs more funding increase than transportation.

SLC COUNCIL FIGHT FOR INLAND PORT BOARD

  Councilman James Rogers was assumed to be appointed to the Inland Port Board but Councilman Andrew Johnston suggested a challenge to decide if he could be on the Board.  It will be an interesting fight.

MAY 14, 2018

9 LINE/STATE ST RDA AREA FINALLY SET

SLC TRANSIT SPENDING CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC

SLC COUNCIL FINDS A WAY TO HAVE SECRET MEETINGS

SLC WANTS TO HIRE A LABOR NEGOTIATOR TO GIVE COPS

LESS THAN OTHER EMPLOYEES

SLC COUNCIL HEARING ON 1300 SOUTH BETWEEN 900 WEST

AND JORDAN RIVER CLOSURE

INN BETWEEN NEW 65 BED HOMELESS FACILITY 1300S 1250E

DISCUSSION

SOLAR PANEL FEES DECREASE UNDER COMPLAINTS

SLC GOLF STILL CIRCLING THE WAGONS

SLC CELEBRATES ADDING LOW WAGE EMPLOYMENT

SAM GRANATO REPLACEMENT IN NEXT 30 DAYS

BICYCLISTS ARE TICKETED 52 TIMES IN 2017

HAMBLIN FURNITURE THROWN UNDER UTA BUS

9 LINE/STATE ST RDA AREA FINALLY SET

  The good news is that the State Street and 9 Line (9th South 9th West) area are set to become the City's next RDA/CDA area that will receive more attention and infrastructure money (from tax increments).  Among the bad news is that it has taken two years to get to this point.  It should have been implemented over a year ago.  The City still has to get approval from all of the other taxing entities in the areas (Board of Education, County, Mosquito, etc).  Unfortunately some SLC departments are still trying to make State Street into a Disneyland like 20mph slow, small town street.  It seems to be a complete waste of money.  The money should be spent on making it easier for developers to pour money into mixed income, mixed use, walkable State Street housing projects.  If the City is as slow as it was in Sugar House (which took 25 years to start redevelopment), State Street and 9th and 9th will take decades to upgrade.

  Another bad omen is the fact that the RDA just released their property valuations.  RDA property DECREASED IN VALUE!  The value of the decrease was $5 million over the last year!  RDA is supposed to increase the value of property.  This means that the Salt Lake City RDA is failing in its responsibility.

  I put the RDA expansion map and final plan for the SLC RDA 9 Line and State Street Plan in the upper right downloads page.

SLC TRANSIT SPENDING CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC

  The SLC Council is chomping at the bit to spend the sales tax increase, even though the money won't start coming in until the end of the year.  The implementation will start in October 2018 (It takes a quarter for the Utah State Tax Commission to implement it and SLC needs to apply before the next quarter in July.).  Unfortunately, the discussion has not included the community and community councils. 

  UTA said it best when it said, during discussions on transit increases: "Transit service planning is complicated. Effective and efficient route planning involves consideration of a number of factors including demographics, roadway design, and evaluation against existing service."  The SLC appears to think that it can implement their vision (from the Transit Master Plan) but this issue really needs more public engagement.  UTA and the City and Council have had many (secret, closed door meetings) about implementing the plans.  The City should slow down and encourage public engagement.

  One of the issues that we have been complaining about with UTA's version of mass transit is there are several bus routes that zig zag through neighborhoods.  The UTA actually pointed out this issue and explained why.

"UTA must not discriminate against neighborhoods with low income or minority populations. Our existing service covers all Title VI neighborhoods as efficiently as possible with meandering loops."     But making mass transit slower with the UTA process/plan/implementation, discourages riding mass transit!  That is why fewer people use the UTA system which is inefficient (but efficient at meeting Title VI requirements supposedly) and provides less timely service.  Someone should complain about how

UTA implemented an unreasonable and disrespectful zig zag service in Title VI neighborhoods.  I think that the implementation results in second class service.

  UTA has provided several options to the City Council.  One version will spend, annually, these amounts for increased service on specific corridors:

1000 N/$3.5 million

600 N/$6.2 million

900 S/$3.5 million

6th Ave/$1.2 million

200 S/$900,000

2100 S/$900,000

400 S/$4.2 million 

$250,000 for branding and outreach!!! 

  Note that the cost to increase service on 400 South is $4.2 million!  But implementing later night and better weekend service should not cost more than $1 million.  State Street is not even mentioned but it needs to provide earlier and later span of service for those low wage workers that work in downtown SLC, that can't afford to park in the downtown area (see below for Utah celebrates low income employment).  Redwood Road has some mention but it is not connecting to the Airport.  The 1000 North route is looped into Redwood Road.

  There is also an increase in the Hive Fare program.  The City can't even attract people to the program and the Council wants to devote more money to market the pass program more than the previous unsuccessful marketing. 

  Other questionable projects in the SLC sales tax increase for transit include capital investments in bus stops, transit hubs (around 700 East and 200 South - the City is discussing a hub or transit center with developers) and transit vehicle leasing.  While the City is thinking about 7 minute service on 200 South, the City is ignoring the north south routes that need better late night service.  Better late night service on the east west routes sound nice but what about later night service on a couple of north south routes?  We do not need one or two transit hubs or a transit mall (that the Council are talking about).  We need better service, not meandering buses or projects.

  I put the SLC Council discussion on using the sales tax increase for transit in the upper right downloads section.

SLC COUNCIL FINDS A WAY TO HAVE SECRET MEETINGS

  Council Chair Erin Mendenhall, last week, suggested and asked for secret "small group meetings" with the staff to get up to speed on the budget.  This is a great way to cut the public out of the discussion.  Even though only about 50 may watch the City Council work sessions, the public deserves to

be able to have access to all meetings.  The City Council has consistently complained about the Republicans in the Legislature having closed caucus hearings (I agree that it is wrong.) but it is hypocritical to complain about the Legislature when the Council is doing the same thing.

SLC WANTS TO HIRE A LABOR NEGOTIATOR TO GIVE COPS LESS THAN OTHER

EMPLOYEES

  I put the SLC Police versus UPD Compensation comparison in the downloads at upper right.  It is an important read.  It essentially shows that starting salaries are about $20 per hour.  Lost in the chart is the fact that cops have to face the worst of society and often will face guns.  Cops are willing to take a bullet for us.  Unfortunately, SLC is proposing to give a 3% pay raise to all of their employees except cops and fire personnel.  The proposal for police is 3% maximum and the City has asked to hire a labor negotiator which implies that the City is hoping to keep the salary increase at less than 3% (that the rest of the employees will get.  An important issue is the Utah pension law that encourages 20 year experienced cops with invaluable institutional knowledge to retire (at about $30,000 a year retirement - note that no one can survive on $30,000 a year with a family).  Cops can work more than 20 years but they can't continue to get retirement benefits/contributions for a year.

  The employees of SLC deserve the proposed 3% pay increase.  But they don't have to face bad guys with guns.  SLC cops are shot.  And they still go out everyday to face the danger.  They are the ultimate public servant, willing to sacrifice everything for us.  They deserve more than regular employees.  SLC police have saved literally hundreds in the last few years.  In one under recognized incident in 2010, a sniper with a machine gun and hundreds of bullets, tried to kill hundreds of Salt Lake City citizens around the City's Grand America Hotel.  He shot Officer Uppsen Downes before he could start killing others.  Officer Downes, despite his being shot, engaged a completely armored man and still was able to deliver a miracle shot that stopped the potential for carnage worse than the recent Las Vegas shooting.  There are bad people in this Country that want to kill many others.  Police are the defense we have against that.  Police officers deserve better respect and support.  A 3% maximum pay raise, already given to the rest of the City's employees, is an insult.  SLC should give at least a 5% pay raise to the SLC Police.

SLC COUNCIL HEARING ON 1300 SOUTH BETWEEN 900 WEST AND JORDAN RIVER CLOSURE

  Over the last few years, there has been an attempt to open up the rivers around the three creeks that come together around 1300 South and 900 West.  The City Council is having a hearing tomorrow, Tuesday May 15 at their 7PM City Council meeting on the issue.  A tow yard operates using the roadway right of way and the City's actions would impact him.  But a tow yard next to park that the City is trying to develop is a problem.  The owner of the service station and tow yard has not reached a settlement with the City yet but the City is still pushing to find a solution to push the park.  Ironically, a similar issue exists with UTA and the Hamblin Furniture Company (see below).  If you have any comment on this issue, please comment to council.comments@slcgov.com or provide public testimony at the 7PM meeting's public hearing on the issue.  Interestingly, despite the continued push to daylight the creeks under 1300 South, the City has found that it is not economically/fiscally able to completely daylight the creeks. 

INN BETWEEN NEW 65 BED HOMELESS FACILITY 1300S 1250E DISCUSSION

  The INN Between will have a community discussion on Thursday May 24, 2018 from 6-7 PM at the Tracy Aviary in Liberty Park.  The Executive Director of the INN Between, Kim Correa, will give a presentation and take questions.  The regular community council meeting (ELPCO) will take place at 7PM, unless they require more time.  Again, the issues are the facility is nowhere near any nearby convenience stores or stores (other than Liberty Heights Fresh Foods).  Other concerns from neighbors of the INN Between now operating is the significant smoke which will include marijuana and the homeless roaming the neighborhood to visit their dying friends.  This facility will also function as a facility for respite care since hospitals dump their patients.

SOLAR PANEL FEES DECREASE UNDER COMPLAINTS

  The City Council is about to adopt a new fee schedule that decreases the cost of installing a solar panel.  Many have complained about spending $900 to have an inspector look at the installation and give approval when the City is supposed to try to rely on renewable energy.  The new ordinance states that solar panels will contribute significantly to the City’s efforts to be transitioned to 100 percent renewable electricity by 2032, and reduce 80 percent of the City’s carbon emissions by 2040. The fees associated with solar panels and corresponding permits are set forth in the consolidated fee schedule: Solar Panel Permit Fee 

0-5kW/$200

6-10kW/$350

11-50kW/$400

51-100kW/$900

  The lesson is that the City and this Administration did listen.  Mayor Biskupski gets credit for this result.  I put the report in the upper right downloads section.

SLC GOLF STILL CIRCLING THE WAGONS

  The SLC Council, chaired by and led in the effort by Erin Mendenhall, is trying to close more golf courses.  So far, Mayor Biskupski has resisted the effort.  But the City Council is about to have a public hearing on the potential permanent closing and destruction of Wingpointe Golf Course on June 5.  The attempt is part of the Airport's plan to obtain more property around the Airport, including the Wingpointe Golf Course, to use as needed for Airport operations.  The change from open space will require at least one public hearing.  The first hearing will be a request to rezone the Golf Course to Airport Operations.  The Planning Commission denied the request with this comment: 

"The Planning Commission was concerned with the loss of open space associated with the closure of the golf course and subsequent conversion of the existing golf course into temporary parking and future airport related uses. This reasoning was the basis for the Commission’s recommendation to deny the proposed zoning changes."

  The City Council is adamant that golf pay for itself.  But with SLC Public Utilities treating open space, parks and golf courses as a burden on the water supply (they insist on using 3 tiered rates to discourage watering), golf and parks and cemeteries and open space will be treated by the City as a burden.  And the Council is falling for the misdirection.  The problem is SLC Public Utilities' water rates.  Last year, the City had to stop watering the cemetery and parks due to the significantly increased cost caused by the hot weather and highest 3 tier rate.  Salt Lake City needs to fix the issue of water cost and supply in Salt Lake County.  Then the golf enterprise fund will normalize and probably not be losing money.      Again the Airport rezone proposal is scheduled to be at the City Council on June 5.  Please consider commenting on this issue.  Ironically, the Bonneville Hills golf course is slated to have a bike trail run through it without compensating the golf enterprise fund and without changing the course to a mixed use park.  

  I put the Salt Lake Metro Water District budget and presentation in the upper right downloads section.

SLC CELEBRATES ADDING LOW WAGE EMPLOYMENT

  A recent story on how well Utah is doing with employment focused on the AC Hotel in downtown Salt Lake City.  The story noted that 45 were hired to "handle the needs of guests".  These included "frontdesk greeters, sales people and housekeepers were part of an employment surge at hotels and other providers of overnight accommodations that helped lift Utah to an overall 3.3 percent growth rate in March."  But... housekeepers are some of the most underpaid and underappreciated employees.  I don't think that Utah should be celebrating the employment of minimum wage earners.  It makes Utah look cheap.

SAM GRANATO REPLACEMENT IN NEXT 30 DAYS

  Sam Granato was a family friend.  His father's store was a regular trip destination for my family.  I still fondly remember the narrow store with many barrels of olives.  Sam continued to make the

Granato family an important part of Salt Lake City.  Sam made the Democrats look good.  The Democratic Party should choose a County Council replacement for Sam in the next few weeks, although Sam will be impossible to replace.  I will miss him.  He was one of the good guys.

BICYCLISTS ARE TICKETED 52 TIMES IN 2017

  For those complaining about the bicyclists in SLC, especially those who ride through the City

Thursday nights at 930 PM, I have the statistics on tickets that SLCPD has given to bicyclists on roads.  

2015 = 46 tickets

2016 = 64 tickets

2017 = 52 tickets

  I am uncomfortable with the SLCPD spending valuable time on giving tickets to bicyclists when the City should be encouraging bicycling.

HAMBLIN FURNITURE THROWN UNDER UTA BUS

  Again, UTA is trying roll over the little guy, Hamblin Furniture Company by destroying his business and cheating him with a bad eminent domain law.  To replace his business will require a million to set up an approved facility to manufacture furniture.  His original business was grandfathered in but with the new laws since he started manufacturing furniture, it will cost a million to replace his facility.  But the UTA has been slow to provide a facility, as agreed upon with a stipulated settlement.  And it still has not installed the equipment needed and received a fire marshall approval.  

  As if it couldn't get any worse, UTA decided that the best place to put the Hamblin Furniture Company next to the new homeless shelter on 300 West!  When UTA wants to destroy a person, they really know how to destroy a person.

MAY 8, 2018

1700 TRAX STATION PUT IN SLC/RDA PLAN

INN BETWEEN 1300 S. 1200 E. HOMELESS 

SLC SPENDING $500,000 FOR TRAX STATION AT 650 S.

SLC POLICE ACADEMY ONLY HAS 12 FOR NEXT CLASS

ADU WITHOUT PARKING REQUIREMENTS

SLC WANTS TO SPEND TRANSIT MONEY ON 200 S. BRT

SLC LOSES IF IT ASKS FOR COUNTY TAX INCREASE

JUDGE BAXTER ASSIGNS HOMELESS TO TAI CHI 

BILL KNOWLES ASSIGNED TO WORK WITH

HOMELESS NEIGHBORS

LITTLE COTTONWOOD CANYON COMMENTS 900 SOUTH TEMPORARY PROJECT DATES

1700 TRAX STATION PUT IN SLC/RDA PLAN

  Great news for the Ballpark Community, the City RDA has added the 1700 S. TRAX station suggestion to the State Street/9 Line RDA Expansion Area Plan.  That means that the 1700 S. area could significantly increase development.  

INN BETWEEN 1300 S. 1200 E. HOMELESS 

  Kim Correa, the Executive Director of the INN Between, has passed around a note to the community that indicates that they will take over the Mission at Hillside Nursing Home at Sherman Avenue (1200 E.) 1300 S. in the next 30-60 days.  The INN Between will relocate their terminally ill and respite care homeless to that facility in the summer.  They will start with 25 beds in the 65 bed facility and expect to have all of their staff park on site instead of parking on the street.  They will also design and implement a memorial garden on the northeast corner of the property.  

  The East Liberty Park Community Council meeting on May 24, 2018 at 7 PM at the Tracy Aviary

Education Room will have the presentation from the INN Between.  The Program Director is Matilda Lindgren at 801 828 8992 and matilda@tibhospice.org.  The INN Between can be called directly at 801 410 8314.

  The biggest problems are the facility is in the middle of nowhere and lacks nearby stores (except Liberty Heights Fresh Foods at 1100 East and 1200 East) and that requires the dying to walk long distances to get to a store.  Essentially the dying homeless are in a kind of prison.  I believe that addiction treatment, mental health treatment and nursing homes and homeless facilities should be near commercial and store areas.  There will be an increase in homeless walking the neighborhood and the police will not be able to take them to jail if there are issues.  There will be an increase in visitors to the dying homeless and respite care patients, many visitors will be homeless.  They consider themselves family.  That will require the neighborhood to be more flexible with respect to strangers walking the neighborhood.  

  The INN Between also takes in homeless that are “dumped” by hospitals into the homeless service areas.  This happens almost everyday.  These patients should be in a medical facility so the INN Between has stepped up to fill the need.

  One of the issues that the City and State agreed was needed near homeless shelters was a neighborhood council that accepted complaints and suggested/encouraged the handling of those complaints.  That is one of the issues that the ELPCO Community Council should discuss.

  Another big issue that has gotten a lot of complaints at the old Guadalupe School INN Between facility is the smoking area next to the adjacent single family homes.  The area is full of smoke and that impacts the neighborhood even more than homeless walking the area.  In addition, with HB195, those who are dying and have less than 6 months to live, may legally acquire a prescription for and use marijuana.  So there is the worst case scenario of the facility having a lot of patients smoking marijuana and it could impact the neighborhood and nearby children much more than homeless walking the neighborhood.   The May 24th meeting will be interesting.

SLC SPENDING $500,000 FOR TRAX STATION AT 650 S.  

  SLC RDA has added, in a big surprise, a 650 S. Main Street TRAX station that was listed as the West

Temple Gateway CIP 900 South Street Improvement with $558,000.  It will instead be used to build a 650 S. Main Street TRAX station! This will treat the light rail/TRAX as a streetcar with a stop every couple of blocks!  These are RDA funds but they will actually hurt the ridership of TRAX since it will slow down the system.  It will also decrease the potential of a 1700 South TRAX station.  The longer it takes to go downtown or to the Airport, the less incentive for riding TRAX.  That is another reason for using a bus to go to the Airport.  Both 5600 West and Redwood Road buses should go to the Airport.     FTA does not like stations for rail closer than a mile and they need a real good reason to do that.  In addition, Main Street needs a better and later bus system.  That is where SLC RDA should spend money.  It stops too early for residents and businesses and if you want to encourage development fast, add later night service.

  This issue should have been brought to the Community Councils affected first.

SLC POLICE ACADEMY ONLY HAS 12 FOR NEXT CLASS

  During the last few years, it has become obvious that the SLCPD is having an issue with hiring and keeping experienced police officers. Part of the problem is the $544 million in unfunded pension liability for Utah law enforcement officers.  Former Senator Liljenquist, singlehandedly, and consistently, has discouraged law enforcement personnel from staying in service past 20 years.  So SLC loses about 3 experienced officers and their institutional knowledge every month.  

  There are 66 funded positions empty in the SLCPD.  In January 2018 there were 17 experienced officers transferring from other law enforcement entities (saving 50% of Academy time).  23 new officers have also been hired.  The May 2018 class will provide 7 more lateral transfer officers.  But, since January, SLC has lost 13 officers to retirement.

  During the application proceess, 350 applied and 119 passed the preliminary and physical examination.  Out of those 119, only 25 were left after screening.  But those 25 have to complete a background check and it is assumed that there will be a 50% cut.  That will result in a class of 12 in the August Academy class.  It will take 10 months for a new, not lateral, Academy grad to be able to work on patrol by themselves.

  Even at the reduction of proposed police to 27 from 50, it will be difficult to hire the 27.  There are 23 beats in the City and with 69 officers and 3 shifts a day which would require a staff for patrol of 198

officers.  But the Department only has 170 officers now!

  The City had a telephone survey in February of 2017 that determined that there was a 20% perceived increase in crime (the survey cost $11,000).  40% thought that there were not enough cops in their neighborhood.  And they want more officers to handle quality of life issues, which would require even more officers than presently funded.  The reason why there is a reduction in crime but a perceived increase in crime is because of the revolving door jail.   

  My oped last month in the Salt Lake Tribune regarding how to spend the SLC sales tax increase (use it all for streets) pointed out the difficulty in hiring enough officers.

https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2018/04/07/george-chapman-slc-sales-tax-increase-shouldall-go-to-streets/

ADU WITHOUT PARKING REQUIREMENTS

  The SLC Council is revisiting Auxiliary Dwelling Units and intends, under threat of a lawsuit, to authorize them citywide.  Interestingly enough, parking requirements are being deleted when near public transit.  It used to be rail but that only resulted in 2 ADUs in the last 5 years.  So the City Council is now looking at eliminating on site parking requirements.  Parking and noise are the two biggest complaints against ADUs.  There is also a requirement that ADUs cannot be used for AirBnb and other similar services and also owners will be required to sign a covenant to require that they or their relatives are residing in the residence that also hosts the ADU.

SLC WANTS TO SPEND TRANSIT MONEY ON 200 S. BRT

  Some of the goals that the City Council has on their sales tax increase is transit include:

  "Develop enhanced bus corridors that help transit run faster and more reliably, and offer high quality stop amenities that make riding transit comfortable and attractive. An initial priority is to implement coordinated capital and service improvements on 200 S, a primary east-west transit corridor for bus (and potentially future bus rapid transit and/or streetcar) service between downtown and the

University.....priority corridors near term develop design standards for enhanced bus and brt corridors including branding for vehicles and stations....Develop a pilot Enhanced Bus corridor project with coordinated frequent service and capital investments.  200 South  has been discussed as a potential project."

But this increases the increased priority of building an expensive BRT on 200 South (Davis County is pushing hard to have SLC build the SLC portion of the South Davis BRT to the UofU.).  That is a waste of money which is needed for better bus service.  The SLC portion will cost about $30 million and will need about $20 million at a minimum.

  "Partner with the University of Utah to develop and/or advance plans for the downtown streetcar connection to the University and other key transit corridors serving the University, including Foothill Drive and 1300 E."  

But again, these goals will tend to push for more projects before restoring a robust bus system.  The

Foothill Drive BRT will cost $650 million to go to Draper.  The downtown streetcar on 100 South (200 South west of Main Street) will cost SLC taxpayers $100 million!  The 1300 East BRT is not realistic due to the limited width and again is too expensive.

  "Parking Management Oversight and Coordination to effectively utilize parking assets and support the

City's overall transportation and mode choice goals....transit supportive parking requirements" But that is essentially decreasing parking requirements and is not realistic.  SLC tried before to reduce parking requirements during the Becker administration.  But the backlash caused the City Council to double the parking requirements, in general, to one space per unit.  There is a push, by

Councilmembers, to reduce parking requirements again and push people into transit or biking or walking.  They are trying to budget for a citywide parking study that will justify reducing parking requirements. 

  "Continue to monitor zoning along the FTN to ensure transit is supported by a mix of uses, adequate densities, parking requirements, and other transit supportive elements.   Provide a mix of housing options along the FTN to support housing affordability and diversity."  

In other words, the City Council wants to rezone properties along frequent transit networks (FTN) to higher density and use.  This will result in a big fight by single family homeowners who will fight for their homes.

  The City also is suggesting, again, a 200 South and 700 East transit center and 2 more at the UofU.  All are wasteful projects and the 200 S. 700 E. project will remove valuable commercial property.  The sales tax will only provide $2.5 million a year.  Instead of spending on projects, all of the money should go to transit service increase.  Before going to 15 minute service, community councils should be asked if they want that, along with the potential for rezoning, or would they rather have later night and better weekend service.  The International Center and Airport should get better service.  5600 West and Redwood Road buses should increase later night and weekend service and go to the Airport.

SLC LOSES IF IT ASKS FOR COUNTY TAX INCREASE

  The convoluted SB136 has a complicated language that encourages counties to implement a sales tax increase and, if the counties don't implement the tax increase, to allow cities to increase the taxes.  If cities implement the tax increase, they can keep 50% of the tax (50% goes to transit).  In addition, SLCO Council has indicated that the tax increase will go to pay down transportation debt (allowed by SB136) so cities would not get the money.  

  "Starting July 1, 2020, if Salt Lake County has not enacted the quarter-cent increase,

each city within the county can enact it. Half the increase within a city’s borders would go to a city that enacts it. Half would go to the transit district for transit within the county. If the county then imposed the increase, any city that first enacted the increase still would keep half the revenue, and the distribution in the remainder of the county would follow the Proposition 1 formula."

  So SLC should not agree to allow the County to increase the Prop One sales tax increase which would allow them to increase, and keep almost triple the amount from the tax increase!

JUDGE BAXTER ASSIGNS HOMELESS TO TAI CHI 

  Bernie and Marita Hart's homeless Tai Chi has been vetted and recognized by the State as providing a responsible service for homeless.  Judge Baxter, who runs the homeless court for disposing of tickets, citations and other minor issues, now is sending the homeless to the homeless Tai Chi program.  There is also a push by the State to set up a program to expand the program.  It provides a structure and responsibility to homeless that is lacking in other services.  It also provides a way to screen for ability to move to a better situation.  

BILL KNOWLES ASSIGNED TO WORK WITH HOMELESS SHELTER NEIGHBORS

  Last month I had an oped in the Deseret News that expressed concerns about the businesses adjacent to the 1400 South 300 West homeless shelter.   https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900016707/op-ed-new-slc-resource-center-plans-will-hurtneighboring-businesses.com

  The City has appointed Bill Knowles as the ombudsman to help the businesses get City support to allow them to handle the homeless that will be in the area.  Bill Knowles has developed a reputation in the Sugar House area of being indispensable.  He has helped businesses relocate during the streetcar construction and offered low cost loans to help businesses make it through difficult construction periods.  Bill makes SLC look good.  He should help significantly in helping the businesses survive the homeless.

LITTLE COTTONWOOD CANYON COMMENTS

 Although the UDOT Little Cottonwood Canyon EIS closed public comment, they are still taking comments.  My comments were: 

The Wasatch Canyons should not have tolling without alternatives available.  It is wrong to force everyone who has been able to use the canyon for recreation without charge (I think that it may be in the Utah Constitution.) to now be forced to be charged without, up front, having a discussion about where the money will go.  A parking garage at 9400 S and Wasatch is not really a solution.  I think that the issue comes down to an effort to discourage personal vehicle use which is wrong.  The alternatives in the EIS should include year round bus service, and in the winter, since the ski resorts contribute, increase the frequency and convenience of the ski buses.  The EIS should also include a lot more restrooms and water storage areas to fight the coming canyon fires.  Avalanche road protection should be a priority before tolling.  That would eliminate most backups.  Instead of using the roadway for bicycles, pave the soft shoulders and put in a concrete divider/separated bicycle path on the shoulders for bicycles.  The $2 million a year that the proposed toll will provide should be contributed by SLCO Parks and Recreation and ZAP since we use the Canyons as parks.  We don't pay for access to parks and we shouldn't pay for canyons that we use as parks.  Again, there should not be restrictions on historic use of Canyons for recreation.

900 SOUTH TEMPORARY PROJECT DATES

  The dates for the 900 South and 1300 East to 950 East road reconfiguration tests have been set.  There will be a temporary roundabout on 1100 East and 900 South on Thursday May 17 which will test the Fire Department's ability to continue service without impediment by the roundabout.  The Gilmer Drive closure will be starting on Thursday May 24.  It will require Gilmer Drive residents to use Michigan Avenue and 1200 East to access 900 South or 1100 East.  This has been a very contentious proposal.  To comment on the plans, designs or tests, email 900South@slcgov.com.

APRIL 30, 2018

SHOOTING UP A CAR WITH NO PRISON SENTENCE

SLCO PUSHING TRANSIT TAX INSTEAD OF PUBLIC SAFETY

HOMELESS HOSPICE EXPANDING TO 1200 EAST 1300 SOUTH

UTA LOSING INSTITUTIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND PUSHING

PROJECTS

HEPATITIS A OUTBREAK MAY BE EASING

SUCCESSFUL SLCO DRUG AND MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT

LACKING 

900 SOUTH 1100 EAST TESTING ROUNDABOUT

CWC DIRECTOR BECKER? LAYNEE GOING TO MOUNTAINOUS

PLANNING

999 WEEKLY BIKE RODEO ATTRACTS HUNDREDS AT NIGHT

SHOOTING UP A CAR WITH NO PRISON SENTENCE

  The problems with public safety in Utah are exemplified by a recent case in Salt Lake County where a young man shot almost 30 bullets into a car with passengers, hitting several, and almost got out of jail with time served.  The Salt Lake County prosecutor asked for prison time.  Utah Adult Probation and Parole (APP) recommended time served!  The judge was so upset that he expressed his displeasure at the APP recommendation and sentenced the convicted shooter to one year in jail, not prison.  It appears that there is a concerted effort to reduce prisoners in the Utah State Prison system and shift them to County Jails.  That significantly increases public safety cost for the counties.  In Salt Lake County, it helped to overflow the County Jail and created a revolving door jail due to the lack of available beds.  Many of the criminals in the County Jail should be in prison.  But since Utah is trying to show that JRI works, the Department of Corrections is attempting to shift the blame to county law enforcement.

SLCO PUSHING TRANSIT TAX INSTEAD OF PUBLIC SAFETY

  Salt Lake County public safety funding is still inadequate.  The Oxbow Jail still has 380 beds not being used and may not be able to fully open by summer.  And when it does open, the County Mayor wants to return the 300 jailed inmates in other counties to the Salt Lake County Jail.  So there will still be a revolving door jail!

  It is so bad, that the Salt Lake City Police Department is complaining to the community councils about catching a serial credit card thief, in a stolen car, booking him and, before they can charge him with other credit card thefts, he is out of jail in 90 minutes!  

  To make the situation worse for public safety for Salt Lake County, the County Council has decided to take advantage of the Senator Harper's and Representative Schultz's SB136 and raise taxes.  The Council is asking the cities in the County for justification but everyone knows that they want more money.  The tax increase will give Salt Lake County money that is tentatively set to pay down debt on transportation projects before the County, and cities and UTA get the taxes in July of 2019.  Until then, if the Council tells the Utah State Tax Commission by July 1 that they are raising taxes in accordance with SB136, the County will be able to collect and use about $40 million collected from October 1 (the State requires one quarter of a year notice to start collecting taxes) to July 2019.  But that tax increase will negatively impact any other possible tax increase such as a public safety bond.  

  Salt Lake County needs more public safety funding than more transit funding.  Inadequate public safety funding impacts 95% of the public while inadequate transit funding impacts 3% of the public.  I am not worried about UTA robbing me, unless they try to build a high speed rail station at the Airport (It is in the Utah Transportation Plan!).  The County's tax increase will also impact the gas tax and SLC bond that is set to be on the ballot in November.  Most importantly, the tax increase will kill any chance of increasing public safety funding and will force the law enforcement of Salt Lake County to work with a revolving door jail.  Many members of the Council complain about poor tax law coming out of Washington DC.  But this tax increase is much worse and is even more unfair.  The Councilmembers should look in the mirror before complaining about Washington politics.  The County will use the super majority of population in the cities that want the tax increase to justify increasing the taxes, and make that decision before July 1.

HOMELESS HOSPICE EXPANDING TO 1200 EAST 1300 SOUTH

  Several years ago, the old Guadalupe School was repurposed to house homeless that needed respite care or were dying.  There were 16 beds in the facility but the complaints from neighbors made it seem much worse.  The neighbors complained about homeless walking the neighborhoods, either the patients or their friends, and they complained about the overwhelming smoking that was occurring next to the building and permeating the neighborhood.

  The homeless needed the facility but it should have been in an area nearer to stores and commercial areas so that the patients and their friends did not have to walk a mile through single family home neighborhoods to get to grocery stores, mass transit, libraries and other services.

  The InnBetween, the homeless hospice and respite care provider has bought a facility on 1300 South and 1200 East and plans to turn it into a homeless shelter for those dying or who need to recover from hospitalization or disease.  The neighborhood of single family homes will be very unpleasantly surprised.

UTA LOSING INSTITUTIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND PUSHING PROJECTS

  UTA is losing many individuals that are important to the efficient running of the mass transit agency.  Jerry Benson has essentially left.  VP of Operations Todd Provost left at the beginning of the month.  Steve Meyer is effectively running UTA but he will be out of town for the next week.  UTA is effectively in a holding pattern until the new governance is in place.  I know UTA and have fought them for years.  But SB136 is not going to help UTA.  

  I keep pointing out that UTA usually is blamed when the Legislature pushes their ideas on

UTA.  Legislators authorized UTA to fund TOD developments that gave away millions in property for essentially nothing in sweetheart deals to developers.  UTA got 5% interest in the projects but that could mean nothing depending on the accounting.  Legislators approved, actually pushed, the Swiss trip!  Legislators pushed the bus garage that UTA is building.  The taxpayers will be funding a sweetheart deal to construct a $65 million plus bus garage for years without much oversight and justification or cost benefit analysis.  UTA just got money from the federal government that will be used to start a bond to finish the garage.  It has spent $16 million so far.  It budgeted $8 million this year.  And the Legislature is pushing it.  Plus the Legislature just passed a big tax increase that gives 40% of new taxes to mass transit.  If Utahns come close to 40% use of mass transit, we will be right under the Russian 50% using mass transit.

HEPATITIS A OUTBREAK MAY BE EASING

  Utah is only getting one or two new cases of hepatitis A infections diagnosed a week.  During the worst of the epidemic, Salt Lake County was diagnosing up to 7 a week.  Although it may not sound like good news, the Salt Lake County Health Department deserves credit for keeping the epidemic much lower than it could have been.  The County Health Department has given almost 10,000 vaccinations!  Other areas of the Country have had a worse time with hepatitis A.  Even the jailed inmates are offered vaccinations.  That significantly helped decrease the spread since almost all have been either in jail or using drugs or homeless.  Despite the fact that the porta pottis, that Salt Lake City put out to decrease using outdoor shrubs for a toilet, did not have a hand washing station, the epidemic was held in relative check.  The Health Department had the Road Home change their cleaning materials in order to actually work against hepatitis A.  The Salt Lake County Health Department deserves credit for not allowing the epidemic to reach the horrendous levels seen in San Diego.  San Diego was slow to vaccinate.

SUCCESSFUL DRUG AND MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT LACKING IN SLCO

  Salt Lake County reported on the effects of JRI and Medicaid on drug and mental health treatment in the County at this last week's Council meeting.  There are 102,000 Medicaid enrollees in Salt Lake County.  The County uses Optum Health to provide 24/7 case assessment at hospitals to ensure efficient use of resources.  The biggest costs come from having to hospitalize someone with a mental health issue, at $1000 a day while waiting to get the patient into the Utah State Hospital.  It can take 40 days and that results in a $40,000 expense.  The "Sample mental health client is homeless, suffering from schizophrenia, off of medications, self medicating with illegal substances, has 23 bookings and 1300 days in jail."  But it takes 4 to 6 months to get into the program and only 52% are successfully discharged (out of 119).  I put the County's Behavioral Health Plan in the upper right downloads area.  

Another interesting statistic is the JRI initial report (a better post report of effectiveness of treatment on reducing recidivism will come out in a couple of weeks).  Since 2015, there have been 600 referrals to treatment.  32% had opioid addictions. Out of the 600, there were 100 total graduates with a 45% risk reduction of incarceration.  That is about a 7% success rate.  There would be a better result if there were a real stick in the carrot and stick plan.  The County Jail won't hold criminals for more than a few hours unless the criminal is charged with a major crime like murder.

900 SOUTH 1100 EAST TESTING ROUNDABOUT

  Salt Lake City is testing a roundabout on 900 South and 1100 East.  It will be a temporary set up to see if it is the best of three options.  The other options include a T at 1100 East and closing Gilmer's exit onto 1100 East.  For those in the area, the coffee shop on the southwest corner causes issues in the morning since a quick turn from 900 South onto the 1100 East then a quicker turn right into the drive through coffee shop can create significant dangers for pedestrians, bicyclists and vehicles.  There will also be testing of lane reductions and bulbouts.  I do not like bulbouts (that are used to reduce the distance pedestrians have to cross a street) since they tend to force bicyclists into adjacent traffic.  The testing will take place over the summer.  Of course, the City forgot that school is out for summer and there is a school a block away.

CWC DIRECTOR COULD BE BECKER AND LAYNEE GOING TO MOUNTAINOUS PLANNING

In a big surprise, the Central Wasatch Commission, the poisoned fruit of the Mountain Accord (that did not have public meetings), is still alive and interviewed several people last week to be Executive Director.  One of the interviewees was former SLC Mayor Ralph Becker!  Small world, he's back.  And the former Executive Director of the Mountain Accord, Laynee Jones, (who also interviewed for the position) is being put on the County's Mountainous Planning Commission!

999 WEEKLY BIKE RODEO ATTRACTS HUNDREDS AT NIGHT

  Every Thursday night at 930 PM, at 900 South and 900 East, hundreds of bicyclists converge to start bicycling through the City.  I put some pictures of the event but they don't do justice.  Picture hundreds of bicyclists, especially in pleasant summer weather, bicycling through the City.  So far, no one has been injured.  It gives the area charisma.  I still wish that it would happen on Saturdays and Sundays on the Parleys Trail.

APRIL 23, 2018

UTA HAS KILLED OVER 40 IN 18 YEARS SB136 SUPER TAX INCREASES COMING WHAT TRANSIT PROJECTS WILL GET BUILT?

OXBOW COULD BE A MISDEMEANOR FACILITY IF IT OPENS

OPPORTUNITY ZONE PROPOSALS MADE WITHOUT NOTICE

UDOT TESTING SMART TRAFFIC LIGHTS TO HELP CARS

LITTLE COTTONWOOD CANYON WAR ON CARS WITH

TOLLING

DRUG TREATMENT 20% SUCCESSFUL AFTER 30 DAYS

DRUGS IN ROAD HOME BUT WON'T NOT STOP OVERDOSES 

UTA GOING DOWNHILL FAST WITHOUT JERRY BENSON

LA WASTED TENS OF BILLIONS ON TRANSIT

HURTING LOCAL BUSINESSES FOR HOMELESS SHELTER

UTA HAS KILLED OVER 40 IN 18 YEARS

  I put an interesting report on UTA safety in the upper right downloads section.  UTA had 18 million riders last year.  Unfortunately, there were 2 fatalities.  UTA is concerned about the deaths but they are also concerned about the 380 instances where traffic lane gates near the tracks were broken.  In 2016, there were 326 gate breaks.  Each of those instances suggest 326 close calls where many more could have been killed.  In the last 18 years of UTA, there have been more than 40 fatalities!

SB136 SUPER TAX INCREASES COMING

  We have had plenty of warning and now they are here.  The Salt Lake County Council will start the effort to wring the most revenue out of SB136.  On Tuesday, April 24, the County Council will ask the municipalities in Salt Lake County to ask the County to increase taxes for transportation.  The County is asking for 67% of the municipalities (represented by 67% of population) to endorse the County

Council asking for the tax increase and they have to ask for it by June 22 in order for the Tax Commission to accept the increase to become effective in the next quarter, October 1. Although the tax was supposed to go to transportation, it is unclear now if it will go to transit and transportation (roads) or if it will all go to transit and be used to pay down debt.  

  The County's enabling ordinance says it goes for transit.  The County gets some benefits by using the revenue to pay down transit debt with the new funds before the other taxes in the bill go into effect.  In other words, citizens of SLCO may not see any benefit to the increased taxes for a while.  The minutia of the bill says that the County has to inform the Utah State Tax Commission by July 1 if they agree to implement the tax and it will go into effect on October 1.  In July of 2019, the State will take over collections and put the revenue into a capital development fund.  Those funds can be used for projects but they will require a 40% local and federal government match.  So the fund will pay for 60% of a project if an advisory board and County Council approves the priority.  That fund is expected to generate $5 million per year.

   The County can start the tax increase after October 1, and the tax is removed for the Prop One funding which starts in July of 2019 (40% UTA, cities 40% and County gets 20% of the taxes generated).  Salt Lake County expects to collect 40 million from October to July of 2019 that it can all use for transportation related debt or "regionally significant transportation and transit projects".     If Salt Lake County does not implement the tax, cities may enact enabling legislation.  If the County does not implement the  tax, the tax potential will go away in 2022.  Note that cities may impose the tax with half going to the city and half going to the transit district after July 2020.  

  If the County has implemented the new tax, a new .20% tax can be imposed for transit projects and service.  The result will be, along with Salt Lake CIty's .5 cents tax increase, almost a penny more in taxes.  Salt Lake City is scheduled to implement the tax in the next two weeks.  Ironically, as I mentioned in my last SLTRIB oped, the City wants to use some of their tax increase for transit but the County tax increase can also be used for transit.  

  The summary of the WFRC presentation to the County Council summarizes the very complicated

SB136.  It is in the downloads section in the upper right.  There is also an increase in registration of electric vehicles but most of those increased funds are to go to charging stations, supposedly.  The Legislature is keeping a task force to review and recommend streamlining State taxes.

WHAT TRANSIT PROJECTS WILL GET BUILT?

  In general, the projects that will get built could include those in the Regional and Utah Transportation

Plan.  They could include a rail and tunnel up the canyons and the high speed rail station at the Airport.  This new tax is the Prop One tax that I believe that many voted against Prop One due to the large number of questionable projects.  The upcoming, new RTP, is expected to include making FrontRunner electrically driven and extending TRAX to Lehi.  Those are billion dollar

projects!  Although the Legislature expected that the UTA governance changes will result in a better UTA, most of the projects are questionable whether or not UTA is involved.  The County Council has to approve 2 or more nominations to the Governor for the Transit Commissioner for Salt Lake

County.  There will be a total of three running UTA.  In addition, there will be an advisory board.  The County Association of Governments will choose three and one will be chosen by the Mayor.  In addition, there will be a County Transportation Advisory Committee with 6 chosen by the County Mayor and Council and 7 chosen by the County's mayors or city managers.  That Committee will use criteria for prioritization and ranking projects and recommend road and transit projects.  The prioritization will consider regional and countywide economic development, employment recreation, development, housing and other issues.  UDOT will work with WFRC to help prioritize the projects.  The projects that are wanted have to have an application by October 1.  The County Council will approve the final projects

by December 1 and agreements will be available for government's signing by January 2019.

  Unfortunately, this tax is set up to provide 40% of its funds to transit and only 3% use transit.  Roads should get a higher percentage of the tax increase.  But more importantly, public safety should get a tax or bond increase.  The Salt Lake City Police have been publicizing the fact that they arrested a serial credit card thief in a stolen car and he was released from jail in 90 minutes!  That should indicate that we need more public safety funding.  When 3% use transit and 95% need a functioning jail, tax increases for transit do not make sense.  Many complain about Washington tax policy, but this much of a tax increase going to 3%, is much worse that Washington.  This tax increase will kill any chance of increasing public safety funding and will force the continuing of the Salt Lake County revolving door jail.

OXBOW COULD BE A MISDEMEANOR FACILITY IF IT OPENS

  During the presentation by Sheriff Rivera to the County Council last week, there was emphasis that there are not enough jail employees to open all of Oxbow Jail.  The goal of opening Oxbow's 380 unused beds was to eliminate jail bed contracting.  In other words, THERE WILL NOT BE AN INCREASE IN JAIL BEDS FOR CRIMINALS!  The Sheriff is paying $19 per hour and the average Countywide pay is $22 per hour.  So she cannot keep employees.  104 left in 2016 through 2017.  In 2020, 50% of the jailers will be eligible for retirement.  And since Utah discourages working after 20 years, most will leave.  In addition, other law enforcement departments in the County provide a free car.  It is hard for the County to compete with that.  At this moment, there is a mandatory 4 hours overtime per month.  The Sheriff believes that if she can keep overtime under 16 hours per month, turnover will be minimized to the present level which is still high.  At this moment, the Jail needs 83 officers.  In July, she will need 73 officers.  When Oxbow is full, there will be a total of 556 beds.  The plan is to use Oxbow as a lower level felon and mainly misdemeanor criminals, for those at lower risk and possibly benefiting from treatment.  Bottom line, we need a public safety tax increase more than a transit tax increase.  Again, I put the presentation in the upper right downloads section.

OPPORTUNITY ZONE PROPOSALS MADE WITHOUT NOTICE

  Almost no one noticed that the Governor sent in his applications for the Opportunity Zones to the U.S. Treasury.  These are the ones that he asked to be approved.  Note that the Ballpark and State Street Area did not make the cut.  That area was 9 out of 10 on the list.  Also, notice that the depot district has been listed along with North Temple.

URBAN 

49035113802, Kearns, Urban

49035113906, Magna, Urban

49035112403, Midvale, Urban

49035102701, SLC North Temple, Urban

49035100600, SLC North Temple, Urban

49035102702, SLC, Urban 

49035114000, SLC Central Business, Urban

49035102500, SLC Depot District, Urban

49035111802, Millcreek, Urban

49035111500, South SLC, Urban 

49035111600, South SLC, Urban

49035113513, Taylorsville, Urban

49035114500, West Valley City, Urban

49035113305, West Valley City, Urban

49035112907, West Jordan, Urban 

49011125701, Clearfield, Urban

49011125702, Clearfield, Urban

49011126001, Layton, Urban

49057200400, Downtown Ogden, Urban

49057200800  Downtown Ogden, Urban

49057200900, Downtown Ogden, Urban

49057201100, Downtown Ogden, Urban

49057210800, South Ogden, Urban 

49049002400, Provo, Urban

49049002500, Provo, Urban

49049002801, Provo, Urban

49049002802, Provo, Urban

RURAL 

49045130900, Tooele, Rural 

49049000400, American Fork, Rural 

49003960300, Tremonton, Rural

49003960601, Brigham City, Rural

49005001002, Logan, Rural 

49013940300, Duchesne, Rural 

49027974300, Fillmore, Rural 

49021110300, Iron County, Rural 

49021110600, Cedar City, Rural 

49053271300, St.George, Rural

49053270300, St.George, Rural 

49017000300, Panguitch, Rural   49007000600, Carbon, Rural 

49019000300, Monticello, Rural 

49041975300, Sevier, Richfield, Rural 

49039972400, Ephraim

49005000900, Cache, Logan, Rural 

49037942100, Navajo Nation, Rural 

49001100100, Beaver County, Rural  

UDOT TESTING SMART TRAFFIC LIGHTS TO HELP CARS

  UDOT is testing smart traffic signals to increase the efficiency of roadways.  From UDOT:

"UDOT uses radar detection (Wavetronix) quite often to detect vehicles at traffic signals. The vehicle detection is then setup using our fiber optic communications system to bring back various performance measures to our central office.  We then have developed an Automated Traffic Signal Performance Measure system (http://udottraffic.utah.gov/atspm) that allows us to monitor in near real-time the performance of the traffic signal. We are able to get information back including metrics such as "The percent of vehicles arriving on green and red", "If the initial queue of vehicles cleared each cycle", "the average green time used for each approach", average speeds, average traffic volumes, etc.  We can then use this real measured data to better optimize our traffic signal system.  Some say that this automated performance measure system operates as a human-in-the-loop adaptive system, helping us to maintain timing plans and equipment."

"We have initiated a project in the City of CottonWood Heights where we are studying the "before and after" conditions with improved traffic signal timing using the Automated performance measure system and radar detection (from Wavetronix).  Purdue University is doing the study.  They are currently in the process of studying the "after" conditions from the signal timing changes we have made. Once they are done (we expect the report to be written no later than July), it will be available to us."

"We have also installed the traffic signal detection at most traffic signals statewide.  Salt Lake County currently has a project in place to install it at several non-UDOT traffic signals in the valley.  This project will be complete within the next 12 months."

LITTLE COTTONWOOD CANYON WAR ON CARS WITH TOLLING

  UDOT is asking the public for feedback on the proposal to toll Little Cottonwood Canyon and provide other plans to discourage personal vehicle use in the canyons (part of the Mountain Accord Plan).  It is extremely important, if you do not want to pay for the congestion caused by the ski resorts, which we are encouraging, that you comment on the Environmental Impact Statement scoping by May 4.  I am against tolling and I want to have the soft shoulder of the new roadway to have separated bike lane with a concrete curb to encourage safe bicycling in the canyon.  I also want year round canyon bus service.  UTA is refusing to provide it in order to give credit to the Mountain Accord.  But eventually, this EIS is expected to recommend that and force it to be considered.  

  The EIS is done in conjunction with UDOT, Forest Service, UTA and SLC Public Utilities.  2.1 million visitors visit Little Cottonwood Canyon each year (I think that it is closer to 3 million.).  The alternatives that UDOT is looking at includes tolling, improved transit service, TDM/parking, no action, avalanche mitigation, real time traffic info, car sharing, roadway improvements and parking.  The alternatives will be studied through the fall and a draft EIS will be available sometime before the summer of 2019.  The final EIS/ROD will be submitted around the summer of 2020.   Comments can be made by emailing: littlecottonwoodeis@utah.gov or by going to the website at udot.utah.gov/littlecottonwood

DRUG TREATMENT 20% SUCCESSFUL AFTER 30 DAYS

  I put the final report of Operation Diversion in the downloads section in the upper right.  Out of 109 in the drug treatment program, with an average stay of 32 days, there were 20 successful completions of drug addiction treatment.  What that means is that only 20 kicked the habit and graduated from treatment.  But the results are not listing the results after a year, which would be more appropriate and useful.  It is estimated that opioid treatment is only 5% successful and one should assume that this will end up with similar results.  So Operation Rio Grande/Leaf Blower will have a similar result now.  Obviously, it will go down significantly after a year or two.  It can take many treatment stays to finally kick the habit.

DRUGS IN ROAD HOME BUT WON'T NOT STOP OVERDOSES 

  Drugs are way too prevalent in the Road Home.  Matt Minkovich is trying and should be considered a saint for trying, but drugs are in the Road Home.  That is why many homeless do not want to stay there.  Drugs usually result in overdoses and the Road Home has overdoses.  When a homeless person overdoses, the homeless are powerless to help.  The guards and the Road Home will not provide naloxone or NARCAN (the nasal spray).  The naloxone is usually injected but the Road Home does not want the risk of someone sticking themselves with a used needle.  Some homeless providers carry a syringe that retracts the needle after use but they are much more expensive.  The Road Home just calls an ambulance and paramedics.  The cost is covered by taxpayers!  Even when the homeless surrounding the overdose victim beg for naloxone, they are not allowed to provide it.  If a homeless person has a kit, they are afraid to use it because it may result in them being banned from the Road Home.  This is one of those issues that needs a better solution.

UTA GOING DOWNHILL FAST WITHOUT JERRY BENSON

  Despite what Senator Harper and Representative Schultz have said about the termination of Jerry Benson from UTA General Manager, the Legislature was warned by me that this was going to be the result of SB136.  Jerry Benson and I have argued for years about transit but he has always been up front and honest about his arguments.  I have been lied to by other UTA managers and Trustees.  But Jerry and I can argue the facts with respect since we both are familiar with them.  Jerry was the most knowledgeable and unpolitical manager at UTA.  He may have had issues with the union but he was well respected by the drivers.  

  Most of UTA's problems, in the past, have come about due to Legislature's interference.  The Swiss trip, the TODs, the projects, the sweetheart deals with developers at the cost of service were all coming from the Legislature.  The 8 TODs authorized by Senator Stevenson's bill a few years ago, along with license plate readers! was also a questionable bill.  The bus garage effort was pushed with a bill by Representative Schultz.  Representative/now Senator Harper tried to create a free fare for red air days despite studies that showed that a large homeless population without adequate shelter will destroy potential ridership increases.  I use transit more that 95% of citizens.  I have always loved transit.  But I find that most Legislators are unrealistic and naive about transit and how to increase ridership.  In 5

years, after the billions of dollars of questionable projects are built with taxpayer money, I predict that we will see almost no increase in transit ridership.  UTA is not the problem.  The Legislature is.  And the public should be reminded that the Legislature increased taxes more this year than in the last few decades.  It was not very fiscally responsible.  But construction companies will enjoy the millions in profits.  Jerry's leaving will end up putting UTA in limbo for the next year.

LA WASTED TENS OF BILLIONS ON TRANSIT

  In the effort to get people out of their cars, the Legislature has decided to encourage increasing taxes and use 40% of the revenue for transit.  The sponsors of the bill, Senator Harper and Representative Schultz, hope that more projects will encourage ridership of mass transit and reduce the pressure on our roads.  I think that there are better ways to handle the concern about congestion caused by personal vehicles.  Senate President Niederhauser hopes that toll roads will eventually charge everyone that uses new roads and encourage people to use mass transit.  Their efforts to get more people to ride mass transit is a dream in a wish in a hope.  LA has spent tens of billions on mass transit projects but has gotten almost no increase in ridership.  LA went from 147 transit riders a month 15 years ago to 154 million last year.  Utah shouldn't be following LA into the sea like lala lemmings.  The way to increase ridership is to make transit more convenient.  That is bus service increases.  That is cheap and cost effective.  Citylab has a great story on the results of a study on transit projects versus ridership.  It is at:  https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2018/02/why-la-is-expanding-transit-and-losingriders/551960/ The study is at:   https://www.its.ucla.edu/publication/equity-challenges-outcomes-california-county-transportation-salestaxes/

HURTING LOCAL BUSINESSES FOR HOMELESS SHELTER

  In the last year since the Salt Lake City Council decided, in secret, on the locations for their new homeless resource centers, some nearby businesses have been increasingly concerned as the designs were changed. The SLC Planning Commission has just approved the conditional use applications for the resource centers on 700 South and on High Avenue. 

  The design of the homeless resource center on High Avenue (near 1400 South and 300 West) has been significantly changed by the architect to have its main entrance on Paramont Avenue, the next street south of High Avenue. The architect has said that putting the entrance and courtyard on the south side will provide more sunlight and encourage the “congregating” of the homeless on the south side of the homeless center, on Paramont. In addition, the police have said that Paramont Avenue has more line of sight and visibility than High Avenue and that will discourage criminal activities.

  The adjacent businesses on Paramont Avenue are worried that the resource centers will result in loss of business and eventually lead to their closing. Several have put all of their money into the development of their businesses.  Salt Lake City has refused to consider their concerns about the significant negative

impact businesses will endure with homeless “congregating” on their street.

  The architect has insisted that the new resource center will be like the downtown YWCA battered women’s shelter and secure to the point that it will have minimal impact on adjacent businesses. But the security around the YWCA does not allow “congregating” outside by clients or anyone else. The architect’s idea of encouraging “congregating” the homeless on Paramont, is exactly the opposite of what we were trying to do. One of the biggest problems with the downtown shelter is the homeless were congregating around the area which provided cover for the criminal activities that often centered around drug dealing. The designs of the resource centers were supposed to stop the milling around outside the shelter/resource center!   

  The police may have indicated that they are interested in ensuring that the shelter area have a lot of visibility but Paramont Avenue has a lot of nooks and crannies to hide drugs and criminal activity. The police have pointed out that High Avenue has a wall to the north of the facility and it does not have a clear line of sight. But it also means that it has much less potential for hiding drugs and criminal activities. When the downtown drug dealers were using the open fenced area on the Road Home playground to hide drugs, a wall was put up to stop it. So a wall should be what is needed to decrease criminal activity. 

  The Planning Commission refused to allow more public testimony to counter the new arguments made by the architect and police at their last meeting. And since, it will be almost impossible to close the new shelters once operating, the conditional use of the facility will still destroy the value of the adjacent businesses. The conditional use process is supposed to mitigate negative consequences towards adjacent homes and businesses. Unfortunately, in this process, those negative impacts have been ignored.    Ironically, the destruction of businesses by government action should be the last thing to happen in Utah. When Baltimore hurt a business in the early 1800s, the Supreme Court said that cities and states did not have to follow the Bill of Rights. It only applied to the federal government! That decision was used by Missouri to justify the Mormon Extermination Order. One of the main reasons for the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause was to give every citizen in America the rights in the Bill of Rights including the Fifth Amendment (private property should not be taken without just compensation).

  Salt Lake City is destroying businesses adjacent to the High Avenue shelter site due to an architect’s redesign. Salt Lake City should redesign the facility to lessen the negative impact and compensate the businesses that are going to be negatively impacted by the shelter.

APRIL 15, 2018

POLICE CALL OPERATION RIO GRANDE OPERATION LEAF

BLOWER

SLCO REVOLVING DOOR JAIL TO CONTINUE

TRANSIT TAX PRESENTATION AT COUNTY

TRANSIT MASTER PLAN KEY MOVES AT SLC COUNCIL   

LIBRARY BUDGET INCREASES DUE TO FLOODING

IMPACT FEES, BUDGET AMENDMENT 4, COST OF TAX SURVEY

OPPORTUNITY ZONES IN SLC

LITTLE COTTONWOOD CANYON TOLL ROAD NEEDS TO STOP SLC SALES TAX IMPLEMENTATION

POLICE CALL OPERATION RIO GRANDE LEAF BLOWER

  When the Salt Lake County police chiefs meet every month, they spend a lot of time discussing the results of Operation Rio Grande.  The SLC Council and the Legislature have asked for data to support the level of spending on this Operation.  The police chiefs already know the reality of the data.  They call Operation Rio Grande Operation Leaf Blower because that seems to be the main effect of the project.  Spreading the homeless, drug dealers and criminals that used the homeless areas for their activities, into other areas, have significantly increased the time, effort and frustration of law enforcement in their attempts to fight crime.  The other aggravating factor is the revolving door jail which does not seem to be on a path to actually keeping criminals locked up for more than an hour or two.  Last week, I mentioned that a major criminal credit card thief who steals cars regularly, was let out in 90 minutes.  Which leads to the next story.

SLCO REVOLVING DOOR JAIL TO CONTINUE

  The Salt Lake County Council will have a presentation Tuesday on the status of reopening the County Oxbow Jail.  The bad news is that there are expected to be 78 open deputy allocations when the plan was to open Oxbow (this summer).  There are only 25 deputies in the Academy or CTO.  And, when opened, the Jail will remove the 300 incarcerated in other counties and return them to Salt Lake County.  So Salt County law enforcement WILL NOT HAVE MORE AVAILABLE JAIL BEDS!  They will be full the day after Oxbow opens up the rest of their open beds!  In addition, the Salt Lake County DA is unable to hire enough prosecutors due to the salary and compensation plans offered by the County.  This is a serious issue that hurts all Salt Lake County citizens as well as law enforcement.  The Salt Lake County Council needs to have a discussion on increasing taxes for adequate public safety funding.  Mayor McAdams refuses to initiate the discussion and has said that he has solved the issue with his present budget.  The reality is that County law enforcement officers and leadership are increasingly frustrated with the inadequate public safety funding.  Although Mayor McAdams repurposed the $9.4 million annual jail bond funding to other areas, public safety in the County needs more funding and it appears that the only way to get it is to go around Mayor McAdams and ask the voters to agree to a bond to lock in more funding for public safety.  Tuesday, April 17, starting at 1 PM, the County Council will have the presentation by Sheriff Rivera that delivers the reality blow.  Salt Lake County needs more public safety funding.  I put Sheriff Rivera's presentation on the downloads page.

TRANSIT TAX PRESENTATION AT COUNTY

  SB136 is a 6000 line bill sponsored by Senator Harper and Representative Schultz that is so complicated, that even I have had a problem following all of the changes as I was fighting it.  There were 55 amendments in the Legislature during its discussions and votes.  My main issue is that it allows the so called Prop One tax increase to be implemented by a County (Salt Lake County and Utah County) or, if not implemented by the county within a couple of years, a city can implement it.  In other words, the vote against Prop One would be ignored.  I call it disrespect.  Although the Legislature's reasoning was that UTA will be totally different and therefore will deserve 40% of the tax increase, I contend that most of the problems are due to the Legislature using UTA as a money bag for projects that benefit their friends.  The bus garage project, having spent $16 million so far, was pushed by last year's Legislature with a bill by Representative Schultz.  Instead of spending $10 million on service increases, UTA was pushed into spending it on this wasteful project that will eventually cost $70+ million.  The Salt Lake County Council does not seem to be interested in voting in a tax increase for PropOne this year because the public safety funding issue seems to be more important.  Plus the gas tax question on the ballot may be affected by other tax increases in the County.  Salt Lake City is planning on putting a bond on the ballot.  The County Council is trying to discuss increasing public safety funding despite Mayor

McAdams' opposition.  I put the Wasatch Front Regional Council presentation on the downloads area in the upper right and the summary is:

SB136 "Creates a new state Transit Transportation Investment Fund (“TTIF”) for transit capital projects statewide, subject to legislative appropriation and a 40% local match requirement. Beginning July 1, 2019, the state will transfer funding into TTIF, approx. $5M in FY19, growing over time...... Local options can be imposed through referendum or by action of a county’s legislative body.

If a county imposes the 4th quarter between now and June 30, 2019, they keep all those funds for that period, but can only use them to pay off debt or for regionally significant transportation facilities. Beginning July 1, 2019, the regular distribution of 4th quarter revenue takes effect: .10% to cities, 0.10% to transit district, and 0.05% to the county.

If a county has not imposed the 4th quarter by June 30, 2020, then cities with transit service will have the option to impose it, with 0.125% going to the city, and 0.125% to the transit district.

Beginning July 1, 2019, counties may impose a new local option sales tax of 0.20% for transit capital expenses and service delivery. In the UTA district, counties can only impose the new 0.20% if they have already imposed the other four quarters.

Local option sales taxes not imposed by June 30, 2022 expire (“use it or lose it”). This applies only to the 3rd and 4th quarters in counties fully in the UTA district (i.e., Weber, Davis, Salt Lake, Utah Counties), and to the city imposition option for the 4th quarter. The new 0.20% county option for transit expires June 30, 2023.

  There is a great table that summarizes the tax increases in the bill in a table in the WFRC Transit Presentation in the upper right downloads area.

TRANSIT MASTER PLAN KEY MOVES AT SLC COUNCIL   

  The SLC Council is rushing to spend money from the tax increase scheduled to be voted in on April 17 after one last public hearing.  In reality, the Council has already decided to increase the sales taxes and put a bond on the ballot.  One of the spending priorities for the Council is transit.  I put the Transit Master Plan Key Moves in the upper right downloads area.  It goes into detail about the Council's direction on spending money for transit.  Although it focuses on developing a Frequent Transit Network (FTN), it also has language that makes rail and dedicated bus lanes part of the plan.   The first focus of increased funding will be 200 South (and is planned for an eventual rail line).  The Council also wants to be able to rezone vast areas of the FTN route to increase density and use by adding apartments, retail and offices, even in single family zoned areas.  Some of the most important language in the Key Transit Moves document are:

"An initial priority is to implement coordinated capital and service improvements on 200 S, a primary east-west transit corridor for bus (and potentially future bus rapid transit and/or streetcar) service between downtown and the University....

Continue to monitor zoning along the FTN to ensure transit is supported by a mix of uses, adequate densities, parking requirements and other transit supportive elements (zoning can help support transit service)...Provide a mix of housing options along the FTN to support housing affordability and diversity....

According to the Transit Master Plan version for the August 8 briefing, the plan did not directly include future light rail improvements or routes “because they emerged from local or regional plans that have already conducted a detailed study to refine the preferred transit mode for the corridor.  However, in the capital investment section the study listed rail projects as “additional projects supported by Salt Lake City.” They include:

TRAX improvements including the Black Line and other downtown network enhancements. These enhancements would resolve capacity issues necessary to enable direct TRAX service between the Airport and the University, two of Salt Lake City’s major travel demand generators.

Downtown Streetcar connecting to the University of Utah. The Transit Master Plan corridor analysis supports transit investments in a downtown streetcar including a connection to the University....

The master plan also references the S-Line in Sugar House. According to the proposed plan, extending the line was: “Included as an element of the 900 E corridor in the Transit Master Plan corridor evaluation. The 900 E corridor is part of the FTN (frequent transit network) and is also included in the Transit Master Plan capital recommendations for Enhanced Bus. The plan will support evolving capital recommendations from the Sugar House Streetcar project that would improve utility of the line, e.g., an extension to 1700 S (consistent with Regional Transportation Plan) with a connection

....Council Members also said they would like to see the proposed future route for the S Line and a “streetcar framework” that might be used to help inform future potential federal transportation grants.  The framework also could delineate what transportation corridors are conducive to using buses and what corridors are conducive to using streetcars, according to Council Members.....

It should be noted that to City Council staff’s knowledge there is no money at present in Salt Lake

City’s or the Redevelopment Agency of Salt Lake City’s budgets allocated for streetcar

projects.  Although some discussion at the August 8 meeting involved the absence of a streetcar system in the

Transit Master Plan, the plan includes some aspects of streetcars and a streetcar system.

The cost for UTA to operate local bus routes in Salt Lake City in 2014 was about $16

million.  Implementing the plan completely in about 20 years, may cost an additional $7.7 million a year in operating costs. One option to move the Frequent Transit Network forward is to have Salt Lake City pay UTA to increase bus frequency or span of service on a route. The City would have to identify a revenue source to accomplish the option."

  The above language is from the Transit Key Moves SLC Council presentation on April 17.  So when the Council says that they will spend money on service improvements, they are ignoring their efforts to put streetcars in the Transit Master Plan.  It should also be noted that SLC, SLCO and UTA are submitting grant applications for transit projects without publicly acknowledging the applications.  This has become a habit since the City Council, along with UTA, decided not to give the public the application for funding the Sugar House streetcar up 1100 East.  We had to fight the application, successfully, at the Department of Transportation twice.  SLC and UTA is not telling the public about grant applications that could commit the City and taxpayers to questionable visions of the elected officials like rail lines.  

LIBRARY BUDGET INCREASES DUE TO FLOODING

  There are some interesting figures in the SLC Library budget being presented to the SLC Council at Tuesday's work session.  The initial funding to partially repair the damage from the July 26, 2017 flood at the Sprague Library is going to be $400,000.  But starting in the fall of 2018, Sprague will use about $2 million to help pay for renovating the Library.  That money will come from the funding allocated previously for implementing the space utilization study recommendations for Chapman, Day-Riverside and Sprague Libraries.  Flood insurance will also be bought for some of the libraries.  Roofs will be replaced at Foothill-Anderson, Day-Riverside and Sweet branches.  Landscaping issues will be addressed and public computers will be replaced.  The Main Library roof is leaking and also needs repair ($140,000) because the south side does not drain properly.    

  Unfortunately, the budget does not have funding for the desperately needed temporary replacement for Sprague Library which will close for a year.  The Library needs to ask for money to pay for either a pocket library or a temporary space to fill the requirements in the community for a reading room and to pickup and return borrowed items.  For some reason, RDA funding is not being considered, yet, although they have funds available in Sugar House.

IMPACT FEES, BUDGET AMENDMENT 4, COST OF TAX SURVEY

  In yet another repeat of poor budget planning, Salt Lake City could lose another million of impact fees this year and that have to be returned to developers.  The SLC Council is discussing if they can spend some of the fees, scheduled to be returned this year, on the 1300 East rebuild project.  I want to know why the fees, that are not being spent, could be used on the redesign of McClelland Street in Sugar House which had all of its funding spent on making alleyways pretty (for the McClelland Trail).  The most important part of the $1 million plan for the McClelland Trail was McClelland Street south of

2100 South.  But there is no more money to implement the plan.  All of the funding went to the alleyways!  Other items in Budget Amendment 4, to be approved this Tuesday are:  Using impact fees of $72,000 for the 2100 S. McClelland Street HAWK pedestrian signal, $96,000 for traffic signal upgrades and $140,000 for traffic synchronization.  There is over $3 million in impact fees for streets that are unallocated.

  Also, despite recommendations to keep the SLC budget cushion over 15%, the proposed expenditures in the Budget Amendment will leave just 11% ($30 million) for emergencies. "This is approximately

$2,728,484 million above the recommended minimum 10% threshold."

  And if anyone is wondering how the City is spending its money on the Funding Our Future campaign to justify the tax increases, the Budget Amendment answers that with:  "In 2016, the Council appropriated $300,000 for public engagement regarding a future recreation and open space general obligation bond. The bond was not pursued at that time and the funding remains encumbered within the CIP Fund. The Council may wish to re-appropriate some, or all, of the funding for a sales tax and/or bonding public engagement effort. This would allow the funds to be used on public education and outreach for a potential sales tax increase and/or general obligation bond later this year.

OPPORTUNITY ZONES IN SLC

  I put the map and SLC Council presentation on Opportunity Zones in the upper downloads area on this page.  The highest priority areas recommended by SLC are mostly in the North Temple area.  The City claims that it has had a lot of new housing units and developments but only a couple of thousand have been built in the last ten years.  State Street area in Liberty Wells/Ballpark is number 9 out of 10 priority.  The Ballpark and 900 South Gateway areas are number 7 and 8 on the priority list.  State Street has the best potential for mixed use, high density and highest number of new housing but the fact that it only got number 9 on the priority list is wrong.  It should have been number one or two.  The 900 South, 900 West area priority was above the 900 S. Gateway area.  I put the presentation in the upper right downloads above.

  The City presentation to the Council points out that it provides "potential access to a new, and potentially large, source of non-governmental funds for investment projects in these areas through the Opportunity Funds."

"The Investing in Opportunity Act encourages the creation of “Opportunity Funds,” which offer a federal tax incentive for reinvesting unrealized capital gains into low-income “Opportunity Zones” designated by each state governor. The legislation creates incentives for private and institutional investors to move some of their capital from financial markets to potential long-term opportunities in low-income communities, which may include infrastructure, transit extensions, affordable housing, manufacturing facilities, brownfield redevelopment, entrepreneurship incubators and accelerators, coworking spaces, rental housing, other real estate, and even stock in new companies.

According to the non-profit, non-partisan Economic Innovation Group, which played a key part in developing the legislation, this policy creates new roles for city leaders, as well. Rather than focusing on individual projects designed to help low-income communities, cities will need to develop ways to support the “ecosystem” of Opportunity Zones, that is, the organizational structures that foster investment opportunities. Cities will also need to engage with potential organizers of Opportunity Funds—like banks, business groups, nonprofits, philanthropies, and community development entities—about the existence of these opportunities. Regardless of which census tracts are selected by the Governor, it would be advantageous for the City to begin developing these organizational structures because Opportunity Funds are expected to begin forming later this year."

SLC SALES TAX IMPLEMENTATION

  Although the SLC Council is rushing to implement the sales tax increase, the City contends that it will continuously go to the public for input on how to prioritize spending of the increased revenue.  "Public input will be meaningful to weigh the potential uses for new sales tax revenue, and how among the four main areas, the funding should be divided."  I put the Funding Our Future presentation and final staff report on the upper right downloads section.  Again, as I said in the oped in the Salt Lake Tribune, https://www.sltrib.com/pb/opinion/commentary/2018/04/07/george-chapman-slc-sales-tax-increaseshould-all-go-to-streets

  All of the sales tax increase should go to roads.  SLC should sell a few surplus buildings that have been vacant for over 10 years, like the Pipeline Building (the former SLC Police building), and use those funds to pay for increased police.  The increased transit tax is going in the next few years and that should be used for transit increases.  And affordable housing needs all of the bond to be used to encourage affordable mixed income housing, especially on high traffic corridors like State Street.   The SLC Council must vote on the new budget for the next year by June 23.  The budget will include the revenue from the sales tax increase and where the funding should go.  The Council could vote on the final budget on June 13 or June 20.

LITTLE COTTONWOOD CANYON TOLL ROAD NEEDS TO STOP

  SLCO citizens and taxpayers have one last chance to stop the toll road implementation on Little

Cottonwood Canyon.  UDOT is asking for comments at

 www.udot.utah.gov/littlecottonwoodeis/ 

Please go online and comment on the plan.  Utah does not need and should not have all new roads be toll roads (which SB71 has allowed).  If we can stop the toll road up Little Cottonwood Canyon, we can stop toll roads in Utah.  Although UDOT has already planned to add another lane going up the Canyon, it should not require tolling.  The funding and budget for the extra lane has already been appropriated.  President Niederhauser, the sponsor of SB71, indicated that the $2 million generated from the toll each year could be used to build a parking garage at 9400 South!  But there is no bus service planned despite our efforts to release the studies on year round bus service that UTA did several years ago.  Please comment on the EIS.  I have suggested that there should be a separated bike lane on the shoulder of the new lane (minimal cost) but the most important issue is the Canyons need year round bus service now and tolling should not be started.  

APRIL 12, 2018

SLC IGNORES DUE PROCESS EXCEPT IN GAY MARRIAGE SLC SALES TAX INCREASE SHOULD GO TO STREETS MAJOR BURGLARY SUSPECT RELEASED IN 90 MINUTES!

YEAR OF THE TAX INCREASES

UTAH DESERVES A SENATOR THAT WILL NOT RUN FOR

ANOTHER OFFICE

NO THERE IS NOT 70% APPROVAL OF A TAX INCREASE

BIKE REGISTRATION IS ON DOWNLOADS

SLC PASSES DEMOLITION ORDINANCE FOR HISTORIC

DISTRICS BUT IGNORES ELSEWHERE

ADU IS BACK, BIGGER AND STRONGER THAN EVER

SLC IGNORES DUE PROCESS EXCEPT IN GAY MARRIAGE

  The SLC Planning Commission gave its approval to the High Avenue homeless resource center that was redesigned by the architect to open onto Paramont Avenue (the street to the south).  The businesses on the street are furious at the decision.  It destroys their business' value and may destroy their business.  

  The architect told the Commission that she redesigned the center to encourage the homeless to "congregate" in the courtyard and entranceway to the south by exposing it to the south and the sun!  Interestingly, one of the reasons that the City pushed these new shelters is to stop the homeless from congregating near the Road Home.  And of course, the businesses are upset that the homeless are being encouraged to "congregate" outside of the shelter on Paramont Avenue where their businesses are.

  The SLC Police Department also said that there is a better line of sight on Paramont Avenue to decrease crime through visibility versus High Avenue which has a wall to the north of the shelter.  Lost in the statement is the fact that Paramont has lots of nooks and crannies to hide drugs while the wall on High Avenue makes it much harder to hide drugs.  Salt Lake City had to build a wall around the Road Home's playground to stop drugs from being hidden in it.

  The final irony is the fact that the value of the businesses on Paramont will decrease.  Salt Lake City has ignored pleas for compensation.  Despite the Fifth Amendment's prohibition on government taking of private property without just compensation, the City is not planning on compensating the businesses.  

  It is ironic that this situation is similar to the 1833 decision of Marshall's Supreme Court that said that cities and states did not have to give the citizens of this Country all of the rights in the Bill of

Rights.  Missouri used that decision to justify the Mormon Extermination Order in 1838.  The primary drafter of Fourteenth Amendment, John Bingham, said that one of the reasons for the due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment was to overturn the 1833 decision (Barron v.

Baltimore).  Subsequent Supreme Courts have use the due process clause to ensure that every citizen has the rights in the Bill of Rights.

  It is even more ironic, that one of the plaintiffs of the Supreme Court decision that legalized, legitimized and recognized gay marriage, using the due process clause as a reason, is a Salt Lake City Councilman.  To have Salt Lake City ignore the due process clause that was so instrumental in recognizing legitimate relationships and encouraging long term relationships, is disrespectful and hypocritical.

  The businesses of Paramont Avenue and other businesses and homes next to the new homeless resource centers deserve consideration of compensation.

SLC SALES TAX INCREASE SHOULD GO TO STREETS

  The big question is what will the tax increase be used for?  The Salt Lake Tribune published my oped that explains why I think that all of the sales tax increase should go to streets.  Five years ago, the City Council raised taxes in order to give streets $8.4 million more a year.  The next year, they took it away and gave it for salary increases, including to themselves.  Streets are owed over $40 million from the tax increase that was supposed to go to streets but was repurposed for salary increases.  Streets needs $40 million a year to keep up basic maintenance and repair.  And Salt Lake City spent a million dollars fixing up alleyways for the so called McClelland Trail between 11th South and 21st South instead of fixing potholes!  The money was supposed to be used for the Trail through Brickyard but it has all been spent and now the City is scrambling to find money for the promised reconfiguration of McClelland Street. The oped is at: https://www.sltrib.com/pb/opinion/commentary/2018/04/07/george-chapman-slc-sales-tax-increaseshould-all-go-to-streets

MAJOR BURGLARY SUSPECT RELEASED IN 90 MINUTES!

  This should not have been a surprise.  A recent arrestee, Charles Wright, was booked into jail for felony use of stolen credit cards and was released 90 minutes later before more charges were filed against him!  This is another sad evidence of our substandard, inadequately funded jail and DA services at the Salt Lake County Jail.  The suspect was arrested along with his accomplice.  They also had stolen a several cars, and they are implicated in several more burglaries.  This situation significantly increased the costs to police at the City level and to citizens who expect more from the County Mayor McAdams.

YEAR OF THE TAX INCREASES

  Recent studies show that many families will have to pay much more in taxes due to the new 2017 tax bill from Congress.  Salt Lake City is rushing to implement their sales tax increase this month.  They also intend to put an $87 million bond on the ballot for this November.  There is also a gas tax question to provide guidance for the Legislature about raising gas taxes 10 cents a gallon from about 30 cents a gallon (in order to meet the agreement with Our Schools now to shift more transportation funds to schools).  The Legislature is insisting that Salt Lake County and Utah County increase their sales taxes by .25 cents for transit and transportation by July 2019 and Salt Lake County is thinking about pushing it forward even without a vote of the public (again since we defeated it before in PropOne).  And the County may ask for a jail bond to further expand the jail and stop the revolving door jail (see above story - 90 minute release of super felon) despite repurposing the last jail bond of $9.4 million a year.  The Sheriff fought against it but lost.  The Legislature claims that it cut taxes during this year's session.  But the reality is that it has voted in, or allowed to be implemented, the biggest tax increase in Utah in decades (since the TRAX line vote).  This truly is the year of tax increases.

UTAH DESERVES A SENATOR THAT WILL NOT RUN FOR ANOTHER OFFICE

  I join the considerable backlash against the Mitt Romney campaign that thinks that he is to be anointed to be our senator from Utah.  I think that Representative Kennedy would be a better choice to make Utah look good in the U.S. Senate.  He is a doctor and I have watched him at the Legislature.  He is a devoted public servant and deserves to be Utah's next Senator.  And since I am a State Republican delegate, that is who I will be voting for.  We will find out on April 21 who will be on the primary ballot or if Romney will take it all.

  An interesting note, every year the Salt Lake City Marathon has been on the same day of the Republican convention.  Is this a conspiracy?

NO THERE IS NOT 70% APPROVAL OF A TAX INCREASE

  A recent letter in the Salt Lake Tribune pointed out the disrespectful survey that Salt Lake City is using to justify their sales tax increase that appears to be a done deal.  The letter pointed out that the questions were misleading and encouraged those taking the survey to agree with a tax increase.  I agree.  I stopped after the first page of the survey.  Although the City added another public hearing on April 17th, it appears that behind closed doors, in secret (despite complaints about the GOP Legislative Caucus meeting behind closed doors),the Council and Mayor have decided that the tax increase will happen.  

BIKE REGISTRATION IS ON DOWNLOADS

  I put the new SLC bike registration program discussion at SLC Council on the upper right downloads.  FYI, SLCO is not involved, but should be and City is not using the Utah data of the bikeindex.com that lists stolen bikes.

SLC PASSES DEMOLITION ORDINANCE FOR HISTORIC DISTRICS BUT IGNORES

ELSEWHERE

  The City has passed a demolition ordinance that makes it easier to tear down falling down, eyesores, and buildings in historic districts.  The impetus was the very obvious building next to The Other Side Academy that looked like magic was keeping it up.  It was literally hanging by a few posts.  But lost in the celebration was the fact that Salt Lake City's ordinances actually increase crime and drug use by discouraging demolishing buildings that are not being used.  Former SLCO Mayor Peter Corroon has several properties that he has been trying to demolish and, despite being boarded up, they are still used by homeless and drug addicts.  One of his vacant houses had a fire caused by homeless squatting in the building.  He found needles and other drug use evidence inside.  There was a fire last week at at boarded up building on 1700 South and 124 W. that also seemed to be caused by homeless.  As has been pointed out many times, vacant buildings encourage crime more than lack of enforcement of quality of life laws (and parking lots that SLC also discourages).  SLC should have made the demolition ordinance cover vacant building Citywide and not just in historic districts.

  On another homeless note, the area around the Tesla Building on 300 West and 10th South is going to get 67 new market rate residential units (1030S. 400W.).  That should help move the homeless that are camping around the Target building out of the area.  The City has to clean it out every month.  One of the questionable successes of Operation Rio Grande.

ADU IS BACK, BIGGER AND STRONGER THAN EVER

  The SLC ADU proposal is back and, in order to remove the Disability Law Center's threat, will be Citywide.  It is estimated that it will lead to 20 or 30 more ADUs per year due to the expense of meeting code ($40,000-90,000).  The present ordinance gave us a total of 2 ADUs!  I put the discussion and proposal on the upper downloads section.

APRIL 5, 2018

SUGAR HOUSE LIBRARY CLOSING FOR UP TO A YEAR IN FALL

FAIRMONT PARK SHOOTING, ALL INVOLVED CAUGHT

BIKE REGISTRATION IS USELESS WITHOUT COUNTY

INVOLVED

ANOTHER HIGH RISE COMING TO HIGHLAND AND 2100 S.

WILMINGTON1300 TO HIGHLAND RESURFACING UNTIL END

OF MAY

SUGAR HOUSE LIBRARY CLOSING FOR UP TO A YEAR IN FALL

  The Sprague Library in Sugar House has been damaged by the flood last summer to the point where the Library has to close the facility for 9 to 12 months and repair and remodel it.  The damage was extensive.  Sprague Library’s elevator may be available by the end of May and will allow some expansion into the downstairs with computer terminals and other books.  Shelving is an issue.  The closing of Sprague is expected to begin in the Fall of 2018.  The Library is looking at alternatives like pocket libraries and other spaces to provide the services that patrons expect.  The Sugar House Community Council will continue to meet at Legacy Village on Wilmington between 1300 E. and Highland at 7 PM the first Wednesday of every month.  Google Sugar House Community Council for more information and more meetings.

FAIRMONT PARK SHOOTING, ALL INVOLVED CAUGHT

  On April 3, at around 4 PM, there were 6 shots from gunman in Fairmont Park (900 E. and 2400

S.).  The Police caught all of the involved juveniles and recovered the gun and the car involved.  The gun was recovered by the Police because an alert neighbor called and reported suspicious behavior by some of those involved.  

BIKE REGISTRATION IS USELESS WITHOUT COUNTY INVOLVED

SLC is moving forward with their new bicycle registration program which is not being adopted, yet, by the rest of the County.  All of the County should be using the new, free, convenient system that allows going online and registering your bicycle in order to provide law enforcement with a record that they can check when they get a report of a found bike or suspect that a bike is stolen or does not belong to the person.  Unfortunately, many homeless rely on bicycles to get around, and work.  A few years ago, the police raided the Road Home area and confiscated, obviously stolen, bicycles from homeless.  But a system is needed to stop the chop shops and difficulty that the police have in returning recovered bikes.

  “The SLCPD records indicate that 1,194 bicycles were stolen in calendar year 2017.  Another 212 were found abandoned.  Of the combined 1,406 bicycles recovered or stolen, 83 were returned to owners.”  The police believe that they will lose about $3,000 a year implementing this system and eliminating the $2 registration fee.

ANOTHER HIGH RISE COMING TO HIGHLAND AND 2100 S.

  There will be another high rise on Highland south of the Vue restaurants.  Meacham sold the property to a developer who will build luxury apartments above ground floor restaurants.  The good news is Sugar House is continuing to develop a reputation for restaurants and night life.  The bad news is that this continues the super gentrification of Sugar House since moderate income residents are left out.

WILMINGTON 1300 TO HIGHLAND RESURFACING UNTIL END OF MAY

  Wilmington between 1300 S to Highland is going to finish the resurfacing of the street (after upgrades and replacements of their utility lines and pipes) by the end of May.  Until then, the street is going to be a one way street.

APRIL 4, 2018

SLC ENSLAVED TO ROCKY MTN POWER CONTRACT

TOO WHITE LEDs MORATORIUM IN AVENUES BICYCLE REGISTRATION ONLY IN SLC, NOT REST OF COUNTY!!??

MILLER PARK SPRINKLER HEADS DAMAGED BY HIKERS ON

PATH

JAIL MAY BE SPREADING HEPATITIS A

COMMUNITY CONNECTION TEAM ASKED TO FOCUS ON 2100 S HOMELESS

SLC ENSLAVED TO ROCKY MTN POWER CONTRACT

  During efforts to see what SLC’s policy is on too white LEDs that are replacing High Pressure Sodium streetlights, we found out that SLC is locked into a flat rate contract for power provided by Rocky Mountain Power!  SLC does not pay their power bill based on power consumption.  They have a flat rate tariff.  “The City is billed on the flat rate based on the wattage of light installed.”  So encouraging decreasing power consumption is not part of the contract with the power company.  The City has generally been installing some lower wattage lights but the new adjustable lights can reduce power consumption well over 50%.  The City is “currently researching smart controls for lighting that will allow us to monitor and control our lights remotely.  These smart controls will allow dimming but it will not reflect on our power bill.  We have had discussions with Rocky Mountain Power to see if they will allow a decrease when we are able to dim our lights.

TOO WHITE LEDs MORATORIUM IN AVENUES

  The Avenues is scheduled to have an interesting discussion tonight on LEDs.  The City’s Sustainability

Director has told the Community, after complaints, that they will delay replacing street lights in the Avenues as much as possible to address the concerns.  The City has installed a few lights with a 3000K color temperature and they encourage comments.  Again, the issue is the lights are too bright for many people.  The blog on April 1 below has more information.

BICYCLE REGISTRATION ONLY IN SLC, NOT REST OF COUNTY!!??

  It appears that the great new encouraging bicycle registration program in Salt Lake City will not be Countywide.  Only SLC will be implementing the program.  So the rest of the County that also has a lot of problems with bike theft and chop shops in homeless areas, will not be affected.  And most of the County residents will negate the efforts to create an inviting bicycle registration program that will decrease bike theft.  When a cop stops a questionable bike and person, they won’t be able to find out if the bicycle is stolen since the person can just say that they live outside of SLC!  The County should take the lead and implement SLC’s new bicycle registration program.

MILLER PARK SPRINKLER HEADS DAMAGED BY HIKERS ON PATH

  Many new plantings and trees in Miller Park, in Yalecrest have died due to lack of water.  It turns out that the sprinkler heads were placed so close to the hiking path that Park hikers accidentally run into and break the heads.  There is the issue of vandalism but proper design of the system would have covered that contingency.  Unfortunately, Miller Park continues to suffer.  If it weren’t for dedicated volunteers and residents around the Park, it would be much worse.  They are trying to decrease the significant fire danger that the dead trees and plants are creating.  Jim Webster, who has volunteered much of his time to keep the Park in good shape, has funding from the City to fix some of the problems that the City created when it redesigned the Park after the spill.  

JAIL MAY BE SPREADING HEPATITIS A

  The Hepatitis A outbreak in Salt Lake County has had at least two deaths and 200 infected since August of 2017.  It appears that lack of appropriate and effective hygiene at the County Jail may be allowing the infection to spread.  A large part of the situation is due to inadequate County funding for the jail.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION TEAM ASKED TO FOCUS ON 2100

  The Community Connection Team is a team of several police officers who go out to homeless areas around the City along with a social worker to break up the homeless camps and encourage homeless to consider other options.  We have used the Team before and they are fast.  Within a day, they contacted the homeless that the community complained about and in a few more days they were able to convince one to go into temporary housing.  The Community Connection Team number is: 801 799 3533.  Their email is communityconnectionteam@slcgov.com.   Note that they close at 3PM.  They are aware of and visited the homeless camps that have been cropping up between 1300 S. and 2100 S. around 300 West.  The City is trying to arrange to install no parking signs along some of the streets that are getting campers parked for a long time.  

  The other resource, besides the SLCPD nonemergency dispatch number at 801 799 3000, is the Operation Rio Grande tip line at the Command Post.  They are manned by Utah Highway Patrol and they often have more officers available and can provide them quickly to problem areas with crime/drug selling by homeless.  If there is a crime and a SLCPD officer can’t immediately respond, call 385 266 6938.  They have responded quickly in the past.  This is not a reflection on SLCPD.  They are inundated with calls about the homeless crimes and they need all the help that they can get.

APRIL 1, 2018

UTA REFUSES TO FIGHT FOR BETTER SERVICE INSTEAD OF

PROJECTS

SLC THINKING TAX INCREASE FOR MORE THAN BASIC SERVICE

1300 E. $10 MILLION PROJECT & 9 LINE/900 S. PUBLIC HEARING

APR 3 

WFRC WILL BUY $250K NEW FURNITURE IN MOVE TO

GATEWAY

NO MORE TRASH PILES IN SLC STREETS

MCCLELLAND SHARED STREET PROPOSALS DISCUSSED

SLCO SCARED INTO INACTION BY RISK OF LAWSUIT

SL TENNIS CLUB ROOF PUTS SNOW ON AND CLOSES PARLEYS

TRAIL

OPPORTUNITY ZONES BIGGEST NEIGHBORHOOD EFFORT IN

DECADES

LEDS ARE NOT POWER EFFICIENT WHEN WASTED

SLC COUNCIL WILL DISCUSS BIKE REGISTRATION APRIL 3

NEXTDOOR HAS A SLCPD BUTTON

SLCPD TROLLING FOR PACKAGE THIEFS

LIBERTY WELLS CRIME MAP OF BURGLARIES

WHEN PROTECTIVE ORDERS CREATE HOMELESS

LITTLE COTTONWOOD CANYON PROJECT NEEDS COMMENTS

SLC PARKING METERS COULD BE HACKED LIKE ATLANTA

SPRINGHILL SUITES IN SUGAR HOUSE ADDS TO STEEL AND

CONCRETE CANYON

FEDS NOW BOOKING CRIMINALS INTO WEBER COUNTY JAIL

LAST CHANCE TO COMMENT ON 300 WEST HOMELESS

SHELTER

SLC WATER BUDGETS $700,000 FOR FOREST SERVICE CANYON

RESTROOMS

SLC TRAIL SYSTEM PLAN NEEDS COMMENTS

WIRED HAS A GREAT ARTICLE THAT QUESTIONS DRUG

ADDICTION TREATMENT SUCCESS

WASATCH CHOICE 2050 COMMENTS/STILL HAS A HIGH SPEED

AIRPORT RAIL STATION

UTA REFUSES TO FIGHT FOR BETTER SERVICE INSTEAD OF PROJECTS

  UTA is signing the contract/interlocal agreement with Salt Lake County to double track the Sline.  Despite concerns that the double tracking, which will increase frequency from every 20 minutes to every 15 minutes, will only add about 140 more riders per day to the 1400 average weekday ridership (Sunday ridership is more than 1600.).  The County's Transportation Director, Helen Peters (who is famous for pushing to extend the S-line up 1100 East) has given $4 million to the UTA and the UTA will contribute $2 million to construct the double track.  The S-line already runs pretty fast and takes 10 minutes to go from 2100 S. TRAX to 900 East.  Time will tell if the double tracking will increase ridership to what SLC and UTA and SLCO promised (5000 per day).  SLC later backed off on that figure when it became clear that ridership wasn't meeting expectations.  And, after we complained to the UTA about spending $6 million on 140 more riders a day, UTA changed the numbers and said that it will increase ridership 280 riders a day.

  At the same time that UTA decided spend $2 million on the questionable project, UTA is selling property to Murray for $2 million.  That money will not be used for service expansion since it is one time funds.  But that reasoning ignores the reality that expanding service times on key routes will create a synergistic effect system wide and increase revenue with a more robust bus system.  The new revenue is not just from the fares on the expanded service bus routes, it will increase fares system wide (if done right).  At the same time, for several years, UTA has sat on the proposal for year round bus service, in order to give the Central Wasatch Commission/Mountain Accord Plan the credit.  There is such a thing as priming the pump, implementing bus service and then encouraging the beneficiaries (ski resorts, Utah recreation and tourism) to help fund it.  They already help fund the winter ski buses.

  UTA also is still working on the super secret, who is the construction company, bus garage next to their headquarters.  UTA, despite claiming that they have no spare funds except for State of Good Repair (SGR), will spend $8 million this year alone on the useless bus garage that duplicates the garage across the street.  The natural gas refueling system did not need to have a garage!  And, despite what the Legislature complains about UTA wasting money, the bus garage was pushed by a bill last year from the Legislature.  Note that the bus garage and double tracking have not had a thorough cost benefit analysis that the last audit recommended for all projects.

  In a "what were they thinking" decision, a few months back, the UTA Board of Trustees endorsed

SB136 (in its early form) in order to influence the bill's final draft.  The next month, UTA told the Legislature that a name change would cost around $12 million!  And the next month, the Legislature passed a bill that changes pensions, UTA legal department, removes the Trustees, and adds three commissioners appointed by the biggest counties (SLCO Mayor gets to nominate one for the Governor to appoint.) to run UTA.  Jerry Benson has a contract that will be difficult to break and if we lose Jerry, we will have lost a lot of institutional knowledge.  I have had many fights with Jerry, but he does know transit and has tried to not play the political game.  The Legislature also ordered that the number two person be a registered professional engineer, who essentially has been appointed since there are not that many that have the knowledge required to run operations at UTA.  

SLC THINKING TAX INCREASE FOR MORE THAN BASIC SERVICE

  SLC has extended public comments on the proposals to increase sales taxes and/or putting a bond on the November ballot to fix streets, pay for more cops, increase transit and increase affordable housing.  There will be public hearings at the City Council meetings on April 3 and April 17 at 7PM (451 S. State St - with free parking under the Library with Council staff free validation cards).  The Council may vote on the sales tax increase on April 17. 

  Although the .05 cent sales tax increase bill (that was in the prison move bill) does not allow most big ticket items and food to have a tax increase (I put the complicated wording at the end of this story.), it will inconveniently increase the cost to lower income families.  It may also have a negative impact on the gas tax increase question on the November ballot (which the Legislature will use to justify a ten cent a gallon gasoline and diesel tax increase if it passes - and will allow the State to move money to education,

in accordance with the secret agreement with Our Schools Now).  It could also interfere with SLCounty's interest in a public safety tax increase/bond vote.

  The biggest concern is using the revenue for transit projects like "streetcars" and the S-Line extension.  I know of no transit projects that make sense but some on the City Council think that $100 million transit projects make sense.  The backlash, if the Council tries to spend the extra revenue on transit projects, will be serious.  On the other hand, negotiating with UTA for bus service expansion would be good.  Unfortunately, there will also be a recommendation to increase the so called local option sales tax due by July 2019 and the City may benefit from that and that could go to transit service increases if the money isn't all spent on questionable projects.  This summer, the Legislative Task Force will consider those options.  My argument has always been that if LA builds tens of billions of transit projects in the last 20 years and ridership has only minimally increased, then they should have focused on service, not projects.  The same should apply in Utah. 

  The money needed for the police staffing increase may not be needed now since the police are having problems with hiring.   There is a potential for increasing salaries to hire more but the tax increases should not go for that.  A tax increase to provide higher salaries would also get a backlash.  Also the City gave away the old Police HQ instead of selling it and using the money for increased police staffing and salaries.  The City says that they need $12 million per year for those 50 cops but I have been told that they haven't even come close to getting all of the officers that they planned.  The City should demand that Salt Lake County provide adequate public safety, jail and DA funding to stop the significant cost to SLC from a revolving door jail and non prosecution of dealers, car thieves and burglars.  

  The affordable housing segment of a sales tax increase does not make sense.  I do not support the City increasing taxes for affordable housing when they should be/could be using the $100 million in property held by RDA for that.  The RDA is instead looking at spending $31 million on a market and other questionable projects.  The best hope for affordable housing, mentioned in the SLC Affordable Housing Plan is high traffic corridors like State Street.  But the City Council is dragging their feet instead of implementing a form based design that encourages developers to build affordable mixed income housing.  Note that the City Council will discuss selling surplus property at their April 3 work session.  Affordable housing should be mixed income, not all affordable.  And it needs $87 million, not $5 million (which will cost the average homeowner $5/year), from the bond to actually have an impact.  The City's proposal duplicates efforts from the State and various charities in SLC.  Again, the gas tax question on the ballot could be negatively impacted.

  SLC says that streets need $20 million a year for ten years to provide basic well maintained streets.  The reality is that SLC streets need $40 million a year and the City owes streets $8.4 million that it repurposed 5 years ago.  The last tax increase in SLC (not including the lighting fee - a tax by any other name is still a tax) was to be used for streets, which desperately needed it 5 years ago.  The year after the tax was increased, Mayor Becker repurposed the increased taxes to another part of the budget.  The Councilmembers who allowed that  regretted  their decision.  The sales tax increase would give only about $32 million a year and that is not enough for basic streets maintenance.  All of the sales tax increase go to streets' maintenance.   I would like to see a guarantee that any new funds would not be used to for projects.  Governments have a tendency of spending money from tax increases on projects instead of basic service.

  HB454 was the bill that authorized, at Mayor Becker's request, a SLC sales tax increase of .05 cents.  The language on what it cannot cover is: HB454

1600 (5) A city or town may not impose a tax under this section on:

1601 (a) the sale of:

1602 (i) a motor vehicle;

1603 (ii) an aircraft;

1604 (iii) a watercraft;

1605 (iv) a modular home;

1606 (v) a manufactured home; or

1607 (vi) a mobile home;

1608 (b) the sales and uses described in Section 59-12-104 to the extent the sales and uses

1609 are exempt under Section 59-12-104; and

1610 (c) except as provided in Subsection (7), amounts paid or charged for food and food 1611 ingredients.

1612 (6) For purposes of this section, the location of a transaction shall be determined in 1613 accordance with Sections 59-12-211 through 59-12-215.

1614 (7) A city or town that imposes a tax under this section shall impose the tax on

1615 amounts paid or charged for food and food ingredients if the food and food ingredients are sold 1616 as part of a bundled transaction attributable to food and food ingredients and tangible personal 1617 property other than food and food ingredients.

1618 (8) A city or town may impose a tax under this section by majority vote of the 1619 members of the city or town legislative body.

1300 E $10 MILLION PROJECT AND 9 LINE/900 S. PUBLIC HEARING APR 3 

  On April 3, at the formal SLC Council meeting at 7 PM, there will be a public hearing on SLC Budget Amendment 4.  The big items in the Budget Amendment are the 1300 East reconstruction project and the 9 Line on 900 S. bicycle project.   The total cost of the 1300 East reconstruction, after the water lines are replaced and the sewer line is upgraded will be 10 million.  The design should be completed by the end of winter 2018-19 and construction will take place through 2019.  Hopefully, SLC Transportation will require that two lanes of traffic are always open, which means parking will have to be banned during construction.  Otherwise, the adjacent homeowners on 1300 East will get a significant increase in pollution.  The Mayor is in that area.  I hope that she ensures that traffic lanes are kept open.  

  The City will also use $618,000 from the $4 million of State funds budgeted for an $18 million bridge at

4900 west spanning 500 to 700 South.  That expensive bridge seems to be a big waste of money but the City is hoping for a $14 million federal TIGER grant award (as if the federal deficit isn't big enough already).  There is over $3 million in unallocated streets impact fees that should be used.

  The 9 Line project is part of the Budget Amendment but the plan is still in process.  The original proposal created such a backlash that the City backed off (SLC originally wanted to move Gilmer Drive access to 900 South!).  The project cost is $745,000 and the County is providing $500,000.  This is one of the projects required by the $20 million that the federal government gave Utah that required Utah to spend $80 million on bicycle projects!  The best road for the project would be 800 South which could and should have a wide bicycle lane from 1100 East to the Jordan River.  The 800 South Road has a big hill east of 1100 East before it runs into Sunnyside.  The bicyclists east of 1300 South are rerouted from Sunnyside to 900 South in a manner that seems to be not conducive to hard core bicyclists.  There is not much road travel lane width to allow a decent bicycle lane on 900 S. and there is 45 degree parking which is very dangerous to bicyclists.  Road reconstruction is scheduled for 950 East to 1300 East. Specifically, "the funds would be used to design and construct a segment of the 9-Line Trail on 900 South between 900 East and 1300 East.  This would encompass a high-comfort, above-the-curb trail along 900 South in conjunction with a road reconstruction from Lincoln Street (950 East) to 1300 East and wayfinding signage on 900 South and Gilmer Drive.  This project is one reason why I don't trust a tax increase to be used for basic service needs.

  To download the over 50mb full 9 Line Extension Study, go to

www.slcgov.com/transportation/9Line.  You need to click on the Extension Study and then 9LineStudyfinal.  Again, it is 56mb.  You could also just Google 9linestudyfinal.pdf and get it. 

WFRC WILL BUY $250K NEW FURNITURE IN MOVE TO GATEWAY

  After years of being in the middle of nowhere, the Wasatch Front Regional Council (WFRC) is moving to just north of the Gateway by this summer.  It is presently located in the International Center west of the Airport and it has just a couple of buses a day running through the area, despite the 28,000 employees!  Unless you drive a personal vehicle or dare to ride a bicycle in the area, it is almost impossible to attend their very important meetings.  The WFRC plans all new transit and transportation projects for Northern Utah (required for federal funding) except for Utah County.  The State and local governments fund their work.  Interestingly, the move has a budget of $250,000 for new furnishings!  Must be the doors.

NO MORE TRASH PILES IN SLC STREETS

  After years of waste piles on SLC streets that were to be picked up by SLC's waste management crew, the City has decided to end the piles that were a concern to neighbors and to SLC environmental managers.  The City was so worried about the fact that everyone else, especially on the west side, would add to the piles instead of taking their trash to the dump, that they tried to keep the trash pickups secret except for notifying the residents by mail.  The new waste pickup system will require the residents to ask for pickup and it will start on July 1.   Go to http://www.slcgreen.com/c2h for more information.  Recycling could still take place before the pickup.

MCCLELLAND SHARED STREET PROPOSALS DISCUSSED

  Former SLC Councilman Soren Simonsen has suggested an option that should be considered on McClelland Street between 2100 South and the Sugarmont Streetcar Station.  He provided pictures (to the left) of several, very successful shared space designs of streets that safely allow bicyclists, pedestrians and vehicles.  This would be similar to City Creek and Regent Street.  If it is done right, parking will not lose anymore spaces (the area lost 18 when the City created 2100 South and Highland's Monument Plaza).  Due to the impending curb and gutter work, the City is being asked to speed up their decision on how to redesign McClelland Street as part of the Canal Trail that the City spent a million dollars on.  As noted in previous posts, the property owner on the east, Jeff Vitek of Boulder Ventures had a justifiable problem with losing up to 20 spaces if the original plan was implemented.  Now the businesses, and land owners and community council will meet this week to try to reach a consensus on the new design for the

street to encourage pedestrians and bicycles to frequent the Sugar House Area.  I put the old McClelland Trail proposal on the upper right downloads section.

SLCO SCARED INTO INACTION BY RISK OF LAWSUIT

  Many bicyclists and pedestrians have complained about the County closing the Parleys Trail between the Bonneville Shoreline Trail and 1700 East during the winter.  Even though there were only 3 big snow days this year, the County has had concerns about an accident happening if they plowed the trail and, due to the ice buildup (encouraged by being in the shadow of the sun - the Trail runs on the north side of the freeway), a bicyclist or a walker or runner falls and sues.  The County was sued by a bicyclist who fell on the center markings of the Jordan River Trail.  So the County decided that, to stop a risk of a lawsuit, that they would put up a chain and post a closed sign to remove the risk of a lawsuit!  The County is responsible for maintaining the Trail and it maintain it all year round.  This may require a Legislative hearing!  Government should not be scared into inaction by risk of a lawsuit when trying to provide basic service.  Many County residents use that Trail, and they fought hard to get it built.  Note that another problem is plowing/removing snow from the bicycle overpass over I215.  The plowed snow should not be falling onto the freeway and the County is unable to ensure that.  And... the next story is on the same subject but deserves a headline:

SL TENNIS CLUB ROOF PUTS SNOW ON AND CLOSES PARLEYS TRAIL

  One other reason given for closing the Trail during the winter is, the SL Tennis Club that is adjacent to the Trail just east of 1700 East, has a roof that dumps snow onto the Trail!  I think that this was discussed during the design of the path of the Trail but it was ignored.  So now, the very expensive Trail has to be closed in the winter so users will not accidentally have snow falling on them (and ice)!

OPPORTUNITY ZONES BIGGEST NEIGHBORHOOD EFFORT IN DECADES

  Almost nobody knows it, but the biggest opportunity in decades to get investment in local distressed, underutilized and low income areas of Salt Lake County is about to presented to the Governor.  Salt Lake County (see the download on Opportunity Zones presentation to the County last week) is going to present the areas that are being recommended to qualify for the investment.

  The federal tax bill from December 2017 has a little noticed item that allows investment in a low income or distressed or underutilized area (maybe 25 census tracts in this State may be submitted) to escape capital gains taxes for 10-15 years and have the eventual tax decreased.  The goal is to encourage PRIVATE investment in these areas.  But, since almost no one knows about these areas, there has been no real public engagement.  This is all being done almost behind closed doors.  Crossroads Urban Center, Tim Funk and Michael Clara were able to force a meeting with the County officials that were putting the list together.  The County now calls that meeting a public hearing!  The County also says that they will have another public hearing on April 2 and April 3 but I cannot find any mention of it (Easter weekend) and the County cancelled their Council meeting for April 3!.  

  Roberta Reichgelt, in the SLC Economic Development Department is familiar with the proposal areas which the Governor has to submit to the Treasury Department by April 22.  The areas planned to be Opportunity Zones deserve more public engagement.  Roberta said that she expects a press release from the Mayor's Office and a better map than the one circulating (in the above downloads section).  I put the Gardner Institute report, the County talking points, the map and Excel spreadsheet and an overview of Opportunity Zones in a zip file in the upper right downloads.

  Supposedly, one of the proposed areas is from State Street west through Glendale and Poplar Grove and it includes Central SLC and the 900 S. 200 W. area.  Other cities south of SLC are also part of the area proposed.

  If SLC doesn't work out a plan to encourage investment in the areas, the Opportunity Zones will be almost useless.  State Street was supposed to hold the best chance for housing increases but they've been going around in circles for over a year without results.  

  What could this mean for Ballpark, Central City, State Street, Main Street, Glendale and Poplar Grove (among many of the areas that are being considered) is hundreds of millions could be poured into new buildings and businesses along State Street.  This has the potential of activating State Street's potential housing potential (one of the main reasons SLC is planning to make the State Street to 300 West area, south of 600 S., an RDA/CDA area).  State Street has the best potential for housing and the best potential for mixed use, mixed income, and investment in SLC.  This area, as an Opportunity Zone, could explode development.

LEDS ARE NOT POWER EFFICIENT WHEN WASTED

  There is a discussion taking place in Salt Lake City and other cities around the world about LEDs that are generally super white (around 4000 Kelvin) and the significant negative effects on people, birds and animals.  Salt Lake City is in the midst of replacing High Pressure Sodium lights with LEDs but the LED lights are significantly whiter than the HPS lights.  The American Medical Association has recommended that street lights should have a color temperature of 3000 Kelvin or less.  SLC is installing LEDs with 4000 Kelvin color temperature.  The newer 2700 Kelvin LEDs are more expensive and are slow to being available.

  It is difficult to argue that street lighting should be decreased to save birds and/or to allow people to see stars at night since neighborhoods generally want more lights since it can decrease criminal activity.     Often, LEDs are installed as always on and using the maximum power.  But the new LEDs can be adjustable.  Their power and lumens output can be significantly decreased as needed so that they don't always have to be on full power when there are no other moving objects or when past a certain time when there are few if any vehicles or persons on the street.

  SLC should ensure that all new LED installations are intelligent and adjustable to lower SLC power use (and make the Mayor's goal of using sustainable, clean power closer to being realized).  SLC can lower power needs, decrease unneeded light pollution, keep streets safer with more natural light and also answer some of the concerns of bird lovers.

SLC COUNCIL WILL DISCUSS BIKE REGISTRATION APRIL 3

  The SLC Council will discuss the proposed bicycle registration program that has been asked for by citizens for years in order to fight and decrease the explosion in bicycle thefts, mainly, it seems, by homeless.  Pioneer Park and other homeless areas have often had piles of chop shop bicycles.     The new proposal is to remove the significant paperwork that often did not get entered into a convenient and useful database.  The plan requires the SLCPD to provide a link on their website to allow bicycle retailers, sellers and owners to register their bicycles without charge.  The previous system required $2 and only 1500 bicycles a year were registered. 

  In 2017, SLCPD reports that 1,194 bicycles were reported stolen and 212 were abandoned.  83 of those bicycles were returned to owners.  The SLCPD donates about 350 bicycles a year because they are unable to locate owners.  The new system is focused mainly on making it convenient for SLCPD officers to confirm bicycle ownership.  The previous ordinance required that bicycles are inspected when a police officer believes that there is a "reasonable cause to believe" the bicyclee is unsafe or "not equipped as required by law" (front and back lights and reflective tape).

  It took a year to go around in circles but the proposed ordinance change will be welcome, when the City Council votes it into law.

NEXTDOOR HAS A SLCPD BUTTON

  Many crimes and suspicious activity is reported on nextdoor.com.  The website is a verified address/resident social media platform that has many SLC participants.  But many users have complained about crime reports that never seem to get to the SLCPD.  The Police Department is unable to keep an eye on nextdoor.com (due to privacy concerns and resident requirements) until now.  The Department has an agreement with nextdoor.com to add a convenient button that links to the the SLCPD.  That should allow and encourage reporting crime and suspicious activity on nextdoor.com and send it quickly to the SLCPD.

SLCPD TROLLING FOR PACKAGE THIEFS

  The SLCPD is reporting that there has been an increase in package thefts, delivered by companies like FEDEX and UPS around the area of 900 East and 2100 South in SLC.  The police are so concerned that they have obtained packages that look valuable and are implementing a sting program to try to catch the criminals involved in these thefts.  If you see slow driving vehicles driving through a neighborhood, please call 799-3000 and report that suspicious activity and note the license number.  Even writing it down and only reporting it when crime is reported can make a big difference.

LIBERTY WELLS CRIME MAP OF BURGLARIES

  I put the map of burglaries in the Liberty Wells neighborhood from two weeks ago in the downloads area (upper right).  The SLCPD saturated the area with patrols and made two arrests within a week that hopefully have stopped the crime wave.

WHEN PROTECTIVE ORDERS CREATE HOMELESS

  It appears that Salt Lake County law enforcement and the District Attorney may be inadvertently increasing homelessness due to the improper enforcement of protective orders.  When misused, a person in an apartment or home who is working, can be arrested and lose everything.  It is almost impossible to escape the resulting homelessness and society and taxpayers end up paying even more trying to put that person back on their feet and in an apartment.  There has to be a better way to enforce protective orders than to arrest the person who violates them and sending them into homelessness.  The DA, public defenders, the jail and abuse organizations should have a discussion on how to decrease the real threat to women (mainly women) from men who violate protective orders without throwing the abuser into homelessness.  

LITTLE COTTONWOOD CANYON PROJECT NEEDS COMMENTS

  UDOT is asking for comments on the Little Cottonwood Canyon Environmental Impact Statement EIS for the plan that will construct an extra lane up the Canyon and also reduce peak congestion.  It could include the first toll road that Senate President Niederhauser wanted and authorized with his SB071 (that the Governor recently signed).  "These improvements include managing the number of vehicles on the road system."  UDOT says that the EIS will include public involvement and it will work with all stakeholders in a transparent and inclusive process.  

  There will be a "public scoping open house" at Cottonwood Heights City Hall, 2277 E. Bengal Blvd on April 10, 2018 from 4 to 8PM.  The public comments can be made until May 4 at: https://www.udot.utah.gov/littlecottonwoodeis/#submit-comments 

or may be made by email to littlcottonwoodeis@utah.gov.  UDOT is asking for comments on "what transportation challenges or issues should the study team be aware of in Little Cottonwood Canyon?"   The plan is to have alternatives by Fall of 2018 and a draft EIS by the end of the year.  The public will then be invited to comment on that until the Summer of 2019.  The final EIS is to be done by Spring of 2020.  The website with a map is at: 

https://www.udot.utah.gov/littlecottonwoodeis/

SLC PARKING METERS COULD BE HACKED LIKE ATLANTA

  Recently, Atlanta has had a ransomware problem that also affected their parking system.  I hope that SLC Parking has ensured that the IT infrastructure of the City is capable of repelling any ransomware attack.  The system seems to be an open door to malware.  

SPRINGHILL SUITES IN SUGAR HOUSE ADDS TO STEEL AND CONCRETE CANYON

  Springhill Suites has started work on their 6 story, 125 room hotel on Wilmington that will result in an effect of a steel and concrete canyon for most of Wilmington from 1300 East to 1200 East.  Wilmington is the street just south of 2100 South in Sugar House.  The shadows from the high rise on the narrow street will be a discouragement for walking, especially during the winter when the sidewalks are usually not swept clean of snow and ice.  Remember that Wilmington is going to be a one way road until construction ends.

FEDS NOW BOOKING CRIMINALS INTO WEBER COUNTY JAIL

  A couple of weeks ago, the U.S. Attorney was so upset with the SLCO Jail quickly releasing a spice dealer that they arrested, that he is now sending his arrests for federal crimes to Weber County jail.  Unlike the revolving door Salt Lake County Jail, Weber County seems to be adequately funding public safety.  The latest arrest in SLC that had the criminal booked into the Weber County Jail was Pitshou Kafuku who was arrested with counterfeit cash and stolen and fake IDs.  Salt Lake County needs a vigorous discussion on how to adequately fund public safety so that law enforcement doesn't have to repeatedly arrest and book criminals that continually commit crimes when they are free.

LAST CHANCE TO COMMENT ON 300 WEST HOMELESS SHELTER

  The last chance to comment on the 300 West homeless shelter project that was supposed to have the entrance on High Ave just east of 300 West and just south of 1400 South is going to be next week.  The new plan is to have the shelter open onto 242 W. Paramont Avenue which will destroy businesses nearby.  This was a travesty and SLC should compensate the property and business owners.  Unfortunately, the Planning Commission is only rubber stamping the conditional use permit since it is essentially an administrative matter.  Those who are most affected have given up fighting the plan.  But if you want to make a comment, it will have to be made directly to the planner that is preparing the paperwork.  The staff contact is David J. Gellner at (801)535-6107 or david.gellner@slcgov.com).  The case number is PLNPCM2017-01064.

SLC WATER BUDGETS $700,000 FOR FOREST SERVICE CANYON RESTROOMS

  Many who use the Wasatch Canyons for recreation have complained about the scarcity of restrooms in the Canyons.  They ask, if SLC is charging water users money to protect the watershed, why isn't that money being used to build restrooms in the Canyons?  There are 6 million visitors in the Canyons each year and to really protect the watershed should require many more restrooms.  We have also complained about the system that SLC uses that charges SLC Parks and Open Space (including the SLC Cemetery and street medians with trees) a tiered rate for water that increases costs way above budget if there is a lot of high temperature days, like last year.  The City says that they are working with Parks to keep them within targeted water use and the City has budgeted around $700,000 for U.S. Forest Service restroom replacement.

  Laura Briefer, the Director of SLC Public Utilities provided this response to those questions:

"(1)    The tiered rate system is incorporated throughout Salt Lake City’s service area to reflect cost of service and conservation efforts. We are not proposing to remove tiered rates for City parks. That said, the Public Services Department (that overseas city parks) works with our Department to install irrigation meters that base rates on water use targets that make sense for each facility. That way they can stay within the second tier throughout the summer irrigation season and apply a sufficient amount of water for their landscapes. I have included Public Services Director Shaffer on this email since it appears your question may be related to irrigation effectiveness.

(2)    Given the tremendous increase in recreational use of the Wasatch Canyons and the importance of these watersheds for clean drinking water, we agree with you that restroom maintenance is important.  As such, Public Utilities budgeted close to $700,000 for restroom facilities within the Wasatch Canyons last year. This includes budget for replacing several US Forest Service restrooms at popular trailheads since there have been federal budget shortfalls. We are continuing to work with the USFS to replace them. We also budget operational funds to clean and maintain many of the restrooms in the canyons, including the USFS restrooms when they have budget shortfalls."

SLC TRAIL SYSTEM PLAN NEEDS COMMENTS

  The SLC foothills from North Salt Lake City to Emigration Canyon is asking for comments on their foothill trail system draft plan.  "The goal of the foothill trail system plan is to create a non-motorized, world-class recreational mountain trail system at the edge of Salt Lake City. The primary objectives of the foothill trail plan are: (1) to provide detailed layout, design and management recommendations for a comprehensive non-motorized foothill recreational trail system that is safe, enjoyable, accessible, connected, and sustainable; (2) to provide information to guide strategic implementation of the trail system over a 10-year time horizon; and (3) to provide and/or incorporate key supplemental information.

The public feedback gathered as part of the foothill trail system plan will help guide plan development, including trail construction and layout recommendations, and will influence trail development projects for the next 10 years."

  The next Open House is tomorrow, April 2, 2018 at the Jack Sweet Branch Library (455 F Street from 6:00 – 8:00pm.  Those interested, can find the summary at: http://www.slcdocs.com/openspace/FoothillTrailSystemPlan/FoothillTrailUserWebSurvey20162017ResultsSummary.pdf

  The City would like to have a Plan review within a month and a Council review by July.  The planned adoption is in August.  "Those unable to attend can review the Open House information boards (see link below under “Documentation”) and provide input via the project’s online mapping tool. The online map tool is located at https://altaprojects.net/foothills-map/

  The online map tool will be available through April 6, 2018. After April 6, any comments on the Foothill Trails Plan will need to be submitted via email to OpenSpaceComments@slcgov.com.   I hope that someone suggests water faucets for people and dogs and bicyclists and also restrooms and more trash receptacles. \

WIRED HAS A GREAT ARTICLE THAT QUESTIONS DRUG ADDICTION TREATMENT SUCCESS

  Wired Magazine has a great article written by a former drug addict that puts into perspective the reality of most drug treatment programs.  They don't work!  When SLC gets the results of the second phase of Operation Rio Grande, maybe it will sink in.  The link is:

https://www.wired.com/story/addiction-rehab-is-broken-can-technology-fix-it/

WASATCH CHOICE 2050 COMMENTS/STILL HAS A HIGH SPEED AIRPORT RAIL STATION

  For those who can't get enough transit news, the WFRC.org Wasatch Choice 2050 Scenario closed public comments last week.  This Scenario will be further refined based on the public comments and be incorporated into the new RTP that is required by the federal government to justify federal funding.  The plan has a high speed rail station at the Airport, electrifying FrontRunner, TRAX extension from Draper to Lehi, a 2700 S. TRAX station and an S-Line extension up 1100 East then up 900 East (we took out streetcar rails from 900 East a few years ago)!  And the Legislature's request for a

Green Line extension to 5600 W. is ignored.  The rest of the comments are long and probably uninteresting to most but I put them in for those who want to know what is in the transit portion of the plan.

The last transit audit recommended that all projects undergo a cost benefit analysis.  The scenario presentation makes that impossible.  A high speed rail station at the Airport is an example of how unrealistic this scenario is.  It appears to be a wish list, and without predicted costs, it will is almost impossible to reasonably comment.  But, for those that know me, I will try.  I like 15 minute buses but taking away lanes of traffic for BRTs that you call enhanced buses will result in a big backlash.  And, as I have often complained, the Lehi/Draper TRAX is questionable project.  You added electrifying FrontRunner which is also questionable.  It would really really be nice to know the cost of that!

Most of these projects need better justification.  Otherwise, this is just a wish list.  I noted below that the Airport TRAX extension that Legislators want is not in here and it should be.  The high speed rail station, the electrification and double track of FrontRunner, the S-Line loop, the 100/200S./S. Temple rail, the Draper/Lehi LRT and the bus garage are not justifiable.  Show taxpayers that these make sense.

Specifically:

State Street "Boulevard Community" 

should have flexibility to go higher than 4 stories, especially at high traffic nodes like 2100, 1700, 1300, 900 South etc.  And a BRT is not appropriate on this street, a State Road, despite some efforts to decrease traffic with calming (Life on State by Envision Utah is the plan which I am against.).  Expanded bus service would be nice, especially later at night and weekend service is horrible.  

Bicycle 800 S. 

800 South from Indiana Avenue to Sunnyside seems questionable due to the hill between 1300 and 1100

East.  And the City and County are pushing for an active transportation upgrade on 900 South between 1300 and Lincoln.  This is a duplicate.  I actually would prefer 800 South since 900 S. has 45 degree parking which is dangerous for bicyclists.  And I do not think cycle tracks make sense except where there are no driveways.  Even then, cyclists would prefer wider bike lanes and the ability to get out of the way of obstacles and debris in the road.

S-Line extension 

(this is one of the worst plans in the Scenario)

If you can show me where SLC/SLCO/Utah has the hundreds of millions of local money to extend the TRAX train up 1100 East to 1700 S. and from 900 E. to 400 S. and convince me and all of the single family homeowners along the route that they can live with a rezone and property tax increase and parking removed, I will say that this proposal makes sense.  Otherwise, it makes me question the WFRC plan.  Also note that bicyclists crash often on street level tracks like in Portland (70% plus injury rate for bicyclists).  Extending the S-Line up Sugarmont through the Park Avenue project, a potential destination makes better sense.  I know that previous plans did not know about Park Avenue but that project changes the S-Line predictions.  Sugar House Park is another destination but Park Avenue is better.  I also want to point out that the homeowners on the west side of the streets will fight putting in power lines that will destroy their view of the mountains.  In Utah, it is considered a right to be able to view mountains.

400 W. Green Line reconfiguration

Green TRAX Line Reconfiguration that will partly utilize existing rail ROW north of 1300 S. is a great plan.  It will cover the SLC Council's request for a streetcar on 400 W. and save 10 minutes to the Airport!  Great plan.

900 East Corridor

This is a good plan, cheap and cost effective.

200 S. BRT

I do not believe that it makes sense to duplicate a very effective S. Davis to UofU bus route with a BRT.  Especially when the City Council wants a 200 S./100 S. TRAX/streetcar.  The 400 S. TRAX should work well.  And the 10 minute frequency seems overkill when the priority should be to increase service system wide rather than on this one, very popular route.  It would be more cost effective to provide better late night service.  Look at the BRT on 3500 S. which never became that popular, despite a popular bus along the route.  There is a reason for that.  A BRT on 200 S. or any other route, should cut time to destination in half, or close to it.  Otherwise, it is not cost effective.  I would rather see wider bike lanes along 200 S.  And remember the median east of 900 East.  The South Davis to UofU $67 million + BRT is a waste of money.  Everytime someone says a BRT can provide better 10 minute service, they imply that regular buses cannot run at 10 minute intervals.  That is not true.  Trying to justify a $15 million per mile BRT with that kind of argument makes you look bad.  

500 E. BRT

This does not make sense.  A BRT is supposed to encourage development but 500 East is a single family home neighborhood.  I have seen what happens when governments try to rezone homes.  A big fight and the elected officials get kicked out or stop trying to rezone.  It ends up being a waste of money.  Look at what happened in San Diego in the 80s with the Yellow line (they closed a station a few years ago).  This project is a waste of money.  And where is the space for transit only lanes.

400 West BRT

Is a waste of money since most of 400 West will not provide ridership unless it is redeveloped.  The homeowners will fight and the businesses will not want to pay for it.

4500/4700 South BRT

Again a waste of money and the zigzag nature of the proposed route is a warning sign.  BRTs and rail should not turn.  They should go straight for most of the route.  This BRT will take about the same time as a bus!!  So whyu waste money.

Redwood Rd boulevard community

No BRT due to requirements that discourage efficient operation (UDOT balances pedestrian, vehicle and BRT without success).  Better bus service (I like the UDOT/UTA test to change traffic lights if there are a lot of passengers onboard.  Again, at high traffic nodes like 3500 S., there should not be a 4 story limit!  The better stations make sense on this route.  Bus stations/stops, by the way should have a bigger slanted roof to allow more than 2 or 3 to stand or sit.

Foothill Boulevard HOT and BRT

I am against spending $600 million of this BRT since $600 million will go a long way to restore robust bus service that was cut 30% over 10 years ago.  If a regular bus service and ridership increases to the point where it could justify a BRT, then that might make sense.  But putting in a BRT based on wishful thinking is unrealistic.  Show me that there are riders for a bus (228) that fills it up.  Think of the pollution increase if 2 lanes of traffic are taken away from Foothill Blvd!  The single family homes east of the Road (winds blow the pollution to them) will have a fit.  And they ARE influential!  You do have a Foothill Drive - Wasatch Blvd. Corridor plan with a high frequency bus that makes more sense and it runs in mixed traffic.

Little Cottonwood Canyon transportation amenities

I think that a year round bus system up the canyons ($1 million per year per canyon) would make more sense and be more cost effective.  I understand that the toll road, if it goes into effect will provide $2 million a year for a parking garage but without year round bus service, it is a waste of money.  We need an alternative to driving up the canyon first, like a bus, then build the parking garage.  Bus service up the canyons first before even thinking about BRT.

UofU transit hubs

You have proposed transit hubs on 200 S, and at two locations at UofU.  I do not see a justification for those 3 stations without potential for popular density increases with mixed use.  That is not available at the UofU and I cannot see where you will convince a landowner to give up property for buses on 200 S.  Remember, buses are noisy and do not help breathability, especially when they are concentrated in a hub.

Black Line 400 S.

Save the money a have a bus provide the connection.  You have a reroute on the Green Line, that makes sense.  A connection with the 200 S. bus would be almost as fast as TRAX and you should consider a bus to serve the Airport after hours since it is not cost effective to run TRAX for 1100 passengers a day and North Temple development is still going around in circles.

High Frequency Buses

These meet most transit needs and will encourage much more mass transit ridership.  When people know that there is a regular, high frequency and good late night and weekend service, they WILL consider using mass transit.  I like most of these if, and only if, they do not take away vehicle lanes (dedicated lanes).

You have high frequency buses on: 

Redwood Rd, 

900 S.(This may be realistic if ridership improves but I have doubts due to lack of destinations on this route.),  300 W., 

up Big and Little Cottonwood Canyon, 

10400/10600/9400 S., 

6200/6400 S., 

7000 S./Fort Union Blvd, 

2700 W., 

6200 S./6400 S., 

3900/4100 S., 

3300/3500 S.,

900 E., 

9000 S., 

5600 W. (interesting since Henderson wanted and UTA planned for a BRT which makes less sense)

TRAX Daybreak to 12600 S. Bangerter, 

Foothill Drive/2100 S. loop, 

Redwood Rd from N. Temple to Davis County, 

1300 S. to 2100 E. but hill is tough for a bus, 1300 East (Note that due to low ridership this route was cut back significantly - it runs in front of my house but I find that using 900 East is more convenient due to 15 minute service.)

I urge you to go over the 2017 ridership data from UTA to see the real life data.

The other projects (worst/most questionable):

Tooele Corridor Primary Corridor Express Bus

Tooele and the International Center need a high frequency bus or at least start a half hour bus route through the International Center to TRAX.  It is the last destination in SLC and destinations make mass transit successful.  28,000 employees now and soon to be 35,000 should provide better service.  Also, there is no TRAX extension to 5600 W. from the Airport despite the Legislature wanting it (also to go south on 5600 W. which I question but that is why Magna was in the Inland Port bill.  Please have Andrew check with Stevenson and put the extension in.  The Airport Board (check with J.T. Martin and/or Senator Anderegg) are thinking of every other train going to the International Center)

2700 S. TRAX Station

I think that a better TRAX station would be at 1700 S. which could serve SLCC students and the businesses on 1700 S.

S-Line Loop on 200 S. to W. Temple and on 100 S. to 500 E. then on S. Temple to 1300 E.  Rail is not supposed to make all of these turns.  This is a waste of time and money and the property owners along the routes should have a say in this before you even think of it.  

LRT Draper to Lehi

You know that I have been fighting this at MAG and at WFRC for years.  This does not make sense unless the adjacent property owners pay for this through value capture or assessment.  The rest of Utah and SL County taxpayers should not have to pay this billion dollar plus project.

How much will the Doubletrack and Electrifying of FrontRunner cost?

My guess is a billion and it is not worth it, especially when you are trying to put in another rail line to Lehi.

Airport High Speed Rail Hub

Really!? Thank you for dropping the canyon tunnel and train but why is the laughable high speed rail station here.  You know that the railroad uses the rails and building a $10 billion project to Wendover is a bigger gamble than California's effort.

Depot District/Central Garage Project

And my day would not be complete without arguing against the questionable Depot District/Central Garage Project.  UTA is considering/planning on bus garages/hubs in South County and this is a waste of time and wastes services since buses have to go out in the morning empty and come back at night empty.  Wasteful (but built).

March 21, 2018

CAN DEREK KITCHEN BE BOTH A COUNCILMAN AND

SENATOR YES, BUT

SLC MARKET IN DEPOT DISTRICT COST IS $31 MILLION

DOLLARS

SKYLINE INN TO BE REDEVELOPED INTO LAMPLIGHTER

SQUARE

FORMER SHERIFF WINDER GIVES TALK AT ALTA CLUB

SUGAR HOUSE FIREWORKS STILL DEAD

LIBERTY PARK POND DREDGED, NO EXERCISE

AREA CANYONS UPDATE

MCCLELLAND STREET PROJECT GOING IN CIRCLES

SLC BICYCLE REGISTRATION PROGRAM WAITING CITY

COUNCIL VOTE

POLICE TICKET QUOTAS ENDING

SLC POLICE OFFERING RIDE ALONGS

WARM SPRINGS ALLIANCE STEPPING UP EFFORTS TO

PROTECT PARK

PARLEYS TRAIL RIDE CELEBRATION TRAVERSING 4

COUNTIES COMING

UNFORTUNATELY GOVERNOR SIGNS WAR ON CARS BILL

CAN DEREK KITCHEN BE BOTH A COUNCILMAN AND SENATOR YES, BUT

Several people have asked me whether Derek Kitchen, SLC Councilman for District 4 can be a State

Senator at the same time.  It appears that he can but it will probably end up with a decision in the State Senate who can decide whether he can be seated, if he wins Senate 2 election this November.  I asked Justin Lee, the Director of Elections in the Lt Governor's Office the question.  Here is what he said:

I'm not aware of a definitive statement or opinion on that issue, although it comes up from time to time.

20A-9-201(2) says that an individual cannot be a candidate for more than one office in any election year.

With the elections being on different years, that doesn't really apply. 

Article VI, Section 6 of the Utah Constitution says "No person holding any public office of profit or trust under authority of the United States, or of this State, shall be a member of the Legislature: Provided that appointments in the State Militia, and the offices of notary public, justice of the peace, United States commissioner, and postmaster of the fourth class, shall not, within the meaning of this section, be considered offices of profit or trust."  I have heard several opinions as to what this means, but no definite interpretation. 

Article VI, Section 7 reads "No member of the Legislature, during the term for which he was elected, shall be appointed or elected to any civil office of profit under this State, which shall have been created, or the emoluments of which shall have been increased, during the term for which he was elected."  This makes it seem fairly that legislator cannot run for local office, but does not definitely state that someone in local office cannot be a Senator. 

The most important section is probably Article VI, Section 10 which states "Each house shall be the judge of the election and qualifications of its members". This indicates it would really be up to the Senate to decide whether or not he could be seated in the Senate if he also wanted to keep his council seat. 

Justin Lee

Director of Elections

Office of the Lieutenant Governor

State of Utah 801.538.1129 justinlee@utah.gov

  Another issue is the Hatch Act (1939 not named for the Utah Senator) that bars state and local government employees from running for public office if any federal funds support the position, even if the position is funded almost entirely with local funds (Jason Miller The Unwise and Unconstitutional Hatch Act).  The Democratic Party of Utah sued to stop Ogden City Police Chief Jon Greiner from serving as State Senator.  Although the U.S. Office of Special Counsel agreed that the Chief took federal funds (for bulletproof vests for his cops), Greiner was still able to serve his four year term in the State Senate.

SLC MARKET IN DEPOT DISTRICT COST IS $31 MILLION DOLLARS

  The Downtown Alliance is pushing constructing and opening up a market near the Rio Grande Depot.  The proposed location is 400 South and 500 West.  The plan is to construct an underground parking garage.  The biggest beneficiary would be Bryson Garbett's apartment building on 400 South and 400 West.  But the City should not be spending that kind of money to benefit essentially one person.  Gateway can provide a market in many of their vacant spaces and it would be adjacent to the Gateway condos.  Providing seed money to make the project become financially viable would make more sense.  Giving $6.7 million for a parking level at Meacham's Vue on 2100 South and Highland helped him get a loan to develop the Sugar Hole.  Of course, he pulled a fast one on the City and charged

$10 minimum for the so called public parking level.  But it jump started Sugar House super gentrification development whether good or bad.  The City should not spend $31 million of RDA money on a market that would be more useful around State or Main Street where there will be a bigger population of residents, especially when State Street's CDA redevelopment takes place.  Two other properties just west of the Rio Grande Depot on 600 and 500 West are being considered for affordable housing.  The proposal is to give the properties to developers with the understanding that they will construct affordable housing.  The value of each of the properties is about $4 million.

SKYLINE INN TO BE REDEVELOPED INTO LAMPLIGHTER SQUARE

  John Thackery, the developer of Foothill Village, bought the Skyline Inn (1700 S. Foothill Drive) in 2017.  The result has been that crime due to the Inn's tenants decreased.  His plan is to demolish the building and redevelop the area into Lamplighter Square.  The Inn currently rents at $125 per night to skiers.  The adjacent Utah State liquor store is analyzing whether to stay there or move to the Parleys Walmart area.

FORMER SHERIFF WINDER GIVES TALK AT ALTA CLUB

  Former Sheriff Jim Winder was back in Salt Lake City last week giving a talk at the Alta Club.  He spoke about the jail issues and the problems that received a large amount of publicity in the last few years.  He pointed out that over 30% of the jailed inmates had drug issues.  Another 30% of the inmates had mental health problems.  (During a talk in 2016, he said that almost 80% of the SLC County Jail inmates had mental and/or drug issues.)  With those kinds of statistics, it is difficult to solve the problem.  The system needs to focus on treatment for both mental health and drug and alcohol addiction.  But the treatment for drug and alcohol addiction is notoriously unsuccessful.  According to the federal government, opiod addiction has a 5% treatment success rate.  Some treatment facilities claim a 30% success but that figure drops quickly within a couple of years.  Jim Winder fought for over 10 years to get more funding for the jail that included drug addiction treatment (He used Odyssey

House to treat 180 jailed inmates.) and mental health treatment.  The limitation was always the Mayor not budgeting enough to open the 380 unused beds at Oxbow, and the significant decrease in mental health treatment in Salt Lake County when the recession hit.  The Mayor also repurposed 9.4 million a year from the voter approved jail bond for other uses.  Inadequate public safety funding was always a problem in Salt Lake County.  When the previous mayor cut the Unified Police budget and raised taxes, there was a public backlash that resulted in backtracking (after a few years).  

  I also remember a big argument between SLCO Councilwoman Aimee Newton Winder and Sheriff Jim Winder last year.  She asked when he asked for funding for more jail space.  He got very upset and almost yelled at her, reminding her that he has been asking for more jail space for over 10 years.  I have personally heard him for most of those 10 years asking for more jail space.  Another similar argument developed between the DA and Council Chair (Millcreek UPD Captain) Steve DeBry.  The DA asked for 6 more prosecutors and 600 beds for Operation Rio Grande and he had to fight with Chair DeBry to get 2 extra prosecutors.

  Although the new budget is planning on reopening the unused beds at Oxbow, the reality is that the

Mayor will attempt to bring back the 300 that are jailed in other counties to the Oxbow jail.  And the County will continue to have a revolving door jail that frustrates law enforcement who have to spend most of their time fighting the same criminals that they arrested and booked into jail last week.

SUGAR HOUSE FIREWORKS STILL DEAD

  A longtime Salt Lake City tradition is officially dead.  The Sugar House fireworks show will not take place this year.  No one and no company stepped up to host the event.  The Sugar House Chamber said that businesses did not see an upside since most were usually closed on July 4.  It is sad when an event that celebrates the founding of this Country is not considered important enough to generate interest.  Provo will have do the celebration for Utah.  I had an oped in the Deseret News a few years ago that pointed out the importance of bringing a large group together and having them find common ground in celebrating the founding of this Country.  When the fireworks go off, everyone joins together in celebrating and differing opinions become less important than working together for the success of this Country.

LIBERTY PARK POND DREDGED, NO EXERCISE AREA, SEVEN CANYONS UPDATE

  The Liberty Park Pond has been dredged and the pond has been refilled.  The sidewalks near the concessions area are 85% complete and are planned to be completed by the end of April.  The goal is to complete all work by Memorial Day weekend.

  According to Kristin Riker, SLC Deputy Director of Public Services, Liberty Park Pond dredging has been completed and the pond has been refilled.  Liberty Wells Community Council has submitted a Capital Improvement request for the Seven Canyons Fountain that would include community outreach and construction drawings.  "If this is approved in the following year, we will work with the community council to discuss funding options." 

  The exercise area that was being discussed at the Historic Landmark Commission on the north side of the Park will not be installed.  The plan was to use a grant to help fund the project but there was significant public push back so the City decided not to "pursue the grant".   

MCCLELLAND STREET PROJECT GOING IN CIRCLES

  Sugar House Community Council efforts to upgrade McClelland Street with what is left from Erin Mendenhall's one million dollar McClelland Trail budget (mainly used to make alleyways pretty but since the plants weren't watered, they died) are now at a standstill.  The City took the Council's recommendation to make half of the street a pedestrian and bicycle path, make the street a one way going south to Elm, stop left hand turns from 2100 South and put in 45 degree parking to Jeff Vitek of Boulder Ventures who owns the east side of the street.  Boulder Ventures remodeled the old Granite

Furniture Building following City dictates to not increase height, despite the adjacent Vue that is almost

100 feet tall.  The company is also constructing the apartment building on Sugarmont and McClelland.  But Jeff does not want to change the two way street into a one way street with more pedestrian space.  He believes that it will hurt his tenant's businesses.  In addition, the City reevaluated their parking analysis and found that a 45 degree parking would not eliminate just one space but over 10!  Since the Boulder Ventures projects will not have public parking, public parking on the street needs to be protected and not decreased.  The result is that the City and businesses along the road and the Community Council will restart discussions on how to provide increased pedestrian and bicycle area along the McClelland Trail that runs on McClelland south of 2100 South.  The sidewalk on the east side has problems with the business doors opening onto and blocking the small sidewalk.  The planted trees and large gravel decrease pedestrian walking space.  The west side has Liberty Village which does not have ground floor retail (like the Sugarmont Apartment Building and the 1000 East 2100 South apartments; effectively discouraging walkability. 

  The City also said that they were analyzing how to stop through traffic from 1300 East using

Wilmington, and the new Wilmington public/private street between Highland and McClelland, to go to 900 East using Elm Avenue which is mostly single family homes.  The City is thinking about putting in a barrier to only allow left and right hand turns from Elm going east.  That would stop westbound traffic from going to 900 East using Elm.  The Community Council is also suggesting consideration of four way stops along the street. 

SLC BICYCLE REGISTRATION PROGRAM WAITING FOR CITY COUNCIL VOTE

  The new SLC bicycle registration program is waiting for a City Council vote planned in the next month.  The Bikeslc website that discusses bicycle registration is out of date.  Although the Fire Department stations sometimes took registrations, they did not enter them into a system that was accessible to cops (they said that they did not have a typist) and the box of registrations just sat there.  There is a Utah and a Salt Lake City law that requires registration but almost no one follows it.  The goal is to allow police to discourage bike thefts and bicycle chop shops which have significantly increased.  Many other cities are having the same problem.  When the new registration program is approved, it will allow patrol and bike officers to check registrations of suspicious individuals who sometimes are riding a bike while carrying another bicycle.  Just a few more weeks and we might see light at the end of the tunnel.

POLICE TICKET QUOTAS ENDING

  The Governor has signed the bill outlawing ticket quotas.  SLCPD denies that it uses quotas despite testimony to the contrary that SLCPD requires motorcycle officers to write 20 tickets a day.  In addition, there have been many complaints by neighbors of the Georgian Apartments on 200 East and 2100 South that gunshots in the area do not result in the nearby traffic cops (on motorcycles) answering shots fired calls.  The traffic cops continue to focus on tickets for traffic offenses.  The law will go into effect within 60 days.  It is a big change.  Of course, SLC will need to increase taxes to cover the decrease in traffic ticket revenue. 

SLC POLICE OFFERING RIDE ALONGS

  The SLC Police are offering the public a chance to ride along with a police officer on patrol.  If you are interested, you should contact the S

Participants must be over 18 and read and agree to all the rules and guidelines.  You also have to sign a liability waiver/Covenant not to sue.  Clothing should be appropriate for public contact (no flip flops or t-shirts).  Riders must remain in the patrol car unless instructed by the officer to leave.  In dangerous calls, the rider may be dropped off before answering the call and picked up later, if necessary, by another officer.  Recordings are not allowed unless permission is granted.  A valid ID is also required.  The application form can be found by Googling SLCPDRide-Along-Request-Form-

Waiver.pdf.  The ride-along will be 4 hours and be between 7 AM and 1 AM.  Riders may not be armed, even with a concealed carry permit.  Call 801 799 4600 for more information.  

WARM SPRINGS ALLIANCE STEPPING UP EFFORTS TO PROTECT THE PARK

  The Warm Springs Alliance was started a couple of years ago with the efforts of the Capitol Hill Community Council to protect Warm Springs Park (840 N. 300 W.). "The Warm Springs Alliance is a non-profit organization formed to protect and preserve the Warm Springs landmark site, revitalize the hot springs and create a public gathering place that serves the whole community.  We envision an extraordinary space that inspires and fosters collaboration and sharing between many communities and creates a place for the arts, culture, learning, healing, celebration, social innovation, collaboration and authentic connection.  

  The group has asked SLC Mayor Biskupski to provide the Ute Tribal leadership with an official tour of the site since the Tribe considers the site to be sacred.  In addition, the group is planning a Warm Springs Spring Fling in the park.  You can get more information at warmspringsalliance.org or join the Facebook group.  Sylvia Nibley and David Scheer are leaders of the group.  

PARLEYS TRAIL RIDE CELEBRATION TRAVERSING 4 COUNTIES COMING

  The Parleys Trail Coalition is planning on a super duper bicycle (and running?) celebration of the

Parleys Trail that is complete from the Bonneville Shoreline Trail to Main Street.  The trail from Main Street to the connection to the Jordan River Park Trail goes on streets just south of the S-line station between State and Main Street, past RC Willeys on West Haven Avenue, crossing to the west of 300 West then north using the west side of 300 W. sidewalk to the rail tracks for the Green Line.  The trail is the concrete path just south of the rails and it goes to the Jordan River.

  In the next few months, the celebration will come together.  The plan is currently having groups from Ogden Canyon to Bridal Veil Falls in Utah County all ride along their trails (Utah has a continuous trail between the two) to the Parleys Trail.  The event is still being planned and it should be a great celebration that may include many mayors of the cities along the trails.  For more information, email  parleystrail@gmail.com.

UNFORTUNATELY GOVERNOR SIGNS WAR ON CARS BILL

  Governor Herbert signed SB71 that encourages UDOT to implement a system to toll all new roads starting with Little Cottonwood Canyon.  This was the recommendation from the Mountain Accord to disincentivize personal vehicle travel in the canyon.  A major reason, according to the sponsor, Senate President Niederhauser, is to decrease the congestion that makes it difficult for his neighborhood to exit onto adjacent roads during ski season when cars back up out of the canyon. 

  The effect of tolls is to disincentivize personal vehicle use. But there is no parking lot for all of those cars and no year round mass transit up the canyons. The ski buses are now full. It is ironic that Utah has pushed, pulled and marketed the ski resorts to the point where now everyone has to pay for the success of the ski resorts. Unfortunately, there are no alternative roads up the canyons and that is a requirement for fair implementation of toll roads. Disincentivizing personal vehicle use when there are no other alternatives is bad government.

  Another major reason given for the toll bill is the need for more money to pay for roads and to force road users to pay for the roads. There are claims that gas taxes are going away and electric vehicles will soon be 25% of the personal vehicle fleet. They are 1% now and another new bill passed by the Legislature will significantly increase electric vehicle fees and, like in other states that increased fees, stop adoption of electric and hybrid cars. Gasoline vehicle sales have doubled in Utah in the last 8 years and Utah’s gas tax revenue has generally been going up. It was $250 million two years ago and last year was around $300 million.

  This seems to be another war on cars effort to discourage personal vehicle use. Several legislative leaders believe that we have to stop using cars and that we should move people into other means of transportation. But cars make our families and economy and Country more efficient. The best proof of the importance of personal vehicles is the recent study that showed that despite billions in beautiful new transit projects in L.A. over the last 20 years, mass transit ridership has not grown. It is about 3% (much like Salt Lake County’s UTA ridership) with 150 million riders per month. The study identified the significant growth in sale and use of cars as the reason for transit ridership stagnation!

  Statewide taxes, tolls and fees should be the Legislature’s responsibility. This bill gives responsibility to UDOT and the Transportation Commission (“in order to take politics out of the decision”). The Legislature should not abrogate their responsibility to decide taxes, fees and tolls in order to try to escape blame for raising tolls on roads that were previously paid for with gas taxes. President

Niederhauser says that the extra lane being constructed up the canyon means that everyone would have to pay the toll.

  The bill also builds a new bureaucracy in government. It impacts lower income families. It charges for Utah local recreation that previously was free. It does not ensure that tickets are legally and constitutionally served (Some states require hand or certified service of the ticket. Car registration is held up for unpaid tolls.). It will essentially track every vehicle in Utah if it uses a toll road. And it does not take into account the weight and effect on roads of heavier vehicles. Most importantly, it places a barrier on use of our canyons and ski resorts for recreation. That will have an effect on marketing Utah for recreation and businesses. 

  Despite what Legislative leaders are saying, the world is not ending. The sky is not falling. The gas tax is not dwindling to nothing. And electric vehicles will not be anywhere near 25% of the vehicles on the road in the next ten years. This bill is right out of the war on cars playbook. Utah should not require all new roads to have tolls. The Legislature should not abrogate their responsibility on taxes, fees and tolls. The Governor should not have signed SB071.  The good news is that it will take at least 2 years to implement and hopefully the next Legislative session will rescind tolling and tracking all vehicles in Utah.

MARCH 16

SPRAGUE LIBRARY AIR OK FOR TOP FLOOR TO STAY OPEN DRUG DEALERS ARE STILL BEING RELEASED WITHIN A FEW DAYS!

SLC POLICE SATURATING SLC DISTRICT 5 DUE TO EXPLOSION

IN BURGLARIES

1300 SOUTH CRIME MAGNET GET CRIME FIGHTING CAMERA  

MARCH 20 CAUCUS BUT SLC IGNORES IMPORTANCE

3300S. 800E. & COLUMBUS COUNTY LIBRARIES MAY MOVE TO

GRANITE HIGH SITE

SALT LAKE CITY RETHINKS ALLOWING PLASTIC BAGS IN

RECYCLING BINS

SLC TAX INCREASE COMING AS PREDICTED

SLC ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING IS NOW FREE

OPERATION RIO GRANDE UNSUCCESSFUL RESULT BIRTH

NEXT TO HOMELESS AREA

WAR ON CARS BILLS ARE AT GOVERNOR

INLAND PORT, STEVENSON'S REVENGE BILL SIGNED BY

GOVERNOR

SPRAGUE LIBRARY AIR OK FOR TOP FLOOR TO STAY OPEN

  The air at the Sprague Library in Sugar House has been tested and found to be at "acceptable" levels for mold.  The downstairs, which is off limits to the public due to the elevator repair (may be finished by the end of the year), still has a mold and musty smell.  There is a brick wall downstairs that was scraped clean and replastered but it bubbled out and showed that there is still water in the foundation.  The solution to below grade water in a foundation is complicated and difficult to control.  But at least the upstairs reading room, holds, computer and minimal children's area is still open.  Reading time is still being held at Legacy Village.  The Library is considering a fundraising plan and will decide how to proceed in a month.

DRUG DEALERS ARE STILL BEING RELEASED WITHIN A FEW DAYS!

  If you do a search on names that come up in a news story about drug dealing, car theft, burglary and other arrests, you will see that many of the criminals with a lengthy history of crime are released again and again.  These are the real threats to society.  Drug dealing is not a victimless crime and should not be considered to be a nonviolent crime.  Unfortunately, HB309 by Representative Eliason, that made it a crime to provide drugs that result in a death, was not passed by the Legislature this year.  To check on the status and recent history of Salt Lake County arrestees, go to iml.slsheriff.org/IML, which is the Salt Lake County Sheriff's inmate lookup.  It gives the inmate and their recent history of charges and when they were last released.  In the last few months, armed robbers were released after a few days, car thefts resulted in release after a few days, mail theft, drug dealing, car breakins, and burglaries resulted in release in a few hours.

  The reason is Salt Lake County does not adequately fund public safety.  It is not just the jail funding, which is deficient, but also the lack of funding for the DA.  These are criminals that should be in prison, not just in jail for a few hours or days.  Some members of the County Council are interested in a serious discussion on how to stop the revolving door jail with more funding or other possible solutions.  KSL's Debbie Dujanovic had a great story on the issue on March 15 that interviewed Sheriff Rivera.  The Sheriff agreed that the jail is full and that criminals are being released in a few hours.

  The issue is going to be even worse with the lack of personnel to "man" the jail.  The Sheriff needs 40 new jailers to operate the 380 beds that are supposed to be available this summer in Oxbow Jail.  But the jailers are being poached by other municipalities that pay much more.  The new beds in the jail are also turning out to be more expensive than originally thought and the Sheriff will need more funding to open up the beds.  In addition, the Mayor wants to bring back the jailed inmates that were sent to other counties due to overcrowding and to support Operation Rio Grande and put them in the new open Oxbow beds.  So Salt Lake County will still not get new beds to house criminals!  And the old jail bond, $9.4 million a year, is still being repurposed for pay for success (which is still collecting information) and other projects.  

  Recently, there the police arrested someone that was stealing mail, Landon Warr.  He has been identified as stealing mail from almost 200 families by driving around at night and checking mailboxes that appear to not have been emptied.  The sad part of the story was that he was arrested and charged in December with using a stolen credit card.  He should not have been released.  Although he has a $50,000 bond, he can still get out quickly if the DA does not sufficiently prosecute him.  Even the Postal

Inspectors that should be prosecuting these criminals is not doing so.  The Federal Government and U.S. Attorney are upset that these individuals are being quickly released and have started prosecuting some.  One case this week, a spice dealer that was booked and quickly released (supposedly for a non violent crime) by the Salt Lake County Jail was rearrested and booked into the Weber County Jail and the U.S. Attorney started prosecuting the case.

SALT LAKE COUNTY NEEDS TO HAVE A DISCUSSION ON HOW TO EFFECTIVELY PROVIDE ADEQUATE PUBLIC SAFETY. 

SLC POLICE SATURATING SLC DISTRICT 5 DUE TO EXPLOSION IN BURGLARIES

  Starting on March 15, the Salt Lake City Police will saturate District 5 (Ballpark, Liberty Wells, East Liberty Park) with bike and regular patrols to try to identify and catch the criminals responsible for an explosion of burglaries in the area (during the day).  There were 9 recent burglaries that seemed to be in the same area.  The Police also noted that the bike patrol has generated 88 criminal cases in the last year and that shows its effectiveness.  The area saturation will include the Georgian Apartments (a continuing crime problem) on 200 East and 2100 South.

1300 SOUTH CRIME MAGNET GET CRIME FIGHTING CAMERA  

  During the Ballpark Community Council meeting, the community asked the SLCPD to do something about the criminal activity on 1300 South and State Street.  The former Wayne's grocery has been a constant problem since the business was sold.  Drug dealers can be seen almost always selling their drug at the southwest corner.  Detective Pederson (the District 5 Police Community Officer) was able to get a camera that feeds directly into the SLCPD set up on the corner next to the grocery store parking lot.  It seems to be working.

  Crime was so bad on that corner, despite constant bike patrol and vice focus, that UTA removed their bus stop.  When the bus stopped, bicycles on the front of the bus were stolen!  Hopefully, this will help the crime in the area.  

  If you have a crime magnet in your neighborhood, you should ask the Police during your local community council meeting to consider putting a camera in the area.  The camera on 200 E. and Browning seemed to help decrease obvious criminal activity in the area (at least temporarily).

MARCH 20 CAUCUS BUT SLC IGNORES IMPORTANCE

The SLC Council will have an important public hearing on how to increase funding for basic street maintenance, police, transit and affordable housing during the 7 PM March 20 Salt Lake City Council meeting.  But, March 20 is the caucus night for GOP and Democrats.  Most eastside GOP will meet at East High at 7PM and the Democrats for House 25 area will meet at Emerson Elementary at 630

PM.  But the SLC Council is ignoring the importance of the caucuses and meeting anyway.  Ironically, Councilman Derek Kitchens is running for Senate District 2.  Please attend your caucus.  It is important for effective and proper guidance.  And maybe consider sending an email to the SLC Council complaining about their disrespectful important public meeting on the same night as caucus.

3300S. 800E. & COLUMBUS COUNTY LIBRARIES MAY MOVE TO GRANITE HIGH SITE

  The Salt Lake County Library has floated a plan to move the Smith Library that is at 800 East and

3300 South and the Columbus Library on 500 East and 2500 South to the former Granite High site on 500 East and 3300 South.  It will take three to five years to result in the plan being implemented.  These are well used and important libraries.  The Smith Library may be too small to handle community council meetings (They are at the closed school on 1000 E. and 4400 S. which the community in that area wants for a library.), but it is an important library for the children in the area.  Roosevelt Elementary is a block away and the Library functions as a safe zone for kids that need a safe place to work, read and play after school.  Columbus Library is in the same category.  Ironically, the small size of Columbus is due to renting out half of the building for other entities.  

  These smaller libraries are important for the adjacent communities and neighborhoods.  These are essentially pocket libraries.  Pocket libraries are a new concept that are being promoted as cheaper alternatives to large, eye candy libraries.  They can be disbursed to many neighborhoods and they allow a walkable alternative to the big libraries that encourage driving.  Libraries help keep neighborhoods inviting.  They can provide the information and reading of large amounts of material by utilizing computers and the internet.  Computer workstations can function as reading rooms and provide the same material that previously required large buildings.  Salt Lake County and Salt Lake City should plan and implement neighborhood pocket libraries.

SALT LAKE CITY RETHINKS ALLOWING PLASTIC BAGS IN RECYCLING BINS

  For some reason, Salt Lake City is slow to realize that plastic bags should not be in recycling containers.  Although new systems in San Francisco and other cities can process plastic bags, the equipment in Salt Lake County recycling centers cannot.  Although the recycling centers have said this for years, and even complained for the last two years to the Legislature in public hearings attended by Salt Lake City officials, it is only now that Salt Lake City is getting the message.  On March 20, the City Council will have a public hearing on banning plastic bags from recycling bins and giving the sustainability department the ability to change the recycling bin requirements.  The City Council will also hear comments on changing the green waste container requirements.  It should not take 2 years to get a clue on plastic bags.  I am against bag bans and fought Senator Iwamoto's 10 cent a bag fee this year.  And using Rwanda as an excuse to implement a 10 cent bag fee is not a good argument.

SLC TAX INCREASE COMING AS PREDICTED

  Last year, I argued that Salt Lake City would implement a big tax increase.  Here it comes.  On March 20 and April 3, the SLC Council will have a public hearing on raising the City's sales tax.  This was an option given to Mayor Ralph Becker, at his request, as a consolation for relocating the State Prison to Salt Lake City.  The City Council seems to be implementing the sales tax increase now and putting a question on the November ballot to have a bond that is being paid off to roll over, at a cost of $5/year, and be used for funding.  The reason for needing more funding is for basic streets maintenance, new police hiring, affordable housing and to implement the City's transit plan.  The question that needs to be answered is, will the sales tax increase affect SLC economic development?  Will companies not want to locate in SLC due to its higher sales tax?  

  Will the implementation of the sales tax increase, and possible bond vote in November affect the gas tax increase question that will be on the November ballot?  The gas tax increase vote will, if it passes, be used by the Legislature to justify a 10 cent a gallon gas tax increase for roads that will allow moving general fund money to education.  A few years ago, in a questionable bill, the Legislature decided to obligate 30% of all new revenue to roads and that pulled money from education.  In an agreement with Our Schools Now, behind closed doors, in secret, without public record (hint hint), the initiative agreed to pull back on their tax increase proposal and work on pushing the gas tax increase.  

  Regarding the SLC funding needs, the streets need $40 million a year for basic maintenance.  They get about $9 million a year in funding.  Five years ago, the Council increased funding to streets with a tax increase of $8.4 million a year.  But the next year, the new Council repurposed those funds for a salary increase for employees including the Councilmembers.  That disrespect for basic road maintenance hurt not just vehicles that end up being damaged by potholes and poorly maintained streets, it hurts and discourages bicycling.  In LA, the streets end up paying millions to injured bicyclists who hit potholes.  Here, it just discourages bicycling.  And if you ride buses, you can feel the condition of the streets when you get bounced around when the bus drives on poorly maintained roads.  The sales tax is predicted to generate $30 million per year.

  The justification for the sales tax increase is 40% of SLC property is untaxable since it is religious, educational or government.  I consider those amenities that make the City more inviting and important.  I had an oped two years ago in the Deseret News that pointed that out.  I also pointed out that the increase in employees in Salt Lake City during the day generates a lot of sales tax and that includes the significant sales tax generated by vehicle sales.  That is why there are so many car sales lots near the entrances to Downtown SLC.  A sales tax increase could drive automobile sales to other adjacent cities!  

  The interest in funding the City's new Transit Master Plan is also a concern.  Although

Councilmember Erin Mendenhall said that new funds would be used to implement the frequent bus network that would expand bus service, especially at night and on weekends, she also fought for and put in the Transit Plan, the Sugar House Streetcar extension that would go up 1100 East to 1700 South, then turn to 900 East, at a cost of several hundred million!  The Council also has pushed two downtown streetcars at $100 million local funding each.  So the increase funding may not all be used for service increase.  Politicians love ribbon cutting projects.

  The 50 new police officers is a legitimate funding need.  But the City is having a problem finding enough adequate applicants and it is losing 3 20 year experienced cops a month to retirement that is effectively required due to the inadequate actuarial funding for Utah law enforcement pensions ($544 million unfunded pension).   

  Again, the public hearings will be at the formal Council meetings on March 20 and April 3.  The sales tax increase will not apply to food.  But it will affect lower income individuals and families much more.

SLC ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING IS NOW FREE

  Salt Lake City has removed charging fees on all of their City chargers for electric vehicles.  But not enough people know about this benefit to encourage more electric vehicle sales.  Ironically, the Legislature, in Senator Harper's SB136 significantly increased the registration fees for electric vehicles on the questionable argument that the world is ending, the sky is falling and electric vehicles will destroy the gas tax that is needed to fund roads.  

OPERATION RIO GRANDE UNSUCCESSFUL RESULT BIRTH NEXT TO HOMELESS AREA

    The questionable success of Operation Rio Grande was evident when a woman gave birth to a baby next to the closed SLC Community Connection Center.  SLCPD Officer Daley helped and she and the baby were taken to a hospital after the birth.  It will be interesting to see how long that she will be allowed to stay in the hospital with the baby until they are kicked out.  That happens regularly.  Patients are given a free cab ride and sent to the Weigand Center in hospital gown and walker often.  If they don't have an ID for the secure area, they can go in the back door.  But this should show that Operation Rio Grande is not the success that some want to make of it.  People are still walking around with shopping carts and carriers full of their belongings and even if they want to work, they can't since there is no safe and secure storage for homeless.  

WAR ON CARS BILLS ARE AT GOVERNOR

  SB 071, the bill that encourages toll roads, especially up the Wasatch Canyons, is meant to disincentivize personal vehicle travel.  That is the reason used by the Mountain Accord when it recommended tolling up the Canyons, "to disincentivize personal vehicle travel".  President Niederhauser mentioned using the $2 million generated to fund a parking garage at 94th South at the mouth of the Canyon.  Interestingly, that is where his friend Terry Diehl has property and tried to have the State pay for a parking structure.  If signed, all cars in Utah could be tracked by UDOT!  I consider this bill to be a war on cars.  

  SB136, Senator Harper's bill to rename UTA (I now believe that it will eventually cost $10 million cost in the next 10 years.), study a local option sales tax that would allow counties and cities to implement a sales tax increase that was not approved by voters two years ago (the bill stalls implementation until July 2019 due to significant backlash against disrespecting taxpayers' vote against Prop One) that still could give 40% to mass transit.  Again, LA spent almost $100 billion on mass transit and got almost no increase in ridership.  Cars make our families, our economy and our Country more efficient.  It also increases the registration fees, especially on electric vehicles (that will result in less coal burning needed I guess) since they get away with murder by not paying gas taxes.  A new Task Force will study road and transit funding during interim at the Legislature and give another recommendation to the next Legislative session.  The bill also changes the pension program for transit workers and shifts legal responsibility to the State Attorney General.  These issues may be litigated.  The bill gives the County Mayor the ability to nominate a candidate to be appointed as one of three Transit Commissioners that will control UTA.  There is also a 9 member advisory board but the bill significantly decreases local control of UTA.  The bill, if signed, will implement the governance of UTA change in November.     I am against both bills since they are a war on cars and are trying to get people out of their cars and into mass transit.  I do not think that these bills do that.  If funding increased for service only, I would support that.  But the funding generated by the local option sales tax was to go to a capitol development fund that was dreamed of being used to develop mass transit/rail projects in the south SLCO, especially around Point of the Mountain.  It also was to be used to extend TRAX through the Draper Prison site to Lehi!  The biggest beneficiaries would be land owners in the area which include many Legislative leaders. 

INLAND PORT, STEVENSON'S REVENGE BILL SIGNED BY GOVERNOR

  Senator Stevenson's plan to have Stadler Rail locate in Clearfield at the UTA property (discussed a year ago) was destroyed by Salt Lake City's successful effort to have Stadler Rail locate at 5600 West and just south of I80.  Note that SLC is implementing a redevelopment project area for Stadler Rail in that area and will discuss it at their March 20 formal meeting.  The Legislature also wanted a TRAX extension from the Airport (they were dealing with Airport Board member J.T. Martin) to 5600 West but SLC did not put it in their Northwest Quadrant Plan.  The Legislature served revenge on a gold platter by taking away control of a large portion of SLC for an inland port plan that SLC was already successfully implementing (with UPS, railroads and Amazon and Kennecott) and requiring all increased taxes generated to be under the control of a board that gave SLC a minority voice.  Even the Salt Lake City Schools was removed from being able to review and approve the increased taxes takeaway (which could be used for a legal fight if the bill is signed).  The Governor said that he will call a special session of the Legislature to fix the bill but this revenge bill should not have been signed.

  Interestingly, Salt Lake City has used the phrase taxation without representation to describe the

bill.  Ironically, the bill that was in the Legislature that asked for more water information, and backed by the State Water Engineer, was supported by the same phrase.  Millcreek, Holladay and Cottonwood Heights, and other cities have water provided by Salt Lake City and cannot influence their water charges and have complained about taxation without representation.

MARCH 8, 2018

Sorry for the delay on posting.  I was fighting the SB71 toll road bill and the SB136 bill that reorganizes UTA and adds a big tax increase. See below.  Now that the Legislature is over, I will be posting every week.

SPRAGUE LIBRARY MAY CLOSE DUE TO MOLD

1300 EAST TO BE RECONSTRUCTED

SLC ASKING FOR INPUT ON SALES TAX INCREASE OR BOND

9 LINE TRAIL GOING FORWARD DUE TO COUNTY

ENCOURAGEMENT  

FAIRMONT PARK UPGRADES

WATERSHED IS NOT BEING THREATENED BUT BILLS ARE

LEGISLATURE'S BEST AND WORST

WFRC SCENARIOS NEED COMMENT BY MARCH 31

900 EAST FIRE STATION OPERATIONAL BY SUMMER

SHOPKO BLOCK CONSTRUCTION RAMPS UP

SLC MARATHON

AFFORDABLE HOUSING STRATEGY OF SLC RDA

OXBOW JAIL CAN'T OPEN WITHOUT MORE FUNDING

SPRAGUE LIBRARY MAY CLOSE DUE TO MOLD

  SLC's Sprague Library in Sugar House will have its air tested due to concerns about unhealthy mold from the downstairs that was flooded. If the tests come back positive for unhealthy air (by March 16), the Sprague Library will have to close again until fall when all of the upgrades are finished.  The Library is also studying whether it makes sense to start a fundraising drive to help pay for the millions in cost to open up Sprague's downstairs and repair the elevator.  It turns out that the elevator is so old that there are no replacement parts available.  So the whole elevator will need to be replaced.  Legacy Village on Wilmington between 1300 East and Highland will continue to have Sugar House Community Council meetings and Library storytime.  If Sprague has to close again, the Library will discuss adding a pocket library and reading room to a nearby building. Again, we should know by March 16 (or as early as the 13th) if the Sprague Library has to close until fall.

1300 EAST TO BE RECONSTRUCTED

  SLC plans to start waterline replacement and road reconstruction and curb and gutter replacement on

1300 East, north of 2100 South, by summer.  The project will cost about $10 million with help from the State and the federal government.  SLC will pay $3 million for the upgrade.  The City plans on keeping two lanes of traffic open during construction.

SLC ASKING FOR INPUT ON SALES TAX INCREASE OR BOND

  SLC is going forward to decide by April 17 whether to increase sales taxes another half cent (allowed when the Legislature put the prison in the NorthWest Quadrant) or to roll over a bond that is almost paid off into use as a road maintenance bond.  The City is going to community councils with the options.  The bond will continue to cost taxpayers about $5 per month if it is going to be used for road maintenance.  The sales tax increase will affect business and economic development.  There is a scheduled public hearing on March 20 for the public to voice their suggestions.  But the SLC Council will make a decision by April 17.  Note that the sales tax increase is planned to also be used to help pay for more police.  I put the pavement report and sales tax vrs bond report on the upper right downloads.

9 LINE TRAIL GOING FORWARD DUE TO COUNTY ENCOURAGEMENT 

  SLC is moving forward on spending $13.9 million on the 9 line trail from 1300 East and 900 S. to the Jordan River.  The City will spend $2.4 million with $500,000 donated by Salt Lake County to work on the trail from 1300 East to 900 East on 900 South.  I find it incredibly dumb to try to put a bike lane on 900 East with 45 degree car parking and really only one lane near the 9th and 9th center of the neighborhood businesses.  800 South is a wider street that would provide a safer and much wider bike lane along with a narrower and just as safe 10 foot wide traffic lanes.  900 South will not be safe for bicyclists due to the complicated traffic issues.  The main problem with 800 South is the steeper hill.  Adding a wide bike lane going up 900 South from 1100 East would be a better and cheaper solution.  The proposal to reroute Gilmer Drive onto 900 South is also a questionable decision.  When the City asked for feedback, they got a backlash and backed off on making a decision.  But the City needs to start spending the money soon to meet Salt Lake County requirements.  SLC should use 800 South to complete the 9 line bike trail.

FAIRMONT PARK UPGRADES

  Fairmont Park is undergoing an upgrade.  SLC Parks is removing the wall on the pavilion (leaving the fire pit which has "historical significance) to allow an open 4 column pavilion.  The pond is being completely redone and the project should be finished by the end of April.  The pond will then be stocked with blue gill, catfish, bass and trout.  The restrooms will remain closed until April.  The Fairmont Park Spring and Pond Restoration has a $30,000 grant to complete phase II which will include boulder installation, daylighting and diversion of the stream, and pond and stream bank landscaping.

WATERSHED IS NOT BEING THREATENED BUT BILLS ARE

  SLC has been claiming that several Legislators are running bills this session that threaten the watershed.  At several community council meetings that claim has been repeated.  But that is not true.  The bills that affect SLC's Public Utilities do not affect the watershed and, although they failed, the issue will be discussed over the summer by the Executive Water Task Force.  Note that some on the Task Force have contracts and are paid by SLC Public Utilities.

  Over the last few weeks, in newspapers, there have been many stories about how a small group of individuals and legislators are threatening the watershed that provides drinking water to much of the Salt Lake Valley. The stories tend to devolve into personal attacks instead of focusing on the issues that several legislative bills are trying to address, the 100 year old law that gives cities of the first class extraterritorial jurisdiction.

  The extraterritorial jurisdiction was given to Salt Lake City as a city of the first class in the early 1900s under the assumption that Salt Lake City's population would always be the largest and most important in the state of Utah. It allows Salt Lake City to control development, ranching and farming in six Northern Utah counties in order to protect their watershed. Unfortunately, there are now six cities of the first class in Northern Utah and their jurisdiction overlaps.

  In order to bring some semblance of reason to this, Representative Noel has sponsored a bill, HB135 that removes the extraterritorial jurisdiction that Salt Lake City has never used and it codifies the rule that Salt Lake City uses to ensure watershed protection, 300 feet from the water source/stream and 15 miles upstream. SLC Public Utilities Director Laura Briefer even testified that the City has never used extraterritorial jurisdiction and had no plans to use it. Some reporters continue to claim that the watershed is being threatened.

  Other bills that have been claimed to be a threat to the watershed include Representative Stratton's HJR15 that asked for a Utah Constitutional Amendment to clear up the illegal surplus water sales by many municipal water suppliers that the Utah Constitution does not allow. Those water sales are supposed to be limited to 30 days but there are so many that their questionable legality is now causing a problem. His resolution is going to Interim for study but the issue is important and it has nothing to do with the watershed. It has to do with many cities in Utah ignoring the Constitution's prohibition of surplus water sales and selling their water. Cities like Millcreek, Holladay and Cottonwood Heights all rely on water from Salt Lake City that may have limits due to the Constitution.

  HB124 is asking for data on water from those who supply water to Utahns. Amazingly, surprisingly, this data is not available! The data required will not affect the watershed, despite some claims. Good government should have this information.

  Another so called controversial bill, HB136, requires legislative approval before volunteering any Utah property for National Monument or other federal designation. This bill was generated due to the Mountain Accord's recommendation for moving the Wasatch Canyons to federal oversight. Although done during the previous administration, the new administration may not be what the original plan had in mind. This is a basic good government bill that essentially says that not anyone should be able to volunteer Utah property to the federal government. It should be a joint and coordinated agreement.   The claim that a few landowners hoping for development are causing these threats to the watershed flies in the face of two important facts. One, Salt Lake City seems to be supporting hyper development of hundreds of units at ski resorts for just a few hundred acres of conservation! At the same time, Salt Lake City is refusing thousands of acres of conservation for less than a hundred almost invisible cabins sprinkled among the canyons. The ski resort project is much more of a threat to the watershed.   The other fact is that Salt Lake City, as a "protector" of the watershed, refuses to build or support restrooms in the canyons to serve the six million visitors a year. It turned down a request last year by the Forest Service for six restrooms. Over the years, Salt Lake has built zero restrooms!

  A hundred year old law that actually threatens what it was meant to protect needs to change. The bills running through the legislature are meant to protect the watershed.

LEGISLATURE'S BEST AND WORST FAILED BILLS:

HB135 Extraterritorial Jurisdiction that codified what SLC Public Utilities does now.  It does not use or plan to use extraterritorial jurisdiction but it claimed that it would harm the watershed.  The Executive Water Task Force will discuss the issue during the summer.

HB 64 Distracted Driver that criminalizes talking on the phone while driving.  Note that it is already a crime to use a phone and committing a traffic infraction. 

HB88 E-cigarettes failed despite a recent report that vaping is dangerous.  The additives that may be okay in the stomach can destroy lung tissue and seem to be cancerous.  Representative Paul Ray will continue to fight to discourage tobacco and nicotine use next year. 

HB124 Water Holdings Transparency - Despite the State Water Engineer wanting this information on who has what water and how much is being sold (against the Utah Constitution which does not allow cities to sell surplus water unless it comes with a 30 day termination of service), the bill failed but will be discussed in the summer.  This is one of the bills that SLC claims is threatening the watershed. 

HB136 Federal Designations, that required the Legislature to review and make recommendations to turn over Utah land to the Federal Government (excluding private conservation easements) failed.  It was caused by the Mountain Accord that recommended turning the Wasatch Canyons over to the federal government as a National Monument!  It will come back due to the questionable authority that some feel was misused to offer the canyons to the federal government.  Interestingly, the new administration is not what the original drafters of the Mountain Accord (still being sued) expected.  They may want a do over.

HB175 The Oversight Committee, this bill would have set up an alternative to audits but it stalled and SJR18 may replace it.

HB220 Handheld Wireless Communication, another do not talk on the phone in a car bill failed.

SB95 and 113 Post Retirement failed.  Senator Iwamoto's best work in the Legislature that would have allowed teachers and law enforcement to move to another state agency after retiring failed.  But it sorely needed.  Teachers have a 95% actuarial funding for retirement but law enforcement is $544 million underfunded.  So the pressure to not rock the boat killed these bills.  They will come back.

HB182 Sand and Gravel Option Tax would have allowed counties to collect a tax on the gravel pits that cause a significant burden to local communities.

SCR5 Senator Harper's bill to remove daylight savings time in Utah would have made Utah 2 hours different from Nevada.  It failed.

SJR16 Removes Board of Education but it failed in the House.

SJR 18 Oversight Committee bill is a substitute to Rep. Stratton's bill that failed.  It is scheduled to be approved but it failed due to lack of time.

HB339 Rep. Froerer's bill would have required Prop One funds, especially in Weber County, to be used for the projects that they want and not that UTA thinks is important.  Unfortunately, one of the projects that they want is a BRT on 25th Street and Harrison that would result in road diets and rezones of single family home neighborhoods (includidng the Eccles Historic District).  It would supplant a very efficient and well used 15 minute bus ride from downtown to Weber State University.  UTA is right to question the project.  But eventually, it will probably happen and cause a lot of hate and discontent.

HB205 Down Syndrome Abortion Ban.  This bill was expected to give the ACLU millions in attorney fees when they win a lawsuit against a constitutionally questionable bill.  Ironically, the Legislature is replacing the Philo T. Farnsworth statue with Dr. Cannon, an early advocate of polygamy and women voting and, she left the Country in protest against the federal government trying to interfere in her relationship with her pregnant patients.  I think that it is hypocritical.  It failed at the last night of the session.

HB58 Traffic Control Signs and Bicycles.  Allows bicycles to run lights without any traffic.  It narrowly missed being approved by the Legislature when it ran out of time.  It was one of the best bills that should have passed.

SB155 Towing Amendments.  This is one of the best bills in this Legislative session.  It requires every parking lot that wants to tow cars to place a tow sign at the entrance and in the lot.  It deserved to be passed but it ran out of time in the House.  Senator Harper deserved a statue if this passed.  I still think his SB136 is really wrong.

The Legislature ran out of time to overturn SB54.  It looks like the Utah GOP will end up with another lawsuit and candidates will probably increase their reliance on signature gathering.

PASSED BILLS AWAITING GOVERNOR'S SIGNATURE OR VETO

HB169 Commercial Waste Fee removes much of EnergySolutions fees if the Department of

Environmental Quality believe that it makes sense.  I will fight this at DEQ since EnergySolutions was not able to store securely and safely the so called Depleted Uranium/nuclear weapons waste.  The Department of Energy was so upset at EnergySolutions' treatment of the barrels of DU that they paid to build a storage facility to keep the barrels out of the rain and water.  EnergySolutions needs higher fees to ensure that Utahns won't pay when it closes.  The recent approval to have ES take regular waste should keep ES a going concern and operating profitably but ES does not know how to safely store radioactive waste.

SB136 is Senator Harper's Transportation Governance bill that removes local control and influence at UTA and substitutes three commissioners (one from SLCO) that work under the Governor.  It replaces the UTA retirement system which may not be allowed by the federal government.  It also puts the Utah Attorney General in charge of UTA legal affairs.  UTA is fighting this point.  I fought the local option sales tax that SLCO and Utah County voters turned down.  It is wrong to go back on the original Prop One HB362 that gave voters and taxpayers the say on sales tax increases.  But our fight seems to have helped stall the implementation until July 2019 while the Transportation Tax Task Force will study taxes over the next year.  Although the local sales tax is stalled for a year, it is expected to give counties an extra .25 cents tax if they agree.  Our fight was that they don't have to give voters a say.  The bill says the counties may not shall give voters a say on the option.  The option can also be implemented by cities.  The money can be used as they decide for transportation or transit.  The bill also includes a questionable and wasteful name change for UTA.  The UTA portion of the bill is the reason why the bill with the tax increases passed.  The Legislature is upset with UTA despite the fact that the Legislature is causing most of the problems at UTA.  The Legislature ordered the TODs that got UTA into trouble.  The Legislature wants UTA to build more projects that benefit land owners, many of whom are Legislators.  The bill also increases vehicle registration fees and increases them every year in accordance with inflation.  The registration fees on electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles are significantly increased.  The bill gives owners the ability to claim a rebate by using a vehicle mile traveled (VMT) system.  But Tax Commissioner Valentine warned that Utah does not have the technology to implement VMT.  And how does Utah check travel out of Utah.  This is still in the bill.  I will continue to fight the bill and encourage the Governor to veto it.  I have been involved in mass transit on boards and representing businesses since the 80s.  This bill does not improve UTA service.  A big question is how long will it take to change UTA from the Trustees Board to the Commissioners.

SB38 Elected Officials Removal was approved and it allows county legislative bodies of 5 or more (around 6 in Utah) to go into closed secret session and unanimously approve asking for a mental health evaluation of an elected county official.  I still think that this could be misused against non Republicans and LBGTQ individuals.

SB71 Toll Roads.  Is a questionable bill sponsored by Senate President Niederhauser to stop traffic problems in his neighborhood.  But it pushes toll roads when there are no alternatives.  The Cottonwood Canyons are supposed to be the first implemented with tolling.  But there is no bus service year round and no options.  It is a war on cars.  I will encourage the Governor to veto it.

SCR1 Replaces the Philo T. Farnsworth statue in Congress with Dr. Martha Cannon, an early advocate of women voting.  But, as I pointed out in a recent Sltrib.com oped, Philo is much more important than Dr. Cannon.  But the Legislature approved it.

SB137 Government Records/GRAMA is set to correct a misinterpretation of the Government Records Committee that allowed SLC to keep the site discussion by the closed City Council meetings, secret.  It should help government transparency.  I tried to open the records but the Committee refused due to their misinterpretation.

HB241 The TV noncompete bill passed.  It outlaws noncompete contracts in the news industry.  Many of the employees of the news organizations are low paid to the point of not being able to afford to park downtown (at KUTV2).  They not only have to walk a mile to get to work at 4 AM, they have had to be locked into slave contracts.  This is a good bill.

HB63 Cosmetology Testing allows Utah to provide cosmetology licenses when a person passes a test.  The Utah cosmetology schools industry is very powerful politically but they couldn't stop this bill.

HB472 Medicaid expansion that expands it to 100% of the poverty line and adds about 70,000 to the Medicaid enrollments.

SB234 Inland Port passed but it interferes with the best economic development team in Utah.  Ironically, Senator Stevenson sponsored SB234 and he lost the battle to bring Standler Rail to Clearfield.  SLC won the battle.  If SLC loses Bill Wyatt, the new SLC Airport Director, who was Portland's Port and Airport Director, Utah will lose the best possible available port director.  This may increase the possiblity of a TRAX extension to 5600 West.

HB42 and HB370 add Mobile Mental Health crisis teams to increase mental health treatment.  The effort to expand Medicaid mental health programs failed.  Ironically, they would have helped decrease crazy shooters.

HB491 and HJR20 will allow voters to vote on increasing the gas tax 10 cents a gallon from 29 cents a gallon in November.  It will affect the potential local option sales tax scheduled for July 2019.

The .05 DUI scheduled to take effect at the end of 2018 will take effect without any change. 

An increase in education funding is scheduled to be approved to meet Our Schools Now efforts to increase educational funding.  Part of the problem developed years ago when the Legislature decided that Utah would commit 30% of new funds on transportation and roads.  That took away education funding increases.  I had an oped in the Sltrib.com back then with a title of Schools are more important than highways.  This fight has been going on for way too long.  

WFRC SCENARIOS NEED COMMENT BY MARCH 31

  WFRC.org has extended the comment period for their preferred scenario from the middle of March to the end of March.  The interactive scenario allows the public to see the projects in transportation and transit in Salt Lake, Davis and Weber Counties (Utah County has a separate Mountainland Association of Governments entity that lists their projects.).   Please comment on the projects.

900 EAST FIRE STATION OPERATIONAL BY SUMMER

  The new 900 East Fire Station on the Forest Dale Golf Course is scheduled to be open and operational by summer of this year.

SHOPKO BLOCK CONSTRUCTION RAMPS UP

  The construction of the new Park Avenue project that is replacing the old Sugar House Shopko is ramping up and is scheduled to work from 5 AM to 8 PM with two cranes.  Steel will start rising on the first of April and there will sometimes by hundreds of concrete trucks on site or lined up in the area.  The Huntsman Cancer Center will install a linear accelerator that will require a lot of concrete pours.  Strinham Avenue cut through has been approved.  The Olsen's property (Toys R Us) will start construction of the hotel next week.  Wilmington Avenue from 1300 East to Highland will be one way only to facilitate the reconstruction of the roadway along with new utility lines.  Legacy Village will start charging for parking with the first hour free starting this weekend.  Validation is available for meetings in the building and for local businesses.

SLC MARATHON

The SLC Marathon is looking for volunteers to man aid stations including one at 700 E. just south of

I80.  Go to saltlakecitymarathon.com to check out the map and volunteer.  Note that April 21 will be the race day and travel during the race will be restricted.  Check the map for details.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING STRATEGY OF SLC RDA

  In answer to a question at a community council meeting, the SLC RDA has several options that they have presented to the City Council on affordable housing.  They go from 200 affordable units to 874 affordable units, depending on the strategy.  I put the detailed report on the upper right hand downloads section.

OXBOW JAIL CAN'T OPEN WITHOUT MORE FUNDING

  Oxbow jail is scheduled to open this summer but there are problems with staffing that will impact its opening.  Other law enforcement agencies are recruiting the jailers that have been hired and the County Sheriff has lost 10 in the last couple of weeks.  She is going to ask for more funding.  It is not a sure thing at the County Council

FEBRUARY 15, 2018

SB71 TOLL ROADS/WAR ON CARS HAS BIG FISCAL IMPACT

HOW TO VIEW AND TRACK LEGISLATURE BILLS BY LEILA

REYNOLDS

PALMER COURT NEEDS EMERGENCY MEDICAL ONE/TWO TIMES A DAY!

HB199 TREATMENT CTRS STOP EVIDENCE BASED DRUG TREATMENT 

SLC DISCUSSES REDUCING SOLAR INSTALLATION FEES

FRIDAY AFTERNOON SHOWDOWN ON SLC WATER SECRECY AND WATERSHED AUTHORITY

SB71 TOLL ROADS/WAR ON CARS HAS BIG FISCAL IMPACT

  SB71, President Niederhauser’s attempt to force everyone in Utah to pay tolls for new roads is back at rules due to a $2 million plus cost to taxpayers.  It appears to be close to passing and forcing everyone using canyons to be the first to pay tolls.  This is ironic since Utah keeps pushing more people to use the canyon ski resorts and now everyone will have to pay for it!  This is a war on cars since the goal is to disincentivize personal vehicle travel!  Despite claims that the gas tax is going away due to electric cars, Utah’s gas tax revenue seems to be significantly increasing to $300 million in 2017.  Cars make our families and economy and Country more efficient.  

  This bill lines out the requirement that all tolls be reviewed and approved or disapproved in the first Legislative session after the tolls being set. The Legislature should not abrogate their responsibility to decide taxes, fees and tolls in order to try to escape blame for raising tolls on roads that were previously paid for with gas taxes.

  Utah Wasatch Canyon recreation was free.  This bill forces everyone to now pay a fee and sets up a constitutionally questionable enforcement system that requires everyone driving a car to opt into paying a toll and paying without a certified notice of a fee due.  It will essentially track every vehicle in Utah if it uses a toll road.

  This bill is a war on cars and the Legislature should vote down SB071S2.

HOW TO VIEW AND TRACK LEGISLATURE BILLS BY LEILA REYNOLDS

  Representative Rebecca Chavez-Houck’s intern, Leila Reynolds has produced an excellent overview of how to track bills that is better than the PDF on How to Work the Legislature in the upper downloads section.  I put a PDF of her 11 step lesson that everyone should review to understand that the Legislature actually makes it easy to track bills.  I put a picture of the PDF to the left but only for this week.  After this week, I refer you to the upper right download section for the download.  Again, thank you to Leila Reynolds for this educational overview.

  On another note, regarding SB038 that is in the House.  Representative Chavez-Houck was trying to get a reasonable recall bill through the Legislature.  But, failing that, SB038 cosponsored with Senator Thatcher was the best that she could do.  It essentially says that a 5 plus member county council can have a closed meeting and unanimously (When SLC Council has a closed meeting and voted unanimously, one member later said that she didn’t vote unanimously!) force an elected county official to undergo a mental health exam!  Interestingly, a few years ago, some would have used such a system to try to force individuals with “questionable” thoughts to be kicked out of office.  We hope that we no longer think that a person’s political affiliation or sexual identity is appropriate grounds for removal from office.  But I think that there are still people around have problems with people who are different, who walk funny, or use a wheelchair, or talk with a stutter.  This is a sad bill.

PALMER COURT NEEDS EMERGENCY MEDICAL ONE OR TWO TIMES A DAY!

  SLC Fire Department mentioned that they have to respond to emergency medical calls one or two times a day at Palmer Court, the Road Home’s supportive housing on 950 South between State and Main.  This is a good indication of problems that are endemic to the homeless population.  They need a lot of help to return to a life that does not require constant hand holding in order to not relapse into drug and/or alcohol addiction.  The solution is not simple but it does require a lot more social workers.

HB199 REQUIRED EVIDENCE BASED DRUG TREATMENT STOPPED BY TREATMENT CENTERS

  Representative Miles’ HB199 that requires drug and alcohol treatment programs to use systems that work to treat patients has failed due to an overwhelming effort by treatment centers to not be required to prove that their systems work!  Only one treatment program, in Weber County, uses evidence that proves the effectiveness of the treatment program.  The rest of Utah’s drug and alcohol treatment programs use, mostly, industry standard programs but their success rate is around 5% for opioid treatment (after 24 months) according to the federal government.  Weber County’s program is much more successful.  It is sad when an industry refuses to prove that their system works. 

SLC DISCUSSES REDUCING SOLAR INSTALLATION FEES

  After many complaints about high permit and inspection fees for installing solar panels on Salt Lake

City buildings, the City is now reviewing the charges to make it easier to install solar panels in the City.  An inspection fee can be $800 and that is usually done by the inspector driving by!  Hopefully, the City will reach a resolution about this important issue soon.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON SHOWDOWN ON SLC WATER SECRECY AND WATERSHED

AUTHORITY

  Friday afternoon will have a showdown at the House Natural Resources Committee (445 Capitol at

4PM) on two bills that affect SLC’s watershed extra-territorial jurisdiction and water system secrecy.  HB135 by Representative Noel restricts SLC’s influence over six Utah counties to what is actually needed to ensure water quality.  All other cities in Utah work well with much less jurisdiction.     SLC contends that a few landowners in the canyons are the reason and the watershed is at risk.  Interestingly, the few landowners involved have been suggesting turning over thousands of acres of land to conservation in return for less than a 100 cabins, one on each property.  At the same time, Salt Lake City is pushing and approving a 500 unit monster resort up the Wasatch Canyons in return for less than 500 acres of conservation property!  SLC also keeps turning down requests to put in restrooms for the 6 million visitors that visit the Wasatch Canyons per year.  The U.S. Forest Service asked for 6 restrooms but were turned down.  SLC has built zero restrooms despite a large income from selling surplus water, something technically illegal according to the Utah Constitution.  SLCounty is building one restroom this year.  The hundred year old law that gives SLC watershed authority over six counties needs to be fine tuned, if we really want watershed protection.

  Representative Coleman’s bill should be a no brainer that requires transparency in water rates, and contracts.  But SLC Water does seem to be threatened by transparency.  Their last budget was 4 pages!  That is worse that UTA was (We now get 200+ pages.). 

FEBRUARY 13, 2018

900 SOUTH RECONSTRUCTION SLOWS DOWN DUE TO

NEIGHBORHOOD CONCERNS

HB58 THAT ALLOWS BICYCLISTS FLEXIBILITY WHEN AT

INTERSECTIONS MOVES AHEAD

SB 71S2 WAR ON CARS PASSES NEXT TO LAST HURDLE

HOW TO VIEW AND TRACK A BILL BY LEILA REYNOLDS

900 SOUTH RECONSTRUCTION SLOWS DOWN DUE TO NEIGHBORHOOD CONCERNS

  Today, SLC put out this email update on the 900 South Reconstruction proposal.  Again, the project is

on the upper right downloads and Becka Roolf’s email is below:

900 South Reconstruction / 9 Line Trail Project update:

   Thank you to everyone who has given your thoughtful input on 900 South Reconstruction / 9 Line Trail from Lincoln to 1300 East.

   Following on our round of public input and the community open house last week, the design team has decided to slow the project down in order to better be able to explore with the community a more robust set of design options particularly for the 1100 East / Gilmer / 900 South intersection.  We generally heard good support for the addition of the trail.  We heard multiple requests to take a step back, include additional community input, and develop a timeline to allow for additional input prior to construction.    Our next step will be to develop an outline / schedule for additional meetings at the concept level, inviting input and collaboration from neighbors and the community at large.  We’ll be in touch once we have this outline.

   We will continue to accept input through our existing online survey (“virtual open house”) through this Thursday Feb. 15, as advertised on our flyer, but there will definitely be additional opportunities for input.  We will also continue to have discussions on the design with businesses along the corridor, in order to better understand your concerns and constraints.   

   The project construction timeline will also shift later; to be determined if fall or next spring.    We look forward to your further participation and collaboration.

  Thank you,

Becka

 BECKA ROOLF

Bicycle/Pedestrian Coordinator

 TRANSPORTATION DIVISION

DEPARTMENT of COMMUNITY and NEIGHBORHOODS

SALT LAKE CITY CORPORATION

HB58 THAT ALLOWS BICYCLISTS FLEXIBILITY WHEN AT INTERSECTIONS MOVES AHEAD

  During the House Transportation Committee hearing on the proposed bill that allows bicyclists to not have to make a full stop when there are not interfering vehicles, several questions were brought up about the safety (Rep. Kennedy mentioned dead bodies) and liability (if a car still hits a bicyclist).  In addition, the Chiefs of Police came out against the bill.  The bill eventually passed through the Committee (this is the same bill that got hung up in the Senate two years ago).

  I support the bill and encourage telling your legislators that it makes sense.  It focuses law enforcement on important stuff.  The officers on the streets would rather ticket texting drivers than bicyclists.  In addition, there are not many tickets given to bicyclists.  There is no change in liability, it still remains with a bicyclist operating unsafely.  This bill gets the government out of the way of micromanaging basic reasonable bicycling.  We should be encouraging safe bicycling, not making it inconvenient.  We are trying to get people out of cars. 

SB 71S2 WAR ON CARS PASSES NEXT TO LAST HURDLE

  Senate President Niederhauser’s bill that pushes forward on the idea that Utah needs more toll roads passed its final hurdle before the House floor debate.  It gives UDOT permission to develop an automated system to raise money for new roads by tolling them.  It also gives the Transportation Commission the ability to decide the toll.  Although the Legislature can revisit it and probably will, this is a typical war on cars that is out of the war on cars playbook.  This bill started as a Cottonwood Canyons’ issue that is part of the Mountain Accord’s disincentivizing personal vehicle travel.  President Niederhauser even mentioned that he hoped that it would eventually lead to a parking garage paid for by the tolls (Central Wasatch Commission’s goal) and year round bus service to force people out of their cars.

  My thoughts on this war on cars (similar to the thoughts below in a previous post):

  Taxes are the Legislature's responsibility and they shouldn’t abrogate their responsibility to absolve themselves of the blame for new charges/fees/taxes or tolls.  This bill builds a new bureaucracy in Utah State Government.  It could lead to tolls that do not take weight and pollution into account which is a real measure of the effect on roadways.  The Utah Trucking Association spoke out against this bill.  Representative Kwan voted against the bill saying that it does impact lower income families significantly.

  The big question that was unanswered in the Committee hearing is how to handle rental cars since much of the traffic is from rental cars.  There is no solution now.

  Utah has pushed, pulled and marketed people from around the world to come to our ski resorts.  We want another Olympics which will further popularize the canyons’ resorts.  But now we seem to be saying that everyone else who uses the canyons should pay for the success of the canyons.  This is wrong on so many levels.  We should not be paying for the success of the ski resorts.

  This bill is being rushed but the world is not ending; the sky is not falling; the gas tax won’t dwindle to nothing and electric cars will not be 25% of the vehicles on the road in 10 years (as claimed by President Niederhauser). 

  We should not have to pass this now but we should continue to let UDOT study this issue.

 Note on SB38 from Representative Rebecca Chavez Houck:  She said that the reason that she helped develop SB38 was because Utah needed a system to recall elected individuals with serious issues and instead of trying for and failing to get support for a recall bill, this was the next best thing.

FEBRUARY 12, 2018

REPLACING FARNSWORTH STATUE WITH POLYGAMIST

DEFENDER

HB175 LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT BOARD MOVES FORWARD

SB038 MOVES TO HOUSE AND COULD KICK OUT "CRAZY"

POLITICIANS

SB155 TOWING REQUIRES A SIGN AT THE ENTRANCE TO LOT 

SB164 OPENS UP TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS' DECISIONS

HELD

SB050 THAT BANS CARBON MONOXIDE CHAMBERS TO KILL

PETS FAILS

MOST IMPORTANT LEGISLATIVE BILLS THAT SHOULD BE

TRACKED

SLC POLICE FIND TOO MANY IDLING CARS, NO LIBERTY PK

CAMPERS

          AND ASK YOU TO POST NO TRESPASSING SIGNS

OUR SCHOOLS FINDS BACKLASH AT BALLPARK PETITION

SIGNING

900 SOUTH BETWEEN 950 EAST & 1300 EAST WASTES MONEY

SLC STREETS MAINTENANCE REPORT ON DOWNLOADS AREA

OPERATION RIO GRANDE IS NOT AS SUCCESSFUL AS PUBLICIZED

REPLACING FARNSWORTH STATUE WITH POLYGAMIST DEFENDER

  SCR001 (Senate Concurrent Resolution) seems to a done deal.  The House Committee hearing the proposal to switch the Filo T. Farnsworth statue at the U.S. Capitol with an early pioneer of women's right to vote, voted to recommend approval to the House.  Representative Acton expressed concern that a defender of polygamy may raise too many questions even though she and most on the Committee were descendents of polygamists.  Representative Christensen expressed concern about disrespecting the importance of television and noted the 2 TV crews there.  Eagle Forum and several others, spoke against the removal of Philo T. Farnsworth.  Several students spoke for and against the resolution.  The Committee had a vigorous discussion and debate before voting to send it to the House with a favorable recommendation.

  My issue was best expressed in the SLTRIB oped two weeks ago.   https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2018/01/26/george-chapman-we-dont-need-anotherstatue-of-a-politician-keep-philo-t-farnsworth-in-the-us-capitol/

  I also added the concern that I felt that it was ironic that Dr Cannon, an early suffragette, was being put forth as the new representative statue of Utah when one of her biggest fights was against government intrusion in the relationship between a pregnant woman and her doctor.  That federal government intrusion was directed to force her to testify against her patients to determine who was a polygamist.  

  Another issue among many non-LDS in Utah is the belief that one of the wrong reasons for giving women the vote before most of the Country was in order to dilute the influence at the ballot box of the large number of non-LDS coming into Utah.  This issue could resurrect a sore point among immigrant communities.

  A government that is powerful enough to interfere in the relationship between a pregnant woman and her doctor is powerful enough to interfere in the relationship between a doctor and their patient.  Whether it is Red China's one child policy or any other pressure from government, a woman should have the right to make the wise right choice with prayer and counseling.  Her name should not be given to governments hoping to enforce one child only and/or to organizations hoping to influence the pregnancy against the will of the patient.  That kind of government is too powerful.

  I would also like to possibly explain why there aren't more statues of women.  How do you choose among all of the women who deserve to be put on a pedestal?  Women deserve to be put on a pedestal but how do you choose?  Even a so called unappreciated mother, should have the respect of a statue on a pedestal.  Even Philo's wife, who supported him in his fight with RCA and one of the most powerful and influential men in the U.S., deserves credit because, without her, he would never have succeeded.    Philo T. Farnsworth invented the electron gun television system and deserves more attention and credit and respect.  Two weeks ago, a major tech website claimed that another invented TV!  Philo should be celebrated as the little man from Utah who gave us a giant leap that did much more than entertain us.  It educated us with the news and brought the world closer together than ever thought.  It lowered barriers between the peoples of the world when we walked on the moon.  Television did that.  Philo's invention did that.  His invention showed that one person can make a difference; one man can make a difference; and one woman can make more than a difference.  Fortunately for us, we have millions of those.  If you think that the only way to inspire women is to put a defender of polygamy on a pedestal, you are shortchanging women.

HB175 LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT BOARD MOVES FORWARD

  Representative Stratton's bill that sets up a permanent Legislative Oversight Committee that can review questionable actions or proposals that may not have received appropriate public notice or comment is going to the House floor.  Some of the issues that could be investigated include water projects, monuments, streetcars, quotas and elected officials.  There have been claims that the Legislature will use it as a threat against municipalities and other governments in Utah to ensure that they don't try to push an agenda that is against Utah policy, like pushing the federal government to make the Central Wasatch Canyons as a National Monument.  Or like pushing a 500 unit ski resort that is 100 times more intrusive and controversial than a few canyon landowners asking for a cabin on a couple hundred acres.  Salt Lake City is concerned that it may target SLC Public Utilities and specifically the Water Department with an audit.  But I think that they need it.  The Water Department provided 4 pages of a budget during the last budget and no one seemed to realize that it is worse than UTA when it comes to transparency.

SB038 MOVES TO HOUSE AND COULD KICK OUT "CRAZY" POLITICIANS

  Senator Thatcher worked with Representative Rebecca Chavez-Houck to push SB038 that allows a closed/secret meeting of a county council (with at least 5 councilmembers) to push for a mental health review of any elected county elected officer.  No evidence is needed, just a majority of the closed meeting!  The elected officer will then be forced to undergo an evaluation to ensure that they are competent!  I think that it is unconstitutional and, although directed at Gary Ott, could have just as easily been used against Randy Horouchi!  Senator Thatcher agreed that Randy also had issues but they were minimal in the mornings and meetings were arranged to cover that.  But, Gary Ott was also lucid for a couple of hours a day in the morning and when I talked to him (a year before he left office), he seemed comfortable with the running of his office by Julie Dole.  I also need to point out that everyone in the building knew of Gary's and Randy's issues.  To insist that the office manager, Julie Dole, should have publicly reported the issues, is like insisting that a woman who keeps getting harassed at work should report her boss, even though it will probably result in her termination.  And I know of several cases that that has happened in the last two years.  

  Senator Thatcher is a valuable asset in the Legislature and tries to do the right thing when representing his voters but his bill allows a legislative body to ignore and overturn the vote of the voters.  Imagine if Draper was able to do the same (the bill only applies to county elected officials) during their tiff with one of their colleagues.  Interestingly, the Legislature made it worse years ago when they allowed Gary to serve 6 years until 2020 without an election.  Representative Stratton's bill seems more appropriate to review elected officials actions.  It also keeps saying that the meetings are closed.  So how can one prove or find out if the meeting participants are unanimous?  Salt Lake City Council said that their Homeless Resource Center site selection was unanimous but after the backlash, Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall said that she voted against the sites.

  A few years ago, this bill could have been used to push an elected gay person to undergo a mental health examination.  This is a sick bill but it is going to the House floor.

SB155 TOWING REQUIRES A SIGN AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE LOT AND ANOTHER

  Many complaints about towing at small and large parking lots and even at mobile home parks and around the 9th and 9th neighborhood have resulted in a bill by Senator Harper that changes the law to

require a large (with a specific font size) sign at the parking lot entrance along with another sign in the lot BEFORE TOWING IS ALLOWED.  It received a favorable recommendation by the Committee to go to the Senate floor

SB164 THAT OPENS UP TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS' DECISIONS FOR TRANSPARENCY HELD

   Unfortunately, the Senate Transportation Committee held it for more review.  Up until now, the County worked with UDOT to choose transportation projects that they thought made sense.  But many mayors in Salt Lake County (16 in the County) felt that they did not have enough say in prioritizing projects.  They didn't.  Essentially, the County Mayor and UDOT may or may not listen to their concerns.  But the Committee held it for review due to many of the questions that will come up as the Legislature pushes for more investment in transit projects.  Senator Adams mentioned that it is wrong for Weber and Davis County to spend more of their sales tax allocation on mass transit projects than SLCO and hoped that soon, Salt Lake County will be forced to spend more on transit.  Note that they also mentioned the Riverton BRT project.  I have to keep saying this because it is not sinking in, UTA does not know how to successfully operate a BRT (Bus Rapid Transit like on 3500 South and that is being constructed in Provo).  Only 3200 passengers a day use the 3500 South BRT while taking out 2 lanes of traffic for it that could have been better used by 10,000 average daily drivers a day!  That is not efficient.  

   THIS IS ONE OF THE SIGNS OF THE BIG TAX INCREASE THAT THE LEGISLATURE IS TRYING TO PUSH ON US FOR MASS TRANSIT (AS IF THAT WILL SOLVE ALL OF OUR PROBLEMS).

SB050 THAT BANS CARBON MONOXIDE CHAMBERS TO KILL PETS FAILS COMMITTEE HEARING

  Despite passing through this Committee last year (and dying in the House Committee), this time the bill died.  The good news is that through the efforts of many groups, more animal shelters in the State are stopping the use of them.  Only two seem to remain in Utah County.

  I have several opinion pieces on this issue and, in summary, these chambers don't work.  They are supposed to be tested and calibrated annually but usually never are due to the expense.  The proper procedure is to put the pet into the chamber and close the door and watch through the glass to ensure that the animal drops without suffering.  If it doesn't and it seems to be suffering for more than 30 seconds (there should be no suffering), the system is not working correctly.  Also, after "killing" the pet, it is recommended that it be placed in a freezer to "super duper kill" the pet (I am not kidding.  That was standard operating procedure on many of the old CO chambers.)  

  Utah County Sheriff Tracy, who started with animal control has said in the past that his personnel do not want to watch the animal die.  It is too hard on them.  That is probably why the bill died this year.

MOST IMPORTANT BILLS THAT SHOULD BE TRACKED IN THE LEGISLATURE

  I removed the extremely large text instruction on how to work the Utah Legislature from last month's blog but you can find it on the upper right downloads section as a PDF.  I feel that the images of the website can be more helpful with the text than the text alone.  Note that if you are trying to read these bills, new language is underlined and deleting language is lined out.   These are the bills that I tracked and had/have comments about:

SB0071 Road Tolls Provisions   This bill started as an update to Utah's toll road bill but dramatically changed to absolve the Legislature of blame for raising taxes or fees or tolls.  President Niederhauser lives near the mouth of the Cottonwoods Canyon and finds it hard to get out of his area due to traffic that is often backed up on major ski days.  But there are no convenient parking lots (Although one reason for the tolls is to provide funding for a parking lot according to the Mountain Accord - maybe Terry Diehl, Niederhauser's friend who owns property in the area can volunteer his property for a parking lot.) and except for ski season, no mass transit.  UTA keeps sitting on the proposal for year round mass transit that could/should/will cost about a million per canyon per year.  The bill started with just the Cottonwood Canyons but quickly expanded to statewide due to concern about decreasing gas tax revenue.

  Among the many problems with the bill is that it disincentivizes personal vehicle travel (something that the Mountain Accord recommended) instead of incentivizing mass transit service and use.  But an even bigger issue is that the Legislature is giving authority to UDOT and the Transportation Commission to set tolls on any and all roads that they decide on, although most are supposed to be new roads.  Only Legislators should be deciding on taxes, fees and tolls.  Just because they give up their responsibility to provide representation during tax/fee/toll decisions, doesn't mean that they are blameless.  If they pass the bill, and tolls go up, they can't say that they aren't responsible for the tolls.  There is no plausible deniability nor washing Legislature's hands of responsibility. 

  Tolls do not take into account the vehicle size and weight, yet, but should.  What if the vehicle is sold and the new owner starts collecting toll charges?  And the rural areas could be hurt most of all.  Utah encourages ski resort use and growth and requiring others who use the canyon to pay for that growth is wrong.  The worry that the gas tax revenue will dramatically decrease seems to be unrealistic.  The big threat from electric vehicles isn't realistic since we still love our regular cars and the best selling vehicle in the Country is big F150 truck.  If you watch news shows, notice all of the gasoline vehicle ads.  Cars are not going away and will last for at least a decade.

  Some have mentioned that California is leading the way on this issue with their toll roads.  But Utah should not be following California into the sea like lala lemmings!  The Legislature is the proper decision maker on taxes and fees, not an unelectable commission.

HB0064 Distracted Driver Amendments Failed.  My concern is that we already have a law that makes it

a crime to roll through a stop sign and it has a super penalty if the driver is operating a cell phone.  According to Representative Moss, we need a law to stop that.  Law enforcement does give tickets for this.  If we try to ban all cellphone use while driving, it will be like the 55 mph speed limit and everyone will ignore it, even while texting.  We are trying to decrease texting and driving.  Note that the original bill was originated by a legislator whose friend was killed by a texting driver.  Unfortunately, all texting drivers that cause injuries are not publicized in the newspapers.  They should be.  That would significantly reduce texting and driving.

HB0220 Handheld Wireless Communication Device Amendments is a similar bill that the Committee is holding but it should die.  It provides for a greater penalty for using a cellphone in a school zone.  But parents, in particular, have a habit (good or bad) of using cell phones during their time around schools to coordinate pickup with their kids.

HB0068 Political Party Amendments requires a candidate to choose how to proceed to primary, either through convention or through signatures.  It failed in the House.

HB0088 Electronic Cigarette and Other Nicotine Product Amendments Representative Ray keeps fighting the good fight to decrease use of nicotine and electronic cigarettes.  Unfortunately, the bill is being held by the committee.  The electronic cigarettes and their additives have not received a clear bill of health and some additives have been implicated in destroying lungs (butter flavors)!  I think that many states, including Utah, will receive a rude awakening in 10 years when it will become clear that all those lungs that were using additives that may be harmless in a stomach are going to require major operations and replacement, paid for by somebody but probably, hopefully, not by taxpayers.

HB0124 Water Holdings Accountability and Transparency Amendments Is going to the House

Committee.  It requires municipal water companies to provide the service area and cost of providing the water.  This should clear up the arguments about who is cheating who when providing water.  SLC keeps this data close to their vest but this should force the issue into the open.

HB0135 Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Amendments  This bill is still being discussed.  It requires, mainly SLC, to use an independent analysis of water quality and removes the 15 miles and 300 feet extraterritorial jurisdiction from SLC that allows SLC to control farms and ranches and canyons in 6 Northern Utah Counties.  Unfortunately, it adds allowance for cattle driving on highways but in the back country, in other counties, that is a regular occurrence.

HB0136 Federal Designations Representative Noel's bill stops any Utah government from pushing for federal land designation without going through the State Legislature.  The main reason is the effort by closed door Mountain Accord meetings that resulted in an agreement to turn over the Wasatch Canyons over to the federal government!  Yes, really, that is what is in the Mountain Accord 3.2.1!  This bill is about to pass the house.

 said any federal land designation or trade that blocks public access or alters land management practices should

HB0225 Extra-jurisdictional Municipal Property Forces Salt Lake City to study and provide proof that it needs extra-territorial jurisdiction to protect the watershed outside of its boundaries.  This is a game changer bill.

HB173 Occupational Licensing Amendments allows individuals in some occupations (barbers, beauty shops) that have at least one year of occupation in another state to obtain a license to work in Utah.  It is in the House, passed favorably from the Committee.  Interestingly, some Utah beauty schools are furious because, other states have less educational requirements and our beauty schools are big business (according to the federal government, some are crooked).  It might be cheaper for a Utah citizen to go to another state for a year and successfully return to obtain a license without the expensive education that Utah and our beauty schools demand.

HB0205 Down Syndrome Nondiscrimination Abortion Act I have a problem with a government so powerful that it can interfere with the relationship between a woman and her doctor.  Red China is the worst example.  The idea that a doctor has to provide a patient's name to the Down Syndrome Society would destroy all constitutional privacy requirements.  Even the Legislative analyst says that this bill is unconstitutional!  ACLU and Planned Parenthood are looking forward to suing and getting at least a million from Utah taxpayers.  I know people who work there.  They like this bill and the money that it will give them.  I love Senator Bramble but this bill is wrong and flies in the face Dr and Senator Mattie Cannon's efforts to stop government intrusion into the doctor patient relationship.

HB0330 Communication Interception Amendments This bill will create more instances where police think that they use their position outside of their authority and demand that they not be recorded.  It is going around in circles and may come out but should die when the Payne/Wubbels incident is pointed out to be a similar issue.

SCR005 Resolution to Change Utah's Time Zone and DST.  This resolution died in Committee due to the potential to be two hours time difference from Nevada!  And only two of us spoke against it.  There was a study done a few years ago on this (Google GOED and Daylight Savings Time) but this would destroy our regional leadership and negatively impact students and farmers trying to work and play for a few extra hours in the summer.

HB0345 Driving Under the Influence Amendments Moves the implementation of the .05 DUI law to 2022.  It is just starting but it has no Senate sponsor and I don't expect it to go far.

SB0120 Local Government Fees and Taxes Amendments This bill stops a municipality from implementing a transportation utility fee on a legal subdivision.

HB0169 Commercial Waste Fees for EnergySolutions   This bill reduces the fee that EnergySolutions pays to collect and store radioactive waste in Utah.  Unfortunately, it could result in a large influx of dangerous and mislabeled radioactive material.  It passed the House and the Senate Committee and almost nothing will stop it.  Note that I mentioned a couple of months ago, that EnergySolutions was so inadequately storing the so called depleted Uranium (DU that actually is nuclear weapons waste or Waste in Process that is much more dangerous than concrete encased nuclear fuel rods) that the Energy Department ordered the company, and even paid the company to build an enclosure to keep the barrels out of water (they were flooded).  This could develop into a big headache for Utah if EnergySolutions closes.  But we could also become more organized and force a change in the future.

SB0136 Transportation Governance Amendments SB0136 will not increase transit service   Last year's Transportation Governance and Funding Task Force has recommended this bill, that  increases taxes for transit projects, changes UTA's governance to a three member commission and makes electric vehicles pay more taxes. The main impetus for the bill was UTA's poor reputation and the failure of Prop One two years ago.

  Over the last two years, since the failure of Prop One, UTA's management has significantly changed and no longer rubber stamps staff recommendations. The arguments during Board meetings have been more responsive to public questions and asking for data no longer is met with roadblocks. It isn't perfect, but at least the present Trustees will talk to and listen to concerns from taxpayers. But SB0136 significantly decreases accountability by giving management of UTA to three commissioners who get to decide amongst themselves how to run UTA. They are not elected and will have no public responsibility unlike most Trustees who represent municipalities and residents. 

  The bill gives the County Mayor the responsibility for choosing the commissioner representing Salt Lake County. But the County Mayor has been pushing for projects instead of service. He recently pushed for and got a $6 million project approved for the S-Line that will result in 150 more riders a day from 1400 a day. A million dollar bus route normally carries 2000. There is still not enough service to allow residents to go to shows and entertainment outside of the normal operating hours of UTA. Buses generally stop at 830 PM and generally don't start until 7 AM. TRAX stops at midnight! SB0136 decreases local control. Ten Trustees represent Salt Lake County now and the bill replaces them with one that is not answerable to citizens.

  The bill also ignores the vote of the public two years ago against the .25 cent sales tax increase for UTA. The proposal was to give 40% of new funds to questionable projects including a fancy TRAX Airport bridge, a tunnel in the canyons and a high speed rail station. Only 6% of new funds were to go to service increases. 

  The bill will implement the tax increase anyway and put the money in a Capitol Projects fund. Capital projects should be paid for by local value capture, or property assessments, not by state taxpayers to increase property owner's value. The real reason for this bill is to provide money to fund the development of mass transit around the Point of the Mountain area. The biggest beneficiaries will be the landowners and developers around that area that include many legislative leaders! Service will not receive any increased funding despite the fact that service increase is what mass transit riders and potential riders want. Spending 40% of transportation funding on mass transit when only 3% use mass transit ignores the best way to increase ridership, service increases. I'd rather see more buses on our roads than trains replacing roads. It should also be pointed out that LA spent billions on mass transit projects over the last few decades and mass transit ridership did not go up that much. There was a significant increase in people buying cars though!

  Another part of the bill claims that electric vehicles will destroy the effectiveness of the gas tax so it significantly increases registration fees for electric vehicles. Electric vehicles do not impact roads like the most popular vehicle, the Ford F150 truck. Taxing vehicles that have the least impact on our roads does not make sense and we should be encouraging electric vehicles that decrease air pollution. Electric vehicles comprise less than 1% of the cars on Utah roads. With the average vehicle lasting over ten years, the idea that electric vehicles are a threat to road funding is not realistic.

  The last time the Legislature tried to manage UTA, they told UTA to build 8 TOD projects that gave tens of millions of dollars to private developers. Legislators have pointed out that California is increasing taxes for mass transit like the bullet train but we shouldn't be raising taxes because other states like California raise taxes.

  This increases taxes against the will of the voters and taxpayers and gives landowners and developers property value increases on the backs of taxpayers. The Legislature should listen to the voters. This bill is not the solution to increasing mass transit ridership. There is no data that makes sense to justify this bill. This bill does not increase service. Because this bill ignores voters, this is a turn around and bend over bill with a turn around and bend over tax increase.  That great big flushing sound you will hear if this bill becomes law, is taxpayer dollars being flushed down the toilet due to questionable and crappy projects.

SLC POLICE FIND TOO MANY IDLING CARS, NO LIBERTY PARK CAMPERS AND ASK YOU

TO POST NO TRESPASSING SIGNS

  During community meetings over the last month, the SLC Police have indicated that they are still finding too many idling cars.  Many end up being stolen.  Criminals walk or bike the neighborhoods and when they see one, they can come back everyday and see the same opportunity.  A cop can find 6 cars on average idling a day!

  SLC Police have been patrolling parks in the City and during a recent sweep, they amazingly found no homeless campers in Liberty Park but did find campers in Fairmont Park.  They still have a problem with arresting them and putting their gear in storage so all that they can do is essentially ask them to move.  Even if the property is private, they can't push as much as they want, UNLESS THERE IS A NO TRESPASSING SIGN! They recommend, if you have issues with homeless around your property, to buy a no trespassing sign and register it with the City at a cost of about $18.  Then they can physically force the homeless to quickly move or arrest them.  Otherwise, they have to find the registered owner of the property before they can force anyone, including the homeless off the property.

  First Step also has reported that they are no longer considering trying to open a 100 bed treatment facility in the Ballpark neighborhood since it appears that there will be a big fight against it.  So First Step will be unable to assist in helping drug addicts get treatment over the 50 or so beds that they have now and the 40 supported housing units that they have.  

OUR SCHOOLS NOW FINDS BACKLASH AT BALLPARK PETITION SIGNING

  Our Schools Now is sending staff around to community councils to sign their petition.  Unfortunately, most of the time, there is no ability to have a fair and even presentation of the pros and cons.  The last Ballpark meeting this month changed and the Our Schools Now group got a lot of pushback from people questioning the effort of the richest Utahns pushing the least rich Utahns to pay more to educate kids.

900 SOUTH BETWEEN 950 EAST AND 1300 EAST ABOUT TO WASTE MONEY

  Instead of spending money on fixing poorly maintained streets, Salt Lake City is about to spend money that could be as much as a million dollars on reducing lanes on 900 South, west of 1300 South, adding bike lanes, putting in bulbouts that reduce pedestrian street crossing distances and reconfiguring Gilmer Drive that now exits onto 1100 East to exit onto 900 South. 

  Bicyclists care about adequate street maintenance more than everyone else.  They are the first to be hurt when they hit a pothole that should have been fixed.  In LA, millions are spent every year on lawsuit settlements that do not come close to compensating bicyclists who have to crash trying to navigate streets on the far right hand side of the road. 

  The street that SLC wants to change also has 45 degree parking near 900 East and 45 degree parking and bicycle lanes do not safely mix.  There are two days before the comment deadline but if this goes through, bicyclists will be much worse off.  Also, bicyclists do not like bulbouts.  

SLC STREETS MAINTENANCE REPORT AVAILABLE ON DOWNLOADS AREA

  I put the SLC Streets Maintenance Report on the upper right downloads of this page.  It shows that SLC needs more money to maintain our streets.  My information from a few years ago is still more accurate.  SLC spends about $9 million a year on maintenance.  About another $5 million is spent on fancy projects like separated bike lanes, road diets/reducing travel lanes, traffic calming, bulbouts to reduce pedestrian crossing distance, different colored street pavement, medians and other prettifying projects.  SLC needs $40 million every year to actually provide adequate maintenance for our roads.  When SLC, 5 years ago, increased our taxes to provide an extra $8.4 million a year for road maintenance, the City Council, the next year, gave themselves and the City employees a pay raise by repurposing the road maintenance tax to salaries.  Council Chair Mendenhall was part of the Council that voted for that.  Now the Council is planning on increasing taxes or fees to cover some of the cost of maintaining our roads.  A transportation utility fee is being proposed but the Legislature may kill part of the plan.  When Provo implemented their fee, they left out the church properties from assessment.  It may not be possible in SLC.  Mayor Biskupski has floated the idea of a bond that may cost as little as $5 per month per household.  Taxpayers should tell their Councilmembers and Mayor what they think.

OPERATION RIO GRANDE IS NOT AS SUCCESSFUL AS PUBLICIZED

  During the Legislature's discussion of Operation Rio Grande, several items leapt out from the report that showed big holes in the plans.  The first phase of Operation Rio Grande is supposed to lock up criminals but, since the jail filled up their 300 available beds in about a week, we now have a revolving door jail.  The result is car thieves get out on their own recognizance after a few hours and even aggravated robbery criminals (including the 3 who robbed 4 on the streets and sidewalks in a hours long crime spree) get out in a few days. 

  The Weigand Center received State funding several weeks ago and is now open until 7PM but their storage is full.  They have little cubbies that are big enough for a big backpack.  The cubbies are limited to 2 weeks use then the user has to wait another 2 weeks before they can use it again.  SLC's storage facility with 90 gallon garbage cans is full and only operates 8-5.  So how are the 100 that have signed up for work for the homeless (third phase of Operation Rio Grande) supposed to store their belongings in order to work?  That is one of the reasons why only 20 are currently working. 

  There are currently $68 million dollars being provided for drug and mental health treatment.  $8 million of that is for mental health treatment alone and it provides about 78 beds.  719 are on a waiting list for treatment beds and there are 42 in jail that are being treated.  Many of the homeless that are being shifted to treatment beds are going through the Salt Lake County Drug Court system.  The bad news is that the support staff is woefully inadequate.  For instance, the Road Home has 400 men to one case manager!  There are 200 women in the Road Home nightly.  There are about 5 in the so called safe space regularly, if any, and that space is going to receive $1.7 million this year to keep up the fences and patrol around the area.

JANUARY 24, 2018

HOW THE UTAH LEGISLATURE WORKS AND HOW TO MAKE IT

WORK

ABORTION BILL TURNS IN WOMEN CONSIDERING ABORTION TO ANTI ABORTION GROUP!!!

CAR THIEVES AND DRUG ADDICTS IN JAIL FOR A FEW

HOURS  

SIDEWALK OPED IN SLTRIB MAY GET COUNCIL TO PUSH FOR

WIDER SIDEWALKS

UTA STATE CAPITOL ELECTRIC BUS SCHEDULE MAKES UTA

LOOK CLUELESS

TURN AROUND AND BEND OVER TAX INCREASE COMING

OPEN MEETINGS, SECRECY AND LACK OF PUBLIC COMMENTS

STILL EXIST

SLC FLEET BLOCK (850 S 300 W) STILL VACANT AND USELESS

SLC STANDING AGAINST GARBAGE INCREASE

REGENT STREET ART NEEDS BILLBOARDS TO ENERGIZE THE

AREA

SLC BIKE REGISTRATION PLAN TO STOP CHOP SHOPS STILL

IN MAYOR'S OFFICE  

LIBERTY PARK TO GET A FITNESS COURT ON THE NORTH

SIDE  

IF YOU WARM UP YOUR CAR IN THE MORNING, HOPE FOR A POLICE TO KNOCK

UTAH RETIREMENT SYSTEMS REPORT SHOW WHY PUSHING

COPS OUT AT 20 YEARS

1300 SOUTH 900 WEST PARK WILL HAVE TOW YARD NEXT TO

IT

UTA REFUSES TO USE PROPERTY SALE MONEY FOR SERVICE INCREASES

HOW THE UTAH LEGISLATURE WORKS AND HOW TO MAKE IT WORK

(I will put a version with website pictures up in the downloads section within a couple of days.)   For those interested in working with the Utah Legislature to push issues and bills, I wrote up a summary that can help. I have been going to the Legislature and talking with many of the legislators for many years.  I am not a lobbyist.  But most legislators treat me with respect and are willing to answer questions and discuss issues and potential bills, if they make sense.  They often jump at bill ideas that are in their interest range.  Some legislators are very interested in bills that decrease government overreach.  Other legislators are interested in rail and mass transit.  I wrote an oped in November of 2016 in the Deseret News that countered Senator Jim Dabakis' opinion piece that slammed the legislature for not listening to the citizens.  I fought for Healthy Utah but the legislators that I talked to were tired of 300+ emails a day with sob stories.  They were so upset that they ignored the important benefits of healthcare expansion.  But they were willing to listen to arguments that were quickly presented that made a good case for the issues.  I watched Representative Schultz spend half an hour listening to a group of men concerned about a bill that he was sponsoring and he tried to find a compromise and satisfy their concerns.  He was supposed to be somewhere else but he acted like he was working for them.  That is what a public servant is supposed to do.  My interactions with most legislators seem to support my belief that most consider themselves public servants.  

  I am able to suggest bill ideas and see them implemented into law by legislators that are not in my district.  Interestingly enough, my senator, Jim Dabakis, won't listen to me while most other legislators will consider my arguments.  

  So this is my lesson on basic working knowledge of the Utah Legislature.

  The important dates are below.  If you have not discussed an idea for a bill by February 1, there is very little chance to have your idea be considered.  Sometimes, you can add onto a bill if the suggestion is in the same area that the bill effects.  Bills have to be on one specific issue.  For instance, two years ago, we were fighting SLC's ticketing of ADA disabled wheelchair drivers and Rep. Stratton was running a bill on wheelchair van parking.  He agreed to change the bill and add that the ADA parking plackard could be placed on the dashboard and not on the mirror.  Unfortunately, it was done so late in the session that it missed getting approved by the Senate by an hour.  That happens a lot.  The bill was approved last year.  The lesson here is that legislators WILL listen to a good argument.  They really do try to make Utah better.

Dec. 1 Last day for governmental entities to request bills without floor approval

Dec 7 Last day for legislators to designate priority bill request 1

Dec 20 Last day for Executive Appropriations to set initial budget matters

Jan 4 Last day for a legislator to designate priority bill request number 2

Jan 25 Last day for a legislator to designate priority bill request number 3

Feb 1 Last day to request bills or appropriations without floor approval

Feb 6 Last day for the Legislature to either pass or defeat each base budget bill

Feb 24 Last day for the Legislature to present a bill to the Governor where he is required to act on the bill before the end of the session

Mar 2 last day for Executive Appropriations to complete all decisions necessary to draft the final appropriations bill

Mar 5 Any bond bill shall be made available to legislators by noon

Last day for a motion to reconsider

Last day to consider bills from own house

Mar 6 Last day for legislators to prioritize fiscal note bills and identify other programs for new funding

    Last day final action must be taken on each bond bill by calendar closing time

Last day final action must be taken on each general appropriations bill, supplemental appropriation bill and school finance bill by calendared closing time

Mar 7 Last day to pass any bill with a fiscal note of $10,000 or more

Mar 8 Last day of the session

  When a legislator wants a bill, they work with their staff attorneys and fiscal analysts to ensure that the proposed bill makes sense and is fiscally appropriate.  Note that any bill with a fiscal note of $10,000 or more must be passed by March 7.  In fact, any bill that could cost $10,000 or more is handicapped in the last two weeks of the Legislature.  If there is no or little cost, and the committee that hears the bill agrees, the bill can be placed on the consent calendar and approved quickly without debate.  Of course, any legislator can circle the bill for discussion which can significantly slow it down, especially in the last few days of the session.  That is why there are so many meetings behind closed doors to try to get agreement on the bills before they could get bogged down in the chambers.  There is a lot of horse trading behind closed doors.  Lobbyists also have a lot of influence but, in my opinion, individuals also can have influence if they spend more that a day or two at the Legislature.  Most of the lobbyists' influence comes from regularly seeing the legislators.  The cafeteria at lunch time (in the Senate/east building) has many legislators meeting with their constituents and others and discussing issues and bills.

  If you want to make a point with your legislator, make sure that you put constituent in the subject line and add your address (to confirm it) at the end of the email.  When things get rushed or busy, legislators only look at constituent emails.  Their interns also go through and often pick out their constituents to ensure that the legislators are given a heads up on the voters who the legislators are supposed to be representing.  

  I put the list of legislative interns in the upper right downloads section.  

  When a bill is numbered (note that some bills are held to decrease backlash and fights until the last minute so you might see a bill increasing taxes come out at the end of the session with just a day's notice - which is a Utah State law - at least one day's notice is required.), it then goes to the chamber's rules committee which assigns the bill to be heard by a certain committee if the bill has, if needed, a fiscal note.  The sponsor's chamber's Senate or House committee hears the bill first then it goes, if approved, to the floor of the chamber for three readings to ensure that it is thoroughly discussed.  If passed to the next chamber, it will go through their rules committee, be assigned and then be heard by the other chamber's committee.  Rules has a lot of power and some committees have a reputation.  For instance House Revenue and Taxation is very anti tax and fiscally conservative.  If a legislator has a questionable tax bill, they may try to convince Rules to give it to a committee that is more likely to pass the bill.  Rules is very hard to influence and that is why they have a lot of influence.  They will take public comment but it seldom changes their mind.

  But in committees, generally, unless time is short, public comments are encouraged and asked for.  A good argument in committee can make a difference.  Committee members will listen to and consider well reasoned and short (two minutes) comments and arguments for and against a bill.  The Legislature tries to have at least one public hearing on each bill.  Towards the end of the session, they sometimes skip one hearing.  After the bill goes to the floor, it is difficult to influence the votes but it can be done.  

  A good short argument by text or email may be read by the legislators unless they have too many and then their interns will sift through the material.  You can also go to the staff that man the desks next to the chambers and ask to give your legislator or legislators a note.  They have little pieces of paper for that.  Usually, they won't react unless you are their constituent.

  The Legislature has a great website with a lot of easy to locate and valuable information.  I would like to suggest that you spend some time getting used to it.  The mobile/cell phone version is a little different from what I will put up on the upper right downloads area.  It is the desktop version (in Word format).  The information below is just the text from that download.  The download Word file has the screenshots. 

  The Legislature's website is le.utah.gov.  When you go to that website, you will see the image below (for a desktop).  You have buttons on the picture for the 2018 session, the calendar (which I find to be the most important button), and my legislators.

  If you click on the 2018 session, you will see the screen below with quick links, scheduled hearings and trending columns.

  One of the best uses of the website is to track bills.  You can track up to 150 bills if your mind is capable of doing so.  

  If you want to find a bill, you can search for the subject, the sponsor, the number or what the bill covers.  For instance, Senator Davis is sponsoring Medicaid expansion bill and this is what comes up when you search for that.  The page has the text of the bill and pdf downloads of the bill and the fiscal note and any new changes are available for download by clicking on the pdf symbol.  You can also track the bill and get email notifications by signing up (on the right of the page). 

  When you sign up to track a bill, it will ask for your email (seen below with a Captcha confirmation) and it will send you an email to confirm tracking or notification.  You must click on the button on the email to confirm tracking.  The Legislature will then send you an email everytime the status of the bill changes, whether it is sent to a committee, is voted on or it passes or fails.

  The website also has a summary of the bills that you are tracking (see below).

  You can also find bills by searching for the subject that they could cover (see below).  

  If you want to see the fiscal note, for instance for the bill below (ecigarette tax), click on the right hand fiscal note button.

  This is what you will see.  It is a full accounting of what the bill will cost or gain Utah in revenue.  There is a tendency in the Legislature to try to make bills revenue neutral so that it will not increase tax revenue.

  You can find out a lot more about the legislators by clicking on the upper bar of items on the website which includes legislators.  When you click that button, you will get a choice of House and Senate rosters.  The House and Senate lay out information a little differently but this is what they look like.  It includes their committees, their background, their emails, phone and addresses.  Note that Utah legislators do not hide and are very available.  I try not to phone (email is more respectful and they will call me if they want to talk) but their phone number is available on the website. The Salt Lake Tribune published a good summary of emails and phone numbers that you can find at scribd.com.  It is free to sign up and search for Salt Lake Tribune and your 2018 Utah Legislature (item number 369621597).

  If you want to find all of the bills involving air quality, just type it into the search bar.  This is what you will get.

  You can also search for other year's sessions' bills.

  The site has other information like the items below.

  Usually, each year, I go into the bills section and look for all subjects of bills.  I get a long list of bills, many may not see the light of day, they are just placeholders.    But if you ask for a listing by subject, it will give an easy to read list of bills, both numbered and in process.

  Once you find a bill that you want to track, you can click on the bill and the middle column above the bill's text is STATUS.  Clicking on that will show the status and where the bill is assigned once it passes rules.  It will note whether it has a fiscal note and where it is in process.  Once you know to which committee that it is assigned, you can go to the committee page (top menu bar and on the furthest right) and click on it and find the committee that it is assigned to and find when it will meet again.  That committee page will also have a listing of the agenda (for download) and items that will be presented (by clicking on the view list).  I find that many of the presentations are important and informative and they can be downloaded from the item view list.  You can also click on the audio view list.  Note that last year the audio was recorded as a video mp4 file.  The contractor that provides the downloads as mp4 may change to mp3 which would provide a 20mb 2 hour file download instead of a 500 mb file download.  We asked that the Legislature consider it to encourage more public engagement.

  This is another view of what you can find on the committee webpage.

  I look at the Legislature's calendar everyday since I find some surprises every year.  I asked several times last year about some bills that were promised and that I wanted to fight but we didn't know until a day before that the bills were going to be heard (one was dropped).  That bill, with one day notice, and only one comment against it was the homeless resource center site decision that gave Mayor McAdams the full responsibility for picking the site.  Only the calendar showed the bill and committee hearing the day before!  Controversial bills sometimes ARE rushed through.  When you click on the calendar, you will see a group of date on the week and the committee hearing and chambers meetings for each day.  Clicking on the agenda (the left hand symbol under the title of the committee will give you the pdf agenda.  If you click on the committee itself, you will get all of the meetings along with a list of items (click on the view list farthest right column) to be heard at the meeting and presentations and audio recordings.  Audio is also provided in real time.  I have had to use it when I find several items being heard that I was interested in commenting on in different committees meeting at the same time.

  Note that public comment is encouraged generally and you just have to show up to comment.  For some contentious issues like marijuana, the chair of the committee may pass around a sign up sheet and choose a few from each side of the issue to try to be fair.  If there are many trying to speak, and you do not have a well formed and reasonable argument for or against the bill, you may actually hurt your case.   An exception to public comments is the appropriation committees that meet mostly at the beginning of the session.  They include House and Senate legislators and public comment time must be asked for and reserved.  If there is time, the chair may allow you to comment (again for 2 minutes maximum).  But you must reserve the time by 1 PM the day before.  If you want to comment on a Monday meeting issue, sometimes the staff will be there on Saturday.  For instance, if you wanted to speak at the Social Services Appropriations Subcommittee when they discuss homeless funding (you will have to check the website to see when that is on the calendar and they only have notices going out a few days before), you MUST call Debbie Benson the day before by 1 PM at 801 326 1698 to be considered for public comment and note the agenda item that you want to comment on.  Ms. Benson handles most of the appropriations committees' reservations for public comments.

  And a final note, today, Wednesday January 24, there are a bunch of Legislative committee hearings at the same time.  If you are interested in animal shelter amendments SB50 that outlaws CO chambers for killing animals in shelters it is being heard at 2 PM.  If you are interested in SB70 that allows tolling going up canyons and disincentivizing personal vehicles, it is being heard at 2PM.  If you are interested in SCR1 that throws out the Philo T. Farnsworth statue from the U.S. Capitol, it is being heard at 2PM.  If you are interested in allowing power companies from other states to operate in Utah without Public Utilities Commission oversight, it is being heard at 2PM.  All of these are in different committees and different rooms at the Capitol.  That is why the agendas under the calendar on le.utah.gov are so important.  You can see where they are on the agenda.  Caution, since many Legislators have many bills, they often rearrange the agendas to help Legislators be more time effective. 

  I will try to update this information to put in anything that I have forgotten.  I will put a note in the blog if there is an update. 

  Remember, if you want this information in a download form, I put a pdf file with the screenshots in the upper right hand downloads section. 

ABORTION BILL TURNS IN WOMEN CONSIDERING ABORTION TO ANTI ABORTION GROUP!!!

  Two of my favorite legislators, who try to listen and develop bills that benefit all Utahns, have for some reason decided to push HB205 which requires that doctors turn in women who are considering abortion if their baby could have down syndrome!  Those women are not just turned into government but their names are also given to an anti abortion group!

  The idea that government should be able to interfere with the privacy of a doctor/patient relationship is obviously unconstitutional but also smacks of Communist China where women were turned in for trying to have a baby!  This is like Communist Russia and East Germany where people were forced to turn in everyone that didn't do what the state wanted!  The idea that government is considering ordering doctors to turn over the names of patients to an private adversary group is shocking.  Down syndrome babies and people are people and they can be as loving and lovable as anyone but a woman's right to make the wise right choice with prayer and counseling should not be questioned.  A government that is powerful enough to order doctors to turn in their patients who are considering an abortion is powerful enough to force women to have abortions.  This is not what this Country is.  Abortion is a sad commentary on our society but this bill makes us look even worse.  HB205 should not be passed.  This is not the way to decrease abortion.

CAR THIEVES AND DRUG ADDICTS IN JAIL FOR A FEW HOURS   

  Unfortunately, SB86, a so called hate crimes bill that has more teeth in it than the bill that was passed several years ago (written up by a religious rights lawyer - which is why the LDS Church blessed it) will defocus prosecutors from fully prosecuting criminals that continuously victimize citizens when they are loose.  Instead prosecutors will focus more on what the Senate sponsor of SB86 says "I'm interested in stopping people who are using criminal actions to threaten and intimidate entire communities".  But we should be prosecuting threats and carving out a section to focus on leaves out another segment of victims.  We do not have enough prosecutors to put car thieves and drug dealers in jail for more than a few hours so how can we prosecute more crimes (these are crimes) without more prosecutors.  This bill also sounds like it will be used to threaten and intimidate entire communities of people who do not want to be forced to engage in behavior that they find distasteful.  We should all be able to get along and not threaten each other.  The U.S. Supreme Court is discussing this issue now and this bill may be a waste of time with their decision.  But again, we don't have enough prosecutors to send serial car thieves and drug dealers, some of whom have been arrested dozens of times, to prison.  When we do have enough prosecutors, and jail or prison space, then we should discuss this but not until, if ever.

  A good example, similar to the booking report that I put on the upper right downloads area, and discussed in the last blog entry, is David hamson who was booked into jail January 3 for car theft but released since charges weren't filed until Jan 9.  On Jan 18, he was arrested and charged with bank robbery and he had stolen another car.  But, this time, the federal government put a retainer on him so he shouldn't be getting out as quickly.  The Salt Lake County's lack of adequate public safety funding is causing criminals to victimize citizens dozens of times.  Mayor Ben McAdams is responsible for repurposing the $9.4 million jail bond and he is the reason why the Rio Grande district (and now the rest of the County) is having such a big problem with crime due to drugs.  Essentially, according to former Senator Steve Urquhart, drugs were essentially legal for several years under Ben McAdams public safety funding.

SIDEWALK OPED IN SLTRIB MAY GET COUNCIL TO PUSH FOR WIDER SIDEWALKS

  Lloyd Cox, from the Ballpark Community Council had an oped in the Salt Lake Tribune this last Sunday that made a good argument for SLC's lack of encouraging walkability.  High buildings with 40 foot walls going straight up one foot from a 3 foot sidewalk is a frightening and regular occurance in Salt Lake City.  The City Council should push to encourage wider sidewalks that meet the recommended widths of Complete Streets standards, generally 12 feet in mixed use neighborhoods, so strollers can pass each other without going into the street.  His oped is

at:  https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2018/01/20/commentary-salt-lake-city-needs-tosupport-and-protect-walkability/

UTA STATE CAPITOL ELECTRIC BUS SCHEDULE MAKES UTA LOOK CLUELESS

  UTA is again implementing a 15 minute bus system going to and from the State Capitol during the Legislative session.  The buses run until about 8:30 PM.  Although they are usually empty, during rush hour, they are full, especially from and to the North Temple FrontRunner station.  My issue is that the two buses dedicated to these runs continue to follow each other within a minute or less at the Capitol.  I often see them within a couple of feet of each other.  This makes UTA look like they can't even appropriately manage two buses much less hundreds!  The reason for the two meeting at the Capitol at the same time (actually within 2 minutes) is because one is coming from the Courthouse TRAX and other is coming from the North Temple FrontRunner station.  It still does not make sense.  You can change it by emailing the General Manager and demand a more fiscally responsible schedule.  Jerry Benson's email is jbenson@rideuta.com.

  The buses are electric but the big question is why aren't they being used in the canyons!?  The canyons would get better use and good will and passengers with electric buses.  For years we have asked UTA for the funding required to provide 15 minute bus service year round up each canyon.  Two years ago, UTA found that the money required was about a million dollars a year per canyon.  But UTA refused to officially provide that figure because they wanted to give the Mountain Accord and Central Wasatch Commission (CWC) follow on credit for providing bus service.  I think that is wrong.  UTA should release the study and instead of waiting to make CWC look good, do what is in the best interest of the citizens of Utah.

TURN AROUND AND BEND OVER TAX INCREASE COMING

  Many Utah leaders are celebrating the wonderful plans to develop the prison site in Draper after its population moves to Salt Lake City's new prison in their Northwest Quadrant (NWQ).  But the plans include billions in infrastructure that will provide millions in added value to property, some of which is owned by legislative leaders.  And the taxpayers seem to be lined up against the wall to pay for the infrastructure.  Instead of having the property owners pay, or have a CRA (commercial redevelopment area) pay for it (taking a portion of the increased property taxes and paying for infrastructure) or using an assessment district or impact fees, the Legislature is talking about pushing a .25 cent tax increase, like the Prop One proposal that lost in Utah and Salt Lake County.  So after the taxpayers refused to fund the fancy projects, the Legislature is ready to fund the fancy projects with taxpayer dollars even though they voted against it!

  The estimated cost of the proposed light rail/TRAX from Draper to Utah County is, in the report, $660 million.  The minimum cost was over $700 million several years ago and that didn't count stations and other infrastructure like power systems, which can double the cost.  The biggest beneficiaries will be the legislators and friends of the legislators who own property in the area around the rail lines.  And taxpayers are being proposed to pay for it!  I believe that the cost of a TRAX line from Draper to Lehi is closer to $3 billion!  I fought an effort several years ago in Utah County at the MAG (mountainland association of governments) that tried to move the TRAX project up to be completed by 2025!  It still is at 2038 but the pressure is on to do it now and tell the taxpayers to bend over.  One other interesting estimate is the doubling of the cost (from $660 million to $1100 million) if the rail goes through the prison site, which they would like.  Remember, the Draper TRAX went to the east, despite warnings that it would eventually have to turn back to the west.  And there is going to be a $500 million cost for that decision if decision makers put the new TRAX extension through the old prison site.  

  Another issue that should be made a priority regarding ensuring that all areas of Salt Lake and Utah Counties get a fair share of transit and road funding.  The westside is growing faster than the eastside but the Point of the Mountain plans push sending most transportation funding to the eastside.

OPEN MEETINGS, SECRECY AND LACK OF PUBLIC COMMENTS STILL EXIST

  A couple of weeks ago, I was asked about why the texting and emails that occur during public meetings are not available.  That is an issue.  The Utah State Senate released/releases those records and considers them public records.  But SLC and most other cities in Utah do not release those records.  I make use of texting and emails to elected leaders even while they are in meetings.  One of the reasons that I do it during SLC Council meetings is because they are making decisions (with so called straw polls that essentially being rubber stamped later at a formal public meeting!  The Council does not allow comments before their Work Session meeting, although they should.  I believe that the law requires it.  They closed a golf course and agreed to spend hundreds of thousands on the Mountain Accord and CWC follow on without a public hearing.  The decisions were made in their Work Sessions.  The SLCO

Council, on the other hand, allows and encourages public comment before their important work sessions (that ironically happen at the same time as the SLC Council work sessions).  The SLC Council sitting as the RDA Board, meeting at least once a month does allow public comment but I seem to be the only one commenting. 

  In other words, I believe that the SLC Council should be more open to encourage public engagement and ensure that decisions are not made in secret (like the homeless shelters).  Compared to the Legislature, the SLC Council looks much worse when it comes to allowing public comment.  The Legislature allows public comment on each bill and issue at least once if not several times.

  An interesting bill, HB 72 that makes personal electronic communications public, just was heard but it was held by the House Government Operations Committee (probably to kill it but it could be modified).  It applied to government workers who use their devices for political purposes.

SLC FLEET BLOCK (850 S 300 W) STILL VACANT AND USELESS

  Except for homeless who roam the area, the big Fleet block that used to house SLC big maintenance equipment is still unused.  The SLC Council has started discussing what to do witht he block and has asked for an RFP to look for the "highest and best use".  Hopefully, this will lead to quick development.  The block would be have a significant energizing effect of the Granary district since the TRAX line is just a block away.  There is also the chance of rerouting the Green line through to 400 West that would save 10 minutes to the Airport and provide the north south rail line that the Council wants.  Unfortunately, this is one of many properties that SLC owns that have sat vacant for years or decades.  They include almsot $100 million in vacant property (including RDA property).

SLC STANDING AGAINST GARBAGE INCREASE

  A reminder that SLC is the only thing standing in the way of significant raising of garbage fees with Mayor McAdams proposal to close the jointly operated transfer station.  Hopefully the final decision will include public comment and publicity which is missing up until now.  In addition, there is a State garbage fee that could be raised.

REGENT STREET ART NEEDS BILLBOARDS

  SLC has asked for proposals for art for Regent Street near the theater to energize the area.  The placemaking RDA art project has a budget of $2 million and applications and proposals must be in by February 7.  If SLC wants to energize the area and make it like NYC Times Square, it should allow a lot of electronic billboards on adjacent buildings.  Unfortunately, the SLC Council has fought electronic billboards over the last ten years.

SLC BIKE REGISTRATION PLAN TO STOP CHOP SHOPS STILL IN MAYOR'S OFFICE  

  As of January 24, SLC's effort to stop bicycle chop shops is still in the Mayor's office on the desk of Patrick Leary.  The Mayor promised the proposal to the Liberty Wells Community Council by the end of November.  With the new Legislative session, and 18 cities in the county (all within an easy stolen bike ride), this is an issue that the Utah Legislature should tackle.  But without the proposal to start a discussion, it won't happen and a one city, SLCity effort will be very ineffective.  I still believe that all bicycle sales should include the serial number of the frame to discourage selling of stolen bikes online.  The homeless seem to have been taking advantage of the lack of enforcement of the Utah law requiring registration.  Several years ago, the SLC Fire Department was taking registrations but they were putting them in a box and they were not entered into a computer database due to "lack of personnel".  The police can't do anything to stop someone from stealing bikes without a better system.  Even when they see (and many times a day they do see) a homeless person walking with a kids bike, they can't stop him and confiscate it.

LIBERTY PARK TO GET A FITNESS COURT ON THE NORTH SIDE  

  The City has started the process of putting in a fitness court on the north side of Liberty Park.  It is interesting that that is a priority before finding funds to repair and start the Seven Canyons Fountain Art that is east of Tracy Aviary.  The art is a very popular feature of the Park and the Liberty Wells Community Council wants it cost effectively restored.  The City balked at their estimated cost of over a million dollars.  Experts supporting the Seven Canyons estimated that it should cost less than $200,000.

IF YOU WARM UP YOUR CAR IN THE MORNING, HOPE FOR A POLICE TO KNOCK

  The SLC Police are stopping during patrol when they see an idling car without a driver in it.  They have so many stolen cars that already were started and that had the driver leaving for a "minute" that they will knock on doors and warn the owner of the danger.  Of course, the biggest problem is that car thieves only stay in jail for a few hours.  If a cop doesn't know, it could get much worse.  Your car has a good chance of being stolen.

UTAH RETIREMENT SYSTEMS REPORT SHOW WHY PUSHING COPS OUT AT 20 YEARS

  Several years ago, we tried to change the requirement that Utah Tier II retirement systems individuals (public safety and teachers are caught up in the requirements) leave public service for a year before they can return to service and have more money put into the retirement system  This requirement pushes Highway Patrol Officers to Arizona after 20 years and cops with their 20 years of effective institutional knowledge fighting crime to leave public service.  They can't even teach for a year without being paid fewer benefits that others with the same qualifications.  I know officers that want to be teachers and obtain degrees before their retirement.  The Utah Legislature was given a report this week on the Utah Retirement system.  It found that the Tier II teachers system includes about 24,000 (note that rural areas have a difficult time keeping 20 year teachers due to this requirement) teachers and is 96% funded with only $8 million dollars of unfunded liability.

  The public safety employees (not firefighters) has $577 million in unfunded actuarial accrued liability and is 84% funded.  That is why the Legislature balks at allowing more retirement pay to 20 year cops while they are still working in public service.

1300 SOUTH 900 WEST PARK WILL HAVE TOW YARD NEXT TO IT

   The SLC Council has tentatively asked staff to move forward with the plan to create the Three Confluences Park next to 1300 South and 900 West.  Unfortunately, a long time business owner is asking for an easement to continue to operate his tow yard that is in back of his service station.  The City Council asked the staff to push for a solution to move the business.  They expressed concern about a long term easement agreement and the waste oil and contaminants next to the water in the Park.  In addition, there is a February 6 public hearing at the Council to collect final comments before an official decision.  If the tow yard gets the easement, there will be a brand new and beautiful park next to a tow yard, along with noisy tow trucks!

UTA REFUSES TO USE PROPERTY SALE MONEY FOR SERVICE INCREASES

  UTA will have a public hearing today January 24 to approve their bond refinancing and bond buys that will collect millions to be used for the well hidden $65 million bus garage that UTA does not want to publicize.  This is one of those issues that makes UTA look bad.  But the Legislature's solution, to be discussed at the January 25 7 AM meeting, is not going to help.  It will raise taxes to be used mostly for the Prison site redevelopment.  I think that the present UTA management is better.   The bond issue will save $8 million or more and will be placed in an "early debt retirement fund".  That money should be used for service increases.

  Another item on the January 25 agenda is the UTA 2040 Strategic Plan that plans high frequency and high capacity bus systems on many streets without ensuring that big expensive projects don't require better ridership first then upgrading the system.  The data should drive improving the buses but, if UTA does what it did in Utah County, where 100,000 free passes will exist, there will be no way of knowing if the ridership, with fares will make sense for the almost $200 million Provo TRIP/BRT project.

JANUARY 12, 2018

FREE FARE FRIDAY RESULTS

N. OGDEN MAYOR TAYLOR TO DEFEND AMERICA IN

AFGHANISTAN

COVERUP OF UTA/PROVO TRIP SUCCESS DATA

SLCO CAR THIEVES RELEASED AFTER A FEW HOURS

SLC NORTHERN UTAH WATER CONTROL AT RISK

ERIN MENDENHALL NEW SLC COUNCIL CHAIR

NORTHWEST QUADRANT 

NATIONAL MONUMENT BACKER LOSES SENATE RACE

TOLL ROADS PROPOSED UP CANYONS

INCLUSIONARY ZONING

PROJECTS ON 40MPH ROADS INCREASE TRAFFIC DANGER

ODYSSEY HOUSE HAS 126 BEDS IN MILLCREEK

FIRST STEP TREATMENT REFUSED IN SOUTH SALT LAKE CITY

OTHER SIDE DEMOLITION DENIED

HOMELESS CENTERS TAKE AWAY PROPERTY VALUE

CLOSING PART OF 1300 SOUTH FOR PARK

OUR SCHOOLS NOW GOING TO COMMUNITY COUNCILS

I apologize for missing the weekly news blog over the last two weeks.  I have 17 items to report that cover what would have been the last two weeks.  I will try to continue the weekly news blog update which should have a lot more due to the Legislature.  I hope to have a primer on working with the Legislature by the end of the month.

FREE FARE FRIDAY RESULTS

  Last month, the Salt Lake City Council and UTA and County arranged for a weekday free fare on UTA's system.  It was a great opportunity for families to take their children on a ride on a bus, a TRAX or on FrontRunner.  Of course, the FrontRunner received the most attention.  During rush hour, FrontRunner is often packed.  Families packed FrontRunner during the free fare day.  Parking lots were full.  And children were given candies and stickers. 

  It was a great way to get children interested in mass transit.  But the next time UTA should give free FrontRunner rides on Saturday.  That way the parking lots won't be as full and those who are interested in trying mass transit won't be discouraged by the full parking lots.  That is one of the reasons why free fare and reduced fare on red air days doesn't always work.  Ticket machines have a maximum throughput that limits much increase and when someone interested in mass transit finds a full parking lot, they are going to avoid mass transit.  

  My oped in the Salt Lake Tribune December 23, 2017 explained the issues.  Several years ago, there was an effort in the Legislature to provide free fares on red air days but it failed.  The downside is, according to studies, free fare discourages long-term ridership increases unless it is carefully planned.  If there is a chance of many so called undesirables on mass transit during free fare days, that will also discourage ridership increases.  There have been attempts to remove the free fare area downtown.  But SLC and UTA could not agree on the cost.  UTA tried to low ball the proposed payment to SLC to remove the free fare area.  The City Council decided that $100,000 was too little for a service that is worth probably a million.

N. OGDEN MAYOR TAYLOR TO DEFEND AMERICA IN AFGHANISTAN

  North Ogden Mayor Brent Taylor has risked his life defending our Country during several tours overseas in combat zones.  He is resigning to deploy to Afghanistan, which is still a very dangerous war zone.  He also will be leaving the UTA Board of Trustees.  His tenure on the Board gave UTA a valuable voice that questioned the status quo that often rubber-stamped staff recommendations.  The Board tried to hold up his appointment, which I considered to be one of the most disrespectful actions I have ever seen against a combat veteran.  Even if one disagrees, people deserve more respect, especially veterans.

COVERUP OF UTA/PROVO TRIP SUCCESS DATA

  Mayor Taylor also sent out a press release complaining about the free passes for students, employees and family that UTA and Utah County, BYU and UVU set up in return for a set amount.  Mayor Taylor is right.  The plan should have been analyzed and approved by the Board of Trustees.  This unilateral action by UTA CEO Jerry Benson was not just wrong, it could hide the real data that could show if the Provo TRIP/BRT is a success.  It also looks like it would be used to show that the Provo TRIP/BRT is a success when the free pass is making it look like it is a success.  UTA still has not managed a successful Bus Rapid Transit(BRT).  The 3500 South/35 MAX BRT saves 15 minutes off of a 70 minute trip by bus.  It has stops every four blocks which average out to 15 minutes to get to a 35 MAX bus stop, so essentially there are no time savings.  A successful BRT should have at least 5000 passengers per day but for several years, the 35 MAX has had about 3200 passengers per day.  It also uses two lanes on 3500 South that could be used for 10,000 average daily trips (ADT).  So congestion and air pollution is increased significantly while providing mass transit for a third of the riders that could utilize the lanes with cars.  Good mass transit should be more efficient than cars, not less efficient.

SLCO CAR THIEVES RELEASED AFTER A FEW HOURS

  During recent meetings with the police, I kept asking how many hours were the arrested car thieves kept in the Salt Lake County Jail?  I investigated and found that, like drug dealers, and most other criminals, car thieves are released after a few hours.  That has been the rumor.  I attached the County Jail report for Harley Gregory Welsh on the upper right downloads column.  Harley seems to be a career criminal that intends to victimize anyone and everyone when is out of jail.  Despite being arrested for car theft on December 17, he was released on his own recognizance on the same day.  He then stole a car again and tried to run down several cops and escaped during a chase.  He was arrested a few days later and charged with almost 10 separate crimes.  Hopefully, this will keep him off the streets for a while.  But without sufficient funding for prosecution, he won't be sent to where he belongs, prison.    Although Salt Lake City Police have doubled arrests in the last year, some crimes are going up.  When burglaries doubled in SLC District 5 (2100 S. to 900 S. and I15 to 1300 E.), the SLC Police went door to door warning of the issue and asking for residents and businesses to not make it easy for criminals and be aware of the behavior of strangers in the area.

  Criminals can now be arrested and taken to jail since the Jail Booking Restrictions were lifted.  But the 300 beds freed by the Operation Rio Grande plan, (opening up jail beds in other counties)are not permanent.  When the empty beds at Oxbow Jail are reopened (380 beds) in July, they will be used to house the inmates from the jails in other counties.  So SLCO will not really get any extra jail beds.  And criminals will still take advantage of Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams' inadequate public safety funding.  To be fair, Mayor McAdams does say that he is putting highest priority on public safety.  But when car thieves only stay in jail for a few hours, just like drug dealers and many criminals are arrested many times a month, Salt Lake County citizens are victimized.  Mayor McAdams is victimizing the citizens of Salt Lake County.

  Mayor McAdams is running against Mia Love for Congress.  He has a great chance of winning.  But he seems to be using it for a stepping stone to Utah Governor.  What is ironic is that Greg Hughes seems to be also setting up a run for Utah Governor in 2020.  And Greg Hughes supported Mayor McAdams run again Republican Dave Robinson in 2016.  And Greg Hughes refused to acknowledge the problems with the jail and prosecutor funding at the County for years.  Police have been complaining about the revolving door at the jail for criminals since Ben McAdams was mayor.  So Utah will have two candidates for governor in 2020 that seem to be supporting each other more than other members.   The effect of inadequate public safety funding is visible in the many criminal magnet apartments that are infamous with many neighborhoods.  A recent community council repeated the complaints about the infamous Georgia Apartments (2015 S. 200 E.).  The Salt Lake City Police have been trying to focus on arresting the criminals in the apartments but they are finding the effort continuous due to the jail's revolving door.  

SLC NORTHERN UTAH WATER CONTROL AT RISK

  Representative Noel has unveiled a bill for the upcoming Legislative session that removes the overly broad extraterritorial jurisdiction that allows Salt Lake City to control development in 6 Northern Utah countries in order to protect the watershed.  But the impetus was the fact that there are many other first class cities that also have the same extraterritorial overlapping jurisdiction yet are able to provide safe and effective water supplies with minimal area protection.  In addition,  Salt Lake City seems to be giving the rich and powerful monster projects development rights and restricting landowners who want to develop one cabin and give hundreds of acres in the Central Wasatch Canyons to conservation easement.  The ski resorts are being given permission and water rights to develop hundreds of condos/living units/rooms that will be like the Montage (super duper monster building) on the other side of the mountains.

  Other issues include Salt Lake City refusing to allow the Forest Service to build restrooms and turning off the water to restrooms at the mouth of the canyon before Labor Day.  One of the reasons that the landowners of Brighton want to become a city is because they can't seem to get restrooms in the canyons.  If Salt Lake City really wants to protect the watershed from the 6 million visitors a year that trek through the canyons, they should be building many, many restrooms.  Note that Salt Lake Country recently approved building a restroom in the canyon.

  One of the arguments that keeps being raised is that a few disgruntled landowners who have mining claims are driving this effort.  But the reality is that most of the landowners want to protect the canyons.  If they wanted to develop their mining claims, there is nothing that Salt Lake City or County could do to stop them.  That is the result of a federal law that gives mining claims priority.  A good example of the power of a mining claim is the Rose Canyon Park that Salt Lake County tried to develop on the Westside of the County.  Kennecott rushed in and got a mining claim and Salt Lake County couldn't do anything to stop them.

  Representatives are also pushing bills to ensure full transparency (limited during the Mountain Accord process) and stopping any talk of turning the canyons over to the federal government (part of the Mountain Accord agreement).

ERIN MENDENHALL NEW SLC COUNCIL CHAIR

  The first SLC Council meeting resulted in Erin Mendenhall becoming the SLC Council Chair.  This will be her stepping stone to run for SLC mayor in 2019.  It will be interesting to see if she still pushes for the 1100 East streetcar/TRAX extension to 1700 South and the 3 extra rail lines downtown.  She also is on record pushing for a parks bond, part of which is supposed to be used to close Glendale Golf Course and spend $50 million converting it into a park.  She and the Council have also pushed for implementing a transportation utility fee to pay for road maintenance.  She and other Councilmembers removed $8.4 million from road maintenance several years ago and used it for pay raises for City workers (including themselves).  The Council has also insisted that they need to increase the sales tax rate (Permission was given to the City by the Legislature due to Ralph Becker allowing the prison in the Northwest Quadrant.)  Instead of selling the old SLCPD building and using that money for the 50 new police officers, the City intends to give a million dollar loan to provide forty some affordable apartments.

NORTHWEST QUADRANT 

  The Northwest Quadrant CRA is about to be approved on the January 16 City Council meeting.  The City Council is considering adding a 10% housing plan.  They also seem to be allowing for less than 1000 hotel rooms for an area that will have tens of thousands of employees.  And although they have considered a rail freight line in the area, they are ignoring ALL mass transit!

  Mass transit rail can be successful when it goes to a destination.  The International Center west of the Airport has 25,000 employees and is a destination.  With Amazon going into 5600 West (on the west edge of the International Center) rail should be planned for that area.  But for years, the Wasatch Front Regional Council (WFRC) planning organization has refused to put such a line in the planning for the future.  It is ironic that WFRC is in the International Center and there are only a couple of buses a day that travel through there!

  In Seattle, Amazon helps pay for rail.  Stadler Rail is also nearby.  And with tens of thousands of new employees going into the Northwest Quadrant, mass transit rail should be a consideration.  

  The Green Line to the Airport gets around 1000 riders a day (to the Airport).  Extending the rail to the International Center would cost about the same as a fancy flying bridge (that was stopped by the former acting Airport Director due to maintenance issues, traffic interference and visibility issues (hiding the beautiful new terminal).  The federal government would probably provide $30-40 million for the project which would be a better use of the money than the UTA effort to build the $65 million bus garage.  The project also could include a north south downtown route that skips the zig zag through downtown and save 10 minutes to the Airport.  It would fulfill the effort to put a rail line on 400 West.  

  In addition, the Legislature is planning on a .25 cent tax increase for Salt Lake County and Utah County (Prop One is not dead.) to build infrastructure around the prison.  Although the result will be millions for some Legislators who own property in the area along with Terry Deihl, it isn't a secret and the plans are public and they are doing what a good business person would do.  But the ethics of taxing citizens to provide profits for Legislators is not ethical.  

  Finally, there is a chance that the Legislature will throw Salt Lake City a bone/a rail project to make it seem fair.  The best potentially successful rail line is to 5600 West.  The Green Line extension should be the second highest priority for rail projects for Salt Lake City.  Service increases should be highest priority for mass transit improvements.

NATIONAL MONUMENT BACKER LOSES SENATE RACE

  Dr. Brian Zehnder was selected/elected by Utah Senate 8 Republicans last week to replace outgoing Senator Brian Shiozawa.  I have worked with Dr. Shiozawa for several years and I considered him to be one of the best public servants.  He cared for his constituents and the citizens of Utah as much as he cared for his patients.  I am sorry to see him go to Denver but I hope that his efforts leading the federal government's health programs will help Utahns.  Dr. Zehnder is a moderate Republican.  He defeated, among others, Laynee Jones.  Laynee was in charge minutia of the Mountain Accord plan and received a lot of money to provide direction and management of the effort.  She is one of the reasons why the Accord had secret meetings and the ongoing lawsuit is still in play.  She is a protégé of Mayor Ben McAdams who led the Mountain Accord and supported his efforts to include discouraging personal vehicle travel, turning the canyons over to the federal government and for the billion dollar train and tunnel project that was supposed to benefit landowners like Terry Diehl and some senior

Legislators.  Laynee lost in the first round of voting due to a campaign to delegates to provide them with her background.

TOLL ROADS PROPOSED UP CANYONS

  Senate President Wayne Niederhauser has proposed a bill to implement a toll road in the Central Wasatch Canyons.  This bill would implement one of the recommendations of the Mountain Accord, to disincentivize personal vehicle travel.  But there is no year round bus service in the canyons, despite our efforts for years to get UTA to provide a proposal.  For several years, UTA has refused to give a number, despite the study from two years ago that estimated one million per year per canyon for 15

minute bus service.  UTA held onto the information to give the Mountain Accord program and the followon Central Wasatch Commission (CWC) the credit for providing bus service!  Such under the table efforts are similar to past UTA actions that earned UTA a bad reputation.  In addition, parking lots would be needed and some of the landowners are friends with Legislators.  So the biggest beneficiaries, again, would be with deals to benefit the friends of Legislators.  There should not be any tolls on roads without providing mass transit service first.  And any toll should not go to the CWC or any other entity that is implementing the questionable and mostly secret (to most people) Mountain Accord.  For example, how many of you reading this knew that the Mountain Accord suggested tolling for Canyon travel?

INCLUSIONARY ZONING

  The Salt Lake City Council has been discussing Inclusionary Zoning (see download on upper right) that encourages low income living units in big projects.  Salt Lake City has been providing about 300 affordable units a year at best and this week they are looking 111 units.  They are also about to give a million dollar loan for 46 affordable units in the Pipeline Building property.  They are also approving the City reconstructing the Capitol Motel on 1700 South and State into mixed income units.

  There are many new apartment projects being developed, including a project west of the Sam's Club parking lot.  The proposal for 81 units at 1967 S. and 300 W. is scheduled to go to the Planning Commission on January 24.  Previous efforts at encouraging affordable housing include the Streetcar Corridor Core that allowed 75 feet if the project included affordable living units.  Otherwise the maximum height would be 60 feet.

PROJECTS ON 40MPH ROADS INCREASE TRAFFIC DANGER

  There were two project proposals submitted to the Sugar House Community Council last week.  One project was on Richmond Street that made use of a curb cut used by canal maintenance a couple of times a year.  It is just north of the dental office.  Richmond Street does not generally have curb cuts until Elgin with the exception of the dental office.  Many bicyclists (including myself) have been fighting for a wide bike lane by removing the useless center turn lane.  There is not a good north south bicycle path through the area and there have been plans for ten years to provide a bicycle lane.  But increasing traffic going in and out of the project that will increase infill density (even though they could go out to the east through an adjacent commercial parking lot to Highland) increase danger for cyclists and motorists who drive the 40MPH speed limit.  Those road speeds should not encourage increasing traffic hazards.  The project should not go forward.

  The other project is on 700 East just south of I80 on the east side.  It also will increase traffic in and out and, due to its location, it would/could increase U turns at the street to the south (just south of the runners' shop) and increase traffic danger on that 40mph road.  It should be expected that crossing 4 lanes of traffic within a couple of hundred feet would be a regular occurrence of residents of this project.  

  UDOT will require an access permit for development that occurs adjacent to State routes.  UDOT will review the accdess for safety and mobility in relation to the adjacent facilities to ensure that it is incompliance with State Code R930-6.  This project should also be stopped unless there is a way to exit to the east on Lake Street next to the apartments.  This project has not asked for an access permit and it will have to to move forward.

ODYSSEY HOUSE HAS 126 BEDS IN MILLCREEK

  Odyssey House now has 126 beds approved and being set up in Millcreek.  They are at 3944 S. 400 E. (83 beds) and 29 beds at 880 E. 3375 S.  As we mentioned before, adjacent landowners, residents and businesses are impacted but they are not allowed to object.  Only the State can deny their operation, if they don't meet basic standards of drug addiction treatment.  This issue should have been discussed before but Mayor McAdams and Millcreek Mayor Jeff Silvistrini along with several Legislators participated in the grand opening of the treatment centers that will focus on the chronically homeless (at least 12 months) with drug additions.  It should be noted that the federal government has said that treatment success is about 5% for opioid treatment.  Also Odyssey House offers to provide the community with cleanup and other service efforts as part of their treatment program.  Community councils nearby should take advantage of their services.

FIRST STEP TREATMENT REFUSED IN SOUTH SALT LAKE CITY

  While Odyssey House was able to find, buy, and set up their treatment facilities, First Step has had a problem finding a facility.  South Salt Lake City refused to give them a business license and they are now looking at a facility in Ballpark on Main Street.  They are, respectfully, concerned about the reaction of the community and do not want a fight.  

  At the same time, Salt Lake City appears to be giving them permission to provide 40 beds for supported housing (which is better than turning out treated addicts and hoping for the best) on 500 East across from Smiths Marketplace.  There are also 78 mental health beds that have been set up in the County.

OTHER SIDE DEMOLITION DENIED

  A privately funded treatment program, The Other Side, has been trying to demolish an old, literally falling down building to their north.  But the Historic Landmark Commission just told them to try to save it!  The building is dead and decaying and the Historic Landmark Commission is out of their mind in telling the property owner (The Other Side bought it to stop it from continuing to be an eyesore in the neighborhood).

  This is another example of the problems with Salt Lake City's demolition ordinance.  It needs updating.  Peter Corroon has two properties that have been completely damaged by fire from vagrants but he can't tear them down!  He has been trying for 9 months to get approval without success.

HOMELESS CENTERS TAKE AWAY PROPERTY VALUE

  Another issue regarding the homeless involves the new homeless resource center on High Avenue, which is now on the street just south of High Avenue!  Adjacent businesses are about to be slammed with the homeless center opening onto their street!  It will have about 80% men and 20% women!  The owner of adjacent businesses are expecting to go out of business.  The architect of the homeless center changed the entrance to the street south of High Avenue, Paramont, due to her interest in creating a more inviting sunlit entrance to the homeless, despite the fact that adjacent businesses are negatively impacted.  This surprise design was not vetted by the community.  It is disrespectful to do this.  The entrance should be moved back to High Avenue.

  I had an oped last February in the Deseret News that points out that Salt Lake City, the County and

the State should step up and compensate adjacent businesses for this negative impact on the value of their property.  The oped is below:

  Back in the early 1800s, Baltimore allowed material to be deposited next to a wharf during a construction project. The dock operator was no longer able to operate as well as he did before and he sued the city of Baltimore. He contended that the city’s actions resulted in a decrease in value of his property and he claimed that the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution protected him from taking of property without just compensation.

  The case ended up at the U.S. Supreme Court. In a famous decision, Barron v. Baltimore, Supreme Court Chief Justice Marshall held that only the United States federal government was required to follow the Bill of Rights. States and cities did not have to provide and protect those rights. “Amendments contain no expression indicating an intention to apply them to the State governments. This court cannot so apply them.” The decision said that the Fifth Amendment’s protection against taking of private property without compensation, and the other rights in the Bill of Rights, did not apply to cities or states.

  Missouri used that decision to justify its Mormon extermination order. If states and cities did not have to follow the Bill of Rights, they didn’t have to provide Freedom of Religion to their citizens. Many claim that this resulted in the country and Constitution hanging by a thread.

  In the 1860s, in the wake of the Civil War, Congress drafted the 14th Amendment which provided citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized,” including former slaves. Additionally, it accorded the rights in the Bill of Rights to everyone, no matter what state or city that they were in. The main drafter of the amendment, Sen. John Bingham, argued that its primary purpose was to overturn Barron v. Baltimore. That adopted amendment should have solved the question of states’ requirement to provide all of the Bill of Rights protections to all citizens. But it took another hundred years for the amendment to become fully effective. Therefore, the Barron v. Baltimore decision has been mostly overturned.   Utah has also had some of these issues develop in the last few years, including one that resulted in a decision by the Utah Supreme Court last year that said that Salt Lake City was taking property without just compensation, to swap for a public project that allowed moving a Rocky Mountain substation and rerouting rail lines. “This taking was not legal.”

  In December, Salt Lake City revealed plans to place four homeless resource centers (the original name of the Road Home) around the city. The site on Simpson Avenue in Sugar House is next to a single family home neighborhood. According to realtor.com, homes next to homeless shelters have a decrease in value of at least 12.7 percent. The decrease in value of the homeowners amounts to the illegal taking of property!

  Removing the Sugar House homeless site from consideration would save $7 million that could be used for vouchers for families to avoid the homeless shelters. The Road Home has about 100 children staying there every night in a facility with 80 registered sex offenders! In addition, if the facility is a family and children’s shelter, as many as 30 buses would have to run in the area every day and significantly hurt neighborhood air quality.

  Most importantly, Salt Lake City, a city that prides itself for promoting equal rights, seems to be ignoring the basic rights that citizens of this country have. After almost 200 years of the 14th

Amendment guarantee of those rights, the citizens of the U.S. should not have to fight this fight to have all governments abide by the Bill of Rights. At a minimum, Salt Lake City should re-evaluate its plans to include compensation for nearby homes and businesses. Salt Lake City should not act like Baltimore or those in the 1800s that said that the Bill of Rights does not apply to states and cities. Equal rights are not equal rights if they are ignored.

CLOSING PART OF 1300 SOUTH FOR PARK

  On February 6, there will be a public hearing to close part of 1300 South!  The effort is to increase access to the adjacent park and provide the towing yard with the ability to continue to operate (since he needs to use part of 1300 South while going in and out of his towing yard).  On Tuesday, January 16, the SLC Council will discuss the issue at the afternoon work session, around 340 PM.  I put the extracted report on the upper right downloads.

OUR SCHOOLS NOW GOING TO COMMUNITY COUNCILS

  Our Schools Now is going to SLC community councils encouraging attendees to sign their petition.  I have a concern about this.  All petition gatherers should have pro and con arguments about the issue.  One sided presentations are disrespectful at best and could result in coercion and pressure to sign.  I am very bothered by the richest people in the State recommending that the poorest people in the State pay more percentagewise to support schools.  I agree that Utah should spend more on schools (I have several opeds over the last 7 years recommending good reasons for that.) but I think that the best way would be for the richest to pay more, in a progressive tax for those making a million a year or more.  In addition, since Utah reinterpreted the Utah Constitution to include higher education with school funding, K-12 funding has significantly decreased.  That is wrong and should be changed.  The referendum does not do that.  The beneficiaries of the increased revenue may go anywhere and everywhere, including to charter and religious schools.  I am against Our Schools Now.

DECEMBER 23, 2017

FREE FARE VERSUS UTA SERVICE INCREASES PUBLISHED

FREE FARE VERSUS UTA SERVICE INCREASES PUBLISHED

  The Salt Lake Tribune just published an oped on free fare that deserves attention and comment from the public.  There is a bond buy scheduled for next month and a public hearing on that UTA borrowing at the end of January.  Please comment on the issue.

  The link to the oped is: http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2017/12/23/george-chapman-transit-riders-want-service-increasesmore-than-they-want-free-fares/

DECEMBER 20, 2017

FREE FARES DOES NOT INCREASE RIDERSHIP

STEINER POOL TO GET NEW BOILERS IN JANUARY

JAIL OPERATIONAL PROCEDURES FOR RELEASES

CLEARFIELD UTA PROPERTY IS PLANNED FOR

DEVELOPMENT

HOMELESS WILL NOT DISAPPEAR IF YOU YELL AT THEM

ENERGYSOLUTIONS WANTS TO BRING NUCLEAR REACTORS

HERE

UTA IGNORES BIGGEST REQUEST FOR SERVICE INCREASE

WALKABILITY AND SAFETY LACKING WITH NEW BUILDING SIDEWALKS

HOMELESS STORAGE STILL UP IN THE AIR

FREE FARES DOES NOT INCREASE RIDERSHIP

  The plan to provide a day of free fare on Friday December 22 for all UTA transit is supposed to encourage long term ridership increases.  But studies and experiments show that if there is a large homeless or vagrant or panhandler or gang or criminal population that may be encouraged to use the free fare transit facilities, other riders are discouraged from increasing their use of mass transit.  Several years ago, a FrontRunner rider complained about the trip from Ogden to Salt Lake during which they had to endure two drunks yelling at each other.  Until Utah and Salt Lake City solves the homeless problem that is two blocks from the main transit station, free fare will not result in an encouraging mass transit system.  Riders want better service more than free fare.  And UTA should promote their reduced fare FarePay cards.  $1.50 for a bus ride and $2 TRAX instead of $2.50 cash with a FarePay card should be promoted and encouraged.  And bus service should not essentially end at 8PM.

STEINER POOL TO GET NEW BOILERS IN JANUARY

  Steiner Pool will get four new boilers starting in January.  During a discussion on the heating system, it was noted that the ice rinks do not provide enough heat (removed to keep the ice cooled) except during heavy use and preparation.  Presently, the indoor pool is being heated by the last of the five boilers that still is operating.  (The showers use a regular water heater.)  Along with the new boilers, there will be a new heat exchanger system to replace the glycol heat exchanger system that was used.  Hopefully, the new system will have been tested and rung out to ensure long term maintenance free operation.  The first of the four new boilers to replace the old and broken down five boilers will be installed in January 2018 and hopefully start operating by the second week.  One last point should be made before the book is closed on this story.  For several years, the pool operators have know that the boilers needed to be replaced.  Even the pool users have known for over a year that there was a problem with the boilers.  When the managers of the pool did not notify those involved in budgeting for the pool maintenance until the last minute, the public was not well served.  The outdoor pool lost several months of operation and the indoor pool lost several days of operation.

JAIL OPERATIONAL PROCEDURES FOR RELEASES

  In the last few months, there have been questions about the early morning jail releases into the freezing cold.  Bernie Hart tried to complain about the issue during the last SLC Council meeting of the month (which resulted in the first ever walkout of the City Council during a public hearing).  Bernie complained that sometimes, those released ended up on the outside ramp (which is heated) and they laid down there to keep warm.  I know that many of the jail personnel try to be compassionate and have sometimes provided transportation to the shelter and even personal residences when they felt it was needed.  Law enforcement throughout the valley rely on the philosophy of disruption due to the overcrowding (even with the 300 extra beds outside of the County) that results in a revolving door jail.  They feel that even the inconvenience of booking into jail, even if quickly released, is a deterrent to crime.  Bernie Hart is planning on setting up a transportation system to provide rides for those released outside of UTA service hours to the shelter.  South Salt Lake City should be interested in the plan.  During the summer, those released walked through South Salt Lake to the Jordan River and Salt Lake City shelter.  The operational standards for releasing booked and jailed persons are below.   The Salt Lake County Jail's standard operating procedures for releases is: Those who have completed sentence have releases starting at 6 AM.  Those who have posted bond/bail are released when posted.  When charges are not filed after 72 hours, they are released starting at 5 PM.  Releases for those booked and released due to overcrowding are released at all times of the day "based on their compliance, well being and time to book and release".

  Those released get free telephone calls to arrange rides and if needed, a public transit token.  A clothing and footwear stockroom is available to ensure that those released have adequate clothing for the weather conditions.  Those released can wait in a small vestibule at the top of the visiting ramp if their behavior is not disruptive.  The jail has case managers for those that may have mental health or medical issues that may require civil commitments or transfer to health facilities or contact with family.  The Jail has indicated that staff has provided transports to the shelter or residences when disabilities or compelling situations indicate compassion.

CLEARFIELD UTA PROPERTY IS PLANNED FOR DEVELOPMENT

  When Stadler Rail decided to build their plant in Salt Lake City, the plan for UTA to sell the property to Clearfield who would turn it over to Stadler fell through.  UTA and Clearfield are presently preparing a Station Area Plan for the 60 acre site.  UTA may partner with private developers to develop the site in accordance with the Station Area Plan.  

HOMELESS WILL NOT DISAPPEAR IF YOU YELL AT THEM

  Over the last few months, off and on, the SLC Police has tried to roust the homeless that are camping in parks and nooks and crannies around Salt Lake City.  They give them 5 minutes to leave or they are cited.  Recently, the homeless that have tried to camp out around the Main Library have had the SLC Police roust them by using bullhorns to order them to move along.  The question is, where will the homeless go with their shopping carts when there is no accessible and safe storage facility?  I don't want them camping wherever they can.  I want a convenient and safe facility or area where they can sleep or rest with their pets (not allowed in the shelter) and belongings (the storage facility is full and only operates 8 to 5).  There should be a discussion and debate about the effect and vision of using bullhorns to getting the homeless to leave the Main Library park.  The homeless will not disappear if you yell at them.  And making them uncomfortable would seem uncompassionate. 

ENERGYSOLUTIONS WANTS TO BRING NUCLEAR REACTORS HERE

  I love nuclear power but the effort by EnergySolutions to approve the plan to accept the 5000 barrels of nuclear weapons waste could eventually result in parts of nuclear reactors being accepted for burial in Utah!  The 5000 barrels of so called depleted uranium (as mentioned in a previous post) is actually nuclear weapons waste that has gone through a nuclear reactor.  In the industry, it is usually called waste in process (WIP).  By calling it depleted uranium (allowed by the Reagan Energy Act in 2003), it can confuse people to assume that it is like the depleted uranium used in anti tank weapons.  It even confused former CEO Steve Creamer when he told the Red Meat Radio Hour that you could grow vegetables in the stuff.  He was using the UN study of depleted uranium used against tanks in farmland around Kosovo during our military's efforts there.  The UN report indicated that the heavy metal is ingested through vegetables but slowly excreted.  Neurological effects could take years to be noticed.  The reality is that the barrels contain much more dangerous stuff and if ingested or breathed in, you will probably get cancer due to the alpha emitters in the barrels.  They include plutonium!  The main takeaway from the review of EnergySolutions accepting the 5000 barrels (with 10,000 plus more awaiting approval) is that, if the review is successful, many more nuclear reactor parts will be coming to Utah for burial.  Note, from the below post, that the Department of Energy was so concerned about the storage of the barrels by EnergySolutions that they paid for and built a storage facility for the barrels.  They did not believe that the barrels could be safely stored outside (they were flooded) despite EnergySolutions being okay with it.  I still hear rumors of leaks and barrel issues (the barrels do not survive well in a high salt area like the area near the Great Salt Lake).  In my opinion, as a former nuclear engineer, the barrels are much more dangerous than the nuclear fuel rods in concrete caskets that was successfully fought in Utah over a decade ago.

UTA IGNORES BIGGEST REQUEST FOR SERVICE INCREASE

  UTA approved the budget with just one person commenting against the budget's projects (emailed to the Board and accepted) and one commenting last month about lack of service downtown and to the airport.  Trustee Taylor voted against the budget and expressed concern that the budget should have required much more discussion, even a day's worth due to the complexities involved.  The Chair said that there was plenty of discussion over the last few months during the subcommittee meetings.  The main budget change was the addition of $500,000 for service increases.  But essentially, according to Jerry Benson, the General Manager, it is a placeholder to allow UTA to work with Salt Lake City and other municipalities to increase service.  He felt that they could and would help fund transit service increases like the County's contribution of $4 million to double track the streetcar line (estimated ridership increase is 150 per day).  With the $2 million match from UTA, that give $6 million to provide 150 more riders.  That is, in my opinion, poor management but Salt Lake County seems to have insisted on it.  Even a million dollars would have allowed 4 or 5 bus routes to continue to 1 AM and double frequency to every half hour!  Jerry Benson mentioned that the County will get an estimated 2.5 million more people in 25 years and transit needs to be a big part of transportation infrastructure.  When Point of the Mountain development plans are finalized and set in concrete, the projects will be constructed quickly.  He mentioned that Adobe is pushing the TRAX extension from Lehi to Draper but the taxpayers of each County paying billions for that project alone could result in a big backlash.  The Legislature seems to be ignoring the voters of Salt Lake County and Utah County who turned down the

.25 cent tax increase and plans on forcing the tax on us anyway.  Decades ago, as President of a San Diego Business Association, I pushed for a train station near a technology center.  We got it.  The trains already ran on the existing rails and the cost for a station was minimal.  The Lehi Draper TRAX line does not make sense when FrontRunner exists and is not always running.  The demand is not there.  And technology employees are paid well enough that they prefer fancy new automobiles (at $50,000 plus) that can run even when the trains don’t.  The present bus system there runs only seven times a day!  Before Adobe should ask for a billion plus dollar rail line, they should ask for a regular bus route at 15 minute intervals from Lehi Station up the hill!  It would cost around $500,000 at the most!

WALKABILITY AND SAFETY LACKING WITH NEW BUILDING SIDEWALKS

  Over the last several years, many projects of apartments have been built and are being approved and built that have building close to skinny sidewalks (5 feet wide).  Salt Lake City has a Complete Streets ordinance but ignores it when it approves buildings next to sidewalks.  Complete Streets should require wider sidewalks (around 10+ feet) to encourage walkability.  It also affect safety when a car pulling out of a parking garage or driveway needs to get on the sidewalk to see oncoming traffic.  The Library is an example of the issue. The Main Library parking garage driveway onto 400 South is such that one needs to pull out to see traffic but that requires driving onto the sidewalk.  So signs have been upgraded to make it clear that drivers MUST stop before reaching the sidewalk to ensure that pedestrians are not crossing.  Pedestrians are also not visible unless they are within a couple of feet of the driveway.  New buildings of apartments next to sidewalks also do not encourage walkability.  Walkability is encouraged when there are facilities that engage the public like stores and restaurants.  Car lots and apartment buildings without ground floor retail DO NOT ENCOURAGE WALKABILITY!

HOMELESS STORAGE STILL UP IN THE AIR

  Rumors that the Salt Lake City homeless storage facility will close are still around.  Laura Fritts, the Salt Lake City Economic Development Director ordered the facility to stay open until plans to reuse the property are set in concrete.  She is trying to find a way to better utilize the space which is presently full.  The 90 gallon wheeled containers are not efficient enough and she and the RDA are trying to find a better solution to provide more storage.  The problem is serious due to the concern from the homeless that they can't store their belongings if they work and so Salt Lake City has a large number of homeless that wheel around their belongings in a shopping cart or a bicycle trailer.  The City is trying to solve the issue but it appears that it will take at least a month.

  I also need to remind everyone that some of us fought the previous administration to have a storage facility for the homeless without much success.  It was only in the last couple of years that a storage facility opened.  I remember asking Mayor Becker to consider a homeless storage facility after hearing about a homeless man run down on Thanksgiving Eve while pushing all of his belongings in a shopping cart.  That request in 2010, went nowhere.  At least now, the present administration is trying to solve the problem.

DECEMBER 14, 2017

COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS CLOSING DOWN

SLC DOWNTOWN POLICE FOOT PATROLS ARE BACK

PEDESTRIANS SHOULD BE USING FLASHLIGHTS 

TWILIGHT CONCERTS MAY NOT BE DEAD

RDA SITS ON $100+ MILLION OF VACANT PROPERTY

INVERSIONS ARE MADE WORSE BY SLC APPROVING LANE

CLOSING PERMITS

FINAL UTA MEETING OF YEAR WITH BUDGET TEMPORARILY

CANCELLED

SUGAR HOUSE POLICE PRECINCT LIST DOWN TO THREE

PROPERTIES

RDA STATE STREET EXPANSION AREA DISCUSSION 

COUNCIL ADMITS TO WANTING TAX INCREASE

SLC COUNCIL MEETING SURPRISES VIDEO ONLINE 

HEPATITIS A UPDATE

UPDATE ON NUCLEAR WEAPONS WASTE IN UTAH

SLCPD CHIEF BROWN TALKS DISPATCH AND AGGRESSIVE POLICING

COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS CLOSING DOWN

  Community Connections, the Salt Lake Police and social worker facility that used to provide services for the homeless community in the Rio Grande area, is closing down except for appointments for counselling.  Mail pick up will be shifted to the Road Home starting in January.  The reason for the change is to refocus the personnel, both police and social workers on reaching out to the homeless in other areas.  Operation Rio Grande has dispersed the homeless to other areas, mainly in Salt Lake City, but also to other areas of the County.  To reach those potential clients, the plan is to provide a team of a police officer and a social worker to contact and work with the homeless and encourage them to consider and move into better situations.  The group is called the SLCPD Mental Health Unit and can be reached at 801 799 3533 communityconnectionteam@slcgov.com.  

SLC DOWNTOWN POLICE FOOT PATROLS ARE BACK

  The Salt Lake City Council and Administration has increased focus on providing more visible cops.  One of the first efforts are in the downtown SLC area with SLCPD walking patrols.  Since Thanksgiving, they have provided a better sense of safety downtown. 

PEDESTRIANS SHOULD BE USING FLASHLIGHTS 

  Recently, there have been way too many pedestrian accidents.  Pedestrian visibility seems to be the major cause.  I encourage everyone who walks, especially at night, evening or in low visibility times, to carry and use a flashlight to ensure that drivers see you.  There are many effective and cheap flashlights available and the cost is so minimal, compared to being hit and critically injured, that everyone, including every child should carry and use a flashlight when crossing the street.

TWILIGHT CONCERTS MAY NOT BE DEAD

  I put the Twilight Concerts discussion packet on the upper right downloads section.  The Council seems to want options to keep the Twilight Concerts program going.  They discussed several options, including moving the event to the Gallivan Center (expensive) or around the City on a rotating basis (cheapest).  But the main concern with the Council was the Arts Council control which they had problems with.  They seemed to blame the Arts Council for the cost overruns.  SLC may end up with a Twilight Concert on Ensign Peak!  The Council decided that they had some time and they scheduled more discussions in January. 

RDA SITS ON $100+ MILLION OF VACANT PROPERTY

  I put the RDA property report on the upper right downloads section.  One of the reasons that the RDA, in October of 2016, decided that they had enough money to provide $20 million for affordable housing and also $11.7 million for the homeless resource centers, is because, at that time, they were told that the RDA had, potentially, $100 million of property and other value.  The download shows a list of RDA owned property, much of which is in the downtown area near Rio Grande and that has been vacant for years.  Some property has been vacant for over ten years!  (Note that Salt Lake City has a separate property list of vacant property.)  It is incredibly inappropriate and bad governance to keep property vacant for ten years.  Some cities, to encourage development and decrease the lack of affordable housing due to not developing or using vacant buildings, have implemented a vacancy tax.  It is applied to buildings and property that are not being utilized or banked for future development.  The tax is supposed to encourage building residential units instead of not using the property.  Salt Lake City, unfortunately, does exactly the opposite.  It discourages development.  It discourages demolition until an approved plan is in place and does not allow demolition to a parking lot.  And it has many buildings that are not allowed to be demolished that are uninhabitable (Former SLCO Mayor Peter Corroon has property that he was trying to develop but, until a recent fire, his house was not allowed to be demolished.  In other words, Salt Lake City is part of the problem.  Salt Lake City and the RDA should not be allowing property to not be used or be vacant for more than a year.  Salt Lake City should not own property that it does not use for appropriate government services.

INVERSIONS ARE MADE WORSE BY SLC APPROVING LANE CLOSING PERMITS

  Salt Lake City has suggested increased enforcement of its anti idling law (that the Legislature pushed into being primarily an education law) to help decrease pollution.  Unfortunately, Salt Lake City, is making the inversion worse by approving lane closure/construction permits that increase congestion and air pollution.  It is hypocritical for SLC to insist that cars not idle when it inadvertently approves lane closures during inversion season.  In one day (while riding a bus), I saw several lane closures that did not seem to be important for the construction project.  Salt Lake City said that the problem was that the permits were granted well before the inversion but it would seem a simple matter to limit the lane closures to when there is not a dangerous inversion.

FINAL UTA MEETING OF YEAR WITH BUDGET TEMPORARILY CANCELLED

  One of the most important meetings of the year, the UTA Board of Trustees final budget approval, was cancelled at the last minute literally.  The meeting was rescheduled to Monday, December 18 at 8:30 AM.  The budget includes the bus garage and a borrowing of almost $100 million.  But there is no new expansion of service.  This is the last chance for UTA to retain local control of services since the Legislature intends to move to a 3 commissioner control in the next Legislative session.  The intent, at least now, is to decrease local control, implement a .25 cent sales tax to be mainly used for Point of the Mountain projects (where many Legislative leaders have interests) and take away projects from UTA's Board.  Note that the Legislature is ignoring the vote by Salt Lake County and Utah County citizens against the tax increase.

SUGAR HOUSE POLICE PRECINCT LIST DOWN TO THREE PROPERTIES

  The proposed new eastside SLCPD precinct that will be in Sugar House, is down to two or three properties.  It is just one decision from being settled.  The new precinct will save up to 40 minutes of driving time for patrol officers to get on station in the eastside of Salt Lake City.  Impact fees will pay a large portion of the cost.

