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Show Viewpoints The A-9 Park Record. Wed/Thurs/Fri, January 15-17, 2020 editorial Despite issues, jury is still out on Main Street drop-and-load zones A letters to the editor Keep e-bikes off our trails Thought we had this figured out already. No need to “dig deeper” ... e-bikes are motorized and do not belong on our single track for one simple reason. The speed differential between e-bikes and currently authorized trail users is far too much, and that’s just in open country along a straight line. Add blind corners and “there will be blood.” To wit, just last fall I came within inches of being taken out on 8-footwide paved trails on two separate occasions (Deer Valley Drive and Rasmussen Road) as e-bikers whipped by me from behind without a word of warning at a solid 10 mph faster than I was moving. Don’t think 10 mph is much? Try riding your bike into a brick wall at 10 mph. Keep it simple and at least a little wild ... no roads or mountain bikes in designated wilderness areas, and no e-bikes on single track, anywhere. The beer tastes way better when you earn it. Gus Sharry Summit Park Please take our bus route As if 45 unused buses a day were not enough on our narrow 20 mph residential street, Alfred Knotts of the Park City transportation department decided we need 45 more. Three Kings Drive is now subject to a whopping 90 mostly unused buses a day. This newly added “northbound” bus serves no purpose whatsoever except to a small handful of weekend tourists. This route was added without any input, support or warning to the actual residents that live on Three Kings. What this added route has done to us is: • Double the amount of deadly bus emissions we must inhale. • Double the amount of toxic noise pollution. • Double the amount of sight pollution. • Double the amount of buses going faster than the (though inadequately) posted 20 mph speed limit. • Doubles the amount of buses we must share the road with and risk getting run over. We don’t have sidewalks to escape these behemoths barreling at us. On top of all this, the city imposed a massive water district construction project on Three Kings without our input or support. The big rigs have yet to roll along the side of our 90 buses a day. Guaranteed this nightmare will be far, far worse. Heaven help us, and any of you The Park Record Staff PUBLISHER ....................... Andy Bernhard Editor ................................... Bubba Brown Staff Writers ......................Jay Hamburger Scott Iwasaki Alexander Cramer Ryan Kostecka Contributing ............................. Tom Clyde Writers Teri Orr Amy Roberts Tom Kelly Joe Lair Copy Editor ............................ James Hoyt Engagement Editor............. Jeff Dempsey Photographer .........................Tanzi Propst Circulation Manager ............. Lacy Brundy Distribution........................... Henry Knight 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 unlucky enough to stumble upon this mess on the way to the slopes or trails. If there is a neighborhood out there looking for a bus route, take ours, please. You can have half of them without any argument from us. Just contact Alfred Knotts. Julie Breslin Park City Seeing the light Are the lights from Bill White’s Farm on S.R. 224 visible from space? Leslie Masters Trailside Have a sweet time What are your plans for Friday, Jan. 31? How about attending the Annual Sweetheart Gala presented by the Park City High School band program! The Sweetheart Gala is a wonderful evening of catered dinner and dancing, accompanied by the award winning PCHS Varsity Jazz Ensemble. The Sweetheart Gala is the signature fundraiser for the PC Bands, and along with supporting the PC Bands program, you’ll be able to enjoy an amazing ensemble of musicians. The PC Bands program has participated in many events over the last several years, including sending the marching band to France for the 75th anniversary of D-Day this past summer. Chris Taylor and Bret Hughes have worked incredibly hard to get their students to the level they are at, and it’s worth setting this night aside for an evening of great entertainment. This year the gala will be held at 6 p.m. at St Mary’s Church, on White Pine Canyon Road. The evening begins with time to socialize and time to check out the opportunity drawing prizes. After a catered dinner comes dancing and musical entertainment featuring many of the talented PCHS students. The online auction will continue as a pencil and paper auction and will be open until the end of the evening. The Buy it Now auction closes at midnight the night before. To purchase tickets or to support the PC Bands by participating in the online auction or to make a donation, please go to pcbands.net. Don’t know how to dance? Dance lessons are still available! Check out the website for more info. Thank you for your support and hope to see you there! certain level of mayhem