City Weekly February 17, 2022

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U TA H ' S I N D E P E N D E N T N E W S PA P E R

New legislation signals a big shift for Utah mass transit.

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By Benjamin Wood

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CONTENTS COVER STORY

ALL ABOARD New legislation signals a big shift for Utah mass transit.

By Benjamin Wood Cover design by Stephen Hanzon

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SOAP BOX Utah Theater Bait and Switch

Last November, Salt Lake City transferred ownership of the historic Utah Pantages Theater to developer Hines. The Mayor said the transfer “fulfills a set of RDA obligations.”

I believe in the Russian proverb “Trust, but verify.” I looked at those obligations and whether they were fulfilled, and what I found was disturbing.

I now believe the city and Hines are hoping we won’t notice their bait and switch on the theater property. Fulfilling the obligations of this deal seemed simple enough as there are only four required elements in the agreement.

The first was an affordable housing requirement to provide “a minimum of 10% of the residential units affordable to households earning 60% to 80% of the area median income.” Looking at the

most recent development plans, I find a building with 405 units that are 28% studios, 44% 1-bedroom, and 28% 2-bedroom units. Of the affordable units, 80% are studios, 13% 1-bedroom, and 4% 2-bedroom units.

The affordable units do not represent the mix of unit types in the building.

The affordable units are also completely segregated on the least-valuable lowest floors of the building. Offering affordable units that are almost all studios and segregated by income from their market rate neighbors doesn’t sound like the project that we were promised.

The second requirement was that developers include a mid-block walkway that would be a “privately maintained, publicly-accessible mid-block walkway … extending from Main Street to the rear of the property.” But the development plans that once labeled a space as

@SLCWEEKLY the “Mid-Block Walkway” now have that space labeled as a “Mid-Block Plaza.”

When the City said we would get a mid-block walkway, I knew exactly what they were talking about—a mid-block walkway like the one between Main and Regent Streets. But what is now shown 0n plans is simply an exterior open area leading to flights of stairs and the elevator to the parking garage. We are not getting anything close to the mid-block walkway we were promised.

The last two requirements were an art component that would be “prominently visible from Main Street” and that “historic elements for reclamation and reuse will be identified through a collaborative effort between Buyer and Agency in coordination with historic preservation experts.” I can find no details or information about either of these requirements having been met.

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We were told the loss of the theater was worth what we would get in return from Hines. We were told what we were getting from them was so valuable we could give the theater properties worth millions of dollars to Hines for free. It is now painfully obvious that we aren’t getting what the city and Hines promised us.

They are hoping we won’t notice their bait and switch, a bait and switch worth millions to the developer. Until we know we are getting what Hines agreed to give us in return for the theater properties, ownership of the theater must revert to the city.

CASEY O’BRIEN MCDONOUGH

Salt Lake City Care to sound off on an issue of local concern? Write to comments@cityweekly.net or post your thoughts on our social media. We want to hear from you!

THE BOX

What is the darkest movie you’ve seen?

Scott Renshaw

For years, my answer to this would have been Se7eN. But I think I’ve grown into believing it’s actually No Country for Old Men. “The world is full of suffering that you can’t fix” may be dark, but “...and that suffering is utterly random and chaotic” feels much darker.

Jackie Briggs

Requiem For A Dream. Still haunted by it.

Larry Carter

The Autopsy of Jane Doe.

Bryan Bale

The darkest, most disturbing movie I’ve seen is 8mm (1999) with Nicolas Cage.

That’s the only movie that made me feel compelled to walk out of the theater because I couldn’t bear to watch any more.

Benjamin Wood

Nightmare Alley, from last year, is quite dark and quite good. And I’m a big fan of We Need to Talk About Kevin and Se7en (or anything by David Fincher, really).

Cody Winget

The House of Sand and Fog.

Eric Granato

It’s a toss up between A Siberian Film or Sick Girl. Let’s not talk about it and don’t look it up, trust me.

Eric Maurman

A Clockwork Orange.

Stockton Nielson The Wicker Man.

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PRIVATE EY

Grass Menagerie I

n the time of COVID, many people took up new hobbies, changed their careers or made lifestyle adjustments.

Those are the folks I like—positive thinkers who tried to make the best use of their time when it looked like their time could end at any moment. They might even have recommitted themselves to any number of worthy ambitions, like finishing that surefire bestselling novel, losing weight or finding God. Alas, a good number of folks took to none of that, looked science right in the eye, exclaimed they were strong as a Borax mule team and became assholes. Beside the time they spent missing work or attending COVID funerals of friends and family gone before their expiration dates (it’s verifiable worldwide that COVID preyed especially hard on the fatuous and obtuse), they spent much of COVID time finding fault in everything from mask-wearing to the way teenagers served their fast food at the local drive-in.

Such deportment caused a good number of us to fully disassociate from them. We all have friends we no longer care to see. We have work associates whom we hope never return to the home office. We have learned that some of our neighbors who politely wave when driving through the neighborhood become vicious witch hunters during formerly sanguine school board meetings. We have family members who are not welcome at the dinner table, at weddings and nor, of course, at funerals.

My own COVID death count now stands at 11. That’s the number of persons I’ve known, worked with or have close connections to who would still be living if not for COVID. No matter how I try, I cannot square that with the sentiment of some people that their dying of COVID—anyone’s dying of COVID—is what God intended. He could have

B Y J O H N S A LTA S @johnsaltas

called them home in a more peaceful way, it seems, not by drowning in their own spittle.

While I’m not without faith, neither can I be accused of being the most religious person around, despite a family lineage that until recently included bishops, priests, nuns and monks. But in November, my dad’s first cousin, a wellknown Greek Orthodox nun and the founder of the beautiful St. John’s Monastery in the hills above Megara, Greece, died of COVID. Fifty of the 70 nuns at her monastery caught COVID. I mean, what can you say?

So, as this has gone on and on, I say less to those I disagree with. We’re past the point of course correction, apparently, so I only pipe up when something fully egregious or factually wrong catches my eye. The only people I tell to mask up are close family members. If I go somewhere and feel uncomfortable, I just walk away.

That’s my protest now—to just let that booger-hanger over in the produce department have all the onions to himself until it’s safe to re-enter and grab a sweet Vidalia. By the way, there are fewer booger-hangers at Rancho Markets than any other grocery in town. In case you ever want to say hello, I’ll be somewhere near their excellent bakery.

I’m just stopping to smell the bread dough these days.

That’s been a challenge following four surgeries in 2021, including a bastard of a prostate surgery in December that still has me wincing. As if COVID weren’t enough, I’m one of those people who endures depression through this time of year thanks to our daylight hours being shortened. It’s aptly named SAD—Seasonal Affective Disorder. About all I can do is to find new things to engage in, like backyard birding.

I took up that amazeballs hobby in late 2020. My backyard is now a year-round home to chickadees, scrub jays, finches, quail, woodpeckers, magpies, sparrows and many others—plus the squirrels that eat the bird food, and the

Cooper’s hawk that eats the birds. Birds bring humankind optimism and, as such, were immortalized in the words of Thomas Farley Foster in 1827’s The Pocket Encyclopaedia of Natural Phenomenon: “Songbirds begin to sing early in the primaveral season, the blackbird often in January and the thrush soon follows.” You might have learned that as, “If winter’s here, can spring be far behind?” Yes indeedy, I feel the days getting longer!

There’s probably a word for such a feeling. I’ve discovered many new terms via another COVID hobby, playing word games like Wordle and Quordle. They join other COVID hobbies like birdwatching, taking Greek language classes and searching for the perfect menudo, posole and birria taco. Playing Wordle (not to be confused with Worldle) and Quordle (not to be confused with Nerdle) has at last led me to a word that accurately describes me. I’m a muckspout—a person who swears too much.

I validate that description of myself every time throttlebottoms such as Mike Lee, Chris Stewart and Burgess Owens open their mouths. I can’t help it. I swear at them. I do the same with all of Utah’s GOP who bumfuzzle me at every turn, their latest by trying to yank seltzers from grocery stores despite no one bitching about them and which only hurts local business (instead of making a simple word change in the state’s arcane definitions of beer and alcohol). They’re all a bunch of ninnyhammers, who for 45 days each year degrade themselves into any manner of catawampus behaviors. It’s like they hate us.

But the damage they’ll do will be forgotten in future years when they move on to ever more fopdoodle antics. Every year they become the very face of rakefire.

So today, I’ll relax, fill this space, watch the birds, dance with the squirrel, stir the roux and enjoy another day of apricity. We’ve had lots of them. CW Send comments to john@cityweekly.net.

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FEBRUARY 17, 2022 | 7

HITS&MISSES

BY KATHARINE BIELE @kathybiele

MISS: Digital Tyranny

This week is dedicated to conspiracies, and how we love them. The U.S. Secretary General calls the time we live in a “misinfo-demic.” He should know, because so many of those conspiracies revolve around the United Nations. For those who remember Utah Sen. Margaret Dayton, you will also recall her disdain for the International Baccalaureate program in Utah high schools.

To her, the program promoted antiAmerican ideals born in Switzerland— ideals like critical thinking. Today, we have state Reps. Phil Lyman and Mike Petersen, who see that specter looming in the form of a digital driver license.

Utah fringe groups, The Salt Lake Tribune notes, think the U.N. is getting ready to “launch tyranny” in the state.

There’s a long history of fear that a digital apocalypse is on the horizon. Maybe Lyman and Peterson launching a podcast proves their point.

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HIT: Breaking Rank

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Yet again, the conspiracists sink their talons into the Utah Legislature.

This time it comes at the expense of a widely accepted and popular voting method. We don’t mean vote-by-mail, although they’re trying to eviscerate that, too. Rep. Mike Winder’s bill to expand ranked-choice voting was pulled before it got a hearing because of the right-wing echo chamber of voter fraud. Hey, a Tribune photo showed the opposition with printed stick-on “No ranked choice voting” labels, although there has been no evidence that RCV— or vote by mail—opens voting to fraud.

It’s become really hard these days to fight falsehoods with truth, even after positive polling. Lyman pushed another bill to end mail voting, saying it was about electoral integrity. The lieutenant governor didn’t buy it, and it looks like most office-holders support this tried and trusted method. So for now, Utah voters are safe at home.

MISS: Lone Contrarian

Sen. Mike Lee—always the spoiler.

