SLC Mayor Vetoes Skybridge Amendment

None by KCPW

City Council to Attempt Override Tonight

(KCPW News) The skybridge war is on. Last night Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson issued a veto of the City Council's amendment that would have facilitated a skybridge over Main Street. City Council Chair Van Turner isn't surprised:

"He's not in favor of it and said he'd probably veto it, so he's doing exactly what he said he'd do. And I think you have 14 days, so he waited until the last opportunity there, and did his veto."

Turner and five other city council members voted two weeks ago to amend the downtown master plan to allow pedestrian walkways under certain conditions. That would have paved the way for Taubman Centers to present a skybridge as part of the LDS Church's billion-dollar City Creek Center. But Mayor Anderson has long opposed the skybridge concept, calling it a human gerbil cage. Turner says he expects tonight's meeting will produce a veto override:

"I haven't polled our council members but we're going to put it back on the agenda and discuss it again during our formal meeting at 7 o'clock," Turner said. "At that time, I presume, we'll just take a vote. There should still be five members, I would think, that would override his veto."

Councilman Turner will be on Midday Metro this morning at 10 a.m. to discuss the skybridge and possible veto override.

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