MEDIA ADVISORY
November 16, 2023
MENDENHALL’S RECENT PRESS CONFERENCE WAS A SHAM. THE MAYOR’S PROMISED ENFORCEMENT CAN’T OCCUR DUE TO HER FAILURE TO PROVIDE ADEQUATE ALTERNATIVE SHELTER FOR UNSHELTERED PEOPLE. MAYOR’S FAILURES GUARANTEE MORE ENCAMPMENTS; MORE SUFFERING; DEGRADATION OF QUALITY OF LIFE FOR BUSINESSES AND RESIDENTS.
Salt Lake City, Utah — In yet another deceitful press conference, Mayor Mendenhall represented just 12 days before the upcoming election that her present position is that unsheltered people can’t be in public spaces. She said, “then our officers would tell them, ‘You can’t be here,’ as they do. ‘This is a public space. You have five minutes to begin packing up and moving, and if you move around the corner to the next public space, then I’m going to give you a citation.’”
Misleading the news media and the public, Mayor Mendenhall said that police officers will provide 24-7 transportation to shelters with available bed space. She also admitted that when shelter space is unavailable, enforcement will be relaxed because those who are living on the streets won’t have the option to go inside.
Now, not even a week later, there are no beds available in any of the “resource centers” or in the West Valley City winter overflow shelter. Hence, the mayor’s threatened enforcement—at the center of her press conference—is impossible, due to the mayor’s failure, as during last winter, to provide an adequate alternative place for unsheltered people to go. We’re now headed into the same nightmare as last winter, with people dying from exposure, suffering amputations from frostbite, and barely existing in miserable conditions—because of the mayor’s failure to provide decent, safe shelter for hundreds of unsheltered people in her city.
Notable speakers at the media conference will be business owners who have left Salt Lake City’s downtown because of the terrible conditions of doing business, due to failures in city leadership. Also, one or more residents of Salt Lake City will describe the undermining of the quality of life resulting from the homeless encampments, drug trafficking and conspicuous drug use, and widespread theft, none of which lead to accountability with the mayor’s de facto policy of impunity for illegal conduct. Finally, the horrific toll on unsheltered people who are left in the freezing weather with no adequate shelter available for them will be described, including instances of amputations from frostbite due to being left outdoors during the winter without humane shelter.
Misleading the news media and the public, Mayor Mendenhall said that police officers will provide 24-7 transportation to shelters with available bed space. She also admitted that when shelter space is unavailable, enforcement will be relaxed because those who are living on the streets won’t have the option to go inside.
Now, not even a week later, there are no beds available in any of the “resource centers” or in the West Valley City winter overflow shelter. Hence, the mayor’s threatened enforcement—at the center of her press conference—is impossible, due to the mayor’s failure, as during last winter, to provide an adequate alternative place for unsheltered people to go. We’re now headed into the same nightmare as last winter, with people dying from exposure, suffering amputations from frostbite, and barely existing in miserable conditions—because of the mayor’s failure to provide decent, safe shelter for hundreds of unsheltered people in her city.
Notable speakers at the media conference will be business owners who have left Salt Lake City’s downtown because of the terrible conditions of doing business, due to failures in city leadership. Also, one or more residents of Salt Lake City will describe the undermining of the quality of life resulting from the homeless encampments, drug trafficking and conspicuous drug use, and widespread theft, none of which lead to accountability with the mayor’s de facto policy of impunity for illegal conduct. Finally, the horrific toll on unsheltered people who are left in the freezing weather with no adequate shelter available for them will be described, including instances of amputations from frostbite due to being left outdoors during the winter without humane shelter.
What: Press conference
Who: Rocky Anderson, former Salt Lake City Mayor and present candidate for mayor; Nicole Thomas (who moved her long-time business LatterDayBride from Salt Lake City); Teresa Bowman (who recently shut down her long-time Mid City Salon because of illegal and anti-social conduct ignored by the mayor and her police); and Mo Reeder (founder and CEO of V School, which had to move twice because of frequent criminal misconduct, ignored by city government).
When: November 16, 2023, 2 p.m.
Where: Folsom Trail, west side of 1000 West 25 South (north of 100 South), with numerous encampments in the background
Who: Rocky Anderson, former Salt Lake City Mayor and present candidate for mayor; Nicole Thomas (who moved her long-time business LatterDayBride from Salt Lake City); Teresa Bowman (who recently shut down her long-time Mid City Salon because of illegal and anti-social conduct ignored by the mayor and her police); and Mo Reeder (founder and CEO of V School, which had to move twice because of frequent criminal misconduct, ignored by city government).
When: November 16, 2023, 2 p.m.
Where: Folsom Trail, west side of 1000 West 25 South (north of 100 South), with numerous encampments in the background
PAID FOR BY ROCKY FOR MAYOR
