The mayor of Salt Lake City can make change happen in just one meeting — without any public input — when it comes to her own self-interests, as she did when she was chair of the City Council and council members raised their part-time salary almost 40%, from $26,000 to nearly $36,000 a year.
Recently, she said change takes time.
The mayor campaigned that she could best lead the city because of her time on the council. Hopefully, she listened during those six years and really heard the concerns of the police, the residents and others requesting policy change, and will address the community's interests as urgently, and in as timely a manner, as she did her own self-interests.
While her new policy advisory panel on racial equity in policing can receive input and offer ideas, it has no power. The buck stops with the mayor, who now has an opportunity to demonstrate leadership and make warranted policy changes wisely and expeditiously.
D. R. Florez, Salt Lake City