Salt Lake City: Official Development News Thread - Part 3

[SL,UT]

Originally Posted by DMTower

Looks like we're already breaking in the new courthouse

Shooting reported at new Salt Lake City federal courthouse

Salt Lake City police responded Monday morning to a report of a shooting at the new federal courthouse at 400 South and West Temple.

A defendant was reportedly shot by a U.S. Marshal when the defendant tried to stab a witness with a pen, according to Portia Louder, who was in the courthouse and was told those details by a marshal...

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/57844841-78/lake-salt-courthouse-police.html.csp

Sounds like an episode of law and order.

[delts145]

No kidding...

[Bob The Builder]

Originally Posted by jedikermit

Yeah, I was there all three days too, manning the LEGO display.

Nerd hangover. Still.

And really, it was packed--even with the entire Salt Palace to roam in, it still got crazy by Saturday.

I too was there All three days.
Had my picture with Stewart & the rest of Next Gen, Autographs from all of them.

The Legos display was cool!

[delts145]

Jedi, where are our requisite pics of your Lego display genius?

[StevenF]

Originally Posted by delts145

Jedi, where are our requisite pics of your Lego display genius?

I have already seen pictures of the LEGO displays since my niece went and posted them on her Facebook page. They looked cool. Though she said the AFOL's have to much time to waste.

[ToysNoiz]

Originally Posted by ajiuO

Just out of curiosity what booth were you running

I ran the East Hollywood High School booth. It's a film oriented school in West Valley. I was informing people about enrollment and about our new web series "Paradise High".

If you know anyone who is going into or is in high school and is interested, PM me and I'll give you more information.

[jedikermit]

Originally Posted by StevenF

Though she said the AFOL's have to much time to waste.

She's got THAT right.

And Delts, I'll see if I can find a link. I didn't take many pics, but they're around.

If anyone out there is a more casual LEGO fan than me, there is Utah's First LEGO Convention, happening May 2nd and 3rd at the Southtowne Expo -- there are LEGO nerds coming from as far away as Virginia and bringing their own displays and stuff. The LEGO Store has been promoting it, and it should be pretty sweet. More info at the link below, plus a dollar off coupon (tickets are $7, kids 8 and under are free). http://www.brickslopes.com

[ToysNoiz]

[SLC Projects]

Seems like it's going to take awhile for the Metro building to come down with that wrecking ball.
Great to see the theater expansion now topped out on 200 South.

[StevenF]

Looks like godzilla came through Salt Lake and took a bite out of the Metro Building.

[ajiuO]

The metro is a Texas tough building... It looks like it might be all rebar reinforced concrete...

[Old&New]

Originally Posted by ToysNoiz

A shame, really; was such an interesting looking building

[bob rulz]

I know that we have too many similar-looking office buildings around here and it's always nice to have something different, but I thought that building was hideous.

[Orlando]

Nice photo update! much appreciated.

[delts145]

Very cool pics of the Federal Courthouse ToysNoiz. It did remind me again though of when we were joking about "C'mon in, it's veerry warm and inviting inside." The Courthouse has a unique and kind of ominous vibe to it, especially at that time of day. I remember back when several forum members commented on how they thought it would be cool looking during the evening, and I think it is.

[JMK]

I am posting this here since there has been recent discussion about population growth in this thread,,

Utah No. 2 in nation for urban sprawl, study shows
By Amy Joi O'Donoghue


http://www.ksl.com/?sid=29578701&nid=148...r-urban-sprawl-study-shows&s_cid=queue-6

A new study shows Utah is second only to Nevada in its rate of urban sprawl over a 10-year period and is No. 7 in the country over the past 28 years for undeveloped land giving way to development.

Overall, undeveloped acreage equal to the size of Florida has been paved over in the United States from 1982 to 2010, with 11 million acres of cropland gone and 12 million acres of pasture and rangeland lost to buildings and highways, according to the study.

"There are all kinds of reasons why cropland is like sitting ducks waiting to be massacred and mowed down," said Roy Beck, one of the authors of "Vanishing Open Spaces: How an Exploding U.S. Population is Devouring the Land that Feeds and Nourishes Us."

