OCR Text |
Show B-1 STAY UP TO DATE ON TWITTER Follow us on Twitter @parkrecord for all the latest and breaking news happening in Park City and Summit County MORE THAN $600,000 IN GRANT MONEY DOLED OUT TO PARK CITY NONPROFITS WAY WE WERE, A-10 ‘ANOTHER WORLD’ UNDERGROUND EXPLORED PCMR PROJECT, A-4 DEVELOPERS WILL LEAD TOUR OF THE LOTS Park Record. The PA R K C I T Y, U TA H W W W. PA R K R E C O R D . C O M Vol. 140 | No. 45 Wed/Thurs/Fri, July 8-10, 2020 Serving Summit County since 1880 Layoffs hit Sundance, art center | Pedal for patriots Cultural groups make cuts amid budget woes spurred by downturn $1.00 ‘Second wave’ of coronavirus seen in county ‘It’s surging here,’ Bullough says as case numbers climb following weeks of relatively low growth JAY HAMBURGER The Park Record ALEXANDER CRAMER The Kimball Art Center and the Sundance Institute, not-for-profits that are seen as two of the leading cultural organizations in Park City, have each suffered layoffs recently as they attempt to address the economic havoc wrought by the novel coronavirus. Sundance, which is headquartered in Los Angeles and also has a significant year-round staff presence in Park City, outlined the downsizing in a memo to staffers on July 1 while the leader of the Kimball Art Center acknowledged the staff losses in a Monday interview. Aldy Milliken, the executive director of the Kimball Art Center, said approximately 25% of the full-time staffers have been laid off or furloughed since late March. He said the moves were required as the organization emphasizes core values of education, exhibits and support of artists. He said difficult financial decisions needed to be made. Milliken declined to discuss severance for those who were laid off but said the Kimball Art Center attempted to honor the staffers’ work within the realities of the financial situation. “It’s responding to a really difficult financial landscape,” he said. The Kimball Art Center laid off or furloughed the staffers at a moment when the leadership is attempting to address the financials amid what were initial concepts for a scaled-back Park City Kimball Arts Festival and then the cancellation of the summertime event. The festival, held on Main Street annually, was scrapped for 2020 in mid-June. The Kimball Art Center and City Hall were in discussions about holding the event with restrictions designed to combat the spread of the illness when the organization instead opted for a cancellation. Milliken said the revenues from the festival represent a “major part of our operating budget” as he addressed the layoffs and furloughs. Some of the Kimball Art Center staffers who were laid off were assigned specifically to festival-related duties, he said. Milliken also said he wants to, over time, di- The Park Record Please see Groups, A-2 Calls for traffic light at busy intersection grow after crash Petition urges UDOT to take action to ensure drivers aren’t left ‘on a wing and a prayer’ ALEXANDER CRAMER The Park Record Vehicles attempting to cross S.R. 248 at the Brown’s Canyon Road intersection are doing so “on a wing and a prayer,” according to an online petition started by a nearby resident requesting a traffic light at the increasingly busy location, where stopped traffic attempts to enter a 65 mph highway. Hilary Reiter said she started the petition after a particularly violent crash there on June 13 in which a heavy duty work truck was knocked into oncoming lanes and smashed head-on into a Subaru coming up the hill from the Kamas Valley. The Subaru driver was taken to the hospital with very serious head injuries that did not prove fatal, according to the Utah Highway Patrol. Reiter said that crash was the impetus for starting the campaign, and as of Tuesday morning, more than 800 people had signed the petition demanding a traffic light at the intersection. “I’m signing this because I live right off this intersection and almost every time I make a turn Classifieds .............................. B-5 Editorial................................ A-11 Restaurant Guide.................... B-6 Weather .................................. B-2 TANZI PROPST/PARK RECORD The Utah Department of Transportation says it will consider remedies for the intersection of S.R. 248 and Brown’s Canyon Road, including lowering speed limits and installing a traffic light. The location has been the site of several crashes, including a serious one early in June. UDOT says a signal is planned eventually at the intersection, but a 2018 study found the traffic volume did not yet warrant one. Traffic engineers embarked on a new study last month. Social justice murals put on Main Street The Park Record 2 sections • 20 pages Please see Virus surges, A-2 Reid Widders, 2, rides a tricycle down Old Stone House Way on Saturday during an informal children’s parade in the Blackhawk Station neighborhood. The parade was held to celebrate the Fourth of July, and children biked, rollerbladed and rode scooters around the neighborhood. JAY HAMBURGER The Sundance