Back when I lived here Salt Lake had a small city vibe with a different (Mormon influenced) set of values that were both quirky and comfortable.

It’s been a decade-but this place has become nothing but a suburb of Los Angeles in every way.

They paved paradise and put up a bunch of crummy condos.

RIP great memories that ended with the 2002 Winter Olympics. Everything Mitt touches turns to crap.

So has Provo

To quote the old song:  "They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot".  The whole Wasatch Front has been turned into a replica of Southern California.  I left So. Cal. 42 years ago because I could see the handwriting on the wall.  What was once a paradise is now an expensive, oppressive gulag.  IMO that is exactly what is happening along the entire Wasatch Front. They emigrate in, and turn the area into the same shithole they moved away from. Sad but true.

Here is my latest example:  We have lived in West Jordan on a half acre lot for the last 17 years.  We have irrigation water to for our large back yard, gardens, and fruit trees.  We now have neighbors who want to petition the city and the irrigation company to stop the practice, and fill in the ditches.  They say the ditches are a hazard and make it unsafe for their children.  That  is the kind of BS we are starting to deal with now. So far the city and the irrigation company have said no; but that is not going to keep these carpet bagging fools at bay for long.

As we were driving south on I-15 yesterday about 4th North or so- it occurred to me that SLC now looks exactly like Miami, LA, Or any one of a dozen or so BIG nasty cities anywhere else. (Granted the mountains are/were hard to see with the CA wild fire smoke).

Any major public office election in Utah will find the major players tripping over themselves to talk about protecting Utahs industries, including the ski industry.



From a job-creation standpoint, and many people consider job-growth a positive economic factor, the 2002 Winter Olympics were a good thing for Utahs economy.

And... Utah had already gotten the Olympics to Utah long prior to Romney getting brought-in to lead it.

Everything was already in place. Many mid-level managers and Utahs ski industry leaders are to blame for the massive success of the Olympics. It gave massive amounts of money back to Utah.




If you honestly want Romney to lose in 3 years look up my posts on beating Romney I posted in the Politics forum.

Blaming Romney for your house you bought in 1975 for $75K and its worth a cool million now? Idiotic if you want Romney to lose.

I have relatives who bought their house for a reasonable price back when they were starting their families who have people knocking on their doors making offers for significant chunks of change.

You are giving Romney too much credit. "Your house you bought for 100k is now worth a million, because of MITT ROMNEY, don't vote for MITT ROMNEY!"

"Wait, he made me a millionaire, why wouldn't I vote for him?"

If you honestly want Romney to lose in three years, I would steer-clear of giving credit to Romney for Utahs exploding economy. "Who made all the home owners on the Wasatch front millionaires?"

The conservative pro-business Utah legistlature, that tried to remove Romney from office?

Or "MiTt RoMnEy! RoMnEy GaVe EVerYoNe JoBS! ANd MaDe HoMEowNeRs iN uTAh RIcH!"

One argument is accurate... Utahs pro-business, anti-Romney conservative legislature made Utah a safe-haven for business and made Utah a safe-haven for Utahs ski-industry and related jobs.

Romney? Didn't do anything to make my relatives in Utah get approached about selling their homes for massive factors more than they paid. Don't give Romney any credit for that.

If Romneys enemies choose to give Romney credit for Utahs exploding job market and exploding economy, it is too much credit. When there is probably a good dude (or lady) in Utahs legislature who is ***REALLY*** to blame for Utahs economy, and protecting Utahs ski industry who can try to defeat Romney.

LOL.... dude, you’ve never lived here.
I’ll run over and read your stuff in the political forum but I was pretty involved in politics here back in the Olympic days. There was some shady crap going on-SLC bribed IOC members for their votes-and the Olympics were setting up to make some of the players filthy rich at the cost of a huge black eye for Utah. The amount of Federal money that poured into Utah for road/rail and infrastructure improvements was staggering. Guess it paid to have a senior Senator in Congress.
Romney stepped in....and cleaned up the outside hiding the corruption from sight and the Olympics were a HUGE success——and sucked the soul out of this formerly great place to live.

