Salt Lake City: Official Development News Thread - Part 3

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Originally Posted by brankrom

Good discussion. I think overall (and some won't see it this way) the church is the number one reason for slow development over the decades. Denver and Colorado generally is similar in age and climate and even location. Both cities are in the middle of nowhere in relation to the region but Colorado and Denver specifically has far outpaced SLC and Utah in growth. Colorado is far more diverse and balanced politically than Utah. I've never lived in Denver I've just visited a few times but there's no question Denver dwarfs SLC in the region and nationally. Again all other things are equal IMO Climate, geography, location, trade routes and connections yet Denver grew for 100+ years to a large city with a lot of the same characteristics of east coast cities financially and socially. While Utah and SLC still suffers from stigma associated with Mormonism. I love living in SLC (except for the inversion) but to ignore the mormon issues and mormon control and to say it doesn't matter is completely dismissive. Outsiders are disenfranchised and marginalized and under represented the John Birch Society LDS branded version of ultra conservationism entrenched by the likes of Ezra Taft Benson for decades. Further 10% of income goes to a black hole that could be spent elsewhere. Utah wages are already low and skim 10% off the top that affects businesses bottom lines. Add in sub par funding for schools and church lobbyists that fought changes to tax structure to more appropriately distribute the funding burden for schools to larger families was a non starter a few years ago. Nutty conservatism and nutty beliefs have a negative affect on people's desire to move here. It is weird here and saying "other places are weird too" completely misses the point. No other place is like Utah, even places in the bible belt aren't like Utah when it come to monolithic control by a single organization/corporation and I lived deep in the bible belt for a decade. Evangelical christianity in the south does not have the monolithic hierarchy that Utah does.

People like to draw the parallels between Massachusetts and Utah, it's not even close. Utah has, from the very beginning been a theocracy, MA not so much. I would bet that lawmakers in Massachusetts never call Rome but I can bet that lawmakers call or get calls from LDS Inc. all the time. Mormons have run their little fiefdom from the beginning and to suggest that the LDS church doesn't run things and doesn't permeate every aspect of the Utah life is completely PR and apologetics. There's a certain smugness and arrogance that is very apparent to outsiders which comes from a century of isolation, unquestioned authority and well documented institutional xenophobia.

I would argue that SLC Geography is superior to Denver Geography, but that only strengthens your point.