Utah’s senior senator has a history of voting against issues that would otherwise be no-brainers to anyone with a soul. This time, on the 80th anniversary of the Japanese internment, it’s approval of the Amache National Historic Site Act. Ninety-nine out of 100 senators were ready to vote in favor of making the southeastern Colorado landmark a national historic site. The one remainder was Lee, according to PBS NewsHour, who can always find a reason to vote against a popular idea. His opposing vote wasn’t about the unjust imprisonment of Japanese Americans, he said, it was about federal lands. Specifically, he doesn’t want them expanded and instead wants to see them in state hands. Here, we’re talking about less than one square mile. But to Lee, it’s the anti-federal principle.

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Save The Vote

Even in red Utah, the conspiracists have come out to attack the vote. The state’s universal vote-by-mail is easily one of the safest and most efficient in the nation, and voter turnout in Utah continues to increase. “Sadly, a small group completely out of step with Utahns want to add barriers to voting and take Utah backwards,” say the nonpartisan organizers of Let Utah Vote. By giving Utahns the opportunity to vote early, the state also allows voters to study their ballots, make informed decisions and cast their ballot even if they would otherwise be unable to make it to the polls on Election Day. “It’s made Utah’s elections cheaper and is just as secure as voting in person.” You can help preserve this trusted method of voting by signing a petition to tell your elected leaders that no “fix” is needed and to “defend voting by mail, early voting, Election Day voter registration and all other measures that make it easier for people to participate in our Democracy.” Online, before the Legislature ends March 4, free. https://www.letutahvote.org/

Say No To Gas Station

Remember the now-shuttered Sizzler at the corner of 1300 East and 2100 South?

You knew that something would be going up there because Sugar House, of all Salt Lake neighborhoods, is experiencing explosive growth and development. While there’s no stopping that growth, you could stop the curious plan to build a gas station on the corner of an already high-traffic area. Residents are not happy, particularly because of its proximity to Sugar House Park and the high pedestrian traffic in the area. Vehicles enter the intersection from all sides and feed onto the nearby interstate. There are also underground water resources that could be at risk. Make your wishes known about Kum & Go Gas Station (Conditional Use) before it’s too late.

Online, now before Monday, March 21, free. http://bit.ly/slc-openhouse00053

Not In My ‘Hood

Just like everywhere in the United States, there were concerted efforts to segregate neighborhoods in Salt Lake and Ogden.

People like Lucille Perkins Bankhead, a descendant of Black Mormon pioneers, helped to defeat one such bid, and her family has carried on her legacy of community involvement. At Race and Housing, “two members of the Perkins and Bankhead families, Nichol Bordeaux and Kellen Perkins, will join Tonya Reiter, author of Not in My Neighborhood: The Controversy Over Segregated Housing in Salt Lake City published in the winter 2022 issue of Utah Historical Quarterly, to share their views on housing problems among people of color in the state.” Virtual, Wednesday, Feb. 23, 7 p.m., free/register. https://bit.ly/3HJr9kv

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excerpts from letters he wrote to his brother Theo,” says The Leonardo’s executive director, Alexandra Hesse. “Throughout the show, you will learn about Van Gogh’s passions, inspirations, suffering, and ambitions to express his creative vision on canvas.”

Van Gogh 360⁰ is currently scheduled to run through Feb. 26 at The Leonardo (209 E. 500 South). Reservations are required for specific showtimes, with tickets $17 - $30 and including full museum admission along with the immersive presentation. Visit theleonardo.org for tickets and current health & safety protocols. (Scott Renshaw)

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Technology has changed the world of visual art forever—not just in terms of the tools artists now have at their disposal to create new work, but in terms of the way people can experience art that has existed for centuries. Images of great works are now at our digital fingertips, true, but technology has also provided opportunities to get up close and personal with classic art in entirely new ways.

Following on the heels of its popular From Monet to Kandinsky exhibition, which launched the new IDEA virtual exhibition space, The Leonardo now presents Van Gogh 360⁰, an immersive experience featuring more than 300 celebrated works by the legendary Vincent Van Gogh. While projected images of Van Gogh paintings are part of the exhibition, this is much more than a simple “slide show” of the greatest hits. Instead, it’s a multi-media presentation that incorporates the words and ideas of the artist. “In this experience you are guided through the work by the artist himself as the show shares

COURTESY PHOTO

Van Gogh 360⁰ @ The Leonardo

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FEBRUARY 17, 2022 | 11

ing to tour as a standup comic, including being named as one of the 50 Best Standup Comics

by Rolling Stone in 2017. Her comedic voice remains distinctly her own, no matter how much she has changed and grown over the years.

Cho visits Salt Lake City for four performances at Wiseguys Gateway (194 S. 400 West), Feb. 18-19 at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. nightly. Tickets are $35; face coverings are recommended for all audience members except while actively eating and drinking, but not required. Visit wiseguyscomedy.com for tickets and additional event information. (SR)

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It’s the little things that can startle you about the passage of time—like the realization that Margaret Cho’s professional career now stands at 30 years and counting. It seems like only yesterday that Cho was breaking out as a rare example of an Asian-American female stand-up comedian, with a distinct enough voice that she landed her own sitcom in 1994, All-American Girl. That experience, unfortunately, turned out to be more of a nightmare than a dream-come-true, as network interference and expectations for her physical appearance sabotaged both the show itself and Cho’s health, leading to a spiral into substance abuse.

For some performers, that might have been the end. But for Cho, it provided the raw material—emphasis on “raw”—for her 1999 one-woman show (and subsequent bestselling book and concert film) I’m the One That I Want, chronicling the struggles related to her ethnicity and body image. She’s barely slowed down in the two decades since, becoming a vocal activist for a variety of causes, launching a podcast and continu-

SERGIO GARCIA PHOTOGRAPHY

Margaret Cho

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NIKKITA NOUVEAU

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Craft Lake City Celebration of the Hand: Faces of Creativity

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Early in the COVID pandemic, the cliché went that lockdown would be the opportunity for everyone to finally finish—or, more likely, begin—that creative project you’ve long been pondering. Things were more complicated than that, but that doesn’t mean the time has passed for anyone still pondering how to get those creative juices flowing. By way of offering some possible inspiration, Craft Lake City is using it’s Temporary Museum of Permanent Change public art spaces to showcase alumni from previous years’ DIY Festivals.

Faces of Creativity brings together 14 local artists and previous DIY Fest vendors who were asked to create self-portraits representing their distinctive styles.

Participating artists include Nikkita

Nouveau (pictured), Megan Hindman (whose illustration represents her as a female knight in armor), Trishelle Jeffery (showing herself as a printmaking artist-at-work), Mojdeh Azani, Chris Haggqvist, Noelle Margetts, Elaine Lee, Beatrice Teigen, Maddie Morrill and more.

Whether through photography, painting, digital art or illustration, these works showcase the challenge of presenting oneself to the world through one’s art, and what you’re telling the world about the creative side of yourself.

Faces of Creativity will be up in locations on 300 South between 200 East and 200 West, now through April; the exhibition is free and always open, and COVID-friendly in its openair, view-when-you-wish environment. On Tuesday, Feb. 22 at noon, you can join a virtual “Lunch & Learn” discussion featuring many of the exhibition’s participating artists. Visit craftlakecity.com to register for the virtual event, or for additional artist information. (SR)

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taurant? Just go walk in traffic.”

Bargatze visits the Eccles Theater (131 S. Main St.) for four shows, Feb. 21-25. While the 7 p.m. Feb. 25 show is sold out at press time, tickets remain from $34.75 - $74.75 for other shows. Proof of vaccination or negative COVID test is currently required for all audience members. Visit live-at-the-eccles.com for tickets and health & safety requirements. (SR)

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Comedians tend to break out from the pack by virtue of a “gimmick”—a unique vibe or on-stage persona that distinguishes them from their contemporaries. But it’s hard to convey exactly what makes Nate Bargatze a stand-up star. Yes, he’s from the American South, but he doesn’t lean into the downhome Southerner thing. His material tends to be clean, but not in a way that screams appeal to the “clean comedy” set. And while many of his jokes tend to be focused around life with his wife and daughter, it’s reductive to say his comedy is based in domesticity or being the “dumb dad.”

Mostly, he’s a storyteller, and one with such a natural delivery that the punch lines almost sneak up on you. The most memorable bits from his breakout Netflix half-hour special from 2017—about a strange encounter with at Starbucks, and a visit to a low-budget reptile house—became so beloved that he subsequently offered follow-ups in his 2019 special The Tennessee Kid. He even managed to turn COVID into humor in 2021’s The Greatest Average American: “I can tell you one thing that’s gone forever … coughing in public.

You drink water wrong in a res-

NETFLIX

Nate Bargatze

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A&E

Ruffling Feathers

Playwright Carleton Bluford fights his people-pleasing instincts for the provocative The Clean-Up Project.

BY SCOTT RENSHAW

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The Clean-Up Project playwright Carleton Bluford deal of effort.

“I am so proud of this piece, but it’s not a kind of play I’m excited about,” Bluford says. “Every time I go to rehearsal, it hurts over and over again. This is kind of a purging for me. But I won’t really feel better until I’m writing a play about how crazy it was that there was ever a time when this stuff happened to BIPOC people.” CW

THE CLEAN-UP PROJECT

Plan-B Theatre Company Rose Wagner Center 138 W. 300 South Feb. 17-27 Streaming Feb. 23-27 planbtheatre.org

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of myself and shield myself,” he notes. “It’s too hard to hear white people rationalize stuff like this. I get that it’s hard for them to face. But the difference for us is that it’s been hard for 400 years.”

So it became a tricky tightrope for Bluford to walk—an interest in confronting issues honestly, while also being fair to people of all races as individuals. “Hopefully, we can start a dialogue,” Bluford says. “People of different ethnic backgrounds were part of creating [The Clean-Up Project], and I think that’s okay. Empathy is so important, man.

We have to listen to each other. Even if we don’t agree, we have to listen.”

And while Bluford believes The CleanUp Project has done what he set out to do, in terms of giving a non-BIPOC audience a sense for what it’s like to live as a BIPOC person in America on a daily basis, it’s still hard to feel conventionally “happy” about it in a way that other creative artists might be when looking at the final result of a great

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ake no mistake: The Clean-Up Project is not intended to be a comfortable experience for audiences. It confronts the effects of racism on the everyday experience of people with evident anger and frustration. And that reality kind of freaks its creator out.

“I’ll be honest with you: I’m terrified of how people will react,” says Carleton Bluford, playwright of The Clean-Up Project.

