26 Aug SHCC June 2024 Minutes
SUGAR HOUSE COMMUNITY COUNCIL
Board of Trustees Meeting
Wednesday, June 5, 2024
7:00 P.M.
In Person at The Neighborhood Hive and Online at YouTube Live
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MINUTES
1) Welcome/Heart and Soul
- Please come volunteer for Sugar House Pride. You can volunteer in 2-hour shifts.
- Heart and Soul Music Stroll is this Saturday. I supports the Heart and Soul organization that plays music for those living in care centers.
- Friends of Fairmont Park has several events coming up. Please look online for dates and come support the Park!
2) Fire Station/Mia
- Please remember to wear sunblock. Be sure to keep kids safe around pools.
- Mia got her EMT license when she was in high school. She would like to join the Fire Department as a Fire Department/Paramedic here in SLC, hopefully working at Station 23.
- The Trustees unanimously supported a motion a write a letter of recommendation for Mia.
3) Sam Fallows
- Crime data is on slcpd.com under the open data tab. For May, we had 92 total crimes: 83 property and the rest violent. We have seen crime stats coming down. Please take your valuables out of your vehicles at night. If you have a garage, park in it. If you see anything suspicious, please don’t hesitate to call SLCPD. Although the fire pit area behind the aquatic center is Count owned, please reach out to SLCPD with concerns about that area (like encampments).
4) Spotlight on Business
- Man Up is on 1336 E. 2100 S, https://manupstore.net/. It is a gift shop for men. They are open Monday through Saturday 10-6 and Sunday 12-4. They are part of the SLC Gallery Stroll and stay open late on Gallery Stroll nights.
5) Mayor Mendenhall
- Various staff members of Salt Lake City were at the meeting to answer questions along with the mayor. SLC is the only municipalities in Utah that engages in labor negotiations. We had a low in our SLCPD staffing post-pandemic but we are back to full staffing now and call response times have improved. The City is striving to keep City workers at the top of the market for Utah cities.
- The ball is in Harbor Bay’s court with regard to the Wells Fargo block. They are supposed to update their proposal but they have not done so yet.
- A community member complained about the quality of the roads. If we want to be more bike friendly we need better bicycle roads. The Mayor discussed the sales tax expenditure and the road bond that is being used for road repairs. The road are slowly improving but we’ll probably need another streets bond once this one runs out. We would like more B & C road funds from state but bonds are also important because these are important projects. Funding for many projects is based on funding. This year 1100 E and Highland will wrap up construction as will other Sugar House construction projects. Next year the only major road construction project will be 2100 S. There was a time (maybe 2 weeks) when there was no work going on on 2100 S. The City discussed that with the contractor and it is resolved now. As to Fairmont Park, some of the parks bond money is coming into the park (some for improvements and others for safety). $6.5 million total. There are many encampments in some spaces and are regularly there. Homeless services has changed a lot in the last 2 years. The state has given a lot of money to homeless services this year. The state is looking for a large piece of land for ultra-low barrier shelter space (like tents or RV parking). In order to solve homelessness we need to invest in housing and services. Right now we have a server dearth of services and housing. We have about 1,000 beds in homeless shelters but we need 1,000 more by next winter to meet demand. Overall we have fewer people on the streets than last spring in part because we were able to keep some of the beds we had in the winter and carry them over into the spring and this summer. We are hopeful the Legislature will approve permanent homeless services funding during the next session. We also need the Legislature to fund deeply affordable housing. The County has a 5-year plan for homelessness services and how to get there. The Pamela Atkinsons fund (on tax forms) is a good way to donate to homelessness services. We have about 4,300 affordable units in SLC, most of which are mixed into the market rate housing. If the mayor’s 2025 safety budget is approved it will be a 46% increase since she took off. An audience member asked why the police budget has increased as much as it has. The Mayor says we needed to increase the police budget to increase public response times. We have also changed the way policing is conducted. The Mayor has also instituted a Civilian Reponses Team of 16 to show up to incidents that aren’t appropriate for policing. The City also added 19 social workers to respond to certain calls. The Committee on Racial Equity and Inclusion have also focused on the SLCPD and made recommendations as to potential appropriate changes. The audience members engaged in a discussion about a man that died during a police incident. An audience member asked if there is a process where a piece of property remains affordable? The Mayor clarified that it is done through deed restriction. An audience member asked about the Mayor’s proposed salary increase. The Mayor discussed the fact her pay is lower than the manager of many other smaller cities (she’s 28th) and is lower than the salary of the 17 department managers that report to her. If the merit increase goes through it would be 9th of all City employees. The Love Your Block is in other parts of the City but could be coming to Sugar House.
6) Sarah Young/Laurie Bray
- We are going through the budget process. Every meeting is available via live stream and the recording is online. Please give input on the budget. The SLCFD did a great job of protecting people and homes from the Wells Ward fire. When it comes to the efforts at Fairmont, the City is working hard to keep the park safe. The rapid intervention squad is visiting Fairmont at least once a week. Please pick up some Dough Lady Cinnamon Rolls from the Hive.
- Laurie talked about Topher Horman who passed away recently. He put together a time capsule that will be opened in 2054. The Sugar House Art walk in June 14.
8) Adjournment
- No meeting in July.
NEXT MEETING: Wednesday, August 7, 2024, at 7 p.m.
