Feedback from October 12 and Beyond 

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"Back to the Future,"
Oct. 5 Opinion
After reading Chris Warton's words in City Weekly endorsing his "boss," current Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, I feel I have to correct him and point out the flaws in his argument that we should all vote for her.

Wharton is my representative on the City Council, and my wife and I have a warm space in our hearts for him. When same-sex marriage became legal in Utah, he was standing at the County Clerk's office waiting to officiate marriages for anyone in the building seeking a license.

As our City Hall representative in District 3, we generally agree with his voting record about our city and its future. I'm not sure he was old enough to vote when Rocky Anderson first ran for office, but I'd like to point out that if Anderson was such an awful leader—as Wharton implied—how did he get elected to serve two terms for our city from 2000-2008?

I applauded Rocky's kick-ass style. He's a guy who doesn't stand for laziness or mediocrity in his own life and the people who work around him. Many of those employees could not keep up with the amount of work needed to move our city from a "sleepy town" to what has become one of the fastest-growing cities in America.

I served under Anderson as a volunteer planning and zoning commissioner. I often listened to his vision and insight that our city was rapidly becoming more diverse in population, and the separation of the "haves" and the "have-nots" was becoming more and more obvious every day.

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate our current mayor. I currently serve under her as volunteer chair of the Historic Landmarks Commission in helping to preserve our precious historic neighborhoods and buildings. I give her props for financial management and a terrific staff, some of whom were hired during Anderson's term. But—and this is a big one—she is a complete failure when it comes to helping to solve the unsheltered issues we're facing.

I'm afraid Mendenhall has been caught in innumerable falsehoods—from the number of people who died on the streets here in winter 2022-2023 to the amount of affordable housing units she's helped to create. Anderson has spent the past few years actually on the streets, befriending the men and women, the "have-nots" of our city. He's been there in snowstorms and horrible heat—not just dropping off water bottles but guiding folks to the right social services and helping them get an ID at the Utah Fairpark, a job or housing.

Last winter here was especially brutally cold. Our mayor failed to provide an emergency shelter downtown. First United Methodist Church on 203 S. 200 East stepped up and said, in essence, "We've got heat—let them come here for shelter!" Volunteers rallied a wonderful group of folks who worked with the church to keep it open from night to morning, providing food, bathrooms, water and mats to sleep on. It was wonderful and saved lives.

Anderson was at the church night after night serving coffee and taking the time to get to know the guests. We are Team Rocky because he will get shit done.

It's too late to register to vote but please encourage others who care about this issue to get to the polls and vote Rocky!
BABS DE LAY
Salt Lake City

Correction: In the Oct. 12, 2023, issue of Salt Lake City Weekly, the "Men at Work" cover story mischaracterized the familial relationship between Jared Wade and his uncle Stephen Wade of the St. George-based Stephen Wade auto dealership group.

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