To varying degrees, the chief contenders for Salt Lake City's mayoral chair call these and other neighborhood issues priorities.
All pledge to keep a strong arm on crime. All would keep an eye on monster homes. And all hope to blur the east-side, west-side boundary.
But Ralph Becker, Dave Buhler, Keith Christensen and Jenny Wilson have different philosophies about how to keep capital neighborhoods - and thereby the city - vibrant and safe.
For the most part, the focus starts at doorsteps.
"What issue is more personal to someone than their home? Or the house next door?" asks Buhler, a city councilman who says the city must strike a delicate balance on neighborhood land use. "That's something that really needs a mayor's attention."
Curbing monster construction and preserving a locales' character are on the radar of all four candidates.
"We have a citywide problem with following our community plans and ordinances in a consistent and fair way," says Becker, a state lawmaker and an urban planner. He vows to force City Hall to follow its master plans - Becker's "Fix-in-Six" initiative calls for updating neighborhood plans within six years - and to protect historic neighborhoods so that new development fits with existing homes.
Christensen, a business owner and former city councilman, says the next administration must focus on making the capital walkable and bikeable. He wants to add segregated cycling paths (as does Becker) in every community.
Wilson wants to tackle traffic, focus on basic servicesÂ, such as sidewalk repair, and manage growth. The Salt Lake County councilwoman pledges to plan the Parleys area - it soon may get a Wal-Mart - to guard against congestion.
Loggins Merrill, vice chairman of the East Central Community Council, says residents worry about zoning decisions and fear developers may change the neighborhood's "feel."
"We want a little more responsiveness to the housing issues," he says, "and an overall solid plan on how we as residents work with the city."
Merrill also points to smash-and-grab thefts, increasing graffiti and changing bus routes as common concerns.
Crime, the candidates acknowledge, is felt hardest in neighborhoods. The big four would boost police patrols, and Buhler wants to add cops. Christensen believes crime is tied directly to education. He is pushing an initiative to ensure all city youngsters are reading by grade three and not left behind.
"Our neighborhoods must be safe to be livable," he says. "The reality is, all too often politicians dwell on Band-Aiding things. I would like to focus intently on the root cause [of crime], and I believe it to be the high percentage of kids not finishing high school."
Buhler would fold the city's sidewalk and streetÂlight policies into one coherent master plan. Attention to both, he says, would reduce crime and boost beautification. Buhler, who voted to beef up the city's graffiti-abatement staff, also backs a new west-side fire station.
Wilson wants to allocate "proper" police patrols to cut down on petty thefts, property crimes and drug trafficking. She would devote resources to domestic violence and work with Neighborhood Watch groups.
Becker wants to crack down on graffiti, fight for drug-free parks and address panhandling.
"There was a time in Salt Lake when we were doing better," he said, noting residents should be taught how to handle panhandlers, while the city needs to add homeless shelters and food pantries.
The hopefuls differ on regulating chain stores - something Mayor Rocky Anderson argues needs to happen "now before the nature of these [unique] places is destroyed."
Wilson says the city and Anderson dropped the ball on the Sugar House overhaul and calls it "terrible" how the council ignored area representative Soren Simonsen.
But Wilson says an outright ban is not the answer; instead, store size should be limited.
"We're not Draper. We're not Sandy," she says. "Our character and our success is organic - it's small business."
Becker says City Hall should take action to protect local businesses, but said he still is studying the chain-store question.
Christensen personally supports restrictions, but says the city cannot discriminate in a way that becomes illegal.
"The Starbucks of the world don't care," he says. "They care about the bottom line."
For his part, Buhler says he is more interested in promoting local businesses than restricting new ones.
"I like the carrot better than the stick," he says, adding that Wal-Mart and Lowe's came to the city "in the appropriate way."
On another front, the mayoral field argues the west-side gets a bad rap regarding crime. Residents there agree.
The safety stigma long has been a battle for west-siders, according to Vicky Orme, chairwoman of the Fairpark Community Council.
"We fight image all the time," she says. "People think we're more crime ridden than other areas. In fact, if you look at the stats, we aren't."
Still, the city can do more, the politicians say.
Becker would invest more in infrastructure, fully restore the Jordan River corridor and push for government services, such as the health clinics that reside in two west-side schools.
Buhler wants to improve the river parkway, attract retail and complete street projects in Glendale.
The key, Christensen says, is promoting neighborhood-friendly business. And he argues his real-estate background could help revitalize the city's western edge.
Wilson would push for much of the same - with a twist. She suggests new signs - perhaps coordinating colors a la 9th & 9th - could unite the community. Wilson also would promote two to three gathering spaces in places like Glendale and Poplar Grove.
djensen@sltrib.com