on Main Street is expected this time of year as thousands of visitors descend on the area to take in our town’s hospitality and historical charm. This winter, though, has been particularly turbulent after City Hall established several permit-only dropand-load zones in the Main Street core primarily for professional drivers to pick up and drop off passengers. The program’s aim of reducing congestion and increasing safety for pedestrians and vehicles is important. But for many, the change has been a difficult one: Since the zones were implemented last month, the Park City Police Department has dealt with dozens of violations, several of which resulted in vehicles being towed. The program has encountered no shortage of critics, from drivers frustrated at paying $200 for the permits, to Uber and Lyft complaining that the zones are “punitive” and “counterproductive,” to a rideshare driver at a City Council meeting last week comparing the scene on Main Street to “Die Hard.” At the same time, many who frequent Main Street during the winter would readily agree that the level of disorder stemming, in part, from hordes of drivers trying to get people to their destinations then pick up the next customer had become problematic enough in re- been rapidly thrown out of balance by the indiscriminate burning of fossil fuels and the destruction of carbon sinks like forests and wetlands. We are damaging our climate! Utah’s climate is warming at twice the rate of the global average. Heat waves are becoming more common. Snow is melting earlier in spring. Wildfires are more intense. Asthma is on the rise. We have already made conditions worse for the health of young people and are on our way to committing our grandchildren and the unborn to an uncertain future. Lancet Countdown director Nick Watts said: “The damage done in early childhood lasts a lifetime. Without immediate action from all countries, climate change will come to define the health of an entire generation.” We can’t go back to former conditions. But with all the solutions available and our human ingenuity, we can live in balance with nature. Let’s start with an honest price on carbon! Karen Jackson Salt Lake City cent years to warrant action. For that reason, calls for the city to pull the plug on the drop-and-load zones, operating this winter on a pilot basis, are premature. Contrary to what the critics suggest, City Hall officials say the program has been a success, pointing to feedback from a homeowners association that the time of a round-trip drive to Main Street has been reduced. And even someone with an optimistic outlook would have expected such a significant change to result in problems at the outset. The number of violations the police logged seemed to decrease last week, perhaps indicating that drivers are at last acclimating to the change. But given the sheer volume of violations so far and the amount of frustration surrounding the zones, City Hall needs to take a serious look at whether they are worth continuing once the pilot period is over. And officials will need to base a decision on hard data, rather than the anecdotal evidence they’ve offered so far in defense of the program. If they can demonstrate that the zones are effective, it’s worth weathering the complaints of those who dislike them for the benefit of everyone else. If they can’t, they ought to go back to the drawing board and look for another solution, one that would be less tumultuous for the people it most affects. building craze is on high gear anyway, like we have nothing but room, infrastructure, water, waste collection and severe lack of people. What good would it be to turn our Park City jewel into a crowded mess with inherent inability to leave home or else spend time stuck in traffic. Reminds me of the Long Island Expressway, the longest parking lot in the world. Something ought to be done, someone that cares ought to put the brakes on all this building. Even the good idea of an electric bus is of little use as the bus is stuck in the same traffic and draws electricity from a source that pollutes somewhere else. Even the “meese” and the “gooses” don’t have anywhere to go. Money can buy you an apple but not happiness, money can buy you a car but not health, it can buy you a home but you are still who you are. It can buy you time but not stop it from ticking. It is with great sorrow that I watch this beauty of a place destroy itself and I for one am doomed to watch but unable to help. Jack Karmel Jeremy Ranch Traffic is destroying Park City The future is now As of sometime now the traffic on S.R. 224 (direction: your choice) has become so polluted with cars it gives you time to think, sit in the car stuck with time wasted. So I took to thinking, utilizing the time. What jumped to mind immediately was the fact that if you live along 224 and wish to make a left turn into traffic, the best thing to do is get two cups of coffee, and a sandwich just in