9-28-24 

The SLC Council, at the behest of the SLC Mayor, is voting next Tuesday night for a set of ordinances raising sales taxes in SLC for a period of 30 years and subsidizing a billionaire, Ryan Smith, with at least $900 Million of those public funds. Even with all that, there are still serious unanswered questions about the survival of Abravanel Hall, including its open space plaza.

The Mayor and Council might as well be planning the coronation of Ryan Smith, as they turn virtual control of 100 acres downtown over to him and hand to him and his company (SEG) $900 Million so he can profit further, with no obligation to ever pay the money back to the City. 

The obsequiousness of the Mayor and Council toward Smith and their disregard for the long-term interests of our city was further reflected by the Mayor and City Council's disregard of the unanimous recommendation of the Planning Commission to kill Smith's garish plan for our downtown--Jumbotrons and all. 

Since she doesn't have all the relevant information any shareholders would expect a corporate officer to have before moving ahead with more than a billion dollar deal, one of the Council members said, basically, we need to have faith. Another Council member pathetically begged the SEG representative to do this the right way. (He apparently doesn't understand it's his job to make sure it's done right.) Essentially there was no due diligence by those we elected to take far greater care of the city's interests, now and for the future. 

Fortunately for all of us, Utah law has a provision allowing the people to reverse a City ordinance if they meet state requirements to get the matter on the ballot. It's called direct democracy, through a referendum process. 

Democracy takes work. If you're willing to help get this tax increase on the ballot, please send an email to rockyanderson.justice@gmail. And get everyone you know to sign this on-line petition so our Council will understand, as the rest of us know, that the public strongly opposes what it is about to do.

Democracy is about choosing priorities. Don't let our Mayor and City Council choose for us the priorities we have for the expenditure of more than a billion dollars in public funds. What are YOUR priorities for the use of such public resources? Is your priority to further enrich Ryan Smith and to hand over freedoms to a private overlord?

Don't let the Council and Mayor convert our public sphere -- where we enjoy  constitutionally protected freedom of speech and association -- to a privately controlled play lot and retail monopoly where Ryan Smith can tell us what we can do, what we can wear, what messages we can convey, whether we can pass out petitions, and whether we can even come back. That's what happens when we privatize what used to be a public downtown or the public square.

This is where the rubber hits the road in terms of the essential control of our cities by unelected members of the billionaire class who have already demonstrated whose interests are being pushed by the Utah Legislature, by Mayors Jenny Wilson and Erin Mendenhall, and by the SLC Council. 

Let's show them all what it means when our State Constitution provides, under Article I, Section 2, "all political power is inherent in the people." That's how it is in a republican form of government. Use your power or lose it. 

Whether you agree or disagree with the sales tax increase, the enormous subsidy to SEG, the loss of the public sphere, the vulnerability of Abravanel Hall, or the transformation of a large part of our downtown to a privately controlled, really tacky development, there is one thing we should all be able to agree upon: The People should be given a voice.

Please help get this on the ballot now!