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It's not too late to conduct the homeless shelter location process in an equitable manner!

This is the copy of my email message to members of the State Homeless Coordinating Committee on Thursday afternoon.

Good afternoon, everyone.

You have a very important meeting on April 10, and a critical decision to make! By now, you have seen the facts from our city and heard input from city officials, business owners and residents. I won't burden you again with the long lists of why we know South Salt Lake is not the right location for the designated homeless shelter.

What I do know if that this selection process was destined to be unfair. Why? Because it was rushed, not well thought out and driven by an unfair top-down approach. There was no outreach to local communities requesting strategic input. On top of that, the state Legislature decides it can tell the cities they have absolutely no say in the final decision. To take away a city's planning and zoning involvement is unthinkable!

What should have happened? At a minimum, this should have been a 6-9 month, well-planned process. Every city in Salt Lake County (and, maybe even neighboring Davis, Tooele and Utah Counties) should have been contacted by your committee and the Legislature laying out the ground rules and asking each entity to submit one location for consideration. Then, real discussion and planning could have happened.

I hope you don't treat the end result of this process (South Salt Lake) as "water under the bridge" and simply Mayor McAdams' final decision. All of this needs to be revisited, with many more stakeholders involved.

If your decision is to proceed with the site at 3380 South 1000 West in South Salt Lake, we need to talk! As has been stated by Mayor Wood, Police Chief Jack Carruth, business owners and residents, it is time to quit treating the city of South Salt Lake as the ideal place for prisons and detention centers as well as many other non-taxpaying government entities. We have much more than our fair share! Mayor McAdams and Rep. Steve Eliason are "on the record" saying more positive things need to be done for our city. It is time we receive some of the great parks, recreations centers and libraries that are found throughout Salt Lake County. In addition, the financial demands of supporting this new facility far outstrip the ability of our city. What will the county and the state bring to the table to make this work?

Thanks for listening!

Gary Birdsall is president and CEO of the South Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce.