City Watch

Traffic issues continue to rankle Park City residents as City Hall, Summit County and UDOT wrestle with increasing congestion on S.R. 248, more commonly referred to as Kearns Blvd. S.R. 248 connects Park City to U.S. 40 and is one of just two year-round routes into and out of the town—the other being S.R. 224 from I-80. UDOT is weighing a solution to widen the entirety of the road between the U.S.40 interchange  and the intersection with S.R. 224 to five lanes—two inbound, two outbound and a turning lane—to alleviate rush hour gridlock, but the plan’s been met with resistance from local factions.

Though readers from urban areas with bonafide traffic issues will scoff at the small-town scope of such squabbles, the traffic flow problems on S.R. 248 have reached an untenable point requiring attention. It’s the primary travel corridor from Eastern Summit and Wasatch Counties as well as the access point for Prospector and the Park City School District Campus. Combine regular commuter volume with a seasonal influx of skiers and tourists, and S.R. 248 has become a major choke point as the road narrows from five lanes to three at PC Hill to the East and Bonanza Drive to the West.

UDOT’s proposal to widen the corridor for the entire three-mile stretch is facing stiff opposition. Public comments countering the proposal warn about “inviting” more vehicle traffic rather than decreasing the number of single-occupancy vehicles coming to town. Some residents voiced concerns about increased construction noise and truck traffic during a community open house on the topic. A part-time Prospector resident has launched a “Save PC Hill” initiative in the hopes of keeping the iconic hillside adorned with a large “PC” that abuts S.R. 248 to the North from being cut into when building additional lanes. Recently, the County Council has weighed in looking to provide input about what they deem is a regional issue. Councilor Glen Wright told the Park Record, “We have not been invited to the table but I think we should be.”

Some concerns are certainly well-founded, though it’s hard to ignore the geographical bias of some dissenting voices. Simply widening the corridor may run counter to the prevailing efforts to incentivize ditching single-occupancy vehicles on the way to Park City, but a complete unwillingness to recognize the impact of the status quo lane merges on persistent traffic issues is likewise unwise and shortsighted.

Development, traffic and cultural change are all topics sure to bring out the most passionate responses of people in Park City, but proper planning and careful consideration of input from myriad community groups can create positive outcomes as Park City continues to evolve. Public comments may be submitted online if you’d like to make your voice heard.

See all of our community coverage here.

It’s the classic bootstrap tale but, in this case, the bootstraps are more like booties, for babies. In 2009, Susan Petersen was living in Salt Lake City. She was 21 and had moved here from Washington with her husband and two young children while he attended the University of Utah. From their small apartment, Susan came up with a big idea that, at first, was a small idea. She couldn’t find baby shoes for her son’s chubby feet and, well, she knew how to sew. Using scrap leather, she sewed the first pair of what have now become the famous Freshly Picked baby moccasins at her kitchen table.

Susan was on the tip of the spear of a big trend in clothing—the idea that mass-produced products with limited sizes and variety needn’t be the norm, that quality and durability could be included in quantity and sensibilities beyond the bottom line could be factored into a company culture. Of course, at the time, she was just trying to contribute to the family budget, and she sewed her moccasins from that table until 2013, when she earned a spot on The Shark Tank and these concepts, just growing in Susan’s mind burst onto the scene. Her company Freshly Picked is now a multi-million-dollar endeavor, its products are sold at major retailers like Lord & Taylor, Macy’s and Nordstrom. Her baby shoes have been worn by baby Kardashians and millions of children and have a passionate following among a very loyal group, new moms. 

”I’m very scrappy and I’m really Stubborn.” —Susan Peterson

How’s that for a bootie-strap story?

