Salt Lake City: Official Development News Thread - Part 5

[Liberty Wellsian]

Originally Posted by Always Sunny in SLC

I foresee a time when the vast network of oil pipelines across the country are no longer needed so they could be repurposed to deliver water from the ocean to states (mostly landlocked) to provide reliable waters supplies in an era of climate change and large populations. If we expected that most, if not all, our water came from these sources we could stop extracting it from lakes and streams and return those areas to their normal water cycles. This would avoid large and expensive water projects and again reduce water anxiety since we would not be beholden to drought cycles.

Texas could replace the endless expanse of refineries with desalination plants that make money off of the new oil, cheap water. That water would be cheap because of advancements in membranes such as graphene, which reduce the energy costs by orders of magnitude. The Great Salt Lake would be great again (I for some reason am imagining red hats right now) as Dave mentions with all its important biological benefits. Agricultural in the Intermountain West would boom and benefit from a dependable supply.

Now if we wanted to get real crazy, I would suggest, rather than having water run from the snake river valley, we send the GSL water TO the snake. This would over time desalinate the lake and open up amazing opportunities for a lake that is now fresh. You could even dike the lake and create a deeper lake that doesn't suffer from such shoreline fluctuations that make building beach front property problematic. #pipedreams

The best part of this is by then we will have successfully tested the warp drive and the Vulcans will introduce us to the unicorns who poop ice cream.

[Liberty Wellsian]

Originally Posted by asies1981

RDA officially adopted the 9 line and state street project areas, hopefully this will help spur more growth in these neighborhoods.

Super duper duper happy about this! In particular I completely agree with making the intersection of Indiana and Navajo street a higher density node. The 2 things missing from my pipe dream are an East West transit corridor (with density and time it may become reality ) and a New New Amsterdam neighborhood on the Jordan River. Still though I am super impressed with the scope of this. We could add so much vitality, new reaidenta, business, and money to our city here.

This is going to be a catalyst

[UV4EVER]

Originally Posted by Liberty Wellsian

Super duper duper happy about this! In particular I completely agree with making the intersection of Indiana and Navajo street a higher density node. The 2 things missing from my pipe dream are an East West transit corridor (with density and time it may become reality ) and a New New Amsterdam neighborhood on the Jordan River. Still though I am super impressed with the scope of this. We could add so much vitality, new reaidenta, business, and money to our city here.

This is going to be a catalyst

That does look pretty cool.

[UV4EVER]

For anyone who spends a lot of time downtown, what are your thoughts on the scooters? Do you like them or are they annoying? Do you like the action the city took on them? I tried them earlier this summer in Santa Monica and I've seen them in Salt Lake but haven't ridden them here.

[bob rulz]

Could you elaborate on the action the city took on them?

I think the scooters are a great addition to mobility in the city, it's unfortunate that a handful of idiots give all of the scooters a bad name.

[EPdesign]

driving to the office this morning

[EPdesign]

Originally Posted by UV4EVER

For anyone who spends a lot of time downtown, what are your thoughts on the scooters? Do you like them or are they annoying? Do you like the action the city took on them? I tried them earlier this summer in Santa Monica and I've seen them in Salt Lake but haven't ridden them here.

They are great to get around on. However, they should be kept off the side walks.

[scottharding]

Originally Posted by UV4EVER

For anyone who spends a lot of time downtown, what are your thoughts on the scooters? Do you like them or are they annoying? Do you like the action the city took on them? I tried them earlier this summer in Santa Monica and I've seen them in Salt Lake but haven't ridden them here.

I think they're great. I live downtown, so I've used them a couple of times. They're fun, efficient, cheap, and when you're done you just park them (properly) and leave it. They seem to be massively popular.

Of course, many people are not using them the way they're supposed to be used, and it will fall to the city to police this. Inevitably, someone is going to get hurt on one, whether by fault of their own or the fault of a car driver, and hopefully when that time comes it doesn't ruin the whole thing. I think this is one situation where our absurdly wide streets could be a good thing. If Salt Lake can allow for multiple modes of transportation, and scooters, bikes, walkers and cars can all coexist relatively peacefully, then this will be a great thing. I know Bird- one of the scooter companies- is looking to help subsidize more bike lanes in the cities they are present in.

[bob rulz]

Originally Posted by EPdesign

They are great to get around on. However, they should be kept off the side walks.

As long as it feels unsafe to ride the scooters on the streets, then they will continue to be used on sidewalks. Cars are far more dangerous to both scooters and pedestrians than scooters are to pedestrians. As a pedestrian, I am much more worried about being hit by a car on a right turn (or even a left turn) than I am by someone riding a scooter. At least if a scooter hits me I can be pretty sure I'll survive it.

Every city needs to see the idea of complete streets as a more urgent issue.

[Makid]

Originally Posted by bob rulz

As long as it feels unsafe to ride the scooters on the streets, then they will continue to be used on sidewalks. Cars are far more dangerous to both scooters and pedestrians than scooters are to pedestrians. As a pedestrian, I am much more worried about being hit by a car on a right turn (or even a left turn) than I am by someone riding a scooter. At least if a scooter hits me I can be pretty sure I'll survive it.

Every city needs to see the idea of complete streets as a more urgent issue.

I am not sure though. There are multiple people that ride their bikes and the scooters on the sidewalks along 3rd South and 2nd West where there are dedicated and protected bike lanes.