RDA STATE STREET EXPANSION AREA DISCUSSION 

  I put the latest discussion on the RDA expansion areas, including State Street and 900 West and 900 South, on the upper right hand downloads section.  Although it started over a year ago, the final map and approval is becoming really slow.  I put the last page of the State Street proposed expansion area on a separate download.  The Council is STILL arguing about the final map and minor issues instead of approving it and moving forward.  Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall asked that the 900 South Freeway Offramp be included.  But there is a proposal to remove the freeway offramp and restore the area's neighborhood.  So the Council, sitting as the RDA Board will discuss the issue next month.  At the speed that they are going, SLC will be lucky to approve the map by the end of 2018.  Note that the map shows that the focus of the area's development on the yellow shaded areas included the Sears block.  That is a potentially high density area that could have a great project that would encourage further development along State Street.  On the downside, the car lots along State Street and Main Street will be hard to get rid of.  They discourage walkability, especially the block long car lots like Garff's on State between 500 and 600 South.  The RDA and SLC should require all lots to have several public stores or restaurants on their property (coffee shop, mini market, specialty foods etc) to encourage walking the area.  Who wants to walk a block of cars?  The City gets an extremely large amount of tax money from the car lots.  It is ironic that SLC discourages parking lots at the same time as encouraging car sales lots!  The reasoning seems to be a war on cars except when we get sales tax.

COUNCIL ADMITS TO WANTING TAX INCREASE

  Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall admitted to wanting a tax increase to handle the large influx of employees that Salt Lake City gets during the day.  But Salt Lake City ignores the fact that those employees buy cars and provide much of the increased sales taxes that are generated by the above mentioned car lots.  There is a reason that the car lots are on the 500 South entrance to SLC.  It sells cars and the increased day population in Salt Lake City provides a lot of income to the treasury.  So the contention that SLC needs a tax increase to offset the increase in daytime population is a misdirect.  Those employees pay taxes for us.

LAST SLC COUNCIL MEETING SURPRISES VIDEO ONLINE 

  Homeless advocate Bernie Hart threw the City Council out of the meeting during his attempt to call attention to the fact that the homeless are sleeping out on the sidewalks near the services around the Rio Grande area.  Around 40 a night are sleeping in the area.  He also complained about the arrested individuals being kicked out of the jail at 2 AM in the morning in South Salt Lake without any transportation back to shelter.  But when he went over the two minute time limit, Chair Stan Penfold tried to get him to stop, for a couple of minutes.  When that didn't work, Stan declared a short recess and the City Council members left the room.  After 10 minutes they returned.  To more surprises.   Probably because the arrestees are being arrested for drug crimes and deportation should be a weapon in fighting drug crimes when the person is undocumented.  During the last SLC Council meeting of the year, several men complained of the effort of the Operation Rio Grande that seems to be catching or focusing on many minorities.  One person asked if it was appropriate to be a sanctuary city at the same time that arrested individuals are turned into ICE.  Unfortunately, due to the aggressive effort of law enforcement to combat crime, some innocent workers downtown are hearing demands for ID.  If you have a chance, you might want to watch the meeting on video (Google slcgov.com and council and go to meeting agendas, then click on the interactive video for December 12 Formal Meeting.).  

  The first part of the meeting is the goodbye and accolades to the two departing Councilmembers, Stan Penfold and Lisa Adams.  I would like to note that Lisa was the person who pushed for free parking under the Library for the public and Stan expressed satisfaction in providing a forum for complaining and commenting to the Council and Mayor.  Stan is also the most knowledgeable about the RDA finances which are some of the most complicated in the State.  He will be missed and hopefully both will continue to stay engaged in government.  I should also point out that both Lisa and Stan have tried to solve the homeless problems in SLC over the last few years.  Stan indicated that he directed the RDA to find property to expand storage, especially for the homeless that want to work but do not have a way to store their belongings.  Lisa passed out desk plaques to the rest of the Council.  Erin Mendenhall received a plaque that said "I love alleyways."  Charlie's plaque said "I don't love ADUs."  One final note.  These two retiring Councilmembers, in my opinion, are two of the best representatives of the citizens of SLC.  They really care and they are not just respectful of others and their opinions, but they do listen and consider and, sometimes adopt, other ideas.  And they don't mumble.  Stan was especially easy to hear.  They are two of the most easily heard and understood Councilmembers.  I wish that all of the rest of the Council would speak as clearly.  I am very sad to see them go.  

HEPATITIS A UPDATE

  Over the last 3 weeks, the hepatitis A outbreak in Salt Lake City has diminished.  Of course, that happened ten weeks ago before it started expanding fast.  But the State and County Health Departments are ramping up efforts to fight the outbreak.  They are passing out 10,000 hygiene kits that have special towlettes that work to kill hepatitis A (alcohol will not work).  They are given to hospitals, the discharged patients, to kitchens providing meals and the Weigand Center.  5,000 vaccinations have been provided.  They are also attempting to educate service providers and restaurants but their turnover is causing problems.  There have been complaints about the lack of cleaning of Road Home restrooms (always a problem due to the clients serviced who sometimes have no conception of basic sanitation - which was also a problem until recently with the Main Library).  It is a challenging population.  The Pioneer Park porta potties are being cleaned.  One time, unfortunately, the syringe kiosk was damaged by the cleaning truck but it was quickly repaired.  Out of the 76 total cases so far this year, 70 are related to the San Diego outbreak and were in the homeless/drug addicts/recently incarcerated individuals.  (Note that the jail also has problems with keeping facilities cleaned.  60% of the infected require hospitalization.  Most importantly, many are also infected by hepatitis B and C.  The cost to the public will eventually mushroom.  This is another reason why Utah needs healthcare expansion.  This is a public safety issue.

UPDATE ON NUCLEAR WEAPONS WASTE IN UTAH

  Several years ago, during a large public outcry, over 5,000 barrels of nuclear weapons waste was imported into Utah.  The barrels were labelled depleted uranium, DU.  But missing from the label was the fact that the material was actually what should be called Waste In Process, WIP.  That is the term for nuclear material that has gone through a nuclear reactor and had bomb making material removed before being discarded as "DU".  But the material includes Plutonium 240 (which increases in radioactivity 5 times over 100 years (therefore removed from bombs), Strontium 90, Cesium 137 and many other radioactive components that are not usually in natural uranium.  The military uses DU that has been mined and that has had most of the natural radioactive material removed and uses the increased mass and chemical properties for anti tank weapons.  But the barrels essentially have nuclear weapons waste.  The Governor allowed the 5,000 barrels in (out of 15,000) before stopping the process for review.  

  Utah has been reviewing the issue for the last 4 years.  Originally, the barrels were stored outside but they became partially flooded.  The Energy Department panicked and constructed an indoor/protected facility to store the barrels, where they now sit.  EnergySolutions, the company that wanted the 15,000 barrels, checks them for leaks at least once a week.  Although no leaks have been reported, reporting a leak would be considered a serious issue and some have said that they don't trust EnergySolutions to report problems.  They are trying to justify taking on 10,000 more barrels.

  So the storage proposal is now under a performance assessment and the State and EnergySolutions have been going around for many years (they are on the third revision) to complete the process.  The State Division of Waste and Radiation Management is undertaking a low level waste management rules review with the help of Scott Collins and Assciates (SC&A a Washington DC company).

SLCPD CHIEF BROWN TALKS DISPATCH AND AGGRESSIVE POLICING

  SLCPD Chief Brown gave a presentation to the Liberty Wells Community Council on December 13th.  He had his Department personnel visit over 2000 homes to educate residents and businesses on crime fighting.  The focus was on decreasing the significant increase in burglaries over the last few months.  The Chief visited 100 homes (including one in which he was felled by an anti police dog).  The effort appears to have been successful.  The 44 reported burglaries from two months ago decreased to 19 (but from 11 last year).  Burglaries decreased 75% with 8 arrests for burglaries that included 4 in District 5 alone. (Also traffic citations are up 20%.)  The police also caught a thief with stolen mail and actually ended up delivering the mail to the victims.  A package bait plan is being implemented.  A bicycle bait plan has been implemented.

  He also stated emphatically, that when one calls dispatch, they will ask if you want a cop, and if so, "one will go to you".  SLC's dispatch system utilizes an inflexible Priority Dispatch system and the Chief said that they are reviewing the system and focusing on the script flexibility.  Dispatch is also hiring three new dispatchers who will take crime reports over the phone.  The Chief noted that his father, a retired cop, doesn't use a computer so it does not make sense to him to force victims to report a crime online.

DECEMBER 7, 2017

SLC COUNCIL TALKING ABOUT TAX INCREASE FOR 60 NEW

COPS

UTAH LEGISLATURE TALKING ABOUT TAX INCREASE

SLC COUNCIL WANTS TRANSIT PLAN TO PUSH STREETCARS

SLC COUNCIL ADU PLANS STYMIED BY DISABILITY LAW

CENTER

STORAGE FOR HOMELESS WORKERS LACKING

GARBAGE FEES INCREASES CAUSED BY SLCO MAYOR'S

ACTIONS

SLCO KEEPS REVOLVING DOOR JAIL

UTA BORROWS FOR NEW PROJECTS

DANNON ASKS FOR $200,000 TAX REFUND FROM SLCO

SLC COUNCIL TALKING ABOUT TAX INCREASE FOR 60 NEW COPS

  The Salt Lake City Council had an interesting few hours last Tuesday during their work session.  They agreed to finalize the SLC budget amendment that calls for 50 new cops and almost ten support staff for the Police Department’s crime lab.  The new police should be on patrol by the end of June.  The speed of implementation is due to getting many of the new recruits from laterals from other cities.  That allows the police to be ready for patrol in half the time as police recruits without any previous law enforcement background.  The increase by the Council from the administration’s initial proposal of 27 new cops was a surprise to many, including the Police Chief.  But if you had seen the attendees’ frustration during many of the community council meetings in the last few months, you wouldn’t be surprised.  The Councilmembers consistently complained about the lack of visible police.  In fact, the SLC Police were so overburdened by Operation Rio Grande that, in many cases, citizens were told to call the Operation Rio Grande Command Post line (385 266 6938) in order to get faster response from the Utah Highway Patrol.  So it should not have been a surprise that the Council wanted more visible cops.  The best deterrent to crime is more visible cops (without a revolving door jail.

  The Council discussed the fact that, by spending almost $5 million in the budget for the police increase, the City’s reserve funds (rainy day funds) will go down to almost 10% of the budget.  When Rocky Anderson was Mayor, the fund was 17%.  The Council indicated that they would look at a tax increase through sales tax or property tax.  This has been discussed before at the Council.  Other tax increases that have been discussed include for streetcars, parks, and streets.  Salt Lake City could see a doubling of taxes and fees in the next year (like the sewer and water taxes that will double in the next five years).  But Salt Lake City should first sell the old Police HQ, the Pipeline Building. that the City has been trying to convert to affordable housing over the last few years (unsuccessfully).  The City’s public safety funding helped pay for maintenance and buying the Pipeline Building and that funding should be returned to public safety by selling the building.  A tax increase for cops should not be needed.  Charlie Luke also mentioned that much of the loss of 2-3 cops retiring after 20 years is due to State Law that mandates that law enforcement and teachers wait out a year after 20 years (to supposedly protect the Utah State Pension System) without pension contributions until they accept another job as a Utah employee.  (Rural communities are hardest hit by this pension rule and find it difficult to hire experienced teachers.)  Also lost in the discussion is fact that someone will have to fund the extra prosecutors required to support the 50+ extra cops.  The DA says hiring 2 more prosecutors is a start.  He is analyzing the potential increase in tickets/citations and will have a suggested increase needed soon.

UTAH LEGISLATURE TALKING ABOUT TAX INCREASE

  Lost in all of the talk about developing the Point is the Legislature’s plan to increase taxes to be used for transit and road projects in the southern section of Salt Lake County.  Of course, that would require that the Legislature pull projects’ responsibility from UTA and decide what needs developing in their best interest.  Despite all of the statements that the prison move will result in a windfall for Utah development, it looks like the cost will be borne by taxpayers.  Instead of landowners paying for the development, it looks like taxpayers will fund much of the infrastructure.  Many in the Legislature benefit from Point of the Mountain Development and instead of taxpayers paying for it, the State should sell the property and use only those funds for infrastructure development.  There should not be a tax increase (a .25 cents tax increase has been discussed to make up for Prop One not passing in Utah and Salt Lake Counties).

SLC COUNCIL WANTS TRANSIT PLAN TO PUSH STREETCARS

  During discussion and adoption of the Salt Lake City Transit Plan, Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall pointed out that the consultant has already done a thorough study on rail/streetcar routes and more studies do not need to be done.  Councilman Stan Penfold pointed out that the Transit Plan is not the final arbiter of the route.  There will have to be a public hearing on final routes.  One of the routes that Erin was talking about was the Sugar House Streetcar extending north on 1100 East until 1700 South, then west to 900 South and continuing north on 900 East to 400 South.  The Transit Plan also includes a downtown streetcar going east on 100 S. and 200 S. to the UofU and a north-south rail line on 400 West ($50 million would be saved if the Green Line is rerouted to go directly to North Temple instead of zig zagging through downtown SLC.  The Plan is approved but the Council has several newcomers coming on that may ignore public hearings and sentiments on routing the streetcars and spending the hundreds of millions of local taxpayer funds to build them.  The Plan says that a frequent bus transit network if the goal but past history implies that putting high cost projects in a plan will often cause those project to be built first instead of after the main goal of better bus service.

SLC COUNCIL ADU PLANS STYMIED BY DISABILITY LAW CENTER

  The Salt Lake City Council tried to pass an ADU ordinance Tuesday that would allow up to 25 ADUs (auxiliary dwelling units/mother in law apartments) in and area south of the Avenues and west of 1300

East (the boundaries were needed to get Stan and Charlie to agree to the ADU plan.  But the Utah Disability Law Center indicated that the boundaries violate the Fair Housing Act and would be illegal.  So the Council was scared off and sent the plan back to SLC Planning.  The bigger issue was that SLC does not have the ability to enforce zoning and other noise complaints.  Airbnb and similar services are almost impossible to police.  And the City still does not have the ability to enforce the ADU after the original owner dies.  So single family home neighborhoods are saved.

STORAGE FOR HOMELESS WORKERS LACKING

  Operation Rio Grande’s third phase is to encourage the homeless to apply for and obtain jobs.  But there is no real way to provide convenient and safe homeless storage.  The Weigand Center allows 2 week storage in cubies (after which they have to not use the service for 2 weeks) and now has 21 open storage cubies.  And the Weigand Center is only open until 5 (the new proposed contract with the State, once approved will allow the Weigand Center to stay open from 7 to 7).  But workers will need more storage and longer hours.  Over the last seven years, the homeless have walked neighborhoods with all of their belongings in shopping carts and other mobile storage systems.  The SLC storage facility, run by the SLC RDA (which tried to close it until Stan Penfold ordered RDA staff to keep it open) is full and is only open from 8 to 5.  So Operation Rio Grande’s third phase is relying on a wish, a hope and a dream.  Several City officials (and Utah Workforce Services) have realized the weak link in the plan, and are searching for a solution.

GARBAGE FEES INCREASES CAUSED BY SLCO MAYOR'S ACTIONS

  The Salt Lake County Mayor has decided, unilaterally, to close the Salt Lake County Garbage Transfer Station at 502 W. and 3300 South, without the joint owner, SLC participating in the decision.  “Salt Lake City didn’t know, nor agree with the closure”

  The Transfer Station is slated to close on July 1, 2018.  The closure was postponed to give time to find and fund a replacement plan.  It is expected that the costs for garbage services throughout much of the County will go up.  Ben McAdams says that the reason is the increased costs ($7 per ton) to transport the garbage from the Transfer Station to the landfill (on 6030 West California Avenue). 

  The operations are in the Mayor’s annual budget and the closing has been approved in the budget just approved by the County Council. (SLC and the County each get $1.75 per ton of garbage delivered to the facilities).  Unfortunately, the closing of the Transfer Station will require a longer drive with the garbage trucks (at 2 MPG or about $4 per mile in fuel in maintenance).  County and City refuse services are still crunching the numbers but are still trying to determine the new costs.

  Another complication is the requirement that 85% of the garbage has to be delivered to Salt Lake Valley facilities (due to the interlocal agreement with SLCO.  The Wasatch Front Waste and Recycling District is trying to negotiate a new agreement so that it can attempt to find a lower cost facility. 

SLCO KEEPS REVOLVING DOOR JAIL

  The Salt Lake County Council approved Mayor McAdams’ budget that keeps the revolving door jail while opening up the 380 free beds at Oxbow.  But since the Mayor intends to return the 300 prisoners that have been disseminated to other counties, the jail will continue, as it is now, as a revolving door jail.  The County’s law enforcement organizations are still relegated to fighting crime with the philosophy of disruption (arresting the criminals and taking them to jail which releases them early in the morning to wander back to Salt Lake City or other areas that they came from.  That is why there are criminals are arrested many times without real consequence.  Inadequate public safety funding at the Legislature.

UTA BORROWS FOR NEW PROJECTS

  The UTA Board of Trustees will have a final public hearing on December 13th before approving a relatively secret budget.  The budget has a $65 million bus garage that is not needed now (until bus service increases.  Without a full budget (200+ pages), it is impossible to comment specifically.  UTA released about 5 pages out of a 200 page document. (I asked and confirmed that the bus garage is included in the budget.)  I am against the costly and unneeded bus garage.  I also am concerned that the eminent domain costs are not being specifically noted.  And the Airport TRAX project should be specifically budgeted for a ground, not flying bridge system.  All borrowing should have a significant portion used for service increases to show taxpayers how their money is being used.  It should also be noted that (as I mentioned last week) that the Legislature seems to want to take away projects’ responsibility from UTA in order to fund more projects.  The last time the Legislature got involved in UTA, they approved/authorized up to 8 Transit Oriented Developments (TOD) which caused many of the questionable projects.  

DANNON ASKS FOR $200,000 TAX REFUND FROM SLCO

  Dannon Corporation has protested their County tax bill and, after studying the issue, the County Assessor has agreed that they are due $200,000 and the County Council, on this last Tuesday, approved the refund of $200,000 to Dannon.

NOVEMBER 30, 2017

STEINER POOL SECRETS REVEAL ROYAL MESS

  After my last blog post on the Steiner pool problems, I got a call from Jim Webster, who was involved in the pool concept and design and construction.  He told me that the 5 boilers that had lasted almost 20 years were only supposed to be used for a couple of years.  The pools were supposed to be heated by the heat extracted from the adjacent ice rinks that are in the same building!  But they never connected the systems with a heat exchanger.  It is a big screwup that has resulted in large expenses using natural gas instead of the heat extracted from the ice rinks (built for the Olympics).  Cottonwood High supposedly uses that system.   So if the City and County want to spend almost a million replacing the boilers, they may think twice and go back to what they were supposed to use, a heat exchanger.

NOVEMBER 29, 2017

LEGISLATURE TASK FORCE HAS MORE SECRECY THAN UTA LEGISLATURE WILL USE TAX INCREASE TO DEVELOP PT OF

MOUNTAIN

SLC COUNCIL FINALLY PUSHING FOR 50 NEW COPS

STEINER SWIMMING POOL UPDATE

SLC COUNCIL REMOVES ADU LIMITS

LEGISLATURE TASK FORCE HAS MORE SECRECY THAN UTA

  The last meeting of the Legislature’s Transportation Governance and Funding Task Force, on Monday November 27, revealed a proposal to change UTA management to a three person commission appointed by the Governor.  Almost no one from the public, and many on the Task Force, did not know about the proposal until the meeting.  When I looked on the agenda on Saturday, less than a business day before the meeting, I only saw the Task Force report given to the Legislature’s Interim Transportation Committee the week before.  Since that report was due by December 1, I assumed that that was the end of the proposals until the January Legislative session.  The meeting was “snuck in” (according to Senator Harper) due to authority given in his bill that created the Task Force that was assumed to end at the end of November.  Senator Harper said that technically the Task Force can continue until the General Session.  Due to the lack of notice, no one from the public commented when Senator Harper, the co-chair, asked for public comments!  The Task Force members were so surprised by the proposal that they asked for another meeting.  Senator Harper said that they now have the proposal and it is time to throw darts.  Although some in the Legislature think that the complaints about UTA are resolved with this plan, the public really did not have a chance to comment on it.  In other words, UTA now seems more open than UTA.

  Many of the Task Force members were concerned about passing the proposal without more discussion and analysis.  The proposal did not go through the working group as a talking point so it was not

vetted.  Lane Beattie said that he was concerned that the “never read, never seen motion” did not have a provision to come back and have the opportunity to address concerns.  He felt that a lot more input is needed.

  Part of the proposal was to have UTA managed by a three member commission.  But as Commissioner Milburn, a UTA Board Trustee, pointed out, having three heads managing an entity like UTA can create more problems than it solves.  He has experience in the commission format and his experience questions the efficiency of that system.  He also was concerned about who decides which commissioner handles finances versus operations versus maintenance.  In addition, he felt that open meetings are not always able to be enforced when two commissioners meet, they essentially violate the open meetings act.  He also felt that UTA has come a long way in becoming more open.  

  That appears to be the main issue:  What is the best way to ensure more public trust and accountability in UTA, Utah’s main mass transit entity?  As Representative Schultz pointed out, UTA has zero dollars to expand service.  He said that UTA’s structured debt essentially is paying interest only now.  In ten years, the debt payments increase by $80 million (in a $400 million budget).  UTA is assuming that revenue is increasing at around 5% and expenses are increasing at around 2.75% per year.  If UTA’s estimates are off by 1%, they can’t operate and they will have to decrease service.  Representative Schultz said that he keeps hearing “What are you going to do to change UTA?”  So this proposal is important to restoring trust in UTA.

  Mayor Biskupski expressed concern about what she believes is a State takeover of UTA and decreasing the influence of municipalities and local government on mass transit decisions.  Chamber of Commerce President Lane Beattie agreed, saying “if it walks like a duck and sounds like a duck… it seems to be a duck and State takeover.  I don’t get it.  It takes away from local government.”  It seems to be a way for local taxes that go to mass transit to be managed by the State.  In response to a question, Senator Harper said that UDOT has no influence or control over UTA now.  But UDOT does exert control and influences UTA and funds part of UTA projects including the Provo BRT/TRIP.  UDOT also works with UTA in coordinating traffic lights for the alternative bus concept being tested on the 217 Redwood Rd bus route.

  What many have forgotten, UTA has gotten into a lot of trouble by working on projects that were

“requested” by the Legislature.  The Utah Legislature, in a bill many years ago by Senator Stevenson, gave UTA the ability to build and manage Transit Oriented Developments (TODs).  It essentially allowed UTA to function as a bank and construction company.  In return for 5% of a project, UTA would give $10 million worth of property next to a TRAX or FrontRunner station (in at least two cases).  In several other cases, money was given by UTA to developers for projects that did not work out and did not get completed.  The parking garage/TOD in West Jordan and the Garn TOD development in Clearfield were two projects that had UTA giving millions to developers without completing the project.  So this proposal raises more questions and concerns about the Legislature and State controlling UTA when, in the past, that control and influence has created problems for UTA.

  Mayor Biskupski also said that the proposal could burden UTA with new projects without providing funding for maintenance.  She is right.  (The proposal assumes that UDOT will approve new projects and UTA will maintain them without new funding!)  So there would be almost no hope to increase service.

  The funding Task Force sub committee said that without new funding, UTA debt will not be paid off until 2042.  Utah would need to hold off on new projects until we get hold of the debt issue.  The proposed bill that is being drafted, and will go to all of the Task Force members for comment, will include many different funding proposals.  The reason is that the Legislature needs to provide the ability for new funding for those counties that did not increase their sales tax for transportation (under Prop One).  Funding options include: ride sharing fees, tolling criteria, road user fees, congestion pricing, transit student passes, value added capture, user charge for electric vehicles and other funding options.  Representative Schultz asked that user charges for electric vehicles be included in the bill.  Unfortunately, electric vehicles have minimal impacts on roads.  Trying to force electric vehicles to pay for their minimal impact on roads and not increase the charge for vehicles that have much more impact on the roads (like big trucks) seems to be encouraging buying bigger vehicles with more impact on the roads.  It was also mentioned, as part of the funding proposals, that the .25 cent sales tax increase be considered for those counties that did not approve Prop One.  Lane Beattie mentioned that the county commissions could be given the ability to increase taxes in their counties without a public vote.   The Land Use subcommittee of the Task Force is waiting for the League of Cities and Towns to provide feedback.  The proposal was adopted unanimously, with the provision that there would be one more meeting to ensure that the proposal is sufficiently analyzed and debated.  The Task Force members were encouraged to provide comments to the staff and Senator Harper at lrammell@le.utah.gov, ajanak@le.utah.gov and/or wharper@le.utah.gov.

  I encourage everyone interested in this potential tax increase and decreasing local control of taxes to comment to the Task Force emails above.

LEGISLATURE WILL USE TAX INCREASE TO DEVELOP PT OF MOUNTAIN

  As mentioned during the Transportation Governance and Funding Task Force meeting Monday, the

Legislature may impose a .25 cent sales tax increase on counties that did not vote to approve Prop One.  The Legislature seems, to me, to be planning to use the funds to provide funding for billions of mass transit projects in the Point of the Mountain area.  Tuesday’s Point of the Mountain Development Commission said that transit projects need to be undertaken there soon.  But if UTA does not have the billions for the Draper to Orem TRAX extension (could be as much as $2+ billion) and hundreds of millions for other projects in the area, then Utah will have to find a way to raise funds through tax or fee increases.  The .25 cent sales tax increase seems to be the closest to becoming realized.  Taxpayers will not have a real say in the tax implementation.  And the biggest beneficiaries, the landowners and property managers in the area (many in the Legislature) will make out like bandits.  Taxpayers should not be worried about $100,000 higher salary for a UTA general manager.  Taxpayers should be worried about paying millions in increasing land values to each legislator landowner in the area from tax increases.  This is a fast moving train and the public should become aware of it and get involved and comment on the issues.

SLC COUNCIL FINALLY PUSHING FOR 50 NEW COPS

  After years of pushing for 50 new police officers in Salt Lake City (I ran as a candidate for SLC mayor asking to hire 50 new cops.), the Council listened to the many community councils that were complaining about the increase in crime in their neighborhoods that accelerated with Operation Rio Grande.  The complaints included residents asking why they never see cops patrolling; where are the bicycle cops; and why won’t police respond to burglaries?  The Council increased the proposal for 27 new cops that the administration proposed to support Operation Rio Grande, to 50 new cops that may cost as much as $5+ million (a figure that is being disputed – see download above on police staffing and cost) until the next budget in May.  Several Councilmembers expressed concern about the need for a tax increase to continue the increased staffing.  I, again, suggested that there are several surplus SLC properties that have been vacant for almost 10 years that could be and should be sold to provide funding for public safety.  Ironically, one of the properties is the old Pipeline Building which was the old SLC Police Headquarters.  But, the major point is that the Council voted, in a straw poll, to be finalized at the December 5 formal public meeting, to add to the Budget Amendment 1, the cost of 50 new cops.  Every citizen in Salt Lake City should be thanking every Councilmember for this important and game changing decision.  Their emails are on the right hand column, under the downloads section.  It was such a surprise that only two citizens commented and thanked the Council during the public

hearing on the evening’s public hearing on the Budget Amendment.

STEINER SWIMMING POOL UPDATE

  One of the items in the Budget Amendment 1 that the SLC Council is prepared to vote for on December 5 is the funding of almost a million dollars ($950,000) to help pay to repair and replace the heating boilers for the Steiner Aquatic Center on Guardsman’s Way..

“All five boilers for the Steiner Aquatic Center pools need to be replaced after premature failures due to “accelerated corrosion.” As a result, the outdoor pool ad to be closed a month early, and the indoor pool is currently heated by just one boiler, which was jerry-rigged with components of the other boilers. Its failure would result in the Center’s closure. Salt Lake County will share the cost for the new equipment under the interlocal cooperation agreement for Steiner Aquatic enter operations with the City, though the full funding amount will not be immediately forthcoming, and may not fall within the City’s fiscal year 2018.”

SLC COUNCIL REMOVES ADU LIMITS

  In a surprise vote (straw poll that should not be final but usually is) during the Tuesday work session, the Council voted to remove the annual limits on ADUs, to keep the boundaries (south of South Temple and west of 1300 East) and to review the ordinance in four years.  This could be a serious blow to single family home neighborhoods since the Council still has not adequately funded zoning enforcement (needed for proper regulation of noise and parking and ownership issues) and the legal issues of owner occupied requirements, after an owner dies, is still not solved.  Some think that the Legislature may get involved and tell SLC what to do with their ADU la

NOVEMBER 22, 2017

SLC POLICE ARRESTS AND RETIREMENTS

JUSTICE REINVESTMENT INITIATIVE AND DUI UPDATE

SLTRIB ADDICTION REALITY AND HEPATITIS A STORIES 

ELECTRIC CARS AND VEHICLE MILES TRAVELED

SLCO DOES NOT NEED TO BUILD A CONVENTION HOTEL

UTA BUDGET GETS ONLY ONE COMMENT ON BUDGET

KIDS' PLAYGROUNDS UNSAFE WITHOUT SHADE

SLC HOUSING PLAN COULD REDUCE PARKING 

SUGAR HOUSE PARLEYS TRAIL NEEDS A REGULAR BIKE RIDE

EVENT

TWILIGHT CONCERT MAY STILL BE ALIVE

SLC POLICE ARRESTS AND RETIREMENTS

  During SLC Police Chief Brown's discussion with the Salt Lake City Council on the budget amendment to start the process of hiring 27 new SLC police officers, Chief Brown said that, if the budget amendment is approved, the police officers should be ready for patrol by the end of 2018.  Unfortunately, the City is losing around three 20 year experienced officers a month with the subsequent loss of significant institutional knowledge of crime fighting in Salt Lake City (39 in the last year).  The reason for the large number of 20 year police officers leaving is due to the Utah State Pension system that was modified in 2011 to discourage double and triple dipping by government employees that have reached 20 year time of service.  The pension contributions to the person’s retirement fund are stopped for a year after 20 years of service.  The instigating situation was the number of corrections officers that retired at 20 years and turned around and got a job in the same place while collecting their pensions (double dipping).  Former Senator Liljenquist developed and sponsored the bill to discourage double dipping and at the same time financially stabilizing the Utah State pension system.  

  Many other governments in the United States have problems with financially insolvent pension systems.  Utah’s pension system, thanks to Senator Liljenquist, is financially solvent but the result is discouraging police, fire and teaching personnel from staying at the same place of government employment after 20 years.  Rural schools have a serious problem providing good teachers to their students because of it.  The year after the change to the Utah State Pension System, Utah municipal governments lost 80% of their 20 year experienced law enforcement personnel.  

  Utah law enforcement loses experienced officers to other states (Utah Highway Patrol Officers go to

Arizona or other states to continue their jobs that they love.) and other private companies.  For instance, Salt Lake City police lost 39 officers who retired last year.  When they reached 20 years, unless they stayed with the Department, they go to UTA (which received 8 SLCPD officers in the last year) or to private industry (which received 8) or to the DA or to other non government entities so that they can survive.  A 20 year retired employee may get less than $30,000 from retirement and, with insurance costs and a mortgage, they may have only a few hundred dollars available to live on.  UTA gets many of the officers because it allows the personnel to continue to work in Salt Lake City and earn a living providing law enforcement services.  

  It should seem obvious that Salt Lake City needs to provide funding to hire 50 new police officers (or experienced officers from other jurisdictions – which would require a more competitive police salary).  The best deterrent to crime is more visible police.

  On another note, Chief Brown noted that 80% of the over 2000 arrested during Operation Rio Grande had homes or residences.  They were congregating in the Rio Grande neighborhood to socialize and party which exacerbated the criminal environment and drug dealing.

JUSTICE REINVESTMENT INITIATIVE AND DUI UPDATE

  The 2014 Utah Justice Reinvestment Initiative was supposed to decrease criminal penalties for nonviolent drug offences and result in a decrease in prison population.  In 2017, there were about 2000 fewer in Utah’s prison system.  The average prison sentence for possession went from 12 months to 6 months.  The parole and probation violation time in prison was reduced by 50%.  The individuals on parole or probation number 16,503.

  The arrest rate per 100,000 for drug related crimes went from 825 in 2012 to 992 in 2017.  Property crime went from 1018 to 836 in the last 5 years.

  “The Commission developed a comprehensive set of evidence-based policy recommendations to reduce recidivism, hold offenders accountable, and control the state’s prison growth.”  ….This leads to “a significant increase in the number of justice involved clients served for mental health treatment …”   “House Bill 348 (HB348) modified the penalties for certain drug possession and prescription fraud statutes. One of the goals of JRI is to decrease the practice of incarcerating drug offenders (and other nonviolent offenders with addiction and mental health issues), and alternatively, provide increased

opportunities for substance use and mental health treatment for these offenders.”

  In 2014 just before the JRI lowered the penalties for drug possession and prescription fraud statutes, there were 5,517 charges for drug possession of marijuana or spice and 12,347 charges of possession of controlled substance.  In fiscal year 2017, there were 8,219 charges filed for marijuana or spice and 14,531 charges of possession of a controlled substance.

  I put the Utah Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) 2017 Annual Report on the upper right downloads section.

  The DUI Annual Report is also on the upper right downloads section.  The executive summary includes:  In calendar year 2016, there were 36 fatalities involving a driver with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of .08 or greater.  There were 792 drug related crashes in 2016, a 13% increase from the previous year.  There were 10,762 DUI related arrests in FY 2017.  72% arrestees were male.  12% of arrestees were under 21 and the youngest arrestee was 14 years old.  71% of arrests were for a first offense, 19% were for a second offense, 7% were for a third offense and 3% were for a fourth or subsequent offense.

SLTRIB ADDICTION REALITY AND HEPATITIS A STORIES

  Salt Lake Tribune’s Chris Smart had an excellent story on addiction in real life and the effect of treatment.  I strongly recommend reading his story at: http://www.sltrib.com/news/2017/11/19/once-hailed-for-beating-homelessness-this-utah-man-is-back-onthe-streets-and-the-program-that-saved-him-before-has-to-turn-him-away/

  Luke Ramseth, in the Salt Lake Tribune, did the first real story on the significant Salt Lake City hepatitis A outbreak/epidemic.  The outbreak is serious but most news organizations have been ignoring it for the last two months.  Luke’s story shines the light on an important issue.  Even UTA bus drivers, police and librarians and anyone working with the homeless are recommended to get vaccinations.  There is also a concern that those is jail, a population identified as at risk for the hepatitis A, could be spreading the virus due to lack of cleanliness in jail cells.  His story is at:

http://www.sltrib.com/news/health/2017/11/19/utahs-hepatitis-a-outbreak-among-the-homeless-is-oneof-three-big-flare-ups-around-the-country/

ELECTRIC CARS AND VEHICLE MILES TRAVELED

  There are some in the Legislature that believe that Utah should consider modifying taxes to capture the electric vehicles that do not pay gasoline taxes.  Although their impact is minimal compared to heavier vehicles they should help pay for road maintenance and infrastructure funding.  But that is like proposing that larger families should contribute more for their children’s education.  Children are our greatest resource and their education develops our resources and that benefits all Utahns.  Roads are like that.  Even those that do not pay for roads directly or through a gasoline tax, receive benefits that are important to all Utahns but they shouldn’t be expected to pay for them.  I do think that Senator Van Tassell’s proposal from a few years ago to raise gasoline taxes by 10 cents a gallon would have been better than the tax that did pass but that seems to be lacking in providing increased funding for road maintenance.  The Legislature is interested in increasing revenue for roads but should not be considering taxing the vehicles that have the smallest impact on roads.

SLCO DOES NOT NEED TO BUILD A CONVENTION HOTEL

  In case you missed it, the Ritchie Group is going to build a hotel with 271 rooms on 300 West next to the Salt Palace Convention Center.  The Ritchie group will also build 600 residential units and a grocery store in the complex.  The Ritchie Group also developed the area around Brickyard including the recent Element 31 apartment complex.  The project removes the need for the Salt Lake County convention hotel that Mayor McAdams has been trying to get approved by the County Council.  The hotel was approved by the Legislature with a performance tax credit but the County Mayor has not been able to provide enough of an incentive to have a developer commit to build it.  In addition, Salt Lake lost the biggest reason for the hotel, the Outdoor Retailers Show.  The project, if built, would also give hotels that have lower occupancy due to the competition, money from taxpayers.  The Ritchie Group project removes the need for a Salt Lake County convention hotel. 

UTA BUDGET GETS ONLY ONE COMMENT ON BUDGET

  Only one person spoke at the UTA public hearing on the 2018 budget proposal for UTA.  I submitted comments, and despite assurance that they would be considered, they were not acknowledged during the hearing.  When I tried to comment online, because I wanted to attend the Transportation Interim Legislative Committee that was meeting at the same time, I was not able to comment due to the budget not being listed on the Board Agenda items for comment.  UTA has a way to go to engage the public since only one comment got to the Board of Trustees.  I did directly contact several Trustees directly regarding the issue.  My comments, again, and UTA’s responses are:  Without a full budget (200+ pages), it is impossible to comment specifically.  UTA responded that they are working to provide more than a three page budget summary for public comment and hopefully, by next year’s budget, the public will have access to it.  I did receive the 200 page budget for this year, several months after the last budget hearing.  I expressed concern about the budget not specifically listing the $65 million bus garage (it is included in the full budget) and I am still against it (I called it the big ass garage several years ago.) since it will take money away from service expansion.  UTA confirmed that the bus garage is in the budget and will utilize some of the increased borrowing.  I also asked about maintenance on the hill of the Red line between 4th and 5th South.  I expressed concern that that maintenance should be planned.  UTA confirmed that the rail will be part of the maintenance planned for the next year.  I also expressed concern about the lack of eminent domain costs being listed.  The costs are part of the reason for the cost overruns of the Provo TRIP/BRT project.  UTA still has not appropriately settled the eminent domain issue of the Hamblin Furniture Company next to their headquarters that is planned to be a parking lot for the big bus garage.  There should be an explicit statement that interest payments will go up before more borrowing.  All increased borrowing should require that a significant portion of the increased borrowing be used for service increases so that taxpayers can see results

immediately.  UTA will consider that idea.  And finally, I asked that the Airport TRAX project note that the project will cost less than $20 million. 

  Again, the flying bridge $65+ million Airport TRAX design is dead.  Acting Airport Director Pack, on his last day on the job, told the Salt Lake City Council that the flying bridge TRAX design won’t work.  It hides the terminal architecture; it is a problem to maintain; it will block traffic when it needs maintenance; and coming or going, at one point, every passenger will have to use an escalator or elevator.  During the Transportation Interim Committee hearing, it was noted that the Airport Passenger Fees (APF), even after the increase, Salt Lake City will still have one of the lowest fees in the country.

  Someone should tell former Mayor Ralph Becker that the flying bridge TRAX is dead.  His oped in the Deseret News recently ignored the reality.  Someone should also tell him that his dream of a high speed rail station at the Airport is also unrealistic.  

KIDS' PLAYGROUNDS UNSAFE WITHOUT SHADE

  It turns out that, during the summer, many of the Salt Lake City kids’ playground equipment would not be safe for children due to the high temperature that the equipment absorbed.  Some community groups are trying to raise funds to pay for, or get the City to pay for, shades over playground equipment.  Children should not get burned by Salt Lake City playground equipment.

SLC HOUSING PLAN COULD REDUCE PARKING  

  During discussion about the SLC (Affordable) Housing Plan, there was a note that transit rich areas should have less parking requirements.  But the reality is that Salt Lake City does not have any transit rich areas.  Transit service essentially stops in most areas after 830 PM.  TRAX stops at

midnight.  Again, Salt Lake City DOES NOT HAVE ANY TRANSIT RICH AREAS!  Parking

requirements should not be reduced until transit service is significantly increased.  Accessory dwelling Units (ADU) are also part of this plan but it impacts the implied promise that single family home neighborhoods will remain single family.  The Council discussed having owners of ADUs sign a notarized agreement that the home that hosts the ADU will be owner occupied.  But that is almost impossible to legally enforce.

SUGAR HOUSE PARLEYS TRAIL NEEDS A REGULAR BIKE RIDE EVENT

  Salt Lake City and bicycle shops and Bike Share should encourage and develop a regular bicycle ride gathering centered on the Parleys Trail around Sugarmont Plaza (Sugarmont and Highland).  It could be and should be a regular bike ride gathering that circles the Salt Lake Valley using Parleys, Jordan River and Bonneville Shoreline Trails.  It would be like the 999 weekly gathering but would be more appropriate on weekends and during the day.

  The Parleys Trail also needs fast growing, mature trees (not little 2 inch diameter trees) planted closer to the Trail that would provide better shade, especially in the summer and hot weather to make using the Trail less stressful for people and pets.  It now looks like the Trail is going to have the same problem in the summer as the Trail near Tanner Park where it is a problem for dogs walking on the hot asphalt of the Trail.

  Salt Lake City should develop a program that requires developers, who cut down trees, to contribute to an urban forestry fund that supports a City tree replacement program.  Salt Lake City needs more trees.

TWILIGHT CONCERT MAY STILL BE ALIVE

  SLC Councilman Derek Kitchen asked the Council to consider funding the Twilight Concerts either through a partnership with a private promoter or another method.  He pointed out that the brand should not be wasted.  So if anyone knows of a concert promoter that would like to make use of the good will of the Twilight Concert brand, they should contact Derek Kitchen.  Derek wants the City to provide seed money to continue the Concert series.

NOVEMBER 15, 2017

16 BED MEDICAID WAIVER GRANTED WHO WILL GET 100

ADDICTS

HEPATITIS A AT 60 AND 9 POUNDS OF NEEDLES COLLECTED

CLOSED STEINER POOL PROBLEMS KNOWN FOR A YEAR

WORK PHASE DOES NOT HAVE STORAGE FOR WORKERS

UTA KEEPS BUDGET SECRET PLUS ADDS SECRET $65 MILLION

GARAGE

SLC NEEDS 50 MORE POLICE BUT CAN'T PAY FOR THEM

PIONEER PARK RESTROOMS TO GET PORTLAND LOO

WINGPOINTE ON ITS LAST LEGS

TRANSIT PLAN TO BE VOTED IN DEC 5 NO MATTER WHAT PUBLIC SAYS

SALES TAX REVENUE TO FUND BONDS FOR CITY OWNED DEVELOPMENTS

16 BED MEDICAID WAIVER GRANTED WHO WILL GET 100

ADDICTS

  The 16 bed Medicaid waiver was granted Monday and that means that treatment centers can have more than 16 beds and get covered/reimbursed for treatment costs by Medicaid.  The original limit was to stop neighborhoods near treatment centers from being inundated with addicts and be negatively impacted.  That waiver now means that the treatment centers, any treatment centers can be as big as they want and the neighborhoods cannot stop them.  This could be the battle of the decade.  Both First Step and Odyssey House have indicated that they hope to have around 100 beds each in their facilities.  Only the State of Utah will have a say on this and will grant approval based on appropriate and effective patient services.  Again, city planning commissions will have to grant the conditional use permits.  No one can refuse.  The operative phrase is: "providers will drastically boost their drugtreatment bed numbers in coming months" according to the State of Utah.

HEPATITIS A AT 60 AND 9 POUNDS OF NEEDLES COLLECTED

  In the last six weeks, there have been many big red boxes placed around Salt Lake City's downtown including at the Main Library and Pioneer Park.  The red boxes, Sharp Boxes, are to provide a safe and secure way for drug users to abandon their used needles.  Although an eyesore and a concern for neighborhoods that have them, they appear to be working.  During the upkeep this week, 9 pounds of hazardous waste was removed from the boxes including mostly needles.  The boxes were originally inappropriately modified by Salt Lake City against County Health Department recommendations and approval.  After a couple of weeks of arguing, the City modified the boxes in accordance with County requirements (originally there was a concern that the City modifications would allow access by addicts to remove needles).

  The hepatitis A outbreak in Salt Lake City is at 60 cases with three new cases diagnosed this last weekend.  The County Health Department has sent out thousands of letters recommending vaccination to County food and restaurant businesses.  The County is also discussing how to convince Salt Lake City to implement hand washing stations next to the porta potties around the Pioneer Park neighborhood.  It was noted at the Council meeting that the daily cleanup of the toilets was not happening which could be increasing the risk of spreading hepatitis A.  The County is also considering recommending hygiene kits with a new towlette/wipe that is able to kill the virus (which is even able to resist normal sanitizers and chlorine).

CLOSED STEINER POOL PROBLEMS KNOWN FOR A YEAR

  This weekend, the Steiner Aquatic Center closed.   The last of the five boilers that heated the water failed.  The City knew of the problem early this year but did not prepare a solution until now.  The boilers were at the end of their 20 year life and for the last few months, only one was operating.  The City waited until Tuesday to ask for money from the City Council to match County funding to replace the boilers!  Again, they knew at the beginning of this year of the issue and they waited for almost a year to think about doing something about it!  The outdoor pool opened later than normal in spring and closed earlier than usual at the end of summer.  Again, the final boiler stopped working this last weekend.  The City and County intend to contract for an emergency boiler to, as quickly as possible, open up the indoor pool for regular use.  The full cost to replace the five old boilers is expected to be just under a million dollars.  The City says that it will not take a year to get their act together as before.   As of Wednesday afternoon, the pool is temporarily open users should call everyday to see if it opens that day.

WORK PHASE DOES NOT HAVE STORAGE FOR WORKERS

  Lost in the celebration of the Medicaid waiver (which will inundate neighborhoods with addicts) and the third phase of Operation Rio Grande (work for the homeless) is the reality that homeless do not want to work unless there is a safe and secure and convenient way to store their personal property.  The City's storage facility is full and only operates 8 to 5.  The Weigand Center has a two week storage area but the Center has restricted operating hours unless and until someone, the State or the City, step up to fund longer hours.  The SLC RDA has funding and should provide the money for a new 24 hour storage area for workers and/or fund the Weigand Center or another entity to provide the storage.  Otherwise the work phase of Operation Rio Grande will fail.

  During the RDA meeting, I noted that the Sears block should be discussed and development pushed at RDA and used to jump start the State Street RDA expansion area that could/should/has the best chance of providing affordable housing opportunities for Salt Lake City citizens.  Even with mixed income units (affordable along with market rate), the more housing, the less pressure to raise rents in Salt Lake City.

UTA KEEPS BUDGET SECRET PLUS ADDS SECRET $65 MILLION GARAGE

  Unfortunately, UTA's budget public hearing will only provide the public with 3 pages of budget!  That is not enough to make a reasonable comment.  UTA agrees and will work towards providing a more thorough and financially appropriate budget next year before public comment.  It hasn't been done before but it makes sense and UTA will push for that.  I have to call the presented 3 page budget as a mickie mouse budget, laughable.  Not listed, but acknowledged by UTA, the budget includes the $65 million bus garage (that won't be needed unless bus service doubles - Of course, if built, the argument will be UTA needs money to buy more buses/service to fill the bus garage.  Otherwise it is wasted.).  Also not listed but, when asked, UTA acknowledges that there will be a component to maintain the Red line rails on 10th East going from 400 South to 500 South (Rail curves are notorious to maintain. Curves with a hill have much, much worse longevity.).  And the $20 million for Airport TRAX is the highest possible cost estimate for the cheap, ground level version.  Also the eminent domain costs have not been figured into the budget.  The Hamblin Furniture eminent domain issue has not been settled for almost 10 years and the Provo TRIP eminent domain is exceeding estimates.

  The most important recommendation that the UTA Board should consider is that any borrowing of money should include a visible service expansion so that taxpayers will see what they are getting for the extra borrowing.  Note that UTA payments for bonds will go up even without borrowing more money due to the bond contracts.  

SLC NEEDS 50 MORE POLICE BUT CAN'T PAY FOR THEM

  Salt Lake City has asked the City Council for funding to start hiring 27 new police officers.  The main reason is to support Operation Rio Grande.  But Councilman Charlie Luke pointed out, correctly, that 27 new cops is not nearly enough.  He also pointed out that Salt Lake City has a problem on how to consistently, year after year, fund new police officers.  he 27 will keep us even when police officers retire according to Chief Brown.  Salt Lake City loses around 3 veteran police officers each month with 20 years of institutional crime fighting knowledge.  The reason is that when Utah changed their pension laws for government employees (by Senator Liljenquist - who used the misuse of double and triple dipping in corrections as an excuse), it penalized working past 20 years by stopping pension contributions for at least a year.  That is why Utah loses so many 20 year Highway Patrol veterans to Arizona.  This issue keeps good officers from continuing on the force and also negatively impacts rural schools who have a problem finding experienced teachers.  Several years ago, former Representative Cunningham tried to change the law for teachers and law enforcement and just require that they sit out

30 days before returning with pension contributions.  But at the last minute, literally, after a compromise was agreed to, he got into an argument with former Senator Liljenquist in front of his close friends on the Committee, Senator Dayton and Jackson.  That pretty much killed the bill.

  The Chief said that we have about 190 officers on patrol but we need 20 to 30 more.  In other words, we need to hire 50 new cops (which some of us have been saying for several years).  I recommend that Salt Lake City sell the old public safety/pipeline building and use the money to hire 50 new cops.

PIONEER PARK RESTROOMS TO GET PORTLAND LOO

  The City Council was asked to approve a couple of hundred thousand dollars for the Pioneer Park Portland Loo to replace the porta potties.  Councilman Kitchen complained that the toilets don't seem to be cleaned every night as promised and with the hepatitis A outbreak, it seems that that is important.  Also there are no handwashing stations.  The toilets also do not seem to be manned always to ensure that they aren't used for injecting drugs.

WINGPOINTE ON ITS LAST LEGS

  Wingpointe Golf Course is being given one last chance by the City Council to try to find a way for the FAA to provide a fair lease or sell it to the Airport for development (as a deicing maintenance facility) or to a private entity or developer.  The Council said that they will no longer approve a payment to the FAA for Wingpointe property.  They said that the cost to reopen it becomes more expensive everyday.

TRANSIT PLAN TO BE VOTED IN DEC 5 NO MATTER WHAT PUBLIC SAYS

  It appears that the SLC Council will have the final say on the SLC Transit Master Plan and it may be modified without another public hearing.  The Council intends to vote on it on December 5 which means that it needs to be revised by next week, and voted to be put on the agenda as an action item on November 28.  Again the questionable $65 million bus garage was added.  The Council also expressed concern that there is no real transit available along the I80 corridor.  (The County has asked to replace the 5600 West 30/60 minute bus with a fast bus at a cost of $40+ million dollars going to the airport and Salt Lake City.)  I agree that the last destination that can support a rail line is the 25,000 employees (soon to be 30,000 employees) International Center between the Airport and 5600 West (where Amazon and Stadler are going).  I still think that the Transit Master Plan is being rushed and is disrespectful to taxpayers.

SALES TAX REVENUE TO FUND BONDS FOR CITY OWNED DEVELOPMENTS

  During discussion of borrowing and bonding for affordable housing through RDA, it was again noted that sales taxes may only be used for funding projects that are 100% owned by Salt Lake City.  In general, RDA properties/projects are joint and therefore may not be allowed to bond. 

NOVEMBER 9, 2017

MAYOR CONTINUES COMMUNITY COUNCIL VISITS

CONSTANT CRIME CONCERNS GET SLCPD CHIEF ATTENTION

BIKE CHOP SHOPS POLICE RECOMMENDATION TO COUNCIL

SLC DISPATCH PRIORITY DISPATCH SYSTEM PROBLEMS

PARK RANGERS BEING STUDIED

SLTRIB UTA ROUTE STORY SOURCE

SEMI FINAL RESULTS FOR SLC DISTRICT 5

MARTHA ELLIS PROVES FIRE DEPARTMENT HARASSMENT 

IMPORTANT STORY ON MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES WITH

HOMELESS

HUGHES IS IN NO RUSH TO CLOSE ROAD HOME

MAYOR CONTINUES COMMUNITY COUNCIL VISITS

  I have been going to many of the Salt Lake City community council meetings since 2012.  In all those years, the previous administration, Mayor Becker, never showed up except toward his attempted reelection.  This Mayor seems to be interested in visiting most of the community councils.  Mayor Biskupski attended the Liberty Wells Community Council (near Liberty Park) and spent an hour hearing complaints and promising solutions.  Some comments included that the City jumped the gun on Operation Rio Grande because the beds for treatment and work systems were not set up first.  The Mayor agreed but said that the State was controlling the speed.  She mentioned that Speaker Hughes was on Doug Wright and bad mouthing her and she was caught off guard.  In other words, the State forced the issue.  Something needed to be done about the crime in the Rio Grande area and the State decided that it needed to be addressed immediately, even when the other important parts of the plan weren't in place.  She also mentioned that the State needed healthcare expansion but the State was the decision maker on that issue.

CONSTANT CRIME CONCERNS GET SLCPD CHIEF ATTENTION

  During the meeting at Liberty Wells Community Council, there were complaints about constant crime in apartments and houses and nothing seems to be done.  Calls to the recommended non-emergency number, 801 799 3000, have been met with disrespectful responses from dispatch. (see blog entry below) One of the complaints came from Andy Eatchel who sometimes has to complain several times a day about neighborhood drug dealing, addicts, bike chop shops and other criminal activities.  Chief Brown promised to meet with Andy about his complaints.  

  Andy has been working with the SLC CIU Officer for District 5 and the property in question has been raided several times and recently had a crime camera set up that decreased crime.  The Salt Lake Police have four cameras and three of those are working.  They have been used on State Street, in the Rio Grande area, and other high crime areas to discourage crime.  

  Unfortunately, the property is used by the VA and SLCounty for housing vouchers and some of the tenants have a habit of inviting in their friends that engage in criminal activity.  The SLC Police Department has tried to address the crime in that area (around 1300 South and State) but it is a constant battle.  Erin Mendenhall asked the Mayor if the civil penalties ordinance could be changed to encompass property like that mentioned that could be used to stop the criminal activiity.  The Mayor promised to try to meet with the landowner of the property to address the residents concerns.  I also have to mention that the Salt Lake Housing Authority, led by Daniel Nackerman, had addressed criminal activity issues in their properties by kicking out those individuals.  In other words, it can be done.

  Although burglaries have gone up 100% in SLC Distric t 5 (see story below on November 4 news blog), Chief Brown explained that the most serious crime has decreased.  But several people complained that their cars or residences have been broken into several times and the police don't seem to respond when they are called.  The Chief and administration and City Councilmembers should understand that saying that dangerous crime has gone down doesn't play well with citizens, taxpayers and victims of crime when other crime has gone up.

  Questions included "Where are the police resources?"  "The presence of the police is missing!"  Several said that they have never seen a patrolling police officer in their neighborhood.  Chief Brown admitted that we need more cops.  He said that the Academy just graduated 20 cops but that it will take 10 months to get them up to speed to be allowed to patrol alone.  Hopefully, the City Council and Mayor will address this situation soon.  The best deterrent to crime is a visible police officer.

BIKE CHOP SHOPS POLICE RECOMMENDATION TO COUNCIL

  Several complained about the proliferation of bicycle chop shops that start and end within an hour on sidewalks throughout the area.  Pioneer Park regularly has many bicycles and parts that look like a junkyard.  The SLC Police have had a proposal to beef up the bicycle registration program on the SLC City Attorney's desk for two months.  When asked when it would reach the City Council, the Mayor said it would go to the Council by the end of the month.

SLC DISPATCH PRIORITY DISPATCH SYSTEM PROBLEMS

  Several community council members complained that when they call the non-emergency number 801 799 3000 that they have been told to call, the dispatcher that answers seems to be disrespectful and dismissive of the caller.  The Chief said that if you ask for a police officer, dispatch should send a police officer.  The Mayor and Chief promised to look into the issue.  The Mayor said that she was unaware of the issue when calling 799 3000.  The problem with SLC Dispatch, a separate entity from the SLCPD, is that they have a system called Priority Dispatch that quickly assigns a priority to the caller.  If the caller doesn't know the system, it will create frustration and anger.  Michael McFall did a story in 2014 in the Salt Lake Tribune that discussed some of the issues.  Callers that called 911 to report a crime in progress did not get the response that they wanted.  A robbery report that was in progress was said by the caller to be wasting time going through a questionaire (the script).  It was so bad that, several years ago, some of the SLCPD CIU officers started training community councils on the system and how to actually get to the important points of the reported crime.

  To get the highest priority, crime has to be reported as "in progress" as in skateboarder in progress.  There are seven pages of assigned priority.  If you call to report a homeless man, the police will likely not respond.  If you say prowler, they will respond, and especially quickly if you say prowler, now, in progress.

  The Priority Dispatch system can be a problem for callers to navigate when dispatch insists on going through the script.  The Sheriff used a different system.  Since Priority Dispatch is a Salt Lake City company, it is a political issue.  

  911 in Salt Lake County does not work.  When a caller is near to the border of the Valley Emergency Communications (VECC) authority (only Sandy and SLCPD use SLC Dispatch), the system uses cell phone triangulation to get the appropriate authority to respond and that can be a big problem is you are in Salt Lake City and Millcreek is three blocks away.  VECC can get the call and it can take 5 minutes to get to SLC Dispatch since they transfer to the 799 3000 number which often has a bilingual recording before getting an operator!  The Sheriff was so frustrated by the VECC system and felt that it was not useful to his Department that he set up a separate emergency telephone number for the Sheriff and Unified Police Department (801 743 7000)!  In other words, Salt Lake County has THREE! emergency numbers!  Combining all of the 911 systems in Salt Lake County has been encouraged for years (like Morgan and Weber County).  It was discussed last year (2016 session) with Representative Dee who now is a lobbyist for 911 systems.  The recent 911 tax increase appears to be giving VECC more authority and money compared to SLCPD.  This is an important issue and I appreciated the Mayor focusing on solving it.

 Both the sltrib and deseretnews had good stories on these issues: https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900003738/were-scared-liberty-wells-residents-plead-for-help-fromoperation-rio-grande-spillover.html

http://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2017/11/10/salt-lake-will-review-how-dispatch-center-handles-homelesscomplaints/

http://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2017/11/09/homeless-hotline-wont-take-reports-liberty-wells-residentstell-salt-lake-city-mayor-jackie-biskupski/

PARK RANGERS BEING STUDIED

  During the Liberty Wells meeting, parents said that their kids are afraid to go to parks.  There have been reports of homeless or vagrants or unsavory characters sitting near the children's activity spaces and that concerns the parents.  Jennifer Seelig, an assistant to the Mayor said that the administration is studying the idea of placing park rangers in the parks.  Several other community councils have also concerned about some questionable people hanging out in the parks.  From Ensign Peak to Fairmont Park, there are complaints that they need a park ranger to discourage illegal activity.

SLTRIB UTA ROUTE STORY SOURCE

  Lee Davidson has a great story on the route performance of UTA.  The data comes from a request that was made to UTA which they readily fulfilled.  I noted the data on the October 9th news blog entry.  The 2016-2017 route performance Excel spreadsheet data is on the upper right downloads. http://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2017/11/09/what-are-utas-most-expensive-and-most-efficient-routesnumbers-dont-always-tell-the-whole-story/

SEMI FINAL RESULTS FOR SLC DISTRICT 5

  Erin Mendenhall has effectively and resoundingly won the SLC District 5 race with 3621 votes to George Chapman's 700 votes.  I congratulate Erin on her re-election.

MARTHA ELLIS PROVES FIRE DEPARTMENT HARASSMENT

  Several years ago, Martha Ellis was the SLC Fire Marshall.  She ran into the Becker administration's efforts to construct a questionable and costly separated bicycle lane (cycle track) on 300 South.  Her concern was that the City's Fire Department had a problem using ladder fire trucks to fight fires in highrises on 300 South.  Technically, the cycle tracks would not meet the State's code for street width to allow a ladder fire truck to set stabilizing arms.  When SLC tried to get around it, it took several tries to successfully set up the ladder truck on 300 South.  And Martha Ellis, the City Fire Marshall, refused to approve the project that would limit firefighting on 300 South.  She was targeted for punishment and removed as fire marshall.  Other stories have talked about her concern about lack of fire/smoke detectors in Fire Stations, including one that had significant fire damage due to the lack of fire detectors.  Martha Ellis was a professional and was doing her job.  But she refused to approve Becker's vision that would endanger public safety.

  I was involved because I had heard from firefighters about their concern about the 300 South separated bicycle path.  I wrote an oped published in the Deseret News expressing concern about the cost, the ineffective design with many driveways, and the negative impact on firefighting.  The Salt Lake City Transportation Manager, Robin Hutcheson responded the next week with an oped supporting the cycle track.  In it, she said that buildings higher than 3 floors don't need firefighting because they have sprinkler systems ("Salt lake City has many tall buildings that do not rely on the ladder truck, and instead have sophisticated fire suppression systems."  Deseret News October 2015).  That administration attitude was what Martha Ellis had to contend with.

  I congratulate Martha on her success with the Civil Service Commission and I hope that Salt Lake City recognizes that she was unjustly demoted and attacked due to her professionalism 

IMPORTANT STORY ON MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES WITH HOMELESS

  A great story for those who want a good overview of mental illness and the relationship to homelessness, I recommend:

Madness in the Streets: Mental Illness, Homelessness and Criminal Behavior at this link:

https://www.bestmswprograms.com/mental-illness-homelessness-criminal-behavior/

HUGHES IS IN NO RUSH TO CLOSE ROAD HOME

  Speaker Greg Hughes attended the Pioneeer Park Coalition meeting Wednesday and answered uncensored questions.  One of the most important takeaways from that meeting came when he was asked "If Operation Rio Grande is so successful, why are you in a rush to close The Road

Home?"  Speaker Hughes said that he was not in a rush to close The Road Home.  Of course, with the Weigand Center, Saint Vincent DePaul Center, the Rescue Mission and the Fourth Street Clinic still operating, it would seem to be a waste of time to close The Road Home.  If it closes, the homeless that use the other facilities would have no where to sleep!

  What does Greg Hughes mean when he says that they are not in a hurry to close The Road Home?

NOVEMBER 7, 2017

MEDICAID WAIVERS INCOMPLETE

SLCO JAIL EXPANSION

JUVENILE DETENTION PROBLEMS

UTAH TAX REVENUE TO DECREASE WITH GOP PLAN

SLC URBAN FOREST DECLINING

SLC HOUSING AUTHORITY STARTS PATROLS TO STOP CRIME

ROGERS, WHARTON, MENDENHALL, FOWLER WIN

PRIORITIES FOR THE NEXT CITY COUNCIL AND SALT LAKE

CITY

MEDICAID WAIVERS INCOMPLETE

  Lost in the celebration of the approval of the Medicaid waiver that Utah just received is the reality of the fine print and the lack of healthcare for those who follow the law.  And it appears that it will take almost six months to plan, set up and implement the system (and without adequate jail beds to provide an incentive - see below).

  Dave Baldwin of the Utah Department of Health indicated that the waiver for treatment in facilities with more than 16 beds will be coming/promised in a few weeks.  First Step and Odyssey House have expressed interest in expanding to around 100 beds to provide treatment.  The surrounding residential and business owners will not have a say in the facilities.  Only the Utah Department of Health will be able to stop the expansion or approve the facility.  In a previous post, I pointed out that the Department will decide approval on appropriate staffing, beds and other factors to ensure adequate patient services.  The local Planning Commission is going to be required to approve any conditional use permit application for the facility.  

  The fine print includes groups needing substance use or mental health treatment but spending less than 6 months in a shelter are not covered.  The waiver is for those who are chronically homeless for 12 months or are in a criminal justice situation.  Also those receiving Workforce Services assistance (with a substance use or mental health disorder) or discharged from the State Hospital after being civilly committed are excluded (unless they commit a crime! which would seem to encourage crime!).  Utah will monitor enrollment and expenditures for those covered and will determine if this group can be covered in the future.

  Those covered will have access to outpatient services at hospitals in addition to inpatient hospital rehab.  They will also be covered for hospice, physical and occupational therapy and limited emergency dental benefits.  Again, this waiver seems to encourage criminal behavior because law abiding citizens, no matter how poor, are not given the same benefits!

  The 1115 waiver includes an amendment allowing for payment for substance use disorder (SUD) treatment in an institution for mental disease (17+ beds).  "Federal funds will not be available for residential treatment until CMS approves Utah's SUD implementation plan."  Residential treatment facilities that are located throughout Salt Lake County and the rest of the State will be participating in this program which will exacerbate relations with neighbors.  Even those facilities that are for mental health treatment could be used for drug addiction treatment.  This is a big change from the facilities that currently operate in residential neighborhoods.

  Limits include 180 days of SUD residential treatment per calendar year.  The reality in this program is the federal government believes that the success rate for SUD treatment is about 5%.  Speaker Hughes admitted as much during his time with the Ballpark Community Council.  He said that it needs to be tried even if it takes many tries to be successful.

  I put the Targeted Adult Medicaid Overview Powerpoint PDF download at upper right.  I recommend that those interested download and read it.  

SLCO JAIL EXPANSION

  Salt Lake County is still grappling with the Mayor's inadequate public safety funding that has led to the effective legalization of drugs in the County over the last few years (according to a Facebook post by former State Senator Steve Urquhart).  It has resulted in criminals being released within a few hours and has tied the hands of law enforcement.  The revolving door jail is the same as it was two years ago before the restrictions on booking due to inadequate jail funding by the County Mayor.

  The new budget for the jail asks for 105 jailers to open the two unused pods at Oxbow at a cost of $12 million.  And the County is being requested, by the Sheriff, to start a study on adding a new pod to the main jail.  But opening up the 380 unused beds at Oxbow (before Operation Rio Grande, 180 beds of 560 bed Oxbow were used for addiction treatment) will be used to return the 300 prisoners that were transferred to other counties.  Since 2000 arrests have been made during Operation Rio Grande, DA Gill's recommendation for 600 beds make sense.  

  The DA also recommended 6 prosecutors for Operation Rio Grande support but only got 2.  He did get

9 new prosecutors funded in the last 6 months but he still playing catch up and between JRI, Juvenile Justice, Mental Health incarceration and jail bed issues, he really needs more.  Many of the criminals in jail are there because they pled out to a lesser crime to end up in jail instead of being prosecuted for the full serious crime and being sentenced, if guilty, to prison.  

  The man who killed another man last month is a good example of a man who should not have been on the street.  He had, in just the last six months, assaulted individuals with a deadly weapon at least three times.  There are criminals who steal cars every month that they are on the street and they should be in prison.  There is no incentive to stop committing crimes when there are minimal consequences.  There are criminals that we see arrested on the news every day that have long rap sheets.  These criminals are threats to society and they should be in prison not jail.

  Salt Lake County is bearing the burden of incarcerating criminals that should be in prison because it requires a lot of work to convict and send a criminal to prison.  Without adequate funding for prosecutions and prosecutors, the County will have to spend more on jail space.

  The only way to get a handle on this issue is to provide more prosecutors and make the State pay for the prison sentence.   

  To effectively utilize/encourage SUD/addiction treatment requires a carrot and a stick.  Without jail beds available, the 2000 arrested will not be encouraged to utilize the drug/mental health treatment programs that should come online within six months.

JUVENILE DETENTION PROBLEMS

  Over the last few months, Salt Lake County's Juvenile Justice program has had to increase their funding to compensate for the lack of funding from the Utah Justice Reinvestment Initiative that decreased penalties for some crimes and diverted criminals from prisons to local jails and detention facilities.  Salt Lake County has had to add two prosecutors for juvenile cases and the detention facility is not geared up to handle the new types of criminals that are being sent to the detention facility.  The County is still trying to get a handle on this issue and it could become a big problem without adequate funding.

UTAH TAX REVENUE TO DECREASE WITH GOP PLAN

  The GOP proposed tax plan in Washington DC could have a big impact on Utah tax revenues.  It is a plan that may or may not be passed but the discussion on its impact on Utah should take place now.  Utah's tax revenue system is based on the federal government's tax system (to simplify taxes for Utahns) and a change in federal taxable income will affect Utah tax revenues.  Another important issue that could impact Utah is the elimination of public private partnerships that provide a tax incentive to private companies to build infrastructure.  There are several Utah Legislators that were counting on the incentive and wanted to use public private partnerships to build needed infrastructure.  And finally, and most importantly to those who want to encourage mass transit use, the proposed GOP plan eliminates the transit pass benefit.

  Thehill.com website has a good overview on the issue and its impact on transportation.

http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/358700-gop-tax-bill-has-transportation-advocates-scrambling

SLC URBAN FOREST DECLINING

  Salt Lake City's urban forest is declining.  The City has about 86,000 trees that it maintains and it could, if funded, have 120,000 trees that could successfully grow.  The City cuts about 1000 trees a year and needs about $300 per tree to replace the cut tree with a 2 inch sapling. 

  The main reasons for the death of trees and the need to cut them include lack of water, lack of regular pruning (recommended for every 8 years) and inappropriate trees for our urban desert environment (Norway maple and ash trees have problems surviving in Salt Lake City.).

  Salt Lake City needs a plan to sustain our urban canopy with regular plantings and better maintenance/pruning.  That might require a doubling of the $2 million that is presently budgeted for Salt Lake City's urban forestry program.  Also, the water cost that Salt Lake City Public Utilities charges SLC Parks and Open Space is the same as for a residence.  So, the Parks Department's efforts to adequately water trees (and other property - like the cemetery that didn't get watered until complaints poured in) is under pressure to keep costs under the forecast watering schedule from months before during the budget request.  This last year, in addition to the cemetery issue, Parks had to stop watering trees in medians and the gardens around the City Building!  

  Other issues that should be discussed when drawing up the plan include pushing for more evergreens (despite the pushback from concerns that they could hide nefarious activity) and how to ensure that all trees cut by developers on private property, have to be replaced with the same number of trees to add up to the diameter of the cut tree.  In other words, replacing a 10 inch tree with 5 2 inch trees.  Now, developers only have to replace specimen trees instead of all trees.

SLC HOUSING AUTHORITY STARTS PATROLS TO STOP CRIME

  I forgot to add to the last news blog entry that the Salt Lake City Housing Authority has a police officer (paid for by the Housing Authority) patrolling the West Temple area around the 1200 South property owned by the Housing Authority and which is being redeveloped into 54 mixed income housing.  It is next to the children's school bus stop and it had a lot of illegal activity, including drugs, drug addicts and dealers using the property.  The police officer patrols seem to be stopping the activity.  I put the September through October 2017 SLC District 5 crime stats on the upper right downloads.

 ROGERS, WHARTON, MENDENHALL, FOWLER WIN

 This SLC Council will be one of the most liberal city councils in the State.  It will be interesting what they will do.  It will be hard to keep up with them.

PRIORITIES FOR THE NEXT CITY COUNCIL AND SALT LAKE CITY

STOP SECRET MEETINGS & DECISIONS      (SHELTERS, STREETCARS, TAX CREDITS, ETC)

STOP TAX INCREASES WITHOUT A PUBLIC VOTE   (PARKS, STREETCARS, SALES,

STREETS, SEWER, WTR)

REQUIRE SLCO TO LOCK UP/PROSECUTE DRUG DEALERS    

        AND STOP HOMELESS CAMPING

ACTUALLY HELP AFFORDABLE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT

STOP COSTLY TRANSIT PROJECTS  

RESTORE ROBUST NEIGHBORHOOD BUS SERVICE

STOP ROAD DIETS THAT INCREASE CONGESTION AND POLLUTION

STOP WASTING MILLIONS ON ALLEY TRAILS

PROTECT WATERSHED/BUILD CANYON RESTROOMS

SOLVE PROBLEMS NOW & NOT WAIT UNTIL ELECTION TIME

NOVEMBER 4, 2017

SPEAKER HUGHES VERSUS BALLPARK

100% INCREASE IN BURGLARIES  VOTING LOCATIONS

SPEAKER HUGHES VERSUS BALLPARK

  Utah Speaker of the House Greg Hughes discussed Operation Rio Grande and the impact on other communities in Salt Lake City during the Ballpark Community Council meeting on November 2. He spent almost 2 hours explaining his reasons for pushing the Operation and answered questions. The questions were not censored as in previous meetings (He did go to the Greater Avenues Community Council the previous night.).

  The Speaker mentioned that he worked with ACLU and they worked up a system that would be fair with ID cards and a secure area. He said that it was shocking that so much criminal activity was going on in the Rio Grande area when he toured the area two years ago with former SLCPD Assistant Chief Ross (now Chief of UTA Police). He finally realized that something had to be done about it (finally, after two years is the operative phrase). The final straw was the Rio Grande area getting national attention in USA Today when a ballplayer in town for a game was seriously attacked and a woman was run over on the sidewalk. I have to note that attacks happened all of the time down there and two years ago, the area was branded as the biggest open air drug market in the West by National Geographic. Many of the problems were coming up in debates during the last SLC mayoral campaign. It got so bad that former Mayor Becker ordered Chief Brown to implement a quality of life enforcement action that even confiscated shopping carts of the homeless (which also dispersed the homeless to other areas). When the police confiscated the seriously dirty shopping carts (who would want to use them while shopping), they gave them plastic garbage bags to put their belongings in (because the storage facility was full).

  In other words, we tried this before.  Coming down hard on the homeless did not change anything in the Rio Grande area before.  And Speaker Hughes was reminded in January of this year, by former Senator Urquhart, that due to lack of jail beds and adequate public safety funding in Salt Lake County, drugs are essentially legal in the County.  This should not have been a surprise to the Speaker.  I have to give credit to Scott Howell, who works for Bryson Garbett, who has been trying to get attention to fix the problems around Rio Grande for years.  Drug overdoses ARE down and drugs now cost twice what they did before.  But it should not have taken two years to realize that the area was really really bad.

  In previous opeds and in this blog, I complained about the fact that Speaker Hughes refused to allow Healthy Utah to be discussed in the Utah House.  Now that the Medicaid waiver has been granted for up to 6000 criminals and homeless, the low income citizens of this State now can complain about how the criminals get medical care and the law abiding citizens don’t.  That question did not come up during the discussion Thursday night.

    Chris Derbridge is a local resident who has been leading the fight against the crime and homeless drug issues in the neighborhood. Over the last few months, he and others started walking their children to the bus stop on 12th South and West Temple to try to protect them from drugs, drug addicts and the homeless. After weeks of complaining about the crime problems, working together, we were able to have the Operation Rio Grande Command Post address some of the issues. We were able to get the President of the Salt Lake City School Board and several Highway Patrol Officers to patrol the school bus stops. Chris asked the Speaker if he realized that schoolkids and others in other communities would be inundated with crime, drugs, drug addicts and homeless camping in the area due to the Operation Rio Grande. The Speaker said that he expected that but felt that they had enough resources to handle the problems as they developed.  Chris complained about the issues caused by Operation Rio Grande in his neighborhood for 10 minutes.

  Amy Hawkins, the Ballpark Vice Chair complained for several more minutes and asked for help paying for more lights for public safety in the community.  Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall pointed out that the Council, the Mayor and the State were “negotiating” how to mitigate the new homeless shelters (including the one in Ballpark on High Avenue/Paramount Avenue) and hopefully the City will get more than lights.  Speaker Hughes confirmed that they are negotiating mitigation issues.

  He said that "we can't arrest our way out of this" but that is because Salt Lake County does not adequately fund public safety.  Chris Derbridge said that every cop that he talks to says that their hands are tied.  All that they can do is arrest criminals when they catch them in the act and take them to jail.  But they get out almost immediately.  Without adequate funding for the DA and jail beds, prosecutors can’t send criminals to prison and they stay in jail for a short time when they should be in prison for a long time.

  It is so bad that the real threats to society, those who end up murdering others, are released many times in a short time instead of being charged, prosecuted and sent to prison.  In a recent case, Lucas Deprey shot a killed a man on October 26.  But for the last six months, there were three cases where he threatened people with weapons.  It should have been obvious that that person should not be walking around in society.  But Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams is not giving the DA enough funding to do his job and keep people like Deprey in jail.  In addition, it is very inefficient for police to take criminals to jail again and again and again.

   Speaker Hughes said that even though the jail releases the arrested criminals almost immediately, at least they can be arrested and taken to jail.  That is a deterrent to criminal activity!  I do not think, and the community does not think that that is enough.  Chris also complained about the bike chop shops that are showing up on the sidewalks in the neighborhoods (Liberty Wells is complaining about that issue also).  When police are called, they are told that there is nothing that can be done about it without a registration program.  The SLCPD was working on a registration program but their priorities changed with Operation Rio Grande.

  This event begs the question – why does Speaker Hughes need to go to Canada to debate Operation Rio Grande.  There are plenty of people hear who can debate Greg Hughes effectively.

  Katie McKellar from the Deseret News has an excellent write up on the event at:

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900003369/ballpark-residents-vent-at-utah-speaker-greg-hughesover-operation-rio-grande-impact.html

Glen Beebe at ABC4 also did a short story on the issue with Chris showing him a lot of the evidence of criminal activity in the neighborhoods.  It is important to note that the SLCPD is starting to get things under control.  With the help of the Highway Patrol and Operation Rio Grande law enforcement, the Ballpark neighborhood issues regarding criminal activity involving the homeless are being addressed.  Remember, if you see criminal activity, report it to the SLCPD at 801 799 3000.  If there is an emergency, call 911.  If a homeless person is committing a crime (like trespassing), DO NOT call the police and report a “homeless person”.  Say that there is a prowler!  If  there is a police response needed regarding criminal activity by the homeless, and the SLC Police are unable to address the issue, call the Operation Rio Grande Command Post at 385 266 6938.  They are often able to provide an officer to follow up when SLCPD are saturated with calls.  (NOTE THAT THIS MEANS THAT WE NEED MORE POLICE.)

100% INCREASE IN BURGLARIES

   Officer Pederson (pronounce like Peterson), the CIU Officer for District 5 reported that there is a

100% increase in burglaries in the District 5 area.  Much of the increase is coming from around Liberty Park.  The SLCPD Bike Squad will be returning to the area to increase police visibility.  They will have a special focus of trying to decrease the break-ins around Liberty Park.  There were also 26 vehicles stolen in the last month in District 5.  In other words, crime is going up.  There were 44 burglaries in the last month in District 5 and 30 did not result in a suspect being identified.  Seven of the break-ins occurred when a glass door was broken.  The police also served a search warrant and arrested seven in the last week in a major criminal investigation that resulted from information gathered from Operation Rio Grande.  The police remind everyone not to keep any belongings visible in cars.  They are a tempting target for criminals.  In addition, if you notice a suspicious vehicle or person in an area, please call the 801 799 3000 number.  If an officer is available, they can ask the person for their ID (they don’t have to give it) which generally will cause a criminal to leave the area.

VOTING LOCATIONS

Vote by Mail Ballot Return Options

General Election

The 2017 Election is being conducted mainly by mail:

Ballots will be mailed to all active voters the week of October 16th.

Postage-paid return envelopes will be provided.

Ballots returned by mail must be postmarked no later than the day before Election Day, November 6th Ballots may also be returned on Election Day to Vote Centers and Drop Boxes.

Voters who register or update their address will be mailed a ballot up until November 1st.

Vote Centers

Voters may drop off their vote-by-mail ballot  at any Salt Lake County Vote Center on Election Day during voting hours: 7:00 am - 8:00 pm. Ballots can also be dropped off at the Salt Lake County Election Division (2001 S. State).

Vote-by-Mail Ballot Drop Boxes 

Salt Lake County has provided 18 secure ballot Drop Box locations where ballots can be deposited 24/7 until 8:00 pm on Election Night.  Find the location of your nearest Ballot Box below (Click on the location to view a picture). 

Cottonwood Heights City Hall 2277 E Bengal Blvd Cottonwood Heights

Draper Library 1136 Pioneer Rd Draper

Herriman City Hall 5355 Main St Herriman

Holladay Library 2150 E Murray Holladay Rd Holladay

Kearns Rec Center 5670 Cougar Ln Kearns

Magna Library 2675 S 8950 W Magna

Millcreek UPD 1580 E 3900 S Millcreek

Murray City Hall 5025 S State St Murray

Riverton City Hall 12830 S Redwood Rd Riverton

River's Bend Senior Center 1300 W 300 N Salt Lake City

Salt Lake City Library 420 S 200 E Salt Lake City

Salt Lake County Government Center 2001 S State St Salt Lake City

Sandy City Hall 10000 Centennial Pkwy Sandy

Sandy Senior Center 9310 S 1300 E Sandy

South Jordan City Hall 1600 W Towne Center Dr South Jordan

West Jordan City Hall 8000 S Redwood Rd West Jordan

West Valley City Hall 3600 S Constitution Blvd West Valley

Vote Centers will be open on Election Day (November 7, 2017) from 7:00 am - 8:00 pm for voters who either require amenities provided by the electronic voting machines, misplaced or didn't receive ballots, or otherwise want to vote in person. 

Voters may vote at ANY of the Vote Centers listed below on Election Day (identification is required Valid Identification).

 Note: Voters may drop off their vote-by-mail ballot at a Vote Center during polling hours.

Bluffdale City Hall 2222 W 14400 S Bluffdale

Bingham Canyon Lions Club 320 E Hillcrest St Copperton 

Cottonwood Heights City Hall 2277 E Bengal Blvd (7600 S) Cottonwood Heights

Draper City Hall 1020 E Pioneer Rd (12450 S) Draper

South Mtn Community Church 14216 S Bangerter Pkwy (200 E) Draper

Herriman Library 5380 W Herriman Main St (12720 S) Herriman

Holladay City Hall 4580 S 2300 E Holladay

Kearns Senior Center 4851 W 4715 S Kearns 

Magna Senior Center 9228 W Magna Main St Magna 

Midvale Senior Center 7550 S Main St (700 W) Midvale

Ruth Vine Tyler Library 8041 S Wood St (55 W) Midvale

Millcreek Library 2266 E Evergreen Ave (3435 S) Millcreek 

Murray City Hall 5025 S State St (100 E) Murray

Wheeler Historic Farm 6351 S 900 E Murray

Riverton Senior Center 12914 S Redwood Rd (1700 W) Riverton 

Trolley Square 600 S 700 E #D-117 Salt Lake City

River's Bend NW Senior Center 1300 W 300 N Salt Lake City

 SLCo Government Center 2001 S State St (100 E) Salt Lake City 

First Congregational Church 2150 S Foothill Dr (2755 E) Salt Lake City

UFA Fire Station Emigration 119 5025 E Emigration Canyon Rd Salt Lake City 

Sandy City Hall 10000 S Centennial Pkwy (170 W) Sandy

Sandy Library 10100 S Petunia Wy (1410 E) Sandy

Sandy Senior Center 9310 S 1300 E Sandy

South Jordan Founders Park LDS 11685 S Kestrel Rise Rd (4500 W) South Jordan

South Jordan Library 10673 S Redwood Rd (1700 W) South Jordan

Columbus Community Center 2531 S 400 E South Salt Lake

Bennion LDS Church 6250 S 2200 W Taylorsville 

Taylorsville City Hall 2600 W Taylorsville Blvd (5325 S) Taylorsville

Taylorsville Senior Center 4743 S Plymouth View Dr (1625 W) Taylorsville

West Jordan (Viridian) Library 8030 S 1825 W West Jordan

Copper Hills LDS 5349 W 9000 S West Jordan

West Valley City Hall 3600 S Constitution Blvd (2700 W) West Valley City

Hunter Library 4740 W 4100 S West Valley City

Utah Cultural Celebration Center 1355 W 3100 S West Valley City

NOVEMBER 1, 2017

BALLPARK MEETING THURSDAY SET FOR 630PM

THERE IS STILL TIME TO VOTE

MY CAMPAIGN SUMMARY

BALLPARK MEETING THURSDAY SET FOR 630PM NOVEMBER 2

The Ballpark community council meeting for tomorrow is scheduled to start at 630Pm to go through regular items before Speaker Hughes starts his presentation and answers questions.  Again the meeting will be at 1812 South West Temple and it is at the Taylor Springs SLC Housing Authority Complex.  I expect a big crowd and recommend showing up by 6 PM.  Some parking is available in the lot but I suspect the interest will necessitate parking on the street. 

  Some of the important questions should include:  How will the State and local governments compensate the adjacent landowners, residents and businesses near the new homeless shelters?  Specifically, the redesign of the High Avenue shelter now is entered into on the street south of High Avenue and businesses on that street are going to lose a significant value in their property.  How will the criminal element be handled when there is a revolving door jail now and it looks like it will continue like that for years in the future?  How can the State ensure that the criminals, drug addicts and threats to society are locked up for more than a few hours in the Salt Lake County Jail (especially since the jail is full and when Oxbow opens up the unused beds, they will be used by the Operation Rio Grande population that are now incarcerated in other counties)?  How will the State ensure that there is adequate public safety funding at Salt Lake County including at least 6 new prosecutors and 600 beds?  How will the State ensure that there is an increase of police in this area/Ballpark and other areas of Salt Lake City that are inundated with the homeless along with the dealers and drug addicts?

  And of course, the question on the mind of a hundred thousand Utahns: Why are the criminals and drug addicts getting medical care and the law abiding poor are not getting any medical care?  The Medicare waiver and hundred million of federal funding only applies to the criminal and homeless addicts (including mental health treatment).  How will Salt Lake County Mental Health use the money, in the jail, in the shelters and for those camping in Salt Lake County?

THERE IS STILL TIME TO VOTE

Vote by Mail Ballot Return Options

General Election

The 2017 Election is being conducted mainly by mail:

Ballots will be mailed to all active voters the week of October 16th.

Postage-paid return envelopes will be provided.

Ballots returned by mail must be postmarked no later than the day before Election Day, November 6th Ballots may also be returned on Election Day to Vote Centers and Drop Boxes.

Voters who register or update their address will be mailed a ballot up until November 1st.

Vote Centers

Voters may drop off their vote-by-mail ballot  at any Salt Lake County Vote Center on Election Day during voting hours: 7:00 am - 8:00 pm. Ballots can also be dropped off at the Salt Lake County Election Division (2001 S. State).

Vote-by-Mail Ballot Drop Boxes 

Salt Lake County has provided 18 secure ballot Drop Box locations where ballots can be deposited 24/7 until 8:00 pm on Election Night.  Find the location of your nearest Ballot Box below (Click on the location to view a picture). 

Cottonwood Heights City Hall 2277 E Bengal Blvd Cottonwood Heights

Draper Library 1136 Pioneer Rd Draper

Herriman City Hall 5355 Main St Herriman

Holladay Library 2150 E Murray Holladay Rd Holladay

Kearns Rec Center 5670 Cougar Ln Kearns

Magna Library 2675 S 8950 W Magna

Millcreek UPD 1580 E 3900 S Millcreek

Murray City Hall 5025 S State St Murray

Riverton City Hall 12830 S Redwood Rd Riverton

River's Bend Senior Center 1300 W 300 N Salt Lake City

Salt Lake City Library 420 S 200 E Salt Lake City

Salt Lake County Government Center 2001 S State St Salt Lake City

Sandy City Hall 10000 Centennial Pkwy Sandy

Sandy Senior Center 9310 S 1300 E Sandy

South Jordan City Hall 1600 W Towne Center Dr South Jordan

West Jordan City Hall 8000 S Redwood Rd West Jordan

West Valley City Hall 3600 S Constitution Blvd West Valley

Vote Centers will be open on Election Day (November 7, 2017) from 7:00 am - 8:00 pm for voters who either require amenities provided by the electronic voting machines, misplaced or didn't receive ballots, or otherwise want to vote in person. 

Voters may vote at ANY of the Vote Centers listed below on Election Day (identification is required Valid Identification).

 Note: Voters may drop off their vote-by-mail ballot at a Vote Center during polling hours.

Bluffdale City Hall 2222 W 14400 S Bluffdale

Bingham Canyon Lions Club 320 E Hillcrest St Copperton 

Cottonwood Heights City Hall 2277 E Bengal Blvd (7600 S) Cottonwood Heights

Draper City Hall 1020 E Pioneer Rd (12450 S) Draper

South Mtn Community Church 14216 S Bangerter Pkwy (200 E) Draper

Herriman Library 5380 W Herriman Main St (12720 S) Herriman

Holladay City Hall 4580 S 2300 E Holladay

Kearns Senior Center 4851 W 4715 S Kearns 

Magna Senior Center 9228 W Magna Main St Magna 

Midvale Senior Center 7550 S Main St (700 W) Midvale

Ruth Vine Tyler Library 8041 S Wood St (55 W) Midvale

Millcreek Library 2266 E Evergreen Ave (3435 S) Millcreek 

Murray City Hall 5025 S State St (100 E) Murray

Wheeler Historic Farm 6351 S 900 E Murray

Riverton Senior Center 12914 S Redwood Rd (1700 W) Riverton 

Trolley Square 600 S 700 E #D-117 Salt Lake City

River's Bend NW Senior Center 1300 W 300 N Salt Lake City

 SLCo Government Center 2001 S State St (100 E) Salt Lake City 

First Congregational Church 2150 S Foothill Dr (2755 E) Salt Lake City

UFA Fire Station Emigration 119 5025 E Emigration Canyon Rd Salt Lake City 

Sandy City Hall 10000 S Centennial Pkwy (170 W) Sandy

Sandy Library 10100 S Petunia Wy (1410 E) Sandy

Sandy Senior Center 9310 S 1300 E Sandy

South Jordan Founders Park LDS 11685 S Kestrel Rise Rd (4500 W) South Jordan

South Jordan Library 10673 S Redwood Rd (1700 W) South Jordan

Columbus Community Center 2531 S 400 E South Salt Lake

Bennion LDS Church 6250 S 2200 W Taylorsville 

Taylorsville City Hall 2600 W Taylorsville Blvd (5325 S) Taylorsville

Taylorsville Senior Center 4743 S Plymouth View Dr (1625 W) Taylorsville

West Jordan (Viridian) Library 8030 S 1825 W West Jordan

Copper Hills LDS 5349 W 9000 S West Jordan

West Valley City Hall 3600 S Constitution Blvd (2700 W) West Valley City

Hunter Library 4740 W 4100 S West Valley City

Utah Cultural Celebration Center 1355 W 3100 S West Valley City

MY CAMPAIGN SUMMARY

 VOTE GEORGE CHAPMAN

SLC COUNCIL DISTRICT 5

www.georgechapman.net

WORKING TOGETHER, LET’S:

  STOP SECRET SLC COUNCIL MEETINGS

Homeless center expansion sites were unanimously decided in secret without a public hearing. A golf course was closed without a public hearing. Funding for buying homeless sites was approved without a public hearing.

STOP NEW TAXES W/OUT PUBLIC VOTES

SLC Council is discussing a streets’ fee (the Council cut the streets’ budget 50% 3 years ago). The

Council wants to have taxpayers pay for 4 rail lines and the most expensive design possible for Airport TRAX. The Council is doubling the fees for water and sewer. My opponent wants to close golf courses and pay $50 million for each to be converted to a park. She wants to have us pay almost $100 million to run a TRAX train up 1100 East (taking out all parking).

PROVIDE ADEQUATE PUBLIC SAFETY

SLC has ignored the drug dealing, homeless camping, lack of jail beds and public safety funding. We have had a revolving door at the County Jail for over 4 years and the Council has not complained about it until this year, an election year. SLC needs 50 new police. SLC should sell the former public safety building and use the funds for more police.   

       PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT

SLC refuses to build restrooms in our canyons and has interfered with Forest Service efforts. It gives more money to lawyers than to conserve land in the canyons. SLC cuts down 3000 big trees a year.

           STOP THE WAR ON CARS

My opponent believes that Sugar House and downtown have too much parking and wants to convert traffic lanes into bike lanes which will increase congestion and pollution.

   ENCOURAGE AFFORDABLE HOUSING

SLC allows building thousands of high price apartments a year in SLC instead of encouraging mixed income affordable housing. The Council has ignored the crisis for the last four years.

            STOP WASTING MONEY

SLC should stop wasting millions on alleyway trails and protected bike lanes and use the money to fix our roads for cars and bikes. SLC has many vacant properties that should be sold instead of being unused for over 10 years. The money can be used for streets, affordable housing and police.

OCTOBER 30, 2017 

BALLPARK TO HOST SPEAKER HUGHES THURSDAY

NO CARROT, NO STICK AND SHOOTING IN THE DARK

TIME TO VOTE, PLENTY OF OPTIONS

REDEVELOPMENT AREAS HOLD KEY FOR AFFORDABLE

HOUSING

RALPH BECKER IS WRONG ABOUT AIRPORT TRAX SUGAR HOUSE SPRAGUE LIBRARIANS MISS YOU

BALLPARK TO HOST SPEAKER HUGHES THURSDAY

  Ballpark Community Council is hosting, at their regular first Thursday of the month community council meeting, Speaker of the Utah House of Representatives Greg Hughes.  He is going to speak about the spillover effects into other neighborhoods from Operation Rio Grnade and the mitigation and support strategies for when the High Avenue men and women's shelter will open in Ballpark in 2019.   The meeting will be at 1812 S. West Temple and it will start at 7 PM.  I expect a big crowd and recommend showing up by 630 PM. The meeting is at Taylor Springs SLC Housing Authority

Complex.  Some parking is available in the lot but I suspect the interest will necessitate parking on the street. 

  Hopefully the questions will not be censored like previous meetings with the Speaker.  Although the goal of the Operation is to clean up the urban crime in the Rio Grande area, without adequate public safety funding, the rest of the neighborhoods in Salt Lake City, West Valley City and South Salt Lake are impacted by the criminals who want to avoid the massing of law enforcement in the Rio Grande area.  My opinion on the Operation is below:

NO CARROT, NO STICK AND SHOOTING IN THE DARK

  In the last few months, elected leaders have finally decided that the homeless situation in the Rio Grande area in downtown Salt Lake City needs their attention. Speaker of the Utah House set up an office across the street from the Road Home and Weigand and St Vincent de Paul centers and declared

that he was surprised at the lawlessness and drug dealing and it shouldn’t continue.   

  Unfortunately, he is several years too late in realizing the issues that have been creating problems in the area. During the 2015 Salt Lake City mayoral race, the issue of criminal activity among the homeless in the Rio Grande area was one of the major issues of the campaign. 

  The solution that is being planned by senior elected Utah leaders is "a carrot and a stick" where criminal activity will result in arrest, being taken to jail and booked, and then have an opportunity to get out of jail if they agree to drug addiction treatment (if that is their problem) or other alternatives to jail. The treatment beds (except for almost 40 that are available as of last week) will require that the federal government provide a waiver and agree to a minimalist version of healthcare expansion that will apply to less than 10,000 incarcerated or ex prisoners or homeless. 

  But Representative Dunnigan's bill to provide the expanded healthcare that will pay for drug addiction treatment has been promised to be approved for two years. It is not a done deal. In addition, the federal government also has to agree to allow more than 16 beds in a facility to be covered for federal funds. That requirement was implemented years ago by pressure from neighborhoods that were afraid of big institutions of addiction treatment that would negatively impact adjacent neighborhoods. Both Odyssey House and First Step, if the federal government approves, intend to expand their facilities to around 100 treatment beds. Adjacent neighborhoods will obviously be concerned and there could be a vigorous fight against expansion of beds that would look like the homeless shelter on Simpson Avenue fight that succeeded in stopping that site.

  The success rate for opioid addiction treatment is also a moving target. Former Secretary of Health and Human Services Califano has pointed out that "The therapeutic community claims a 30% success rate but they only count people who complete the program." Up to 80% have dropped out within six months. Operation Diversion success rate also seems to be a moving target with estimates of 2 to 8 individuals successfully treated. Evidence based treatment was supposed to be the priority but evidence and data seems to be lacking and Salt Lake County has not provided real data.

  Healthcare expansion would have helped years ago and saved Utah taxpayers $67 million this year alone, and hundreds of millions in the next few years. The Salt Lake County Council was recently given a reality check when they saw estimates of their share of the cost of Operation Rio Grande of over $10 million. Interestingly, the County repurposed their $9.4 million annual jail bond several years ago which,if it stayed in public safety (jail and DA - including jail treatment), would have resulted in a smaller cost for County and State taxpayers. Some Utah legislators are upset that Utah taxpayers seem to be covering the inadequate public safety funding of Salt Lake County and City. 

  The stick in the plan is 300 open jail beds. They were filled in two weeks. The DA recommended 6 prosecutors and up to 600 beds. He got 2 prosecutors (approved last week) and 300 jail beds. The result is law enforcement in Salt Lake County is working with a revolving door jail and arresting the same criminals, for the same type of crime many times. All that a full jail can do is book the arrested person and release them. This results in, at best, a soft stick.

  Another part of the plan is to create a safe place on Rio Grande Street by fencing it off and keeping drugs out and with drug sniffing dogs patrolling the area. The belief is that such a safe place for camping will allow law enforcement throughout the County to enforce no camping ordinances. Although that has started, the only tool that law enforcement has is jail and that is full. Confiscating camping gear (which needs to be inventoried and retained in storage until release from jail) is a big and costly effort that will probably be avoided by police. The result is no real plan to stop the homeless camping.   Interestinly, San Francisco tried to create a safe place on Pier 80 last year for about six months but many homeless felt that it was like a prison and avoided it. To get access to the facility required being referred to it by homeless outreach after questioning (like the proposed ID and questions needed for access to Rio Grande).

 Healthcare expansion and affordable housing, the best solutions for success in decreasing homelessness are being ignored for more wishful thinking. It appears that Utah’s senior elected politicians have decided that the best solution to the homeless crisis and criminal element in the Rio Grande area is no carrot, no stick and shooting in the dark.

TIME TO VOTE, PLENTY OF OPTIONS

Vote by Mail Ballot Return Options

General Election

The 2017 Election is being conducted mainly by mail:

Ballots will be mailed to all active voters the week of October 16th.

Postage-paid return envelopes will be provided.

Ballots returned by mail must be postmarked no later than the day before Election Day, November 6th Ballots may also be returned on Election Day to Vote Centers and Drop Boxes.

Voters who register or update their address will be mailed a ballot up until November 1st.

Vote Centers

Voters may drop off their vote-by-mail ballot  at any Salt Lake County Vote Center on Election Day during voting hours: 7:00 am - 8:00 pm. Ballots can also be dropped off at the Salt Lake County Election Division (2001 S. State).

Vote-by-Mail Ballot Drop Boxes 

Salt Lake County has provided 18 secure ballot Drop Box locations where ballots can be deposited 24/7 until 8:00 pm on Election Night.  Find the location of your nearest Ballot Box below (Click on the location to view a picture). 

Cottonwood Heights City Hall 2277 E Bengal Blvd Cottonwood Heights

Draper Library 1136 Pioneer Rd Draper

Herriman City Hall 5355 Main St Herriman

Holladay Library 2150 E Murray Holladay Rd Holladay

Kearns Rec Center 5670 Cougar Ln Kearns

Magna Library 2675 S 8950 W Magna

Millcreek UPD 1580 E 3900 S Millcreek

Murray City Hall 5025 S State St Murray

Riverton City Hall 12830 S Redwood Rd Riverton

River's Bend Senior Center 1300 W 300 N Salt Lake City

Salt Lake City Library 420 S 200 E Salt Lake City

Salt Lake County Government Center 2001 S State St Salt Lake City

Sandy City Hall 10000 Centennial Pkwy Sandy

Sandy Senior Center 9310 S 1300 E Sandy

South Jordan City Hall 1600 W Towne Center Dr South Jordan

West Jordan City Hall 8000 S Redwood Rd West Jordan

West Valley City Hall 3600 S Constitution Blvd West Valley

Vote Centers will be open on Election Day (November 7, 2017) from 7:00 am - 8:00 pm for voters who either require amenities provided by the electronic voting machines, misplaced or didn't receive ballots, or otherwise want to vote in person. 

Voters may vote at ANY of the Vote Centers listed below on Election Day (identification is required Valid Identification).

 Note: Voters may drop off their vote-by-mail ballot at a Vote Center during polling hours.

Bluffdale City Hall 2222 W 14400 S Bluffdale

Bingham Canyon Lions Club 320 E Hillcrest St Copperton 

Cottonwood Heights City Hall 2277 E Bengal Blvd (7600 S) Cottonwood Heights

Draper City Hall 1020 E Pioneer Rd (12450 S) Draper

South Mtn Community Church 14216 S Bangerter Pkwy (200 E) Draper

Herriman Library 5380 W Herriman Main St (12720 S) Herriman

Holladay City Hall 4580 S 2300 E Holladay

Kearns Senior Center 4851 W 4715 S Kearns 

Magna Senior Center 9228 W Magna Main St Magna 

Midvale Senior Center 7550 S Main St (700 W) Midvale

Ruth Vine Tyler Library 8041 S Wood St (55 W) Midvale

Millcreek Library 2266 E Evergreen Ave (3435 S) Millcreek 

Murray City Hall 5025 S State St (100 E) Murray

Wheeler Historic Farm 6351 S 900 E Murray

Riverton Senior Center 12914 S Redwood Rd (1700 W) Riverton 

Trolley Square 600 S 700 E #D-117 Salt Lake City

River's Bend NW Senior Center 1300 W 300 N Salt Lake City

 SLCo Government Center 2001 S State St (100 E) Salt Lake City 

First Congregational Church 2150 S Foothill Dr (2755 E) Salt Lake City

UFA Fire Station Emigration 119 5025 E Emigration Canyon Rd Salt Lake City 

Sandy City Hall 10000 S Centennial Pkwy (170 W) Sandy

Sandy Library 10100 S Petunia Wy (1410 E) Sandy

Sandy Senior Center 9310 S 1300 E Sandy

South Jordan Founders Park LDS 11685 S Kestrel Rise Rd (4500 W) South Jordan

South Jordan Library 10673 S Redwood Rd (1700 W) South Jordan

Columbus Community Center 2531 S 400 E South Salt Lake

Bennion LDS Church 6250 S 2200 W Taylorsville 

Taylorsville City Hall 2600 W Taylorsville Blvd (5325 S) Taylorsville

Taylorsville Senior Center 4743 S Plymouth View Dr (1625 W) Taylorsville

West Jordan (Viridian) Library 8030 S 1825 W West Jordan

Copper Hills LDS 5349 W 9000 S West Jordan

West Valley City Hall 3600 S Constitution Blvd (2700 W) West Valley City

Hunter Library 4740 W 4100 S West Valley City

Utah Cultural Celebration Center 1355 W 3100 S West Valley City

REDEVELOPMENT AREAS HOLD KEY FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING

  Salt Lake City is in the midst of a affordable housing crisis. The Mayor’s Housing Plan has recommended focusing on significant transportation routes, reducing parking requirements, creating an expedited process for affordable units, ADUs, housing construction innovation, identifying revenue sources, buying properties and enhancing development programs to improve rentals. The recommendations include having mixed income housing with a limit of 30% affordable housing. There is also a suggestion to require that projects over a certain size have to have at least 10% of their units be affordable (or pay an extra fee).

  The estimates for lack of affordable housing in Salt Lake City range from 7500 to 15,000 units. The

Housing Plan points out that “nearly one half of all renters in SLC are cost burdened”. Although I have concerns about the lack of funding to enforce ADU tenant and owner rules, and decreasing parking requirements, I generally agree with the recommendations. Some of the problems recognized during previous attempts at providing low income or affordable housing include social problems caused by enabling questionable behavior with a large percentage of low income households in a building. I especially agree that the City should focus on significant transportation routes. 

  Unfortunately, the City seems to be moving very slow. The Pipeline Building (the old SLC Public Safety Building) affordable housing project has not moved forward for two years. The State Street affordable housing project between 200 and 300 South has stopped. And it has taken a year to start spending the almost $22 million allocated by the Council for affordable housing. The Sugar House building boom of apartments (all projects but one were market rate) took decades of SLC RDA efforts and since most are all apartments, walkability is not encouraged in the area.

  Some solutions that are being discussed include lowering the cost of building housing with State rules that encourage manufactured housing, micro units and changing impact fees to encourage affordable units. Other suggestions from the SLC Housing plan are to accelerate the permit process if it meets a predetermined form, if the affordability percentage is over 10% and/or if 25% is set aside as affordable owner occupied.

  Salt Lake City decided over a year ago to make the State Street area (from 600 South to 2100 South and generally from 200 East to 300 West) one of the new RDA expansion areas. A major factor in the decision was that State Street had the highest potential number of housing units that could be developed during redevelopment. Unfortunately, the decision to start redevelopment is taking over six months longer than planned. 

  The Mayor’s Housing Plan proposal has as its first suggestion, to focus on significant transportation routes. State Street is a transportation corridor that has a well used bus system with service that can be inexpensively expanded. Before reducing parking requirements, mass transit service needs to be much better in the evenings, and during holidays and weekends. State Street lends itself to encouraging walkable, high density, mixed use and mixed income building development. One of the best tools available to Salt Lake City is to provide a form based zoning along the corridors that, if basic plans and construction rules are met, building permits are expedited. Wider sidewalks in return for higher buildings, ground floor retail and restaurants to encourage walkability and decrease the need for parking can lead to stable and inviting neighborhoods. Affordable housing can be required to provide 10% of the number of units (either as micro units or subsidized). 

  Without affordable housing, companies will consider expanding to other cities and areas. This is basic economic development. State Street housing should be encouraged with form based zoning and RDA encouragement. The best solution to solve the affordable housing crisis is the State Street corridor.

RALPH BECKER IS WRONG ABOUT AIRPORT TRAX

  Former Mayor Ralph Becker had an oped in the Deseret News today that argued for SLC spending over $50 million extra for a fancy but poorly thought out flying bridge Airport TRAX instead of the more thoughful and utilitarian ground floor TRAX that should cost less than $20 million.

  Ralph stated that the ground level TRAX was "determined to adversely affect travelers' safety and experience, as well as airport functions."  "The mayor’s secretly developed proposal will make many passengers and employees opt to use their vehicles to get to the airport."

  I THINK THAT RALPH IS WRONG ABOUT AIRPORT TRAX.  For over four years, I have fought

against the project that, along with his dream of a high speed rail station at the Airport, I considered to be fiscally irresponsible.  I pointed out to Airport Director Riley, many years ago, that when Senator Bramble, at the request of DeltaAirlines, passed a bill that required that airport passenger fees could not be used for "fixed guideway" projects, mass transit projects to the Airport would be hampered.  Although the Wasatch Front Regional Council, UTA, SLC and Utah government all put the fancy flying bridge into the Utah Unified Transportation Plan, the money was never available.  UTA and SLC signed an interlocal agreement in 2008 that agreed for UTA to pay necessary and reasonable" costs for an Airport TRAX reconfiguration during the Airport recontruction.

  During vigorous discussion over this last year when a final decision had to be made, Delta changed the Airport configuration and that allowed the ground level TRAX to be realistic, safe and having a similar experience as the flying bridge, designed to be within 150 feet of the terminal.  And, according to the Airport Board, Delta doesn't care which design is chosen.  So the responsible design was agreed to and recommended by Mayor Biskupski.  Interestingly, the Mayor originally argued for the flying bridge but the public backlash resulted in a responsible re-evaluation.

  Ralph also says that "The City Council is right to re-open the conversation....opening up the process to the public...."   Ironically, the Council voted in secret to support the flying bridge without a hearing.  Councilman Stan Penfold showed up at a UTA Board public hearing and claimed that the Council wanted the flying bridge!  But I was at all of the Airport TRAX discussions and there was no public vote on  the subject.  Several Counciilmembers did express disappoointment in the cheaper ground level design but there was no public vote!   all of the local news outlets appear to have missed it but Acting Director Pack, on his last day in his position, effectively killed the expensive design.  He pointed out accurately, that maintenance is a problem with flying rail bridges and when there is a problem, vehicle traffic under it will have to be stopped!  The Airport could not allow that.  In addition, he said that rental car fees can only be used for the rental car facility (answering a question by Lisa Adams who suggested raising the tax from $4 to $5).   Despite Ralph's statement that identified a range of potential funding sources, including federal funding and rental car taxes, Utah law restricts airport passenger fees from being used and for several years, the former administration fought my efforts to recognize the fact that without airport passenger fees, the City and UTA did not have the realistic financial ability to pay for the project.  That is the argument that I have been trying to win for years.

  Another interesting point brought up by Director Pack, is if the entrance is on the second level, arriving passengers on the ground floor would have to take an escalator up to catch it.  So one way or another, an Airport passenger would have to use an escalator.  Another interesting comment by Director Pack was that the flying bridge, eye candy project, would hide the charismatic terminal but the ground level TRAX would provide a eye catching view of the terminal.

  The former Mayor also implied that thousands use the Airoport TRAX when the actual ridership now is about 1100.

  This project, along with many others from the previous administration, like the high speed rail station at the airport, does not make sense.  Despite the claims by the former Mayor that the most expensive design possible  "exemplifies smart, sensible decision making", the smartest design is the less expensive design.  Mayor Biskupski was right to recommend the respectful and reasonable less expensive design.  Former Mayor Ralph Becker is wrong to recommend the most expensive and wasteful and unreasonable possible design for Airport TRAX.

  My October 18 blog entry is below:

AIRPORT TRAX FLYING BRIDGE DIES

  During the SLC Council work session on October 17, Airport Acting Director Pack (on his last day and hour as acting Director) endorsed the cheaper Airport TRAX plan, costing less than $20 million (UTA has estimates of $15-20 million and the previous expenditure was for designing the fancy expensive flying bridge – note that we wasted $5 million on it).  Director Pack stood his ground, despite questions and prodding from several councilmembers. 

  Councilwoman Lisa Adams asked why couldn’t we use rental car fees.  Pack responded that the fees, now at $5 per day could only be used at the rental facility.  So the Council decided, without saying it, that taxes are not going to be raised for their dream of a flying bridge rail into the terminal.

  Pack also explained that maintenance of the flying bridge rail system would be problematic and could interfere with traffic underneath.  He also explained that it would hide the charismatic vision of the Airport terminal.  So, after all these years of fighting it in the RTP, the UTP and a further push from the Council, the Airport $65+ million project to build this questionable eye candy project is dead.  And SLC will get a reasonable and workable ground TRAX realignment that is fiscally responsible.

 Bill Wyatt, the retired Port of Portland (Port and Airport) Director has been approved as the new SLC Airport Director.  He is an exceptional candidate who has an incredible reputation in Portland for

managing billions in projects and is a feather in SLC’s cap. 

  One final thought on the TRAX Green Line:  It is a shame that the International Center is not considered for a TRAX extension.  It is a destination and a successful rail system needs a destination.  Almost 30,000 employees work in the area and a TRAX line there would make sense, in my opinion.  With Stadler Rail and Amazon going into 5600 West, and the alternative bus concept proposal on 5600 West, SLC and UTA should consider expanding Airport TRAX along North Temple to 5600 West.

SUGAR HOUSE SPRAGUE LIBRARIANS MISS YOU

  The Sugar House Sprague Library has reopened and has a new and open look.  Although the computers are limited to 30 minutes use, WIFI is available and the reading room is back!  The librarians miss you!  Stop by and let them know that you are glad that they are back.

OCTOBER 25, 2017

NEEDLE BOXES CREATE BACKLASH

HEPATITIS A AT 41

21ST AND 21ST PROPOSAL FIGHTS COOKIE CUTTER

BUILDINGS

UNUSED OXBOW JAIL BEDS TO REOPEN FINALLY

CRIMINALS PUNISHED BY ARREST AND RELEASE AT 2 AM

HOMELESS ID SYSTEM UNWORKABLE

NEEDLE BOXES CREATE BACKLASH

  Salt Lake City and the Salt Lake County Health Department, over the last couple of weeks, has started placing SHARPS boxes around the downtown and Pioneer Park area, including the Library, to provide a secure place to dispose of used needles.  It is common knowledge that addicts have been disposing of needles on the ground, on the sidewalks and everywhere that they inject.  They also have been seen sticking the needle in the ground and breaking it off from the syringe.  The SHARPS box is supposed to encourage safe disposal of used needles.  On the one hand, there should be a safe disposal system available but the reality is that addicts are not known to be socially responsible and many knowledgeable professionals do not believe many will use the boxes.

  But, when the boxes were put out, the County Health Department did not approve of the modifications that Salt Lake City made to the boxes.  Essentially, SLC cut a big hole in the box, enough to stick an arm in and make the box unsecure.  The County Health Department has received a promise from Salt Lake City to modify the boxes to ensure that no one can open the boxes except authorized personnel.  As of Monday, the 23rd, County Health was told the boxes are being modified.

 A big concern still exists about the boxes which contain, or will contain biohazardous waste.  Normal operating procedures are to only have disposal boxes in a secure area that can be monitored.  These boxes are not monitored!  There is a chance that the boxes will be broken into and the biohazardous waste spread out.  Nearby residents are complaining about the image that the boxes are giving the City and their residential areas.  Hopefully, the City will work with residents to find a compromise that increases safety and does not make it look like downtown is the drug addicts’ area.  I put a picture of the boxes on the upper left.

HEPATITIS A AT 41

  I respect the efforts of the SLCO Health Department, woefully underfunded during one of the worst disease emergencies of the last 40 years in the County (hepatitis A), but the budget proposal from the County Mayor still is inadequate to ensure that the spread out homeless are not spreading disease.  Mental health issues are a significant enabler of the hepatitis A outbreak, that is now at 41 this year (normally SLCO would have two cases a year).  Mental health funding is almost nil after being cut significantly almost 10 years ago and given to a private provider.  Without Medicaid expansion in Utah, this issue will not go away.  The Health Department says that although the epidemic is slowing, we are not through the woods yet.  Vaccinations have significantly helped decrease the spread of this disease and most diseases.  Vaccinations and medical care stop disease.

21ST AND 21ST PROPOSAL FIGHTS COOKIE CUTTER BUILDINGS

  During a Salt Lake City Council hearing on the 21st and 21st small area plan (2100 South and 2100 East), a developer made a good argument that the 30 foot height limit essentially made a wall of the buildings next to the sidewalk.  The effect is not conducive to walkability.  On the upper left, I put a picture of the proposal for wider sidewalks in return for higher heights.  The density would be a little higher but the sidewalks, visibility and safety would be much greater.  The community needs to weigh in to their City Council and tell them what they would prefer.  The Sugar House Community Council is asking the developer for more information and it may be presented at a future meeting.

UNUSED OXBOW JAIL BEDS TO REOPEN FINALLY

  After years of opeds calling attention to the inadequate funding of public safety at the County, Mayor McAdams has agreed to reopen the 360 beds at Oxbow Jail that have been unused until now.  The opening will occur in the summer of 2018.  Of course, the reason is to transfer the 300 out of County jail inmates (agreed to for Operation Rio Grande) back to Salt Lake City and filling up the jail again.  That will result, as happens now, in a revolving door jail where criminals are booked and released within a few hours.

CRIMINALS PUNISHED BY ARREST AND RELEASE AT 2 AM

  The philosophy of disruption is the operating standard that the super duper quality of life enforcement is implementing.  It consists of arresting anyone that is considered to be a criminal and taking them to jail.  They are then released in the early morning to wonder the streets of South Salt Lake City and West Valley City.  I think that criminals should be in jail for more than a few hours.  If that is all that they will stay in jail, a citation makes more sense.  Of course, that is what happened before and some homeless racked up dozens of citations and eventually warrants.  Without adequate public safety funding at the DA and jail level, the system does not work.  Releasing criminals and homeless at 2 AM from the jail DOES NOT encourage obeying the law.

HOMELESS ID SYSTEM UNWORKABLE

  I put a picture of an ID card on the upper left that shows how messed up the system is.  Although hundreds of homeless appreciate the secure area, it is too small and the rest of the homeless are being hassled on the sidewalks to provide ID and be checked for warrants.  I think that that is

unconstitutional.  The U S Supreme Court found, I believe in the 1980s in San Diego, that the police are not allowed to demand ID from someone walking outside of their home neighborhood at night.  (Note above that some are released from jail late at night.)  The police are being ordered to do this.  It is not their fault.  But this could end up badly for the City and I do not want to give money to ACLU.  When the police stop and demand ID, they are saying that the person is a suspect in a nearby criminal activity.  After checking, they say that they found another guy that is the suspect.  This makes the police look bad and this makes my City look bad.

OCTOBER 23, 2017

EARLY VOTING LOCATIONS

SLC 1300 EAST RECONSTRUCTION COULD LAST 6 MONTHS

RDA DISCUSSING AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROJECTS

SPRAGUE LIBRARY REOPENS WITHOUT DOWNSTAIRS

EARLY VOTING LOCATIONS

The 2017 Elections are being conducted mainly by mail for which registered voters in Salt Lake County were mailed a ballot. In conjunction with vote by mail, in-office (County Government Center) and early voting locations will also be available for the 2017 Election for all eligible voters. Anyone may choose to vote in-office or early and voters must show valid identification. 

All eligible voters may vote in the County Clerk's Office 

SLCO Government Center 2001 S State St (100 E) 8:00 am-5:00 pm (M-F) October 9-November 6

Early Voting Locations

All eligible voters may vote early at any of the Early Voting locations listed below. Early voting will take place at the following locations October 25th-27th and November 1st-3rd on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Locations will operate during the hours listed:  

Cottonwood Heights City Hall 2277 E Bengal Blvd (7600 S) Cottonwood Heights 10:00-2:00   (W-F)

Draper City Hall 1020 E Pioneer Rd (12450 S) Draper 10:00-2:00 

 (W-F) 

Murray City Hall 5025 S State St (100 E) Murray 3:00-7:00 

 (W-F)

Riverton Senior Center 12914 S Redwood Rd (1700 W) Riverton  10:00-2:00  (W-F)

River's Bend NW Senior Center 1300 W 300 N Salt Lake City 10:00-2:00   (W-F)

Trolley Square  600 S 700 E #D-117 Salt Lake City 3:00-7:00 

 (W-F)

Sandy City Hall 10000 S Centennial Pkwy (170 W) Sandy  3:00-7:00 

 (W-F)

Taylorsville City Hall 2600 W Taylorsville Blvd (5325 S) Taylorsville 3:00-7:00   (W-F)

West Valley City Hall 3600 S Constitution Blvd (2700 W) West Valley 10:00-2:00   (W-F)

SLC 1300 EAST RECONSTRUCTION COULD LAST 6 MONTHS

  Salt Lake City is moving forward on a plan to make 1300 East a major construction zone for up to 6 months starting in the spring of 2018.  The project will encompass relining a sewer pipe and replacing two water lines under 1300 East.  Once that part of the project is completed, the City will then start work on redoing the street to reconfigure the gutters.  The 1300 East gutter project has federal funding and has been planned for several years.  So far, transportation has not been consulted on the project and the lane restrictions will depend on the contractor.  The bids should come in soon.  One option that has not been discussed is keeping both lanes of traffic open and requiring homeowners to remove their vehicles from the street during construction.  Without removing vehicles from the street, the backup, congestion and resulting air pollution will significantly affect adjacent residents.

RDA DISCUSSING AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROJECTS

  On Tuesday, October 24, the SLC Council, sitting as the RDA Board will start discussing the Growing SLC: A Five-Year Housing Plan.  As the City Council, they set the policy and the policy objectives are presently:

MIXED-INCOME HOUSING: Encourage mixed-income rental housing to provide housing choice for a range of family types and income levels throughout the city.

40% AMI & BELOW: Expand the availability of units for extremely low-income households, thereby providing housing options for individuals or families that are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

NEW HOUSING UNITS: Add new residential rental units to the city’s housing stock, easing up competition within the rental market.

NEIGHBORHOOD REVITALIZATION: Utilize the development of housing as a method to remove blight, reduce crime, revitalize neighborhoods, and stabilize communities.

TAX INCREMENT GENERATION: Target funding within existing or proposed RDA project areas to carry out the development of housing that generates tax increment, either direct or induced, that will produce future housing funds.

EXPAND OPPORTUNITY: Provide for Neighborhoods of Opportunity by promoting the economic diversity of the housing stock within neighborhoods.

FUND LEVERAGING: Maximize impact by leveraging funds with the private market and with other available public resources. For purposes of this Strategy, RDA funding shall provide a maximum of 20% of the total project cost.

STRATEGIC TARGETING: Target and concentrate funding to projects or geographical areas that will maximize community benefits.

PROPOSED TACTICS INCLUDE:

TACTIC #1: Affordable Rent Incentive Program

Efforts shall address the mismatch in the supply and demand of new affordable units coming online by incentivizing additional long-term affordable units. By partnering with proposed development projects, affordable units may be integrated into projects that would otherwise be exclusively market rate, or projects that are already mixed-income may be incentivized to provide a deeper level of affordability.

 TACTIC #2: Acquisition and Development

Efforts shall support the construction of housing units through land acquisition and development of innovative, high-quality, and equitable mixed-income projects. Projects will add new units to the housing stock, with focus on units affordable to households at 40% AMI and below.

THE RESULTS ACHIEVED FOR UNITS ARE:

                                                   TACTIC 1         TACTIC 2          TOTAL

Affordable Units                       200                   564                   764

High Opportunity Units            50                     63                    113

40% AMI & Below Units          120                    288                   408

Funds Expended Per Unit   $42,366            $23,342            $28,322*

Total Funds Expended         $8,473,143       $13,165,000    $21,638,143

   In summary, the proposal to use the $21 million, voted by the Council last October 2016, could provide up to 764 affordable units.  The potential projects include:

TACTIC #2: ACQUISITION  DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

1500 W North Temple Overniter Motel Redevelopment $4,000,000 - $4,000,000

1749 S State Street Capitol Motel Redevelopment $4,125,000 - $4,125,000

*525 South 500 West Permanent Supportive Housing $640,000 - $640,000

2234 Highland Drive Sugarmont Redevelopment - $2,000,000 $2,000,000 (Deseret Industries Building)

300 East 400 South The Exchange (4th South TOD) $1,400,000 - $1,400,000

SPRAGUE LIBRARY REOPENS WITHOUT DOWNSTAIRS

  Sprague Library in Sugar House has reopened the upstairs.  They can now handle holds and returns.  They will provide 5 computers for up to 30 minutes each and wifi is available.  The reading room is also available.  But due to the age of the elevator, the repair or replacement may take millions of dollars and that project and cost will wait.  The meeting room downstairs is therefore not available.  The Sugar House Community Council has been meeting at Legacy Village on Wilmington and at the Forest Dale Golf Course Clubhouse on 900 East.  

OCTOBER 19, 2017

MEMORIAL TO GARY OTT

SLC SCARES COMMISSION INTO PUNTING

MEMORIAL TO GARY OTT

  Gary Ott, the former SLCO Recorder, and a friend to many in the Salt Lake County Offices for decades, has died.  Although he is being remembered for his mental issues over the last couple of years, he was a decent man who loved his job and tried to make his Office, the Salt Lake County Recorder, a well managed office.

  I believe that he died because he gave up living.  I believe that in the hour or two a day that he was lucid, he realized that his life was finished and he was being left to wither away in a nursing home.  That often leads to people giving up and refusing to eat and wanting to die.  I think that is why Gary Ott died.  

  I know many are going to question my comments.  But I knew Gary Ott very well.  I knew of his issues in the last few years.  But our respectful and close relationship did not result in my pointing out or complaining about his mental deficiencies.  Friends don't do that.

  The last time that I had a long talk with Gary was towards the end of 2015. I was at a County Council meeting and when I left, he followed me out and talked to me.  FYI, Julie stayed away and couldn't hear our conversation.  He and I talked about his time in the Army (in Germany, Bavaria) and also about the office.  He said that he liked Julie Dole's management and said, without being asked, that she was running the office like a well oiled machine.  He also said that he was looking forward to implementing a new software program.  He talked intelligently and in a well reasoned manner.  

  I know that some may question my relationship but Gary and I had a connection.  Several years ago, when Julie's actions were being indirectly questioned by a Legislative Committee (She had been campaigning for a candidate during the day - something that many elected leaders do, and even public servants.), Gary came into the hearing and sat next to me, not next to Julie.  Gary and I liked each other.  We had something in common.

  When the County Council insisted that the Recorder's Office be audited by Scott Tingley, a respected elected official, he found that the Office met the statutory requirements.  One of the few deficiencies was the lack of long term planning.  Of course, if long term planning was up to date, complaints would have been directed at Julie Dole for such a plan.

  The big problem that I had with the County Council, was they insisted that Gary show up and answer questions about the audit.  Everyone in that building knew about Gary's mental issues.  The issue would have been much much worse if the Office hadn't been well managed.  I give credit to Julie Dole for that.  She did a good job managing the Salt Lake County Republican Party (during which I had several arguments with her).  Gary trusted her and she was an intelligent and good manager.  

  I believe that Julie was in an untenable situation.  She, as everyone else in the building, including his long time friends, knew that he had a problem with his mind.  But, as an employee, she served at his pleasure.  Ironically, the recent sexual harassment situations have a similarity.  It is almost impossible for an employee to complain about their boss, whether it involves sexual harassment or mental issues.  Julie was trying to manage the Office and the County Auditor found that the statutory requirements were being met.  That should say something.  

  Let me emphasize this:  If you think that it is easy for anyone working for a boss with sexual harassment or mental issues to complain about their boss, you are living in another world.  

  Gary Ott deserved more than being dragged through the mud.  I loved Gary.  I will remember him as a dedicated public servant who tried to do the right thing.  And I respect Julie Dole, who ran the Office the way that Gary wanted.  She shouldn't be chastised for not questioning or not reporting her boss.  Just as those who witness sexual harassment by their boss shouldn't be chastised for being afraid to complain.  People should respect the ability of managers, who work in such a situation, to make the decision that they think is best for the situation.

  In a similar situation, if someone is diagnosed or revealed to have a disease that could impact their office, if elected, should that be disclosed?  Should the candidate tell the public?  Should it matter?  I have mixed feelings about that.  Just because someone is diagnosed with a disease that could affect their ability to function, that should not be the only deciding factor, because the disease may not affect their office.  But if revealed, it is going to make the decision and affect the vote.  I know of several cases in which this situation has happened or could have happened.  

  When Randy Horiuchi had a stroke, several years into his last election, he had some mental issues.  I still liked talking to him and respected him.  I think that the County Council members also respected him because they gave him a lot of leeway when he talked.  That is what Gary deserved.

  Gary Ott should be remembered and respected for the his decades of public service, not for the last two years.

SLC SCARES COMMISSION INTO PUNTING

  This week has been an eye opener for the political power and leverage of Salt Lake City.  The Utah Quality Growth Commission is tasked with studying growth issues involving, among other things, water, density, zoning and other limitations that could affect growth in Utah.  In the last year, the Commission has been studying the impact of Salt Lake City's extraterritorial jurisdiction that is used to ensure that the watershed, within 300 feet of water sources is protected.  The Commission was also specifically tasked by a Legislative Commission to study SLC's extraterritorial jurisdiction.

  But, in the midst of public hearings on the issue, the staff member that supported the Commission,

John Bennett, was relieved of his job (just after the death of his wife!).  Those familiar with the situation have said that his removal was due to Salt Lake City's efforts claiming that he wasn't being fair.  I know that, after talking to several respected members of the Commission, that John Bennett was doing what the Commission leaders were asking of him.  The respected leaders included Chair Dave Mansell and Utah Farm Bureau Chief Randy Parker.  Both had questions about Salt Lake City's respectful use of the law.

  But Salt Lake City complained to the Governor about John Bennett and convinced him to remove

John.  So, the City has scared the Commission and they have "punted" the investigation back to the Legislature.  If Salt Lake City has the influence to get rid of a long term dedicated public servant, they are powerful enough to scare the members of the Quality Growth Commission to "punt" the issue that they were tasked with investigating back to the Legislature.

  As I have said several times before, there appears to be a Legislative effort (now joined by the

Governor) to question, re-evaluate and fine tune the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Salt Lake City.  The City's influence comes from decades of, in my opinion, sweetheart deals with lawyers, some of the most influential power brokers in Utah.  

  The recent Mountain Accord is now being questioned with giving special consideration, and money in increased valuation to ski resorts for hyper development (in one case 400 units in what could be a "Montage in the canyon").  At the same time, the Accord and City is clamping down on individual landowners willing to give hundreds of acres to Salt Lake City in return for allowing a cabin on less than an acre. 

  Legislative leaders may make this next session an interesting fight with Salt Lake City.  I still think that Salt Lake City Public Utilities needs an independent audit to open up the layers of secrecy that it has developed in the last few decades.  Their budget can be bigger than Salt Lake City's.  The Deseret News had a great story on the meeting today at:

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900002564/meeting-turns-up-heat-on-water-canyon-development.html

OCTOBER 18, 20017

AIRPORT TRAX FLYING BRIDGE DIES

SLC WATERSHED AUTHORITY QUESTIONED

AIRPORT TRAX FLYING BRIDGE DIES

  During the SLC Council work session on October 17, Airport Acting Director Pack (on his last day and hour as acting Director) endorsed the cheaper Airport TRAX plan, costing less than $20 million (UTA has estimates of $15-20 million and the previous expenditure was for designing the fancy expensive

flying bridge – note that we wasted $5 million on it).  Director Pack stood his ground, despite questions and prodding from several councilmembers. 

  Councilwoman Lisa Adams asked why couldn’t we use rental car fees.  Pack responded that the fees, now at $5 per day could only be used at the rental facility.  So the Council decided, without saying it, that taxes are not going to be raised for their dream of a flying bridge rail into the terminal.

  Pack also explained that maintenance of the flying bridge rail system would be problematic and could interfere with traffic underneath.  He also explained that it would hide the charismatic vision of the Airport terminal.  So, after all these years of fighting it in the RTP, the UTP and a further push from the Council, the Airport $65+ million project to build this questionable eye candy project is dead.  And SLC will get a reasonable and workable ground TRAX realignment that is fiscally responsible.

  Bill Wyatt, the retired Port of Portland (Port and Airport) Director has been approved as the new SLC Airport Director.  He is an exceptional candidate who has an incredible reputation in Portland for managing billions in projects and is a feather in SLC’s cap. 

  One final thought on the TRAX Green Line:  It is a shame that the International Center is not considered for a TRAX extension.  It is a destination and a successful rail system needs a destination.  Almost 30,000 employees work in the area and a TRAX line there would make sense, in my opinion.  With Stadler Rail and Amazon going into 5600 West, and the alternative bus concept proposal on 5600 West, SLC and UTA should consider expanding Airport TRAX along North Temple to 5600 West.

SLC WATERSHED AUTHORITY QUESTIONED

  There are enough Legislators that have concerns about the questionable activities of SLC Public Utilities in their efforts to manage the Northern Utah watershed in 6 counties.  The extraterritorial jurisdiction of SLC over the watershed allows them to bully and manipulate development in ways that may not help protect the watershed.  In addition, they have not built restrooms to handle the 6 million annual visitors to the Northern Wasatch Canyons each year (and have refused permission for the Forest Service proposed restrooms) and actually have turned off the water to the restrooms at the mouth of the canyons before Labor Day.

  Water is being sold to developers without providing it permanently, which could lead to building that, at a moment’s notice, would become uninhabitable due to SLC pulling back permission to use their water.  Although SLC promised it wouldn’t, the law says that it could.

  The Legislature appears to be deciding that, unless SLC provides a good reason not to, the extraterritorial jurisdiction law needs to be rethought and SLC authority on the watershed should be minimized to only be appropriate for protecting the watershed and not be able to affect development and zoning and farming throughout the Northern Utah region.  Amy Joi O’Donoghue at the Deseret News had an excellent article on the issue at: https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900002435/is-salt-lake-city-a-water-monopoly-state-commissiondives-for-answers.html

  Note that tomorrow, October 19, at 830AM, SLC will also need to explain their questionable management of the watershed.  The next Legislative session will have a furious fight on SLC watershed management and extraterritorial jurisdiction.

OCTOBER 17, 2017

UTA BONDING WILL ENCOURAGE PROJECTS

SLC TAX INCREASES COMING

UTA BONDING WILL ENCOURAGE PROJECTS

  Lee Davidson had a great story in the sltrib.com on UTA proposed bonding increases: http://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2017/10/16/uta-about-2-billion-in-debt-aims-to-borrow-885-million-more/  But UTA seems to be forgetting about the increase in interest payments in the next year so the issue is more than an $88 million bond increase.  The $65 million bus garage was not in it but is still being pushed and I assume that part of the bonding will be used for that.  I wonder what construction contractor they will use.  The Utah Legislature seems to be pushing it.  The 23rd Task Force meeting will be interesting.  The bus garage was added to the latest draft of the SLC Transit Master Plan after the first public hearings.

  Also the SLC Council Tuesday, October 17, at about 530PM will discuss the Airport TRAX issue and, since they already said that they wanted it (Stan Penfold already told the UTA Board - another secret meeting?), they will probably vote to support the $65-100 million project (rail bridges are notoriously overbudget during construction).  I am still pushing International Center employers to push for spending any extra $50 million (from $1 increase in rental car rates) to take TRAX to 5600 W.

  When I talked to the Airport Board, they said Delta is agnostic about the flying bridge versus the ground rail and they were discussing having every other TRAX train go to the Airport.  

SLC TAX INCREASES COMING

The next year will be famous for tax increases

  Two years ago, Salt Lake County joined Utah County in defeating the proposed tax increase for transportation, roads and transit called Prop One. Much of the blame for the defeat was attributed to the poor reputation of UTA which was to get 40% of the tax increase.  Other counties, including Davis, Weber and Tooele counties approved the local option sales tax increase. The loss of increased tax revenue has many elected officials in the State and especially in Salt Lake City pushing for new taxes and fees. 

  Salt Lake City streets need almost $40 million a year to maintain streets at a basic level. But the City only budgets about $10 million a year for streets. Three years ago, the Salt Lake City Council cut the budget for streets by $8.4 million (a year after increasing taxes $8.4 million a year for road maintenance)! The City Council is discussing a transportation utility fee that will apply to everyone but non-profits. It will estimate the trips that buildings create and charge a user fee. The SLC Mayor is instead suggesting using a bond to provide streets maintenance.

  Another tax or fee is needed for new projects that are proposed in the SLC Transit Master Plan. The Mayor has prioritized transit service increases first before projects but the SLC Council has expressed having new rail lines be a higher priority. The proposed rail lines include a 400 West north south line, a

100/200 South rail line to 1300 East from downtown, a 400 South line from the University to Central Station and extending the S-line TRAX up 1100 East. Each new rail line and extension will cost taxpayers about $100 million. In addition, there appears to be pressure to provide several bus rapid transit (BRT) lines at $15 million per mile. All of those projects will require new taxes to fund the projects, if the Council’s priorities are approved. The Council keeps reminding us that Salt Lake City voters approved Prop One with 70% even though it failed in the County by 1%.

  The SLC Council also seems to be pushing for the most expensive design possible for Airport TRAX

($65million). But Delta Airlines is “agnostic” on the cheaper $15 million proposal according to the Airport Board and the Council has not taken an official vote on the plans. The proposal suggests raising rental car rates from $4 to $5 with the excuse that Utah taxpayers won’t have to pay for it! The proposal could encourage other cities to increase their rental car rates.

  Since the reputation of UTA seems to stop increasing taxes, the Legislature is considering taking away projects’ responsibility from UTA and raising taxes with a .25 cent sales tax increase. The Legislature will then be able to guide and influence the projects list. Many think that the Legislature will focus on projects in the South Salt Lake County area and North Utah County area.

  Other fee increases planned for Salt Lake City are the water and sewer fees. The Council approved the roadmap for those fees to eventually double in the next five years. Along with the water and sewer fees increase, there is pressure to close golf courses and push for a parks bond to be used to converted courses to parks. But the reason why golf courses are losing money is because SLC overcharges, in my opinion, for watering golf courses, parks and open space. The charge for water was so much this summer that SLC Parks had to temporarily stop watering the cemetery and tree medians (until the complaints became overwhelming).

  Another potential increase in taxes, bonds or fees could come from a possible affordable housing fund bond in Salt Lake City. The pressure for more revenue for governments to spend more is significant. Governments want more projects. Citizens and taxpayers are encouraged to comment and influence these decisions of their elected representatives. Without significant public engagement on these proposals, the tax, fee and bond increases could result in billions in questionable projects. Next year will be famous for tax increases.

OCTOBER 16, 2017

REASONS TO VOTE FOR GEORGE CHAPMAN

WATERSHED HEARINGS THIS WEEK QUESTION SLC

SLC COUNCIL IMPORTANT HEARINGS OCT 17 HOMELESS TAI CHI LEADERS ARRESTE

REASONS TO VOTE FOR GEORGE CHAPMAN

  I am running for SLC Council District 5.  My justifications for replacing my opponent on the Council include wanting to:

STOP SECRET SLC COUNCIL MEETINGS

Homeless center expansion sites were unanimously decided in secret without a public hearing. if anyone tells you that they didn't unanimously agree to the 4 shelter sites in super duper secret meetings, tell them to prove that they aren't lying by releasing the meeting records. A golf course was closed without a public hearing. Funding for buying homeless sites was approved without a public hearing. The SLC Council approved the biggest bonding entity in the County without a public hearing!

STOP TAX INCREASES WITHOUT PUBLIC VOTES

SLC Council is discussing a streets’ fee (the Council cut the streets budget 50% 3 years ago while giving my opponent a pay raise). The Council wants to make taxpayers pay for 4 rail lines and the most expensive design possible for Airport TRAX. The Council is doubling the fees for water and sewer. My opponent wants to close golf courses and pay $50 million for each to be converted to a park. She wants to make us pay almost $100 million to run a TRAX train up 1100 East (taking out all parking).

PROVIDE ADEQUATE PUBLIC SAFETY

SLC has ignored the drug dealing, homeless camping, lack of jail beds and public safety funding. We have had a revolving door at the County Jail for over 4 years and the Council has not complained about it until this year, an election year. SLC needs 50 new police. SLC should sell the former public safety building and use the funds for more police.

PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT

SLC refuses to build restrooms in our canyons and has stopped Forest Service efforts. It gives more money to lawyers than to conserve land in the canyons. SLC cuts down 3000 trees a year.

STOP THE WAR ON CARS

My opponent believes that Sugar House and downtown have too much parking and wants to make traffic lanes bike lanes.

ENCOURAGE AFFORDABLE HOUSING

SLC allows building high price apartments a year in SLC instead of encouraging mixed income affordable housing. For four years, this Council has not done anything to help affordable housing!

STOP WASTING MONEY

I want SLC to stop wasting millions on alleyway trails and protected bike lanes and use the money to fix our roads for cars and bikes. SLC has many vacant properties that should be sold instead of being unused for over 10 years. The money can be used for streets, affordable housing and police.

George Chapman, PO Box 520653, SLC, UT 84152 801 867 7071

gechapman2@gmail.com

As a longtime community advocate, I have fought for better public safety funding and attention to solve the homeless problems and stop the drug dealing that was ignored until recently. I go to most SLC Council and community council meetings. I write newspaper opeds and a blog at georgechapman.net. I am a retired engineer, a former Naval officer and 66 years old with 5 children and 5 grandchildren.

WATERSHED HEARINGS THIS WEEK QUESTION SLC

  There will be two hearing this week at the Legislature on watershed issues that provide responsibility, oversight and extraterritorial jurisdiction to Salt Lake City to protect the watershed in the Wasatch Canyons and in six Northern Utah Counties. Over the last few years, there has been much testimony questioning the effectiveness of Salt Lake City’s efforts. One of the reasons that I am running for SLC Council District 5 is because I see the problems with SLC’s watershed protection efforts. They include destruction of watersheds, paying $10 million to lawyers instead of buying conservation easements and

SLC’s efforts to stop construction of canyon restrooms.

  The first hearing is on October 17 at 3 PM during the Legislative Water Development Commission. There will a report from the watersheds working group. The Legislature seems to be interested in reigning in the extraterritorial jurisdiction for watersheds of Salt Lake City.

  The next hearing this week will be on October 19 at 830 AM during the Stewardship of Public Lands. There will be a report from the Quality Growth Commission that has heard many of the complaints about SLC’s extraterritorial jurisdiction.

SLC COUNCIL IMPORTANT HEARINGS OCT 17

  Among the public hearings at the SLC Council on October 17th, there is the 21st and 21st Small Area Plan that will provide a path to have the area on 2100 South from 1900 East to 2300 East become a destination business district. But the increased business may be a problem for the safety of schoolchildren walking to Dilworth Elementary one block to the north. A roundabout has been suggested for the 2100 South and 2100 East area. But a four lane road and a roundabout create a significant danger for pedestrians. Cars in one lane cannot see pedestrians walking in the lane next to them.

  Another public hearing will be the Station Center Area, west of Rio Grande Street, Zoning rezone to Gateway Mixed Use for an area that still has not cleaned up the homeless issues and drug dealing. Although a portion of Rio Grande Street is drug free, the rest of the area is not. Drugs may have doubled in price and it may take a few minutes more to get the drugs (the dealers or facilitators go around the corner to get the drugs).

  And, at the same meeting, there will be another hearing on closing Rio Grande Street. I think that the effort will disburse the homeless criminals to other areas since the jail is full. This impacts the rest of the law abiding citizens of SLC and the County. I am against it.

  The SLC Council will hold a hearing on the 5 Year Mayor’s Housing Plan on October 17th and November 21 at 7 PM. My biggest concern is the potential increase in density that could impact single family home neighborhoods. The Council rezoned the single family homes on Wilmington (west of 700 East) last year and the pressure is on to rezone more homes. Single family home neighborhoods deserve more protection.

  The ADU issue will tentatively be approved by the Council on December 5. During the afternoon work session, the Council will discuss ADU issues around 440PM. There are only three votes for the ADU ordinance at this time and I expect a lot of horsetrading to get the ordinance passed. Again, I am against the ordinance because the City has not provided enough enforcement funding.

  The Twilight Concert Series will be discussed around 510PM.

  And most importantly, the Council will discuss Airport TRAX options around 530PM on October 17. Note that the Council Chair, Stan Penfold, implied that the Council wants the expensive project and will raise the rental car tax from $4 to $5 to pay for it. It appears to have been another secret meeting. Tuesday’s meeting will provide cover for the Council to say officially that they want the most expensive project.

  I still think that rail only works when it goes to a destination that can provide ridership. The International Center, west of the Airport, has the employees to provide a successful rail line and is a destination. Stadler Rail, Amazon and several other companies have the will and the money to help fund expansion to 5600 West (where Stadler will set up shop – instead of Clearfield – kudos to Mayor Biskupski’s economic development team). Again, in Seattle, Amazon helps pay for rail.

HOMELESS TAI CHI LEADERS ARRESTED

  Several of Bernie Hart’s Tai Chi leaders have been arrested and booked into jail. It is a blow to his efforts to provide an oasis of calm and exercise to the homeless. He was working with judges, the jail, the Weigand Center and several others and was getting over 60 homeless to participate. He was able to screen and recommend those homeless that were ready to move on into more stable efforts.

  This is another issue that results in questions about the effectiveness of the Operation Rio Grande plan. As Jay Evensen in the Deseret News recently pointed out (and I have for the last two months), without many more beds and DA and mental health funding, the criminals will not be removed from the homeless and the drugs and drug dealing will continue to encourage the homeless to be addicted. And addicts do not commit victimless crimes. Look at the bike chop shops that are visible around the valley, the City and Pioneer Park for proof.

OCTOBER 9, 2017

SUGAR HOUSE FIREWORKS CANCELLED!!??

SUGAR HOLE JUNIOR CONTINUES WITHOUT PENALTY

SOME LEGISLATORS WANT MORE TAXES/UTA 2017 ROUTE

DATA

HEPATITIS A OUTBREAK MAY LAST A YEAR

VACCINATIONS STOPS DISEASE

UTAH LAKE WATER KEPT OUT OF SLCO STREAMS THIS YEAR

BICYCLING DOWNTOWN DEPENDS ON POLICE GOOD WILL

SLC RDA TO SINK MILLIONS INTO LOST CAUSE WITHOUT

HEARING

FALLING DOWN HOUSE COULD BE SAVED BY HISTORIC

LANDMARKS COMMISSION 

SLC DEMOLITION ORDINANCE FAVORS FAVORITES

SLC TRANSIT MASTER PLAN ADDS BIG ASS $65 MILLION

GARAGE

SLC COUNCIL INSISTS TAXPAYERS WON'T PAY FOR AIRPORT

TRAX

FACEBOOK DEBATE FOR SLC COUNCIL 5 AND 7

GREG HUGHES CHICKENS OUT OF OCTOBER 12 BALLPARK

MEETING

OCTOBER 12/13 RIO GRANDE ID CARDS

SUGAR HOUSE FIREWORKS CANCELLED!!??

  The Sugar House Fourth of July fireworks show for 2018 is questionable.  The Sugar House Chamber, just a few years old, and that has put on the fireworks show and Street Festival for the last two years, has decided that the $30,000 cost and the logistics of the putting on the annual Fourth of July celebration in Sugar House Park does not have enough benefits for the local business community.  The local business community has said that they are generally closed on Fourth of July and they receive almost no benefits for the significant cost of closing Highland Drive (south of 2100 South) during the Street Festival.  This year, Highland Drive was not closed and the Festival was moved to Hidden Hollow.  Several of the participants complained about the lack of visibility in Hidden Hollow.   Several members of the community expressed concern about the air pollution and traffic that the fireworks show creates.  But the reality is, since the explosions are high up in the air, the pollution dissipates relatively quickly and is not a big source of irritating pollution.    

  Several years ago, the Utah DAQ reported a big spike in pollution during the Ogden Fourth of July Fireworks show.  But, the reality is that the DAQ put their pollution measuring trailer in the parking lot where the fireworks' rockets were lit off.  Most people understand that they shouldn't stand in back of rockets when they are set off.  But DAQ did put their trailer there and several elected officials took the record of pollution and have tried to shut down Fourth of July fireworks shows claiming that the pollution is too much.

  I disagree.  The Fourth of July fireworks shows provide an American tradition that is respected and looked up to by most people.  No matter what our politics, or opinions, or party or votes, we all look up and generally realize that we are in a great Country and the world's superpower and we should put our differences aside and recognize that we are in this together and should celebrate.

  With respect to Sugar House, the fireworks show, that used to be put on by the Sugar House Park Authority, is a tradition that provides the area with a character and cachet that is desired by many around Salt Lake County.  For those reasons, the Chamber is wrong to cancel their involvement in the fireworks show.  The businesses of Sugar House should actively look for, and encourage another promoter and manager for the Sugar House fireworks show. 

SUGAR HOLE JUNIOR CONTINUES WITHOUT PENALTY

  Sugar House developer Craig Mecham, who took advantage of Salt Lake City's Sugar House neighborhood when he demolished his building on the corner of 2100 South and Highland, has done it again.  His property along Highland Drive, just north of Sugarmont, was slated to become the Dixon Building, an office building that planned to host the University of Utah Health Clinic.  He got his plans approved and demolished all of the buildings north of his Vue building (on the Sugar Hole property - sold to another developer).  He also purchased a landscaping bond, required by the SLC ordinance that he inspired with his actions with the original Sugar Hole.  But after he demolished the buildings, he signed an agreement to give Boulder Ventures (of UTA infamy) his property for use as a staging area for the Boulder Ventures Sugarmont apartments construction (on Sugarmont and McClelland). So Sugar House has had to endure the dust on the property instead of having the property's dirt and dust decreased with landscaping.

  And the landscaping bond was released and given back to Mecham.  SLC could have insisted on keeping the bond value but decided that the property was going to be a construction site anyway.  So they gave one of the biggest property owners in Sugar House more money for doing nothing.

SOME LEGISLATORS WANT MORE TAXES/UTA 2017 ROUTE DATA

  Last week, the Legislature had two hearings on taxes, the Interim Revenue and Taxation Committee and the Transportation Governance and Funding Task Force covered similar subjects.  They both discussed how to make road users to pay more for roads.  They spent a lot of time discussing charging fees based on vehicle miles travelled (VMT).  To some in the alt-right community, VMT is a form of a war on cars and part of Agenda 21, an anti personal vehicle recommendation.  Part of the reason that traffic engineers have pushed for measuring VMT is the history of building new freeways and having them increase traffic.  There is a famous  picture of a 17 lane freeway with bumper to bumper cars that is used to argue against building more highways.  

  But personal vehicles make our families, our economy and our Country more efficient. The freeway is full because, rather than having an apartment close in to work, families want their castle, their home and a yard for their children, their own personal kingdom.  The full freeways are a sign that the American dream is still alive.

  When some legislators insisted that all out of state road users have to pay a toll to use Utah roads, Senator Bramble pointed out that although we are a crossroads for travel east west and north south, if we taxed incoming vehicles, other states could do the same to our vehicles.  In addition, it is unconstitutional.  Only Congress can charge vehicles that travel between states.  Senator Bramble also asked for the number of individuals that UTA serves a day.  Matt Sibul could not answer that question.  I put the latest UTA route data that I was given just a day later (after I asked) on the upper right on a downloads button.  It appears that UTA serves about 100,000 individuals in Utah.  I am guessing since UTA gets 127,00 riders a day but some are duplicate riders.  This transparency by UTA is welcome and it is a big change from two years ago.  Also, the data is three years better than the SLC Transit Master Plan data (2014 is the data it has).  The download of UTA Route Performance - Excel Spreadsheet is one of the most important downloads of the year on this site.  Anyone interested in mass transit should study it.  And thank you again to UTA for providing it.  This is a new and better UTA.  (I am still fighting the big ass garage - see below).

  Some legislators are suggesting that we can't keep building roads and that we should be pushing more mass transit projects.  A TRAX up the canyons and canyon tolls with a parking garage at the mouth of the canyons was suggested.

  If UTA has projects' authority taken from them, and given to Utah, the Utah Transportation Commission and UDOT, the Point of the Mountain area is more likely to get rail projects faster.  Developers of the Point of the Mountain area will receive significant increases in value.  There was talk of taking some of the increased value to pay for the rail lines.  There was also talk of a quarter cent sales tax increase (to raise $117 million annually for transit projects).  

  The Transportation Task Force will survey their members and then take action, as early as October 23.   The proposed federal tax reforms may decrease Utah tax revenue due to our linking our tax system to the federal system.  So legislators will have to modify the Utah tax system to keep the same revenue.  Also, the internet taxes are expected to decrease Utah taxes but the legislature has to decide how much to lower the tax rates.

HEPATITIS A OUTBREAK MAY LAST A YEAR VACCINATIONS STOPS DISEASE

  Although the hepatitis A outbreak in Salt Lake City appears to be slowing down, we may not be out of the woods and see an end for a year.  The CDC says that these outbreaks can last a year. Over 500 have been infected in San Diego and almost 20 have died.  We are still at 33.  Again, the CDC says that it is not unusual for an outbreak to last a year.

  If it weren't for the large scale vaccination effort by the Salt Lake County Health Department (hundreds were vaccinated last week at the Homeless Connect event), it would have been worse.  Without the large scale vaccinations, Salt Lake City could have experienced hundreds of cases and dozens of deaths.  The medical cost would have run into the millions.  Vaccinations stop disease.

UTAH LAKE WATER KEPT OUT OF SLCO STREAMS THIS YEAR

  Last year, due to the lower water level of the canyon streams that provide much of Salt Lake City's water, the SLC Public Utilities Department had to pull Utah Lake water and put it in the streams that ran through Salt Lake County.  The water was to replace the water removed upstream to provide drinking water.  Dogs and people could have been exposed to some of the toxic algae that was forming then in Utah Lake.

  This year, due to the increased water flow in the streams, Utah Lake water did not have to be put in the streams according to the Department of Public Utilities..

BICYCLING DOWNTOWN DEPENDS ON POLICE GOOD WILL

  SLC has an ordinance that restricts bicycling on sidewalks in downtown SLC.  Last year, only one ticket/citation was issued.  The administration was trying to start enforcement of the ordinance this year but due to other priorities, it was put on the backburner.  But the ordinance is still in effect and police can still stop anyone riding a bike on the sidewalk and give them a ticket.  Unfortunately, most Green Bike riders, ride on the sidewalks.  On the one hand, SLC wants to see more bicycling in the City and at the same time outlaws riding on the sidewalks downtown, which are often the only safe place to ride a bicycle.  And the protected bike lanes are not safe, in my opinion due to the many loading events, lack of lane cleanup/maintenance and vehicle exits/entrances.

SLC RDA TO SINK MILLIONS INTO LOST CAUSE WITHOUT HEARING

  Several years ago, Salt Lake City encouraged the demolition of low cost housing on State Street between third and second South (245, 255 and 265 S. State St.).  Unfortunately, the engineering required was too much and the approved developer, with RDA funds, was unable to complete the effort.  The RDA, with less than a 24 hour notice, is now proposing to buy the foreclosed property and develop it for affordable housing. 

  The SLC Council (which sits as the RDA Board with the Mayor) has set up a meeting at 5 PM tomorrow (Tuesday October 10) and that meeting will not allow public comment.  The RDA Board may decide to take action at that time.  In other words, it will essentially be another secret meeting where the public will be left out of commenting (the public is welcome to listen) on the expenditure of maybe more than $10 million.  

  The public is invited to comment at the 2 PM meeting of the RDA Board but the discussion on the purchase of these foreclosed properties will be at 5 PM. I do not believe that the notice (made officially at 5PM) meets the statutory requirement in Utah for open meetings and notice.  If the notice had come before 24 hours before the 2 PM meeting, where public comments were allowed, then it would be legal.     Again, SLC COUNCIL GOES INTO SECRET AND ILLEGAL MEETING!

FALLING DOWN HOUSE COULD BE SAVED BY HISTORIC LANDMARKS COMMISSION

  If anyone needs any proof that the SLC Historic Landmarks ordinance is out of touch with reality, they should look at the November 2, 2017 agenda that asks for their permission to demolish a house that is literally falling down with a collapsed roof.  It happens to be one of the worst eyesores in all of Salt Lake City.  The Other Side Academy, which bought the property next to their main buildings, seems to be having a hard time demolishing the unsafe structure since it is in the Historic District.  This situation is a great argument against too much government.  The City is collecting comments.  To comment, contact Michael Maloy at 801 535 7118 or email him michael.maloy@slcgov.com.  The address is 46 South 700 East.

SLC DEMOLITION ORDINANCE FAVORS FAVORITES

  This year, I have reported on several cases where the City's demolition ordinance does not work.  When a developer wanted to tear down two homes, he called them drug houses and got permission to demolish them before he had his plans finalized for 16 homes on the property.  But Peter Corroon couldn't get permission to demolish a property he owned that was being used by homeless and the homeless set it on fire.  

  Vasilios Priskos has tried for years to demolish the old Zephyr nightclub but he wanted to put in a parking lot until he finalized plans for the property.  Because SLC does not like parking lots, the City refused to let him demolish the building which sits vacant and is an eyesore.  (Vasilios Priskos died this week.  He was an immigrant who became a respected community developer and proponent of downtown.  Although some may have mixed feelings about him, he deserves respect for starting from nothing and developing into one of the biggest boosters for downtown SLC.)

  As discussed above, Craig Mecham was able to get a lot of money by insisting that his landscaping bond wasn't needed for the property after he demolished several buildings on Highland Drive. 

  Another instance in Sugar House concerned the owner of a car wash on 2100 South (north of Snelgroves).  He started demolishing the business and it sat vacant and half demolished and provided the best eyesore in Sugar House for almost a year.  

  The efforts by The Other Side Academy are another example of favoritism for some but not everyone equally.  SLC needs to update their demolition ordinance.  The demolition and Historic Landmarks ordinances should not be encouraging eyesores in our City.

SLC TRANSIT MASTER PLAN ADDS BIG ASS $65 MILLION GARAGE

  So far, after two public hearings, the biggest change in SLC's Transit Master Plan draft is the addition of the costly $65 million bus garage.  Assuming that SLC taxpayers will have to pay $30-40 million for the local match (if the federal government agrees to help pay for it) and that WILL come out of local expanded neighborhood bus service.  This project is not needed unless we have three times more buses.  UTA contends that it is needed for CNG fueling stations but they are already built and used.  UTA needs to stop building projects.  Note that this facility also figures into the eminent domain fight by UTA against the Hamblin Furniture Company.  In my opinion, UTA has acted dishonestly and unethically in destroying the business and forcing an agreement that UTA is not honoring.  UTA also is proceeding with eminent domain cases along the route of Provo's BRT/TRIP project.  If and when the property that UTA gets is not needed, deals with developers could result in another set of sweetheart deals.

  Regarding the SLC Transit Master Plan, the draft is a work in progress and the City Council may bring it back later or approve it as is.  The Council appears to have the votes to add priorities of rail projects that could cost local taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

SLC COUNCIL INSISTS TAXPAYERS WON'T PAY FOR AIRPORT TRAX

  Instead, the Council plans to raise the rates for rental cars from $4 to $5 and local taxpayers won't have to pay.  I think the appropriate phrase is nod nod wink wink say no more.  A fee by any other name is still a tax and a tax for anyone else is still a tax.  Again, the Council has not had a public hearing on the issue but appears to be pushing "unanimously" for the fancy eye candy flying bridge Airport TRAX.

FACEBOOK DEBATE FOR SLC COUNCIL 5 AND 7

  East Liberty Park and Sugar House Community Councils had a sparsely attended debate (about 20 voters) on October 5.  The debate is posted on Facebook at  https://www.facebook.com/ELPCO/videos/1725738067447333/ or you can go on Facebook and search for elpco or east liberty park community council.

  The debate covered many issues.  My opponent claimed that she was against the Simpson Avenue homeless site and I pointed out that other members of the City Council claimed that the sites were unanimously chosen.  I also pointed out that the Council acts without public hearing such as when they closed a golf course without a public hearing.

  My opponent, Erin Mendenhall, claimed that golf courses should close because golf is dying.  I,(George Chapman - writer of this blog) pointed out that the only reason that golf isn't making money in SLC is because SLC Public Utilities overcharges for water.  Parks had to stop watering the cemetery until the complaints forced them to start watering again.  When parks and open space in SLC are not treated as amenities, we should change our government.  I complained about the doubling of water and sewer fees that the Council approved for the future and the lack of complaints about public safety until this year.  No one from the Council complained about the County's lack of jail beds and prosecutors to keep criminals in jail until this year, an election year.  I also suggested 50 new police and selling the old public safety building to get the money for those police officers.

  Erin said that she thought that we have enough parking, even in Sugar House and had no problem with parking in front of her house.  Parking in front of my family's house on weekends is seriously overwhelming for our neighborhood.  I also spoke against road diets that take away traffic lanes for bike lanes that result in increasing congestion and air pollution.  My opponent spoke for more bike lanes.  (I support bike lanes that do not increase pollution.) 

  This is probably the only chance to see the candidates debate for SLC Districts 5 and 7 this year.  I encourage voters to watch the show.  I hope that I made it entertaining enough for you.

GREG HUGHES CHICKENS OUT OF OCTOBER 12 BALLPARK MEETING

  After Ballpark Community Council moved their monthly meeting to have Speaker Greg Hughes go to their community council meeting, he appears to have chickened out.  The community council will have a board meeting instead.

OCTOBER 12/13 RIO GRANDE ID CARDS

  This week, on October 12 and 13, SLC and the State intends to provide ID cards to the homeless that want to utilize the services in the Rio Grande neighborhood, especially the fenced off area.  Despite the fact that Catholic Community Services (which operates the Weigand and the Vincent DePaul Centers) allows anyone to access their facilities while keeping out drugs, the State, County and City are proceeding with this system that, in the mind of many, criminalizes the homeless and actually discourages them from using the services that can put them on a path out of being homeless.  San Francisco tried it and failed.  LA tried it and failed (in the 1990s).  

  We still do not have 24 hour secure and accessible storage to encourage the homeless to work.  We still do not have a secure camping area indoors (winter is coming).  And based on the plan and limited space in the fenced off area and the ID cards that remind me of ghettos in Poland, I believe that the homeless will avoid the area and the result will be many more deaths.

OCTOBER 8, 2017     CAMPAIGN CARD (FOR THOSE

INTERESTED)

GEORGE CHAPMAN

SLC COUNCIL DISTRICT

5   www.georgechapman.net

WORKING TOGETHER, LETS:

STOP SECRET SLC COUNCIL MEETING

Homeless center expansion sites were unanimously decided in secret without a public hearing.  A golf course was closed without a public hearing.  Funding for buying homeless sites was approved without a public hearing.

STOP TAX INCREASES WITHOUT PUBLIC VOTES

SLC Council is discussing a street fee (the Council cut the streets budget 50% 3 years ago).  The Council wants to make taxpayers pay for 4 rail lines and the most expensive design possible for Airport

TRAX.  The Council is doubling the fees for water and sewer.  My opponent wants to close golf courses and pay $50 million for each to be converted to a park.  She wants to make us pay almost $100 million to run a TRAX train up 1100 East (taking out all parking).  

PROVIDE ADEQUATE PUBLIC SAFETY

SLC has ignored the drug dealing, homeless camping, lack of jail beds and public safety funding.  We have had a revolving door at the County Jail for over 4 years and the Council has not complained about it until this year, an election year.  SLC needs 50 new police.  SLC should sell the former public safety building and use the funds for more police.

PROTECT ENVIRONMENT

SLC refuses to build restrooms in our canyons and has stopped Forest Service efforts.  It gives more money to lawyers than to conserve land in the canyons.  SLC cuts down 3000 trees a year.

STOP THE WAR ON CARS

My opponent believes that Sugar House and downtown have too much parking and wants to make traffic lanes bike lanes.  

ENCOURAGE AFFORDABLE HOUSING

SLC allows building high price apartments a year in SLC instead of encouraging mixed income affordable housing.

 STOP WASTING MONEY

I want SLC to stop wasting millions on alleyway trails and protected bike lanes and use the money to fix our roads for cars and bikes.  SLC has many vacant properties that should be sold instead of being unused for over 10 years.  The money can be used for streets, affordable housing and police.

As a longtime community advocate, I have fought for better public safety funding and attention to solve the homeless problems and stop the drug dealing that was ignored until recently.  I go to most SLC Council and community council meetings.  I write newspaper opeds and a blog at georgechapman.net.  I am a retired engineer, a former Naval officer and 66 years old with 5 children and 5 grandchildren

George Chapman, PO Box 520653, SLC, UT 84152   801 867 7071 gechapman2@gmail.com

USEFUL SALT LAKE CITY PHONE NUMBERS

CIVIL ENFORCEMENT 801 535 7225

(JUNK/LITTER/SIGNS/SNOW REMOVAL/WEEDS/

PROBLEM BLDGS/FENCES/GARAGE SALES)

POLICE 801 799 3000

ADA 801 535 7976

CITY COUNCIL 801 535 7600

DRUG ACTIVITY 801 799 3784

GRAFFITI REMOVAL 801 972 7885

FORESTRY 801 972 7818

MAYOR'S OFFICE 801 535 7704

NOISE 801 580 6681

PARKS 801 972 7800

PARKING ENFORCEMENT 801 535 6628

PLANNING/ZONING 801 535 7700

SIDEWALK REPAIR 801 535 6934

SLC SHOPPING CARTS 801 446 7984

SMITH'S CARTS 801 759 7315

STREET REPAIRS 801 535 2345

UTA 801 743 3882

WATER/SEWER 801 483 6900

WATER/SEWER EMERGENCY 801 483 6700

YARD/WASTE/RECYCLING 801 535 6999

ANIMAL SERVICES 385 468 7387

HEALTH DEPT/PESTS 385 468 3835

OPERATION  RIO GRANDE COMMAND POST  385 266

6938

OCTOBER 4, 2017

NO CARROT, NO STICK AND SHOOTING IN THE DARK

DA FIGHTS SLCO COUNCIL FOR WIN

DOWNTOWN ALLIANCE ISSUES/FORUM

WESTMINSTER DEBATE THURSDAY

ADUS WITHOUT ENFORCEMENT 

FHA MAY DETER ENFORCEMENT OF SINGLE-FAMILY

NEIGHBORHOOD ZONING

SPRAGUE LIBRARY ELEVATOR SINGNIFICANTLY DAMAGED

NO CARROT, NO STICK AND SHOOTING IN THE DARK

  In the last few months, elected leaders have finally decided, after years of ignoring it, that the homeless situation in the Rio Grande area in downtown Salt Lake City needs their attention.  The solution that is being planned is "a carrot and a stick" where criminal activity will result in arrest, being taken to jail and then give them an opportunity to get out of jail if they agree to drug addiction treatment.  The treatment beds (except for almost 40 that are available as of last week) will require that the federal government provide a waiver and agree to a minimalist version of healthcare expansion for homeless.    But that waiver has been promised for two years. It is not a done deal.  In addition, the federal government also has to agree to allow more than 16 beds in a facility to be covered by federal funds.  That requirement was implemented years ago because of fear of big institutions of addiction treatment that would negatively impact adjacent neighborhoods.  The Fair Housing Act requires that treatment facilities be allowed to locate anywhere that they want, even in single family home neighborhoods (see FHA item below).   Both Odyssey House and First Step, if the federal government approves, intend to expand their facilities to around 100 treatment beds.  Adjacent neighborhoods will obviously be concerned and there could be a vigorous fight against expansion of beds.  The State of Utah will be the entity that allows the treatment facilities that could be approved within two months if they meet the requirements for beds, square footage, ratio of personnel to patients (1/6) and other standards.  The Planning Commission will be required to give a conditional use permit to finalize the building use.

  The success rate for opioid addiction treatment is also a moving target.  Former Secretary of Health,

Education and Human Services Califano has pointed out that "The therapeutic community claims a 30% success rate but they only count people who complete the program."  Up to 80% drop out within six months. Evidence based treatment was supposed to be the priority but evidence and data seems to be lacking and Salt Lake County has not provided real data.

  Healthcare expansion would have helped years ago and saved Utah taxpayers $67 million this year alone, and hundreds of millions in the next few years.  The Salt Lake County Council was recently given a reality check when they saw estimates of their share of the cost of Operation Rio Grande of over $10 million.  Interestingly, the County repurposed their $9.4 million annual jail bond several years ago which, if it stayed in public safety (jail and DA - including jail treatment), would have resulted in a smaller cost for County and State taxpayers.

  The stick in the plan is 300 open jail beds.  They were filled in two weeks. The DA recommended 6 prosecutors and up to 600 beds. He got 2 prosecutors (approved yesterday after a big fight - see below) and 300 jail beds (filled within two weeks).  The result is law enforcement in Salt Lake County is working with a revolving door jail and arresting the same criminals, for the same type of crime many times.  All that a full jail can do is book the arrested person and release them.  This results in, at best, a soft stick.

  Another part of the plan is to create a safe place on Rio Grande Street by fencing it off and keeping drugs out with drug sniffing dogs patrolling the area.  The belief is that such a safe place for camping will allow law enforcement throughout the County to enforce no camping ordinances.  Although that has started, the only tool that law enforcement has is jail and that is full. Confiscating camping gear, which needs to be inventoried and stored, is a big and costly effort that will probably be avoided by police.  The result is no real plan to stop the homeless camping.  (See many of the stories below for the last month.)   San Francisco tried to create a safe place on Pier 80 last year for about six months but many homeless felt that it was like a prison and avoided it. 

  Healthcare expansion and affordable housing, the best solutions for success in decreasing homelessness are being ignored for more wishful thinking. It appears that Utah’s senior elected politicians have decided that the best solution to the homeless crisis and criminal element in the Rio Grande area is no carrot, no stick and shooting in the dark. 

DA FIGHTS SLCO COUNCIL FOR WIN

  During the October 3 SLCounty Council Committee of the Whole work session that has the "real votes and decisions" that are essentially rubber stamped at the formal 4 PM meeting, DA Sim Gill had to endure heated questioning from Council Chairman Steve Debry who is Chief of the Millcreek UPD.  The DA has been trying for seven years to get adequate and effective funding for his office to do its job of prosecuting criminals and tracking them after conviction (for 36 months) to ensure that they stop criminal activities.  Unfortunately, like the inadequate funding by the SLCO Mayor and Council for jail beds, the DA has not been given the funding that he is always requesting.  

  The issue came to a head when Operation Rio Grande was started and the understanding (not agreed to by the County Council - they were not part of the dialogue and agreement) that the County would fund a portion of the requirements came to the Council.  Eventually, Salt Lake County WILL have to open up more jail beds (Oxbow still has 380 not used.) and provide funding for that along with mental health treatment of inmates and addiction treatment.  The predicted cost could be as high as $30 million next year.  The Mayor's budget proposal will be announced on October 24.  

  The DA obviously needed more personnel to adequately prosecute the arrested individuals charged with serious crimes.  But since it came a month before the budget and four months before the next funding cycle, Chairman DeBry balked.  Other Councilmembers also questioned the request last week and it was tabled to yesterday, October 3.  

  Adding to the fire and animosity between them (they are friends and friendly with each other outside of work issues) was an email from Deputy DA Chamness that explained that the DA does not have the manpower to effectively support Operation Rio Grande without more prosecutors.  The DA was asking, with the support of Mayor McAdams, for under $400,000 for two prosecutors and a paralegal to help service the hundreds of felony cases and over 1000 arrests.  Chairman DeBry took Chamness's email as a threat and hit the roof.  

  Over about 15 minutes of heated back and forth, neither side would budge.  Finally the vote was taken and the DA got his funding.  I have watched many County Council meetings and only the last meeting with Sheriff Winder (who was emphasizing that the jail needed more funding) was as contentious.  If it were not so sad to watch, I would have said it was entertaining.

  The public is allowed to make comments on the issue but usually no one does at the County Council meetings.  They even encourage comments by providing a call in phone number so that you don't have to attend the meeting in person.  I give credit to the County Council for this effort to listen to the public.  I was the only one who spoke and I argued (as I have for several years) for more funding for the DA.  The County Council recently gave $4 million to the questionable project to double track the Sugar House streetcar/TRAX line to decrease time from 20 minutes to 15 minutes.  That project is predicted to provide 140 more riders a day.  UTA is providing $1.9 million from the federal government.  I argued that DA and public safety and jail bed funding is more important.  At least we got the DA funded, minimally, for Operation Rio Grande.

DOWNTOWN ALLIANCE ISSUES/FORUM

  At a minimally attended Downtown Alliance forum for candidates for SLC Council (Districts 3, 5 and 7), the candidates expressed their thoughts on the important issues regarding SLC's downtown area.   I expressed concern for lack of support from Salt Lake City government to have SLC's downtown compete with Lehi and Sandy.  I also am concerned about the efforts by SLC to discourage driving downtown by restricting parking.  Councilwoman Mendenhall said that a recent study showed that we have plenty of parking downtown.

  I pointed out that the study authors are famous for saying in all of their studies for many cities, that is too much or plenty of parking.  Without adequate transit (which stops around 7-8 PM), the only way to get downtown and back is by car.  And when the parking meters (blue meanies) are confusing and the parking lots are full, downtown businesses are impacted.  In addition, SLC has an ordinance that discourages demolishing an old building that may be vacant for decades, and putting in a parking lot to prepare for a new building.  So downtown SLC is full of vacant buildings that could quickly be torn down, replaced by a temporary parking lot and eventually encouraged to be developed as high density mixed use.  I believe SLC government should not be interfering with business and economic development.

  There was also a discussion on walkability and public safety.  I wanted Salt Lake City to have a goal of a walkable downtown, even at 2 AM.  I want Salt Lake City to sell some of their vacant buildings (vacant for over 10 years!) and use the money for more police and return the police walking patrols (ended by the City Council).  I also want the panhandler areas to have large signs discouraging giving money to them.  When theaters get out, the audience is inundated with panhandlers!  

  The walkability of new buildings should be ensured by requiring that the ground floor on buildings be open to the public as stores or restaurants.

WESTMINSTER DEBATE THURSDAY

  On Thursday, October 5, at Westminster College Gore School of Business Auditorium (1840 S 1300 E)

there will be a debate of the District 5 and 7 Council candidates.  District 5 candidates are George

Chapman (gechapman2@gmail.com, georgechapman.net) and Erin Mendenhall

(erinforcouncil@gmail.com, @erinforcouncil).  District 7 candidates are Abe Smith

(vote4ags@gmail.com, @abe4slc) and Amy Fowler (voteamyfowler@gmail.com,

@voteamyfowler).  Questions should be submitted beforehand to D5D7@GMAIL.COM.  

  There is free parking off of 1700 South at the Dunke Field and underground parking structure and North Parking Structure off of 1700 South (just west of the Jewett Center theater).  I put the parking map at the top of the upper right downloads on this page.

ADUs 

  I, and many others spoke against the ADU (accessory dwelling units = mother in law apartments) proposed ordinance that would have allowed up to 25 ADU conversions in single family home neighborhoods.  I have, in the past, pointed out that the ADUs are the fastest way to increase affordable housing.  But there is no real effective enforcement mechanism to police the conversions and tenants.  In areas with questionable conversions near Westminster, UofU there are often neighborhoods that are negatively impacted with parking problems and noise and Salt Lake City is unable to handle the problems due to inadequate enforcement funding.

  The issue of enforcement of zoning regulations is important because, even if the ordinance says they have to be owner occupied, if the owner dies, the City can't reverse the approval of the ADU.  Even mortgage companies have a problem with mortgages going to supposedly owner occupied homes but they really are investment rentals. 

  Since only 3 ADUs were applied for since the last Sorenson ordinance, I do not think that many will jump at the offer.  ADUs in Portland priced at $40,000 for attached conversion (basements) and $90,000 for detached (garages).  And keep in mind, impact fees have to be paid up front.  Seniors will not really be incentivized to utilize this.  

  Developers seem to be pushing for higher density market rate apartments and the Council does not seem to be interested in stopping it.  If everyone in a building has no investment in the neighborhood and is transient, the neighborhood will destabilize.  That is not good.  Housing prices could go up so much that only the rich and elite can afford housing and the long term residents are essentially priced out of their neighborhoods.  I call that supergentrification and the SLC Council does not seem to be interested in stopping it.  The best argument against supergentrification is Sugar House.  New buildings should have mixed use, mixed income and some units as condos, bought to encourage residents to invest in neighborhood stability.

  Other issues are that the 25 limit can be removed by the Council at any time and quickly without much notice.  Unit legalization essentially failed to recover/cover these units that were already converted and that ordinance had a minimal effect.

  During a recent East Liberty Park Community Council meeting, the attendees were very concerned about the issue of ADUs.  They wanted to spend the whole meeting trying to convince Councilwoman Mendenhall that the ordinance should not be approved.  The discussion was stopped before it finished to turn to a discussion about solar power.  

  The proposed SLC ADU ordinance should be considered to be a threat to single family home neighborhoods.  It should not be encouraged without better funding for problems.  A related issue is the SLC ordinance that limits the number of unrelated individuals living in a home.  I put that issue below.

FHA MAY DETER ENFORCEMENT OF SINGLE-FAMILY NEIGHBORHOOD ZONING

  In 1995, in a case involving the City of Edmunds that tried to stop Oxford House from operating a group home for addiction treatment in a single-family home neighborhood, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the FAIR Housing Act (FHA) mya cover a zoning rule related to family composition.  Salt Lake City, and most other cities try to protect single-family home neighborhoods by limiting the number of unrelated individuals living in a home that are unrelated.  SLC puts the limit at 4.  I believe that the SLC ordinance would be found illegal and the City should reevaluate their ordinance to put the limit based on maximum occupancy.  That seems to be more legal that utilizing the related persons which the Supreme Court has found to be illegal.  Of course, in Utah, with large families, the Legislature may balk at limiting maximum occupancy.  But the issue should be discussed, analyzed and considered to ensure that single family home neighborhoods are protected.

SPRAGUE LIBRARY ELEVATOR SINGNIFICANTLY DAMAGED

  The SLC Library is trying to reopen the Sprague Library top floor before the end of October.  The biggest expense is the elevator that was damaged and there is a problem with funding repair.  Until it is repaired, the basement with the children's library and meeting room is proposed to stay out of service. 

SEPTEMBER 29, 2017

HEPATITIS A CASES INCREASE TO 32

FEDERAL MEDICAID WAIVER COULD IMPACT

NEIGHBORHOODS

SALT LAKE CITY COUNCIL OCT. 3 HEARING ON ADU,

HOMELESS SHELTER REQUIREMENTS AND TRANSIT PLAN

UTA APPROVES $400 INVESTMENT PER RIDER S-LINE PROJECT

SLC COUNCIL SECRET MEETING PUSHES $50 MILLION

AIRPORT TRAX

SLC POLICE FOCUS ON HOMELESS CAMPERS IN PARKS

RED BUTTE CREEK HAS NOT RECOVERED FROM OIL SPILL

HEPATITIS A CASES INCREASE TO 32

  Salt Lake County Health Department said that as of September 27, Utah has 32 cases of hepatitis A with 25 related to homeless and drug users.  The UTA Police, the SLC Police have been encouraged to get vaccinated.  This increase from the 22 two weeks ago is a significant increase.  Even considering an average of three new cases a week (there are more), that is close to 10% increase per week.  An increase of 10% a month would give almost 100 cases in the next year.  This is a serious outbreak that borders on an epidemic.  Again, San Diego, has over 500 cases and almost 20 deaths.  After months of ignoring this serious issue, bordering on censorship to protect SLC's reputation, this week has had two stories on this outbreak (on Good4Utah and KSL/Deseret News).

The SLCO Health Department recommends that anyone having any contact with individuals that are in the at risk population (homeless, drug addicts and incarcerated) get vaccinated.  One dose gives 93% protection.  Two doses, six months apart, give 99% protection.  This is another case of vaccination stop disease.

The homeless will have a special event at the Salt Palace Convention Center on October 6 and the Health Department will be giving free vaccinations for hepatitis A.

FEDERAL MEDICAID WAIVER COULD IMPACT NEIGHBORHOODS

  The federal government, decades ago, put in a limit of 16 on the number of beds in a treatment facility that receives Medicaid or federal funding in order to protect neighborhoods from monolithic drug addiction treatment buildings.  Utah has asked the federal government to waive the 16 bed limit.  First Step and Odyssey House have indicated intentions, if the waiver is granted (and the separate application to provide Medicaid funding for homeless drug addiction treatment), to increase their beds in their treatment centers.  It may take around two months to start up the treatment after the waiver due to the Utah Health and Human Services Department having to accept their application and inspect the facilities for beds, square footage, and other licensing requirements.  There is no real residential treatment requirements above that other than about one staffer to six patients.  The only Salt Lake City involvement will require the Planning Commission to approve the conditional use permit.  Adjacent neighborhoods will not be able to stop the facilities even though they could be signicantly and negatively impacted.

SALT LAKE CITY COUNCIL OCT. 3 HEARING ON ADU, HOMELESS SHELTER REQUIREMENTS AND TRANSIT PLAN

  The Salt Lake City Council will have a second hearing on the issues of auxiliary dwelling unit (ADU), the homeless shelter design requirements and the Transit Master Plan.

The ADU issue is getting the most attention and concern.  Although the concept of allowing up to 25

ADUs, essentially an experiment, the cost of building to specific standards is expensive and may result in very few actual ADUs.  Some estimates, from Portland, are $40,000 to build an attached (basement, etc) ADU and $90,000 to build a detached ADU (garage, etc).  Some local construction contractors believe that the cost may be as little as $8000 to go through the foundation to construct a separate, required emergency exit.  But the cost is still significant.

The potential of ADUs to provide affordable housing is controversial because of worries about increased parking problems and noise.  SLC requires owner occupied but there are many residential houses that provide high density but legally questionable housing for students near the University of Utah and Westminster that are not owner occupied.  In other words, SLC does not have the ability to police illegal conversions.  The increased density is a concern for single-family home neighborhoods that are worried about strangers renting but not having an investment in the neighborhood.

During a recent community council meeting, the ADU issue took up the majority of the meeting.  It will be interesting to see what the SLC Council decides.  The Council will allow public comment during the 7 PM formal meeting of October 3.

  Another public hearing during the October 3 Council meeting will be on the design of the homeless expansion shelters.  It is important that citizens, especially neighbors, provide input, comments and recommendations to improve the designs and lessen the impact on adjacent neighborhoods.  I am against the expansion facilities because I do not believe that there is a realistic plan to serve the residents of the buildings.  Adjacent residents and businesses could be tremendously hurt by actions of the residents as they walk the neighborhoods.  I also feel that when you put that many people (up to 200) with similar issues in the same building, they tend to enable each other to continue illegal, questionable and unsustainable behavior.  Please comment on the homeless expansion shelters.

  The other public hearing at the October 3 Council is the Transit Master Plan.  The Mayor is prioritizing a high frequency network, mainly buses, to increase service and ridership within realistic financial constraints.  At least three Council members want hundreds of millions of taxpayer funds to build rail, including three downtown rail projects at $100 million each, and extending the Sugar House

TRAX/streetcar up 1100 East.  Note that TRAX requirements will force removal of parking on 1100 East if the Council succeeds in pushing the TRAX up 1100 East and cost taxpayers another $100 million.  The Council does not seem to be considering allowing the citizens to vote on the projects, unlike the first TRAX line.  In addition, nearby homes and businesses may need to be rezoned for higher density and value (super gentrification) to provide increased taxes to help pay for the project.  These projects will destroy neighborhoods.  They will also require an extremely high investment per rider (IPR).  

UTA APPROVES $400 INVESTMENT PER RIDER S-LINE PROJECT

  The UTA Board approved accepting the SLCounty $4 million for double tracking the S-line to allow improving frequency to 15 minutes from 20 minutes.  UTA predicts a 10% improvement in ridership, currently at about 1400 per weekday (1600 on Sunday).  That is about $400 investment per rider (IPR).  Most bus systems have an IPR of less than $3 per rider.

  I also find it incredible that the County has money for a fancy but questionable project but no money to provide better mental health treatment.  Mental health budgets and services at the County were significantly cut during the recession and have never been restored.  So individuals with serious mental issues can only be handled by arresting them and taking them to jail.  And the jail does not have the beds, nor the treatment beds, nor the mental treatment that should be standard, to allow police to do their job and for the incarcerated to be treated humanely.  Salt Lake County is essentially saying that they would rather build a questionable rail project instead of providing basic and adequate public safety funding.  I think that is wrong.

SLC COUNCIL SECRET MEETING PUSHES $50 MILLION AIRPORT TRAX

  After discussing the new airport TRAX utilitarian and financially responsible ground level Airport TRAX design, SLC Council Chair Stan Penfold forced the UTA Board to listen to his push for a fancy and costly project that would cost at least $50 million more.  Public comments were not allowed.  I did not see any vote by the SLC Council on this issue so, obviously, there was a secret meeting of the Council that voted to push for the $50 million project.  The SLC Council has not allowed or had a public hearing on this issue.  Interestingly, this project is not in the Transit Master Plan (which was pointed out during the Planning Commission hearing).  So the Council seems to have secretly voted to increase taxes to build a fancy project.  Incredibly, Stan said that there are options that would not impact resident taxpayers (hotel taxes, rental car taxes, etc) but any tax increase is a tax increase.  He also said that an expensive project "says that we have a commitment to transit" and that is a world class option.  In other words, the Council WANTS A WORLD CLASS AIRPORT TRAX AND A THIRD WORLD BUS

SYSTEM.  Because ANY tax increase should be used to expand bus service.

Interestingly, Trustee DeLay expressed concern during the meeting that spending money on projects instead of expanding bus service times is questionable.  She pointed out that University of Utah students want to go to the Sugar House area for the entertainment, restaurants and bars but the last bus service is at 9 PM.  (Later that evening, riding bus 21 from the University of Utah to Sugar House, I met and talked to 7 young visitors from out of state who just realized that they were on the last bus and would have a problem getting back when they decide to go back.  They complained about Utah bus service compared to their Minnesota bus service that operates all night long.)

A better use for increased taxes would be to extend the TRAX to the International Center (Amazon is on 5600 West and helps pay for Seatte rail.) 

Members of the Airport Board said that "Delta is agnostic" with regards to the Airport TRAX design.  The Board is also talking about extending the TRAX line to the International Center via North Temple and sending everyother train to the airport.

SLC POLICE FOCUS ON HOMELESS CAMPERS IN PARKS

  The Community Intelligence Officers of the SLC PD are now ordered to start their day in the early mornings around 2 to 3 AM and start going around to the parks in Salt Lake City to identify homeless campers and warn them that it is against the law to camp overnight in parks.  The first week, the police only gave warnings.  They will start giving citations for any homeless campers that they find.  They found 35 campers in Liberty Park the first week.  The second week was rainy and they could not find any campers in Liberty Park.

  In addition, the SLCPD has set up one of their mobile cameras near 1300 South and 200 East to discourage criminal behavior.  It seems to have worked.  The police have raided an apartment complex on Browning several times.  Unfortunately, they encountered some bicycle parts that they considered stolen but since they did not have proof, they couldn't confiscate them.  In a recent case at the Gateway Inn on North Temple, the police found over 50 bicycles in a room!  Bicycle chop shops are expanding in SLC.

RED BUTTE CREEK HAS NOT RECOVERED FROM OIL SPILL

  Red Butte Creek still has not recovered from the oil spill.  The birds owls that used to inhabit the parks and natural spaces that surround the Creek have not returned.  Miller Park, still reeling from the oil spill and wholesale cutting of the 200 old growth trees is experiencing an explosion of squirrels.  The owls used to control the population but now, without them, rodents and squirrels surrounding the creek are expanding their populations.  This is a significant health risk.  Miller Park also was devastated by the two heavy rain events that destroyed much of the waterway. 

SEPTEMBER 22, 2017

RIO GRANDE HOMELESS EXODUS ENCOUNTERS SLC POLICE

PUSHBACK

SLCO JAIL HAS NO BOOKING RESTRICTIONS BUT

NEW HOMELESS SHELTERS OPEN HOUSES/PUBLIC HEARING

SLCO INADEQUATE PUBLIC SAFETY FUNDING CONTINUES

FOR FUTURE

ADU PUBLIC HEARING CONTINUES ON OCTOBER 3

SLC TRANSIT PLAN REVISITED ON OCTOBER 3

BIG HEPATITIS A OUTBREAK STORY FINALLY HITS THE NEWS

UTA AIRPORT TRAX SUPER DOUBLE SECRET PLAN

MAYOR MCADAMS STILLS WANTS OUTDOOR RETAILER HOTEL

RIO GRANDE HOMELESS EXODUS ENCOUNTERS SLC POLICE PUSHBACK

  Since over 700 criminals have been arrested and released from jail, and they are discouraged from entering the Rio Grande Street homeless area, they will increasingly spreading out into other areas (earlier blog entries below go into detail).  With the SLC Council unanimously approving giving the Street to the State (which will implement an ID system to stop criminals from being on the street). According to SLC Chief of Staff Patrick Leary, "The lease will provide the further benefit of helping eliminate the criminal elements and nuisances in and around the leased area (Rio Grande Street)."  So if the jail is full (it is), where will the criminal elements go?  They will go to your neighborhoods.  I think that the SLC Council gave away their best leverage to force the State Legislature, especially the Utah House under Speaker Greg Hughes, to pass healthcare expansion (like Healthy Utah).

  The SLC Police, under significant pressure from citizens complaints, has a new policy to address homeless camping in SLC.  I am wondering what will the ACLU do, as they have done in many other cities in this Country. Their response to the increase in homeless camping is:

  "All CIU officers have and will continue to adjust schedules at least once a week. Shifts will begin between 2-4 AM before the parks open and two teams of four officers will be enforcing the park curfew laws throughout the City."  

  On September 18, the SLC Police started at 3 AM and enforced no camping in parks with 35 homeless (forcing them to gather their belongings and leave).  They will be giving warnings this week.  Citations will be issued in future weeks.  The police say that they are not targeting homeless campers but will target anyone found in the parks during curfew.

  THIS IS IMPORTANT: The police also pointed out that at 5AM, all parks are open to everyone, including trails such as the McClelland Trail and Parleys Trail/Sugar House streetcar trail.  Although it is legal to take a nap and have their personal effects with them, if the police find a "camper" during the day, each camper will be given a minimum of 5 minutes to gather their things and leave the camping site.  No citation will be issued if they comply.  The police cannot make them leave the park, they can only stop them from "camping".

SLCO JAIL HAS NO BOOKING RESTRICTIONS BUT

  The Salt Lake County Jail, says that "at present there are no booking restrictions in place at the Salt Lake County Jail. They do still follow our Uniform Admissions Plan that outlines which offenses are eligible for an overcrowding release after booking. Those include non-violent third degree felonies, and many class A, B, and C misdemeanors with some exceptions such as DUI, domestic violence, violation of a protective order, offenses that would result in sex offender registry, etc. An F3 drug distribution being non-violent would be eligible for OCR, but arresting officers may request a release override from our booking supervisor and the Jail will honor it. This practice is long standing and has been reaffirmed with local chiefs of police and those involved with Operation Rio Grande."

  What that means is that we are back to where we were a couple of years ago with a revolving door at the jail.  Over a thousand have been arrested and all but 300 have been released.  So the rest of Salt Lake City, South Salt Lake City and West Valley City are hosting the released criminals.  During the discussion at the Legislature regarding providing about $5 million for law enforcement for Operation Rio Grande, Senator Weiler expressed concern that the State seems to be covering inadequate public safety funding at the County and City and Utah taxpayers are paying the price with what will eventually be $67 million. I explained, during the hearing, that the SLC Police are trying to do their job but when they take dealers and other criminals to jail, they are released back on the street and they often show up next to the original arresting SLC Police officer and laugh.  I agreed with Senator Weiler that the problem really is the inadequate public safety funding at the County for the DA and the Jail. The Legislature did approve the shifting of funding to law enforcement for Operation Rio Grande.     Doug Thomas, Director of the Utah Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, still believes that over 200 treatment beds will be available by the end of the year when and if the federal government approves the waiver for the Dunnigan bill that allows healthcare expansion for homeless and ex prisoners for treatment (30% funding match by Utah).  He also reminded the Legislature that the federal government also has to approve allowing more than 16 beds in a facility to be covered by Medicaid.  

  Once the waivers are granted, treatment facilities expect to expand to around 100 beds.  But SLC passed a new ordinance last year, in response to the backlash from the INN Between, hospice center for homeless at the former Guadalupe School building in a residential neighborhood, that limited expansion of facilities for treatment.  The expansion of treatment facilities still has to jump that hurdle and the rezoning of the sites.

  It should also be obvious, since over 600 of those released said that they would take advantage of a treatment facility bed, and there will only be about 200 beds, that it will take years to treat everyone that wants to be treated.  I am still getting information that only 2 individuals treated during Operation Diversion are really successfully avoiding drugs.  The public statistics say that 8 are successful but there is no proof, just claims.  The federal government says that successful treatment of opioid addiction over 24 months is about 5%.  So one should take any claims of successful treatment with a grain of salt.  And, if one uses the 5% as a standard, we need at least a thousand beds for decades.  Speaker Hughes needs a reality check and should reconsider Healthy Utah.

NEW HOMELESS SHELTERS OPEN HOUSES/PUBLIC HEARING

  In addition to the SLC Council public hearing at their October 3 Formal Meeting at 7 PM regarding the SLC Ordinance allowing the two new shelters with minimal constraints, there are several open houses and forums regarding the new shelters to be located at 131 E 700 S and 275 W High Ave. in Salt Lake City.  Please provide comments and do not allow this issue to go forward without your comments, concerns and recommendations.  I still think that these are experiments and the plans still are laughably vague.  But I believe that the plans will be better with your suggestions and comments.  The following is from the SLC Mayor's Office:

  "The public forum will be held on September 26, where community leaders and service providers will be on hand to address concerns, and demonstrate how the new facilities will be designed to be of mutual benefit to the clients they serve and to the communities in which they reside. There will be a panel Q&A to provide an opportunity for attendees to ask questions.

Public Forum

September 26th: 6-8 p.m.

The Leonardo Auditorium, 209 E 500 S https://goo.gl/Mr2SV6

There will be an additional two public open house located at each of the new Resource Center sites. While these open houses are designed to inform and engage the residents of areas closest to the new Resource Centers, everyone is welcome to attend. 131 E 700 S Open House September 27: 4-6 p.m. https://goo.gl/1jJWCM  275 W High Ave Open House September 28: 4-6 p.m. https://goo.gl/etzhDw

SLCO INADEQUATE PUBLIC SAFETY FUNDING CONTINUES FOR FUTURE

  SLCounty departments have been told to provide flat funding requests to the SLCO Mayor's office.  He will submit his budget on October 24.  That means that SLCO will continue to inadequately fund an appropriate number of prosecutors and jail beds.  That will result in SLCO law enforcement having their hands tied and not being given the tools to do their job.  And eventually, all Utah taxpayers will have to cover the inadequate funding by the County.  Next week, the County Council is expected to approve the DA's request for two new prosecutors and a paralegal for use to support Operation Rio Grande.  As pointed out in the last blog entry, the DA recommended six prosecutors and 600 beds.  I encourage the public to email the County Council and Mayor and demand better public safety funding.  Their emails are on the upper right.

ADU PUBLIC HEARING CONTINUES ON OCTOBER 3

  SLC Council will have another and theoretically last, public hearing on Auxiliary Dwelling Units (ADU) on October 3 at 7 Pm.  Please note that this ordinance proposal is more of a test case since there is a limit of 25 ADU approvals.  The previous ADU ordinance resulted in 3 ADU approvals!  The biggest, and appropriate, concern is the negative impact on single-family home neighborhoods that rely on stable and long term residents.  If there are too many short term rentals in a neighborhood, the street will be overwhelmed with parking from more residents.  There are also concerns about noise enforcement inadequacy.  This is a complicated issue that needs more public comment.  The emails for the City Council are on the upper right.  Please comment on ADUs.

SLC TRANSIT PLAN REVISITED ON OCTOBER 3

  The SLC Transit Master Plan that, at present, encourages better neighborhood bus service (frequent transit network) before projects, is going to have another hearing on October 3 at the SLC Council formal meeting at 7 PM.  You can also provide your comments to the Transit Program Manager, Julianne Sabula at Julianne.Sabula@slcgov.com.  You can also call her at 8015356678.  I am urging everyone to support the Mayor's proposal to focus on increasing service first instead of the Council's interest in big expensive projects.

BIG HEPATITIS A OUTBREAK STORY FINALLY HITS THE NEWS

  Fox13now's Paul Murphy has finally admitted to the public (by a major news organization) that there is a serious outbreak of hepatitis A in Salt Lake City.  As of last week, SLC has had 22 casees identified.  The SLCO Health Department is encouraging anyone with contact with at risk population (homeless, drug users or recently incarcerated) to get a vaccination.  The outbreak is related to the San Diego outbreak which has now spread to restaurants.  There are over 10 times more cases of hepatitis A than last year and it is expected to go higher.  Most SLC Police and UTA Police have been vaccinated.  In San Diego, most infected had to be hospitalized and 16 have died.  Sixty five percent of the cases in San Diego were homeless and/or drug users. 

  Most SLC cases have been genetically linked to the homeless hepatitis A outbreak in San Diego.  The at risk populations are those who are homeless, recently incarcerated, drug users and anyone who has recently had contact with someone homeless from San Diego.  Pharmacies generally have the vaccination and most insurance polities cover it.  The County Health Department also has the vaccine available for $35 for those under 19 years old and $48 for those over 18 years old.  Pharmacies should be cheaper.

  The vaccination is required for children entering school so most at risk individuals (if they interact with the homeless) are older adults.  The Health Department recommends at least the first vaccination which can confer 93.8% immunity.  A booster is suggested after 6 months and with the booster, immunity is 99%.  The Rose Park Clinic is 385 468 7468 and they do generally take insurance.   Anyone who gets hepatitis A generally is sick enough to be convinced to go to a doctor who is required to report it.  That is why the Health Department believes that the outbreak is pretty well confined to this specific population.  There is a discussion in the last few days of putting in handwashing stations in the Rio Grande area to help with the situation.  

UTA AIRPORT TRAX SUPER DOUBLE SECRET PLAN

  UTA has released the super double secret plan for the ground level, reasonably priced, $15 million Airport TRAX reconfiguration (upper right download) despite senior management insisting that it was secret.  Mayor Biskupski was obviously confused by conflicting information.  I, again, have to thank the new and improved UTA for being responsive and respectful public servants and providing information for those of us interested in better mass transit. Two years ago, I would have had to fight to get the information.  This time it just took an email.

MAYOR MCADAMS STILLS WANTS OUTDOOR RETAILER

HOTEL

  Despite losing the Outdoor Retailer Convention, the biggest reason for the proposed convention hotel, SLCO Mayor McAdams claims that it won't deter his efforts to build his monument to his reelection.  Salt Lake and Utah taxpayers are not likely to be happy at this financially questionable effort.

SEPTEMBER 18, 2017

TUESDAY LEGISLATURE HEARINGS ON HOMELESS FUNDING TUESDAY SLC COUNCIL HEARING ON CLOSING RIO GRANDE

OPERATION RIO GRANDE COMMAND POST TIP LINE

WHERE IS ADEQUATE FUNDING TO SUPPORT OPERATION RIO

GRANDE

RIO GRANDE ARREST REPORTS

TUESDAY LEGISLATURE HEARINGS ON HOMELESS FUNDING

Tomorrow, Tuesday, September 19, the Legislature will take testimony and discuss the Rio Grande Operation funding.  Unfortunately, almost no one knows about it and the signup for public comment deadline has passed.  The Social Services Appropriations Subcommittee will take public comment on the agenda at 1 PM before the rest of the discussion.  To comment, one has to call Debbie Benson before 2 PM Friday at 801 326-1698 to be considered.  At 2:55 PM, they are scheduled to discuss the INN Between.  At 3:05 PM, they are scheduled to discuss DWS – overview of upcoming changes to homeless services.  At 3:35 PM, they are scheduled to discuss the special session legislation regarding Operation Rio Grande funding.  At 4PM, they are scheduled to tour the Road Home.  At 5 PM they are scheduled to visit the St Vincent de Paul Dining Hall.  To participate in the Road Home tour, one would have to have called Jeanmarie Meas via jmeas@theroadhome.org or 801 819-7295 by Monday.  To participate in the St Vincent de Paul tour, one would have to have called Jose Lazaro at 801-428-1230.

TUESDAY SLC COUNCIL HEARING ON CLOSING RIO GRANDE

  The SLC Council will take public testimony at 7 PM during the September 19 SLC Council Formal meeting.  This is your last chance to make a comment on this issue.  As Matthew Piper wrote in his story today in the SLTRIB.COM

http://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2017/09/18/who-is-being-arrested-in-operation-rio-grande-manyhave-felonies-or-lengthy-records-though-few-appear-to-be-the-promised-worst-of-the-worst/

the Operation seems to be defocusing on removing the real hard core criminal element and closing the street will encourage the homeless and especially the criminals to move to other areas.  The post last week goes into details about the issue (bus stops etc).  SLC Chief of Staff admitted that closing the street will remove the criminals from the area but it also means that they will go into other areas because the State and other governments did not sufficiently fund the Operation (see specifics below).  Please comment on this issue and the other issues scheduled for tomorrow night.

  These are the public hearings at the SLC Council meeting on September 19, including the Rio Grande street closure that may encourage more criminals to move into other neighborhoods, Lincoln Elementary alley vacation, CIP projects, Transit Master Plan, Homeless Resource Center standards, and ADUs!! 

The Council will accept public comment and consider adopting a resolution authorizing the waiver of lease fees for a portion of City-owned public right-of-way located at approximately 200 Rio Grande Street.

  The Council will accept public comment and consider adopting an ordinance that would vacate a City-owned alley situated adjacent to properties located between approximately 200 East and 269 East, south of Lincoln elementary School and behind the homes that front onto the north side of Hampton.   The Council will accept public comment and consider adopting a resolution allocating the City's Capital Improvement Program for Fiscal Year 2017-18.

  The Council will accept public comment and consider an ordinance adopting the Transit Master Plan (also on October 3).

  The Council will accept public comment and consider adopting an ordinance that would amend the City's accessory dwelling unit (ADU) regulations (also on October 3)..   The Council will accept public comment and consider adopting an ordinance amending various sections of Title 21A of the Salt Lake City Code pertaining to homeless resource centers (also on October 3).

OPERATION RIO GRANDE COMMAND POST TIP LINE

  Utah Highway Patrol, along with several other agencies are supporting Operation Rio

Grande.  Although SLC Police need reports of criminal activity at 801 799 3000, in order to focus personnel/patrols in those areas and also to justify more police (see Law enforcement active in neighborhoods below), SLC Police are often overwhelmed by the calls.  But the Command Post for Operation Rio Grande has access to more personnel.  They can cut through several layers of bureaucracy and deliver officers to areas when SLC Police can’t.  According to one of the Command Post Officers: “We will continue to monitor the area (Ballpark).  In the meantime, if there are any issues that citizens become concerned with that are related to Operation Rio Grande, feel free to contact the

Command Post at, 385-266-6938”.

  That is an important phone number: 385-266-6938 that should be used for tips regarding drug dealing, using drugs and general homeless criminal behavior.  The story below goes into more detail.  And I have to thank the law enforcement community in Utah for making sure that criminal behavior is not ignored. 

WHERE IS ADEQUATE FUNDING TO SUPPORT OPERATION RIO GRANDE

  Within two weeks of Operation Rio Grande, the 300 jail beds committed to the Operation were full. So far, Operation Rio Grande has arrested over 900 and most have been released from jail. Although most of those released have been categorized as nonviolent, many are criminals and drug addicts that commit crimes everyday that they are on the street.

  Bike thefts, car break ins, robberies, burglaries and other crimes of opportunity are constantly being reported throughout the Salt Lake City area. As Chris Smart reported in his recent story on the homeless (Salt Lake Tribune “Homeless people scatter throughout Salt Lake Valley”), the Operation Rio Grande effort is negatively impacting other areas with the exodus of homeless criminals and drug addicts from Downtown Salt Lake City.

  The Operation began without the needed drug and alcohol treatment beds. Most of those released from jail need those beds and without them, they will be left to roam the streets of Salt Lake City and other cities in the Valley. They will be looking for crimes of opportunity. Unfortunately, only 36 beds have been provided and the hundreds more that are needed are only promised. Most concerning, those treatment beds have been promised for two years!

  When the police arrest someone now who has committed a crime such as breaking into a car, they are allowed to book them into jail. But they are almost always released immediately. The police call it a “philosophy of disruption”. But the city that they are released into, South Salt Lake City, is negatively impacted. The nearest store, a Maverick across the street from the jail, constantly complains about shoplifting by those just released from jail. Even if they are rearrested, they are out within a couple of hours. The time that police devote to arresting criminals multiple times is draining other crime fighting efforts. In other words, there should have been more than 300 jail beds available to incarcerate those who will constantly commit crimes when they are not in jail. It shouldn't matter if they are addicts or have mental issues or not (although they deserve respectful treatment options). Those who threaten society with crime should be kept out of society and should not be walking the street.

  Our system to ensure a fair and just response to criminal activity requires an appropriately funded prosecution team (along with a properly funded public defender to ensure fairness). Unfortunately, that funding seems to have been forgotten in the planning for Operation Rio Grande. Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill recommended that 450 to 600 jail beds be available and that he be given funding to hire six prosecutors to effectively support Operation Rio Grande.  He is only able to assign two prosecutors. His workload per prosecutor is 50% higher than when he took over as DA. The felony cases, which were originally prioritized, have reached saturation. With the average prosecution lasting, with probation, for 36 months (his commitment is 5 years), the lack of prosecutors becomes more serious. And Oxbow Jail still has 380 beds that are not being used.

  If the plan to fence off the Rio Grande area and require IDs to access homeless services is implemented as planned, the exodus of homeless, especially criminals, to other areas will increase. DA Gill has made it clear that any sustained enforcement, needed to permanently remove the criminal element from not just the Rio Grande area but also throughout Salt Lake County area, will require a higher baseline of jail beds, treatment beds and prosecutors.  Right now, the process is based on the “philosophy of disruption” but a sustained effort will require more political will to fund for those jail and treatment beds and prosecutors now. Those in charge of this effort should plan sufficient funding to ensure that the rest of the County stops being negatively impacted by the exodus of the criminal element into other areas.

RIO GRANDE ARREST REPORTS

   Matthew Piper did an outstanding report in the SLTRIB about arrests during Operation Rio Grande (see link above).  I strongly urge you to read the story.  If you want specifics on those arrested during the Operation, the link is:

https://app.smartsheet.com/b/publish?EQBCT=62d8119de22c4dfdb104ef62f1613bb9

SEPTEMBER 14, 2017

OPERATION RIO GRANDE COMMAND POST TIP LINE

IMPORTANT PUBLIC HEARINGS AT SLC COUNCIL SEPT. 19

LAW ENFORCEMENT ACTIVE IN NEIGHBORHOODS AGAINST

DRUGS

SCHOOL BUS STOP SAFETY BALLPARK/SLC BD ED PRES. CHECKS

TRANSIT MEETING SATURDAY AT THE MAIN LIBRARY

LATEST HEP. A NEWS, VACCINES STOP DISEASE

HOPE FOR SEVEN CANYONS FOUNTAIN IN LIBERTY PARK GOP SHOULD NOT SPEND MONEY THEY DON’T HAVE ON LAWSUITS

OPERATION RIO GRANDE COMMAND POST TIP LINE

  Utah Highway Patrol, along with several other agencies are supporting Operation Rio

Grande.  Although SLC Police need reports of criminal activity at 801 799 3000, in order to focus personnel/patrols in those areas and also to justify more police (see Law enforcement active in neighborhoods below), SLC Police are often overwhelmed by the calls.  But the Command Post for Operation Rio Grande has access to more personnel.  They can cut through several layers of bureaucracy and deliver officers to areas when SLC Police can’t.  According to one of the Command Post Officers: “We will continue to monitor the area (Ballpark).  In the meantime, if there are any issues that citizens become concerned with that are related to Operation Rio Grande, feel free to contact the

Command Post at, 385-266-6938”.

  That is an important phone number: 385-266-6938 that should be used for tips regarding drug dealing, using drugs and general homeless criminal behavior.  The story below goes into more detail.  And I have to thank the law enforcement community in Utah for making sure that criminal behavior is not ignored. 

IMPORTANT PUBLIC HEARINGS AT SLC COUNCIL SEPT. 19

  There are many public hearings at the SLC Council meeting on September 19, including the Rio

Grande street closure that may encourage more criminals to move into other neighborhoods, Lincoln Elementary alley vacation, CIP projects, Transit Master Plan, Homeless Resource Center standards, and ADUs!! 

The Council will accept public comment and consider adopting a resolution authorizing the waiver of lease fees for a portion of City-owned public right-of-way located at approximately 200 Rio Grande Street.

  The Council will accept public comment and consider adopting an ordinance that would vacate a City-owned alley situated adjacent to properties located between approximately 200 East and 269 East, south of Lincoln elementary School and behind the homes that front onto the north side of Hampton.   The Council will accept public comment and consider adopting a resolution allocating the City's Capital Improvement Program for Fiscal Year 2017-18.   The Council will accept public comment and consider an ordinance adopting the Transit Master Plan (also on October 3).

  The Council will accept public comment and consider adopting an ordinance that would amend the City's accessory dwelling unit (ADU) regulations (also on October 3)..   The Council will accept public comment and consider adopting an ordinance amending various sections of Title 21A of the Salt Lake City Code pertaining to homeless resource centers (also on October 3).

LAW ENFORCEMENT ACTIVE IN NEIGHBORHOODS AGAINST DRUGS

  Before Operation Rio Grande, Salt Lake County residents and businesses witnessed homeless moving into their area little by little. Much of the homeless camping was due to the homeless trying to avoid the rampant drug dealing and criminal behavior in the Rio Grande area. Operation Rio Grande dislodged even more homeless along with the criminal element and drug dealers who decided that the Rio Grande area is too hot to keep their criminal behavior there. Homeless have increased their presence in areas that used to have only a few homeless camping. And the drug dealers and their addicts that hang around them have also invaded the other areas of Salt Lake City and County. The dealers, addicts and embarrassing homeless have also become visible at school bus stops.

  Last week, Ballpark Community Council heard complaints about the homeless camping, drug dealers and addicts around 1300 South and West Temple by the Ballpark. Parents have to walk their children to the bus stop near where drugs are sold due to their concern about their children's safety. Salt Lake City Police have been overwhelmed by their assignments in Operation Rio Grande because, in some cases, they have to arrest criminals several times. But Utah State Police and other Utah law enforcement personnel have been more available. The Operation Rio Grande effort promised law enforcement targeted to criminal behavior, even in outlying areas.

  Within a few days of the community meeting, after calling the Operation Rio Grande command post and those in charge of the law enforcement effort, several Highway Patrol cars and personnel patrolled the bus stop during the time that the school children were in the area. They encouraged the homeless nearby to move away from the bus stop. And the drug dealers and addicts left at the first sign of the Patrol. And the President of the Salt Lake City School Board, Heather Bennett also was there during the morning bus pickup to ensure the children's safety. The community, the neighbors and the parents all are thankful for the concerns and efforts of the law enforcement personnel and the School District Board.

  One way to utilize the Operation Rio Grande system and the extra law enforcement officers is to call the Command Post tip line at 385 266 6938. The Salt Lake City Police would like nonemergency crime reports given to dispatch at 801 799 3000. The crime reports go into a map of Salt Lake City that allows the Police Department to see where they need to have more patrol officers. It also can be used to prove that Salt Lake City needs more visible police officers. If you talk to the police officers that are patrolling SLC, and the residents and businesses, it appears that SLC needs 50 new officers. Unfortunately, only 10 have recently graduated from the SLC Police Academy. And due to salary issues, experienced officers transferring from other law enforcement departments are getting rare. Hopefully, the Salt Lake City Council and Mayor will realize the issue and plan on hiring more police officers.

  The other issues that should be covered by the Legislature in the upcoming special session include funding expanded mental health treatment, drug and alcohol treatment (best case would be to adopt Healthy Utah which is already approved by the federal government), increasing jail beds and increasing prosecutors in the Salt Lake County DA's office. The 300 beds were filled within two weeks and over 1100 have been arrested, with most released quickly.

  Cops can't be everywhere but they are trying. Neighborhoods throughout the County have the same frustrations with homeless drug addicts, drug dealers, petty criminals and camping in their areas. When the ID card system is implemented in the Rio Grande area, we should expect even more exodus of criminals into other areas. The police are trying. When you see an officer, please thank them for their service. They do try to protect and serve and sacrifice.

SCHOOL BUS STOP SAFETY BALLPARK/SLC BD ED PRES. CHECKS

  Heather Bennett, the SLC Schools Board of Education President, visited school bus stops to ensure children’s safety this week.  She received information of homeless camping, drug dealing and dealers near the stops.  She immediately asked for more information from staff and asked them to help ensure that Operation Rio Grande is not negatively impacting students.  She deserves credit for caring enough to get involved in this important issue.  Thank you to Heather Bennett.  The Highway Patrol officers scared away the dealers and addicts and a homeless man who was near the stop (he left his soiled items there).

  In addition, SLC has ramped up efforts to remove the homeless from the Smiths’ Ballpark parking lot on the NE corner of West Temple and 1300 South.  Friday, tomorrow, crews will disable power outlets on light posts that have been attracting homeless and lock them out.  SLC Police will also increase patrols in the lot and will strictly enforce no loitering at or around that lot to protect children catching their school buses and also to ensure Horizonte students’ safety.  The neighbors in the Ballpark Community have been working hard to ensure that Ballpark is not impacted by Operation Rio Grande and it appears that they are having success.

TRANSIT MEETING SATURDAY AT THE MAIN LIBRARY

UTAH TRANSIT RIDERS UNION QUARTERLY MEETING 

Saturday September 16, 1030 AM to noon

Downtown SLC Main Library 210 E. 400 S. Room B

  New UTA Board of Trustees member Alex Cragun (founding member and former VP of UTRU) will speak on what his appointment means for transit advocates.

  George Chapman will present a summary of legislative issues, the Legislature's Transportation Governance and Funding Task Force, the Utah Transportation Plan, the Envision Utah 2050 scenarios and the SLC Transit Master Plan draft.

  UTRU's goal is a Frequent Service Network which is part of the SLC Transit Master Plan first draft.  Handouts will include the UTP, WFRC scenarios and other materials.

LATEST HEP. A NEWS, VACCINES STOP DISEASE

  Thursday September 14, the SLCO Health Department has reported 22 cases of Hepatitis A in the homeless and drug addict population in Salt Lake County.  The outbreak appears to be receding thanks to efforts to vaccinate as many as possible.  Vaccines stop disease.  Without the vaccines, SLC would have ten times more cases and, like San Diego, 15 or more deaths.  Vaccines stop disease.

HOPE FOR SEVEN CANYONS FOUNTAIN IN LIBERTY PARK

  During the Liberty Wells Community Council meeting, the grandson of the designer of the Seven Canyons Fountain in Liberty Park, gave a presentation on restoring the Fountain.  Salt Lake City has received several cost estimates from $750,000 to $2 million.  But some believe that it can be done for $200,000.   Most attendees favored the City moving to restore a landmark.  Former Mayor Anderson also attended and encouraged backing the plan to restore the Fountain.  Also, the Liberty Park food stand owner (who is trying to restore the park rides north east of Tracy Aviary) express support for the restoration.  He also said that, due to the influx of homeless, his business is down 30% from last year.

GOP SHOULD NOT SPEND MONEY THEY DON’T HAVE ON LAWSUITS

  This Party, the Utah GOP, is in debt. This Party, like our Nation, should not go into deeper debt but choose the responsible, fiscally responsible path and live within our means. Unless the Party is able to raise money to cover an effort that will be costly, we should not undertake such an effort. 

  We ask that our Nation live within our means and reduce the significant debt that is a drain on our society.  We, as a Party, should strive to set an example for our Nation and choose the fiscally responsible, Republican path and not incur further debt.

  The lawsuit to continue to fight SB54 should not continue, unless the Utah GOP is able to provide sufficient funds to cover the expense.  That is exactly what we want for governments and what we should do as an example.

SEPTEMBER 8, 2017

WITHOUT PROSECUTORS, OPERATION RIO GRANDE WILL

FAIL

ELECTION RESULTS OFFICIAL 1600 BALLOTS HAD NO

SIGNATURES

DRUGS AND DEALERS NEXT TO SCHOOL BUS STOPS

WITHOUT MORE PROSECUTORS, OPERATION RIO GRANDE WILL FAIL

  Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill has been pointing out to the elected officials supporting Operation Rio Grande that there needs to be a three pronged approach, like a three legged stool “on the floor of political will” for the process to succeed (He reminded them yesterday also.).  Jail beds are one leg of the stool.  But the 300 beds were filled in two weeks!  As of Wednesday, the Utah Department of Public Safety, which is tracking the statistics, said that there have been over 900 arrests.  And the felony arrests that were originally prioritized, reached saturation.  That means, without an appropriate number of jail beds (450—600 were recommended), the first leg of the stool, the plan will fail.  And law enforcement will be rearresting the criminals and drug dealers again and again and again (they are now) and the jail becomes a revolving door (like the Sheriff complained about). 

  The second leg of the stool, was supposed to be treatment beds.  But since the Utah House, led by Speaker Greg Hughes refused to pass the Healthy Utah healthcare expansion that would have provided those treatment beds, Utah will have to wait for the federal government to approve the micro version that applies to homeless and prisoners.  But the federal government has not approved the micro version for over two years.  There have been indications that the approval is a few weeks away, for the last two years!  So far, based on a promise from the State, 36 beds have been made available at First Step.  But hundreds more, including those not arrested, want treatment beds now.

  When DA Gill took over from his predecessor, there were 100 prosecutions per prosecutor.  He now functions with 150 prosecutions per prosecutor.  He believes, with adequate treatment beds and jail beds and prosecutors, that he can handle 200 prosecutions per prosecutor.  That means that he should have, right now, six more prosecutors.  He is using two prosecutors and one paralegal to support Operation Rio Grande now!  With the average prosecution lasting, with probation, for 36 months (his commitment is 5 years), the lack of prosecutors becomes more serious.

  DA Gill has made it clear that any sustained enforcement, needed to permanently remove the criminal element from the Rio Grande area, will require a higher baseline jail beds, treatment beds and prosecutors.  Right now, the process is based on the “philosophy of disruption” but an sustained effort will require more political will to fund for those jail and treatment beds and prosecutors NOW.

ELECTION RESULTS OFFICIAL 1600 BALLOTS HAD NO SIGNATURES

  The recount of the SLC District 5 race has been completed.  Ten ballots from the voters in the District had no signatures.  Twelve had no signature match.  During the recount, we agreed that one more signature on the ballot was probably valid and the vote was counted (for Erin Mendenhall).  So George Chapman won the race 293 to 287 for Noah Rosenberg.  The Sandy race also did not change although there were under ten more votes counted, they went to each candidate and it did not change the outcome.  Importantly, there were 1600 ballots without signatures in Salt Lake County!  All were sent letters (or emails if available – note emails are not publicly available outside of the Clerk’s office).  Many were not returned and their ballots were not counted.

DRUGS AND DEALERS NEXT TO SCHOOL BUS STOPS

  It is becoming commonplace that drugs and drug dealers and drug use are spreading throughout the City.  Bus stops, with shelters are commonly used.  And in some cases, the dealers and users congregate within 100 feet of school bus stops!!  In the Ballpark neighborhood, at 1200 South and West Temple, at 740 AM, there is a group of dealers and users next to the stop when school children are being picked up by the bus!  Hopefully the police will start patrolling school bus stops to stop the criminal behavior near the stops (and throughout the City).  The Smiths Ballpark parking lot, usually dark, also has a lot of campers and drug users.  Campers have also been reported at schools, including SLC Community College at 1700 S. State. 

SEPTEMBER 7, 2017

HEPATITIS A IN HOMELESS FROM SAN DIEGO

RIO GRANDE MEETING CENSORS QUESTIONS

ID CARDS FOR ALL HOMELESS IF THEY WANT SERVICES

900 ARRESTS AND DRUG DEALERS GET REVOLVING DOOR AT JAIL

GREG HUGHES FOR GOVERNOR THROUGH OPERATION RIO

GRANDE

HEPATITIS A IN HOMELESS FROM SAN DIEGO

  There have been 19 cases diagnosed in the homeless population in Salt Lake City recently.  12 of those have been genetically linked to the homeless hepatitis A outbreak in San Diego and 5 more are being tested to see if there is a link.  The at risk populations are those who are homeless, recently incarcerated, drug users and anyone who has recently had contact with someone homeless from San Diego.  San Diego

(and some other areas in the states) has over 300 cases and has declared an emergency.  The Salt Lake County Health Department is encouraging those who work with this population (police, health care workers, volunteers, etc) or could be touching items that were left by homeless (like syringes) to get a hepatitis A vaccination.  Pharmacies generally have the vaccination.  The County Health Department also has the vaccine available for $35 for those under 19 years old and $48 for those over 18 years old.  Pharmacies should be cheaper. 

  The vaccination is required for children entering school so most at risk individuals (if they interact with the homeless) are older adults.  The Health Department recommends at least the first vaccination which can confer 93.8% immunity.  A booster is suggested after 6 months and with the booster, immunity is 99%.  The Rose Park Clinic is 385 468 7468 and they do generally take insurance.   Anyone who gets hepatitis A generally is sick enough to be convinced to go to a doctor who is required to report it.  That is why the Health Department believes that the outbreak is pretty well confined to this specific population.  There is a discussion in the last few days of putting in handwashing stations in the Rio Grande area to help with the situation.  

  I confirmed with the police that they are encouraging their officers to get the shots.

RIO GRANDE MEETING CENSORS QUESTIONS

  During the September 6 meeting in Gateway with the Mayor and Speaker Hughes, questions from the audience were put on cards but the moderator was ordered to only allow questions regarding the Rio Grande road closure!  This is an odd way to encourage public feedback.  So all that we heard is that everything will be great, fine and nothing to worry about.  Many attendees, after the meeting, complained about the censorship.  Last year, San Francisco tried a similar effort to open up a safe and secure space with a lot of rules to keep out criminals and the homeless resisted going to it.  The effort was a failure and the facility (a vacant pier building) was closed after a few months.  This appears to be headed for the same result.  The Salt Lake City COuncil will have a public hearing on the issue on September 19 at their formal meeting.  They will then vote on whether to turn over the street to the State which will implement an ID card plan (see next story).

ID CARDS FOR ALL HOMELESS IF THEY WANT SERVICES

  The Crossroads Urban Center has released a statement (see downloads on the upper right) that complains about the ID card plan.  I have to agree since it requires the homeless that want services to go through an invasive and questioning (of what they need) and have their ID stored with law enforcement.  It is unfortunate that one of the best homeless advocates, Crossroads Urban Center, is being ignored in their concerns.  Interestingly, they suggested closing the street to traffic last year but they didn't want to restrict entrance to non criminal homeless. 

  Yes, the goal is to restrict the criminals from the Rio Grande area.  According to Chief of Staff to the SLC Mayor, Patrick Leary, "The lease will provide the further benefit of helping eliminate the criminal elements and nuisances in and around the leased area.”  Someone needs to think about this. If the jail is full, it is (see next story), where will the criminal element go?  To other areas and your neighborhoods!

900 ARRESTS AND DRUG DEALERS GET REVOLVING DOOR AT JAIL

  There have been 900 arrests of criminals during the Operation Rio Grande.  But there are only 300 beds available.  So we are now where we were two years ago.  The revolving door at the jail is back!  And coming soon to your neighborhood, the homeless who don't want to be questioned about their intimate details for an ID  card and the criminals who won't be allowed to use the services near Rio Grande.  For those interested, drugs are still available but the price has doubled.  And police are reporting that they have arrested the same individuals, criminals and drug dealers multiple times.  

GREG HUGHES FOR GOVERNOR THROUGH OPERATION RIO GRANDE

  If you haven't recognized it yet, Greg Hughes wants to be governor and Operation Rio Grande seems to be ingraciating him to developers who can support his campaign.

SEPTEMBER 5, 2017

SLCO JAIL SEMI RESTRICTIONS - THEY’RE BACK!!!

GREG HUGHES NEEDS TO LOOK IN MIRROR

MEETINGS SEPTEMBER 6, WEDNESDAY

SLCO JAIL SEMI RESTRICTIONS - THEY’RE BACK!!!

 SLC Police have told me that the SLCO jail issues that have been going on since Ben McAdams took office are back.  The Sheriff complained about the revolving door at the jail and we are now back to that.  Even if the police catch a criminal in the act of breaking into a car or residence, they are very likely to be released within a few hours.  This is just as bad as before. 

  Again, the problem is that the DA is only given a minimal and inadequate amount of money to prosecute criminals and must allow most to just be booked and released.  The DA needs more than the two prosecutors that he has assigned to Operation Rio Grande to really make a dent in this issue.    The SLC Police, and other agencies that are arresting criminals in the Rio Grande area, are seeing many that they have arrested before, back on the street committing crimes.  The police are arresting these individuals several times!!!  They are not locked up for very long because the jail is, again, overcrowded!  Anyone can do the math.  Arresting around 800 criminals in the Rio Grande area and taking them to a jail that has 300 beds open (at the start of this process), will result in….. 500 criminals on the street.  That is why the DRUG DEALERS ARE BACK.  Oh and there are still 380 free beds at Oxbow that are not being used because Ben McAdams doesn’t want to spend the jail bond money ($9.4 million per year) on public safety.

  This issue is not going away.  It only happened because Mayor McAdams is not adequately funding public safety.  The worst of it is…. If Mayor McAdams had not repurposed the jail bond money, and used it for public safety (jail beds and prosecutors), the rest of the State wouldn’t have to spend $67 million!   This is not a Mayor Biskupski issue.  This is a Mayor McAdams issue.

  Several years ago, during the last desperate days of the previous administration, streets down by the Rio Grande area were closed to discourage/stop drive through drug sales.  It didn’t work.  Addicts that drove there, would park next to legitimate businesses, then walk to the dealers, get their fix and inject or… in their vehicles next to the businesses.  It did not stop the drug dealing.  Keeping drug dealers in jail would stop the drug dealing.  Speaker Hughes needs to recognize, acknowledge and accept that.   Interestingly, the Speaker is still trying to stack the deck against Mayor Biskupski.  It is one step removed from “lock her up”.  He is asking for help from Republicans with a survey at: 

https://slcgov.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_5tMzkO8WGKX2rw9

GREG HUGHES NEEDS TO LOOK IN MIRROR

  Over the last couple of years, I have written many opinion pieces about the Rio Grande issues. It has been a pleasure to see that, finally, many of the issues that have plagued the area are being addressed. But there still are many issues that remain ignored. I have, in the past, recommended more Salt Lake County funding to open up the 380 beds at Oxbow Jail that were not being used. I also asked for more funding for the DA to hire prosecutors to ensure that the criminals stay locked up and not have a revolving door that the Sheriff complained about. I tried to show that the effort to clean up the Rio Grande area and decrease drug addicts and their crime efforts required healthcare expansion for addiction treatment. I also have tried to convince the Salt Lake City and RDA to provide a safe camping area in a building or outside.

  In the last few days, Speaker Greg Hughes has complained that Salt Lake City Mayor Biskupski is not cooperating in the efforts to help the Operation Rio Grande efforts. He even claimed that Mayor Biskupski is working against the effort. His concern is focused on Salt Lake City’s deliberations to study the closing of Rio Grande Street between the Road Home and the Weigand Center and St Vincent De Paul Center. Speaker Hughes contends that the Salt Lake City Mayor is moving too slow on closing the street in order to allow the homeless to camp and congregate in the area, in order to stop them, legally, from camping in other areas.

  Interestingly, Crossroads Urban Center, last year recommended such a plan. I supported the effort but it went nowhere when the City Council was asked many times to create a camping area, indoors or outside, in the Rio Grande area. It may be a good idea but it deserves a respectful hearing and not a unilateral decision by the Speaker to close a street that businesses, restaurants and the State government uses (in the Rio Grande Depot and adjacent buildings). Mayor Biskupski is right that there should be a vigorous discussion before closing the street.

  Speaker Hughes is wrong to place blame on creating the problem. Interestingly, Representatives Handy and Coleman asked last week who was to blame for the Rio Grande and homeless situation getting so bad.  Speaker Hughes said that he was going to tread lightly on addressing the blame. I won’t tread lightly.

  Salt Lake County, over the last few years, since Mayor Ben McAdams took office, has not adequately funded public safety. Police have complained for four years that they arrest drug dealers and they get out in a few hours due to lack of adequate funding for prosecutors and jail beds. Last year, it got so bad that the Sheriff implemented a jail booking restriction that resulted in Salt Lake City Police not being able to arrest in 10,000 cases of criminal behavior. Despite valiant efforts by the Salt Lake Police to enforce laws, some have even complained that they were not doing their job!

  In addition, as Speaker Hughes should know, the effort to expand healthcare and pass Healthy Utah failed with his efforts. The expansion was going to provide addiction treatment. That failure still results in lack of treatment beds that should have been available before the start of the Operation Rio Grande.   Operation Rio Grande is a success, despite 700 arrests with most released from jail within a few days. Drug overdoses are down 60% in the area. Several months ago, there were 4 overdose cases in one day in the area!

  There is still much to be done. Affordable housing is still a problem in the County, there is still no safe and convenient camping area and funding for treatment beds. But if Speaker Hughes wants to place blame on the problem that has lasted for four years (before Mayor Biskupski), he should tread lightly and look in the mirror.

MEETINGS SEPTEMBER 6, WEDNESDAY

  The first meeting will be at 9 AM at the SLCO Clerk’s office (2100 S. State).  It will be the recount for two races, in Sandy and SLC.  I am 6 votes ahead of Noah Rosenberg and we will not have an official winner that will be competing with Erin Mendenhall until after that (and the official Board of Canvassers vote).

  The second meeting will be at the Legislature’s Transportation Governance and Funding Task Force Working Group which will have a presentation from Oregon officials on taxing the public for their miles driven.  Someone should provide a reality check.  Oregon had a big backlash against this.  This is essentially a war on cars combined with a big mother brother government.  Utah, Utahns and Legislators will not allow this to get to first base. 

  The next meeting will be at Police Headquarters at 300 East and 450 South at 5 PM.  It is the CAG meeting that should also be the perfect place to complain about how we are back where we were in January off 2016 with respect to the homeless situation.

  There is also the 6 PM, Mayor’s meeting at Gateway, at 116 S. Rio Grande St (former Anthropologie) that will provide an opportunity for citizens and neighbors of the area to comment on the closing of Rio Grande Street between 200 S. and 250 S.  Take the online survey of the proposal at http://www.slcmayor.com/rio-grande.

  There are 5 community councils in SLC meeting tonight, please check the list on the right to see if any might be of interest to you.

AUGUST 28, 2017

999 RIDE (SLC) IS THE NEW CRUISING SLC

NAZI FOOTBALL PLAYERS

$4.7 MILLION HALE THEATER OR CANYON BUS SERVICE

JIM DABAKIS HATES GUCCI SHOES

ACLU AND DEEDA SEED BLESS SECRET MEETINGS AND

PANHANDLING

POVERTY SUMMIT EMPHASIZES HOUSING PROBLEM

999 RIDE (SLC) IS THE NEW CRUISING SLC

  If you have noticed a large number of bicyclists riding in the evening on Thursdays, they are probably part of the large 999 (SLC) Facebook group that has hundreds of bicyclists showing up at the small parking lot on 900 South and 900 East at 9 PM (Southwest corner gets crowded fast).  

  Between 930 and 1000 PM, they start riding through Salt Lake City, generally to the west (flatter) from

Glendale to Fairpark, from downtown to Sugar House and they enjoy the ride.  Their motto is "We ride. We laugh. We live."  They can ride until 2AM and, since it is a slow casual ride, they stay together and try to not leave anyone behind.  There are no leaders and the word casual is emphasized.

  This is the new cruising in Salt Lake City.  Enjoy the energy of hundreds of bicyclists enjoying our City and visit the local restaurants in the area on Thursdays at 9 (before they close).  If you are interested in an experience that celebrates our City, check out the Facebook page for 999 (SLC) and bring your bike and ride, every Thursday from 9-2AM starting at 900East and 900 South.

NAZI FOOTBALL PLAYERS

  I have a degree from the University of Utah.  And I lived in the dorms when the University experimented with trying to control the conduct of student athletes by putting them in the same dorm with regular students.  I didn't think that it worked that well.  We did have a resident advisor named Steve Odom who was charismatic enough to control the players, especially the football players.  But there weren't enough Steve Odom to go around.

  That is a lead in to several incidents that could easily have turned deadly due to overly aggressive and dangerous University of Utah football players.  Residents using Guardsman's Way regularly encounter football players who seem to dare the cars  to "engage with them" while they walk in the street.     Earlier this month, a resident encountered a "large" football player in the middle of the street and asked him to avoid playing chicken with cars.  The player lost it and, within a few minutes, busted the windshield of the driver with a rock, then engaged in a high speed effort to escape identification, almost killing a doctor and some nurses crossing 400 South at 900 East.  The doctor, nurses, IHC security and parking lot attendants saw it all and a police complaint was filed.  

  Nearby residents in Yslecrest complain regularly about the players who seem to act like they are answerable to no one and act like Nazis (starting fights with everyone.  They don't think the UofU Athletic Director, Chris Hill, who lives in Yalecrest, will do anything about it.  

  Yalecrest residents are still upset about the baseball field going in across the street from Pinegree School (for autistic students - who don't react well with disruptions from baseball games.  Some think that a lawsuit by a Pinegree student's parent is coming. 

  All of this will result in more analysis of what is the line that shouldn't be crossed when balancing academics and athletics St the University of Utah.  This analysis has been going on, since at least the 70s.

$4.7 MILLION HALE THEATER OR CANYON BUS SERVICE

  The Salt Lake County Council could decide as early as Tuesday August 29 on whether to spend an extra $4.7 million on the Hale Centre Theater, which already has all the money needed to complete the Theater, opening next month.  There have been no alternatives presented in public but many of us have been pushing the County for year round bus service.  

  Last year, UTA said that the cost might be around a million per canyon per year.  Ski resorts pay for their bus service during ski season.  We have been pushing for bus service for the canyons to encourage mass transit and also to encourage mountain biking and hiking.  UTA, held onto the estimate to give it to the Mountain Accord/Central Wasatch Commission so that they could take credit and show the value of the Mountain Accord.  

  So now there is $4.7 million that was potentially going to go to the Hale Theater in Sandy but they really don't need it.  If Sandy really wants to help their businesses, encouraging canyon use with bus service can't be beat.  Hopefully, the County Council will see the reasoning and move the $4.7 million to a better use and fund the canyon bus service.  Hiking, mountain biking and mass transit use would increase significantly.  Better yet, year round canyon bus service would get international attention and push the Wasatch Canyons as a recreational nirvana.

JIM DABAKIS HATES GUCCI SHOES

  During the Poverty Summit Saturday hosted by Crossroads Urban Center, Senator Jim Dabakis spent 15 minutes entertaining the crowd with his take on sales tax on food.  He kept complaining about lobbyists that get the Legislature to give tax breaks to, in his mind, questionable products.  He complained about Utah machinery, farm equipment, hay, Chinese, and Gucci shoes.

  Missing from his tirade against the Republicans and lobbyists (with Gucci shoes) was the Our Schools Now efforts to increase the sales tax.  I want to see Jim Dabakis talk Gail Miller and Scott Anderson out of increasing the sales tax before he goes to the Legislature.  

  Unfortunately, Jim Dabakis has a reputation at the Legislature of a useless Senator.  Any bill, except resolutions, that he sponsors will automatically die.  The last good bill that he sponsored was the carbon monoxide detectors in schools bill.  He has a tendency of arguing personalities instead of arguing his case.  But he is entertaining.  Unfortunately, this good cause is a lost cause with Jim Dabakis sponsoring it.

  Interestingly, Representative Joel Briscoe, a friend, tried to make a case for increasing the sales tax recently at the Legislature.  His reasoning was that sales tax constituted a large portion of Utah's revenue in 1960.  The sales tax portion of Utah's revenue decreased about 50% since then.   But in the 1960s, a large portion of individual income was used for basic necessities outside of housing.  Today, income percentage used for basic necessities is about half of what it used to be.  Housing cost is now much higher.  The Legislature's committee did not like Representative Briscoe's reasoning and the Representative wisely rescinded his proposal.

ACLU AND DEEDA SEED BLESS SECRET MEETINGS AND PANHANDLING

  During a discussion on Our Response to Homelessness, at the Crossroads Urban Center's Poverty

Summit, ACLU's Leah Farrell and Deeda Seed defended the Salt Lake City's secret meetings.  Deeeda Seed said that there are good reasons to keep meetings secret.  The discussion quickly returned to panhandling and ACLU's concern about the City's efforts to decrease panhandling.  But ACLU seemed to be more concerned about panhandling than trying to protect homeless from overly aggressive quality of life code enforcement.  ACLU again seems to be mistargeting the real issue and is not as interested in protecting the homeless.  

POVERTY SUMMIT EMPHASIZES HOUSING PROBLEM

  According to Crossroads Urban Center's Bill Tibbetts, the Road Home is spending $15,000 per week on motels for homeless families and there doesn't seem to be a reasonable plan for the long term.  The plan to close the Road Home in June 2019 and drop 400 beds for the homeless is especially bothersome and clueless.  Crossroads dropped out of the homeless planning effort due to no plan for housing.  Housing is the big issue and no government entity seems to have a plan for it.  

  Bill Tibbetts said that he believes that Salt Lake City needs 15,000 affordable housing units now (Matt

Minkevitch said, two years ago, that we needed 7,000 affordable housing units.).  Daniel Nackerman, Director of the Salt Lake City Housing Authority, said that he  manages 9000 units but he is planning on and looking to add more.  The Authority (separate from the County Housing Authority) has bought the

Capitol Motel on State Street and 17th South and hopes to convert it in a few years to better

housing.  Salt Lake City is hoping that the Mayor's Housing Plan will help.  The Council is planning on having a public hearing on the plan in the next few months.

  Crossroads pointed out that, at minimum wage, employees take home about $968.  In 2015, the median Utah rent was $887.  Rent has gone significantly up since 2015.     

AUGUST 23, 2017

UTA MAY LOSE RESPONSIBILITY FOR PROJECTS

IN DEFENSE OF JULIE DOLE

WHY COUNTY CLERK COUNT TAKES SO LONG

YOU CAN DEMOLISH A DRUG HOUSE UNLESS YOU ARE

FORMER MAYOR

BUS TRAFFIC SIGNAL PRIORITY TESTING

UTA BUS 500 STILL NOT USEFUL

MOUNTAIN VIEW CORRIDOR SUGGESTS ALTERNATIVE BUS

PROPOSAL

TRUCK CRASHES/POLLUTION MAY JUSTIFY PIPELINE

ODYSSEY HOUSE/FIRST STEP MAY SIGNIFICANTLY EXPAND

FACILITIES

INTERNATIONAL CENTER RAIL MAKES SENSE IF AMAZON

PAYS

UTA MAY LOSE RESPONSIBILITY FOR PROJECTS

  UTA is discussing refinancing their large bond debt using Utah's financial reputation (still requires UTA sales tax to pay the bonds).   It could allow a better premium payment schedule. 

  At the same time, Utah may have some responsibility taken from them for projects.   The Legislature Transportation Governance and Funding Task Force is seriously discussing taking away responsibility for projects from UTA.   The Transportation Interim Committee opened two bill files to implement the recommendations of the Transportation Governance and Funding Task Force.

IN DEFENSE OF JULIE DOLE

  This may hurt some of you, but, I am a friend of Gary Ott.  My guess is that he is now in a nursing home in Southern Utah and for the hour of the day when he is completely lucid, he is tortured with the realization that his life is no longer his and he will have to spend the rest of his days in a nursing home.  Gary Ott deserves better.

  Gary and I talked often over the last few years.  His concentration issues were obvious but when talking about uncomplicated issues, he seemed to be able to communicate.  Under pressure, he couldn't respond.  The last, long and intelligent conversation that I had with Gary was at the beginning of 2016.  We talked about a lot of things, including his time in the Army (in Bavaria) and also the office and his hope that a new software system would help the office (Darwin was implemented without the rest of the County being ready to move from their old, old mainframe system to interface successfully with the Recorder's Office' Darwin software).  I asked, and he gave Julie Dole credit for running the office "like a well oiled machine".  He loved her ability to manage the office since it made things easier for him.  I also should add that Julie Dole and Karmen were out of earshot in a County Council meeting at the time.  Gary's words were his without influence from anyone else.

  I know that there were some legitimate issues with Julie Dole's actions over the last few years.  Julie was the last really successful and well organized Salt Lake County Republican Chair (subsequent chairs have had issues with finances - not always their fault - I don't think that they realized how complicated the job is).  When she went to work for Gary, she was well respected as a manager for Republicans.      Over the last few years, I know that many employees of the County called her a friend and liked being called her friend.  The fact that Julie Dole had friends in all departments of the County should say something.  When she did something wrong, she was called out for it.  When there were questions about doing politics while being paid by the County (as Deputy Recorder), she ended up in a Legislative hearing.  She did support the Republican Party regularly but it did not take away from her job.  I think that it is just like Mayor McAdams doing political visits with his Democratic candidates in the County during the workday. 

  Julie Dole was placed in an untenable, uncomfortable and a no win situation with Gary Ott.  Most people in the County Building Complex knew that Gary had issues with concentration.  It was not a secret.  It should not have led to dragging Gary Ott through the mud by insisting that he testify!  Anyone who claims to be a friend of Gary and participated in that travesty, should be ashamed.  It would have been better behind closed doors where even criminal behavior is generally kept pending a decision.  County Auditor Tingley found that the Recorder's Office was being run in accordance with the law.  That should have settled it.  DA Sim Gill should have investigated by now and reached a conclusion one way or another on any possible criminal activity.

  I believe, at worst, that Julie Dole, trying to be professional and loyal, did what Gary wanted, and ran the office.  She, and almost any employee, could not question her boss about his attitude and mental state.  I should add that I know of terminations of government employees for being concerned and communicating that concern to appropriate authorities - including possible criminal behavior.  Julie was walking a tightrope and, in the end, was professional about it.  Everyone in the building knew the issue and expected her to come out and admit it.  Julie Dole was the last person who should have to admit that Gary Ott had issues!

  My Republican Party went out of their way to drag Julie and Gary through the mud, including violating bylaws by censoring Julie (ignoring the Central Committee), making a public spectacle of denying Julie a chance to speak at the convention and publicly stating that the Party is investigating Julie!  Through all of this, Julie has remained a vigorous supporter of the Party.  When the previous chair fired the Party's office manager due to lack of funding, Julie picked up the slack and helped organize the Central Committee Meeting!  That is not how someone guilty of anything acts.  It is how a professional, ethical manager acts.

  I am a Republican, and I will argue with my fellow Republicans when it makes sense.  But with regards to Julie Dole, I find much more fault with Democrats, especially since the Mayor of Salt Lake County, through inadequate public safety funding, has allowed drugs to essentially be legal in Salt Lake County (due to non enforcement of the laws, jail booking restrictions, and lack of DA funding to keep criminals locked up).

  Julie Dole is the last person that I can complain about.  Trust me, I have hundreds more that I find fault with for much bigger (billions of dollars bigger) reasons. 

George Chapman

WHY COUNTY CLERK COUNT TAKES SO LONG

  The latest vote count for Salt Lake City Council Districts as of August 21 is below this paragraph.  Many of you have asked why is it taking so long to count the ballots?  The reason is...when most of an election is conducted by mail, many ballots come in with questions.  Some may even have signatures that don't seem to match the signature on file.  When there are questions, the clerk will (at least in Salt Lake County) mail a letter to the voter and ask for confirmation of the vote/ballot.  That may take up to two weeks.  Other ballots may have been cast as provisional and it may take a few days to confirm the address and legalize the ballot.  The Salt Lake County Clerk has had several thorough investigations to ensure that all ballots are counted and the system works.  No problems have been detected in the past.  In my race in District 5, Erin Mendenhall has 2466 votes, I have 293 votes and Noah Rosenberg has 282 votes.  I have seen City Council votes as close as 3 votes (a legislator was elected last year by 3 votes).  That is another reason for voting. 

DISTRICT 1

JAMES ROGERS     1322  78.27%

DAVID C ATKIN      209            

DISTRICT 3

CHRIS WHARTON    1750  32.78%

PHIL CARROLL         1701  31.87%

DISTRICT 5

ERIN MENDENHALL  2466  73.77%

GEORGE CHAPMAN    293     8.76%

BENJAMIN NOAH ROSENBERG 282   8.44%

DISTRICT 7

AMY FOWLER       1715 41.78%

ABE SMITH              904  22%

YOU CAN DEMOLISH A DRUG HOUSE UNLESS YOU ARE FORMER MAYOR

  Several years ago, Craig Meacham demolished his property at Highland and 2100 South and left it a vacant "Sugar Hole" for many years.  In response, the Salt Lake City Council changed the ordinance to stop demolition without an approved plan for the replacement building.  Many vacant buildings are sitting as crime magnets downtown and around Salt Lake City.  Drug use is visibly present in the buildings.  But Salt Lake City does not allow those buildings to be torn down due to the backlash against the Sugar Hole.  But Hamlet Homes, last year, demolished two homes that they claimed were drug houses before plans were approved (or even revealed).  Eventually, Hamlet received approval for 16 expensive homes in an area that had four (plots - one house is still standing).  But former SLCO Mayor Peter Corroon was not allowed to demolish his building/house because he didn't have a plan approved to build on the property.  So the property remained a crime magnet.  A few days ago, two squatters were ordered out and they set a fire before leaving.  The house is now a super duper eyesore and the property is that way due to Salt Lake City's nonsensical demolition ordinance.

  The ordinance kept a Sugar House property, the car wash on 2100 S. and 850 E., halfway torn down for a year due to the same ordinance.  The property owner started the demolition but was stopped before completing the process and it stood there as an eyesore until recently.  There are many vacant properties in downtown Salt Lake City that are not allowed to be torn down until a building plan and permit is approved.  In some cases, to stop buildings from being used by drug addicts, the owner has asked to demolish the building and make it a parking lot.  But Salt Lake City does not like parking lots and some on the Council believe that the City has too much parking (which encourages car use!).  So the building has to stand until the owner has the money to plan and build a replacement.  And the surrounding property owners, businesses and residents have to endure a crime magnet.  Salt Lake City needs to get real with its demolition ordinance.

BUS TRAFFIC SIGNAL PRIORITY TESTING

  UDOT is working with UTA to develop a traffic signal priority for transit.  A pilot project is using bus

217 on Redwood Road to test a traffic signal priority system.  UDOT takes data from the 217 bus (location, number of passengers), information on cross traffic and makes a real time determination of whether allowing the bus to receive priority at the traffic light (green light).  The goal is to increase on time operation from 87% to 94%. 

UTA BUS 500 STILL NOT USEFUL

  UTA's bus 500 that serves the State Capitol, still has two buses that arrive at the Capitol within a minute of each other, every half hour.  Instead of a 15 minute schedule, between Courthouse TRAX and North Temple Station, UTA seems to be unable to reason out a schedule that does not look foolish (having 2 buses serve the Capitol every half hour and arriving at the same time).

MOUNTAIN VIEW CORRIDOR SUGGESTS ALTERNATIVE BUS PROPOSAL

  Discussions of the Mountain View Corridor (5600 West) freeway and transit system have added a proposal to build/operate an enhance bus style system that would be 1/3 of the cost of the proposed BRT.  Originally, the replacement for the hourly/half hour regular bus was going to be a BRT at a cost of $350-500 million.  The alternative bus proposal would use priority traffic lights (see above for pilot program) and a bus lane at the intersections.  BRT costs usually run about $15/mile.  An enhanced bus is generally $1.5 million per mile.  I still think that it is too expensive.  But high speed mass transit should rely on freeways instead of local roads that have to balance pedestrian and vehicle traffic with mass transit systems (like the BRT on 3500 S. and Redwood Road that has to wait for 3+ light cycles to get through the intersection.

TRUCK CRASHES/POLLUTION MAY JUSTIFY PIPELINE

  Every year, there are about 100 commercial motor vehicle crashes coming from Vernal and the oilfields there.  The crude oil is thick and requires heating to pass through a pipeline.  The alternative is to truck the oil in a tanker on I40 to the refineries in Salt Lake City (using Provo Canyon or I80).  Heber City is frustrated by all of the heavy truck traffic, especially the oil tankers.  Although some stores may like the traffic, most cities along the routes feel that the traffic from heavy trucks deters from their quality of life and adds significant pollution to the area (one of the reasons for the Uintah Valley air pollution problems).

  I put the last few years worth of crashes on the upper right downloads.  This may be useful to compare the cost and benefits of a pipeline (with double walls near water or protected areas) large scale infrastructure project.  Utah has created special tax credits for such a large undertaking.  It would also require a naptha plant to produce the additive that would be added to the oil to make it able to use a pipeline.  A cost benefit analysis may show that it still makes sense to truck the oil in from Uintah Valley but the analysis should be done.

ODYSSEY HOUSE/FIRST STEP MAY SIGNIFICANTLY EXPAND FACILITIES

  I am not sure if anyone is paying attention on this but if everything happens the way some people want, Odyssey House will expand their facility by 100 beds and First Step will expand 80 beds!  The neighborhoods surrounding these facilities (which may be built from scratch) should have a say and not go through what residents in Sugar House had to go through when they fought (and won against) a homeless shelter.  Salt Lake City should make this next effort more public and allow the public to participate in deciding if it makes sense.  The State also must get approval to allow Medicaid to pay for facilities that are over 16 beds (about half the states have permission from the federal government).  AND, the State must get the mickie mouse version of healthy Utah approved.

INTERNATIONAL CENTER RAIL MAKES SENSE IF AMAZON PAYS

  Missing from the plans for airport TRAX is the better project to extend the TRAX Green line to the

International Center (5600 West) where Amazon will be building their new Utah warehouse.  In Seattle, Amazon helps pay for the rail/streetcar operations.  This chance should not be ignored.  All discussions on UTA projects with SLC should include the Green line extension to the International Center and cutting out the zig zag through downtown to get a cheaper and better version of the proposed downtown north south streetcar.

AUGUST 17, 2017

OPERATION RIO GRANDE NOTES

YOUNG AFRICAN KILLERS GANG DISBURSED FROM RIO GRAND

WE MAY NOT KNOW WHO WON IN DISTRICT 5 SLC RACE

UNTIL AUG. 29

SLC WORKING TO HELP FOOTHILL TRAFFIC    

SLC MAYOR ASKS IF VOTERS WANT A VOTE  ON

INFRASTRUCTURE BOND

EFFORT TO HAVE UTAH SET UP AN EMERGENCY FUND FOR

ACTS OF GOD

EXPERT WARNS THAT RAIL MAY BE USELESS IN FUTURE

UTA $65MIL BIG ASS GARAGE LOOKING FOR SUPPORTERS

OPERATION RIO GRANDE NOTES

 I put several pictures of the Tuesday August 15 meeting and audio recording of the Operation Rio Grande meeting that had Mayor Biskupski, Mayor McAdams, Lt. Governor Cox, Police Chief Brown, Speaker Hughes, and Utah Commissioner of Public Safety Squires discuss the plan.  

  The first day, they arrested 87 (but 30 were released the next day).  During the Wednesday night East Bench meeting, they couldn't answer the question of how many released out of the 30 had to be rearrested and taken to jail.  They said that they are still looking for that data.  They were booking and releasing Class B and C misdemeanors which puts the drug addicts, more desperate than ever on the street.  Again (I have done opeds on it and it is in more detail below by CTRL F and warrants), the SLC Police, over the last year, during the SLCO Jail booking restrictions, gave citations which turned into warrants, which could not be served since the jail would not take them.  So, this week, there were many arrested that had over 10 warrants.  Unfortunately, the jail is still a revolving door.  

  I was told that the DA has been promised money to handle the increased workload but I don't see it having an effect.  Public safety is more than jailbeds.

  Also, it was made clear that there might be 37 beds in a few days and up to 200 by the end of the year (they said "hopefully")!  That would include some in Washington County.  

  Speaker Hughes is still pushing to have IDs given to all individuals in the area to ensure that there is more control.  Also there is an increase in social workers who have helped many to be steered to better  situations.  In one case, a person with a staff infection was referred to a hospital and they would have died if they hadn't been pushed to go.  I have reported on the fact that hospitals have kicked out patients in their hospital gowns and walkers and sent them to the Weigand Center.  Also, in the past, there has been an epidemic of MRSA.  That is one of the reasons for the sidewalk cleanups with special water that is so contaminated after cleaning that it can't go into the storm drains.

  The price tag appears to be around $13 million.  The police and law enforcement (150 from many jurisdictions) will go where the criminals and drug dealers go.  The police expect "spidering" where the criminals will go to other areas.  They especially expect the drug dealers to go into other areas.  They are seeing it go north towards Ogden.  The police urge everyone who is suspicious of new individuals in their area to call 801 799 3000, the non emergency police number.

  Among the service providers that are coordinating services, SLCO Behavioral Health, First Step, Odyssey House, Utah Workforce Service and other homeless service providers.  There will be daily cleanups and the County Health Department should be called at 385 468 3835 if there are new campsites developing.

  A question was asked about what happens to personal property of arrested individuals.  The answer was that the property is inventoried and returned to the person when they are released from jail.  Unfortunately, the Police Storage Facility is at 4700 West and 1300 South.  The homeless are not able to get there.  

  There was also a discussion about panhandlers who help fuel the drug trade (see story on panhandlers massing outside theaters and churches below).  There is hope that the new law that makes it illegal for all parties to transact business, even giving money to panhandlers, in major intersections (over 35MPH) will help.

  If anyone sees a problem developing, they are urged to call the SLC Police Bike Patrol at 801 799 DNTN and report it.  Also, the City intends to set up a website to take comments about the issues involved in this crackdown.

  There was also a discussion on citing jaywalkers and the Chief answered that he wants all laws enforced and individuals that are in the area, checked for warrants.  So he expects a lot of stop and ask for ID.  There were also reports that the Police are enforcing no smoking in Pioneer Park.  In other words, super duper quality of life enforcement.  Chief Brown was ordered to try this before during the previous administration's attempt to force the homeless out of the area.  I do not know if they are enforcing the no bicycling on sidewalks downtown ordinance for everyone, but it is being used on the homeless.

  The big questions are: will the SLCO DA get funding to adequately keep the criminal element from being on the street and will there be any money (other than a wish, a hope and a dream) for drug and alcohol treatment?  There was no line item for the DA at the Tuesday morning cost meeting.  And of course, how did the $13 million become available?  It didn't magically appear.

   The SLC Police are  asking anyone who sees illegal activity to dial 801 799 3686 and report it. .

YOUNG AFRICAN KILLERS GANG DISBURSED FROM RIO GRAND

  The Young African Killers (YAK) gang that sells spice, K2 and meth (the person who was shot in January of 2016 was claimed to be part of the gang) have been targeted and disrupted from the area according to law enforcement.  The gang is composed of many refugee teens that came from violent areas and have quickly gained a reputation for aggressive control of the Rio Grande area's spice drug market.  Hopefully, this gang will no longer be able to operate in Salt Lake County.

WE MAY NOT KNOW WHO WON IN DISTRICT 5 SLC RACE UNTIL AUG. 29

  The race for SLC District 5 is so close that we may not know who will be challenging Erin Mendenhall in November's General Election. Noah Rosenberg has 257 votes and I have 268 votes.  The official canvass is August 29.

SLC WORKING TO HELP FOOTHILL TRAFFIC

  Salt Lake City Mayor Biskupski spent over an hour at the East Bench Community Council meeting on August 16 and discussed issues about storm water, traffic, crime and traffic.  Several expressed concern about the traffic on the side streets (like 1900 East) that is trying to get out of the Foothill Drive congestion.  The Mayor said that they are working with the University of Utah, the Foothill Cultural Committee, UDOT and interested stakeholders to get a solution that could minimize traffic congestion.   One way is to change the light sequencing significantly during evening rush hours to prioritize north south traffic on all north south streets.  Even the backup on streets like 2100 East, 1900 East, 1300 East, 900 East and others significantly increase to several blocks during rush hour with minimal backup going east west.  UDOT has the ability, through their Wavetronix systems to change the traffic lights now.  Also, if you see a problem with the traffic lights on UDOT streets like Foothill, State Street and 400 South, call UDOT Traffic Control, Mark Taylor at 801 887 3714.

SLC MAYOR ASKS IF VOTERS WANT VOTE FOR INFRASTRUCTURE BOND

Mayor Biskupski also asked attendees at the Community Council (and wants to know what all SLC citizens think) if they had a preference on how to pay for infrastructure/streets upkeep.  She suggested a bond with a vote of the public but several City Council members want to charge a fee and bond without allowing the public to vote on it.  Please email the Mayor with your comments at mayor@slcgov.com.  Comments so far have asked for very specific line items of where the money would be spent.  During recent City Council meetings, there seems to have been an interest in leaving the public out of the discussion and voting it into effect themselves.  The Mayor is being more respectful and asking what the public wants.  Also, you should tell the City Council members what you think about new taxes, fees or bonds without public votes.  Their email addresses are on the right.

EFFORT TO HAVE UTAH SET UP AN EMERGENCY FUND FOR ACTS OF GOD

  Despite the best efforts to get emergency funds to compensate individuals and businesses impacted by the recent 200 year storm, Salt Lake City is unable to get an emergency declaration and will be looking for other solutions to help victims.  The City says that the infrastructure generally worked with a few, but major exceptions.

  During discussions at the East Bench Community Council, the person in charge of Wisconsin's State emergency fund that covered damage from flood or water damage, the State should be considering a setup like Wisconsin's 86.34.  The Mayor said that she will consider it.

EXPERT WARNS THAT RAIL MAY BE USELESS IN FUTURE

  During the August 16 Legislature's Transportation Governance and Funding hearing, an expert testified that building rail systems does not make sense due to the rapid change that transportation systems are exhibiting.  Car sharing, self driving cars and other systems seem to be the future and building a rail system that is meant to last for 50+ years is unreasonable.  Bus service expansion makes more sense.  I agree and my opeds on mass transit in Utah also have other arguments that costly rail should not be attempted.  Mayor Biskupski seems to be recognizing the limits and cost of rail and is fighting the SLC Council which wants expensive projects.

UTA $65MIL BIG ASS GARAGE LOOKING FOR SUPPORTERS

  Speaking of expensive projects:  UTA is asking for groups of individuals and associations to support their efforts to get federal funds to build their $65 million big ass garage.  They call it a clean fuels technology center.  They already put in the natural gas pumps but they want a bus garage to replace the one across the street (which works very well).  Unfortunately, federal matching rules will require $30+ million from local funds that should be/could be/would be better spent on bus service expansion (30 more bus routes or significantly expanding service times)!  The effort is to show that UTA's plan has broad public support.  I think that I will write to the Transportation Department (as I have several times before to stop the Sugar House Streetcar Extension) and point out that the project DOES NOT have broad public support.  The funding decision should be made by October.

AUGUST 12, 2017

VOTING ON ELECTION DAY CENTERS AND ON AUGUST 14 NOTE ON CITY COUNCIL PUBLIC COMMENTS

Election Day Vote Centers

Note that on August 14th, when the ballots have to be postmarked by, the

SLCO Govt Center at 2000 S and State Street (south building) will have voting from 8-5 PM.

Salt Lake County provides options for accessible voting.

Vote Centers will be open on Election Day (August 15, 2017) from 7:00 am - 8:00 pm for voters who either require amenities provided by the electronic voting machines, misplaced or didn't receive ballots, or otherwise need to vote in person. 

Voters may vote at ANY of the Vote Centers listed below on Election Day (identification is required Valid Identification)

Location         Address      City

Bluffdale City Hall 2222 W 14400 S Bluffdale

Cottonwood Heights City Hall 2277 E Bengal Blvd (7600 S) Cottonwood Heights

Brighton Point LDS Church 3455 E Bengal Blvd (7800 S) Cottonwood Heights

Draper City Hall 1020 E Pioneer Rd (12400 S) Draper

South Mtn Community Church 14216 S Bangerter Pkwy (200 E) Draper

Herriman Library 5380 W Herriman Main St (12720 S) Herriman

Holladay City Hall 4580 S 2300 E Holladay

Midvale Senior Center 7550 S Main St (700 W) Midvale

Ruth Vine Tyler Library 8041 S Wood St (55 W) Midvale

Murray City Hall 5025 S State St (100 E) Murray

SLCO Environmental Health Bldg 788 E Woodoak Ln (5390 S) Murray

Wheeler Historic Farm 6351 S 900 E Murray

Trolley Square 600 S 700 E #D-117 Salt Lake City

River's Bend NW Senior Center 1300 W 300 N Salt Lake City

Sorenson Multicultural Center 855 W California Ave (1305 S) Salt Lake City

 Salt Lake Co. Government Center  2001 S State St (100 E) Salt Lake City 

First Congregational Church 2150 S Foothill Dr (2755 E) Salt Lake City

Sandy City Hall 10000 S Centennial Pkwy (170 W) Sandy

Sandy Library 10100 S Petunia Wy (1410 E) Sandy

Sandy Senior Center 9310 S 1300 E Sandy

Heritage Gardens 2050 Creek Rd (8100 S) Sandy

Lone Peak Park Pavilion 10140 S 700 E Sandy

South Jordan Library 10673 S Redwood Rd (1700 W) South Jordan

SJ Founders Park Stake LDS 11685 S Kestrel Rise Rd (4510 W) South Jordan

Sagewood at Daybreak 11289 Oakmond Rd (4890 W) South Jordan

Columbus Community Center 2531 S 400 E South Salt Lake

Taylorsville City Hall 2600 W Taylorsville Blvd (5320 S) Taylorsville

Taylorsville Senior Center 4743 S Plymouth View Dr (1625 W) Taylorsville

Bennion LDS Church 6250 S 2200 W Taylorsville

West Jordan (Viridian) Library 8030 S 1825 W West Jordan

Copper Hills LDS Church 5349 W 9000 S West Jordan

Hampton Inn & Suites 3923 W Center Park Dr (7185 S) West Jordan

West Valley City Hall 3600 S Constitution Blvd (2700 W) West Valley City

Hunter Library 4740 W 4100 S West Valley City

Granger LDS Church 3300 S 4440 W West Valley City

Utah Cultural Celebration Center 1355 W 3100 S West Valley City

Extended Early Voting

Select locations will continue Early Voting through Monday, August 14, the day before Election Day.

SLCO Government Center 2001 S State St (100 E) 8:00 am-5:00 pm (M-F) July 17-August 14

Sandy City Hall 10000 S Centennial Pkwy (170 W)  Sandy 10:00-5:00 

Taylorsville City Hall 2600 W Taylorsville Blvd (5320 S) Taylorsville 10:00-5:00

NOTE ON CITY COUNCIL PUBLIC COMMENTS

  Matthew Piper writing for the Salt Lake Tribune,  has described me as a fixture at SLC City Council public comment periods.  I do go to most City Council meetings and comment on their issues.  I have been encouraging citizens to comment on these issues (see the rest of my blog) for years.  I have been respectful and constructive in my comments to the Council and to the mayors.  I also provide public comment to the County Council and Legislature.  I think that I am proof that the Council, the mayors, and the Legislators listen to the public.  I often see many others who also are engaged with their elected leaders and refuse to be silent and let things be taken care of.  I have watched legislators spend almost an hour trying to work out an acceptable bill with interested citizens.  Elected officials do try to be public servants in many cases.

  I keep saying this: The more engagement with the public, the more discussion, debate and analysis with the public and the more public comment to elected officials, the better the decision.  If no one says anything, decisions will suffer. 

  I encourage public comment to the email addresses/contacts on the right.  Many times, during public comments, the Council learns of issues and problems that did not come up during work session discussions.  In other words, public comments are constructive and should be encouraged.  You don’t have to speak; you can email your comments or even write them on the back of the comment card.  I would recommend that if you don’t speak that you email each individual Councilmember.  I may be famous to Matthew Piper as a fixture at public comment periods because I am an advocate for the citizens, the taxpayers and the residents of Salt Lake City and that requires speaking to the elected officials.  Everyone should speak to their elected officials.

PLEASE TELL YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS WHAT YOU THINK!

AUGUST 10, 2017

SLC DISTRICT 5 RACE SUMMARY

ARTESIAN WELL PARK NEEDS REPAIR

PANHANDLERS CONGREGATE DOWNTOWN AFTER SHOWS

COUNCIL CONSIDERS HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS IN TRANSIT

PROJECTS &

WAR ON CARS

STREETS REALLY REALLY NEED REPAIR OPED BY BENJAMIN SESSIONS

SLC DISTRICT 5 RACE SUMMARY

The Liberty Wells Community Council had a well attended Candidate Forum on August 9 (the best for District 5 candidates).  This is a summary of the candidates’ views and issues.

  Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall was elected to the SLC Council four years ago with a background as an activist for clean air.  Although she admits that it took her three years to get up to speed and be able to understand how to get her issues taken care of by the Council, she feels that she can now hit the ground running and do a lot more.  She sits on the Utah Clean Air Board and on the Quality Growth Commission.  She has spent a lot of her time trying address the issues on State Street with the problem/crime magnet motels and human trafficking.  Some of her accomplishments are the recently passed Civil Penalty Ordinance (which allows the City to pull the business license after 4 citations and not meeting probation requirements), adding more police officers (against Mayer Becker’s efforts), building the McClelland Trail from 900 South to 2100 South and adding $75,000 to the urban forestry budget to allow them to replace the 3000 big trees that the City cuts down each year with mini trees.

Noah Rosenberg comes from a background of working with homeless, addiction and mental health issues and supporting Legislators as an assistant (Rep. Moss and Rep. Eliason).  He seems to be focusing on homeless solutions which are desperately needed, including appropriate addiction treatment and affordable housing.  He is also concerned about infrastructure maintenance, not just with streets’ maintenance and pothole repair (He knows bicyclists who have broken bones from riding into a pothole after dark.), but also with the lack of secure and dependable utility infrastructure that seems to be lacking in the Liberty Wells area (7 power outages on one street in a year).

Vance Hansen works at Walmart’s Hope Avenue store in security.  He comes from a security background which includes attending the academy.  He has mostly been in private security, working for several firms.  He is concerned about the Council not listening to the citizens and taxpayers and the lack of police funding.  He wants to see more jail space and people locked up who commit crimes.

Carol Goode-Rogozinski has worked for the State of Utah for almost 20 years.  She was not at the

Forum Wednesday due to other commitments.  She previously served as Chair of the East Central Community Council since she lives half a block south of 900 South (District 5 jogs one block south around 900 East).  But she has been involved in trying to protect the character of the 9th and 9th neighborhood.  She wants to be more available to the citizens of the District.

George Chapman is a longtime community advocate who attends most Council and community meetings.  A retired engineer, I want to stop secret Council meetings and decisions, stop tax increases without a public vote (streets, streetcar, water, sewer, sales and parks), and I insist that Salt Lake County provide adequate DA and jail funding so that cops can arrest the drug dealers and criminals and keep them in jail for more than a few hours.  I also wants to stop the expensive streetcar projects including the S-line extension.  I want the City to provide a designated camping area downtown, near services, so that the anti camping ordinance can be enforced.  I want to stop wasting millions on alleyway trails and projects that do not have maintenance funding (The McClelland Trail plantings have died and goatheads are multiplying.).  I want to stop road diets that increase congestion and pollution, stop the urban forest which is decreasing, stop overcharging parks for water, protect the watershed by building restrooms, stop the proposed plastic bag ban, increase housing permits significantly (from 3000 last year – note that Herriman approved 1000 last year) and speed up State Street redevelopment.  I write several opeds a month in the newspapers and I write this blog.

ARTESIAN WELL PARK NEEDS REPAIR

  Luke Garrett is leading a group that wants to repair the artesian well at the Park on the 500 East and 800 South corner.  The Central City Neighborhood Council, CCNC, has requested City funds to redesign and improve Artesian Well Park.  The back wall behind the faucet is falling down.  He is asking to help convince the SLC Council to pursue this project. Email council.comments@slcgov.com or call 801 535 7654 and tell the Council to award CIP funding to Artesian Well Park.  Complete the short survey at surveymonkey.com/r/artesianwellpark.  Note that the water is not City water but is actually artesian spring water.  Salt Lake City also provides an artesian well in Liberty Park for public use.  The water is tested regularly and except for a minor contaminant (perchlorate tested as within safe limits), the water is safe and real spring water.

  Andy Eatchel looked up the information and water testing results and found them at:

http//www.slcdocs.com/utilitiies/newsevents/news2006/news3292006.htm

http://www.slcdocs.com/utilities/PDF%20files/liberty%20park%20chemistry%200organics%20data.pd f

http://www.slcdocs.com/utilities/pdf%20files/perchlorate.pdf

PANHANDLERS CONGREGATE DOWNTOWN AFTER SHOWS

  It seems that panhandlers in downtown Salt Lake City have found a great system to make $80 or more in just an hour of bothering people coming out of downtown shows.  Something needs to be done because they surround the patrons leaving the shows like flies.  And get almost a hundred dollars for just a little time of asking for money.  The police need to enforce the laws against blocking sidewalks since they are becoming as famous as the drug dealers in the Rio Grande area.  When Catholics leave mass at the cathedral, homeless, as many as 14, stand on a corner asking for money.  Maybe the speed limit on South Temple should be raised to 35 MPH to stop it.  The billboards won’t stop it.  Big signs need to be considered and placed next to every area that attracts panhandlers.

COUNCIL CONSIDERS HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS IN TRANSIT PROJECTS & WAR ON CARS  DOWNLOADS ON UPPER RIGHT

  During the City Council discussion of the City’s Master Transit Plan, the Council decided to move ahead with a public hearing on the draft.  After the public hearing, the Council will direct changes to the draft before bringing it to another public hearing, the final hearing, before adopting the plan.  Erin Mendenhall pushed for the Sugar House Streetcar extension up 1100 East (eventually planned to go north on 900 East to 400 South) saying, again, that she believes that the City needs to “put a head on the snake” since the streetcar won’t work without a longer extension.  Unfortunately, the extension will cost local taxpayers over $100 million to go to 900 East.   I don’t think that local taxpayers should be burdened by hundreds of millions to add a couple of hundred new riders a day.  The streetcar now gets 1300 a day (1600 a day on Sunday) and the County is giving UTA $4 million to double track the line and save 5 minutes to gain maybe a hundred passengers.  But studies show that a million dollars should provide hundreds of riders for extended hours on popular bus routes.  Instead of projects, the City, the taxpayers and transit riders need more service and Investment Per Rider should drive decisions, not projects to provide monuments to elected officials (ribbon cutting projects).

  Note that I put 5 downloads on the upper right hand corner of the blog.  These are the excerpts from the SLC Transit Master Plan.  A lot of data is old but that is what the authors of the report, Nelson/Nyygard, had available.  The most important data, in my mind, is the SLC UTA Route Level Performance Measures which lists the bus routes and cost to operate each route.  

  I have argued against Nelson/Nyygard studies before.  They are infamous nationwide for what some call a WAR ON CARS.  They consistently discourage parking in order to “force” people to use transit!  And they continue their efforts in this Plan on page 5-15 and 5-16 of the main body of the report by recommending less parking.  The Sugar House and Downtown Parking Study recommendations have not been adopted.  As Benjamin Sessions points out in his recent Salt Lake Tribune oped, see below, cars make our families, our economy and our Country more efficient.  Salt Lake City should not join the WAR ON CARS.

STREETS REALLY REALLY NEED REPAIR OPED BY BENJAMIN SESSIONS

  I strongly recommend the oped just published in the Salt Lake Tribune by Benjamin Sessions

“Commentary: A success-driven city should start with infrastructure.  The lack of adequate funding for basic streets maintenance is discouraging bicycling, negatively impacting families trying to drive their children to their activities and school and affecting the basic benefits that trucks provide to our economy.  His humorous video on You Tube (search Sugar House Potholes) makes the point really well.  If kids think that the streets need repair, streets really, really need repair.

AUGUST 7, 2017

CIVIL PENALTY HOPE TO REMOVE CRIME FROM STATE

STREET

SLC NEIGHBORHOOD CLEANUP SURVEY ONLINE IMPORTANT

SLC HOMELESS CENTER DESIGN GROUP NEEDS COMMUNITY

MEMBERS

CRIME REPORTS FOR SLC

EARLY VOTING AVAILABLE TIL 11TH (SLCO CTR TIL 14TH)

WHY I AM RUNNING FOR SLC COUNCIL 5 (REPEATED)

CIVIL PENALTY HOPE TO REMOVE CRIME FROM STATE STREET

  I put the download of the SLC Civil Penalty Ordinance in the upper right hand corner.  It is important and should provide a solution to the motels on State Street and around various SLC neighborhoods that are crime magnets.  Essentially, after four citations, the property goes into probation and if they are not successful at meeting the probation requirements, the property will lose their business license.  Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall was a big backer of this effort and she deserves credit for it (along with the Mayor’s staff).  This provides hope for the areas surround State Street, North Temple and other areas with motels that seem to require police responses every day.

SLC NEIGHBORHOOD CLEANUP SURVEY ONLINE IMPORTANT

  There is a SLC NEIGHBORHOOD CLEANUP SURVEY online that will influence the direction of the SLC neighborhood cleanup program.  It is important that you give your comments and recommendations to the City.  I would like to add a suggestion that the City start an allyway cleanup effort.  During the last Ballpark Community Council, a resident indicated that after several months of cleaning up his alleyway, he has been able to successfully keep out homeless campers and other prowlers.  SLC should implement and support alleyway cleanups like neighborhood watch.  It will reduce crime and homeless camping.

 Option 1: You can call two times a year to haul bulky items

 Option 2 Is a dumpster program dropped off once a year

 Option 3 Is landfill vouchers

 Option 4 Is the current program with increased restrictions

The survey link is:

www.slcgreen.com/NCU

or you can call 801 535 6999

SLC HOMELESS CENTER DESIGN GROUP NEEDS COMMUNITY MEMBERS

  The architects that are planning the 700 S. and High Avenue homeless resource centers have set up a committee of interested individuals to help plan the design of the homeless resource shelters.  But the 65 members of the committee do not have (or did not have as of Wednesday August 2) anyone from the surrounding neighborhoods.  When it was discussed, the architect and the City realized that they should add more neighborhood involvement, and anyone wishing to participate should contact David Litvack (contact on the right – he is Deputy Chief of Staff for the Mayor) and ask to be included.  It was also revealed that the system does not have a way to ensure that drugs do not enter the shelter.  Drug dogs were suggested since regular drug dog use at the Midvale Family Shelter always finds drugs.  The City and County still do not have a way to ensure that drugs are not entering the neighborhood surrounding the homeless resource centers.

CRIME REPORTS FOR SLC

  Crime reports for SLC’s various neighborhoods can be found at:

http://www.slcpd.com/open-data/crimereportsmap/

Although major crimes like homicide have gone down in the last year, so called lesser crimes like simple assault, burglary, etc are going up.

EARLY VOTING AVAILABLE TIL 11TH (SLCO CTR TIL 14TH)

EARLY VOTING IS AVAILABLE

  Early voting is now available at the SLCO Government Center #South

Rm1-850 2001 S. State St (100 E) from 8:00 am-5:00 pm (M-F), until August 14.  All eligible voters may vote early at any of the early voting locations listed below.  Note that the offices below will only be open W-F and with the times noted.  Early voting will take place on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays between August 2nd-11th at the following locations and hours:

(W-F) River's Bend Sr. Center, 1300 W 300 N., Salt Lake City   10:002:00

(W-F) Trolley Square #D-117, 600 S 700 E., Salt Lake City  11:00-7:00

(W- F)*All evening locations will close at 5:00 pm on Friday, August 11, 2017

(W-F) Cottonwood Heights City Hall 2277 E Bengal Blvd (7600

S)Cottonwood Heights10:00-2:00

(W-F) Draper City Hall1020 E Pioneer Rd (12450 S)Draper10:00-2:00

(W-F) Herriman City Hall13011 S Pioneer St (6000 W)Herriman10:002:00

(W-F)*Holladay City Hall4580 S 2300 E Holladay11:00-7:00

(W-F)*Murray City Hall5025 S State St (100 E)Murray11:00-7:00

(W- F)*Sandy City Hall10000 S Centennial Pkwy (170 W)Sandy 11:007:00

(W-F ) South Jordan City Hall1600 W Towne Center Dr (10610 S)South

Jordan 10:00-2:00

(W- F)*Taylorsville City Hall2600 W Taylorsville Blvd (5320

S)Taylorsville11:00-7:00

(W-F)  Hampton Inn & Suites W.J.3923 W Center Park Dr  (7181

S)West Jordan10:00-2:00

(W-F)  West Valley City Hall3600 S Constitution Blvd (2700 W)West

Valley10:00-2:00

WHY I AM RUNNING FOR SALT LAKE CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT

5

  Over the last four years, I have watched the public safety issue become more desperate for the homeless and for the rest of the residents and businesses of Salt Lake City. Despite many efforts to ask for adequate public safety funding to arrest drug dealers and ensure that they stay in jail for more than a few hours, Salt Lake County does not appear to be listening.

  Five years ago, I sat in a community council meeting and the Salt Lake City Police officer that was assigned to the council explained that when he was undercover, and arrested a drug dealer, the dealer was next to him five hours later laughing as he was making another drug buy. If Salt Lake County does not fund for enough jail beds and for adequate prosecution, the jail becomes a revolving door for the criminal element that is getting increasingly bolder.

  Last year, when there were several meetings of neighbors of motels in Salt Lake City that seemed to be crime magnets, Salt Lake City Police Chief Brown finally admitted that more jail beds may be necessary. When it became obvious that the restrictions on booking criminals was creating significant problems with ensuring public safety, a report by the Salt Lake City Police made it clear, that lack of adequate public safety funding at the County level, was creating an increase in crime.

  The Salt Lake City Police Department SLCPD 2017 Jail Bookings & Restriction Effects showed how bad crime was getting in Salt Lake City. Despite successful efforts of SLCPD to reduce serious crime like homicide, robbery and burglary by 7%, over ten thousand criminals could not be arrested and booked into jail and remained on the street to threaten law abiding citizens (and the homeless that were trying to avoid criminals). The jail restrictions stopped SLCPD from arresting 8049 for drugs and open drug use, 1678 for public drunkenness, 713 for forgery, 1051 for property damage, 186 for prostitution, 3903 for retail theft, 4429 for simple assault and, 3311 for trespass." The report said "The inability to incarcerate offenders for these crimes creates an atmosphere of indifference, fosters an appearance of lawlessness, and destroys the community's trust in law enforcement and pride in their neighborhoods." Unfortunately, there have been very few complaints coming from the City Council about this serious issue.

  The County Mayor and Council is responsible for the budget for the Sheriff to operate the jail and for the DA to effectively prosecute criminals. In addition, Salt Lake County cut mental health services almost ten  years ago and has not restored them. The hope of many of us was that Healthy Utah would have passed to fill the mental health funding gap. In addition, Healthy Utah would have provided not just basic medical care to hundreds of thousands of Utahns without adequate care, but could also help pay for drug and alcohol addiction treatment. The Sheriff has set up an addiction treatment facility in jail that is many times more successful than the treatment offered to the Operation Diversion drug addicts. But the County has not funded more than 180 beds. Unfortunately, there is no mental health budget and only 180 drug treatment beds for the jail. I only saw one SLC Councilmember at the Legislature promoting Healthy Utah and no councilmembers complained about the jail restrictions until March of this year with the release of the SLCPD report.

  My main reason for running, is I am tired of the SLC Council saying that crime is down when criminals victimize residents. Until all criminals can be arrested and booked into jail, no one should be happy about the crime rate. When residents are threatened by prostitutes, by drug dealers and by homeless and the SLCPD tells the residents that they can't arrest them, there is a big problem and the Council should be vigorously complaining. When State Street motels are raided every week by the police, there is a problem. I want SLC to stop ignoring the homeless camping and drug dealing that has spread throughout SLC.

  My other reasons for running include I want to stop the secret meetings and decisions without public hearings that the SLC Council seems to feel are appropriate. When they decided on the homeless shelter sites, they did it in secret and excused themselves by saying that they didn't want to pit neighbor against neighbor. Good decisions die behind closed doors and the so called cast in concrete decision was so bad that two of the sites had to be rescinded. The Council has also closed a golf course without a public hearing and recently approved a new bonding entity, the Central Wasatch Commission that doesn't answer to voters.

  I am running to stop the SLC Council from approving significant tax and fee increases for water, sewer, streetcars and street maintenance. The Council has also talked about a costly parks bond that will be used to close golf courses, to be discussed after the election along with other fee increases.

  I am running because I believe that SLC Public Utilities is misusing its authority to protect the canyon watershed and not building restrooms for the six million visitors a year that visit our canyons. I also believe that SLC Parks should not be overcharged for water (compared to other municipalities in the County). Because SLC Parks uses so much water for what arguably are amenities that include trees that mitigate our City's heat island and reduce pollution, Parks is charged at the highest price per gallon. Recently Parks ran out of money to water trees on the 600 East median and stopped watering City gardens.

  Other recent issues include the City is planning on billions of dollars in transit projects in the City's proposed Transit Master Plan.  I believe that we should be focusing on better neighborhood bus service before building more questionable rail projects. I want to stop road diets that increase congestion and pollution. And I want to stop wasting millions on alley trails.

  I want to solve the problems now instead of waiting until just before an election to address these issues. I am a longtime community activist; I go to most City Council and community council meetings; I write opeds for the newspapers and a blog at georgechapman.net. I am running for SLC Council District 5 (Ballpark, Liberty Wells, East Liberty Park and Wasatch Hollow) because we deserve a Council that is more respectful of citizens, residents and voters.

AUG. 5, 2017

SLC MASTER TRANSIT PLAN NEEDS REALITY CHECK

WFRC WASATCH CHOICE SCENARIOS NEED MORE SERVICE

720 S. 200 E. WORKFORCE SERVICES GARAGE

HOSTS CRIMINAL ACTIVITY

MAYOR TELLS CITIZENS THE PROBLEM IS LACK OF JAIL SPACE

SLC MASTER TRANSIT PLAN NEEDS REALITY CHECK

  The Salt Lake City Council is going to discuss a proposed Transit Master Plan. The goals of the Plan are to improve air quality, increase the number of people riding transit, and provide a system that supports a transit lifestyle. It will help “Salt Lake City and UTA set priorities, service and capital investments for the next 20 years”. It emphasizes a Frequent Transit Network (FTN) that recommends 15 minute bus service during most of the day and extended service in the evenings, on weekends and on Sundays.

  Unfortunately, the Plan suggests several questionable and expensive projects that some say contributed to the loss of the Prop One transit tax increase. The S-Line Streetcar (pg 3-17) could be extended up 1100 East and then onto 900 East. There is a downtown streetcar (at $50 million per mile) to the

University of Utah using 100 South (replacing a very efficient 220 bus) in the Plan. There is also South Davis (using 400 West) (Bus Rapid Transit (BRT at $15 million per mile) and a 5600 West BRT. There is also a north south rail downtown and a rerouting of the 400 South Red Line to the airport or to Central Station.

  There is an attempt to provide transit within 2 blocks of most of Salt Lake City citizens and 2 blocks is the recommended spacing for BRT stops. Unfortunately, most people would rather drive than walk two blocks! Seniors and physically challenged are even less likely to walk 2 blocks. Even the Plan implies it when it recommends mid-block crosswalks to encourage walking. BRTs or enhanced buses are being suggested on 200 South, 500 East and 900 East.

  But BRTs can take away from traffic lanes and that can usually increase congestion and pollution. Mass transit projects should be analyzed to ensure that they do not increase congestion and air pollution. They also should be compared to the people carried daily in the traffic lanes that may be repurposed for exclusive use of BRTs and rail. In many cases, the riders per day in a traffic lane can exceed the ridership of a BRT! The 3500 South BRT carries less than 4000 riders a day and a well used car lane can carry 5000 cars a day and obviously more riders. There are also two new transit centers, including one at the University of Utah and another either at 500 East or 700 East on 200 South. Those centers will cost a lot of money that could be better used for service increases.

  Other suggestions route 500 East, State Street and 900 East buses further north to the Capitol and Avenues. It recommends parking reductions near transit despite the recent significant pressure to increase parking requirements (eventually doubled). The rail and BRT projects could also result in rezoning stable single-family home neighborhoods. The Plan recommends covered bus stops but the nearby residents have expressed concern that they will encourage loitering and will attract the homeless.   The financial constraints of building expensive projects that burden local taxpayers is not really addressed. All capital projects should be analyzed for financial constraints and prioritized. The Plan implies that the federal government will supply much of the funding although experts say mass transit funding is less and less available. And when available, the Federal Transportation Agency is pushing for a 50% match. So each of the new rail proposals will cost local taxpayers $50 million. The Plan suggests several fees that could be raised to cover some of the proposals. But the vast majority of Salt Lake Citizens want more bus service.

  The Salt Lake City Council is scheduled to discuss the Transit Master Plan on Tuesday August 8 at their work session. An appropriate Master Transit Plan would recognize and plan for realistic financial restraints and at least prioritize the projects so that the most expensive project is not given priority automatically when other projects are more effective at encouraging mass transit ridership. Buses seem to be the best way to cost effectively increase ridership.

WFRC WASATCH CHOICE SCENARIOS NEED MORE SERVIC

Comments on the Wasatch Scenarios 2050 options

  In general, I think that the third option (widening roads, frequent service network) is best.  But it is important to take out and separate the active transportation component from the third option.  SLC, for instance, is lucky to have $1.7 million per year to fund bicycle improvements which is one or two cycle tracks or 20 + better bike lanes.  I believe bicyclists would prefer wider bicycle lanes.  Cycle tracks do not work well if there are maintenance issues (there isn't money to maintain them) or many vehicle entrances/exits. I appreciate the realistic plan to widen roads and increase capacity because personal vehicles and product transportion systems (delivery vans) will continue to rely on roads for decades to come.  Intelligent traffic lights systems should receive higher priority for funding.

  I believe (as I explained in an oped two months ago in the Salt Lake Tribune) that buses are the future of mass transit in Utah.  They provide the biggest increase in riders per dollar spent.  When bus ridership on a route exceeds a certain amount (my guess is over 5000 riders a day - WHICH WFRC

SHOULD STUDY AND DETERMINE THE BEST RIDERSHIP LEVEL AT WHICH TO CONSIDER HIGHER COST OPTIONS LIKE ENHANCED BUS ETC),then more expensive projects can be considered.  Unfortunately, the way that RTP and WFRC and UTP has listed projects, when money becomes available, political pressure pushes for the most expensive political choice.  Instead of a bus route service expansion at $200,000, a double tracking of the S-Line is planned for $6 million but both expenditures will provide a 200-400 increase in ridership!  THAT REALITY SHOULD BE

ACKNOWLEDGED BY WFRC.

  I am also concerned that there is pressure from many directions to have the cost estimates from the last RTP and UTP using WFRC engineering knowledge disrespected and replaced with much lower estimates (in one case the new estimate is a quarter of the estimate from the last RTP) to encourage moving the project to a sooner construction schedule.  I URGE WFRC TO CONFIRM THE ESTIMATES OF PROJECT CONSTRUCTION.

  The large number of projects is still not justified.  Some of the questionable projects include the UTA bus garage/UTA CNG facility $57 million (I am confused about this since the CNG facility was completed and I am concerned that this is a way to justify the expenditure of $65 million for the bus garage (Legislature gave money for the CNG facility but it is already complete.).  There is also a Depot District tech ctr $3 mil that I don't understand.

  The other big questionable projects that do not have a realistic priority given (so when money is available, that project is not superseded by another with more political clout) include: The Draper to Utah County $92 million/$460 million TRAX extension (when the last RTP had an estimate of $1.6

billion!! THIS MAKES WFRC LOOK LIKE THEY MADE A MISTAKE WITH THE LAST RTP!),

the 5600 W BRT (when the flex bus on 5600 West is not frequent enough(30-60 minutes) to justify $166 million ($33 million local)!), the Taylorsville BRT at $52 million, the South Davis BRT at $80 million, the $70 million Ogden BRT (saving 5 minutes from a 20 minute bus ride but it will take 5 more minutes for half of the passengers to walk to stations further apart! -THIS IS ENGINEERING NONSENSE!) and the $16 million Ogden BDO Frontrunner station (have employers at BDO surveyed their employees to see if they will ride it (most come from close in and drive mostly not from the south).  And I thought UTA was getting out of the TOD business.  Why is the TOD infrastructure listed at $12.5 million?   The smaller expenses that are also questionable include: UTA multimodal connections to FrontRunner at 500 W ($3 million!), the UofU station (at $4 million), the 35 Max expansion (when service on 3500 South needs to be expanded), Beck street bicycle project (when a cycle track would have to be swept every hour to keep it clean from the gravel trucks), and bike share should not be part of the RTP since it will take valuable money from bus service expansion.  

  I appreciate that several bus routes are being considered for expansion of services in the TIP (54 and 220).  I hope that, recognizing that there should be realistic financial constraints, the projects be given a priority ranking.  I believe that until buses fill to around 5000 riders a day, that expensive projects should not be considered.  In addition, WFRC should consider the effect of an earthquake and/or natural disaster on transit and transportation infrastructure when considering plans.  In an earthquake, our rail systems will be offline (along with electricity and rail beds.  That is another reason that buses make sense in Utah.  I hope that WFRC, despite significant political pressure, removes the high speed rail station at the airport and the canyons transportation system (billions of dollars) from the plan since it makes WFRC look unrealistic.

  The only rail expansion project that I would consider, if Utah or airport passenger fees paid for it, would be the Green Line expansion to the International Center (Amazon helps fund operations of the Seattle streetcar.) via the airport.  If the Green Line is routed directly to North Temple instead of zig zagging around, the downtown north south rail line on 400 West (it should go on 300 West) can be eliminated.

720 S. 200 E. WORKFORCE SERVICES GARAGE HOSTS CRIMINAL ACTIVITY

  Complaints have been registered with the City regarding the criminal activity, drug dealing, drug use and camping that is a nightly occurrence at

Complaints have been registered with the City regarding the criminal activity, drug dealing, drug use and camping that is a nightly occurrence at the 720 S. 200 E. Utah State Workforce Services garage.  The complaint was made to David Litvack during his presentation of the update to the 700 S.

homeless resource center plan.  In other words, if the City can’t stop the criminal activity now in the block where the homeless center will go, why should the community and neighborhood accept the center.  The County should provide enough beds and DA funding to allow the SLC Police to arrest criminals and put them in jail.  If the County does not allow the criminals to be removed from the homeless population, there will be no solution to the homeless situation.

SLC HOMELESS CENTER DESIGN GROUP HAS NO COMMUNITY MEMBERS

  The architects that are planning the 700 S. and High Avenue homeless resource centers have set up a committee of interested individuals to help plan the design of the homeless resource shelters.  But the 65 members of the committee do not have (or did not have as of Wednesday August 2) anyone from the surrounding neighborhoods.  When it was discussed, the architect and the City realized that they should add more neighborhood involvement, and anyone wishing to participate should contact David Litvack (contact on the right – he is Deputy Chief of Staff for the Mayor) and ask to be included.  It was also revealed that the system does not have a way to ensure that drugs do not enter the shelter.  Drug dogs were suggested since regular drug dog use at the Midvale Family Shelter always finds drugs.  The City and County still do not have a way to ensure that drugs are not entering the neighborhood surrounding the homeless resource centers.

MAYOR TELLS CITIZENS THE PROBLEM IS LACK OF JAIL SPACE

  Mayor Biskupski sent out an email this week that acknowledges the lack of jail space and blames the criminal activity on that lack.  She is right.  The drug dealer who was killed and his drug dealer killer should have been in jail.  But without sufficient funding at the County, the DA is not able to prosecute and ensure that the criminals stay in jail.  If we have 200 drug dealers in the Rio Grande area, as SLC Police Chief Brown says, it will take 20 more prosecutors to ensure that those criminals are locked up for more than a few hours.   That is the reality.  The email mentioned that there is a State subcommittee on jail beds that will look at the issue.  A police officer told the story of a fellow officer who had to arrest a criminal three times in a shift and take him to jail each time since the jail kept releasing him.

JULLY 28, 2017

SPRAGUE LIBRARY 200 YEAR FLOOD DISRUPTS COMMUNITY

MILLER PARK IN YALECREST BLOWN OUT

WHY I AM RUNNING FOR OFFICE PUBLISHED

SPRAGUE LIBRARY 200 YEAR FLOOD DISRUPTS COMMUNITY

  The Sugar House Sprague Library was flooded with a 200 year flood Wednesday morning which resulted in a 5.5 foot deep water in the basement.  The estimated cost is at least $1.5 million but I think that it will become much more.

  The Library Director has spent the last few days dealing with ensuring safety, starting cleanup and remediation, redeploying staff and communicating with the community and their partners.  Obviously, the Director has his hands full from the biggest crisis to hit the Salt Lake City Library, the semi destruction of Sprague Library.

  The Library is in a floodplain but flood insurance was cost prohibitive and wasn't purchased.  The Library's insurance company, Moreton and Company has had a claim filed.  In addition, the center's builder, Boyer and Company will be contacted to see if they can help. 

  The City Library has a reciprocal borrowing agreement with the County and Salt Lake City citizens are able to use the County Library services.  The nearby County libraries are on 500 East and 2500 South (Columbus), 800 East and 3300 South (Smith), and on Evergreen (street just south of 3300 South) and 2200 East (Evergreen).  Those who had material holds, can receive them at Foothill Anderson Library on 2100 East and Foothill.  You should contact the Library if you want to make other arrangements, for instance if the Downtown Main Library is more convenient.

  The Friends of the Library are being tasked with coordinating donations since they have helped previously with unexpected and unbudgeted costs.  The Friends have a donation button on their website at: http://slcpl.org/friends.  If anyone knows of someone that can help provide more support for recovery efforts, please contact the Library Director Peter Bromberg at pbromberg@slcpl.org and 801 524 8201.

  According to the Director:

"water overflowed from Hidden Hollow, carrying debris, and headed West towards the library.  A number of witnesses who were on the scene say that water came down between the Library and Kimi's Chophouse, and then, having nowhere to go, turned North and streamed past the library on the East side.  At that point, the water went down the stairwell that leads to the basement and broke through the glass door and a number of windows, quickly flooding the basement.  One of our staff members received an alarm call due the flooding and was on the scene in 15 minutes by which time the basement was flooded. The volume of water simply overwhelmed our pumping system."

  The Sugar House Community Council that meets the first Wednesday of every month (August 2) will temporarily meet at the Draw on 1300 East and 2150 South.

  This is an incredibly horrible situation in Sugar House.  The Sprague Library is the center of Sugar

House.  THE SPRAGUE LIBRARY IS THE CENTER OF SUGAR HOUSE!  The flood has temporarily destroyed the center of Sugar House.  The thousands of children in the area who relied on the Library for after school safe activities are now out of luck.  The hundreds of senior citizens who relied on the Library for reading the newspapers, keeping up to date with City happenings and visited with acquaintances are now out of luck.  The residents of Sugar House who relied on borrowing the newest books are now out of luck.  Those who relied on the Library for inexpensive reading and entertainment, are now out of luck.  The community who relied on this Library for meeting space is now out of luck.  Earlier this year, the Library served as the meeting space for over 300 citizens who wanted to express concern about the homeless plans.  Now, local citizens are out of luck. 

  If the Library is not helped, the Library that is more important to Sugar House than any other entity, will not open again for months. 

MILLER PARK IN YALECREST BLOWN OUT

  During the 200 year rainstorm and floods in the Salt Lake City neighborhoods, Miller Park, in

Yalecrest between 1500 East and 1700 East, received much of the water that ran off the foothills into

Red Butte Creek.  Essentially, it blew out the Creek and tons of dirt were scoured out of Miller Park.  The result is a further destabilized bank and slope that is the back yard for some of the most expensive homes in Salt Lake City.  Before, the adjacent homes had to worry about fire.  Now they have to worry about slides.  Several years ago, Salt Lake City, in one of its most questionable actions, cut down 200 old trees that helped stabilize the banks and replaced them with small trees and bushes.  Most have died and the recent flood scoured them out.  Several structures have been destroyed including part of a culvert that blew out.  The walls that protect some of the banks are also at risk due to lack of maintenance.  Jim Webster, Chair of Friends of Miller Park, has submitted an application to help stabilize the walls.  Jim Webster also built many of the walls decades ago when he was chair of Yalecrest Community Council.  

  Hopefully, the City will step up and ensure that the slopes will stay in place.  I hope that this is a lesson on not cutting down trees.  The City will now have a much more expensive project to fix Miller Park.

WHY I AM RUNNING FOR OFFICE PUBLISHED

 Why I am running for office published in the Salt Lake Tribune. ttp://www.sltrib.com/opinion/5528393-155/george-chapman-why-i-am-running

JULY 27, 2017

WHY NOT TELL BAD GUYS THAT THEY WILL GO TO JAIL

LET OUT OF JAIL AFTER ATTACKING COP TO KILL

EARLY VOTING AVAILABLE AND BALLOTS ARE IN MAIL

SLCO WANTS MORE STREETCAR, NOT PUBLIC SAFETY

UTA PRIORITY SHOULD BE MOST RIDERS FOR MONEY

STATE STREET MASSAGE PARLOR FOCUS OF SHUTDOWN

WHY NOT TELL BAD GUYS THAT THEY WILL GO TO JAIL

  The big summit of Utah elected leaders that was to solve the crime in the homeless area just ended.  And they are not announcing what they are going to do.  They want to surprise the criminals and drug cartels that essentially control the Rio Grande area.  The SLC Mayor told Fox13Now that “We need jail beds and we don’t have jail beds.  We need treatment beds and we don’t have treatment beds.”  That is an understatement.  And Speaker Hughes said that he doesn’t want to give away the plans to the criminals that he insists are being targeted.  But there is no indication that the Salt Lake County DA will receive enough funding to ensure that the criminals stay in jail for more than a few hours.  (See story below.)  But since the criminals are still operating in the Rio Grande area, around

State Street and North Temple, it doesn’t make sense to hold back while they are still operating.  If there are 200 drug dealers in the Rio Grande area, most of whom are addicts, they should be arrested and thrown in jail now.  There should be enough funding to have the DA keep them in jail and put into jail treatment.  The County jail already has 180 beds that are used for drug treatment.  With adequate funding, the jail can keep the drug addicts and dealers locked up NOW.  They need to be locked up now.  And the County and the City and the State shouldn’t use excuses like “We don’t want to tell the criminals what our plans are.”  It sounds too much like “We don’t want to pit neighborhoods against neighborhoods.”

LET OUT OF JAIL AFTER ATTACKING COP TO KILL

  A recent killing occurred in the Rio Grande area, not the last one, but a recent one and it is a clear indication of the problem in Salt Lake County.  The killer, a Mr. Kegler, was recently released from a few days in jail after pleading guilty to “trying to assault a police officer in Salt Lake City”.  In reality, the DA did not have enough money to fully prosecute a person who was assaulting a cop so the DA got the man to plead guilty of “trying to assault a police officer” with just a few days in jail.  Anyone who is ready and willing to assault a police officer, is better than even money, going to try to seriously assault anyone else.  And due to the lack of adequate public safety funding in Salt Lake County, the DA did not and does not have the ability to prosecute and keep in jail, the threats to our County, our citizens and our taxpayers.  It is not the DA’s fault.  It is a responsibility of Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams.  So an innocent man is dead because Mayor McAdams has not placed adequate priority on public safety in Salt Lake County.  And, as former Senator Urquhart has claimed, drugs are essentially legal in Salt Lake County.  It is the perfect storm for drugs and drug dealers.  Every law abiding citizen

in the County is at risk.  I urge everyone reading this to complain to the Salt Lake County Council.  Their emails are on the right.

EARLY VOTING AVAILABLE AND BALLOTS ARE IN MAIL

  Early voting is now available at the SLCO Government Center #South Rm1-850 2001 S. State St (100 E) from 8:00 am-5:00 pm (M-F), July 17-August 14.  All eligible voters may vote early at any of the early voting locations listed below.  Note that the offices below will only be open W-F and with the times noted.  Early voting will take place on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays between August 2nd-11th at the following locations and hours: 

(W-F) River's Bend Sr. Center, 1300 W 300 N., Salt Lake City   10:00-2:00  (W-F) Trolley Square #D-117, 600 S 700 E., Salt Lake City  11:00-7:00 

(W- F)*All evening locations will close at 5:00 pm on Friday, August 11, 2017

(W-F) Cottonwood Heights City Hall 2277 E Bengal Blvd (7600 S)Cottonwood Heights10:00-2:00 

(W-F) Draper City Hall1020 E Pioneer Rd (12450 S)Draper10:00-2:00 

(W-F) Herriman City Hall13011 S Pioneer St (6000 W)Herriman10:00-2:00 

(W-F)*Holladay City Hall4580 S 2300 E Holladay11:00-7:00 

(W-F)*Murray City Hall5025 S State St (100 E)Murray11:00-7:00 

(W- F)*Sandy City Hall10000 S Centennial Pkwy (170 W)Sandy 11:00-7:00 

(W-F ) South Jordan City Hall1600 W Towne Center Dr (10610 S)South Jordan 10:00-2:00 

(W- F)*Taylorsville City Hall2600 W Taylorsville Blvd (5320 S)Taylorsville11:00-7:00 

(W-F)  Hampton Inn & Suites W.J.3923 W Center Park Dr  (7181 S)West Jordan10:00-2:00 

(W-F)  West Valley City Hall3600 S Constitution Blvd (2700 W)West Valley10:00-2:00 

SLCO WANTS MORE STREETCAR, NOT PUBLIC SAFETY

  Salt Lake County has given UTA $4 million to double track the Sugar House streetcar (it is matched with a $2 million Federal CMAQ contribution).  But the important takeaway from this should be that Salt Lake County does not have money to adequately fund public safety and keep the drug dealers and criminals in jail.  It does have money to spend (or waste based on your opinion) on a questionable transit project that will only save a few minutes.  I think that Salt Lake County Mayor McAdams has his priorities on backwards.  And UTA should not be spending rare transit money on a project that will not result in a large increase in ridership. (see below)

UTA PRIORITY SHOULD BE MOST RIDERS FOR MONEY

  UTA seems to be accepting the $4 million from the County to be matched with the $2 million from the Federal Government to double track the Sugar House streetcar and save 5 minutes from its travel time.  But UTA has also indicated that it should be placing priority on increasing ridership and the $6 million for the streetcar will provide maybe a couple of hundred extra riders a day if any.  $6 million for more bus service should provide thousands more riders if the money is invested in routes that could use better late night service.  

  On another note, Trustee Everitt had a complaint that she received a $10,000 contribution to her campaign in Provo from a subsidiary of WW Clyde, one of the two prime contractors for the Provo BRT/TRIP.  I asked the Chair of the Board of Trustees if it might look like the Switzerland trip public relations disaster but he felt that it wasn’t important.  Trustee Everitt claimed that it was a cheap political complaint and there was nothing to the $10,000 contribution.  Time will tell if $10,000 to a Trustee will have the same repercussions as a Swiss trip.

  And finally, the internal audit of UTA showed that the pension plan is under funded at 56% and the plan of UTA is to have it fully funded by 2033.  UTA will also have much higher interest rate payments over the next few years and will be even harder pressed to increase service.

STATE STREET MASSAGE PARLOR FOCUS OF SHUTDOWN

  There has been community outrage at a supposedly obvious front for prostitution involving an Asian massage parlor around 1400 S. State.  Flyers were posted in the neighborhood warning about the prostitution and complaining about it.  The police investigated and found that there were 2 women who were not licensed and the County Health Department will work on shutting them down.  Despite claims that crime in the area has gone down, almost every community council in the area has had complaints that crime and criminal activity has gotten worse.

JULY 25, 2017

WHAT NEEDS TO BE DISCUSSED ABOUT HOMELESS

WHAT NEEDS TO BE DISCUSSED ABOUT HOMELESS

  On Wednesday, July 26, several of the most important leaders in Utah will sit down to discuss the situation around Rio Grande and the homeless population that populates the area. Over the last few years, the local news organizations have had numerous stories of the area that seems to be going downhill. The Deseret News and KSL have reported the problems and contributing factors but they don't seem to be focused on.  The many opeds also seem to be ignored.  

  Over the last five or more years, the drug dealers in the Rio Grande neighborhood have had almost free reign to sell their drugs.  SLC Police arrest them but they are out within a few hours unless they are deported or the DA has funding to increase time consuming prosecution of the dealers in order to keep them incarcerated for more than a few days.  When the DA says that he needs more prosecutors and money to prosecute, that is the most important problem that keeps the criminal element, the drug dealers, in the midst of the homeless near Rio Grande.

  The problem is visible, not just in the Rio Grande area, but also around the State Street and North

Temple motels that seem to have become crime magnets.  Although the recently passed SLC Civil Penalties ordinance may help close problem motels, if the DA does not receive sufficient funding to pursue criminals and incarcerate them, the criminals will continue to victimize the homeless, the businesses and the residents of Salt Lake County. 

  It also creates a revolving door  and low prosecution efforts for car thieves (as shown in a KSL Investigation report last year) and many other so called lower class crimes like simple assault (not really simple for the victim), prostitution, shoplifting, public drunkenness, forgery and bicycle theft.     In other words, the most important proposal to come out of a meeting that is to come up with homeless solutions should be to adequately fund the prosecution of criminals.

  The other issue that has been in the news lately, is the lack of jail beds (as Debbie Dujanovic has reported). Interestingly, the Sheriff has 180 beds at Oxbow used to treat drug and alcohol addiction and that program is many times more successful that the Operation Diversion's drug addiction services. The second most important proposal that should come out of the meeting should be to adequately fund jail beds and expand the jail drug treatment program.

  Another issue, as recently seen during a biweekly County Health Department cleanup with homeless pushing big carts of belongings away from the cleanup, is the lack of sufficient and convenient storage for the homeless. In 2010, a homeless man was killed on 400 South with all of his belongings.  The Deseret News reported it. But there are still many homeless roaming the City with all of their belongings in a cart. If they wanted to work, they can't because they have to protect the last of their belongings. The City's storage facility is full (and recently escaped the City's RDA order to close when the City Council ordered the RDA to stop the closure) and only operates during business hours.

  The third recommendation that should come out of the meeting should be enough secure storage that is conveniently accessible so that the homeless don't roam the area with big carts full of their belongings.

The storage should be available 24/7 to encourage them to look for work.

  The fourth recommendation that should come out of the meeting should be to increase the County's funding for mental health treatment.  During the recession, Salt Lake County significantly cut mental health treatment and it has not been restored. Despite efforts to pass Healthy Utah to provide a replacement, and efforts to obtain funding from the State, adequate mental health treatment used to be a County responsibility. Without adequate funding, patients will look to be medicated on drugs. The meeting should make a decision on who should adequately fund mental health treatment. There should be no more excuses.

  Finally, a recommendation should come out of the meeting to provide a path forward to build affordable housing, whether it is smaller low cost micro units that can be spread out among new apartment buildings (many of which have 100% of their units at market rate which is usually well above adjacent rentals) or other solutions. Utah should consider a standard hookup for residential buildings that allow for manufactured housing that may be able to fill some of the need for housing.  Affordable housing is not going to be a quick solution but Utah's Legislature should help provide a solution.   Hopefully the meeting with Utah leaders will result in a more realistic focusing on these issues;  insist that the DA be adequately funded to stop the revolving door at the jail; homeless storage be appropriate to allow complete removal of belongings from the sidewalks; jail treatment funding be increased; mental health treatment funding be increased; and affordable housing plan have a Statewide push.

JULY 24, 2017

WHY I AM RUNNING FOR OFFICE

SLC PARKS DYING WITHOUT WATER

CAMPAIGN BUSINESS CARD

MOST USEFUL PHONE NUMBERS IN SLC

CITY WEEKLY INTRODUCTION

UTAH MASS TRANSIT FUTURE IS BUSES

2100 S ROAD DIET SHOULD NOT BE RUSHED

PUBLIC SAFETY IS MORE THAN JAIL BEDS

TIME FOR UTA BOARD TO REFLECT RIDERS

TRANSIT SERVICE INSTEAD OF PROJECTS

BICYCLE QUESTIONNAIRE FOR CYCLINGUTAH

I APOLOGIZE FOR PUTTING SO MUCH INFORMATION ON ONE DAY BUT SO MUCH HAS

HAPPENED IN THE PAST FEW WEEKS AND THE CAMPAIGN IS IN FULL SWING (I AM

RUNNING FOR SLC COUNCIL DISTRICT 5.).  I FELT THAT I SHOULD REPEAT THE RECENTLY PUBLISHED OPEDS FROM THE PAPERS CONCERNING THE HOMELESS AND CRIME ISSUE ALONG WITH THE UTA CONCERNS.  THERE IS A LOT OF NEWS IN SLC!

WHY I AM RUNNING FOR OFFICE

  Over the last four years, I have watched the public safety issue become more desperate for the homeless and for the rest of the residents and businesses of Salt Lake City. Despite many efforts to ask for adequate public safety funding to arrest drug dealers and ensure that they stay in jail for more than a few hours, Salt Lake County does not appear to be listening.

  Five years ago, I sat in a community council meeting and the Salt Lake City Police officer that was assigned to the council explained that when he was undercover, and arrested a drug dealer, the dealer was next to him five hours later laughing as he was making another drug buy. If Salt Lake County does not fund for enough jail beds and for adequate prosecution, the jail becomes a revolving door for the criminal element that is getting increasingly bolder.

  Last year, when there were several meetings of neighbors of motels in Salt Lake City that seemed to be crime magnets, Salt Lake City Police Chief Brown finally admitted that more jail beds may be necessary. When it became obvious that the restrictions on booking criminals was creating significant problems with ensuring public safety, a report by the Salt Lake City Police made it clear, that lack of adequate public safety funding at the County level, was creating an increase in crime.

  The Salt Lake City Police Department SLCPD 2017 Jail Bookings & Restriction Effects showed how bad crime was getting in Salt Lake City. Despite successful efforts of SLCPD to reduce serious crime like homicide, robbery and burglary by 7%, over ten thousand criminals could not be arrested and booked into jail and remained on the street to threaten law abiding citizens (and the homeless that were trying to avoid criminals). The jail restrictions stopped SLCPD from arresting 8049 for drugs and open drug use, 1678 for public drunkenness, 713 for forgery, 1051 for property damage, 186 for prostitution, 3903 for retail theft, 4429 for simple assault and, 3311 for trespass." The report said "The inability to incarcerate offenders for these crimes creates an atmosphere of indifference, fosters an appearance of lawlessness, and destroys the community's trust in law enforcement and pride in their neighborhoods." Unfortunately, there have been very few complaints coming from the City Council about this serious issue. 

  The County Mayor and Council is responsible for the budget for the Sheriff to operate the jail and for the DA to effectively prosecute criminals. In addition, Salt Lake County cut mental health services almost ten  years ago and has not restored them. The hope of many of us was that Healthy Utah would have passed to fill the mental health funding gap. In addition, Healthy Utah would have provided not just basic medical care to hundreds of thousands of Utahns without adequate care, but could also help pay for drug and alcohol addiction treatment. The Sheriff has set up an addiction treatment facility in jail that is many times more successful than the treatment offered to the Operation Diversion drug addicts. But the County has not funded more than 180 beds. Unfortunately there is no mental health budget and only 180 drug treatment beds for the jail. I only saw one SLC Councilmember at the Legislature promoting Healthy Utah and no councilmembers complained about the jail restrictions until March of this year with the release of the SLCPD report. 

  My main reason for running, is I am tired of the SLC Council saying that crime is down when criminals victimize residents. Until all criminals can be arrested and booked into jail, no one should be happy about the crime rate. When residents are threatened by prostitutes, by drug dealers and by homeless and the SLCPD tells the residents that they can't arrest them, there is a big problem and the Council should be vigorously complaining. When State Street motels are raided every week by the police, there is a problem. I want SLC to stop ignoring the homeless camping and drug dealing that has spread throughout SLC.

  My other reasons for running include I want to stop the secret meetings and decisions without public hearings that the SLC Council seems to feel are appropriate. When they decided on the homeless shelter sites, they did it in secret and excused themselves by saying that they didn't want to pit neighbor against neighbor. Good decisions die behind closed doors and the so called cast in concrete decision was so bad that two of the sites had to be rescinded. The Council has also closed a golf course without a public hearing and recently approved a new bonding entity, the Central Wasatch Commission that doesn't answer to voters. 

  I am running to stop the SLC Council from approving significant tax and fee increases for water, sewer, streetcars and street maintenance. The Council has also talked about a costly parks bond that will be used to close golf courses, to be discussed after the election along with other fee increases.   I am running because I believe that SLC Public Utilities is misusing its authority to protect the canyon watershed and not building restrooms for the six million visitors a year that visit our canyons. I also believe that SLC Parks should not be overcharged for water (compared to other municipalities in the County). Because SLC Parks uses so much water for what arguably are amenities that include trees that mitigate our City's heat island and reduce pollution, Parks is charged at the highest price per gallon. Recently Parks ran out of money to water trees on the 600 East median and stopped watering City gardens. 

  Other recent issues include the City is planning on billions of dollars in transit projects in the City's proposed Transit Master Plan.  I believe that we should be focusing on better neighborhood bus service before building more questionable rail projects. I want to stop road diets that increase congestion and pollution. And I want to stop wasting millions on alley trails.

  I want to solve the problems now instead of waiting until just before an election to address these issues. I am a longtime community activist; I go to most City Council and community council meetings; I write opeds for the newspapers and a blog at georgechapman.net. I am running for SLC Council District 5 (Ballpark, Liberty Wells, East Liberty Park and Wasatch Hollow) because we deserve a Council that is more respectful of citizens, residents and voters.

SLC PARKS ARE DYING FROM LACK OF WATER

  Over the last few weeks, the Salt Lake City Council has been told that the City Parks and Open Space Department did not have money to pay for watering many of the trees in the medians that are spread throughout the City. Parks and Open Space has always had problems with maintaining the medians and other plantings in roundabouts, gardens, and areas that the City is required to maintain.

  For several years, the Sugar House Community Council complained about the trees that were allowed to die between Sugar House Park and the I80 westbound 1300 East exit and the adjacent plantings that UDOT insisted were agreed to be maintained by Salt Lake City. During the July Fourth Sugar House Park Fireworks Show, the dried out trees were accidentally set on fire and burned.

  Several years ago, Salt Lake City cut hundreds of old growth trees in Miller Park. The plan was to restore the Park in Yalecrest after the Red Butte Creek oil spill. The City spent hundreds of thousands in planting many new plants. But since then, the Park has had problems regularly watering the new plants and many have died. The Park is now full of dead plants and grass and is a significant fire threat to the adjacent expensive homes.

  Bonneville Golf Course had watering problems several years ago when the City ran out of money to set up a watering system for the complete course and the adjacent neighbors complained about the City allowing 14 acres to die back.

  These problems seem to have developed because Salt Lake City has a three tier system for charging users for water use and Salt Lake City Parks and Open Space is charged the same as regular users. So, due to their significant water use, they are charged much more for water than most other municipalities' parks and golf courses. In Salt Lake City, unfortunately, parks and open space seems to not be considered an amenity. When a City Councilman looks at the dying gardens that surround City Hall, he must feel the frustration that many of us feel about the potential death of much of our park space that we so carefully cared for. Water should not be withheld from our parks and trees. Part of the issue with golf course costs is the high charge for watering the golf courses. Some have claimed that the golf enterprise fund is threatened by the voodoo economics of high cost of Salt Lake City water.

  The City's urban forest also is threatened by the lack of adequate replacement for the 3,000 trees that the City cuts down every year. Unlike the City's requirement for developers to replace the diameter of a tree that they cut down (a 20 inch diameter tree requires planting ten 2 inch trees), Salt Lake City just plants a small tree. When the City cuts down a tree from a parking strip, the adjacent neighbors don't always want it replaced due to the City requiring too many rules for the replacement. When you look at parks in Salt Lake City, instead of seeing a diversity of tree ages, one sees mostly old trees. So our City's urban forest is threatened by lack of watering and lack of appropriate and sustainable replacement.   The urban forest provides a significant cooling effect to a city's heat island and the trees help to decrease pollution. The urban forest deserves attention, protection, and encouragement. Salt Lake City should undertake a serious discussion on whether parks and open space and golf courses deserve more appropriate water costs. Treating the City's parks the same as a business or residence ignores the importance of parks and open space. And Salt Lake City should stop forcing the City's Parks and Open Space to worry about paying a water bill which threatens the health of our urban forest.

CAMPAIGN BUSINESS CARD

GEORGE CHAPMAN SLC COUNCIL DISTRICT 5 GEORGECHAPMAN.NET  I WANT TO:

STOP SECRET MEETINGS & DECISIONS (SHELTERS,

STREETCARS, ETC)

STOP TAX INCREASES (PARKS, STREETCARS, STREETS,

SEWER, WATER)

STOP EXPENSIVE TRANSIT PROJECTS 

STOP DRUG DEALING AND HOMELESS CAMPING 

STOP ROAD DIETS THAT INCREASE CONGESTION AND

POLLUTION

STOP WASTING MILLIONS ON ALLEY TRAILS

REQUIRE SL COUNTY TO LOCK UP AND PROSECUTE DRUG

DEALERS

PROTECT WATERSHED AND BUILD CANYON RESTROOMS RESTORE BETTER NEIGHBORHOOD BUS SERVICE

SOLVE PROBLEMS NOW INSTEAD OF WAITING UNTIL ELECTION TIME

RETIRED ENGINEER, VETERAN, OPED WRITER, COMMUNITY ACTIVIST georgechapman.net

gechapman2@gmail.com PO Box 520653, SLC, UT 84152 8018677071 

USEFUL SALT LAKE CITY PHONE NUMBERS

CIVIL ENFORCEMENT 801 535 7225

(JUNK/LITTER/SIGNS/SNOW REMOVAL/WEEDS/ PROBLEM BLDGS/FENCES/GARAGE

SALES)

POLICE 801 799 3000

ADA 801 535 7976

CITY COUNCIL 801 535 7600

DRUG ACTIVITY 801 799 3784

GRAFFITI REMOVAL 801 972 7885

FORESTRY 801 972 7818

MAYOR'S OFFICE 801 535 7704

NOISE 801 580 6681

PARKS 801 972 7800

PARKING ENFORCMT 801 535 6628

PLANNING/ZONING 801 535 7700

SIDEWALK REPAIR 801 535 6934

SLC SHOPPING CARTS 801 446 7984

SMITH'S CARTS 801 759 7315

STREET REPAIRS 801 535 2345

UTA 801 743 3882

WATER/SEWER 801 483 6900

WATER/SEWER EMERG 801 483 6700

YARD/WASTE/RECYCL 801 535 6999

ANIMAL SERVICES 385 468 7387

HEALTH DEPT/PESTS 385 468 3835

CITY WEEKLY SUBMISSION

Dear Citizens of Salt Lake City,

  My name is George Chapman, and I've been an SLC resident since 2006.  Just ask the Salt Lake City Council and the SLC community councils who see me at almost all of their meetings.  It's not only the strikingly beautiful mountains that make this City better than anyplace else (I've been around the world.), but also the fact that there is plenty to do such as work with many other similarly minded people to make Salt Lake City a better place for its residents.

  I have earned a reputation as a local community activist and blogger (at georgechapman.net).  There are plenty of pressing issues facing Salt Lake, including not enough funding to maintain/water our urban trees, maintain our streets and provide appropriate neighborhood bus service.  But the most important issue to me is the lack of solutions to address the homeless/affordability crisis in our City and the related criminal activity that victimizes the homeless and businesses and residents in SLC.   I am the best candidate to represent the Fifth Council District, and I would stop the secret decisions made without public input.  Vote for me because the SLC Council should not be meeting in secret and making decisions behind closed doors.

  Thank you for reading and considering my candidacy,

George Chapman   gechapman2@gmail.com

georgechapman.net

THE FUTURE OF MASS TRANSIT IN UTAH IS BUSES

(PUBLISHED IN THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE)

  UTA completed the TRAX and FrontRunner projects a decade ahead of time which resulted in a 30% decrease in bus service. The interest cost of the debt is more than the budget for running buses. The last audit recommended that priority be given to restoring a robust• bus system.

  Utah regularly prepares a Utah Transportation Plan (UTP) laying out the proposed future projects for roads and transit. Billions in projects are planned in order to limit the growth in travel demand in order to take pressure off of roads. The Plan assumed significant federal money for transit. According to the Plan, 40+% of new funding would be used for new transit projects. Only 6% would be used for service increases. 

  Mass transit riders and taxpayers want more areas served with more frequent buses and increased service and frequency on weekends and later at night. Many think that transit should be serving riders, not cities. UTA's Board of Trustees is appointed by municipalities which want projects. Riders do not seem to be getting the attention that they should.

  Recent studies show that bus mass transit systems can be more successful and financially efficient than rail.  When comparing 10 minute rail service with 10 minute bus service, there is very little difference in public approval. Other findings from the studies are that new cars carrying more than several persons can be more efficient than a rail system. Rail does provide the permanence that can encourage investment and justify loans from financial entities. But destination is an important part of the equation for rail success. 

  A recent problem between UTA and Salt Lake City is who will pay for the expensive airport TRAX reconfiguration. The SLC Airport wanted a fancy design and a rail on a bridge but refused to allow Utah law to be changed to use some of the billions in airport passenger fees (which other cities use for mass transit). If UTA is forced to pay for it, since UTA does not have the money now, which county taxpayers will pay for the project?

  Studies show that increased bus service can result in ridership increases of up to 67%. In addition, new technology is providing a cost efficient bus potential that can use a bus lane at a traffic light and a traffic light that changes to green for a bus, when a bus comes to the intersection. This is called an enhanced bus or BLIP (Bus Lane Intersection Priority). It can be as fast as a bus rapid transit (BRT) but it only costs $1.5 million per mile versus $15 per mile for a BRT. Except at the lights, traffic lanes are not taken from cars. Buses seem to be where UTA should be focusing their future plans on, especially if funding will continue to be constrained.

  Because rail systems drain money from bus service, UTA should stop planning, building or extending rail lines until future funding can be assured.  UTA should focus on using buses to increase ridership.    The future of mass transit in Utah is service. When the next bus is an hour away, people won't ride mass transit. When it takes an hour to get to a destination instead of 15 minutes, people won't ride mass transit. When there is no transit service, people won't ride mass transit. The best and most cost effective way to increase mass transit ridership is through bus service increases. That is why mass transit should first focus on the least expensive system, buses. Then when ridership develops, BRT and rail can be justified.

PUBLIC SAFETY IS MORE THAN JAIL BEDS (PUBLISHED IN DESERET

NEWS)

  Recently, Sheriff Jim Winder presented a proposal to move Salt Lake County jail inmates to other counties' jails. Unfortunately, as the Sheriff pointed out, the potential 300 extra beds will not necessarily result in stopping the revolving door of criminals going in and out of jail on a regular basis.   The other issue that needs to be addressed is the inadequate funding for the DA to prosecute the criminals. District Attorney Sim Gill's office screens 17,500 felonies a year. When Operation Diversion criminals were sent to the jail, the efforts to ensure that they stayed in jail for more that a few days overwhelmed the office. Most of the DA's prosecutors have caseloads of 150 cases. The recommended caseload is under 100 per prosecutor. Some prosecutors have caseloads over 200! To adequately and effectively prosecute felonies and misdemeanors and keep criminals in jail for more than a few hours requires more funding for the DA, not just funding for jail beds. If you ask the DA what he needs, he will say that Salt Lake County needs 18 new prosecutors and 500 beds. But the County Council is adamant that the DA has enough prosecutors. When 95% of cases are pled out without a trial, that is a sign that we need to hire more prosecutors.

  The main reason for more jail beds is to lock up the drug dealers that are in jail for an average of about 4 hours. Despite claims that Salt Lake County jail has been overwhelmed by the Legislature's Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) that decreased penalties for drug crimes, drug dealing is a felony and should not be affected by the JRI. The short time in jail for drug dealers has been complained about by law enforcement for over five years, well before the JRI. 

  The best reason to focus on drug dealers is because if the dealers are not locked up and removed from the streets (for much more than a few hours or weeks), they will ensure that addicts get addicted and stay addicted. Spending hundreds of millions of dollars on drug treatment is wasted when drugs are not just easy to get, but are pushed at graduates of addiction treatment programs. Police are now relegated to confiscating drugs when they are used openly.  

  Another public safety issue is the inadequate mental health funding in Salt Lake County. During the recession, the County's mental health budget was significantly decreased and given to a private company. Many have complained that adequate funding has not been restored. The Sheriff has said that up to 80% of his jail inmates have mental health issues (which can include addiction). Efforts to encourage the Legislature to pass Healthy Utah to help provide adequate funding for addiction and mental health treatment failed. The result is, even with jail beds, those individuals that need mental health treatment are quickly released to the street where they often self medicate with heroin or stronger drugs. 

  In the recent Salt Lake City Police Department 2017 Jail Bookings & Restriction Effects, the restrictions by the jail to limit bookings showed that the number in 2016 that could not be booked included 8049 for drugs, 1678 for drunkenness, 713 for forgery, 1051 for property damage, 186 for prostitution, 3903 for retail theft, 4429 for simple assault and 3311 for trespass.  The 2015 arrests were 9772 but the 2016 arrests were limited to 7368 due to the new rules put in place early last year. The report said "The inability to incarcerate offenders for these crimes creates an atmosphere of indifference, fosters an appearance of lawlessness, and destroys the community's trust in law enforcement and pride in their neighborhoods."•

  Until Salt Lake County adequately funds public safety and provides appropriate funding for the DA and for mental health treatment, 1000 jail beds won't help. Public safety is more than jail beds.  

2100 SOUTH ROAD DIET SHOULD NOT BE RUSHED

  A month ago, Salt Lake City Transportation recommended that 2100 South be considered for a road diet (going from four lanes to three lanes with a center turn lane). Salt Lake City has decided to resurface 2100 South in July and would like to reduce the number of accidents (mainly rear enders) that occur on the road by reducing travel lanes. 

  The community is upset about the potential decrease in travel lanes due to the concern about increasing congestion and pollution. This is similar to the concern generated in the East Bench area years ago when SLC decided to do a road diet on Sunnyside (a decision that the City Council stopped). In addition, UDOT has designated 2100 South as an "alternate route"• during the reconstruction of I80 and Foothill/Parleys Way interchanges. Some residents on 2100 South seem to be for it due to the perception that reducing travel lanes will increase their quality of life.

  Although reducing traffic lanes should decrease accidents, the average daily traffic (ADT) is close to

20,000 ADT. It was almost 19,000 in 2015 and it has been going up about 1000 each year. According to Road Diet Conversions: A Synthesis of Safety Research May 2013 "Case study and modeling results suggest that added caution is warranted before implementing road diets when volumes approach 1,700 vehicles per peak hour or are in the range of 20,000 to 24,000 vehicles per day (HSIS, 2010; Knapp and Giese, 2001; Welch, 1999). "• Earlier studies suggest that 15,000 to 17,500 ADT be the maximum volume of vehicles for consideration for a reduction in travel lanes. Almost all studies suggest further analysis at the upper ADT levels to justify a road diet. Interestingly, City Transportation officials did not know the ADT levels of 2100 South (the latest 2100 S. numbers came from trafficcount@utah.gov - a UDOT service).

  The safety aspect is important but most accidents are minor rear enders and not the high impact severe crashes that should suggest a road diet. The present 30 MPH speed limit can be encouraged (like on Sunnyside) with speed detection signs. 

  Road diets may decrease crashes but it depends on other stop and go traffic. If transit buses and trash pickup use the road (they do), crashes, congestion and pollution can increase (as they did on 1300 East with the road diet). Left hand turning from side streets and pedestrian crossings may be impossible due to constant traffic volume.

  Bicyclists seem to like the idea that they may get bicycle lanes in one of the proposals but many bicyclists like the four lanes since they are allowed to use the right hand lane and cars must provide 3 feet space when passing. 

  Road diets can work if interested parties, users and the neighborhood agree on the project; it does not increase pollution; it does not disrupt the neighborhood; and it increases the quality of life and safety of the neighborhood. But allowing just one month to comment on the proposals is not going to result in any agreement. It seems that the proposal is planned to increase hate and discontent. If a fair and appropriate analysis is done that indicates that a four lane to three lane conversion is feasible, studies recommend "a more detailed operational analysis of the existing and expected through and turning volumes"• (Federal Highway Administration Road Diet Informational Guide 2014). The decision should not be rushed.

  Salt Lake City should not be rushing the decision and deciding something that the community feels is important without more public engagement. SLC would be smart to not do any roadwork on 2100 South until after the UDOT I80 work is finished.

(Written with Craig Carter)

TIME FOR UTA BOARD TO REFLECT TRANSIT RIDER

A version of this was sent to SLC Councilmembers

  Over the last few years, complaints about Utah Transit Agency (UTA) service has significantly increased. In the process to get enough money for the TRAX line extensions, UTA had to cannibalize bus service. Salt Lake County bus service decreased 30%. 

  The result has been minimal (hourly) service at night with just handful of bus lines. Weekend service also is minimal. For people who have to work downtown outside of regular hours, they have to drive personal vehicles or use a very expensive car sharing app. When employees of KUTV 2 have to start work at 4 AM, and they are not paid star reporter salaries, they can't afford to park downtown. They have no access to mass transit service and they have to park a mile away and walk to the downtown studio! When people want to access the many entertainment venues in downtown Salt Lake City and other cities in Northern Utah, they have to drive because mass transit service is not available, conveniently, when shows end, if at all.

  The problem goes back to who is UTA supposed to serve. Many municipalities have been using UTA to push for rail transit projects with the assumption that rail stations will increase property values and encourage development. Almost all Trustees on the UTA Board are appointed by municipalities' mayors and councils. Only one or two Trustees consistently ride UTA on a regular basis. They are the ones that can confirm that service, outside of regular hours, is lacking. UTA says that UTA is supposed to serve the municipalities. But riders, taxpayers and residents want UTA to serve transit riders!

  When municipalities push for projects like the $100 million downtown streetcar, that equates to 50 new or better bus routes. A bus route's operation ranges from one to two million per route per year. The streetcar operational cost is two times that.   

  If vou ask voters and taxpayers whether they want a new rail line downtown or 50 new bus routes, they will say that they want better service and the new bus routes (especially on the west side which lacks service even more than the east side). If taxpayers are asked how they would like to spend $100 million, they would say that they want better service. In other words, the UTA Board of Trustees is now set up to encourage projects over service.

  Interestingly, it took two public votes for Salt Lake citizens to approve TRAX downtown. The first effort failed. Voters are not being allowed to now decide if they want to spend more money on projects. The Utah Transportation Plan has billions in rail projects that municipalities insist are desperately needed. New funding is supposed to have 40% go to projects and 6% go to service increases. Voters, transit riders and taxpayers are being left out of the decision making.

  Salt Lake City recently asked for a new representative on the Board of Trustees. Apparently the City's appointed person, Keith Bartholomew, had questioned the $65 million airport TRAX line that Salt Lake City is insisting UTA pay for (the City has told the City Council that UTA will pay for it). 

  Salt Lake City Mayor Biskupski has nominated Senator Jim Dabakis to be the City's representative on the Board of Trustees. If he pushes for UTA to pay for the airport TRAX out of UTA tax receipts, bus service will suffer again. Interestingly, another Board appointment is scheduled to be approved by the County Council. She is Gina Chamness who is the City Manager of Holladay and recently worked for Salt Lake City. So the Board seems to be stacked to have UTA pay for the airport TRAX.

  The push for projects is still alive and well on the UTA Board of Trustees. Service seems to be suffering and UTA's future plans deserve a fair discussion which requires transit rider and service proponents on the UTA Board of Trustees. Senator Dabakis is not a transit rider and he should not be approved by the City Council. The UTA Board should reflect a balanced viewpoint and effectively represent transit riders. Mayor Biskupski should nominate a recognized transit rider proponent to the UTA Board.

TRANSIT SERVICE INSTEAD OF PROJECTS

  I was concerned about some of the statements made by UTA General Manager Jerry Benson in the Salt Lake Tribune's recent story (Without big tax hike, UTA warns planned expansion, projects not feasible). Mr. Benson said that "It's really not our job to advocate or campaign [for a tax hike],...It's our job to inform policymakers and the public so they can make good decisions." I am concerned that the further comments by Mr. Benson cross the line. I think that Jerry Benson is a great manager and the best possible manager for UTA due to his expertise in operations. 

  After expressing his concern about lack of funding for service and projects, he stated that UTA has given its board members talking points about the funding gaps for projects and service to bring to the attention of the cities, counties and other elected officials who appoint them. I remember the Board Chair asking that Board members reach out and talk to their appointment municipalities. But I don't remember a Board discussion on encouraging a tax increase which seems to be in the written talking points! It would seem to be more appropriate for the Board members and Chair to encourage a tax increase which Mr. Benson implies is needed to increase projects and service.

  In the last Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) from the Wasatch Front Regional Council (WFRC is composed of mayors and leaders from Salt Lake, Davis and Weber County), most of any new tax increase, 40%, will be going to questionable projects. Only 6% of new taxes will go to service increases. In addition, as Lee Davidson pointed out in his story, there are many streetcar, BRT and rail projects that are costly (and have not had the UTA audit's recommended cost benefit analysis). The RTP also has an airport high speed rail station, the Alta-Summit County connector (tunnel and rail), the $3 billion Draper to Lehi TRAX, 3 rail projects in Salt Lake City (at $100 million each) and many BRTs (at $15 million per mile) instead of more appropriate, and as effective, enhanced buses (at $1.5 million per mile). 

  The RTP is essentially a wish list. Streetcars (at $45 million per mile) are not a cost effective transit option (according to a Congressional Research Service report Streetcars: FAQ). If voters were given a choice of spending $100 million on a streetcar or creating 20 plus new bus routes (at about a $1 million annual operating expense) and extending late night service, they would overwhelmingly favor more bus service. Creating a robust bus system will generate more ridership fares than just the new bus route generates.  Much of the pressure for these questionable projects come from construction companies that stand to make billions. During WFRC discussion, very few members of the public were aware of and commented on the proposals. Another concern is that projects should not be based on increased taxes or new bonding or fees. The last audit recommended that UTA identify and specify reliable revenue sources to cover operating costs before future projects' construction begins. That should not be interpreted to mean wishing for a tax increase.

  The last UTA audit pointed out that rail expansion decreased bus service around 30%. The audit recommended, that before building more projects, UTA should restore a robust bus system before even thinking of more projects. When you can't go to a downtown show or game or anywhere late at night and rely on mass transit to take you there and back, mass transit doesn't work. UTA should focus on increasing frequency and late night and weekend bus service and commit, in writing, to not plan or build new projects until a robust bus system is operating.  

  UTA could benefit from a more open discussion and debate about the future of mass transit in Salt Lake County instead of using wish lists to advocate for higher taxes.  Recent studies show that bus mass transit systems can be more successful and financially efficient.

TRANSIT SERVICE INSTEAD OF PROJECTS (PUBLISHED IN THE

DESERET NEWS)

UTA pushes projects over service 

  Over the last few years, complaints about Utah Transit Agency (UTA) service has significantly increased. In the process to get enough money for the TRAX line extensions, UTA had to cannibalize bus service. Salt Lake County bus service decreased 30 percent.

  The result has been minimal (hourly) service at night with just a handful of bus lines. Weekend service also is minimal. For people who have to work downtown outside of regular hours, they have to drive personal vehicles or use a very expensive car-sharing app. When people want to access the many entertainment venues in downtown Salt Lake City and other cities in northern Utah, they have to drive because mass transit service is not available, conveniently, when shows end, if at all.

  The problem goes back to who is UTA supposed to serve. Many municipalities have been using UTA to push for rail transit projects with the assumption that rail stations will increase property values and encourage development. Almost all trustees on the UTA Board are appointed by the mayors and councils of cities that want projects. Only one or two trustees consistently ride UTA on a regular basis.

They are the ones who can confirm that service, outside of regular hours, is lacking. UTA says that UTA is supposed to serve the municipalities. But riders, taxpayers and residents want and deserve UTA to serve transit riders!

  When municipalities push for projects like the $100 million downtown streetcar, that equates to 50 new or better bus routes. A bus route's operation ranges from 1 million to 2 million per route per year. The streetcar operational cost is two times that.

  If you ask voters and taxpayers whether they want a new rail line downtown or 50 new bus routes, they will say that they want better service and the new bus routes (especially on the west side, which lacks service even more than the east side). If taxpayers are asked how they would like to spend $100 million, they would say that they want better service. In other words, the UTA Board of Trustees is now set up to encourage projects over service.

  Interestingly, it took two public votes for Salt Lake citizens to approve TRAX downtown. The first effort failed. Voters are not being allowed to now decide if they want to spend more money on projects. The Utah Transportation Plan has billions in rail projects that municipalities insist are desperately needed. New funding is supposed to have 40 percent go to projects and 6 percent go to service increases.

Voters, transit riders and taxpayers are being left out of the decision-making.

  Salt Lake City recently asked for a new representative on the Board of Trustees. Apparently the city's appointed person, Keith Bartholomew, had questioned the $65 million airport TRAX line that Salt Lake City is insisting UTA pay for (the city has told the City Council that UTA will pay for it).   The push for projects is still alive and well on the UTA Board of Trustees. Service seems to be suffering, and UTA's future plans deserve a fair discussion that requires transit rider and service proponents on the UTA Board of Trustees. Sen. Jim Dabakis is not a transit rider, and he should not be approved by the City Council. The UTA Board should reflect a balanced viewpoint and effectively represent transit riders. Mayor Jackie Biskupski should nominate a recognized transit rider proponent to the UTA Board

BICYCLE QUESTIONNAIRE FOR CYCLINGUTAH

  My vision for SLC is based on my former life as an avid bicyclist, riding 10 miles a day, including to work for the first few years.  I grew up in Utah and I enjoy hiking, running and biking in the foothills.  I want to see a safer bicycling City.  I do not support the SLC Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan since it assumes that we will have over a hundred million dollars to spend on it.  A financially constrained and realistic plan would include narrower center turn lanes (if at all) and wider bicycle lanes.  I do not support cycle tracks (separated bike paths on roads) since they are not maintained well.  I remember walking past one that wasn't cleaned of broken ceramics for over a week!  And I also remember the 300 South cycle track that was flooded.  Bicyclists have shown me pictures of trucks with their ramps crossing the cycle track!!  There are some streets in SLC without driveways (like on Richmond, 700 East - in spots) that would be amenable to an effective cycle track but the cost is so much higher that I believe that the cycle tracks should be considered after a better bicycling path system is provided (wider bike lanes instead of wasteful center turn lanes).  If you want to see nonsensical and useless center turn lanes that take away from potential wider and safer bike lanes, check out Foothill, 700 East, 900 East (south of 3300 South but there are some spots on 900 East that do not need center turn lanes).  There is also an argument that streets with a 30 MPH speed limit may benefit more from a super wide bike lane instead of a little used center turn lane except at cross streets. 

  I also believe that the lack of road maintenance affects bicyclists more than vehicles.  A safe bicycling community should be providing safe streets, especially near curbs for safe bicycle riding.  SLC Council took away $8.4 million several years ago from street maintenance and used it for a salary increase.  I consider that unconscionable.  Bicyclists deserve more respect.

  I want to encourage bicycling in the canyons with year round bus service focusing on hiking and biking.  We have been fighting for several years to get UTA to provide this obvious tourist and mountain biking amenity/draw but UTA is holding back due to money issues.  We are fighting for the money from the Legislature and from other sources. 

  I do not like the law against riding a bicycle on the sidewalks downtown.  I want it rescinded.     I also would like to complete the Parleys Trail (although I am very upset about the narrow path next to the (big rig noise) I80 freeway.  I want to have SLCounty provide funding to complete the trail through

South Salt Lake City to the Jordan River.  I also want to have a wide bike path for the 9 line bike trail (without losing road lanes).  I believe that Senator Weiler's law to give bicyclists a 3 foot passing is sufficient for safety in many cases. 

  I am also upset about spending a million dollars on the McClelland Trail that could have been better spent on road improvements in the area.  And of course, maintenance is still a problem since the plantings in the trail weren't watered and they died and now goatheads are in the trail!!! Maintenance is a big issue with bike trails.  There is also seems to be a priority to focus and spend money on bicycling in parks when bicyclists use streets more.  I think that streets should receive more priority.  I am against streetcars and the push by some in SLC to spend hundreds of millions on streetcars.  Bicyclists should be fighting this plan since they hurt/cause bicyclists to crash.  In one study, over 50% of Portland bicyclists have crashed on Portland's streetcar rails!

  When I came back to Utah after I retired, I biked several times a week (from 13th South) up Millcreek Canyon (to Log Haven) and I loved the quiet back roads.  I still think the quiet side streets are better than the main streets for recreational biking.  I want Salt Lake County to provide canyon shoulder paving for bicyclists that are well out of the lane of traffic.  That is where a cycle track (with some cutouts for parking) would be appropriate.  There should be a priority to provide safe biking (and running and walking) in the canyons!!  The shoulder paving doesn't have to be as expensive since it is for bicycles (if a cycle track is provided to keep vehicles out of the way.  The path also has to be wide enough for 2 bicycles. 

  The biggest issue for cyclists in SLC is the lack of street maintenance funding tha allows potholes to proliferate near the curb and in the path of bicyclists.  It is especially bad near bus stops.  SLC streets needs $40 million per year to maintain streets.  SLC gives it less than $10 million (plus they took away the $8.4 million extra for the salary increase a few years ago).  This is basic infrastructure!  I want to restore the $8.4 million to streets and add another $10 million.  I would like to have the taxpayers vote by mail on a tax increase to add $12 million to the $18 million and have it locked up to $30 million that could not be taken away for anything else.

  But another important issue is the bicycle theft issue.  I hope to get SLC Police and Senator Weiler to work together on a Utah law that requires registration of bicycles for a nominal cost ($5?) when sold new or used.  SLCO also needs to provide funding for the DA to prosecute bicycle theft.  Bike thieves get off almost always with less than a day of jail time.   

  I want to see wider and safer bike paths along major roadways.  I do not like parking indentations and parking strips on 2100 South.  Bike paths should be available but it requires a long term discussion not a rushed push like the 2100 South proposal that recently caused a big rucus.  1300 East is still not a safe bicycling route and I am not sure that the curb and gutter project will help.  I want money spent, not on alleyway trails but on street improvements for bicycles.  I do not appreciate the efforts so far to put in bike paths along with 45 degree parking (500 South and east of the State Capitol).  I also want to see some way of providing water for bicyclists and runners and pets on bicycling routes (to Tooele, Parleys another potential cycle track or adjacent bikeway, etc).

  I am against the Life on State Envision Utah study with its roundabouts and reduction in speed.  I do not believe that the community would allow it and it would result in a fight like the recent 2100 South debacle.  State Street has a wasteful unused center strip that should be removed, keeping the lanes of traffic, and adding a wide bicycle lane on each side.  I am also making it part of my campaign to increase the safety of State Street.  One of the reasons that UTA removed the State Street 1300 South bus stop is that there were attempted thefts of bicycles from the bus when they stopped there.  That is still a problem.  I want to keep and protect the wide sidewalks along State Street and hope to use the new RDA area on State Street to provide better Complete Streets planning with form based zoning that encourages mixed use, mixed income buildings.  The Life on State plan is very costly and, based on past experience, costly plans tend to drop bicycles and pedestrian amenities (although expensive and bicycle barrier bulbouts are being considered - I am against bulbouts since they are a hazard for bicyclists.) when implemented. 

  I think that it would make sense to carve out a permanent appropriation for bicycling amenities from the budget so that it is clear what can be spent for bicycling every year instead of trying to scrape up "some" funding for a project.

  I am against strengthening the Complete Streets Ordinance.  SLC has never really implemented it and a good example is the Sugar House Circulation and Amenities Plan (SHCAP) and the Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan (PBP).  The first draft of the SHCAP recommended 12 foot wide sidewalks.  Unfortunately, we couldn't convince the City to put in wider sidewalks and the result is McClelland with their 4 foot sidewalks and a wasteful parking strip.  We are working to convert half the street to a bicycle and pedestrian path.  The PBP focused on bicycles and I feel that it gave almost no attention to pedestrians.  I still think wider sidewalks support safe bicycling on sidewalks but SLC has a tendency to put in bike unfriendly hazards like posts, planters, etc.  

  I am not familiar with 10,000 Wheels and would look at the effect on individual streets.  I do not support road diets that increase pollution.  I want to decrease pollution.  I should also note that I support more funding to sustain and grow our urban forest since it also decreases pollution.  SLC cuts 3000 trees a year and does not replace them in a sustainable manner.  I am against more plantings in the medians since the medians would be better used as space for bike lanes on the side of the roads.  Also SLC does not have the money to effectively water many of the medians and roundabouts.  I want a Countywide plan that is realistic.  I do not like what we have and it does not have a schedule and cost for implementation of a comfortable County bicycle plan.  Note that WFRC is drafting a plan that includes active transportation but it appears to focus on expensive projects instead of quickly implementing safe bicycling streets.  An expensive (an not well maintained) cycle track takes away from 10 times more wide and safer bicycle lanes.

  I do not believe that the 2015 Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan will ever be implemented due to its cost.  It should have been priced out and a realistic plan developed.  Wider bike lanes first and then, once all roads in the City have them, and if maintenance is available, then consider building cycle tracks.  Removing lanes of traffic on congested roads or providing more crossings is going to increase pollution and I am against that.  Bicyclists do care about pollution.

  I did ride a bicycle.  I still have one.  Unfortunately, I cannot really ride it due to a medical issue.  I do try but I can only go a block or two.  I try.  I miss it.  I wish that more people would realize that bicycling can be made so much safer so easily and quickly except for people who want to build expensive projects that take away from the potential for many more times the routes that this area deserves.  I especially want to encourage more use of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail (We also desperately need restrooms along the Trails.)  And I also would like an educational effort to encourage dogs to be on leashes since I keep hearing of issues/conflicts with bicyclists and dogs.  I look forward to seeing an explosion of bicycling in Salt Lake City.

JULY 15, 2017 

CANDIDATES RUNNING FOR SLC COUNCIL DISTRICTS 1, 3, 5, 7

MEET THE DISTRICT 5 & 7 CANDIDATES JULY 27

WESTMINSTER

OTHER CANDIDATE MEET AND GREETS

10 CANDIDATE PROFILES OUT OF 19

SLC COUNCIL ORDERS ADU ORDINANCE TO BE BROUGHT TO IT

CANDIDATES RUNNING FOR SLC COUNCIL DISTRICTS 1, 3, 5, 7

  This is the list of candidates from the slcgov.com Recorder's Office.

Atkin, David C. 564 North 1100 West Salt Lake City Utah 84116801-953-0932dcatkin@comcast.ne

Rogers, James 1358 West Sunset DriveSalt Lake CityUtah 84106801-891-

6392jamesrogers@utahsign.com

Jones, Arnold M. 1250 Oakley StreetSalt Lake CityUtah 84116801-3475153arnold.matthew.jones@gmail.com

Garbett, Jeffrey V. 273 East Capitol StreetSalt Lake City Utah 84103801-300-

7610jeffvdbgarbett@gmail.com

Fukushima, Brian 790 Northshore Drive Salt Lake City Utah 84103801-4501436boardrider1@msn.com 

Cushman, Laura474 7th AvenueSalt Lake City Utah 84103415-308-3678laura.cushman@gmail.com

Carroll, Phil 89 'G' StreetSalt Lake City Utah 84103801-573-7009altapac@aol.com

Wharton, Chris123 'C' Street, Apartment 1Salt Lake City Utah 84103801-9106795chris@chriswhartonlaw.com

Hansen, Vance530 Wood AvenueSalt Lake City Utah 84105801-556-9024vhansen@utahweb.com

Rosenberg, Benjamin Noah 1073 East 1300 South Salt Lake City Utah 84105801-2300194noah@voterosenberg.org

Goode-Rogozinski, Carol823 S. 1000 E. Salt Lake City Utah 84102801-524-0993goodec2003@yahoo.com

Chapman, George1186 South 1100 East Salt Lake City Utah 84105801-867-

7071gechapman2@gmail.com 

Mendenhall, Erin 1145 East Laird Avenue Salt Lake City Utah 84105801-503-

9181erinforcouncil@gmail.com

Haynes, Ben 1243 East Brickyard RoadSalt Lake City Utah84106435-6022944jbenjaminh92@gmail.com

Sills, Jason1855 South 1100 East Salt Lake City Utah84105801-596-3229jasonsills@gmail.com

Sessions, Benjamin1715 South 900 EastSalt Lake City Utah84105801-910-

4052voteforsessions@gmail.com

Smith, Abe2186 Lincoln StreetSalt Lake City Utah84106801-449-0401vote4ags@gmail.com

Finch, Samantha L. 828 East Nibley Circle Salt Lake City Utah84106801-6513110sfinch4slcd7@gmail.com

Fowler, Amy824 East 2700 SouthSalt Lake City Utah84106801-824-9698voteamyfowler@gmail.com 

MEET THE DISTRICT 5 & 7 CANDIDATES JULY 27 WESTMINSTER

  Several community councils are having a meet the District 5 and 7 SLC Council candidates informal gathering at Westminster College on July 27th from 6 to 8 PM.  It is at the Jewett Center which is on 1700 South.  Parking is in the garage that is just west of the Jewett Center.  The plan is to allow the candidates a chance to speak for a few minutes to an audience in the theater then move to the hallways where the candidates can speak to individuals and groups and pass out literature and signs.  This is an important chance to meet candidates in District 5 and 7 before August.  Ballots go out on July 25.

OTHER CANDIDATE MEET AND GREETS

  Benjamin Sessions has a meet and greet/community discussion at Bikram Yoga (1924 S 1100 E) on July 17, Monday, at 6:30-7:30PM, please RSVP at 801 896 4637 or voteforsessions@gmail.com.

Benjamin Sessions is a candidate for SLC District 7 and is on the Sugar House Chamber Board and on the Sugar House Community Council.  This is a good place to discuss issues that also will be passed to the Sugar House Community Council.  Traffic on 1100 East (avoiding the road diet on 1300 East, parking in the area (including the Post Office parking), pollution due to congestion and over development, potential extension of the streetcar up 1100 East (at $100 million local taxpayer cost), Parks bond, streets maintenance, etc.  These are issues that should be discussed.  If you can think of others, please attend and discuss them.  If you are having a meet and greet, let me know and I will try to publicize it.

CANDIDATE PROFILES

  Any candidate is welcome to send me their information which I will put on this blog.  I realize that there are concerns about fairness and I think that I have covered them by asking for permission first before posting the information and not putting anything on without permission of the candidate.  I want to encourage public engagement and even if it means giving my fellow candidates attention on this blog, I think that it will make SLC a better City.  So far, these are the flyers and/or information that candidates have given me:

Phil Carroll, Salt Lake City Council District 3

I have been intimately involved in the issues facing our community and have consistently worked to make our Avenues neighborhood a better place for more than 30 years.  I have served two terms as Chair of the Greater Avenues Community Council. For 20 years I have organized the Memory Grove Clean-Up.  I’ve chaired the Avenues Street Fair. I’ve chaired the SLC Transportation Advisory Board. For over two years I volunteered weekly at The Road Home mentoring the homeless. In 1995 I started the Utah non-profit Community Housing Services which acquires and builds affordable housing. CHS has 1200 units with 200 affordable apartments in District 3.  I’ve served as President of the National Affordable Housing Management Association. I have extensive background in affordable housing, providing the U.S. Congress testimony on affordable housing issues. 

My wife Carlisle and I have lived in our 1914 bungalow at 89 ‘G’ Street since 1987.  Our children, Peter and Lena, were both born and raised in the Avenues. 

My experience, qualifications, and education along with my dedication to our Avenues community have prepared me to represent District 3 on the Salt Lake City Council.     

Immaculate Heart College, BA

University of Utah, MS

Western State University, JD

Phil, Carroll, 89 'G' Street, Salt Lake City, Utah 84103 801-573-7009 altapac@aol.com

Chris Warton, SLC District 3

Background

Chris is a dedicated community activist, small business owner, and leading family and civil rights attorney. He operates his own downtown law firm offering affordable legal services to clients who could not otherwise afford an attorney. He also serves as a court-appointed advocate for children. He served two terms on the Salt Lake City Human Rights Commission, where he helped develop the state’s first non-discrimination ordinances. Chris and his husband live in the lower Avenues with their dog and two cats. Find out more about Chris at votechriswharton.com or by contacting him directly at 801-910-6795.

Reason for Running

“I’m passionate about Salt Lake City! It’s been my family’s home for generations. I love the unique character of our neighborhoods and the beauty of our natural surroundings. I want to preserve what makes our city different while working to ensure our future growth and success. I’ve served this community for years. I have the experience and the energy to be an effective advocate for District 3, and I know how to bring people together to address complex issues and build consensus.”

Issues

Sustainability – The city should continue to lead the state in green energy, public transportation, energy efficiency requirements, and clean air initiatives (including more walkable and bikeable urban planning) – all with the goal of becoming a zero waste city.

Affordable Housing – The population is exploding but we are not producing enough affordable housing to meet the demand. To avoid a housing crisis, we need to incentivize diverse and equitable housing options to promote long-term stability.

Safe Neighborhoods – Whether the issue is speeding cars or home break-ins, the solution is community policing (including more funding for our police) and making sure residents are informed, engaged, and vigilant.

Arts & Culture – With cuts to arts funding at the federal and state level, it will be up to local governments and non-profits to maintain the city’s renowned artistic and cultural scene thriving. Homelessness – Shelters alone will not solve the problem. We need collaboration between public and non-profit entities to address systemic poverty, crime prevention, mental health services, rehabilitation, housing, and job placement.

Outdoor Recreation – We must protect parks, green spaces, trails, and public lands while ensuring fair access to outdoor recreation for people and pets.

T. Christopher Wharton

Chris Wharton Law, LLC

165 South Main Street, Suite 200

Salt Lake City, UT 84111

Telephone: 801-649-3529

Chris Wharton 123 'C' Street, Apartment 1 Salt Lake City, Utah  84103 801-9106795   chris@chriswhartonlaw.com

Ben Haynes, SLC Council District 7

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, I have called Utah my home for the last 20 years. The first time I became involved in my community was during high school when I served as the junior student delegate on the Park City school board. I moved into Sugar House while studying at the University of Utah. During college, I was involved in numerous internships that ranged from an opportunity to serve in Senator Reid’s office as a communications intern to a service mission in Colombia where I helped children in rural villages learn the English language. Returning home, I joined Scott Howell’s 2012 Senate campaign and later Count my Vote, a nonpartisan campaign to increase voter participation in Utah. I believe in ensuring that all citizens have a voice and are empowered by their local government. Over the last 19 months, I traveled the country to serve as a community organizer in cities and towns in states like New Hampshire, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. 

I’ve seen and felt the everyday impact that local government has on everyday people. I’ve since returned to my home in Sugar House to get to work and fight for the neighborhood I love most.

If elected to represent District Seven on the city council, I will serve every day as an advocate for transparency within our local government. I promise to work every day promoting access to affordable housing for our community. With me as your city councilman, I will focus on increasing community engagement within neighborhoods and most importantly, keeping my constituents well informed on what the city council is up to. I guarantee to strive for open communication. I would love nothing more than to sit down with you and listen to what your concerns are.

Now, more than ever, we need young people to run for office. We need an advocate for our community. We need someone who believes it is more important to serve the community than to be re-elected. I promise to be that person for you. Can I count on you as a part of my team? Ben Haynes, 1243 East Brickyard Road, Salt Lake City Utah  84106  435-6022944  jbenjaminh92@gmail.com

Benjamin Sessions, SLC District 7:

Benjamin Sessions is a Utah Native and Sugar House resident that loves the vibrancy, walkability, and history of Sugar House.  Generations of his family members have graduated from Highland High, live in Sugar House, and have deep roots in the community.  He graduated from the University of Utah with a degree in Consumer Studies and currently works for a small business.  He is a homeowner, husband, and father.   He has a strong desire to serve his neighbors and protect his community.  He currently is on the Sugar House Community Council and Sugar House Chamber, working hard to make sure our city government works effectively.  He has a strong desire to serve his neighbors, protect our homes and businesses and improve our quality of life.

AREAS OF FOCUS

I am running for District 7 City Council because Sugar House is growing rapidly and we need to make sure that people feel safe in their homes and businesses, that our infrastructure is clean and well maintained, and that we preserve the authenticity of our neighborhoods. Safety, infrastructure, and development will be my main areas of focus for the next four years.

SAFETY - Work with the police and fire departments to make sure people feel safe in their homes. INFRASTRUCTURE - Focus on fixing our roads and parking infrastructure so that cars and bikes can move efficiently through the city and utilize the amenities that Sugar House offers.

DEVELOPMENT - Preserve the authenticity of Sugar House by supporting local businesses and making sure that development is thoughtful and complements the neighborhoods and business district.

Benjamin Sessions 1715 South 900 East Salt Lake City Utah  84105  801-9104052  voteforsessions@gmail.com

Arnold Jones, SLC Council District 1

I have worked as a licensed security guard in the Salt Lake City area in the past. When I lived in MN prior to 1997 I worked as a security guard dealing in Lower income federal housing developments where

I dealt with various types of criminal activities and drug related issues. So I have a very good understanding of how these issues affect our neighborhoods.  

I have two bachelors degrees. The first one is in Biology/chemistry and the 2nd in computer information services majoring in computer programming.   

I have decided to run for the District 1 city council seat not only to deal with issues related to Rose Park area but also SLC in general. The meetings that the Council holds should be public and not primarily behind close doors. I am not saying that there are not times where meetings should be during closed doors. 

I believe in ensuring that there is support for the local law enforcement community as a whole and that there needs to be adequate budgeting for this and that those funds need to be used for these purposes and not for other purposes. The DA office and Mayor need to be held accountable for ensuring that the funding is spent appropriately.

Public Transportation: There needs to be additional funding that is spent where needed that would be most appropriate for the citizens of SLC proper.  SLC needs increased transportation routes and shorter times between buses.  

We also need to address the homeless issue more appropriately and responsibly. There are also issues with hunger in our communities and there needs to be funding made available to address this issues as well.

Regarding the planting of more trees. This is very important as this also helps in assisting in the pollution and cooling effect of our city.  I do not think that the current powers in office understand this completely or if they do they are ignoring it.

These are just some of my primary concerns that need to have a more immediate need of addressing. Our constant community growth and small business decline in our communities are not only current issues but also issues that will be needed to addressed in the future. Dealing with recidivism regarding individuals that get our of both local jails and prison need to be addressed. If our community continues lacking in employment options this issue will only continue to grow in the future. this is not a simple issue to address and resolve. However, it does need to be addressed now and not be ignored until at the last minute.

Once again the issue of hunger, homelessness, lack of community infrastructure, not just road maintenance issues but also job creation and keeping businesses in the SLC area are important issues and will constantly need to be addressed and re-addressed to help improve them. These are not easily fixed and will probably never be completely resolved but are main core issues that affect our city and valley area as a whole.

Arnold, Jones,1250 Oakley Street, Salt Lake City, Utah 84116  801-3475153  arnold.matthew.jones@gmail.com

George Chapman SLC District 5

GEORGE CHAPMAN SLC COUNCIL D5 GEORGECHAPMAN.NET  I WANT TO:

STOP SECRET MEETINGS & DECISIONS (SHELTERS, STREETCARS, ETC)

STOP TAX INCREASES (PARKS, STREETCARS, STREETS, SEWER, WATER)

STOP EXPENSIVE TRANSIT PROJECTS 

STOP DRUG DEALING AND HOMELESS CAMPING 

STOP ROAD DIETS THAT INCREASE CONGESTION AND POLLUTION

STOP WASTING MILLIONS ON ALLEY TRAILS

REQUIRE SL COUNTY TO LOCK UP AND PROSECUTE DRUG DEALERS

PROTECT WATERSHED AND BUILD CANYON RESTROOMS

RESTORE BETTER NEIGHBORHOOD BUS SERVICE

SOLVE PROBLEMS NOW INSTEAD OF WAITING UNTIL ELECTION TIME

RETIRED ENGINEER, VETERAN, OPED WRITER, COMMUNITY ACTIVIST gechapman2@gmail.com PO Box 520653, SLC, UT 84152 8018677071  George Chapman 1186 South 1100 East, Salt Lake City, Utah 84105 801-8677071  gechapman2@gmail.com

Erin Mendenhall SLC District 5

Erin secured funding for the McLelland Trail, a two mile walking and biking trial through District 5, creating community connectivity and open space.

District 5 has experienced a 16% decrease in Part 1 crimes, including violent crimes, since Erin reinstated police bike patrol and began to facilitate community collaboration.

Erin recognizes the need for geographic equity in affordable housing, and led the creation of a $21 million fund to address this need citywide.

slcerin.com   Facebook/erinforcouncil  erin@slcerin.com

Erin Mendenhall, 1145 East Laird Avenue, Salt Lake City, Utah 84105 801-503-9181 erinforcouncil@gmail.com

Samantha Finch, SLC District 7

Your neighbor now running to become your Councilor at City Hall!

Greetings, Salt Lake City District 7!

Who am I? I am a professional, working woman who came to Utah some years ago for both the recreational and employment opportunities the state so uniquely offers. In terms of previous employment, I have been an associate for a global financial services company and a local outdoor retailer. Most recently, I served as an Attorney for the state of Utah on public land issues. What you should know about me? I see Utah values as that of Silicon Slopes; a culture that values immigration, globalization, gender equality, and technological advancement while seeking a cleaner energy future. I am an environmentalist. Salt Lake City is so beautiful. It is a city that is strategically located in the heart of the West and is so economically prosperous, but so tragically afflicted with air pollution. I seek, like many cities in America should, a cleaner environment. This means advancing lower carbon and renewable energy policies to power us into the future.

What else should you know about me? Politically I am a moderate, who likes compromise, but leans left. Why am I running? I hate our air pollution and our roads. Actually, I think our air quality is at times lethal. I’m also really concerned about all that development in Sugar House. As it is I avoid, 21st and 11E. Parking is bear! With all this new development, I ask, what is everyone thinking? Sugar House is turning into a mini city. Do we want this? Who are we? I’m afraid we are losing our character. Also, I am concerned about the contentious relationship between the SLC County and SLC City. The country is tearing itself apart with partisan politics. We don’t need conflict between our population centers. Together we are the Silicon Slopes, we need the State Legislature to stop thinking of Utah as a rural state and focus more on the needs of our cities.

Salt Lake City is an engine of power, growth, tax base and innovation. I would like to partner more with our State Senators and Reps with city populations, who share the common curse of poor air quality. Through them, I would like to advocate for more actions to clean up our air. Exactly how, I'm not sure, but I'd start with sending a strong message to the Governor's office that Sen. Orrin Hatch's idea to request more time to meet EPA Ozone limits is not appropriate. Salt Lake City (and hopefully other cities here in Utah) want a cooperative, not confrontational relationship with the EPA to clean up our air.

I will also suggest that we need more moderates in government. We also need more women of different profiles to step into public service. Our federal form and structure of government is threatened. In order to protect our environment, and social welfare programs, we must increasingly rely on state and local governments. As your Rep. I will support open spaces, clean air, public infrastructure upgrades and increased service, plus a responsible government that cares about the welfare of all of us.

A few words about affordable housing and policing. I am concerned about building affordable housing, but recognize that certain neighborhoods do not want high density housing. Personally, I don’t want any more high-rise buildings in the Sugar House business district. Then there is policing Salt Lake City in the wake of federal threats against sanctuary cities. I support Law Enforcement, our law enforcement. I believe Immigration laws should be enforced, but our local police need to follow best practices that advance local safety, trust in the police force, and crime fighting. Our local police are the experts on this, not me. So, to the best of my knowledge, I will continue to defer to these experts on this policy matter.

Reach me at: facebook.com/samanthaforSLCC7 crowdpac elect-samantha-finch

Samantha L. Finch 828 East Nibley Circle, Salt Lake City, Utah 84106  801-6513110  sfinch4slcd7@gmail.com 

Jason Sills, SLC District 7

SMARTER, BETTER GOVERNMENT

As your representative on the City Council I promise I will:

- Deliver data-driven results that empower citizens

- Analyze data and provide the best information possible

- Transform government with openness and transparency

- Assure integrity is at the core of every decision jason@votesills.com  facebook.com/votesills

Jason Sills, 1855 South 1100 East, Salt Lake City, Utah 84105 801-596-3229  jasonsills@gmail.com

Amy Fowler, SLC District 7

I am a Utah native, alum of the UofU Law School, and have lived in Sugar House for 7 years.  

I have traveled the world, but believe it is necessary to make a difference in my own backyard. I co-founded the LGBT & Allied Lawyers of Utah in 2013, and in 2014 I joined the public defender's office.

Access to Resources for the Homeless Community

* Sufficiently fund programs that offer mental health and substance abuse resources

* Combat the root causes of homelessness by coordinating with all stakeholders, especially community members

Developing our community with consciousness

* Be accessible for residents to address concerns with local development

* Create and protect open spaces

* Approach zoning and transportation with a holistic view

Connection throughout our district

* Understand the needs of our diverse communities

* Create solutions that address differing needs, but benefit everyone

Government should reflect the needs and desires of the people it is meant to represent.  Transparency, accountability, and connection are essential for success.  Let me be your voice, and together we will move Salt Lake City to greater heights.

Facebook/voteamyfowler  electamyfowler.com amy@electayfowler.com

Amy Fowler, 824 East 2700 South, Salt Lake City, Utah 84106 801-8249698   voteamyfowler@gmail.com

SLC COUNCIL ORDERS ADU ORDINANCE TO BE BROUGHT TO

IT

  At last week's City Council hearing, the Council decided that the ADU ordinance was ready to be brought to the City Council and that a public hearing will occur soon.  There is concern in the community councils that the single family home neighborhoods are going to be negatively impacted.  There was also a concern about the ADUs becoming crime magnets.  The Council believes that the new Civil Penalty ordinance, with minor changes could be used to stop crime issues.

JULY 12, 2017

SLC COUNCIL APPROVES CIVIL PENALTY ORDINANCE

PLANTS DYING AROUND CITY DUE TO LACK OF WATER

MONEY

BIGGEST BONDING ENTITY IN SLCO QUESTIONED

HOMELESS STORAGE TOLD TO STAY OPEN UNLESS

REPLACED

WHY IS MAYOR BISKUPSKI BEING MADE SCAPEGOAT

ADU ORDINANCE COMING TO SLC PUBLIC HEARING SOON

SLC COUNCIL APPROVES CIVIL PENALTY ORDINANCE

  Tuesday night, the SLC Council approved the civil penalty ordinance that is going to be used to bring control over the motels that act as crime magnets.  North Temple, Foothill and State Street motels have had many complaints by nearby residents and police about criminal activity that seems to be ignored or encouraged around these motels.  When the City tries to shut them down, they change ownership to a new entity still controlled by the same person or family.  After four citations, now, a motel or rental facility will be put on probation and any violation of the probation's requirements will result in pulling the license and stopping the renting of the facility.  Erin Mendenhall, who represents the State Street area impacted by these crime magnets (regular weekly police raids), was at the forefront of pushing for this ordinance.  Usually, the City Council waits a week or two before passing the ordinances after a public hearing (something that I am against due to concern about secret meetings).  But last night the Council suspended the rules and passed the ordinance into effect.  Standby for the hopefully quick effect that should decrease crime.

PLANTS DYING AROUND CITY DUE TO LACK OF WATER MONEY

  SLC Parks did not tell the City Council that they needed more money in the budget to water the urban forest and plants that the Parks Department is responsible for.  Please be aware that SLC Public Utilities charges SLC parks and golf courses much more for water than other municipalities in the County.  SLC Councilmembers are furious that Parks did not tell the Council during the budget hearings about this issue.  This isn't the first time that Parks has given up on watering (the former mayor ordered it).  Bonneville Golf Course trees were left to die a couple of years ago due to lack of watering (neighbors tried to save them by watering them).  The former administration tried to stop watering Wingpointe.  The hundreds of thousands of dollars of new plantings in Miller Park were left to wilt away due to not watering.  And now, the gardens around the City Hall are left to die (except for the weeds).  This could be a way to force the Council to push for a parks bond.  I don't think that the City Council is happy about this.

BIGGEST BONDING ENTITY IN SLCO QUESTIONED

  The Mountain Accord lawsuit that claims that that entity had to follow government open meetings requirements has been allowed to move forward with a slap in the face against Mayor Ben McAdams (by the Judge).  The County Council quickly followed up by asking Utah State Auditor John Dougall to audit the Mountain Accord spending of money.  And that means that the biggest bonding entity in SLCO is now questionable.  The Central Wasatch Commission (CWC) was set up to implement the Mountain Accord with fees and bonding without public votes.  Remember when the voters turned down the first TRAX line and the first SLCPD HQ?  It appears that the CWC and Ben McAdams, its driving force, is doing an end run around the voters.  The four mayors on the Commission will be able to bond and increase canyon fees without answering to the public and without a vote.

  But the lawsuit by Norm Henderson and the Cardiff Canyon landowners is saving the day and potentially saving the canyons from 10 years of heavy construction and blasting to build the Mountain Accord's tunnel and rail system.  It should be recognized that the cost will be in the billions and the biggest beneficiaries will be the landowners around the proposed rail line (including previously mentioned UTA involved developers).  Assuming that the lawsuit succeeds, the CWC will not be able to function since it came from the Mountain Accord which did not meet Utah open meeting act law. 

HOMELESS STORAGE TOLD TO STAY OPEN UNLESS REPLACED

  The RDA told several SLC Councilmembers in the last few weeks that they wanted to close the homeless storage facility and demolish it.  Yesterday, Stan Penfold and the City Council ordered RDA staff to back off and discuss it with the Council before they even think about closing it.  Stan Penfold was asked and agreed to consider a bigger facility since the present facility is full.  He also will consider longer hours to cover those who want to work.  He agreed that SLC shouldn't be seeing pictures or scenes like last week during the biweekly SLCO Health Department cleanup where homeless were pushing big carts of belongings to save them from confiscation.

WHY IS MAYOR BISKUPSKI BEING MADE SCAPEGOAT

  It appears that guns are being trained on Mayor Biskupski to take the blame on the homeless problems that are not getting better.  I have been involved in this homeless issue and written countless opeds for the local papers.  I don't think much has changed.  Although the City is trying, Salt Lake County has never stepped up to do their part to control the situation.  I blame former Mayor Becker for allowing

Mayor McAdams to get away with releasing drug dealers after just a few hours in jail.  It was a

situation caused by Mayor McAdams' inadequate public safety funding for the DA and Sheriff's jail.  When the DA does not have enough staff to keep the drug dealers locked up, they are released and we have the Sheriff's revolving door.  SLCO cut mental health funding during the recession and has never restored it and keeps blaming the Legislature for not passing Healthy Utah (there is enough blame to go around on that).  But it comes back to Mayor McAdams lack of adequately funding mental health, prosecutors and jail beds.  Mayor Biskupski is the least culpable person in all of this (with exceptions that crop up sometimes).  Mayor McAdams is the most culpable and he appears to be organizing the SLCO and Utah Democrats against Mayor Biskupski to blame her for the homeless situation in SLCO.  That is disrespectful beyond belief.

ADU ORDINANCE COMING TO SLC PUBLIC HEARING SOON

  At yesterday's City Council meeting, the Council agreed to have a public hearing on Accessory Dwelling Units in the near future.  With conversions that meet code costing as little as $10,000, the ordinance could provide the affordable housing needed in SLC.  But single family home neighborhoods need to be protected and some areas are already inundated and maxed out in density like 1700 South near Westminster, the Avenues and areas around the UofU.

JULY 10, 2017

IF TREES IN SLC DIE, WILL ANYONE CARE

CIVIL PENALTIES HEARING TUESDAY TO CLOSE CRIME MOTELS

IF TREES IN SLC DIE, WILL ANYONE CARE

  Last week, Derek Kitchen was told that the Parks Dept. does not have money to water the trees on 600 East median!  Last month, Charlie Luke complained that the City does not have money to water plants on the roundabouts and medians.

  On July 4, Sugar House Park had a fire on the southwest corner that the Sugar House Community Council has been complaining about as being neglected and leading to dead trees.  UDOT planted the center circle on and off ramp at 1300 E I80 and SLC was supposed to water it but didn't according to UDOT.

   East Liberty Park Community Council is discussing providing seed money to get UDOT and SLC to build more tree medians on 700 East between 1700 South and 1300 South.  But SLC cannot afford to maintain what we have.  Herman Franks park at 1300 South and 700 East has a dog park without trees.  Dogs, people and this City needs more trees.  That is where ELPCO should be spending their money.

  Maintenance of projects is not budgeted or considered when doing projects (even with cycle tracks).  The same problem happened with the ZAP tax bond from a few years ago.  It had to be redone this last election to cover maintenance.  Same thing with the new Library taxes (County and SLC) that address lack of funding maintenance

  The SLC Parks Dept. has been holding open houses to gather support for a Parks Bond (in my opinion) and Erin Mendenhall has been fighting for a Parks Bond to close Glendale Golf Course and turn it into a park with a $50 million cost.

  She did add $75,000 to the budget for tree replacement.  SLC cuts about 3000 trees a year and replaces them with 2 inch mickey mouse trees.  Developers have to replace the diameter of the trees (10 2" trees for a 20" tree cut down) but SLC doesn't have to follow responsible and respectful rules.

   When the City cuts down a tree in a parking strip (that may be impacting the sidewalk), it does not replace it with a new big tree nearby in the yard on the other side of the sidewalk.  The City offers a replacement mickey mouse tree but has onerous requirements (SLC owns the tree and can do what they want with it despite being planted in the middle of the yard.).  Landowners balk at the requirements.  So the house and neighborhood and City loses another tree, just like thousands of others and we lose the cooling and anti pollution effect of trees. 

  Charlie and the rest of the City Council were furious two years ago? when the City told them that they were going to let trees die along the Bonneville Golf Course periphery.  This seems to be getting worse.  Will anyone speak up for the loss of our urban forest?

TUESDAY SLC COUNCIL ORDINANCE TO CONTROL CRIME MOTELS

  After years of fighting to stop the crime ridden State Street motels from ignoring crime, the SLC

Council on Tuesday July 11 at 7 PM at City Hall (third floor 400 S. State - park under Library with free Council validation), will have a public hearing on the new proposed civil penalty ordinance that could close problem motels.  Motels would be given four chances and then be put on probation.  If there are still problems, then the City would be able to close them.  This is an important proposal that could significantly help the crime issues that are occurring around State Street.  Every week, the SLC Police raid one of the properties on  or around State Street.  They have been putting out cameras with blue lights to discourage crime but there is still too much crime.  Please tell the Council what you think of the proposal.  I think that it is a good start at addressing the crime around State Street.

JULY 7, 201

CIVIL PENALTY FOR STATE ST CRIME MOTELS PUBLIC HEARING TUESDAY PARLEYS TRAIL INTERLOCAL AND

IMPACT FEES ON UPPER RIGHT

UTA FINANCIAL REPORT ON RIGHT STILL HAS MONEY

PROBLEMS

HOMELESS STORAGE MAY DISAPPEAR

TELL SLC COUNCIL AND MAYOR NOT TO RUSH 2100 SOUTH

ROAD DIET

BICYCLE REGISTRATION SYSTEM CHANGING

LIBERTY WELLS SLC COUNCIL D5 CANDIDATE MEETING

WFRC TRANSPORTATION LIST PROPOSED FOR COMMENT

CIVIL PENALTY FOR STATE ST CRIME MOTELS PUBLIC HEARING TUESDAY THIS IS IMPORTANT!

  After years of fighting to stop the crime ridden State Street motels from ignoring crime, the SLC

Council on Tuesday July 11 at 7 PM at City Hall (third floor 400 S. State - park under Library with free Council validation), will have a public hearing on the new proposed civil penalty ordinance that could close problem motels.  Motels would be given four chances and then be put on probation.  If there are still problems, then the City would be able to close them.  This is an important proposal that could significantly help the crime issues that are occurring around State Street.  Every week, the SLC Police raid one of the properties on  or around State Street.  They have been putting out cameras with blue lights to discourage crime but there is still too much crime.  Please tell the Council what you think of the proposal.  I think that it is a good start at addressing the crime around State Street.

PARLEYS TRAIL INTERLOCAL AND IMPACT FEES ON UPPER RIGHT

 The Parleys Trail is close to completion from the Bonneville Shoreline Trail to Main Street in South

Salt Lake City.  The download at the upper right has the map and information on the construction that is now going on around the freeway.  I also added the Impact Fees presentation that has a lot of projects proposed, including some in Sugar House.

UTA FINANCIAL REPORT ON RIGHT STILL HAS MONEY PROBLEMS

UTA has given us the 2016 Financial Report download at upper right.  For those who don't want to digest 10MB, UTA still is underfunding state of good repair, pensions, and still does not have money for expansion of service in Salt Lake County.

HOMELESS STORAGE MAY DISAPPEAR

  According to Derek Kitchen, the RDA needs to convert the homeless storage facility that is already full.  The City has not come up with an alternative.  If the City does what it almost did with the Weigand Center (tried to close it on weekends), the homeless will not be able to store their belongings while they work and the area will continue to have camping homeless who will not be able to leave their belongings out for fear of being confiscated and thrown out by the biweekly cleanups.  Note that in other cities, ACLU has successfully sued to keep homeless personal belongings in storage for 90 days before throwing it out.

TELL SLC COUNCIL AND MAYOR NOT TO RUSH 2100 SOUTH ROAD DIET

 A month ago, Salt Lake City Transportation recommended that 2100 South be considered for a road diet (going from four lanes to three lanes with a center turn lane). Salt Lake City has decided to resurface 2100 South in July and would like to reduce the number of accidents (mainly rear enders) that occur on the road by reducing travel lanes.

  The community is upset about the potential decrease in travel lanes due to the concern about increasing congestion and pollution. This is similar to the concern generated in the East Bench area years ago when SLC decided to do a road diet on Sunnyside (a decision that the City Council stopped). In addition, UDOT has designated 2100 South as an “alternate route” during the reconstruction of I80 and Foothill/Parleys Way interchanges. Some residents on 2100 South seem to be for it due to the perception that reducing travel lanes will increase their quality of life.

  Although reducing traffic lanes should decrease accidents, the average daily traffic (ADT) is close to

20,000 ADT. It was almost 19,000 in 2015 and it has been going up about 1000 each year. According to Road Diet Conversions: A Synthesis of Safety Research May 2013 “Case study and modeling results suggest that added caution is warranted before implementing road diets when volumes approach 1,700 vehicles per peak hour or are in the range of 20,000 to 24,000 vehicles per day (HSIS, 2010; Knapp and Giese, 2001; Welch, 1999).” Earlier studies suggest that 15,000 to 17,500 ADT be the maximum volume of vehicles for consideration for a reduction in travel lanes. Almost all studies suggest further analysis at the upper ADT levels to justify a road diet. Interestingly, City Transportation officials did not know the ADT levels of 2100 South (the latest 2100 S. numbers came from trafficcount@utah.gov - a UDOT service).

  The safety aspect is important but most accidents are minor rear enders and not the high impact severe crashes that should suggest a road diet. The present 30 MPH speed limit can be encouraged (like on Sunnyside) with speed detection signs.

  Road diets may decrease crashes but it depends on other stop and go traffic. If transit buses and trash pickup use the road (they do), crashes, congestion and pollution can increase (as they did on 1300 East with the road diet). Left hand turning from side streets and pedestrian crossings may be impossible due to constant traffic volume.

  Bicyclists seem to like the idea that they may get bicycle lanes in one of the proposals but many bicyclists like the four lanes since they are allowed to use the right hand lane and cars must provide 3 feet space when passing.

  Road diets can work if interested parties, users and the neighborhood agree on the project; it does not increase pollution; it does not disrupt the neighborhood; and it increases the quality of life and safety of the neighborhood. But allowing just one month to comment on the proposals is not going to result in any agreement. It seems that the proposal is planned to increase hate and discontent. If a fair and appropriate analysis is done that indicates that a four lane to three lane conversion is feasible, studies recommend “a more detailed operational analysis of the existing and expected through and turning volumes” (Federal Highway Administration Road Diet Informational Guide 2014). The decision should not be rushed.

  Salt Lake City should not be rushing the decision and deciding something that the community feels is important without more public engagement. SLC would be smart to not do any roadwork on 2100 South until after the UDOT I80 work is finished. Salt Lake City is planning on deciding the issue in the next two weeks but should hold off until there is more consensus in the community. Craig Carter

BICYCLE REGISTRATION SYSTEM CHANGING

  SLC Police are discussing how to change the law to stop or discourage bicycle thefts in Salt Lake City (it is a problem in many Northern Utah Counties).  In an interesting story on KUTV2:

http://kutv.com/news/local/rio-grande-area-a-den-of-stolen-bikes

one person had her bike stolen several times and found it by the Rio Grande.  The SLC Police expect to have an effective bicycle registration program in a month or two.  The Legislature may also get involved.

LIBERTY WELLS SLC COUNCIL D5 CANDIDATE MEETING 

  On Wednesday, June 12 at 7:30 PM, at Tracy Aviary, during the Liberty Wells Community Council meeting, there will be a forum for District 5 City Council candidates.  Please come and add to the discussion about the future of the area.  I am sure that the civil penalty issue that is to close/control the crime on State Street will also be discussed.

WFRC TRANSPORTATION LIST PROPOSED FOR COMMENT

  The WFRC has proposed a Transportation Improvement Project (TIP) list (upper right downloads) that should be considered for future Utah transportation and transit projects.  It is extensive and I will go into more detail in the future but I urge you to be interested in this.  It will obligate Utah and Salt Lake County taxpayers for decades to spend billions. 

JUNE 30, 2017

2100 SOUTH ROAD DIET SHOULD NOT BE RUSHED

THANK THE PRESS FOR SAVING THE WEIGAND CENTER

2100 SOUTH ROAD DIET SHOULD NOT BE RUSHED

  A month ago, Salt Lake City Transportation recommended that 2100 South be considered for a road diet (going from four lanes to three lanes with a center turn lane). Salt Lake City has decided to resurface 2100 South in July and would like to reduce the number of accidents (mainly rear enders) that occur on the road by reducing travel lanes.

  The community is upset about the potential decrease in travel lanes due to the concern about increasing congestion and pollution. This is similar to the concern generated in the East Bench area years ago when SLC decided to do a road diet on Sunnyside (a decision that the City Council stopped). In addition, UDOT has designated 2100 South as an “alternate route” during the reconstruction of I80 and Foothill/Parleys Way interchanges. Some residents on 2100 South seem to be for it due to the perception that reducing travel lanes will increase their quality of life.

  Although reducing traffic lanes should decrease accidents, the average daily traffic (ADT) is close to

20,000 ADT. It was almost 19,000 in 2015 and it has been going up about 1000 each year. According to Road Diet Conversions: A Synthesis of Safety Research May 2013 “Case study and modeling results suggest that added caution is warranted before implementing road diets when volumes approach 1,700 vehicles per peak hour or are in the range of 20,000 to 24,000 vehicles per day (HSIS, 2010; Knapp and Giese, 2001; Welch, 1999).” Earlier studies suggest that 15,000 to 17,500 ADT be the maximum volume of vehicles for consideration for a reduction in travel lanes. Almost all studies suggest further analysis at the upper ADT levels to justify a road diet. Interestingly, City Transportation officials did not know the ADT levels of 2100 South (the latest 2100 S. numbers came from trafficcount@utah.gov - a UDOT service).

  The safety aspect is important but most accidents are minor rear enders and not the high impact severe crashes that should suggest a road diet. The present 30 MPH speed limit can be encouraged (like on Sunnyside) with speed detection signs.

  Road diets may decrease crashes but it depends on other stop and go traffic. If transit buses and trash pickup use the road (they do), crashes, congestion and pollution can increase (as they did on 1300 East with the road diet). Left hand turning from side streets and pedestrian crossings may be impossible due to constant traffic volume.

  Bicyclists seem to like the idea that they may get bicycle lanes in one of the proposals but many bicyclists like the four lanes since they are allowed to use the right hand lane and cars must provide 3 feet space when passing.

  Road diets can work if interested parties, users and the neighborhood agree on the project; it does not increase pollution; it does not disrupt the neighborhood; and it increases the quality of life and safety of the neighborhood. But allowing just one month to comment on the proposals is not going to result in any agreement. It seems that the proposal is planned to increase hate and discontent. If a fair and appropriate analysis is done that indicates that a four lane to three lane conversion is feasible, studies recommend “a more detailed operational analysis of the existing and expected through and turning volumes” (Federal Highway Administration Road Diet Informational Guide 2014). The decision should not be rushed.

  Salt Lake City should not be rushing the decision and deciding something that the community feels is important without more public engagement. SLC would be smart to not do any roadwork on 2100 South until after the UDOT I80 work is finished. Salt Lake City is planning on deciding the issue on July 5. They have put the issue on Open City Hall (Google Open City Hall and slcgov.com). It has had over 900 responses (in a month) and the deadline for comment is 1159 PM on July 4, 2017.

Craig Carter is a longtime resident of the SLC East Bench

THANK THE PRESS FOR SAVING THE WEIGAND CENTER

Katie McKellar in the Deseret News had a good summary of the situation that took place earlier this week.  If not for the press asking SLC why they didn't care about keeping the Weigand Center open on weekends, it would have closed.  It took an hour for the City to get their act together and make the right decision but only after they were asked about it by the press!!! http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865683988/Downtowns-Weigand-homeless-center-seeking-60000-tostay-open-on-weekends.html

JUNE 29, 2017

WEIGAND CTR ALMOST CLOSES FOR WEEKEND BUT FOR

PRESS

WEIGAND CTR ALMOST CLOSES FOR WEEKEND BUT FOR PRESS ATTENTION

  The situation in the Rio Grande area is not getting better.  And one of the most important respites for the true homeless that are trying to avoid drug dealing, the Weigand Center, was going to close on weekends due to lack of funding.  

  Remember what happened when the Weigand Center closed when they restored the floor; the homeless on the sidewalks in the Rio Grande area exploded.  The Weigand Center is one of the important charities that is trying, and is, making a difference in  Salt Lake County's homeless issue.

  Last week, David Litvack, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Mayor of Salt Lake City, met with Catholic Community Services and said that the City had no money for more funding for the Weigand Center, despite increased homeless funding in the budget.

  Salt Lake County refused to provide adequate public safety funding for the Sheriff and DA to keep drug dealers locked up and that has resulted in the Weigand Center having to hire security guards to protect the Center's clients, the homeless (including those that hospitals turn out due to lack of funding).  That has drained the CCS budget for the Weigand Center.

  Out of all of the Operation Diversion funding and operations, it appears only a couple of homeless have been successfully treated for drug addiction and only a couple of criminals have been locked up for more than a couple of weeks.  Salt Lake County still is not adequately funding public safety (public safety is more than jail beds).

  The good news is that, today, after just an hour of notice to the press, the newspapers and to the TV news reporters, the questions that they directed at the SLC administration, resulted in..... (fasten your seatbelts) a call from David Litvack to CCS promising funding to keep the Weigand Center open for at least more 45 days on the weekends and a promise that funding will be found to keep the Center open all week in the future.  Matthew Rojas insisted that there was no story since funding was restored and essentially called it fake news.  The CCS notice used that term but we all know what the term fake news means (nod, nod, wink, wink, say no more).  This potential human tragedy was about to make things much worse in the Rio Grande area.  Especially for the innocent homeless who were about to be tossed out onto the sidewalk.

  Another story that should be pubicized is the fact that about three weeks ago, in one day, four homeless overdosed at the Road Home.   And, in case one wants to really get upset, hospitals are dumping homeless patients at the Weigand Center with free cab rides from the hospital!  Some are wearing their hospital gowns and are using walkers.  I have seen homeless in wheelchairs that should be in the hospital at the Weigand Center!

  Again the good news is that on this holiday weekend, a holiday that should bring us together, and not make the least of our fellow Americans suffer, there will be a respite for the homeless at the Weigand Center.  Thank you to all who support the CCS.

JUNE 27, 2017

2 NEW OPEDS ON UTA

RIO GRANDE SITUATION GETTING WORSE

CIVIL PENALTIES DISCUSSION TO CLOSE BAD MOTELS

2100 SOUTH RESTRIPING BEING RUSHED

TREES ARE DISAPPEARING FROM SLC

ISSUES/200 WORDS

I apologize for taking two weeks to update this blog.  I am working on materials for running for SLC Council 5.  The SLC Council will not meet again until July 11.

2 NEW OPEDS ON UTA

http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/5406295-155/george-chapman-what-will-be-the

The future of mass transit in Utah is service. When the next bus is an hour away, people won't ride mass transit. When it takes an hour to get to a destination instead of 15 minutes, people won't ride mass transit. When there is no transit service, people won't ride mass transit. The best and most cost-effective way to increase mass transit ridership is through bus service increases. That is why mass transit should first focus on the least expensive system, buses. Then when ridership develops, BRT and rail can be justified.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865681904/George-Chapman-UTA-pushes-projects-overservice.html

If you ask voters and taxpayers whether they want a new rail line downtown or 50 new bus routes, they will say that they want better service and the new bus routes (especially on the west side, which lacks service even more than the east side). If taxpayers are asked how they would like to spend $100 million, they would say that they want better service. In other words, the UTA Board of Trustees is now set up to encourage projects over service.

RIO GRANDE SITUATION GETTING WORSE

In a recent SLTRIB oped on June 23, the newspaper correctly pointed out that the area around the Road Home is getting worse.

("The situation around the Road Home shelter is bad and getting worse")

http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/5436350-155/tribune-editorial-closing-liquor-store-wont

If there are any doubts about things are getting better, this opinion piece reiterates the fact that after years of complaining about the issue, the area is still not getting better.  Part of the problem was the lack of enforcement of the drug laws that allowed drug dealers to freely operate in the area.  That was caused by the lack of adequate public safety funding by SLCO.  The DA and Sheriff did not get enough funding to enforce the laws.  Mayor McAdams took the $9.4 million from the jail bond and used it for his pet projects instead of putting it into the DA and jail beds.

Another issue is the lack of reality on the part of people in charge that drug use can be decreased by treatment.  Even the government says that opiod drug abuse treatment is only 5% successful after 9 months!  In Operation Diversion, out of over 100 given treatment, we think only one or two are going to kick the habit and stay clean.  The new drugs with fentanyl are almost impossible to kick. (Only two of those arrested were prosecuted and locked up for more than a few days due to lack of DA funding.)   The reality is that drugs should not be available as easily as they are in SLCO.

CIVIL PENALTIES DISCUSSION TO CLOSE BAD MOTELS

I put the discussion of SLC Council on the State Street motels issue on the upper right downloads.  It seems to be the only way that the SLC will be able to start cleaning up State Street.  The Police are doing weekly raids and also putting in mobile cameras (and black box speed detectors) in the area to discourage crime.  The cameras have a blue light to notify criminals of the video recordings.  But until the criminals can be arrested and prosecuted (with adequate DA funding), the problem won't go away.

2100 SOUTH RESTRIPING BEING RUSHED

Despite 2100 South being labeled an alternative during the UDOT I80/Parleys Way/Foothill reconstruction, SLC Transportation has decided to be clueless and work on 2100 South NOW!  The effort is to resurface/reseal 2100 South and restripe the road to decrease accidents (generally rear enders).  The options include removing two traffic lanes and putting in a center turn lane.  The traffic on 2100 South is around 20000 Average Daily Trips!  Any road diet/decrease in traffic lanes will increase air pollution through congestion.  That is the reason that road diets are not recommended for roads with close to 20,000 ADT!  Again, SLC Transportation seems to be ignoring traffic engineering.  In addition, as it has many times before, Transportation is giving the community and citizens one month to comment before doing what they want.  I am against any change unless the community supports it.  And I don't think that the community supports an increase in congestion and pollution.

TREES ARE DISAPPEARING FROM SLC

3000 trees are being cut in SLC by SLC a year.  Although Erin Mendenhall convinced the Council to add $75000 to the urban forestry budget, the City replaces old trees with mickey mouse/munchkin trees (around 2 inch diameter).  SLC makes developers replace the diameter of the trees that they remove.  If they cut a 20 inch tree, they have to plant 10 2 inch trees.  SLC does not do that.  It only replaces a 20 inch tree with a 2 inch tree.  SLC cannot claim to be an environmental city.  I put the Urban Forestry budget info on the upper right downloads.

MY TWO HUNDRED WORDS FOR RUNNING FOR OFFICE

GEORGE CHAPMAN SLC COUNCIL DISTRICT 5

I am a former candidate for mayor of Salt Lake City.  As a longtime community activist, I have fought for better public safety funding and attention to solve the homeless problems and stop the drug dealing that is getting worse.  I go to most SLC Council and community council  meetings.  I write several newspaper opeds a month and a blog at georgechapman.net.  I am a retired engineer, a former Naval officer and 66 years old with 5 children and 5 grandchildren.

I am running to stop the secret meetings and decisions of the SLC Council without public hearings (homeless sites, closing golf courses, giving tax credits).

I am running to stop the SLC Council from approving significant tax increases for water, sewer, parks (bond to close golf courses), and street maintenance (with a fee).

I want to stop the SLC Council from ignoring the homeless camping that has spread throughout our

City.  

I want SLC to start building restrooms in our canyons to protect the watershed.

I want to solve the problems now instead of waiting until just before an election to address the issues.

George Chapman   

PO Box 520653, SLC, Ut 84152 gechapman2@gmail.com

JUNE 12, 2017

YES I AM RUNNING FOR OFFICE IN SLC DISTRICT 5

TUESDAY JUNE 13 SLC COUNCIL DECIDES UTA BOARD

APPOINTMENT

TIME FOR UTA BOARD TO REFLECT TRANSIT RIDERS REMINDER JUNE 14 LEGISLATURE WILL HEAR PUBLIC ON

UTA

THE FUTURE OF MASS TRANSIT IN UTAH IS BUSES

GEORGE CHAPMAN RUNNING AGAINST ERIN MENDENHALL

  I have filed to run for Council District 5 against incumbent Erin Mendenhall.  I am a longtime community activist who has several opeds a month in local papers (and I write this blog) .  I am a retired engineer, a former Naval engineer and 66 years old with five children and five grandchildren.

  I am running to fight the significant increase in fees for sewer, water, parks and streets that are being proposed.  Our sewer and water fees will double in the next six years, with a 30% sewer fee increase this year alone.  In addition, the SLC Council is considering a transportation utility fee to maintain streets that are falling apart.  Lisa Adams recently pointed out many potholes in the streets near her home that are not being fixed.  They affect not just cars but also are a significant danger to bicyclists.  The SLC Council took away the previous $8.4 million streets tax increase a few years ago and used it for salary increases (for themselves but I don't think that it was deliberate).  SLC streets get about $10 million a year in funding and they need $40 million in funding.  Much of the funding now goes to big projects like resurfacing and restriping and reducing traffic lanes on streets like 900 West.  In addition, SLC wants to spend millions on removing buried rail lines on 300 West!  Streets maintenance should get higher priority than projects

  The water and sewer fee increases are being justified with a four page budget report.  I do not think that is enough to justify a doubling of the fees.  I urge an audit of the Salt Lake City Public Utilities Department

  Erin Mendenhall wants to have a parks bond to spend $50 million to close Glendale Golf Course and convert it to a nature park.  I am against a bond with a significant tax increase to close golf courses.

  I am also fighting the secret meetings and decisions of the Council.  As you know, the decision on the siting of the four homeless shelters, including the one on Simpson Avenue, was made in secret.  It is not the first time that decisions were made in secret by the SLC Council.  I want that to stop.  Interestingly, I am being told by several Councilmembers that the decision was made unanimously with conditions.  But Erin Mendenhall contends that she was against the Simpson Avenue site.  In public, after the decision, she spoke against it.  But without release of the secret meeting recordings, we have to trust Erin's word.  Erin Mendenhall did make the motion to approve the $11.7 million for the homeless shelter sites (without a public hearing - scheduled for later).  Her motion was approved by the Council.  The Council also closed Par 3 golf course a few years ago without a public hearing.

  I believe that public safety and street maintenance should get higher priority.  The police have hired a lot of new officers but until they get experience, they have to patrol with other more experienced officers.  The best solution is to pay experienced police more and encourage them to join the SLCPD.  They can hit the ground running and do not need assistance for the first few years.  Many police and fire department personnel do not make enough to live in SLC and need second jobs.  These are men and women who are risking their lives for us.  They deserve more respect and a bigger salary increase than the normal salary increase for City employees.

The State Street area has gotten much worse over the last 3 years and homeless camping is expanding rapidly throughout the area.  It should not take an election for the City to focus on these problems.  I want the constant crime, drug dealing and prostitution stopped.  I have been pushing for increased County funding for the DA and Sheriff's jail for several years.  If we don't lock the drug dealers up for more than a few hours, they will remain on the street.  And spending hundreds of millions on drug abuse treatment will be wasted since drugs will be easily available from the hundreds of drug dealers allowed to roam the City.  Note that the Sheriff recently opened up more beds.  I have had many opeds on this issue.

  The SLC system for building housing units is in poor shape according to the recent audit.  Although we built or permitted 3000 units last year (mainly apartments), Herriman built 1000 (mainly single family homes).  SLC has about 6 single family homes in plan check.  To ensure a vibrant and safe and inviting neighborhood requires a mix of single family homes, apartments and condos, not just apartments.  SLC needs to do better to protect single-family homes.

  My knowledge from attending most City Council and community council meetings over the last 4 years will allow me to work effectively for the citizens of Salt Lake City.  If you don't know me, read this blog or Google George Chapman and SLTRIB.COM or DESERTNEWS.COM.

TUESDAY JUNE 13 SLC COUNCIL DECIDES UTA BOARD APPOINTMENT

  At the Tuesday, June 13 SLC Council meeting that starts at 7 PM, there will be a public comment period before the City Council decides on whether to approve Jim Dabakis as the new UTA Board of Trustees member.  I urge everyone to argue against his appointment to UTA.  UTA needs to have a transit rider proponent on the Board that serves the riders, not someone who is a close friend of the SLC Mayor Biskupski who is pushing to make UTA pay for the $65 million airport TRAX realignment.  That $65 million will come out of bus service.  Again, show up and comment or use the emails on the right to comment to the Council.  This is my oped on the issue:

Time for UTA Board to reflect transit riders

  Over the last few years, complaints about Utah Transit Agency (UTA) service has significantly increased. In the process to get enough money for the TRAX line extensions, UTA had to cannibalize bus service. Salt Lake County bus service decreased 30%. 

  The result has been minimal (hourly) service at night with just handful of bus lines. Weekend service also is minimal. For people who have to work downtown outside of regular hours, they have to drive personal vehicles or use a very expensive car sharing app. When people want to access the many entertainment venues in downtown Salt Lake City and other cities in Northern Utah, they have to drive because mass transit service is not available, conveniently, when shows end, if at all.

  The problem goes back to who is UTA supposed to serve. Many municipalities have been using UTA to push for rail transit projects with the assumption that rail stations will increase property values and encourage development. Almost all Trustees on the UTA Board are appointed by the mayors and councils of cities that want projects. Only one or two Trustees consistently ride UTA on a regular basis. They are the ones that can confirm that service, outside of regular hours, is lacking. UTA says that UTA is supposed to serve the municipalities. But riders, taxpayers and residents want and deserve UTA to serve transit riders!

  When municipalities push for projects like the $100 million downtown streetcar, that equates to 50 new or better bus routes. A bus route’s operation ranges from one to two million per route per year. The streetcar operational cost is two times that.   

  If you ask voters and taxpayers whether they want a new rail line downtown or 50 new bus routes, they will say that they want better service and the new bus routes (especially on the west side which lacks service even more than the east side). If taxpayers are asked how they would like to spend $100 million, they would say that they want better service. In other words, the UTA Board of Trustees is now set up to encourage projects over service.

  Interestingly, it took two public votes for Salt Lake citizens to approve TRAX downtown. The first effort failed. Voters are not being allowed to now decide if they want to spend more money on projects. The Utah Transportation Plan has billions in rail projects that municipalities insist are desperately needed. New funding is supposed to have 40% go to projects and 6% go to service increases. Voters, transit riders and taxpayers are being left out of the decision making.

  Salt Lake City recently asked for a new representative on the Board of Trustees. Apparently the City’s appointed person, Keith Bartholomew, had questioned the $65 million airport TRAX line that Salt Lake City is insisting UTA pay for (the City has told the City Council that UTA will pay for it). 

  The push for projects is still alive and well on the UTA Board of Trustees. Service seems to be suffering and UTA’s future plans deserve a fair discussion which requires transit rider and service proponents on the UTA Board of Trustees. Senator Dabakis is not a transit rider and he should not be approved by the City Council. The UTA Board should reflect a balanced viewpoint and effectively represent transit riders. Mayor Biskupski should nominate a recognized transit rider proponent to the UTA Board.   On June 14, at the State Capitol, Senate Building Room 210, the Transportation Governance and Funding Task Force will be spending several hours taking public comments on the future of mass transit and transportation in Utah. Those who are interested in the future of mass transit in Utah should attend and provide comments.

JUNE 14 LEGISLATURE WILL HEAR THE PUBLIC ON UTA

  On June 14, at the State Capital Senate Building, Room 210, there will be a meeting of the Legislature's Transportation Governance and Funding Task Force.  The goal of this particular meeting is to hear from the public on the issues that they have with UTA.  The meeting starts at 1 PM.  I encourage everyone who reads this blog, and everyone who cares about mass transit, to come to the meeting and speak.  The below FUTURE OF MASS TRANSIT IN UTAH explains my knowledge of the facts (there is a bigger story on June 6 Blog).  I might also add that UTA is still in the land development business and some say that 10% of their business on property involves requiring eminent domain.

The Future of mass transit in Utah is buses

 UTA completed the TRAX and FrontRunner projects a decade ahead of time which resulted in a 30% decrease in bus service. The interest cost of the debt is more than the budget for running buses. The last

audit also recommended that priority be given to restoring a “robust” bus system.

  Utah regularly prepares a Utah Transportation Plan (UTP) laying out the proposed future projects for roads and transit. Billions in projects are planned in order to “limit the growth in travel demand” in order to take pressure off of roads. The Plan assumed significant federal money for transit. According to the Plan, 40+% of new funding would be used for new transit projects. Only 6% would be used for service increases. 

  Mass transit riders and taxpayers want more areas served with more frequent buses and increased service and frequency on weekends and later at night. Many think that transit should be serving riders, not cities. UTA’s Board of Trustees is appointed by municipalities which want projects. Riders do not seem to be getting the attention that they should.

  Recent studies show that bus mass transit systems can be more successful and financially efficient than rail.  When comparing 10 minute rail service with 10 minute bus service, there is very little difference in public approval. Other findings from the studies are that new cars carrying more than 1 person can be more efficient than a rail system.

Rail does provide the permanence that can encourage investment and justify loans from financial entities. But destination is an important part of the equation for rail success. 

  A recent problem between UTA and Salt Lake City is who will pay for the expensive airport TRAX reconfiguration.  The SLC Airport wanted a fancy design and a rail on a bridge but refused to allow Utah law to be changed to use some of the billions in airport passenger fees (which other cities use for mass transit). If UTA is forced to pay for it, since UTA does not have the money now, which county taxpayers will pay for the project?

  Because rail systems drain money from bus service, UTA should stop planning, building or extending rail lines until future funding can be assured.  UTA should focus on using buses to increase ridership.     Studies show that increased bus service can result in ridership increases of up to 67%. In addition, new technology is providing a cost efficient bus potential that can use a bus lane at a traffic light and a traffic light that changes to green for a bus, when a bus comes to the intersection. This is called an enhanced bus or BLIP (Bus Lane Intersection Priority). It can be as fast as a BRT but it only costs $1.5 million per mile versus $15 per mile for a BRT. Except at the lights, traffic lanes are not lost to cars. That seems to be where UTA should be focusing their future plans on, especially if funding will continue to be constrained.   The future of mass transit in Utah is service. When the next bus is an hour away, people won’t ride mass transit. When it takes an hour to get to a destination instead of 15 minutes, people won’t ride mass transit. When there is no transit service, people won’t ride mass transit. The best and most cost effective way to increase mass transit ridership is through bus service increases. That is why mass transit should first focus on the least expensive system, buses. Then when ridership develops, BRT and rail can be justified.

  On June 14, at the State Capitol, Senate Building Room 210, the Transportation Governance and Funding Task Force will be spending several hours taking public comments on the future of mass transit and transportation in Utah. The hearing will start at 1PM and it is the start of months of hearings and discussion on where to go with mass transit in Utah in the next few decades. 

JUNE 6, 2017

JUNE 14 LEGISLATURE WILL HEAR PUBLIC ON UTA FUTURE OF MASS TRANSIT IN UTAH

JUNE 14 LEGISLATURE WILL HEAR THE PUBLIC ON UTA

  On June 14, at the State Capital Senate Building, Room 210, there will be a meeting of the Legislature's Transportation Governance and Funding Task Force.  The goal of this particular meeting is to hear from the public on the issues that they have with UTA.  The meeting starts at 1 PM.  I encourage everyone who reads this blog, and everyone who cares about mass transit, to come to the meeting and speak.  The below FUTURE OF MASS TRANSIT IN UTAH explains my knowledge of the facts.  I might also add that UTA is still in the land development business and some say that 10% of their business on property involves requiring eminent domain.

FUTURE OF MASS TRANSIT IN UTAH

History

In the next few months, at the Utah Legislature, there will be a series of public hearings and discussions on the future of mass transit in Utah. Since 1970, the Utah Transit Agency (UTA) has been providing bus service for Salt Lake County. Service eventually expanded to several other Northern Utah counties including Utah, Weber, Davis and Tooele counties. Salt Lake County TRAX light rail was added in 1999 after a second vote to approve a tax increase for the rail line. The first vote had failed to gather enough votes to pass.  The TRAX system eventually expanded to the airport and Draper in 2013. FrontRunner commuter rail was added in 2008 and eventually expanded to run 89 miles from Provo to Ogden. UTA now operates 120 bus routes and 89 miles of FrontRunner. It operates from 5 AM to midnight, 362 days a year and serves 2.4 million in six Northern Utah counties.

  In 2015, Weber, Davis and Tooele counties approved a sales tax increase, Prop One, to add more service and several Bus Rapid Transit lines (described as trains on wheels). Utah and Salt Lake County voted against the tax increase. Many attributed the failure of the two most populous counties in Utah to approve the tax increase to the poor reputation of UTA in the previous years. There was talk of sweetheart deals with developers, high executive salaries and questionable travel. Other voters questioned the large number of expensive rail projects that would be receiving the majority of any new funding.

  The 2012 and 2014 Legislative Audits found that the TRAX and FrontRunner projects, completed a decade ahead of time, cannibalized bus service which was reduced 30%. The audits also pointed out questionable loans and contracts to developers. The audits also recommended that any new projects have funds identified before construction starts in order to reduce the significant interest charges that were incurred by borrowing to complete the rail expansions years ahead of time. The last audit also

recommended that priority be given to restoring a “robust” bus system.

  In the first part of 2016, the relationship between UTA and the public reached a low point. The Chairman of the UTA Board of Trustees, claimed that the press and public were unfair to UTA and closed some of their meetings. Pressure from almost everyone, including the Governor, resulted in the Board of Trustees opening up all of the meetings to the public and implementing significant transparency efforts that encouraged public feedback on plans.

  In the last six months, especially with the new Chairman of the UTA Board of Trustees, Robert McKinley, and the new General Manager Jerry Benson, UTA has significantly increased their public outreach and provided reports and documentation (previously refused). UTA has also put many of their agenda items, including policies and proposed actions, online and encouraged comments on each item. This is better than many other government entities. During Board meetings, the comments received online are read to the Board and the public can comment on each item!

  The most surprising change at the Board of Trustees level is that the Board has been arguing many of the important decisions! In previous years, the Board did most of their decision making in subcommittees with no public feedback and the full Board would rubber stamp staff recommendations. Now, it is not unusual to see the Board members analyzing the proposals and vigorously questioning the staff proposals. In several cases, there have been hours of argument between Board members. The best decisions come from vigorous discussion and debate.

  UTA seems to be on a better management path. The only recent questionable issue was caused by the Board’s attempt to stop a so called “reformer”, North Ogden Mayor Brent Taylor, from being put on the Board of Trustees. Several Legislators and the State Auditor had to write letters insisting on his appointment onto the Board. The Board had said that since Mayor Taylor’s father worked as a FrontRunner operator, that should require the father to be terminated or the Mayor not be on the

Board. The Board said that the issue was a question of nepotism. Many have questioned the Board’s definition of nepotism and the Board made themselves look bad in the process. Mayor Taylor, a combat veteran, was finally allowed to be on the Board of Trustees.

Utah Transportation Plan

  Utah regularly prepares a plan laying out the proposed projects for roads and transit over 25 years into the future. The last plan, the Utah Transportation Plan (UTP) had around $10 billion of rail projects proposed to be completed by 2040. The Plan is prepared by the various Metropolitan Planning Organizations using each one’s Regional Transportation Plan (RTP).

In most of Northern Utah (with the exception of Utah County), the Wasatch Front Regional Council (WFRC) prepares the RTP. The WFRC is composed of elected officials and a few experts in transportation in Utah. The group recommended many of the transit projects in order to take pressure off the roadways that are reaching the limit of expanding to meet a doubling of the population in Northern Utah in the next 30 years. One of the reasons that Prop One recommended a tax increase that would provide 40% of the increase to UTA, was the concern that roads could not handle the increased demand for transportation without transit projects.

  The WFRC recommended projects such as the new airport TRAX reconfiguration with a flying bridge ($65 million), a $3 billion expansion of TRAX from Draper to Lehi, a rail and tunnel system up the canyons, three new streetcar projects in Salt Lake City, expanding the Sugar House streetcar line, an airport high speed rail station, a $65 million bus garage and a billion dollars in Bus Rapid Transit projects (using dedicated lanes for buses). The expensive projects assumed that Prop One would be approved in all counties and allow bonding to work towards completing the UTP projects.

  The Plan says that the Utah transportation system will need to “limit the growth in travel demand” in order to take pressure off of the roads. The Plan also assumed that the federal government would provide significant funding for the transit projects. That assumption is no longer valid with the new administration in Washington. The last federal funding provided 20% of a project’s cost with the local governments having to provide 80% of the project’s cost. The Plan, with all of the expensive projects, is seen by some as a wish list that should not drive decision making to increase taxes. The federal government has a standard for funding transit projects: “broad public support”. The last two times that UTA tried to get federal funding to expand the Sugar House streetcar (S-Line), one of the reasons that they failed is because the project did not have broad public support.

  Another issue that is being vigorously debated, is who will pay for the expensive airport TRAX reconfiguration. In the 2007 Interlocal Agreement with Salt Lake City (which manages the airport), UTA agreed to a reasonable reconfiguration. That interpretation allows UTA to not pay the full cost of what could be a $65 million project unless the UTA Board approves. But UTA does not have the money to pay for it. The Board did approve $4.3 million to pay for design work but the Board has not approved the project cost.

  One of the reasons that Keith Bartholomew, Salt Lake City’s representative on UTA’s Board of

Trustees, was not appreciated by Salt Lake City’s Mayor, was his concern about the airport project. Interestingly, the project could (and should) be paid for with airport passenger fees. Other cities have used such funding to construct their airport mass transit projects. And the FAA recently made the requirements more flexible to encourage using the fees for mass transit. Unfortunately, in Utah, the law does not allow airport revenue to finance a “fixed guideway” project. Some have said that Delta Airlines asked for that language to ensure that all airport passenger fees would be used for the airport terminal rebuilding project (in process). The language is in Utah Code Section 72-10-215. It will be interesting to see who will pay for the airport TRAX reconfiguration.

  According to the WFRC’s RTP, 40+% of new funding would be used for new projects. Only 6% would be used for service increases. Interestingly, transit service increase is the last item on the transit project list in the RTP. And the projects only reduce automobile use by about 1% in the short run and 3% over the medium run while transferring traffic lanes to Bus Rapid Transit. The realities of paying for the projects seem to be missing and hopefully future Plans will include financial constraints and list the

priorities so that projects don’t start with the most expensive one.

Governance

  Many of the complaints that have been directed at UTA have to do with governance and the Board of Trustees. The public wants more service but the municipalities that assign Board members, seem to want projects. The municipalities are assuming that the projects will increase the property values and tax for the cities and encourage development. There is also pressure from construction companies to fund big projects that they can help build and make good money. Recent attempts by the Legislature to change the structure of UTA’s Board, have failed. That is one of the reasons for creating the

Legislature’s Transportation Governance and Funding Task Force.

Mass transit riders want more areas served with more frequent buses and increased service and frequency on weekends and later at night. Taxpayers also want service. The westside of Salt Lake and Utah counties want more service. In Salt Lake City, many areas have bus routes every four blocks. That is not available west of I15. Many think that transit should be serving riders, not cities. The projects versus service argument is also taking place in many other cities in the country.

  UTA’s large debt service of $109 million per year is greater than the bus operating budget at $90 million. The debt was incurred by the Board, controlled by the municipalities, racing to finish the TRAX and FrontRunner projects as fast as possible. Part of the argument that UTA governance needs to change is based on the fact that, unlike the first TRAX line, voters will not get to vote on whether to take on increased debt. Recently, the Central Wasatch Commission was formed to implement the recommendations of the Mountain Accord, which includes a tunnel and rail system and discourages personal vehicle use in the canyons. That entity also will be allowed to bond without voter approval. The bonding will essentially obligate Salt Lake County taxpayers for up to 50 years. It almost appears that voters are not trusted to make decisions about how their tax dollars should be used.

  The 2014 Legislative Audit was so concerned about UTA’s significant debt that it recommended that UTA identify and specify reliable revenue sources to cover operating costs before future projects’ construction begins.  Past experience with the FrontRunner north line seem to indicate that future rail projects will be difficult to justify.  It is doubtful that the Federal Government, under pressure to reduce debt, will continue to subsidize inefficient rail lines.

  Some have mentioned that if Utah can collect internet taxes, those funds could be used to pay for expansion of UTA service and projects. But Amazon and most of the big internet companies already pay Utah sales taxes. And all of the proposed internet sales tax bills are limited to companies that do more than $100,000 per year in Utah sales. The effect is that Utah may only be missing out on collecting around $5 million per year at most in internet sales taxes. It would cost Utah much more to go after those companies (that sell more than $100,000/year in Utah) that are not paying internet taxes.   Transit service expansion and projects will have to wait for more money. The Transportation Task Force could decide on conditions for a sales tax increase for transit. Such conditions could include not allowing projects for five years to ensure that the next five years of increased funding would go to service expansion. Unfortunately, there is also a need for increased maintenance, called state of good repair (SGR) at UTA. UTA’s General Manager, Jerry Benson, has already provided a letter that implies that they will focus on service with any increase in funding but the municipalities are not bound by it and they could put pressure on the Board of Trustees to fund projects that they want, like the Riverton extension of TRAX and the Taylorsville Bus Rapid Transit.

Transit Oriented Development

   Many of the problems at UTA have involved Transit Oriented Developments (TOD). These projects are supposed to be mixed use (apartments, condos, retail, restaurants and offices) buildings that encourage public engagement at the ground floor and provide a walkable area around stations that should, theoretically, increase transit ridership. The stations next to rail lines have the best potential for TOD projects. Several years ago, the Legislature gave UTA permission to enter into eight TOD projects (SB51). But when the Legislature tried to pass a tax increase for transit, the UTA TOD projects led to questions about how the tax increase would be used. The tax increase for transit failed.

  UTA’s TOD projects generally had UTA entering into joint development agreements when UTA gave the developer property (that could be as much as $10 million) in return for a percentage of the project, generally 5%. But there may be no profits. Recent revelations that transit station development did not result in profits paid out to development partners show that UTA should not be entering into such agreements. Also the audit recommended increased analysis and confirmation of the financial profitability of such arrangements. Other cities, in other states, lease property to developers which ensures that the developer has the money to develop the property quickly. UTA had to pay over a million dollars to get out of a TOD contract that was not moving forward in Clearfield.

  Although there are studies that show that TODs can increase ridership, even in Portland, next to rail stations, 80% used personal vehicles. And many of the TOD projects next to the UTA rail stations are just apartments, which is not really a TOD mixed use, walkable project.

Studies also show an increase in property taxes around stations. But that may not be enough to justify the project. That is why Clearfield asked to use the Clearfield FrontRunner station for a manufacturing facility. The TOD proposal east of the 2100 South TRAX station (Market Station) also did not get off the ground. The Sugar House streetcar has had consistently poor ridership (now up to 1300 on weekdays and 1600 on weekends), which is poor for a rail system. Transit oriented development is complicated. In Portland, two large areas next to transit stations sat idle for years before developing into big box stores.

If TODs made sense, Market Station, Clearfield and many other stations would have been successful.   The best, most successful TOD development next to a UTA rail station is Farmington, which planned a real mixed use area wide project that also encouraged, through hard sell by Farmington City, various stores to build in the area (like Cabela’s). Areas next to Sandy and Draper stations developed but they seem to be due to aggressive development pushes by the city planners and they are not really mixed use next to the stations. The Sandy station is next to the South Towne Expo Center which helps but adjacent to the station are many high rise offices.  

  Another complication about station TOD development, is adjacent properties may have pressure to rezone to higher density. If the station is next to single-family homes, a vigorous fight to keep neighborhood character should be expected.

Rail and Streetcars

  As reflected in the Utah Transportation Plan, UTA is betting that the future of mass transit in Salt Lake County is rail. Recent studies show that bus mass transit systems can be more successful and financially efficient.  The Cato Institute's recent study "The Great Streetcar Conspiracy" (June 14, 2012 By Randal O'Toole) questioned the gold standard of successful streetcar projects, the Portland streetcar.  It found that streetcars cost "roughly twice as much to operate, per vehicle-mile of service" over buses.  The Portland streetcar line is considered to be a success but it appears to be due to the fact "that for most riders, the route is free and the average fare collected is less than 4 cents per rider."  The Cato Institute study also showed that property values can go down or growth in value slowed with a nearby rail project.  So the benefit of fixed rail systems may not be as great as originally thought.  In Portland, a lot of the increase in nearby development came about from over $700 million in Tax Increment Funding (TIF).  TIF takes the increase in taxes from development that would normally go to schools and local governments and returns them to the developers and the area.  Other findings from the study are that new cars carrying more than 1 person can be more efficient than a rail system like FrontRunner.  And replacing the rails (needed about every 30 years) can cost as much as the original project.

  UTA and Salt Lake City have contended that the Sugar House area developed due to the S-Line streetcar (actually a TRAX vehicle). But the development really took off when the Salt Lake City Redevelopment Agency (RDA) gave loans to developers to build big projects like the 2100 South and Highland Vue and the McClelland and Elm Liberty Village. The area’s streetcar, due to the low ridership, should not be claimed to be the impetus that created development. The City also developed a linear park called the Parleys Trail that runs from South Salt Lake City to Sugar House Park (to be connected to the Bonneville Shoreline Trail this summer). The many other parks in the area also encourage development.

  Several years ago, the previous UTA General Manager, Michael Allegra said that UTA would be focusing on Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems instead of rail. While rail can cost $50 to 80 million per mile, BRTs cost about $15 million per mile. UTA operates one BRT on 3500 South with two dedicated lanes from 2700 West to 5600 West that were removed from automobile use. The congestion for personal vehicles significantly increases due to the loss of the two lanes of traffic. The route saves about 15 minutes on a route that used to be about 70 minutes and only stops about every four blocks. It sometimes has to wait at Redwood Road for three light cycles before it turns green to allow the BRT to go through the intersection.

  Rail does not seem to be appropriate except in high traffic destination areas, like educational, religious and commercial strips that are well developed. The best successful mass transit systems go to or through popular destinations and where people want to go. Rail systems appear to be appropriate and justified where there is a significant commercial or educational use during the hours of operation.

Rail does provide the permanence that can encourage investment and justify loans from financial entities. But destination is an important part of the equation for TOD success. TRAX is successful because it goes to the greatest destination on earth for most Utahns, and it goes to a large employment center (downtown Salt Lake City) and to the University of Utah.

  UTA believes that rail (and BRT) is justified to capture the choice riders. But real choice riders would rather talk privately on their phone while driving cars than ride rail. The new technology of cellphones and almost smart, self driving cars would seem to call into question UTA’s plan to focus on encouraging those choice riders to ride UTA rail. Another concern about rail in Utah is the potential for a major earthquake that could disrupt the power system for weeks. And rail systems are limited by lack of appropriate and safe parking facilities and ticket machine transaction times which can be easily overloaded. The argument that most mass transit riders would prefer a high class rail car over a low class ordinary bus fails in recent studies that show the decision comes down to how convenient is the service. If bus and rail both have 10 minute frequency, the public interest in riding mass transit is the same whether it is rail or bus.

  Because rail systems drain money from bus service, UTA should stop building or extending rail lines until future funding can be assured.  UTA should focus on using buses to increase ridership. UTA and Utah could benefit from a more open discussion and debate about the future of rail in Salt Lake County.

Buses

  Buses seem to be the most cost effective in operation in our cities that are extended out to the suburbs in piecemeal planning fashion. Buses excel at efficiency when the areas that they serve are spread out with few destination areas that attract people in between. They encourage ridership from those who don’t want to walk four plus blocks to a BRT station or a mile to a rail station. Even if the BRT is fast, walking four blocks can take more time than would be saved by a BRT that is 15 minutes faster. A bus can cost one to two million dollars per year to operate. The Sugar House streetcar is about double the operating cost of a bus. Year round canyon bus service can be provided for as little as $1 million per canyon per year with 30 minute frequency. Bus systems can change routes and schedules to quickly meet new developments and increased needs. They can use natural gas which is abundant in Utah.   Transit ridership is more responsive to service improvements that may be difficult for rail. Studies show that increased bus service can result in ridership increases of up to 67%. But ridership does depend on the time to get to a destination. If I can drive to downtown Salt Lake City in 15 minutes but it takes up to an hour to get there with a bus, it encourages me to drive. Bus service has suffered because most bus routes stop at 8pm (because of the rush to build rail projects).

  The best and most cost effective way to increase mass transit ridership is through bus service increases. In addition, new technology is providing a cost efficient bus potential that can use a bus lane at a traffic light and a traffic light that changes to green for a bus, when a bus comes to the intersection. This is called an enhanced bus or BLIP (Bus Lane Intersection Priority). It can be as fast as a BRT but it only costs $1.5 million per mile versus $15 per mile for a BRT. Except at the lights, traffic lanes are not lost to cars. That seems to be where UTA should be focusing their future plans on, especially if funding will continue to be constrained.

Cars

  It is difficult for mass transit to compete with cars. When the choice comes down to driving a car that can almost drive and park themselves and waiting for a train or TRAX or a bus, 95% of people seem to prefer cars. Despite all of the pollution caused by personal vehicles, cars will win over mass transit and bicycles. Remember all of the pictures of everyone in China riding bicycles? Everyone in China is driving a car; at least it seems like that. And despite all of the mass transit available in Europe and Russia, cars become more numerous and popular each year. Several European capitals have discouraged car use in their cities but automobiles still increase in number.

  Cars are our American miracle. They make our families, our economy and our country more efficient. Our American dream is family, freedom, a home, a job and a car. Cars allow almost everyone to have that home, that job, that family and that freedom. When you look at the pictures of 17 lanes on a freeway full of bumper to bumper traffic, you should realize that they are there because, with a short or even hour long drive, they can have a home with a yard. If everyone lived in high rises in the center of a city, most people could not have a house and a yard. As Americans get older and get a family, most want to have a home, even if it may take an hour to drive to where it can be affordable. Our culture celebrates our individuality that can and do drive to where and when they want to. A freeway full of cars shows that the American dream is alive and well. That is the main reason that we left bike riding (Red China) and mass transit (Soviet Union) behind us in the dust.

  In our culture and society, automobiles provide a service that mass transit cannot come close to fulfilling.  If a family has young children, pets or has an older driver or one or both parents work, a car is indispensable. Time is the deciding factor. The only way for buses to compete is for the system to save time. American technology should be celebrated for designing automobiles that only pollute 1% of what cars from 40 years ago did while getting four times the gasoline mileage. 

  According to the Cascade Policy Institute, "Investments in roadway improvements best serve the way the people actually travel, rather than the way we wish they would travel." Those roadway improvements can be more traffic lanes with less width (studies show that lessening width in many cases will not increase accidents), synchronizing traffic lights, active traffic light management in real time, better intersection designs and an effort to ensure that mass transit and active transportation systems (bicycles) do not create congestion and pollution. Hopefully, the Legislature will realize the importance of cars and ensure that roads should be built that assume that people will want a home, even if it takes an hour to get to after work.

Future of mass transit to encourage ridership increases is buses

  The future of mass transit in Utah is service. When parking lots at rail stations are full, people won’t ride mass transit. When it takes five minutes to get a ticket, people won’t ride mass transit. When the next bus is an hour away, people won’t ride mass transit. When it takes an hour to get to a destination instead of 15 minutes, people won’t ride mass transit. When there is no transit service, people won’t ride mass transit. That is why mass transit should first focus on the least expensive system, buses. Then when ridership develops, BRT and rail can be justified. Funding should not be encouraging UTA to spend money on questionable projects that may only benefit 3% of Northern Utah’s population.

State Legislature hearing on Transportation on June 14.

  On June 14, at the State Capitol, Senate Building Room 210, the Transportation Governance and Funding Task Force will be spending several hours taking public comments on the future of mass transit and transportation in Utah. The hearing will start at 1PM and it is the start of months of hearings and discussion on where to go with mass transit in Utah in the next few decades. The Task Force will discuss “a funding program, an improved funding allocation plan, a plan for existing, potential futuristic or potential travel modes, a plan for oversight and boards, a vision for where we want to be as a state, a system to enhance the quality of life and economic development and a complete mobility system plan for

5, 10, 20 and 40 years in the future.” Everyone interested in quality growth, mass transit and transportation in Utah should attend and provide public comment to the Task Force.

JUNE  5, 2017

PUBLIC SAFETY IS MORE THAN JAILBEDS PUBLISHED

DESERET NEWS

CONSIDER RUNNING FOR OFFICE DEADLINE JUNE 7 PUBLISHED

WISHFUL THINKING OPED PUBLISHED

PUBLIC SAFETY IS MORE THAN JAILBEDS PUBLISHED DESERET NEWS

  The Deseret News published my oped on the need for not just jail beds but also funding for prosecutors and mental health treatment.  Unfortunately, the County is still ignoring the importance of public safety.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865680674/Op-ed-Public-safety-ismore-than-jail-beds.html

CONSIDER RUNNING FOR OFFICE DEADLINE JUNE 7 PUBLISHED

  The Salt Lake Tribune just published the most important oped of the week explaining/recommending running for office this year.  It is important that we have a competitive race in the many municipal elections in Salt Lake County.  Please read this oped.

http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/5360140-155/george-chapman-if-youwant-to

WISHFUL THINKING OPED PUBLISHED MONTH AGO  ABOUT SHERIFF

  The Sheriff is going but I wanted to point out that his last recommendations did not do him justice.  He is a great man but he keeps putting himself in the line of fire when we are trying to get Mayor McAdams to give public safety appropriate funding.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865678187/Putting-wishfulthinking-ahead-of-public-safety.html

MAY 31, 2017

CANDIDATE FILING FOR MUNICIPAL ELECTION IS JUNE 1 TO

JUNE 7

SLC TREE REMOVAL SYSTEM DISCOURAGES NEW TREE

PLANTINGS

STREET MAINTENANCE MONEY WENT TO SALARY

INCREASES (FOR COUNCIL?)

SLC MAYOR UPSET ABOUT SECRET DECISIONS ON HOMELESS (IRONY)

SHERIFF JIM WINDER IS THE MOST RESPECTED DEMOCRAT

IN SLCO AND WILL BE A BIG LOSS

EYE CANDY/PROJECTS/MONUMENTS TAKE AWAY FROM STREET MAINTENANCE

CANDIDATE FILING PERIOD FOR MUNICIPAL ELECTION IS JUNE 1 TO JUNE 7

  In the next few days, candidates interested in filing for municipal elections must make a decision.  The filing window is from June 1 to June 7 (5 PM).  The cost ranges from a high of $84 in Salt Lake City to an average of $25 in most other cities. These elected positions have the power to tax and pass laws that affect all of us.  These positions are not really non-partisan, due to the vigorous competition in Salt Lake County between Republicans and Democrats. These positions are stepping stones to higher office.  Candidates that are interested in combating increases in taxes and fees and in ensuring an open and fair government are encouraged to consider running for the open positions (listed below).  If you are interested in elected office, now is the time to test your potential.  Worst case scenario, you will see what it takes to run a campaign and win votes.  Best case scenario, you will get elected!

  For residents of Salt Lake City, filing must be done in person at the City Recorder’s Office at the City Building at 400 S. State Street.  The primary election (for more than two candidates) is August 15 and the General Election is November 7.  The contribution limit in Salt Lake City is $750 (unlimited personal funds are allowed although voluntary limits are presented).  Other cities and positions have different limits, if any.  In the past, Salt Lake City candidates spent from $5000 to $34,000 with an average of $16,000.  Salt Lake City Districts 1 (northwest), 3 (Avenues), 5 (Central City west of 1300 S.) and 7 (Sugar House) have elections this year.  The votes to get through the primary tend to be in the low hundreds and the general election winning candidates get 1000 to 2000 votes.  Other municipalities and offices are usually much less costly and receive fewer vote totals.  The requirements are that the candidate must be a resident of the district for 12 months preceding the general election.

  The issues in Salt Lake City may be different in other municipalities but they raise similar concerns that should energize activists and voters.  Secret meetings, lack of public hearings before decisions, tax and fee increases (some fees are scheduled to double in the next five years in Salt Lake City), lack of appropriate public safety funding, repurposing bonds and tax increases for other uses, ignoring basic services such as police and street maintenance, war on cars, and affordable housing are push button issues this year.

  Specifically, for Salt Lake City:  Salt Lake City is discussing assessment districts with fees for road maintenance (they repurposed the tax increase from a few years ago for streets to a pay raise and the Council has not complained), a sales tax increase, bonding for affordable housing projects, and they appear to still be interested in supporting the questionable County convention hotel downtown.  In addition, they intend to spend $40 + million on the prison infrastructure.  I expect tax increases will not be publicized until after the election.  We need more fiscally responsible candidates on the SLC Council.

  The jail restrictions are also a problem.  Drug dealers only stay in jail for a few hours and thousands of criminals are not being locked up after assaulting innocent citizens, after shoplifting, after trespassing/camping on private property, after open drug use, after prostitution, after 10+ warrants, and many other times.  SLC Police are not able to do their job 40% of the time (not able to arrest and book into jail 40% of the criminals that they interact with)!  The SLCPD Jail Booking Restriction Report (above) shows what happens when the SL County Mayor does not budget enough funding for appropriate public safety and adequate jail and DA funding. There are still 380 free beds at Oxbow that are not being funded/filled.  This is a public safety nightmare all over the County.

  SLC Council often have secret meetings that take action before and in liu of public hearings.  The Council has closed a golf course and approved a taxing authority (Central Wasatch Commission) without a public hearing!  Note that the County Council refused to approve the CWC until some taxpayer protections were put in place. The homeless site selections in SLC were also made in secret without public hearings!  There is still an effort to spend valuable and limited road funds on costly and questionable bicycle paths.  Efforts to discourage private vehicle use of canyons is planned.   Please encourage candidates to consider running for SLC Districts 1, 3, 5 and 7.  These positions require a Tuesday afternoon, about 10+ hours a week and pay about $28,000.  Website for more SLC info:   http://www.slcgov.com/recorder/recorders-office-elections

  If you have any questions, or would like to discuss the issues, please email me.  I ran for mayor of SLC, recruited and supported and helped manage 6 previous candidates running for office in SLC, including 3 SLC Councilmembers.    George Chapman  gechapman2@gmail.com

CITY COUNCIL/MAYOR CANDIDATES

Municipal elections are nonpartisan and are held in odd-numbered years to elect the City Mayors and Council members.

For Qualifications and Filing Location, Contact your City Recorder.

Positions on the Ballot:

Alta                 Mayor             At-Large Council Vote for 2

Bluffdale        Mayor             At-Large Council Vote for 2            At-Large Council*2 year term

Cottonwood Hts  Mayor                   Council 3        Council 4

Draper                        Mayor             At-Large Council Vote for 2

Herriman       Mayor             Council 2        Council 3

Holladay                     Mayor             Council 1        Council 3

Midvale                      Mayor             Council 4        Council 5

Millcreek                                Council 2        Council 4

Murray                       Mayor             Council 2        Council 4

Riverton                     Mayor             Council 3        Council 4

Salt Lake City                                    Council 1, 3, 5, 7

Sandy             Mayor             At-Large Council      Council 1        Council 3

South Jordan Mayor             Council 3        Council 5

South Salt Lake         Mayor             At-Large Council      Council 2, 3

Taylorsville    Mayor             Council 4        Council 5

West Jordan  Mayor             At-Large Council Vote for 2            Council 4 *2 year term West Valley    Mayor             At-Large Council      Council 2        Council 4

METRO TOWNSHIP CANDIDATES  Filing location is the Salt Lake County Election Division Office, 2001 S. State Street.

Copperton Metro Township            At-Large Council Vote for 2

Emigration Metro Township           At-Large Council Vote for 2

Kearns Metro Township                  Council 2        Council 4

Magna Metro Township                   Council 2        Council 4

White City Metro Township            At-Large Council Vote for 2

LOCAL SERVICE DISTRICTS

For Qualifications and Filing Location, Contact your Local Service District office

Alta Canyon Rec(vote for 4)

Copperton Improvement (vote for 1)

Cottonwood Improvement (vote for 1)

Cottonwood Heights Park 1 (vote for 1)

Cottonwood Heights Park 2 (vote for 1)

Emigration Improvement (vote for 1)

Granger Hunter Improvement (vote for 2)

Kearns Improvement (vote for 2)

Magna Water (vote for 2)

Midvalley Improvement (vote for 2)

Mt. Olympus Improvement (vote for 2)

Oquirrh Park & Rec (vote for 2)

Canyon Water (vote for2)

Sandy Suburban Improvement (vote for 1)

South Valley Sewer (vote for 2)

Taylorsville Bennion Improvement (vote for 1)

White City Water ( vote for 2)

SLC TREE REMOVAL SYSTEM DISCOURAGES NEW TREE PLANTINGS

  It turns out that in addition to removing 3000 old trees each year in Salt Lake City, the City places onerous requirements onto the new plantings of small trees to replace the big trees.  The conditions discourage landowners from allowing the City to replant a tree in their yard.   This is on top of the replacement of the 3000 trees not being completely funded by SLC.

STREET MAINTENANCE MONEY DIVERTED TO SALARY INCREASES (FOR COUNCIL?)

  This one is probably going to get me banned from SLC.  I have been having an argument with several SLC Councilmembers about the repurposing of the streets tax that was passed several years ago. The first year it went to streets maintenance.  It added about $8.4 million to the approximate $9 million budgeted for streets that year.  The next year, it went to salary increases.  I have to assume that the City Council benefited from that salary increase, even though they get less than $30,000 a year compensation for working about 10-20 hours per week.  I still do not think that it is right to give themselves a pay raise and take it away from needed streets maintenance.  I still respect the Councilmembers who did this but I strongly disagree that it was right and appropriate.

SLC MAYOR UPSET ABOUT SECRET DECISIONS ON HOMELESS (IRONY)

  SLC Mayor Biskupski expressed concern that the final decision on where the homeless populations would be assigned was made in secret.  Up until last week, when it was revealed in a surprise comment, the County had said that the decision would be made by the State Homeless Coordinating

Committee.  Mayor Biskupski was upset about the secret decision.  Maybe she will revisit her decision to keep the SLC Council’s decision on the homeless sites secret.  This has got to be one of the most ironic situations in the last year.

SHERIFF JIM WINDER IS THE MOST RESPECTED DEMOCRAT IN SLCO AND WILL BE A BIG LOSS

  I have known and worked with Sheriff Jim Winder for almost 10 years.  I have a great deal of respect for him and I have supported him in his efforts to gain appropriate County funding for his department (along with more funding for the DA).  My opeds in the last few years make it clear that the issue is lack of County funding from the SLCO Mayor McAdams.  I have also supported his efforts to consolidate law enforcement in the County (which should result in less crime).  Unfortunately, my efforts that were directed at Mayor McAdams, were intercepted by Sheriff Winder and he seemed to take the bullet meant for Mayor McAdams.  It is not the first time that he has done that.  When the previous administration cut the UPD budget in half (the County’s unincorporated police force), the previous Council agreed with that and the Sheriff ended up defending that decision.    I will miss Jim Winder and I can’t think of anyone who can fill his shoes.

EYE CANDY/PROJECTS/MONUMENTS TAKE AWAY FROM STREET MAINTENANCE

  Salt Lake City is planning on completely changing 900 West and making it a two lane road.  Unfortunately, the money that the City is spending on the project could be better used (in my opinion) for maintaining streets and repairing potholes.  The cost of maintaining new roundabouts and other plantings in the center turn lane will also take away from street maintenance.  The SLC Council should listen to their staff and not start projects that take away from basic service support like fixing potholes.

MAY 23, 2017

SLC REMOVING 3000 TREES PER YEAR

PUBLIC UTILITIES DOUBLES TAXES WITH FOUR PAGE

JUSTIFICATION

SLC STREETS NOT MAINTAINED TO ALLOW BEAUTIFICATION

OF STREETS

SLC REGIONAL ATHLETIC COMPLEX LOSES MONEY WORSE

THAN GOLF

RIO GRANDE CAMPERS MOVING TO REST OF SLC

SLC REMOVING 3000 TREES PER YEAR

  Salt Lake City is removing about 3000 trees per year.  The City needs$300,000 to completely replace the 3000 trees but is only budgeting $225,000.  The trees that are being removed are old, large trees.  The replacement trees are what I call mickie mouse trees (or munchkin trees).  The City requires developers who cut down trees to replace the trees diameter.  In other words, a 2 foot diameter tree should need 12 two inch diameter trees to replace the old tree.  Salt Lake City's tree plan is not sustainable.

PUBLIC UTILITIES DOUBLES TAXES WITH FOUR PAGE JUSTIFICATION

  Several people showed up at the formal City Council meeting to complain about the tax increase for sewer and water.  Unfortunately, they did not know how or when to complain since it was unclear that the tax increases are in the Public Utilities budget in the Mayor's proposed budget.  The Council had their staff discuss the issue with the concerned taxpayers.  

  More importantly, the Public Utilities budget is four pages!  The budget for Public Utilities is $200 million and it is clearly not all discussed in four pages.  This is worse than UTA!  Doubling water and sewer taxes in five years deserves more than a four page justification.

SLC STREETS NOT MAINTAINED TO ALLOW BEAUTIFICATION OF STREETS

  Councilwoman Lisa Adams complained that streets are not maintained.  She showed a slideshow of pictures taken of the potholes in the streets near where she lives.  Lisa is right.  The SLC budget does not really go into detail for streets.  It is essentially $10.1 million and the streets need $40 million per year to provide minimal maintenance.  The streets maintenance is not really broken out other than giving almost the same amount as last year.  Several years ago, the City Council and Mayor increased taxes for streets that was to provide $8.5 million more for streets.  But the money was repurposed after a year.  The Council has not pushed to unrepurpose the streets tax increase while the SLC streets are crumbling.

  The citizens who are hurting the most from the lack of appropriate streets maintenance funding are the bicyclists who have to ride well into the street due to the potholes near the edges.  Buses are notorious for messing up the sides of streets next to bus stops.  

  The lack of streets maintenance is made worse by the big fancy projects that tear up long streets to "prettify the roadway" with road diets, center medians and bike lanes.  900 West, 400 West, 300 West are all going to have major changes and that will suck out almost all of the potential money for basic streets maintenance.  SLC also spent almost $1 million to spruce up and "prettify" alleyways for the McClelland Trail.  That money could have been better used to create more safe bikelanes on City streets (not protected bike lanes like 300 West) without wasteful and unused center turn lanes.

  Councilman Charlie Luke was concerned enough about my comment regarding the old repurposed streets maintenance tax that he explained it.  But I am a typical taxpayer and I want more.  I still love Charlie Luke.

SLC REGIONAL ATHLETIC COMPLEX LOSES MONEY WORSE THAN GOLF

  One big drain on the budget is the SLC Regional Athletic Complex.  It is losing  a significant amount of money.  It is almost as big a money loser as golf.  But golf courses are well used.  The Regional Athletic Complex continues to be an albatross on the budget.  

  This is the budget note about the Complex:

E.  Regional  Athletic  Complex.  The  third  season  for  the  Regional

Athletic  Complex  (RAC)  operations  begins in  the  fall  of  2017.  The  MRB  reports  that recreational  program  fees  decreased  by  $213,236  due to  a  lack  of usage  of  the  complex.  Operating  deficits at  the  RAC  are  covered  by  the  general  fund.  The  Administration's updates  are  provided  below. Currently  Public Services  does  not  have  a  specific

or  written  plan  for  increasing  (or  decreasing)  usage  at the  RAC.  The  second  full season  for  the  RAC  started  in  April and  we  continue  to  gain  an  understanding  of the  opportunities  and  obligations  (bond  requirements.

RIO GRANDE CAMPERS MOVING TO REST OF SLC

  Unfortunately, the efforts by the SLCO Health Department, along with the SLC Police to try to control and limit the camping that is occurring around the Rio Grande area has resulted in many campers being interested in moving away from the Rio Grande area and to other areas of SLC.  The Rio Grande area attracts the outdoor camping due to the services for the homeless, outside of the Road Home.  The St. Vincent De Paul Center, the Weigand Center, the Rescue Mission and the Fourth Street Clinic are all in the area and those services do provide a safety net and needed basic services for the homeless.     Salt Lake City still does not have a solution to encourage outdoor camping to go to one area, indoor or outdoor.  The Council has been asked many times over the last few years but when a vacant building became available, the SLC Fire Marshall refused to allow it to be used because it did not have sprinklers.  

  Sheriff Winder's recommendation suggested an outdoor area for camping with rules.  But many homeless that camp do not want to be in an environment with rules.  That is why the San Francisco Pier 90 effort to provide an indoor facility for camping (with rules) did not work out.  I do not believe that the monthly cleanups (that remove around 10 tons of debris, belongings each month) work.  The cleanups have a tendency to make the homeless more depressed and create a bigger hole for them to climb out of.  There has to be a better way.

  During the City Council meeting, the Council expressed serious reservations about the administration spending more than what was budgeted and approved by the Council for homeless issues

($213,000).  The administration proposed to cover the overbudget with Budget Amendment 6.  But the reality is that the homeless budget was always under funded.  This should have been predictable.  The administration should have asked for more flexibility and asked for more.  The budget for homeless issues is a necessary expense.  The Council should approve a higher budget for homeless emergencies now.

LIBERTY PARK GETTING MAKEOVER INSTEAD OF PICKLEBALL COURTS

  Budget Amendment 6 also has a proposal to upgrade Liberty Park instead of building pickleball courts.  I put the proposal above and I will move it to the downloads page in a few weeks.  The Language is:

A-2: Liberty Park Concessions Area Improvements CIP -$300,000.00

CIP $300,000.00

Department: Public Services Prepared By: Dawn Crandall

Public Services Department requests a repurpose of the budget for the recently-approved pickle ball courts in Liberty Park.

The department requests that the budget be used instead for improvements to the Liberty Park concessions area.

When the pickle ball courts were proposed, PPL believed the courts would fit directly south of the existing tennis courts in an area that is currently asphalt paving, therefore resulting in minimal impacts to the park. The design consultant has determined there is insufficient room to place these courts with a North South orientation, ideal to reduce sun glare. The proposed new location is between the tennis courts and the Chase Home. This location would eliminate an open play area

and several trees and increase noise levels in close proximity to the historic home and tennis center, causing disruption to activities at both sites. Concurrently, design improvements are underway to improve the concessions area in the center of Liberty Park that will improve walking surfaces and visitor amenities. Unfortunately the funding scope for this project does not include wayfinding (which can be very confusing), improvement of the war memorial, or full replacement of

deteriorated asphalt paving which is a barrier for persons with mobility impairments. PPL requests the reallocation of the full amount for pickle ball funding to the concession area to make these desired improvements. If this amendment is approved, the concessions and surrounding area will provide a significantly higher level-of-service to patrons of our most visited park. This request is for a change of scope only. No additional funds are needed.

Parks and Public Lands has just completed the construction of six courts in nth Avenue Park and is beginning construction of six pickle ball courts in Fairmont Park. Salt Lake City will have a total of fourteen pickle ball courts to serve the ...

MAY 22, 2017

SLC COUNCIL ELECTION DEADLINE JUNE 7 WOMEN RUNNING FOR PUBLIC OFFIC

WE NEED PROSECUTORS, NOT JUST JAIL BEDS  (NEEDS

REPEATING)

SHERIFF WINDER IS IMPORTANT FOR SLCO

SLC COUNCIL ELECTION DEADLINE JUNE 7

  Salt Lake City Council Districts 1, 3, 5, 7 are up for election.  The deadline for signing up is June 7, at 5 PM at the SLC City Recorder's Office.  The cost to register is $84 or 75 names of registered voters.  The primary election is in August and ballots will be mailed out at the end of July.  The general election is November 7.

    James Rogers will run again in District 1.  As of today, he has one opponent, David C. Atkin at dcatkin@comcast.com.  In Council District 3, Laura Cushman at laura.cushman@gmail.com and T. Christopher Wharton at chris@chriswhartonlaw.com have signed up to run (opened campaign committees).  In Council District 5, Erin Mendenhall is running again and Benjamin Noah Rosenberg at noah695@gmail.com is running against her.  In Council District 7, John Benjamin Haynes at jbenjaminh92@gmail.com, Abraham Smith at abesmith@gmail.com and Benjamin Sessions at bhsessions@gmail.com have signed up to run.  

  This should be an interesting election campaign since it will be vote by mail and with part of the County, not the City, involved in voting for the replacement for Chaffetz.  Holladay is the closest area to SLC that is voting for Chaffetz's replacement.

WOMEN RUNNING FOR OFFICE

  Jennifer Seelig, former legislator and now working for Mayor Biskupski pointed out that women make up about half of the community council board membership but they only make up about half of that of elected offices.  Now is a good time to consider running for office.  There is no excuse when there are so many issues that impact residents, businesses and taxpayers in Salt Lake City (and in all municipalities in Utah).  The more people that are engaged in government, including running for office, the better the results.

PUBLIC SAFETY IS MORE THAN JAIL BEDS

  Recently, Sheriff Jim Winder presented a proposal to move Salt Lake County jail inmates to other counties’ jails. Unfortunately, as the Sheriff pointed out, the potential 300 extra beds will not necessarily result in stopping the revolving door of criminals going in and out of jail on a regular basis.   The other issue that needs to be addressed is the inadequate funding for the DA to prosecute the criminals. District Attorney Sim Gill’s office screens 17,500 felonies a year. When Operation Diversion criminals were sent to the jail, the efforts to ensure that they stayed in jail for more that a few days overwhelmed the office. Most of the DA’s prosecutors have caseloads of 150 cases. The recommended caseload is under 100 per prosecutor. Some prosecutors have caseloads over 200! To adequately and effectively prosecute felonies and misdemeanors and keep criminals in jail for more than a few hours requires more funding for the DA, not just funding for jail beds. If you ask the DA what he needs, he will say that Salt Lake County needs 18 new prosecutors and 500 beds. But the County Council is adamant that the DA has enough prosecutors. When 95% of cases are pled out without a trial, that is a sign that we need to hire more prosecutors.

  The main reason for more jail beds is to lock up the drug dealers that are in jail for an average of about 4 hours. Despite claims that Salt Lake County jail has been overwhelmed by the Legislature’s Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) that decreased penalties for drug crimes, drug dealing is a felony and should not be affected by the JRI. The short time in jail for drug dealers has been complained about by law enforcement for over five years, well before the JRI.

  The best reason to focus on drug dealers is because if the dealers are not locked up and removed from the streets (for much more than a few hours or weeks), they will ensure that addicts get addicted and stay addicted. Spending hundreds of millions of dollars on drug treatment is wasted when drugs are not just easy to get, but are pushed at graduates of addiction treatment programs. Police are now relegated to confiscating drugs when they are used openly. 

  Another public safety issue is the inadequate mental health funding in Salt Lake County. During the recession, the County’s mental health budget was significantly decreased and given to a private company. Many have complained that adequate funding has not been restored. The Sheriff has said that up to 80% of his jail inmates have mental health issues (which can include addiction). Efforts to encourage the Legislature to pass Healthy Utah to help provide adequate funding for addiction and mental health treatment failed. The result is, even with jail beds, those individuals that need mental health treatment are quickly released to the street where they often self medicate with heroin or stronger drugs.

  In the recent Salt Lake City Police Department 2017 Jail Bookings & Restriction Effects, the restrictions by the jail to limit bookings showed that the number in 2016 that could not be booked included 8049 for drugs, 1678 for drunkenness, 713 for forgery, 1051 for property damage, 186 for prostitution, 3903 for retail theft, 4429 for simple assault and 3311 for trespass.  The 2015 arrests were 9772 but the 2016 arrests were limited to 7368 due to the new rules put in place early last year. The report said “The inability to incarcerate offenders for these crimes creates an atmosphere of indifference, fosters an appearance of lawlessness, and destroys the community’s trust in law enforcement and pride in their neighborhoods.”

  Until Salt Lake County adequately funds public safety and provides appropriate funding for the DA and for mental health treatment, 1000 jail beds won’t help. Public safety is more than jail beds.  

SHERIFF WINDER IS IMPORTANT FOR SLCO

  I was surprised to hear that Sheriff Winder is considering going to Moab.   The Sheriff and I have been fighting for almost 10 years to give him more control, authority and funding for law enforcement in Salt Lake County.  I have always focused on the Mayor's budget as the issue, not the Sheriff.   In all of my opeds, I have focused on the lack of funding for the Sheriff and the DA.

If SLCO loses Jim Winder, it will hurt law enforcement in this County.   Jim Winder is that important.  The Sheriff needs to be able to stand up against the politicians that don't appreciate the main function of government, public safety.

  Although I will respect his decision, I may cry a little.  It would be a big loss.

 I ALSO NOTICED THAT THE SHERIFF WILL HAVE AN AWARDS LUNCHEON TOMORROW AT THE COUNTY COUNCIL MEETING.  I HOPE THAT DOESN'T MEAN THAT HE IS GOING TO ANNOUNCE HIS DECISION.

MAY 19, 2017

PUBLIC SAFETY IS MORE THAN JAIL BEDS

FUTURE OF MASS TRANSIT IN SALT LAKE COUNTY

Public safety is more than jail beds

  Recently, Sheriff Jim Winder presented a proposal to move Salt Lake County jail inmates to other counties’ jails. Unfortunately, as the Sheriff pointed out, the potential 300 extra beds will not necessarily result in stopping the revolving door of criminals going in and out of jail on a regular basis.   The other issue that needs to be addressed is the inadequate funding for the DA to prosecute the

criminals. District Attorney Sim Gill’s office screens 17,500 felonies a year. When Operation Diversion criminals were sent to the jail, the efforts to ensure that they stayed in jail for more that a few days overwhelmed the office. Most of the DA’s prosecutors have caseloads of 150 cases. The recommended caseload is under 100 per prosecutor. Some prosecutors have caseloads over 200! To adequately and effectively prosecute felonies and misdemeanors and keep criminals in jail for more than a few hours requires more funding for the DA, not just funding for jail beds. If you ask the DA what he needs, he will say that Salt Lake County needs 18 new prosecutors and 500 beds. But the County Council is adamant that the DA has enough prosecutors. When 95% of cases are pled out without a trial, that is a sign that we need to hire more prosecutors.

  The main reason for more jail beds is to lock up the drug dealers that are in jail for an average of about 4 hours. Despite claims that Salt Lake County jail has been overwhelmed by the Legislature’s Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) that decreased penalties for drug crimes, drug dealing is a felony and should not be affected by the JRI. The short time in jail for drug dealers has been complained about by law enforcement for over five years, well before the JRI.

  The best reason to focus on drug dealers is because if the dealers are not locked up and removed from the streets (for much more than a few hours or weeks), they will ensure that addicts get addicted and stay addicted. Spending hundreds of millions of dollars on drug treatment is wasted when drugs are not just easy to get, but are pushed at graduates of addiction treatment programs. Police are now relegated to confiscating drugs when they are used openly. 

  Another public safety issue is the inadequate mental health funding in Salt Lake County. During the recession, the County’s mental health budget was significantly decreased and given to a private company. Many have complained that adequate funding has not been restored. The Sheriff has said that up to 80% of his jail inmates have mental health issues (which can include addiction). Efforts to encourage the Legislature to pass Healthy Utah to help provide adequate funding for addiction and mental health treatment failed. The result is, even with jail beds, those individuals that need mental health treatment are quickly released to the street where they often self medicate with heroin or

stronger drugs.

  In the recent Salt Lake City Police Department 2017 Jail Bookings & Restriction Effects, the restrictions by the jail to limit bookings showed that the number in 2016 that could not be booked included 8049 for drugs, 1678 for drunkenness, 713 for forgery, 1051 for property damage, 186 for prostitution, 3903 for retail theft, 4429 for simple assault and 3311 for trespass.  The 2015 arrests were 9772 but the 2016 arrests were limited to 7368 due to the new rules put in place early last year. The report said “The inability to incarcerate offenders for these crimes creates an atmosphere of indifference, fosters an appearance of lawlessness, and destroys the community’s trust in law enforcement and pride in their neighborhoods.”

  Until Salt Lake County adequately funds public safety and provides appropriate funding for the DA

and for mental health treatment, 1000 jail beds won’t help. Public safety is more than jail beds.  

Future of mass transit in Salt Lake County

  I was concerned about some of the statements made by UTA General Manager Jerry Benson in the Salt Lake Tribune's recent story (Without big tax hike, UTA warns planned expansion, projects not feasible). Mr. Benson said that "It's really not our job to advocate or campaign [for a tax hike],...It's our job to inform policymakers and the public so they can make good decisions." I am concerned that the further comments by Mr. Benson cross the line. I think that Jerry Benson is a great manager and the best possible manager for UTA due to his expertise in operations.

  After expressing his concern about lack of funding for service and projects, he stated that UTA has given its board members talking points about the funding gaps for projects and service to bring to the attention of the cities, counties and other elected officials who appoint them. I remember the Board Chair asking that Board members reach out and talk to their appointment municipalities. But I don't remember a Board discussion on encouraging a tax increase which seems to be in the written talking points! It would seem to be more appropriate for the Board members and Chair to encourage a tax increase which Mr. Benson implies is needed to increase projects and service.

  In the last Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) from the Wasatch Front Regional Council (WFRC is composed of mayors and leaders from Salt Lake, Davis and Weber County), most of any new tax increase, 40%, will be going to questionable projects. Only 6% of new taxes will go to service increases. In addition, as Lee Davidson pointed out in his story, there are many streetcar, BRT and rail projects that are costly (and have not had the UTA audit’s recommended cost benefit analysis). The RTP also has an airport high speed rail station, the Alta-Summit County connector (tunnel and rail), the $3 billion Draper to Lehi TRAX, 3 rail projects in Salt Lake City (at $100 million each) and many BRTs (at $15 million per mile) instead of more appropriate, and as effective, enhanced buses (at $1.5 million per mile).   The RTP is essentially a wish list. Streetcars (at $45 million per mile) are not a cost effective transit option (according to a Congressional Research Service report Streetcars: FAQ). If voters were given a choice of spending $100 million on a streetcar or creating 20 plus new bus routes (at about a $1 million annual operating expense) and extending late night service, they would overwhelmingly favor more bus service. Creating a robust bus system will generate more ridership fares than just the new bus route generates.  Much of the pressure for these questionable projects come from construction companies that stand to make billions. During WFRC discussion, very few members of the public were aware of and commented on the proposals. Another concern is that projects should not be based on increased taxes or new bonding or fees. The last audit recommended that UTA identify and specify reliable revenue sources to cover operating costs before future projects’ construction begins. That should not be interpreted to mean wishing for a tax increase.

  The last UTA audit pointed out that rail expansion decreased bus service around 30%. The audit recommended, that before building more projects, UTA should restore a robust bus system before even thinking of more projects. When you can't go to a downtown show or game or anywhere late at night and rely on mass transit to take you there and back, mass transit doesn't work. UTA should focus on increasing frequency and late night and weekend bus service and commit, in writing, to not plan or build new projects until a robust bus system is operating. 

  UTA could benefit from a more open discussion and debate about the future of mass transit in Salt Lake County instead of using wish lists to advocate for higher taxes.  Recent studies show that bus mass transit systems can be more successful and financially efficient.

MAY 12, 2017

SECRECY RULES THE DAY WITH SLC COUNCIL

GRAMA DOES NOT ALLOW MEETING MINUTES TO BE PUBLIC

UTAH LEGISLATURE WILL CHANGE GRAMA 

MCADAMS PLANS FOR MORE PROSECUTORS FOR COUNTY MCADAMS VISITS LIBERTY WELLS COMMUNITY COUNCIL

HOMELESS FAMILIES TO BE REMOVED FROM RIO GRANDE 

MOUNTAIN ACCORD HEARING MAY RESULT IN ROADBLOCK 

SLC WATER RATES ARE HIGH/REASON GOLF DEFICIT/NEW CANYON CITY

SECRECY RULES THE DAY WITH SLC COUNCIL

GRAMA DOES NOT ALLOW MEETING MINUTES TO BE PUBLIC

UTAH LEGISLATURE WILL CHANGE GRAMA 

  On May 11, the Government Records Committee heard my appeal of Salt Lake City's refusal to release the minutes and recordings of the Salt Lake City Council's deliberations on the locations of the homeless resource expansion sites. The only legitimate reason to close the meetings to the public was to ensure that the properties being discussed had options placed so that the property values would not be increased after deciding the sites.  GRAMA, in several paragraphs points out that after the property acquisitions are completed, there should not be a reason to keep the meeting minutes and recordings secret. 

  Unfortunately, Salt Lake City, through their attorney, said that the Government Records Committee did not have jurisdiction because the meeting was closed appropriately and legally.  What that would mean is that any closed meeting, if it is closed appropriately and legally, would be able to keep their records secret unless a court ordered the release.

  The Committee took about half an hour of back and forth arguing about whether or not Salt Lake City's attorney made sense.  At first the Committee tried to vote to deny my appeal but the vote failed 3 to 2.  The next 20 minutes was a confusing discussion on what does GRAMA and the Open Meetings Act mean since they refer back to each other and it result, in the Committee's mind, it is confusing.  So they said that they preferred that a court decide the issue and they refused my appeal with a 3 to 2 vote.   Christopher Smart had an excellent report on the decision at: http://www.sltrib.com/news/5280791155/split-vote-keeps-records-of-homeless?fullpage=1

  Senator Curt Bramble is the Legislature's expert at GRAMA and has opened a bill file to update GRAMA.  Over the next few months, the Legislature's Interim Committee hearings will look at the issues that the Government Records Committee had that resulted in their vote that keeps the Salt Lake Council meetings secret.  Hopefully the law will be changed at the next General Session in January 2018.  

  My thoughts on this issue:

  I believe that the Government Records Committee does have appropriate and important jurisdiction in this matter, no matter what Salt Lake City says.  Strategy sessions to discuss the purchase.... of real property can be closed (52-4-205).  But after options have been put in place and contracts have been signed, 63G applies and allows the Committee to order the release of the records.  63G-2-305 says: (a) public interest in obtaining access to the information is greater than or equal to the governmental entity’s need to acquire the property on the best terms possible.  And 63G-2-309 says that the court is involved when: (2) Except as provided by court order, the governmental entity to whom the request for a record is made may not disclose a record claimed to be protected under a provision listed in Subsection (1)(b)(i) but which the governmental entity or records committee determines should be disclosed until the period in which to bring an appeal expires or the end of the appeals process, including judicial appeal. 

  The most important rule is 63G-2-403 Appeals to the records committee

(b) Except as provided in Section 63G-2-406, the records committee may, upon consideration and weighing of the various interests and public policies pertinent to the classification and disclosure or nondisclosure, order the disclosure of information properly classified as private, controlled, or protected if the public interest favoring access is greater than or equal to the interest favoring restriction of access.   Again, this discussion, will have valuable public interest and value in ensuring that our public elected officials are held to the highest expected standards.  The meeting minutes appear to have been kept secret for politiccal purposes.  If what Salt Lake City is saying is true, any Council, any government or any taxpayer funded entity in Utah can discuss spending money behind closed doors and spend that money without a public hearing and keep those records secret for years.

  Closed door meetings can benefit developers and encourage sweetheart deals.  If the records are not made public, how will voters know if corruption is involved.  SLC is a public entity that uses taxpayers funds which demands public oversight.  Keeping the public, the taxpayers and the voters from seeing how their elected representatives vote is not an appropriate or legal reason to deny release of minutes of these closed door meetings. 

  This is one of the most important decisions made by Salt lake City in the last few decades.  For months before the secret meetings, the City assured the public that there would be public hearings before site selections would be made.  In fact, a week before the City decided to go all secret on sites, the Deputy Chief of Staff assured me that the public would be involved in choosing the sites.

  One of the most important reasons for the success of this Country is we often, very publicly, discuss important policies.

This Country is great because we analyze, discuss and debate issues in public.  Good decisions die behind closed doors.  We do not and we should not allow Vladimir Putin style government to be encouraged in this Country.

  The proof of how important public debate is, is in the result that removed the Sugar House site.  The public deserves to know if the discussion included closing a day care, or the effect on the adjacent developer that just had his plans approved for a residential development.  Or was the cost for each parcel  discussed. 

  The so called cast in concrete secret decision ended up being fluid and significantly changed with public input that the City said would be ignored.  This contentious and flawed decision could have been avoided if the City did have a public hearing. 

  This issue and the decision will be important, not just for this specific case, but the decision will influence governments in Utah, all taxpayer funded entities and even UTA, to be less transparent and discourage public engagement which will lead to better governments and better decisions. 

  Unfortunately, there are four Council seats up for reelection (two have decided not to run) and voters may not get the important information on how the Councilmembers discussed, voted and represented their constituents.  It could be difficult to support voting for Councilmembers that insist that their work, votes and decision are kept secret.  How can voters intelligently vote if voters don't know how the elected vote in closed door meetings, that again, spend taxpayers money.  

  If the Councilmembers refuse to make the minutes and recordings public, it would justify assuming that they disrespected their constituents and decided to emulate Vladimir Putin.  

  There is still a chance that they will understand that we don't want to be governed in secret and they will release the recordings.  If you don't want to be governed in secret, call and email the Councilmembers.  Ask them what Vladimir Putin would do.

SLC Council comment line: 801 535 7654 Council.comments2slcgov.com

james.rogers@slcgov.com,derek.kitchen@slcgov.com,charlie.luke@slcgov.com,lisa.adams@slcgov.com,e rin.mendenhall@slcgov.com,andrew.johnston@slcgov.com,jackie.biskupski@slcgov.com

MCADAMS PLANS FOR MORE PROSECUTORS FOR COUNTY MCADAMS VISITS LIBERTY WELLS COMMUNITY COUNCIL

HOMELESS FAMILIES TO BE REMOVED FROM RIO GRANDE 

  Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams spent over an hour at the Liberty Wells Community Council listening to the issues, discussing the issues and answering questions.  He multitasked watching over his son.  I often disagree with his actions and opinions but I have to respect elected leaders who try to make themselves available to voters when they don't have to. (The Mayor HAD to be at the third homeless site meetings.)  Mayor McAdams did not have to be at the Liberty Wells Community Council and did not have to sit through a meeting that discussed community issues, but he did.  During the question and answer session, he said that he recognizes that the County needs more prosecutors, not just jail beds.  Also the County needs to increase funding for mental health care.  He said that he expected to make an annoucement in the next few weeks on those issues.  Filling 175 beds that will soon be available will require more prosecutors.  

  The County prosecutors have over double the recommended caseload and the DA has indicated that he needs 18 new prosecutors and the County needs 500 jail beds to put a dent in the open drug dealing that is making it difficult to successfully provide drug addiction treatment.  Unfortunately, in my discussions with the County Council, they seem to be against more prosecutors.  Public safety is more than jail beds.  The Mayor seemed to agree.  Also note that the success of Operation Diversion is questionable.  If less than 10 out of 150 that went to treatment have (after 6 months) had success, we may find that only one or two are going to be drug free after a year.

  The Mayor also said that he expected that by July 15, the 30 families and 100 kids at the Road Home would be removed from the Rio Grande Shelter and put in housing. Katie McKellar had a great story on the issue at:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865679701/Leaders-begin-first-steps-to-pull-families-out-of-SLhomeless-shelter.html

MOUNTAIN ACCORD HEARING MAY RESULT IN ROADBLOCK 

  The Mountain Accord had a court hearing this week and it appears that the court will find that the Mountain Accord was subject to the Utah Open Meetings Act.  Interestingly, at many times, the Mayor of Salt Lake County and other elected officials, said that the Mountain Accord complied with the Open Meetings Act but when it turned out that they didn't, their attorney then said that they didn't have to comply since private developers were in the meetings.  Yes another set of secret meetings that allow developers to get inside information (sweetheart deals).  The arguments in court seemed to favor that and it could result in the whole Mountain Accord process and signed recommendations be thrown out or limited.  The recommendations include a tunnel/rail system for the canyons (big benefit for developers), disincentivizing personal vehicles and allowing a Montage style super resort at a ski resort.  The implementation of the Mountain Accord was to be the Central Wasatch Commission (CWC) that was just approved by SLC, Sandy, SLCO and Cottonwood Heights.  Of note, no surprise, Salt Lake City Council did not have a public hearing to approve the CWC.  The CWC has the power to raise fees, to bond and essentially force taxpayers to spend money without going to taxpayers for approval!  The big question is what will happen to the CWC if the court says that the Mountain Accord should have complied with Open Meetings Act.

WATER RATES IN SLC ARE HIGH/REASON FOR GOLF DEFICIT/NEW CANYON CITY?

  At several Salt Lake City Community Council meetings, the Mayor's representatives have said that the water rate increase of 5% this year with significantly higher increases in the next few years, will still keep the SLC water rates lower than most of the rest of the State.......NOT.  If you hear this line, just remind the person who says it that SLC water rate (charged to us) is $3 per 1000 gallons.  Most other municipalities charge $1/1000 gallons.  The high water rates in SLC are one of the main reasons while the SLC golf courses are not breaking even.

  On another subject, SLC Public Utilities gets millions in fees that we all pay to protect the watershed but they have not been used to construct any restrooms (at $30,000 for a Forest Service toilet) for the 6 million visitors a year that use the canyons.

  Canyon landowners are so upset that they are starting the process to incorporate which will result in the new city (Brighton) receiving $2.5 million and they can start protecting their canyon area unlike SLC.  There is a feasibility study currently underway to ensure that the city will be viable.

MAY 5, 2017

PUBLIC SAFETY IS MORE THAN JAIL BEDS

NEW SLC BUDGET IMPRESSIVE BUT NEEDS AUDIT OF PUBLIC

UTILITIES

DO WE NEED DRONES TO FIND HOMELESS CAMPS!!!???

CAUTION, SLC PARKS NEEDS ASSESSMENT COULD JUSTIFY

BOND

STATE STREET COULD LOSE LANES AND SLOW DOWN

UTA REPORT TO COUNTY AND WHY NOT HAVE STADLER RAIL IN SLCO

PUBLIC SAFETY IS MORE THAN JAIL BEDS (WITHOUT DA FUNDING, JAIL STILL IS A REVOLVING DOOR)

  Sheriff Winder presented his proposal to the County Council to pay about $700,000 for transferring

150 jail inmates to other counties' jails.  The County Council agreed, since it was revenue neutral and the Sheriff said that he hopes to have the first prisoners transferred in two weeks.  The State will be providing $2.8 million in July which the County will match to provide up to 300 beds in other counties, at $52/day instead of Salt Lake County's $94/day cost.

  One of the highlights of the Sheriff's presentation was caused by Councilwoman Aimee Newton Winder asking for confirmation from the Sheriff that he has not asked for more jail space before (which I personally know to not be true).  Sheriff Winder got upset at that comment and energetically emphasized that he has said many times that the County needs to provide more funding for the jail to provide more space/beds.  The statement that the Sheriff has not asked for more jail beds has been given to many people by several members of the County Council.  Hopefully, the truth will sink into the whole Council.  

  But the most important fact in this situation is that 150 jail beds are useless unless the DA also receives increased funding.  But many on the County Council refuse or are adamantly against increased funding to allow the DA to hire more prosecutors.  But without more prosecutors, the jail will continue to be a revolving door.  Public safety is more than jail beds.  Due to the lack of DA funding, he is forced to plead out 95% of the cases!  When Operation Diversion provided about a hundred cases to prosecute, the DA only had the manpower to throw the book at a couple of the worst of the worst of the arrested individuals.  Prosecutors are expected to have a workload of about 80 or 90 cases that they have to prosecute.  But Salt Lake County prosecutors have double that workload!

  The reality of the situation is Salt Lake County needs 500 beds and 18 new prosecutors.  But the County Mayor and the County Council do not appear to face reality.  It appears that the situation will get worse before reality sinks in and the situation will get better.  Salt Lake County also needs to restore mental health treatment funding to pre recession levels.  And the Legislature needs to figure a way to get some funding to provide drug treatment.  Representative Dunnigan's bill to provide some funding through Medicaid expansion appears to be permanently stalled at the Federal Governement.  

  But without removing the drugs and the drug dealers from easy access to addicts, hundreds of millions in treatment won't help.  A good way to gage the difficulty is to look at the success of drug treatment of Operation Diversion.  After 6 months, two have successfully completed treatment of the more than 100 that entered treatment.  There are a few more that seem to be on the road to success, but only a few more.  Almost half have returned to the street where drugs are readily available.

  Other issues that need funding or attention are the lack of sufficient caseworkers and affordable housing.  Without all of the above, trying to put homeless in affordable housing will create problems with adjacent renters who could be afraid of the formerly homeless that exhibit mental health or continuing drug addiction. 

  Again, public safety is more than jail beds.

NEW SLC BUDGET IMPRESSIVE BUT NEEDS AUDIT OF PUBLIC UTILITIES

  The new SLC budget seems to be impressive in many ways.  It provides more funding for important issues and includes funding to focus on the homeless who have been the most expensive users of services.  The budget is still inadequate in basic, minimal road maintenance.  SLC needs $40 million minimum per year to fund road upkeep.  But the budget only provides less than $10 million.  The City is considering a special transportation/streets fee (after the election for the four City Council seats this year).  

  A concern should be the large increase in sewer fees (30% this year alone) and the yearly increases in water fees (starting at 5% this year but going up more in future years).  I would recommend an audit of the Salt Lake City Public Utilities Department before they receive the fee increase.  There are also concerns about not providing for restrooms in the watershed that they are responsible for in the canyons.  And the lack of a plan for fighting the potential catastrophic forest fire that could occur in the canyons is also a concern.  

DO WE NEED DRONES TO FIND HOMELESS CAMPS!!!???

  At the recent CAG meeting that has homeless providers, Salt Lake City managers and the SLC Police, there was a suggestion to use drones to find homeless camps!  Really!

CAUTION SLC PARKS NEEDS ASSESSMENT COULD JUSTIFY BOND

SLC Parks is in the process of conducting a needs assessment to determine what SLC citizens and taxpayers want to see in their parks and neighborhoods.  Unfortunately, some members of the City Council want a parks bond to fund their pet projects like the proposal to close golf courses and convert them, with tens of millions of dollars into nature parks, bicycle parks and other uses.  Citizens should go online (Google SLCGOV.COM and parks needs assessment or Open City Hall ) and comment.  The parks needs assessment does not provide a fiscal limit.  That usually results in a bloated wish list, that we just gotta have.  Much like the $11 billion in rail projects in the last Utah Transportation Plan, most of the projects seem to be outlandish and unrealistic.  If parks had listed the cost of each potential amenity and then listed the total amount of tax increase that the citizen would support, we would have a better idea of what should be the future plan.

STATE STREET COULD LOSE LANES AND SLOW DOWN

  There is an effort in Salt Lake City to redesign State 

Street into a less traffic intensive street.  There is talk of roundabouts, decreasing lanes, reducing speed limits and planting the center lanes.  I disagree with the proposed ideas.  I hope that UDOT resists the plan to turn State Street into a small town country road.  

UTA REPORT TO COUNTY AND WHY NOT HAVE STADLER RAIL IN SLCO

  UTA gave an extensive report to the County Council on performance and the issues that they are confronted with.  There are others that were on the UTA Board that are being investigated (so we should see more bad press on former UTA actions).  They are constantly trying to make resources more available.  The remapped ski buses had a 35% increase to standing room only ridership.  (The proposal for year round bus service would cost of $1 million per canyon per year but it was kept in house so that

Mountain Accord would be able to take credit for it.)  

  The first part of the downtown service center, the eventual $65 million bus garage, was completed.  It includes the natural gas refueling station.  UTA is trying to get fed funding to work on the rest of the bus garage.

  UTA is working with SLC to find funds to move the airport TRAX station to the second level on a raised bridge.  The design would be nice but UTA does not have funds now.  They can extend the TRAX on the ground level a few hundred feet for a few million but SLC wants the eye candy pretty impressive rail on the bridge design.

  A lot of reforms have been put in place.  All trustees have been asked to reach out to those that appointed them.  Resources limit weekend and late night expansion.  Councilman Jim Bradley pushed UTA to focus on night and weekend service expansion.  He also asked about the controversy about the Board Member whose father was a conductor which is more valuable than a Board Member.

Councilman Richard Snelgrove expressed concern about the decline in neighborhood bus service.    These are my comments:  The new UTA Board is trying to be more open.  Over the last year, especially with Chair Robert McKinley, and new GM Jerry Benson, the Board has become much more open.  They encourage online and in person comments on almost all issues before all committees.  In addition, if I want information that was previously hard to get, I now get fast.  The Board has stopped rubber stamping staff recommendations.  They now engage in vigorous debates, sometimes for hours.     I did express my concern to the County Council that I was disappointed that SLCO did not appear to be aggressively trying to get the Stadler Rail factory to locate in Salt Lake County.  They already utilize the Warm Springs UTA facility and adding a nearby building would seem to be a faster and more efficient way to develop and build a new factory for manufacturing rail cars.

APRIL 29

SHERIFF ASKS COUNTY FOR JAIL FUNDING FOR 150 BEDS

TUESDAY COUNTY COUNCIL HEARS SHERIFF REQUEST  (SEE DOWNLOAD ABOVE)

  At the Tuesday, May 2, 2:30 PM, County Council Committee of the Whole (COW), the Sheriff "is requesting funding to start contracting with other County Jails for beds beginning in May 2017.  The funding request consists of paying the cost of the beds for 2 months (May & June 2017) at a rate of $52.00 per day for 150 beds ($475,800).  After the initial two months, beginning in July, the State will contribute half of the cost per bed.  (We will be requesting an additional $1,423,500 (300 beds) as part of the June budget process.)  The funding request also includes 4 FTEs that are required to manage the contracting and transportation of inmates related to contracting beds in other Counties.  The amount of funding requested for the FTEs is for 8 months ($229,050) and will be annualized in 2018."

  This is what we have been waiting for.  The next step is for the 150 jail inmates to be transferred and the jail restrictions lifted.  I hope that everyone recognizes that this is an important change that can help remove and eliminate the criminal element from the homeless and in many areas of the Count

APRIL 27, 2017

UTA SLOWS DOWN LAND GIVEAWAY, ACTS RESPONSIBLY, 1

EXCEPTION

SLC UTA LOSES BEST TOD MIND IN STATE

SLCPD CHIEF BROWN ON .05

NOTE ON JAIL BOND REPURPOSING

SHOPKO BLOCK UPDATE ON

SUGARHOUSEHELLO.COM/STREET.HTML

WHAT TO DO WITH ELM (2150 S) EAST OF 900 E

LACK OF FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS IN PLANNING PROJECTS

(PARKS, BIKES, ROADS, NW QUADRANT)  BUDGET NEXT WEEK 1100 EAST TRACES SOLD FOR DEVELOPMENT

UTA SLOWS DOWN LAND GIVEAWAY

  Over the last few weeks, there has been significant pressure on UTA's Board of Trustees to approve the sale (at a loss) of about half of the Clearfield Station property to Clearfield so that they can give it (at a loss) to Stadler Rail to build a manufacturing facility for rail cars that would employ from 400 to 1000.  Last week, surprisingly, the Executive Board decided to go slow at the recommendation of General Counsel Jayme Blakesley.  This week, the Board was under even more pressure but it was announced that former UTA Board of Trustees Killpack had an interest in this project.  It came out that his company is going to build the Stadler Rail project! 

  Lee Davidson, in the Salt Lake Tribune, had a good overview of the April 26 UTA Board meeting.  The big surprise was, even after pressure from former Senator Killpack and Hooper Representative Schultz and the Mayor of Clearfield, the UTA Board of Trustees asked for more information from staff.  There are too many questions that are unanswered. 

  The proposal, before agreeing on the sale cost (presently a $5 million difference) will obligate UTA to giving up Clearfield Station property that was supposed to be for a Transit Oriented Development (the goal of a TOD is to increase mass transit ridership) and give it to Stadler Rail (through Clearfield - in order to avoid a bidding process and to lower the cost for Stadler).

  Although Stadler could build in South Salt Lake near the Warm Springs facility, they want to use the Clearfield Station property.  Unless there is a final agreement on sale price, UTA could lose millions.  In addition, since the federal government helped buy the property, UTA may lose the property if it isn't used for a TOD.  UTA may lose up to $10 million of value in the transaction.  Jayme Blakesley said that the federal government agreement should not be a problem.

  If anyone is still concerned that UTA is continuing to be the most hated entity in Salt Lake County, these recent weeks and months, have shown a new UTA.  The Board of Trustees have stopped rubber stamping staff proposals.  It seems to have started with the new Board Chair, Robert McKinley.  During a hearing on a proposal to approve the entity that was supposed to implement the Mountain Accord with its billions in rail and tunnel projects, the UTA Board expressed concern and decided not to consider the Central Wasatch Commission (CWC) until the other municipalities approved it.  The proposal would have allowed the CWC to bond, enact fees and create financial obligations for the taxpayers of Salt Lake County without voter approval.  Despite a significant group of proponents arguing for the CWC approval at UTA's Board meeting, the Board had too many questions and they decided to wait.  That was a big deal.  The UTA Board stood up to significant pressure.     Then there was the airport TRAX proposal.  Salt Lake City's Mayor asked for and received $4.3 million to provide preliminary design work on the eventual $65 million project.  But the Board asked for and received assurances that UTA is not obligated to provide funding for the airport TRAX reconfiguration.  (Note that several weeks ago, Salt Lake City's administration, in a City Council work session said that UTA would pay for the project.)  Jerry Benson, UTA's General Manager, last week reiterated that UTA is not obligated to provide funding and the project has no funding at present.   Unfortunately, the effort to stop the self described reformer, North Ogden Mayor Brent Taylor, from being on the UTA Board of Trustees, had some fallout.  This week's Board approved a policy change that would require any new appointee to the Board, that has a relative working for UTA, to remove themselves from the Board or their relative (if in a "sensative" position) may be terminated by the General Manager.  Mayor Taylor's father is a FrontRunner operator.  But the proposal was watered down to not apply to Mayor Taylor (a sitting Board member). 

  This proposal is called anti-nepotism but it should be viewed as an attempt to rein in a new Board member that is trying to reform UTA.  It is similar to requiring anyone elected to a position in government, having to decline the position if a relative works there or have their relative fired from the government to which they are elected.  This proposal does not make sense.

  The proposed language is:  "Upon determination that an appointed Board member has a relative employed by UTA, or a seated Board member’s relative seeks or obtains employment with UTA, at the election of the appointed Board member, either (a) the employment of such employee may be terminated by the General Manager, or (b) the appointed Board member shall resign from the Board, or if not a currently seated Board member, shall decline the appointment."

SLC UTA LOSES ONE OF BEST TOD MINDS IN STATE 

  Unfortunately, UTA Trustee Keith Bartholomew has been asked to resign from the Board by Mayor

Biskupski.  He is one of the most knowledgeable minds in Transit Oriented Development (TOD) in Utah.  Although I don't agree with many of his opinions, he always is able to make a reasonable argument for higher density, mixed use developments near transit stations.  I also believe that a mayor should be able to appoint their staff and board appointments.  Although some may believe that his ten plus years on the Board have been without benefit, I believe most of the problems with the Board has been due to the inbred historic culture of rubber stamping staff recommendations.  That has recently changed.  Trustee Bartholomew has recently been regularly questioning staff recommendations and has been helping in arguing other sides of the issue.  I hope that he stays involved in mass transit in Utah.

  Another loss of a UTA Board of Trustees member occurred with the resignation of Michael

Romero.  He was appointed by the cities of Salt Lake County and the Council of Governments (scheduled to meet on May 25) will be recommending a replacement.  The County Council will have to vote approval of the recommendation.  

SLCPD CHIEF BROWN ON .05

  During a discussion on the new .05 DUI limit signed by the Governor (set to be effective in 2019), SLC PD Chief Brown said that law enforcement have to retrained to recognize the symptoms of .05 since they can be different.  The main point to takeaway from that comment is that the reason why a driver may be pulled over for investigation and testing for DUI, is that the driver, while driving may be acting impaired.  The test is a prelude to showing that a blood alcohol test or breathalyzer test should be given.  Although high heels and disabilities may skew the regular test, until the officer confirms suspicians that further testing is required, law enforcement is not supposed to continue testing for impairment.  There have been complaints that officers still require breathalyzer testing but not is not standard operating policy.  In addition, training for drug impairment is lacking.  My point is that whether drivers drink and drive or they take drugs and drive, there should be no difference in recognizing that they should not be doing that.  I still support the .05 message to "do not drink and drive".  In a recent study, 37% of motorists who died in fatal car accidents, tested positive for alcohol (of those tested according to:  http://www.ghsa.org/sites/default/files/2017-

04/GHSA_DruggedDriving2017_FINAL.pdf.  The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, has said

"There's no question that alcohol remains our biggest highway safety problem."  So .05 makes sense.

NOTE ON JAIL BOND REPURPOSING

  A recent comment about the lack of adequate jailspace was that Salt Lake City taxpayers are paying for jail but are not receiving jail services that they are being charged for.  Part of the reason is that the $9.4 million jail bond that was successfully paid off two years ago was repurposed for Salt Lake County's Pay for Success program and for a County employee pay raise.  The Salt Lake County Mayor and Council continue to ignore the impact of the lack of adequate public safety funding.

SHOPKO BLOCK UPDATE ON SUGARHOUSEHELLO.COM/STREET.HTML

  The proposal for the Shopko block in Sugar House is online at sugarhousehello.com/street.html.  I encourage everyone to look at the plans and proposed architecture and street design.  Unfortunately, due to contracts with nearby landowners, ground floor retail is limited to 8000 square feet.  The plans appear to attempt to make it a walkable area but without more ground floor retail/restaurants, it will be difficult.  There will be 320,000 square feet of offices, underground parking, wide sidewalks, almost 200 apartments, and a new east west street that is planned to have a light (at Patagonia/Key Bank) if the City agrees.

WHAT TO DO WITH ELM (2150 S) EAST OF 900 E

  The Sugar House Community Council is asking for feedback and ideas for what to do to mitigate the significant increase in traffic expected on Elm Street between 900 East and McClelland, when Wilmington is continued from Highland to McClelland.  It will connect to Elm and it could generate significant traffic.  There is also a plan to make McClelland a one way street going south until

Elm/Wilmington.  Interested residents and businesses should plan on attending the regular Sugar House Community Council meetings on the first Wednesday of the month at Sprague Library.  The

Transportation subcommittee is getting regular reports from SLC Transportation on the plans.

LACK OF FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS IN PLANNING PROJECTS (PARKS, BIKES, ROADS, NW

QUADRANT)  BUDGET NEXT WEEK

  Salt Lake City has been asking for feedback on general issues like parks, roads, transit and the library.  Unfortunately, the proposals, to gauge interest in individual ideas, are not coming with financial cost information.  The result is a report on recommendations that do not have financial constraints.  It is like the recommendations think that there is magic bottomless barrel of money (federal or local).  My concern is that the parks survey that is now taking  place, does not list the cost of individual projects.  When all of the interests and suggestions are gathered, the  proposed plan may require hundreds of millions of cost to taxpayers.  The SLC Transit Master Plan, that passed the Planning Commission, is like that.  There are projects that are recommended that cost over a billion dollars!  Last year, the City Council was thinking about a parks bond to close Glendale Golf Course and convert it to a nature park (for $50 million ?).  Another proposal was downtown bicycle park.  Wish lists should not be acted on without financial constraints of the paying taxpayers listed.  Several years ago, the Wasatch Front Regional Council developed a Regional Transportation Plan (at WFRC.org) that included over ten billion in rail projects, as if we could ever pay for it.  There was not listing of what is realistic in funding.  That wish list now is being used to push for billions in questionable projects that will quadruple taxes!  Voters need to stay informed and involved or they will be taxed without knowing that it is coming.  Note that the SLC budget is coming next Tuesday.  Although the Council has discussed implementing road fees, a 30% sewer tax increase, a 5% water fee increase, a parks bond and a sales tax increase, the proposals have not been approved.  The SLC Council did approve the Central Wasatch Commission (CWC) which has the ability to charge fees for canyon use and vehicle use and which can bond and obligate taxpayers, without a public hearing and public vote.

1100 EAST TRACES SOLD FOR DEVELOPMENT

  A icon of 1100 East, Traces plant and gift facility, along with its historic house, is being sold to allow construction of 18 townhomes.  The developer showed preliminary drawings to the East Liberty Park Community Organization (ELPCO) and asked for feedback.  At least he asked before finalizing designs.  But the loss of Traces, a loved fixture of the community is a loss.

APRIL 19, 2017

HOMELESS REQUIRE LIBRARY GUARDS IN RESTROOMS

LIBRARY WANTS 32% TAX INCREASE BEFORE CONSIDERING

MAINTENANCE

HOMELESS SERVICES NEEDS ASSESSMENT SEWER FEES GOING UP 30%??

SLC COUNCIL APPROVES BIG GOVERNMENT WITHOUT

PUBLIC HEARING

SLC SAYS UTA WILL PAY FOR AIRPORT TRAX AGAIN

HOMELESS REQUIRE LIBRARY GUARDS IN RESTROOMS

  The new Library budget plans on providing restroom guards/attendants to decrease the misuse of the restrooms in the Main Library by homeless.  They use the facilities for washing themselves and their clothes.  Security also says that they have issues everyday with the resulting unsanitary conditions by misuse.  The security increase is a good idea but there should be a place for the homeless to go to wash and bathe themselves nearby.  Many do not want to go anywhere near the Rio Grande neighborhood due to the rampant drug dealing (due to inadequate jail budget by Mayor McAdams).

LIBRARY WANTS 32% TAX INCREASE BEFORE CONSIDERING MAINTENANCE

   The SLC Library is asking the SLC Council for a 32% property tax increase (going from about $15 million to $20 million).  I think that most patrons would prefer more parking but it appears that the Library intends to do more building (not specified) before studying the maintenance needs of buildings that already have significant upkeep issues.  The Council will hold public hearings on the SLC Library budget on Tuesday May 16, May 23 and June 6 at their 7 p.m. Formal Meeting. Hopefully, the public will realize the importance of our libraries and comment on the proposed budget.

HOMELESS SERVICES NEEDS ASSESSMENT

  The SLC Library budget has an interesting note about the Rio Grande Neighborhood Homeless Services Needs Assessment "released March 8, 2017, contained the following statistics about people who are homeless.  Of the homeless people interviewed by Salt Lake County’s Collective Impact Team, several groups of people said they spent their days at the Main Library.  Here is a percentage of various categories of people interviewed who said they went to the Library during the day:

o Five percent of 164 families with children.

o Six percent of 145 single women.

o Eight percent of 422 single men.

o Seven percent of 82 trauma or abuse victims.

o Eight percent of 36 people who are medically frail or terminally ill.

o Six percent of 72 people who had been in jail or prison in the last six months.

o Three percent of 178 people with behavioral health disorders – either mental illness or drug addiction.

Twenty-five percent of those considered youths transitioning from teenagers to adults, but only 18 people in that category responded to assessment survey.

The assessment did not specifically name the Main Library as a place where unsheltered homeless people spend the day.

One caveat: The interviews largely took place in and around the Rio Grande Street Neighborhood.”

SEWER FEES GOING UP 30%??

  Although it may be difficult to recognize, SLC Public Utilities is recommending a 30% sewer fee increase and a 5% water fee increase (soon to be 15% increase per year).  Hopefully, the public will speak up and convince the SLC Council to reign in significant spending increases.  Streets/transportation fees are being discussed along with a reconsideration of the parks bond from last year.  With the Library’s 32% tax increase, the City is nickel, diming and quartering taxpayers.

SLC COUNCIL APPROVES BIG GOVERNMENT WITHOUT PUBLIC HEARING

  SLC Council approved the Central Wasatch Commission (CWC) interlocal agreement without a public hearing again.  The Council approved it last year without a hearing but the SLCounty Council objected to the potential for large projects with fees and bonding to discourage personal vehicle use in the Wasatch Canyons.  The new interlocal is still supposed to implement the Mountain Accord recommendations which include a train and tunnel up the canyons.  The cost will be billions and taxpayers will be encouraged to pay for it.  It is a sad day when elected leaders refuse to allow public comment on forming an entity that has the ability to charge fees and bond without voter/taxpayer oversight.

SLC SAYS UTA WILL PAY FOR AIRPORT TRAX AGAIN

  Despite being questioned about who will pay for the SLC Airport TRAX reconfiguration, expected to cost $66 million, the administration insisted that UTA will pay for the TRAX extension.  Mayor Biskupski said that she and Jerry Benson are almost completely in agreement on the proposal.  That might be news to UTA, who does not have the money to pay for it.  And Utah Code 72-10-215 does not allow airport passenger fees to be used for fixed guideway projects (thanks to Delta’s insistence that all fees be used for the terminal project).  So which taxpayers will be stepping up to pay $66 million, SLC taxpayers, SLCO taxpayers or all Utah taxpayers?

APRIL 13

LOOSE DOGS KILL DOGS AND DUCKS

MILLER PARK TREES FALLING

PARKS NEEDS ASSESSMENT

CWC BONDING IN SLC DISCUSSION

MARATHON APRIL 22 MORNING SLC TRAFFIC PROBLEMS

MAY 11 GRAMA REQUEST HEARING

WISHFUL THINKING AHEAD OF PUBLIC SAFETY AGAIN

LOOSE DOGS KILL DOGS AND DUCKS

  We are getting reports of loose dogs off leash that are biting pets and other animals.  Although Salt Lake City finally changed the penalty from a misdemeanor/jailable offense, when dogs kill or attack off leash, the City has no choice but to ramp up enforcement.  Most dogs that I encounter off leash are no problem for me.  But when a woman’s pet dog is killed by an off leash dog, it is serious enough that it affects all dog owners and they should expect a clampdown.  I don’t know why the City didn’t get involved in the case of a loose dog killing a pet but it would have been better than the renewed push to enforce the off leash ordinance.  We also go reports of a dog killing ducks.  Again, it will result in a clamp down and I don’t think anyone wants that.  Please insure that your dog is controlled and is well behaved.

MILLER PARK TREES FALLING

  Despite warnings that cutting hundreds of old trees in Miller Park (in Yalecrest) would hurt the bank stability, the banks along Miller Park are now in jeopardy.  There are several trees that have fallen and blocked the trails.  SLC Parks need to get involved and correct the inappropriate, unwise and

destabilizing effect of the previous administration’s wholesale cutting of stabilizing trees.  Homeowners’ property is at risk!

SLC PARKS NEEDS ASSESSMENT

  SLC Parks is asking for feedback on what is needed in Salt Lake City parks.  Go to SLCPLAYS.COM for more information.  The only concern that I have is that several SLC Councilmembers are looking for excuses for a new 50+ million parks bond (They tried last year and failed.).  Last year’s plan was going to use most of it to redo Glendale Golf Course into a nature park!  The Glendale community became upset at Councilman LaMalfa’s efforts to close the golf course.  Please tell the City what you want and need in parks.  Remember that taxpayers do not have bottomless pockets.  Big expensive projects could stop all projects (like with the Prop One efforts).  Open City Hall is available (use SLCPLAYS.COM for link) and there are two meetings: Wednesday, April 26, 2017, 6:00-8:30 p.m.

Sorenson Multicultural Center

855 W. California Avenue

Salt Lake City, UT 84104

Thursday, April 27, 2017, 6:00-8:30 p.m.

Forest Dale Golf Course Clubhouse

2375 South 900 East

Salt Lake City, UT 84106

CWC BONDING IN SLC DISCUSSION

  During discussion of the Central Wasatch Commission (modified) at SLC Council, there were concerns raised about the potential of bonding to pursue projects without full approval by all of the councils under the mayors on the CWC.  The new proposal, that has passed the County Council, requires (theoretically) all of the councils to approve the increase in bonding or fees for the canyons.  But the lawsuit against the lack of public meetings of the Mountain Accord may derail those efforts.  SLC Council is taking the proposal under advisement.

MARATHON APRIL 22 MORNING SLC TRAFFIC PROBLEMS

  Heads up, the morning of April 22 will have a big traffic problem due to the SLC Marathon.  Please be prepared for that.  I put the course up above for download.

MAY 11 GRAMA REQUEST HEARING

  On May 11, the State Records Committee will hear my appeal of Salt Lake City’s denial of releasing minutes and recordings of the closed door discussions on the homeless sites in Salt Lake City.  SLC is trying to postpone the hearing until June and I am refusing to reschedule.  We have been asking for the information for over six months.

WISHFUL THINKING AHEAD OF PUBLIC SAFETY AGAIN

   Over the last few months, pressure has been mounting to provide more jail space to allow the Salt Lake City Police to arrest and jail criminals and drug dealers. Many are embedded in the homeless population.

  Although Sheriff Winder has said that we can't arrest our way out of this, we are way beyond that and at a point where we have to arrest criminals. The pressure seems to have resulted in Sheriff Winder recommending, as a starting point for discussion, 21 suggestions to “solve” the problem with the homeless in the Rio Grande area. The plan ignores the reality that most of the problem in the homeless shelter area is due to the police not being able to enforce laws due to lack of adequate and appropriate funding of the County jail and DA. The SLC Police are restricted to arresting thousands less than before last year's jail restrictions were put in place.

  The first recommendation is to decrease the Road Home population to 200 and refuse beds to those who refuse searches, or are on the sex offender registry or have a warrant for assault or are combative of belligerent. The obvious flaw in the plan is that will result in those individuals spreading out into other Salt Lake City neighborhoods. In other words, neighborhoods would see an increase in the worst of the homeless! Also, warrants cannot be served due to jail overcrowding. The suggestion for a full time, 24 hours a day officer at the shelter is interesting in that there are many police officers within a 100 feet of the shelter, almost always.

  The idea that Salt Lake City’s no camping ordinance be enforced also is questionable since ACLU has threatened a lawsuit if it is enforced. ACLU has filed many lawsuits in many other cities recently and has argued that it is unconstitutional to stop camping if there is no other safe shelter available. If there is a limit of 200 beds at the Road Home, there will be no shelter and a lawsuit is almost guaranteed. I would rather give money to homeless service providers than to ACLU.

  The suggestion to not allow people to be on the sidewalks, when children are dropped off from the schoolbus, was tried last year and the parents of those children were ordered off the sidewalks! Michael Clara mediated an agreement to allow the parents to be on the sidewalk without being hassled when they are trying to escort their children inside. Children should not be in homeless shelters would be my first recommendation.

  Confiscating bicycles and cars that drive in the area with legitimate businesses and residences also seems to be a guaranteed lawsuit. The enforcing trespassing recommendation flies in the face of the SLCPD Jail Booking Restriction Effects that listed over 3000 situations where SLC Police were not able to arrest a trespasser or over 4000 cases of simple assault. So a task force won’t be much help unless there is jail space to book those criminals and DA funding to keep them in jail. Parking restrictions from 400 West to 600 West would destroy the growing business and residential area that is already running out of parking spaces.

  Sheriff Winder, when he discussed his recommendations, said that the Rio Grande area has been allowed to degenerate and become convenient for drug dealers. It would be more appropriate to say that Salt Lake County, through inadequate jail and DA funding, allowed the convenient environment for drug dealers. Sheriff Winder is an incredible Sheriff and a good, decent and God fearing man. The recommendations that he released do not do him justice. The reality is that the recommendations seem to be putting wishful thinking before public safety. We need more jailspace to remove the criminal element from the homeless population. Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams should listen to the many law enforcement personnel in the County and provide appropriate and adequate public safety funding of the jail and DA. That is my recommendation.

The Sheriff's recommendations are above along with the SLC Jail Restrictions report.

APRIL 6, 2017

SHOPKO $180 MILLION PROJECT NOW PUBLIC

SUPERGENTRIFICATION OF SUGAR HOUSE CONTINUES

PUBLIC SAFETY STILL TAKING BACK SEAT TO WISHFUL

THINKING

UNIVERSITY OF UTAH BASEBALL FIELD PROPOSAL BURDENS

YALECREST

TRANSIT STATION AREA DISTRICTS  IGNORE EARTHQUAKES SLC COUNCIL CONSIDERS TAX INCREASE FOR STREETS

SHOPKO $180 MILLION PROJECT NOW PUBLIC

   320,000 square feet of office space and 150 plus apartments are planned for the former Shopko block and west of Olive Garden and Red Lobster.  The project is also surrounded by the Olsens’ property on Highland and in the Cinemark/Payless Shoes buildings.  They are planning on also putting in an east west street (Stringham) and are asking the City if they can have a light at Highland at the Patagonia Outlet.  That also depends on the ability of SLC to provide traffic light synchronization along Highland to not end up increasing stop lights and pollution from idling cars.  They will also put in sidewalks and streets going north south to encourage walkability.  Unfortunately, the Olsens limit the retail to 8,000 square feet.  That means that there will be very few stores at ground floor to engage the public.  But the potential design is the best that the community can hope for.  It encourages walking and there will be a ten foot wide bike path on the south side of the site.

SUPERGENTRIFICATION OF SUGAR HOUSE CONTINUES

  The 2100 South and 1000 East apartment complex is underway and it will have a major impact on the walkability and character of Sugar House.  The biggest problem is the continued building of canyons of concrete in Sugar House going up 60 feet (with a minor setback at 30 feet which still looks like a canyon) next to a skinny sidewalk and without ground floor retail for public engagement.

PUBLIC SAFETY STILL TAKING BACK SEAT TO WISHFUL THINKING

  The SLC Police Chief went over the Jail Booking Restriction Effects and the update on the success of Operation Diversion.  The report is above and will be on the downloads page.  Note that the success of treatment of Operation Diversion is now at 24% and should be expected to go down even further.  That is essentially as good as locking up addicts for a couple of weeks of torture (cold turkey) in jail.  There is supposed to be one that has successfully completed treatment.  But it should be recognized that there are over 100 that want treatment but are on a wait list! 

  The Sheriff reiterated his 21 suggested recommendations at the Pioneer Park Coalition meeting.  He and SLC Chief Brown got into a disagreement between TV interviews.  The Chief said that some of the Sheriff’s recommendations were best practice but that he has tried some and they don’t work.  In addition, some are illegal and immoral.  He said that limiting the Road Home to 200 will result in the worst troublemakers in the homeless community going into other neighborhoods.  I agree.  Unfortunately, the Executive Board of the Pioneer Park Coalition endorsed the recommendations.  That results in the PPC taking an unrealistic and disrespectful position against the majority of SLC citizens and taxpayers.  They did encourage the Sheriff and Chief and Mayors of the County and City to sit down and talk these issues through.

UNIVERSITY OF UTAH BASEBALL FIELD PROPOSAL BURDENS YALECREST

  The University of Utah’s Athletic Director, Chris Hill, gave a presentation on the proposed baseball field that they are pushing to be east of Rowland Hall.  It will have 3000 seats and only about 200 parking spots.  It will have amplified announcements/music and requires coordination with SLC since it is not all on University of Utah property.  I put the presentation pictures on the downloads page.  But the community seems to be against it, and rightfully so.  The Yalecrest community to the south of the property (south of Sunnyside) will be impacted by the obvious lack of parking.  The community is pushing to have the ballfield at 500 South or further into the University of Utah, not at an edge of their property.  They are upset about the amplified announcements and music and other events that they will have.  Most importantly, it is east of the Pingree School for autistic children!  The ballfield location will have a big impact on the schoolchildren there and I expect a lawsuit will stop the plan.  There is also no reasonable plan to accommodate traffic congestion.  There is also the potential light and noise and errant balls in the community that would affect the schools.

TRANSIT STATION AREA DISTRICT REQUIREMENTS IGNORE EARTHQUAKES

  The SLC Council is poised to require TSA areas (next to transit stations) to have long lasting concrete, brick or similar materials on the outside (along with a lot of glass).  They also will require public engagement (retail) on the ground floor to encourage walkability.  But we are in earthquake territory.  Steel and wood can be attractive and should not be ruled out.

SLC COUNCIL CONSIDERS TAX INCREASE FOR STREET

 The SLC Council is considering a tax increase for streets.  Despite the fact that the Council ignored the repurposing of the last tax increase for streets, it is now talking about a fee or tax to increase the funding for SLC streets.  The Proposal is above.

APRIL 3, 2017

OPINION ON SHERIFF RECOMMENDATIONS INSTEAD OF JAIL

SPACE

OPINION ON SLC PD JAIL BOOKING RESTRICTIONS

SLC COUNCIL TO DISCUSS JAIL SPACE, PPC TO DISCUSS

SHERIFF PLAN

SUGAR HOUSE SHOPKO $180 MILLION PROJECT AT SHCC WED. MEETING

OPINION ON SHERIFF RECOMMENDATIONS INSTEAD OF JAIL SPACE

Putting wishful thinking ahead of public safety

  This last week, Sheriff Winder recommended, as a starting point for discussion, 21 suggestions to “solve” the problem with the homeless in the Rio Grande area. Salt Lake City Councilman Charlie Luke, said that “Winder's plan is an attempt to divert attention away from his failure to provide adequate jail space for Salt Lake City and the surrounding area.” "[I] find it difficult to accept criticism about Salt Lake City's approach," Luke said, "when it is coming from someone whose deliberate inaction is exacerbating the problem." (Salt Lake Tribune March 31, Search homeless at shelter, keep out sex offenders, confiscate bikes). Councilman Luke is right. The plan ignores the reality that most of the problem in the homeless shelter area is due to the police not being able to enforce laws due to lack of adequate and appropriate funding of the County jail and DA.

  The first recommendation is to decrease the Road Home population to 200 and refuse beds to those who refuse searches, or are on the sex offender registry or have a warrant for assault or are combative or belligerent. The obvious flaw in the plan is that it will result in the worst of the homeless spreading out into other neighborhoods! The suggestion for a full time, 24 hours a day officer at the shelter is interesting in that there are many police officers within a 100 feet of the shelter, almost always.

  The idea that Salt Lake City’s no camping ordinance be enforced also is questionable since ACLU have threatened a lawsuit if it is enforced. ACLU has filed many lawsuits in many other cities recently and has argued that it is unconstitutional to stop camping if there is no other safe shelter available. If there is a limit of 200 beds at the Road Home, there will be lack of shelter and a lawsuit is almost guaranteed. I would rather give money to homeless service providers than to ACLU.

  The suggestion to not allow people to be on the sidewalks when children are dropped off from the schoolbus was tried last year and the parents of those children were ordered off the sidewalks! Michael Clara mediated an agreement to allow the parents to be on the sidewalk without being hassled when they are trying to escort their children inside. Also, it is common knowledge that Ogden is sending Lantern House troublemakers and homeless that try to congregate nearby, to Salt Lake City. If the Sheriff wants to fight Weber County Sheriff and police on the issue, I won’t stop him. Confiscating bicycles and cars that drive in the area with legitimate businesses and residences also seems to be a guaranteed lawsuit. The enforcing trespassing recommendation flies in the face of the SLCPD Jail Booking Restriction Effects that listed over 3000 situations where SLC Police were not able to arrest a trespasser or over 4000 cases of simple assault (and 186 prostitution cases). So a task force won’t be much help unless there is jail space to book those criminals.

  Parking restrictions from 400 West to 600 West would destroy the growing business and residential area that is already running out of parking spaces. Removing power outlets will encourage homeless to go to public libraries.

  The Salt Lake Tribune story said that “Sheriff Winder maintained that Salt Lake City has allowed the area to continue to degenerate as the homeless population has grown, providing a convenient environment for drug dealers.” "People have had it," Winder said. "These solutions need to start now." It would be more appropriate to say that Salt Lake County, through inadequate jail and DA funding, allowed the convenient environment for drug dealers. Sheriff Winder is an incredible Sheriff and a good, decent and God fearing man. The recommendations that he released this week do not do him justice. They seem to be putting wishful thinking before public safety. We need more jailspace to remove the criminal element from the homeless population, not wishful thinking.

OPINION ON SLC PD JAIL BOOKING RESTRICTIONS

Effects of jail restrictions on crime

  Over the last year, the homeless problems have gotten so bad that Speaker Greg Hughes used adult language to describe the situation in the Rio Grande neighborhood. Recent tours by legislators to the area have resulted in the redoubling of efforts to reduce the concentration of homeless and criminals near the Road Home. The newest plan is to build a 200 bed facilty on 700 South and another on High Avenue in Salt Lake City.  A third facility will be built outside of Salt Lake City and the

recommendation of Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams will be acted on at the April 10 meeting of the State Homeless Coordinating Committee. 

  The Legislature insisted on the fast timeline and removed the ability of any city to object to the site.

The Legislature also insisted on providing 300 jail beds outside of Salt Lake County. The Salt Lake County Sheriff is negotiating the unimaginable logistics of managing 300 distributed beds. The obvious problem is that drug dealers embed themselves in the homeless population. But if the drug dealers are not removed from the street, addicts will be encouraged to stay addicts and spending hundreds of millions on drug addiction and treatment will be wasted.

  In a recent report by the Salt Lake City Police Department (SLCPD 2017 Jail Bookings & Restriction Effects), the restrictions by the jail to limit bookings showed that the number in 2016 that could not be booked included 8049 for drugs, 1678 for drunkenness, 713 for forgery, 1051 for property damage, 186 for prostitution, 3903 for retail theft, 4429 for simple assault and 3311 for trespass. Those individuals are given citations which result in warrants that cannot be served due to jail restrictions (warrants that could not be served were not counted). Those statistics scare neighbors of new shelters. Several recent stories by Debbie Dujanovic on KSL have shown the Salt Lake City Police Department’s frustrations with the jail restrictions.

  The 2015 arrests were 9772 but the 2016 arrests were limited to 7368 due to the new rules in place early last year. The report also noted that the “SLCPD reduced crime by 7% for Part I Offenses (homicide, aggravated assault, robbery, burglary, motor vehicle theft, larceny, forcible sex abuse and arson) with directed patrols, special operations, community outreach, targeted enforcement, increase of patrol officers, foot patrols and social workers”. The report said “The inability to incarcerate offenders for these crimes creates an atmosphere of indifference, fosters an appearance of lawlessness, and destroys the community’s trust in law enforcement and pride in their neighborhoods.”

  The County Mayor and Council is responsible for the budget for the Sheriff to operate the jail and for the DA to effectively prosecute criminals. Unfortunately there is no mental health budget and only 180 drug treatment beds for the jail. The Sheriff has said many times since he was Sheriff that he needed more jail beds but that it is not realistic to have 1000 more beds at $94/day when they can only be kept in jail for a few days. But if the number of jail bookings have decreased over 25% in the last year, that leaves criminals on the street who victimize residents and businesses.

  Operation diversion was supposed to provide some relieve but, as of January 9, only 68 remain in treatment, 79 have left treatment, and 52 have returned to the street. In other words, after four months, less than 50% of those entering treatment have remained in treatment. Based on the results so far, it seems that after a year, successful treatment will be less than 30%.

   On Tuesday, April 4th, the Salt Lake City Council will discuss the  SLCPD 2017 Jail Bookings & Restriction Effects. It will be one of the most interesting discussions at the City Council in the last few years.

SLC COUNCIL TO DISCUSS JAIL SPACE, PPC TO DISCUSS SHERIFF PLAN

  On April 4 , Tuesday, starting at 2PM, at the SLC Council meeting , there will be a discussion and report from SLC PD Chief Brown on the jail booking restrictions by SLCO.  It is one of the most important discussion on publci safety this year.  I put the download of the report above.  In addition, at

3PM, across the street at the Downtown Alliance offices, the Pioneer Park Coalition will discuss the Sheriff's recommendations to fix the Rio Grande area problems.  It should be an interesting set of presentations.  For those interested in affordable housing, at 3PM, at the City Council will discuss SLC affordable housing plans.

SUGAR HOUSE SHOPKO $180 MILLION PROJECT AT SHCC WED. MEETING

   For those who wonder what $180 millions will buy, there will be a presentation at the Sugar House Community Council on Wednesday at 7PM in the Sprague Library.  It is one of the mose exciting discussions of SLC projects ever.  There will also be discussion of the new proposed Sugar House Police Building.

MARCH 29, 2017

DRAPER HOMELESS SITE OFFER SO TAXPAYERS PAY

BILLIONS FOR TRAX

SLC PAYING MILLIONS TO BURY POWER LINES FOR WALKABILITY

DRAPER HOMELESS SITE OFFER SO TAXPAYERS PAY BILLIONS FOR TRAX

  Draper has offered to host the homeless expansion site in Salt Lake County.  But it comes with an almost $2 billion price tag!  Since there are no transit/rail lines, and Draper and Lehi want the TRAX extension that will cost $3 billion, it seems like this is a way to get taxpayers to pay billions for a duplicate rail line to compete with FrontRunner.  I hope people realize that this is how tax increases happen.

SLC PAYING MILLIONS TO BURY POWER LINES FOR WALKABILITY

  Salt Lake City is considering paying millions of RDA money to bury power lines in the 900 South area west of State Street.  The goal is to make the area more walkable.  But it is more cost effective to widen sidewalks and put in wide bike lanes to increase the area's walkability.  It is time to comemnt to the SLC Council/RDA Board.  Emails on the right.

MARCH 28, 2017

SHERIFF PROPOSES TO EMPTY ROAD HOME TO 200 BY SUMMER

SHERIFF PROPOSES TO EMPTY ROAD HOME TO 200 BY SUMMER

  Sheriff Winder put out a recommendation paper today that has a lot of people talking.  I recommend that you read it for yourself.  I disagree with his proposals.  I am disappointed that the Pioneer Park Coalition Executive Board endorsed it.  I also put it on the downloads page.

MARCH 27, 2017 

NEW DOWNLOADS ON UTA, JAIL, HOMELESS STEERING

COMMITTEE,

         SLC ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, STATE STREET RDA

MCADAMS HOMELESS SITE IS DISRESPECTFUL PUBLIC

ENGAGEMENT

SLCO COUNTY EXPECTS $3 MILLION FROM AMAZON 

PUBLIC SAFETY STILL TAKING A BACK SEAT TO WISHFUL

THINKING

STATE STREET RDA/SLOW TRAFFIC PLAN COMING WITH

          PRIORITIZED FUNDING

SUGAR HOUSE SHOPKO DESIGNS, COUNCIL MEETING, POLICE

PRECINCT

DOWNTOWN ALLIANCE COMMENT ON DONATING

          GARBAGE TO DOWNTOWN

UTA PERFORMANCE REPORT AND NEW FENCE MAKES SENSE

NEW DOWNLOADS ON UTA, JAIL, HOMELESS STEERING COMMITTEE, SLC ECONOMIC

DEVELOPMENT, STATE STREET RDA

New downloads on downloads page with UTA's Performance Report, Jail and Justice Reinvestment County reports, Collective Impact on Homelessness from the Homelessness Steering Committee, SLC Economic Development report and RDA presentations on State Street RDA.

MCADAMS HOMELESS SITE IS DISRESPECTFUL PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT

Mike Edwards is submitting an oped to the SLTRIB.  This is his view (and mine) on the questionable speed and actions of the process to choose and set in concrete another homeless site.

Is this any way to solve Utah homeless issues?

  During the last few days of the Utah Legislature, there was a rushed bill, HB441, that required a mayor of a first class city to choose a homeless shelter site by March 30. The bill was so rushed that only one person testified against it at the only public hearing. The requirement is specifically for Salt Lake County and outside of Salt Lake City. 

 The result will be a recommendation by Mayor Ben McAdams, with the approval of the Utah Homeless Coordinating Committee, of a homeless site that only has to meet zoning requirements. The bill removed the requirement that a municipality had to approve the facility location. Mayor McAdams released his possible suggested locations by the end of the week and he set up several open houses to gather public feedback.

  The five possible locations are in South Salt Lake City and West Valley City. But the open houses were as far away as one could be in Salt Lake County from the facility locations, the State Capitol! Instead of open houses in County buildings on 2100 South and State Street or at the Salt Lake Community College on 1700 South State Street or in West Valley City, the first two seemed to be set up to discourage vigorous public discussion and review. There will be one open house in West Valley City but the next two meetings will be at the State Capitol with the "site evaluation committee" that will give their recommendation to Mayor McAdams. Interestingly, the homeless shelter should be close to public transit but the State Capitol public transit stops at 720 PM. Individuals that want to have public comment will have to drive or leave before the 8 PM end of public comment.

  The first two open houses seemed to be disorganized by design. Although Mayor McAdams was there, he was always surrounded by angry citizens that complained about his suggestions. Despite the show of gathering public comment at the open houses, there is really only one public hearing, on Wednesday March 22! The success of the new shelters requires broad public support, according to the Homeless Coordinating Committee and that requires public engagement. But the rush to provide another shelter site by March 30, decided by Mayor McAdams, with only one public hearing, will end up having no public support.

  Most importantly, the plan, required by HB441, seems to be putting the cart in front of the horse. Instead of removing the drug dealers and criminal elements from the homeless population (that also victimizes residents and businesses throughout Salt Lake County) now, the hope seems to be that the new shelters will solve the problem. But if the drug dealers remain available (they are usually only in jail for a few hours), they will continue to encourage drug use. It will result in all of the efforts to treat drug dependencies being wasted. Even after four months of Operation Diversion, about half of the treatment population has left treatment and most are back on the street! It is ironic that Salt Lake County Mayor McAdams is rushing to choose a site but is also not providing appropriate funding for the County jail and DA to keep drug dealers off the street.

  Instead of rushing through this process, the State Homeless Coordinating Committee should slow down. They don't have to approve the site location by a certain date. The only deadline date is March 30, the date that Mayor McAdams has to provide a location to the Committee. There is still a chance for a good decision, instead of a rushed and flawed decision. Mayor McAdams should put public safety first and open up all of the 380 free beds at Oxbow now, and fund appropriate DA services to help remove the criminal element that is now considered to be part of the homeless population. That is the only way to get public support for the new shelter locations.

SLCO COUNTY EXPECTS $3 MILLION FROM AMAZON 

  Mayor McAdams reported that he expects about $3 million in new sales taxes from the new agreement with Amazon.  He tried to spend the money on helping buy Bonanza Flats but the County Council turned it down.  I expect the Mayor to retry with a lower amount of money.  The Council was correct in turning it down since funding for local parks is still deficient.  The Westside of SLCO needs more infrastructure and ....  we still do not have enough jail beds to allow local law enforcement to do their job.  The Sheriff  is still trying to develop a logistics plan to use the 300 beds that the State is providing in other counties.  Transportation is the least of his problems.  It may make more sense to open up the free beds at Oxbow and use them.  The DA still needs extra funding to make use of the 300 beds and prosecute 300 more criminals.  Nothing has come to the Council yet!  Public safety is still taking a back seat to wishful thinking.  I put three reports on the jail, Sheriff, law enforcement regarding Justice Reinvestment on the downloads page.  Also the Mayor has found $2.4 million in market tax credits that are unused!  

PUBLIC SAFETY STILL TAKING A BACK SEAT TO WISHFUL THINKING

I have a new letter in the Salt Lake Tribune that summarizes the issue. http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/5095881-155/public-safety-comes-first

New homeless site locations should wait until the criminal element is effectively removed from the homeless population. Drug dealers should not be able to freely operate in Salt Lake County. Before any location is chosen, Salt Lake County should appropriately fund public safety.

  Drug dealers and threats to society should not be allowed to have a revolving door at the jail. An appropriate funding of public safety would include opening up the 380 beds not being used now and funding the D.A. to keep drug dealers and criminals that victimize citizens in jail. Until effective public safety in Salt Lake County is appropriately funded, no new homeless sites should be chosen.

WHY ARE THERE STILL HUNDREDS OF DRUG DEALERS DOWNTOWN!!!???

STATE STREET RDA/SLOW TRAFFIC PLAN COMING WITH PRIORITIZED FUNDING

   The Salt Lake City Council is prioritizing CIP applications for the High Avenue homeless site.  The City expects to have due diligence by April 7 and closing date of May 7.  SLC expects to take 3 years to complete the 700 South site transaction.  The City may require binding limits on the facilities' population.  There are still discussions on the setup, operation and management of the sites, including a community oversight board.  The CIP applications priority includes sidewalks, lighting and parks.   The biggest news to hit State Street and 300 West in decades is the new RDA expansion areas.  SLC is also planning, with South Salt Lake City, to redesign State Street!  Unfortunately the present philosophy

is to slow down traffic!  Previous ideas included roundabouts and making the potential Grand Boulevard into a mickie mouse street!  SLC is taking a survey (which can be misused) at www.lifeonstate.com/community-survey.  I think that you would be better off by writing down your wishes in an email and sending it to Molly Robinson at molly.robinson@slcgov.com.  You can call her at 801 535 7261 for more information.  I think that, if the wide unused center lanes/islands can be removed, wide bike lanes can be implemented and synchronized lights (like in the 60s!) can be installed.  The idea that a major street should have slower traffic (like downtown at 20MPH) is magical thinking in the realm of Disneyland.  Please give your input.  The RDA plan has the potential to develop tens of thousands of affordable housing units in the area while keeping the wide sidewalks and expanding walkability.

  I put four important downloads on the RDA expansion areas and the SLC Economic Development Plan on the downloads page.  I also put the new proposed planning notification procedures for SLC on downloads.  It requires the community councils to be notified about new projects.  

SUGAR HOUSE SHOPKO DESIGNS, COUNCIL MEETING, POLICE PRECINCT

  The Sugar House Community Council is tentatively going to have a presentation on the proposal for the Shopko Block.  The new plan has a new north south street and another east west street coming out across the street from Patagonia outlet.  The new streets will have wide pedestrian sidewalks, benches and plantings.  Parking will be below grade.  Buildings will be attractive on all four sides and there will be public art.  I put the draft design on the downloads page (the Gmail of the design update).  Come to the Sugar House Communtiy Council meeting on April 5 at the Sprague Library (21st and Highland, south of Barnes and Noble) to see what $180 million can do for the area.  Olive Garden and Red Lobster will remain along with Payless Shoes and the dentist/cafe/Key Bank on Highland (Olsen properties).   Salt Lake City is planing on placing a SLC Police precinct in Sugar House!  Mike Akerlow was given a list of five sites that were prioritized by the SLCPD and will choose one soon.  There is an appropriation of $3.5 million that is going to the precinct building.

DOWNTOWN ALLIANCE COMMENT ON DONATING GARBAGE TO DOWNTOWN

  The County Health Department, in conjunction with City and Clean Team crews, is performing regular cleanups of the Rio Grande area that includes wasted goods left from donations handed out on the street to homeless individuals.  In December, 14 tons of debris were removed right after Christmas.  About 9 tons were removed in January.  As Pamela Atkinson has said many times, charitable people should give to service providers, not directly to the homeless.  Items are often duplicated and discarded or wasted.  It also encourages a dependency on street handouts rather than encouraging people in need to receive necessary goods and services from trained social service providers in a more dignified and effective way.  Food and clothing donations are best directed to The Road Home and Catholic Community Services or The Rescue Mission where they can be effectively distributed to those in need and not wasted.

UTA PERFORMANCE REPORT AND NEW FENCE MAKES SENSE

  I put the new UTA performance report on the downloads page.  UTA expects to buy 59 new clean buses in the next year.  There were also over 400 new employees due to high turnover and new, over 200, positions needed due to Prop One funds and plans.  Part of the problem, according to Jerry Benson, the General Manager, is that there is a very low unemployment rate in Utah and finding employees is getting harder.  The fence that UTA is putting up on 200 South was not discussed but it was commented on.  I think that the fence is a good idea, even if UTA has to spend over $40,000 on it, because it will discourage homeless and drug dealers from hopping on the train to escape police patrols.  Drug dealers now use the TRAX trains to deal drugs!  Anything that can discourage drug dealing is good.  It is a small price to pay for better public safety.  I note that Gateway benefits but TRAX riders will also benefit.  It is a great idea.

MARCH 15, 2017

ONLY 24 CRIME REPORTS IN LIBERTY PARK!

.05 DUI AT GOVERNOR OPED IN SLTRIB SUPPORTING .05

CONCERN ABOUT BILL OF RIGHTS AND FOURTEENTH

AMENDMENT

FRED COX IS RIGHT, GOV SHOULD VETO SLCO MAYOR KING

FOR A DAY

AFP VS REP. WINDER POSING AS AFP

CLOSING SIDEWALKS IN SUGAR HOUSE

NOTE ON STREET AND SIDEWALK REPAIR FROM THE CITY

ONLY 24 CRIME REPORTS IN LIBERTY PARK!!

  The Salt Lake City Police have only 24 crime reports a month from park users!  Only two of those resulted in police response.  Those two were minor calls.  The SLCPD is urging everyone who sees a crime to report it so that they can focus on high crime areas.  Note that I put the SLCPD Jail Booking Restriction Report on the downloads page (upper right hand side).  It reports that major crime has gone down 7% due to their focus on good police response.  But it requires that everyone report crimes to ensure that they know what is happening in their areas.  Although they are not allowed to arrest for trespassing, drug use, prostitution and other so called minor/misdemeanor crimes due to jail restrictions

(explained in the report), their presence deters crime.  And when there are a lot of reports of crime, they try to put more police in the area.  CALL IF YOU SEE A CRIME! NON EMERGENCY NUMBER IS 801 7993000.

.05 DUI AT GOVERNOR WITH PRESSURE MOUNTING ON BOTH SIDES

  HB155 is at the Governor’s desk for consideration and the Restaurant Association and Beverage

Associations are fighting hard against it.  Even Senator Dabakis is insisting that it is a weird bill.  Again, many in the Legislature still think that Senator Dabakis is the weirdest Legislator.  The argument that this will hurt tourism does not make sense.  Drunk driving tourist that kill themselves in Utah hurt tourism more.  Do not drink and drive means do not drink and drive.  Responsible drinkers do not drink and drive! 

  The Salt Lake Tribune just published my opinion piece on the issue of drinking and driving:

http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/5061425-155/op-ed-no-one-should-drink-and

CONCERN ABOUT BILL OF RIGHTS AND FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT LEADS TO RESOLUTION CHANGE

  The Legislative House Committee that heard Senator Shiozawa’s SCR006 Resolution pushed back at acknowledging the rights conferred by the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment.  The conservative group is famous for their defense of the Tenth Amendement that provides States Rights.  The discussion included the reason for the Fourteenth Amendment.  In 1833, the Marshall Supreme Court declared that only the Federal Government had to follow the Bill of Rights and states and cities did not have to.  Barron v Baltimore allowed a city to take property value without compensation (similar to an attempt by SLC to put a homeless shelter in Sugar House).  That decision supported the Tenth Amendment but also justified (temporarily) Missouri’s Mormon Extermination Order since states did not have to follow the First Amendment’s Freedom of Religion clause (note that this Country began with a fight in states for freedom of religion.  Google Patrick Henry, Virginia and one penny.).  Joseph Smith railed against this illogical thinking.  He visited Washington DC and, I believe, planted the seed that became the Fourteenth Amendment that specifically was meant to overturn Barron v Baltimore and require all states and cities to provide all citizens with the Bill of Rights rights.  In 1844, he wrote to John C Calhoun: “Oh ye people who groan under the oppression of tyrants ... ye poor and unfortunate among all nations, come to the 'asylum of the oppressed ... but remember a sovereign state is so much more powerful than the United States, the parent government, that it can exile you at pleasure, mob you with impunity... and have the legislature sanction it". 

  Whatever your religion, you have to admit that Joseph Smith was right when it came to states rights.  He also said that “States rights doctrine creates mobs” when he argued against states having the power to ignore the Bill of Rights for individuals.  Despite the arguments, the Committee refused to pass the Resolution without major changes.  They insisted that the Fourteenth Amendment only applies to Americans and only commits Utah to protect the civil liberties, religious freedoms and dignity of all Americans, legal immigrants.  It deleted refugees and added “encourage compassion for refugees seeking protection in the state of Utah”.

  The modified Resolution passed the Legislature at the last minute.  This is the language change in SCR006:

36 WHEREAS, the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution guarantees equal justice

37 under law for all Ĥ→ [individuals] Americans ←Ĥ regardless of race, religion, national origin, or 37a     other arbitrary

38 factors;

39 WHEREAS, the United States is an open society enriched by the ethnic, religious,

40 intellectual, scientific, and cultural heritage of humankind; and

41 WHEREAS, at a time when some seek to sow the seeds of discord and division, 42     Americans must draw upon common strengths and humanity to reap peace, justice, and 43     understanding: 

44 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of the state of Utah, the

45 Governor concurring therein, affirms its commitment to protect the civil liberties, religious

46 freedoms, and dignity of all Americans, legal immigrants, and Ĥ→ encourage compassion for ←Ĥ 46a     refugees seeking protection

47 Ĥ→ [against persecution] in the state of Utah ←Ĥ .

48 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature and the Governor express their

49 determination to protect the civil rights of all people Ĥ→ within the state of Utah ←Ĥ .

FRED COX IS RIGHT, GOVERNOR SHOULD VETO SLCO MAYOR KING FOR A DAY

  Former Representative Fred Cox is right, Governor Herbert should veto HB441 or at least veto the March 30 date that allows Mayor Ben McAdams to unilaterally choose the third new homeless site (with advice from the State Homeless Coordinating Committee).  It essentially makes Ben king for a day since the city chosen is not allowed to object!  The five proposed sites are all problematic and it should allow more time for consideration and input.  Notably, the first public comment period was last night.  Instead of the Committee and the Mayor being asked questions and hearing comments, there was an unorganized free for all with tables with the Committee members and no one left with a good feeling.  It made the process look unprofessional and made HB441 look poorly written.  I put more information in

last week’s blogs.

AFP VS REP. WINDER POSING AS AFP

  In one of the oddest political stunts that I have ever seen, Representative Mike Winder, former West Valley City Mayor and famous Burwash writer sent a message about the Americans for Progress’ efforts to stop the multiple tax increases, including internet, at the Legislature.  He put Evelyn Everton’s phone number as the sender!  Evelyn Everton is the head of Utah Americans for Progress (AFP) and I find a lot of common ground with her efforts.  I also argued against the internet tax bill by Senator Harper that was modeled on the Colorado bill.  Interestingly, Colorado is about to rescind the bill!  And Utah now gets at least 80% of the internet taxes owed.  Senator Harper’s bill would have required companies dealing with Utahns to be sued to prove (unless they prove it before a lawsuit) that they do not do more than $100,000 in business in Utah.  That bill (and Senator Bramble’s similar bill) failed, along with Representative Briscoe’s food tax bill and Representative Eliason’s property tax bill to give cities hosting shelters to get some of a $3 million property tax fund.  I think that the Committee is doing its job (the House Revenue and Taxation Committee) and its support of AFP against the tax increases is laudable. 

  Interestingly, Fred Cox seems to be considering running again against Winder.  Winder’s posing as AFP news was quickly followed by news that he has been rewriting his history on Wikipedia!   I think I’m going to support Fred Cox for Legislature.

CLOSING SIDEWALKS IN SUGAR HOUSE

  Despite Salt Lake City assurances that sidewalks will be kept open in the Sugar House neighborhoods undergoing construction, sidewalks are being closed.  I think that Sugar House has bent over enough for developers and the City should keep what is left of the walkability of Sugar House.

NOTE ON STREET AND SIDEWALK REPAIR FROM THE CITY

This note came from Salt Lake City:

Questions regarding roadway condition and maintenance strategy can be answered by Bill Brown at william.brown@slcgov.com or by calling 801- 535-6457.

Questions regarding the Capital Improvement Program/rebuilding streets can be addressed to Chris Norlem at chris.norlem@slcgov.com or by calling 801- 535-6289.

By City Ordinance, the repair or replacement of deteriorated sidewalk and curb and gutter in the public way is the responsibility of the adjacent private property owner. Property owners can hire a contractor to accomplish the required concrete repairs, or can take advantage of one of the following programs offered by the City:

1) Streets Division 50/50 Concrete Replacement Program. 

Further information can be obtained by emailing Andy Bath at andrew.bath@slcgov.com or calling 801535-6934.

2) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)

Concrete replacement may be eligible for federal funds used for community development needs. For more information on the CDBG grant program, please contact Jennifer Schumann at 801-535-7276.

Potholes can be reported online here or you can call 801-535-2345

MARCH  7, 2017

SLCPD JAIL BOOKING STATS SCARY

SHERIFF SOLUTIONS TO HOMELESS/CRIME ISSUES

FOOD TAX INCREASE STOPPED

UTAH DEMAND FOR INTERNET CUSTOMER LISTS

STOPPED

MAYOR MCADAMS GETS TO BE KING FOR A DAY AND

CHOOSE HOMELESS SITE

PROPERTY TAX INCREASE TO PAY FOR HOMELESS

STOPPED

CELEBRATION OF BILL OF RIGHTS REJECTED

911 TAX GOING UP AND INEFFICIENCY BLESSED

CWC CLOSER TO FEES, TAX AND CONTROL OF CANYONS

SLCPD JAIL BOOKING STATS SCARY

  The Salt Lake City Police Department started tracking the effects of the jail restrictions implemented about a year ago by Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder.  The restrictions were implemented to meet the budget that the County Mayor and Council gave the jail operations.  The result was that 380 beds at Oxbow are not being used.  The Sheriff has been asking for more funding to open up more jail beds since he was elected Sheriff but without results.  

  The effect in Salt Lake City was that the arrests went from 9772 in 2015 to 7368 in 2016.  The SLCPD has been given an app for their cellphones that they can use to tell them if can arrest someone and book them into jail.  In some months, the bookings were only about 500 instead of the expected trend before the restrictions of about 900!  In 2016, jail bookings dropped 25% since the restrictions were implemented February 24, 2016.  The SLCPD was not allowed to book into jail in 2016 for the following number of offenses:     drugs 8049,      drunkeness 1678,      forgery 713,      property damage 1051,      prostitution 186,      retail theft 3903,      simple assaults 4429,      trespass 3311

The number of times that the SLCPD have not been able to arrest and book total about 24,000 or about 120 per capita!  Over the last year, that large number has created a significant concern with the police that have to deal with crime.  They are not even allowed to arrest individuals who attack police officers unless it results in serious bodily injury (more than simple assault).  Interestingly, the Utah Legislature just increased the penalty for prostitution.  But without the jail space, the law is toothless.  The police give the offender citations which are turned into warrants by the DA but the citations pile up and the resulting warrants do not result in being booked due to jail restrictions!  Even when the police see those with warrants, they cannot do anything.  Only 67% of criminals who should be booked into jail are booked and “leaving 33% of criminals on the street, free to continue to commit their crimes.―  Note that the statistics do not count the offenders with warrants.

  The report, SLCPD 2017 Jail Bookings & Restriction Effects (download to the right and also on the upper right of the DOWNLOADS page), was compiled from the tracking of arrests or encounters that did not result in booking into jail.  The SLCPD created a new code to track the results.  The data showed that the average monthly average number booked by officers went from 656 in 2015 to 429.  

  The report is “providing a dark look into the future of declining arrests― .  But it is important to note that crime actually went down (some might say that the public is now resisting reporting crime due to the lack of results).  “Statistically, Salt Lake City Police have decreased the citywide crime rate down by a staggering 7% overall in the year 2016 for Part I Offenses (homicide, aggravated assault, robbery, burglary, motor vehicle theft, larceny, forcible sex abuse and arson)..... with directed patrols, special operations, community outreach, targeted enforcement, increase of patrol officers, foot patrols and social workers."

  “The inability to incarcerate offenders for these crimes creates and atmosphere of indifference, fosters an appearance of lawlessness, and destroys the community’s trust in law enforcement and pride in their neighborhoods.―

  “officers are left without any means of authoritative presence, which in turn breeds disorder and an attitude of wanton disregard for the law and the community by repeat and known offenders who are in no danger of legal repercussions."

  Another interesting statistic from the report is the results from Operation Diversion: “As of January 9, 68 remain in treatment, 79 left treatment, 52 returned to the street, and 1 successfully completed residential treatment― .

THIS REPORT SHOULD START AN IMPORTANT DISCUSSION WITH THE ELECTED LEADERS OF THIS COUNTY TO ENSURE THAT PUBLIC SAFETY IS GIVEN HIGHER PRIORITY IN BUDGETS.

SHERIFF SOLUTIONS TO HOMELESS/CRIME ISSUES

  Over the last six months, Sheriff Jim Winder seems to be taking the blame for the lack of jail beds.  The Sheriff recently had a news conference where he expressed his frustration with the complaints about lack of appropriate jail space.  He has had a dialogue with the Pioneer Park Coalition (PPC) and discussed his recommendations and possible solutions at the March 7 PPC meeting.  He said that of those that were arrested in 2015, 29% were released almost immediately.  The ability to arrest and jail criminals is just one very important component of crime fighting.  It is also important to note that there is no effective budget to provide mental health treatment.  There are 180 beds at Oxbow that are being used for drug treatment.  He says that keeping criminals in jail for a short time, even a few days, is the definition of madness.  "It is not realistic to even have 1000 jail beds at $94/day."  The revolving door does not solve anything.  "Enough finger pointing."  He is working with Representative Gibson and Speaker Hughes to provide solutions.  He is negotiating the complicated logistics of managing 300 prisoners that will be moved to jails in other counties in order to free up Salt Lake County jail space.  He became upset when he learned that legislators were given a tour of the downtown drug dealing and drug use.  

  He also is concerned about the 80% of jail inmates who seem to have mental health or drug or alcohol issues.  "There is no cure for mental illness."  The issue is lack of State funding.  

  The Sheriff is trying to ensure that the right people are put in jail.  When people concentrate in the area or line up to get a bed at the Road Home, it is an invitation to criminals and drug dealers to hide in their midst.  Some of the people in the area are there to party.  Decreasing the concentration will help.  Other recommendations are coming.  They could include a multi task force to focus on removing the drug dealers from the area.  There is also a discussion to remove the 500 West island park south of 200 South to discourage camping and hanging out there.  He admits that there is confusion about enforcing the no camping ordinance that Salt Lake City already has in place.  

  The SLCPD is trying to not force the issue to the point where the ACLU could sue the City.  The ACLU has won lawsuits against other cities that tried to aggressively enforce the no camping ordinance.  He believes that leaving stuff laying around the sidewalk should be illegal and the City should focus more attention on the issue.  Now, the County Health Department along with police and other support personnel try to cleanup the sidewalks and area once a month with a goal to eventually become weekly.  At this time the Health Department is short on staff.  The Sheriff also will recommend that the new shelters have police on site and that they not have sex offenders in the facility.  (There are over 100 children sleeping in the Road Home with 80 registered sex offenders.)  Allowing a camping area for short term stays is being studied. 

FOOD TAX INCREASE STOPPED

  The Legislature's effort to increase the tax on food was stopped at the last minute.  Earlier in the session, Representative Briscoe tested the waters to increase the food tax with a bill.  But the opposition from many of the House Revenue and Taxation Committee led Representative Briscoe to withdraw his bill.  That may have told the Legislative leadership that the food tax would have a rocky road going through the Legislature.  The food tax bill was supposed to be heard at an evening joint committee hearing Tuesday night (according Representative Gibson the day before).  But Monday evening, the leadership gave up.  I still think that an increase in the food tax, even revenue neutral, that is offset by tax or grocery credits or a decrease in overall sales tax rate, is a shell game and voodoo economics.  It was surprising that the pressure seemed to be coming from those who were fighting for a 17.5% income tax rate increase.  I do not see the reasonableness of that.  Also, families do not think of tax credits or revenue neutral when they think about having another child.  They think about food cost.

UTAH DEMAND FOR INTERNET CUSTOMER LISTS STOPPED

  The last few days of the Legislature had two internet tax proposals that hit a dead end in the House Revenue and Taxation Committee.  The last effort by Senator Harper (an incredible Senator and one of the most tax knowledgeable persons on the Hill) was a bill to require that internet companies that sell more than $100,000 to Utahns, would have to report those customers to the Utah Tax

Commission.  Representative Ivory was right is asking how can Utah force companies in other state and countries to do that without taking them all to court to prove that they do or do not sell more than $100,000 to Utahns.  The Constitutional issues are also still unanswered.  It was also disclosed at the hearing that Colorado is rethinking their law and it is on hold!  The Supreme Court allowed the Direct Mail Association to sue Colorado, overturning the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals several years ago.  But the Tenth Circuit ruled against the DMA, again, and the Supreme Court, missing a Justice, turned down review of the ruling (done several times for important cases due to the vacancy on the bench).  It is expected that several more attempts will be made in the Interim to revisit the internet tax issue.  Since 80% of the big internet companies already tax Utahns, only the smaller companies are missing and that may only result in Utah losing out on as little as $10 million of tax revenue.  Also the vibrant Utah associates industry would be devastated.

MAYOR MCADAMS GETS TO BE KING FOR A DAY AND CHOOSE HOMELESS SITE

  Representative Gibson's HB441 provides the second installment of a promised $27 million to help solve Utah's homeless problem.  It also gives the Mayor of Salt Lake County the ability to choose a third site outside of Salt Lake City by March 30.  As long as it meets zoning regulations, the city chosen cannot stop the site!  The bill removes the ability for the city to object.  Mayor McAdams insisted that he will have a committee give him recommendations.  He said that he will announce the potential sites by the week of March 13th and the public will be able to comment on those sites on March 14th, March 18th and March 28th.  Due to the requirements to be close to transportation, I am guessing that South Salt Lake City and Murray are at the top of the list.  Only one person showed up to object to the plan.  But the plan needs public support and that is not encouraged when the public is given so little time that it is almost useless to comment.   

PROPERTY TAX INCREASE TO PAY FOR HOMELESS STOPPED

  Representative Eliason attempted to increase Utah property taxes to provide $3 million a year in funding to operate the new homeless shelters.  He said that it would be hard to convince a city to accept a shelter if there was not enough money to operate it.  But the House Revenue and Taxation Committee again had a problem with tax increases.  It failed (along with the 2 internet tax bills and the food tax).  If the Legislature wants a tax increase, Rules should not send the bill to the House Revenue and Taxation Committee.

CELEBRATION OF BILL OF RIGHTS REJECTED

  Senator Shiozawa's resolution SCR006 celebrated this Nation's Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth

Amendment.  The Fourteenth Amendment forced states to recognize the rights of all citizens in the Country, no matter what state or city that they lived in.  Unfortunately, the House Legislative committee that heard the resolution objected to the inclusion of legal immigrants, refugees and non citizens in the resolution (although legal opinions for decades has acknowledged their rights).  The resolution will not pass unless it is gutted.  I have had this argument for years.  It is ironic that citizens of this State, a majority of whom are LDS, are questioning the Fourteenth Amendment.

  A Joseph Smith railed against the action of a state, Missouri, that ignored the Bill of Rights as it applied to the Mormons.  "States rights doctrine create mobs."  Missouri was emboldened to enact the Mormon Extermination Order due to the 1833 Marshall Supreme Court ruling that said that states and cities do not have to respect the Bill of Rights since it only applied to the Federal Government (see my My View in the Deseret News below on Unconstitutional taking of property value).  That Barron v.

Baltimore ruling was overturned by the Fourteenth Amendment.  Smith wrote, in a letter to J.C. Calhoun in 1844: "Oh ye people who groan under the oppression of tyrants ... ye poor and unfortunate among all nations, come to the asylum of the oppressed ... but remember a sovereign state! is so much more powerful than the United States, the parent government, that it can exile you at pleasure, mob you with impunity... and have the legislature sanction it".  Smith pushed Congress to pass a law that would overturn the 1833 U.S. Supreme Court decision. The main drafter of the Fourteenth Amendment, John Bingham, argued that the 1833 decision needed to be overturned and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment of 1868 accomplished that.  The 1833 ruling had been used to justify slavery, racism and religious persecution.  People should read more history and recognize the importance of the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment to the citizens of this Country and especially to the citizens of Utah.

911 TAX GOING UP AND INEFFICIENCY BLESSED

  Senator Harper (again a great senator) sponsored SB198 that significantly increases the tax on landlines and cell phones to help upgrade 911 systems.  Unfortunately, it allows the inefficiency of the present 911 systems in several counties with multiple 911 dispatch centers to continue.  In fact, it makes it harder to combine into one system like Weber and Morgan County did a few years ago.  The multiple Salt Lake County emergency numbers can result in up to five minutes before reaching a dispatcher that can provide a cop in an emergency.  I tried to report a theft in progress last December and, due to the vagaries of the system in Salt Lake County, I got Valley Emergency Communication instead of SLC 911 (I was in SLC but I was two block from the boundary.).  Five minutes is too long to report a crime in progress.  In addition, to provide interoperability with radios, the cost is increased significantly from where it would be if there were only one system.  If there were a natural gas line emergency at 1300 East and 3300 South, there are three numbers that are needed to be called!  It is on the border of three jurisdictions.  Again, only one person spoke against the tax increase.

CWC CLOSER TO FEES, TAX AND CONTROL OF CANYONS

  The Central Wasatch Commission new interlocal agreement has been approved by the Salt Lake County Council.   The proposal is supposedly a change from the previous attempt but the proposal still has the same potential to significantly increase taxes and fees for Wasatch Canyon users.  The biggest issue is the Central Wasatch Commission's ability to "levy and collect fees" (page 6 on DOWNLOADS PAGE), to "issue bonds, notes or other obligations", "tax, fee or other revenue stream" (page 7).  Most importantly, the CWC (Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Cottonwood Heights, Draper) will have the ability to tax or charge users of the canyons and the other municipalities will not be able to object.  This issue is important since it creates a new taxing authority with almost limitless power to raise money and implement projects, including the Mountain Accord's tunnel and rail system (3.10.5 CWC on the DOWNLOADS PAGE).  The CWC hearing came with less than a day's notice of the language.  The rush to present and approve the new interlocal agreement in not how collaboration works.  A new taxing authority is being created!  The big change from the previous language is the addition of the CWC cities' legislative bodies required to approve "tax, fee or other revenue stream".  Once the obligation is entered into, the County and municipalities are locked into the CWC and cannot even sue until after 90 days.  The CWC can only be dissolved with unanimous agreement of the four cities.  If the citizens of West Valley City object to a $10 fee to drive up the canyon, they have no say in the matter, that is not how collaboration works

MARCH 5, 2017

LEGISLATURE WANTS COUNTY HOMELESS SITE WITHOUT HEARING?

DUI BILL SAYS DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE

FOOD TAX IS VOODOO ECONOMICS

911 TAXES GOING UP DESPITE INEFFICIENCIES

LAST WEEK OF LEGISLATURE

LEGISLATURE WANTS COUNTY HOMELESS SITE WITHOUT HEARING

 Tomorrow, Monday March 6, Representative Gibson will introduce HB441 Housing and Homeless

Reform Initiative Amendments to the House Public Utilities, Energy and Technology Standing

Committee.  The Committee will meet at 8 AM in Room 450 at the State Capitol. The bill gives about

$10 million to the homeless plan (including $700,000 to the Lantern House).  But, it also gives Mayor McAdams the right to choose a new homeless site before March 30 and does not allow cities to object!  The facility can be used for "individuals exiting prison or jail"!  

The language specifics are:

The bill requires that the "county executive" shall recommend to the Homeless Coordinating Committee, by March 30, a site location for one facility within the county other than Salt Lake City.  The facility is meant to house homeless and, among others, ....

"individuals with behavioral health disorders, including mental health or substance use disorders;

(vii) individuals who are medically frail or terminally ill;

(viii) individuals exiting prison or jail;"

The below lines (from line 129 of HB441 (on the downloads page) have been lined out which means that cities may not stop the decision of Mayor McAdams!

[(b) may not award a grant or contract under this Subsection (5), unless the grant or

130 contract is endorsed by the county and, if applicable, the municipality where the facility will be 131 located.]

The bill provides about $10 million to the Homeless to Housing Reform Restricted Account for the promised promised homeless funding (about $27 million over 3 years).  The good news is that the site must meet all zoning regulations.  The Homless Coordinating Committee may recommend and acquire the homeless site.  In addition, the Lantern House in Ogden gets $700,000 from the Olene Walker Housing Fund.

DUI BILL SAYS DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE

My opinion on the .05 DUI bill is that the Legislature should send a message to kids and all Utahns: do not drink and drive.  The Senate should approve Representative Thurston's bill. The restaurants' argument is that drinkers can be responsible.  BUT RESPONSIBLE DRINKERS DO NOT DRINK

AND DRIVE.  Senator Dabakis complained that the bill increased the weirdness factor of

Utah.  Interestingly, Senator Dabakis has often been labeled as "weird".  Senator Dabakis insisted that Utahns should be allowed to drink and drive!

FOOD TAX BILL IS VOODOO ECONOMICS

The food tax is also up to be heard at the last minute almost without notice. I, and many others, find it offensive that the richest in Utah seem to be driving the pressure to increase the income tax 17.5% which has resulted in the discussion to increase the tax on food.  The claim that the tax increase will be offset by a tax credit or grocery credit is like a pea shell game.  It is moving around money to make it seem the same.  But it is actually VOODOO ECONOMICS.  I call it the twinkie tax since it never dies or gets old. The food tax system in place now works and any attempt to change it will increase cost to taxpayers, stores, and a government that will have to create a new system.  It is voodoo economics.  I find it incredible that my fellow Republicans are thinking of increasing taxes and reminding voters everytime they go shopping that Republicans raised taxes.  Families don't consider tax credits when they are planning a family.  They think about food costs more.  AND, just to make it wham, bam, thank you mam, too fast to comment, the Legislature will hold just one hearing (with I would guess minimal time to comment on it) with just one day's notice.

911 TAXES GOING UP DESPITE INEFFICIENCIES

Senator Harper's SB198 increases the 911 tax big time.  But it also keeps in place the inefficient system in several counties (including Salt Lake County) where there are three or more 911 systems.  So calling one may put you into the wrong system.  Despite assurances that the systems work well, they don't in real life.  If you get the wrong dispatch, it can take three plus minutes to get the emergency acknowledged!  Senator Harper's bill should require that the systems combine BEFORE they get any increased tax money.

MARCH 3, 2017

HOMELESS SHELTER PLAN GETS $10 MILLION, NEW SITE BY

MARCH 30

ANIMAL SHELTER FRANKENSTEIN BILL AT LEGISLATURE

RESPONSIBLE DRINKERS DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE

SHOPKO BLOCK WILL HAVE OFFICES, RESIDENTIAL AND

SHOPS

STATE STREET RDA AND 700 SOUTH SHELTER BALLPARK RDA AND HIGH AVENUE SHELTER

PEOPLE LOOK AT FOOD COST MORE THAN TAX CREDITS

/VOODOO ECONOMICS  

CITY HALL MEDICAL KIT IS NO LONGER A BAND AID

OVER 100 CHILDREN SLEEP AT ROAD HOME WITH 80

REGISTERED SEX OFFENDERS

INTERNET TAX DEFEATED DUE TO CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTIONS

DOWNLOADS HAVE STATE STREET RDA, HOMELESS SITE

FUNDING BILL

HOMELESS SHELTER PLAN GETS $10 MILLION, NEW SITE BY MARCH 30

  On Monday March 6, Representative Gibson will introduce HB441 Housing and Homeless Reform Initiative Amendments to the House Public Utilities, Energy and Technology Standing Committee.  The Committee will meet at 8 AM in Room 450 at the State Capitol.  

  The bill requires that the "county executive" shall recommend to the Homeless Coordinating Committee, by March 30, a site location for one facility within the county other than Salt Lake City.  The facility is meant to house homeless and, among others, ....

"individuals with behavioral health disorders, including mental health or substance use disorders;

(vii) individuals who are medically frail or terminally ill;

(viii) individuals exiting prison or jail;"

  The bill provides about $10 million to the Homeless to Housing Reform Restricted Account for the promised promised homeless funding (about $27 million over 3 years).  The site must meet all zoning regulations.  The Homless Coordinating Committee may recommend and acquire the homeless site.  In addition, the Lantern House in Ogden gets $700,000 from the Olene Walker Housing Fund.

ANIMAL SHELTER FRANKENSTEIN BILL AT LEGISLATURE

  The Legislature's Government Operations Committee tied 4 to 4  on Thursday March 2 when considering Senator Knudsen's animal shelter bill SB0056.  It recommended that injection be the preferred animal euthanasia procedure for animal shelters.  But the next day, Chairman Jeremy Peterson resurrected the bill to add an amendment that carbon monoxide or engine exhaust can be used.  That amendment and bill failed on a 4 to 4 vote.  Many animal rights proponents came to the Friday March 3.  Surprisingly, the previous day had only one person showing up to testify for the bill. 

  Representative Romero tried a few years ago to get a similar bill through without success.  Senator Weiler's efforts also failed.  The biggest concerns were that Weber County animal control wanted to use their carbon monoxide chamber and Utah County Sheriff Tracy also wanted to continue their use of the chambers.  Sheriff Tracy said that his staff wanted the chambers because he felt that it was less stress on his employees.  

  But the chambers need to be maintained correctly, cleaned, checked and calibrated regularly, have a window to watch the animal as it dies and have sufficient training and detectors to ensure safe operation.  Personnel can accidentally ingest the gas if safety procedures and maintenance is not correct.  And, most importantly, the chamber does not work well, if at all.  The procedure is to leave the one animal in the chamber for 30 minutes then put the body in a freezer for a day.  There have been cases where the animal has not died after all of that!  It can take up to 56 seconds for the animal in the chamber to stop signs of agitation before loss of consciousness, although it is usually within 30 seconds.  Those last few seconds of life result in panic for the animal.  If the staff watches, as they are supposed to, they do experience stress.  That is why most shelters (only 4 in Utah now use carbon monoxide chambers) have switched to the recommended American Veterinarian Medical Association procedure of injection.  It is less costly and, in the opinion of many, less stressful on the animal.  When Sheriff Tracy says that his staff prefers the Carbon Monoxide chamber in order to decrease staff stress, the staff should be more worried about a procedure's effect on the animal.  The death should be "as painless and distress free as possible".  Watching an animal that take around 30 seconds of panic to drop unconscious should be stressful.  If it is not stressful, it is because the staff is not following recommended procedure.  I would normally support any sheriff but in this case, his staff's objections don't make sense.

  In addition, previous objections to the recommendations focused on large wild animals like raccoons.  But Salt Lake County has a new USDA certified wild animal specialist who is trapping and relocating raccoons.  It costs Salt Lake City about $35,000 and other cities in the County pay much less than the cost of maintaining a CO chamber plus the animals are trapped and removed with minimal public exposure to potential safety risks.

  From the AVMA Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals: 2013 Edition:

"As veterinarians and human beings it is our responsibility to ensure that if an animal’s life is to be taken, it is done with the highest degree of respect, and with an emphasis on making the death as painless and distress free as possible. When euthanasia is the preferred option, the technique employed should result in rapid loss of consciousness followed by cardiac or respiratory arrest and, ultimately, a loss of brain function. In addition, animal handling and the euthanasia technique should minimize distress experienced by the animal prior to loss of consciousness."

Carbon Monoxide chamber "Safeguards must be taken to prevent and monitor exposure of personnel. (3) Electrical equipment exposed to CO (eg, lights and fans) must be spark free and explosion proof.  General recommendations—Carbon monoxide is acceptable with conditions for euthanasia, provided all of the following contingencies are met: (1) Personnel using CO must be instructed thoroughly in its use and must understand its hazards and limitations. (2) The CO chamber must be of the highest-quality construction and should allow for separation of individual animals. If animals need to be combined, they should be of the same species, and, if needed, restrained or separated so that they will not hurt themselves or others.  Cham-bers should not be overloaded and need to be kept clean to minimize odors that might distress animals that are subsequently euthanized. (3) The CO source and chamber must be located in a well-ventilated environment, preferably out-of-doors."

RESPONSIBLE DRINKERS DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE

  Representative Thurston's bill to change the standard DUI to .05 met significant pushback from the restaurant association.  Their argument was that drinkers can be responsible.  BUT RESPONSIBLE DRINKERS DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE.  Senator Dabakis complained that the bill increased the weirdness factor of Utah.  Interestingly, Senator Dabakis has often been labeled as "weird".  Senator Dabakis insisted that Utahns should be allowed to drink and drive!  The bill passed the Senate Committee with the Democrats voting against it.

  Deseret News has my oped on the issue

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865674519/My-view-Do-not-drink-and-drive-means-do-not-drinkand-drive.html?pg=all

SHOPKO BLOCK WILL HAVE OFFICES, RESIDENTIAL AND SHOPS

  Marc Isaac is helping develop the Shopko block on 1300 East and Hwy 80 and has said that demolition will come soon.  He is planning on two or three office towers, several north south and east west streets with sidewalks to make the area more walkable and have residential units along with stores.  The Olsen's still own the property on Highland Drive which includes the Key Bank and small shops.  Payless Store and adjacent shops will remain and the demolition will leave their south wall.  The Sugar House Community Council will be regularly involved and asked for recommendations on the plans.

STATE STREET/BALLPARK RDA AND HOMELESS SHELTERS

  The State Street and Ballpark Communities are about to be significantly upgraded and the communities' Community Council needs to be very involved in laying out their vision for the area.

  The RDA plan (ready towards the end of the year)  will significantly help the Ballpark and State Street Area over the next decade.  Although I do not support the homeless resource center plan, and have consistently fought it, the area is being given a chance to plan/discuss/decide on how to best upgrade the area utilizing the tools of the State Redevelopment Agency/Commercial Development law.  Not only will property taxes on construction that increases value be decreased (as long as all area taxing entities like the Board of Education agree), but a portion of the decreased taxes will be used to upgrade the community.  In the past, the money has been used for amenities that the community wanted like plazas, traffic benefits, beautification implementation and essentially what the communities want.  The City Council makes the final decision and based on recent history, they will give a lot of weight to the community requests.  This is the most important time for the community.  Not only to recommend a vision and push for it but also to ensure that the City's promises on the homeless center plan makes sense and is correctly and safely implemented.  If the community wants more neighborhood restaurants, walkability, mixed use, parks, and a vibrant character, this is your chance to design you best neighborhood.

  Although I believe that the public safety component of the plan, the most important component, is not currently given enough attention, the problem is really a County issue.  The Salt Lake County Mayor recommends a budget for the DA to prosecute and incarcerate criminals and funding for the Sheriff to provide the jail to keep them incarcerated.  Unfortunately, the budget leaves 380 beds free at the Oxbow Jail.  The DA does not have enough funding to prosecute more criminals (95% plead to lesser, non jail crimes) and the $9.4 million a year for the Oxbow Jail bond, when paid off two years ago, was repurposed for other uses.  The Sheriff has been begging for more beds since he became Sheriff.  Recent news stories have put pressure on Mayor McAdams (unfortunately defended by the Sheriff who has fought for more budget) to provide more funding.  When the Mayor demanded money for the jail, the Legislature told him no, since he was asking for too much and they said that they could provide more beds for less in other counties.  So now the Mayor needs to come up with funding for the DA to prosecute and send to another county's jail up to 300 criminals.  

  Mayor McAdams is being pressured by the public, by the Legislature, by the SLC Mayor and the SLC Police to provide effective public safety.  We should expect good news in a few days. 

  The Ballpark and State Street neighborhoods are directly impacted by the police not being able to lock up (for more than a few hours) drug dealers and other criminals.  That results in 40% of the criminals that the police arrest, not being allowed to be jailed!  Again, that is a County issue and unfortunately,

Salt Lake City Mayor and Council have not been able to convince Ben McAdams to open up Oxbow to allow the police to do their job.  There have been cases where police have been attacked many times by criminals and they are not allowed to put them in jail!  People who should be in jail have killed a father of three (on State Street in January) and come within inches of killing three police.  I know several officers who are afraid, despite willing to take a bullet for us.  Again, I think that the pressure on the County will bear fruit soon.  Greg Hughes is extremely upset that there is visible crime in the Rio Grande area 24 hours a day and the police cannot do anything about it without more jail beds.  (There is a parallel effort to expand Medicaid which includes closing the donut hole and providing more drug treatment funding.)   Greg Hughes is a friend of Ben McAdams and he is also upset that there are kids in the Road Home.  He is putting pressure to remove kids from shelters.  The Midvale family shelter is also not a great place for kids.

  With regards to the effort to stop the High Avenue and 700 South site plans:  I always encourage community engagement and organization.  I was intimately involved behind the scenes of the Simpson Avenue and downtown locations.  The Simpson Avenue leaders were respectful and always engaged in respectful conversations with every elected official.  They were also respected due to their reasonable conversation.  That helped the Legislature to understand the real issues involved in the Simpson Avenue site.  David Litvack is correct that the City and RDA have targeted the Rio Grande and Station/Depot area for super high density development.  I, and many others, are against the plan until the criminals are removed and put in jail and the visible homeless are removed from the sidewalks, parks and nooks and crannies downtown (and throughout the City).  That should be the focus.  But the RDA/City is pushing very hard for the potential billions of development in this area.

  My point is that the efforts of one person in the Sugar House area to insult and intimidate elected officials, actually hurt the case.  I had to explain to several people that he is not representing the community and the two main leaders consistently kept the dialogue going with everyone constructively.  We focused on the Legislature and the City Council and showed the problems with the plan.

  If the citizens, residents and businesses of State Street and Ballpark want more, I recommend becoming more involved in the Community Council; ensure that your voice is consistently heard; help develop the vision and plan for the RDA Ballpark area; and insist that public safety plans be developed and in place to allow the police to do their job  (before the homeless shelter is built).  Whether there is a homeless center or not, your area is about to have a significant increase in investment.  Past RDA efforts have taken longer but the City's experience is better and I expect a big and better change to the area.  Please stay involved in the Community Council and I recommend that your efforts to help the community be respectful.

PEOPLE LOOK AT FOOD COST MORE THAN TAX CREDITS /VOODOO ECONOMICS

  The next week will result in a decision on whether to increase the tax on food.  I, and many others, find it offensive that the richest in Utah seem to be driving the pressure to increase the income tax 17.5% which has resulted in the discussion to increase the tax on food.  The claim that the tax increase will be offset by a tax credit or grocery credit is like a pea shell game.  It is moving around money to make it seem the same.  But it is actually VOODOO ECONOMICS.  I call it the twinkie tax since it never dies or gets old.  It is always there for no good reason.  The system in place now works and any attempt to change it will increase cost to taxpayers, stores, and a government that will have to create a new system.  It is voodoo economics.

CITY HALL MEDICAL KIT IS NO LONGER A BAND AID

  Recently, their was a minor injury at Salt Lake City Hall that required more than a band aid.  Unfortunately, the only medical kit in City Hall was a band aid!  The City will procure a better medical first aid kit.

OVER 100 CHILDREN AT ROAD HOME SLEEP WITH 80 REGISTERED SEX OFFENDERS

  Do I have to say anything more?  Salt Lake City RDA has $7 million that they were planning to use for Simpson Avenue that is now free.  What a big deal it would be to get all families with children out of the Road Home with the drugs and sex offenders!

INTERNET TAX DEFEATED DUE TO CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTIONS

  Senator Bramble attempted to push SB110 which required internet companies, that sell to Utahns, to pay Utah sales taxes.  The bill went before the Government Operations Committee Friday and despite vigorous discussion, it failed to pass the committee.  The main concerns were the questionable constitutionality of the bill and the cost for the Attorney General to undertake another lawsuit.

FEBRUARY 27, 2017

SHERIFF DEFENSIVE ABOUT LACK OF JAIL, MAYOR

PROMISES SURPRISE

DRUG DEALERS SHOULD BE IN JAIL FOR MORE THAN A FEW

HOURS

700 SOUTH HOMELESS SITE BEING REWARDED WITH RDA

PLAN

WHO NEEDS A HOTEL WHEN WE HAVE AIRBNB?

FOOD TAX BILL IS IGNORED BY LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE

HAVE ONE OR TWO DRINKS AND DRIVE MAY BE CHANGED BILLS PILING UP AGAIN FOR LEGISLATIVE CLIMAX

SHERIFF DEFENSIVE ABOUT LACK OF JAIL, MAYOR PROMISES SURPRISE

  Over the last few weeks, there have been many complaints about the issues regarding public safety and the lack of jail beds to allow police to arrest threats to society.  Debbie Dujanovic’s KSL investigative report pushed the Sheriff to respond in an odd response to the pressure.  He claimed that he does not have the budget for more beds (true) and that if a cop needs to arrest someone, all that the officer has to do is call and ask for an exception to the rules.  But the app that the Sheriff requires Salt Lake County law enforcement to use is supposedly the rule that the Salt Lake City Police have to follow.  And if the app says that an arrest cannot be taken to jail, the officer can only write a citation, which, due to jail overcrowding, is unenforceable (when it goes to a warrant).

SALT LAKE COUNTY MAYOR BEN MCADAMS PROVIDES THE BUDGET TO THE COUNCIL

WHICH HAS USUALLY RUBBERSTAMPED IT.  THIS ISSUE IS CAUSED BY LACK OF PUBLIC SAFETY PRIORITY BY MAYOR MCADAMS.  HIS CONTACT/EMAIL IS ON THE RIGHT AND YOU SHOULD EMAIL HIM WITH YOUR COMMENTS.

  Mayor McAdams told me Saturday that he “hopes to have some good news for me soon” (on jail and public safety).  I know that the Mayor IS under pressure from the Legislative leaders about the public safety issues.  Former Senator Urquhart has significant influence and respect at the Legislature and he is a significant help at bringing pressure to bear on Mayor McAdams.

DRUG DEALERS SHOULD BE IN JAIL FOR MORE THAN A FEW HOURS

  During a recent forum on homelessness at the Main City Library in Salt Lake City, Mayor McAdams was asked “what will it take to keep drug dealers in jail for more than a few hours”. If the drug dealers are not kept in jail, they will be on the street and they will encourage getting addicted and encourage staying addicted. The result will be wasting hundreds of millions on drug addiction and treatment.

  Mayor McAdams answered that the Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) is causing many of the drug crimes that were previously felonies to be misdemeanors and those crimes are the ones that the county jails have to cover.  He ignored the facts that the Salt Lake County Jail has not kept drug dealers in jail for more than a few hours long before the change in law that decreased penalties for drug possession and use. Undercover cops have been complaining at Salt Lake City community councils for years (long before the JRI) that when they arrest a drug dealer, they are out in a few hours. There have been many times that an undercover cop has been trying to make a buy and the dealer that he arrested a few hours ago is standing a few feet away laughing.

  The JRI is not causing this problem. Drug dealing is a felony and has always been a felony. The JRI was meant to decrease the charges for possession and use. It was a reasonable plan to focus on crime that caused most of the victims, not on low level drug possession. But to keep drug dealers in jail or prison requires the DA to prosecute them and the jail beds to hold them. If the DA is not given the budget to file charges and prosecute them, and the Sheriff is not given the budget to open the 380 free beds at Oxbow jail, drug dealers will not stay in jail for more than a few hours. The Sheriff has been asking for more jail space every year since Ben McAdams has been Mayor. We are way past we can’t arrest our way out of this. We are now at a point where we have to arrest our way out of this.

  Mayor McAdams and the Sheriff have claimed that up to 80% of the jail inmates have mental health problems that could include drug and alcohol addiction issues. Salt Lake County significantly cut back mental health treatment years ago during the recession. The result is that many of the homeless on the street have mental health issues and they are not receiving the treatment that they would have received ten years ago. Healthcare expansion would have helped and JRI funding would help. But it should be acknowledged that Salt Lake County is also causing part of the lack of mental health problem because they have not restored the mental health budget to where it was before.

  Speaker Hughes has said that he is looking at opening up 300 beds in other counties for Salt Lake County drug dealers. But Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams needs to budget an appropriate amount to allow the DA to prosecute up to 300 more long term jailable offenses. If Mayor McAdams will not provide those funds, the problems will continue. Mayor McAdams and I have been having the same arguments for over a year on the lack of jail space to allow County law enforcement to arrest and the DA to prosecute DUI, car thefts, drug dealing, assaults and criminals that are truly a danger to society. Cops keep saying that we need more jail space and funding to prosecute the threats to society (and to the homeless) and keep them in jail. When reminded of these facts, Mayor McAdams says that I am

“incredibly ill informed”. I just laugh and think that he is being incredibly unrealistic.

700 SOUTH HOMELESS SITE BEING REWARDED WITH RDA PLAN

  The neighborhood residents and businesses around 700 South near the “definitely set in concrete” homeless resource center are upset that the Sugar House area was able to remove their site from consideration.  They do deserve respect.  I have told them that, if the City’s RDA goes forward with their State Street plans, their area’s property values will actually go up and businesses will be significantly better off.  The proposal is scheduled to be finished in the fall and, with community engagement, should encourage development along State Street with much higher density, housing, mixed use, mixed income and beautiful new buildings.  I encourage everyone in the City to provide comments on this plan to the RDA staff (Tammy.hunsaker@slcgov.com 801 535 7244).  The proposal should, with RDA encouragement, significantly speed up development along State Street.  If the emphasis is on the 600 South to 1000 South State Street first, by the time the homeless shelter comes

online, the area’s businesses shouldn’t see an impact.

  Of course, the County needs to start arresting criminals and throwing them in jail.  The area’s residents and businesses continue to be victims of crimes.  It is so bad that, last week, when an accountant’s mail was stolen, the cops found the person responsible (homeless); found the letters and tax returns stolen; but the cops could not arrest the thief!  I asked that the USPS Postal Inspectors be notified since they may be able to force the jail to open up.

WHO NEEDS A HOTEL WHEN WE HAVE AIRBNB?

Salt Lake County says that they intend to go ahead with the new hotel planned to be built with tax credits near the Salt Palace.  But Representative Knotwell’s bill that legalizes (stops municipalities from stopping it) house sharing (AirBnb) fulfills the need for temporary housing.  It will also decrease the availability of affordable housing.  But the host housing program that has helped provide rooms for the Outdoor Retailers shows has worked successfully for years.  Salt Lake County should not build a hotel when this bill makes that plan financially unviable.

FOOD TAX BILL IS IGNORED BY LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE

  Representative Briscoe is a friend of mine.  But he tried to present HB 0302 to the House Revenue and Taxation Committee on Monday.  He restores the full sales tax on food.  Only three spoke against it.  My opinion is that it moves exemptions and tax credits and tax increases around like a shell game and calls it revenue neutral.  That sounds like VOODOO ECONOMICS.  If anyone says that this is not a tax increase, nod twice, wink twice and say “say no more twice; say no more”.  Families do not decide to have babies based on tax credits.  They decide on food costs.  This is a bad bill.  Representative Briscoe was attempting to discuss correcting a downward trend on sales tax that went from 75% of funding in the 1960s to around 40% now.  He wanted the issue discussed at interim.  I believe that this was an attempt by the Legislative leadership to see if the food tax issue will fly.  It didn’t and Representative Briscoe asked that the bill be held for study at Interim.  The Committee moved on without action, which essentially said heck no to the bill.

HAVE ONE OR TWO DRINKS AND DRIVE MAY BE CHANGED

DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE MEANS DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE

  Representative Thurston is sponsoring a bill, HB 0155S01 that lowers the DUI standard from .08 to .05 (grams per 100 milliliters of blood or grams per 210 liters of breath) alcohol concentration (BAC). It is in the Senate for consideration. It is one of the most important bills that are being discussed at the Legislature this year. It has the potential to save hundreds of lives in Utah, reduce much of the suffering

that drinking and driving causes, and to lead the nation to emphasize “do not drink and drive”.

  The bill is opposed by Legislators that are worried about the effect on their constituents who may have a drink and drive. The trial lawyers who focus on DUI are also opposed to this bill. The NTSB has been adamant that the .05 standard should be the standard for legal impairment that affects the ability to safely drive. Proponents point out that when the message is delivered that the DUI standard is reduced, it will lead to less drinking and driving and result in no real increase in DUI arrests.

  Opponents are also worried about the effect on tourism in Utah. But as Representative Ray pointed out during Committee discussion, no one is coming to Utah to drink alcohol. Much of Utah’s tourism is due to recreational opportunities that should benefit from decreasing drinking and driving. Bicyclists in Utah would have significantly safer bicycling.

  In the United States, about 31% of the vehicle crash deaths are alcohol related. In Sweden with a .02 BAC standard and in Netherlands with a .05 BAC standard, alcohol related crash deaths are 19%.

According to the NTSB, “A .05 BAC law has a broad deterrent effect because it helps prevent drinking drivers from getting behind the wheel in the first place.” The NTSB points out that “Research on effectiveness of laws shows that lowering the BAC changes behavior at all BAC levels by reducing driving after drinking, so it is an effective intervention for preventing driving at both high and low BAC levels.”

  Reducing the standard for DUI from .08 to .05 essentially says “do not drink and drive” instead of saying “have one or two drinks and no more and drive”. We do not tell our kids to have one or two drinks and drive or drink and drink and drive. We tell our kids NOT to drink and drive.  The risk of being in a fatal crash is at least seven times higher if drivers have a BAC of .05%-.079% than if they have no alcohol in their system. In other words, drinking and driving kills people.

  Moving from.10 to .08 reduced alcohol related fatalities 10.4% and has saved 1,736 lives annually. It is estimated that a .05 or lower BAC would result in an 11.1% decline in fatal alcohol crashes and save 1790 lives annually in the U.S.  In Utah, that may result in 18 lives a year being saved.

  Utah should change the DUI standard to .05 and change the message from “have one or two drinks and drive” to “do not drink and drive”! Representative Thurston’s HB0155S01 should become law in Utah. It will save hundreds of Utah lives, reduce rape (increased with alcohol), emphasize to teens to not drink and drive, make people think twice before having even one alcoholic drink and driving and it will reduce impaired driving. This bill will significantly increase public safety in Utah.  Since public safety is a valid government function, citizens should contact their Legislators and ask them to help pass this bill.

BILLS PILING UP AGAIN FOR LEGISLATIVE CLIMAX

  This happens every year.  The most important bills have only about a week to be considered.  Some of the bills include removing the Zion Curtain, lowering DUI to .05, requiring nationwide retailers to report Utah customers (for taxes), stopping the use of Carbon Monoxide gas chambers to try and kill our pets, removing the fee that radioactive waste facilities have to pay the State, increasing penalties for drug dealing within a 100 feet from shelters, UTA governance changes, non-compete contracts appropriateness, supporting the Bill of Rights, legalizing house sharing apps, AND several proposals to increase taxes!  The Legislature always saves the best for last.

FEBRUARY 24, 2017

COMMUNITY WINS/STOPS SUGAR HOUSE HOMELESS PLAN

WHY ARE 100 CHILDREN SLEEPING WITH 80 REGISTERED SEX OFFENDERS TONIGHT!!?

DEBBIE DUJANOVIC REPORTS ON LACK OF JAILSPACE IN SLCO

SUGAR HOUSE HOMELESS SITE IS OFF THE TABLE

The mayors of SLC and SLCO seem to have been forced again to face reality and with "a vigorous discussion" have pulled back from the Simpson Avenue homeless site plan (along with the 100 South site.  In addition, the Road Home is slated for closing by June 30, 2019.  The effort by the community to respectfully engage in discussions with the mayors and City Council seems to have helped negotiate a compromise.  The High Avenue site (if it passes environmental tests) and the 700 South site seem to be the focus now on building a 200 bed women's shelter and a men's shelter and another nearby city will provide another facility with 200 beds.  I still hope that the city immediately uses the $7 million from the RDA to remove the families from the Rio Grande Road Home now and move them into housing with vouchers.   There is no justifiable reason WHY 100 CHILDREN ARE SLEEPING WITH 80 REGISTERED SEX OFFENDERS TONIGHT!

  The City continues to ignore the shocking fact that there are around 100 children in the Road Home in the Rio Grande along with 80 registered sex offenders who call the Road Home home!  If the City really cared about the children, they would use the $7 million to provide vouchers and case workers to put the families in apartments or homes outside of the bad areas of SLC.

DEBBIE DUJANOVIC REPORTS ON LACK OF JAILSPACE IN SLCO

KSL's Debbie Dujanovic had an excellent report on the lack of jailspace in Salt Lake County last night.  I urge everyone to watch it

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=43288365&nid=148&title=police-say-jail-restrictions-wreaking-havoc-in-saltlake-county

  Most importantly, the report has gotten pushback from the Sheriff who after first refusing to be interviewed, now wants to give his side of the story.  This dialogue is important.  It could result in a significant change in policing in Salt Lake County.  Watch Debbie and KSL for further updates.

MY LAST OPEDS ON HOMELESS AND JAIL ISSUES WITH LINKS

Oped in the Deseret News that points out how wrong the Simpson Avenue site is for a homeless shelter. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865672928/My-view-SLC-taking-of-property-value-isunconstitutional.html

Last oped in SLTRIB emphasizes issues on lack of jailspace.  Cops want more jailspace.

http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/4867656-155/op-ed-chaos-reigns-when-police-cant

Oped in SLTRIB discusses the individual homeless expansion sites, why the questionable decisions don't make sense and how to do right by the citizens of SLC. http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/4709681-155/op-ed-without-more-crime-control-homeless

FEBRUARY 23, 2017

UTA INSULTS AMERICAN HERO AND VETERAN

UTA STILL ATTEMPTS TO CLOSE HEARINGS

UTA WHEN IS SERVICE EXPANSION GOING TO BE

DISCUSSED

LEGISLATURE EMPHASIZES BILL OF RIGHTS AND

FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT

REP. BRISCOE BILL DOUBLES DRUG DEALING PENALTY

KSL INVESTIGATES THURSDAY NIGHT NO JAIL

AVAILABLE

ROAD HOME TRIES TO STOP DRUG DOGS

POLICE BRUTALITY CLAIM IGNORES REALITY

UTA INSULTS AMERICAN HERO AND VETERAN

  North Ogden Mayor Taylor is an Army veteran of Iraq/Mosul and Afghanistan.  He was elected by

Weber County municipalities to represent Weber County on the UTA Board.  Weber County passed Prop One and they should be represented on the UTA Board.   But UTA tried to stop him being appointed to UTA board supposedly due to his father working at UTA as a Frontrunner employee!  After the UTA Executive Board said that they had questions and issues, the Weber County municipal governments voted to insist that he be the Trustee representing Weber County.  In the UTA Board meeting on February 22, the Board went back and forth on the issue of how can they allow a person on the Board whose relative works for UTA.  But nepotism laws should prevent hiring of relatives by supervisors!  It shouldn't apply to elected officials joining boards that control entities like UTA.  Otherwise elected municipal and government officials would be stopped from taking office if a relative works for the entity!  The UTA reasoning did not make sense.  But the Board did agree to allow Mayor Taylor to take his seat on the Board.  Then the discussion turned to whether or not the UTA Board should discuss the situation in a closed meeting!!

UTA STILL ATTEMPTS TO CLOSE HEARINGS

  The attempt by UTA to discuss the Mayor Taylor situation behind closed doors was stopped just barely.  But it took a significant time and was finally settled when former Lt. Governor Bell argued against the closed meeting.  Jerry Benson also stated that he alone has the ability to fire employees and the Board should not be involved in the issue.  Jerry Benson is right.  The Board should not be questioning the Mayor Taylor appropriateness of serving on the Board.  But the UTA Board also discussed changing the Bylaws to not allow Board members that have relatives employed by UTA but it will allow Mayor Taylor to take his seat!  But then the question is why the carve out for Mayor Taylor?  UTA Trustee Nicea Christensen focused the UTA Board onto more appropriate discussions by asking that Mayor Taylor introduce himself and tell the Board about himself.  That temporarily stopped the nonsense.  

 The UTA Board discussed the various TODs' land transfers which included Clearfield, Sandy, West Jordan and South Jordan.  These proposals did not include land values which means that the proposals are meaningless and the public cannot reasonably comment on the proposals.  UTA should not be transferring, trading or giving property to developers but they appear to still be doing that.  UTA should be leasing the property. Without substantive information on land values, the proposals are questionable.  The UTA Board stated that the land values would be considered in the closed meeting.  I noted that some of the developers were in the audience and I have to wonder if they were allowed into the closed meeting.  UTA's closed meetings don't seem to meet the legal requirements.  

  The subcommittees are starting up but online comments are not allowed and although the agenda is posted, the packet is not.  So UTA is still not being open about information.  UTA's openness and effort to be forthcoming in the last few months seem to have been stopped by this meeting.  The only way to comment is by showing up at the meeting.  UTA General Counsel Jamie Blakesley stated that George Chapman did not show up at the recent Executive Board meeting, as if I had time for more meetings!  UTA:  The agenda should include the packet and allow emailed comments.  SLCO Council even allows call ins!

UTA WHEN IS SERVICE EXPANSION GOING TO BE DISCUSSED

  I am embarrassed and distressed that instead of discussing service expansions, the UTA Board spent most of its time discussing the Weber County UTA Board Representative!  It appears to me that some of the Board were concerned about Mayor Taylor's statements that UTA needs to be reformed.  Mayor Taylor did ask that video of the meetings be available online and he was told that it is in process.  But UTA's Board should be spending time encouraging service expansion.  That is what almost everyone in the Wasatch Front wants.  

LEGISLATURE EMPHASIZES BILL OF RIGHTS AND FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT

  The Legislature sent Senator Shiozawa's SCR6 to the full Senate and it looks like it will pass the Legislature.  No one spoke against it.  It affirms that the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment are important parts of our rights and no one and no entity should interfere with those rights.  It is meant to emphasize America's benefits from immigrants but the Committee heard that some cities in Utah seem to be ignoring the Bill of Rights and the Legislature should not help those cities ignore some rights like the Fourth Amendment.  It should be a no brainer.

REP. BRISCOE BILL DOUBLES DRUG DEALING PENALTY

  Representative Briscoe's HB365 doubles the penalty for drug dealing 100 feet from homeless shelters.  The penalty needed to be added since the Legislature previously increased penalties for dealing near parks and schools but they left out homeless shelters.  Unfortunately, it only is out to 100 feet and it does not help force counties to jail and prosecute dealers.  Representative Dunnigan  questioned whether the law would help since, in Salt Lake County the dealers don't stay in jail long due to the County's claim that there is no jailspace.  But there are 300 plus beds free at Oxbow!  The DA needs more funding to prosecute these dealers.  The big issue is the lack of prosecution.  It should be noted that the JRI did loosen penalties for low level drug crimes but dealing has always been a felony.  Unfortunately prosecutors utilize a matrix that usually pleads out 95% of dealing charges to lower level offenses.  The issue is that some of the cartels move the dealers to other cities when they are arrested, even after they are deported.  The Committee hearing the bill was told to consider telling SLCO that they will not get any money for homeless unless they prosecute and jail drug dealers.  SLC Police Chief Brown says that they have hundreds of drug dealers in the Rio Grande area!  Removing dealers from the homeless population is needed before attempting treatment or we will waste hundreds of millions of dollars.  When drug users are confronted, the police can only (not always) confiscate the drugs; write a citation; have it screened by the DA and the DA produces a warrant which can't be served by Police due to jail overcrowding!  Note that the Police often encounter criminals with tens of warrants and they

can't arrest them!

KSL INVESTIGATES THURSDAY NIGHT NO JAIL AVAILABLE

  Debbie Dujanovic has a Thursday February 23, KSL investigation report on what lack of jail space means for criminals.  As noted above, when the police encounter criminals with warrants, they can't arrest them.  Please watch KSL's report and then call and email County Mayor Ben McAdams and tell him to "do your job! Fund reasonable DA and jail operations."

ROAD HOME TRIES TO STOP DRUG DOGS

  The Midvale Family Shelter used drug dogs to find a large amount of drugs in and around the shelter.  The Road Home investigation also found a large amount of drugs but the Road Home asked that further drug dog use be preceded by a week's warning.  The SLC Police told the Road Home don't get your hopes up.

POLICE BRUTALITY CLAIM IGNORES REALITY

  There is an almost constant protest at SLC City Hall about police brutality that focuses mainly on the shooting a year ago of a drug dealer (according to the DA).  There are cases of police brutality but that is not one of them.  

  Last February, a young man was shot by two police officers in order to stop an attack on another man. He ended up seriously wounded and may be permanently in a wheelchair. In August, the Salt Lake Police Civilian Review Board declared that the shooting was “Not Within” policy. The Board released their findings despite the fact that the person who was shot was not interviewed and the court case against the victim is still in process. The evidence presented indicates that the two police officers fired their guns because they felt that there was a chance of a serious or fatal blow by the individual and he refused to drop his weapon. This week, the police body cam footage was released and clearly showed that the police were justified in shooting Abdi Mohamed.

