Salt Lake City residents will want to know what they are buying before they head to the polls in November.

For instance, how will the next mayor shepherd shopping - and drinking - downtown? What will they do about skewed neighborhood construction, especially monster homes? And do they have an appetite for more Broadway plays?

The Salt Lake Tribune started the process early. In a new poll, we asked residents to opine about monster homes, a proposed Broadway-style theater and whether retail stores at City Creek Center should be open Sundays. The poll also gauges whether alcohol should flow from restaurant taps at the LDS Church's massive mall makeover.

Becker and Buhler weigh in. And while their answers are enlightening, the poll percentages are, perhaps, surprising.

My way or the mall way?

If majority ruled, capital residents would be able to saunter through the City Creek shops on Sundays and have a glass of wine with lunch.

According to a Tribune poll taken days before the primary election, 60 percent feel the stores and restaurants planned for the LDS Church's $1 billion-plus mall should be open on the Sabbath.

What's more, 70 percent say City Creek restaurants should be permitted to serve alcohol, according to the poll.

Those overwhelming margins may reflect partly the fact that Utah's capital, although home to the world headquarters of the LDS Church, is becoming an increasingly liberal and non-Mormon city.

The survey, conducted Sept. 5-6 by Washington-based Mason-Dixon Polling & Research queried 625 likely city voters. It had a 4 percentage point margin of error.

Both mayoral hopefuls agree with the voters. But Buhler and Becker are quick to point out the project is planned on private property and therefore exempt from city control.

"We don't require places to be open or closed," Buhler says, "nor should we."

The two-term city councilman, who is a practicing Mormon, says it is "totally common sense" that people have a choice on what they want to eat or drink. "I don't know hardly anyone that doesn't think a restaurant should be able to serve alcohol," he says.

Becker, a nonpracticing Episcopalian, says he would like to see both booze and stores available "to maximize the opportunity" for shoppers downtown.

"We do need to be welcoming and accommodating to people who are not of the LDS faith," the Utah House minority leader says.

At the same time, Becker adds he respects the standards of the LDS Church, which eschews alcohol consumption and Sunday shopping.

Becker - who bested BuhÂler in the primary 39 percent to 28 percent - says he does not know whether he would try to push LDS leaders on either point. And he notes an existing ordinance that restricts liquor near any church poses another hurdle on the booze question.

Representatives of City Creek Center declined to comment on the poll. But the Web offers a window into the church's position.

Retail stores will be closed Sundays, according to the City Creek Web site, which points out that always was the ZCMI Center's policy.

The alcohol issue is more, well, fluid.

"A limited number of high-quality restaurant tenants who will operate on land not owned by the church may apply for licenses to serve alcoholic beverages in accordance with existing state regulations," the site says.

Elizabeth Gurney, an emeritus biology professor at the University of Utah, would like to see the new mall open Sundays and alcohol served there, but she thought those policies should be left up to management or the merchants.

"It seems to me that individual restaurants and stores should be able to decide," she says.

Patrick Driscoll of Sugar House says there should be more opportunities downtown to drink and to Sunday-shop.

"A lot of people like to go out to Sunday dinner. . . . What if there's a family party or a birthday?" says the 41-year-old Driscoll. "I don't drink that much myself, but I like a beer or a glass of wine now and then."

Making a play

for Broadway

A site hasn't been selected. Funding seems both daunting and ill-defined. Arts patrons have yet to reach consensus.

Still, 59 percent of Salt Lake City residents want a Broadway-style theater downtown.

So do Becker and Buhler.

Becker notes a feasibility study suggests the patronage exists to support the new venue. But there are a mountain of questions.

"We're not at all settled on where that should be or whether it should be an existing building or a new structure," he says. "There's still a fair amount of work that needs to be done."

Buhler agrees, but says such a theater is what helps separate the capital from places like Midvale or Sandy.

"Right now, I don't think there is any kind of a shared vision, and it needs leadership from the mayor's office to get it done," Buhler says. "I would work closely with the county, arts groups and the University of Utah to make sure we do it in a way that will not be harmful to other arts groups."

Capital resident David RietÂbrock doesn't oppose a Broadway-style theater but wonders if it would succeed. "I don't know if it would make it here in Salt Lake," the 59-year-old Avenues resident says.

But Jennifer Strassburg, a retired music teacher who lives downtown, is excited about the prospect of another playhouse in Utah's capital.

"It's a real sign of [a city's] level of education and support of culture and the arts," she says. "It's just what educated civilizations do."

Taming the monster

When it comes to grass-roots issues, nothing hits home more than your neighbor's house.

Salt Lake City has seen a recent spat of so-called monster-home squabbles, from the Harvard-Yale neighborhood to the upper Avenues.

In an August Tribune poll, 57 percent of residents argue the city should have more control over how big homes can be in a neighborhood. But 33 percent say that right should rest with the property owners.

Both mayoral wannabes say they are sensitive to the balance. But both insist the city is half the problem. City Hall, they note, has not enforced its own rules. And it lacks consistency.

With his endorsement, BuhÂler notes the City Council passed an ordinance to curb the problem in 2005. But, if elected mayor, he pledges to do more to "protect the integrity of the neighborhoods."

"There are administrative battles with some controls not happening and some things getting through that shouldn't," he says. "There's also, frankly, some fine-tuning that needs to be done."

If he prevails, Becker vows to "continually review and refine" the so-called infill ordinance to achieve standards that work. He says homeowners need to be allowed to make improvements, but the work needs to be compatible.

"It's clear there are neighborhoods where we have homes that are completely out of character."

Shane Carlson, housing chairman of the Greater Avenues Community Council, says the level of angst varies depending on the neighborhood.

People in the lower and middle Avenues tend to be conservative, he notes, while the upper Avenues can be a battleground.

"Where there is development pressure, people tend to be more eager for the city to come in," Carlson says. "We want to see things that are relatively in keeping with the area."

djensen@sltrib.com

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* ROSEMARY WINTERS contributed to this story.