Salt Lake City Council adopts Pride Month resolution; residents request funding for trails and traffic calming. 

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The Salt Lake City Council on Tuesday adopted a resolution declaring June to be Pride Month. The Council also continued its work on the city budget, hearing public comment on funding proposals for green space, street improvements and public works.

Pride Month
The Salt Lake City Council opened its meeting by adopting a joint ceremonial resolution with Mayor Erin Mendenhall celebrating June 2025 as Pride Month. Councilmember Eva Lopez Chavez read from the resolution, which noted the city’s “proud history of leading the state” on policies and programs that reject discrimination and promote equity, opportunity and prosperity for all members of the LGBTQ community.

Following the resolution’s adoption, Utah Pride Center executive director Chad Call expressed his gratitude to the Council and mayor.

“Tonight, I not only speak on behalf of the center, but on account of all LGBTQ people across the state,” Call said. “Your leadership shines far beyond the city limits in times like these. It serves as a beacon of hope for LGBTQ individuals across this state.”

Members of the City Council and representatives of the Utah Pride Center then posed for photos in front of new city flags that combine the traditional Pride and Transgender Visibility designs with the sego lily canton of the SLC flag. These hybrid designs were formally adopted by the Council earlier this month to skirt a state-level ban on Pride and other pro-diversity flags being displayed on government buildings and schools.

Parks and Trails
Three local sixth-grade students spoke on the importance of hiking and biking trails in the city.

“I would like some trails that we could bike at,” said Robby Rever, who participates on his school’s mountain biking team. “I think it would be nice.”

Another student, Jane Anderson, said that she loves to play video games, but added that her parents have been pushing her to get more exercise.

“I like getting out in nature,” Anderson said. “I would like to have some more trails.”

Ned Skanchy, who coaches the mountain biking team at East High, noted that the city had planned to expand the Foothill and Bonneville Shoreline trail systems. But those new trails were paused several years ago to further study the impacts to the area. He encouraged the City Council to resume the trail expansion.

“The foothill area is a huge asset to this city,” Skanchy said. “A world-class city should have a world-class trail system.”

Additional support for expanding the Bonneville Shoreline Trail came from local resident Elizabeth Barrows. Barrows advocated for expanded trail safety but cautioned against the use of surveillance technology. The mayor’s proposed budget includes up to $1 million for overnight security at eight city parks and the Jordan River Trail and new investments into law enforcement data and technology to enhance safety in public spaces.

But Barrows questioned whether those budget items would translate to results.

“What really brings community safety is community involvement,” she said. “That money should be allocated to more programs for people to be outside, more improvements to get people onto those trails.”

Traffic Calming Several residents and homeowners commented on the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) section of the budget proposal. CIP includes the construction or renovation of city-owned streets and allows residents to propose their own projects.

Kim Paturzo spoke in support of the Sugar House Safe Side Streets Project, which uses traffic calming features like speed bumps and chicanes to deter cut-through traffic on residential streets. Funding for the next phase of that project was omitted from the mayor’s budget proposal, but Paturzo asked that it be reconsidered for prioritization, presenting signatures from 120 of her Sugar House neighbors in support of further traffic calming work.

“A program such as this for residents truly makes us feel like you’re looking out for us and have our backs,” Paturzo said.

Josh Quigley, a board member for the East Central Community Council, made an environmental case for his denied CIP proposal. He said that low-lying curbs on street islands near Rice-Eccles Stadium at the University of Utah allow spectators to illegally park their cars during game days. Quigley said the persistent issue leads to tree death, as roots and sprinkler systems are damaged, but could be solved by heightening the curbs in these areas.

“This simple repair of existing infrastructure has an oversized impact on the health and preservation of our urban tree canopy,” Quigley said.

Joseph Murphy spoke as a private citizen, although he also serves on the Capital Development and Capital Improvements Program (CDCIP) Advisory Board. Murphy explained that CIP proposals like those from Paturzo and Quigley are funded from the same pool as critical infrastructure renovations for city buildings, such as fire stations, leading to difficulties in citizens securing funding. A solution, Murphy stated, could lie in “apportionment of the general budget for particular constituent applications.”

The City Council will continue to accept public comments on the city’s proposed budget. The next formal City Council meeting is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, June 3.