  The police officers both said that the person who was shot started to raise a metal object that they thought was a heavy metal bar similar to the one that his fellow attacker had just dropped (with a heavy metal thud). It should be noted that, in the video, the person with Mohamed dropped his bar and listened to the cops. It should also be clear that Mohamed ignored many shouts to stop advancing on the person that he was attacking! Both officers decided that they needed to use deadly force needed to stop the suspect and protect the victim.” They did not have time to use a Taser and in winter, heavy jackets negate their effect.

  The victim of the attack, who eventually admitted to asking to buy a marijuana cigarette, knew that he was being attacked with a hollow and not a very threatening handle. That is why he appeared to be slow in backing away from his attacker who was eventually shot. But the police officers who fired did not know that and the person who was shot refused to stop advancing on the victim of the attack, unlike his fellow attacker who heard the police orders, dropped their heavy metal pipe and ran away. 

  Interestingly, both of the attackers refused to be interviewed by the Board despite the numerous media interviews given by the shooting victim. The Board also seemed to ignore the gang that is in the area controlling spice and meth sales. The Board, should have insisted on a full investigation. The victim of the attack by the person who was eventually shot, said that “he was fearful of being killed by the pipe. K.M said he believed the officers saved his life and that the officers put themselves in jeopardy to

protect him.”

 The Board said that “it would have been objectively reasonable for the officers to believe that the juvenile was an armed aggressor engaging another citizen with a bludgeon capable of inflicting serious bodily injury or death.” Authority to use deadly force includes “The officer reasonably believes that the use of deadly force is necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury to the officer or another person.” The important factor in the Board’s decision was that “neither C (the person who was shot) nor KM (the victim of the attack) were showing any sense of urgency in this last confrontation. C did not noticeably increase his speed towards KM, and KM did not appear to increase his rate of retreat.” KM knew the mop handle was hollow and he did not want to interact with the police.

The police officers acted, as the vast majority of cops do, with the best intention of stopping serious bodily injury or death. Deadly force is authorized and justified in those cases. It should be remembered that there were 20 seconds between sighting the attack and the shooting. When someone is advancing on another to attack, with a weapon of any kind, and ignoring shouts from police to drop the weapon (unlike his partner), police should be justified in shooting to stop the attack. The police body cam footage seems to justify police actions and is another reason to encourage their use.

FEBRUARY 22, 201

WHY ARE 100 CHILDREN SLEEPING WITH 80 SEX OFFENDERS

MAYOR INCREDIBLY UNREALISTIC WHEN IT COMES TO

PUBLIC SAFETY

FEBRUARY 13 HOMELESS FORUM DISCUSSION AFTER FORUM

ENDED

INCONVENIENT ISSUE CARING FOR LAWBREAKERS MORE

THAN POOR

SLC GOLF VOODOO ECONOMICS

SLC GRAMA REFUSED TO BE APPEALED

SLC EAST BENCH DEER PROBLEMS

STATE STREET RDA EXPANSION COULD HELP AFFORDABLE

HOUSING

NO SURPRISE SIMPSON AVENUE SITE HAS ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

WHY ARE 100 CHILDREN SLEEPING WITH 80 REGISTERED SEX OFFENDERS TONIGHT!!??

  The City continues to ignore the shocking fact that there are around 100 children in the Road Home in the Rio Grande along with 80 registered sex offenders who call the Road Home home!  If the City really cared about the children, they would use the $7 million to provide vouchers and case workers to put the families in apartments or homes outside of the bad areas of SLC.

MAYOR INCREDIBLY UNREALISTIC WHEN IT COMES TO PUBLIC SAFETY

  During a recent forum on homelessness at the Main City Library in Salt Lake City, Mayor McAdams was asked “what will it take to keep drug dealers in jail for more than a few hours”. If the drug dealers are not kept in jail, they will be on the street and they will encourage getting addicted and encourage staying addicted. The result will be wasting hundreds of millions on drug addiction and treatment.

  Mayor McAdams answered that the Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) is causing many of the drug crimes that were previously felonies to be misdemeanors and those crimes are the ones that the county jails have to cover.  He ignored the facts that the Salt Lake County Jail has not kept drug dealers in jail for more than a few hours long before the change in law that decreased penalties for drug possession and use. Undercover cops have been complaining at Salt Lake City community councils for years (long before the JRI) that when they arrest a drug dealer, they are out in a few hours. There have been many times that an undercover cop has been trying to make a buy and the dealer that he arrested a few hours ago is standing a few feet away laughing.

  The JRI is not causing this problem. Drug dealing is a felony and has always been a felony. The JRI was meant to decrease the charges for possession and use. It was a reasonable plan to focus on crime that caused most of the victims, not on low level drug possession. But to keep drug dealers in jail or prison requires the DA to prosecute them and the jail beds to hold them. If the DA is not given the budget to file charges and prosecute them, and the Sheriff is not given the budget to open the 380 free beds at Oxbow jail, drug dealers will not stay in jail for more than a few hours. The Sheriff has been asking for more jail space every year since Ben McAdams has been Mayor. We are way past we can’t arrest our way out of this. We are now at a point where we have to arrest our way out of this.

  Mayor McAdams and the Sheriff have claimed that up to 80% of the jail inmates have mental health problems that could include drug and alcohol addiction issues. Salt Lake County significantly cut back mental health treatment years ago during the recession. The result is that many of the homeless on the street have mental health issues and they are not receiving the treatment that they would have received ten years ago. Healthcare expansion would have helped and JRI funding would help. But it should be acknowledged that Salt Lake County is also causing part of the lack of mental health problem because they have not restored the mental health budget to where it was before. 

  Speaker Hughes has said that he is looking at opening up 300 beds in other counties for Salt Lake County drug dealers. But Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams needs to budget an appropriate amount to allow the DA to prosecute up to 300 more long term jailable offenses. If Mayor McAdams will not provide those funds, the problems will continue. Mayor McAdams and I have been having the same arguments for over a year on the lack of jail space to allow County law enforcement to arrest and the DA to prosecute DUI, car thefts, drug dealing, assaults and criminals that are truly a danger to society. Cops keep saying that we need more jail space and funding to prosecute the threats to society (and to the homeless) and keep them in jail. When reminded of these facts, Mayor McAdams says that I am

“incredibly ill informed”. I just laugh and think that he is being incredibly unrealistic.

FEBRUARY 13 HOMELESS FORUM DISCUSSION AFTER FORUM ENDED

 During the February 13 homeless forum with SLC and SLCO Mayors, Representative Romero and Speaker Greg Hughes (hosted by former Senator Steve Urquhart), there was a vigorous discussion about homeless issues. Senator Urquhart (a respected moderate Republican who recently moved to Salt Lake City) attempted to find common ground to help alleviate the issues in the homeless community, particularly the rampant drug dealing that appears to be ignored. Mayor Biskupski acknowledged that there is a problem with the County not allowing drug dealers to stay in jail for more than a few hours due to lack of jail space. She said that “there is very little we can do if there is no jail space”. Even Speaker Hughes acknowledged the problem. He said that he has tasked Representative Noel to find 300 beds to lock up the drug dealers (Representative Noel’s son is Beaver County Sheriff). The main reason to look outside of Salt Lake County is because the County is asking the Legislature for too much to open up the 380 free beds at Oxbow Jail and blaming the Legislature for the problem. 

  Mayor McAdams contended that "we can't build enough jail beds to solve the issue". But we have the 380 beds at the jail not being used and all that the community is asking is to crack down on drug dealers and those who are significant threats to the public and homeless.

  Speaker Hughes said that the State has received waivers for some parts of the Medicaid expansion.  That includes $7 million being spent on 4500 adults with dependent children waiver granted.  But the $13 million charge to hospitals waiver has not been approved.  The Justice Reinvestment Initiative gave $14 million to the County and they have used $1.4 million to treat 16 women up to a year.  There is still a gap of $16 million needed but that does not include prostitution treatment and probation.  Speaker Hughes pointed out that the State has not short changed the County but is following the Association of Counties request for dollars needed.  The DEA may be of some help to the drug dealer issue according to Sheriff Winder.

  Greg Hughes said at the end of the forum that the communities need to support site locations.  Speaker Hughes acknowledged that maybe the Sugar House Simpson Avenue homeless site may not be appropriate for a shelter and maybe nearby cities should be encouraged to provide an alternative site. He said that discussions are taking place to address those issues. Those comments came after the forum ended when he had an extended discussion with attendees. He was very gracious with his time, even if his philosophies are not always popular.

FOURTEEN TONS OF HOMELESS REMOVED!

  During a sweep to remove old blankets and other garbage from the Rio Grande area in December, around 14 tons of garbage was removed!  The garbage was from the donations that people give to the homeless that do not stay in the shelter but to those that hang out in the area.  As Pamela Atkinson has said, many times, when people give directly to the homeless that are congregating outside the shelters, they encourage the homeless to not use the facilities for the homeless.  In January, another 8 tons of garbage was removed.  Also, and sadly, one woman who was under a pile of blankets had a baby which died.  This is a sad commentary about our City.  Do not give to homeless, panhandlers and beggers.  Give to the service providers.  Crossroads Urban Center, Fourth Street Clinic, The Road Home, the Weigand Center, the Saint Vincent DePaul Center and other charities provide much better use of donations.  Even passing out food, which may make the donor feel good, actually encourages homeless to not use the services that are geared to stop homelessness.

INCONVENIENT ISSUES OF CARING FOR LAWBREAKERS MORE THAN POOR

  An inconvenient issue that needs a greater discussion is whether healthcare expansion should be prioritized for low income individuals before being used for drug addiction treatment.  When the poor are dying due to lack of medical care while drug addicts are receiving addiction treatment, we should question society's priorities.  Healthcare expansion should be a priority and should not ignore low income individuals who follow the law.  The Legislature's efforts to fund criminals' addiction treatment while ignoring low income lack of medical care is not what a great society should be planning.  This issue should be more vigorously debated at the Legislature.

SLC GOLF VOODOO ECONOMICS

  Salt Lake City Council seems to be trying to close more golf courses.  During a recent golf course discussion, they tried to justify their efforts to close Wingpointe and other courses.  Wingpointe never should have been closed.  Areas around airports, even not in the direct flight path, give emergencies during takeoff and landing a chance to result in survival.  The Beccker Administration's plan for the Wingpointe site was to build an aircraft deicing facility!  The site should remain open as a golf course and park.  In addition, the Council is ignoring the voodoo economics of SLC golf.  SLC charges a lot more for water for golf courses than the rest of the County and State as if the courses are a burden to the taxpayers.  So instead of being able to operate with a surplus, golf courses are claimed to be losing money, only in Salt Lake City!  But protecting greenery should be a priority.  Shared use (for walkers, joggers and others around the periphery) can and should be allowed.  A good example of the respect that the Council gives to golf, is the lowball cost of the property adjacent to the golf course that is going to be used for a fire station.  The property should have been valued at millions, instead it went for much less.

SLC GRAMA REFUSED TO BE APPEALED

  I and many others filed a GRAMA request to have the minutes of the City Council meeting that discussed the homeless sites made public.  Despite the fact that Council members have discussed their discussions, the City is still trying to keep the matter secret.  Our GRAMA requests were refused and we have 30 days to appeal to Patrick Leary through the City Recorder.  

SLC EAST BENCH DEER PROBLEMS

  Due to the problem with the expansion of deer population along the east bench of Salt Lake City, some have asked about culling the deer herd in that location.  The City has decided that the discussion will create too much dissension and has asked that the request be tabled.  The deer population is getting bad to the point where some come out of their house to see three of more deer on their front lawn.  They are increasing the risk of automobile accidents.

STATE STREET RDA EXPANSION COULD HELP AFFORDABLE HOUSING

  Salt Lake City is going slow when it comes to the State Street RDA/CDA expansion areas.  The Council did ask that the southern boundary around 300 West be extended south to 1700 South so that it would encompass the High Avenue homeless proposed site.  State Street, with form based zoning has the best potential for providing significant housing that includes affordable units.  Unfortunately, the buildup may take decades.  The City should speed it up.

NO SURPRISE THAT SIMPSON AVENUE SITE HAS ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES 

  Years ago, Union Pacific sold the S-Line/Sugar House streetcar rail property to UTA.  Everyone involved knew that the property needed environmental cleanup.  After UTA put in the streetcar line, the excess property that needed further remediation was sold to a specialist/consultant in environmental remediation.  Unfortunately, that property was north of the rail line.  The south side of the property was owned by someone else.  It appears that the environmental issues on the south side where the new proposed homeless site (Simpson Avenue) were not completely corrected.  Matthew Piper in the Salt Lake Tribune reported that Vitro, an old Uranium processor may have left tailings.  Those tailings are like super lead.  Most of the radioactive material in Uranium ore is removed for nuclear bomb processing and nuclear energy fuel rods.  That leaves the much less radioactive material whose chemical effects on human physiology is worse than the radioactive effects.  In the military, we called this stuff Depleted Uranium.  It is used by the military as a super lead that is heavier than lead and also, with a little Tungsten, sharpens when it hits something hard, like tank armor.  It is used by the USAF in the West Desert for shooting up tank and fortified targets.  

  This is not the Depleted Uranium that EnergySolutions has imported from the bomb makers in Savanna River South Carolina.  The EnergySolutions barrels (we only got a third of the barrels that they wanted to import to Utah) contain nuclear weapons waste which include Plutonium 240 (unstable isotope that increases in radioactivity five times in 100 years), Technicium, Americium, Cesium 137, Strontium 90 and other isotopes that bomb builders didn't want in their bombs.  It has gone through a reactor.  It is a powder and it should be considered the perfect dirty bomb and it is in barrels that are disintegrating.

  The environmental issue of this super lead in the Simpson Avenue site should also show that the site should be removed from homeless site consideration.

FEBRUARY 9, 2017

DOWNLOADS HAS NEW PROPOSED SITE ZONING DRAFT

OPEN SPACE PROPOSAL ON THE DOWNLOADS PAGE

SLC COUNCIL HEARS COMPLAINTS ON SIMPSON

HOMELESS SITE

FORMER SENATOR URQUART WILL HAVE MAYORS AT

SLCC ON FEBRUARY 13

DESERET NEWS OPED ON SLC'S UNCONSTITUTIONAL

ACTIONS

1100 E DEVELOPMENT DENIED AT PLANNING

COMMISSION

LEGISLATURE PUSHES BILL TO CHANGE UTA

LEGISLATURE FRIDAY TO DISCUSS NUCLEAR WASTE AND .05DUI

I put the downloads of the new proposed homeless site zoning proposal on the downloads page.  The Planning Commission will have at least one hearing on it before it goes to the Council.  It appears that there will be at least three hearings to get to the next step before finalizing the sites' zoning.  100 South and Simpson Avenue sites will require these hearings.

I also put the Open Space proposal on the downloads page and it is important.  The proposal's questionable issues or rule changes include: 

The City wants to remove automatic parking and traffic studies when changing open space use.  But they also want restaurants and amphitheaters and off site parking and those issues hurt neighborhoods.  For instance, the Liberty Park right hand turn lanes were put in without notice and they increase pollution significantly.  (The bicycle boulevard proposal did not include that action.  Noise from amphitheaters is still a concern and they want to allow 90 foot light poles!  The City proposes to make the rules more flexible for pump stations, gas or diesel pumps, sewer or water treatment facilities and storage of equipment (which may be as big as snow plows).  They also are proposing that solar farms can be placed on open space but open space should be used for trees and plants.  They discuss reuse of landmark sites like the plunge and Forest Dale.  The one good thing is the proposal to place living quarters on the park/open space site which is a prelude to park rangers.  Park rangers would help a lot in many of the parks. 

The February 7, SLC Council meeting discussed the golf courses and unfortunately, many

Councilmembers want to close more courses.  They ignore the fact that SLC charges much more than other Utah governments for watering courses and parks.  In addition, the land transfer at Forest Dale for the new fire station (essentially being approved without anyone else objecting) was undervalued.  The property should be worth at least a million and it would have made the golf fund break even.  The evening meeting had another long line of commenters against the Simpson Avenue Homeless site.  It appears that 95 % of the objections to the homeless plan is from the Simpson Avenue site. 

On February 13, former Senator Steve Urquhart will host a meeting and forum with Mayor McAdams and Mayor Biskupski.  He has the influence that will hopefully result in reopening the 380 free beds at Oxbow and locking up the drug dealers.  It will be at the Salt Lake Community College South Campus on 1700 South State Street from 630 to 8 PM in the Atrium.  Parking should be available on the eastside.

Deseret News just published my opinion piece that points out the unconstitutional taking of property value that Salt Lake City is engaging in.  Salt Lake City, a City that prides itself for promoting equal rights, seems to be ignoring the basic rights that citizens of this Country have. After almost 200 years of the Fourteenth Amendment guarantee of those Rights, the citizens of the U.S. should not have to fight this fight to have all governments abide by the Bill of Rights. At a minimum, Salt Lake City should reevaluate their plans to include compensation for nearby homes and businesses. Salt Lake City should not act like Baltimore or those in the 1800s that said that the Bill of Rights does not apply to states and cities.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865672928/My-view-SLC-taking-of-property-value-isunconstitutional.html

The 1100 East 1080 South proposal to build 7 new homes replacing a home and apartment building was turned down.  The East Liberty Park Community Council voted against the project over the objections of the co-chair.  The effort by the co-chair failed at the Planning Commission and the majority of nearby residents were against the proposal.

The Legislature’s Senate Transportation Committee passed to the Senate floor a recommendation to change UTA governance with SB0174S1.  It will require UTA to justify TODs and decrease the Board of Trustees and add a Citizen’s Advisory Board.  It is an important change to UTA. 

The Legislature on Friday February 10 at 3 PM will discuss HB155 which lowers the DUI standard to .05 in line with DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE (from just a drink or two and drive).  In addition, HB296 will be heard at another Committee at the same time.  It reduces fees paid by nuclear waste facilities.  It means that Utah will be further on the hook for storage of the wastes after the facility is closed or goes bankrupt.  The barrels of nuclear weapons’ waste are a particular concern since the barrels are disintegrating.  That waste, classified as Depleted Uranium but is actually waste in process that comes after the Uranium is irradiated in a nuclear reactor and the good parts used for bombs.  The waste nuclides including Plutonium 240, Americium, cesium, strontium and technetium are extremely dangerous, especially in powder form. 

JANUARY 30, 2017

LEGISLATURE'S REP. RAY COMPLAINS LACK OF SLCO JAIL SPACE

During a hearing at the Social Services Appropriations Sub-Committee, the Utah Justice Reinvestment Initiative was discussed.  Felony drug offenders sent to prison dropped almost in half. But county jails are impacted.  I put the JRI download on the downloads page along with the performance measure of offender treatment success.  Some say that the real success is around 20%.  When I complained about the lack of jail space and noted that the problem is SLCO will not open up more beds at Oxbow, Representative Ray agreed and pointed out that it is serious when a cop can't arrest someone who should be off  the street and in jail.  KSL's Debbie Dujanovic will have a story on this issue in the next few days.

I forgot to provide links to the KUTV2News story by Brian Mullahy.  Here they are: http://kutv.com/news/local/ex-lawmaker-no-jail-for-heroin-meth-users-near-shelter http://kutv.com/news/local/city-leaders-agree-drug-users

THIS WEEK'S MEETINGS

On Tuesday, at the Senate Government Operations Committee, they will hear a bill by Sen. Knudson outlawing carbon monoxide chambers.  It is SB0056 Animal Shelter Amendments.  It will be in room 415 at the State Capitol and start at 2 PM on January 31.

On Tuesday at Sprague Library, from 530 to 730 PM, there will be an open house to gather public comments on designing or retrofitting the Sprague Library.  Concerns are that the historic building may not survive the new architectural design.

On Wednesday, the Sugar House, the Greater Avenues, the Rose Park, Yalecrest and Central City

Community Councils will meet.  The Central City Community Council will discuss Cowboy Partners'

Pipeline Building project, Garbett Homes will discuss the Hardison Apartments on South Temple and Seven Canyons will discuss daylighting the underground creeks in the City.  In addition, the Council will continue discussions on creating community boards for the homeless sites.  Please go to your local community council meetings.  The list is to the right.

JANUARY 29, 2017

SPRAGUE LIBRARY

REDESIGN/CONSTRUCTION  TUESDAY WITHOUT PROPER NOTICE

Salt Lake City Library will conduct a community outreach on the potential redesign and construction of the Sprague Library on Tuesday January 31 at Sprague from 530  to 730 PM.  The goal is to prepare the Sprague Library for the next 50 years.  This is almost no notice and interested individuals and users should communicate their feelings to the Library Board at boardcontact@slcpl.org.  Salt Lake City needs more libraries and money should be prioritized for new libraries.  It should not be used for reconstructing a historic landmark in Sugar House.  The Library is not on the historic landmark registry but it should be.  Upkeep of the Library (it has leaks) should have a higher priority than reconstructing the Library.  The most concern should be regarding the potential closure of the Library while construction occurs.

JANUARY 28, 2017

When will homeless sites issue be heard at Legislature?

The Social Services Appropriations Committee at the Legislature is where they will decide to give money to SLC for their homeless shelter idea.  To  comment during the public input on topics on agenda, speakers must contact Debbie Benson the day before by 1 PM at 801-326-1698 to be considered.  Please identify which agenda item you want to comment on and the name of the organization you will be representing (if applicable). To maximize the number of people who can provide public testimony, each person is limited to testifying twice on Social Services issues unless authorized by the chairs.  The agenda is posted the day before at le.utah.gov, calendar and SSAC is usually at the top of the day's list of hearings.

The homeless sites is tentatively scheduled to be discussed on February 6 (Monday) at the Social

Services Appropriations Committee.  So if you are going to speak, you should call Debbie by February 3.  Note also that the date changed on Friday twice in a few hours.  It is important that you check the agenda everyday or stay in contact with those who are keeping tabs on the agenda.  

Also note that Monday's discussion will include the Justice Reinvestment Initiative that is decreasing criminal penalties for drug use and County overcrowding jails (along with Mayor McAdams taking away $10 million a year from the jail and not allowing the 380 free beds to be used). Debbie sometimes works on Saturday so if you want to testify, you should try to call her at 801-326-1698.

I had an opinion piece in the Salt Lake Tribune on Saturday (http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/4867656155/op-ed-chaos-reigns-when-police-cant) about the jail issues.

I am going to be busy with the Legislature for the next month so I will only be able to update the website every two weeks unless something big happens.  Please keep informed.  A lot is going to happen in the next month and a half.

JANUARY 18, 2017

FIGHT CONTINUES AGAINST SLC HOMELESS SITES

PLAN

FATHER KILLED BY MAN WHO SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN

JAIL

SLC ATTEMPT TO STOP OPEN MEETING

FIGHT CONTINUES AGAINST SLC HOMELESS SITES PLAN

The fight against the SLC homeless sites plan continues.  Chris Sveiven had a great oped in the SLTRIB Sunday (http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/4812996-155/op-ed-homeless-plan-despoils-award-winningsugar) that pointed out that Sugar House got an award several years ago that was given, in part, for continuing involvement by the community in planning the neighborhood!  It is an important read and I encourage everyone to read it.  Chris is planning on applying to the Sugar House Community

Council.  Susan Gallagher has filed a lawsuit against the City and it should help point out the problems with the plan and the process.  Not only was the vote to spend the money questionable, the efforts by the Mayor and Council to keep the public from noticing the cover up and removing the public from input are disrespectful at best and may be illegal.

The $7 million for the Sugar House site alone could be better used to remove the families and children who are exposed to the Rio Grande area's Road Home and putting them in temporary apartments (not motels).  There are 100 children exposed to the crime and 80+ registered sex offenders at the Road Home.

The Council and Mayor appear to be losing sight of the ball.  Instead of working on the homeless issues now, they are hoping and wishing and praying that the new shelters will fix the problem.  But the plan won't fix the problems with drug sales and crime on North Temple.  The plan won't solve the problems with homeless threatening and attacking homeowners and businesses.  The plan won't protect children in the parks from finding needles.  The plan won't remove the crime from State Street, from the motels and prostitution NOW and not wait three years to see if this experiment works. 

Stop the insanity and tell the Council and Mayor that the plan should stop; the Sugar House site should be removed from consideration; and, most importantly, the Mayor of Salt Lake County should open up all the jail beds now to help police remove the criminal elements and drug dealers from the homeless population. 

There is no model for placing a homeless shelter in a residential neighborhood (Chris Sveiven).  It appears that the fight will go to the Legislature and citizens will demand that Utah not support the illegal taking of property (through loss of equity) and questionable plan.

FATHER KILLED BY MAN WHO SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN JAIL

Last week a father of three  was killed by a man who should have been in jail.  Kenneth Ross Gray was driving away from police who were attempting to recover his stolen BMW SUV.  He started at a State Street motel that has a reputation as a drug and crime area.  He was high on methamphetamine and driving over 80 mph when he struck and killed a man in a car.  Kenneth should have been in jail except that Ben McAdams won't provide sufficient funding to keep threats to society like Kenneth in jail.  Kenneth has a lengthy criminal history, mostly involving drugs and this should show that drugs are dangerous to society.

Tyler Allen Williams, another longtime criminal, also should have been in jail.  Instead, he carjacked a car, kidnapped two kids (released later) and just before he was caught and arrested, he almost killed three cops!  It appeared, to the police, that he was trying to kill the cops.  He would have been in jail except SLCO Mayor Ben McAdams won't provide sufficient funding to keep threats to society like Tyler in jail.  Politicians who refuse to ensure that public safety is a priority can also be a threat to society

Hundred year water law should not be decided by backroom deals

Salt Lake City Mayor Biskupski and Sandy Mayor Dolan are putting a lot of pressure on the Governor and the State of Utah to shut down discussion on Utah's hundred year old water laws that are now conflicting with different authorities.   So far, the pressure to stop an open meeting has failed. 

Salt Lake City, as a first class city, has the authority over watersheds in six Northern Utah counties. That extraterritorial jurisdiction gives Salt Lake City influence in development, home building, ranching, and recreation that involves water.

Over the last few years, several other cities have reached first class status and the overlapping authority of watershed creates obvious conflicts that are properly reason for reviewing the hundred year water law.  The Utah Quality Growth Commission has been tasked by the Legislature to review Utah's watershed and extraterritorial jurisdiction law that give Lt Governor Cox said it best when he pointed out that (regarding voter law) hundred year old laws should be reviewed.

Some parties have been trying to stop a fair and open review of Utah's hundred year water law. That flies in the face of Republican efforts to ensure transparency in government discussion and decision making.  This pressure is being directed to stop the Utah Quality Growth Commission efforts to have open and transparent and fair discussions and analysis.  The review is to ensure that Utah's water quality is continued to be protected in the face of extremely high density development pressure in the canyons.

The Utah Quality Growth Commission meetings are open and they encourage your comments.  The next meeting is January 19, at 9 AM at the State Capitol in the East Senate Building Seagull Room.

Mike Edwards, SLCOGOP Legislative Chair, had a recent opinion piece in the Deseret News (http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865670145/My-view-Utah-needs-to-update-its-waterlaws.html) that explained it very well:

Utah needs to update our hundred years old water law

  Salt Lake City, as a first class city (over 100,000 population), was granted watershed authority and extraterritorial jurisdiction 100 years ago due to its status as a first class city. In the next few years, there will be over seven first class cities in Utah. The question that is now being asked is how do you update the hundred year old watershed laws to decrease conflicts and ensure water quality.

  At present, Salt Lake City Public Utilities has watershed authority over 4 million acres in six counties. Salt Lake City controls the rights to over 500,000 acre feet of water while using only 50,000 acre feet.  Salt Lake City also sells 25,000 acre feet for about $25 million to other users via surplus water contracts. The majority of Utah cities exercise successful watershed protection with 300 feet on each side of the source up to 15 miles which is about 1,100 acres of watershed. When the law was passed, no one could have imagined the growth in population, development and recreation that Utah has exhibited.   Salt Lake City also pulls water from Utah Lake to replenish streams in Salt Lake County that have had water taken out for treatment to supply drinking water. Salt Lake City recently had to stop pulling

water from Utah Lake to allow Riverton’s continued use of Utah Lake water.

  Salt Lake City has pointed out that they have successfully managed the watershed in the canyons. But SLC does not allow recreation in the watershed that is allowed in other watersheds like the Provo River.

There are questionable interpretations of their enforcement because Utah’s Constitution allows beneficial uses that are “protected for infrequent primary contact recreation and secondary contact recreation such as wading, hunting and fishing”. Use of the old mining roads is also under threat. The City goes so far as to not allow small indoor animals in the canyon private cabins. Although the City is responsible for the watersheds in the canyons, they have not used their income from selling water to provide sanitary facilities to the six million visitors a year who visit and recreate in the canyons.  There is also no preparation to mitigate potentially catastrophic fires in the canyons.

  Although SLC does not exercise their extra territorial jurisdiction in most cases, it has the authority to stop development in much of northern Utah. Its authority also affects farmers in Juab, Wasatch, Utah, Salt Lake, Davis, Weber and Summit County. The City also restricts transferring of water for any use, including new developments like data centers. That control was used by politicians who said that the proposed Facebook data center would use too much of our water at the same time as the City forces 16 million gallons a day to not be used. It should be noted that the land on which the data center would be located would have used 2 million gallons a day as farmland while the data center would probably use less than 500,000 gallons a day. Wise development can decrease water use.

  Salt Lake City and County are now planning to turn responsibility over the canyons to the federal government with the Central Wasatch Commission which is being created to implement the Mountain Accord recommendations. The proposal insists that Federal control of the canyons is necessary to protect the watershed.

  Watersheds cross city and county boundaries. There are obvious conflicts of overlapping watershed authority, negative effects on development and recreation, and potential effects on ranching and farming in Northern Utah.

  Earlier this week, the Utah Legislature’s Public Lands Commission heard testimony that showed potential problems with Utah’s watershed laws. The Commission asked that the Utah Quality Growth Commission recommend changes within the next six months on how to ensure that Utah’s watershed laws continue to protect water quality and minimize the effect of water supplies on development, construction, farming, ranching and recreation. Updating Utah water laws will protect the watersheds better than federal control.

JANUARY 13, 2017

ANOTHER WEEK AND MORE BACKLASH ON HOMELESS

PLANS

URQUHART PUBLICIZES DRUG USE ALMOST LEGAL IN

SLCO

BEN MCADAMS THROWS MAYOR BISKUPSKI UNDER

THE BUS

SLC NEEDS 300 AFFORDABLE APARTMENTS NOW BUT

NO SOLUTION IN SIGHT

FUTURE MEETINGS

ANOTHER WEEK AND MORE BACKLASH ON HOMELESS PLANS

The backlash against the homeless plans is increasing.  It was revealed by the Salt Lake Tribune that there is a back out clause in the contracts for the homeless site properties and the City would only have to pay $10,000.  The City should back out now and just use/plan one facility to start with and make it a facility for women and children.  See the story below about 100 children still at the Road Home.

URQUHART PUBLICIZES DRUG USE ALMOST LEGAL IN SLCO

Former Senator Steve Urquhart posted on Facebook that he feels that in SLCO, drug use is almost legal since police are not allowed to arrest for the use or possession due to Ben McAdams refusing to budget an appropriate amount for the jail to open up all possible beds and allow the police to arrest the dangerous criminals.  As discussed in many posts below (CTRL F jail) and in opinions, this is a serious issue.  KUTV2 Brian Mullahy did an excellent story on the issue.  I do not blame the Sheriff.  He has tried every year to get the County to fund proper jail function for public safety but Ben McAdams keeps ignoring the issue and insists that he considers his budgets to place high priority on public safety.  I encourage everyone to click on the link to KUTV2's story: http://kutv.com/news/local/ex-lawmaker-nojail-for-heroin-meth-users-near-shelter

It is so bad now that needles are being given out, 5 for one used one.  So police now have to be extra careful when frisking criminals!  Write Ben at mayor@slco.org and demand that he allow cops to do their job.  DUI, car thefts, burglary, thefts and robberies are increasingly being committed by individuals who have multiple arrests for the same criminal activity!  Check out Steve Urquhart's post on Facebook.  It is very good.  My Deseret News opinion "SLCO jail issues" a few months ago also goes into detail on the frustration of police.  Also note that, since there is a 9 month waiting list for treatment, drug addicts in court are essentially let loose.  That is why Steve Urquhart says drug use is almost legal in SLCO.

BEN MCADAMS THROWS MAYOR BISKUPSKI UNDER THE BUS

SLCO Mayor Ben McAdams is now saying that SLC paid too much for the Simpson Avenue/Sugar

House homeless site property and is recommending that it be developed into an affordable housing facility.  But, SLC Council, last year, heard that mixed income apartments are better and prevent the potential issue of crime and lack of responsibility that seem to come from low income units.  A good, or bad, example is the Enclave on 1400 (just across the street from the High Avenue 300 West homeless site proposal.  The Enclave has a reputation for ignoring drug dealing and evicting people who complain about criminal activities in the facility.  

The homeless site plan is Ben McAdams' plan.  Mayor Biskupski came into office when the plan was almost complete and she should not be blamed for it.  I do not agree with the plan and the Council and Mayor deserve the backlash due to going back on their promises to have the public weigh in on the sites before finalizing them.  But Ben McAdams has been silent until this week and allowed Mayor Biskupski to take all of the blame.  Some call it a typical throw your former ally under the bus.  I hope that most people recognize it as a disrespectful thing to do.  The plan is Ben's and he should take responsibility for it.  He should also be recognized as the reason why so many in the homeless expansion site neighborhoods are concerned about crime and drug dealing by the homeless.  Ben is responsible for the lack of adequate support to allow SLC Police to do their job.  The plans should stop moving forward until Ben opens up all beds at the jail (380 free now) and locks up the hundreds of drug dealers now.  Then the plan should start with a women and children's shelter.  Note that, as of this week, there were 100 children at the downtown Road Home and 200 at the Midvale shelter.  The Road Home is also the home address of over 80 registered sex offenders.

BACKROOM DEALS TO STOP TRANSPARENT WATERSHED DISCUSSIONS

There is significant pressure by lobbyists and others to stop the open and transparent discussion about watershed issues in Utah.  Salt Lake City and the most influential governments like the system that they control and do not want change.  But the other first class cities with overlapping authority and potential conflicts are pushing for evaluating watershed laws to reflect the significant changes since the law was first enacted almost 100 years ago.  Hopefully, the lobbyists that are fighting to keep decisions behind closed doors will fail in their efforts.

SLC NEEDS 300 AFFORDABLE APARTMENTS NOW BUT NO SOLUTION IN SIGHT

Matt Minkavitz, the Director of the Road Home has indicated that the City desperately needs 300 affordable housing units now to stop the homeless population from increasing.  He believes that it will cost about $20 million.  In addition, the one "problem" individual that is in the Road Home managed building around 1300 South is being evicted and that should decrease the complaints about their building.

FUTURE MEETINGS

There are many meetings in the next week that will allow for public comment.  

Tuesday 2 PM at SLC Council/RDA meeting.  Public comment is allowed for two minutes.  There will be another chance to provide general comment at the evening formal SLC Council meeting that will have another RDA and Building Authority public hearing.  In addition, that 7 PM formal meeting will include a public comment period for the general public.

Wednesday, the 18th, at 7 PM, the City will have another open house at Nibley Elementary at 2775 S. 800 East starting at 7 PM.  The City has changed the time and place several times and this is the time that is now listed.  

The Quality Growth Commission is scheduled to have a meeting to discuss watershed issues on January 19th at 1030 AM but, as noted above, there is significant pressure to stop the open and transparent discussion of watershed issues

JANUARY 6, 2017

BALLPARK COMMUNITY PROMOTES HOMELESS

SHELTER

SUGAR HOUSE HOMELESS SHELTER ON THE ROPES

BALLPARK COMMUNITY PROMOTES HOMELESS SHELTER

  The Ballpark Community Council is pushing High Avenue for women and children and likes the process that the City has undertaken.  At the Ballpark Community Council meeting last night, Chair Bill Davis said that we had a deal that we would build four shelters and that the deal should be accepted. the deal was that the public would have input on possible sites before the decision!  There was no deal that the sites should be decided behind closed doors and the decision kept secret from the public for several weeks.  I respect Bill Davis as a community leader (He has organized several community councils and participates in several.) but I disagree with his statement that we should accept the deal.  Ballpark may feel comfortable with a shelter but I am not sure that the adjacent businesses and Enclave at 1400 South (a low income housing project) accept the proposal.  Only one business from the area seemed to be at the meeting which had double the number of regular council attendees at about 30.  

  Kevin Claunch, a Ballpark Community Council Board member, pointed out that there is a halfway house in the Ballpark neighborhood; State Street is a high crime area; prostitution and drugs are regularly visible in the area and the City should be working to fix those problems now.  Ballpark needs an Operation Diversion.

  During the meeting, I asked that the Mayor be prepared to answer these questions at the next meetings:

When will study on equity and business loss be available and what compensation is being considered?

When will county services for adequate jail space and adequate mental health treatment be available?  What are the plans for those who want to do drugs, get drunk or have pets or have many possessions?

SUGAR HOUSE HOMELESS SHELTER ON THE ROPES

  Matthew Piper has researched the sale of the Sugar House Simpson Avenue homeless site and found that the property sold for about $7 million.  His story, recommended reading, can be found at:

http://www.sltrib.com/news/4785825-155/salt-lake-city-spent-7-million?fullpage=1

  Note that it goes into detail about the costs, the contract, the company that sold the property to the City and the most important fact that there is a 120 day backout period in the contract that would cost the City $10,000!  In other words, the contracts are not set in stone and they can be rescinded with minimal cost within 120 days (from about October 18, which is when the City Council authorized the buys.

  Another story by Matthew Piper who now covers the Salt Lake City area for the Salt Lake Tribune talks about the Sugar House Community Council meeting (picture and story below) on January 4.  It again appears that the Simpson Avenue site is coming under very high pressure to reverse the decision.  Again, Matthew's story is important reading:

http://www.sltrib.com/news/4781129-155/biskupski-continues-to-face-resistance-a

  The effort by residents of Sugar House to reverse the decision to place a homeless shelter on Simpson Avenue is looking very promising.  I think that there is only a 50% chance that it will come to fruition.  Keep organizing protests and get everyone to the next few meetings.

JANUARY 5, 2017

BACKLASH AGAINST MCADAMS’ HOMELESS SHELTERS PLAN AND RESOLUTION

SUGAR HOUSE MEETING HAD 45 TURNED AWAY THANK THE NEWS ORGANIZATIONS FOR THEIR

ATTENTION AND PRESSURE 

ERIN MENDENHALL CLAIMS THAT SHE WAS AGAINST PLAN BUT SPONSORED IT!

EXPERIMENTAL SOLUTION GIVES RESIDENTS AND

BUSINESSES LOSS OF EQUITY

DIFFERING OPINIONS FUTURE MEETINGS

BACKLASH AGAINST MCADAMS’ HOMELESS SHELTERS PLAN AND RESOLUTION

  Monday, January 2, there was a large gathering of individuals to organize a protest against the homeless shelter sites.  They intended to stand up during the Salt Lake City Council’s Work Session the next day and demand a public hearing before any further action on the homeless sites were

taken.  Specifically, they wanted to stop the proposed resolution that was tabled at the December 13th Council meeting.  Lisa Adams met with the leaders of the protest and talked them out of the protest.  The Council now says that they don’t need the resolution.  Part of the problem is that Lisa Adams did not want to sign the resolution on the homeless sites without language that agreed that the women and children’s shelter would be on Simpson Avenue.  That agreement was made in closed session.  Erin Mendenhall also had concerns about the language of the resolution.  The Council was also asked to allow the group against the proposal to make a one hour presentation against the plan so that the Council could get all sides of the issue.  

  Mayor McAdams answered questions from the Council at Tuesday’s work session.  He was grilled on whether the plan was a sure thing and that it would work.  He said that the Road Home would decrease their homeless sleeping numbers as the new shelters and system came online.  He was asked if just one expansion shelter should be tried first but he was non committal in his response.  He also told the press after his presentation that he was letting Mayor Biskupski and the Council handle the issue.  But the big driver of this plan is Ben McAdams!  He is the one person most responsible for the lack of attention to the criminal elements and drug dealing and mental health issues in the homeless population.  This plan is Mayor Ben McAdams’ plan!  Trying to place the blame, the fault and the responsibility on anyone else is wrong.  Mayor McAdams is pushing this and is responsible for the lack of solutions now to remove the criminal element and drug dealers from the Rio Grande (and now throughout the City) neighborhood.  We are way past "we can't arrest our way out of it".  We now have to arrest our way out of it.  SLCO is responsible for the lack of jail space to lock up drug dealers and those who are public safety threats for more than 4 hours.  SLCO is responsible for significantly cutting back on mental health treatment years ago.  This situation can only be solved by continuing to publicize the problem to force real solutions now and not experiment.

  SLC Mayor Biskupski and the Council were wrong to decide the sites without public discussion.  Even former Mayor DePaulis encouraged the Council several months ago to make sure that the public is fully engaged in this process.    The Tuesday January 4 City Council meeting attracted over 150 interested attendees.  Those who protested the plan were almost unanimous.  This is not a solution.  This is an

experiment.  In one day, many homeowners and businesses lost tens of thousands of dollars in equity and value.  THIS IS TANTAMOUNT TO ILLEGAL TAKING OF PROPERTY.  The meeting ended after 9:30.  

SUGAR HOUSE MEETING HAD 45 TURNED AWAY

  The next day, the Central City Neighborhood Council met and Mayor Biskupski argued for public support of the new shelter sites.  She failed to show that the driving force in this process is Salt Lake County Mayor McAdams.  This is his plan.  There were many complaints that the area is already experiencing a problem with the homeless camping and sleeping in the area.  There were complaints that there is plenty of drug and criminal activity in the area now and there is no plan to stop the problem now and no plan to ensure that the neighborhood is going to not be negatively impacted by the new 700 South shelter.  One business owner, a block away, has had two businesses want out of his property and he believes that he and four other businesses have to move out of Salt Lake City.  Another landowner has had to stop her development because two tenants pulled out and that endangered the project financing.  She did get a question about the decrease in property values and she said that she is having a study done on the issue.  The Central City Neighborhood Council board seems to accept the 700 South site but the nearby businesses and residents have not organized yet and time will tell.  That area of State Street was supposed to be a new redevelopment area but this plan puts the proposal to upgrade the area into a wait and see situation.  About 80 attended the meeting.  

  The Sugar House Community Council provided a more organized meeting that required speakers using the standing microphone.  It limited the previous meeting’s shouting from everyone.  The meeting had over 300 in a room and about 45 had to be turned away by the Sprague Library Manager, Mary.  It was not her fault since Peter Bromberg, the SLCPL Executive Director, was also in attendance and the room WAS well over capacity.  (see picture) The Mayor did mention that the plan is a County plan but there was no answer to the concern that the properties nearby will be impacted.  The news organizations were there in force and provided excellent coverage.  Only one person in the audience expressed support for the plan. When asked how many were against the plan, almost 300 hands went up!  

  Several news organizations reported that instead of saying that the plan and sites are cast in concrete, the Mayor now says that it is fluid and “we will see”.  I believe that with several Councilmembers raising questions and the big public backlash, and the press coverage, there is a 50% chance that the Simpson Avenue site will not be used.  The other sites have not had community council meetings and we will see.

THANK THE NEWS ORGANIZATIONS FOR THEIR ATTENTION AND PRESSURE

  Thank you to the news organizations that are covering the experimental plan to put homeless shelters (the Road Home also used to be called Homeless Resource Center) in residential neighborhoods.  The decrease in property value and equity in businesses and homes is significant and the City is now studying that issue.  The reason, I believe, is because the news media is covering the issue.  This is why this Country is great.  The unexamined life won’t improve and good decisions die behind closed doors.  The news media is the reason that the issues and problems with plans and decisions are evaluated and debated.  It makes for better decisions and a better Country.  News coverage IS making a difference and forcing the City and Council to reevaluate the questionable plan.  The news media deserves the credit.  When you see news media at your meetings, thank them for their attention to that meeting.

ERIN MENDENHALL CLAIMS THAT SHE WAS AGAINST PLAN BUT SPONSORED IT!

  I keep hearing the statement that Erin Mendenhall was against the plan for the homeless sites.  This is surprising because I was there when she made the motion to approve (without any public comment) the $11.7 million spending on buying the homeless sites.  The closed door meeting that agreed to the site locations occurred several months ago and if she really was against it, she should have spoken up before.  The only indication that she had second thoughts, was at the Council meeting on December 13 and it was really about the resolution.  Lisa was the one person on the Council who expressed that she did not want to approve the resolution because of the lack of language that did not locate the women and children’s facility at the Simpson Avenue location.  I have put the minutes of the October 18th meeting at the top of the downloads page to prove that Erin supported the plan.  She made the motion at 6:19 PM after the chair of the RDA, Lisa Adams said that there would be further (October 25) public hearing.  Usually, that means that the approval is not happening now.  But Erin made the motion four hours later to approve the money for the site buys.  In addition, the Council did not acknowledge that they had made the decision until Lisa admitted it in November to Christopher Smart of the Salt Lake Tribune.  He did several stories about it in November.  So the Council seemed to be trying to keep the decision secret for as long as possible.  I do not appreciate Erin’s statement that she was against the site(s).  If she says it again, tell her to produce the minutes of the closed sessions that decided the sites to prove it.  The October 18 RDA meeting only had Andrew Johnston questioning the speed and process.

EXPERIMENTAL SOLUTION GIVES RESIDENTS AND BUSINESSES LOSS OF EQUITY

The State Legislature has a pushbutton issue with illegal taking of private property. In one case, near the Sugar House homeless site, a $260,000 house sale was cancelled after the nearby shelter was announced and the offer was rescinded. Several other homeowners have estimated that they have lost tens of thousands of dollars in value and equity.  At least three individuals have estimated that they have lost almost $100,000.  Many of the homeowners near the Sugar House proposed site have also lost tens of thousands of dollars in equity.  I know of several other cases near the 700 South site (mentioned at the Council meeting) where a development is on hold since two tenants rescinded their agreement to participate near another shelter.  Again, this is tantamount to the illegal taking of private property.  I believe that the Legislature will get involved.

DIFFERING OPINIONS SHOULD BE RESPECTED

  I have been following the recent discussions and decisions about the homeless problems and solutions. I have made it clear that I cannot support the Salt Lake City plans regarding the new homeless sites until Salt Lake City develops and successfully implements plans to remove the criminal elements from the homeless population.

  I have been especially concerned about the actions and comments of many against the plans due to their very personal attacks while voicing their free speech opinion. The attacks seem to be close to encouraging physical harm. Arguments about the issues lose credibility when the opinion is a personal attack.

  If one reads the comments on stories in the newspapers, you can find many personal attacks that ignore the issues. In fact, one can recognize that those making personal attacks cannot seem to provide a reasonable argument. The recent statements against the Salt Lake City Council and Mayor due to their decision on the homeless sites also seem to ignore significant issues and instead devolve into nonsensical threats. That only results in making the arguments against their decisions worthless. Threats and personal attacks imply that there are no good arguments against the decisions of those who are being attacked.

  I am often attacked for my opinions but those attacks are useless unless they are discussing the issues and not me. The issues are more important than I am. Ignoring the issues and attacking me just makes the attacker seem to be too dumb to make an argument about the issue.

  Although I don’t agree with Salt Lake City plans, I do not think that it will be as bad as many have assumed. Although a homeless shelter in a neighborhood can decrease a home’s value about 12.7% (according to realtor.com), I find it hard to believe that the four City Council members up for election next year (and the mayoral election in three years) will let the City allow things to be as bad as they are now. I am convinced that the threat of losing elections will put significant pressure on the Council to ensure that the criminal element is removed now so that the new homeless centers will not be as much of a burden on adjacent neighborhoods. I still do not agree that it is a good decision but I am hopeful that the public will keep pressure on the City to fix the homeless problems now to prove that the new sites will not have as negative an impact as some think.

  The language on both sides is concerning. Many officials have made statements that the citizens should have courage to back the homeless sites’ plan. But the courage to say no and speak up when there are legitimate issues is also important. Implying that someone is a coward for not backing the plan is also personal and detracts from the arguments for the plan. It is also concerning that the decision was made without the promised, and important for success, public engagement. Closed door decisions are disrespectful and often are not as reasonable as those with full public engagement. Good decisions die behind closed doors. 

  Good opinions die with personal attacks. The more respectful the discussion, the better the decisions. Personal attacks should not be part of this very important discussion. Differing opinions should respect people and focus on the issues.

FUTURE MEETINGS 

Ballpark Community Council Meeting

When: Thursday, January 5, 7:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

Where: Taylor Springs Apartment Community Meeting Room (1812 South West Temple)

City officials are scheduled on the agenda at 7:30pm. Visit the Ballpark Community Council’s Facebook page for more information.

City Council Formal Meeting

When: Tuesday, January 17 at 7:00 p.m.

Where: City and County Building (451 South State Street), Room 315

Individuals are invited to use the open-podium time which allows anyone to speak on any topic for up to 2-minutes. Read the agenda here.

Community Workshops (Note: Updated Information)

Due to space concerns, the community workshops have been re-located from the Public Safety Building.

Workshops will be led by City Staff.

Public input on building design, safety for homeless people and surrounding neighbors and integrating the buildings in the larger neighborhoods will be welcomed at a series of workshops:

Workshop #1:

When: Wednesday, January 11, 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.

Where: Salt Lake Community College, South City Campus ( 1575 State Street) Multipurpose Room

Workshop #2:

When: Wednesday, January 11, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Where: Salt Lake Community College, South City Campus (1575 State Street) Atrium

Workshop #3:

When: Wednesday, January 18, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Where: Nibley Park Elementary School, 2785 South 800 East

DECEMBER 24, 2016

SLTRIB OPED REALITY CHECK ON HOMELESS

SHELTERS

HOMELESS BACKLASH IS GETTING DISRESPECTFUL WILL SUGAR HOUSE COMMUNITY COUNCIL SPEAK UP?

STILL NO WAY TO REMOVE CRIMINALS FROM

HOMELESS

LEGISLATURE ORDERS REVIEW OF SLC WATER

AUTHORITY

PROVO BRT ALMOST DONE DEAL

DID HOMELESS SITE BUYS ENRICH ANYONE?

The sltrib.com oped on homeless shelter site decisions lays out the concerns over each site.  If the public had a chance to provide input, some of the sites and issues would have caused a different and better decision.

http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/4709681-155/op-ed-without-more-crime-control-homeless

The backlash against the homeless shelters is getting disrespectful which actually hurts the argument against the closed door decisions made by the SLC Mayor and City Council.  The SLC Council and Mayor decided the sites secretly and without notice or acknowledgment on October 18 (note that there are two different agendas available – one does not say adopt the budget that was used to buy the four sites.).  They didn’t acknowledge it for several weeks.  I think that it was wrong and disrespectful.  But arguing the case by insulting personal attacks actually implies that there isn’t a valid argument against their actions. 

 The Sugar House Community Council will meet on January 4 at 7 PM at the Sprague Library (just south of the Barnes and Noble on 2100 S. and Highland Drive.  Hopefully, there will be plenty of time to

express the frustrations of the neighborhood towards the actions of the Council and

Mayor.  Realtor.com estimates that there is a 12.7% decrease in home value next to a homeless shelter.  It will be interesting to see how the homeowners in the neighborhood surrounding the Simpson Ave. site are treated.  There is also the big Dan Lofgren project on 600 E. and Wilmington that also lost a lot of value with this decision.  The Council and Mayor also ignored the recently approved, with great deliberation, the Sugar House Streetcar Corridor Zone that was supposed to encourage mixed use facilities around the streetcar stations.

 I CANNOT SUPPORT THE HOMELESS EXPANSION SITES UNLESS SLC DEVELOPS AND

SUCCESSFULLY IMPLEMENTS PLANS TO REMOVE THE CRIMINAL ELEMENT FROM THE

HOMELESS POPULATION.  The refusal of Mayor McAdams to open up more jail space (in the

Oxbow Jail which has 380 open beds) along with increased DA support is endangering the homeless, the cops and also all citizens in Salt Lake County.  Pamela Atkinson has stated that if we allow the hundreds of drug dealers to continue to operate among the homeless, the homeless will not want to get into shelters or off the street.  They will continue to be encouraged to get high and not get off drugs.  The thefts rate in Salt Lake City is one of the highest in the nation.  It can be attributed, in my opinion, to the fact that when the cops catch a criminal with stolen items, they often cannot take them to jail or keep them there even if the jail takes them.  Drug dealers get out in four hours.  If a thief is released, even if caught with the stolen items, the public is at risk of being victimized again and again.  KUTV2’s Gephardt recently did a story about the number of deaths caused by people driving on revoked licenses because they are seldom taken to jail even when caught.  Innocent people are being killed because of the lack of jail space.  KSL did a story a few months ago about stolen cars.  A car thief might be caught once every 30 or 40 car thefts.  When they are caught, they are generally released quickly.  The idea that they won’t do it again is “magical thinking” (a phrase that a homeless provider gave me that seems appropriate for this issue and also for the naive belief that four new shelters will solve the homeless problem.  Law enforcement is also at increased risk due to those who present the greatest threat are usually free to hurt anyone trying to stop them and usually it is the police.  A recent case where a two time assailant  of police was not enough to keep the threat in jail.  He was released and in a short time attacked and almost killed a cop.  Only the public can convince Mayor McAdams to actually make public safety a priority.  His statements that he is supporting public safety seem to be questionable in the face of reality.

The Legislature’s Public Lands Commission held a hearing on Salt Lake City’s watershed extraterritorial jurisdiction.  There were many complaints discussed about the issues regarding the misuse of Salt Lake City’s jurisdiction over the canyons and conflicts from overlapping authority regarding the hundred year old law that gives Salt Lake City the authority to protect watershed.  But Salt Lake City has not built any restrooms to serve the six million visitors a year that use the canyons and thinks that every visitor will “hold” it until they leave the canyons.  Salt Lake City has said (they did not testify in their defense) that the Forest Service should provide the restrooms.  But the restrooms are often closed.  They were closed during Labor Day’s big rush and permanently closed after October despite the moderate temperatures through November.  Salt Lake City also does not have a plan to fight fires in the canyons.  Fires and human excrement are the biggest threat to the water quality that SLC is supposed to protect.  I put the draft Fire Study on the downloads page.  The Commission ordered the Utah Quality Growth Commission to study the issue and report back to the Legislature within six months with recommendations.

The Provo BRT has received significant Federal Funds for the TRIP BRT.  That means that Utah County will probably approve the bond to finish the project.  That is another case of the public being left out of decisions that  obligate taxpayers for generations.  The Legislature is the only chance to reign in local officials that like to spend taxpayer money on big budget questionable projects.

There is a discussion going around that there was some unjust riches involving the homeless sites’ buy.  The rumor is that at least one site was transferred twice in the space of a month.  If that is true, then there was an illegal enrichment and hopefully the State Auditor will be able to investigate and bring any irregularity to light.

DECEMBER 15, 2016

MOUNTAIN ACCORD DOES NOT HAVE MONEY TO CONTINUE?

UTA BOARD INSISTS THAT THEY HAVE NOT

COMMITTED TO AIRPORT TRAX

HOMELESS SITE BACKLASH AT COMMUNITY COUNCIL

IN LIBERTY WELLS

DEVELOPERS GET SCREWED BY HOMELESS SITE

SELECTION

RULES CAUSE THE HOMELESS TO END UP ON THE

STREET

HOMELESS SITE SELECTION DECISION MAY NOT HAVE BEEN LEGAL!!!!

The Mountain Accord Director Laynee Jones has indicated that the money for Mountain Accord has run out and she is volunteering her time and effort for this effort until the CWC (Central Wasatch Commission) is implemented or more money is allocated.  She has said that the Mountain Accord Executive Board is not intact but that any expenditures are being made in accordance with past Executive Board requirements.  It will be interesting to see what the next step is.

At the monthly UTA Board of Trustee meeting yesterday, there was a lot of Board discussion on many issues.  The first issue that came up was Salt Lake City has been told that UTA has committed to building the airport TRAX new station and rail system.  But the Board has not approved that.  The only thing that the Board has agreed to is the design work for the proposed project (about $5 million) and work with Salt Lake City to find the funds to build it.  After a vigorous discussion by the UTA Board, it was disclosed that a letter was sent from UTA to SLC that said that UTA is committed to working on a reasonable project that relocates the TRAX station.  Jerry Benson said that the reasonable and relocate words qualify the commitment and do not obligate UTA. The Board will need to agree on any further expense and commitment.  Several Board members expressed concern about the project cost and who will pay for it.  Will all Utah taxpayers pay for it, or just Salt Lake City taxpayers, or all Salt Lake County taxpayers or taxpayers in adjacent counties?  If the Legislature does not change the law that restricts airport passenger funds in Utah from being used for "fixed guideway projects" (asked for by Delta to keep all money for the terminal project), finding the funds will be difficult.

It was also revealed that the UTA budget is a 200 plus page document but the public only was given a few pages.  UTA promised to give us the full budget document along with the letter to SLC regarding the airport TRAX limited commitment.

Eight individuals showed up to support the Central Wasatch Commission (CWC) Interlocal Agreement that transfers funds and commitments from UTA to the Mt Accord or any next step entity.  It is about $200,000 and removes UTA from being a primary part of the Mt Accord.  The Mt Accord did start as a transportation study but due to the lack of open meetings and questionable recommendations (like discouraging single occupancy personal vehicles and a National Monument and a tunnel and rail up the canyons and implementing canyon fees) there has been a stall at the County Council level.  Mayor McAdams pulled the vote last month because he only had two votes for the CWC and the County

Council had too many concerns about the significant power that the Commission would have.  The Mt Accord follow on will have to be setup by the end of 2017 to continue.  The recommendations, in my mind, are more appropriately debated and voted on by the County Council.  The speakers for the CWC included two ski resorts, Salt Lake City (which did not have a public hearing before voting for it - like with the homeless shelter sites and the closing a golf course last year), Save Our Canyons and the Sierra Club.  Again, the Board was told that UTA is not committing to the CWC but is removing its responsibility for the money that they already committed to.  A future discussion and vote will take place if the CWC is approved by the appropriate governments (Sandy, Cottonwood Heights, SLCO and SLC).  The CWC was one of the first times that I witnessed the UTA Board undertake a vigorous discussion on an issue in front of it without rubber stamping a staff recommendation.  I need to emphasize that the UTA Board now seems to be doing what it should have been doing for years, questioning the recommendations before them and doing due diligence.

One final important UTA issue was discussed in closed session.  It was the need to negotiate with landowners in Provo to complete the Provo TRIP/BRT line.  UTA received Small Starts money from the Federal Government and the project is picking up speed (I am against BRT since I do not believe that UTA has run a successful BRT and buses stopping every four blocks may not encourage ridership.).  In the event that the negotiation is not successful, UTA needs to give UDOT a request to condemn the properties.  Unfortunately, UTA has a history of significantly lowballing offers for property which usually results in a onerous condemnation process.  UTA has disrespectfully, unethically and, in my mind illegally, taken property without justification.  The UTA Board all voted to give UDOT the authority to condemn property if negotiations are not successful.

The Wednedsday December 14th Liberty Wells Community Council meeting was the first meeting after announcing the locations for the homeless sites.  Mayor Biskupski was supposed to be at the meeting to answer the questions but was unable to attend due to a family emergency.  But many of her senior staff was there including Patrick Leary, David Litvack, Jennifer Seelig, Chief Brown and many other senior officers were there.  They endured a withering onslaught of complaints and questions.  Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall joined them halfway through the hour long session.  Several complained about crime issues associated with the homeless.  Chief Brown indicated that the SLCPD is coming close to 200 patrol officers and indicated that he has received City Council support to hire more officers if he needs them.  He did tell the Council several months ago that he could use 20 new officers.  The many of the new officers are coming on from other law enforcement agencies so they will be up to speed quickly.  That should help.  Unfortunately, law enforcement in the SLCO Valley is not given the tools to arrest for less than a felony due to jail overcrowding.  Chief Brown expressed frustration at not being able to arrest drug users that could create a threat but that commit crimes that don't reach the level that allows the police to take them to jail.

Many expressed anger at the attitude of the senior staff (repeating the Mayor) that we should have the courage to work together to make these sites work.  Several expressed concern that after putting $50,000 into buying a new home next to the Simpson Avenue site, it is all gone down the toilet.  The comments became more angry and the Chair of Liberty Wells Community Council had to ask the audience to calm down.  There were over 70 residents that attended the meeting.  It was also noted that Councilwoman Lisa Adams went door to door in the neighborhood today to talk to residents.  Several pointed out the inconsistency in Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall's statement regarding where the womens and family shelter would go compared to Councilwoman Lisa Adams complaint at Tuesday's City Council meeting where she complained that the resolution that rubber stamped the site locations did not include language that the Simpson Avenue/Sugar House site was not listed as being for women or

families.  Ballpark (in Erin's District) also seems to want the womens or family shelter.  No one seems to have noticed that the drawing of the Simpson Avenue site is on 700 East/Simpson corner.  But the address is halfway down the block.  If the building will be on the corner, Dancing Cranes will have to close.  Others complained that if the Daycare is closed, working mothers and families are significantly impacted. 

Councilwoman Erin Mendehall made an odd comment that she loves working for the area and looks forward to continuing.  Overall, many of the audience expressed disgust that the decision was made in secret without recognizing and respecting the significant negative effect on neighbors.  I still believe that if Salt Lake City does not develop and implement a successful plan that removes the criminal element from the homeless population, the homeless expansion sites will not be successful and should not even be built.

Several other points of information need to be noted.  Dan Lofgren, Utah's famous builder of affordable housing (using several Utah and Federal programs) is essentially screwed by Salt Lake City.  His Cowboy Partners just had a project approved on the north side of the S-line streetcar line.  The Simpson

Avenue site is on the south side of the streetcar line.  So his project may not be financially viable (neighbors fought it due to concern about lack of parking).  In addition, Salt Lake City recently approved the Sugar House Streetcar Corridor that is supposed to encourage ground floor public spaces and mixed use walkable buildings (lots of ground floor glass, restaurants, stores etc).  This project throws that plan out the window.  If the Mayor and Council had allowed public a chance to comment on the sites before casting them in stone, these issues would have come out.

One of the comments made by the Mayor's staff was how nice the Ogden Lantern House fits into their neighborhood.  But the Lantern House is actually in a business/industrial area and the closest homes are well across a large busy road.  In addition, the Lantern House refuses to serve homeless that break the rules.  THEY TELL THE HOMELESS TO GO TO SALT LAKE CITY!  That is the same problem in Salt Lake City.  If there is problem with a homeless person at the Road Home, whether it is a misunderstanding or a major incident, that homeless person is banned from the Road Home for 30 days.  That encourages living and taking drugs and defecating on the street.  That is why Salt Lake City needs an inviting and no rules facility that takes in all homeless from off the street.  With such a facility, those who try to camp out will be aggressively encouraged to go indoors and off the street, sidewalks and parks in Salt Lake City.  The rules in place to try to make the Road Home and Lantern House safe for most homeless (although many homeless say that the Road Home is definitely not safe) does seem to pour the worst of the homeless onto the street to survive or die.  It almost seems that that is why so many are injecting themselves with heroin (and leaving the needles in the grass or on the sidewalk).  

I still believe that if Salt Lake City does not develop and implement a successful plan that removes the criminal element from the homeless population, the homeless expansion sites will not be successful and should not even be built.

One final note for this week of high drama: The Salt Lake City Council approved the RDA Budget Amendment No 2 that includes the $22 million for the affordable housing program and the $11.7 million for the new homeless sites officially Tuesday.  Of course, if anyone is paying attention, the City Council, sitting as the RDA Board approved the Budget Amendment on October 18th after closing the public hearing then saying that there will be another public hearing on October 25 and after.  But four hours after saying that, the Council as the RDA Board voted to approve the funds!  If any lawyer wants an excuse for a lawsuit, this is it.  The October 18 RDA meeting is not on the Public Meeting Notice website as required by law and there are two versions of the agenda (different from the original).  One says adopt the budget amendment and the other does not say that.  All of that increases the distrust of the City Council by the voters in Salt Lake City.  I said it before and I will keep saying it: good decisions die behind closed doors.

DECEMBER 13, 2016

HOMELESS SITES DECIDED WITHOUT ASKING CITIZENS

(DOWNLOAD)

RESOLUTION TO ACCEPT SITES FALTERS DUE TO

DISAGREEMENTS

ANALYSIS OF HOMELESS SITES

I put the Salt Lake City decision on the homeless sites on the download page at the top.  It lists the sites and the amenities in the area that resulted in the decision for that site.  I still believe that the Mayor should not be making the decision about the homeless sites without public engagement that has, up until two months ago, been promised.  The Council seems to have rubber stamped the sites.  The last time this happened, Mayor Becker tried to place the new SLCPD HQ on Library Square.

The resolution to accept the site faltered due to the Mayor not available during the vote at the Formal SLC Council meeting.  In addition, Lisa Adams was concerned that the Road Home Board may not have definitely decided officially to close the Road Home and give it to SLC RDA.  She also was upset that previous discussions and agreements on the Simpson Ave. site was not in the resolution.  Lisa said that the only reason that she agreed to that site was with the understanding that it would be for women or families. (Note that Ballpark also is pushing for women or families shelter if they got a homeless site.  So Erin Mendenhall and Lisa Adams will have to fight about it.) She also pointed out that the sale of the Simpson site may be problematic with the daycare lease running through 2019.  So the Council voted to table the resolution until the Mayor is available.  It could happen with one day's notice.  It will be interesting to see if the issues that Lisa noted will change the resolution (on the downloads page).

My analysis of the sites are:

The 653 Simpson Ave site is next to a quiet single family home neighborhood.  The last place governments should place homeless shelters is next to single family homes.

The High St. site is next to fast food restaurants and Granato's and across the street from

Walmart.  1300 South and 300 West (next to the site) is becoming a crime magnet and shouldn't have to contend with more potential crime.

The Deseret Industries building on 700 South is down the street from a Senior center and park.  Both could be negatively impacted.

The 100 South 653 West site is in an area that is supposed to have several new buildings and condos but this site may discourage new development.  Also the service providers in the area are many blocks away.

The biggest problem with the plan is there is no plan to remove the criminal element from the

homeless.  If a solution to that problem is not available, each new neighborhood will become another crime problem.

Please email your Councilmembers and tell them what you think.  Their emails are on the right.

NEW OPINION PIECES SUMMARIZE ISSUES ON

HOMELESS, JAIL, OPEN MEETINGS, LEGISLATURE AND CENTRAL WASATCH COMMISSION

This is the latest summary of the homeless issues downtown. 

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668050/My-view-A-sad-commentary-on-our-city-andsociety.html?pg=all

This is a lesson in how to influence Legislators.  It has a lot of good information for those interested in increasing public engagement in Utah. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865668467/My-view-Utah-legislators-are-generally-respectful-publicservants.html?pg=all

This oped last month is a summary of the problem with the criminal element embedded in the homeless downtown.  Unfortunately, the County did not increase funding for the jail and I and others will attempt to get the Legislature to increase JRA funding in return for the County increasing jail space.  I think that that would be a good compromise. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865664105/My-view-SLCO-jail-issues-impact-citizens-andpolice.html?pg=all

This is a recent oped that summarizes the issues for businesses and residents downtown when the City does not focus on fixing the homeless issue NOW.  Note that the State finally did come through and put up a fence around his parking lot which stops a lot of the issues.  In addition, SLC Police made a big effort to ensure the safety of the local businesses including the Rio Grande Cafe with more patrols.

http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/4536100-155/op-ed-if-rio-grande-cafe-owner

This is an oped of mine from several months ago that is relevant in the City's efforts to lock out the public from discussing the homeless shelter issues.  The City will not allow the public to have a real chance to comment on the issue.

http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/4195235-155/op-ed-homeless-solutions-should-put-neighborhood

This recent oped by Marie Taylor Salt Lake Tribune is a good summary of the attempt by some officials in Utah to give a new government entity a lot of power without public accountability.  It should scare everyone.  Note that Rep. Chaffetz also got called to task by the House of Representatives recently (movie at top of downloads page) about this issue.  There is still an attempt by officials to make taxpayers pay for a train and tunnel up the canyon to benefit some big landowners (not the small landowners in the canyons.

http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/4564809-155/op-ed-mountain-accord-commission-would-lack

This recent oped by Marie Taylor in the Deseret News is a good summary of the problems with our local governments, all of our governments: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865665103/My-view-Why-do-politicians-keep-thinking-closed-doormeetings-are-OK.html?pg=all

DECEMBER 6, 2016

HOMELESS PLANS IN SLC RECEIVE PUSH BY ATKINSON 

SLC WANTS TO BAN PLASTIC BAGS

SHOPKO IN SUGAR HOUSE CLOSING NEXT MONTH

SLC AND SLCO FINALLY FIGURE OUT RACCOONS

TRANSIT PLAN WITH STREETCARS GOES TO SLC

COUNCIL

IMPACT FEES GOING FROM NOTHING TO OUTRAGEOUS ADU CONVERSION ASSISTANCE BEING DISCUSSED

SLC Council discussed homeless issues with Pamela Atkinson.  Pamela said that she had never seen as many homeless on the sidewalks as now.  And it is getting more dangerous.  Part of the problem is that too many people are going downtown to the homeless camps and donating clothing, food and money, despite the high danger.  Those donations help keep some of the homeless on the sidewalks and in the parks instead of inside.  Criminals need to be removed from the homeless areas.  It is difficult to encourage homeless to enter treatment for drug addiction when the drug dealers are so available.  Once the social workers find someone willing to enter treatment, it can take 9-12 months of a waiting list before a bed becomes available!  So normal efforts tend to fail.  Lack of affordable housing is a large part of the problem.  In addition, the rapid rehousing effort is slowing down and the pre rental costs are going up.  The homeless rapid rehousing effort needs more funding.  She also said that there is a big need for more storage since the available storage is full.  (Note that it needs 24 hour security and availability and a bigger personal storage volume since some are carrying two shopping carts worth of their belongings.  She was asked if more indoor expansion facilities would help and she said that the people on the sidewalk now do not want to be inside.  They just want to get high, sleep for a few hours then wake up and get high again. 

I support an inviting indoor facility that allows camping, smoking, getting high, shooting up, drinking, pets etc.  The goal should be to allow case workers to develop a relationship to encourage treatment.  Also I do not want them on the sidewalks and in the parks doing drugs and leaving needles.  I know developers that are willing to build billions of projects in the area if the homeless are inside and not walking, sleeping, defecating, shooting up and attacking pedestrians in the area.

SLC Council wants to ban plastic bags.  In response to a petition by a young but energetic Mr. LaMalfa, the Council seemed to embrace the idea of banning plastic bags.  I think that we went through this last year.  I WOULD RATHER KILL DEAD DINOSAURS THAN LIVE TREES!  I am against a city, any

city or any government telling shoppers how they can shop and carry their bags.  Hopefully, the Council will have a vigorous debate on the issue before a vote. 

Sugar House Shopko is closing in January of 2017 to make way for a new development by Woodbury Corporation.  They are in the process of turning the ToysRus area into a SpringHill Suites.  By 2018 5 new large megaliths will grace Sugar House.  This is more evidence of the SUPERGENTRIFICATION OF SUGAR HOUSE.

After many months of back and forth, it appears that SLC and SLCO have finally gotten their act together on raccoons.  Last year, the SLC Council approved joining with SLCO and providing cages and raccoon pickup services with a USDA certified wild animal professional.  But before ensuring that the pickup service would provide cages, SLC stopped providing cages.  So for the last year, SLC citizens had to provide cages to catch raccoons and they would be picked up by the professional. 

Now, SLC citizens should call animal control and get them to have the raccoon pickup guy (he is a guy) provide a cage and when caught, he will pick up the raccoon.

SLC Planning Commission approves the SLC Master Transit Plan despite the numerous expensive rail and BRT projects.  Although it emphasizes increasing neighborhood bus service, it has many projects that could be pushed through.  The projects include a streetcar going north on 1100 East well past 1700 South, a downtown north south streetcar, a 100/200 S. streetcar, a 200 S. BRT, a 700 E. 200 S. transit station and much more.   It will next go to the City Council for final approval.

Impact fees going from nothing to outragous.  Instead of a slow increase in impact fees to ensure that they can be realistically used, the SLC Council is about to increase fees to over $5000 per single family home and a little less for apartments.   So much for affordable housing.  Hopefully the Legislature will place a cap on impact fees and allow flexibility to use them for police services, homeless services, transportation services and affordable housing initiatives.

There is a discussion going on at City Hall about the potential to provide assistance and encouragement to have homeowners convert basements to ADU (auxiliary dwelling units - like mother in law apartments).  ADU conversions are the quickest way to increase affordable housing in SLC.  The cost can be as much as $40,000 although $25,000 is more realistic.  The big costs are providing another entrance which could require digging plus at $8,000 or an emergency window/well at $5,000.  If the City could provide a few thousand to offset costs, it would encourage conversions.  Note that in the last four years of the new ADU ordinance in SLC, only one person took advantage of it!

NOVEMBER 17, 2016

SLC COUNCIL GAVE SHELTERS MONEY WHEN NO ONE

LOOKING

WILL COUNCIL GET AWAY WITH FORCING SHELTERS

ON AREAS

SLCO COUNCIL GETS ANGRY CROWD ON MT

ACCORD/CWC 

REP. CHAFFETZ GETS ANGRY CONGRESS DEFENDING

MT ACCORD

SLC MASTER TRANSIT PLAN STILL LOOKING FOR

COMMENTS

SLCO COUNCIL DISCUSSES JAIL FUNDING

LEGISLATURE PLANS ON ENCOURAGING CONSOLIDATING 911

Sorry for the long time between news posts.  There are several big stories that should be in the news, and aren't but they have taken several weeks to develop.  The SLC Council, voting as the RDA, to give the Mayor $11.7 million for buying the homeless shelters on October 18.  No one was notified about it.  I was there and I missed it.  Early in the RDA meeting, the RDA Board/City Council did a straw poll to give over $20 million to affordable housing programs and... $11.7 million to buy the homeless shelter expansion sites.  This was quickly followed by a call for public comments and I did not speak since the Council/RDA usually gives the public a few weeks to discuss and be educated on the issue before voting on it.  No one else spoke up.  The RDA Board closed the public hearing at that meeting but announced that there would be a public hearing on Oct 25 (and another later one at the November meeting).  But five hours later, Erin Mendenhall moved to adopt the proposed budget and funding and the Board voted for it. 

I consider this a disrespectful way of operating.  The Council successfully pulled the wool over everyone's eyes.  I was naive enough to believe that the Council would publicize and allow comments and more public hearings before voting on the issue.  The agenda was taken off of the RDA agendas website.  The Council was also told where the homeless sites would be and they will be announced at 1:30 PM, tentatively, on Monday, November 21.  Will the SLC City Council be allowed to force the shelters onto the City and neighborhoods without any input from the citizens?  Watch Monday night news or email the Council and demand that the Council stop making decisions without considering the public.  The attitude that "we don't want neighborhoods fighting neighborhoods on the site locations" is a cop out, I think.  Another issue is that the SLC storage for homeless is full and one reason that there are a lot of campers in the parks and sidewalks and around the city is because people that can't afford to have housing need to keep their belongings next to them.  Lisa Adams did ask the Council to consider expanding the storage facility. 

I hope that it is sinking in that it could take three or more years for the shelters to open and it won't lead to closing the Road Home and other private charitable facilities that serve the homeless.  SLC should demand that the Council and the Mayor fix the problem now and not in three or more years.

The SLCO Council got an earful and almost two hours of anger directed at the Mountain Accord and the Central Wasatch Commission efforts.  Only four spoke for the CWC.  There are many reasons not to approve the CWC, even watered down (pun intended).

        It adds a costly layer of government.

        It adds high salaried costs to UTA.

        There are no reasonable checks and balances on the Commission.

        Past history indicates that open public meetings will be few and far between.

        It turns more control of the canyons to Trump (?Sarah Palin?).         The biggest issue is in the Interlocal Agreement language:

 "Specific options could include but are not limited to: recreation fees, congestion pricing, ski resort parking fees, U.S. Forest Service parking fees, tolling, single-occupancy vehicle restrictions, and elimination of roadside parking in the canyons."

The SLCO Council may vote as early as November 22 on the CWC but it is possible that they will just table the vote.

Representative Jason Chaffetz was chastised in Congress for trying to defend the Mountain Accord and

land swap that gives Alta ski resort millions of dollars of land for developing a billion dollar project.  The Committee Chair also complained that there was nothing about transportation in his bill despite the recommendation for a train and tunnel up the canyon and no language on fighting fires (also missing from the Mountain Accord).  To watch the complete hearing on HR 5718 in the Federal Lands Subcommittee of the Natural Resources Committee:

http://naturalresources.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=401320.

If you want to see the best part, I put it at the top of the downloads page.

SLC is still taking comments on the SLC Master Transit Plan before the SLC Planning Commission hearing on November 30 at 5:30.

My comments on 2016 SLC Master Transit Plan November 7:

This study is incomplete due to the fact that it ignores the financial constraints of reality.  A professional plan would recognize and plan for realistic financial restraints and at least prioritize the projects so that the most expensive project is not given priority automatically when other projects are more effective at encouraging mass transit ridership. 

The SLC Master Transit Plan should focus on high frequency neighborhood bus service first, then night extended service, then weekend and holiday service.  A fully functional and robust neighborhood bus service with low emission vehicles will encourage ridership increases and personal vehicle travel better than the most expensive rail project possible.  In addition, all bus stops should show real time information on when the next bus arrives and the one after that. 

In addition, there should be a better outreach for elderly mass transit riders.  They are usually less constrained by time, jobs and other time contingent issues and therefore would be more amenable to taking mass transit.  They do drive!  They can be more easily convinced to get out of their cars and use mass transit better than younger drivers.  The HIVE pass should consider a 50% discount $20 a month HIVE pass.  But again, it needs a better high frequency neighborhood bus service expansion at the same time to gain the most ridership. 

A downtown (100-200 E. Streetcar) will require $100 million in local funding (according to the RTP) which should be more appropriately used for better neighborhood bus service.  

The Plan also ignores the financial reality that a BRT will cost $15/mile while an enhanced bus will cost less than a tenth of that.  It can be even cheaper if the regular buses are fitted with intersection traffic light priority systems so they don't have to wait for three light cycles to get through an intersection.  

I am disappointed that several BRT projects are listed that are on routes of less frequency than 15 minutes.  A BRT should only be considered if there is a 30% time savings and 15 minute buses are full. 

Again, without considering financial constraints (the Federal Government is not a bottomless barrel of money), the SLC Master Transit Plan Draft is not realistic. 

Intersection and traffic light management would be the most cost effective and quickest way to reduce air pollution caused by congestion.  The UDOT Wavetronix system can be modified and controlled to help this effort.  Priority should be given to this item in the plan with coordination with UTA to fit buses that operate in congested roadways with a priority traffic light system. 

The Plan says "Providing transit with priority lanes on high-ridership corridors supports investments in frequent service. Where sufficient right-of-way is available in these corridors, dedicating part of the right-of-way to transit is justified based on transit’s higher person-carrying capacity. Transit lanes also allow buses to bypass congested areas, making bus travel times  shorter and more reliable."  But that ignores the efficiency of personal vehicle travel and it would increase pollution.  No road diets or dedicated transit lanes should be considered without a thorough carbon footprint analysis (of pollution).  Dedicated roadways DO NOT carry as many passengers per hour as cars.  In addition, roadways for personal vehicles per hour cost is low compared to dedicated mass transit lanes. 

The proposed Foothill BRT from 100 South is not very cost effective.  There are very well used and efficient mass transit corridors within a couple of blocks.  Except for 700 East, there is practically no interference in the 200 South bus travel.  I doubt that 100 S. BRT could provide a faster time to the UofU unless the downtown lights are set to recognize buses or be set to provide for constant 30mph to the east consistently (to the west in the afternoon).  And then the regular bus is just as fast and a tenth of the cost of a BRT. 

SLC should discourage local funding of the $70 million bus garage at the UTA HQ.  The money should be, could be, would be better used to fund expanded neighborhood bus service and especially later night service since SLC is attempting to focus on the late night cultural amenities of downtown SLC.  In addition, the secondary transit hubs decrease the need for a "big ass" garage. 

Community shuttles may sound nice but the UofU has had a problem getting riders and SLC should work on how to get riders before creating community shuttles.  The Yalecrest shuttle had about 9 riders a day! 

I am confused about the cost of tier 1 and 2 without any limits. 

I appreciate the suggestion on a 600 North bus and the 1300 South and 900 South potential buses.  But again, rail lines take away from expanding bus service and until a robust bus service is restored, rail should not be considered.  The 200 West suggestion may be more cost effective if the Green Line TRAX went on 200 West to the airport and saved 5-10 minutes in the process.  Think about a line from the airport to the Salt Palace!  The 400 W. BRT is on a road with single family homes.  A dedicated roadway line should not be considered next to single family homes unless you convince the homeowners ahead of time that they should rezone to higher density and increase their taxes.  300 West is the street that needs more frequent bus service.  The commuter specials that only stop every mile or so are more appropriate than the BRT.  The black line between the UofU and the airport (in this plan - note that the RTP has the black line going from the U to the central station via 400 South) would require spending 6-10 million or more and would not increase ridership. 

BRT should not be considered on State St, 500 E or 900 E.  An enhanced bus may make sense but the cost of a BRT does not make sense unless the density is significantly increased.  And I can make a pretty good argument that very few will walk 4 blocks to catch a bus. 

I am against anymore rail lines downtown because they require too much local funding that would be better used for better bus service and regular and safer wide bicycle lanes (not cycle tracks).  The idea that we need a $200 million rail to the UofU on 100 South is very financially questionable. 

All capital projects should be financially constrained and prioritized.  If $20 million in local funding is available, we should not be starting $100 million projects.  I disagree that we should spend more money on rail projects instead of spending money on affordable housing and getting the homeless off the street. 

If only 10% time is saved and 15 minute bus service is not popular, a BRT should not be considered. 

The proposed Redwood Rd and Foothill BRT should not be considered and an enhanced bus would make more sense.  It would stop more often but still have the light priority.  People would rather drive than walk 2 blocks.  That should be drummed into this plans philosophy. 

I disagree strongly with "The plan will support evolving capital recommendations from the Sugar House

Streetcar project that would improve utility of the line, e.g., an extension to 1700 S (consistent with

Regional Transportation Plan) with a connection to the 900 E FTN corridor. A future extension along 900 E could connect to TRAX service at 400 S."  The RTP also has a high speed rail station at the airport and a canyon rail and tunnel system!  I am against the RTP.  The community, the City and the Sugar House neighborhood is against extending the so called streetcar/TRAX to the north.  It may make sense (for only $5 million) to go to 1250 East through the Shopko block or Wilmington.  But the residents and businesses of 1100 East do not want it and the City should not even think about removing the parking.  Note to whoever put this in:  the TRAX trains, Siemens S70, require 12 foot widths and two tracks on 1100 East will require taking all parking off the street.  Good luck with that! 

You say that you are neutral along with 2700 W, 5600 W BRT, Mountain Transportation System.  I do think that 2700 W, 5600 W should have more frequent service.  I am against a TRAX outer loop. 

Please stop ignoring ADA.  Putting bus stops more than one block away from the next hurts/affects ADA and seniors. 

Note that pg 98 shows BRT downside, inefficient lane which increases congestion and pollution. 

The Plan should recommend that UTA have real time signs on all bus stops to note when the next bus is coming.  Do not pay the patent troll that says that they have the patent on it. 

There are no minimum parking requirements in Transit Station Area districts: Within the “core” of Transit Station Area (TSA) districts, no minimum number of parking spaces is required for any use.  Studies show that that will discourage transit ridership (Booz Allen Hamilton study that suggested -.03 standard due to ticket throughput limitations and parking lots full when fares are reduced). 

I am against the suggestion from the Sugar House study that "require that all shared parking be

“priced” in D1-D4, TSA, and G-MU districts via unbundling and direct pricing." 

Instead of using the streetcar TRAX to encourage walkability and TOD, the only thing that is being

built are apartments, not mixed use TODs!  Despite "Encourage development of transit oriented development (TOD) through form-based codes and allowed increased density within a 10-minute walk of TRAX, streetcar and high-frequency bus routes (Salt Lake City Downtown Community Plan (2014)." 

I do not recommend that you tell the single family home residents that they have to rezone to justify BRT and light rail in their neighborhoods.  I will tell them that the light rail from your table is the threat. 

This is from your table: 

"Residential densities should be at least 10–12 households per acre for corridors that receive highfrequency transit investments and/or have more than 12–16 jobs per acre (see Figure 6-1).  lt rail = 12-24 households/acre or 16-32 jobs/acre  brt 10-15 households/acre and/or 12-20 jobs/acre  15 min bus 10-12+ households and/or 12-16 jobs 

30 min bus 6-10 hh/acre and/or 8-12 jobes/acre 

60 min bus 3-6 hh/acre, and/or 4+ jobs/acre" 

I noted that a temporary parklet was created in the 21st and 21st business district under Salt Lake City’s pilot program. A permanent design is being developed for this location. pg 118/6-8.  How much did businesses pay for the use and why isn't the Vue paying to put up tables in the pedestrian walkway? 

I do not recommend that bus stops in residential areas have covers which encourage loitering and will attract homeless. 

"A potential scenario where Route 220 would move from 100 S to N. Temple Street,  service to LDS Hospital by allowing Route 209 to be extended north 

Potentially support future implementation of a downtown streetcar, which is planned  to run on 100 S between W. Temple Street and 500 E. 

Some changes could be cost-neutral or reduce costs (as with N. Temple and 900 S), while  others may require additional operating cost and/or vehicles." 

(BUT STREETCAR COST WAS NOT CONSIDERED)

The SLCO Council is in the midst of discussing the budget and they need comments from the public.  I urge you to email the Council (emails at the right) and tell them that you want to open up the rest of the jail to give police the tools they need to do their job and remove the criminal element from the homeless and lock up the drug dealers and serial car thieves.  Car thieves were the subject of a KSL special report last week.  They can be arrested 20 + times, steal millions and not stay in jail.  It cost you, me and the rest of County citizens tens of millions in increased insurance costs.   The lack of jail space affects you.

The Utah Legislature is planning on a bill to address audit recommendations regarding 911 services.  One recommendation is encouraging entities that provide those services to combine.  Weber County and Morgan County have one dispatch center for 911.  Davis County and Salt Lake County have three or more dispatch centers.  This is a public safety issue.  SLCO residents outside of SLC or Sandy have to dial a ten digit number to get the Sheriff/UPD!

OCTOBER 28, 2016

MAYOR MCADAMS' NEW BUDGET HURTS PUBLIC SAFETY

SLC COUNCIL NEEDS INPUT ON CIP, IMPACT FEES, RDA

AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND TRANSIT PLAN

COUNCIL AND MAYOR FIGHT IN PUBLIC

MAYOR/COUNCIL WILL IGNORE PUBLIC ON HOMELESS SITES TOM DOLAN SHUTS DOWN DISCUSSION ON WATERSHED

The new budget for Salt Lake County has been announced and Mayor McAdams boasted that it delivers on public safety.  It does not provide the necessary funds to open up the 380 beds at Oxbow Jail and it still uses the $9.4 million of the old jail bond for other pet projects.  The claim that the newly announced pay for success projects will work is not based on fact.  Operation Diversion shows that, even in a short time period, only 60% may stay in drug abuse treatment (I put the Operation Diversion stats on the downloads page.).  In the meantime, the public and businesses in Salt Lake Valley have to put up with dangerous criminals.  Email your County Councilmembers and demand that they budget for more jail space.  If they don't change the budget, the County law enforcement personnel cannot do their job.  SLC Police are still not allowed to arrest for less than a felony. 

The most important news is that the Sheriff will need a tax increase to allow proper and effective operation of the jail next year.  This is because Ben McAdams is repurposing the jail bond for his pet projects.  I put a reason to vote on the opinions page.  Please vote your opinion.

Although the Rio Grande area is a little better, businesses are still negatively impacted and are giving up hope because the new expansion shelters won't be ready for three years and the Road Home will still be needed.  If the Council and the Mayor start working together (read about their public fight below), they may provide a winter shelter that will get the majority of homeless off the sidewalks.

SLC Council and Mayor needs public feedback and comments on CIP, Impact Fees, RDA Affordable Housing proposal and the SLC Master Transit Plan Draft.  The CIP list is about to be fixed and interested individuals should comment by email (emails to the right).  Impact fees are being pushed back again for a few months despite the November 2 date to go back to the old impact fees list.  The Council will decide in the next few months on a new fee list and after it is approved, the fees will go into effect with developers in 90 days.  SLC has lost almost $9 million of potential fees in the last year.  Another way of looking at it is developers are getting a $9 million windfall.  Almost no one is commenting on this issue except developers and citizens should comment.  The Transit Plan is up for comment and the plan has a potential streetcar on 100 and 200 South and a enhanced bus/BRT on 400 West and 200 South.  Many of the proposals are better than last years overabundance on rail and expensive BRTs.  The enhanced bus receives priority at the lights and is almost as good.  I do not believe that people will walk more than two blocks to catch a bus and some BRT plans have 4 block stations.  There is a small project to direct an airport TRAX train to the University of Utah (black line) which may cost about $10 million (or more) and a proposal to put in two new stations/garages on 200 S. and 700 E. and at the University of Utah.  Please comment on the Transit Plan.  It should focus first on better neighborhood bus service, frequency, late night service and weekend and holiday service.

The RDA so called secret dormant funds of almost 100 million dollars has been partially repurposed to provide abut 20 million for an affordable housing program to be determined in the future (I think that it is the best thing that the Council has done all year.) and 11 million for prep work for the new homeless shelters.  But the Mayor's administration has fought the proposal and it was ably defended by Councilmembers Erin Mendenhall and Derek Kitchen.  During Tuesday's October 25 Council meeting, the continuing fight between the Council and Mayor escalated in public.  When Council questions for

the Mayor came up, the administration's staff was out and the Council started complaining about the lack of communication with the Mayor.  David Litvack returned to endure the grilling that focused on the lack of communication and coordination with the Council regarding Impact Fees.  It seems to me that both sides should have sat down in the work session and worked out something so that the formal meeting didn't devolve into a fight.

It turns out that the Mayor and the Council are not communicating on homeless sites.  The meetings of the Homeless Site Commission seem to be a waste of time because the Mayor is going to choose the four sites by November 21 and the public will have meetings offered by the Mayor to discuss the sites.  BUT

THE PUBLIC WILL NOT HAVE A CHOICE OR ANY REAL SAY IN THE SITES!

The Council seems willing to blame the Mayor (who last told the Council that the sites need to be approved by November 15) and the Council does not want to represent their constituents and has essentially washed their hands of the decision.  The excuse from the Council is that they don't want to pit neighborhoods against each other.  I consider that a cop out and abrogation of their responsibility to represent those who voted for them.  I hope that the public does not sit still for this and demands to have a choice in the locations that was promised earlier this year.

Sandy Mayor Tom Dolan sent a letter to the Governor asking that the Utah Quality Growth Commission stop discussing watershed issues.  Although it is part of the responsibility of the Commission, the group decided to take it off of the agenda for now.

This Commission is the appropriate venue for discussing watershed issues and analyzing the effect of the hundred year old law that gives Salt Lake City extraterritorial jurisdiction for watershed protection. Although SLC does not exercise extra territorial jurisdiction in most cases, it has the authority to stop or affect development and ranching and farming in much of northern Utah. The City also restricts transferring of water for any use, including new developments like data centers. It has affected Riverton's secondary water supply.

Watersheds cross city and county boundaries. There are obvious conflicts of overlapping watershed authority, negative effects on development and recreation, and potential effects on ranching and farming. This Commission should encourage discussion and debate on the issues and make a recommendation to the Legislature. The goal, hopefully is to ensure that water supplies will be safeguarded in the future while, at the same time, deter it being used to restrict appropriate development, building, construction, farming, ranching and recreation in Utah.

OCTOBER 21, 2016

SLC COUNCIL/RDA TO DECIDE $21 MIL.  AFFORDABLE

HOUSING OCT. 25

UTAH TRANSIT RIDERS UNION MEETING OCT. 22 SATURDAY 1030AM

The Salt Lake City Council, sitting as the RDA, is set to decide the reallocation of various RDA project funds to affordable housing (against the administration) on Tuesday evening October 25 at 7

PM.  Everyone who is interested should attend and comment or email the Council with the emails at the right.  Attending the meeting is important since the Council is fighting the Mayor on the issue.  The Council is also going to spend money NOW on helping solve the homeless issues in SLC and in the Rio Grande area instead of waiting three years for new shelters.

Utah Transit Riders Union meeting is on Saturday October 22 at 1030 at the Main SLC Library. UTA reps (maybe Jerry Benson GM), Wasatch Front Regional Council (WFRC.org)  and election of 3 board positions.

UTRU has been in the forefront of mass transit promotion in the Wasatch  Front and especially pushing for more service, transparency and  accountability from UTA.  Recent news has reported that UTRU is pushing for  elections of Board Trustees and service priority.

Help UTRU push for more neighborhood bus service and UTA accountability.   In the next few months, WFRC will be working with UTRU to help develop long  term transit proposals and priorities.  Last year, the WFRC developed a  Regional Transportation Plan that had a high priority of projects for  transit.  We hope to influence next year's RTP to reflect a higher priority  for service. 

Join us at the UTRU Annual meeting on Saturday morning at 1030 AM (October  22).  Learn about the future plans and how to become more influential in  pushing mass transit.  You can learn more information from Facebook's Utah  Transit Riders Union page. 

OCTOBER 18, 2016

MAYOR TAKES AWAY CHANCE TO COMMENT AND CHOICE

ON HOMELESS SHELTERS

ERIN MENDENHALL AND DEREK KITCHEN FORCE $21

MILLION AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROGRAM

ADMINISTRATION LOOSES THE BALL ON RACCOON

ABATEMENT

COUNTY COUNCIL WANTS ANOTHER 30 DAYS TO STUDY MT. ACCORD

Despite claims that the public will have a chance to comment on the sites of the new proposed homeless sites, it is now the policy of the administration to provide just four sites and "let the public have a choice and chance to comment"!  But the choice has to now be made by the end of November and that means that there will be almost no public engagement process.  Many community councils will not be able to discuss the issues in their regular meetings. 

This is a change from the previous statements by David Litvack that there will be a choice of maybe up to seven sites of which four need to be finally chosen.  He also had said that the choice doesn't need to be made until January!  That is no longer true.  The administration has decided that the public should not have a choice or real chance to comment.

SLC Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall and Councilman Derek Kitchen convinced the SLC Council to push for affordable housing through the RDA.  They found $21 million (on downloads page) to start the program or projects.  The administration (David Litvack) asked for a chance to study the proposal but the Council declined to wait.  It is tentatively set to be approved at next week's SLC Council meeting during the RDA segment.

SLC provided funding this last year for a USDA certified raccoon and skunk abatement officer that could take over the trapping and removal of raccoons from our neighborhoods.  Unfortunately, SLC assumed that the new wildlife abatement officer would trap and pick up the animals.  So SLC stopped providing traps (with a deposit).  And SLCO, who set up the contract, did not make the contract clear that the officer would trap the animals.  The contract just says that they will pick up the trapped animal and leave the trap.  So now the citizens of SLC are worse off than they were last year with respect to raccoons.

The SLCO Council decided that they had too many concerns and questions about the Mountain Accord next step and postponed the decision for 30 days.  Despite Mayor McAdams claim that the process has been open and no one has been denied entrance to meetings, just after he said that, a member of the Mt Accord Executive Board, said that sometimes the Board meetings are closed to the public but "they are few and far between".

OCTOBER 13, 2016

POLICE OFFICER ALMOST KILLED BY SERIAL POLICE ATTACKER

ROAD HOME STATS ON DOWNLOAD PAGE

COUNCIL AND MAYOR NOT TALKING ON OPINIONS PAGE

MOUNTAIN ACCORD QUESTIONS MULTIPLY

UTA HAS TRAINING ON TRANSPARENCY

Mayor Ben McAdams efforts to keep the 380 free beds in Oxbow closed and unavailable for police seem to have resulted in a serious attack on a police officer.  According to several news outlets including KUTV 2, http://kutv.com/news/local/police-say-attacks-on-officers-are-on-the-rise, West Jordan Police Officer Bryant Behunin was viciously attacked by Pete Gatoloai who "has been released twice from jail, with charges of allegedly assaulting a police officer."  If nearby witnesses had not intervened, Officer Behunin could have been killed.  Check out the KUTV link to see the horrific pictures.  Ben McAdams is responsible for not providing enough jail space in his budget to allow law enforcement to do their job.  I told the County Council and Mayor McAdams that the first cop that is killed due to the attacker not being locked up due to jail overcrowding will be blamed on Ben McAdams.  I blame Ben for this and I urge everyone to educate themselves on the Mayor's race and vote accordingly.  Police officers deserve better support.

I put two new downloads from the Road Home on the downloads page.  They give a 5 year breakdown

on the beds needed and services provided.  It is required reading for anyone interested in the homeless

issue.

Obviously the Mayor of SLC and the SLC Council are not talking and the citizens of SLC are suffering for it.  I put a new opinion piece about the issue on my opinions page.  Although a week old, it is very important and I urge all of you to contact your Councilmember (emails at right) and let them know that their job is to represent you and not bury their heads in the sand and try to avoid the homeless site selection issue.  It is not the fault of the Mayor.  If the Council doesn't work with the Mayor, the sites will be put in place without the elected representatives of the citizens (the Council) speaking for us.

Mountain Accord questions are multiplying and UTA had a presentation on the Mt Accord at the same time that Dave Robinson, the County Mayor candidate, was providing documentation that seemed to show that Ben McAdams is involved in a pay to play scheme.  The Mountain Accord, with Ben's lead, started as a plan to put rail up the canyon.  The new plan is to continue the original plan and become a Central Wasatch Commission with power to bond, levy fees and find money to realize the original dream of Ben McAdams to put a rail up the canyons.  The presentation at UTA is on the downloads page which includes the new budget outline for UTA.  It should be noted that UTA is still having money problems and will need to borrow more money to maintain their rail systems and buses and federal requirements next year.

In addition, the Mountain Accord Executive Board, led by Ben McAdams, that has spent almost $8 million, is a public entity according to the Utah State Auditor John Dougall (on the downloads page).  A lawsuit was filed last week calling into question the legality of the Board and testimony at the County Council this week questioned their open meetings that didn't allow for the public to enter and hear the discussions.  At the UTA presentation, Laynee Jones, the Director with the million dollar contract (on the downloads page), said that the Board was composed of volunteers and not a public entity.  The UTA General Counsel, Jayme Blakesley, also agreed.  When it was pointed out that the Auditor said it was a public entity subject to the Utah Open Meetings Act, Jayme responded that DA Gill said that the Mountain Accord is not subject to the Open Meetings Act and that the DA is an attorney and John Dougall, the Utah State Auditor is not!

Unfortunately for Jayme, the Utah Attorney General backs John Dougall.  If any group, board or entity is going to spend $8 million of taxpayer money, they should be having recorded and legal public meetings and not try to hide their agendas.  It is our money, not theirs and Ben McAdams and the Mountain Accord Board should be more respectful of the taxpayers.

UTA also had a presentation on transparency.  I put it on the downloads page.

OCTOBER 8, 2016

NOTES FROM SLC POLICE CHIEF AND COUNCIL DISCUSSION

NOTES FROM SLC COUNCIL DISCUSSION ON HOMELESSNESS

BICYCLE TICKETS IN LAST YEAR – MAYBE ONE

SLC AND SLCO LIBRARY NOW WORK TOGETHER

During the discussion that the SLC Council had with Chief Brown on October 4, The Chief thanked the

Council for the new social workers.  The police love social workers.  As was mentioned in a Deseret

News article, he also talked about a woman who has been to the emergency room 72 times since

January.  The cost to the public is over $100,000.  In another case, one person called seven times in a

day.  Social workers help intercede in situations like those where police can’t help.  The Chief also said

that 88 registered sex offenders have Road Home addresses.  That is another reason that families with

children should never be exposed to or use the Road Home.  There have been many rapes and the

increased police presence in the area helps but doesn’t stop those problems.  When the Council asked

the Chief for specifics on what would help, he said he could use 20 more cops.  He also needs more social

workers.  When Lisa Adams asked if Operation Diversion could expand to Fairmont Park in Sugar

House, he said it is a possibility.  Of course, there are many other areas with even more crime

problems.  Fairmont Park has had issues with assaults and threatening behavior from a group of teens.

During the discussion on homeless along with the SLC Housing Authority (presentation on downloads page), the shelter stay is 70 days.  Families stay an average of 55 days which is up from 40 days last year.  Half of children are in two parent families in the shelter.  The effort to effect rapid rehousing has a client to case worker ratio of 35 to 1 and 25 to one would be more appropriate and effective.  85% of the homeless in the Utah shelter system are from Utah.  The SLC Housing Authority has 750 housing units in the last year.

A review of the bicycle tickets given by SLC Police in the last year shows “about” one ticket (that’s is all that they can find).  When SLC Police start ticketing downtown sidewalk bicyclists next year (we really don’t have enough police for that do we?), we will need more courts and judges to handle the explosion is scufflaws.  Email the Mayor and Council (emails on the right).  Skateboarders and bicyclists on sidewalks may be uncomfortable and frustrating to some people but locking up drug dealers and stopping criminal behavior that actually threatens the public is MUCH more important.

Good news for those who live near the SLCO libraries, even if they live in SLC.  The SLC and SLCO library systems now work with each other and your SLC card will work at SLCO libraries!  And vice versa.  So the citizens of SLCO now have many more opportunities to enjoy the benefits of a library.  You must set up an account that links your library card to the other system first but after that, your card can be used at all libraries!

OCTOBER 4, 2016

SLC COUNCIL DISCUSSES HOMELESS AND AFFORDABILITY 

HOMELESS SITE SELECTION MOVES 2-3 MONTHS

JUDGES CONCERNED ABOUT BICYCLING TICKETS

SLC WILL START TICKETING DOWNTOWN SIDEWALK BICYCLING

MT ACCORD JR IS BIG MONEY MONSTER AND SLCO WAITS

During a vigorous debate on housing affordability and homelessness, the SLC Council heard specifics on the Affordability Crisis and were given options which include: tax/levy, eliminating permits, a bond, providing incentives and several others. SLC has an affordable housing crisis that I believe is due to the City approving only 1800 units in the last year and SLC needed 8000 new housing units last year alone. Even the 250 square foot micro units that are being built charge $700/ month. SLC Housing Authority has units but they are usually 97% full.  The presentation is on the downloads page.  Chief Brown told the Council, when asked what he would want or could use from the Council.  He said that he appreciated the social workers and could use more.  He also said that he could use more cops.

Most importantly, David Litvack said that the original deadline to provide the Council with the homeless expansion sites by October 10 is moved. It appears that the Legislature’s Speaker Hughes provided a few more months to settle on the expansion sites during the meeting last month. So it is now planned to maybe, after options are agreed to by property owners, to give the Council and the public up to 7 sites and of those, four would eventually be settled on. So the public will have about two months, or more, to weigh in on the potential locations. This new plan will give the public a respectable chance to discuss and comment on the sites. If the Legislature had not agreed to moving the deadline, the public would not have been given a chance to really comment (since the SLC Council wanted the final four sites by October 10 and the decision was originally planned for November).  His proposal from a few weeks ago is on the downloads page.

Although not a perfect plan since most recent homeless projects have had neighborhood impacts, this will allow a better analysis of the sites and potential neighborhood impact. The more discussion, debate and analysis, the better the decision. This plan will allow more public engagement which will also increase the chance for the success of the plan.

During the SLC Transportation Advisory Committee, the SLC Police indicated that the judges that handle bicycling tickets expressed concern about using the SLC ordinance on bicycling to ticket and charge bicyclists. The ordinance is supposed to be an educational ordinance. So SLC Police are now required to charge bicyclists that break the law with traffic ordinance violations which carry a much higher fine. Hopefully, SLC will update the bicycle ordinance in the near future.

SLC intends to start giving tickets to the bicyclists who bicycle on the sidewalks downtown starting next

spring. Up until then, the bicyclists will be given warning tickets. My comment is fighting drug dealers is

and should be a higher priority than writing tickets to bicyclists who safely ride on the downtown

sidewalks. Green Bikes are well used by SLC visitors and tourists and I hope that SLC realizes that

giving tickets to tourists is the last thing that SLC Police have time to do.

SLCO Council agrees to spend the next week on reviewing the Mt Accord followon, the Central

Wasatch Commission. Today, the Utah State Auditor released a letter that emphasizes that the Mountain Accord Executive Board is a public body that is required to have all meetings in public. But the Mountain Accord website used to say that they do not have to comply although they intend to. Various individuals have been refused entry to their meetings with that explanation that they are not really subject to those requirements.  Note that the downloads page has the old Mountain Accord Website that says that they are not a public entity although they will allow public into meetings.  Norm Henderson and others from the public were not allowed into the meetings and the Utah State Auditor agreed that Mt Accord is subject to the public meetings requirements.  The two notes are on the downloads page.  The specific points are:

The Mt Accord encourages more federal control (3.2.1) of our Wasatch Canyons, suggests a tunnel (3.4.3, 3.10.5) that is not collaborative and adds a layer of government and costs to UTA projects.

Millcreek Canyon is part of the plan, yet Millcreek is not part of the agreement.

Adding members over the four now (soon to be six) is cumbersome without unanimous approval.

The Commission powers include: fees (item 10), bonding (item 13) and article VIII B discusses loan

financing agreements that obligate taxpayers (through Commission members).

The consulting contract for LJ Consulting LLC is one million dollars and that should require more

review.

UTA plans already have been looking and planning for increased bus service and Mountain Accord should not get the credit or be needed for increased transportation options since it creates another layer of government.

During recent Mountain Accord Board meetings, the public was refused entrance despite publicly stating that it followed the Open Meetings Act. Many do not trust the new Commissions statement that all meetings will be open.

The disincentivizing of personal vehicle travel is in 3.10.4. "Specific options could include but are not limited to: recreation fees, congestion pricing, ski resort parking fees, U.S. Forest Service parking fees, tolling, single-occupancy vehicle restrictions, and elimination of roadside parking in the canyons." Creating an entity that is allowed to bond and collect fees is the start of a taxation/fee levy without appropriate taxpayer votes.

SLCO Council joins the UTA is slowing down the approval of the Central Wasatch Commission which

will have the ability to bond (without voter approval?).

OCTOBER 1, 2016

MT ACCORD MILLION DOLLAR CONTRACT AND SECRET MEETINGS

HINT THAT UTA BOARD AND MANAGERS HAD SECRET MEETINGS IN CALIFORNIA

SLC COUNCIL AGREES TO WORK WITH MAYOR AFTER A GUN TO THEIR HEAD

ELECTION TIME MEANS ARREST DRUG DEALERS

STAN PENFOLD’S BEST EVER IDEA

I put the Mountain Accord million dollar contract for LJ Consulting LLC on the downloads page at the top.  Although the contract allows others to be paid out of the million dollars, there should have been more oversight.  Also I still have concerns about the secret meetings of the Mt Accord Executive

Board.  I know that, in Utah, it is standard operating procedure.  But GOOD DECISIONS DIE BEHIND CLOSED DOORS and it needs to change.  The new Mt Accord implementation group is being managed with a commission of four (Draper, Cottonwood Heights, SLCO and SLC).  That Central Wasatch Commission has the ability to levy fees (I still call them taxes.) and bond.  It should require the Legislature to have hearings and approve it.  Four governments should not be able to set up a way to charge people to use the canyons and disincentivize personal vehicle travel.  UTA gave the Mountain Accord credit for the new proposed ski bus service and intends to give it credit for the year round bus service proposal if approved.  But UTA can do it, did do it and should do it alone without the Mt Accord.

Speaking of UTA, KUTV2 had a story this week that Marc Sessions Jenson, the convicted businessman who paid for California trips to a resort for Marc Shurtleff and John Swallow, is strongly urging the Attorney General that a grand jury should hear his testimony.  He says in his letter to the Attorney General (on the downloads page) that UTA officials were at the resort and had secret meetings!  This is a continuing regular bad habit that borders on illegal.  Most of these individuals are good people that keep doing what they think is standard operating procedure.  It is not and this new revelation hopefully will stop or at least decrease the secret meetings and backroom deals that developers get at the cost of taxpayer money.  The Attorney General should fund the $50,000 cost for the grand jury without requiring limits on investigation of questionable activities.

The Salt Lake City Council had a gun put to their head to force them to compromise and work with

Mayor Biskupski on the new homeless shelters.  The gun was Speaker Greg Hughes.  They all agreed, IN A SECRET MEETING!, to work with 4 shelters with a maximum of 150 each.  Next step is releasing the site locations so that a respectful discussion takes place.  If the sites are not released until the last minute, it takes away from the public engagement process.

Mayor McAdams, in a press release on his budget last year said “it is time to work differently in order to deal with an increase in crime…It prioritizes the county’s core responsibility – public safety…. My conviction is that we can limit the number of new jail beds by finding the courage today to seize this opportunity to fund immediate needs now, while figuring out how to interrupt the projected flow into the criminal pipeline.”  So the citizens of SLC and the neighbors of the problem areas in Rio Grande, the low cost motels around the valley, North Temple and on State Street have had to endure significantly increased crime. The SLC Police were not allowed to arrest for less than a felony due to jail overcrowding. It was due to Mayor McAdams, last year, taking the $9.4 million from the 1995 jail bond and spending the money on other, non-jail projects. I think that the Mayor was wrong to take away the money from the Sheriff and the jail

But this is an election year and…surprise, 100 jail beds miraculously appeared to help take the worst of the criminal element off the street. Thank you for elections. Thank you Mayor McAdams for finally realizing that public safety really is important. It shouldn’t be a “believe what I say, not what I do situation”. It is very similar to last year, when just before the election, Mayor Becker ordered the police to crackdown on the homeless in a quality of life enforcement action. It didn’t convince voters then and it shouldn’t convince voters now that Ben McAdams really believes in public safety as a high priority

The police are still not allowed to arrest for less than felonies and there are still 380 free beds in Oxbow that should be reopened. The Mayor’s true colors will show in a week or two when he recommends the new budget. If he gives the Sheriff the money to reopen the jail beds, and provides for treatment, then he really has changed. But there is no guarantee that the new welcomed effort will last past the election. I think that the public should educate themselves about the issues in the election for SLCO Mayor and vote accordingly.

Stan Penfold had his best idea ever and he deserves credit and hopefully more efforts to implement his idea.  He said in a recent City Council meeting that families with children should never have to be exposed to or go to the Road Home.  They should get an apartment or house, on at least a temporary basis.  Children should not see homeless shelters.  Even the Midvale Shelter is questionable for children.

SEPTEMBER 27, 2016

UTA WITNESSES INTERNAL SLCO COUNCIL FIGHT

SLCO RECORDER AUDIT REQUIRES RECORDER RESPONSE

SLC POLICE FRUSTRATED AND AFRAID

ONE PERSON SHOULD NOT DECIDE THE HOMELESS EXPANSION SITES

NEW OPEDS IN OPINIONS PAGE INCLUDING REVIEW BD DECISION

FACEBOOK MORNING AFTER QUARTERBACKING

   During a presentation by UTA to the Salt Lake County Council, a complaint about openness descended into a fight about open meetings.  Councilman Steve DeBry took issue with the lack of transparency in UTA meetings that seem to be closed.  Councilwoman Jenny Wilson complained that the Salt Lake County Council should not talk about closed meetings when several members of the Council had a meeting about the budget with the Mayor last year.  The back and forth elicited the comment that someone should pull the fire alarm.  Chairman Max Burdick finished the discussion and interrupted the argument.  The UTA presentation needed more discussion.

  The agenda letter about the UTA presentation suggested discussing the effect of various projects on UTA service and especially the effect of Davis County and Utah County projects on SLCO bus service expansion.   Board of Trustees Charles Henderson, General Manager Jerry Benson and VP of Finance Robert Biles discussed UTA Equity Analysis that was presented to the SLCO Debt Review Committee (on downloads page).  They discussed the expansion of bus service up the canyon funded in part by realigning the service away from downtown and to the TRAX stations.

  UTA also talked about the Tiger Grant that provided $20 million from the federal government that needs a $60 million match from local entities.  UTA says that they may only need $3.5 million from UTA funding but since 28 million was asked for, there will have to be a discussion about the projects and who will pay for them.  The projects are bike lanes, bike trails and bicycling amenities.  Many of the projects already are planned using Prop One funding in Davis and Weber County.   But a large part of the funding is still up in the air and SLC Council in particular has to decide if they want to fund their proposed projects.  Note that the federal government is not a bottomless barrel of money and to get the $20 million of “free” money, we have to spend $60 million!  In the recent past, TIGER grants funded 4060% of the project costs.  UTA has noted at the Legislature that federal funding is drying up and we

shouldn’t expect better results.

  UTA also discussed the efforts to answer all of the 2014 audit recommendations.  Unfortunately, there wasn’t time to discuss the fact that UTA is not following the 2012 and 2014 audit recommendations to identify full funding sources before starting a project.  UTA listed four projects that they are starting, the Depot District Service Center (questionable $55 + million bus garage funded by local funds), the Provo BRT (without commitment of federal funds but Utah County promised a bond for the funding that UTA would pay back), positive train control (with significant federal funding) and light rail overhaul.  UTA left out the airport TRAX expansion project that they are funding now with $3+ million without knowing where the rest of the funds will come from.  The big question is who are the taxpayers who will pay for TRAX reconfiguration at the SLC Airport?  SLC unilaterally decided that they needed a fancy flying bridge rail system but the airport is for all Utahns.  Will SLC taxpayers and/or SLCO taxpayers and/or all Utah taxpayers pay for the project?

  In the next year, UTA is working on the Murray/Taylorsville/WVC BRT (decreasing lanes on very congested roadways), the Weber County BRT (spending $60 million to replace a very effective and efficient and popular bus route and save maybe 5 minutes from a 20 minute ride), and the South Davis BRT.  The South Davis BRT project will require SLCO taxpayer funds and the question should be asked:  Why is another county forcing SLCO taxpayers to pay for their project?  The same question exists for the efforts by Orem and Lehi to build an Orem to Draper TRAX system that would obligate SLCO taxpayers to billions to build their dream.

  Jerry Benson said that it was good that Prop One failed in Salt Lake County since it would be too much to manage Weber, Davis and Salt Lake County at the same time.  He said that UTA is committed to increasing service all day, in the evenings and on weekends.  UTA contributed $200,000 to the Mountain Accord bus service plan which will increase bus service 12%.  But the SLCO Canyon Transportation

Study less than ten years ago recommended better canyon bus service.  I don’t think that Mountain Accord group had anything to do with it other than taking credit for the UTA service increase.  We have been asking UTA to increase canyon bus service for years (for free and not spending $8 million).  UTA is sitting on a $2 million year round per canyon per year proposal for six months in order to give credit to Mountain Accord. 

  UTA insisted that every action item will be public and that is something that we care about.  UTA is in the midst of a change to improve transparency.  The Board of Trustees are accountable to the governments that appoint them and UTA is not interested in divorcing themselves from local government.  There will be a new Board process by the end of the year.  He said that “we have reached a better transparency” and comments are up 87%.  Note that usually only two people commented at the UTA Board meetings in the last years.  We were told that five commented in the last month online.  I urge everyone to please Google rideuta.com and board of trustees to get the Board site which does have a link to comments for agenda items.  Please tell UTA what you think.  But Jerry Benson and Charles Henderson (appointed by SLCO) both mentioned a survey of UTA goals that was discussed between Board members.  That survey is still not public.

  After Jerry Benson finished the UTA presentation, Jenny Wilson complained that Republicans on the Council were out of line complaining about so called closed UTA meetings.  Richard Snelgrove complained about “lobbing a partisan bomb”.  Councilman Steven DeBry provided the escalation which almost ended in a conflagration.  Interesting meeting of the Salt Lake County Council Committee of the Whole.

  The SLCO Council also heard the County Auditor discuss the preliminary findings of the audit of the

County Recorder.  Auditor Scott Tingley said that County Recorder Gary Ott is not directly managing

the Recorder’s office but Deputy County Recorder Julie Dole is providing most of the

management.  The County Council asked to postpone the public release of the draft until Gary Ott has

provided a response to the preliminary findings (standard operating procedure for audits).

SLC Police are concerned about the number of individuals that are on the streets instead of being in treatment or the jail.  During several incidents where SLC Police were physically attacked, the Police expressed frustration at the significant increase in drug addicts and people with mental issues that create public safety issues in Salt Lake City.  Again, the Rio Grande neighborhood has 300 medical responses a month typically.  25% of those require that SLC Police provide protection to the SLC Fire Department medics.  The Fire Department personnel were recently attacked by a man with a metal

pole.  Every time that they express frustration that they can’t arrest anyone for less than a felony due to jail overcrowding, the Sheriff feels a need to complain about the complaints.  It is not about the Sheriff.  The Mayor of SLCO, Ben McAdams sets the budget for the jail and usually, the SLCO Council approves it.  Historically, the jail and Sheriff has been underfunded.  If you are tired of aggressive panhandling, addicts shooting up on sidewalks or in parks, prostitution and defecating in your neighborhood and gangs controlling drug deals, you have to demand more jail space.  The emails for the SLCO Mayor and Council are on the right.  Email them! 

 There are people who need to be off the street and in treatment or in jail (or both).  Even Goldman

Sachs’ employees are not safe on the streets (a real assault without an arrest).  Admittedly, 30% of jail inmates have mental issues; there is a waiting list to get into the State Hospital that doubles every year and some inmates are kept in solitary confinement for months due to mental issues (according to a recent lawsuit).

  We need more police.  SLC Police had 97 patrol officers at the end of last year (due to the insistence of the previous administration that we didn’t need more cops) and we now have 157 (but it will take up to a year before the recent Academy graduates are going to be allowed to patrol on their own. 

There are many criminals ingrained in the homeless population that do not belong on the street.  Tell

the SLCO Mayor to open up the 380 free beds in Oxbow so the threats to society can be taken off the

street.  The police are willing to take a bullet for us.  They are willing to protect and serve and

sacrifice.  But we shouldn’t be making it harder and more dangerous.

One person should not decide the site of homeless facilities

   Over the last two weeks, the plan and path for identifying and developing homeless expansion facilities has undergone a significant change. Up until the beginning of September, almost everyone involved in the homeless site selection process had indicated that there would be five potential sites that would go to the Salt Lake City Council for approval for money to buy options on the five finalist sites. The month of September would be used to get feedback and engage the public in a discussion of the good and bad points of the possible sites. That would lead to two sites selected for more vigorous public hearings during October.  By November, the City Council would approve the final two sites and that would meet the Legislature’s understanding that Salt Lake City would provide 500 beds outside of Rio Grande for homeless.

  Over the last few months of discussions on the process, public safety became more important. That concern resulted in many Councilmembers and most of the public saying that facilities with more than 100 beds would be a burden on the neighboring communities. Councilmember Derek Kitchen said that he is next to the VOA Youth facility that has 30 beds (80 have sometimes stayed there) and even that small facility does have an impact on the community.

  During SLC Council tours of the Lantern House in Ogden, the 250 bed homeless shelter, the neighbors

complained about the problems that are due to the homeless visitors to the Lantern House. Despite

efforts of Lantern House managers to control the problem that affect neighbors, the neighbors still are

negatively impacted. The managers refuse services to those homeless that cause problems and don’t

follow the rules. That helps a little but the main result is that the homeless that are refused services, take

Frontrunner down to Salt lake City! In other words, homeless facilities cause problems for

neighborhoods.

  Until the system removes the criminal element that is ingrained in the homeless community, there will be a problem with homeless facilities. The potential impact of 250 bed homeless facilities has resulted in most of the Salt Lake City Councilmembers saying that they would prefer five 100 bed facilities. The reason that 250 bed facilities were recommended was because of the services that could be cost effectively provided in such a facility (social workers, medical services, etc). The service cost would be more in smaller facilities. The administration has said that Salt Lake City has committed to two 250 bed facilities and that the Council would endanger the Legislature’s funding if they changed from two 250 bed facilities.

  When the Council was told that the Mayor had the ability to choose the site locations without Council approval (at the September 13th meeting), the Council seemed to accept that with minimal objection (in my mind). The City Council said (in a press release): “Selecting sites and buying property is clearly the Mayor’s responsibility,…..So, it is important that the City Council exercise its legislative authority to set conditions related to land use policy and budget approval.” But that will change the promised process to have a vigorous and respectful process for selecting homeless facility expansion sites.  In addition, the Council and the public was told that there would be two sites identified and the public would only have a couple of weeks for input and since the City Council didn’t have the authority, it would not affect the site locations!

  Salt Lake City has had similar proclamations in the past that mayors have total authority. The best example was the previous administration’s insistence that the new police headquarters would be on Library Square. That proclamation resulted in such a public resistance that the location was moved. This administration seems to be falling into the same disrespectful mindset of believing that citizens work for them. Community councils were promised by the Mayor that they would have input on the final two sites but the speed of the process (site locations by October 10 and final approval by November) seems to be removing community council discussion and feedback.

  Mayor Biskupski and the City Council should reevaluate the process to allow flexibility and public engagement in providing two or more homeless expansion facilities. The sites (known to the Mayor now) should be made public and the citizens, the community councils and the public should be able to voice their opinions. The Mayor should acknowledge that the best decisions require vigorous public engagement and that opinions of citizens do matter and should be respected. The homeless sites should be made public now.

  Facebook decision needs more discussion at the Legislature.  Mayor McAdams seems to be disingenuous  when he promotes a new Mountain View Corridor Commission to deflect some of the fallout from his successful efforts to stop the Facebook data center.  The tax increment issue may have been overdone since Sandy is doing a more outrageous tax increment funding for a much smaller project (approved by SLCO Council today - $25 million).  It is a TOD that utilizes leased? UTA land in an area that is growing quickly.  Tax increments should only be used in areas that are not growing or being built up (like the Vivent Arena tax increment that I was against).  I was for the Facebook situation since the State get $12 a year for the West Jordan property ($450/ year for school district). The project would give millions to the school district over 20 years that they wouldn’t expect due to slow or zero development in that area.  

  In addition, the company was going to put in billions of systems into Utah and the tax breaks would

help that.  In the past, Facebook, and other companies provide some older systems to schools when they

are outdated.  Facebook systems are outdated in a year or two.  The technology is advancing so fast that

many of those systems are outdated within two years.

  Other similar issues have happened in the last few years that gave even bigger “breaks” to developers.  The SLC moratorium on impact fees (to end in November) gave millions to developers almost upfront!  That giveaway hurts Sugar House immediately since transportation could have used some of that money to mitigate the negative consequences of the big developments going in (three large buildings in the next year).

  I used to work in the tech industry and I still keep contact with some of the high tech executives.  They tell me that Salt Lake City was being looked at as a low cost option for expansion facilities.  Silicon Valley, San Diego and LA housing costs are four plus times greater than in Utah.  Also the time to commute from San Francisco to San Jose is two hours during rush hour.  Interestingly, it takes about two hours to fly from SLC to San Jose (via Delta) and it gets you there by 10 AM.  The recent oped by Mayor McAdams was disrespectful towards the “name” tech companies that were considering Utah. Facebook discussed moving some of the Open Server Lab to Utah.  Oracle (which already has one of their 19 data center here) is also considering Utah for many more facilities.

  Utah has the water and the Legislature is considering pulling SLC watershed authority due to their cooperation in the statement that Utah does not have the water.  There are many upset that SLC is forcing water to be wasted and not used.  Emma Penrod did a story, part 3, in the sltrib that publicized the issue.  I have been involved with hearings at the Quality Growth Commission that also is upset about the SLC interference with development through water authority.  Although the 1000 acres of farmland considered for this project could use 9 million gallons a day (using very inefficient furrow watering), the data center would use a couple of a hundred thousand gallons a day.  Facebook, and the other state of the art data centers are very efficient.  NSA’s facility uses 2 million gallons a day but Facebook is much more up to date.  And Facebook pushes for renewable energy, which some consider a benefit.

  I also pushed for Facebook due to the fact that data center tech is the fastest growing tech.  Amazon and Oracle are growing data centers at 44% a year. Facebook is growing faster.  Oracle predicts that by 2025, 80% of IT budgets will be spent on independent cloud service.  The investment is approaching $50 billion a year in this industry.  Utah should be part of the discussion.

   I am still pushing Utah for consideration for moving some Silicon Valley work to lower cost areas.  But

this fight’s biggest impact was making Utah look bad to Silicon Valley.  I blame Mayor McAdams  for

that (along with a SLCO mayor that seemed to be trying to hurt West Jordan).   Hope that this

information helps fill in some gaps in an interesting discussion.

SEPTEMBER 22, 2016

UTAH TRANSIT RIDERS UNION

UTA BOARD NEEDS TO BE ELECTED NOT APPOINTED

MOUNTAIN ACCORD IS A SECRET AND COSTLY GROUP

IMPACT FEES DISCUSSION NEEDS PUBLIC FEEDBACK

The Utah Transit Riders Union is a group of hundreds of concerned Utah mass transit riders that would

like a bigger voice in the discussions that generally occur behind closed doors.  The group stays on top of

transportation issues and tries to notify interested parties and encourage them to comment and

participate in mass transit discussions at UTA and the Wasatch Front Regional Council (and at the Mountainland Association of Governments meetings in Utah County).  The Board is active in the Salt Lake and Utah County areas and provides significant feedback to mass transit planning for the area.  If you are interested in keeping up to date on mass transit plans in Utah, you should consider joining UTRU’s email and/or Facebook group (Utah Transit Riders Union on Facebook or email chris.stout@utru.org).  Chris Stout is the President and Christian Harrison is the Chair. 

UTRU provided a statement regarding UTA Governance that was supposed to be discussed at the

Legislature Wednesday but was rescheduled for next month:

“While we agree that those counties and municipalities which contribute to UTA’s funding have a vested interest in its management, we do not believe that a board filled with political appointees does anything to serve the public interest.  We call on each contributing city and county to transition its Board appointments to elected positions.  UTA’s mission is critical to the wellbeing of our State and its success rests in having a vibrant and responsive Board.”

I agree (I am a UTRU Board member).  The arguments for UTA Board of Trustees being elected include potential Board members would have to engage the citizens in discussions on mass transit and they would also encourage, at the same time, more public engagement in UTA and WFRC (which plans future projects).  The problem now is that the Board is appointed by governments that want more projects without recognizing that there is only a finite source of funding.  Without full funding of projects, service, and especially neighborhood bus service, is cannibalized.  When we  went out on a limb a few years ago to build out the extra TRAX lines, bus service was cut 30%.  The idea of elected Board members is a win win for riders, mass transit and Utah.  I put the latest Regional Transportation Plan mass transit projects at the top of the downloads page.

During the Legislative Interim Transportation Committee meeting on Wednesday, Laynee Jones, Executive Director of the Mountain Accord, presented information on the Mountain Accord.  I put the presentation on the downloads page.  If you look at the presentation, it notes that it is discouraging personal vehicle us, giving the federal government more control of the canyons and increasing bus service.  The Mountain Accord has spent $8 million so far, including a million dollar contract to LJ consultants (Laynee Jones).  If that money had been used for increasing bus service, we could have 4 years of year round canyon bus service.  The Mt Accord is presenting the bus service expansion as a benefit of the Mt Accord but it is an extra layer of government since we have been discussing the issue with UTA for years.  UTA is sitting on the $2 million a year per canyon bus service plan in order for Mt

Accord to present it as a benefit of the Mt Accord!  UTA could have released the plans without the Mt

Accord.  I also do not like the idea of supporting a National Monument in the canyons (3.2.1 of the Mountain Accord).  This appears to be a back room plan to control development in the canyons (and in routes to the canyons) for the benefit of some private developers. 

In the next steps to implement the Mountain Accord (on the downloads page) that is changing the

Mountain Accord management to a small commission (the Central Wasatch Commission), SLC, Sandy, Cottonwood Heights and SLCO are creating a new political subdivision to implement Mountain Accord recommendations.  It includes a one million dollar consulting contract for Laynee Jones (packet page 317).  The commission powers will include the powers “to levy and collect fees and charges,” “acquire, hold, utilize, spend, or dispose of its real and personal property,” to issue bonds (packet page 290) and authority to work with the federal government to increase federal authority (National Recreation Area or Monument) over the canyons. 

I still think that the Mt Accord and Commission is an overreach and example of how government

expansion is a waste of money.  The Mt Accord is now using UTA projects as the reason that the Accord

benefits Utah (but the projects were planned before the Mt Accord and in the five year old Canyons

Transportation Study).   In addition, the Board meets in secret and refuses to allow the public to listen to and participate in their discussions.  We want more open government, not more secret government decisions!

I put the second discussion by the SLC Council on impact fees on the download page.  Note that impact fees can be used for transportation improvements, park improvements (lights, dog parks, playgrounds, linear parks and trails, etc) and capital improvements to mitigate the increased density.  The lack of ideas last year resulted in a moratorium on impact fees in SLC which was a windfall of millions of dollars to developers.  Please comment on the slcgov.com/HAND  (Housing and Neighborhood Development) or slcgov.com open city hall website.  Impact fees could also be going up if the Council approves the suggestion which will hurt housing affordability.

SEPTEMBER 16

PLANNING COMMISSION DESTROYS ELM STREET NEIGHBORHOOD

NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH IS ONLY HELP FOR SLC RESIDENTS 

DISTRACTED DRIVER HITS BICYCLIST IN TAYLORSVILLE NO CITATION

CHASE AND CRASH RESULTS IN SOLVING FIVE + ROBBERIES

The Planning Commission approved the super duper monster building for the corner of Sugarmont and McClelland again.  They needed a rehearing since the original public hearing was not properly noticed.  SLC had two managing public notices and one was on vacation and the other thought that the notice was already done by the person on vacation.  But the big problem with the project is the new street that will be constructed from Elm St (at McClelland) to Wilmington (at Highland) which will provide a straight and fast drive between 900 E. and 1300 E. (the freeway entrances) and avoid the major congestion and backups on 21st South.  The quiet neighborhoods that use Elm (1000 East and Lincoln) will now have to fight the traffic that will avoid the 21st South congestion.  This was the project that Mayor Biskupski, before she was elected mayor, railed against in a press conference. 

This is another project that will lead to the supergentrification of Sugar House.   The City Council abrogated their responsibility (along with the previous administration) when they implemented a moratorium on impact fees.  The fees could have been used, and were needed, to mitigate the significant negative consequences of these big projects.  The Council effectively put millions in the pockets of developers.  Anyone upset by the Facebook tax incentives should be yelling at the SLC Council (emails at right) for giving millions to millionaire developers.

Due to the fact that the SLC Police are not able to arrest anyone for less than a felony (like drug dealing which results in a 4 hour jail stay), one of the few ways to help the issue and fight crime is neighborhood watch.  In most neighborhoods that are active in neighborhood watch, crime goes down.  If you are interested in starting a neighborhood watch group, or participating in one, email Detective Greg Wilking at gregory.wilking@slcgov.com or call him at 385 214 4779.  When criminals notice people keeping an eye on the neighborhood, and notice that police seem to be called when they enter a neighborhood, they avoid that area.  Neighborhood watch works.  Also, most community councils discuss neighborhood watch at their meetings.  Residents can get a lot of information of the crime in their neighborhoods by going to those meetings.  The SLC Police attend every meeting and get a lot of attention and appreciation by answering questions.  I put the list of community councils on the right, below the contacts.

There was a bicyclist hit by a distracted driver in Taylorsville this week.  The young girl did not get a citation because the bicyclist, a firefighter, was not seriously injured and asked that the girl not be cited.  The bicycling community is upset and is trying to get a meeting with the Unified Police Department (that covers Taylorsville) to communicate their frustration about this issue.  A distracted driver bill was passed by the Legislature two years ago due to a distracted driver killing one person and seriously injuring his wife.  

There were several robberies in Liberty Wells recently, including two at a 7/11 on 17th South.  During investigation of the robberies, the SLC Police located a suspicious car at around 1300 South and 200 East (next to other crime problem buildings) and chased the car.  This started just after the Monday night crime meeting at the Community College).  The chase ended in downtown Salt Lake City.  The individuals in the car seemed to have been involved in at least five robberies in the Salt Lake Valley, including the two 7/11 robberies and a separate Maverick.  Thank you SLC Police.  I also got several emails from individuals in the Liberty Wells neighborhood that noticed bicycle cops on their street and expressed appreciation with the visible police.  

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

SLC COUNCIL UPSET WITH MAYOR BISKUPSKI AGAIN ON HOMELESS SITES

EXPERIMENT ON SNOW DAY PARKING A FAILURE

IMPACT FEE PAGES ON DOWNLOAD

STREET MAINTENANCE STILL LOSING TO OTHER PROJECTS IN CIP LIST (ON DOWNLOAD

PAGE)

STATE STREET CRIME MEETING HAS BIG TURNOUT

SLC Council wants to have homeless sites listed for public comment.  Administration says not now.  During a vigorous discussion at the SLC Council in an evening meeting that lasted past 9 PM, the Council expressed frustration with the administration of Mayor Biskupski regarding homeless shelter expansion sites that are not identified.  The administration said many times that they expected five potential sites to be provided to the Council by the end of August so that the Council could provide money to pay for options on the properties.  The five sites would then be winnowed to the two most appropriate sites after public comment.  The process would result in a month long series of public meetings in October which would lead to the two “best” sites be chosen, voted on by the Council, and listed for the Legislature so that further funding of the construction of the homeless expansion shelters would come during the next Legislative session.   The administration, according to Patrick Leary, has identified the five sites but has not given the locations to the City Council.

So much of the discussion by the Council indicated frustration at the lack of coordination and cooperation between the Council and the administration. The Council all expressed concern about the effect of facilities with more than 100 beds on the adjacent neighborhoods.  Last week the administration, through David Litvack, said that the agreement with the Legislature was that the City would provide two sites of 250 beds each for the new homeless expansion facilities.  Councilman Charlie Luke expressed frustration with the fast moving process and said that he still wants to see smaller shelters.  But he said that the Council “needs to address what is in front of us now.  Councilwoman Lisa Adams expressed the most frustration.  She said that she is uncomfortable with any part of the discussion.  She said that the director of the Lantern House said that the neighbors were unhappy with the facility, even though they were in an industrial and commercial area.  And when the Lantern House

kicks out homeless with problems that refuse to obey the rules, those homeless go down to Salt Lake

City. She also said that she hasn’t seen more specific information on exactly how the facilities will

operate.  Will they utilize best practices and what will they look like?

Councilman Stan Penfold was concerned about a facility on a small plot of land and wanted to ensure that the land around the facility helps mitigate the impact on the neighborhood.  He also expressed concern that families should never be in a shelter.  There should be an apartment that they should be able to go to.  Councilman Derek Kitchen said that the 250 beds seem arbitrary.  He said that he is elected to represent his district and he has heard from dozens that 250 is too much.  He would feel more comfortable supporting building two or more facilities that do not exceed 250 beds.  The other Councilmembers also said that, recently, the administration seemed to imply that the 250 is the basic number of beds and that overflow would end up with many more.  All were adamant that 250 should be the limit.  Councilman Andrew Johnston said that there should be as few beds as possible.  He used to work for the Volunteers of America and is probably one of the most knowledgeable people in the City concerning homeless issues.  Andrew sits on the Homeless Site Selection Committee and said that his group has not selected any sites.  It has been left up to Mayor McAdams and Mayor Biskupski. 

Councilman James Rogers said that no matter what the Council does, the administration does not appear willing to change from the two 250 bed facilities.  Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall also expressed concern about the size and the structure of the facilities.  Will single men and single women be allowed in the same building or in separate buildings?  Also, if a rezone is necessary, more time is needed for public hearings.  Charlie Luke said that due to the time frame that the administration has left them with, the Council has to accept the two 250 bed facilities but should specifically limit the maximum population to 250.  He is not happy with it but he felt, and the rest of the Council agreed, that there is no time left to argue the case of fewer beds with the administration and Mayor McAdams.  The Council seemed most upset with the lack of communication and respect from the administration.  Interestingly, the Council also accepted funding for more public engagement between the City and its citizens. 

Public engagement should start with not keeping public decisions secret until it is too late for public

hearings to change the decisions.  Good decisions die behind closed doors.

It appears that the experiment to clear one side of the street on snow days has not been as successful as

originally predicted.  It was a test to see if clearing one side of the street by requiring all cars to park on

one side of the street on one day and on the other side on the next (after snowstorms) in order to ensure

that snow plows completely clear the street of snow.  But the overtime required to do the streets

completely (plowing for two days instead of one) created cost efficiency problems.  It looks like the

experiment may end after this winter.

I put the impact fees cheat sheet (3 pages) on the download page and it lists the acceptable projects that can be paid for by impact fees.  “Impact fees are to be used to keep a current level of service for new growth to a City.”  In Sugar House, the administration did not identify and build projects to spend the money in a timely fashion so the Council declared a moratorium on collecting impact fees until November of this year.  The fees can be used for parks, restroom improvements, off-leash dog parks, trails, street pavement improvement and maintenance, bridges and transportation

improvements.  Unfortunately, developers in Sugar House are making millions of dollars because SLC did not identify and manage appropriately impact fees.  Each large building in Sugar House is effectively handing the developer a million dollars, thanks to SLC.  The money could have been used any of the above and theoretically, with Legislative approval, been used to implement park rangers, transportation improvements and complete streets with wider sidewalks and  many more trees.

The CIP list of proposed projects is on the downloads page.  If you read the projects list, you may notice

that there are not many street projects.  Streets in SLC could use $40 million a year to keep them in

good repair.  The streets get less than $10 million.  Almost everywhere that there is a bus stop, the street curb has a big pothole.  Interestingly, a couple of years ago, the SLC Council passed a tax increase that was to be used for street maintenance.  It never happened.  The previous administration of Ralph Becker used the money for other “uses” and didn’t tell the Council (or they didn’t notice).  The streets lost $8 million that they could have used.  If you see a bad street, complain to the administration and your councilmember (email addresses on the right).

On Monday, September 12, over a hundred residents and business attended a meeting on crime in the State Street area (from 2100 South to downtown).  The complaints included that the people arrested seem to be back at the business the next day, the people that are causing trouble are not arrested, prostitutes that openly solicit in residential neighborhoods and next to legitimate businesses are just cited, drug dealers get out of jail in 4 hours and SLC Police are not able to arrest anyone for less than a felony.  The lack of enough jail space was mentioned.  .  County Health attended (I noticed a story that a County Health worker was injured by a needle that they try to pick up and now they are using mechanical pickup.)  and the Community Intelligence Officers are able, sometimes, to make use of their services while regular patrol officers cannot always stay and fix the issue.  There were many complaints about individuals defecating in the area, on the sidewalks, next to houses, in the side yards, in the back yards (next to alleys) and in the alleys.  One person also mentioned that a homeless person brought in a toilet to use in their “alley”.  Homeless are sleeping on resident’s porches and in parks and the police can’t seem to stop it.  The Sheriff expressed frustration with the lack of funding to treat those in jail (well over 50% of the jailed inmates) for mental, drug and alcohol issues.  He is right that the Justice Reinvestment Act that trades jail for treatment is not funded and those who used to steal to feed their habit are let out of jail without treatment. 

The SLC Police need to be called for even the least of a problem so that they can locate and place police patrols where the crime reported is highest.  All crime needs to be reported.  The homeless camping problem appears to be caused by homeless not wanting to be in the Rio Grande area which they consider to be very dangerous.  ACLU has been able to stop anti camping ordinances from being enforced when there is not enough safe homeless shelter beds.  ACLU appears to be ready to do the same with SLC Police if they enforce the City’s laws against camping.  All that police can do now is ask them to move along.

When you call the police about concern about a homeless person hanging around, report a prowler.  SLC Police will not respond to homeless reports.  Even if they are camping in your yard.  A prowler get a response and the police force the person to leave the area (it happened to my family that way). 

After a short period where complaints were heard, the Police Chief pointed out that at the end of the last administration, they had 97 patrol officers on the street.  They have around 150 now (or soon).  And there are many more bike squads that help show the police in the area.  In fact, yesterday, the bike squad road around the area and several people let me know that they appreciated that fact.  There also was a complaint that two officers sometimes show up when only one showed up before (training officers ride patrols with new academy graduates) and there was a worry that maybe more separate officers would help. 

The meeting had the last hour devoted to the attendees being provided with the services and plans and

information from the City which includes the new State Street redevelopment area and other plans.

SEPTEMBER 9

SUGAR HOUSE WILL PROBABLY HAVE PAID PARKING WITH ALL OF THE PROJECTS

PALMER COURT AND RIO GRANDE AREA MEDICAL RESPONSE BY SLC FIRE ON

DOWNLOADS

During discussion with the architects and developers of the new hotel on the Toys R Us block, it was

stated that Sugar House projects will probably lead to all paid parking in Sugar House.  The

supergentrification of Sugar House continues. 

The Planning Commission will revisit the project on Sugarmont and McClelland by Boulder Ventures due to the lack of proper notice.  This overdevelopment was the focus of a press conference by the candidate Jackie Biskupski before she was elected Mayor.  She was against the project due to the lack of appropriate parking.  I have to add that the new road north of the project will increase traffic and parking onto Elm and the single family homes on that street and the nearby side streets.  The negative impact on the nearby residents cannot be mitigated.  In addition, the private road that will connect with Wilmington, will require another traffic light sequence which will increase congestion and air pollution.  The SLC Planning Commission Staff Contact is John Anderson at (801)535-7214, or john.anderson@slcgov.com.  You should email him with your concerns before Wednesday or support or call him or show up and comment at the meeting.

The SLC Fire Department provided a breakdown of the medical response per month for the Rio Grande area and Palmer Court.  The Excel pivot tables are on the download page (right hand column).  The Fire Department generally has 300 responses per month in the Rio Grande area and about 20 per month in the Palmer Court area.  The Fire Department says that the Palmer Court area is the second biggest draw on medical response after Rio Grande.

My thoughts are that it shows that there is a large problem with successful drug, alcohol and mental health treatment of homeless and those at Palmer Court.  It should show that the solution requires a multi-pronged approach that includes more jail space so that those who commit crimes (drug addicts need to steal to get money for drugs - unless they are panhandling - and that means that it is not a victimless crime; police should be able to arrest and keep in jail those that are threats to others; and most importantly, a healthcare expansion is necessary to provide full mental health treatment, full drug and alcohol abuse treatment and not just for the general population but also for the homeless (many are homeless due to medical costs). 

I also think that it is important to distribute individuals with these issues so that they do not encourage or enable each other.  Mixed income and mixed situation buildings make more sense than putting a large number of people in one building that have had serious drug and alcohol and mental health issues.  Ivy House had to be closed because of the concentration of those individuals (see recent Marie Taylor oped in Sltrib regarding SROs).  One or two individuals in an apartment do not encourage or enable this behavior.  It encourages these individuals to get better.  Palmer Court, as evidenced by the City Weekly story last year?, shows that there is a problem and a large building with homeless will not always be a solution.  

The meeting on September 12 at the South Campus SL Community College will also discuss these issues

with regards to low cost motels.

SEPTEMBER 8

SEPTEMBER 12 MEETING ABOUT STATE STREET MOTELS

MOUNTAIN ACCORD NEW MANAGEMENT, MILLION DOLLAR SALARY

POLICE CIVILIAN REVIEW BOARD QUESTIONS

AFFORDABLE HOUSING DOWNLOAD PRESENTATION

HOMELESS 250 BED SITE EXPANSION HITS ROADBLOCK

PIONEER PARK COALITION HOMELESS PRIORITIES

MAYOR MEETS WITH CENTRAL CITY NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL ONLINE

SLC POLICE CAN’T STOP CAMPING IN PARKS, SLC NEEDS PARK RANGERS

Salt Lake City Council Member Erin Mendenhall will be hosting a town-hall meeting to discuss crime around the State Street area with residents and business owners Sept. 12 from 6 to 8 p.m. in the multipurpose room at Salt Lake Community College South Campus. (from her oped in the SLTRIB).  I know that the Councilmembers care but I urge as many people as possible to turn out to the meeting to show that we want more.  SLC Police need to be able to arrest those that they feel should be off the streets and in jail.  If they are not allowed to arrest for less than a felony due to not enough jail space, crime increases.

