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Rocky is Now My Mayor
It feels funny to say it, but I’m now a Downtown Riser. After more than 20 years of life in the suburbs, my wife, Jan, and I found ourselves with an empty nest and decided to downsize. So we moved into a condominium in the heart of downtown that we’ve owned for a few years.
For an outdoors guy who loves solitude and wide-open spaces, I must say that living downtown is a very different experience. But so far we’ve greatly enjoyed it. Big things are happening downtown, and it will be fun to be in the middle of it. (Although I must add that I wouldn’t do it if we didn’t also have a cabin in the mountains to escape to.)
I walk a lot more now. I walk to work (only a block and a half). I haven’t been in traffic congestion for a couple of months. My car sometimes sits for days without being driven. We are within easy walking distance (or we can jump on TRAX) to all sorts of restaurants, entertainment, shopping, and even groceries. There are few places we need to go that requires driving. I even frequently walk to the Capitol when I have meetings there.
As a new downtown resident, it has been interesting to watch the launch of Downtown Rising. It will be fascinating to see how the LDS Church’s huge City Creek development proceeds. By moving downtown, are we part of a growing trend that will see a lot more empty-nesters (and others) relocate downtown? Or are we an anomaly? Several hundred new residential housing units are being built or planned downtown, including hundreds that will be part of the church’s development. Will downtown be overbuilt with condos? Or will buyers snap them up as soon as they’re constructed? We’ll find out.
I like walking downtown, but downtown has a long way to go to be truly pedestrian-friendly. SLC’s long, uninterrupted blocks and wide streets with long traffic light waits make the city a lot less friendly and intimate than, say, New York City, for pedestrians.
The city has some terrific places to walk, like the City Creek parks off State Street and on up Memory Grove and City Creek Canyon. But getting across State Street and North Temple is intimidating. The lights are long, the streets are wide and traffic is heavy and fast.
Many big cities that have narrow streets and short blocks feel a lot more pleasant and welcoming. It’s easy to criss-cross streets to check things out. If Salt Lake City wants crowds on the streets, our wide streets need to be broken up with landscaped mid-street islands and more mid-street parking. The City Creek project will break up some of the long, boring downtown blocks. A recent downtown transportation study has some good recommendations about making the city more bike and pedestrian-friendly. Downtown is on the verge of major change.
Media Watch
More Bad Newspaper News
The New York Times reports bad numbers for newspaper advertising in February. One analyst says: “There is absolutely no question that the next 10 years are going to be really bad for the newspaper business. This is a time of wrenching change and chaos. All of our assumptions about newspapers are going to be changed. The format, the business model, the organization of newspapers have outlived their usefulness.”
National Politics
Best Stories From . . .
-- The Politico: Columnist Mike Allen says that Barack Obama's "gift with language -- his powerful speaking style and the graceful prose and compelling story of his best-selling memoir -- has been an engine of his dramatic, high-velocity rise in presidential politics. But he has also shown a tendency toward seemingly minor contradictions and rhetorical slips that serve as reminders that he is still a newcomer to national politics. For the first time, Obama is on a stage where small mistakes can have disproportionately large consequences."
-- Christian Science Monitor: Editorial predicts that "[t]he politics of war, of congressional oversight, and of a premature presidential campaign will make it very difficult for this Congress and White House to move ahead on substantial issues -- perhaps more difficult than in past presidencies facing an opposition Congress in the lame-duck years. Add to this an almost evenly divided Senate, and the stage is set for inaction. ... Congress and the White House have a choice. They can make this a productive legislative period, as at the end of Reagan's second term, or far less so, as at the end of the Clinton era. The hurdles are high and will require great effort to clear."
-- Investor's Business Daily: Editorial notes that "[i]t's a matter of faith for some that tax cuts and government spending help the rich, while leaving crumbs for the poor. But as with most conventional wisdom, nothing could be further from the truth. ... [H]ere's the reality: The rich are being taxed at ever-higher levels, while more workers at the bottom of the income ladder are paying no taxes at all. As for spending, resources flowing to those at the bottom far outstrip those flowing to those at the top."
-- Wall Street Journal: Columnist Brendan Miniter wonders if the GOP can ever become a national party again.
Today in Political History
March 28, 1898: The Supreme Court rules that a child born in the United States to Chinese immigrants is a U.S. citizen and cannot be deported. (Source: NBC5)
March 28, 1979: America's worst commercial nuclear disaster occurred inside the Unit Two reactor at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Middletown, PA, as a series of human and mechanical failures. (Source: perspicuity)
Wise Words
“Apathy can be overcome by enthusiasm, and enthusiasm can be aroused by two things: first, an idea which takes the imagination by storm; and second, a definite, intelligible plan for carrying that idea into action.”
—Arnold Toynbee (Source: Patriot Post)
Campaign Tip
Using Technology is No Longer Optional
By Mark Montini
“I'm sharing this with you to emphasize the importance of leveraging technology on your campaign. Frankly, it's no longer an option. The odds are very good in today's world that, regardless of campaign size, your opponent(s) will be leveraging technology. If you're not, you're putting yourself at a huge disadvantage.
“There are all kinds of technology tools available to help you save time and money on your campaign. Of course, I'm partial to our suite of tools (www.CampaignSiteBuilder.com, www.CampaignConcierge.com, www.CampaignTips.com, www.CampaignCashCow.com), but there are many others out there than can help your campaign.
“Even if you're not technologically proficient, you need to find a volunteer who is so you can take advantage of all the time- and money-saving tools available today. Avoiding technology on your campaign simply because you don't like it or understand it is not an option. … Remember, actions and not ideas are what win campaigns.” (Source: Hot Tips)
Lighter Side
Yesterday’s Washington Post Dilbert cartoon.
Blog Watch
-- The Senate Site posts a link to Attorney General Mark Shurtleff's voucher referendum opinion (for more on the voucher issue, see The Voice for School Choice, Jeremy's Jeremiad, The Utah Amicus, and COL Takashi).
-- At Out of Context, Robert Gehrke reports: "Orrin Hatch, one of a dozen senators outed as being from outer space by the Weekly World News in 1994, has refused to back hearings that could blow the lid off the government's alien conspiracy. It goes back three years, when Hatch denied a request from a constituent to hold a hearing on the alien presence. It received a passing reference in a story [Monday] about convicted-then-exonorated-then-pardoned Arizona Gov. Fife Symington III, who has made a splash lately for his claims of having witnessed a UFO. 'As you, I find the possibility of intelligent life on other planets intriguing; however, there is not sufficient evidence to determine whether such life exists,' Hatch wrote to Ephraim resident Sterling Allen in 2004. 'Because we have no information about the nature, culture, and technology of extraterrestrials, we have no information on what activities on Earth might attract their attention. I have reviewed the information you recommended to me, and I can assure you that your concerns are unnecessary. The Federal government does not have any information about extraterrestrial life to conceal, and there are no secret projects for me to investigate.' Read the letter here. I somehow missed it at the time -- or perhaps I covered it up to conceal the alien infiltration. The truth is out there" (see also related American Chronicle article). |