As for the ski industry...again I doubt you’ve ever skied here...but Utah powder is the best in the world. That said; it’s almost impossible to get up the canyons to ski/hike anymore. There is now talk of parking fees to go up the canyons in addition to the insane costs of season passes. The quality of the experience has gone to hell because of over crowding and prohibited costs. They are not making anymore mountains and the resorts are not expanding so all the industry can do is raise prices on an ever shrinking percentage of those who can afford to ski while trying to mitigate the impacts of the degraded experience.
Exploding job market?  Utah has always paid slave labor wages. Still do—which is why companies are coming here.  
I filled my 4Runner up last night here—-$72.00.
We then drove the EMPTY down town. It was a ghost town after 6pm. I’ve never experienced anything like this here except maybe on a Sunday morning. Places are boarded up like BLM was going to fire bomb the area and reminded me of Portland and Seattle. Parts of outlying downtown have always been sketchy (Pioneer park) but the sketchy ness has expanded into other areas. SLC has become a very rich and diverse culture now and that has NOT enhanced its attractiveness. Like I said it looks, smells, and acts just like LA, SF, Seattle, Portland, etc now.  
Looking at Zillow-the price of my former house that I bought in 1989 for 53.5k....is right around 400k. It was new in 1977. Same siding, same roof, driveway etc, but the neighborhood looks like the barrio now with crappy cars all over and unkept yards.
Yeah..... a hell of a deal. People in north Utah are commuting...... from Idaho now because they can’t afford to live here on salve wage jobs.
So yeah, I trace it all back to that White Knight hero of your’s Mitt Romney and will say again this place has lost its soul and all that made it a desirable place to live.

Utah and the surrounding States are changing fast.  We have lived here in UT for the past 30 years, before that our home State of ID.   I am amazed at how this State is slowly turning into CA.  The nonsense that people are bringing here is incredible especially when they claim they moved away from (Insert State) to get away from it.  But when you hear them talk or see their posts on neighborhood chats, they talk of what we need from where they moved from.  It is incredible to me that people move away from trash and then want to bring it with them.   I guess its the old adage of you can take some one from the city, but you cant take the city out of them, is true.

I was in Cody WY a month ago for work.  They have placed a huge sign as you come into Cody.........."Do not Californicate our Cody".....That sign with each cities name needs to be outside of every town in UT, ID, WY, MT.   Colorado, I am afraid is lost except the Western Slope.

If that is your word, your word is not worth very much.




If they *live* in Idaho, but *work* in Utah, the market says they probably like what they are getting paid in Utah, and likely can't find the same job for the same amount where they live.

Free markets will fix the problem.

I would not spout that Romney is the person who takes credit for making a whole lot of home owners in Utah very rich off the price of their homes in the booming economy.




The free market says that Utah is an extremely desirable place to live right now, actually. You believe in free markets, yes?

It is socialists and communists who talk about population control, and limiting populations. Freedom lovers let the market decide.

Romney supported Trumpbucks hard-left socialist payouts. Romney (and your Idaho Senators) supported all of Trumps economy-destroying deficit spending bills. Romney is no "White Knight hero" to anybody but Trumpbucks socialists and other hard-leftists.

No one is going to run against Romney in three years touting Romneys loyalty to Trumpbucks socialism. They are going to fall into a trap and say, "Romney didn't support Trump!" And Romney is going to say, "Thats right, I did not. Did you see the deficit spending and socialism in Trumps bills!"

Or worse, Romneys enemies will accuse Romney of making vast swaths of Utahns property millionaires. "GuEsS WHo MaDE yOU a MiLLiOnAirE?!?! MiTt RoMnEy! THat BaSTaRd!!!"

Voters will be like, "Yeah, that guy who made us filthy rich? Yeah, screw that guy." While they vote for him.

I’m no financial guru but I don’t think inflation creates wealth. I could be wrong-don’t care.
There is a supply problem here because, well, there are only so many places you can build when you are stuck between a stinky lake and the mountains but Romney didn’t have anything to do with that except invite the world here to discover this place....
California has moved here with their inflated “wealth” and screwed this place up. End of story.

Utahs exploding economic growth isn't from inflation.

Trumpbucks socialism payouts (supported by Romney and Idahos Senators) creates inflation. But Utahs exploding economy isnt just Trumpbucks inflation.

There is something else forcing Utahs economy to grow.



If you are in the business of selling ski tickets (or any of the jobs related from hotels to restaurants) you want lots of people interested in purchasing your tickets.

Romney didn't land the Olympics, and he did not push homeowners in Utah to win the financial lottery, either.

