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Show The Zephyr Interview PHILLIP BIMSTEIN Composing a Community Leader-—-Springdale, Utah's Extraordinary Mayor By Barry Scholl Elected to a second four-year term in 1997, Springdale Mayor Phillip Bimstein, has earned a reputation as a hard-working leader with a penchant for intellectual discussion and a quiet but persistent maverick streak. A graduate of the Chicago Conservatory of Music, Bimstein, 52, is known as a passionate defender of wilderness, as well as an advocate for community involvement in the political process. In two recent interview sessions, he proved to be an open, thoughtful and loquacious subject. The man who once tickled the ivories for the new wave band Fill in the Blanks generously filled in the blanks for The Zephyr. Z: Why don't we start by talking about your background? the lives of a lot of the folks who live here. And then I was president of the local arts council. And I did my New Music Utah Festival here from ‘92-94, At the time the town was extremely polarized--more over personalities than issues. I think one reason folks thought I would be a good candidate was because of the potential to bring in a more positive atmosphere. I also had a business background. I was involved in communication. Having a desire to be clear and get people to listening to each other is the kind of thing I'd been doing for a long time. When I think about my new wave band in the early 1980s, I was kind of the manager for that group. There was a small community involved in that, not only the five members PB: I grew up in Chicago and came out west on vacation a couple of times in the late ‘70s. I was particularly drawn as soon as I saw the red rock of southern Utah. I feel in love and dreamed about living here. I had visions of Utah going through my head and literally could dealing with people. I think the degree to which people are used to listening--figuring out not come back. I returned a good two or three more times before settling here. I'd gone to L.A. to study film composing at UCLA and in need of escape,I saw a house here in Springdale for of the band, but the crew, the club owners, the waitresses. I actually developed skills at way to work things out—those skills transfer to a lot of different areas. As a musician or composer, there's a sense of how things work physically that can transfer to se I (support wilderness) because it's the right stand for Utahns and for Springdale. Our quality of life depends on these lands and our economy depends on protection of these lands. I did this with my cyes open. Phillip Bimstein si SOO Oe sale. The next day I owned it. I didn't know anybody in Utah. I just saw this house and seized the moment. That was in September of 1988. AfterI bought the house, I called some friends in Chicago and they said I might never be accepted here, this being a small town in Utah and all that. Z: Were they right? PB: I was so in love with the place that I read everything I could find on Washington County. About six months after I moved here, somebody from the church (of which I'm not a member) knew I was a composer and asked me to write a piece for the town choir. Writing the piece became kind of a discovery. I got the poetry of one guy who grew up on land that is now part of the park but had once been part of his family's holdings. Everybody was welcoming and accepting. They were happy to meet somebody who was interested in them. So I guess the answer to your question is no. I never experienced that newcomer vs. old-timer split. I think Springdale'sa welcoming community. They evaluate people not be categorizing them but by who they are. So on the 35th anniversary of the town's incorporation, in the spring of 1989, I wrote “Zion: A Pilgrim's Journey.” J.L. Crawford's words were incorporated. And John Wesley Powell's description of the towers community dialogue. Even in improvising. before you take your solo it's good to listen first and see where things are going. It helps to know where everybody already is. There's a direct correlation between that and going to a town meeting. There's one distinction between the two. I'm not a conductor. I'm more a facilitator; it's more a leadership role where you listen for what each person's skills are. of the Virgin and a paraphrase from an old Mormon hymn “O Ye Mountains High.” And community. When I called my friends in Chicago after buying the house, had I moved to Escalante they might have been right. Seeds were planted before I ran for mayor that inspired me to run. One was a humanities program, “Embracing Opposites: In Search of the Public,Good.” Two women, Lynn Berryhill and Louise Excell, applied for the grant from Utah Humanities Council and I added some of my own words. In a way it describes us all as pilgrims. It also was meant to characterize me like other pilgrims. I was part of a lineage of folks who were drawn to this place. Z: You're known for being widely read. A particular favorite of yours, I understand, is Daniel Kemmis' book about local governance, Community and the Politics of Place. PB: I've read that three times and looked at it at least several times since. It became a central text. Vaclav Havel, the dissident playwright who became president of the Czech Republic, was another influence. When people suggested I run for mayor, I decided to read some books to help ground me in the right decision. I was a composer, an artist. I knew I would be capable of being mayor, but I wondered if it would take me away from my creative work. In reading Havel's works, there were things about what was right. Z: So now the obvious question: why did people elect you? PB: I was known in the community—I guess positively because of the arts. I had written the choral work sung in 1989 and then I wrote [the New Music composition] “Garland Hirschi's Cows.” That piece helped me get to know the history and culture of the community through becoming aware of the life of one man. His life gave me insight into Speaking of books, which I guess we were a minute ago,I read a book called Composing a Life by Margaret Mead's daughter. It's about six or eight women and how they balance the elements of their lives—career, family, etc. I thought someday I might write a book called Composing a Community. I don't know if I'll ever do it, though—that's another life. Z: When you talk about how well accepted you've felt in Springdale, I wonder how much of that had to do with the fact that the pumps had already been primed—the town was ready for your brand of progressive leadership. Do you think your ideas would have been as well accepted in, say, Escalante or Monticello? PB: Maybe Springdale is a more progressive community than other communities of southern Utah and more accepting. I don't know Escalante that well but from some of the things I hear . . . (long pause). It might be I was intuitive enough to pick the right brought five speakers here including [former Missoula mayor] Daniel Kemmis who was the keynote. Terry Tempest, William Kittredge and Thomas Lyons were other participants. They brought their own experience from their communities and spoke in a broader context about the humanities. It was just the focus of that; it got a lot of people energized and thinking about what they could do for this community. To get back to your earlier question, I do think the right person with the right skills and inclination could do some good. The approach has to be suited to that community and to the issues facing it. I didn't come here thinking I'm going to import my ways on how the town should be run—people with that attitude encounter more resistance than somebody willing to listen to people's concerns. It's important you have the trust of the people in town. It can be done anywhere. Z: You've been an avid spokesman for the designation of Utah wilderness. Does that |