Kudos to those brave young people who disrupted the June 5 Inland Port Authority Board meeting.
Our speedily filling up valley does not need anything more to attract more businesses, more housing, more traffic. It took me almost an hour and a half to drive from Sandy to Lehi the other day, in the middle of the afternoon, because of construction, which won’t be slowing down when the inland port is in full operation.
Yes, I am just an old man now. What does my opinion matter?
Well, I have lived in this valley for about 50 years. I have watched the open land disappear, the farm land disappear, the traffic on our highways balloon, the cost of living increase, etc.
Yes, we now have more jobs, but too many of those new jobs don’t provide enough income for young people to afford even small starter homes, and too many of our young workers are still living with their parents because they can’t afford even an apartment. The people who moved here so they could enjoy skiing are having a harder time getting to the slopes because of the higher costs and the shortage of parking places.
I don’t have a huge home, but I do have a big yard and a pretty good sized garden. I sometimes wonder how long it will be until my irrigation water is confiscated by the local government so that there can be more water for the people living in those huge apartment complexes. I use a good share of water, but my big lawn and several trees are doing more than their share in helping to clean up the air.
Which brings me to air quality. We have always had bad air here. We should be happy that the air quality of fine particulates is improving. But the really bad stuff, the ozone, is not getting better. In fact, it is getting worse, mostly because ozone is mostly the result of interaction between car exhaust fumes and sunlight. And all of our growth in population, along with the trucks and trains serving the inland port, will make it even worse. But, I guess it is possible that when the inland port gets going, all of the diesel trucks and cars will have changed to electric.
Regardless. Kudos to those brave young people who are concerned about the quality of life we are leaving them to deal with, and who are willing to risk being arrested to express their concern.
Fred Ash, Sandy