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Letters: Snow Ranch Pastures land shouldn’t be part of Treasure bond

Organizations went the extra mile for Recycle Utah

Editor:

Recently, 172 guests came together to celebrate local food and a sustainability in Summit County. Recycle Utah would like to thank everyone who attended and supported our 3rd Annual 100 Mile Meal, held on August 11 in Oakley. The evening was filled with live music by Clark Uri and Mark Allen, a small silent auction with items from Deer Valley and Park City Mountain Resort and a five-course meal crafted from ingredients within 100 miles by the Executive Chef Alex Malmborg and the Park City Mountain Culinary team. Together we raised over $30,000 to support Recycle Utah’s recycling services, as well as our environmental education and advocacy programs.



We would especially like to thank Gallery MAR for sponsoring the event, Vail Resorts EpicPromise and the Park City Mountain culinary team for preparing the meal, and all of the local farmers and producers who donated ingredients. We would also like to thank our board members and volunteers who worked so hard to make this event a success.

We are so grateful for the overwhelming support of the Park City and Summit County community as we continue to empower people to lead sustainable lives.



Carolyn Wawra
Recycle Utah executive director

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Vote yes on Medicaid expansion

Editor:

Every day at People’s Health Clinic I encounter individuals who live in our community who go without health insurance. Most of these people work at least one and many two or more jobs. Because they make too much to qualify for Medicaid and not enough to be able to afford ACA insurance they are left vulnerable to chronic illness, accident or injuries. Because I see this heartache daily I chose to be one of the original signers of the Medicaid expansion initiative here in Utah.

Nearly $800 million in federal funding per year is already set aside for Utah that we are not getting back. We will only get that money back if we expand Medicaid. But Utah has not made this a priority and we are now in the minority of states who chooses to do nothing. Today, 150,000 Utahns who earn under $17,000 per year go without access to healthcare coverage.

Medicaid expansion will create a $1.7 billion economic impact by creating nearly 14,000 new jobs in Utah, not to mention lessening lost work and school attendance when people are not being cared for. A worker on Medicaid at a low-wage job who gets a promotion shouldn’t have their healthcare taken away because he or she is now ineligible — we should reward their hard work instead of punishing them.

Lastly, no one should have to decide if they can afford life-saving healthcare like treatment for cancer or diabetes. Utah taxpayers pay hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for unnecessary emergency care and hospital costs incurred by the uninsured. With Medicaid expansion, this would not be an issue. For these reasons I support the Medicaid Ballot initiative — please join me in Voting “Yes” on Proposition 3 on Nov. 6.

Beth Armstrong
People’s Health Clinic executive director

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Clean-up efforts made big difference

Editor:

Thank you to Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History for their efforts in cleaning up the Alliance Mine buildings in Empire Canyon. I lead Summit Land Conservancy’s Hops Hunters hikes, and the difference between our first hike in June before the clean-up and our most recent visit on Sunday was remarkable. There were several hikers who were impressed by the improvements — removing the trash, including a couch and a shattered TV set, countless bottles and cans, and erasing the graffiti on the exterior of the building has made a significant difference. I will be back to the Alliance Mine on Aug. 31 for our hops harvest, and I look forward to sharing this wonderfully improved area with our volunteers.

To everyone who donated their time and energy to preserve a piece of our heritage: thank you! Because of your dedication and your commitment, a significant artifact of our history is made more accessible and approachable for others to enjoy. Tangible connections to Park City’s history and heritage are integral to the fabric of our community, and without the dedication of people like you, it would be lost.

Julia McCarrier Edwards
Summit Land Conservancy programs coordinator

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Thaynes land shouldn’t be part of Treasure bond

Editor:

We were surprised to see a Park Record story yesterday that city councilors were going to vote to put Treasure acquisition on November ballot. Surprised because we feel there has been very little discussion about adding the Thaynes Canyon-Snow Ranch Pastures piece to the bond. The Thaynes canyon gift was proposed first at a July 12, 2018, city council meeting. It took 20 plus years to settle on Treasure payout but a mere 35 days to take care of Thaynes Canyon. We naively thought there would be a PUBLIC discussion about this. Do you even know that some of us are thinking that this does not belong with Treasure bond?

The mention of Thaynes-Snow Ranch wasn’t even on the first page of the of the Wednesday newspaper. Pretending we all agree with this addition to our taxes could sink twenty years of work. How about holding honest open hearings (now that people are returning from summer trips) to accurately gauge public sentiment.

We would be at the city council meeting this evening to protest but we have plans that were made months ago.

This casual giveaway of tax dollars will be resisted because Treasure should be enough.

Pete and Peggy Martin
Prospector

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Wildlife bridge doesn’t meet needs

Editor:

On Thursday, August 2, 2018 in a meeting with UDOT about the Parley’s Summit wildlife fencing and wildlife overpass, we learned that the alleged wildlife overpass will not meet Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) guidelines for wildlife crossings. It is too narrow, not designed to hold soil or vegetation, and will not have light or sound barriers. I.e., it is designed to handle deer. The reasoning is that UDOT does not have enough money to build a wildlife road crossing meeting FHWA guidelines, even though other states having less state highway funding, do so. We were told UDOT uses only the most costly type of bridge structures, rather than pre-cast arches typical for wildlife road crossings in other states, even over I-90, because UDOT must allow for future road widening (more lanes inducing more trafficand sprawl).

UDOT’s justification for not adding sound and light barriers is that the traffic is far enough below the bridge not to shine lights directly into the animals’ eyes. UDOT claims that, by the numbers, deer cause the most property and personal injury costs to vehicles. However, data gathered in a 17 month period by Save People, Save Wildlife show that 23 moose-vehicle accidents on I-80 in our area cost an estimated $1.934 million and 45 deer-vehicle accidents in the same area and period cost an estimated $688,000. Yet, full grown moose will be able to jump the 8-foot wildlife fencing when it is on hillsides and are unlikely to use the bridge.

I have not noticed people clamoring for another truck lane or sound walls, but local people want real wildlife road crossings meeting FHWA guidelines to preserve local wildlife and forest biodiversity and reduce forest fire likelihood.

Kathy Dopp
Park City

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