Gov. Herbert cited our abundance of “room and resources” in a letter to President Trump (I still shudder everytime I say or see that moniker).
This is not an anti-refugee rant. It is an anti-living-in-denial rant.
Gov. Herbert, I know the windows of your office provide a wonderful view of the valley. But maybe you can’t see it through the inversion. Are you going to demand that all “refugees” live in rural Utah? Are you going to demand that all new businesses to employ them relocate there as well? Or are you going to instigate regulations that demand all of the new apartment complexes sprouting up in the valley use green construction and are net zero? That’s something that should have been instigated already.
The Wasatch Front has already exceeded the air and water resources that it has, and that are diminishing due to the long-term effects of myopic government.
Address the problems we have now then I will support “growth,” a term that only government entities view as positive (take a poll along the Wasatch Front and see how many residents want more growth). When we have taken the steps to negate its diminution of our environment, and therefore our quality of life, then you can promote “growth” (or the real goal, which is the easiest way to increase the taxes collected).
And the “needed workforce” that we have to import from out of state should be addressed, again by more farsighted individuals in government making sure that our educational system is addressing the demands of the present and future job requirements.
Wake up and smell the roses. (If you still can through the stench.)
Bob Barr, Salt Lake City