I do not want to run for public office in Park City or elsewhere. But for a moment, if I am allowed to day dream that I am the grand poobah of Park City, I would make some changes. Below are some of my Day One decrees, effective immediately. At present, the city provides special events permit s for softball tournaments, lacrosse tournaments and many, many other events. Lots of those events are made up of out-of-towners, bringing congestion and mobs of people. A recent local headline read, “Soccer gridlock returns: Extreme Cup brings 24,000 visitors, packed roads to the Wasatch Back.” Why are the residents of Park City tolerating such invasions of people (and during the peak of summer season, no less)?  Let’s get rid of the summer traffic. Let’s take back our town. My decree: I would not renew the permits for all multi-day special events in Park City for which participants are not predominately local.  The two main reasons for the purchase of the Bonanza Park land are no longer reasons for the city to hold the land: Sundance and Kimball Arts Center.  Subsidized housing makes no sense on that land. My two alternatives: (1) Park City is a two-time host of the Winter Olympics. It’s a remarkable laurel for our town.  Let’s create a park on that land with an Olympic theme to boldly brand Park City as a multiple-time Olympic town, or (2) sell the land with appropriate limitations on the scale of its development and rebate the proceeds to the taxpayers. AI says there are 8,700 homes in Park City. If the sale of the appreciated land brought $40 million and if that amount were rebated to homeowners, the average one-year reduction in property taxes per home would be about $4,600. Perfect! So decreed! A bike lane was added to portions of heavily trafficked Park Avenue in Old Town several years ago. Since that change, there has been no continuous center stripe on that street. It’s a little crazy. No one seems to now know where exactly to drive on that street. Cars routinely drive in what seems to be a portion of the oncoming lane. And they routinely drive in the bike lane. What is the city thinking? Let’s fix it. So my decree: paint a conventional center stripe where none now exists on that street.  Mail is delivered to homes in essentially all the rest of the United States. But not in Park City. Instead, we are required to pay substantial fees for post office boxes to receive the mail not delivered to our homes. Crazy. My decree would be to put all possible pressure on the Postal Service (through U.S. representatives and senators, if necessary) to deliver mail to our homes or to make the required post office boxes far less expensive. At present, second-home owners who pay property taxes that substantially financially support the Park City government cannot vote in our local elections. A large percentage of property owners face heavy property taxes without the right to vote on matters that determine the amount and use of those taxes. Seems like taxation without representation. Not OK. My decree: All those who pay property taxes in Park City may vote in local elections.  I would prohibit construction on any city-owned undeveloped land. At present, some subsidized housing in Park City is available to those with incomes well in excess of $100,000 per year. Crazy. At present, there is no geographic limitation on where Park City’s subsidized housing’s tenants work. So there is no requirement that they work in Park City. Also crazy. Really crazy. My decree: I would limit access to such housing to those with incomes of no greater than (say) 60% of the national household income average. I would further limit access to such housing to those working within the boundaries of Park City.  I would decree that any further affordable housing development be concentrated in the greater Kimball Junction area. That area has ample and more affordable land. Grocery stores, medical care and a spectrum of other services are within walking distance. Public transportation into Park City is free and abundantly available. It has been repeatedly cited that “diversity” is a reason to construct subsidized housing in Old Town. I do not find that compelling. In my experience, the homeowners in Old Town are already extraordinarily diverse in religion, age, ethnicity, background, interests and talents.  Mining is Park City’s history and heritage. That heritage gives Park City its character. Any future subsidized housing as well as all other city-constructed buildings would incorporate architectural references to that mining heritage.  Among other architectural shortcomings, the EngineHouse has no such references that I can discern. So decreed. Although it may be beyond my jurisdiction, I’d stop the Summit County government’s effort to pass a large bond to pay for new recreational facilities. It’s not the government’s role to build and operate such businesses. The private sector should do it. They are better at it. Under private ownership, only the users of such facilities would pay for them (through user fees). Taxpayers who do not use those facilities would bear no financial burden. Last, I would decree that the mayor and City Council’s wages and benefits grow at the rate of inflation. That annual change would occur automatically based on 2025 levels unless by special direct approval of the voters. (Of course, my wages as poobah would be inexplicably exempt from that limit.) With all that done on Day One, I’d decree a one-day holiday for all residents and free burgers at the No Name. Jeff Owen The post If waving a wand appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less