“There is something cool happening,” Susan says. “The buyer who ordered, say, an Old Navy shirt probably had to order 2,000 shirts in different sizes probably many more, that’s just a minimum. But I’m small and control my own manufacturing. If I sell five pairs of one color of shoe it doesn’t mess up our manufacturing flow. We can adjust. We’re not stuck with 2,000 shirts ahead of us. We can look at what’s selling and put a rush on it.”Freshly Picked truly revolutionized e-commerce and still sells 70 percent of its products directly through its own website. Its success got other entrepreneurs thinking about smaller, more customized manufacturing. Now, for example, companies like Third Love and True and Company sell bras made for actual women directly to those actual women, while offering a range of half-sizes and other customizations (and a repudiation of the hyper-sexualized Victoria’s Secret model of bra sales.)

And what’s selling is more than just the moccasin that launched a million moccasins. Susan’s mommy empire has expanded its line beyond booties into clothing, footwear and accessories for both mom and baby. Take diaper bags, for example.

“We asked moms to literally dump out the contents of their diaper bag and justify everything they had in there,” Susan says. “And of course, they could. And then we set out to make a bag that could handle all that stuff but didn’t have Winnie the Pooh on it, like my first diaper bag. Just because you become a mom doesn’t mean you lose your sense of fashion. You’re still a woman.”

Susan has kept her business here in Utah, recently moving into a new HQ on the Silicon Slopes and says there’s an energy and excitement in the state about what’s next.

“Turns out I love building stuff and watching other people build things too,” she says. “So I don’t have a high school education, so I don’t have formal training. I’m very scrappy and I’m really stubborn. I come from a long line of women who get sh** done and I feel really fulfilled to be a part of building something which opens my kids’ eyes up to opportunities we never had.”

Often a lesser celebrated holiday than Mother’s Day, the day for dads is about more than just cliche ties. Give dad some fun this year!

Salt Lake City

Utah’s Foster Care Chalk Festival
Starting this Friday, June 14th, until Sunday Utah’s Foster Care is hosting their annual Chalk Festival at the Gateway. Starting Friday, 100 local artists will be painting the streets of Salt Lake City.  Most of the fun will be on Saturday, with food trucks, Kids Korner and live painting, but the murals will still stay for a special Father’s Day viewing. Oh also our Tastemakers event will be going on too!

Golf Nothing like listening to your Dad complain about your swing while he throws back a Top Golf tea at the “range.”  Click here to make reservations online at Top Golf in Midvale. If your dad would rather pay to play whole 18 holes, find out where to make a tee-time at one of Utah’s many golf courses here.  

Market Street Grill $5 cocktails and hand squeezed juice, your favorite Sunday Brunch but with fish (in the eggs, not the drinks.) Click here to make a reservation one of their three locations! 

WWE Live Celebrate your kick-ass Dad with some ass-kicking WWE fighters. Roman Reigns and Elias are going head to head this Sunday, 7pm at the Maverick Center. Click here for more information and tickets. 

Snowbird This Sunday from 11am-7pm Snowbird is hosting live music and BBQ for kids, big and small, and their dads to enjoy. Scenic tram ride also included. Adults: $29, Kids (7-12): $18 Click here for more info.

Park City

Red Rock Brewing To start your day you can stop by Red Rock to get $2 Bloody Mary’s and Mimosas. Red Rock will be serving their long-time favorites like classic eggs benedict, steak-and-eggs and also the beloved eggs in purgatory, a Sunrise burger or breakfast sandwich with bacon or sausage, sautéed onion, pepper and American cheese, served on a savory country biscuit. Food Coma free of charge! 

Glitretind at Stein Eriksen Lodge  If you like a little bit of everything at brunch you can take your Dad to the buffet at the Stein. You and the old man can enjoy more than two-dozen selections from breakfast staples like eggs benedict, maple-glazed bacon and breakfast potatoes and if that’s not enough they also have Nieman Ranch beef short ribs, tri-peppercorn seared salmon and much more- like Bloody Mary’s and Mimosas, I hope. 

Park Silly After grabbing brunch you can mosey on down to Main Street to enjoy the Park Silly Market. The market is open from 10am-5pm giving you and your dad some good entertainment including live music, seeing local artists, walk off that eggs benny from the morning and continue to eat some more food while you’re at it, Dad bods are IN!

