October 2021
2600 West Taylorsville Boulevard • 801-963-5400 |
COUNCIL CORNER By Council Member Anna Barbieri I remember getting ready for work on Sept. 11, 2001, while my daughters — 18 months and 3 years at the time — splashed in the tub next to me. I heard the television newscaster announce that a plane had crashed into one of the buildings of the World Trade Center. I stepped around the corner to see the screen and watched as the second plane crashed into Tower 2. I remember the pink top I was wearing, how the sun was coming through the window and lit up the wood cabinet of the TV stand, the sounds of my girls giggling and splashing water as I watched in horror knowing our world would never be the same. But my most vivid memory of the bombing of the Twin Towers was the aftermath of hundreds if not thousands of people searching for their friends and family members lost in the rubble. They stapled pictures to walls in areas around what was once two magnificent buildings that touched the skyline and within moments turned into a pile of concrete, glass and metal. Americans lined up at blood banks around the country willing to donate to what would surely be an extraordinary need for blood for all those injured. Tragically, very little blood was needed. The senseless terrorist attacks in New York City, the Pentagon and onboard United Flight 93 ended the lives of 2,977 innocent people. Four hundred and twelve of those who perished that fateful day were first responders and emergency workers.
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In Remembrance of 9/11, We Turn to Service and Hope My sister took her kids to Manhattan as soon as flights became available, hoping that they would never forget what had happened to one of our great cities and all those who died just because they lived in the United States of America. Now in their 30s, they haven’t forgotten. For a brief moment Americans put their differences aside and came together in love, support and unity determined to protect our precious country, our freedoms and this great land of liberty. Twenty years and so many national and international conflicts later, we’ve experienced a division in America not seen since the Civil War. It’s impossible to count the numerous excuses for our failure to maintain that brief period in time 20 years ago when we collectively bore the burdens of those who died on 9/11 and those whom they left behind. I took the opportunity on the National Day of Service and Remembrance this past month to track down many of the groups honoring those who perished in the attacks on 9/11 by providing acts of service around our community. In just a few groups, there were more than 1,500 neighbors in Taylorsville and Kearns who spent their Saturday weeding yards of neighbors in need, cleaning and painting the fences of Millrace Park and creating a community garden near the Kearns Library. I stood in awe at the tables stacked with 400 birthday kits filled with cakes mixes, frosting, decorations and cards for those unable to afford the simplest of life’s celebrations. I
LEFT TO RIGHT: Dan Armstrong (District 5), Curt Cochran, Chair (District 2), Meredith Harker (District 4), Anna Barbieri, Vice Chair (District 3), and Ernest Burgess (District 1)
was especially touched by the 500-plus handwritten cards to veterans and first responders, thanking them for their service. While the young men of the Kearns football team will not remember the tragedy of the 9/11 attacks in 2001, I think they’ll remember Sept. 11, 2021, when they stood in the pouring rain and pulled weeds out of cement cracks for residents tearful with gratitude. How grateful I am that I live in a place where we still come together to mourn, celebrate and serve on behalf of our little corner of the world where community matters.
APA Utah Holds Fall Conference in Taylorsville The Utah chapter of the American Planning Association held its fall conference in Taylorsville this past month. It was the first conference of its size to be hosted by Taylorsville City, with more than 300 people attending. Most of the presentations and workshops took place at the Mid-Valley Performing Arts Center, next door to City Hall on the new Centennial Plaza campus. Mayor Kristie Overson gave welcoming remarks on the conference’s opening day, noting that the city has long shared APA Utah's vision of creating great communities for all.
“Yours is the first conference of this size that we have hosted on the Taylorsville Centennial Plaza campus,” she said. “And we consider it serendipitous that this first conference is for Utah’s American Planning Association. Like you, we know how important future development and re-development are to our community.” The theme of the two-day conference was “Better Together: Creating, Belonging and Community,” and presentations addressed topics such as climate change, transportation and housing. Taylorville City Planner Mark McGrath said the conference was a success. Planners not only came away with greater knowledge from the conference itself but learned more about projects in Taylorsville, he said. During her speech, Mayor Overson highlighted several of those projects, including Centennial Plaza, the Mid-Valley Performing Arts Center, the West Point development mixed-use housing project that is replacing the Kmart Property at 5400 South and Bangerter Highway, the coming Midvalley Connector Bus Rapid Transit line, the planned redevelopment of Carriage Square, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Taylorsville Utah Temple.
“There are many more projects under way in Taylorsville but these are a few of the highlights. I hope that you will take some time to explore and see what we’ve been up to,” she told conference-goers. McGrath said he was told attendance of around 325 people set a record for the conference and that organizers would like to return to Centennial Plaza again, possibly meeting on a rotation schedule that would bring them back every three or four years. APA Utah is a non-profit organization of professional planners, planning officials and citizen planners. It is made up of 500 APA members statewide.
