Salt Lake City: Official Development News Thread - Part 4

[ajiuO]

Originally Posted by Comrade

I bet most people who visit Salt Lake aren't aware of these camps, either. When you visit a city, you rarely venture into the seedy areas that offer little in tourism or hospitality. Why would you be aware of these areas if you didn't go out of your way to find them?

Just a quick Google search found...

SLC is not unique. We're just aware of it because we live here and know the areas where the homeless camps are set up. Go to Phoenix or Portland or Denver and their locals are well aware of their problem, too. But just because you haven't seen it while visiting doesn't mean it's there. It's there. It's always been there and, sadly, will always be there.

It would be pretty hard not to be aware of them here because they are in close proximity to our major freeway entrances and places of interest.... and I think you just reiterated the point that some people are trying to make... In most cities you don't see it because it's restricted to seedy areas... that is not the case in salt lake and that is the difference. Gateway was a major shopping destination up until the past couple of years... it's becoming seedy because the panhandlers/Homeless/druggies and the crime associated with them is driving out customers and retailers... and we are talking about turning gateway into an entertainment district and rio grande in to a market district...

When you go to San Francisco you don't see transient camps when your getting off the Bay bridge and driving up market street. You don't see them at Union Squar or fishermans Worf... there are many homeless people but not camps...I'm sure they are there... but not in places of interest.

Rio Grand and gateway are high value areas that are striving to become places of interest... they are really the first and last glimps of our city. It's really difficult to redevelop that strip into a viable places of interest with all the homeless and crime...

No, it's not unique that salt Lake has the issue, but where it exist in relation to Viable developing parts of down town probably is... this sounds horrible but it's reality... if a tree falls in the forest then who cares. People don't talk about seeing this when they visit other city because most of those cities are good about controlling where it exist... if we want gateway and rio grand to continue to develop and become viable, and if we don't want transient camps to be one of the first and last things on people's minds when they come to and leave salt lake, then we need to get better... for gateway and rio grand to rise... the homeless shelters need to move somewhere else... it's just as simple as that...

As tax payers and people who provide these homeless shelters and services... we get to deside where we put them. What locations work best for us.... the rio grande / gateway areas are no longer places that work for us... but the good news is most of those people can chose to get off the drugs and work on making their life better... it's their choice. I feel bad for legitimately disabled people, but not those who choose to be on drugs or refuse to work... there are lots of people willing to help other people get their lives together... and McDonald's is always a good place to start.

[Comrade]

There are literal homeless setting up tents in downtown Portland. I am not convinced SLC's problem is any worse, or any more apparant, than other cities - beyond panhandlers and I'd say we're similar to Portland and Seattle in that regard.

In terms of tent cities, Boise had one right at a freeway entrance into downtown, so, not located out in the middle of nowhere. Salt Lake's is located in an area of abandoned buildings, an open field and limited tourist interaction. Granted, the Gateway is close to the proximity of these areas, but the major camps, the people lining up on the grassy area just west of the Rio Grande, is not anywhere a tourist would randomly wander off to because there's nothing there beyond a couple warehouses, the back of the Depot, which isn't even really a tourist destination itself, and a few empty fields.

The people who see these camps are the people who go looking for the camps or hear about them on the news or from other people.

But the overall point wasn't that these areas might be shielded away in some of these cities from areas where there's a lot of foot traffic - Tony's point explicitly said they didn't have these camps like we do at Rio Grande. That's not true at all.

Also, in those photos I posted, there are multiple areas where the camps are in very close proximity to areas of the city. Like...









These are not just areas isolated from these cities - they're, in some instances, right in the heart of each city. It's no different than the Rio Grande area except we're more aware of it because we live here.

[Cottonwood]

Originally Posted by Comrade

There are literal homeless setting up tents in downtown Portland. I am not convinced SLC's problem is any worse, or any more apparant, than other cities - beyond panhandlers and I'd say we're similar to Portland and Seattle in that regard.

In terms of tent cities, Boise had one right at a freeway entrance into downtown, so, not located out in the middle of nowhere. Salt Lake's is located in an area of abandoned buildings, an open field and limited tourist interaction. Granted, the Gateway is close to the proximity of these areas, but the major camps, the people lining up on the grassy area just west of the Rio Grande, is not anywhere a tourist would randomly wander off to because there's nothing there beyond a couple warehouses, the back of the Depot, which isn't even really a tourist destination itself, and a few empty fields.

The people who see these camps are the people who go looking for the camps or hear about them on the news or from other people.

But the overall point wasn't that these areas might be shielded away in some of these cities from areas where there's a lot of foot traffic - Tony's point explicitly said they didn't have these camps like we do at Rio Grande. That's not true at all.

