The following article explains some of the dynamics of local city politics in Salt Lake City. Looks to me like Mormonism will eliminate public access to their disputed pedestrian plaza because there is an all Mormon city council in Salt Lake City.
Read about it at: http://www.sltrib.com/11202002/utah/utah.htm Peace be with you. David Miller, Beverly Hills, Florida USA ------------------------------------------ RELIGION ARISES IN PLAZA FLAP BY HEATHER MAY THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE The rancor over religion and politics that has been simmering below the surface of the Main Street Plaza easement debate boiled into full public view Tuesday night. In the "questions to the mayor" segment of the Salt Lake City Council meeting, Council Chairman Dave Buhler started with a statement. He chastised Mayor Rocky Anderson for comments the mayor made to The Salt Lake Tribune and The New York Times suggesting some Mormon council members are doing the bidding of their church by considering giving up the city's easement through the church's plaza. "To make public statements that because of a council member's religion he or she is biased and unable or unwilling to be fair or objective is offensive, and it's also destructive. I ask that you raise the civility of this discourse and refrain from any further or future personal attacks," Buhler said. He noted the council has not accused the mayor of bias because of his former affiliation with the American Civil Liberties Union, which sued the city over free speech restrictions on the plaza. In a packed, and semi-stunned, council chambers, Anderson then attacked the council and the 1999 process where another City Council and then-Mayor Deedee Corradini sold a block of Main Street to the LDS Church and retained the easement now in question. "The [5-2] vote to close Main Street was along [Mormon-non-Mormon] religious lines. The same held true in terms of the [6-1] vote [in 2000] to reconfirm the transaction," he said. And Anderson, a non-practicing Mormon, said some members of the current all-LDS council would not have sought an outside legal opinion, which said they can get rid of the easement without the mayor's approval, if they were not Mormon. That step "would not have been taken to deprive the community of that perpetual right [of access to the plaza] had this been any corporation, any private individual, or I must say, any other religion," he charged. No other council members dared to ask Anderson any more questions. But members of the public gave their opinions. They asked the council to turn the plaza back into a working street,to give up the easement or to keep the easement. Two men in particular epitomized the fight for the plaza. Lonnie Pursifull, a Baptist who frequently "preaches" near church grounds, told the council, "You have no right to take my constitutional rights away from me or bargain them away. If you're a temple Mormon, your oath is to the church above all." An LDS man from Roy, Lance Reed, reminded the council the plaza is adjacent to "the most sacred place we have, which is the temple. These people want to take away our place of worship, in effect." The council's next move is to hold a "fact-finding" hearing Dec. 10 and invite some former City Council members, Corradini, LDS Church officials and the ACLU to rehash the plaza's history and explain the original intentions behind the deal. It could hold a public hearing Dec. 17. Since the LDS Church launched a public relations campaign Sunday for the easement, the council has received 195 comments, with just 26 for keeping the easement. Church officials and Corradini have said the church planned to control behavior on the plaza all along -- though how well that part of the plaza sale was represented to the public is being debated. To Anderson, the council's "investigative" hearing means the members want to give up the easement. Countered Buhler: "We haven't made a decision. Is he a mind reader?" ---------- "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org If you do not want to receive posts from this list, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and you will be unsubscribed. If you have a friend who wants to join, tell him to send an e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and he will be subscribed.
