City Watch

You’d be lucky to have my Aunt Margaret as a friend on Facebook. Why—you ask? Honestly, she’s the best thing on social media. Most recently, she brought this timely question to our attention: “Do you think most people will gain more weight or lose weight in the next 3 months?”

Aunt Margaret, it is a valid question. “The pandemic 15” you all know is a thing, like “The freshmen 15″—meaning the pounds you’ll gain during your quarantine.

Are you a stress eater? Not allowed to leave the house? Sounds like you could use a diet right now. Isn’t it true that high stress and elevated cortisol levels can lead to bad health stuff, even weight gain? Rather than prohibiting certain foods or food groups, let me suggest a portion-control method that I’m pretty sure is unprecedented.

Like stacking Jenga blocks, balancing foods upon a grapefruit is a challenge you’ll be determined to win.

The balance on a grapefruit method.

Growing up, my mom was almost always on a diet, she was a Weight Watchers lecturer, and participated in most fad diets or ate those foods which promised weight loss. As a kid, it was hard and weird to me, as I never thought of her as overweight, she just said she was. 🙁 But those fears of gaining weight were inherited and have followed me my whole life, as they have many of us.

So, while I’m all for a healthy weight and lifestyle choices, I decided to veer off the diet pathway a bit, be a little kinder to myself and not so extreme about that right now. As a “should I eat” determiner, I chose to balance the food I wished to consume on a grapefruit, inspired by “The Grapefruit Diet” which was a real trend at some point (my mom ate quite a lot of them). Like stacking Jenga blocks, balancing foods upon a grapefruit is a challenge you’ll be determined to win. For example, I wanted that gluten-free apple pie so badly, I ended up sticking it on with tape. All is fair with this method, make your own rules, and most importantly enjoy what you choose to eat.

It’s April 1st, and wishing you all the best SLC, no foolin’!

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The Decameron

Bocaccio

I’m kidding. You’ll never get through it, even an English translation. But it IS relevant: Sort of like Canterbury Tales, it’s a collection of stories told by a group in certain situations. In this case, it’s a group of nobles, 3 men and 7 women, who hole up in a castle outside Florence (actually, Fiesole) to escape the Black Death. The tales they tell include love stories, erotica and practical jokes. Bocaccio wrote it in the 14^th century, not long after the plague had ravaged Florence. It’s tough reading, though, in any translation. A new one by came out in 2017—before delving into the full story, you might want to read this review from the New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/11/11/renaissance-man-4

Plague doctors wore those scary beaked masks to keep them from inhaling pestilence—kind of like our 6-foot rule.

The Plague

Albert Camus

I have seen so many references to The Plague (La Peste) on Facebook since we met Covid-19 I begin to doubt how many who talk about it have read it. I haven’t, since 1972 when it was an assignment. It’s probably time to revisit it, but  looks like it may be hard to find a copy. Sales have been skyrocketing in recent weeks. According to the Guardian, “The British publisher of The Plague, Penguin Classics, says it is struggling to keep up with orders. “We’ve gone from shipping quantities in the low hundreds every month to the mid-thousands,” said Isabel Blake, the senior publicity manager.” You can read that article here: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/mar/28/albert-camus-novel-the-plague-la-peste-pestilence-fiction-coronavirus-lockdown

The Plague, written in 1946-7 and set in Algeria, where the philosopher writer was born, and tells the story of how different characters react to the plague when it overcomes their town. Based on a historical outbreak of cholera, of course, it can also be read as an allegory of how people reacted to Nazi occupation. The author said so.

Doomsday Book

Connie Willis

Willis writes humanist science fiction—less about the science and more about what if—and in this book she plays, as she often does, with time travel. Set in near-future Oxford, of course, there’s a mistake and our heroine ends up in England at the height of the 14th-century plague. At the same time, virulent influenza strikes the Oxford scientists—uh-oh! It’s a fun read, though the living conditions in the plague years are sometimes more horrifying than the disease.