Boneyard Saloon & Wine Dive- Live Music For some evening entertainment you can stop by Boneyard Saloon & Wine Dive to catch some live music. Music starts at 6:30 so be sure to get there early to enjoy some of their delicious food! 

Grub Steak – Free Dessert!  Don’t stop believing…. don’t stop eating. This long-running Park City favorite for top-flight steaks is offering dads a free dessert with any adult dinner entrée. Enjoy classics like bone-in ribeye, porterhouse, or Grub Steak’s Instagram-worthy Tomahawk Rib Eye, plus delicious seafood, sides and more.

Powder at the Waldorf Astoria, Tasting Menu, for the fancy father  If you planned ahead this Sunday for your hangover after a night out on Saturday, try doing a dinner with your dad. Powder at the Waldorf is serving a special five-course tasting menu. Swordfish prosciutto, thyme-crusted tuna, exotic mushroom cappuccino “soup,” and more, OH MY! 

Hopefully you have found something to do but if you haven’t yet check out our dining guide to take your Dad out! 

 

 

The Park City Planning Commission approved a City Hall Workforce or otherwise restricted housing development in the heart Old Town last week. The project includes a combination of 58 townhomes and condominiums near the library and Woodside Park on the 1300 blocks of Empire Avenue, Woodside Avenue and Norfolk Avenue. The development’s ambitious scope is a sign of the City’s commitment towards combating Park City’s seemingly insurmountable dearth of affordable housing. Nevertheless, the high density of units among high-priced real estate—which is precisely what makes the proposal a compelling step in the right direction—has unleashed a degree of public backlash against the project.

The one dissenting vote among the Park City Planning Commission against the development came from Planning Commissioner Laura Suesser, who described the project as “too dense.” Suesser was not alone in her concern, as the topic of density in a highly-valued area came up repeatedly during the public input phase of the project. In one instance, attorney Nicole Deforge, while representing Empire Avenue homeowner Douglas Lee, submitted a letter to the Planning Commission alleging the project does not comply with City Hall rules regarding parking, open space and historic preservation, among other issues.

Since Park City is the developer for the project, some maintain the new construction won’t obey to the strict requirements private developers must adhere to. Supporters of the project—as well as city officials—assert those concerns are unfounded. Of the 58 units, 52 will be priced as either affordable or attainable housing, which means buyers must qualify for purchase through their income levels. The remaining six units will be sold at market prices, with the revenue going back into the housing program and reducing the subsidy required to fund the project.

If the City is to complete its goal of delivering 800 units of affordable and attainable housing by the end of 2026, aggressive projects like the Woodside Park development are going to become increasingly common. Veiled Nimbyism can’t be allowed to derail the progress essential to securing a future in Park City for both primary residents and second homeowners.

Even the full 800 units will only do so much to fix an increasingly untenable housing situation for working people in Park City, but even so, the city’s efforts are admirable. Addressing the housing disparity reduces number of commuters driving to work each day and will only serve to help local business of all types and sizes reliably operate at full employment. It’s a win for all sides, and hopefully the first of many.

See all of our community coverage here.

Rocky’s Way
(Or the Highway)

Former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson has filed a lawsuit on behalf of Proposition 2 supporters that could bring both efforts to legalize medical marijuana—Proposition 2 and the replacement bill, H.B. 3001—crashing down.

Anderson is asking Utah’s Third District Court to restore Proposition 2’s larger, market-led system that resembles dozens of other states and relies on a widespread private market to handle the illicit plant.

He argues the Legislature has taken too much power from the people. He also claims the Legislature does the bidding of the LDS Church, which he says has unconstitutionally “dominated” the process around the issue.

Anderson is working on a third claim that will target a vulnerable piece of the Legislature’s law. He says the law forces state and local employees to violate federal law by working in cannabis facilities.

“That to me is an absolute sure winner,” Anderson says. “For the Legislature to compel anybody to distribute cannabis is absolutely in conflict with federal law.”

