Salt Lake City: Official Development News Thread - Part 4

[Ironweed]

Thank you Mr. Stenar for the heads up. Look forward to participating.

[DCRes]

Originally Posted by Makid

Just a quick update on occupancy in 222. They are working on the 15th floor it looks like for a new tenant. Once this is done, I think just the 14th floor will remain empty plus a little bit of space on some other floors. This should push 222 to around 90% occupancy.

They have been working on the floor for about the last week and it looks the biggest part of the work is happening now.

Goldman is on floors 7-14 (and I think some of 6). 15 and 16 have been completely empty until now. I know there is a company on the 17th floor expanding a little into a space currently occupied by Hamilton Partners, who will move some to somewhere else in the building. I wonder if they are the ones going into 15, hopefully not and there is someone else coming in.

[Stenar]

Garrott always says no to everything. If he were elected mayor, we'd have 4-8 years of no economic development.

Originally Posted by Comrade

Ralph Becker announced he'll be running for a third term. He's being challenged by SLC city councilman Luke Garrott, who, like Becker, is a Democrat. Garrott is basically running on the idea that Becker is too big for SLC and spends his time advocating for national interests and causes instead of fighting locally.

Last week, Becker was named the president of the National League of Cities. He had served as vice-president in 2014.

I like Luke, but his case isn't persuasive enough for me not to vote Becker next year.

[asies1981]

Construction is underway on the Liberty Park Place live/work condominiums just south of 1300 South on 500 East. I love when six homes replace what was previously just one on the same lot.

[Comrade]

I also hear Rocky is very likely going to throw his hat into the ring. That'd be ... interesting.

[Stenar]

Originally Posted by Comrade

I also hear Rocky is very likely going to throw his hat into the ring. That'd be ... interesting.

Oh, good. Another ideologue. We already had 8 years of no economic development under Rocky.

[Comrade]

Originally Posted by Stenar

Oh, good. Another ideologue. We already had 8 years of no economic development under Rocky.

I'm pretty sure there was economic development between 1999 and 2008.

[jedikermit]

I liked a lot of what Rocky did...or tried to do. Overall though I think be brought more divisions into the city between different factions than there needed to be. I like that Becker is working toward some similar goals that Rocky had, but is making more progress because he's able to bring opposing factions together. Too often (especially lately) Rocky seems to be antagonistic just to be antagonistic. Which comes across as dickish. Not what the city needs right now in my opinion.

Then again I'd rather have a tripartite mayorship of Becker Garrot and Rocky than a single current legislator as the SLC mayor. *shudder*

[SLC Projects]

Rocky = one highrise
Becker = four highrises and counting.....

[brankrom]

Just a Question: I've voted consistently in the SLC mayoral elections, but I don't remember a time when there were so many candidates. I'm pretty sure the mayoral elections are "non-partisan" so with Becker and Garrot and potentially Biscupski and Rocky and likely a conservative wackadoodle or two. Will there be a primary or does everyone get on the ballot and the vote gets split?

I liked Rocky while he was here but the legislature hated him (which is fine because I hate the legislature) and SLC was punished on multiple occasions for simply being SLC. Under Becker things appear to be better PR wise and the legislature hasn't really been as punitive to SLC as during the Rocky days.

[StevenF]

Problem with Rocky is he pushed his agenda to the point that he took an activist persona and that rubbed a lot of people wrong. I understand you need a mayor that will fight for things but 5 years of litigation and no sign of being willing to compromise is not what SLC needs again.

[Future Mayor]

Rocky was the right person for the job at the time, but I think Becker was a needed and wanted change.

I think Becker has done a great job fighting for some big projects the things that Garrott is bitching about him not focusing on smaller issues. Namely the Performing Arts Center. Many on the council complain about the administration not focusing on the smaller neighborhood issues, which is fine because that's who they represent, their neighborhoods, but overall the city is doing well, the neighborhoods are nice, clean and taken care of for the most part. I think Becker has done an outstanding job focusing on some bigger issue, new tax revenues from big projects means more tax revenues to spend in the neighborhoods.

As for how the election works, you're right Salt Lake City is a non-partisan form of government. All candidates will go on the Primary Ballot, then the two with the most votes will go on the final ballot.

[Comrade]

Originally Posted by brankrom

Just a Question: I've voted consistently in the SLC mayoral elections, but I don't remember a time when there were so many candidates. I'm pretty sure the mayoral elections are "non-partisan" so with Becker and Garrot and potentially Biscupski and Rocky and likely a conservative wackadoodle or two. Will there be a primary or does everyone get on the ballot and the vote gets split?

