Ross Anderson
Ross Anderson (also known as Rocky) ran for election for Mayor of Salt Lake City in Utah. He lost in the general election on November 21, 2023.
Anderson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Ross Anderson was born in Logan, Utah. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Utah in 1973 and a law degree from George Washington University in 1978. His career experience includes working as a lawyer, the executive director of High Road for Human Rights, an adjunct professor at the University of Utah, and the executive director of the Justice Party. Anderson served as the mayor of Salt Lake City from 2000 to 2008. He was the Justice Party nominee for the 2012 presidential election. Anderson has been affiliated with the Board of Haitian Orchestra Institute, the Democratic Party, and the Sierra Club.[1][2]
Elections
2023
See also: Mayoral election in Salt Lake City, Utah (2023)
General election
General election for Mayor of Salt Lake City
The ranked-choice voting election was won by Erin Mendenhall in round 1 .
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Total votes: 44,423 |
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 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
Endorsements
To view Anderson's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here. Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Anderson in this election.
Campaign themes
2023
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Ross Anderson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Anderson's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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With a return to my leadership, we can achieve a clean, safe, affordable, environmentally sustainable, highly livable city once again, with a government that is responsive, accessible, and transparent.
I will make certain, as I did when I was Mayor before, that no one is left out in freezing or searing weather without adequate available shelter (with several people dying each winter during the current mayor's tenure, and several others losing fingers, toes, and legs to frostbite) and that businesses and residents are no longer left with a sense of lawlessness and powerlessness because of a mayor who has told police officers to just tell those who have violated to law to "move along."
I will once again create a comprehensive restorative justice program, diverting people from jail while focusing on solving problems to benefit everyone--residents, members of the homeless community, and businesses alike. We can remove SLC from the list of the Most Dangerous Cities and include it once again on lists of the top livable cities.
- I'll make SLC safe, clean, and highly livable again. Our current mayor spends more time dodging responsibility for our homelessness crisis and is still without a plan. I will embrace the responsibility and, working with others, (1) create a sanctioned camp with decent bathrooms, showers, laundry, lockers, meals, access to treatment, and case managers to help each person transition to a better life; (2) ramp up creation of supportive permanent housing, as we were all doing when I was mayor before, making us a national model; (3) all of it leading to an elimination of all encampments in parks, neighborhoods, etc. My approach will be to the benefit of residents, homeless people, and businesses alike. I'll re-institute restorative justice.
- The current mayor has subsidized private developers with many millions of dollars to build mostly architecturally awful unaffordable housing. I will invest in world-class mixed-income non-market housing (eliminating the profit margin) that will offer affordable housing at all income levels, while providing spectacular housing structures that we'll all be proud of (just as we're proud of the design of our Main Library). The city will then own the buildings and be able to provide secure, affordable housing for thousands of people in perpetuity. The neo-liberal reliance on old market models by the city needs to be replaced by what works elsewhere. https://prospect.org/infrastructure/america-needs-social-housing/
- One's past is the best predictor of what is to come. I have a solid record of extraordinary accomplishment and personal passion relating to the greatest problems facing our community, reflected in my receipt of the World Leadership Award (London) and the EPA's Climate Protection Award for our environmental programs when I was Mayor; the Profiles in Courage Award by the nation's largest Latino organization (LULAC); the national Distinguished Service Award from the Sierra Club; the American Assn. of Justice "In Defense of Civil Liberties Award," and recognition by the nation's largest LGBTQ+ advocacy organization, the Human Rights Campaign, as one of the top ten straight allies in the nation for LGBTQ+ equality.
COVID-19 leads me to the conclusion that the city should also engage in solid, empirical, credible public education campaigns about current health crises, including dangerous air quality, the threats to public health in connection with the receding Great Salt Lake, and the short- and long-term increasingly catastrophic consequences of climate chaos. Good information––far more than dictatorial decrees that are not enforced––is far more effective in achieving community unity and coming together to promote the public health and welfare.
In its 2022 report (latest available), NeighborhoodScout, which takes into account all crimes in Salt Lake City (not just those reported by the SLCPD), stated as follows:
"With a crime rate of 80 per one thousand residents, Salt Lake City has one of the highest crime rates in America compared to all communities of all sizes - from the smallest towns to the very largest cities. One's chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime here is one in 12. Within Utah, more than 99% of the communities have a lower crime rate than Salt Lake City. In fact, after researching dangerous places to live, NeighborhoodScout found Salt Lake City to be one of the top 100 most dangerous cities in the U.S.A.
