If you were to put a dot on a map of the Salt Lake area and say "you are here," many people might be hard pressed to say exactly what to call the place.
Depending on whether you ask the U.S. Census Bureau, municipal governments, community councils, Salt Lake County government or U.S. Postal Service you could come up with several names for the same location in many areas of Salt Lake County, particularly in unincorporated areas.For example, a few months ago, when Wal-Mart opened a store across from Taylorsville High School at 5469 S. Redwood Road, it advertised in newspapers its location as Murray, probably because the company's head office saw a postal designation that says Murray, said assistant store manager Herb Colley.
Although Murray's city line is far away, Wal-Mart uses the address because that's the post office from which mail is delivered. The designation is a "sore spot" for Taylorsville-Bennion Community Council Chairman Bruce Wasden. By the definition of the community council, the store is located in Bennion. To add salt to the council's wounds, the store invited officials from Murray to the grand opening although the local community council had helped with the zoning groundwork for the store.
"This is very much a problem," Wasden said, adding that if the manager wants to improve public relations he should get the store identified as being in the Taylorsville-Bennion area.
Colley said concern about the address was news to him.
"Essentially we are a store for all areas. I have never had a complaint about it," Colley said.
Wasden, like other representatives of other cities and community council areas in Salt Lake County, complains that community identities are diluted by the many differing designations.
"I say I am from Bennion and people will say, `Where is that?' " he said, noting mail comes addressed to "West Jordan."
South Jordan residents have petitioned Sen. Orrin Hatch for a ZIP code change to get an identity separate from Riverton, the name that now appears on their mail. Officials say the city is losing money because franchise taxes may be misdirected to Riverton based on mailing addresses.
Brian Sperry, a communications specialist with the U.S. Postal Service, said while he realizes ZIP codes sometimes cause confusion they aren't intended to identify a community, only to move the mail along. He said that residents can initiate ZIP code changes, but they must have enough volume to justify the change. He said that residents with an "841" prefix in their ZIP code can use their community designation in their address, although the postal service favors "Salt Lake City" on mail in those areas.
Along with the postal service, state government, the media and publishers of phone directories often perpetuate the confusion, and yet they may all be correct.
John W. Van Cott, author of "Utah Place Names," said he purposely avoided the place name controversy in the valley by trying to draw boundaries when he wrote his book that was published last year. He focused on place name origins. In some situations, competing claims of names for an area may all be correct, he said.
Media outlets in the valley have differing methods for handling place names, including everything from simply reporting an address to adopting the county's community council designations.
For example, in reporting on a controversy about the former Union Fort - which, ironically, also serves as a namesake for the area - a local television station said it was reporting from Midvale. Actually, incorporated Midvale is miles away, but addresses in the area take a Midvale ZIP code and address. At the same time, the local community council, U.S. Census Bureau and Salt Lake County call the area Union.
US WEST publishes the postal service's designations, based on ZIP codes, in its telephone directory. In its current yellow pages, US WEST printed a map with names of communities that have been absorbed into others and missed other designations adopted by Salt Lake County. For example, Crescent is now part of Sandy. Kearns is misplaced and Hunter, Granger and West Valley City are all listed, although Hunter and Granger are now part of West Valley City. A map inside is more complete but doesn't include all of the designations adopted by Salt Lake County.
Residents also cling to differing designations, and at least one government agency didn't question them in a recent report. The Utah State Tax Commission included income statistics for Granger, Hunter and West Valley City, although they would have been more appropriately included under the West Valley label. A researcher who prepared the report was surprised to learn that Granger and Hunter had been incorporated into West Valley.
Bob Williams, Easy Reference Guide manager for US WEST in Denver, said that he hates to get calls from Salt Lake City, because they are bound to be complaints about confusing community names and street designations. A couple of years ago the company was taken to task for leaving West Valley City off a map. While other communities in the region are willing to double-check the company's street directory, no one in Salt Lake County seems willing to tackle the challenge.
"We find it very difficult to have government give accurate information on the street guide," he said. "There is no central source for information to keep the guide up-to-date."