Just to clarify, that temporary tent city (photos you posted) in Boise was called Cooper Court which doesn't exist anymore. The city cleared it out last December and attempted to help the homeless citizens by making sure they actually use the shelters rather than ignoring the help and instead camping. It wasn't very visible either, it was hidden between the elevated Interstate Connector coming into downtown and the wall of the Interfaith Sanctuary. That area has really cleaned up the past year with the new skate park and the CEO of Element opening up a shop and artistic center near where the tent city used to be. http://idahobusinessreview.com/2016/08/15/an-entrepreneur-finds-his-element-in-boise/

[Comrade]

Well just to further clarify: I'm sure SLC has plans to clean out its tent cities. So, in the end, it's all the same.

[Stenar]

Originally Posted by ajiuO

It would be pretty hard not to be aware of them here because they are in close proximity to our major freeway entrances and places of interest....

The first time I visited Seattle in the '90s, they had a huge homeless situation right by their very touristy Pike Place Market. A friend and I wandered all over the city, in the evening we were by Pike Place. As we walked back to our hotel, we passed a bunch of buildings that had homeless people sleeping along every one; every doorway, alley was filled with homeless people within a block or so of Pike Place. There was even one office building where the lobby was filled with sleeping homeless people. I'm guessing the building let them sleep there because the doors appeared to be locked up.

[Liberty Wellsian]

Originally Posted by Stenar

The hospitals were not empty, and not all of the facilities were hospitals. When Reagan closed them, millions of mentally ill people were just dumped onto the streets.

The old system was legislated out of existence. Carter signed a bill to mostly continue the status quo a month before the election. Almost the moment Reagan took over, he and the Republicans who had just taken control of Congress, discarded that bill, and ended the federal government's role in providing services to the mentally ill.

By the time Clinton became president, those institutions had been closed for 12 years. No one is going to go back and recreate a system that has been gone for that long. In 1996, Bill Clinton passed the Mental Health Parity Act, which required health insurers to provide as much coverage for mental illness as it did for other types of illness.

What has replaced mental health institutions is prison.

I'm not a Republican Reagan fanboy nevertheless perpetuating the myth that Reagan is largely responsible for mentally ill people being on the streets is not helpful. De-institutionalization began long before Reagan became president and I doubt he could have stopped it. Don't take my word for it though.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3392176/

[Ironweed]

Originally Posted by UTPlanner

There was some recent chatter related to a new apartment building on the northwest corner of 300 West and North Temple. I saw the plans this morning. It will occupy the entire property including the hotel and the small deli. It's 240 units and will not include any retail. It's a purely residential structure. Because someone will inevitably ask, there is very little stucco on the exterior structure. It is mainly brick, hardiboard and glass with stucco trim elements.

This is positive news. Any hope for the vacant & parking lots surrounding this deal?

[ajiuO]

Originally Posted by Ironweed

This is positive news. Any hope for the vacant & parking lots surrounding this deal?

Nope. It's all owned by the LDS church. They are going to build a BYU campus in 30-40 years.

[Comrade]

Wow. You're optimistic, ajiuO!

I'd say at least 50-60 years.

[ajiuO]

Originally Posted by Comrade

Wow. You're optimistic, ajiuO!

I'd say at least 50-60 years.

yeah. Probably after they reclad the COB and put up a second tower.

[Comrade]

And Salt Lake gets that MLB team.

[ajiuO]

Originally Posted by Comrade

And Salt Lake gets that MLB team.

Mormon League Baseball?

[ajiuO]

Bad News:

Things are not looking good at the Regent Street parking garage. I was originally under the impression that the whole garage was going to undergo a reclad... but it looks like they're copping out on it big time. When I first saw the brick and glass going up. I thought to myself that it could be better, but that it was still a huge improvement. I think I've changed my mind though. It's really starting to look like an incoherent pile of 🞵🞵🞵🞵, and I kind of wish they would've just left it alone... or painted it or something.

The west side has mostly been redone in a decent looking brick and glass, but then there are one or two sections of the building where they just slapped up some metal beam / tension cable railings... on every floor in that section. It looks like something you might find on a parking structure constructed in a seedy ghetto in the 1970's... Besides being as ugly as Austin Powers teeth, it looks really out of place in contrast to the brick.

On the North and South Sides they removed the west most segments of original cladding and replaced them with the same tension cable 🞵🞵🞵🞵 mentioned above. Then the Original cladding continues to the East side of the building.

On the East side of the building they removed the original cladding just above the alleyway that runs from State to Regent... and replaced it with some more tension cable goodness... Why? I have no clue. It looks really out of place.

