U-Talk: Do you trust local leaders to make decisions in your best interest?
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- Kevin Salas
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- Emma Kozlewski
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- Kylie Montes
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- Jayme Howell
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- Kassidy Henneberger
Editor’s note: U-Talk is a weekly feature in which we ask five local residents to tell us their thoughts about a particular issue. Responses may be edited for clarity and length.
“Yeah, I do. I have lived here all of my life and I have to admit that everything has been pretty good. I am not huge into the whole politics scene. I trust the local leadership in our community to keep our community safe. I do not really have a reason to feel like I can’t trust them. So, yeah, I do trust our local leaders to look out for this community.” — Kevin Salas, Ogden
“I feel like I am not educated enough to really know who my local leaders are in Ogden, and I feel like I do not have enough opportunity to really get to know who they are. I am not really into politics, so I do not really follow it. So, I guess I don’t really trust them because I don’t know a lot about them. … Just growing up in Ogden, I feel like most of the money has gone into the church, (and) I am not religious, so that has been kind of weird. I am glad that Ogden has turned to more arts and humanities, and community and culture. I like the leaders that are running that aspect of things. But people who have too much politics tied into their leading, I just don’t know enough about it.” — Emma Kozlewski, Ogden
“Optimistically, but maybe not realistically. … For the most part, yeah. I feel like, overall, Ogden has really good intentions as a whole and we are a really generous community. I also don’t really trust politics in general. It is kind of give and take. … It depends on the situation, I guess. As a whole, in Ogden, I feel like our community comes first, like we try to build each other up and celebrate our differences and things like that. … I have always been a punk rocker, and a little anti-establishment, while still I like to believe in my heart that people have one another’s best interest at heart.” — Kylie Montes, Washington Terrace
“You would like to say that you do, but I am not as up to snuff on our local leaders. … I feel like big government will do what big government does and we are the people that either reap the benefits or get the punishments. So, hopefully they do have our best interest at heart, but I think it is time to do more research into local politics.” — Jayme Howell, South Ogden
“I guess I am not involved enough in local politics to really know. I would say that Utah is a clean and safe place in general, so they have done the bare minimum I would say. … I have voted in the past, and it feels like my vote doesn’t count, but, again, I would need to get into more local politics to really follow that vote and see the impact of it. … When I think of local leaders, I think politicians for sure. I am just not involved enough in politics to really know, but like I said, Utah seems like a clean and pretty safe place.” — Kassidy Henneberger, Layton
Photos and interviews by Adam Rubin, Special to the Standard-Examiner.
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