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Show A-14 The Park Record WedThursFrl, January 15-17, 2003 SUNDAY IN THE PARK Prom the Peace House and2-f1 children and parents... .... -J- t ' ", - .'. CY ) Thank You For Supporting the Holiday Helpers Program! Thanks to the helping hands of local business, school, and individ ual volunteers, 4 families in Summit and Wasatch County enjotjed warmer hearts and holidays by receiving new winter clothes, toys, books, and games. ByTeriOrr -Mips Won't you be my neighbor? A t first I was really, really angry. Then I was real-' real-' x"jy, really sad. I dont know exactly what to do with those emotions except maybe write a response to people who are my "neighbors" about how I view our "neighborhood." I live in the oldest section of Park Meadows, affectionately affec-tionately known as Park Ghettos. These are basically a series of tract houses built in the 70s that sold for . around $50,000. 1 moved to the 'hood in 79 and rented two different houses before I ended up in this house in ; 1980. It is a fake Cape Cod, two-story house that has not had so much as a window altered in more than 20 years. I moved to town as a single parent and have spent most of my years here as such. I leased the home for a couple of years before the owners decided to sell in the mid '80s for the outrageous price of95,000. With a down payment that was a gift - I was able to purchase pur-chase the house and have struggled to keep it over the years. I have always worked more than one job in Park City. Retailreporter. Editorbookseller. Arts adrrunisfratorwriter. The value of my home today is more than three times what I paid for it. I couldn't could-n't qualify to buy it if I was starting over. I tell you all this because recently two dif ferent men, who I believe live less than two blocks h from here as the crow flies, have reported to represent "their neighbors" and have stated that everyone they have talked to agrees with them. Well, I dont, and everyone I have spoken with in my little extended block doesnt agree with them, either. I would hate casual readers to think these two guys represent all of us here. So I just wanted to set the record straight about the idea of building affordable housing on the old sewer treatment plant as you come into our little corner of the world. Back when I moved here we were surrounded by open fields. Fields full of cattle that on occasion wandered wan-dered over to my front yard. There was no Radisson Hotel and no McCloud Creek subdivision. In fact, I never knew where that name' came from. It was always Kid's Creek because in the summer the fish were so thick you could just drop a hook down there and come up with a fish. I know my son did. In those days Park Meadows One was a kind of nonstop non-stop block party. Kids' birthdays were celebrated together. Weddings, funerals (sadly) and high school graduations. We just carried the same casserole dishes from house to house depending on the occasion. Most of the teachers lived here and our kids went to school in the Marsac Building. The cops lived here too and worked in the Memorial Building. There were no stop lights. And at the Down Under below the Claimjumper Restaurant, there were no class distinctions. distinc-tions. The waitress at night was the school teacher by day. She served drinks to the mayor and the council members who did the city's real business there after the official meeting ended. Visitors knew they hit a good night when the American Airlines pilot Bob Powers was in town and pounding the piano. The man who , owned the ski resort bought a round for everybody as he left for the night. We Boomers who had all moved To use the ruse of open space to disguise dis-guise the prejudice and bigotry about developing this space as affordable housing hous-ing will not fool a town that has never suffered suf-fered fools." here from someplace to start our lives over for various and complicated reasons, created a real esprit d' corps. We were renegades who created a renaissance. We appreciated historic buildings and set about preserving them and giving them new life. The old skiers' flop houseformer hospital was moved from up by the resort and christened the new library. The park space tripled. The arts grew from just visual at the Kimball to performing per-forming at the Egyptiari. We welcomed development because it meant year-round jobs that paid a little bit better and better. While I know this may all appear to be rose-colored, the truth is it was, pretty much, a simpler, more egalitarian egali-tarian time. Open space is a prized commodity for any community commu-nity and I am proud we have voted twice now to increase our taxes to buy the space we can to keep it open to all people all the time. But to use the ruse of open space to disguise the prejudice and bigotry about developing this space , as affordable housing- will not fool, a town that has never suffered suf-fered fools. To use expressions as were found in the recent news article that such a desire to develop' this property for this use is "social engi-hhmmhhhh engi-hhmmhhhh neering and redistribution redistrib-ution of assets" and talk about "devaluation of property," well, the spaces between your words speak volumes. And when the man states "the voting constituency is prepared to bring all; assets to bear in opposition... the resources of the city will pale in comparison to those that we can direct toward this issue.." is downright frightening to me. And it does not represent where I live and the people who live in basically the very same neighborhood. Yes, we all read the New York Times article on Sunday and we know there is great wealth here. More than six percent of the wealthiest people in the country. And while a handful of that handful may live in Deer Valley, for decades a quiet group has lived here in Park Meadows, alongside the land-use planner, who lives right around the corner from the new city manager, who lives down the road from the guy who arranges to have your driveway plowed, who lives across the golf course from the school superintendent, who lives up the street from the doctor, who lives around the corner from the guy who owns the pub. What is missing, more and more, are the teachers and reoorters and coos and fire man and waitresses and booksellers - people who make communities really work by living