This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
LeiLani Wiss was unable to access her commercial property at 3455 W. 500 South for nearly a year because of a street-widening project contracted by Salt Lake City in that mostly industrial area.
When the project was finally finished, and she went to check on her property, she still couldn't get in.
The construction crew had extended the new curb along her driveway, leaving no opening for her vehicles.
Wiss raised a bit of a stink with the construction crew, and Salt Lake City officials got involved.
Art Raymond, communications director for Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker, says the crew is in the process of resolving the problem.
Wiss told me she was promised the curb in front of her driveway will be cut away sometime next week.
When that is done, her first order of business will be to get in there and cut down all the weeds that have grown since she's been blocked out. It's created, she says, quite the fire hazard.
—
Defeating the purpose? • Elizabeth Wayer was walking her dogs in her neighborhood on the east bench of Salt Lake City on Tuesday morning when she noticed a white Prius with the Salt Lake City insignia and yellow warning lights driving through the neighborhood. The occupants were stopping at the garbage canisters lining the street and taping a message to them.
Wayer read the message, which told residents about Salt Lake City's recycling efforts, including its new glass collection program, and its emissions lessening plan by having residents keep their container inside for an extra week if it is less that full.
That way, the collection trucks don't have to stop and start so much.
But Wayer says its the second copy of the newsletter residents have received in the last few weeks, so the city is sending a car around the neighborhoods, wasting gas, to tell folks for the second time about its program to save gas.
Granted, it was a Prius, but, as Wayer mused, couldn't it have been easier to announce the program with the city utility bills that are sent to every resident?
Just saying.
—
Never say quit • Gail Bigbie is in the race of her life.
Literally.
After being diagnosed last August with inoperable brain cancer and told by doctors she had a year and a half to live, she decided to prioritize her life and concluded she wanted to be involved in Democratic Party politics until the end.
So Bigbie has become a vigorous volunteer for Democratic Senate candidate Scott Howell, and the hope now among everyone in the campaign is that she can make it to Election Day.
She was a personnel officer for Intermountain Health Care when, while scanning documents at work, she suddenly forgot what she was doing and why she was there. That led to the diagnosis.
The treatments sap her energy. She has been advised to limit her exposure to sunlight. But she is reinvigorated by her new commitment, spending hours in the campaign office doing whatever is called for, and she rode with Howell in the recent Taylorsville parade where she handed out candy.
—
Graffiti, Bountiful style • Some neighborhoods might have graffiti denoting gang messages. Some advertise violence. And some propagate hate.
But in Bountiful, it's all about the song.
A stop sign at the bottom of Edgehill Drive on 400 East was adorned this week with a "Don't" on the top and a "Believing" on the bottom. So the message said "Don't Stop Believing," the biggest hit for Journey, which just happened to be performing at the Usana Amphitheatre Friday night.