Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker is a busy man. The mayor known for walking to work and bicycling around town Mr. Rogers style seems to have a lot of energy. But for those of us who have wagered money on him, there is reason to fear his schedule could dampen his chances at being named Utah’s Fittest Executive at the end of the month.
A glance at Becker’s recent schedule shows the mayor up at 7 a.m. March 30 “Testing for Utah’s Fittest Executive” before a non-stop series of meetings. The fittest executive competition sponsored by Utah Business magazine will name two men and two women as fittest in over- and under-50 categories. The “testing” on Becker’s schedule took place at LDS hospital and included measurements of body fat, flexibility, strength among other tests. The full slate of competitors has not been announced, but Becker seemed like a pretty good bet. Until later in the week …
Recent days have seen late nights for Becker as he works on preparing the city’s budget. The mayor’s emphasis on transparency and public participation has meant late meetings designed to get input from Joe citizen. An April 1 forum held at the Salt Lake City’s Pioneer Precinct included explanations of the budget, brief presentations from city department heads and a workshop where citizens were asked to pretend the city’s budget was $1 and split it into spending categories.
The mayor, fit as he is, must be forgiven for taking a short nap during the session.