Well, the Olympics are probably coming to town again. 2034. Ten years. The IOC is already booking rooms. Here comes another big pivot-point in our existence. It could be a great opportunity to celebrate who we are and assess what we want to be, or it could be a disaster of unbridled growth and greed. With the Olympics comes the spotlight and along with that people and money. We thought, last time, that we would bring Utah to the world, but we brought the world to Utah. Well, when God wants to punish you, he answers your prayers.
Mitt Romney
did a good job in 2002, as he helped us beat the bribing scandal and Fight the
Liar Within so we could successfully Light the Fire Within. We wound up with a legacy fund to support the
Olympic venues in perpetuity. Well now
that money is running out and we should shoot for that kind of goal again and
make PC a permanent Olympic town in the future rotation. The Olympics told us
what our town would be like, every day, in 10-20 years, so we need good
planning again, and a long-term view for the future.
With money
comes power, interest and influence.
Last time certain Olympic venue construction got Congressional reprieve
from some Federal regulations, like the Clean Water Act. Recently, the billion-dollar MIDAS military
project at East Deer Valley got approval and tax breaks. Lately
the Legislature has stepped in to force approval of projects in the area. We need to stop the Fed and State legislatures
from making planning decisions for us.
We must forge our own destiny.
Last time we
got a zillion dollars in Federal money to improve infrastructure, so we rebuilt
I-15 and half of I-80. This time we
could use the money to rebuild 224 underground, with bridges and service roads,
or four lanes on 248, or the Heber City truck bypass on 40. But new roads bring new people so what do we
want to do with them, short term and long term.
Stop them at the Junctions or dump them at the High School and the Blue
Roof for parking? If you build it, they will drive. We have worked with the classic planning
mantra that ‘if you keep the roads small, people won’t use them.’ Well, they do.
This would
be a great time for some holistic, sustainable and connectable, future regional
thought. Maybe tunnels or gondolas all
over or even a train but we should not just be thinking about 2034. We should be thinking about 2050 and 2100. For the last
Olympics we built a raised flower garden in the middle of 248 and told UDOT that
we were not fly-over people going from 224 to I-80 West. Well, we are now.
What about
snow. With the average minimum morning
temperatures going up 1- 2 degrees every 10 years here, the jet streams
shifting atmospheric rivers and the Great Salt drying up, there is the
possibility that we won’t have snow. I
suppose they will make what they can and ship in the rest because we don’t want
to be known as the first snowless Olympics.
It looks bad on TV. Or what if Park
City gets so crowded that no one comes here anymore. Be careful what you wish for PC. This is another great turning point for us,
as big as the openings of the original Park City and Deer Valley mountains, the
last Olympics and the Vail take over. It is a great time to determine our own
destiny. Decide what to be and go be it.
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