“It’s scary. But I’ve written the play and done it anyway.”

Premiering this week from Plan-B Theatre Company, The Clean-Up Project is a four-character piece involving a Black couple and a white couple, in a speculative near-future where some racial roles have been flipped. It’s a work born out of Bluford’s anger and frustration over instances of institutional violence against people of color like the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor killings in 2020, originally expressed in a journal entry at that time. But Bluford wasn’t sure that he would be able to turn those feelings into a publicly-produced piece of theater, simply because of some deeply ingrained personality traits.

“Part of my identity has been to be a people-pleaser, to make everyone in the room

feel safe and taken care of, before myself,” Bluford says. “Even Mama [his first produced play], an ode to mothers and written for my mom, was really just me saying thank you to all women. [The Clean-Up Project] specifically has brought out a lot of the things I haven’t really been able to say, because I don’t want to make people mad or ruffle any feathers. … The real meat and heart of this piece is figuring out what I want to say.”

That process of figuring out The Clean-Up Project wasn’t one that he had to go through alone, since it was developed in collaboration with Plan-B over the past two years.

“Everyone has their own process,” Bluford says. “I was lucky enough o have two: My own process, and Plan-B’s process. [PlanB artistic director Jerry Rapier] offered me a workshop, we got actors who we thought might do well with the characters. Every week, I’d bring something in that’s written, and we shape it that way.”

What emerged was a story shaped by a few fundamental elements. One of them, according to Bluford, was the Joseph Campbell model of the “hero journey,” establishing an ordinary world and progressing to what breaks that world and gives the hero something to do. Another was the desire to have all of his characters—both Black and white—written in a way that felt genuine and compassionate.

“It was very important to me to have a correct voice of someone who was white in this show,” Bluford says. “The things that they say, they truly believe, and come from actual conversations I’ve had with my white friends. It’s so important to have a 360-degree perspective.”

That doesn’t mean, however, that it was easy to incorporate ideas related to white people’s reluctance to confront institutional racism, an idea that has manifested itself over the past year in the conservative attacks on anything that could be lumped under the term “Critical Race Theory.”

“When things like this come up, I take care

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THEATER

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New legislation signals a big shift for Utah mass transit.

By Benjamin Wood bwood@cityweekly.net

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Utah Transit Authority spokesman Carl Arky said that UTA supports the legislation, with the expectation that it will facilitate the expansion of transit in the state.

But he was careful not to cash any checks that haven’t been written by lawmakers yet.

“We’ll all have to go down the road together and see how it ends up,” he said.

Arky said that UDOT and UTA have a relationship of mutual respect—not every state’s highway and transit equivalents can say the same—and that both agencies work in their spheres to improve Utah’s transportation systems.

It’s common sense, he said, to bring those spheres together and increase the oversight—and potentially buy-in—of lawmakers over mass transit.

“If we want to be corny and cliche, it does take a village to create this baby,” Arky said. “Everybody’s just trying to COURTESY PHOTO

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Brotherly Love

Carl Arky

Utah Transit Authority spokesman

find the best way to get the job done.”

The 2002 Olympic Games catalyzed the state’s last major evolution in public transportation, with the construction of TRAX in Salt Lake County and FrontRunner along the Wasatch Front (roughly parallel to the north-south-running Interstate 15 corridor). And in very recent years, UTA has modernized its bus service, adding rapid transit lines in Utah, Davis and Weber counties and high-frequency routes and on-demand services in Salt Lake City.

The city government has also partnered with UTA on several free fare initiatives, like event tickets and airport boarding passes doubling as a transit ticket and, currently, free services systemwide for the entire month of February.

More indicative of Utah’s strategy over the last two decades are the road projects overseen by UDOT, most notably the multiple rounds of I-15 expansion, the steady freeway-ification of Bangerter Highway and Highway 89 and the creation of new auxiliary interstates like the Legacy Parkway and the Mountain View Corridor, which is designed to be upgraded to an express highway in the future.

UDOT’s domain also extends along state-owned surface streets that cut through Utah’s cities—large roadways like 700 East (SR-71), 3300 South (SR-171), 9000/9400 South (SR-209) and too many others to name.

HB322 sponsor Rep. Kay Christofferson, R-Lehi, said it makes sense to have one department coordinate all of the state’s transportation activities. UTA knows how to run the buses and trains but UDOT, he said, knows how to get things built.

“They know the construction, they know the contracting, they’ve got the contacts,” Christofferson told City HB322 sponsor Weekly. “They can get it done Rep. Kay Christofferson a lot easier and UTA will still do the [transit] operations.”

UDOT representatives declined to participate in an interview for this article, but department spokesman John Gleason responded to emailed questions. He said the department has worked closely with UTA and other metropolitan planning organizations on non-road projects, like

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city (see: inland port taxing authority and board representation, site selection for the new state prison, virtually anything having to do with homelessness) and UDOT, to date, has shown little appetite for ceding car territory to alternate modes of travel.

But Jon Larsen, Salt Lake City’s transportation director, was enthusiastic about the proposal. He said the bill makes formal a growing consensus around transit needs (anecdotal stories abound of UDOT executive director Carlos Braceras sounding the alarm on public transportation).

And Larsen noted that UDOT brings with it a war chest of $600 million or more, annually, and a track record of delivering on big, complicated construction projects.

“It sounds like a lot of money—and it is—but transportation is really expensive,” Larsen said. “It is really cool and really exciting that the state is stepping in and spending transportation money on public transportation. The [Transportation Investment Fund] was created almost 20 years ago—it’s a big pot of money and historically, it has gone to highway expansion.”

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etween 1870 and 1880, the population of New York City crossed 1 million. That same decade saw the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge (it opened in 1883) and the proliferation of elevated trains, revolutionizing the ability of the average person to move about in a city that until then relied on ferries and horse-drawn buses.

The so-called “Greatest City in the World” would ultimately move the bulk of its commuter rail network underground while absorbing 1 million new residents each decade(!) during the first half of the 20th century. Today, the cultural reliance on those Gilded Age bridges, tunnels and mass transit routes not only continues, it is a defining element of a New Yorker’s lived experience.

Now, consider Salt Lake County, which crossed one million residents around 2008 and which is projected to add another half-million souls over the next 40 years. Around the Point of the Mountain, Utah County is projected to add a million new residents over the same period. While that growth is a far cry from the scale of 19th-century New York, there are lessons to be learned about anticipating, and preparing for, demographic trends.

“You think about the congestion going north-south along I-15 right now,” Rep. “Nobody wants Mike Schultz, the No. 2 Reto be stuck publican in the Utah House, in traffic.” said recently. “We know we cannot widen I-15 enough to Rep. Mike Schultz meet the demands of population growth 10 to 20 years from now.”

As boring as “transportation infrastructure” sounds, government decisions around the movement of people shape the course of lives—collectively and individually—in astonishing ways. And, according to virtually every demographic expert, Utah’s cities of tomorrow will be crowded.

Schultz, R-Hooper, told City Weekly that Utah is reaching the point where mass transit must play a larger role in the state—to improve air quality along the Wasatch Front as well as maintain overall quality of life.

“Nobody wants to be stuck in traffic,” he said.

To that end, lawmakers are considering legislation this year that would bring state-funded “fixed guideway” (commuter rail, bus rapid transit, etc.) transit construction under the purview of the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT), which traditionally has focused—almost exclusively—on maximizing the efficiency of car travel.

When the bill, HB322, first appeared in early February, it sparked a round of trepidation from SLC’s transit twitterati. After all, the last few rounds of big, state-directed development haven’t exactly gone smoothly for the capital

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“We’re like siblings.

We fight it out sometimes, but at the end of the day, we’re all team Utah.”

Jon Larsen

BENJAMIN WOOD

COURTESY PHOTO

Salt Lake City transportation director

the pedestrian bridge to Utah Valley University spanning I-15 and a new FrontRunner station in Vineyard (which cost roughly $17 million). And it has not been determined whether any organizational changes will occur within UDOT if HB322 passes, Gleason said.

“Utah’s population is growing every day, and this means we need a comprehensive transportation system that provides safe, effective choices for all users,” Gleason said.

“Our state’s leaders continue to make significant investments in improving and promoting all modes of transportation, including transit. We will continue to work with the governor, Legislature and our partners at UTA in planning and preparing for Utah’s future.”

Schultz noted that Utah’s transit network has many areas where service stops short of a potential rider’s destination. He suggested that some of those so-called “last mile” gaps might have been mitigated under HB322.

“Bringing that authority under one roof going forward, so that we don’t have UTA doing one thing and UDOT doing one thing, so that it’s being managed holistically for all modes of transportation, is going to save the taxpayers of this state literally billions of dollars,” Schultz said.

Larsen, of the city’s transportation department, credited lawmakers for broadly showing political support for investing in transit (every House member signed onto HB322 as a co-sponsor). Other states have seen transit devolve into partisan squabbles but in Utah, he said, “we get it.”

He said UDOT could face a learning curve, as it hasn’t traditionally focused on things like commuter rail (the double-tracking of FrontRunner, already funded in part by the Legislature, will be first on the docket if HB322 passes).

But he didn’t expect any change in direction on anticipat-

ed projects, like the long-planned expansion of the S-Line streetcar (“putting the head on the snake,” Larsen said) or new TRAX connections on 400 West and 400 South.

“We’re all pulling in the same direction, trying to get the same thing done and figuring out how best to do it,” Larsen said. “We’re like siblings. We fight it out sometimes, but at the end of the day, we’re all team Utah and want to do what’s best for transportation.”

Down the Track

Double-tracking is already in place along some sections of the FrontRunner line, including the recently constructed Vineyard station that is scheduled to open this spring. But Arky said it’s too early to suggest when the entire second track would be completed.

“It’s a high-priority project for UTA,” he said. “It will make the system much more efficient and reliable and faster. But it’s expensive—there’s no question about it.”

Beyond the double-tracking of FrontRunner, Schultz and Christofferson were reluctant to speculate on the transit projects that would be born of HB322, instead speaking in general terms about the need to expand commuter rail both within and between cities and to expand transportation options perpendicular to the I-15 corridor.

“We need to get ahead of these things and figure out how we’re going to do east-west [travel] as well,” Schultz said.