Separately, it is always interesting and important to compare a city's crime rate with those of similarly sized communities - a fair comparison as larger cities tend to have more crime. NeighborhoodScout has done just that. With a population of 200,478, Salt Lake City has a combined rate of violent and property crime that is very high compared to other places of similar population size. Regardless of whether Salt Lake City does well or poorly compared to all other cities and towns in the US of all sizes, compared to places with a similar population, it fares badly. Few other communities of this size have a crime rate as high as Salt Lake City.
Now let us turn to take a look at how Salt Lake City does for violent crimes specifically, and then how it does for property crimes. This is important because the overall crime rate can be further illuminated by understanding if violent crime or property crimes (or both) are the major contributors to the general rate of crime in Salt Lake City.
For Salt Lake City, we found that the violent crime rate is one of the highest in the nation, across communities of all sizes (both large and small). Violent offenses tracked included rape, murder and non-negligent manslaughter, armed robbery, and aggravated assault, including assault with a deadly weapon. According to NeighborhoodScout's analysis of FBI reported crime data, your chance of becoming a victim of one of these crimes in Salt Lake City is one in 100." https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/about-the-data/crime-rates
In a press conference, the Mayor and her SLCPD Chief touted supposed lower violent crime rates, but had to deceitfully cherry-pick the data to support their claims. https://www.sltrib.com/news/2022/10/11/salt-lake-city-police-have-new/ They compared crime during one month in 2022 with the same month in 2021 in three carefully selected small parts of SLC (4 square blocks). (For instance: “Police targeted swaths between 200 South and 400 South from 200 West to State Street. Violent crime there was down 28% in August compared with August 2021.”) Yet the report they were touting at the same press conference expressly noted that violent crime in SLC has increased about 20% in two years. (“…when viewing crime statistics over a more extended period, violent street crime increased approximately 20 percent over the past two years, driven primarily by an upsurge in aggravated assaults.” https://www.slcpd.com/ass3ts/uploads/2022/10/2022CrimeControlPlan-FINAL.pdf)
The mayor is notorious for having instructed that police officers dealing with people who have violated the law are to simply tell them to "just move on." In those instances, no crime is going to be included in the crime records of the SLCPD. For instance, the owner of Mid-City Salon has reported that a man masturbated in front of her daughter and police were called. When an officer arrived, the offender pushed the officer, but he simply told the man to "move on." No arrest, no report, no crime counted in the statistics. The same Mid-City Salon owner then reported that a man masturbated in front of all-women customers and employees. The police were called, but never even showed up. No report, no crime counted. When I witnessed a man shooting up in front of the office where my law office was located three mornings in a row, with a needle in his arm, I called police. They never showed up, they never even called. Again, a clear drug crime, but never responded to so never counted as a crime. These accounts are common.
In many instances, the police took so long to show up (over an hour for an elderly woman who was assaulted; 28 minutes for a rape-in-progress - see https://www.fox13now.com/news/fox-13-investigates/fox-13-investigates-salt-lake-city-lowers-the-bar-for-police-response-times) that the offender and victim were nowhere to be found. No report, no crime counted.
In other instances, police officers simply don't respond at all. A friend was assaulted by a man with a knife, held the man down after 911 was called, and since no police had showed up after 28 minutes, he let the man up and he ran away. No-show by police, no crime counted. The crime record-keeping is perverse and dishonest. Curiously, the calls-for-service data that used to be online is no longer available for analysis.
In so many places in our city––on Main Street sidewalks, in our parks, on parking strips and under overpasses, homeless encampments can be seen. A brief visit to any of them often reflects rampant illegal drug use and dealing, yet police ignore the crimes. Outrageously, the SLCPD CompStat data shows more than a 59% reduction in drug crimes as compared with the five-year average. It's easy, but dishonest, to show crime decreases when police officers don't enforce the laws at the behest of the current mayor.
When elected, I will make certain that police enforce the law, with restorative justice principles applied to help divert people from jail and help them get any treatment that will help them lead productive, law-abiding lives. I will also make certain that crime data reflects reality and is not driven by politics or a desire to mislead the public from the difficult truth.
