Salt Lake City celebrates ‘new energy’ with downtown street party
Kim Raff | The Salt Lake Tribune) A Human Topiary makes her way through the crowd in City Creek in Salt Lake City, Utah on March 23, 2012.
By Cathy McKitrick, The Salt Lake Tribune
A two-block section of Salt Lake City’s Main Street was closed to vehicle traffic Friday evening — the first of many times to come, perhaps — to accommodate a casual street party.
"It’s a chance to help celebrate the opening of City Creek Center and this great new energy downtown," said Art Raymond, spokesman for Mayor Ralph Becker’s office.
Kim Raff, The Salt Lake Tribune
"It’s something we‘ve been wanting to incorporate on a more frequent basis to create a more pedestrian-friendly environment," Raymond said Friday. "We’ll try it tonight and will work it in with other big downtown events in the future to make it a more frequent occurrence."
Car traffic was banned from 4 to 10 p.m. on Main Street between South Temple and 200 South.
Businesses were encouraged to set up sidewalk sales, and area bands and "buskers," or street performers, were on hand to entertain passersby.
Kim Raff, The Salt Lake Tribune
Jason Mathis, executive director for Downtown Alliance, said the unadvertised event was designed to be super-casual, "to see what the street might feel like if it were a pedestrian thoroughfare.
"We said we’d bring the party," Mathis said.
Utah Transit Authority TRAX trains continued to run as usual through the area, and the traffic signals cycled in normal fashion.
UTA’s Gerry Carpenter said extra transit police and personnel were on hand, along with additional Salt Lake City police officers.
Carpenter said the trains don’t go fast in that area because they are approaching platforms, but security personnel were on heightened alert. People also were encouraged not to loiter or stand in the railroad right-of-way, he said.
Kim Raff, The Salt Lake Tribune
Cities such as Portland, Ore., with its people-friendly streetcar system, have grown accustomed to mixing foot traffic with transit, Raymond noted.
"We’re dipping our toes in the water. Any regular user of Main Street knows it’s not a very car-friendly street and not a good way to get from point A to point B," Raymond said. "It’s definitely worth exploring as a possible pedestrian-specific thoroughfare in the future."
Kim Raff, The Salt Lake Tribune
Kim Raff, The Salt Lake Tribune
McEntee: City Creek Center dazzles
By Peg McEntee - Tribune Columnist
Displayed on simple stands, the diamonds at Tiffany & Co. blaze with blue light. Across the way, handsome watches at Rolex by O.C. Tanner beckon the strolling observer.
And there isn’t a price tag visible in either store.
The LDS Church’s $2 billion City Creek Center is open for business, and on a Friday morning, it teemed with shoppers and their kids and more courtesy staff than you can imagine.
I ventured there not just to take a look, but to test whether I — who practically gets hives when I have to go to a mall — could bear it.
Turns out that, like the open-air Gateway, it wasn’t so bad.
Its best feature is the little City Creek channel, wandering through street level and carefully planted with grasses and shrubs that fit its scale.
And as much as Rocky Anderson protested, the skywalk is OK. I watched as fashionable young women posed against the glass so their friends could take their pictures, while others gazed down at the TRAX cars running on Main Street.
A solo flutist played prettily. Down a ways, a young man beat a rhythm on his drum; little farther, a guy played the saxophone. Oddly enough, the conflicting sounds coalesced nicely for a moment, then faded as I walked on.
On a cloudy day, the retractable roofs were tucked away to let in the sweet spring air. People sat at outdoor tables, staring at their laptops or smart phones as children darted around. Sweepers kept the pavers tidy, and maintenance guys were on hand to polish the handrails.
In the Swarovski store, crystals challenged the diamonds across the way. Porsche Design featured impossibly small women’s jackets made of leather as fine and soft as silk. I didn’t bother checking the price.
Gradually, the very fancy stores give way to more middle-brow affairs and then into the outlets you’ll find at any mall, anywhere.
Much has been made of the City Creek Center’s very existence in a downtown that’s seen better days. It’s expected to boost Salt Lake City’s budget with sales taxes and offer condos and office space to thousands of residents and workers. It’s also a buffer for the LDS Church’s ever-growing campus to the north.
Some have called the mall a catalyst of downtown energy, saying its existence will help create a critical mass of commerce all around.
We’ll see. In time, as all malls do, City Creek will lose a little of its opening-day luster and allure. We’ll become familiar with, no longer dazzled by, its attractions.
No matter where you live, there’s always the next best thing ever, and Salt Lake City is no exception.
Still, I may have to put that elegant little Rolex — no diamonds necessary — on my next birthday list.
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