There is just no pleasing some people.

We all recall the recent dust up regarding the Public Safety Building (PSB) being located on Library Square. Mayor Becker, seeing the writing on the wall, backed down from this plan in what I feel was a win for his transparent government style.  Not ignoring the fact that we do, in fact, need a PSB, Mayor Becker has now backing an idea that would place the PSB on the east side of 300 East, across the street from the Main Library.

Now, if you were reading the Salt Lake Tribune, you would think that this was the first time Becker ever even considered this option – bowing to the whims of public pressure and showing weakness as he does it.  Furthermore, if you were to read the comments on the article (I don’t know why I put myself through this stuff but I do), you would see people up in arms that it is not being placed somewhere else and that they are under the impression that Becker is just throwing darts on a map of Downtown Salt Lake to pick a site.

This…makes my head hurt.

Six weeks ago I wrote my first post about the PSB and, sure enough, it mentioned all of the main proposals Mayor Becker wished to put forward – including two on the east side of 300 East! In other words, Becker already had this plan! True, he did back the Library Square option, but that does not mean that he ruled out others.

But does the Trib, in its increasingly lackluster reporting, discuss this? Nope.  All they want to do is take advantage of the passions associated with the original proposal.

Oh well, I have said it before and I will say it again:  I support and see the need for a PSB in Downtown; the idea of a “civics campus” appeals to me, conservatives (who wouldn’t give away a single dime even if it saved their mothers life) will oppose it, and Becker needs to make sure he does a good job communicating his ideas to a unfocused yet passionate public.