Civic Dialogue; Rocky Anderson

Good evening and welcome to civic dialogue conversation I'm Ted caper. Thank you for joining us. It's been over a year now since Rocky Anderson was sworn in as the new mayor of Salt Lake City. A year that has seen Mayor Anderson discontinue the city's dare drug prevention program sign an executive order protecting gay employees from discrimination and help to redesign the city's new library as a downed Plaza. He's been the focus of an article in Rolling Stone magazine and while he has ruffled many feathers a poll conducted by the Salt Lake Tribune last December found forty nine percent of city residents polled feel his first year was good or excellent and 73 percent of them rate him better than the woman he replaced. DD Cora DENI Now Mayor Rocky Anderson is debating the future location of the Hanson planetarium with Salt Lake County Mayor Nancy workman is part of a lawsuit hoping to stop Governor Leavitt's favorite project the legacy highway. Mayor Anderson joins us tonight to talk about his first year in office and about the future of Salt Lake

City Mayor thank you for being here. Good to be back thanks to you had a busy year. Fourteen Yeah. So when I hear your I think is that although it's been a good and productive you're certainly what has been the most important to you your achievements. I think the most important actually was something that we started off with two days after my election and that was the university spear of light rail because that is such an important. Segment of our light rail system not only because it's going to serve the university in very important ways for the future but it is going to help lead the way toward a comprehensive regional mass transit system which will include eventually a commuter rail system and light rail spurs to the airport West Valley City West Jordan and other areas. And you favor the spur to the western part of the valley. Certainly if that happen it will happen. And I think the only reason that we can say that with confidence is that the voters in Wieber

Davis and Salt Lake County all voted a transit tax increase in an initiative last November a quarter Sen's tax increase. Is there a timetable for that in your mind. No I think that there are certain priorities that everybody's talking about you today is setting those I think will see a finishing of the University of spurs so that will go up to the medical center I think that's the next thing that we'll see and then eventually the West Valley. City line and eventually I think I think that we'll certainly see one of the airport but all of this will be served from a central location that will will be a point where the commuter rail system will come in eventually. But that's something that we really need help with from the legislature and we need good help out of Washington D.C. which I think will get now with Jim Matheson on the transportation committee and a real commitment especially by Senator Bennett and also by Senator

Hatch for these projects Senator Bennett's office has been enormously helpful in getting the federal funding for our light rail system. Well speaking of light rail and the spur to the university and the. The rice Eckels stadium and the opening and closing ceremonies for the Olympics it was announced just the other day that that security purposes reasons will not allow it to be used to carry people to those two ceremonies. Did that surprise you. No it didn't surprise me I've heard about those concerns for several weeks now. And actually in terms of the impact it'll have very little impact during the opening closing ceremonies because as in Sydney we're going to have so many people pouring out or coming in at any one time that a light rail system really wouldn't make a dent in transporting that many people so it's it's mostly going to be a matter of getting the buses up there and hauling people in and out of that cycle is the security rationale are valid as far as

caring people well I'm not an expert on U.S. 1 when the CIA says it is. I'm going to believe them and I think that if there's any benefit risk analysis here it's probably worth it not to have the light rail system go all the way to Rice Eccles stadium for those two events and it will it really won't be felt at all and we need to remember this was not an alum pick project. This was an important mass transportation project that will serve this community in this and eventually this entire region very well. And that's what's important is that it's the next step toward this comprehensive regional mass transit system. Some thought however that the reason to rush the project through to the university was because of the Olympics. And I was among them that I was wrong. Yes. You know actually we were in a hurry to get the funding and get it started so that it could be finished by the time of the Olympics so we wouldn't have half the project

done then have to clean it all up and then start all over again during the Olympics. And we certainly didn't want to wait until after the Olympics to start the project. While we're talking about the university. You've been involved to some slight extent about the the problems surrounding the neighborhood near the university and fraternity's. Is that ever going to be resolved. Well it depends what you mean by resolution. There will always be disturbances I live in the Sigma Chi house there are three times right now you'd have and I was an undergraduate and I knew it was a problem. I never caused it but there were a few my fraternity brothers yeah ok. And actually I hope you take that tongue in cheek because I try not ever to lie. We had some some fun times and I'm sure we were loud and I'm sure we disturb the neighbors at times. I think when we talk about a resolution these problems what we're really talking about is creating not only better communication relationships

