Fleeting Intentions
Good intentions often go awry when red tape gets in the way. That may be the fate of the Fleet Block—along 800 South between 300 and 400 West. Mostly abandoned for 12 years, the area has been dubbed public space—so public that homeless encampments had to be removed last year. A tent city grew around the murals depicting lives lost to police shootings. Now, the City Council seems committed to revitalizing the area with community input, according to a Building Salt Lake report by former Councilman Luke Garrott. While KSL pointed out the vision of green space and social justice, Garrott outlined the zoning and regulatory issues that might lead to a single large development on the $37.5 million land parcel. And Councilman Darin Mano, an architect himself, warned of tokenism.
Thought Control
Voters barely know their state school board representatives, but one candidate is standing out. Kim DelGrosso joined the madding crowd to support board member Natalie Cline, who was censured last year. Cline spoke out against a Pride flag in front of an LDS seminary class, sparking troublesome responses like "time to get out our muskets," The Salt Lake Tribune reported. Fast forward to now, DelGrosso wants to amplify Cline because she's "sickened by the gender identify stuff." The LGBTQ debate has exploded with the far right's attempts to socially engineer schools. There is some hope, however. The Draper City Council decided against a ballot proposal to secede from Canyons School District, halting an attempt to become exclusive and, likely, without all that gender stuff.
Air Accountability
There's good news on the clean air front. The Environmental Protection Agency rejected Utah's request to waive ozone standards. The state appealed, blaming pollution on winds from China, but it's worth noting that the appeal came at the behest of two of the state's biggest polluters—the Utah Mining Association and Utah Petroleum Association. Now for some maybe-good news, an article from the Great Salt Lake Collaborative suggested that mining lithium from the Great Salt Lake could provide economic and practical benefits, like powering phones and cars. But you had to read to the end of the article to see the potential for issues around pollution. "We need to make sure that our solutions don't cause more problems than they were set to solve," said advocate Aimee Boulanger.
About The Author
Katharine Biele
A City Weekly contributor since 1992, Katharine Biele is the informed voice behind our Hits & Misses column. When not writing, you can catch her working to empower voters and defend democracy alongside the League of Women Voters.
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