posted on 7/30/2019 by
the Salt City Sinner
If you live in Salt Lake City, you’ve already received your
ballot to vote by mail in the August 13 primary election for mayor (if you
haven’t, you can vote in person
– if you need to register
to vote, you can do that too).
It’s a crowded field, full of highly qualified, intelligent,
and likeable people from diverse backgrounds, and it’s not exactly a hot take
to say that almost any one of them would make an outstanding mayor. If you’d
like to hear what the candidates have to say on a variety of issues, the Salt
Lake Tribune has one fairly
exhaustive guide and the Deseret News has
another. The Let’s Go Eat Show, a podcast from Radio from Hell’s Bill
Allred, has a fantastic series of longer-form conversations with many of the
candidates as well (here are part
one, part
two, and part
three).
Whomever we choose to head city government, she or he is
going to have a lot on their plate: air quality and the inland port, homelessness
and affordable housing, transportation. These aren’t small issues. Furthermore,
the Wasatch Front’s increasing population and our changing climate mean that
they are issues that will be with us for the foreseeable future and may, in
fact, intensify if significant steps aren’t taken to tackle them.
I’ve already mailed in my ballot, and I don’t mind telling
you whom I picked. I voted for Erin Mendenhall. Erin is passionate about air
quality in Salt Lake City and forthrightly opposed to the inland port. She has
a background in clean-air activism and currently serves on the City Council. I
like that she has demonstrated pragmatism, willingness to learn, and a belief
in public service. I think that she has the chops to steer Salt Lake City during what
will no doubt prove to be both a challenging and exciting time in the city’s
history.
In a few weeks, the choices will have been narrowed down
considerably, and I will re-examine things then, but in the interim: Here’s to
the bright future Salt Lake City could enjoy, here’s to smart civic management,
and here’s to Mayor Mendenhall!
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