The Mountain Accord is changing to reflect the next step in the process of implementing the

Accord.  Due to the secrecy of the Mountain Accord Executive Board meetings, the public is not allowed to see the workings of the process and is not even allowed to see the salary of Laney Jones (The downloads page has Mt Accord next steps download and it shows a contract (packet page 317 item 4a) for one million dollars for LJ!).   In addition, the new entity has the ability to bond and obligate taxpayers!  There is a Quality Growth Commission recommendation coming that will have the Legislature revisit the 100 year old law that gives SLC watershed authority (includes the Tibble Creek dam which destroyed the Creek due to inadequate protections as the dam water was drawn down).  The secrecy of the executive board meetings is concerning and could give insiders information that could be used for personal gain.  The SLC Council approved (with a straw poll) the new interlocal agreement that sets up a new commission to implement the Accord as long as the commission/executive committee members has a process to allow the commission to be expanded. 

Police Civilian Review Board found that the shooting in February was “not within policy”. I strongly disagree. The Board’s recommendation was based on their observation that in the final seconds before the shooting, the victim of the beating and the attacker with the handle were not moving fast.  The attacker, the young man, refused to stop and drop his weapon, while his fellow attacker did acknowledge the police commands and dropped their heavy metal bar with a loud and characteristic thud.  The police officers assumed that the attacker with the handle had a similar weapon and had a couple of seconds to react.  When the officers saw the attacker raise the handle, they both assumed that a deadly blow was forthcoming and they fired (believing that the victim was in deadly danger).  The reason that the victim and attacker may have been moving slowly is because they both may have assumed that the attack was not going to result in grave bodily harm.  The Board did not interview the two attackers (including the one shot) and the criminal case for drug dealing is still pending against the young man who was shot. Normally, those two issues would individually stop the Civilian Review Board from providing a finding.  In addition, there was not enough time to holster their guns (21 seconds from seeing the attack to shooting) and draw and use Tasers.  Note that Tasers don’t always work in the winter due to big jackets interfering with the Taser operation.  The two Salt Lake City Police officers both thought that the victim was threatened with grave and deadly bodily harm and, I feel, they acted appropriately and in accordance with SLCPD policies.

There was a discussion about affordable housing at the SLC Council meeting on September 6.  I put the presentation on the downloads page.  It is very informative and I recommend reading the presentation.  Lisa Adams suggested a $30 million bond that may help.  Erin Mendenhall was pushing for more specific and effective solutions.  She did get the RDA to appropriate $5 million for affordable housing.  I believe that the only solution is to decrease the size of legal and buildable housing units.  New technology allows living in units that could be as small as 100 square feet.  But only one or two super studio units should be in a new building and mixed income should be the standard.  The City Council agreed that mixed income is the best priority and the Council needs to implement that standard.  There was a recent proposal to put a 100% homeless facility next to the Pipeline building project and have it run by the Road Home.  I, and others, believe that it is not going to be a successful and safe project with 100% homeless.  It should be mixed income.  Another issue is that SLC only approved about 1800 housing units (homes, apartments, condos, etc) last year!  When SLC needs 8000 affordable housing units, the SLC zoning ordinances seem to actually discourage affordable housing.  If you want more expensive housing, don’t allow building much housing.  SLC is causing the affordable housing issue.

The SLC Council also discussed the homeless issue and specifically the site selection committee 250 bed proposal (the sites have not been released yet).  Most Councilmembers expressed concern about the size of the facilities.  Derek Kitchen said that he lives next to the new Youth Center and its 30 beds have an impact on the neighborhood.  So he is worried that a facility with 100 beds would impact a neighborhood even more.  James Rogers did not feel comfortable moving forward with 250 beds. Charley and Lisa agreed.  She suggested 250 beds is too big.  She and others thought that the Legislature and the City agreed to 500 beds period.  David Livack said that the agreement with the Legislature said that the City agreed to two facilities with 250 beds and the City could endanger their agreement and Legislative funding if they don’t agree to two 250 bed facilities.  The Council fought back against this statement.  The Council will be provided with 5 sites and asked for money to fund options on the five sites but will winnow that down to two sites after a “vigorous” public engagement.  There was no agreement from the Council.  Lisa suggested that maybe a type of KOA Campground facility would make sense for those who want to not be in a facility but they prefer their own tent.  Andrew Johnston (who sits on the site selection committee) reserves judgement on the 250 bed size because some sites cannot handle that size.  The 250 bed size is the recommended size to provide efficient and cost effective services.  The 5 site proposal would be more expensive.  That is why David Litvack (Deputy Chief of Staff for Mayor Biskupski) tried to convince the Council to support the 250 bed proposal.  The sites were supposed to be available last week.  If the sites are available to anyone, without making the information public, there is a chance that people that do know the sites, will be able to use that knowledge for personal gain.

The Pioneer Park Coalition discussed the homeless problems in the Rio Grande area that seem to be much worse than last year.  Part of the problem is that the police can’t really arrest anyone for less than a felony (much like the problems in all of the other community council areas) and drug dealers only stay in jail for a few hours.  The other issue is people who buy the drugs.  The police can only confiscate the drugs and cite them.  The citation is screened by the DA who generally issues a warrant but the SLC Police cannot serve the warrant so it is essentially fruitless to even cite the drug buyers.  Also the campers on the sidewalk and parks are becoming a big issue.  The PPC voted to urge SLC to enforce their no camping ordinance.  Several other cities in the Country have had their no camping laws (used to fight against homeless camping on the sidewalks) found to be illegal since their homeless shelters are not available or safe.  That is a danger in SLC if the ACLU fights enforcement.  Other community councils also have the same problem (see the CCNC in next paragraph).  The PPC will sponsor a debate with the two candidates for governor and for SLCO mayor with a focus on homelessness.  The PPC will also invite Rep. Hutchings and Speaker Hughes to talk to a future PPC meeting, after touring the homeless area.  The PPC believes that Rep. Hutchings’ Justice Reinvestment Act is not funded well enough and it results in drug addicts not being treated.  The Act provided $4 million and SLCO believes that the County needs over $70 million to fund drug abuse and mental health care treatment instead of pushing everyone onto the street instead of in jail.  The PPC also discussed the problem that there is not enough jail space to threaten the lawbreakers to follow the laws.  There are 380 beds free at Oxbow and the police cannot arrest most people that should not be on the street.  A recent physical attack by a homeless and obviously “out of it” man on a Goldman Sachs employee resulted in no arrest.  The attacker kept attacking and threatening people but the police could not do anything since he stopped when the police came.  In other words, the aggressive homeless know how far that they can go without being arrested.  Heroin and spice and cocaine addicts can be a threat.  The jail needs more space.  The Legislature needs to fully fund the JRA and they have to pass a respectful health care law that provides full mental and abuse treatment.

Mayor Biskupski continued her visits to the City community councils be meeting with the Central City Neighborhood Council.  She discussed the homeless issue and answered questions.  The police were asked about the problems with defecating and camping and criminal activity at Richmond Park.  The City police are not able to stop the camping because all that they can do is force them to gather up their gear and move on.  But when the cops come back half an hour later, the campers have just moved a few feet.  The only solution appears to be SLC providing park rangers for every park.  Even in Fairmont Park, the restrooms have had problems with homeless hanging out en masse in the restrooms.  

SEPTEMBER 2

CRIME AROUND STATE STREET IS GETTING WORSE

I received several complaints this week about the area around State Street and the refusal of Mayor McAdams to acknowledge the problem and do something about it.  I still believe that he needs to open up the rest of Oxbow and put the criminal element that is embedded in the homeless and on State Street and in the motels in jail.  Some complained that the Sheriff's protective service is almost powerless to do anything about the crime, drug dealing bicyclists and prostitutes at the motels just north of the County building (20th South, State).  The SLC Police are also frustrated.  And on 1700 South and Main, there

appears to be a big drug market developing (at 430AM!).  The police need to raid the area just to send a

message.  Even if just a couple of the dealers are locked up for a couple of weeks, it would

help.  Residents along 200 East constantly hear shots.  It needs more attention by our elected officials.

Salt Lake City Council Member Erin Mendenhall will be hosting a town-hall meeting to discuss crime around the State Street area with residents and business owners Sept. 12 from 6 to 8 p.m. in the multipurpose room at Salt Lake Community College South Campus. (from her oped in the SLTRIB).  I know that the Councilmembers care but I urge as many people as possible to turn out to the meeting to show that we want more.  SLC Police need to be able to arrest those that they feel should be off the streets and in jail.  If they are not allowed to arrest for less than a felony due to not enough jail space, crime increases.

I just heard that the Civilian Review Board did not find that the shooting of the young man 6 months

ago followed proper procedure.  My recent Deseret News oped say what I think:

Earlier this month, there was a small protest outside City Hall that attracted a lot of news attention. In fact, the news media almost outnumbered protesters. They were protesting the police shooting of a teenager in the Rio Grande area. Instead of using common sense and asking why a teenager was hanging out in the West's biggest open-air drug market at night, the protesters demanded that two public servants resign. The protesters said Mayor Jackie Biskupski and District Attorney Sim Gill should resign or be kicked out of office for helping reinforce racial biases in two corrupt officers.

I know both of these individuals better than many. I have run against the mayor and supported candidates running against the DA and I have considerable respect for both. Both of these public officials take their jobs and responsibility seriously. I may have disagreements with some of their decisions and policies, but I do not have any doubt that, in this case, their decisions are something to be admired.

Careful consideration of the other complications in this case required much time and investigation. They included many residents and businesses in the area (and police) who have complained about a gang of teenagers who seem to be controlling the spice/K2/meth sales in the area. Was a full-scale arrest of teenagers required? Did the issue require long-term video surveillance to gather evidence? Who were the other teens in the gang, or who were the teens who kept going to the Rio Grande area? Was enough evidence collected after the shooting and in the subsequent months to justify charging the person who was shot as an adult? Was a big drug raid necessary to sweep up the teenagers who were selling drugs? These questions can take months to investigate because many witnesses refused to cooperate or flat-out lied.

This mayor stopped the quality-of-life hassling that a desperate former mayor pushed the Salt Lake City police to enforce. That policy was vigorously complained about by homeless advocates. This mayor has bent over backwards to ensure that the complaints about police shootings and police issues are discussed with the mayor and the chief of police in several community meetings. This mayor has ordered the police chief to face the complaints instead of ignoring them. This mayor has exhibited exceptional leadership in these cases. But the big issue is that this teenager seems to have been part of the rampant drug dealing in the Rio Grande area and was in the process of potentially killing someone. If the victim that the teen was beating had been more seriously injured, there wouldn't be any question of justification.

In a recent case, a Salt Lake police officer was recognized as Policeman of the Year for shooting a man

who threatened to kill a woman (after stabbing her). The situations sound so similar that the protesters

should take a deep breath and look at what the officers saw: a need to make a split-second decision that

may have been necessary to save a life. When the real issues of questionable police tactics come up, this

case should not be among them. I want to make it clear that, despite my respect for this administration,

I will not stop complaining when I see problems and questionable decisions.

This incident has reinforced my respect for Biskupski and Gill. Police shootings should be thoroughly investigated. Gill, in thorough investigations, has found some police shootings to be unjustified. We may not agree with his decisions and the mayor's actions, but they did the right thing in this case. Their actions are the last things we should protest.

AUGUST 31

SLC TO TICKET DOWNTOWN BIKES ON SIDEWALKS/TOURISTS BEWARE FREE SUGAR HOUSE STREETCAR IN THE FUTURE?

UTA GETS 5 COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON JERRY BENSON GM APPOINTMENT

WATER WARS AT STATE CAPITOL IS HEATING UP AND BIG DOWNLOADS AVAILABLE

I DID NOT THREATEN MAYOR MCADAMS

STATE STREET MOTELS CRIME INCREASING

SANDY TO TAX INCREMENT HYPOCRISY

SLC INTENDS TO TICKET GREEN BIKES ON THE SIDEWALK

SLC appears ready to start enforcing the no bicycles on the sidewalks in downtown area.  So all the tourists that are using the Green Bikes beware.   Of course, they won't listen since they are out of town now but when they come to town, they will be greeted with police handing out tickets (as if they didn't have enough to worry about).  The City Council should revisit the issue since the present ordinance requires that bicycles yield to pedestrians and that should be all that is needed.  Cycling Utah has been at the forefront of trying to change the ridiculous law.  Allowing bicycles to ride on the sidewalk downtown is better than taking up lanes of traffic with more bike lanes and lowering the speedlimit downtown to 20MPH,  I think.  Note that South Salt Lake also has a no bikes on the sidewalk ordinance which defeats the purpose of the Parleys Trail bikeway through SSLC.  Much of it is on the sidewalk.

FREE SUGAR HOUSE STREETCAR

CyclingUtah is also recommending that the Sugar House Streetcar be made free since probably 90% of the riders use TRAX and can pay there.  The million a year cost of operating the streetcar seems high but since it is a done deal, UTA should try to encourage ridership.

UTA ONLY GETS 5 COMMENTS ONLINE ABOUT NEW GM

Jerry Benson has been officially appointed General Manager of UTA with only 5 public comments online and 4 in person (plus 2 UTA comments).  UTA's Board of Trustees listened to our request to allow the public to comment but only 5 did!!!!  I don't want to hear anymore complaints about UTA (I have enough to last a lifetime) until the public steps up and goes online and comments on the UTA issues.  The Board is bending over backwards to get feedback and no one seems to care.  The Board ordered that the online comments be read to the Board.  At least they are listening.  Comment online please before the next meeting in September. 

WATER WARS CONTINUE AT STATE CAPITOL

Water wars continue and I put the large presentation arguing against SLC  continuing to have watershed authority on the downloads page along with Project Discus proposal of the Board of Education.  If you really care about the canyons, the watershed and development or overdevelopment, I encourage you to read these.  It is a lot of information but it is important and it is driving the Legislature to consider changing the 100 year old law.

I APOLOGIZE TO MAYOR MCADAMS BUT CRIMINALS ON THE STREET

I apologize to Mayor Ben McAdams for saying that the first cop that is shot by a criminal that should be in jail but isn't because he won't open up all of Oxbow, I will blame the Mayor. I did not mean it as a threat. But when the SLC Police are not allowed to arrest for less than felonies and there are bad guys with 30 arrests being chased by police, instead of in jail, I think that something bad is going to happen. Drug dealers should not be let out in 4 hours. These are the criminals that don't care about shooting someone and the cops are the ones who interact with them. They are the biggest threat to cops on the street. I am frustrated that 380 beds in Oxbow are unused and police with bad guys that they think are a threat to society are turned away from the jail.

Threats to society are not going to jail!! I believe that public safety should be a higher priority for the Mayor. I may have said it wrong but I was not threatening the Mayor. I was frustrated that the criminals are threatening law abiding residents and businesses; and the police have their hands tied by the Mayor's refusal to open up the unused beds at Oxbow so that criminals remain on the street. When did it become normal for drug dealers and criminals with 30 plus arrests to be let out on the street within a few hours!!?

And if the criminal element that is embedded in the homeless in Rio Grande and motels and on the street are not arrested and kept in jail, there is little chance that any neighborhood will allow homeless shelters (expansion). Until the jail is allowed to take in drug dealers (200 + heroin dealers in Rio Grande area!) and keep them there for more than a few hours, the homeless will have a bad reputation. I don't think that is the fault of the homeless. Mayor McAdams is more to blame. Oops, I did it again. I didn't mean to cross the line.

The motels on State Street are still havens of criminal activity.   I get complaints every day about them.  Please call the SLC Police at 801 799 3000 and report nonemergency crime.  It is important for providing proof that these areas have problems and that crime is increasing.  If no one reports the crime, there is no justification for more jailspace and police presence.  Block out September 12 for a meeting of the issue on the campus of the Community College hosted by Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall.

SANDY TOD TAX INCREMENT HYPOCRISY

Note that the SLCO Council was supposed to discuss several issues with regards to tax increment funding but called it off at the last minute literally, after getting confirmation 5 minutes before that it was going to be discussed. The Council did not get all of the financials. I support the 39th S. Fireclay tax increment package and the Riverton package because those areas are not being developed (they've tried for 10+ years) and that is where tax increment funding is appropriate. But the Sandy TOD tax increment funding was out of line because the area is exploding and governments should not use tax increment funding for developing areas. It is an incentive to develop which should not be needed for growing areas. That is one of the reasons that I fought the Vivent arena/Miller Family tax credit.

But the Sandy TOD involves about $10 million of UTA property given to a developer in return for a 5%? ownership of the development which may never turn a profit. That property could have been leased and the money used for expanding bus service. In addition, I think that is hypocritical for SLCO to say that tax increment funding in Sandy is necessary when the area is super developing and at the same time say that West Jordan shouldn't have tax increment/credit funding for an area that is questionable for development for the next 20 years. I urge anyone interested in the issue of the tax increment funding for the Sept. 13 SLCO Council meeting to get educated on it and to comment. I think I was the only one commenting on it so far. Email your County Council members (emails at top right).  The Council will spend the next week or two considering the issues on tax increment funding.

I support the Facebook data center because it opens the door further to Facebook investment in Utah and Utah schools.  The open server lab that they just expanded has an increased chance of transferring to Utah.  Internally, Facebook and other Silicon Valley companies, are looking for low cost areas to expand and Utah is in their sights.  This is a great potential for property that provides the State (education) with $12 a year in taxes.  The tax rebate is essentially build/buy/pay billions in Utah and we will give you a tax CREDIT of a couple of hundred million.  Maybe a 10% credit for spending BILLIONS.  Financially it benefits taxpayers, Utah workers and anyone interested in technology. They replace servers almost every year and Utah schools have a chance to get some of the supercomputer castoffs.  This center will encourage kids to consider STEM.  The internal employment of a data center may be 100 but to replace, service and support racks of servers requires maybe a thousand.  Facebook servers are constantly upgraded.  That is where the additional significantly expanded employment will occur.

FOOTHILL DRIVE

I put the Foothill Drive corridor study existing conditions and scenarios on the downloads page.  Please comment on the potential scenarios at foothilldriveslc@gmail.com.

AUGUST 26

WATER WARS AT STATE CAPITOL

JAIL SPACE FOR FELONIES ONLY

HAMBURGER CHANGE IN STORE

ILLEGAL PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING

WATER WARS AT STATE CAPITOL

  The Utah Quality Growth Commission heard a presentation from Salt Lake City’s Director of Public

Utilities covering Salt Lake City’s watershed authority and extraterritorial jurisdiction.  The authority and jurisdiction applies to any area that could conceivably provide water that eventually flows into the Wasatch canyons in Salt Lake County.  It was a very well attended meeting with a full room.  Salt Lake City pointed out their success in the management of the canyons and insisted that all is fine and nothing needs fine tuning by the Legislature.  The Salt Lake County Mayors, yesterday at their Council of Governments meeting, voted to say that they are satisfied with the way SLC manages the water.

  Much of the turnout was because of anger by many about the restrictions placed on recreation in the canyons.  Kayakers have to wear full body suits (modern day version of a burkini), dogs are not allowed and you can’t even dangle your toes in a canyon stream or lake without being harassed or given a ticket.  Much of the water that Salt Lake City and County uses comes from reservoirs where multiple recreational opportunities are allowed (in the water).  Canyon recreationalists are asking why is Salt Lake City harassing people with small dogs when much large wildlife is in the canyons and they don’t get picked up after.  Also, it was pointed out during the meeting, that livestock is supposed to be excluded from SLC water authority.  Salt Lake County says that they use zoning to stop livestock in the canyons (except immigration canyon).  If livestock and large wild animals are allowed in the canyons, and SLC does not provide restrooms in the canyons for people (6 million a year use the Wasatch Front canyons), how can SLC reasonably restrict dogs?

  Water appears to be abundant but SLC restricts transferring of water for any use; it goes into the Jordan River.  Testimony indicated that SLC controls ten times more water than it needs today.  That control was used by politicians who have said that the proposed Facebook data center would use too much of our valuable and scarce water (when they force 16 million gallons a day to be wasted).  Also the farmland on which the data center would be located would have used 9 million gallons a day during irrigation season. 

  Several legislators expressed concern (outside of the meeting) that elected officials (like Mayor

McAdams) are claiming that development in another city should not occur due to water scarcity.   The

Legislature does appear poised to work on a bill next session and have asked the Quality Growth Commission for notes (recommendations are supposed to be given to the Legislature, if the Commission agrees, by November).  When the law was passed that gave SLC extraterritorial jurisdiction over a hundred years ago, no one was thinking that dogs would be restricted and people couldn’t walk through streams to get to the other side. 

  The law needs to be updated to recognize that there are several first class cities (with extraterritorial authority) and their authority overlaps each other.  That potential for interfering with each other needs to be addressed.  Private property owners should be able to develop their property (many just want a very small portion and want to turn over the rest to conservation easement – note if you are interested, ensure that your attorney inserts language that if SLC (or the entity receiving the property for conservation) is required to return the property if it does not protect the property from building or destruction of plants.

  Save Our Canyons did not get a chance to give their take on the issue and they were offered a chance to discuss their concerns at the next Quality Growth Commission.  SLC Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall seemed to be upset with the meeting that had so many complaints against the SLC water authority and she asked that the issue of development and watershed issues be separated.  Rep. Briscoe was upset about the perceived lack of respect shown to SLC representatives.

  Another issue that did not get time at the meeting was the incident where Riverton almost had their

secondary water cut off until SLC agreed to provide more water to Utah Lake.

  These problems are a small sign of a big problem.  The next two meetings of the Quality Growth Commission may provide recommendations to the Legislature that fine tunes the century old law or throws it out.  I just heard that Disney got $2.4 million to film in Utah.  Let’s hope that no one questions whether we have enough water for them.

SLC POLICE CANNOT TAKE ANYONE TO JAIL EXCEPT FOR FELONIES!!

  Due to jail overcrowding (I heard that there are several jail pods – not at Oxbow – that are almost empty.), SLC Police are not allowed to arrest anyone and take them to jail except for felonies.  That means that they have to witness the crime and it has to be drug dealing or worse.  Email the mayor@slco.org and demand that Mayor McAdams reopen the 380 free beds at Oxbow.  Also please report all crimes so that the SLC administration can realize that crime is actually up.  At recent community council meetings, victims of crimes were so frustrated about car break ins and the lack of an officer stopping by that they didn’t report subsequent crimes!  The Utah Legislature (Sen. Thatcher) changed the law last session to give victims of crime 15 days to claim their property from pawn shops if a police report has been filed (the police enter the stolen items in a database and check it daily with all pawn shops that receive items that also have to be in the database).  Your best chance to get the stolen item back is to report it.  At a community council this week, a victim got her item back after reporting it stolen.  I put a flyer to reopen the jail on the downloads page.  I have been passing it around the 200 East neighborhood.  You are welcome to print it up and pass it around.

HAMBURGER CHANGE IN STORE 

  If you buy hamburger, you are about to see a big change in packaging.  Due to federal regulations, the

government is urging stores to provide prepackaged meat that can be returned to the plant if there is a

problem.  In store grinding of meat will decrease.  Some Fresh Market stores (5 in Utah) are already

starting to shift from the regular grocer ground meat to the prepackaged meat.

ILLEGAL PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING

The August 24 meeting of the SLC Planning Commission meeting did not meet all of the notification
requirements required in Utah law.  The building project at 2189 McClelland (at Sugarmont) will	g
require a rehearing at the next Planning Commission meeting.  It is highly likely that the Plannin
Commission will approve the building that is helping in the supergentrification of Sugar House
again.  But at least SLC will try to do it legally next time.

AUGUST 24     

JERRY BENSON NEW GM UTA COMMENTS, 

FACEBOOK PROJECT SHENANIGANS, 

5 SLC HOMELESS SITES BY NEXT WEEK

SLC/UTAH WATER AUTHORITY FIGHT 

Jerry Benson has been nominated to be appointed to the General Manager position for UTA.  The final

Board vote to finalize the appointment will be on August 31 at a special meeting of the Board of Trustees.  Several of us have asked for time for the public to comment on the appointment before making it final.  It does show that UTA's Board may be listening to the public.

We also pointed out that Uber carries 8000 riders a night (10pm to 2am) on weekends and UTA should

provide the mass transit service expanded to carry many of those riders.

We also pointed out that the audit of 2012 and 2014 both recommended that UTA not start projects without identifying all of the funding sources.  UTA has started the Provo BRT, the airport TRAX reconfiguration and the new bus garage without identifying the full funding.

Concerns about the $20 million TIGER grant (with $60 million required by Utah taxpayers) for bicycle

infrastructure were allayed somewhat when it was shown that almost all of the $60 million has been

agreed to and provided by UDOT and municipalities.  UTA may have to provide around $3.5 million of

that funding and public weigh in later would take place.

FACEBOOK

I am disappointed in the surprise announcement by West Jordan that essentially pulled Utah out of the competition for the Facebook data center.  The arguments against the project were full of non-sequiturs and some were outright lies.

This should provide impetus for the Utah Legislature to draft a bill to put big development projects in

the hands of the Utahns instead of having different governments in Utah fight amongst themselves and

destroy business opportunities for political gain.  I put the Utah Board of Education analysis on the

downloads page.

5 HOMELESS SITES BY NEXT WEEK

The homeless sites will be provided by next week and the SLC Council will be asked to provide money to buy options on those sites.  After a month plus public discussion, two sites will be chosen for the 250 bed expansion facilities by November.

Again, if SLCO does not open more beds in Oxbow (and allow more arrests to fill empty jail pods), and

allows SLC Police to remove the criminal element from the homeless, the sites will not be

allowed.  During discussion with the public at yesterday's presentation (on downloads page), they

complained about Chicago recommending much less than 150 beds and even 100 is too many for any

neighborhood.

SLC/SLCO/SANDY/LEGISLATURE WATER FIGHT

On Friday, at the State Capitol, there will be a hearing of the Quality Growth Commission that will consider removing SLC water authority over portions of northern Utah.  I will update the blog after the meeting.

Oped in Deseret News: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865660516/My-view-Mayor-and-DA-actions-in-police-shooting-donot-deserve-protests.html

Oped in Salt Lake Tribune:

http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/4257346-155/op-ed-data-center-is-a-boon

AUGUST 19

UTAH COULD GET $32 MILLION TO COMPENSATE FOR VW CONSPIRACY

Although the Deseret News had a story on it, the real story is that Utah could have up to around $32 million in funds to use to decrease NOx emissions.  The funds and how they can or could be used will be up in the air until the Justice Department and all other parties agree to the settlement.  VW’s emissions systems resulted in an overwhelming and illegal emission of NOx from diesel engines.  Utah’s DAQ submitted some suggestions to comment on the Justice Department’s 10 proposed eligible action items.  They include large trucks, transit buses, local freight trucks, airport ground support vehicles (that SLC’s airport authority should be paying for during the terminal rebuild), electric vehicle and ev charging (SLC is already working with DAQ on ev charging station expansion) and changing powerplants on transit buses to CNG or electric.  The proposal applies to 2006 and older transit buses and it allows up to 75% of the cost for non government transit buses and up to 100% for government (UTA) vehicles.  The buses need to reduce NOx by 80+%.  The proposal will be updated around mid to late fall but may wait until 2017.  It is just a proposal now and we need to wait for a final settlement.  Utah’s DAQ will put together a preliminary proposal and engage the public to comment on the proposal (which can change).  The Deseret News quoted Matt Sibul on UTA suggesting that FrontRunner locomotives be changed out but that is just UTA’s suggestion.  The public will have a chance to suggest more effective NOx reductions.  DAQ and UCARE have both had discussions on this issue.

SUGAR HOUSE AND DOWNTOWN PARKING STUDY STILL NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLIC

COMMENT

(ALSO THE TRANSIT STUDY FOR SLC IS NOT AVAILABLE FOR COMMENT)

Nelson/Nyggard is infamous around the Country for encouraging less parking and more density during parking studies.  They appear to be following their reputation in their study of Sugar House and Downtown parking (see below – ctrl f and parking study).  Why can’t SLC citizens get a chance now to comment on the parking study that should not be rushed but have high public engagement and feedback.  The recent projects in Sugar House will create so many parking problems that the residents

are going to have to ask for parking permit areas.  Nelson/Nygaard believes that a parking permit area

is a credible tradeoff.  That is not the way a city should respect single-family home neighborhoods.

EAST BENCH COMMUNITY COUNCIL HEARS SKYLINE INN OFFER

During the East Bench Community Council meeting Wednesday, it was again emphasized that there have been offers to buy the Skyline Inn.  In one case, the developer wanted to possibly tear down the building.   A letter was also passed around from a former prisoner that said that, in the Utah State Prison, all of the prisoners knew of the Skyline Inn and other low cost motels.  That is where they tend to go when they can't find other lodging.

AUGUST 16

ARE THERE THREE PREGNANT WOMEN IN UTAH THAT HAVE TESTED POSITIVE FOR ZIKA?

Are there three pregnant women in Utah that have tested positive for Zika virus?  We won't know until

next week because some people who know are afraid of panic.  This is a public health issue and it should

not be secret.  The idea that only one species of mosquito can carry Zika is a theory that is

untested.  This should be public now.

PEDICABS DISCUSSED AT SLC COUNCIL

Pedicabs were discussed at the SLC Council today.  It appears that the new ordinance will be approved based on discussion by Councilmembers.   The reason for requiring a license is due to concern that pedicab drivers should know the rules of the road.  The City should not be liable for accidents if the ordinance is written correctly.

MAYOR MCADAMS TALKS HOMELESS, NOT PUTTING CRIMINALS IN JAIL

Mayor McAdams discussed his homeless plan (on downloads) today to the City Council.  Several Councilmembers expressed concern about the size of 250 bed facilities but that is to provide an efficient range of services (cost effective).  The plan will get vigorous public engagement but concern was expressed that the Council should be more involved in this and there was doubt that the Council will be able to defend the site selections when they come out (next month?).   Salt Lake County provides about $20 million for homeless services; Utah provides about $20 million and charities provide about $10 million on homeless services.  Mayor McAdams agreed that this is a public safety and health crisis.  One third of the homeless population are homeless due to needing to get medical care and that cost them out of renting an apartment.  30% have cycled through jail.  Mayor McAdams called it his homes not jail program (pay for success).  It would use $11 million in private funding.

Note that there are some complaints that homeless are bumping low income applicants (on waiting lists)

at facilities like Wasatch Manor.  This should be discussed before that course of action.

DOG PARK, 60 FOOT OFFICE TOWER AND EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT UBER

Sugar House Community Council heard specific plans for the Fairmont Park dog park.  Kristen Riker, Director of SLC Parks heard feedback that the small dog portion should be smaller than the big dog portion to allow more room for big dogs to catch thrown balls and frisbees.   She said that she would work with Millcreek Fidos to consider a $15,000 water feature (with sewer connection) for the dog park. The group also heard Craig Mecham discuss his 60 foot tower project on Highland (west of the Wilmington light).  Concerns about torturous traffic increases and lack of appropriate parking were significant.  He said that the sidewalk would be the same width as the previous sidewalk (wide).  But to use/provide a private drive between his project and Sugarmont Drive would require making a street connection between Elm (at McClelland) to Highland and a three way light at Wilmington. Traffic torture, nightmare or another reason to avoid Sugar House?  Your choice.

Uber also discussed their program in Salt Lake City.  Due to some drivers leaving after just a month, there are an average of about 2000 Uber drivers that can be active on a day.  Sunday is the worst day and can result in surge pricing due to the number of drivers that don't work on Sundays.  The drivers are paid every Monday.  Drivers keep 75% of their fees and cash tips are allowed (but seem to be discouraged.  The average drivers in the U.S. drive about 10 hours a week.  One airport ride to Jackson Hole Wyoming cost $500 (which the family actually enjoyed).  The minimum fare is $5.50 and

.95/mile.  Between 10pm and 2am, there are an average of about 8000 rides!  This shows that SLC needs a better mass transit system that does not stop at 8 or 9 pm.

TREES VRS POWERLINES HAS DEVELOPER INTEREST

Regarding the power lines being attacked by mutant tall trees:  I was told that Boulder Ventures volunteered to bury the power lines from over the trees.  But are they going to dig up the trees to put the power lines under!?

AUGUST 11

LAUGHABLY DUMB SLC IDEA OF THE YEAR?

DON'T PLANT BIG TREES UNDER POWER LINES!

If anyone wants a big laugh about how dumb government can be, take a trip up to Sugarmont Drive (just south of the S-line) and east of 900 East.  The previous administration of Ralph Becker (maybe in coordination with UTA), planted supposedly small trees under the power lines along Sugarmont Drive.  The trees are fast growing poplars that will soon overwhelm the power lines!  Although the administration contended (last year) that the power lines will be buried before the trees get big, it seems to be too late.  Someone responsible for plantings on the Parleys Trail seems to be clueless about poplars.  At least it is good for a laugh.

CONSPIRACY FIGHT FOR FACEBOOK

The recent complaints by Mayor McAdams about too many tax credits and not enough water to build a West Jordan Facebook data center seem to hide some facts.  The Mayor has actually helped stop water from being efficiently used in his efforts (and SLC's efforts) to control the watershed in much of Northern Utah.  Many water managers who have an overabundance of water rights (and water) are not allowed to sell their rights and, because of that, the water is essentially wasted into empty fields or full rivers.  Data centers have needed, in the past, plenty of water.  But in the last few years, the new systems have needed much less water and cooling efforts.  The sugested 5 million gallons a year is a very high, almost impossible amount needed.  My guess, as a former engineer, is a new data center would need less than a million gallons a year.

When other big projects with questionable tax credits are suggested, the Mayor has endorsed those tax credits.  I have questioned unreasonable tax credits in the recent past, but one should look at the map of West Jordan and where this proposed data center is to built.  It is essentially in the middle of nowhere with just a few commercial facilities.  It looks like it won't get built up for at least 20 years!  So a 20 year tax credit to offset the significant increase in value if a Facebook data center is built NOW, does not sound unreasonable.  Looking 20 years in the possible future of the area, it looks like a a big win and will provide a lot more in the next 25 years than if it were not built.  And if it is built, the adjacent land will not just develop but superdevelop!  Taxpayers will be better off if development is encouraged in an area that, at present, won't develop for 20 plus years.  That is the reasoning that justifies this project.

But there is another thought about Mayor McAdams complaint about the Facebook project.  There is a rumour that another city wanted the data center and is trying to sabotage West Jordan's efforts in order to get the data center for themselves.  The rumour says that Mayor McAdams is supporting the other city's efforts.  

STATE STREET MOTELS TRY TO EVADE CRIME FIGHTING EFFORTS

At last night's meeting of the Liberty Wells Community Council, there were many complaints about the State Street motels and some of the criminal elements that seem to be expanding into neighboring residential areas.  Complaints about shootings, obvious prostitution marketing, open defecation, homeless camping in alleys, drug sales and threatening behavior by strangers in these areas were discussed. 

The Salt Lake City Police (and SLC Mayor's rep) said that they are not able to arrest anyone for less than drug dealing due to jail overcrowding.  (Please email the County Council and Mayor - emails at the right - and demand that more jail space be opened to put criminals in jail for more than a few hours.)  They can write citations but only the local Community Intelligence Officer for the District can work with County Health and SLC Zoning Enforcement to find solutions (due to many of the new police officers not having the experience to handle those complications).  The SLC Police and SLC have tried to shut down the State Street motels but they are having problems that start with owners relicensing their businesses under another name and other legal complications.  SLC is asking the City attorneys to find a way to stop the businesses that seem to be attracting and encouraging criminal activity.  The Skyline Inn, in contrast, is working with the police to stop the criminal activity.  More jail space is necessary (see my oped in sltrib.com and below) but we have to convince the County Council and Mayor to provide it.

There were also complaints about the homeless visiting the low income apartment buildings that were provided by homeless services for an individual or family.  The complaints said that their homeless friends came by and stayed in the area and camped out in alleyways.  SLC Police will not usually respond to homeless in the area calls.  In our area, when we had the problem, we said we had a prowler (in progress is the magic phrase to get police action) and the police quickly came and caught the homeless (that were using our yard for "services") who were in the alleyway.  They were talked into moving to another area.  The police do try to help.  Just remember the magic words "prowler" (not homeless) and in progress speeds up things to higher priority.  Just remember to not cry wolf.  Use sparingly.

Salt Lake City is planning on focusing on upgrading the State Street area (along with Ball Park and 9th South and 9th West and NorthWest Quadrant) in a new CDA (used to be Redevelopment Area).  This plan should also address the crime issues in the area.  The downloads page has an RDA crime report that is interesting.  These SLC efforts are another reason to start attending your local community council meetings.  There is more information below.

There is a new proposal for a project on 2100 South and 200 East that will convert 9 lots into a new development that will replace some of the problem buildings (with many crime reports).  The nearby residents are also hoping that this project will change the character of the neighborhood for the better.

PLANNING COMMISSION DESTROYS QUIET NEIGHBORHOOD 

APPROVES AUTO REPAIR BUSINESS ACROSS FROM SCHOOL

The Salt Lake City Planning Commission unanimously approved the Liberty Place 600 East project next to the 700 East S-line station.  During discussion, it was indicated that putting the back closer to the Parleys Trail just impacted "green space" and not parkland.  In addition, it was pointed out that the residents can buy a permit parking placard for $38 per year which should limit the parking problems.  The Commission did ask SLC Transportation to review the traffic situation in the area with the new project to ensure that impact is minimized.  But essentially, they approved the destruction of a quiet single family home neighborhood.  This makes the administration of Mayor Biskupski look bad.  Despite the developer's good reputation, this project makes him look bad.  The potential for providing an inviting and energetic development that encouraged walking, in my opinion, has gone out the window.

An important issue that Salt Lake City needs to address is allowing developers to build next to parkland.  Wilmington Gardens was built next to Hidden Hollow.  It is not hidden anymore.  A building that rises up high (35 feet for Liberty Place and 60 feet for Wilmington Gardens) adjacent to (literally a couple of feet!) the park destroys the park.  Email the SLC Council and Mayor (emails at right) and tell them to protect parkland and not give it away to developers.

The Planning Commission also approved extending the conditional use permit for a "minor auto repair business".  But the business is across from a school!  Is there anyone who thinks that an auto repair business should be located across from a school??!! This repair business is at 269-275 S. Glendale St. (District 2)

IMPORTANT DECISIONS MADE AT LOCAL COMMUNITY COUNCILS

I urge everyone to get involved in your local community council.  These councils provide a good forum for concerns to be addressed by the neighborhood and Salt Lake City sends City staff to ensure that complaints about the City are addressed.  Especially with the new efforts to find homeless solutions and how to combat crime near low cost motels, these councils need your participation.  Decisions are being made at these council meetings.  The list of these councils and the date that they meet are below. You can find your local community council and more information on the meetings by Googling SLCGOV.COM and community councils.   

COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEETINGS

COMMUNITY COUNCILS IN SLC

Central City                chair@ccnutah.org                        1st Wed

Greater Avenues       davealderman@hotmail.com    1st Wed

Rose Park                    blakeperez@hotmail.com           1st Wed

Sugar House               amybarry@xmission.com           1st Wed

Yalecrest                     lkpershing@gmail.com                1st Wed

Ball Park                      ballparkcc@gmail.com                 1st Thurs even months

Jordan Meadows       jimgoostrey@gmail.com              2nd Wed

Liberty Wells              lw.chair@lwccslc.org                    2nd Wed

East Central               ecchair@live.com                           2nd Thurs Qtrly, exec bd 4th Sat

Capitol Hill                         3rd Wed 

Downtown                  christian.harrison@gmail.com   3rd Wed

East Bench                  ebcc.chair@gmail.com                  3rd Wed

Glendale	sean@thecrosslands.net              3rd Wed
westpointe	erin@nwlarchitects.com              3rd Wed
Poplar Grove	poplargrovecouncil@gmail.com 4th Wed
Wasatch Hollow	ohmikedodd@comcast.net          4th Wed

Bonneville Hills         ellenred@comcast.net                  4th Thurs Jan, Apr, Jul Oc

East Liberty Pk          jason@jasonstevenson.net         4th Thurs

Fairpark                       brycewgarner@gmail.com          4th Thurs

Foothill/Sunnyside   laurelyoungrn@gmail.com         4th Thurs Jan, Apr, Jul, Oct

t

Sunnyside East          mattmnelson@gmail.com           qtrly

Trolley                          trolleybusinessdistrict@outlook.com    qtrly

AUGUST 9

SLC COUNCIL TO INCREASE TAXES 10%, 

TO CHANGE PARKING METER HOURS, 

FORCE CHARGING STATIONS, DECREASE AVAILABLE PARKING

SLC Council meeting Tuesday August 9 discussed forcing new buildings to provide up to 20% of their parking with charging station or infrastructure (conduits plus) to allow charging stations and Rocky Mountain Power transformers to work together.  I think that this will increase the cost of new buildings and effectively hurt affordable housing.  This so called feel good law will increase developer costs and actually decrease parking for everyone who does not drive an electric vehicle.  Note that only evehicles are allowed to park in charging station spaces.  We are still trying to increase parking requirements and the SLC Council has decided to go backwards.  Rocky Mountain Power will get several millions from ratepayers to help encourage the charging stations’ infrastructure.  The last time that this proposal came to the formal Council meeting, the Council decided to keep the public hearing open.  So before this can be implemented, the Council has to have another public hearing.  Please email the SLC Council with your opinion (emails at right).

The Salt Lake City Council also held a Truth in Taxation hearing that increased the tax levy (about 10%).  Only a few showed up and two complained about assessed values (SLCO Assessor responsibility). I complained about lack of public engagement.  Councilwoman Mendenhall pointed out that the tax hearing always happen at this time in August (implying that public is at fault).  I disagree.  If almost no one shows up, I believe that it is the fault of the government.  Either the citizens don't think government will listen or they don't understand the issues. I blame government.

The Council heard and discussed the issue of parking for more than 48 hours but at the urging of Erin Mendenhall, the Council declined to change from 48 hours.  Parking enforcement said that they put warning tickets after 48 hours (in the Avenues based on complaints) and tow after 48 hours later.  If you want more information, call SLC Parking Enforcement 801.535.6628.

The Council also discussed allowing the hours of operation for the parking meters to start earlier (to allow prepaying for regular hours) and decreasing the later time from 8 pm to 6 pm.  The Council staff will prepare a draft ordinance that could be considered in the near future

AUGUST 8

EASTBENCH/FOOTHILL COMPLAINTS ABOUT SKYLINE INN

(Downloads has an audio of the meeting - it is not great but it provides context)

During a contentious meeting at City Hall Monday August 8, many expressed frustration at the criminal actions that seem to have invaded their neighborhoods.  Many nearby residents complained that the Skyline Inn does not check IDs (they do) and do not require a credit card to check in.  The police insisted that the owners are actually cooperating with the police in contrast to many other problem motels in Salt Lake City that do not cooperate with police.  The owners have installed video cameras and worked closely with police to decrease problems.  Several businessmen and property owners offered to buy the Skyline Inn and upgrade the property in order to return it to a better character.

The owners insisted that they are trying to work with police but sometimes, their efforts are not recognized by the neighbors.  The owners are also upset that the Inn seems to be the center of some of the illegal activity in the area.

Councilman Charlie Luke hosted the meeting and Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall was also there due to the problem motels along State Street.  Several Ballpark and Liberty Wells Community Council members were also there due to concern about the State Street Motels.  Hopefully the new CDA for State Street will help.  Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall said that there would be a further meeting on State Street motels and issues on September 14.

Chief Brown was asked if more jail space would help keep the criminal element off the street, out of the motels and out of Rio Grande.  He said that jail is a deterrent and sometimes it provides the impetus for drug addicts to treat their drug and alcohol abuse.  It is not the only solution.  I contend that the only solution is to get the County Council and Mayor to open up the rest of Oxbow Jail (360 beds) to keep the threats to society, those who will kill people and cops without caring and the worst of the criminals off the street.  Please email the County Council and Mayor with your opinion (emails to the right).

RIO GRANDE SHOOTING DEEMED JUSTIFIED

District Attorney Sim Gill has found that the SLC Police shooting of a teenager, who was attacking a man in the Rio Grande area, was justified.  For those who missed the news last week (see below August 4), the area is now inundated with teens that seem to be controlling the spice/K2/meth drug trade.  These are teenagers and the DA seems to be saying that the teenager who was shot was part of this group that was selling those drugs.  I agree but I hope that SLC focuses some attention on the problem of teens in the area that are focused on illegal activity.  The bike patrols stop at 1 AM and the teens are still there selling spice.  I am not advocating locking up teens but they should be put in custody and returned to their parents immediately.

AUGUST 7

OPED IN SALT LAKE TRIBUNE

Rio Grande’s spice zombies and Fentanyl bring new challenges to homeless solutions

  In the next several weeks, Salt Lake County and City will be providing more specifics on solutions to the problems in the Rio Grande area. Many of the problems are caused by the visible drug dealing that attracts criminal elements. The homeless in the area are blamed for the situation but they also want a safer area without drugs and crime. The Salt Lake County jail houses about 300 homeless on an average day.  A significant percentage of the homeless cycle in and out of jail. Mayor McAdams is proposing to decrease the homeless in jail but many homeless deal drugs to help feed their drug habits and the jail

won’t usually keep them locked up for more than a few hours.

  The police are frustrated when they spend several hours arresting a dealer, only to have them standing

next to them four hours later laughing at the powerlessness of the police.  It is not just in the Rio Grande

area that drugs are a big problem. At the low cost motels on North Temple and State Street (and other areas), neighbors complain about the crime and obvious drug dealing. The drug problems are so bad that in one case, an illegal alien was arrested for drug dealing and deported four times but he keeps coming back! These are the real threats to society. The spice (K2) that they are selling create a neighborhood of zombie like people who are unable to be reasoned with and could attack anyone without any reason. Fentanyl is now being added to the heroin that is cheaply sold by the dealers. Police say that to kick a Fentanyl habit is much harder than heroin if not impossible. The police have caught hospital patients in gowns that are trying to buy drugs in the Rio Grande area! Needles are everywhere! That results in many more desperate drug addicts who do not care for anyone else’s safety. That is the real public safety issue.

  Unfortunately, the homeless committees that will provide solutions (and two SLC expansion sites next month) seem to be ignoring the most important issue, neighborhood safety first! If the drug dealers are not going to be kept locked up, no neighborhood will accept homeless expansion facilities. It also seems obvious that the quickest way to decrease crime and related problems in the Rio Grande area is to lock up the real criminal element and drug dealers for more than a few hours. That would require providing more beds in the Salt Lake County Jail. The cost to continually arrest drug dealers and take them to jail for a few hours is many times more than the cost to keep them in jail for an extended period of time. Salt Lake County jail has about 2200 beds and the County spends over $76 million to operate the jail (plus support services).

  Although many say that we can’t arrest our way out of this problem, drug dealers should be in jail! Drug addicts should get drug abuse treatment but the success rates are abysmal, if the treatment is even available. Without healthcare expansion, drug addicts will continue to create a problem for society. Salt Lake City intends to spend over $5 million on the Rio Grande/Depot District in the next few years. But without getting the criminal element out of the area, it seems to be a misguided and wasteful plan. Many agree that the homeless that have not been convicted of any crime or not considered a risk to the community should not be in jail. But when the homeless sell drugs, or steal or shoplift regularly, they should be in jail! These are not victimless crimes!

  Everyone involved in the homeless solutions discussion should agree that neighborhood safety should be the number one priority. Until that is acknowledged, and the jails are expanded to hold the criminal element, homeless solutions will not be successful. 

AUGUST 5

DAVID LITVACK TO BE SLC HOMELESS CZAR

It was announced that David Litvack last week that David Litvack, the Deputy Chief of Staff of the

Mayor, will now be in charge of the homeless issues in SLC.  This reflects the importance that Mayor Biskupski attaches to this issue.  Hopefully the new Community Policing Center on 500 W./200S. will help some of the issues using the number of social workers that are part of the building services.

AUGUST 4

TEEN SPICE GANGS CONTROL RIO GRANDE AT NIGHT

  Several people have reported that teenagers seem to be in abundance in the Rio Grande neighborhood at night and they seem to be controlling the selling of spice/K2.  The result is an increase in “SPICE ZOMBIES” that are so zoned out that they attack without any provocation.  It can take five or more police officers to subdue individuals on this new version of spice.  There have been several high profile incidents of serious assaults by people high on spice in the area.

  Spyhop moved due to the deterioration in the public safety in the area.  Part of the problem, according

to the police, is they arrest drug dealers and they are back on the street in a few hours due to jail

overcrowding (see below).  But the big spice problem seems to be the control that the teenagers have in

the area.  The bike patrol ends at 1AM and when the officers are around, the dealers just go onto

TRAX!  The kids are still there after 1AM.  SLC Police need to enforce reasonable curfew ordinances.

  Interestingly, the police said that the day after the Police shooting of the teenager in the area (who was beating up a man), the kid’s friends were back the next night beating up the same man.  There seems to be a connection between the spice dealing, the teenagers in the area and the shooting incident.  The news media should force the DA and Police to release to the public the information that could (I believe will) show the relationship.

AUGUST 3

CRIMINALS LOOSE DUE TO LACK OF JAILSPACE

  Many of us are putting pressure on the County Council and County Mayor to reopen the rest of Oxbow Jail (about 180 beds of 560 are used).  The Sheriff’s office indicates that it will cost $5.6 million to start up the rest of the Oxbow pods.  Although it is a lot of money (plus the DA and other costs also increase), it is less than the time it takes to arrest the criminal threats to society (dealers and those that need SWAT), take them to jail and have to arrest them again within a couple of days.  Criminals that have 20 or more arrests should not be on the street!  THEY ARE THREATS TO SOCIETY!  The frustration of the SLC Police in the Rio Grande area is evident when they talk about arresting a dealer, take him to jail and he is back standing next to them four hours later and they are laughing about the powerlessness of the Police.  They can get their car back the next day!  Admittedly, many dealers are addicts but those also should not be released immediately since they enable the problem.  There should be consequences for drug dealers.

  When the police arrest illegal aliens (some are the bigger dealers), they are deported and back in the area within a few days.  In one case, the police have arrested a drug dealer four times (deported each time)! 

  The lack of jail space affects the issues around the low cost motels on North Temple and State Street (and Skyline Inn see below).  The North Temple area now is the number two drug dealing area.  The dealers work out of the motels that are rented by others and when the police can’t keep the dealers in jail, the problems multiply and the attraction of criminal elements is predictable.  Without more jail space, the problem for innocent adjacent residents and businesses will get worse.  Please email the County Council and Mayor and ask that all of Oxbow be opened (mayor@slco.org,

jwilson@slco.org,rsnelgrove@slco.org,jbradley@slco.org,arbradshaw@slco.org,mhjensen@slco.org,ane wton@slco.org,sgranato@slco.org,sldebry@slco.org,mburdick@slco.org). 

  Interestingly, when the Mayor was pressed on opening up more jail space and keeping dealers locked up, he said that he would surprise us with an announcement in two weeks!  He insisted several times that he couldn’t divulge the “surprise”!  I guess this is his way of telling us that public decisions are being made in private.  As I said in the recent Sltrib oped, good decisions die behind closed doors.

  The Mayor seems to be pushing for his Pay for Success program (using jail bond money) to keep

people out of jail.  About 300 homeless are in jail on an average night.

  There was an interesting complaint during the recent Pioneer Park Coalition meeting.  One business owner said that he has talked to several homeless who said that they came to Utah because they heard on national news that Utah has solved 90% of the homeless problem!  The business owner was worried that if the homeless solutions succeed, it may attract more homeless.

AUGUST 2

SKYLINE INN PROBLEMS TRACED TO LACK OF JAILSPACE

  On Monday August 8, Charlie Luke is hosting a meeting at the City Council offices (451 S. State) to discuss the complaints about the Skyline Inn on Foothill and 1700 S.  The problems seem to be similar to the lack of jail space that don’t keep the problem elements and threats to society locked up.  Innocent owners are inundated with people renting rooms and then allowing “friends” to use the facilities for criminal activities.  I know that the owners have tried to work with police.  I know people visiting relatives in the East Bench area that have stayed there.  The recent problems appear to be caused by not being able to keep the criminal element in jail.  I encourage everyone interested in this or affected by this to email the County Council and Mayor (above) and demand that there be an expansion of jail space.

AUGUST 1

SALT LAKE CITY SHOULD NOT BE GIVING PARKLAND TO DEVELOPERS

  On August 10 at 530 PM at the SLC City Hall 451 S. State rm 326, the Planning Commission will consider a project on the Parleys Trail/S-Line that I believe will destroy any chance of making the Trail a go to destination.  The project is Dan Lofgren’s Cowboy Partners Liberty Place Townhomes between the S-Line and Wilmington and 600 East to about 670 East.  The townhomes will destroy the potential for restaurants, stores and other public facilities that could encourage walkability.  The new Sugar House Streetcar Corridor Plan implements standards that encourage ground floor facilities that encourage walkability.

  This area on the Parleys Trail should be the cornerstone of a potential world class walkable area but instead it will essentially be a wall of nonpublic residential units!  Instead of developing the Parleys Trail/S-Line into something that could attract local residents, Utahns and tourists, like the San Antonio River Walk, we will end up with developers putting in private homes that destroy the walkability of the Trail.

  The developer wants to also bring the buildings closer to the Trail (from 10 feet setback to 8 feet) and

increase the height to 35 feet.  The 70 townhomes will have only 79 parking stalls which will overwhelm

the adjacent single family home neighborhood with cars and traffic.  At the same time this developer is

destroying the neighborhood peace and quiet, he is destroying the potential for the Trail.

  Please email Planning Commission to comment on this project (maryann.pickering@slcgov.com 801 5357660).  The case number is PLNSUB2016-00427.  You should also email Councilwoman Lisa Adams at lisa.adams@slcgov.com and complain about giving parkland to developers.  Salt Lake City needs to pass an ordinance that requires all ground floors of new buildings to be engaging to the public with stores and restaurants, in other words, SLC should encourage walkability.

JULY 31

SLCO COUNCIL WILL DISCUSS HOMELESS, WATERSHED AND OPENING OXBOW ON TUESDAY AT 115PM

Note that on Tuesday, the SLCO Council will discuss some important issues at their weekly meeting

starting at around 115PM.  Call in comments are allowed at the beginning of the meeting and if you are

interested, you should google slco.org and council agendas and committee of the whole.  Regular

comments can also be made at the 4PM meeting but the work session/Committee of the Whole is where

work is done.

JULY 30

IS UTA UTAH’S EVIL EMPIRE?

Over the last few weeks, UTA has decided to spend over a hundred million for projects without identifying the funding source.  The airport TRAX that is caused by the SLC Airport’s eye catching but expensive flying rail design that will service the new airport terminal.  That terminal rebuild is paid for by airport passenger fees and UTA should not be forcing Utah taxpayers to pay for this project.  Airport passenger fees should.

The Provo BRT is being pushed, despite the fact that funding from the Federal Government is not assured.  Some even contended that the funding has already been started, that they have received funding for the project.  That is not true. 

The new $55 million plus bus garage is being built mainly with local funds that could be used for

expansion of neighborhood bus service

Those projects’ starts fly in the face of the audits from 2012 and 2014 that specifically warned against starting projects without finding the complete funding source which needs to include operations, maintenance and state of good repair.  UTA contends that they are implementing the audit recommendations.  These decisions question whether UTA is really following the audit recommendations.  Several years ago, service on neighborhood buses was cut up to 30% (UTA contends that it was only 5%) and restoring a robust neighborhood bus system should be a priority before starting any new projects (also part of the audit recommendations).

The issue of UTA forcing taxpayers to pay for projects without a vote of the public is going to come to a head when the other counties that have approved Prop One will start projects (like the South Davis BRT) that Salt Lake County taxpayers will be forced to finish at a big expense.  Utah County expects to have a bond approved within a year and it could be used to pay for the Provo BRT and possibly other high priority projects like the Lehi to Draper TRAX.  SLCO taxpayers will have to find over a billion dollars to finish their portion of the project.

All of these issues will cause UTA’s trustworthiness to be questioned.  Some have recently called UTA the evil empire.  I hope that UTA starts listening to the public and restores trust before the reputation of evil empire becomes commonplace.

Note also that UTA will start replacing rails.  The 700 South rails on the curve need to be replaced next

year and the cost will take away from potential service expansion.

Note that UTA, again, does not know how to successfully operate a BRT.

UTA NEEDS TO FIND $61 MILLION TO PAY FOR BIKE LANES!!!!

UTA just got a $20 million grant from the Federal Government that requires a $61 million match from local funds to build bike paths, bike lanes and bike share systems.  I am bothered that we are forced to pay $61 million out of our valuable taxpayer funds, that should be used for increasing neighborhood bus service, on bike lanes, bike share and pedestrian issues.  No matter how important the projects, mass transit service needs to increase!  

And why didn't we get a chance to argue against this so called free money that required a 66% local taxpayer match?  UTA seems to be doing things in secret again and throwing trust out the window

UTA does not know how to operate a BRT. We got into this issue last UTA Board meeting.  The 3500 S. BRT does not work. 3200 passengers a day when it should have 5000-10000, the lights on the fixed guideways don't work, the traffic lights sometimes cycle through 3 times before letting the BRT bus through and saving 15 minutes out of an hour and 10 minute trip is not a success.

Provo thinks that BRT will lead to development.  Board members insisted that Magna developed due to the BRT!  Most successful BRT developments are outside the USA.  This is more than a gamble.  This flies in the face of the audit that recommended not spending money on projects until all of the funding for the project and operating funding and SGR is identified.  Wishful thinking is not good enough for identification of funding.

This is just going to make UTA look more like the evil empire.  Not my words but many that I talk to

think UTA is the evil empire.

JULY 29

UTA GRILLED BY SLCO COUNCIL DEBT REVIEW COMMITTEE

On Wednesday, UTA gave a presentation to the Salt Lake County Debt Review Committee (presentation on the downloads page) that tried to answer the County Council’s questions on UTA issues. UTA debt payments significantly increase in a few years and their interest payments increase 4 times in 2021.  UTA still keeps pushing projects and bicycling instead of mass transit service.  When UTA was asked about the projects that Davis County is starting that would force Salt Lake County to pay tens of millions to complete the projects, Jerry Benson said that UTA is still working on how the projects would be paid for.  Worst case scenario is Utah County will force Salt Lake County to pay billions for a Lehi to Draper TRAX system that is questionable but that Provo, Orem and Lehi insist are important for development.

SLC WATER POLICE OVERREACH QUESTIONED

The Utah Quality Growth Commission had a hearing Thursday morning and there were several people who testified about the problems with Salt Lake City effectively controlling 25% of the State of Utah due to their status as a first class city that has authority over watershed.  There are now three first class cities in Utah and several more will soon join the list and each could have the same authority.  The Legislature needs to step in and reign in Salt Lake City’s overreach.  KSL/Deseret News did a good story on the issue.  SLC will come back next month with a presentation with their case.  The big issue that seems to be coming to a head is if SLC does not provide a good reason for their actions, the Commission may recommend to the Legislature that the law be changed to provide a fair resolution that allows all of the first class cities to work together on watershed management.  There is also the issue that although one can swim in Deer Creek which provides a lot of drinking water to SLC, people cannot even dangle their toes in canyon streams without getting a ticket.  The Utah Supreme Court has clearly ruled that Utah waterways are available for Utahns' recreation so SLC actions seem to be outrageous.  Landowners in canyons that SLC has control of (through protection of the watershed authority) complained that the City enforcement give tickets that are questionable.  In one case, a landowner got 39 tickets and had 38 dismissed by going to court.  SLC contends that they have the authority to give tickets to anyone wading or crossing a canyon stream. 

The Legislature needs to step in if SLC does not provide a respectful and reasonable solution. The

Commission is supposed to give recommendations to the Legislature's Political Subdivisions Interim

Committee by November.  Several public comments asked that there be a clear law from the Utah

Legislature that brings some common sense to the use of canyons and stops what they see as overreach

by SLC.  They also asked that Utah retain control of the canyons and not give any more authority to the

Federal Government through a National Conservation Area, Recreation Area or National Monument

(recommended by Mountain Accord).

FIREWORKS CELEBRATE THE MIRACLE OF THIS COUNTRY

Disappointed in Physicians for a Healthy Environment.   They want to ban fireworks from most of the month of July and limit their use to two days.  Fireworks celebrate this Country.  When the fireworks go off, everyone looks up as an American and for a fleeting moment, our differences can disappear.  It’s worth it.  Some point to the study that said that air pollution went through the roof when fireworks in Ogden two years ago were set off.  The DAQ trailer that monitors air pollution was parked next to the fireworks’ launch site.  So using that study as a reason to ban fireworks is nuts.  In the summer the problem is usually ozone not the particulates that fireworks leave in the atmosphere.  And the particulates are generally high enough that they dissipate quickly.  When Kyle LaMalfa tried to convince the Poplar Grove Community Council to back his efforts to ban fireworks on the 4th of July, they refused. 

If the Physicians for a Healthy Environment really wanted to do something about pollution in the Wasatch Front, they should try to close the Layton Burn Plant that burns a nonhomogenous waste stream and pollutes with really dangerous chemicals.  They could also try to close Kennecott which also provides a lot of pollution and MagCorp, both of which provide a lot of the industrial pollution in this valley.

This Country is a miracle and it deserves more than one day of celebration.  Fireworks are not the big

problem.  We need to spend money on intelligent traffic lights that will really help decrease pollution.

JULY 26

Sugar House walkability is being destroyed due to unwalkable projects

Developers in Salt Lake City are allowed to develop property without any consideration of walkability.  Block long car lots, large apartment buildings and non public buildings discourage walkability.  In Sugar House, the battle for walkability is raging.   Instead of any property on the streetcar line/Parleys Trail that provides all ground floor levels to have access to the Trail and have something to engage the public like stores or restaurants, only apartments are being proposed.  Sugar House could develop the Trail into a destination like San Antonio's River Walk.

There is potential for popularizing the Parleys Trail increases with restaurants, shops and other

facilities that encourage visiting (and using the streetcar) on the ground floor that fronts the Trail.

The recently passed Sugar House Streetcar Corridor Plan was supposed to encourage ground floor public facilities but developers seem to be ignoring it.   Although SLC does not have an ordinance that requires it, it should have one.  If you want to encourage walkability, block long apartments (or car lots) are not the way to build.

JULY 24

SLC Council gets schooled on impact fee

It turns out that transportation infrastructure can use impact fees to ensure that facilities maintain the

LOS!

"New development can only be charged for the proportionate cost of the new facilities that maintain the LOS"

"Transportation

We do not have the financing component included at this point. Analysis assumes impact fees and general fund revenues will pay for proposed facilities."  

Check out the Impact Fees Presentation for the SLC Council on the downloads page.

JULY 23

UTA ignores 2014 Legislative audit and starts projects without identifying funding sources.

Despite the fact that UTA said that they were implementing all of the recommendations of the 2014 audit, in the last month, UTA has started work on the airport TRAX reconfiguration (a design that is fanciful and extremely costly instead of being utilitarian - a reconfiguration required due to airport passenger fees redesigning the terminal) and the Provo BRT.  Utah County Commissioner Ellertson said that FTA/DOT had given money already for the BRT so it is almost a guarantee that federal funds will continue.  That statement is not true.  FTA said that the only funds that were given to UTA and Provo were for the Provo TOD, not a BRT!  The audit quote below is very clear, UTA is ignoring the audit requirements.

"In our 2012 audit report, we recommended that UTA identify reliable revenue sources for future transit projects’ capital and O&M costs before construction is initiated. This recommendation, with the addition of identifying SGR, costs remains important." (from UTA 2014 Audit)

"Perhaps one lesson of the recent rail expansion is that funds must be reserved to operate a robust bus

system that supports the rail system."

Another issue is the TODs that UTA still keeps approving by giving property worth tens of millions in return for a portion (5%) of the project.  As the 2014 audit pointed out, UTA is not guaranteed a return.  Again, other cities lease excess property to developers to guarantee a return.  Call or email your Legislator and insist that the Legislature have a hearing on projects going forward without funding sources and for TOD projects that don't guarantee a return on big investments.

From the audit"

"we recommend that the UTA Board of Trustees require all written agreements on development projects be subject to an external independent review before they are signed.  The independent review should determine whether the agreements are commercially reasonable, fair to all parties, and in the best interests of UTA, based on established laws and policies."

"Bangerter Station

In our opinion, the Operating Agreement raises several concerns for UTA and its significant investment in the project. While there certainly is the potential for a return to UTA on its investment, that nonguaranteed return is at the end of a long line of prior contingencies and guaranteed payouts to Associates. The Operating Agreement gives the impression that UTA is acting more as a funding source rather than a partner in the project. UTA is given very little say in the project itself, but has numerous financial burdens that it is required to meet. On balance, the Operating Agreement seems tipped significantly in favor of Associates with most of the financial responsibility and risk falling squarely upon UTA."

JULY 21 SLC WALKABILITY AND PARKING ORDINANCES NEEDED

NEW ON DOWNLOADS:  GRAND BOULEVARDS, 

SUGAR HOUSE CIRCULATION PLAN (DRAFT AND FINAL), 

1300 E. BIKE LANES

ON DOWNLOADS

The Salt Lake City Council needs to pass ordinances to ensure walkability and engagement of pedestrians.  Sugar House is getting many apartments and residential buildings that deter walkability.  One of the reasons why Sugar House became a famous as a walkable community (almost a village) is because of the many stores that lined the sidewalk that had windows with their products.  Unfortunately, SLC has ignored their policy to encourage mixed use and allowed these antiwalkable buildings and projects to develop.  Who wants to walk past a block of apartment buildings?  Where is the engagement with pedestrians.  SLC owes its citizens an ordinance that encourages walkability and puts their policy of mixed use into law.  The parking ordinances also need updating and the Council said that they would revisit the ordinance last December, after passing a minimal update to parking requirements.  The Sugar House and Downtown Parking Study is going to be discussed at the August 9 SLC Council work session.  Although the firm that did the study is famous in the Nation for encouraging higher density and lower parking requirements, it should start a respectful discussion of parking in SLC.  Councilwoman Lisa Adams made a point during one work session that if there is not enough parking in Sugar House, people will drive to Fashion Place Mall and shop.  It would be nice to have a parking system that allows parking in a lot and walking around the neighborhood of shops for many hours without having to pay or pollute by moving the car.

The project on McClelland and Sugarmont has been scaled back to 85 feet but none of the units or facilities is open to the public and for about 385 units, there are only about 450 spaces.  That means that Fairmont Park parking lot (with Boys and Girls Club) will have to provide the overflow that the developer, Boulder Ventures, is not providing.  It also means that the building will discourage walkability of Sugar House, further destroying the village concept that the community wants.

Another ordinance that is needed is a restructuring of the institutional zoning ordinance.  Recently, the

City gave three homes to Westminster University but now, Westminster can do anything that they want

with them.  The City no longer has a say in how they are used or developed.  Councilwoman Erin

Mendenhall asked that the Council revisit the issue a few months ago.

JULY 19 MILLER PARK TREES AND PLANTS DIE FROM NO IRRIGATION

In another catastrophe in Parks management, after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on Miller Park restoration and planting of new trees and bushes, SLC forgot to turn on the irrigation system and all of the plants have died.

JULY 19 SLC COUNCIL DISCUSSION OF HOMELESS, IMPACT FEES

The Salt Lake City Council discussed impact fees and their limitations.  Up to 10% of impact fees can be used by SLC Transportation to alleviate traffic problems/impacts from new projects.  Unfortunately, in Sugar House, many new developments are being planned that may be in the pipeline before impact fees are restored.  The fees could be used for traffic light improvements including intelligent traffic signals that determine, in real time, what light scheme will provide the least pollution.  The impact fees can also

be used for complete streets' sidewalk widening and bicycle paths/lanes.  SLC Transportation

determines the use and need.

During the Homeless Site Committee discussion (no sites selected yet), several Councilmembers expressed concern about the 250 bed concept that the Committee seems to be pushing.  The believe is that the 250 beds allow economy of scale and therefore can provide the services needed to successfully manage the residents.  Councilman Luke expressed concern about how to figure out how to fit 250 beds into an area.  Erin Mendenhall was asking how do we not concentrate homeless in an area again.  She also expressed concern about smoking and the smoke blowing into adjacent areas and yards.  James Rogers also expressed  concern about the 250 bed facilities.  There was also a question about how to work with Salt Lake County on the services that the Legislature is spending $4.5 million on.  Within a month, the Road Home should move the lineup for a bed into the old playground (since families have been moved to Midvale).  There should be more lighting in the Rio Grande area, more trash cans, more cleanup teams, walking patrols of police and the first portable toilet will become available within a week.  I agree that concentrating a large number of homeless or people who need significant abuse treatment or mental health treatment into one area will create problems.  I thought that the Council was pushing for more mixed income.

I have to give credit to Erin Mendenhall for finding $4.5 million in RDA funds for affordable housing

but how to implement an effective program is the problem and it will be difficult.

JULY 18 ANOTHER NON-MIXED USE SUGAR HOUSE APARTMENT BLDG!

Instead of mixed use to encourage walkability and engagement of pedestrians, Boulder Ventures has put forward another iteration of their Sugarmont Drive and McClelland Drive project with over 300 apartments and over 400 parking spaces.   Also the project will further exacerbate the parking situation and take away all extra parking at Fairmont Park.  The City Council is set to decide within a month or two about putting the requirements for mixed use ground floor into an ordinance.  The Council will also revisit the new Sugar House and Downtown Parking Study at their August 9 work session.

JULY 15 UTA GAMBLES ON FEDS FUNDING PROVO BRT

SUMMARY

UTA ignores Legislative audit and provides Provo BRT funding without guarantee that future Federal funds will come!

With 2 Trustees saying no, UTA started the process to spend up to $23 million and hope that the limitless Federal funds will come and pay UTA back for the Provo BRT.  I believe that UTA has never successfully operated a BRT, Fed. funds are less than guaranteed, a similar service can be provided at a tenth of the cost and the Legislative audit that recommended against it.  I put more information and the audit recommendation on georgechapman.net.  Email me at gechapman2@gmail.com for more info.  I urge everyone to email their Utah Legislator and express your opinion. 

UTA agrees to ignore Legislative audit and provides partial funding to move forward on the Provo BRT The money put forward could be as much as $23 million.  UTA would lose up to $5 million if Federal funding does not come.  The Federal Transportation Administration (Region 8 in Denver) has provided a letter that allows spending money before award of a grant with the understanding that if the grant comes, that money will be reimbursed.  UTA would be able to use the buses, garage and traffic infrastructure if the grant does not come. But $3 to $5 million would be lost.  If the funding is not provided now, the project could cost $5 million more.  Trustee Bartholomew asked for what that would cost in bus service.  Jerry Benson said that, using the example of 2 bus on 200 South, at 15 minute intervals, a bus route would cost $900,000 a year.

Several projects have started and grants have not been awarded (despite Mr. Blakesley saying he had no

knowledge of any).  The best example of the loss of a “sure” grant was the bus garage.  It, along with the

streetcar extension, lost the TIGER grant last year.

Trustee Millburn asked if the 3500 South BRT is successful (to respond to my contention that UTA does

not know how to operate a successful BRT).  Trustee Christensen said that it is successful and has led to

the development of Magna.  She uses it.  Jerry Benson said that it cut 15 minutes and that proves that it

is successful because that is what the riders wanted.

The 3500 S. BRT IS NOT SUCCESSFUL!  The ridership last year was 3200 riders a day.  A successful BRT would have over 5000 riders a day and preferably 10,000 riders.  If the BRT has to sit at a light for three light cycles to get through the intersection, it is not successful.  There is also talk that the light system does not work and there is a maintenance issue with the system.  I also want to point out that the mile long traffic backup by losing 2 lanes for the BRT is not what BRTs are supposed to do.  UTA does  not know how to successfully operate a BRT.

UTA’s attorney and experts expected that the referendum on the property issues with the cities could take up to 9 months if the Utah Supreme Court decides to take it on and the vote would be in November 2017.  There was also testimony that the BRT has already received funding so that would indicate that there is a 99% chance of the rest of the funding (given to a Utah County city).  When I checked with FTA, they indicated that the grant money that they have awarded was money for a TOD!!  It appears that the Board was given incorrect information.

If anyone protests applications at the FTA/DOT, that application goes to the bottom of the

pile.  Federally funded projects require “broad public support” Bishop Burton said (during his

testimony at Wednesday’s Transportation Legislative Committee hearing) that the Federal funds are

drying up.  What that means is that a protest at FTA/DOT will significantly decrease the chance of a

grant!

The Mayor of Orem said that he wanted this to go through because it would save money in the long run.  But to really save money, an enhanced bus would provide the same service as a BRT for a tenth of the cost.  The Mayor of Provo said that a survey supported the project.  But when the options are 15 minute BRT service or 30-60 minute bus service, the results are questionable.  The mayors seem to want this project since they believe that it will help development of the area.  The best example usually used to justify BRT development successes are in South Korea and Brazil.  We are in America and even with a BRT, cars make our economy, our families and our Country more efficient.  When they can get us to our destination in a third of the time that the best mass transit system, we will use cars.

The UTA Legislative Audit from 2012, recommended: “1. We recommend that UTA identify reliable revenue sources for future transit projects’ capital and O&M costs before construction is initiated.”   It also said: “We question if UTA should begin other large capital projects when future budgets appear to be tight. It is essential that UTA ensure that it has adequate levels of revenue for future transit projects’ capital and O&M expenses before construction is initiated. Otherwise, UTA may find itself unable to satisfactorily operate the costly systems that it has built. (Pg 25-26)

But UTA’s Board of Trustee voted to approve funding the BRT project anyway.  Note that they also approved the airport TRAX extension without assurance that they would identify and get the funds to pay for the TRAX reconfiguration.

I pointed out that efforts by Davis County and Utah County to start projects that would obligate Salt Lake County taxpayers to pay billions for projects that they haven’t voted on.  That will decrease UTA trust and create hate and discontent.  UTA isn’t just the most hated entity in our County, it is considered by many to be Utah’s evil empire.

July 14 Provo BRT at risk of stopping

UTA was blasted at Interim Transportation by Rep. Anderegg for a potentially wasteful BRT that runs

next to deserted buildings.  Interestingly enough, the Provo BRT might die Friday July 15 at the special

UTA Board meeting to make up the lack of Federal funding.  It is a little complicated but UTA wants to

commit funding to the project without a guarantee of future Federal funding.

UTA will have a Board of Trustees meeting Friday, tomorrow, at 1 pm at SLC HQ next to FrontRunner

station (200 S.) to consider advancing funds for the Provo BRT.  See attached pdf for specific info.

PROVO BRT AT RISK!!!! IF BOARD DOES NOT APPROVE TAKING A CHANCE THAT

FEDERAL FUNDS WILL COME.

Due to the late notice (one day to comment online 5 pm deadline today while meeting was noticed yesterday), the only way to comment is to show up and comment at the meeting or have someone show up there and speak for you.

The risk of no Federal funds is high because the DOT says that usually there are many more times applications than what is available.  Most important, projects for Federal funding require "broad public support".   That is how we successfully fought the Sugar House streetcar extension.  I believe that the Provo BRT proposal is similarly controversial and if protested at FTA/DOT, it may not receive Federal dollars.

I urge you to find someone to show up at the meeting and express your opinion.

Again, the Provo BRT is at risk and will not proceed if the Board does not agree to go out on a limb and

start funding without a funding source (something the audit warned about).

George Chapman 8018677071

This is from UTA website.  The attached pdf is from the UTA website.

Item: UTA providing advance funding to the Provo-Orem TRIP project

Background: Non-UTA funding sources for the Provo-Orem BRT project have been delayed.  In order to keep the project on schedule and within budget, staff is requesting that UTA capital funds be used for UTA portions of the work until Utah County bond proceeds and FTA grant funds are available for reimbursement

The two paragraphs above are from the UTA website and the download of the specifics of desperately

needed funding to keep the BRT on track are on the downloads page.

July 12

My questions for UTA after going through the Comprehensive Annual Report and Audit (on downloads page)

Retirement pensions are a significant issue and won't be up to date/fully funded until 2033.  The biggest

problem for UTA is interest rate payments for debt will go from about $11 million a year to over $50

million a year in 2021 

UTA's staff indicates that they are looking at Uber/Lyft for part of the first/last mile plan along with

bike share. 

The question on the airport TRAX needs to be framed as: what will be the impact on expansion of

service?

UTA Board did set a goal of three TODs this next year.

The Board is reflecting the wishes of the majority of governments in their areas that also were part of the WFRC and that is why the priority is 6% service increase and up to 44% projects.  That is what many municipalities want in the belief that it will help development.

 My questions are based on the RTP 10-30 year plan with $11 billion in questionable rail projects and

the 2015 CAFR and audit.

QUESTIONS FOR UTA REGARDING TAX REVENUE EXPENDITURES

1 - What projects (rail, BRT, TOD, garages) are UTA priority for the next 5 years and their

cost/obligation to taxpayers?   Unless otherwise advised, the RTP list is their priority.

2 - Will the other projects that have high priority and supposedly have an "agreement" (via the agreed

upon RTP transit list attached) be higher priority than bus expansion?

(When Jerry Benson said that the airport TRAX realignment was already agreed to, it was agreed to in

the RTP (attached).  But other projects in the RTP that may be understood to be "agreed to" include

$11 billion in projects that some may consider questionable.  If these projects are built, according to the

RTP, bus and TRAX span of service will only increase 6%.)

3 - What is the amount that will be used for neighborhood bus service expansion? (asked for by County Council)?  Trustee Keith Bartholomew asked what effect the TRAX airport realignment would have on bus service.  Jerry Benson answered, carefully, "existing bus service would not be affected".  What will be the effect on expansion of bus service with UTA paying for the airport TRAX realignment (at $4.3 million and the total of almost $100 million - the original RTP had a cost of $55 million but that was before the extra terminal redesign)?  How will UTA decide which Utah taxpayers, in the Utah counties, will pay for the TRAX realignment (and other big multi-county projects like Lehi TRAX and South Davis BRT?

4 - How can UTA protect funds and land given to private developers to ensure appropriate

compensation (until property is leased versus given for a percentage of project profit, if any)?

5 - Will UTA ensure that there is a vigorous debate and public hearing if UTA funds bikeshare and bike

trails?

6 - The Mountain Accord will have what effect on expanding bus service?

7 - Will UTA ensure that all Federal grant applications are no longer secret to ensure that everyone has

a chance to consider the plans before they are a done deal?

8 - Will UTA compare new projects service proposals cost with similar bus service (15 minute service cost for project versus 15 minute bus service cost)?  Recent studies show that there is no difference with popularity of rail versus bus when service levels are the same.  Much of the sales job has been promising 5 minute service by BRT/rail when bus is only half hour frequency.  

9 - Up to 8 TODs are authorized by the Legislature for UTA (SB51).  Will UTA lease the property that

UTA owns and use the money for expansion of neighborhood bus service?  Why are TOD contracts

being discussed in secret?

10 - What will be the effect of the cost of funding the Depot District Service Center on neighborhood bus

service expansion?  (An approved funding plan is in process.)

11 - Will rail and BRT routes be considered for rezoning to much higher density as in Sugar House?

12 - With over $2 billion in bonds, did the 2015 bond sales tax revenue bonds for the purpose of

refunding previously issued debt result in more available project funds?

13 - What are the pension obligations of UTA that the auditors were unable to provide assurance

on?  What will be the effect if the pension obligations are not fully funded until 2033?

14 - What are the implications of the steep increase in debt service beginning in 2017?

15 - What is the value of property that UTA plans to use for TODs?  What is the potential value of leases

versus 5% of the projects?  What guarantee is there that the TOD projects will make money?  What is

the value of property that UTA intends to sell? (UTA sold 37.5 acres in 2015 for $5.6 million.)

16 - The 2015 cost of $32.8 million on major strategic projects (including the Depot District facility and

several BRT routes have what effect on expanding neighborhood bus service (cost benefit analysis)?

17 - What is the cost benefit analysis of expending $9.3 million on IT ($7.8 million in 2014 on IT)?

18 - What was the cost of the added service to 12 bus routes, TRAX and the S-line in 2015 (with increased frequency and extended hours of service)?  What will be expended this year on service expansion?

19 - Does the FAREPAY card system contract allow for low fare on off peak hours now (in order to qualify for Federal CMAQ funding)?  What is the percentage of FAREPAY customers versus cash paying customers?  CAFR says 20,000 FAREPAY customers but it is meaningless without cash customers comparison.

20 - What is the investment portfolio's value that provided $2.9 million in 2014?

21 -  What is the $75 million in construction in progress?

22 - What projects did the Federal government fund with the $12,599,212 in 2015?

23 - The 5600 West BRT proposal is at what stage of planning?

Note: Original draft Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) had enhanced bus projects (1.5 million per mile that functions much like BRT without the separate lanes).  The RTP morphed into much more expensive projects like $15 million/mile BRTs and $75 million/mile light rail.  County Council should go through the list and confirm that these projects which take away from neighborhood bus service expansion are appropriate projects and outweigh using the money for neighborhood bus service expansion.

"While increasing the amount of transit service is important, just as important to transit riders is that the bus or train arrives on time."!!!!!!  This quote is in the UTA CAFR but studies show frequency and span of service is much more important (unless the bus/train is 20+ minutes late or  5 minutes early).

July 11

Downloads have Sugar House Parking Study

July 13 Utah Legislature has several important hearing on UTA and projects

The Utah Legislature Interim Transportation Committee will meet at 8:30 AM on Wednesday in Rm 210 of the Senate Building to hear UTA and WFRC discuss their long range plans.  There will also be a discussion on the Mountain Accord.

In addition, in the afternoon, another discussion on Grand Boulevards will take place in the Business

and Labor Committee at about 230 in rm 210 in the Senate Building  and the Public Utilities will discuss

the grid proposal to have California manage Utah power generation and discourage coal power.

JULY 8 

QUESTIONS FOR UTA REGARDING TAX REVENUE EXPENDITURES

Downloads has UTA Comprehensive Annual Report 

Retirement pensions are a significant issue and won't be up to date/fully funded until 2033.

The RTP transit list and summary on downloads gives the 6% for service answer.

UTA's staff indicates that they are looking at Uber/Lyft for part of the first/last mile plan along with

bike share.

The question on the airport TRAX needs to be framed as: what will be the impact on expansion of

service?

UTA Board did set a goal of three TODs this next year.

The Board is reflecting the wishes of the majority of governments in their areas that also were part of the WFRC and that is why the priority is 6% service increase and up to 44% projects.  That is what many municipalities want in the belief that it will help development.

My questions are based on the RTP 10-30 year plan with $11 billion in questionable rail projects and the 2015 CAFR and audit.

1 - What projects (rail, BRT, TOD, garages) are UTA priority for the next 5 years and their

cost/obligation to taxpayers?   Unless otherwise advised, the RTP list is their priority.

2 - Will the other projects that have high priority and supposedly have an "agreement" (via the agreed

upon RTP transit list attached) be higher priority than bus expansion?

(When Jerry Benson said that the airport TRAX realignment was already agreed to, it was agreed to in

the RTP (attached).  But other projects in the RTP that may be understood to be "agreed to" include

$11 billion in projects that some may consider questionable.  If these projects are built, according to the

RTP, bus and TRAX span of service will only increase 6%.)

3 - What is the amount that will be used for neighborhood bus service expansion? (asked for by County Council)?  Trustee Keith Bartholomew asked what effect the TRAX airport realignment would have on bus service.  Jerry Benson answered, carefully, "existing bus service would not be affected".  What will be the effect on expansion of bus service with UTA paying for the airport TRAX realignment (at $4.3 million and the total of almost $100 million - the original RTP had a cost of $55 million but that was before the extra terminal redesign)?  How will UTA decide which Utah taxpayers, in the Utah counties, will pay for the TRAX realignment (and other big multi-county projects like Lehi TRAX and South Davis BRT?

4 - How can UTA protect funds and land given to private developers to ensure appropriate compensation (until property is leased versus given for a percentage of project profit, if any)?

5 - Will UTA ensure that there is a vigorous debate and public hearing if UTA funds bikeshare and bike

trails?

6 - The Mountain Accord will have what effect on expanding bus service?

7 - Will UTA ensure that all Federal grant applications are no longer secret to ensure that everyone has

a chance to consider the plans before they are a done deal?

8 - Will UTA compare new projects service proposals cost with similar bus service (15 minute service cost for project versus 15 minute bus service cost)?  Recent studies show that there is no difference with popularity of rail versus bus when service levels are the same.  Much of the sales job has been promising 5 minute service by BRT/rail when bus is only half hour frequency. 

9 - Up to 8 TODs are authorized by the Legislature for UTA (SB51).  Will UTA lease the property that

UTA owns and use the money for expansion of neighborhood bus service?  Why are TOD contracts

being discussed in secret?

10 - What will be the effect of the cost of funding the Depot District Service Center on neighborhood bus

service expansion?  (An approved funding plan is in process.)

11 - Will rail and BRT routes be considered for rezoning to much higher density as in Sugar House?

12 - With over $2 billion in bonds, did the 2015 bond sales tax revenue bonds for the purpose of

refunding previously issued debt result in more available project funds?

13 - What are the pension obligations of UTA that the auditors were unable to provide assurance

on?  What will be the effect if the pension obligations are not fully funded until 2033?

14 - What are the implications of the steep increase in debt service beginning in 2017?

15 - What is the value of property that UTA plans to use for TODs?  What is the potential value of leases

versus 5% of the projects?  What guarantee is there that the TOD projects will make money?  What is

the value of property that UTA intends to sell? (UTA sold 37.5 acres in 2015 for $5.6 million.)

16 - The 2015 cost of $32.8 million on major strategic projects (including the Depot District facility and

several BRT routes have what effect on expanding neighborhood bus service (cost benefit analysis)?

17 - What is the cost benefit analysis of expending $9.3 million on IT ($7.8 million in 2014 on IT)?

18 - What was the cost of the added service to 12 bus routes, TRAX and the S-line in 2015 (with increased frequency and extended hours of service)?  What will be expended this year on service expansion?

19 - Does the FAREPAY card system contract allow for low fare on off peak hours now (in order to qualify for Federal CMAQ funding)?  What is the percentage of FAREPAY customers versus cash paying customers?  CAFR says 20,000 FAREPAY customers but it is meaningless without cash customers comparison.

20 - What is the investment portfolio's value that provided $2.9 million in 2014?

21 -  What is the $75 million in construction in progress?

22 - What projects did the Federal government fund with the $12,599,212 in 2015?

23 - The 5600 West BRT proposal is at what stage of planning?

When will SLC parking become realistic?

The Sugar House Community Council recently met with Mayor Biskupski and many of her senior
staff. Discussions included the streetcar, traffic, 10 story buildings and sewer issues in the area. Another
big concern was parking. The issue is so important that Salt Lake City has drafted a Downtown and	t r
Sugar House Parking Study to be presented to the City Council in August. The study has found tha
many of the parking problems in Sugar House come from the many different entities that control o
have parking in the area. It also shows that there are areas that have issues with lack of parking.

  Although it was pointed out during the meeting that one of the nearby lots was almost empty, the residents still complained about the lack of reasonable parking standards in Salt Lake City. City Councilwoman Lisa Adams admitted that there are parking issues that include no parking requirements on the recently rezoned 700 East and 2100 South area. She hoped that the parking study will help in the discussion and further action by the City Council.

  Many nearby residents are upset because of overflow from filled parking lots that end up in singlefamily home neighborhoods. Some blame the City for not enforcing a reasonable public parking rate at the Vue on 2100 South and Highland Drive. It was changed to a minimum parking charge of $10 after the Vue residents complained that they didn’t have enough parking when the public used the underground lot. But Salt Lake City paid the developer to provide a level of public parking in the project!

  Dan Lofgren of Cowboy Partners, which constructed the Liberty Village on McClelland just south of 2100 South, said that his lot is not full when he checks it at 4 AM. But residents near his other proposed project, on Wilmington and 640 East, say that the issue isn’t who is parking at 4 AM. It is where will guests park. The issue is made more critical because there is no parking at the streetcar stations. It becomes even worse for nearby residents when a project charges for parking, like the new project just approved for 2100 South and 1000 East. The $50 a month parking charge will encourage residents with more than one car to park in the nearby residential areas.

  The SLC Council doubled parking requirements for projects in December from .5 per unit to 1 per unit. Some of the pressure to increase parking was the recent fight over the 9th and 9th project with only a quarter of an off street parking spot per unit. That was due to the old standard passed in 2013 that allowed on street parking to count for parking requirements, even in areas with no available parking like the Avenues. The Council indicated that they would revisit the parking standards to fine tune the regulations as needed. But the recent approval of the high density buildings without parking standards for Sugar House was surprising and a big concern for residents nearby.  And the parking maximums of 1.5 per unit have not changed, even after developers asked for exceptions.

  The residents near projects that may not have enough parking have been told to consider parking permit areas. But to force residents to pay for inadequate City planning and standards seems to be an insult. Salt Lake City needs to revisit its lack of reasonable parking standards that are respectful of nearby residents and businesses. Mixed use buildings that encourage walkability should be encouraged and they need more parking without parking limits. When parking was free without a time limit, people could park in Sugar House and walk around the stores and patronize restaurants without driving more.

  Counting on street parking should not be allowed. SRO parking standards should be doubled from one half space per unit. The Sugar House Streetcar Corridor parking standards need to be reinstated. And parking for residents should not require a fee that encourages parking extra vehicles in adjacent home and business areas. Salt Lake City parking standards need to become realistic

This is a short rewrite of our oped that you published last February

No greater love than the sacrifice of a cop

  Law enforcement officers go to work every day willing to take a bullet for us. This week, five officers in Dallas died while they were protecting the lives of Americans protesting police. The sad irony of their deaths while protecting those that were protesting police actions should be recognized by everyone. Police die everyday protecting, serving and sacrificing for their fellow men and women, even those that hate the police.

Law enforcement officers live everyday with the kind of love that is willing to sacrifice for others and to die if necessary. The Greek word for it is agape. It means the greatest love. That kind of love is rare. The important point, always brought up, is we will never be able to thank our police and their families enough for the sacrifices they have made. They deserve recognition, respect and support.

  The officers that were killed in Dallas are just like every other officer that wears a badge. They are all

willing to take a bullet for us. That point should be remembered every time that you meet a cop. When

you see an officer, remember the sacrifice that they face everyday; and thank them for their service.

George Chapman, Craig Carter

UTA dreams may turn into taxpayer nightmares

Summary: UTA recently approved plans to start designing and paying for the Salt Lake Airport TRAX
reconfiguration. The $65 million plus reconfiguration is needed due to the airport rebuild project.
Airport passenger fees are being used to build that $2.6 billion project. Why aren’t airport passenger
fees being used to pay for the airport TRAX reconfiguration? The airport TRAX was just completed
four years ago with taxpayer money. Why do taxpayers have to pay again for the project when th	e
airport has $2.6 billion in its construction budget?

  Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski recently asked for and received approval from the UTA Board of Trustees to spend $4.3 million to start designing the TRAX reconfiguration required by the airport rebuild project. The rebuild project, paid for by airport passenger fees, will eventually cost $2.6 billion. The Mayor promised to help find the funding to pay for the UTA project that will eventually cost over $65 million. 

  During discussion of the project, UTA staff said that the UTA project had already been agreed to. The Wasatch Front Regional Council (WFRC), a group of elected officials from various municipalities around the Wasatch Front, had approved the proposed plans in the Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) last year. It was one of over 50 transit projects, costing billions, listed in the Plan. Those projects included several Salt Lake City new rail lines (that the Salt Lake City Council recently agreed to consider), a tunnel and rail system up the Cottonwood Canyons and a high speed rail station at the airport. The deliberations and vote to approve the plans came with little notice and public feedback. 

  Before agreeing to start the design and build the airport TRAX reconfiguration, the Board of Trustees asked the staff what the effect of spending the money on the project would have on bus service. The staff said that “there would be no effect on existing bus service”. But the argument during the public comment period was that expansion of bus service would be affected. If UTA spends taxpayer funds on a new big construction project that may reach $100 million, expansion of neighborhood bus service would be impacted. The Legislative audit from several years ago recommended that no new big projects be attempted by UTA until a robust bus system is restored (it was cut 30% in order to build all of the rail lines). The audit also recommended that no new projects be started without identifying funding for those projects. 

  Some of the questions that have recently been asked include: Is the WFRC estimate for service expansion of 6% compared to as much as 44% for new projects appropriate, realistic and respectful of taxpayers? Will future projects compare similar service levels instead of assuming that buses will only be every half hour and rail will be every 10 minutes? Will UTA stop keeping Federal grant applications secret until they are awarded to stop any public overview? What projects (rail, BRTs, TODs, garages) are UTA priorities for the next 5 years and their cost/obligation to taxpayers?   Will UTA follow the RTP list that is over 10 billion dollars? Will UTA start leasing property to developers instead of donating it for a percentage of the project which may never be profitable? Will all Utah taxpayers pay for the airport TRAX reconfiguration or just Salt Lake County taxpayers? The biggest question is why not use airport passenger fees for the TRAX reconfiguration? The FAA allows at least a portion to be used for airport rail and transportation systems. Will the Legislature change Utah law to allow the fees

to be used for “fixed guideway projects”? 

  The Utah Legislature Transportation Interim Committee will discuss UTA and WFRC long term planning on Wednesday, July 13 at 8:30 AM in Room 210 of the Senate Building. Hopefully, many of the questions that have recently been raised will be discussed and a vigorous debate will take place that provides a more open book to UTA projects and planning. 

July 5

SLC Mayor meets with Sugar House Community Council

Mayor Biskupski only talked for less than a minute before she asked for questions.  She spent the rest of the hour answering questions along with having her staff provide answers and contacts to follow up.  I was so impressed that I didn't ask any questions.

Parking was a big issue in the question and answer hour with the Mayor.   Lisa Adams admitted that the Council missed the fact that the new Sugar House Streetcar Corridor Plan dropped parking requirements for the highest density areas but then said that they were waiting for the Sugar House Parking Study.  I and many in the audience thought that was a cop out.  Lisa has been reminded that she insisted that parking requirements be increased during the discussion in December above the doubled requirements for parking in SLC.  But, despite specific complaints against minimal parking requirements, effectively creating a Brew ha ha situation in Sugar House, the Council still passed the rezones.  People need to write the City Council and insist on respectful parking requirements.

Downloads have Sugar House Parking Study

There were many concerns about 100 foot buildings and other higher density in Sugar House.  Planning

indicated that the zoning was in place already and was legal.

There was also a complaint about bicycles on the sidewalk.  For almost 10 minutes, a resident complained about bicycles on the sidewalks.  SLC has a no bikes on the sidewalk downtown but the ordinance does not make sense. Many tourists ride the Greenbikes on the sidewalks and SLC should not ticket tourists or anyone else safely riding a bike on sidewalks.  Bikes don't kill.  Cars kill.  The SLC Police should be fighting drug dealing and other victim crimes before even thinking of going after bicycles.

June 30

Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall was reminded that during the discussion about turning over three homes to Westminster University on 1300 East, she insisted that the Council study institutional zoning issues since the City cannot tell Westminster how to do anything with those homes once they are in their institutional zone.  This is an important issue that needs a better discussion and solution.

JUNE 22

SLC PLANNING COMMISSION APPROVED 60 FOOT APARTMENT BUILDING ON 2100 S. AND 1000 E. AT JUNE 22 MEETING

The proposal to build the apartments is contentious in the neighborhood.  The project will only have 1.2

parking spots per unit and require $50 a month parking.  It will result in nearby residential

neighborhoods absorbing the parking and traffic overflow.  The building is also not mixed use, just

apartments which discourages walkability in the Sugar House area (8 ft sidewalks and 60 ft wall next to

them also discourages walkability.

This is another project in the super gentrification of Sugar House.  Unfortunately, the Sugar House

Community Council refused to vote on supporting or against the proposal. 

JUNE 22

UTA gave away Utah taxpayer money to SLC airport from bus service expansion 

Comments may be made to the UTA Board at BOARDOFTRUSTEES@RIDEUTA.COM.

For three years, we have been trying to get UTA and the SLC Airport to ask the Legislature to change Utah  Code Section 72-10-215 that does not allow airport passenger fees to be used for "fixed guideway" projects.  Both the SLC airport and UTA have refused to pursue the change.

UTA volunteered to SLC 6 months ago to do the $55-100 million airport TRAX configuration, implying that they have the money.  That money will come out of neighborhood bus service expansion.  I believe that UTA should not be cannibalizing bus service expansion with a project that was caused by the SLC airport. 

SLCO taxpayers already paid for the airport TRAX and we shouldn't have to pay again.  The airport is doing the project and they should use the airport passenger fees to build the new transit center.  It may be questionable for a few months whether airport passenger fees can be used for the rail itself but the big expense is the new transit center which (since 2009) can use airport passenger fees.  FAA is in the process of liberalizing the rules and they should, in the near future, allow for using airport passenger fees for the full project.

The meeting that could result in this taxpayer funded $55-100 million project is Wednesday at 3

PM.  The $4.3 million plus budget amendment is just the start of the project.  The Regional

Transportation Plan from the WFRC.org lists it as a $55 million project but that was before the extra $700+ million was found by the airport to increase the terminal redesign area.  It deserves to be publicized and receive a good, vigorous and thorough discussion by the public.  Comments may be made to the UTA Board at BOARDOFTRUSTEES@RIDEUTA.COM.

SLC PLANNING COMMISSION IS SCHEDULED TO HEAR A PROPOSAL TO PUT A 60 FOOT APARTMENT BUILDING ON 2100 S. AND 1000 E. AT JUNE 22 MEETING

The proposal to build the apartments is contentious in the neighborhood.  The project will only have 1.2

parking spots per unit and require $50 a month parking.  It will result in nearby residential

neighborhoods absorbing the parking and traffic overflow.  The building is also not mixed use, just

apartments which discourages walkability in the Sugar House area (8 ft sidewalks and 60 ft wall next to

them also discourages walkability.

This is another project in the super gentrification of Sugar House.  Unfortunately, the Sugar House

Community Council refused to vote on supporting or against the proposal. 

Please send your comments to: Molly Robinson at 801 535 7261 or email to molly.robinson@slcgov.com The agenda from the website is:

2. Apartment building Conditional Building and Site Design Review at approximately 974 E 2100 S. - A request by John Gardiner for approval from the city for a new 126-unit multi-family apartment project. Specifically, the proposed development gross floor area (165,425 square feet) and building height (60 feet) requires additional consideration. In this zoning district (CSHBD2 Commercial Sugar House Business District), new construction of buildings that exceed 30 feet in height or 20,000 square feet in size are subject to the Planning Division’s Conditional Building and Site Design Review (CBSDR) process outlined in chapter 21A.59 of the Salt Lake City Zoning Ordinance. The subject property is within Council District 7, represented by Lisa Adams. (Staff contact: Molly Robinson at (801)535-7261 or molly.robinson@slcgov.com.) Case Number: PLCPCM2016-00299

SALT LAKE CITY COUNCIL JUNE 14 AGREES TO GIVE LARRY H. MILLER $22 MILLION

The SLC Council sitting as the RDA Board agreed to give the Larry H. Miller family/company a tax credit of $22 million for spending over $100 million on the JAZZ arena upgrades (if the assessed value and property tax increases). I and others fought against this and you should see more backlash and stories about it in the next few days. My biggest issue is, although the project is a respectfully financially conservative cost, the public were almost not told about it. Despite a secret briefing for the Council last week, the news was released on a Friday (Rule of Thumb – if you want the news buried, release it on a Friday) and seemed to be rushed through without any public discussion. Even the news thought that the meeting was going to be at 2 PM. It started at 1 PM.

Another complaint was, since I know all of the Councilmembers, they essentially did what my fellow Republicans did in the Legislature when they had a closed caucus meeting to discuss Healthy Utah (they insisted that they didn't vote on it). The Council insisted that their meeting and presentation about the issue did not have a vote. I think that the issue deserved more attention and discussion. Just like the issue of closing UTA meetings, it showed a serious disrespect for the citizens and for the news organizations that try to let us know about important issues.

SALT LAKE CITY DECIDES TO BOND FOR SPENDING MONEY ON SPECIAL LIGHTING

DISTRICTS

The Salt Lake City Council just approved moving to a bond for the areas that have specialty lighting.

There will be a slight increase for most residents but some in Tier 2 (SEE MAP AND TABLE ON DOWNLOADS PAGE) may see a big increase. The biggest increase will be in the expansion of the area downtown near the Hub district between 600 and 400 West and around 200 South. Unfortunately, this will effectively raise rates and although there will be a hearing for the bond, it essentially approves the rates. Unfortunately, the staff said that the residents and businesses affected were notified but only a few showed up. If you are in one of the specialty lighting districts, and you did not get notified about the hearing, call or email the City Council (numbers and email above) and tell them.

JUNE 7 SLC COUNCIL VOTES FOR SUPER GENTRIFICATION OF SUGAR HOUSE

The Salt Lake City Council decided, after 3 years of pushing from the former administration of Ralph

Becker, to allow much higher density in Sugar House around the TRAX line that is called the Sugar

House streetcar. The plan that was presented to the Council was almost the same as the one that the

Becker administration was pushing.

The three main differences were REMOVING PARKING REQUIREMENTS FOR THE HIGHEST DENSITY FB-SE AND FB-UN (LOWEST DENSITY), plans to work with UDOT to take away two lanes of traffic on 700 East and turn them into bike lanes and parking, adding an 800 East streetcar station (which will result in pressure to rezone and redevelop even more single family homes around 800 East), and pushing Green Street south of 21st S. south to Wilmington (removing the dead end).

The Council decided to amend the proposal to remove language that pushed Green Street to Wilmington, remove language that turned two lanes of traffic to bike lanes and parking on 700 East, remove language that recommended preparing the tennis courts of Fairmont Park for development and lowering the maximum height to 60 feet in the streetcar FB-SC core (with the height raised to 75 feet if 10% of the residences are reserved for low income housing). The effect will be like the 60 ft Liberty Village apartments between McClelland and 1000 East and Elm. The rents in the area are becoming almost three times the 2010 average rent for apartments in the area.

The parking requirements were argued against by several at the May 24th City Council meeting but the

Council ignored the pleas and passed the plan with the almost no parking requirements. Maryann Pickering, the planner shepherding the plan through, agreed that the new parking requirements were adopted and are now at FB-SC for all uses no spaces required, FB-SE for all uses 50% of required in table 21A.44.030 minimum requirements, and FB-UN for all uses no spaces required. If you think that parking and traffic is bad now, wait till developers implement the City Council's plan. Councilwoman Lisa Adams made the motion to accept the amended plan.

THE SUPER GENTRIFICATION OF SUGAR HOUSE

During a recent meeting of the Sugar House Community Council, several trustees complained about the destruction of the character of Sugar House. They asked “What happened to the village aspect of our plans?” A friend complained that Sugar House is destroyed. A couple of years ago, the Sugar House Community Council and Salt Lake City adopted a Circulation and Management Plan that was supposed to encourage the “village character” of Sugar House with buildings that were no bigger than three stories, encouraging small developments, more small streets on the ShopKo block and wider sidewalks. One result was the closing of the right hand turn lane from 2100 South to Highland Drive and the building of a pedestrian plaza.

Recent project proposals for the Sugar House area seem to drive the nails into the coffin that was Sugar House village. Boulder Ventures is proposing a ten story building half a block from single-family homes. Craig Mecham is proposing a high rise on Highland that will be offices. A proposal for 150 apartments on 2100 South at 1000 East is also being proposed. A project on 900 East with a couple of hundred apartments was recently turned down by the Planning Commission. These proposals join the high rise already constructed Vue at Highland and 2100 South and Liberty Village on McClelland. The result of all of these high rises will be making walking through the neighborhood like walking in canyons of concrete and steel. The views of the mountains and even sunlight will be hard to come by. I don’t think that we need any more Sugar House skyscrapers.

The rents on these new projects are almost three times the regular rents of apartments in the area ($600) although Liberty Village has a few low income set aside apartments. When rents increase that much with new construction, it hurts the shops and residents that create the character of an area. Some have pointed out that increasing rents in an area is a form of elder abuse. Salt Lake City Councilman Stan Penfold recently expressed concern that all this new construction may be driving out the local small businesses that we should be protecting. Ironically, Stan Penfold was chair of the SLC RDA that encouraged much of the new development in Sugar House.

The other problem with large scale development is the increase in traffic and lack of sufficient parking. Salt Lake City gave Craig Mecham millions to provide one level of public parking (at a $10 minimum cost) and when it was enforced, nearby parking lots started limiting parking to two hours. Even the Post Office on 1100 East implemented paid parking! Previously, shoppers to the area would park and be able to walk to the shops and restaurants and spend four or five hours enjoying Sugar House. That pollution saving action is no longer available in Sugar House. Even parking at the Sugar House Sprague library is limited to two hours. A library should be more welcoming and not limit meetings and reading to two hours. The librarians have to park underground almost a block away. When parking was removed for the Monument Plaza construction, it was not replaced and many businesses went under, especially the many art businesses and artists in the nearby buildings. Businesses nearby with their parking lots had to start enforcing their customer only policies due to the lack of parking in the area.

If the proposals for new construction become reality, Sugar House will have to spend the next 5 years under construction. Walkability and parking will get even worse. Nearby single-family home residents will have to endure the construction workers parking. Parking will get even worse on completion due to Salt Lake City’s questionable parking requirements. In 2013, Salt Lake City implemented a parking limitation ordinance that discouraged cars and required just one half parking space per unit. On street parking could also count for parking requirements. The Salt Lake City Council late last year doubled the requirement for parking but also indicated that it may need to increase further. Until reasonable parking standards for projects are implemented, new projects will create parking and traffic problems wherever they are built. Reasonable requirements should address maximum occupancy for the neighborhood when considering traffic and parking impacts.

Development in Sugar House has claimed many great neighborhood businesses. Last year, Fats Grill, a regular Best of City Weekly winner, closed and the building was demolished. Losing these kinds of businesses destroys the character of the neighborhood. But it is just the start of the process that could eventually destroy many single-family home areas in Sugar House. Salt Lake City just rezoned areas near the Sugar House rail line to 75 feet tall around 700 East. The plan is called the Sugar House Streetcar Corridor Master Plan. It generally limits construction to 45 feet but allows some buildings to go to 75 feet (if 10% of units are affordable). The goal is increased residential and commercial density. The plan is also claimed to protect adjacent single-family home neighborhoods. But the lack of appropriate parking standards will impact residential neighborhoods and the increased traffic will hurt residential character.

What happened to our Sugar House village character? It has become the super gentrification of Sugar

House.

(a version of this was published in the Deseret News)

SUGAR HOUSE COMMUNITY COUNCIL HEARS 2ND DRAFT OF 900 E. 20TH S RENTALS (Project failed at the Planning Commission)

The Sugar House Community Council heard the new draft plan to rezone the area south of Ramona and 900 E. to higher density which requires a change to the Master Plan.  Most people, all but a couple were against any increase in parking and traffic issues which will negatively impact the already overburdened streets of 900 East and 21st South and single-family home neighborhoods around the area.  The new draft plan removes the vehicle outlet onto Ramona but adds a vehicle outlet onto Windsor to 21st.  They plan on about 1.2 parking spaces per unit.  Please email the City Council with your opinion on the new draft.  Google Fiber also gave a handout and presentation on its plans for SLC which may take a year to implement.

90 LOCAL RESIDENTS COMPLAIN ABOUT 900 E. PROJECT

(Project failed at the Planning Commission)

 A proposal to develop a higher density project on 900 E. at about 1940 S. that could result in 177+- units to replace an old and ugly area behind the single family homes in the neighborhoods was discussed at a well attended meeting on December 21 sponsored by the Sugar House Community Council.  Only one person in the audience approved of the project.  He had agreed to sell his property if the project was approved.

Cottonwood Partners is the developer who owns part of the property and has options on the rest.  It increases density 5 times and the single-family homeowners were concerned about increased parking and traffic problems and balconies overlooking adjacent homes. 

It requires a zoning change and a change to the Sugar House Master Plan.  The proposal is summarized

on the Sugar House Community Council website (Google it) and  download below and Judi Short, the

SHCC Chair of Planning and Zoning at judi.short@gmail.com will take your comments on the

project.  The SHCC will discuss and vote on project on Jan. 6 ( first Wednesday meeting) 7PM at

Sprague libary.

EAST BENCH MASTER PLAN,

21ST/21ST,

ADU,

HOMELESS PLANS

NEED COMMENTS

The East Bench Master Plan download is below.  You can comment on Open City Hall or to

Council.  These proposals need feedback and very few have provided input to the Council.  Council Luke asked for more public engagement and Planning indicated that around the end of January, they would try to have an open house on the 21st and 21st.  The ADU proposal is several items below.  Note that the CB districts in the Jan12 download below includes Sugar House and 21st/21st.

My comments on agenda items (these are important and you should send your comments to the City

Council and Mayor):

21ST/21ST: There is a strong preference FOR no higher density.  Only 2 in an attendance of hundreds were for change.

Protecting single-family home neighborhoods require ability to not increase traffic and parking problems and SLC does not have that ability.

I don't remember anyone suggesting that traffic lanes should be lost to bike lanes which is where this discussion seems to be going.

The difficulty in providing affordable housing was caused by SLC redevelopment in SH business district which tripled rents.

HOMELESS: Priorities should release a big building, single-story for homeless to sit in, drunk or not,

inside to get them away from the drug dealers and killing elements and into a place where they can be

counseled to consider a better situation than living on the sidewalks.

SELLING PROPERTY: Selling one property would give money for overtime for more police patrols.  We now have 130.  We used to have 180. Police want more overtime and it is the fastest way to put more cops on the street.

ADU: The ADU ordinance does not have enough public input.  The ordinance proposed is still too	.
cumbersome to encourage ADUs that do not create parking or traffic issues.  For instance 1300 E
cannot handle more traffic or parking and should not be allowed to have ADUs.  But if the ordinance
makes the cost to approve an ADU over $70,000, very few will take the plunge.
Detached are averaging over $90,000 and attached ADUs are averaging $40,000 with these standards

.

AIRPORT: Note that the airport terminal redevelopment does not take into consideration the TRAX

realignment that RTP says will cost SLC taxpayers $55 million.  Unless SLC gets the Legislature to

change the law to allow airport passenger fees to be used. 

The law now says that (a Delta deal) they can't be used for fixed guideway projects.  I would also

appreciate anything that you can do to remove/change the $8/minute telephones in the terminals.

BETTER NEIGHBORHOOD BUS SERVICE AVAILABLE NOW:  The $5.6 million sequestered for

the streetcar can now be used to negotiate with UTA for better SLC neighborhood bus service.

SALT LAKE COUNTY COUNCIL IS GOING TO PUT ZAP RELATED BOND ON BALLOT

The Salt Lake County Council intends to put a ZAP tax reconfiguration issue on the ballot in November 2016. The voters will decide if the ZAP tax can be used to pay for other bonds to get more money over the long term by borrowing for bigger projects. The Council will formally approve this in the summer but they have already committed to it. If voters approve it, the bond will be for about $75 million, of which 2/3 if for new projects and 1/3 is for upgrades and improvements to existing facilities.

Project applications were due by December 1, 2015. A citizens’ committee will be reviewing them over the next few months and making recommendations to the Council. The Council will then decide on the projects and notify voters what they will get if they approve the bond.  Here is the Council’s webpage about the bond:  http://www.slco.org/council/zap-bond/

SLC COUNCIL MEETING JAN 5

dog off leash packet page 92

Housing packet page 97

homeless packet page 99

ADU packet page 106

parking packet page 148 mentions SH parking authority

airport terminal packet page 169

housing report packet page 239

At the Council meeting, Councilman Luke asked for more public input on the 21st and 21st Plan and Nora/Planning said that they planned an open house around January 28.  The Airport Authority also said that UTA would pay for and build the airport TRAX reconfiguration!!!!  So the statements that UTA will devote themselves to service only and not projects is questionable.  UTA should not pay for TRAX reconfiguration at the airport since the need is created by the airport passenger fees being used for the Terminal reconstruction.  Utah law should change to allow and require that those fees pay for the reconfiguration.  SLCO taxpayers should not pay for this project!

ACCESSORY DWELLING UNITS ORDINANCE AND MAP CHANGING

Salt Lake City is in the process of changing their ADU ordinance that allows accessory dwelling units to be added to homes or basements or garages. The present ordinance was changed 2 years ago to encourage increasing density within 4 blocks of rail stations.  But no one took advantage of the new law.  So the map has been redrawn to allow most of the City and practically no one has commented on this.  All community councils should weigh in on the issue.  Michael.Maloy@slcgov.com at SLC Planning is drafting a new ordinance (download below) and citizens should review and comment on it.  ADUs were supposed to provide many more low rent housing units but a better and more respectful ordinance is needed.  Most of the concerns are our outdated and low parking requirements that could result in more parking and traffic problems.  There are solutions. There is also the problem of potentially increased noise but if the owners of the property live on the property, the problems should be minimal.  This is essentially an infill ordinance that should be important to everyone.  If the standards are too high, it will cost almost $100,000 to create an ADU (like now).  If the standards are too low or not respectful, adjacent homeowners may find that a new garage conversion overlooks their backyard and destroys their privacy.  PLEASE READ AND COMMENT.  Michael expects to have the new draft go to the Planning Commission in February.

The Nov 10 RDA meeting winnowed the project areas to two: the 9th and 9th W. and a State St. Ballpark Hybrid with a modified map (below).  A decision may be made in December.  You should be involved and provide comments and opinions to SLC Council on this issue.  There is also talk of accepting both areas for RDA expansion areas.  The benefit is the seed money from RDA will encourage development  in the areas.

THE SLC RDA DECIDES FINAL 2 EXPANSION AREAS

The SLC RDA has decided on the final 2 proposed expansion areas for Commercial Development Area

(CDA) that will be the focus of redevelopment for the next 10 plus years in Salt Lake City.  The 9th and

9th West area and the State Street area from 21st S. north to 600 S. and from approximately 200 W to 200 E. and including part of Ballpark area.  Only a few have commented to the RDA on this expansion and it needs more input.  Please consider giving your City Councilmember your opinion.  In my mind, this is a great way to restore the State Street area to a great mixed use commercial, walkable and living area.  Density will significantly increase and form based zoning would work well on State Street.

SUGAR HOUSE GRANITE 10 STORY BUILDING BUILDING DEBATE

SHCC will discuss this issue at Dec 2, Sprague Library 7pm meeting.

On Nov. 16, there was a large crowd that heard the developer's plans to build a 10 story building where the old Granite warehouses are in Sugar House.  Most were upset and concerned about the parking and traffic that it would cause.  The SLTRIB.com has a good story on it by Christopher Smart.  Planning sent a list of concerns to the developer and hopefully it will stop or stall the project.  Lisa Adams felt that it would move slowly and that the impact fee issue will be solved before they get permission to build.   The McClelland Trail would be put around the building instead of the 20+ feet wide path through the center as a paseo.  The Sugarmont path trail should be and can be protected and it can stop the south exit.  The SH circulation plan adopted does not allow/have another street connecting to Wilmington.  It was supposed to be Sugarmont.  The construction will destroy the car detailing company due to dust.  Construction parking is a requirement in planning and should be enforced.  Highland was supposed to have a road diet (I was against center turn lane) and the resulting two lane road cannot handle the new 1000+ cars a day. The south side needs to have enough space to allow fire ladder trucks to deploy without blocking trail.  I hope that this project dies.

Note that the Raccoon report is 65MB and the future agenda report is 49 MB.  You can download those

reports from the slcgov.com council website if interested.  I will try to separate out the important issues

for separate download.

ASSISTED LIVING CENTER INN BETWEEN PUBLIC HEARING

SLC Council assisted living facilities public comment lasts hours

  During Tuesday, November 17, Salt Lake City Council formal meeting, one of the items on the public hearing agenda was the new proposed Assisted Living Centers that was partly written to decrease the potential for expanding any facility. The problem became an issue when the Inn Between, a hospice for dying homeless, moved into the Guadalupe School building with 15 beds. 

  Some of the neighbors became upset at the effect on adjacent single-family homes. In particular, the cigarette smoke from Inn Between residents and visitors became problematic. Despite the need for compassionate end of life care of the homeless, until the Inn Between, there was no facility that gave the homeless a chance to die with some dignity instead of on the sidewalk or under a car (to get out of the rain or snow). The facility took years to become reality despite a desperate need.

  During discussion in the neighborhood earlier this year (at the Pioneer Precinct in Poplar Grove), many nearby residents expressed concern about the homeless in their neighborhood on their way to visit friends in the facility. The director promised to work with the neighbors.

  But during the City Council hearing, several of the residents, who are dying, expressed gratitude for being able to sleep in a bed for the last days of their life. The staff repeatedly told about those who already died in the facility instead of on the street. There were so many there that supported the Inn Between that the hearing took almost two hours.   The residents who spoke, who were terminally ill, created a compelling public hearing.  Listening to one who said that he had planned on dying under a car before the Inn Between took him in was powerful.  Other compelling testimony came from the director spending the last minutes of a person’s life trying to comfort him and the many failed attempts of social workers trying to place dying homeless in a bed over the last few years

  Just a few neighbors and the Ronald McDonald House (which just completed an expansion) expressed concern about the limits on expanding. Councilman Kyle LaMalfa (the Inn Between is in his district) summarized the issues before the Council. The proposed Assisted Living ordinance change would not stop or close the Inn Between. It would make it more difficult to expand. 

  He also explained that the problem is caused by the many pieces of property that are zoned institutional in Salt Lake City. They are schools or churches or religious institutions that don’t have the normal zoning rules. He also indicated, during previous discussions on the issue, that the residents, if in

the middle of a single-family home area, find it difficult to find public transportation to stores and other

facilities so that the residents don’t feel like prisoners. Future changes may encourage placing such

facilities nearer to stores and mass transportation.

DECEMBER 1 SLC COUNCIL MEETING BIKE PLAN 7PM

The December 1 SLC Council meeting will have a public hearing on the so called Pedestrian and Bicycle

Plan.  I am against the Plan because I believe that it ignores pedestrians (note that the old plan said Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan which was more accurate), it increase air pollution and congestion and it actually makes bicycling less safe.  I also think that it makes more sense to wait out of respect for the new City Council and Mayor.  A more in depth analysis is on the OPINIONS PAGE (CLICK ABOVE).

NOTE THAT THE LAST SLC COUNCIL MEETING OF THE YEAR WILL BE ON DEC. 8 AND

THERE WILL BE A RECEPTION FOR THE 2 COUNCILMEN LEAVING.

NOV 10 SLC COUNCIL MEETING/CANVASSER BD

SLCITY ELECTION FINAL IS AT 2PM AT SLC CITY HALL (4TH & STATE).

SLCOUNTY (PROP 1) IS AT SLCO (21ST & STATE) AT 4PM.

This week will have some of the most important meetings of the year.  The final vote results and certification of the ballots and count will occur at the Salt Lake City Council meeting as the Board of Canvassers at 2PM in the Council work session room on the third floor of the City Hall at 4th S. and State.  The results of the County issues, including the important up in the air Prop One and the pretty much decided townships votes, will be at the SL County Council meeting starting at 4 PM at the County North Bldg at 21st and State (actually closer to 20th and State).

Back to the SLC Council issues that they are going to have public hearings on: (after the Board of Canvassers meet at 2)

the Planning Director's report on Yalecrest (with interesting plan overview of buildings, structures)

which is worth a read if you are interested in planning,

the special lighting districts which could increase the special area lights (those lightposts in some areas)

cost to local area residents (even if you don't have one nearby) by 33-100+% due to an upgrade on part

of the system that went terribly over budget.  There is a tentative public hearing on December 1,

a discussion on the 68 unit apartments that are being built at 444 S. 900 E will include authorizing a

$750,000 loan.  54 units will be set aside as affordable housing,

a discussion on the seven story 274 unit apartment project at 616 S State which will be all affordable

housing,

a discussion on rezoning Indiana Avenue Neighborhood Node to residential mixed use,

at a tentative 4:15PM, they will discuss the bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan with a public hearing tentatively set for Dec 1.  Note that I disagree with the plan since it seems to ignore the pedestrian part of complete streets and does not increase sidewalk width.  I also think that green bikes, slower than 5mph, should be allowed on downtown sidewalks.  Tourists use these and should not be forced to ride in streets.  Barriers on sidewalks like planters interfere with this.  Just a couple of pages in this plan are discussing pedestrian issues and that is wrong.  Also the bicycle portion does not identify dangerous bicycle streets nor suggest areas where cycle tracks would be appropriate and not just nice.  Bicycle lanes and trails should be identified and suggested for appropriate improvement.  ADT of vehicles should be listed and LOS (level of service) intersections to ensure that air pollution is not increased by the suggested VMT vehicle miles traveled plan.  Adding a bicycle lane on a road with traffic approaching 20,000 ADT is not recommended since it will increase congestion and air pollution, as it did on 1300 S.  That should be part of this plan,

a discussion on City rental single family and apartment inspections,

a discussion on the Plan Salt Lake City with an additional public hearing tonight.

The Formal meeting of the SLC Council will include public hearings on:

 GRANT APPLICATIONS (including Ensign Peak trail reconstruction),

INDIANA AVENUE REZONE TO MIXED USE,

 PLAN SLC FINAL PUBLIC HEARING,

ASSISTED LIVING AND SIMILAR FACILITIES (Note that this is important and affects every neighborhood. Sugar House area has a proposal for a similar facility.  I am against facilities that are in areas that effectively make prisoners of the residents.  If there are no grocery stores and restaurants and mass transit or some way of allowing easy access to food and products outside of the facility, then the residents are effectively prisoners.  This ordinance says nothing about that.  In other words, the facility should not be in the middle of single-family homes.),

REQUIRING RECYCLING AT BUSINESSES AND APARTMENTS,

BUDGET AMENDMENT (that ignores the $5+ million sequestered for the SH streetcar extension

which should be used to negotiate with UTA for better late night service.),

CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM (another important issue that deserves more input, I would like to see requiring contributions older than one year given to charity and that bans any entity with more than $100,000 in contracts with the City from contributing anything to any PAC or candidate. ),

Towards the end of the Formal meeting, the Board of Canvassers/City Council will certify the election

results that will make everything official.  Note that the results will be reported at the beginning of the

2PM work session.

Downloads of some of the issues are ON THE FIRST HOME/DOWNLOADS PAGE.

NOVEMBER 1

WHY I URGE VOTING FOR JACKIE FOR MAYOR

I watched Mayor Becker fight the citizens and the Council for the last 7 years when we asked for more police patrols.  We had 180 patrols 10 years ago.  Now we have around 130.

I watched Mayor Becker order the Council to close golf courses or he would (Par 3 was closed without a

public hearing).  The golf issue came up because the Mayor charges parks three times more for water

than other surrounding municipalities.

For seven years, Mayor Becker has ignored the drug dealing and homeless issue downtown (and now on

North Temple) until the competition of the election.

In an attempt to tear down someone who he disagreed with, he called me a liar for passing out a flyer that I changed at his request to exactly what he wanted.  He sent out a “political letter” calling me a liar to people up to a mile away. The flyer recommended more public engagement regarding the Sugar House TRAX/streetcar while expressing my opinion against the TRAX extension.

Several years ago, an old homeless man was run down on fourth south on Thanksgiving Eve while carrying all of his belongings in a shopping cart.  When I suggested that he consider a storage system to encourage homeless to store their belongings, he told me to talk to someone else.

The lack of respect that the administration of Ralph Becker has shown is hurting Salt Lake City.  Jackie

Biskupski is respected by everyone that she works with, including Sheriff Winder.  Jackie listens and

respects everyone and will be a better and more respectful Mayor.

OCTOBER 30

For those that would like more information on meetings, Utah has set up a wonderful tool at pmn.utah.gov that requires all governments in Utah to post meetings and agendas.  You can get advance notice and emails regarding any Council that you want to know about.  It is an important tool and I urge you to sign up for the email notification that the website allows.  Note that you have to sign up and confirm with an acknowledgement on your email.

OCTOBER 29

WE STOPPED THE WASTEFUL AND DESTRUCTIVE TRAX/STREETCAR EXTENSION,

CITIZENS SHOULD ASK THE SLC COUNCIL FOR SERVICE

We protested the SLC/UTA effort and secret application to get Federal funding for the Sugar House streetcar extension that would have cost $15 million to go to the 21st S. and Highland Plaza.  The plan was to take it 2 blocks out of the direct line then back to the Plaza.  The project would have destroyed many of the small businesses (we felt) that make the area a special area.  So far the new developments have led to a lot of franchises but very few local businesses. 

The streetcar extension application, along with the UTA $55+ million bus garage project would have siphoned funding from service.  In addition, despite requiring broad public support, the administration and UTA worked together to keep the application secret.  This was an insult to the citizens of SLC and Salt Lake County. 

The City Council sequestered over $5 million to match the hoped for Federal funding.  The Salt Lake City Council should put the money into service by negotiating with UTA.  Bus service in the area, and in most of the UTA service area, stops at 830 PM.  The money would be perfect for helping restore a robust bus system.  But the City Council won’t unless you speak up and demand it.  $5 million would provide a year’s worth of later night service for 10+ bus routes that now stop at 830 PM.  Call the SLC Council at 801 535 7600, the 24 hour line.

OCTOBER 25

MICHAEL CLARA STOPS TICKETING THREATS TO HOMELESS PARENTS

Michael Clara deserves a big thank you for insisting that the SLC Police figure a way to NOT ticket parents at the Road Home homeless shelter that wanted to wait on the sidewalk for their children’s school bus.  He worked with Sgt. Cyr but the threat should never have happened.  The idea that the SLC Police should be ordered to ticket anyone on a sidewalk is ridiculous but it is happening in SLC.  The fault lies with Mayor Ralph Becker who ordered the questionable crackdown that caught up the homeless in the appropriate war on drug dealing.  Of course, now the drugs have moved to other areas including North Temple. 

Another note, if you see a groady and disturbingly dirty shopping cart at your local grocery store, it comes courtesy of the confiscation of those shopping carts by the SLC Police in their crackdown on quality of life issues.  I personally think that you should avoid questionable shopping carts when shopping.

I still find it incredible that the SLC Council and Mayor are ignoring the ability to expand the homeless

shelter area and get the homeless off the sidewalk by opening the Beehive Brick building that is just

south of the Road Home/Weigand Center.  Trying to develop a nice new building when there are

hundreds of homeless trying to find some peace on the sidewalks in the area seems to be a wasted

exercise.  RDA owns the building and should turn it into a homeless day center.  The list of RDA owned

property is on the download page.

SUGAR HOUSE COMMUNITY COUNCIL DISCUSSION ON 10 STORY BLDG

The Sugar House Community Council Planning and Zoning subcommittee will discuss the new Granite warehouse area 10  story building that is between Sugarmont and McClelland at the Sprague Library (just south of Barnes and Noble at 21st and Highland) basement on November 16, Monday, at 7 PM.  I believe that it is a bad idea since it increases density that could require a parking meter installation in the area, it is a couple of lots from single family homes, it destroys the area’s park with a high rise, it eliminates the promised center promenade and McClelland Trail and it is not what the community expected or wants.  I urge you to look at the downloads and comment to the SHCC. 

Unfortunately, without much public notice, the downtown streetcar was essentially approved in the

Enterprise SLC plan.

There is a problem with handicapped traversing parts of South Temple and any rail line (like TRAX)

especially downtown.  I put an oped that explained it on the opinion page.  SLC says that UTA is

responsible and I contend that we should work together to solve the issue.  People in wheelchairs and

walkers regularly fall on the TRAX tracks.

Please study the ADU and Parking downloads.  These are important issues that deserve more

attention.  The studies and proposals are on the downloads page.

I recently had a story on KSL about the inventor John Moses Browning.  Just Google me and KSL and you will get the story.  He changed the world even more than Philo T. Farnsworth, I believe.  I also did a story on Evans and Sutherland (Google KSL ) that showed that the company was 50 years ahead of its time.  Both good and interesting reads that I did with Natalie Crofts at KSL.

OCTOBER 6 SLC COUNCIL MEETING –

SUGAR HOUSE STREETCAR ZONING, SOUTH DAVIS BRT, HOMELESS, BREWPUBS,

REZONING WESTSIDE

Unfortunately, the Salt Lake City Council will be hearing some important issues during their meeting Tuesday. The issues include the Sugar House Streetcar Corridor Plan (3.6 MB download button on right below important phone numbers), the discussion on homeless (2.9 MB on right), brewpubs (2.8 MB on right), impact fees 1.1 MB on right), the South Davis Transit Study LPA 11.1 MB download), and the SLC Westside rezones (pg 34-459 of the 142 MB complete packet download that I decided would not help many on my website since it is about half of a 142 MB download).

SOUTH DAVIS BRT START OF PROJECT APPROVAL

The biggest issue that I have with the City Council agenda is that there is an agenda item to adopt the

South Davis Locally Preferred Alternative route for a BRT/enhanced bus system that could cost over $50 million BEFORE THE MASTER TRANSIT PLAN.  

But the last paragraph does say that the capital cost will come from the one cent transportation tax for public transportation.  Mayor Ralph Becker has said several times (on Rod Decker's Take Two - Google YouTube, Rod Decker Take Two and Mayoral debate) that the tax will be for service only.  That didn't make sense and he is either lying or doesn't know what they are talking about.  The last paragraph

SEEMS TO BE CALLING THE MAYOR OF SALT LAKE CITY A LIAR. 

Instead of using the $50 million for better service, UTA and Salt Lake City seem to be pushing projects instead of service as usual.  The downtown streetcar is also mentioned.  Each streetcar/TRAX project will cost local taxpayers $50 million and that money could be better used for better service.  In addition, the BRT concept is meant to provide a cheaper impetus to develop property near stations (instead of rail which is three times more expensive).  The single family homes along 400 West will be impacted with potential rezones and tax increases, and the Capitol Hill neighborhood will be inundated even more with

traffic trying to avoid the roads that include a bus lane.  If not planned right, congestion will significantly increase.  This is another reason to fight the proposed tax increase.

James Rogers, the sponsor of this agenda item should be commended for calling into question Ralph Becker's truthfulness.  This agenda item should be postponed until after the transit master plan that was agreed to almost a year ago (unless that was a way of forestalling public complaints about projects).  Only three people commented on this project so far and that should not result in spending $50 million dollars!

BREWPUBS INCREASED FLEXIBILITY

There will be a discussion of opening up more parts of the City to brewpubs with the proposal download on the right.  The work session will discuss it.

HOMELESS DISCUSSION

There will be an extensive discussion of the Rio Grande area crime and homeless issues.  The crime reports are interesting reading - again download almost 3 MB on the right.

SUGAR HOUSE STREETCAR CORRIDOR REZONE PROPOSAL 

At the work session, the much argued Sugar House Streetcar Corridor Rezone Proposal is to be discussed.  It significantly mitigates high rise encroachment on adjacent single family home areas but does not eliminate it.  I strongly recommend that area residents read through it and study the maps to ensure that their homes are not impacted.  Lisa Adams and the Council have been successfully fighting Mayor Becker's efforts to rezone single-family home areas to 105 ft tall buildings and to rezone open space to buildings.  Two years after the Mayor's first attempt, this proposal seems to be a better plan but please study and comment on it.

IMPACT FEE STUDY AND DISCUSSION

The Council work session will also include a continuing discussion on impact fees (download again on the right).

SEVERAL AREAS OF THE WESTSIDE OF SLC ARE BEING PROPOSED FOR REZONING

These areas are in general, part of the new Westside Master Plan but if you are interested in it, you should download the agenda item (which I couldn't comfortably separate since I didn't think anyone would read 400 pages of this rezone - note that this item takes up to half of the full agenda of the formal meeting from page 34 (renaming the Oxbow) to over page 400).

ADU GOES AROUND IN CIRCLES

September 23 SLC Planning Commission had a bit of a crisis when the Commission started throwing out motions and substitute motions.  The City had to consult with higher authority, a bigger and better attorney, to decide how to proceed.  The end result was that the ADU discussion is stopped at the Planning Commission and the decision will be made later on whether to pass it to the City Council. 

For those interested in the potential for State Street to be an RDA expansion area, I put a button to

download the Envision Utah study from a few years ago on the HOME PAGE.

SEPTEMBER 22 SALT LAKE CITY COUNCIL MEETING

The Council discussed ground transportation (on the right) and it was indicated that Salt Lake City's laws have to be rewritten to match Utah's new law. Also there was a discussion on the lack of ADA compliant vehicles and no study or questionnaire that could provide the exact number. 

There was also a discussion on the Transit Master Plan and the South Davis Corridor study that gave a locally preferred alternative route for a Bus Rapid Transit or similar type mass transit system. A fixed guideway system was discussed and the Council will have a public hearing on October 6 on the LPA route to go from HWY 89 to 400 West to downtown SLC. Most BRT or rapid transit buses are recommended to go on routes with the most developable property. But 300 West is the most developable street, not 400 West which has many single-family homes. Please let your City Council member know what you think. The report can be downloaded on the right.

The City Council also discussed Impact Fees (the report can be downloaded on the right.).

SLC PD RETURNING TO A BEAT SYSTEM IN OCTOBER

SLC PD has said that they will return to a beat system that allows police officers to patrol one area and neighborhood and become familiar with it.  Area residenrs will also get to know their lical patrol officer. This return to community policing should provide for more visible police in neighborhoods and a reduction in crime.  Most of the credit should go to the City Council who successfully fought against the administration's claim that we don't need more police.

HOUSING REPORT

A recent report on Salt Lake City Housing by Pam Perlich and Prof James Woods (downloads on the right) discussed the problems in Salt Lake City housing. It also strongly recommended distributed mixed income housing so that low income doesn't fill up a building.

RACCOON REMOVAL SERVICE SOON TO COME TO SALT LAKE COUNTY

SLCO has an interlocal agreement that sets up a USDA certified animal removal specialist (at $80,000 a year). The cost is to be shared by Midvale, Cottonwood Heights, Holladay, Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County. SLCO Animal Control Director Mike Reberg is creating city specific interlocal agreements and when they are complete, and signed, the new raccoon removal officer will start work. Salt Lake City's portion of the cost will be about $35,000. Raccoons infest a houses in Sugar House, Avenues, Liberty Wells and most community councils have this issue.

WINGPOINTE GOLF COURSE CLOSURE GIVEN NEGATIVE RECOMMENDATION BY PLANNING COMMISSION

Mayor Becker's attempt to close Wingpointe failed its first hurdle. The SLC Planning Commission is forwarding a negative recommendation to the City Council. Please call or email the Council with your opinion. The only green space coming into SLC is the golf course and preservation of open space is supposed to be a priority. The SLC administration has been trying to put buildings on open space for several years. The Mayor's proposal will put a parking lot where the golf course is. (Joni Mitchell once sang about this stuff.) Senator Mike Lee offered to intercede with the FAA (who the Mayor blames for the closure) but the SLC administration said that they wanted to close it. One of the reasons for the cost overruns of golf courses in Salt Lake City is water costs are three times higher than in other Utah cities and counties. Salt Lake City doesn't seem to appreciate green space. Add that to the fact that Ralph Becker cut hundreds of old trees in Miller Park because they were brought here by the Pioneers, should

stop anyone from saying that Ralph Becker is environmentally friendly. Please let your City

Councilmember know what you think.

RDA EXPANSION AREAS BEING DISCUSSED AT SALT LAKE CITY MONTHLY MEETINGS

SLC is looking at adding another area to RDA and the top areas are State Street, Ballpark and 9th and 9th. No one is commenting on this important issue which will lead to potentially hundreds of millions in building for the area chosen. Please tell the Council what you think.

The 25 MB SLC Police report on the RDA expansion areas is on the right along with the process report.

Salt Lake City RDA expansion possible for State Street, Ballpark or 900S/900W

  During a discussion on RDA new project areas, the Salt Lake City Council, sitting as the RDA Board, trimmed their list of possible expansion areas to three: State Street, Ballpark and 900S/900W. The Council discussed the potential for housing, the concern about gentrification, crime issues in the area, the potential developable area, mass transit access and the benefit to the City. The RDA is able to use various loan and tax incentives to encourage development that meets predefined priorities in the area.   One of the best examples of the success of RDA planning and development is the Sugar House area which has had several large scale mixed use projects. Although some have said that the projects were the result of the Sugar House streetcar, I can make a good argument that RDA should get the biggest credit. RDA, if properly administered, can be a big benefit to an area. The downside is the increase in density can create significant parking and traffic problems and rents can significantly rise and lead to unreasonable gentrification.

  SLC Police Chief Mike Brown reported on crime reports and the cause in each of the areas. In the Ballpark neighborhood, Wal-Mart at 1300 South and 300 West required 3892 hours of SLC Police time.

Chief Brown said “This is equivalent to an entire year of work by two full-time Officers.” 70% of the reports were for retail theft. Wal-Mart’s 1,064 retail theft cases compare to Target’s 40 in 2014. The cause could be that at Target, employees offer to help most customers while at Wal-Mart the store employees aren’t as aggressive at going up to customers to offer help. Wal-Mart has many more customers. The homeless in the area also seem to be part of the issue. Arresting homeless for shoplifting seems to be a lost cause because they don’t seem to care if they are taken to jail. They are almost immediately released (if they are even taken to jail).

  That is an important reason to work on solving the homeless problem in Salt Lake City. Health Care expansion to treat mental health and drug and alcohol issues, many more social workers, and more visible police in walking patrols would go a long way to significantly decreasing the drain on local businesses, development and law enforcement. Salt Lake also needs a much better low cost housing plan

that distributes low income housing in new developments and doesn’t concentrate it in one building.   Another area of concern was the 1300 S. State Street corner that has significantly increased in crime issues in the last two years. UTA recently removed their bus stop on the southwest corner despite increased police bike and vice concentration. Chief Brown said that during a recent walkabout in the area, he noticed that some businesses may be enabling these problems.

  I have been encouraging the Salt Lake City Council to consider adding State Street to the RDA project areas due to the potential to benefit from form based zoning, wider sidewalks, a robust bus system and the high potential for higher density housing. Ballpark also should be part of the expansion due to the potential that the 1300 South TRAX station area has.

  These new proposed areas for expansion of RDA are important issues that every citizen in Salt Lake City should be concerned about. Everyone should consider contacting their Councilmember and letting them know their opinions on these issues.

AUGUST 25

The Salt Lake City Council met today and heard several hours worth of recommendations on the subject of economic development. Associate Dean for the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah gave a summary of her recent study. You can download the reports on the right.

Some of the points in the discussion were:

The homeless issues downtown now affects economic development.

Salt Lake City needs more coordination with the University of Utah.

Salt Lake City has a low cost of living and the State's flat tax rate, one of the lowest in the Country, has brought several big financial firms to this City including Goldman Sachs. (Note that other reasons for Goldman Sachs coming to Salt Lake City included Utah's Economic Development tax credit and not having to pay the high wages of high cost cities. The work ethic of Utah residents also has impressed companies relocating offices here. In other words, Mayor Becker should not be taking credit for Goldman Sachs, it was due more to the efforts of the Governor's economic development team and the low tax rates.)

Salt Lake City has suggested that they support annexations to increase the population and promote visitor economy (but they don't support the local host housing efforts that provides rooms during big conventions and obviate the need for an expensive convention hotel that would only be used one or two weeks of the year.)

SLC should increase effectiveness of the permitting process with an ombudsman or someone who can shepherd new plans through the somewhat complicated process of SLC planning and zoning requirements.

Economic development has a high turnover.

It was pointed out by Lisa Adams that much of the Sugar House development has occurred due to the efforts of the SLC RDA. The administration contends that the S-Line is responsible (but I disagree). The development of the area will eventually have another 1,000 living units. The area's residents will not appreciate the increase in density. I have helped fight the attempt by this administration to put up 105 foot tall buildings on single-family zoned blocks. With the lack of reasonable and responsible parking regulations, adjacent businesses and residents will be negatively impacted in manner like the attempt by Brew Ha Ha a few years ago and the 9th and 9th development that is in court now. If rail really did lead to development, 21st South and 300 West would have exploded in development; the 9th South TRAX station area would have high rises and the 400 South corridor would have developed a decade ago.

The SLC RDA and Economic Development Department should increase coordination to maximize the

synergy of the two groups.

The west side commercial nodes are a bright spot but SLC (in my opinion) ignores the streets in the area

that are effectively carrying truck traffic on 50 year old single lane streets. An increase in infrastructure

spending to assist in development would be very productive.

Parking and impact fees hurt development (in my opinion). When developers try to build to serve potential customers who drive, there is an effort by the City to discourage parking. When landowners want to build a parking lot until the financial landscape is ready for a large building, the City won't allow it. It increases the cost of parking and discourages downtown customers. Why come to Salt Lake City when parking is essentially free in Draper? This is another facet of Salt Lake City's war on cars that is inspired by "The High Cost of Free Parking".

There was a discussion on why Adobe located in Lehi. The company that Adobe bought found that the vast majority of employees lived around the company so it almost required staying in the area. I should also note that many of the employees had Novell backgrounds and that was a Utah County company.

Another discussion took place regarding the Special Lighting Assessment Districts. Some of the areas are in the black but some like Federal Heights is deep in the red due to a big upgrade project. The options are to fold the Special Lighting Districts into the rest of the lighting fees and add a surcharge, of charge much more to all or some of the districts. One suggestion was to increase the charge to residents by 33%. To find more information, Google slcgov.com and 082515A5.

Another discussion took place on CIP (Capital Improvement Program) and some of the suggested

priorities included trails.

The Council then took a tour of the Pioneer Park area in the Jingle Bus hosted by Jason Mathis and

Downtown Alliance.

For the last few years, Salt Lake residents' taxes and fees have significantly increased.  Congestion and air pollution have also increased significantly.  Single-family home neighborhoods have been threatened with rezoning and increased crime.  Salt Lake City needs a new Mayor.  Salt Lake City deserves a Mayor who wants to work for the citizens of Salt Lake City and no one else and who is 100% committed to Salt Lake City.

I have seen the plans that double taxes for the residents and businesses of Salt Lake City in the next four years.  They include 3 new rail lines downtown. Two lines are Becker streetcars (TRAX cars painted with white lipstick).  The other line is an extension of the University line to Central Station.  Each will cost about $100 million each.  Local taxpayer obligation of the projects will be about 40%.  Mayor Becker is supporting UTA's efforts to build an apartment building complex downtown and a $55 million bus garage next to it.  He is supporting UTA’s efforts to build hundreds of millions of special bus lanes that require removing traffic lanes and increasing congestion and air pollution.  The voters of Salt Lake City will not be given a chance to vote on the bonds and tax increases that these projects will require. 

Mayor Becker also obligated the taxpayers with the theater bond (without voter approval).  He has significantly increased fees.  One group of residents are going to have a fee increase of 33% this year alone.

Ralph Becker’s efforts to calm traffic by removing traffic lanes, refusing to modify traffic lights to

decrease idling and vehicle backup, have increased congestion and air pollution.  He has cut down

hundreds of old growth trees after he was warned that those trees significantly decrease air pollution.

Increasing congestion on major streets has resulted in traffic diverting into formerly quiet residential

neighborhoods.  Capitol Hill and the Avenues and Foothill neighborhoods have been particularly

negatively impacted.  Ralph Becker’s ordinance to reduce parking requirements in new developments

also reduce the quiet and character of single-family home neighborhoods.  He has allowed on street

parking and bike racks to reduce parking requirements.

Ralph Becker is attempting to rezone open space to allow certain types of buildings, amphitheaters and

water and sewer systems without vigorous public hearings.  The proposal is partially due to arguments

against putting in a pump station in a residential neighborhood and fights against rezoning parts of

Fairmont Park in Sugar House.  He is also attempting to rezone single-family home neighborhoods to

allow 105 foot tall high density housing.

Ralph Becker has ignored the drug dealing downtown and refused to budget for sufficient police to deter crime.  Salt Lake City has a heroin epidemic and yet the present Mayor says that “police crime fighting in neighborhoods have not been minimized”.  It has resulted in many citizens losing trust in the police to the point of not calling when crime happens.  He has refused to allow a police youth sports league that could help communities begin to know and trust police.

 The mayor of Salt Lake City should want to work for no one else but the citizens of Salt Lake City.  The

mayor should want to be Mayor and not be president of anything else.  Salt Lake City deserves a Mayor

that is 100% committed to Salt Lake City.  Isn’t that the kind of mayor that Salt Lake City deserves?

That is why I am running for Mayor of Salt Lake City.

I have been fighting for years to stop the closing of golf courses (ordered by Mayor Becker "If you don't close them I will." is what he said to the City Council).  The Jordan River Par 3 was closed without a public hearing!  What is especially upsetting is that closing the golf courses will cost SLC more than if they kept them open!

I also want to work with schools to provide more supervised after school events that are organized by the SLC Police department.  This will require more officers but, again, Ralph Becker has refused to hire more police.

For more positions on Salt Lake issues, Google George Chapman and Deseretnews.com and sltrib.com.  I have many opeds and my views that summarize the fights and issues that concern Salt Lake citizens.  You will also find many stories that show my fights against the questionable plans of Ralph Becker.