Massive birth rates in Utah far, far exceeded move-ins to Utah until the last few years. And move-in to Utah in the last few years had ziltch to do with the Olympics and everything to do with Utahs favorable business climate. The Olympics in Utah were 20 years ago. Utahs current explosive, massive economic growth has nothing to do with the Olympics 20 years ago.



If both of Utahs Senators would have voted for Trumps destroy-America deficit spending bills like both of Idahos Senators, you would know there is a hard-left problem in the state of Utah.

Utah still has 50% of the Senators in the state who voted against all of Trumps deficit spending bills.

I am still not sure you can blame the move-in to Utah solely on the Olympics. If the jump in move-ins occurred right after the Olympics, you might have a point.

But it didn't really. The ultra-high birth rate in Utah dwarfed new move-ins to Utah after the Olympics and there wasn't a real jump in move-ins until 2015. Long after the Olympics, and while Romney had nothing to do with anything in Utah. Romney sucks. Romney is a socialist who voted-for Trumpbucks socialism alongside Idaho's hard-left Senators.

But Utahs population spiking in 2015 and growing since then came 14 years after the Olympics, and was due more to Utahs favorable business climate.

Utahs ultra-high birth rates... Link

Migration into Utah didn't really kick off until 2015 when the numbers jumped from 4,919 to 21,671 in a single year, according to the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute report. Link

Per the article, Arizona, Idaho, and Nevada provided significant move-ins to Utah... More than California.

The truth is, they followed the jobs, which are because of Utahs favorable business climate. And the growth surge took place 14 years after the Olympics. While Romney was a nobody in the state.

Want to make Romney a nobody in the state again? Don't give him credit for Utahs favorable business climate, and average folks who own a house becoming millionaires from simply owning a home.

Utahs conservative (anti-Romney) legislature is to be given credit for Utahs exploding economy. There has got to be a pro-gun, pro-business, anti-Trumpbucks socialism legislator who can beat Romney in three years.

Running out of land in Utah? Laughable. The market will right itself. The market will fix itself. There is plenty of land in Utah. Plenty. Cheap building materials? No. Land? Yes. Plenty. And if there isn't... The market will fix itself. The market will right itself.

I would counter OP’s point and say that SLC never really had any soul.  I was starting college during the Olympics, and before then downtown was dead.  There was the ZCMI center, same weller’s, and the red iguana.  Tower theater was a little ways away.

There was never a bustling downtown center.  There still isn’t.  There are a few more bars, and a farmers market, and an army of homeless people.

Utahns have always seemed to like strip malls and chain stores in their little suburbs.

I loved SLC when I visited.   I suppose that's different than living there.

The demographics have changed significantly....is that what killed the soul?  Don’t know. Did Light Rail damage the ease and flow of movement downtown? Are the economics of the state destroying the ability of average to enjoy life?  
I’ll say this; A LOT of Utah plates in surrounding states and at (formerly) remote trail heads.
These were/are just my observations coming back into an area I was intimately familiar with.

It's dragging the rest of the state to hell with it

I'm not a local, my observations for what it is worth...  

I love Utah.  I've traveled to Utah to ski every year for the last 20 years.   Usually two or three weekly trips each year during winter months.  I spend a lot of time in and around town.    The soul of the city has changed somewhat, but honestly, it doesn't seem that much different now than in the past.  

I've seen lots of new construction in the last 10 years; more breweries/pubs, more condos and more small developments.   Housing costs are dramatically higher than just a few years ago.  Yes, there are Lots of transplants now who revel in their status as locals.

The new airport looks nice, but if you arrive in Concourse B, you have to walk about a half mile to get to your baggage.  Who designed that???  

Roads are more crowded and winter access up the canyons now sucks.   UTA's proposal to build a gondola up LCC is a ridiculous plan, and appears to me to be designed to enrich some former politicians and their friends at public expense.
 

As a former UTA employee all I’m going to say is you have some good instincts for sniffing out Bullshit.
Had to laugh about long “commutes from an airport concourse. Ever been to Dallas? SLC doesn’t have a train between terminals.

I've been in the new airport maybe 3 or 4 times now?  All of which has of course been in concourse b.

What a fucking joke.  I'm young and hike, and I can hoof it out with two kids and bags on my shoulders.

But we took our family and in-laws to San Francisco this past summer, and it was like an hour voyage to get my FIL to the gate.

DFW, Twin Cities, Atlanta, Charlotte, Denver, etc. all have better systems.