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Show WINTER 2003/04 The West View Page 8 West Side Neighborhoods: Good For the Most Part resident’s response to West Side. For many, those two words conjure up images of _Switchblades in the schools and rag-wearing, gun-toting teens who pass out dope on street corners. To say that this is how the West Side looks is being ignorant are not full of drugs and weapons. The elementary schools offer the at any time - day or night. I Extended Learning Program for students who are qualified as tion, although that doesn’t mean English. Students have access to arts programs and sophisticated computer equipment. Contrary to its reputation as a school where most students have a switchblade and are ready to jump you, West through any Salt Lake City neighborhood and point out several so-called “gang” members. Over gram, including the prestigious International Baccalaureate pro- music blasting into the night. But gram. most of the time, it is soccer on several years on a paper route _ [feel that the people who were interviewed in Edie Trimmer’s. the front lawn and basketball in the driveway. The West Side has some problems that need solving, The reasons are torical places. numerous: good. The property taxes are fair and the ‘City is good to help us easy to get to. The freeways for our beautiful roses - the streets are named after roses. The people are friendly and tolerant of one another and the different are good beliefs we all have. We enjoy our leaders. neighborhood get-togethers and accessible. ‘schools, We have The We teachers airport is have and an excellent Street parties. ~ We have a lot of churches, an . picoiient golf course and walk ways on the Jordan River Park “Way. We have many parks and all are taken care of by the City, and— we will soon have one of the best lighting eens in the city. library — Day Riverside Branch. We are close to activities downtown, at the Delta Center, Salt Palace, Symphony Hall, Temple Square, the malls and Gateway. We live close to City Creek Canyon and the State Capitol and other his- September [1854] I commenced -to builda house.” (The Diary of Nelson Whipple Wheeler) ~City Creek also flooded continuously, leaving the “lower part of North Temple... covered with gravel to a depth of from one to five feet [in 1862]. Six weeks the people worked night and day tosave their property.” (Tales of a Triumphant People) Yet the area was also unsuit- able for widespread agricul- -Jessica Haggerty, FairPark Like Rose Park The neighborhood is known problems. but what part of the city doesn’t? walk through the neighborhood West Side schools The public transportation is very with One of the biggest. reasons why I love Rose Park and enjoy living here is that I am close to ‘my job. For twenty-seven years I have had the pleasure to serve my neighbors with my service station by repairing their cars. I appreciate all the business that residents have given me. It has been good. for my family. My children have all expressed how nice it was growing up in such a great place as Rose Park. --Urban Child, Rose Park x tural development as the soil was - opments, presented an interest* alkali and the potential irrigation ing challenge to the community: water from the Jordan silty and While the train made it easier for the Mormon faithful to gather ~costly to divert. to Zion, it also made Salt Lake, National trends also greatly affected the development of the and specifically Fairpark, a more attractive area to immigrants outFairpark. The effort to connect the east and west coasts of the side of the Mormon faith looking for steady work. _ country led to the completion Deed records indicate that of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 and the building of a many of the original Mormon pioneer settlers sold their property in Salt Lake connection along 500 West in 1870, a border that soon came to define the east side of Fairpark. The railroad’s area, like many arrival to ie Fairpark devel- Fairpark at this time and moved away, and by 1910, 50 percent of residents, who responded to the census, reported -working in the railroad industry. Soon after, in the 1880s ‘ for several years after that. In finger at the increasing Hispanic minority as being the problem. My Hispanic neighbors are helpful and friendly. I will admit that my neighborhood has its share of gang activity and occasional wild parties with loud mariachi Why with the lot that fall, if ever I. did...I did not think of building free-roaming packs of stray dogs that pop up every year or so.More and more, people are pointing a High has a terrific academic pro- questionable. page 6 prostitu- that it’s not out there. I have no fear of drug dealers, only the gifted and talented and English as a Second Language classes for those students who are learning _ Saw more “gang” members play-. article presented an inaccurate view of the West Side. Born and ing with their siblings and going raised on Salt Lake City’s West to the YMCA (on 600 West 300 Side, I have never felt fear to North), than doing anything cont. from never seen any to the teen culture.I could walk that took two hours to deliver, I Falrpack have » One “West Side Neighborhoods: Safe or Dangerous? A Matter of Perspective” (Front page of The West View, Summer 2003) and ‘cally divided the community in ‘90s, the building of subdivisions throughout the United States led many speculators to buy land in Fairpark and to begin to fill in the two and angered many residents. neighborhood with small housing developments such as “Waverly,” the drive to conquer previously uninhabitable environments, and “Oakley,” or “Byers & Tolles.” the impact of national trends — and the community’s response Street names were changed, marking a departure from the LDS dictated grid system centered on Temple Square. Similarly the excitement of a national highway system led to the erection of the interstate in 1956 through the middle of Fairpark, a decision that physi- These challenges — finding a balance between LDS and non-Mormon: needs and ideals, to them, have all worked to shape Fairpark as we know it. Today, these forces are still at work in the community and are continuing to affect Fairpark as the neighborhood develops, diversifies and plans for the future. |