Quote:
Originally Posted by Comrade
Salt Lake has lucked out - it hasn't actually had a bad mayor in a long, long time. People who think any of the recent mayors have been bad don't know what they're talking about or have lived in a bubble and need to get out more. The worst we may have with Jackie is that she's ineffective. We'll see how this showdown with the state goes. But every mayor has brought at least something decent to the table in terms of overall growth - while also losing something decent in the process. Some have been more successful than others, though.
There's no question Deedee Corradini was the most influential. She not only was instrumental in getting SLC the Olympic Games in 2002 but advanced light-rail, spearheaded the baseball stadium (even though I still believe it should have been built downtown) and oversaw the beginning stages of revitalizing downtown - and the city as a whole. She also presided over a crime-infested city, as crime in the 90s in SLC was at its worst. Her hiring of Ruben Ortega as police chief didn't help matters and her last couple years were filled with scandal and her association with the Bonneville Pacific corporation and even the Olympic bribery scandal (hard for me to believe no one in Utah politics, from the governor on down to the mayor, with how they all worked to get the games, didn't know about the bribery deals going around) goes to show she wasn't even perfect.
But none have been outright bad or corrupt or actively hurt the city with their leadership. Even if they stagnated or were unforgettable like Ralph Becker was.
No doubt, tho, Rocky was the most contentious.
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I agree with this. You hear of so many other cities whose mayors get engulfed in major scandals and Salt Lake has avoided that (aside from the Olympics, which obviously extends far beyond just the city government).
They've all overseen positive progression. I still don't know what Jackie's vision for the city is, but at the very least, the city isn't regressing.