I will also conduct a five-year audit of crime data, response times, and calls-for-service so that we can get an accurate picture of comparative crime levels and the obvious manipulations of the data that have occurred.
Some of the data has been altered because of different means of measuring results. For instance, there was apparently a "goal" of around 5-6 minute response times, but the time started counting only when an officer was dispatched to the crime scene. That "goal" was changed to 10 minutes (which has never been close to being reached, on average) and the time started counting when the call first came in.
I would seek to expand access to open spaces in our downtown and stop filling open spaces, such as the Gallivan Center and Library Square, with more structures. I'd also like to renew my prior efforts to create a legacy Olympic park at Pioneer Park, which was planned following the 2002 Winter Olympics, but frustrated by certain members of the then-City Council.
Residents and those doing business in the City should have adequate opportunities to communicate directly with the Mayor and City Council members––and they should always receive a response.
I believe face-to-face communications are crucial. That's why I will implement programs that allow almost constant opportunities for person-to-person dialogue, as I did when I was Mayor before, including (1) Saturday Morning With the Mayor, usually held at last once a month at local businesses around the city, where anyone (including the news media) can meet with me and all the department directors to ask questions, make suggestions, or bring to our attention matters about which we may not be aware; (2) News & Community Conferences, usually held in evenings at least once per month, where anyone (not only members of the news media, as is too common in "press conferences") can make inquiries, suggestions, criticisms and bring to our attention matters of which we might not be aware (department heads are also expected to attend these Conferences); and (3) one-on-one meetings with the Mayor, where people can meet privately with me and someone else from the administration for at least 20 minutes, with no limit in the number of people with whom we'll meet.
The current mayor is almost entirely inaccessible to her constituents, other than through highly controlled social media (where her photo-ops seem to be part of full-time campaigning at taxpayer's expense), deigning to meet once a month with a maximum of six people for ten minutes each, for a total of one hour for such meetings per month.
I also seek special expertise from members of the public on certain issues. For instance, when I was Mayor before, several people with expertise or special experiences relating to drug abuse and overdoses joined with me on a Mayor's Advisory Committee on Substance Abuse. Our joint efforts resulted in some unique, effective public-education initiatives, such as encouraging drug-using people to commit, while they were not under the influence of drugs, to take anyone suffering an overdose to a hospital or to call an ambulance. In return, through our police department and me, we assured the public that no one who arranged for medical care for a person experiencing a drug overdose would be charged with a drug offense.
I believe that all reasonable requests for information should be handled without formality whenever possible and without unreasonable expense.
Also, as I've made clear, I would provide for extraordinary access and transparency, as I did when I was mayor, by having at least monthly Saturday With the Mayor gatherings at local businesses throughout the city, where anyone (including the news media) will be welcome to ask questions, provide suggestions, and bring ideas and problems to our attention. At those meetings, representatives of every department will be present to provide and obtain information, ideas, and suggestions.
I will also, as I did before, hold at least monthly News & Community Conferences, where we will meet during an evening with anyone who wants to attend. Those meetings will be handled much as if they were press conferences, but any questions can be asked by anyone in attendance. Representatives of all city departments will also be in attendance at those meetings.
I will make certain there is a public information official who can be contacted by anyone seeking information or documents from the city.
1. I would insist that our police, as "first responders," truly serve and protect the people in Salt Lake City.
Recently, our current mayor and Chief of Police said they "support" two officers who responded to an emergency call, found a Black man lying on an elevator floor who was bleeding profusely, and failed to do anything whatsoever to help him. He died two hours later. When, according to their basic first aid training, they should have applied pressure on his wound, the officers didn't even touch him. When asked by the dying man's girlfriend why they weren't doing anything to help the man, one officer once responded "What do you want us to do?" Then he later said, "We're not paramedics. Medical [an ambulance] is on the way."
The only reason provided by one of the officers for their failure to act was that they were afraid the elevator door might close.
The current mayor, in supporting the officers' outrageous––and likely lethal––inaction, sought dishonestly to excuse the officers for doing nothing by saying they may have been in danger. That was directly contrary to the statement by one of the officers to the dispatcher that the scene was safe.