And the Band Played On: Politics. People and the AIDS Epidemic

Randy Shilts

San Francisco Chronicle journalist Shilts documented the plague that was not to be named. Famously, for years, President Ronald Reagan wouldn’t mention the disease that was killing thousands of gay people in his home state. The totally heart-rending tale tracks the disease from San Francisco bath houses around the world, emphasizing how little was done by the government to contain or even study it because it was regarded as a gay disease. Shilts died from complications from AIDS in 1994.

Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World

Laura Spinney

Okay, I haven’t read this one, but the Spanish flu of 1918 touched my life. I always knew my grandfather spent as much time in a French hospital sick with the Spanish flu as he did flighting in WWI. And my great aunt, Florence Mary (after whom I’m named) died young from the same flu. Historians argue that the Spanish flu (which didn’t come from Spain) changed the world as much as the grotesque war—the disease infected a third of humans on earth. Pale Rider follows the infection around the world, and examines its effect on different societies as scientists searched in vain for a sure cure. I’m gonna read it. Really.

Station Eleven

Emily St. John Mandel

A can’t-put-it-down post-apocalyptic story set about 20 years after a fast-spreading, fast-killing disease has destroyed human culture. From the shocker opening—a production of King Lear on a Toronto stage—to its wistful ending in an airport museum holding mementos from the height of civilization, including the graphic novel, Station Eleven.

And please remember, Salt Lake magazine is a small local business too. We’re doing everything we can to keep you up-to-date on the local businesses you love and how they’re faring in these difficult times. We’re also doing everything we can to add some fun and color into your quarantine. To subscribe to SLmag, go here.

National politics aren’t part of our editorial coverage as a rule.

“I want you all for a moment to think about our history as a nation and how real change has taken place. It has never taken place from the top on down, always from the bottom on up.”

—Bernie Sanders, (D) Senator, Vermont in SLC, March 2, 2020

But with Bernie Sanders drawing a crowd of thousands at the fairgrounds this afternoon and Amy Klobuchar drawing hundreds to the Depot last night (before dropping out of the presidential race) Utah is in the national news and it’s apparent how strong local feelings are about the 2020 Presidential election. Democrats and Republicans are fired up. Young people and older people are fired up. In Utah, Republicans are voting in Democratic primaries, Trump supporters are clashing with Trump protesters. Mormons are voting for Bernie. Republicans are disagreeing with Republicans. This is one crazy, mixed-up election.

But all sides can agree on one idea Bernie put forth: “The understanding is that no President, not Bernie Sanders or anybody else can do it alone.”

Our response?

Participate in Super Tuesday—go vote.Here’s what you need to know—where, when, etc.

On Wednesday, we can all go back to worrying about coronavirus. (Only one case in Utah so far.)

Utah Division of Wildlife Resources reported 6 Bull Elk have been shot and killed in the Knob Hill area of Park City.

Photo provided by: Utah Division of Wildlife Resources

Utah Division of Wildlife Resources officers are seeking information about the 6 Bull Elk that were shot and killed in the Knob Hill area of Park City between Dec. 20, 2019 and Jan. 15, 2020.

The area between Knob Hill and the Glenwild Residential Area where the remains were found is a known home to a herd of large, adult bull elk.

Local residents who have regularly seen the animals there noted that there seemed to be fewer animals than normal. 5 of the 6 Bull Elk were considered large enough to be trophy-size animals and meet the restitution value of $8,000 under Utah state code.

A reward may be available to anyone who provides information leading to the successful prosecution of the individual(s) responsible for this crime. Please contact the UTIP Hotline at 1-800-662-3337 or the DWR’s Ogden office at 801-476-2740 with any information. You can also submit a report online. Requests for confidentiality will be honored.

The calendar may have turned to a new decade, but the endless drumbeat of debate surrounding Park City traffic issues goes on. Death, taxes and all that. Anyone who’s ever been backed up past the I-80 exit ramp in Kimball Junction on a powder day or languished in traffic on S.R. 248 between U.S. 40 and the high school knows the traffic problem is worsening and will reach an eventual breaking point. The development boom—which includes the Park City and Deer Valley parking lots and the new arts and culture district—will place increased demands on existing transportation infrastructure, so Park City officials are being forced to think outside the box in finding solutions to the traffic crunch.

