Former NBA All-Star Lou Hudson is running for a two-year seat on the City Council.
If elected he would be the first black to hold a city council seat in Utah, according to Betty Sawyer, executive director of the Governor's Office of Black Affairs.Hudson, voted Citizen of the Year in 1992 by the local Rotary Club, is known locally for the recreation camps he runs for Summit County youths.
The only other announced candidate for the vacancy is Joram Lichtenstein, a retired engineer who has worked locally in public radio and community theater, served on a city parks committee and been active in homeowners' rights in the growing resort community.
Hudson, who closed out his 13-year career in 1979 with the Los Angeles Lakers, stands a good chance of being elected, according to City Manager Toby Ross, who said Park City probably has a political climate more favorable to minorities than the rest of the state."It may be more liberal, but only in the Utah context," said Ross.
Hudson said he will run on a platform that calls for good development management in the resort community, which in the past decade has experienced phenomenal growth, causing many residents to fear for their tranquil quality of life in the former mining town.
"I'm not a save-the-ridges person, but I'm not against saving some of the ridges," said Hudson. "It needs to grow in order to have a good tax base . . . it's when you start sporadically throwing in subdivisions that you have problems."
Lichtenstein is out of town until September, according to family members, and unavailable for comment.
The two-year council vacancy was created by the resignation of Jim Santy partway through his term.
Sawyer said she knows of only two blacks elected to public office in the history of Utah, where less than 1 percent of the population is black. They were the Rev. Robert Harris, a state representative from Ogden in the 1950s, and Terry Williams, a state senator from Salt Lake City during the 1980s.
"I've been through that first syndrome many times," said Hudson, who said race won't be an issue in the campaign.
He said he still has strong ties with civic leaders in Atlanta, where he played nine years for the Hawks, and that his connections could prove helpful in Utah's bid for the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Atlanta hosts the 1996 summer games, largely through the efforts of former Mayor Andrew Young and the city's current mayor, Maynard Jackson, both of whom are friends of Hudson.
"I think they can share with us some of their strategy," said Hudson.
Hudson, a native of Greensboro, N.C., was considered one of the NBA's best journeyman players during the 1970s, boasting a 20.2 point-per-game average in a career that ended with the Lakers, where he was replaced by a young upstart named Magic Johnson.
After his first marriage ended in divorce, he moved to Park City in 1984 to marry his college sweetheart, Mardi Smith.
"I came out for a week to 10 days, and it's such a beautiful place with so many good people, I decided to stay," said Hudson.
Two four-year council seats have attracted more interest in Park City, with four candidates filing for those slots. They include current councilman Roger Harlan, pastor of a local church; Frank E. Harris, a university professor; bed-and-breakfast owner Hugh A. Daniels and Michael W. Yeakle.