This isn't unusual. There is always a non-partisan primary that whittles the candidate list down to two. In 2007, when Becker won the race, the initial candidates who ran in that summer's primary:

Ralph Becker [W] - Underdog at first, came on strong toward the summer of 2007 and upended the favorite candidates to win the primary - and then, of course, the general.

Dave Buhler - He won the second most votes in 2007's primary as the Democrats split the vote. As the lone major Republican, he benefited greatly from a crowded field. Of course, he'd go on to lose in a landslide to Becker.

Jenny Wilson - The one-time favorite in the race, Wilson was the daughter of former Salt Lake Mayor Ted Wilson. She ran a pretty mediocre campaign and it showed, as she came in a disappointing third.

Keith S. Christensen - He was a former Republican-turned-independent who also served on the SLC Council prior to leaving politics. Christensen was actually Rocky Anderson's choice as a successor and that certainly helped him - but not enough to overtake Becker, Buhler or Wilson. Christensen finished fourth.

Other no-namers:

Rainer Huck
J.P. Hughes
Quinn Cady McDonough
Robert Muscheck
John Renteria

[Comrade]

Originally Posted by Future Mayor

Rocky was the right person for the job at the time, but I think Becker was a needed and wanted change.

I think Becker has done a great job fighting for some big projects the things that Garrott is bitching about him not focusing on smaller issues. Namely the Performing Arts Center. Many on the council complain about the administration not focusing on the smaller neighborhood issues, which is fine because that's who they represent, their neighborhoods, but overall the city is doing well, the neighborhoods are nice, clean and taken care of for the most part. I think Becker has done an outstanding job focusing on some bigger issue, new tax revenues from big projects means more tax revenues to spend in the neighborhoods.

I am 100% in the Becker for Mayor camp.

As for how the election works, you're right Salt Lake City is a non-partisan form of government. All candidates will go on the Primary Ballot, then the two with the most votes will go on the final ballot.

Sometimes the City Council acts like that of one of a small town and not a large center of a growing metro. It's fascinating how small-time they are in many ways, which is one thing I did like about Rocky - he was a big city mayor (so was Deedee Corradini, in many regards).

[SLC Projects]

Originally Posted by Comrade

I'm pretty sure there was economic development between 1999 and 2008.

A few office/housing mid-rises in and around the gateway...............that's about it.

[Stenar]

Rocky's major accomplishments as mayor: back-in parking and orange flags for crosswalks (which are usually empty or on the other side of the road than you're crossing).

[CofIKid]

Here is the article from KSL about the proposal for the library's extended hours.

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=32593873&nid=148...-keep-sl-library-open-247&s_cid=queue-15

Proposal would keep S.L. library open 24/7
December 3, 2014
By Morgan Jacobsen


SALT LAKE CITY — City leaders are considering a proposal to keep the Salt Lake City Main Library open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

John Spears, the library's executive director, met with members of the Salt Lake City Council Tuesday to discuss a pilot program that would extend the library's hours for two years and determine whether the policy would be viable permanently.

The pilot program is expected to cost about $300,000 each year, which will be covered mostly by donations.

Some raised security concerns with having the library open continuously, but Spears sees the proposal as an opportunity to provide educational opportunities to an untapped audience.

"Very often people look at problems with a project that could develop," Spears said. "Taking a longer-term view of this, some of the problems that we face in Salt Lake City and society in general are a lack of education, a lack of continued development. And that's what a library is for. … I see this as improving security in Salt Lake City."

[SLC Projects]

Speaking of the Salt Lake City's main library, I guess that opened during Rocky's time. So that and the Gateway.

[jubguy3]

Becker has helped city wide development - Sugarhouse, bicycle and transit infrastructures, city creek, lots of other downtown development, the apartment boom

[Comrade]

Rocky killed the sprawl mall that was proposed out by the airport. That was HUGE and had it gone through, as his opponent advocated (and Deedee, to boot), the city would have been negatively impacted - especially downtown. That alone makes Rocky's tenure as mayor a success.

Also, Rocky advocated hard for the light-rail extension up the U. It would have happened eventually, but not as quickly as it did without Rocky lobbying the city council. He also pushed for dance clubs and bars to stay open all night downtown. The city council objected to the idea.