If your standing on 100 S. Right around Brio you get the most lovely view of the parking structure. You can see the brick on East with missing sections and tension cable... Then right around the corner you see more tension cable for a little way... and then back to the original cladding... Nothing looks good together, and it's a horrible mess. It looks like they tried to reclad it and then hit a budget wall and tried to patch 🞵🞵🞵🞵 together (witch I'm guessing is actually what happens). To top it all off, right under the parking structure... you see that lovely building on the corner of 100 and Regent witch is being recladed in.... you guessed it... Stucco.

This is really disappointing. Im actually happy that they didn't touch the Walker Center now... Because they turned the Regent Street Garage into the Regent Street garbage... I'll try to get photos soon... it looks like trash.


On a positive note... The huge screen inside of 111 is really cool. The other day they had an image up the matched the wall that surrounds it... I was like 🞵🞵🞵.

[jtrent77]

Originally Posted by ajiuO

Bad News:

Things are not looking good at the Regent Street parking garage. I was originally under the impression that the whole garage was going to undergo a reclad... but it looks like they're copping out on it big time. When I first saw the brick and glass going up. I thought to myself that it could be better, but that it was still a huge improvement. I think I've changed my mind though. It's really starting to look like an incoherent pile of 🞵🞵🞵🞵, and I kind of wish they would've just left it alone... or painted it or something.

The west side has mostly been redone in a decent looking brick and glass, but then there are one or two sections of the building where they just slapped up some metal beam / tension cable railings... on every floor in that section. It looks like something you might find on a parking structure constructed in a seedy ghetto in the 1970's... Besides being as ugly as Austin Powers teeth, it looks really out of place in contrast to the brick.

On the North and South Sides they removed the west most segments of original cladding and replaced them with the same tension cable 🞵🞵🞵🞵 mentioned above. Then the Original cladding continues to the East side of the building.

On the East side of the building they removed the original cladding just above the alleyway that runs from State to Regent... and replaced it with some more tension cable goodness... Why? I have no clue. It looks really out of place.

If your standing on 100 S. Right around Brio you get the most lovely view of the parking structure. You can see the brick on East with missing sections and tension cable... Then right around the corner you see more tension cable for a little way... and then back to the original cladding... Nothing looks good together, and it's a horrible mess. It looks like they tried to reclad it and then hit a budget wall and tried to patch 🞵🞵🞵🞵 together (witch I'm guessing is actually what happens). To top it all off, right under the parking structure... you see that lovely building on the corner of 100 and Regent witch is being recladed in.... you guessed it... Stucco.

This is really disappointing. Im actually happy that they didn't touch the Walker Center now... Because they turned the Regent Street Garage in the Regent Street garbage... I'll try to get photos soon... it looks like trash.


On a positive note... The huge screen inside of 111 is really cool. They other day they had an image up the matched the wall that surrounds it... I was like 🞵🞵🞵.

How far apart are the tension cables? Could there be a possibility that they setting it up to be a green wall with vines cause that seems like the logical thing here.

[ajiuO]

This is very crude... but the real thing honestly doesn't look much better.

Black = concrete
Gray = bars. And tension cables
Brown = brackets that wrap around the concreat pillars

No the coloring is not accurate.

[arkhitektor]

More troubling news from the city's Rio Grande Neighborhood permanent homeless camp. The video of the people swarming the crashed vehicle looks like a scene from the walking dead...

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=41283212&nid=148...e-seek-looters-in-homicide-investigation

[Comrade]

I'm more appalled by the actual shooting, and the fact a few non-homeless men and one woman, killed a man, than I am the looting. Fascinating, though, that the looting, and not the actual drug death, is our focus here. But anything to attack those pesky homeless, I guess.

[arkhitektor]

Originally Posted by Comrade

I'm more appalled by the actual shooting, and the fact a few non-homeless men and one woman, killed a man, than I am the looting. Fascinating, though, that the looting, and not the actual drug death, is our focus here. But anything to attack those pesky homeless, I guess.

The drug dealing (and the shooting, unfortunately) are not really shocking news coming out of that area anymore. The animalistic behavior of more than a dozen people rushing to the scene of an accident, not to render any aid to a dying man, but to loot and steal anything they could IS shocking. Both are major contributing factors to the massive and growing problems that the Rio Grande neighborhood faces.

[ajiuO]

Wasn't someone just saying how nice and polite the homeless people in the Rio Grande area are? I hate to say I told you so, but they're not. Instead running to help someone they all run to lute his car.

It sounds like a drug deal gone wrong. That in no way is more shocking then the luting. Drug have been a problem in that area for as long as I can remember... it's part of the culture that the zombi hoards of homeless people in the area create... so yeah... those pesky homeless people. It seems like there are fights, police, and paramedics over on 200s about 60% of the time that I go over there.

[EPdesign]

Sometimes I log-on hoping with all my heart that today is the day Viperlord posted something about a highrise project new or proposed. Today isnt that day. C'mon slc