SL City Council Weighs in on Mayor's Latest Efforts to Scuttle Skybridge

None by KCPW

(KCPW News) Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson is leading the charge to stop the LDS church from building a skybridge over Main Street. But he's not alone. City Councilman Soren Simonsen believes opposition to a skybridge is widespread:

"We've seen it with public comments made in meetings, in emails. . .I mean with so many detractors to this, I find it hard to understand why it's being promoted so heavily as a really positive thing," says Simonsen.

Mayor Anderson's latest hope is to find a conservation group with deep enough pockets to put an easement on the airspace where the bridge would span. Members of the city council who voted to pave the way for a skybridge by amending the downtown master plan say they're not sweating Anderson's latest threats. Furthermore, Councilmember Jill Remington Love says the Mayor's unrelenting opposition to the skybridge is unnecessarily divisive:

"I think so," says Love. "And I tell constituents that a skybridge hasn't been approved and until we see a design, it's not really helpful to just say 'no' outright. I think when someone's investing a billion dollars, you owe them the opportunity to show you their designs."

Originally Mayor Anderson vetoed the City Council's amendments to the downtown master plan. The City Council overrode that veto. The Planning Commission will have first crack at the LDS Church's bridge designs, which are expected later this summer.

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