Rocky Anderson, a former mayor of Salt Lake City, says he intends to run against Erin Mendenhall as mayor in 2023 since she “has absolutely failed” during her brief term in office. She’s in the wrong job, in my opinion. In a phone interview on Thursday, Anderson stated, “She has severely failed this community. At a meeting on Wednesday night, Anderson, 70, who was mayor from 2000 to 2008, informed a small number of community leaders and activists about his intentions to run once more. He claims that the reason he is making another bid is that he feels he has no other option.
Anderson declared, “I never believed in a million years that I would be running again.” “So many individuals and groups approached me about doing this. I initially said, “Absolutely not.” Anderson has not yet declared himself a candidacy. When asked why he would try to work at the office he left 14 years ago, he didn’t mince words. In other words, he’s horrified by the city’s response—or lack thereof—to homelessness, which is degrading city life. There has been a complete lack of motivation to put in the effort necessary to make this community a safe, respectable, and decent place for all of us to live.
Read more:
- After Suspicions Of Gang-Targeted Shootings, Lake County Saw No Violence
- Lake County News – Florida Breaking News, Local News, Us News
The city is covered in human waste, including faeces and urine. The Ballpark District smells like a human sewer when you enter it, according to Anderson. According to Anderson, the homeless resource shelters that took the place of the Road Home shelter in the city centre were supposed to assist solve the issue. Instead, he asserts that they have had the opposite result, driving up crime in such neighborhoods.
With a 26 percent spike in violent crime from the previous year, Salt Lake City was listed as one of the most dangerous U.S. cities for 2022 in a recent survey. In his final term in office, Anderson overhauled the city’s policing to emphasise restorative justice and put into place changes to encourage offenders with mental illnesses to enter treatment programmes rather than incarceration. If elected, he promises to handle homelessness in a same manner.
“We must first determine why a person is homeless before offering them an option. Either you find shelter or you end up in jail. If you have a mental health problem, you should get evaluated and perhaps treated, according to Anderson. You won’t be lying in front of a building so that visitors must walk over you to enter. Anderson’s critique was mocked by Mendenhall’s political advisor, Ian Koski.
“While it’s simple to criticise and speculate on Twitter, Mayor Mendenhall puts forth daily effort to serve the citizens of Salt Lake City. She is focused on that. Through an extraordinary series of crises and difficulties, she has produced significant results for the city, according to Koski. Additionally, he noted that Salt Lake City’s total crime rate has decreased by 9.1 percent since the previous year. Since the election is still more than a year away, Anderson hasn’t established a deadline for making a formal declaration of his candidacy. In 2012, Anderson campaigned for president as the choice of the newly established Justice Party.
