Do BETTER, Salt Lake City!

Can we keep Abravanel Hall and Make the Whole Thing Lots Better in the Process?

This ALTERNATIVE plan builds an east-west connection from the Delta Center to the NEW ALLEY LOBBY of Abravanel Hall, which is separate from the existing lobby. The ALLEY LOBBY will have new elevators and restrooms, improved wheelchair access to all the tiers, and maybe a wine bar. It is a glass tower that is the terminus of the axis. No need to change the existing lobby or the layout or slope of the hall.

Lets say we have these goals:

• keep all the Sportsy sports cause they are fun for downtown and make some people happy, even though they are not any kind of economic anything for anybody but the owner, so that’s not the reason.
• honor Abravanel Hall as an historic building because it is very special, one of a kind, and makes Salt Lake look good, even though it costs some money to renovate it but we don’t know how much but economics is the not the reason here, either.
• honor Japan Town and expand new reasonably scaled mixed use next to it, because we really screwed that place over and helping recreate community is an honorable goal. Cherry tree streetscape plan needs to be reinstated.
• provide an east-west route from West Temple to the Delta Center because the long block of the convention center is a drag. First South could be extended as a pedestrian street through the Convention Center as a viable alternative. I literally walked right through, it’s easy. But Ryan’s way has some other advantages, as long as it takes a curve.
• create an exciting jumbo-tron-like busy, electronic space so we can seem just like LA or New York or other much, much bigger cities. Keep in mind we are much smaller and scale the space appropriately.
• finally, create a medals plaza for an event that lasts, remember, only 2 weeks

Here are some things I would be really unhappy with:

• Closing any street or putting any street underground. It’s unnecessary, disruptive to pedestrians, and really inappropriate in a city with such huge blocks
• Super tall buildings that suck up all the real estate potential, require huge parking structures, are not pedestrian friendly, and divert from the central downtown we have been happily and successfully building. BTW 600 feet, which SEG asked for, is taller than the tallest building in Salt Lake, which, at 450 feet is not even finished.

There are so many things we don’t know about the City, County, SEG and Legislature Proposal. What we do know is that these players are all “on the same Page”, along with the LDS Church, the business community, and the President of the University. All of us who are only professional planners, symphony players, audiences, lovers of contemporary art, and residents of downtown or ANYWHERE in Salt Lake don’t really get to know what the Page is.