In an interview with National Journal, Ralph Becker points to the LDS Church’s financing of the huge downtown City Creek Center as one of the reasons for Salt Lake City’s low unemployment rate.
Reports Nancy Cook:
Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker is not your typical Utah politician. For starters, he’s a Democrat and a proud progressive in a Red State, the son of a former U.S. ambassador, who grew up in Washington, D.C., and attended a private Episcopal school. Yet, Becker settled in Utah roughly 40 years ago, drawn to the West through summer jobs with the National Park Service. He attended law school at the University of Utah, ran his own planning and consulting business, and then rose through the ranks of the Utah statehouse before assuming office in 2008 as the mayor of Salt Lake City, a burgeoning and increasingly diverse metropolitan area where the city population now clocks in at just under 200,000 residents.
Becker recently sat down with National Journal to talk about Salt Lake City’s economic future—from its shockingly low unemployment rate to its inclusion on national “Best Places to Live” lists to long-term challenges such as air quality, education, and changing demographics.
