Mary
Member since Oct 7, 2015
Recent Comments
Re: “Which Way Gateway”
John Saltas is half right. The west side and west downtown, as a connection between the two sides of the City, need attention. Saltas is wrong though, that Mayor Becker failed to address the problem. First, the Commission addressing the needs of the Homeless chaired by Palmer DePaulis and Gail Miller was the first effort in years to look at the problem of the neighbhorhood and the shelters in a holistic way. Even though the results of this effort will come to fruition under the new Mayor, Becker deserves much of the credit, assuming there is some to give. Second, Mayor Becker initiated major planning processes for North Temple, Poplar Grove, Glendale, the industrial neighborhoods west of Redwood Road and the Northwest Quadrant. The North Temple transit oriented development plan is already seeing results. The Westside Master Plan included the city's most extensive outreach to residents who are typically excluded by barriers of language and economy from public proccess. Hopefully, Mayor Biskupski will have a new and effective vision for executing the ideas that have germinated in the City over the last fews years, as well as some valuable new ideas. No media in Salt Lake City has the time or inclination to cover planning as news but that is still no excuse for not knowing the facts.
Re: “Sister Saga”
This story seems counter in some ways to the minutes and agendas posted on the City website. It does look like there have been some issues with staff and communication but it also appears that the Sister Cities group met regularly until the end of last year and then had no meetings until spring of 2015. According to the minutes, various members have been giving reports about relationships and events they have attended. The minutes suggest that the Board members are often in communication with representatives of the LDS Church and that the Church's involvement is often solicited by the Board itself. There are reports of meetings with members of the City's management team. I am wondering about the motive for running a story about events that occurred in 2011 and if the reporter decided to exclude information from the minutes and agenda because it didn't meet his narrative. This seems election motivated.
Re: “Mayor Migraine”
As a west sider and and former Planning Commissioner, I find this narrative not just hilariously wrong but driven by a misunderstanding of how the City works. For example, the interface of City Creek and the rest of downtown was the result of hard work and hearings by numerous City boards who continuously pressed the developers for a more open design. It was not magic. Moreover, the way the liquor laws were implemented by City zoning were the direct result, again, of hard work by City staff, volunteers and Council people. And apparently, Saltas has no clue of the amount of collaborative work and outreach that went into putting together a new West Side master plan which will provide a blueprint for development in Poplar Grove and Glendale. Similarly, the City adopted transit oriented planning which is driving much of the development along North Temple. There are reasons (not liking the parking for example) not to vote for Ralph (who by the way served the City as a volunteer Planning Commissioner before joining the legislature) but uninformed reasons are just kind of sad.
Re: “Artful Asian”
As a west-sider, I have to say, don't blame the neighborhood. The Red Iquana is almost next door (in both directions!).