In a Salt Lake mayoral race replete with wide differences between the candidates, perhaps no other is as sharply defined as this: development of Salt Lake City's business district.
In debate after debate, Rocky Anderson has decried what he calls the sad state of downtown businesses, especially small businesses. The first priority of city administration, he says, should be to rejuvenate Main Street and its immediate environs, giving back its bygone character of a diverse gathering place for residents, where they shop and socialize and live."I would like to turn back the clock," he said. "I don't want to see the homogenization of our community. We need that central gathering place."
If he had a time machine, Anderson said, he would go back and prevent the ZCMI Center and Crossroads Plaza from going up across the street from each other in the first place. "They have sucked the energy out of downtown," he said. He would bring back the Auerbach's, Castleton's and other department stores -- locally owned, preferably.
(Upon being further questioned, Anderson clarified his stand as "learning from the past" rather than returning to it.)
Only when Main Street is revived, Anderson says, should other major business developments be done.
Stuart Reid is on the other end of the spectrum. For one thing, he doesn't share Anderson's pessimism about downtown. He believes it is on the cusp, and is now in, an economic explosion.
With the new Monaco Hotel, a large development planned just south of it, a new Marriott and Little America Grand, a planned expansion of Crossroads Plaza and other downtown development, "there are millions of dollars chasing Main Street," Reid frequently repeats.
Anderson decries the extended street reconstruction and light rail construction along Main Street, on which many blame the demise of several small businesses along or near the route. Reid, under whose direction the reconstruction took place as the city's community and economic development director, champions it.
The two-year reconstruction effort was completed about a year ago.
"What is the reason for all this economic activity in downtown?" Reid asks rhetorically. "Light rail. All these people are all telling us they are coming in because of light rail."
Yes, Main Street reconstruction was hard on existing businesses, but Reid considers it a $20 million investment in the future.
Ah, the future. To Reid's way of thinking, Anderson's desire to return downtown to its former glory by focusing only on Main Street is wrong-headed. To him, the key is to provide large shopping anchors to attract people in from the suburbs. He theorizes that will provide a support structure for small businesses, which can take advantage of the increased traffic to provide their own services.
"It's like John Kennedy said: A rising tide lifts all boats," he said.
He uses the analogy of large stores anchoring malls, which can then support smaller stores. He also says the definition of "downtown" should be more encompassing than just Main Street.
Anderson, on the other hand, says the more big businesses move in, the more small businesses will suffer from unbalanced competition. He doesn't buy the rising tide/boat analogy.
Enter the Gateway, the ambitious proposal to turn 650 acres west of downtown from run-down industrial area into a vibrant mixed-use community.
Anderson says the grant Gateway scheme shouldn't be undertaken until Main Street is returned to health, lest it kill downtown completely. Reid, on the other hand, says the Gateway development will help downtown by enlarging the pie, helping everyone.
In any case, the crown jewel of the Gateway, the 26-acre mixed-use Boyer Co. development west of and incorporating the Union Pacific depot, is already under way and will happen whoever is elected mayor, which Anderson concedes. He does hope, however, to guide it more toward his vision of downtown.
That development is set to receive $30 million in city and redevelopment money for the project itself and related infrastructure improvement. While Reid says it's a great investment in the area's crumbling sidewalks and utility lines, Anderson says it's money that should have gone to propping up Main Street businesses.
The city has already appropriated $1 million to assist Main Street businesses that were impacted by the street's reconstruction. The businesses say it wasn't enough. They have sued the city for loss of business and physical damage caused by the reconstruction, but the suit has not advanced beyond the preliminary stages and appears moribund.