Salt Lake City occupies an interesting spot in Utah’s landscape.
To outsiders, it is mainly the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a former Winter Olympics city adjacent to great skiing. To those within the state, however, it is sometimes cast as a liberal island in a conservative sea, a place at odds with the rest of the state.
Erin Mendenhall, who is scheduled to be sworn in today as the city’s 36th mayor, told us Friday she wants to rebrand those worn-out images. Salt Lake City is much more than what people often think divides it. Rather, she said, it is a city of buoyant tension that attracts people worldwide from a full spectrum of experiences.
That spectrum includes the city’s religious traditions and history, just as it includes the many cultures and other traditions that make up its population.
“I don’t think we’re telling our story, who we really are,” she said. “It’s not oil and water.”
This emphasis on what unites, rather than divides, the state’s largest city represents a hopeful vision for the new mayor, who assumes office at a pivotal time in the city’s history.
Salt Lake City is the economic, industrial and transportation center of a vibrant metropolitan area. Unlike during much of the latter half of the 20th century, its population now is growing quickly. Many new tall buildings are under construction. High density apartment and condominium buildings are filling vacant lots.
All of this comes with attendant challenges. Rents and housing prices are rising at alarming rates. Traffic is congested, but alternative modes of transportation, such as rental scooters and bicycles, are creating their own problems. A new international airport is under construction — the first in the nation since Denver’s was completed more than 20 years ago. A new state penitentiary and a controversial inland port (that often triggers protests) also are under construction near the airport.
And while the state has led out on a new homeless strategy involving several resource centers, Salt Lake City is the focal point for the state’s homeless population, as well as the often unrelated challenge presented by panhandlers.
It may be a Dickensian best of times and worst of times for the city, but it definitely is a time that requires unflinching leadership, as well as the ability to unite disparate interests and craft compromises.
Mendenhall comes to the job after serving six years on the Salt Lake City Council. She understands the workings of City Hall, as well as the budget and its many nuances and challenges. Her qualifications to lead the city’s executive branch are apparent.
Mendenhall said the city’s infrastructure will be her No. 1 priority. She wants to lead the development of a new transportation master plan that includes extensions of the S-line trolleys that currently connect TRAX to Sugarhouse. She is contemplating the hiring of a chief innovation officer whose job would be to find ways to make City Hall more accessible to residents, business owners and anyone else who needs to interact with city government. She wants to continue efforts to make housing more affordable and to enlist other Wasatch Front cities in the cause.
These are grand ambitions, but grand ambitions are needed to match the energy of a growing capital city.
While only voters within Salt Lake City get to select the mayor, the position often represents much more to the outside world. We look forward to seeing how Mendenhall’s administration unfolds, and we wish her well as she seeks to unite the city behind her vision.