SLC police hope seeing is believing

Click photo to enlarge

Detective Jay Rhodes describes the diameter of a pipe that burst, flooding the evidence storage room that he is standing in. The hole above and to the right is where water poured into the room where evidence is stored awaiting its use in a trial. The ceiling has been cut open to allow access to fix the pipe. Also, visqueen has been draped over the aisles of evidence to protect them from water damage.

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Salt Lake City public safety employees are actually grateful their heating system doesn't work so well in the winter --- cold air prevents mold from growing all over the water-damaged walls.

Now the public is invited to see the damaged building during a series of tours conducted by the Salt Lake City Police Department, believing if voters see the building's decrepit condition, they will vote in favor of Proposition 1.

"We know we are asking a lot from people," said media director Lara Jones. "We want to show them the need."

The list of needs is great. So large that the city looks to pass the $125 million bond to construct a new building east of Library Square.

On the tour, residents can see peeling paint, broken windows, crumbling ceilings and cramped cubicles.

That is, if they don't get stuck in the building's old elevators, which date back to the building's construction in 1957. Before new doors were installed earlier this year, people would get stuck in the elevators three to six times a day, said Salt Lake City Police Detective Jay Rhodes, facility coordinator. An active SWAT team once got stuck with a prisoner and had to exit through the elevator shaft.

The elevators, like many of the building's systems, are original, giving rise to further headaches. The parts are no longer manufactured and must be special ordered, driving up costs.

Sixty-three of the building's exterior windows are broken, but to make

The list goes on. Rainwater and sewage leaks into the evidence room, a pipe broke and flooded the universal power supply and downed communications leave emergency dispatchers using cell phones to transfer emergency calls.

People who come on the tour leave in almost unanimous support of the bond, Rhodes said. Once they see the damage, and danger to continued service, the building poses, most walk away willing to pay the estimated $75 a year for a $260,890 home. Even the Utah Taxpayers Association lent its support after a tour.

Some see the building with different perspective.

The Utah Heritage Foundation toured the building Wednesday, and hopes to preserve its iconic structure.

"It needs to be looked at in a more holistic approach, rather than piecemeal," said director Kirk Huffaker.

Huffaker said the building "really made a statement" when it was built. It incorporated green architecture, like those large sunshades, before the movement for sustainable architecture gained popularity.

The foundation hopes to interest a private developer or a nonprofit to take an interest in the building and preserve its historic outer shell. Huffaker even hopes to get the building listed on the National Register of Historic Places, though the city will not move ahead with those plans until a new location is certain, said Mayor Ralph Becker's spokeswoman Helen Langan.

Until then, Administrative Services Director Jerry Burton will continue to gaze longingly out of his single-paned windows which allow water to leak down his walls. Burton has an excellent view of the proposed site at Library Square, where he hopes to someday assign himself another office with a view, but this time with working heat.

kdrake@sltrib.com