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Show JULY 1996 EDITORIAL Ao oho tor Va) Cheering-On a Public Land Fraud Birdie < Well shut our mouths: The Park City Council voted down the © proposed ski bridge over Park Avenue and struck a blow for the preservation of the town’s historic district. It was the right vote, even though developer Pat Sweeney forced the council to react to his ultimatum for a larger bridge. Celebrate now, because the bridge, undoubtedly will be back. The urban density now being constructed at the Town Lift project at the bottom of Main Street will signal the death-knell for the historic character of Park City in that neighborhood. Our guess is that it guarantees a lot more automobile traffic, too — even though the city didn’t require a traffic study. That huge project also guarantees that a ski bridge will be built, sooner or later, although Sweeney can save the price of the bridge now. Maybe he tricked the council into doing exactly what he wanted, after all. Bogey G __ The on-going road construction > at the top of Parleys Canyon and into Snyderville Basin earns our criticism. UDOT and its contractor have prolonged the work, keeping the freeway in a dangerous condition longer than necessary. The poor road condition, strange lane changes, along with the barrels and markers that make for impossible night driving probably were factors in one tragic death, near Kimball Junction already. Road construction, of course, is necessary in the summer. But on major thoroughfares, like 1-80, it ought to be completed as quickly as possible. Birdie Hats off to Gov. Mike Leavitt for having the guts, for once, to go against legislative leaders in his own party by creating an Open Lands Committee and mechanism to preserve open space. Of course there is no real mechanism to fund open space acquisitions. But Leavitt's executive order is a step in the right direction. Speaker of the House Me! Brown has said that state regulations that allow setting aside permanent open space are something akin fo communistic. Brown and other legislative leaders apparently believe the state may soon be stealing all our land under the guise of preserving open space. And heck, most of the state is open space, anyway, they argue. Right, except in the populated areas around the Wasatch Moun- When tobacco industry leaders told Congress that nicotine was not addictive, even though their own research showed it was, they were labeled as “liars.” When Hillary Clinton’s staff “couldn't remember” certain details in the aftermath of Vincent Foster’s suicide, there were claims from the Whitewater investigating committee, chaired by Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, of “obstruction of justice.” 3ut when Utah’s Rep. Jim Hansen and Sen. Orrin Hatch told Congress that the Snow Basin land swap is necessary to put on the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, little was said of the fraud on the taxpaying public that it really is. Meanwhile, Utah’s largest news organization, The Salt Lake Tribune, continues to cheer on the fraud that will cost taxpayers millions and deprive them of public Forest Land —lands the taxpayers spent the last 60 years reviving after deforestation and over-grazing turned the area into a dust bowl. Legislation put forth by Hansen and Hatch allows one of Utah’s riches men, oil baron Earl Holding, to acquire 1,320 acres in Snow Basin. It has now passed both houses of Congress, hidden in the Parks Omnibus bill. At this writing it is in conference committee and will soon be forwarded to the President The land exchange bill allows Holding to trade steep and marginal grazing land for the pristine alpine land at Snow Basin. Once signed into law, it glowing terms, 7he Tribune has failed to report on the history of Snow Basin. The Tribune has failed to report on the opposition to the project from the people it would impact most — the residents of Huntsville. The Tribune has failed to report on the probable enviChristopher Smart public land could be literally in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Not only is it obvious that all this is not necessary to host the men’s and women’s Downhill and Super G ski races, but representatives from both the US Forest Service and Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee have admitted the land swap has little to do with the ski races, themselves Why then, we might ask, does The Salt Lake Tribune continue to forward that notion, as it did again in its June 19, 1996 edition? Paraphrasing Sinclair Oil’s Chris Peterson and Clint Ensign, The Tribune reported: “They are confident that Congress understands the land swap is necessary for Snowbasin to justify the multi-million dollar invest- ment needed to prepare the Ogden- area resort for the 2002 Winter Olympics.” That statement was not put into context with other facts and statements to the contrary. This can now be seen as part of a pattern of news coverage from The Salt Lake Tribune that has emerged during the past eight months. We might expect that politicians like Hansen and Hatch would pave the way for Holding to enrich himself at the public’s expense. But what we wouldn’t expect is that the most influential news organization in the state would go along with this fraud on the public. While putting forth Holding’s explanations of the Snow Basin deal in makes available to Holding practically every buildable acre in Snow Basin. The oil baron has already told the US Forest Service he intends to build 200 trophy homes, 467 luxury townhouses, 818 condominiums and 1,092 hotel rooms on the land. It will be Holding’s own Deer Valley-style resort for the wealthy. His profits from the development of this ronmental impacts — including watershed issues — the massive development will have. The Tribune has failed to report on the pressure put on the Forest Service by Hansen and Hatch. And The Tribune’s news reports have given short-shrift to critics, like Save Our Canyons, who have been trying in vein to alert the public and Congress to the rip-off that is the Snow Basin land swap. If The Tribune’s news coverage has been abysmal, it’s editorial stance has been nothing short of cheerleading. In it’s June 23 editorial, The Tribune calls the Snow Basin land exchange a “goodie” for Utah. “The Snowbasin proposal deserves passage now .. . particularly since further delay will enable its vocal opponents to marshal more forces against it.” But what if, we might ask, The Tribune went after this story with the same investigative vigor it went after Rep. Enid Greene Waldholtz’ campaign disclosures? What if The Tribune took on the Snow Basin land fraud with the same gumption it showed by uncovering that Gov. Mike Leavitt’s brothers were allowed to sell fish tainted with Whirling Disease to state fish hatcheries? Well, we know what would have happened. Congress would have been alerted to the sham and the Snow Basin land swap would have been pulled from the Parks Omnibus bill. Then The Tribune could have said it fulfilled its responsibilities to the public and its readers, rather than playing along with the rich and powerful at the expense of taxpayers. @ < tains. @ MAIL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION REQUEST TO P.O. BOX 1433 ¢ PARK CITY, UTAH 84060 OR FAX 801-649-8046 G §& fT With il Become One With “The High Altitude. Alternative” : % SUBSCRIPTION 12 ISSUES OF THE FORM “TIMES” a ADDRESS APT./ CITY/STATE ZIP THIS GIFT IS FROM PHONE ADDRESS APT/SUITE NO. VISAQ PAGE No. 2 Exp. SIGNATURE NO. NO. PHONE NO. CITY/STATE CHECK 0 SUITE ; |