Up in the Air
The proposed Little Cottonwood Canyon gondola has its own website. How cool is that? Except, taxpayers may have to fork out $500 million for its traffic solutions that benefit a couple of resorts and some entitled skiers. The 8-mile gondola could cost a lot—maybe $1 billion. Whether it's worth freeing the gridlock is still a question. Widening the road and enhancing the bus system could be a mere $510 million. What a deal! OK, no one likes lines of cars clogging the narrow road to our ski resorts, but who does this upgrade really help? It's not everybody. It's Alta, Snowbird and—for the sake of saving face—UDOT. Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson, in a Salt Lake Tribune article, called BS: "Don't you think the canyon deserves a little more time for us to get it right?" Activists are making noise. Maybe it will be heard.
A Man's World
Let's talk about women again. You know, our state just loves women, the helpmates who bring us all those little souls and raise them amid much baking of bread. We do not trust them with their own bodies—and so, abortion be gone. Never mind that those women must do the bidding of their husbands, or at least some man. Just know that they will not rise to statewide political heights. Yeah, it's been a long time since Jan Graham was elected attorney general, or Olene Walker became a default governor, much to the consternation of the Republican elite. Walker lost her re-election primary and didn't get that chance again. Now, women are gnashing their teeth that the two female GOP candidates taking on Sen. Mike Lee failed to push him out. Former state Sen. Pat Jones, on KSL Radio, blamed sexism. Whatever you call it, the patriarchy wins.
Drip, Drip, Drip
No, the Great Salt Lake hasn't magically grown feet of water. It's at an all-time low, and maybe we could blame the Bangerter lake pumps—if they had actually pumped anything before the water began to disappear. Fox 13's Ben Winslow stood out by the drying lake just to show us how bad it is. And then we got the worse news about Utah's air quality. World Population Review ranked it "the worst air quality on average" even with a moderate AQI range. Sure, the mountains are partly to blame, but there's so much more to this. In a Deseret News op-ed, outgoing Rep. Steve Handy, R-Layton—the latest victim of far-right-wing politics—touted ideas like electric buses and cars. But it's going to take a politician with the courage to call out fossil fuels to really make a difference.