But Larsen described several transit projects that are indicative of, or could benefit from, greater UDOT involvement. A bus rapid transit line (UTA) connecting Salt Lake and Davis counties along Highway 89 (UDOT) is under consideration, he said, which would link to new transit

Vexatious Requesters

There’s the “Schoolhouse Rock” version of how a bill becomes a law, with multiple rounds of voting and debate. But just as critical are the many unseen logistical variables at play as Utah lawmakers attempt to cram a year’s worth of legislating into a 45-day period.

routes along 200 South after it has been rebuilt with transit-priority lanes (a city project scheduled to begin this year). On the west side, Larsen highlighted the proposed 5600 West rapid transit line, which UDOT and UTA have agreed to launch before the Mountain View Corridor is upgraded to a freeway-style road.

“It’s been cool to see UDOT morph and change and really become more multi-modal,” Larsen said. “When I started my career, this was unfathomable, that the state would be putting money toward public transportation.”

Larsen said he sees the role of the city as largely unchanged—advocating for the best possible transit plans and maintaining a “seat at the table,” only now with UDOT reps sitting at that table as well. “I continue to believe that what’s good for Salt Lake City is good for the state,” Larsen said. “The Legislature is trying to spend more money on public transportation, which we support.”

Whatever state spending is diverted to transit is unlikely to include making UTA fares free beyond February, at least for now. When asked if the Legislature had received any preliminary ridership numbers, Schultz was adamant that transit should carry a cost for the user.

“Somebody is paying for it, so is free fare really free?”

Schultz said. “I believe those that ride [public] transportation should help bear some of the cost of that ridership.”

Arky said that compared to the first week of January, the first week of February with free fares saw a roughly 15% increase in ridership. He said UTA will collect more comprehensive numbers, which could help in system planning.

“That [increase] is promising but I don’t think that we can draw any conclusions from that yet,” he said. “There’s still the rest of the month to go.” CW

One such bottleneck is the drafting process, in which a relatively small staff is tasked with working out the on-paper legalese of an ever-increasing mountain of bills, amendments to bills, amendments to amended bills and so forth.

Here are the lawmakers who got the gears turning—or threw sand in them?—by requesting the most bills this year (as of Feb. 14).

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A FrontRunner train arrives at the North Temple Station alongside the recently constructed Folsom Trail in Salt Lake City.

Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross: 29 bills

Rep. Steve Eliason, R-Sandy: 24 bills

Sen. Wayne Harper, R-Taylorsville: 23 bills

Rep. Jordan Teuscher, R-South Jordan: 22 bills

Sen. Jacob Anderegg, R-Lehi: 22 bills

Rep. Jen DaileyProvost, D-Salt Lake City: 21 bills

Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan: 18 bills

Rep. Stephen Handy, R-Layton: 18 bills

School Daze

“It’s unnecessary and divisive and creates this overall sense of distrust.”

UEA president Heidi Matthews says teachers are under attack.

By Benjamin Wood

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ducation is once again a hot topic at the Utah Legislature—so hot that teachers are feeling burned, according to Heidi Matthews, president of the Utah Education Association (UEA), the state’s largest teachers union.

The 2022 session started quietly for public schools—the early legislative furor was reserved for overturning Salt Lake County’s mask mandate—with lawmakers making good on a nascent requirement to fund inflationary costs at the start of their 45day conclave.

But the friendly feelings turned sour fast, as bills became public that—through various means—would insert state government and public scrutiny into virtually every classroom decision, potentially with legal liability for teachers whose choices are deemed unbefitting.

City Weekly caught up with Matthews on Capitol Hill to chat about how UEA is approaching the back half of the legislative session and what parents should know about the ongoing fight over school transparency.

I take it UEA isn’t being asked to consult on these bills?

Most bills don’t pass. Has legislative leadership given you any indication of whether these transparency proposals will move forward?

We are spending so much time opposing bad bills that won’t bring about better circumstances for our students or keep educators in the classroom while we have this dire [staffing] need. We’re spending so much time fighting that it’s preventing us from getting to what we support.

There is some good legislation being proposed that isn’t getting attention because of the nonsense. There are bills on literacy and funding proposals for special education, at-risk student support and all-day kindergarten. But one of the things that we are really pushing for is flexible, educator-directed time.

That’s what we hear about over and over and over. There’s the circumstances of the pandemic, there’s a substitute teacher shortage and all of these factors are coming together so our teachers are covering for each other during prep time and then they’re having to take work home.

Paying attention to that now is a critical piece in looking long term and addressing challenges. We had a teacher shortage before the pandemic and now we’re combining that with these political attacks.

Not Legislature-related, necessarily, but what should parents be aware of as the Salt Lake City School District downsizes?

I applaud the wisdom of the school board in looking at what they’re doing right now and how it will play out in the future. I think we need to take that approach. They’re assessing, they’re not ignoring the problem.

Things shift over time. We just want to make sure that we’re doing what we can for our people who are in the classroom right now. Retention is the best recruitment and they’re in a tricky situation with declining enrollment. CW

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There’s a collective responsibility of the Legislature to rein some of this in.

Regardless of intentions, it is having an enormous impact on the very people that we need to be supporting right now.

[Rep.] Teuscher’s bill [requiring teachers to post the minutiae of their lesson plans online and making it burdensome to deviate from those plans] was pulled, but that was after a petition that gathered almost 34,000 signatures in two days.

It completely struck a nerve.

The bills just keep coming. It almost doesn’t matter what they say at this point.

It’s felt as an attack and it’s a very real, important feeling and sense of underlying distrust that needs to be paid attention to.

What are your goals for the last half of the session?

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No, and we’re seeing a wave of education bills across the country. In many cases, it’s cookie-cutter legislation from groups like ALEC or The Manhattan Institute. It’s part of a nationwide strategy.

We’re seeing it happen here and we’re seeing the impact of pretty egregious bills that incite controversy and put up barriers between parents and the educators in our classrooms. It’s unnecessary and divisive and creates this overall sense of distrust.

So we’re dealing with these political issues and the bill-specific language being sponsored. But then we also have an overall tone and context that has really cast a pall over the members of UEA. They’re feeling like, “I’ve had it.” We’re at the breaking point and then we see proposals like a bill that sets me up to be sued if I do something a parent finds objectionable in the classroom.

Heidi Matthews UEA president

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Heidi Matthews: This has been rough. We started the session really hopeful, we had great things like the funding for enrollment growth and inflation that were approved in the base budget.

The tone that sets is what we had hoped for. It means public school funding is starting the legislative session from a true zero with the base budget, rather than being in the hole from the get-go and having to fight and claw for funding.

But then the bills started dropping—and moving at warp speed, in some cases without public comment.

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Benjamin Wood: How are things going?

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AT A GLANCE

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t wasn’t that long ago that mainstream diners amused themselves by perpetuating unfair stereotypes about plantbased diets. In fact, I still hear people crack jokes about vegan food being dull and unexciting.

Though I don’t practice a strictly plantbased diet, I’ve broadened my horizons enough to know that Utah doesn’t mess around when it comes to inventive vegan cuisine. Anyone who lives here and still thinks that practicing veganism is practicing gastronomic masochism needs to get out more. For starters, you could check out Yumz Vegan Bakery and Café (3490 S. State Street, 801-590-8092) for a peek at how traditional Latin eats like tres leches cakes and chile verde are getting a plantbased spin.

At first glance, I figured Yumz would be more bakery and less café, but it’s honestly an impressive mixture of both. Owner Cecilia Armenta and her family have worked to make Yumz a bastion for plant-based Latin comfort food, both sweet and savory.

I’m always fascinated with the creativity chefs display when putting a plant-based spin on food that traditionally relies on meat and dairy. In this case, Yumz has set

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It’s tres leches without milk and birria without beef at Yumz Vegan Bakery and Café.

ences with plant-based cheese, but they’ve done everything right at Yumz.

Fans of the birria will also want to check out their selection of chili verde burritos ($14.99), fries ($10.99) and enchiladas ($13.99) for another plant-based revelation.

Again, I’m so used to a protein like pork being the focal point of good chili verde, but the Yumz team continues to harness their talents to capture savory flavors from elsewhere within the plant-based world.

It would be a crime to visit Yumz and not snag some dessert to finish things off. I elected to get a few Napoleon cakes. Again, at first glance you would not be able to tell that these creamy, flaky desserts were made without eggs, cream or butter—they’re absolutely beautiful. I got one mixed berry and one biscoff, and I am here to tell you that neither dessert skimped on the good stuff.

Thick layers of pastry cream sandwiched between thin sheets of pastry and topped with a liberal dose of whipped cream.

Once I dug into these, I definitely appreciated the sheer volume of rich pastry cream. It was a dead ringer for the filling within a good Boston cream doughnut, an impressive feat considering there is no dairy involved. The whipped cream and toppings were also excellent, though I did think the pastry was a bit difficult to cut through, which caused the cream to smoosh out on everything—but it was a small gripe in the grand scheme of things.

With the birria and chile verde at Yumz gracing our state with their presence, I think it’s safe to say that our plant-based comfort food game just went up a few points. Whether you’re looking for some tasty vegan indulgences or just after a solid interpretation of traditional birria, it’s time to check out Yumz. CW

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Baby Got Jackfruit

its sights on birria tacos, those cheesy, beefy tacos you can dip into beef consommé that have been taking over our local social media feeds as of late.

As birria is something that Latin restaurants and chefs have been doing for decades, Armenta and her team had a solid foundation from which to recreate the dish with some well-seasoned jackfruit and vegan cheese. While the menu includes all kinds of Mexican favorites, I had to give the birria platter ($16) a whirl. All of the meat-based birria I have tried really relies on those juicy cuts of protein dipped into a steaming bowl of beef consommé, so I was looking forward to seeing how Yumz was going to approach this dish.

Upon arrival, these tacos looked the part. They had the crisp tortilla, tinged orange from the stewed fillings within. They had the gooey cheese oozing onto the plate from behind a pressed pile of birria. Honestly, I would be hard-pressed to tell these apart from their carnivorous counterparts.

Instead of beef consommé, the birria tacos at Yumz come with a richly flavored tomato-based broth swimming with chopped onions and cilantro.

So how do they stack up flavor-wise?

Based on the look and aroma of this plate of tacos, I knew they were going to taste good.

What I was not expecting was for them to nail the texture. Jackfruit is a wonderful addition to the plant-based chef’s arsenal, but the trick to a good birria comes from the stewing process. Beef, goat, chicken— whatever—will add a level of flavor to the broth, but jackfruit doesn’t offer the same benefit. So to make a birria that maintains its traditional flavor, while keeping the slightly bitter flavor of jackfruit in check, takes some talent—and it’s a talent which the Armenta family has mastered.