Institute says it is cutting 24 positions throughout the organization. The losses occurred in the Park City location as well as in offices in Los Angeles and New York City. Sundance’s executive director, Keri Putnam, said in a memo the staffers whose positions were cut received “severance packages as generous as we can afford.” Please see Traffic light, A-8 TANZI PROPST/PARK RECORD Taxpayer-funded works include one supporting Black Lives Matter PARK RECORD FILE PHOTO here, I feel like (I’m) at risk,” one person who signed the petition wrote. “We absolutely need a traffic light here.” Another wrote, “This will save lives!” The Utah Department of Transportation controls Summit County’s top public health official Monday reiterated that the COVID-19 pandemic is trending in the wrong direction locally, calling the county’s first coronavirus-related death a turning point and saying the advantage the county had after suppressing the pandemic early on had disappeared. “The notion of this surging around us is no longer accurate. It’s here. It’s surging here. It’s especially important for the community to recognize that,” Summit County Health Director Rich Bullough said. “... (W)e’re seeing a second wave in Summit County.” Bullough delivered a status update to the Summit County Board of Health Monday evening, reporting that the county is experiencing roughly the same number of new cases daily as the rest of the state when the numbers are adjusted for population. On Monday, the county reported 15 new cases, the most in a single day since April 9 and the second time in four days that the tally reached double digits. This comes after weeks of relatively low case growth compared to parts of the state where the coronavirus has been surging for some time. “The notion that we are significantly better off than the state doesn’t hold true,” he told the board. Still, he said the county’s position is far better than it was earlier this spring when the daily growth in new cases was one of the highest in the nation on a per-capita basis. “I’m not saying this to make people fearful, I’m saying this to remind people to wear masks, (maintain social distance and practice good hygiene),” Bullough said. Bullough stressed that keeping the economy open is a key goal of the public health response, saying the Health Department isn’t focused on eradicating the disease in the community but rather mitigating its effects. Mandating masks while in public, which the county did June 27, was designed to allow businesses to remain open safely, he said. “We’re looking for a balancing point (to) manage the disease, not necessarily control it. It’s going to be in our communities for some time,” he said. “Balance that management against the economy and keeping businesses open. Again, that’s why we believe masks are so important.” According to Bullough’s presentation, roughly 18 of every 100,000 Utahns were being diagnosed with COVID-19 daily as of July 4. In Summit County, that number is nearly 17 per 100,000 residents after a week of sharp increases starting around June 27. The mask mandate took effect a week before the Fourth of July, a celebration Bullough said likely increased the spread of COVID-19. He said data from the Artists created a giant Black Lives Matter mural on the Main Street asphalt last weekend, bringing the message in large letters to the popular shopping, dining and entertainment strip over the busy Fourth of July weekend. Other social justice-themed works were put on the street at the same time as part of a City Hall-endorsed art program. At least five people were working on the Black Lives Matter mural, located on upper Main Street, at one point. One of the participants said the size of the mural spelling the three words is 300 feet long, with letters 14 feet tall. Aljay Fuimaono, who lives in Vineyard, said the mural illustrates the Park City community’s support for the movement. “It’s good to show that Park City stands with this message, stands with Black Lives Matter,” he said. The mural is the most visible acknowledgment of the movement to date in Park City, following a rally of about 300 people at Park City High School last month and a smaller-scale demonstration at the Olympic Welcome Plaza. Three other large murals were underway at the same time at different spots on the asphalt on Main Street. One reads “Solidarity,” another reads “Peace, Unity, Love” and the other says “Justicia Para Todos,” Spanish words that translate to “justice for all.” City Hall said it provided a grant Please see Murals, A-8 JAY HAMBURGER/PARK RECORD Artists on Sunday created a large Black Lives Matter mural and other works with social justice themes on the Main Street asphalt. The mural is the most visible acknowledgment of the movement to date in Park City. CORONAVIRUS TRACKER Summit County Utah Known cases: 538 Hospitalizations: 47; Deaths: 1 Known cases: 26,033 Hospitalizations: 1,653; Deaths: 194 DATA AS OF JULY 7, SOURCE: UTAH DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH |