Salt Lake City Council declares Indigenous Peoples’ Day and takes comment on anti-gentrification plan 

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The Salt Lake City Council convened on the evening of Oct. 3 to name the second Monday of October 2023 as Indigenous Peoples Day in a joint resolution with Mayor Erin Mendenhall. The Council also conducted a public hearing on a budget amendment to the 2023-2024 fiscal year and a hearing on an anti-gentrification plan. The Council voted unanimously to pass an ordinance changing the requirements for parking permit programs and to pass a grant distribution.

Indigenous Peoples’ Day
The Council adopted a resolution alongside Mayor Mendenhall naming Oct. 9 as Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Salt Lake City. The Council and Mayor also named November 2023 as Native American Heritage Month in Salt Lake.

The Council and mayor “strongly support that Indigenous Peoples’ Day shall be an opportunity to celebrate the thriving cultures and values of the Indigenous Peoples of our region,” read Councilmember Alejandro Puy from the first resolution.

Following the adoption of these resolutions, Councilmember Puy spoke on a point of privilege, describing the process of coming to terms with his own ancestral heritage.

“I’m proud to be a native myself,” Puy said.

Miller Park
The Council heard from several residents of the neighborhoods surrounding Miller Park—a bird refuge and nature area near East High School—during a public hearing on proposed budget amendments to the 2023-2024 fiscal year. These residents spoke against one of these proposed changes, which alters the scope of an ongoing project working to restore and repair elements of Miller Park.

The project was originally funded from a 2017 Capital Improvement Project (CIP) proposal with goals to preserve historical structures in the park and to create better access to the park’s trail system.

To achieve these goals, this funding request proposed restoring a previously rerouted trail in the park, also known as the lower creekside trail, building a walking bridge over Red Butte Creek and stabilizing a historic wall in the park.

A later report given to the city by a consultant for the project led the Public Lands department to propose 12 new Miller Park projects that “will fulfill the original goals to a greater extent,” according to the project’s webpage. These new projects would replace the original three projects, but the restoration of the lower creek side trail is not included in these new projects.

“Funds allocated for Miller Park should be spent on what the original CIP grant applicant and hundreds of residents have petitioned for over the last 10 years,” said Janet Hemming, Chair of the Yalecrest Neighborhood Council.

Another resident, Steve Long, said: “Anytime we have an appropriation of money … and the money is rerouted to somewhere else, as far as I'm concerned, is typically misappropriation of funds.”

The Council deferred action on this proposal to a future date.

Thriving in Place

The Council accepted public comment on the city’s affordable housing initiative, also known as Thriving in Place, during a public hearing for the plan. The plan outlines the city’s goals to combat gentrification and displacement in addition to outlining the steps that would need to be taken toward implementation.

“[Implementation] includes ordinance changes, ongoing state level advocacy, new community partnerships and budget and staffing increases, and some of these budget increases will have to be significant in order to achieve full implementation of the plan,” described Allison Rowland, a policy analyst for the Council.

Several commenters commended the Council on the work that went into Thriving in Place.

“In my experience, the city does not do things this important this well very often—bravo,” said Cindy Cromer.

“The level of community engagement and outreach that went into Thriving in Place was extraordinary,” said Jason Wessel, chairman of the city’s Human Rights Commission.

Other commenters stressed the importance of continued community outreach as the project moves forward.

“We will not be able to succeed without better engaging our citizenry,” said Todd McMullin. McMullin emphasized the importance of connecting with the city’s population that’s experiencing homelessness. The Council deferred action on the proposal to a future date.

Parking Permits

The Council voted unanimously to adopt an ordinance that would amend the Salt Lake City Code and waive the requirement that at least eight standard block spaces must be in a location to establish it as a parking permit area. This will be limited to areas where parking is impacted by hospital buildings, university buildings and Trax stations. This ordinance could also allow for the creation of a residential parking permit program in the Central Ninth neighborhood.

The Council also voted unanimously to distribute grant awards from the American Rescue Plan Act. These grants will be passed through local nonprofits to be distributed to local businesses and artists.

Councilmember Victoria Petro disclosed that she was a part of Suazo Business Center’s organizing committee for their 20th gala, but is no longer with them.

“There is no reason that I will benefit from any of this but I just wanted to disclose that in the name of transparency,” Petro said.