Business Is Booming
Maybe Utah is finally getting it—or not. Tax incentives for businesses often sound good, but they are innately political and perhaps not very competitive. Fox 13 recently reported Silicone Slopes tech company Domo is under investigation by the state. Utah has long given out generous tax incentives with the idea of keeping companies solvent and happy despite the loss of tax revenue for public projects. Domo's CEO Josh James recently suggested the company was offered millions in incentives to stay in Utah—even though Domo had no plans to leave. The Tax Foundation clarifies the problem: States can waste money on jobs and economic development that would have happened anyway, and companies that get the incentives may crowd out other investments. The governor is considering what to do, even in Utah where business welfare often trumps the public good.
Asphalt Jungle
Salt Lake City is still building up and up, but let's talk parking structures. Building Salt Lake warns of at least two new homes for vehicles—in a polluted city that purports to strive for walkability. One is to accommodate a new liquor store and an Ivory Homes development. "The new store would infill what is currently a state-owned surface parking lot. The parking garage would add hundreds of parked cars onto Edison, which is otherwise becoming a walkable mid-block street off 300 South," writes BSL. Then, there are 350 mixed-income apartments going up on North Temple. That includes 224 parking stalls. "While the zoning for the site and surrounding area allows and encourages dense redevelopment," BSL notes, "the area currently isn't as walkable as it may seem." With the Legislature determined to connect the urban core with rural Utah, it might be a good idea to send the cars down south.
Making Rank
Remember those 23 cities that did ranked-choice voting this year? Women seemed to come out winners in many of them, including mayors in Sandy, West Valley City, Park City, Parowan and North Logan. It's all part of a larger trend toward women running for office, Susan Madsen, the director of the Utah Women & Leadership Project, told KUER. Now apparently 17% of Utah mayors are women, up 9 percentage points from 2017. RCV played a pivotal role, and each round was easy to view from county election websites. But Sandy's presumptive mayor-elect Monica Zoltanski didn't like RCV, saying it didn't vet candidates like a primary would. You know, primaries that are costly and sparsely attended. Sure, there was a field of eight for the top spot. RCV gave them all a fighting chance. And RCV made it possible to campaign on the issues instead of against just one opponent.