These tacos absolutely nail the flavors that make birria such a soulful and satisfying bite. Even the vegan cheese was melty and mild enough to make a decent supporting player. I have had some frightening experi-

Burgers so good they’ll blow your mind!

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2 Row Brewing 6856 S. 300 West, Midvale 2RowBrewing.com On Tap: Feelin’ Hazy

Bohemian Brewery 94 E. Fort Union Blvd, Midvale BohemianBrewery.com

OUTDOOR SEATING ON THE PATIO

Fisher Brewing Co. 320 W. 800 South, SLC FisherBeer.com On Tap: Fisher Beer

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Grid City Beer Works 333 W. 2100 South, SLC GridCityBeerWorks.com On Tap: Extra Pale Ale

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Hopkins Brewing Co. 1048 E. 2100 South, SLC HopkinsBrewingCompany.com On Tap: Black Sesame Stout Hoppers Grill and Brewing 890 E. Fort Union Blvd, Midvale HoppersBrewPub.com Kiitos Brewing 608 W. 700 South, SLC KiitosBrewing.com

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A list of what local craft breweries and cider houses have on tap this week

Level Crossing Brewing Co. 2496 S. West Temple, South Salt Lake LevelCrossingBrewing.com On Tap: Throwing Smoke Smoked Porter

Ogden River Brewing 358 Park Blvd, Ogden OgdenRiverBrewing.com On Tap: Injector Hazy IPA Policy Kings Brewery 223 N. 100 West, Cedar City PolicyKingsBrewery.com Proper Brewing 857 S. Main, SLC ProperBrewingCo.com On Tap: Veni Vidi BiBi- Italian Pilsner Red Rock Brewing Multiple Locations RedRockBrewing.com On Tap: Zwickle Mandarina RoHa Brewing Project 30 Kensington Ave, SLC RoHaBrewing.com On Tap: Spudnik 7 Roosters Brewing Multiple Locations RoostersBrewingCo.com On Tap: Cosmic Autumn Rebellion SaltFire Brewing 2199 S. West Temple, South Salt Lake SaltFireBrewing.com On Tap: Mobius Trip Oak Aged Sour Salt Flats Brewing 2020 Industrial Circle, SLC SaltFlatsBeer.com On Tap: Barrel-Aged Winter Amber Shades Brewing 154 W. Utopia Ave, South Salt Lake ShadesBrewing.beer On Tap: Winter Warmer Amber Ale

Strap Tank Brewery Multiple Locations StrapTankBrewery.com Springville On Tap: PB Rider, Peanut Butter Stout Lehi On Tap: 2-Stroke, Vanilla Mocha Porter TF Brewing 936 S. 300 West, SLC TFBrewing.com On Tap: Edel Pils Talisman Brewing Co. 1258 Gibson Ave, Ogden TalismanBrewingCo.com On Tap: Kingslayer Toasted Barrel Brewery 412 W. 600 North, SLC ToastedBarrelBrewery.com Uinta Brewing 1722 S. Fremont Drive, SLC UintaBrewing.com On Tap: Was Angeles Craft Beer UTOG 2331 Grant Ave, Ogden UTOGBrewing.com On Tap: Snowcat IPA Vernal Brewing 55 S. 500 East, Vernal VernalBrewing.com Wasatch 2110 S. Highland Drive, SLC WasatchBeers.com Zion Brewery 95 Zion Park Blvd, Springdale ZionBrewery.com Zolupez 205 W. 29th Street #2, Ogden Zolupez.com

NonTraditional, Traditional Beers

BY MIKE RIEDEL comments@cityweekly.net @utahbeer

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roper - Caracosa: If you were drinking beer hundreds, if not thousands, of years ago, it would be unrecognizable to today’s beer nerds. Centuries ago, beer was life. It was made with whatever was on hand, to make it interesting and nutritious.

Our contemporary ales and lagers are more of a luxury beverage than a way of life.

However, Proper Brewing Company is giving you a close approximation as to what an ancient could have been like, by making this mixed fermentation Gruit. Gruits are bittered with herbs and spices rather than hops—generally, anything palatable. Other herbs, spices, and berries might be used to create interesting and pleasant aromas and flavors as well. This ale showcases many indigenous ingredients, along with a mixed fermentation of tame and wild yeast to give it a fruity tartness.

The aroma brings notes of pale, soft wheat and pilsner malts with a moderate sweetness, a moderate tart fruitiness of apricot and grape and mild yeast profile. A delicate herbaceous, piney and lemony bitterness slides in from the herbal additions.

The flavor does a slightly better job at showcasing the flavor of the herbs used to bitter this beer. Pale and cracker malts are notable, with a touch of unmalted wheat body and flavor with a moderate sweetness. Continuing tart fruit notes—reminiscent of peach, pear and grape—nod to a Belgian yeast style. The arrangement of bittering spices creates a notable bitterness with flavors of grass, herbal teas, soft citrus

and delicate sage and yarrow. The finish is mildly puckering, with nice fruity tones from the yeast and the wine barrel. The 9.8 alcohol is quite well-hidden.

Overall: This beer was far more accessible than I would have ever guessed going in, as many of the flavors of the bittering herbs used in lieu of hops generated very similar flavor profiles to hops, and a decent bitterness to pair as well. As the ancient, herbed ale style surfaces only occasionally, I’d recommend that anybody interested in ancient-style ales or mixed fermentation beers should try a beer like this one for sure.

UTOG - Snapdragon: Japanese lagers are quite similar to pilsners, but they manage to utilize the most abundant grains of the region to get the job done. In the case of Japan, that would be rice. Japanese rice lagers have that typical round malt profile, but with a much drier finish than their European cousins. This new lager from UTOG enhances the Japanese experience by adding ginger and lime.

Spicy ginger is the primary aromatic quality, and it is very nearly the only aroma that there is. This smells like a spicy ginger ale, but there’s also some fresh aromatic lime peel as well.

The taste succeeds in bringing more to the table, with a gorgeous bready, almost crackery maltiness, along with the citrusy, floral complexities of real ginger (and not just the aromatics and heat familiar from cleaning products). Lime is still here, though in very much a cameo role, lingering in the background here and there.

Pepperiness does show up as well, melding almost seamlessly with the ginger and a light, spicy hop bitterness on the finish (though there is otherwise no presence of hops whatsoever). Of course, the lingering nature of these flavor components ruins the expected quick finish of a lager, yet the refreshing nature of spicy flavors actually somehow makes this a non-issue.

Overall: As many who have followed my reviewing philosophy surely know, I am a huge proponent of critiquing a beer based on what that beer is trying to be. This philosophy is exemplified here. In this case, I believe UTOG sought to make a nuanced beer complex, while also being refreshing—and they succeeded completely.

Snapdragon’s 16-ounce cans will pair exquisitely with sushi or barbeque, while Caracosa would kick-ass with a nice buttery pasta dish. As always, cheers! CW

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Éclair French Pastry Reopens

This French-inspired bakery recently moved from its original location in the Harvard & Yale neighborhood (2112 E. 1300 South) to a larger location in Sandy (7948 S. 1300 East, 385-259-4100, eclairfrenchpastry.com). In addition to their selection of tasty eclairs and other French pastries, Éclair French Pastry also offers a rotating weekend brunch that allows diners to experience traditional eats from all over the globe. Fans of buttery French pastries, gorgeous fruit tarts, delicate meringues and all other manner of other goodies will want to check out the new digs and see what the Éclair team will be whipping up next.

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Trolley Cottage Café Reopens

In other quaint, European-influenced café news, Trolley Cottage Café (703 E. 600 South, 801-419-0579, trolleycottagecafe.com) recently opened its doors.

Currently, Trolley Cottage serves up a brunch menu that features lovely dishes like smoked salmon tartine, parmesan brioche toast and pain perdu. Its daily lunch menu is touting some elegantly simple sandwiches and salads along with a black bean, kale and quinoa bowl that sounds like a delicious fusion of European and Asian flavors. Its location near Trolley Square will make it an excellent way to kick off a weekend of local shopping, and I have to say that brunch menu looks like one of the most convincing reasons to get out of bed a bit earlier on the weekends.

Pop-up Market at Mamachari

Those who like a bit of commerce with their kombucha will want to check out the pop-up market hosted by the Mamachari Kombucha Brewery (1415 S. 700 West) on Saturdays from now until the beginning of April. The market will feature everything from locally-made food and clothing to some tasty eats to kombucha tastings at the brewery. It’s also a great place to bring back your empty Mamachari Kombucha bottles—the brewery is also running a waste diversion project where you can get a bit of cash back for any empties you’ve accumulated.

The market runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays and admission is free.

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FILM REVIEW

Talking ’Bout Her Generation

The Worst Person in the World compassionately captures a Millennial figuring out her life path.

J

Worst Person in the World refuses to oversimplify anyone. As easy as it would have been to reduce Aksel to the kind of guy who laments that his trademark cat character has been artistically butchered for a movie version because his little cat anus has been erased, or who gets defensive about the sexism in his work, Trier also allows Aksel some of the film’s most melancholy observations later on.

The episodic structure fits perfectly for a story about someone whose life perpetually feels like a series of false starts, but it also allows Trier the chance for some delightful formal playfulness. While most of the story unfolds fairly naturalistically, we also get a crazy sequence involving Julie’s trip on hallucinogenic mushrooms, and a fantasy in which she imagines what she would do with a day where she could stop time. It also allows for sequences that showcase some of the year’s most emotionally insightful filmmaking, particularly the chapter involving Julie’s first meeting with Eivind, and the way they tiptoe around the boundaries of what constitutes “cheating.”

There’s also a moment that might be easy to overlook, yet which feels like the key to unlocking Julie’s journey. At the dinner celebrating Julie’s 30th birthday, the

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narrator begins noting what had already happened in the lives of Julie’s mother, grandmother and other forebears by their 30th birthdays, extending back several generations to the point where “the life expectancy was 35 years old.” It’s this generational shift—from a world where women of Julie’s age had their lives already defined for them, to one where almost too many paths are open—that The Worst Person in the World treats with such openness and respect. There’s no one right way to reach the point where you know what your life should look like, and taking a few extra years to get there should never leave someone feeling like the worst person in the world. CW

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Herbert Nordrum and Renate Reinsve in The Worst Person in the World

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in the mind than the body, and switches gears to study psychology. Then psychology, too, feels like the wrong path, and she pivots to an interest in photography, while taking a retail job in a bookstore. With every change in direction for Julie comes a new hair color and style, conditioning us to the assumption that Julie is one of those flaky, hopelessly failing-to-launch Millennials.