case, and a dose of good luck. So, developing the idea of a left turn some more, you drive along 224 north and wish to turn left, go home — here luck and coffee would not help. What does it all mean to me? My suggestion to build a home on 20 acres instead of 20 homes on an acre is being ignored and the We need to become independent of foreign petroleum, such as OPEC oil and gas resources, for a clean, green planet. To do this, it is vital that we work together on developing sources of energy besides natural gas — for mining oil that can have environmental impacts even on our coastlines. Look at the BP oil spill among others over the years. I call on Congress and the White House to collaborate on comprehensive energy reform legislation and UN conventions/world-treaties to develop the right initiatives, measures and laws to go green and establish self-efficiency, sustainable development and environmentalism while having a stable economy. Alterna- tive forms of energy are needed, not just to prevent oil spills, but also to eliminate environmental nuisances, for they lead to smog, air pollution, water contamination and ground pollutants, threatening nature, the ecosystem, the plant and animal kingdoms, and health standards. What are these alternative sources? Solar-powered plants, hydrogen-powered plants, fusion, fission and windmills. This is all about clean energy, and our country needs to invest in it before it is too late, such as following the EPA’s Clean Power Plan and staying in the Paris Climate Accord. By investing in these plants, we also lead by example. Other countries will follow and a worldwide emulation may coincide. Moreover, thousands of more jobs may become available to meet the needs of clean energy in the United States and around the world, improving the global economy over time. So clean energy reform is an essential initiative that should be legislated and endorsed by our government officials and passed by Congress and the president. The measure for clean energy should tax-credit and benefit those companies or entities that convert to fuel-efficient standards, meeting carbon caps or taking steps to reduce or replace coal, gas, nuclear or other toxic materials to clean energies. Moreover, on a global scale, the U.S. should collaborate with nations that follow international climate change treaties to reduce the impact of oil and gas and improve the environment. Appoint Al Gore to head a commission on climate change and follow their recommendations and measures to the T. We only have one environment, one world — global warming and the greenhouse effect would be irrevocable once it is too late, but we still have time to change things around and act today. The future is now! Zack Haskins Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and a frequent Park City visitor Annie Wallace Ecker Hill Middle School teacher Thrown out of balance We live on a rotating blue ball, perfect distance from the sun such that natural cycles developed to create life. I stand in awe of this astounding phenomenon! But this tender world we live in is hurting. These natural cycles have Letters Policy The Park Record welcomes letters to the editor on any subject. We ask that the letters adhere to the following guidelines. They must include the home (street) address and telephone number of the author. No letter will be published under an assumed name. Letters must not contain libelous material. Letters should be no longer than about 300 words (about 600 words for guest editorials) and should, if possible, be typed. We reserve the right to edit letters if they are too long or if they contain statements that are unnecessarily offensive or obscene. Writers are limited to one letter every seven days. Letters thanking event sponsors can list no more than 6 individuals and/or businesses. Send your letter to: editor@parkrecord.com The Park record Pulse Here’s a sampling of the conversation readers are having on our Facebook page. To visit the page, go to Facebook.com/parkrecord/. In compliance or not, I believe they should choose to be good neighbors and fix it.” Melanie Smith, on “Woodward Park City’s evening lights draw Summit County Council’s eye” Shame on Powdr Corp for making resort improvements, providing places for kids and adults to play in snow.” Mitzi Hodges, on “Woodward Park City’s evening lights draw Summit County Council’s eye” Why not ban parked cars on one ENTIRE SIDE of the street and have it as all loading and unloading all day every day. Not this after 5 confusion. Someone could be dropped off exactly where wanted, there would be enough space for everyone dropping off and it would create more space in the roads for cars and the trolley and such.” Jason Benward, on “Park City drop-and-load zones shredded as Main Street likened to scene out of ‘Die Hard’” The Park Record attained permission to publish these comments. Some comments may have been lightly edited for clarity. |