This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski has decided to drop a homeless resource center in the middle of our neighborhood. She is calling it a resource center, but it will have 150 beds, so let's call it what it is ... a homeless shelter.

In order to complete this project Biskupski will remove the preschool and local businesses, some of which have been there 17 years and actually define this area.

The mayor has done all of the homeless site choices behind closed doors; no public input, no neighborhood knowledge. The first time the neighborhood heard about this proposal was on the 6:00 news in mid-December.

Listening to her on the news it was inferred that the only business displaced would be a preschool, when in reality this shelter will take up an entire city block (600 East to 700 East, Simpson Ave.), displacing a martial arts school, Dancing Cranes Imports, Fitness on 7th, a beauty school and a few other small businesses. She then announces that it's a "done deal," when in fact only the $10,000 in earnest money is in place.

This site choice was done quickly and in secret. Biskupski's telling the residents to "embrace it." However, with residential homes literally 80 feet from the shelter, it's hard to embrace. The neighborhood believes this shelter will bring with it all the problems associated with a shelter: drugs, crime, prostitution.

This part of Sugar House is just beginning to turn over. Senior citizens walk the area. Young families are moving in and remodeling homes. 600 East is a bike route and the shelter itself will sit directly on top of the S-Line and pedestrian walking path.

I don't believe the mayor or City Council actually set foot on this site. I think they looked at it on a Google map and chose it quickly, without seeing it in person or walking the neighborhood. If they had walked the neighborhood they would have seen joggers, older residents, bicyclists, people walking and lots of kids.

What was she thinking choosing this site?

My guess is her hasty choice was driven by the Rio Grande developers and shelter monies (possibly federal funding), which needed to be spent quickly or be lost.

Peggy Clark

Salt Lake City