between neighbors so that there's not this constant hostility but also setting up a process by which the University of Utah or the city of the different police agencies the neighbors of tourney's can all work together well I think it'd be great if there were. Unusual circumstance where the neighbors were kept up if the neighbors could call say the alumni associations representative of the house corporation for incidents and say look this happened last night could you go talk to these guys and have a continuing process so that we're not really looking at this thing year after year yeah because we can rope in the people that are there now. You know we can get this across and they say OK we're going to be good boys for the rest of the year. But when you bring in a new crop in two or three years they're not going to have gone through this. And we want the neighbors not to feel like they're just going to have to keep at this year after year. So our process is what you're looking for. Yes. And

I and and that's what this meeting that we're going to hold is meant to do besides bringing people together and identifying the problems. Having them suggest how to resolve it and what the process will be. On a continuing basis. OK now there is a another maybe more broadly based meeting scheduled for this coming week of the Salt Lake County Council the new council to discuss the location of the Hanson planetarium which is in the Old Salt Lake library now and has been for many years. It is a county project however you have presented a proposal to have it at the library. Square That's right. The library Square by the way is the block just east of Washington Square where the sitting county building is where the main library is now. The building in which the library is currently housed will stay on that block. But the library will move

into the new facility being does. It's designed by Moishe soft it's going to be an absolutely spectacular library building. And then east of that the city council just supported my proposal that we keep that open space gardens water amenities. Open grass areas that sort of thing. So in the current library building we're going to have the first science and technology hands on center that we've ever had. And we're the largest city by the way in this country without such a hands on Technology and Science Center. It's going to be a fantastic thing for this community. There's also going to be a career center component to it. We want to bring in arts and cultural organizations. And I strongly believe that in a cultural educational science and technology center like this there could be such a great synergy between all these institutions and a planetarium. I was just back in New York a few days ago went to the

Museum of Natural History and they have this fantastic new planetarium right there. It fits it a planetarium does not belong in the middle of a big shopping area comprising all rightly national chain stores and an IMAX and an IMAX which draws away the consultants for the planetarium even have said that if you have an IMAX it draws away the people that otherwise would go to the planetarium. And remember this is a shopping area. It's not a destination place for people looking for culture arts or science. The library Square will be that kind of a destination place. Attendance at the existing planetarium has continued to decline in recent years and there is a fear that if it is in library square as you are proposing that that it will continue to decline because of parking and the lack of other facilities nearby.

Well I think that fear is fed by a lot of misinformation. We're going to have some 650 underground parking spaces and also plenty of parking around on the street around that block. It's going to be a destination place you don't go to a planetarium on the spur of the moment while you're out shopping. And the numbers estimated coming to library Square after this new library is built. The numbers estimated per year are coming to the site are many times more than the number of people estimated to go to the shopping area. Again I mean it's a gateway. But Nancy workman the new mayor of the county disagrees with you and says that your plan will cost from 20 to 25 million dollars. Well she says she's just flat wrong and she apparently hasn't even read my proposal because what we're talking about is a four and a half million dollar building that would be built. To the north of the current library building and

we would allow them to use office space exhibit space all of that for free of charge in the current library building and any renovations there would be paid for by the other tenants including the science and technology folks. So you've got a four and a half million dollar building to house a planetarium on library Square. A far more appropriate place for a planetarium versus a 20 million dollar building that's being proposed at the Gateway Center in the middle of a retail shopping center. That's where it's going to be competing with an IMAX that will be key to taking away from the planetariums audience. Seismic and mechanical vibrating is purported to cost many millions of dollars. That's in the current library building that all of those experience all of those expenses will be taken care of by the other tenants. We're not asking the county to pay for any of that. So if for mayor workman to talk about

all these expenses most most of them are either way inflated unnecessary or duplicative. All of those expenses will be taken care of by other than the planetarium and the county we're only asking for a new building at four and a half million dollars. That includes all of the equipment the fixtures the structure a 50 foot dome compared with the 20 million dollar building including the Imax that will drive away from the planetarium down at the gateway. It doesn't make any sense it makes no fiscal sense. It's a rip off of the taxpayers to take it down the gate way and it undermines the mission of any Planetarium to put it ahead of well this decision in fact be made in the next few days. We expect that. I don't know that it's going to be made with the next few days but there will be a hearing before the County Council where they will listen to all of the proposals and then they'll make their decision I know