We similarly see her bouncing between romantic partners, before seeming to settle down with comic-book artist Aksel (Anders Danielsen Lie). Aksel, however, is more than a decade older, and a bit more serious, than Julie, so an encounter with a random guy named Eivind (Herbert Nordrum), whom she meets while crashing a wedding reception, takes on a magical glow. Oh, that hopeless Julie. Will she ever be satisfied with what she has?

It’s a testament to how beautifully Trier and Reinsve craft Julie’s character that she never comes off like a ditzy object of scorn or pity. Reinsve’s performance doesn’t only come to life when it’s conveying Julie’s impulsiveness, but also when she’s in repose, like a complex facial expression that Trier captures during a moment when she’s walking home from a party. That depth of character extends to all the supporting players as well, as The

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ulie (Renate Reinsve)—the protagonist of Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World—is not the person about whom the title’s sentiment is expressed within the film itself. That comes in a piece of omniscient voice-over narration describing another character—more specifically, describing a way that he feels about himself.

But he isn’t the worst person in the world, either, and neither is any other person muddling her or his way through life in this story.

Trier might, however, have found the perfect title for a deeply compassionate portrayal of people living in an era of hyperbolic nomenclature and existential dread.

As we follow Julie over several years of her life in her late 20s and early 30s, we watch someone trying to figure herself out, relative to expectations about what she should already have figured out about herself. An entire generation needs to hear what Trier is shouting in The Worst Person in the World: It’s okay not to know who you are until you actually know who you are.

Structured (as the opening credits helpfully explain) in twelve chapters with a prologue and epilogue, The Worst Person in the World introduces us to Julie while she’s a student preparing for a career in medicine. Except she soon realizes that she’s more interested

NEON FILMS

BY SCOTT RENSHAW scottr@cityweekly.net @scottrenshaw

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An introduction to City Weekly’s new music editor

BY THOMAS CRONE tcrone@cityweekly.net

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he last time I moved into a city without knowing more than a half-dozen people came not so long ago—as in, January of 2022. Though my partner’s an SLC native back in town for work, my life of late has still been an education in adapting to change, with all manner of new inputs and insights washing over me.

At times, this daily education feels like a good-natured battle, and I’m chalking up a few little wins along the way: discovering fry sauce, walking to the local coffeehouse without GPS, looking in all directions for U-turners. That level of victory is sweet.

The professional win I really need is a fuller understanding of the local music scene, in that I’ve recently been appointed music editor of this paper. I’m succeeding Erin Moore, who’s moved onto other adventures, as sketched out in last week’s issue.

In addition to moving to this town without a deep support system, I arrived here without a set job, and I’m eternally grateful to the folks who’ve hired me. Guess they saw something in me, and my goal is to reward their confidence, starting with full coverage from me in next week’s issue and some blog items between now and then.

In my past life as a writer in St. Louis,

Mo., I worked for the Riverfront Times, a paper like City Weekly. The RFT was my training ground in journalism, and I covered music there for most of my 20s, aka the 1990s. Eventually, I moved between work for the local daily the St. Louis PostDispatch and its affiliated website, stltoday, and the monthly St. Louis Magazine.

As a longtime freelancer, a side hustle was always a necessity of life, and I bounced between teaching (17 years of offering collegiate writing courses) and service industry work (my nights never far removed from checking IDs, mixing drinks and washing dishes). My teaching stopped in order to co-own and operate a bar which featured some live music; after that came another bar, also featuring some live sounds in a too-short lifespan.

As a younger music journalist, my goal was to stir the waters, and I often championed specific bands and mini-scenes in the RFT’s weekly pages; this brought about a predictable backlash, and I regret being a smaller-minded thinker back then. I liked what I liked, and viewed the acts that aligned with my ideas as playing The Best Music, as if such a thing could objectively exist. As blogs became more prevalent, it became easier to spread the coverage wealth, the internet being not limited to hard page counts. This coincided with me opening up my brain to new sounds. I never would’ve guessed that as I approached (and then shot past) my 50th birthday, I’d be mostly inclined to listening to New Orleans jazz or ambient when alone in the house, but here we are.

Going forward in journalism, I want to meet, interview and highlight interesting people doing interesting things, regardless of genre. Even as dozens of emails are filling my inbox, I’m tempted to still think

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that the best connections are those made in person. I’ve been sending my own emails lately while also giving a real life “hello” to folks that I’ve run across in the music community. While live bands are necessarily at the core of coverage, I’m also intrigued by music-tied businesses like peasantries + pleasantries, the record store that I stumbled across on a short walk to the grocery; since then, p+p has added an in-house donut shop, Mad Dough. Wow! Those kinds of random finds and happy accidents make for a good life and, hopefully, a good set of coverage parameters.

Starting with next week’s issue, today’s first-person vibe will be peeled back, but here’s a quick story to end things today.

Last week, I went to the Commonwealth Room. It was my first time really catching live music here, after a couple of incidental “bands in bars”-type experiences. I went because one of Dark Star Orchestra’s drummers, Dino English, invited me to the show. The two of us date back to ’90s-era St. Louis, and it felt natural to watch Dino behind the kit, in a vastly different setting from back then. It was fun being inside a dark, crowded club, listening to music.

Even though DSO’s Grateful Dead sets aren’t my first-choice sound, it was impossible not to pick up on the audience’s love of it all. And I know that this night was just the first of many nights spent inside SLC music rooms.

I’m approaching all this with curiosity and open ears. And I can’t wait to learn about, to write on and to share these new experiences.

(If you want to send me some sounds, do so at: tcrone@cityweekly.net. For a bit more about me [borrrrring!] find me online at thomascrone.substack.com.) CW

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MUNA at The Depot

The opening song on Muna’s debut album Saves The World, from 2019, is a slow, sweet, plaintive prayer for life, uttered by a young person who wants all of life’s progressions and pains to unfold for her. Stylistically, it couldn’t be more different from the songs that follow it, but those songs are the unfolding. On the second track (and their most recognizable hit) “Number One Fan,” MUNA’s lead singer Katie Gavin sings among irresistibly catchy and slick pop beats, “I’ve been looking at myself in the mirror saying don’t leave me now.” It’s a self-pump-up song, a pep talk that sets the stage for an album that expresses more uncertainty, with heartbreak, unrequited love and melancholy taking the center stage on the album’s other standout tracks “Stayaway,” “Who” and “Pink Light.” Gavin’s way of singing, too, is part of what makes MUNA so unique—she has a distinct, deep voice with a lilt that for some reason recalls the ’90s, especially when she sings, “I’m just trying to keep my head above wah-ya-ya-ter” on the sweet and sad “Navy Blue.” Though the band has been working together since 2013, the debut probably owes much of its listenability to their working with RCA Records on it—a big label that they apparently didn’t feel that attached to, because they’ve since left for Phoebe Bridgers’ Saddest Factory Records. There, they’ve released the successful single “Silk Chiffon,” which features Phoebe Bridgers and is a bright, refreshing blossom of a queer love story, one that dares to declare in 2022, “life’s so fun, life’s so fun.”

See the band when they play at The Depot on Thursday, Feb. 17 at 7 p.m. The all-ages show is $25 at depotslc.com. (Erin Moore )

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Manchester Orchestra, in the truest sense, has grown up with their fans. Frontman Andy Hull started the band when he was still a high-schooler in suburban Atlanta, and the band’s 2006 debut I’m Like A Virgin Losing A Child glowed and pulsed with adolescent angst, all raw nerves and quavering uncertainty. But that was just the beginning, and long-time followers have had the distinct pleasure of watching a talented musician blossom into himself more-or-less in real time. Hull has grown from an anxious, isolated teenager to a devoted husband and father, and each release has shown him a more thoughtful and inventive songwriter than ever before.

As Hull has matured, so too has his band, gradually shifting from emo-tinged postpunk to confident, austere indie rock, and even sprawling into symphonic rock and Americana territory at points. 2021’s The Million Masks of God represents their furthest advance of this process yet: an expansive rumination on love, death and the passage of time, and the band’s most intricate studio creation to date. In true Manchester Orchestra fashion, the current tour for The Million Masks of God is finding their stage show more immersive than ever; Salt Lakers can experience it firsthand when the band stops

by The Complex Saturday, Feb. 19 at 7 p.m., with fellow indie-rockers Foxing and Michigander providing support. Tickets to the all-ages show are $31 at thecomplexslc.com. (Nic Renshaw)

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The War on Drugs, Rosali

The border between rock and singer-songwriter music is a blurry one, and musicians who place themselves near it often do so with a palpable unease. It’s easy to understand why: Veer too far in one direction, and the lyricism you cherish so dearly can get swallowed by a sound that’s bigger, grander and more noticeable; swing too far in the other, and fans who want a music-above-all approach might lose interest in something that’s too personal and intimate to have broad appeal. Adam Granduciel, however, makes the melding of those sometimes-polarized sensibilities feel utterly effortless. Granduciel’s band The War on Drugs first struck upon this balancing act on their 2011 breakthrough Slave Ambient, and have spent every album since refining it to a breathtaking degree. The soundscapes they offer up are unapologetically grandiose and lush, marrying heartland swoon and psychedelic drift, but Granduciel’s eloquently-expressed anxieties and observations always take center stage, steering the cinematic bombast right towards the listener’s heartstrings. Their latest studio outing, last year’s I Don’t Live Here Anymore, saw The War on Drugs tightening and simplifying their established style, while still mining the rich dichotomy between rock scope and writerly detail. The band is currently touring in support of the album, stopping in for a date at the Union Event Center , Saturday, Feb. 19 alongside fellow Philadelphian songsmith Rosali. The all-ages show is $40.50 at theunioneventcenter.com. (NR)

