Officials Break Ground on Symbol of City Unity

None by KCPW

(KCPW News) Four years to the day since Mayor Rocky Anderson called an emergency huddle to brainstorm his idea for resolving the Main Street Plaza dispute, Salt Lake City luminaries broke ground on the Sorenson Unity Center:

"We can all be so proud that one of the most divisive, contentious disputes in Salt Lake City history has been transformed into such a positive outcome," said Mayor Anderson.

The LDS Church traded the land next to the existing Sorenson Multi-Cultural Center in exchange for a strip of Main Street bridging Temple Square and church headquarters. The new Sorenson Unity Center required a fundraising effort of more than six million dollars led by Mayor Anderson and a group of religious and ethnic community leaders known as the Alliance for Unity.

"I went to this group and within a matter of weeks 4.2 million dollars was raised because they saw that a divided city could be brought together," says Jon Huntsman Senior, chair of the Alliance for Unity.

Utah millionaire James Sorenson also made a sizable contribution of cash and land. The building bearing his name will house a fitness center, space for cultural arts and community gatherings, as well as a dental clinic and daycare for low-income residents of the neighborhood.

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