there are some council members that unfortunately are talking about the county getting out of the planetarium business altogether I don't that would be a huge mistake. The taxpayers here have paid a mil levy. They've been very supportive of the planetarium for years I think the taxpayers feel like that's a good investment in our community. We need a planetarium wherever it's going to be. Now we've talked about the county council and we've talked about the county mayor how are you getting along. I'll tell you the truth I think that having a county council for me the jury was out before the election and really seeing how it all works. I think it's a very good thing because you don't have a situation where two people can be very tied into one developer for instance and having the county go that way every time. And we saw that frankly for a number of years I think we all know that with with nine county council members I think we've got a lot of safeguards in my dealings with

them. It doesn't matter what political party I found them to be very reasonable on the whole. And I've seen them to be people who really want to do the right thing and to provide the kinds of safeguards that we ought to expect from any governmental body. Now you've talked about developer and you're talking about the boy or company in the gateway and you it seems perhaps that you've had sort of. If not a vendetta. Strong disagreement with them over time. No I've had some disagreements so I'm very supportive of them and I get along very well with Roger Boyer and Cam Gardner the partners in the compound. We have very open communications. I want them to succeed I'll do everything I can I've got out and talked to retailers with them to try to get them to come to that development. What I did so long as it was Nordstrom. Just so long as it's not an anchor downtown because we shouldn't be putting

all this public money in to help support a development like the gateway. And at the same time undercut our other retailers or our downtown or all those who would be dramatically impacted by taking away a main anchor store like Nordstrom. Well you've worked hard and you campaigned hard on the idea of revitalizing downtown. We haven't seen a great deal of change. Well we actually we have had OK. I think the most dramatic change is happening right now with the demolition of those boarded up buildings in the south of the Monaco hotel. I've I've worked very closely with the folks at Hamilton partners that owns those buildings along there. They're going to demolish the older buildings in those beautiful historic buildings the lawand in the Kerry buildings are going to be renovated. All of that will be done by the time of the Olympics where the buildings are going to be demolished they're going to put up some temporary one level structures in time of the Olympics and then

afterwards and after the American stores building situation straightened out they're planning to leave its twenty three story office building. That's what you want to see. Salt Lake City that is Main Street downtown become just the high rise buildings not at all. But I do want to see what we're accomplishing and that is more housing more retail on the main floor and restaurants and entertainment more life more pedestrianism. If that's a word you know it takes putting all the pieces together it's not any one thing that's going to solve this problem so in the last year we have gotten the City Council to pass a new ordinance is to sign it so we can have a more exciting lively signage in the downtown area. That was all done away under Jake Garn. They put it all flat against the side against what I think is very staid and very boring and I'm not going to tribute that to anybody really. But also the outdoor dining. It was almost

punitive the way this was set up under ordinances with I think it was a three hundred fifty or four hundred fifty dollar fee. I reduced that to $25 and encouraging everybody I've even said I'll write out the check if you'll bring your dining out on the sidewalk. I'll do everything I can to encourage that and we have now three times as much outdoor dining in our downtown area as we had when I came into office. You mentioned the American stores building the big biggest building downtown I guess in an RTA project right. And is that sale all been resolved. Now there are many conditions left that are there and for me these deals are done until they're really done and they're you know we were told there was a San Francisco purchaser. I met with the gentleman that looked like things were going along very well known that blew up saw. This still I expect to go through but I don't think I will tell him. I think the premature we've talked about the County Council. How are you doing with the Salt Lake City Council.

You've had a few flaps in this first year where you know the media reports the flaps but the truth of this is interesting whether it's been supporting my vetoes by not overriding my veto or expressing that they're with me so that a threatened veto like with the big megamall these folks want to put out west of the airport. You know I've been supported by an adequate number of city council members. I'm just about every issue that's come up. There have been a couple of more minor kinds of things where I wanted perhaps more accommodation for people than what we're doing but I on the whole we've been very aligned and I have a great deal of respect for almost all of our city council member one of the issues that you have disagreement on is your. Legacy highway suit that you personally have entered into to try and stop the legacy highway and the council your council the city council disagrees with you.