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The Weather Station

The Weather Station at The Commonwealth Room

One of the things that seemed to excite critics when The Weather Station (aka Tamara Lindeman) released her 2021 album Ignorance was that she leaned away from her folk roots and into a world of her own creation, made up of swirling, luscious songscapes with a soft, smooth backbone of jazz that paces and races alongside her pondering voice. The album is introspective, but invites you in, because it introspects about things in the outer world, namely climate grief and all its accessories—on the sensuous and hooking opener “Robber,” she tells a story of capitalism’s failings. A sweeping and deeply affective album to listen to, it’s compelling all the way across its seven expansive songs, and if you’re already a fan you probably have heard that a collection of songs written at the same time as Ignorance is due out March 4, titled How Is It That I Should Look At The Stars. That’s just in time for her to test out the new tracks on her current tour, and with support from another solo artist who’s also a genius at putting together luscious, intelligently layered songs. Helena Deland is that artist, and on her 2020 debut album Someone New, she employs her delicate but powerful voice and always sighing breath to tell an often-despondent story of new love—she’s less falling than she is stepping slowly into it, testing the bathwater. Both had some of the most interesting albums in indie music the last two years, and their playing together is a beautiful match. See them at The State Room on Saturday, Feb. 19 at 8 p.m. Tickets to the 21+ show are $26 at thestateroom.com. (EM)

Nile at Metro Music Hall

The 2000s were an interesting decade for death metal: with many of the genre’s first wave of luminaries having either disbanded (Death, Gorguts, Autopsy) or entered decidedly lessessential phases of their careers (Cryptopsy, Morbid Angel, In Flames), the future for one of metal’s most cherished traditions was more than slightly uncertain. However, plenty of bands rose to the occasion with aplomb—not least of all Nile, who stormed out of Greeneville, S.C. around the turn of the century with a savagely technical and intricate take on the genre and a fascination with Egyptology that set them apart from anyone else in the death metal scene. Since their landmark 2002 release In Their Darkened Shrines, they’ve steadily ascended to the status of elder statesmen of extreme music, producing consistently high-quality albums powered

by George Kolias’ pulverizing drum work and frontman Karl Sanders’ furious drop-A riffage. Nile are currently touring in support of their latest album, 2019’s Vile Nilotic Rites, alongside New York metal legends Incantation, who are themselves partially responsible for shaping the crushing sound Nile has spent much of their career expanding upon. Their stop at Metro Music Hall on Monday, Feb. 21 promises to be a can’tmiss spectacle for death metal fanatics of all persuasions, especially with Ohioan death/doom upstarts Sanguisugabogg and Texan deathcore fivesome I AM providing support.

Tickets to the 21+ show are $25 - $100 at metromusichall. com and doors are at 7 p.m. (NR)

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY B Y R O B

B R E Z S N Y

Go to realastrology.com for Rob Brezsny’s expanded weekly audio horoscopes and daily text-message horoscopes.

Audio horoscopes also available by phone at 877-873-4888 or 900-950-7700.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) You’re slipping into a phase when stuff that has been invisible will become visible, at least to you. You will have extra power to peer beneath the surfaces and discern the hidden agendas and study the deeper workings. Your interest in trivia and distractions will dissipate, and you’ll feel intensified yearnings to home in on core truths. Here’s your guiding principle during this time: Favor the interests of the soul over those of the ego. And for inspiration, have fun with this quote by religious scholar Huston Smith: “The Transcendent was my morning meal, we had the Eternal at lunch, and I ate a slice of the Infinite at dinner.”

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) Author Gayle Forman offers a set of truths that I suspect will be useful for you in the coming weeks. They may even be inspirational and motivational. Forman writes, “Sometimes fate or life or whatever you want to call it, leaves a door a little open, and you walk through it. But sometimes it locks the door and you have to find the key, or pick the lock or knock the damn thing down. And sometimes, it doesn’t even show you the door, and you have to build it yourself.” Are you ready for the challenge, Libra? I think you are. Do whatever you must do to go through the doorways you want and need to go through.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) “You cannot have fun with anything that you don’t love or admire or respect,” declared comedian Mel Brooks. I agree!

The joyous release that comes through playful amusement is most likely to unfold when you’re in the presence of influences you are fond of. The good news, Taurus, is that in the coming weeks, you will have a special inclination and knack for hanging around people and influences like that. Therefore, you will have an enhanced capacity for mirth and delight and pleasure. Take full advantage, please! As much as possible, gravitate toward what you love and admire and respect.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) Singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash described her process. “I dream of songs,” she began. “I dream they fall down through the centuries, from my distant ancestors, and come to me.

I dream of lullabies and sea shanties and keening cries and rhythms and stories and backbeats.” Scorpio, I would love for you to explore comparable approaches to getting the creative ideas you need to live your best life possible. I would love for you to draw freely from sources beyond your conscious ego—including your ancestors, the people you were in previous incarnations, gods and spirits, heroes and allies, the intelligence of animals and the wisdom of nature. The coming months will be a time to expand your access. Start boosting the signals now!

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) “The thing about inspiration is that it takes your mind off everything else,” says Gemini author Vikram Seth. I bring this truth to your attention because I believe you will soon be the beneficiary of steady, strong waves of inspiration. I also predict that these waves will transport you away from minor irritations that are best left alone for now. Be alert and ever-ready to spring into action, my dear, so that as the inspirational surges flow, you will harvest the maximum rewards from their gifts.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) “Self-control might be as passionate and as active as the surrender to passion,” wrote Aquarian author W. Somerset Maugham. Yes! I agree! And that’s the perfect message for you to hear right now. If you choose to take advantage of the potentials that life is offering you, you will explore and experiment with the mysteries of self-discipline and self-command. You’ll be a trailblazer of discernment and poise. You will indulge in and enjoy the pleasures of self-regulation.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) In 1961, Piscean cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first human to orbit the Earth in a spacecraft. As his feat neared its end, Gagarin left the capsule at 20,000 feet above the ground and parachuted the rest of the way. He arrived in a turnip field where a girl and her grandmother were working. They provided him with a horse and cart so he could travel to the nearest telephone and make a call to get picked up and brought back to headquarters. I foresee a metaphorically comparable series of events transpiring in your life, Pisces. Be flexible and adaptable as you adjust to changing conditions with changing strategies. Your exceptional and illustrious activities may require the assistance of humble influences.

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VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) “Always remember this,” said actor Hattie McDaniel (1893– 1952). “There are only 18 inches between a pat on the back and a kick in the rump.” Metaphorically speaking, I believe her advice will be useful for you in the coming days. Lately, you’ve had to deal with too many experiences and influences akin to kicks in the rump. But now that will change. Soon there’ll be a surge of experiences and influences that resemble pats on the back. In my estimation, you have finished paying your dues and making course corrections. Now it’s time for you to receive meaningful appreciation and constructive approval.

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LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) “You face your greatest opposition when you’re closest to your biggest miracle,” wrote author and filmmaker T. D. Jakes.

According to my analysis of upcoming astrological omens, that’s good advice for you. I suspect that the problems you encounter will be among your best and most useful ever. With the right attitude, you will harness the challenges to generate magnificent breakthroughs. And what’s the right attitude? Proceed with the hypothesis that life is now conspiring to bring your soul exactly what your soul needs to express its ripest beauty.

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SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) Author Madeleine Thien has lived in Vancouver, Montreal, and Iowa City, and has taught at schools in Hong Kong and Brooklyn.

Her father was born and raised in Malaysia and her mother in Hong Kong. She has a rich array of different roots. Not surprisingly, then, she has said, “I like to think of home as a verb, something we keep recreating.” That’s an excellent meditation for you right now, Sagittarius. And it will continue to be worthy of your ruminations for another four months. What’s the next CANCER (June 21-July 22) The advice that Reb Nachman of Breslov offered two centuries step you could take to feel comfortable and secure and at peace? ago is just right for you now: “Never ask directions from someone who knows the way, or you will never be able to get lost.” In CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) the coming weeks, you will attract tricky but palpable blessings The fastest animal on earth is the peregrine falcon, which can from meandering around without knowing exactly where you reach speeds of 200 miles per hour when it dives from a great are. It’s time for you to find out what you don’t even realize you height. The seventh-fastest creature is the humble pigeon. need to know; to stumble upon quiet little wonders and marvels Having been clocked at 92.5 miles per hour, the bird outpaces that will ultimately prove to be guideposts for your holy quests the cheetah, which is the fastest land animal. I propose we make in the future. Yes, I understand that being in unknown territory the pigeon your spirit creature for the coming weeks. On the one without a reliable map isn’t usually a pleasure, but I believe it hand, you may seem mild and modest to casual observers. On will be for you. PS: Our fellow Cancerian, author Rebecca Solnit, the other hand, you will in fact be sleek, quick, and agile. Like wrote a book entitled A Field Guide to Getting Lost. It might be the pigeon, you will also be highly adaptable, able to thrive in a variety of situations. helpful during your wanderings.

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Interior Designer (Draper, UT) Plan, design & furnish interiors of food truck and restaurant. Formulate design which is practical, aesthetic & conducive to intended purposes, such as raising productivity, selling merchandise, or improving life style. 40hrs/ wk, Bachelor’s degree in Interior design / industrial design or related required.

Resume to Cupbop Co Attn: Yeiri KIM, 12184 S Business Park Dr #C, Draper, UT 84020

Social Media Marketing Specialist to conduct online marketing initiatives such as advertising campaigns, planning events online, etc. on major social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram & Pinterest for the management consulting company. Mon-Fri 40hrs/wk. 12 mos. exp. as a Marketing Specialist/ related occupation OR Associate’s in Marketing/ related field req’d. Mail Resume to Port Royal Consulting, LLC, 32 W 200S, Ste 606, Salt Lake City, UT 84101.

© 2022

OMEGA-3

BY DAVID LEVINSON WILK

ACROSS

1. ____ Mama (rum drink) 2. Google, say 3. Rough partner?

4. Does some lifting 5. Matar, in Indian cuisine 6. Brand with a paw print in its logo 7. Bit of choreography 8. Half-____ (in a lazy manner)

G

Rent Help L

9. Good name for a museum curator?

10. Fat used in piecrusts 11. Most of the 2010s 12. They ruin perfect attendance 13. Antelopes named for the sound they make when frightened 18. Test for an advanced deg. seeker 22. “Forgot About ____” (Grammy-winning song) 25. Captain Picard’s counselor 27. Banana Republic rival 31. Makes a move 32. GPA booster 34. Witch 35. It has lots of slots 36. ____ double 38. Flip over 39. “In my opinion ...”

40. Bookie’s charge, for short 41. Tavern in the same town as Krusty Burger 42. Activity for which you may be handicapped 45. School day’s end, often 47. “You saved me!”

48. Did a scan of 49. Tweetstorm, e.g.

50. Conductors set them 53. Snatcher’s exclamation 55. Channel that airs many B&W films 57. Game that might end in a library 59. Years back 60. Disney villain voiced by Jeremy Irons 63. Trippy drug 65. It may be used to get away from a bank

Last week’s answers

No math is involved. The grid has numbers, but nothing has to add up to anything else. Solve the puzzle with reasoning and logic. Solving time is typically 10 to 30 minutes, depending on your skill and experience.

