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Transportation Balance Needed Today’s Transportation Watch features news links and a Feature Article on the need for a balanced transportation system. Review Past UPD Editions Several UPD readers have asked how they can read past editions. It’s easy. Just click Newsletter Archive in the blue navigation bar below the UtahPolicy.com masthead and you can read any of the 415 editions (counting today’s) that have been published so far.
Holiday Schedule Utah Policy Daily will publish this week as usual, and take Jan. 2 off. |
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News Highlights Some cities preparing to take a hit in wake of sales tax revenue changes (Salt Lake Tribune). Utah County Commission Chairman Jerry Grover thinks the Utah Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau is a failure, shouldn't be funded (Deseret Morning News). Many public officials get free airport parking (Morning News). Editor and columnist John Hughes makes 2006 predictions on national and international politics (Morning News). |
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Quote of the Day "The threat of litigation in and of itself is driving a lot of the solutions." -- Assistant
Interior Secretary Mark Limbaugh, reflecting sentiment
that seven western states can agree on how to share Colorado River
water in times of drought (Tribune). |
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| Wednesday Buzz Written by LaVarr Webb & Associates |
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More Signs of a Strong Economy Commerce CRG has released its year-end numbers for the office and industrial markets in Salt Lake County, showing solid demand for office and industrial space. Spokesperson Jeri Cartwright said office vacancies in Salt Lake City dropped by 8%, from a 19.3% vacancy rate to 11.3%, during 2005, while the industrial market in the county is seeing construction growth for the first time since 2002. In Salt Lake City, seven new office buildings (720,000 square feet) are under construction and six additional buildings could be started and completed in 2006 (for a total of 1.2 million square feet of new office space). Net 2005 office space absorption in Salt Lake City matched a record set in 2000 and exceeded the last three years combined. In Salt Lake County, large scale speculative industrial construction returned to the marketplace in 2005, along with a surge in industrial land sales. Lease rates are also on the road to recovery and developers are pursuing significant big box projects for the first time in four years. The market is so active that an occupancy decline into the six percent range by mid-2006 is not unrealistic, said Cartwright. Blog Watch At the Senate Site blog, Sen. Chris Buttars posts the full text of his evolution bill (see also here)... Utahnia says every Utah tamarisk plant deserves to die... David Fletcher links to several IT bills of interest for the upcoming Utah legislative session... Charley Foster analyzes speech given by Sen. Orrin Hatch at last month's ABA conference on the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005... Nuclear is Our Future corrects some misconceptions about the status of Private Fuel Storage. Mayor Hosts Midday Metro S.L. Mayor Rocky Anderson is slated to host KCPW's Midday Metro radio program on Friday, Dec. 30. He'll be taking calls. The number is 355-TALK (8255). Now You Know The city of Escalante is located in Potato Valley on the upper reaches of the Escalante River. The town was first named Potato of Sup Valley for the edible wild potatoes that grew in the area. The name was changed to Escalante by Almon Thompson to honor the famous Spanish explorer who passed this area far to the west. (Source: Local Government Directory, Utah League of Cities & Towns) |
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Wednesday
December 28, 2005
Exoro Group is a major sponsor of UPD
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| Political Calendar |
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Please submit calendar items to Daily@UtahPolicy.com - Dec 28: KCPW's Midday Metro, 10 a.m., co-hosted by Edward Lewis Jr and Jeanetta Williams of the NAACP. Guest: Paul Hamilton, writer and educator, who will be the keynote speaker at next month's Martin Luther King Jr. luncheon in Salt Lake City. Call 801- 355-TALK (8255) to participate, or email comments to midday@kcpw.org. - Dec 28: Young Democrats Meeting, 6 p.m., State Party Headquarters, 455 S 300 E, Ste. 301, Salt Lake City. Contact Remington Johnson at remiyo@hotmail.com for additional information regarding this meeting or to learn more about becoming involved with Young Democrats of Utah. |
| - See the entire calendar |
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