Sounding like the School Police Chief in Uvalde, the mayor, asked if she would prefer that first responders utilize their first aid training to help people who were badly injured, said she would prefer they keep themselves safe because that's their job.
2. I would implement community-based policing, with police walking neighborhoods and the downtown area, getting acquainted with people and treating everyone with respect and a helpful attitude, while learning about and deterring illegal conduct. I would reverse the militarization of the police, conveying to the public that our police are to protect and serve us all.
3. According to several police officers, the current mayor has told officers to just tell homeless people who have broken the law to "move on." There is a general sense of impunity, due to the mayor's directives, where many people act as if they know they will not be held accountable for their illegal and anti-social acts. This has caused enormous problems for residents and businesses in our city.
I will make certain our laws are enforced, then apply restorative justice principles to focus on solving problems (e.g., substance abuse and mental health treatment) rather than merely punishment and retribution, and on restoring victims, offenders, and the public, including restitution and, where victims agree, victim-offender reconciliation.
No one will have an opportunity to participate in drug court and related drug rehabilitation if their drug crimes are simply ignored by police and prosecutors. Everyone in our community is harmed by the present lawlessness in our community and by the sense so many have that they can do whatever they want without any accountability.
4. I would eliminate homeless encampments in our parks, under overpasses, and elsewhere in our city by providing (1) providing far more supportive permanent housing, as was being provided during the years I was mayor, and (2) providing a sanctioned camp, where homeless people will have access to decent toilets, showers, property lockers, laundry facilities, meals, and outreach and case management workers who will work with each person to create and implement individualized plans to transition each person to any necessary treatment, housing, and employment.
5. I would set a 5-6 minute police response time goal for Priority 1 calls and monitor it regularly, making the results public on an on-going basis. The current mayor has said she doesn't think it is her job to set such goals or monitor them since she is a politically elected official. My view is entirely the opposite––that the buck stops with the mayor and that such oversight is one of the mayor's foremost duties.
6. When I was mayor before, I created and implemented the state's first Civilian Review Board. The current mayor failed to fill empty/expired seats and there were only 5 seats out of 21 filled, while the quorum requirement under city ordinance is 8. I would provide independent legal counsel for the CRB and make certain empty/expired seats are filled. If there is a discrepancy between the Chief's determination in a discipline case and the recommendation of the CRB, I would require a written explanation by the Chief.
7. I would replace the Chief of Police. The current Chief has lost dozens of officers due to poor morale, he has a reputation for unequal and unfair discipline (with one matter under investigation for over 3 years!), he has voiced support for officers who did nothing to help a man bleeding profusely, and he has tolerated extremely slow response times––or the failure to respond at all. After a long record of the SLCPD's extremely slow response times, instead of fixing the problem, the Chief simply lowered the bar, setting a dangerous goal of 10 minutes for responses to Priority 1 calls. Even with that insufficient goal, the SLCPD has not met it. Also, the SLCPD previously misled the public about its response times by counting the response time as beginning only when an officer was dispatched, rather than at the time the call first was made.
Far too often, the current administration makes plans (like the recent 2100 South plan), then asks for public input as more of a pretense than a substantive, fair process.
Through frequent public meetings and other gatherings, which will include leaders in every city department, we will listen to all who seek to have their views known and seriously take them into consideration. We will also have a public process where people with different points of view can meet, get to know each other, and seek to develop a consensus––or at least reach acceptable compromises.
Also, because the courts have held that there is no affirmative duty by police officers to protect any individual person, I would create what would likely be the first set of legally binding municipal job descriptions for all public safety employees, with a code of conduct by which city employees shall be accountable.
I would change policy dramatically and, as I was when I was mayor before, be one of the nation's top climate protection leaders. (When we protect the climate by reducing emissions from fossil fuels, we also reduce air pollution.) When I was mayor, SLC won the World Leadership Award for our environmental programs and I received the EPA's Climate Protection Award. We were a national and international leader, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 31% in city operations in three years. Then I presented in several nations and in numerous states about how our successes could be replicated by other cities. (A video I prepared regarding the importance of effective leadership on climate protection can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4j7F-AHA4jU.)