DOWN

URBAN L I V I N

WITH BABS DELAY Broker, Urban Utah Homes & Estates, urbanutah.com

Complete the grid so that each row, column, diagonal and 3x3 square contain all of the numbers 1 to 9.

1. Diner favorites 5. City where Enrico Fermi and Galileo studied 9. “Get ____ of this!”

14. August, in Avignon 15. Takes courses?

16. Literally, “my master” 17. They’re never away 19. Family name in Steinbeck’s “East of Eden” 20. “Allahu ____!” (Muslim cry) 21. Went 90 on I-90, say 23. “Slid into” an online conversation 24. “Party in the back” hairstyle 26. Sixers’ #6, familiarly 28. DiFranco of Righteous Babe Records 29. Hominidae family members 30. Addison ____, high-earning TikTok personality 33. Online payment option 35. SAT prep topic 37. Hardest-to-find items for a collector 38. “Faster, faster!”

42. Shoot for the stars 43. Actor Max von ____ 44. Some fatty acids ... or a description of what can be found in 17-, 38- and 64-Across 46. “Yes, captain!”

47. Oven ____ 51. Staples Center team, on scoreboards 52. Eavesdrop, maybe 54. Get in the way of 56. Org. created by the 1933 Banking Act 58. Herd’s words 61. Bracelet ornament 62. Comment after tripping 64. Employment hot topic 66. “____ ordo seclorum” (phrase on the back of the $1 bill) 67. Final Four org.

68. Ctrl-Y, on many computers 69. King Midas’ downfall 70. Model Miranda 71. “To ...” things

SUDOKU X

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38 | FEBRUARY 17, 2022

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

ast month, the median rent in Salt Lake City for a one-bedroom apartment was $1,088 and $1,391 for a two-bedroom, which is up almost 20% since COVID hit. This crappy fact came from the rental search site, apartmentlist.com. And despite thousands of apartment buildings coming on line as the developers complete them, we’re still in a world of hurt for affordable rental housing along the Wasatch Front.

Savannah Cracraft, a property manager and owner of Partlow Investment Properties in Salt Lake City says: “[Landlords] are asking whatever they want to ask for rent.

Inventory is limited, especially for homes with more bedrooms. Some two bedrooms can still be found for $1,200 but some landlords are asking $2,000 and more. I would say the average for a two-bedroom home is still $1,600 per month, which is higher than ever. All the new high-rise apartments have outrageous rents, but you can still find affordable options throughout the Salt Lake Valley if you search hard enough. You could find a four bedroom home for $2,000, but some landlords are asking more than $3,000 for the same property. I’m tellin’ ya, rents are all over the map right now!”

Craycroft works for landlords in helping to find viable tenants for their properties. Both a criminal background and credit check are required to sign a lease with most of her property owners, which makes it virtually impossible for anyone with a felony record to get into housing. Sure, some folks are opting to stay home or move back home to save money for a decent rental or to buy a home, but uncertainty abounds for those on a month-to-month lease and tenants are shaking in their boots waiting for the next rent hike from their landlord.

There are several programs to help with rent assistance: •The Housing Authority of the County of Salt Lake (801) 284-4400 •The West Valley City Housing Authority, (801) 963-3320 •The Housing Authority of Salt Lake City, (801) 487-2161 •Utah Non Profit Housing Corporation, (801) 364-6117 •The Road Home, (801) 363-1091 •Salt Lake Community Action Program, (801) 359-2444 •St. George Housing Authority, (435) 628-3648 •Ogden Housing Authority, (801) 627-5851 •Weber County Housing Authority, (801) 399-8681 •Housing Authority Carbon County, (801) 637-5170 •Asian Association of Utah, (801) 467-6060 There are also religious groups that offer aid outside of their congregations: •Catholic Community Services, (801) 977-9119 •Christian Center of Park City, (801) 649-2260 •Jewish Family Services, (801) 746-4334 Funding is limited at all of the abovementioned resources. But when you’re in need, you may be able to bundle services from different charities—such as receiving food from one, rent help from another and job counseling from a third.

Content is prepared expressly for Community and is not endorsed by City Weekly staff.

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S NEofW the

BY T HE EDITO R S AT A ND RE WS M cMEEL

WEIRD

My Kingdom for an Editor Queen Elizabeth II’s platinum jubilee is celebrated this year, and the souvenir producers are hard at work creating tchotchkes to commemorate it—but apparently not hard enough at work to proofread their copy. People magazine reported that because of a translating error, Karl Baxter, CEO of Wholesale Clearance U.K., is trying to sell more than 10,000 pieces that trumpet the queen’s “platinum jubbly”—mugs, tea sets and plates featuring an illustration of Elizabeth and her coat of arms. Baxter hopes to salvage $44,000 from the lot and says the buyer could make a “potential profit” of $400,000. The website suggests using the items for a plate-smashing contest or a “dangerous game of Frisbee.”

a messy kitchen and a young man with an assault weapon inside, The Washington Post reported. But even more stunning was the intruder’s behavior: He explained that his family in east Texas had been killed and he was on the run from someone. He told the husband that his car had broken down about 100 miles away. “He was extremely embarrassed and apologetic about the situation,” the husband told sheriff’s officers. As he left, he dropped $200 on a table to help pay for the window he had broken to get in. None of the couple’s items had been stolen, including jewelry that was left on a counter, but the intruder had cooked some of their food, slept in a bed and bathed in the master bathroom. Investigators figured he owed the couple $15 for beers and shrimp he consumed.

Least Competent Criminals First rule of being a criminal? Keep up with car maintenance.

On Jan. 27, police in New Kensington, Pennsylvania, pulled over a Chevy Trax because its license plate light was burned out, TribLive reported. The driver, Ise Lamont Woods, 31, had an outstanding warrant from Jan. 5 for criminal mischief and disorderly conduct, among other charges. One of the passengers, Raphael Angel Geiger, 30, was wanted for a parole violation.

And Don Lamont Carter, 26, allegedly tossed a bag with 29 grams of crack cocaine in it to a female passenger, asking her to “tuck it”; he was already wanted on a previous warrant. When police searched the vehicle, the bag of cocaine fell out of the woman’s sweatshirt; she also had a crack pipe hidden in her bra.

Geiger and Woods were taken into custody; Carter was released on his own recognizance.

People With Issues Georgetown University’s William Treanor, dean of the law school, met with a Black student group on Feb. 1 to hear their complaints about an incoming lecturer, Ilya Shapiro, after he made comments about President Joe Biden’s plans to replace Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. National Review reported that the students wanted to discuss a “reparations” package with Treanor, which included a designated place on campus to cry. “Is there an office they can go to?” one student asked. “I don’t know what it would look like, but if they want to cry, if they need to break down, where can they go? Because we’re at the point where students are coming out of class to go to the bathroom to cry.”

Armed and Courteous When a couple returned to their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Jan. 30 after a few days away, they were shocked to find

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n “All I wanted was some steak,” one customer was heard to say in a video of a brawl that broke out at a Golden Corral in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, on Jan. 28, CBS Philly reported.

Reports were unclear about what started the brawl, but employee Gaven Lauletta gave his account of the incident: “There was a shortage of steak and two parties were involved and one family cut in front of another family, they were taking their time and they ran out of steak and it got into a heated exchange at the tables,” he said. Police said more than 40 people may have been involved in the melee, although no serious injuries were reported.

Unclear on the Concept As she waited to check out at Walmart in Crockett, Texas, on Jan. 13, an unnamed woman was approached by Rebecca Lanette Taylor, 49, who “began commenting on her son’s blond hair and blue eyes. She asked how much she could purchase him for,” police reported. The mom thought Taylor was making a weird joke, but Taylor said she had $250,000 cash in her car, according to Messenger News. When the mom said no amount of money would be enough, Taylor increased her voice volume and her bid to $500,000 and told her she’d been wanting to buy a baby for a long time. Taylor was arrested on Jan. 18 and charged with sale or purchase of a child, a third-degree felony.

Clowns When Mark, 38, and his wife left for work one morning in January, their back garden in Belfast, Northern Ireland, looked just like it does any other day. But when the wife returned that afternoon, there was a concrete slab painted with a creepy clown face propped against the wall, the Belfast Telegraph reported.

“Someone would have had to come through our gate and down the steps to place it there—and deliberately place it so it was facing the window so we would see it,” Mark said. The clown was holding a lighted candle, and on the reverse, a Bible verse was inscribed: “Let your light shine. Matthew 5:16.” Mark contacted friends, neighbors and family members to see if it was a prank, or if others had received a clown, but no one had experienced anything similar. He threw the clown away, but remains creeped out: “It’s so unsettling.”

Send your weird news items to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.

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Suspicious On Jan. 31, a Rhode Island red hen was found wandering around a security checkpoint at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, the Associated Press reported. The Animal Welfare League of Arlington was summoned to the high-security building, and one of their employees took the bird into custody. Chelsea Jones, a spokesperson for the group, said the hen was “sweet” and “nervous.” She has been adopted by a staff person who has a small farm in western Virginia.

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The Passing Parade Maybe it was just the prospect of one more day of notoriety followed by 364 days of boredom, but for Milltown Mel, it was curtains on Jan. 30, the New York Daily News reported. Mel, no relation to the better-known Punxsutawney Phil, was New Jersey’s prognosticator of spring, and his untimely passing just three days before Groundhog Day left the Milltown Wranglers without a replacement for their event, which was strangely scheduled for Feb. 1 rather than Feb. 2. The Wranglers did not report a cause of death for Mel.

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Reefer Madness A 23-year-old Thai man’s harrowing ordeal was documented in late January in the Journal of Medical Case Reports, Gizmodo reported. Doctors at Chiang Mai University wrote that the young man, who had been a regular user of cannabis but had stopped for three months, had resumed his habit, with devastating effects.

Two hours after hitting the bong, the man suffered a bout of psychosis and an “unwanted” erection, which prompted him to use scissors to “trim the penile skin several times.” However, he went too far, eventually ending up with just an inch-long stump.

At the hospital, doctors stopped his bleeding and created a new opening for his urethra, but his penis was too damaged to be reattached. He was diagnosed with substance-induced psychotic disorder; after two weeks of hospitalization and anti-psychotic drugs, he reported no more symptoms.

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