Political leaders have made the roads less safe
Well well well. A very interesting article in the Park Record from January 8 to 11: “A deadly year seen on the roads of Utah. Hmm. I’m sitting here, with my public health hat, rubbing my chin in thought. Let me see if I understood correctly.
According to the article, 2021 has been the deadliest year on Utah roads since 2002 and blame it all on personal behavior and impaired drivers (in fact a classic corporate safety loophole ). Our good old Utah politicians forgot to point out that they have been actively working to completely dismantle the state safety inspection requirement for most vehicles as a prerequisite for registration as of January 1. 2018. Two years after this bold move (keep the government out of my personal business – it doesn’t affect you) we are seeing record crashes, injuries and deaths. No correlation there – keep going, nothing to see here.
Impaired drivers are already dangerous enough. ANY driver (intoxicated driver included) driving a dangerous vehicle (flat tires, bad brakes, cracked windshield, bad wipers, no turn signals, etc.) has increased the danger. Could any of these 2021 deaths have been avoided if the vehicle was in better working order? Do our political leaders, who have chosen to do away with annual safety inspections, have blood on their hands or corpses on their conscience? They should.
Dean Lilquist
Sources of money
*****
I won’t hide anymore
Summit County Health Department’s new mask mandate is a joke. Where were you two weeks ago?
Maybe Christmas week money has something to do with it?
Also, I went for a quick test on December 24, but guess what? Closed for Christmas – The Summit County Health Department had their hands full, but it’s now over. We have to learn to live with the virus. Summit County residents have already decided how THEY want to handle this pandemic.
There’s no way I’m using a mask, I’m fully vaccinated and had COVID. It’s over, people.
Andre Roby
Samak
*****
Mask Mandate Harms Children
Following Sundance’s cancellation, Summit County issued a 45-day mask mandate. According to the Ministry of Health, this decision was made due to overstretched hospital capacity, a growing number of cases and a limited workforce in essential services such as snow removal. This mandate requires a mask in all indoor locations, including our schools. I have two children at a local primary school, and because they aren’t wearing masks, they won’t be able to go to school for the next six weeks.
Yes I know. It is our choice not to send children to school with mask obligation. We’re making this decision because my kindergarten daughter can rank everyone in her class based on their mask status. We are making this decision because my first grade son was told by his classmate that he was going to die for not wearing a mask. This is how children interact with each other now. It’s not true. We have infected their minds and the psychological damage is real.
It’s time to teach our children about resilience. Not signaling virtue with an Instagram post, but true resilience to adversity. Teach them to eat healthy and stay active so their bodies are ready to fight disease. Teach them that the air is not poisonous and that fear is not a virtue. More importantly, their biggest concern when they are young should be trying to figure out how to be kids.
For the leaders of our community, I implore you to reconsider the mask mandate for our children. This large-scale move was designed for Main Street, where a daily influx of tourists makes it difficult for our city to handle spikes in infection. The children in our community are not the source of the problem, but this policy comes at their expense. Our city can survive if the rise in cases slows down snow removal services a bit. We cannot survive if we keep sacrificing next-gen development.
Brian George
Prospector
*****
Fest does not respect its commitments
The Sundance Film Festival is not meeting its commitments to day ticket buyers for the days of January 27 and 28.
Day ticket packages were previously available (so we purchased them) for these dates for $100 each. They allowed in-person or online participation in various films.
Since last week when in-person attendance was canceled due to COVID, day pass buyers have been advised to go online and purchase new day passes which would allow for online viewing for the duration of the festival.
However, when attempting to “redeem” the day passes for online viewing on January 27th and 28th, we (and likely all other) day pass buyers were informed that online viewing will be available for the dates until on January 26, but not for the 27 and 28.
Why? We can’t say otherwise that it was a decision clearly taken at the top by one or more unscrupulous people who don’t care much about honoring their commitments. We are advised that online viewing will be available to industry and press attendees on the 27th and 28th, but not to those who have already purchased day passes for those days.
Other than simply removing day passes from our Sundance account, no mention was made as to Sundance’s intentions regarding refunds or other alternative viewing options.
Scandalous!
Paul and Barbara Schwartz
Solamer
*****
It’s the tip of the iceberg
Tom Clyde’s recent column was spot on.
And all this before Jordanelle, Heber and surrounding developments have barely begun. With the number of homes and condos being built, you’re talking thousands of additional potential skiers and borders.
Somehow most people think most of these homes are out of town and therefore these owners and guests won’t have as much of an impact on the town as they do in condos. and the houses of the city. Look at one of the advertisements for each of these developments and the main selling point is the quick access to Park City. These outlets and the quick access should be a monstrous red flag for all city and county planners. And if everyone thinks all those winter enthusiasts will go to Deer Valley, think again – Deer Valley has no snowboards, so none of those families who have even one snowboarder in their group will proceed to Park City Mountain Resort. And at night, even if it’s just once per trip, those same owners and guests will want to head to downtown Park City, for dinner and shopping. So that’s just the tip of the melting iceberg when it comes to crowds.
Bob Goldman
Jeremiah Ranch
