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Letter: Utah legislators don’t really believe in local control

FILE - In this May 8, 2017, file photo, is Arch Canyon within Bears Ears National Monument in Utah. President Joe Biden said Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, he plans to review the Trump administration's downsizing of the Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments in southern Utah. Bears Ears National Monument is on lands considered sacred to Native Americans who joined environmental groups in suing when the boundaries were redrawn in 2017. (Francisco Kjolseth/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, File)

I always chuckle when the state Legislature decries the actions of the federal government when it imposes its will without consulting state leadership. For example, on expanding the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase back to their original sizes. But, in the next breath, those same legislators impose their will on Salt Lake City by appropriating a sizable chunk of land to build an inland port that no one who understands air pollution or traffic congestion really wants, or by forcing the Salt Lake School District to face funding cuts unless they return to in-person teaching in the middle of a deadly pandemic, despite the fact that they used distance technology for significant portions of their own interactions.

They seem to be all for local control when the federal government wants to tell them what to do, but not so much when city or county governments or school districts want to exercise autonomy in making decisions they feel are better for their constituencies. So which is it legislators? Do you want local control? Or just personal control?

Dennis R. Edmonds, Sandy

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