They don't disagree with me necessarily on the merits and they made that very clear in their letter that they said we're not taking a position on the merits and in fact there are city council members who absolutely agree with me on the merits and what I disagree with legacy hiway out what they were saying is they thought that me entering the lawsuit was unnecessary and basically it was holding out a piece of pie as it were to Davis County elected officials and other legislators who were very upset about me trying to stop the legacy highway. And I don't think our city council at the time they signed that letter or at least many of them understood that in fact I didn't just jump in and add my name to the list of a bunch of plaintiffs on their lawsuit. I have my separate lawsuits one cause of action and it is simply that in the environmental impact statement the direct and adverse impacts on Salt Lake City were not considered as required

by federal law. Can you act separately in your opinion. Side apart from the council as mayor as an individual certainly and should sometime no question about it. I mean they have their important role I have my important administrative role and I was I was fully within my rights in filing this lawsuit to stop the legacy where does the suit stand. And actually it's not necessarily to stop it it's to require that before they proceed any further that an Environmental Impact Statement be amended in order to account for the adverse impacts on Salt Lake City Of which there would be many and it was a very opportune time frankly to file this lawsuit because at the same time I filed it. We were being told that because of the pollution in this valley and the inversion that we were experiencing it was dangerous physically dangerous for people to go outside and exercise in Salt Lake City and those that pollution is

primarily from automobile emissions. And in planning for the future we don't need more highways we need a commitment to mass transit and reversing the trend toward sprawl development and getting those people in Davis County that are driving the Salt Lake City to work every day to come live here which imposes on us real responsibility to provide the housing and the affordable housing. The Salt Lake Tribune editorialized earlier this month in strong opposition to the position you have just that one of the members of the editorial board lives in Davis County and has to drive that distance every day. Well where does that suit stand. It's it's languishing. I don't either suit you entered into was the suit to be against the English only. Petition referendum law the law that was passed and you lost that one there. No I think we want to accept that judge said that it was legal. He said it was constitutional rights.

But in his interpretation to get to a holding that was constitutional and a judge interpret ing an initiative like this has a duty to interpret it in a way that will make it constitutional. The only way he could get there and this is what we were really after. If it wasn't going to be thrown out entirely was to get an interpretation that said it really doesn't have any impact and he did that it is as clear as he said it has no impact on cities. We can do whatever we want. It is it is it's essentially symbolic and I must say unnecessarily divisive and bad seems to me as simple as I mean you're horrible some of the laws you know we have to be more welcoming and do everything we can to meaningfully communicate whatever it takes. We're almost out of time you strongly opposed the DARE program the drug program in schools and it appears as though you were right on that. I was you didn't read from the editorial in Desert News and the truth behind that one. Yeah but they said I was right and I was and I knew it and it's one of those matters you go out and look at the research. You become as informed as you can and I am strongly committed to providing the very best and

drug prevention program for our children dead or wasn't it. There has proven over and over again in the peer reviewed studies to be completely ineffective in reducing drug abuse over the long term. I want to make sure we got programs in the research based and which have been shown by the research to be effective. Well even at the national level the DARE program is being changed dramatically. That's right to incorporate the elements of those you programs that I've been trying to get into our schools ever since I was a lack are they in our schools. One of them is the Atlas program that only meets. Only addresses the needs of high school male athletes. They've got a program called Athena that doesn't have as much research behind a ball which they would want to try out here. But we need a good comprehensive program from the lower grades at least third fourth or fifth grade all the way through 12th grade. There are those programs out there it's well worth the time and the money to do that. We owe it to our kids to our families and our community to provide the very best in drug prevention.

Good note to end on Mayor thank you for hanging in here we're going to bring you guys if you'd like to comment about our discussion tonight please call our viewer hotline the number is 5 8 1 a day or visit the civic dialogue page on our website. The address w w w dot dot org. Now next week we're going to have a conversation with Paul Hudson vice president emeritus here at the University of Utah who has written his autobiography entitled several lives. Paul Hodson has been witness to a lot of history in Salt Lake and in the world. And we'll hear his story next Sunday at 5:30. Until then I'm Ted caper.