Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall is standing in the middle of 500 West in the Granary District on a warm October morning, explaining why the wide, dilapidated street should be transformed into a combination of park, pedestrian, bicycle and vehicle lanes, as part of the first segment of a proposed Green Loop around downtown.
Mendenhall has to raise her voice to be heard above some nearby construction while dodging a few passing cars and trucks, but otherwise the section of street between 700 and 800 South that has a concert venue but little else is empty except for some apparently unhoused individuals walking by with their belongings.
Under what she calls her “big idea” to help make the core of Utah’s capital city more livable, especially for families , as much as $350 million would be spent overhauling more than five miles of city-owned right of way along 500 West, 900 South, North Temple and South Temple, and 200 East to create a connected greenway…