Only In Salt Lake Blog

The Farmers Market: Placemaking Around Pierpont

09 April 2014 Published in Only In Salt Lake Blog
The Farmers Market: Placemaking Around Pierpont
By its very nature, placemaking is a regenerative act—a reclamation of that which was lost or forgotten. This may seem like an odd segue into a blog about the Downtown Farmers Market, but the truth is that farmers markets catalyze placemaking in the same way that a quaint neighborhood shopping district does. Before the Downtown Farmers Market began, the area around Pioneer Park in Salt…

21st & 21st: Proving that Bigger Isn’t Always Better

03 April 2014 Published in Only In Salt Lake Blog
21st & 21st: Proving that Bigger Isn’t Always Better
When it comes to neighborhoods, is bigger always better? Not necessarily. Neighborhoods that cover a larger area have certain advantages: namely, a larger pool of businesses and residents. But sometimes, a scaled-back approach can create an entirely new dynamic.

SLC Hive Pass, a Bus-Only Trip Around the City, and other Transit Musings

19 March 2014 Published in Only In Salt Lake Blog
SLC Hive Pass, a Bus-Only Trip Around the City, and other Transit Musings
We live in a city that undoubtedly cares about public transit. Since the 2002 Olympics, UTA’s expanded their network to include TRAX lines to the airport, West Valley, Draper, and Daybreak; the FrontRunner to Ogden and Provo; the new S-Line streetcar to Sugar House; and future plans for additional streetcar lines downtown and on 900 South. And with the new $30/month Hive Pass for SLC…

A Tale of Two Cities

03 March 2014 Published in Only In Salt Lake Blog
What happens when you construct a large freeway directly through the middle of an urban area? Nothing good. And that's exactly what happened in cities across the country—Salt Lake included—beginning in the 1950s. The intent was to simply facilitate easier connections between urbanites and other cities and states, not to mention increasing the efficiency of transporting goods into cities. But these infrastructure changes have also…

Where does your money go?

25 February 2014 Published in Only In Salt Lake Blog
You may have seen this video over on Local First Utah, but we figured Only In Salt Lake could use some "lego-love" too.

The Avenues: A Testament to Our Collective Memory

19 February 2014 Published in Only In Salt Lake Blog
The Avenues: A Testament to Our Collective Memory
I was lucky enough to spend a cool, rainy day trekking around the Avenues, a neighborhood steeped in historical memory. Somehow, walking its steep hills and narrow streets stirred within me an ethereal sense of nostalgia for a time and place that I had never actually seen.

Central Ninth: Home Sweet Home

12 February 2014 Published in Only In Salt Lake Blog
Central Ninth: Home Sweet Home
The idea of home has been prominently featured in many ways: From Dorothy's famous "There's no place like home" line, to a gem that I picked up studying cultural semiotics, which separates all places into either homes or anti-homes, and defines the former as having shared meaning for a group of people. But I digress...