Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker is inviting Salt Lake City residents to join him at a meeting Tuesday night to plan a strategy with him for making Salt Lake City’s collective voices opposing the prison heard – at the Legislature and in the Governor’s office.
“In both my private meetings with state leaders and my public statements I have made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that moving the prison to Salt Lake City is absolutely unacceptable. There are serious economic and physical feasibility issues associated with both proposed sites,” said Mayor Becker.
“It is my goal to get our entire community mobilized to fight moving the state prison to our Capital City. Our neighborhoods are already hosting a disproportionate number of detention facilities and we should not be asked to shoulder the burden of relocating the largest one in the state.”
“I have heard from numerous concerned citizens and community activists asking what they can do to voice their opposition to moving the prison to Salt Lake City. I am focused on bringing everyone together to devise the most effective strategy possible to support this effort,” said Mayor Becker.
This strategy meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 16 in room 326 of the Salt Lake City & County Building, 451 S. State Street. The meeting is open to the public and the media.
Gov. Gary Herbert and the state Legislature have been working on a plan to move the state prison and two of the sites under strong consideration are located in Salt Lake City. Since that unfortunate development was made public, Mayor Becker has heard from many concerned citizens and community activists who want to know how they can voice their opinion on the possible relocation of the State Prison to Salt Lake City.
Mayor Becker will share a detailed analysis his administration developed and submitted to state legislators (view it here) at the meeting so every concerned resident is armed with the most complete information about the rational for not moving the prison to Salt Lake City. The legislative committee charged with choosing a new prison location is meeting again on Dec. 22 to announce a short list of potential sites.