where they work. If creating some affordable housing will allow our greater neighborhood to again be more with more full-time residents res-idents instead of empty second homes, then I and all the neighbors I know say, build on. And while the writer of the letter to the mayor stated there is "no constitutional obligation" for the city to consider con-sider building affordable housing, I would argue there is -a moral one. And the people in my part of the neighborhood neigh-borhood I happen to know would welcome the diversity any day, but especially on a Sunday in the Park... Ten Orr is a former editor of The Park Record and director of the Park City Performing Arts Center. CORE SAMPLES By Jay Meehan They're back Like f said, it's a piece of cake. Getting your film-ducks in line prior to the frantically approaching selection deadline dead-line doesn't involve much more homework home-work than, say, your average doctoral thesis." Festihoovians arise! The Sundance Film folk are once again among us and they're wondering if we can come out and play. Well, you bet! We like nothing noth-ing better than to cavort with our friends in the 'biz.' Gaff this! Flag that! Lights. Camera. Action. Cut! Cut! Cut! Festival life may be hectic but festival life is good. If you cant beat them, join them. It took me a while to come back around to that old adage but, now that I have, how sweet it is. Bring them on. Let them have my parking space and barstool. I would rather spend the festival in a screening line - flopped all-akimbo against a wall - squinting at some obscure literary endeavor and checking out the talent. Before you know it you are sitting in the murmuring mur-muring dark awash in anticipation and sleep deprivation. depriva-tion. It doesnt get much better than this. You have earned it, however. You are worthy. Not that it's all that difficult to end up with a hard ticket in your fist. You only had to download 94 pages worth of relatively arcane hieroglyphics in order to get a jump on the printed film guide that gets you prepped for your "call-in time. " Like I said, it's a piece of cake. Getting your film-ducks in line prior ""i to the frantically approaching selection deadline doesnt involve much more homework than, say, your average doctoral thesis. the-sis. Stephen Hawking would throw in the towel and catch the bunch of them when they came to the local Bijou. I came away with a decent bag of tricks, however. Bob Dylan is in there. And so are Charles Bukowski, Enzo Mileti, and Salma Hayek. They ought to find something to talk about. There are also a bunch of student stu-dent anarchists and a truckload or two of mining company com-pany thugs. Oh, they ought to get along just fine. The game, as Sherlock used to say, is afoot. There is also a juke joint full of blues pickers and a screenwriting award winner or two who, as of yet, are not the least bit aware that they - are even in my bag. They are like Schrodinger's cat there and not there at the same time. Non-film gatherings have also, wormed their way onto the itinerary. There are a couple of panel discussions discus-sions that are rather intriguing. One appears to require a ticket while the other is open to any of us low-life : street folk who happen to walk by. You gotta love that. The Music Cafe has developed a pituitary problem this year and moved up the street from the Elks Lodge to what the Official Film, Guide calls the "hippest , nightclub in Park City." Geez, any joint in these parts with one original thought could take that title. , But, I should admit that it is rather hip to have Paul Brady, Daniel Lanois, and Emmylou Harris, among others, mosey through your doors and perform on your stage. By the way, it's the old Cowboy Bar build- ' ing we are talking about here, currently called "Plan' B." ' . ;. Ah yes4 It seems like only yesterday that a couple of the Brothers Meehan got into yet one more donny- '; brook over yet one more - now lost to time - diver-' gence of opinion and were summarily tossed out on their ears. Up and out, I should say. I believe they " landed on Main Street. I still have trouble hearing out of the left one. But getting back to the bag of tricks, we got Bob Dylan playing a character named Jack Fate (or is it ' Jake Fat) in "Masked and Anonymous." It's creatively creative-ly audacious, they say. Sounds hke my cup of nasal metaphor. I feel like starting the rumor that old Bob, himself -- who, according to his website, is not otherwise occu- ? pied - will make an appearance. Of course, I was also the guy who started the rumor that the Beatles were coming to the , Monterev Port Fest back in the Paleozoic. I believed, and, for the ; most part, am not. Now, Bukowski, . he of the back alley poetry, lived in debasement debase-ment - and I don't Mi mean that level of the . house below the main floor. Charles came from streets that weren't just mean - they were absolutely filthy. Buk is in our bag due to a new film about him entered in the festival's docu-i mentary competitipn. Otto and Carmen Mileti were such a part of our community's fabric over the years that one could not pass up the opportunity to see their son Enzo premier his home-grown labor of love "Pipe Dreams" at Sundance. These screenings will be emotion rich. Then there is Salma Hayek. What can you say? This is the complete package beauty inside and out and more vision than Hubble. "The Maldenado Miracle" was filmed over Eureka way in the Oquirrh Mountains. During a stint on Letterman promoting her portrayal por-trayal of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo in "Frida," Hayek thanked Park City's own Carole Fontana for her help on the "Maldenado" project Videos of the Letterman show will no doubt be shown during the festival. . The panel discussions in the bag are right up my alley. One is titled "Life, Love and Quantum Mechanics." Now is that me, or what? The guide poses the question "can using science allow writers and filmmakers film-makers to create a framework for moral and philosophic philo-sophic questions about life?" I might have to sneak in a flask for this one. It's a decent bag for this year's festival. Food for mavmii- uuu vj vri ' wuitvij will vvtvavu All lliv VALlvllAv All that's left is to choose the proper stand-in-line book paperbacks with large print are my favorite;"' Well, that's about it. Cut! Print! That a wrap! |