The status quo is barely tenable. What used to be peak holiday and powder day issues have become everyday rush-hour occurrences. The city and county haven’t ignored the crises—they introduced new park and ride locations like the one in Ecker Hill and put in a new bus line that goes all the way out to Summit Park—but they’ve resisted other ideas. UDOT proposed widening S.R. 248 to five lanes for its entire length between U.S. 40 and S.R. 224, but after pressure from many Park City residents—including council members who live adjacent to the proposed construction—the project was scrapped despite analysis showing intersections would fail by 2040 without improvements.

The rejection of that plan has been met with credible accusations of nimbyism. The town’s suggested solution of adding a bus lane is comically insufficient. While the stated goal of reducing single-occupancy vehicles entering town is admirable, it’s impractical for many of the thousands of the commuters who come from Summit and Wasatch Counties, such as parents dropping off their kids at schools on S.R. 248. Similarly, the restricted Old Town Drop and Load Zones aimed at reducing congestion on Main Street are a good idea but are rife with issues, including the $200 annual permit fees that are a major impediment to the rideshare drivers whose services the town is trying to incentivize.

That brings us to the pie-in-the-sky idea currently being debated: a network of gondolas in town connecting resorts to Main Street to transit hubs and neighborhoods. An aerial transit network transit is ambitious, but not without precedent. Telluride has a gondola that whisks people between the mountain village and town. Park City itself operated three aerial tramways to move miners and ore all over town in the first half of the 20th century. Details remain scant, and many obstacles from aesthetics to logistics to funding remain. Whether Parkites end up gliding over town in a comprehensive aerial transit system remains to be seen, but at least Park City officials are looking in a new direction: up.

When visitors arrive in Park City at the beginning  of the 2022-2023 ski season, they’ll be greeted with a brand new seven-building complex on the West side of S.R. near the Canyons Village. But this shiny development won’t be full of surplus rental units for the visiting skiers and snowboarders in search of some dreamy Utah powder, it’ll be home for 1,153 employees who work Park City Mountain and businesses in the Canyons Village base area. The idea behind the workforce housing project—signed into agreement in 1999—may not be new, but it couldn’t come to fruition at a more crucial time.

All types of businesses in Park City are having an increasingly difficult time finding employees for seasonal work thanks to a multitude of contributing factors. Overall unemployment is currently low. High housing costs in Park City—driven by an ongoing real estate boom and the degradation of the long-term rental market in the face of apps like VRBO and Airbnb—mean fewer employees earning relatively-stagnant seasonal wages can afford to live locally. Others aren’t willing to commute from the Salt Lake Valley for those same wages. On top of all that, the result of affordable multi-mountain passes like Epic and Ikon has rendered the complimentary employee season pass—once an essential perk to attracting large numbers of workers—increasingly less enticing.

The result is businesses, particularly area ski resorts, operating at less than full capacity despite hikes in starting wages. Several employees at Park City Mountain who spoke with me on condition of anonymity said that despite ample early season snowfall in 2019 the resort wasn’t able to open more terrain prior to the holidays due to employee shortages in areas like lift ops.

Canyons Village Management Association (CVMA) is stepping up to make a tangible difference, partnering with Columbus Pacific to develop the workforce housing after submitting a project application to Summit County in fall 2019. “This is an invaluable project and one we are thoroughly excited and proud about,” Dave March CVMA Director of Marketing and Events said via email. The development’s location will provide fully furnished “pod-style” living accommodations to more than 1,100 employees on a 7.5-acre lot with easy access to Kimball Junction, downtown Park City and area resorts. The development won’t just house a critical mass of workers, but also will keep those same employees from having to commute and thereby contribute to Park City’s perpetual traffic congestion.

A single development, even one of this magnitude, won’t alone solve ongoing workforce shortages, but it’s a start. Park City’s service-based economy relies on a growing workforce to thrive, and it’s refreshing to see employers get on board to provide affordable, available housing for workers. Hopefully more will soon follow suit.