SALT LAKE CITY — Monday at noon two women will enter the Deseret News and KSL offices, head to Studio A and square off in a mayoral debate, this one sponsored by the Pioneer Park Coalition.
Erin Mendenhall and Luz Escamilla deserve praise for their willingness to debate the issues facing Salt Lake City and its residents in coming years. They’ve participated in many debates, going before the tech industry, business industry and neighborhood groups side-by-side, offering voters a chance to learn who they are and what they will do to lead the city.
Monday will be the second time in a week that each has come to our building on 300 West in Salt Lake City; each came before our editorial board and spent an hour answering questions. Each is an impressive candidate, with a command of the issues. Their backgrounds, experience and approach differ, and that’s where voters can find separation in deciding who they would like to lead the state’s capital city.
The Deseret News does not endorse candidates, opting instead to provide many opportunities for readers to engage with the candidates on the issues. Reporter Katie McKellar has done profiles of each, and also provided an issue-by-issue questioning of the candidates. That appeared in the Deseret News a week ago.
Saturday we published the 5,000-word transcripts of our editorial board meetings, both of which are available online:
Here’s a sample of two of the questions and their extensive responses before the board:
During the editorial board we asked about the homeless situation in Salt Lake City. The Road Home shelter is scheduled to close soon as three new homeless resource centers become the place to help the homeless, including providing beds.
Question: On the homeless issue, everybody’s concerned — business owners, residents, the homeless themselves. It’s getting cold and the new shelters are crowded. Do you support closing the Road Home?
Mendenhall: The city has never been asked if we wanted it to remain open or be closed, particularly since the state acquired it. ... I would love the city to have a part in that dialogue. The state has said that when certain milestones are reached, then the Road Home can close. I think the city should have a role in the conversation about what those milestones look like, and also about the continuation of support from the Utah Highway Patrol in the downtown area around the Rio Grande.
To Luz Escamilla we phrased it this way:
Question: Do you support the closure next month of the Road Home? What do you do about the homeless that are on the street and can’t fit into the shelters?
Escamilla: Yes I support (the closure). We’re in a crisis in that situation. One, I do support the resource center approach. I think that was really the correct move in terms of the way we were serving individuals experiencing homelessness versus how we should be serving them. Smaller venues, integrated into communities — way better.” She then added that she’s had conversations with Catholic Community Services, which has some of the buildings across the street from the Road Home, about helping with overflow.
We also asked about each candidate’s ability to work with The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, which became a campaign issue after former Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson made it one.
Here were those exchanges and extensive answers:
Question: Former Mayor Rocky Anderson brought religion into the race. Can you describe what your relationship would be like with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?
Mendenhall: When I first jumped into the campaign, being eighth in, I reached out to Marty Stephens (the church’s director of government and community relations) and asked for some time with him. We sat down and he said, “Well, what do you hope to get from this meeting? What’s your intention here?” And I said, we’ve met as City Council and church leadership over issues that we needed to address over the years. But I’m here to begin a relationship of trust, forthcoming conversation and open communication as hopefully our city’s next mayor.
So I’ve had the privilege of following up with those conversations at a bigger level with the communications team. We talked about everything from how do we make it better for families here in the city to what could the church do around air quality and environmental issues, to the ticket conversation I brought to you a moment ago. But really, the most encouraging takeaway is that I understand why the church, in humility, doesn’t take credit for the myriad things it does in this community and, of course, throughout the state and the world.
And I understand that, but I think that the opportunity for us to proactively support this community and investment — I don’t necessarily mean financial investment — but working together proactively, we’ve put out fires, like siting the women’s homeless resource center on 7th South. It was an incredibly generous gesture that they made to sell that property. And they took very little credit for it. But what if we worked together proactively? Our capacity is incredible. And they, frankly, have billions invested in the future of the city. They are a rightful stakeholder and a wonderful stakeholder.
I have seen, in my six years in City Hall, the little things and the big things that that relationship has brought to benefit our city. I think that we can do more proactively together. We share a lot of value. So I’ve worked hard to cultivate an open relationship and communication about where we go together. We both want Salt Lake City to succeed, this is our community together. How do we work together?
To Luz Escamilla:
Question: How would you see your interaction with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints downtown as mayor of Salt Lake City?
Escamilla: I see it as I will see any other interaction with any other faith organization that is here in Salt Lake City. And like I’ve had with the Catholic Diocese that is also downtown ... with some of the synagogues in this area, the Muslim community. With that said, I recognize how big of stakeholders they are. Not only from an interfaith conversation, but also as property owners and owners of different pieces within the city. They’re a critical part of our community.
And they are a very important piece for many of our residents, including myself, from a religious perspective. I have to say, I was born and raised LDS. So it was interesting to hear that people were saying, “Oh, she was hiding her religion.” This is odd to me. There have maybe been a lot of people who were making assumptions about my religion somehow. I don’t know, maybe based on my ethnicity? I don’t know. It’s just been odd. Because to me it was never a mystery because I teach Sunday School. I was in a Primary presidency for eight years. Where is the mystery here? So the whole time I’ve been elected, I’ve been active in my ward and my community. It’s been painful, you know, the type of comments that have been coming out in 2019.
I also think that Salt Lake City and the residents of Salt Lake City are way better than that. A lot of people say, “Oh, is this the end of the campaign for you?” I’m like, no. It’s good for the conversation. It’s been difficult to talk to my children about this because they’re like, “Whoa, how come this is bad, mom?” You know, especially the ones, because they’re listening to our conversations and saying, what’s going on? But, you know, I’ve learned that people are incredibly supportive of those individuals that stand up for what they believe. I think the foundation of this country is freedom of religion and being able to practice religion without having to be afraid or ashamed. The process has been interesting. It’s distracted a little bit from the issues that most people care about in Salt Lake City, but it’s been a good process of a conversation.
Ballots are out in Salt Lake City for this mail-in ballot race. The candidates Sunday also have each provided op-eds, in their own words, why they believe they should lead the city.
Election season is decision season.