The study, released to coincide with Earth Day on Tuesday, also makes use of an April poll that shows the American public is concerned about protecting farmland and natural areas — for national food security considerations, safeguarding wildlife and for spiritual and emotional regeneration. The Pulse Opinion Research shows, for example, that 92 percent of Americans say it is important to protect farmland from development to ensure the ability to feed the country in the future.

"Cities have been built in the middle of where prime farm land once was, which makes sense because cities were started where you can grow crops," Beck said. Cropland is the easiest land and the cheaper land to build on."

The study, done by the nonprofit, nonpartisan NumbersUSA Education & Research Foundation, was drawn on data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service. Beck's foundation is an immigration-reduction organization centered around the premise of "environmental sustainability, economic justice, the rule of law, and individual liberty, and opposition to federal immigration policies that threaten these values by forcing massive U.S. population growth."

The NRCS data showing how states compare on sprawl indicate that from 2002 to 2010, population growth were the most important factor in the loss of non-federal land, accounting for 91 percent of new development.

And in those 10 states experiencing the most sprawl (Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Delaware, Texas, Florida, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Georgia) population grew on average more than three times as fast as the states with the least sprawl percentage.

[asies1981]

Originally Posted by jimmycdii

I'd say that's a pretty pervasive problem in journalism, and the consequence is that no one really explains to the public why/how there can be better types of development.

Having worked in journalism, I'd say most journalists who write about cities and development — and who don't work for specialty publications like The Atlantic Cities — have absolutely no idea what they're doing. I think that applies to pretty much all the writers/reporters I read here in Utah, unfortunately.

I think journalism is a reflection of the community. In Philadelphia there is a lot of quality journalism on the topic of good urban development, because that is of importance to the readers (full disclosure I wrote for nextcity.org which is based in Philly, lol). In Utah (things are changing though especially in SLC) most people can't see past anything but a big house and yard. The KSL article quotes the report and so any problems with the article reflect the report's problem, which is an extension of Utah's struggle to embrace growing up instead of out. One positive that the report addresses is that while there will be growth in the periphery (habits are hard to break); due to geographic limitations and limited resources the Wasatch Front is going to have to grow up and less out.

[Comrade]

Sadly, Utah is still decades behind a great deal of other states when it comes to curbing urban sprawl. We've stepped it up the last ten years, but I remember when Envision Utah was a thing - like, a legit thing that was supposed to define the coming decades for the state. It fizzled. Right now, for every Daybreak, you have a dozen, if not more, Ivory Homes-like developments popping up throughout the Wasatch Front - acres and acres of endless, it would seem, sprawl that is so limited from any retail and commercial engagement that it's just piling on to the overall growing problem.

Smart growth is still trying to catch up, but overall, it's being lapped time and time again by the same development patterns that defined the 70s, 80s and 90s, Really, and sadly, it's no competition - urban sprawl continues to win out over smart urbanism.

[jedikermit]

A friend who works in the Wells Fargo Building says they just removed the Olympic pylon from the Gallivan Center--anyone know anything about that?

[utenation]

Originally Posted by Comrade

Sadly, Utah is still decades behind a great deal of other states when it comes to curbing urban sprawl. We've stepped it up the last ten years, but I remember when Envision Utah was a thing - like, a legit thing that was supposed to define the coming decades for the state. It fizzled. Right now, for every Daybreak, you have a dozen, if not more, Ivory Homes-like developments popping up throughout the Wasatch Front - acres and acres of endless, it would seem, sprawl that is so limited from any retail and commercial engagement that it's just piling on to the overall growing problem.

Smart growth is still trying to catch up, but overall, it's being lapped time and time again by the same development patterns that defined the 70s, 80s and 90s, Really, and sadly, it's no competition - urban sprawl continues to win out over smart urbanism.

Agreed. It's almost backwards.. Based on the current growth trends and projections, it seems as if once the SL valley is built out, cities will be scrambling to finally build dense and vertical when they should be planning now. Adding an additional 400-500K in the SL valley with proper resource management will be an interesting development.

It gives me hope that downtown will continue to rise once the southwestern valley is built out. I live in Sandy and it's been interesting to see vacant lots throughout the valley become homes or businesses little by little.