OCR Text |
Show THE CITIZEN 4 ITdots n 1111111111 ? mi i in ii in ii 1 ii iiiii ii ! 1 ii n i i in ii in mi in mi ii ii i ii 1 iiiiiiii iiiiii ii 1 ii iiiii 1 ii i i i Published by 1 THE GOODWINS PUBLISHING COMPANY 420 Ness Building, Salt Lake City, Utah. SALT LAKE CITY, MARCH 23, 1929 Volume 39 - Number 37 As the People Wish OMPARISON between Salt Lakes civic center velopment and that of the other western cities is somewhat discouraging to the average citizen who desires lofty sky scrapers and imposing pillars for display of civic enterprise. As a matter of fact, Salt Lakes attitude toward consolidation of its civic buildings under one general plan has become one of passiveness, and as a result we find ourselves without any immediate plans and with no hopes for formulation of a policy for some time yet. We find Denver with a fully worked out civic center in which city and state buildings are closely huddled by a civic auditorium and outdoor center for every large gathering and public demonstration. San Francisco has a completely laid out civic center in which city hall, adauditorium ministrative buildings, and the are vital parts. Los Angeles has a younger building program but a none the less real one with two magnificent buildings already in place. Of the four key cities of the West, Salt Lake is the only one without definite program. Commissioner Harry L. Finch, head of the department of parks and public properties, perhaps has discovered the right reason when he says: We need a civic center, goodness knows. We need an auditorium and we need it badly. But we cannot afford it under the present conduct of government, and it would require a bond issue. Until the people are educated up to voting a million dollars or so, there is no need of even talking about a civic auditorium, or con- solidation of civic properties at one site Sound logic. And it hits home. Our city officials are elected to carry out the wishes of the people. They are not mind readers. They cannot guess at what the city needs. They must know; and they must find out through the voice of the people. Salt Lakes program will be as the people wish. If the people want to remain without civic gathering places, then that is their vote. If they are content tp see the city grow and develop with land values increasing and difficulties of construction of civic buildings also gaining, that is their problem. Let them be assured of this. When public- sentiment demands construction of civic auditoriums, of public places of meeting, of real centralization of government and of civic enterprise, we will have our civic center. The sooner Salt Lake gets that desire the better. Not for the mere construction of brick and stone and steel monuments, but for the utility that is represented there and for the symbol of civic consciousness that it carries. The youth of the city is well cared for with the fine system of parks and playgrounds that has linked the ever-prese- nt ! - 7 de- city from end to end with means for youthful activity. Its daytime recreation is adequately assured with golf, tennis and swimming provisions. But for the adults, for the people who have watched the city grow and who have helped it grow, there is no provision after sundown. There is no place to which the city can invite its distinguished visitors, in which the political parties can shape the policies that are to guide the city for the years to come, no rallying place for patriotic assemblages, for memorial exercises. Salt Lake has no civic unit. Small in comparison as we are with our western sisters, is it possible that we figure we have outgrown them? Is it true that this people which once congregated night after night to the theatre, the concert, the political meeting has lost the desire to commune with its neighbors over the problems that are just as real today as they were then? By all means, let us say no! Let us rally one with the other, shape our policy, and work to full realization of civic consciousness. Let us stand by each other, shoulder to shoulder, and work not alone for the civic center of buildings, but for the community of understanding that they represent. Let us demand that our candidates for public office listen to this growing, young voice of an ambitious people. v The Democratic Party is not dead, but four more years away from the pie counter is going to give it that boyish figger so much admired. Houston Post Dis- patch . Well Directed THE CITIZEN warmly commends the action of John F. Bowman and County Attorney John D. Rice in the carrying out of the investigation and inquest surrounding the death of Max M. Beaver, late city treasurer. A verdict of murder has been returned, and now the conduct of the investigation and the hunt for the person or persons who administered the poison from which Beaver died will be delegated to other hands. Mayor Bowman has been somewhat handicapped by lack of definite cooperation from some of his departments, but despite that fact he has pushed forward in quest of all facts regarding the case and in his capacity of peoples chief representative regardless of some censure that has been brought upon him. He has been fearless of the consequences, unmoved by personalities in his fight to have the situation at the City Hall completely aired and the confidence of the people of the city restored in their government. He is faced with the most disagreeable situation that any mayor has had to face for many years, and his conduct in this emergency is vindication of the confidence placed in him by his election to office. County Attorney Rices conduct of the inquest has been no less searching. He has pushed every clue to its conclusion and no relevant fatft has escaped him. The fact that the coroners jury required but an hour to reach its verdict attests to the conviction with which he pushed his inquiry. The Citizen hopes that the hands into which further investigation has passed will fill their appointment as thoroughly. Meanwhile, this paper stands solidly behind Mayor Bowman in his investigation of the city side of the city and county building. all-inclus- ive Money isnt everything but it would be splendid to have a few of the new $10,000 bills for arts sake Toledo Blade . . fy v! |