Anderson sent a letter in February to more than 100 county officials, searching for a possible plaintiff to join his case. It reads like a threat: “Every dollar spent and every minute devoted to planning for the implementation of H.B. 3001 is an utter waste of precious resources because the law will never—can never—be put into operation.”

Carol almost died last year in a car crash. She uses medical marijuana as part of her pain management plan while her shattered bones heal. The 48-year-old from Weber County fears she’ll lose her job if she uses her real name. So we’ll just call her Carol. After the near-fatal car crash, her friends convinced her to try cannabis as part of her pain management plan.

She’s hoping she’ll be approved for surgery soon, but for the foreseeable future, Carol has been prescribed hydromorphone, a strong opioid medication. Cannabis products—in her case, low-THC-level droplets—help mitigate her need for the opioid and she’s been getting them from Colorado. 

“My doctor said that it helps make me more sensitive to opioids so that I can use less. I’ve been using significantly [fewer opioids] since starting to use [marijuana],” she says. 

Carol is aware of the dangers of opioid addiction, and cannabis has helped her avoid it. But getting cannabis from Colorado is difficult and, right now, a legal liability. And as she’s run out of her droplets, she’s started to take more opioids again to deal with her pain.

Last November, in a state where conservative elected leaders have mightily resisted legalizing the plant, citizens fought to create a medical marijuana program through a ballot initiative. A majority of Utah voters passed Proposition 2, allowing certain people to use medical cannabis and authorizing the establishment of state-licensed and controlled dispensaries. 

But then, state leaders and lawmakers quickly huddled to write a new law to supplant the initiative voters passed.

The resulting bill is unlike any other medical marijuana program in the country. It strictly limits access to a centralized state distribution system for a small number of private dispensaries that the law requires be designed to function like pharmacies. You won’t find any “bud tenders” named Blaze behind a Utah cannabis counter.

Meanwhile, patients in limbo have been asking doctors to write permitting letters to shield them from prosecution. Carol says her doctor is on board with her cannabis use but is afraid of writing her a letter until Utah’s medical marijuana program is assembled. There are too many unknowns, and many doctors are afraid to get involved with the federally illegal plant.

Further muddying the picture, law enforcement agencies are scratching their heads over how to respond to a marijuana bust where the suspect claims medicinal purposes but has no way to prove it. And, the law already faces a legal challenge that threatens to make even more changes and possibly reinstate Proposition 2. (See sidebar: “Rocky’s Way (or The Highway.”) 

These are the growing pains of a nascent medical marijuana program being rolled out by a reluctant state government. Patients are caught in the fog of uncertainty.

Without dispensaries in place under the new Utah Law, patients like Carol will continue buying cannabis locally the old fashioned way, through illegal dealers, or taking trips to neighboring Colorado or Nevada. On the return trip they’ll face the possibility of getting pulled over by the wrong police officer in Utah. 

While it would have taken time for a program under Proposition 2 to get up and running, the citizens’ initiative was much less restrictive than the replacement law. Patients fear that even if and when the replacement law is up to speed their access will be limited. The Legislature called for seven to 10 private dispensaries in the entire state.  Under Prop 2, it was to open eight privately run dispensaries in just Salt Lake County and at least one in every county in Utah. Arkansas, for example, has a similar population to Utah and allows 32 dispensaries. 

But the new law’s supporters say despite the hiccups it’s on the right track. 

“Everybody wants the program to work,” said Connor Boyack, an early Proposition 2 supporter and founder of the Libertas Institute, who later worked on the Legislature’s replacement law. “Whatever issues may present themselves … we’re confident that we’ll be able to work through those issues as they arise.” 

Among cannabis advocates, so few outlets is a major sticking point.

“There are supposed to be 7-10 dispensaries [and] they have to have a pharmacist on duty,” said Christine Stenquist, founder of TRUCE, the group that supported Prop 2 but didn’t agree to a compromise. “Seven dispensaries for a state this large is ridiculous…some of these counties are really, really huge. Who can drive two hours round trip for medicine?”

See all of our politics and community coverage here.