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Show Viewpoints The A-15 Park Record. Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, November 16-19, 2019 editorial Take advantage of opportunity to shape a vision for Park City ark City’s leaders of today are trying to shape the community of tomorrow. As many Parkites know by now, City Hall is in the middle of what it calls a visioning process, meant to identify the community’s priorities and serve as a sort of roadmap for the municipal government going into the next decade. It’s a worthy exercise, particularly as the community confronts myriad challenges from traffic to affordability. And it’s one that, hopefully, will lead to Park City evolving in the coming years in a way its residents want it to. But there’s one important caveat: The process only works if a lot of Parkites, from all cross-sections of the community, have a say in determining what our collective vision is. Much of the responsibility to ensure the entire community is represented falls on City Hall and the firm hired to lead the visioning effort, Future iQ. It’s important, for instance, that they find ways to boost Latino participation after a report last month indicated not enough Latino residents relative to their population had responded to a survey crucial to the process. Parkites themselves also must take a proactive approach. Everyone who lives or works in Park City, surely, has something valuable to add to the conversation or a perspective that deserves to be considered. Those who haven’t al- P guest editorial When talking climate, Parkites could use real-world knowledge DEAN CLARK Oakley Having spent the majority of the last three years living in the Pacific Islands, I would like to share a firsthand perspective of what is really happening in these small specks of land surrounded by vast oceans. My desire is to show that Parkites need a better understand of the magnitude of the world environmental problems before they can become so myopic in thinking that the worst of the potential environmental problems are in Park City. The four countries at greatest risk of climate change are Tuvalu, Kiribati, Marshall Islands and Maldives. I have spent time on each of the first three listed. These countries are not really islands, but rather a ring shaped reef comprised of coral, lava and sand, called atolls. Thus, there can be almost nothing produced to sustain themselves regardless of changes in climate. Throughout recorded history these atolls have been affected by tsunamis, king tides and cyclones. Long before anyone was talking about changes to the environment. In my opinion the greatest travesty to the Pacific Islands, however, was and continues to be the effects of World War II. An example of this is the atoll of Ebeye, the second most populated atoll in Marshall Islands. The United States began to test hydrogen bombs on Bikini Atoll and the inhabitants were forced to leave and resettle on Ebeye Atoll. They were promised that after the radiation levels were The Park Record Staff PUBLISHER ....................... Andy Bernhard Editor ................................... Bubba Brown Staff Writers ......................Jay Hamburger Scott Iwasaki Alexander Cramer Ryan Kostecka Contributing ............................. Tom Clyde Writers Jay Meehan Teri Orr Amy Roberts Tom Kelly Joe Lair Copy Editor ............................ James Hoyt Engagement Editor............. Jeff Dempsey Photographer .........................Tanzi Propst Circulation Manager ............. Lacy Brundy Accounting Manager ......... Jennifer Snow ADVERTISING Advertising Director ........... Valerie Spung Advertising Sales ................... Jodi Hecker Lindsay Lane Sharon Bush Emma Fedorowich Director of Digital Marketing .. Tina Wismer Production Director ..................Ben Olson Production ......................... Louise Mohorn resolved they could return. This has obviously never occurred. In 1968 the population of Ebeye was 3,000. Today it is 15,000. If there is no soil to cultivate, what do the people do there? Well, 50% of the population is under 18, let your imagination answer that. The land mass is 80 acres, with the highest populated elevation being 7 feet above sea level. These statistics make it the fourth most densely populated land mass in the world. Everything they consume is processed and shipped in by barge. Understandably this creates an amazing amount of trash, which they are not able to manage. What goes in must come out, so dealing with human waste is a major problem. When it rains, water is gathered from roof tops in large barrels or it too must be shipped in with resultant waste. Electricity is produced by diesel fueled generators which consume 10,000 liters of fuel per week. Recently the generators stopped working, and two new ones were brought in from Papua New Guinea. Here were the most pressing problems for these people: • Only one of the two generators is working. • Power is provided at four hour intervals. • The entire atoll was under quarantine because of an outbreak of Dengue fever. • Over 50% of the adult population has diabetes, not being controlled. • Life expectancy continues to decrease. It could easily be said these people might die in 12 years, but it likely won’t be from climate change. The Pacific Islands have signed an agreement to become carbon neutral by 2030. Sounds like what Park City is trying to do except with some major differences. The president of Marshall Islands, Hilda Heine, has proposed “building on stilts, for higher ground.” We can provide the people of the Pacific Islands with solar power, desalinization plants, waste disposal systems and their problems still would not be resolved. Ebeye Atoll is only one small example of a large complex, worldwide problem that still needs to be addressed. I assume this is a microcosm encapsulating, in miniature, features of other parts of the world I have not experienced. I do know that Park City is in no way a microcosm of the reality of our world. To teach otherwise would be unfortunate to the students we now want to influence. Students only verbalize what they have been exposed to. I wonder how much time is spent on the environmental problems created by the geography, history, politics and economy of the Pacific and the world? Only with real-world knowledge will their protests be meaningful and bring about real change. For the record ready taken the survey, which is available in both English and Spanish, should do so by the end of the year. All it takes is 10 or 15 minutes to provide feedback that is critical to helping Park City’s leaders over the next decade make decisions that will benefit us all. Many of us are quick to criticize the changes happening in our evolving community, but this is a chance for residents to voice those opinions in a meaningful and helpful way. In addition to taking