Salt Lake City voters have it easy.
In the three contested elections for seats on the Salt Lake City Council, it will be nigh on to impossible for the voters to make a bad choice. Each of the candidates is engaged, energetic and virtually tumbling over one another for the chance to work for the benefit of their districts and the city as a whole.
All of the candidates worry about air quality, building a police force that is large enough and well trained and doing something to make a real, long-term difference in the crisis of homelessness and the lack of affordable housing.
But choices must be made and there are differences among the candidates that recommend some over others.
• District 3 (Capitol Hill, Avenues, City Creek Canyon). Council Member Stan Penfold is not seeking re-election. The better choice to succeed him is Chris Wharton, a young lawyer whose campaign stresses the need for sustainability and the creation of livable, walkable neighborhoods.
He recognizes what a challenge that will be in a city where the very things that make it an attractive place to live will be threatened by the estimated 30,000 new residents the city is expected to gain in less than 15 years.
Wharton sees the need for more public transit and increased revenue to pay for all city services. He thinks Salt Lake City, working with the Utah Legislature, can find a way to draw more income from the giant influx of people who live in — and pay taxes to — nearby suburbs and cities yet swell the daytime population of the city and put significant wear and tear on the city’s infrastructure.
The other candidate in District 3 is long-time developer Phil Carroll. HIs experience in building housing projects with at least some affordable units included could, as Carroll says, be useful on the council. But beyond that issue, and, he says, a desire to create a downtown community center for youth and other activities, Carroll seems to lack the wide range of interests and ideas that Wharton would bring to the table.
• District 5 (State Street, Liberty Park and Harvard/Yale neighborhoods). Incumbent City Council Member Erin Mendenhall has earned a second term.
Mendenhall says herself that it took awhile for her, as a newly elected council member four years ago, to grasp the complexities of the many things the city is involved in. But in that time she has come to be a leader on issues such as the redevelopment of State Street, a large project that can do a great deal to reduce not only homelessness but poverty, human trafficking and other problems that go with a deteriorating neighborhood.
Mendenhall sees the problems that come with running a city where roughly a third of the real estate is a owned by the city or another government, or by a church or other nonprofit, that is exempt from property tax, leaving the city millions short in its needs for such basic things as street maintenance. To fill that gap, Mendenhall wants to look at a surcharge on city utility bills, which exempt nobody, and working with the Legislature to allow the city to make more use of the impact fees it collects from new development.
The other candidate in District 5 is George Chapman, an activist — some might say gadfly — who is already as up on city and county issues as most elected officials ever will be. He faults local government for its lackadaisical response to the homelessness crisis and its tendency to meet, make decisions, even spend lots of money, with little or no public knowledge or input. He’s got a point.
In in the end, though, Chapman presents no argument that would justify ousting Mendenhall, her experience and her devotion to her district and the city.
• District 7 (southeast and Sugar House). The seat left by retiring Council Member Lisa Adams would best be filled by political newcomer Amy Fowler. She offers an infusion of concern, energy and, perhaps most important, experience as a public defender at a time when the welfare and soul of the city depend so much on how it handles the issue of homelessness and the crime and suffering that accompany it.
It is the duty of the government, Fowler says, to educate the people on the issues, the problems, the cost of everything and the sometimes difficult choices that have to be made in order to solve problems. Council members, she says, can move the city forward, with less strife and more “community consciousness,” by taking on their role as as educators and communicators.
The other candidate in District 7, Abe Smith, is also young and driven and has a lot to offer. He’s lived and worked all over the world, helping to build telecom businesses and, after moving to Salt Lake City two years ago, quickly decided he wanted to lend a hand. He will. But, this year, the better choice for the district’s seat on the council is Fowler.
In District 1, (Rose Park and the airport area) incumbent Council Member James Rogers is unopposed after his remaining challenger dropped out.
Election Day is Nov. 7. Mail ballots go out early next week. Early voting starts the week after. The people who sit on the City Council have more to say about the quality — and cost — of living than any other public position. The people’s chance to weigh in is the election. Vote.