I think that there are a few issues that cause this:

First - Most people ride their bikes, scooters, skateboards and such on the sidewalks in the suburbs so it is more natural for them to do that also downtown.

Second - There isn't much signage downtown stating to keep the bikes, scooters, etc. off of the sidewalks except for when parking/walking/dismounting.

Third - It may seem counter intuitive but we do need to see some stories in the news about people getting ticketed for riding bikes, scooters, skateboards, etc. on the sidewalks downtown. The more that people are aware that there is an actual penalty to not following the rules/laws, the more likely they are to follow them in the future.

There isn't much that Salt Lake City can do about the first issue but the second and third issues are items they can do something about. Signage is beneficial and can be added near the Green Bike stations, Transit Stops and intersections. For the third issue, police can issue warnings to people riding on the sidewalks for 1 to 2 months, get it in the papers and local newscasts.

Then starting in month 3 they can do random blitzes around downtown 1 day a week in random areas until it calms down and the majority of riders are off of the sidewalks. I don't think the fines on the tickets need to be that large to cause people to move off the sidewalks either, I was thinking more of a $5.00 to $7.00 fine. It is more to change behavior, not to stop them from using the services.

This will have a few extra benefits in the end. The sidewalks will be safer for pedestrians. People will feel safer as they will see extra police during the random blitzes during the crackdowns. It will slow vehicle traffic down as they will be sharing the road with bikes, scooters, and such. It will increase the need for protected bike lanes around the city.

[Liberty Wellsian]

Originally Posted by Makid

I am not sure though. There are multiple people that ride their bikes and the scooters on the sidewalks along 3rd South and 2nd West where there are dedicated and protected bike lanes.

I think that there are a few issues that cause this:

First - Most people ride their bikes, scooters, skateboards and such on the sidewalks in the suburbs so it is more natural for them to do that also downtown.

Second - There isn't much signage downtown stating to keep the bikes, scooters, etc. off of the sidewalks except for when parking/walking/dismounting.

Third - It may seem counter intuitive but we do need to see some stories in the news about people getting ticketed for riding bikes, scooters, skateboards, etc. on the sidewalks downtown. The more that people are aware that there is an actual penalty to not following the rules/laws, the more likely they are to follow them in the future.

There isn't much that Salt Lake City can do about the first issue but the second and third issues are items they can do something about. Signage is beneficial and can be added near the Green Bike stations, Transit Stops and intersections. For the third issue, police can issue warnings to people riding on the sidewalks for 1 to 2 months, get it in the papers and local newscasts.

Then starting in month 3 they can do random blitzes around downtown 1 day a week in random areas until it calms down and the majority of riders are off of the sidewalks. I don't think the fines on the tickets need to be that large to cause people to move off the sidewalks either, I was thinking more of a $5.00 to $7.00 fine. It is more to change behavior, not to stop them from using the services.

This will have a few extra benefits in the end. The sidewalks will be safer for pedestrians. People will feel safer as they will see extra police during the random blitzes during the crackdowns. It will slow vehicle traffic down as they will be sharing the road with bikes, scooters, and such. It will increase the need for protected bike lanes around the city.

People can heckle them. I heckled some 20 somethings riding green bikes on the sidewalk along Main street. They moved out into the road.

[asies1981]

update on two Central Ninth/Granary area developments.

[UV4EVER]

Originally Posted by bob rulz

Could you elaborate on the action the city took on them?

I think the scooters are a great addition to mobility in the city, it's unfortunate that a handful of idiots give all of the scooters a bad name.

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/9000...n-to-salt-lake-city-by-the-hundreds.html

[San Diego- Honolulu]

Salt Lake Sucks

[Marvland]

Originally Posted by San Diego- Honolulu

Salt Lake Sucks

Buh buh Bye.

[Wasatch Wasteland]

Originally Posted by Marvland

Buh buh Bye.

I think the real San Diego Honolulu got banned along with the troll... whoops.

[asies1981]

The 900 South Arctic Circle is going to become townhomes.

[ajiuO]

Originally Posted by Liberty Wellsian

People can heckle them. I heckled some 20 somethings riding green bikes on the sidewalk along Main street. They moved out into the road.

I sure as hell don’t ride the scooters or bikes in the street, unless it’s on third south or second W. where they have the protected lanes. There are so many people driving around downtown paying attention to their cell phones. It’s really unsafe to be in the street. I’ve almost got hit so many times just crossing the street on a walk signal. They should start giving people DUIs for being on their phone while they’re driving. Besides that the LDS church is allowed to drive their service vehicles down the sidewalk. So as long as they’re able to do that I’m going to continue to ride bikes and scooters down the sidewalk.

You might wanna be careful about heckling people. I had some kid come at me like he was going to push me off my scooter. He stopped but it almost made me fall over. He’s lucky that I didn’t or I would’ve bashed his head in...

[ajiuO]

Originally Posted by asies1981

The 900 South Arctic Circle is going to become townhomes.

It’s too bad they didn’t do something like that with the Arctic Circle that close down on North Temple. I really wish developer would come in and start buying up those sleazy hotels. Once the hotels are gone the property value would probably go through the roof.

[bob rulz]

Central 9th is quickly becoming one of the most appealing neighborhoods in Salt Lake, I really like what they're doing there! I think the smaller scale, "missing middle" kind of developments mix in very well with that area.