the survey, Parkites next week will have another opportunity to participate, by attending a summit City Hall is hosting Wednesday at the Santy Auditorium in the Park City Library. Officials will offer updates about what they’ve learned during the visioning process so far and provide attendees another avenue to ensure their perspectives are heard. As the end of 2019 nears, it is impossible to say with any sort of precision what Park City will look like five or 10 years from now. But Parkites laying out their needs and desires for the future is a good start toward ensuring it remains the kind of place we all want to live. More information about the summit can be found at parkcity.org, while information about the overall visioning process is available at future-iq.com/project/park-city-vision-2020utah-usa-2019/. letters to the editor Extreme generosity On Friday, Nov. 8, the greater Park City community came together in a big way — 5,102 donors gave $2,464,717 to support the positive impact of local nonprofits. Live PC Give PC was our ninth annual giving day and in 24 hours we surpassed our participation goal of 5,000 donors and raised more money for more nonprofits than ever before. It was a tremendous success! The whole community made this possible: 117 nonprofits, 5,102 donors, 30 sponsors, and hundreds of volunteers who wore orange and waved signs. It was an extraordinary day to build connections and to rally behind the organizations that make Park City and Summit County so vibrant and strong. On behalf of Park City Community Foundation and everyone who participated, thank to all of you for your extreme generosity! Katie Wright Park City Community Foundation executive director Problems breeding problems The Park Record recently posted a poll asking “Should Park City officials consider gondolas as a way to reduce traffic?” This is a classic example of a problem trying to be fixed by another problem. Let’s rewind ... Why is there a traffic problem? A) Because Park City continues to promote people coming to Park City (to drive revenue)? B) Because the town, the roads, and the infrastructure was never designed to handle this level and capacity of people and traffic? C) Because the town has over built, over promoted, and overly grabbed for tax revenue at the sake of the residence? D) Cars are having babies and need more roads What is going to be the polling survey when we have to solve other problems like: 1) What do we do with too much trash? 2) How do we solve our waste water problem? 3) How do we handle this many cars/people in Park City? 4) How do we handle the clean water demands? See ... if you live in a four-bedroom, four-bath house, how many people can live in that house? Or ... if you live in a 20-unit apartment complex, what is the maximum number of people that can live there? There are limits and Park City (a relatively small mountain community) also has limits. So why does Park City continue to make their own problems then try to create solutions with more bad ideas? When you have the answer, please let the community know. In the mean time, please stop screwing up the town. Robert Crow Old Town guest editorial Mayor says key to building community is participation — not attacking our neighbors ANDY BEERMAN Park City mayor I’m writing this on Veterans Day when all are remembering the service and sacrifice our veterans make for our country. They protect our democracy and for that, we owe them our deepest thanks. But a healthy democracy requires ongoing care, and we should also thank those civil servants and volunteers who continually work to better our community. Service in any form is putting one’s own self-interests last, and it often takes hard work and sacrifice. Service is also what builds a community, and binds it together. In turn, this got me thinking about the some of the recent discourse in Park City: personal attacks, online bullying and attempts to undermine those with different opinions than our own. We are a community with many shared values and plenty of space to air differences. We shouldn’t need to attack those trying to educate our children, police our streets and plan our neighborhoods. They have chosen careers that serve and improve our community — and for that, they deserve our support and thanks. Fundamentally, I believe our residents understand our good fortune: We raise respectful children, volunteer our time, contribute generously to local non-profits and embrace kindness and tolerance. But we’ve also gotten “a little grumpy.” Our mountain enclave is secluded, but it is not immune to the broader trends of discord — especially on social media. Online, we can forget our manners and patience for civil, constructive conversation. Whether we are throwing virtual or digitals stones, we shouldn’t be throwing any! We choose to live here, and we work to make it a better place, we should also choose to embrace conduct befitting of this community. There is real frustration among our residents with tourism, traffic, climate, growing inequities, housing shortages and mental health issues — and there is much work to be done to maintain a healthy community. That is why I’m asking you to join us at the Park City Future Summit: Wednesday, Nov. 20, 6-8 p.m. at the Jim Santy Auditorium. This is your chance to share your vision for Park City, in a forum where we can express our deep passion for place, while still balancing it with tolerance and compassion for each other. We want and need your input. Park City faces many challenges, but luckily, we have good tools and resources to respond. Now we need your direction. Don’t complain, don’t blame, don’t despair. Show up. You make the difference. Join us in building upon our town’s proud history and envisioning a Park City worthy of the next generation. For more details visit: parkcity.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=64821. Love Where You Live! Photos by Jeff Dempsey Asked outside Park City Library What are you doing to prepare for ski season? Manny Villar Park City “All my gear is ready, so at this point I’m just mentally prepping. I think it’s going to be a good season. It would have to be better than two years ago, at least.” Steven Willy Park City “I’m going to the gym four times a week, plus a couple of runs or hikes. I got my pass for Deer Valley. I’m enjoying the sunny days right now, but I’m looking forward to ski season for sure.” Melanie Jackson Park City “When it was, like, negative degrees out a couple of weeks ago I was thinking, ‘No, not yet.’ But I’m ready to ski. Although, I don’t have my pass yet. I guess that would help.” Sutter Plavocos Park City “We actually hiked up the mountain a couple weeks back and did some skiing. I got new boots, my skis are waxed and tuned. I’m ready.” See these photos and more by following The Park Record on Facebook.com/parkrecord and Instagram.com/parkrecord |