Friendlier politics
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urrowed brows have been the general response to Salt Lake City mayoral candidate Keith Christensen's effort to secure donations from Top of Utah businesses and individuals. Why, they wonder, would he venture north for support in a local election?
Well, money would be the first reason. Cast the campaign net over a larger piece of ground and you're likely to raise more cash.
But we think Christensen also is sending a reassuring message to a part of the state that has been much abused by the current mayor of the capital city. Namely, Christensen is looking to form a more cooperative bond with Davis and Weber counties. That would be the opposite of current mayor, Rocky Anderson, who joined the lawsuit against the Legacy Highway and, in the process, jacked up the roadway's cost by another $250 million.
Anderson, remember, is the mayor who in his 2005 State of the City speech said, "We want our friends from the north to come to Salt Lake City; we just don't want them to increase our city's traffic, further foul our air, undermine the quality of our lives and make us sick simply because of the choices they make about where they live and how they get around."
Our hope is that the next mayor, whether or not it's Christensen, won't be so thick and dogmatic -- not a good combination in any leader -- when it comes to facts regarding real estate prices, the job market and available transportation options along the Wasatch Front.
Not only has Salt Lake City's current mayor failed to do the Top of Utah any favors, he's gone out of his way to do us harm. We'd be driving on Legacy right now if not for the likes of him -- and there would be hundreds of millions of dollars available for other state spending.
Our sincere hope is that his successor will ratchet back on the impulse to meddle in our business; if Top of Utah involvement in Salt Lake City's mayoral campaigns accomplishes that, we're all for it.
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