As Utahns, we pride ourselves on being fiscally conservative and try to minimize government intervention, including citizen tax burdens. I’m old enough to remember the grief we gave Gov. Norm Bangerter for building those pumps to address a then-overflowing Great Salt Lake back in 1987 for $60 million.
So, how did a half billion dollar gondola proposal, nearly ten times the cost, ever get consideration whatsoever? The whole notion should be a political hot potato to most local politicians.
Granted, on a handful of Saturdays in January and February Little Cottonwood Canyon traffic does back up. Badly. An obvious problem does need to be addressed. Wealthy tourists with discount ski passes (IKON in particular), looking to get some fresh powder, contribute to very real traffic jams.
But does cramming more people up that canyon on some winter Saturdays really solve problems or simply create other ones? For those who don’t drive up the canyons much in the winter, it’s really only the Saturday mornings after a big snowfall when fellow Utahns try to get up there to compete with tourists for some nice powder. Think about it, the gondola probably wouldn’t even run most of the year since it only makes sense when traffic is bad. How much would each of these gondola Saturdays cost taxpayers? Far more than the savings on those discount ski passes, I’d argue.
Talk about robbing Peter to pay Paul!
End the IKON and other discount ski passes and we’re probably halfway towards a solution. If that’s not enough, perhaps the Utah Office of Tourism could stop promoting the ski resorts so much that Utah families get crowded out?
Sure, the gondola would be an environmental catastrophe but my point is that even if you don’t care about our watershed it doesn’t make financial sense for Utah. Do the math. Why should Utah taxpayers pay for a half billion dollar (or more!) gondola to (maybe) alleviate traffic on a handful of winter weekend days? Do Utah skiers remember traffic conditions before the IKON pass? It existed but wasn’t nearly so bad. It was tolerable and something we can readily address with car pooling and improved busing, for instance. Let’s be sensible and vote against the giant gondola.
Grant Sperry, Salt Lake City