Op-Ed Submission – Jack Barrington

Housing: This topic is certainly a contentious one, although not the way I initially thought it would be.

People in general, left or right or independent, have had enough of the High-Density/Affordable housing mandates. Even those who had been in favor a few years ago have turned. So, I decided to investigate why.

If you are from Utah, you know the state was considered rural, farmland and orchards. “American as apple pie,” as they say. It was a very safe state. So safe people often did not lock doors, let their kids bike to the historical main street or downtown in their city/town. It could be argued Utah was the most family-centered state in the United States.

Then came the 90s. Utah had new leadership with Mike Leavitt taking the helm as governor. Under his governorship Utah suddenly found itself being moved into a digital world that the people really had no concept of at that time. Leavitt had several goals, one of which was turning Utah into a tech force, or as he referred to it: SmartUtah.

A quote to really give you an idea about how dedicated Leavitt was to turn Utah into the digital leader is below:

“…it fulfills a mission that the state really started investing in at the start of 2000, Brown said, under then-Gov. Mike Leavitt — who famously vowed to spend more time in Silicon Valley then, studying how it was structured, than the governor of California did.” source

That has never stopped, after the 2002 Olympics it appears Utah was thrust into a technology and surveillance push many were unaware of. Fast forward to now.

Utah now rivals Silicon.

“Forget Silicon Valley. Salt Lake City’s tech scene is on the rise. Its ecosystem, known as Silicon Slopes, has transformed into a thriving network of startups and big tech companies over the past two decades, spanning multiple cities in the Salt Lake area. This rapid growth earned it the top spot on Wall Street Journal’s list of hottest job markets in 2023.” source

While the media portrays this as a good thing, I have found most Utahns do not actually view it that way.

What most have only recently started to notice, especially in Salt Lake City, is traffic progressively getting worse, parking becoming impossible, bike lanes taking up much of where car lanes once were. They have also noticed the housing, mixed-use, high-density, small single-family homes in HOAs. What they have also noticed is there are no decent single-family homes with roomy backyards left, or the few available are incredibly overpriced and unaffordable. There is also the problem of corporations and other large organizations buying up homes leaving the regular people without any options aside from renting an apartment or purchasing a townhome with HOA fees that keep climbing. Who wants that?

Utah has somehow turned itself on its head. A once vibrant, high quality of life, and “old school American” state is now everything it at one point despised.

Some say the job increase in tech has been worth the growth while many others disagree. As several people pointed out, “who are these jobs for? Did they go to natural born Utahns or people from other states and countries?” It is a valid question, one Utah needs to start really asking itself. Who are they really making things “better,” or more “accessible” for? Utahns or global populations?

For better or worse Utah pushed for and was granted the 2034 Olympic games. A lot of what happened to Utah from 1993 onward was either with the games in mind or for them. The same is happening again right now. I would suggest that the people of Utah read “Gameplan 2034” a document outlining plans for the games in 2034 and Utah. It has a few sections that I would advise anyone concerned about housing to review. Side areas that I would also recommend reading are: transportation, water, and Utah business landscape sections. I would read those thoroughly. After that, very serious questions need to be asked.

If Utah continues to build housing that the people do not want, and push smart-growth plans that the people, cities, and counties have expressed frustration over, is that representative government?