Outdoor Retailer, the tradeshow that’s helped boost Utah’s economy twice a year for nearly two decades, is outgrowing Salt Lake City. And as KCPW’s Whittney Evans reports, the solution could mean expanding the venue here or finding a new host city altogether.
A series of community workshops running now through next Tuesday focuses on Salt Lake City’s Granary District, the area just south of downtown encompassing several blocks between West Temple and I-15. Christian Harrison, Chair of the Downtown Community Council, says planners have identified the Granary District as an opportunity to re-invigorate a key area close to downtown.
The Salt Lake City Police Department’s website is back online after a security breach that prompted a shutdown. In January, the activist group Anonymous took credit for the attack on SLCPD.com, saying it was in response to an anti-graffiti bill in the legislature.
A local initiative decrying corporate personhood is gaining traction. Thousands of Salt Lake City residents have signed the Move to Amend petition, calling for a ballot initiative this November that would ask state and federal officials to uphold that money is not speech, and that only humans have constitutional rights.
Salt Lake City is partnering with five other Wasatch Front cities and counties to launch the “Wasatch Solar Challenge” after receiving a $400,000 Department of Energy grant aimed at reducing the cost of developing solar energy.
About 20 tents are now set up on a gravel lot east of the Salt Lake City Main Library, following the city relocating Occupy Salt Lake protesters to Library Square from Gallivan Plaza, where the city moved them from in anticipation of the events happening there this summer. Demonstrator Justin Kramer says they have more space and visibility in their new location.
The Salt Lake City Library is becoming a little more user friendly. This week, it adopted a new online catalog the library says will be easier and more fun to use. Library Senior Creative Producer Andrew Shaw says the Bibliocommons system will do all of the traditional things, like renew and place books on hold, along with several new additions.
The controversial film “Bully” opens in major cities across the country this month and hundreds of other cities are demanding screenings of the film in their towns as well through a social media campaign. The documentary follows the lives of several kids who are being bullied at school. Salt Lake City Councilman Charlie Luke has entered Salt Lake City into the “Bully Demand Competition,” and is looking for enough online signatures to get a screening here.
Salt Lake City’s plans to restrict electronic billboards survived during this year’s legislative session. But changes will still be coming to the city’s anti-idling ordinance. Mayor Ralph Becker joined us in the studio to discuss the impact of this year’s session, along with City Creek and his efforts to fight against the SkiLink proposal being pushed through Congress.
Salt Lake City Council Chair Soren Simonsen is setting his sights on higher office, filing to run as a Democrat against Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz in District 3. Simonsen says he’s been contemplating the bid for a couple of years, as the possibility of Utah gaining a fourth district became apparent. He says he’s most interested in giving local governments more representation on the national level.
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