Mayor Mendenhall has always talked a lot about clean air, but hasn't accomplished anything to make our air quality better. In fact, air quality has become worse. "The 2.4 million people who live along Utah's Wasatch Front experience some of the most severe winter particulate matter air pollution in the nation." Chemical Sciences Laboratory, Jan. 25, 2023. "According to the latest report by the American Lung Association, Salt Lake City continued to be ranked as the 10th most polluted city for ozone pollution nationwide, with an increase in the number of unhealthy days of high ozone compared to the previous year's report." "Salt Lake City ranked among most polluted cities as Utah's air quality worsens," Kayla Winn, KUTV, April 19, 2023. "A new report shows air pollution reduces life expectancy in Utah by more than two years." "Air pollution reduces life expectancy by more than two years, study says," Jim Spiewak, KUTV, June 21, 2022.
Mayor Mendenhall was quoted in a Nov. 11, 2019, SL Tribune article that she would "coordinate a timeline for renegotiating [Rocky Mountain Power's] agreement on renewable energy, with the goal of expediting its net 100% renewable energy goal from 2030 to 2023." She failed on that entirely. Her major "environmental" achievement that she claims is that SLC is merely one of 18 cities, townships, or counties that is part of a group for which another entity is negotiating with Rocky Mountain Power to achieve net 100% renewable energy by 2030. (That was already in place for SLC when the current mayor took office.)
She has not quantified any reduction in air pollution, nor reductions of greenhouse gas emissions, during her almost 9 1/2 years in elected office (including over 3 1/2 years as mayor). She has provided none of the national and international leadership on climate protection I was known for. (Bill McKibben, probably the greatest long-term advocate for climate protection, called me "maybe the best example of any place in America of great local leadership.")
I will push aggressively for building standards requiring the electrification of all new and renovated buildings in SLC (ending the use of fossil fuels for heating water and air) and will require electrification of all buildings provided any city incentives, financial or otherwise. I will also ensure that all city-owned buildings will be net-zero emissions and provide incentives so all other buildings will also be net-zero emissions. I will also retrofit older buildings so that they, also, will be net-zero emissions.
I would encourage, in every way possible, the use of non-fossil-fuel-burning vehicles in SLC. I would set the personal example we should expect from our public officials. For instance, I haven't been to a gas station in over 25 years. I drove a clean-burning natural gas Honda Civic for almost 17 years, including during most of my 8 years as mayor. Since then, I've owned two electronic vehicles (EVs), which I mostly power from a charging station in my driveway, powered by 42 solar panels on my home's roof. (I also have thermal water heating solar panels on my home's roof, which I installed decades ago.) I would down-size the city's fleet of vehicles so that we maximize all possible reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
When I was mayor before, I implemented an incentive program, allowing free parking at city parking meters for all high-efficiency and alternative clean-fuel vehicles. That program has been restricted during the past four years so that it doesn't apply to as broad a range of vehicles as it did from the outset. (One woman told me she bought her hybrid car because of the incentive program I initiated and now her car doesn't qualify for it.) I would expand it as I had initially implemented it and aggressively publicize the incentive program. I would also carefully consider changing vehicle parking so that more spaces are reserved for EVs and find other ways to incentivize the use of EVs in SLC.
I would make available far more EV charging stations and power them from solar panels and batteries rather than using electricity from coal-burning power plants. Also, I would connect them to the city's electric sources rather than pay a middle-man company to install and provide the electricity. (A charging station I used when I first had an EV was removed by a prior administration and replaced by one for which the city has to pay the company that installed it for providing the electricity. There is no reason the city cannot provide charging stations, connected to its own clean electrical sources, just as I do in my driveway for my EV.)
I would engage in an aggressive public health education campaign so that everyone will learn about the significant health consequences of SLC's often poor air quality and what can be done to improve it. I would also engage in public education, as well as the convening of mayors from throughout the nation (as Robert Redford, ICLEI, and I did for three years at the Sundance Summit), to heighten awareness of the causes and the means of combating the climate crisis.
Now, the maintenance of our parks is very poor, while the current administration has spent money on things like her temporary "pop-up park," the Green Loop.
The current mayor has also diverted Streets Division resources to her raids on homeless camps, where Streets Division equipment and employees have been misused to scoop up, destroy, and cart off to the landfill property belonging to homeless people, including their tents, clothing, sleeping bags, and other survival gear.
The current Mayor initiated, and the City Council approved, the rifling of $6 Million from the City's Capital Improvement Program ("CIP") (which is to go to infrastructure maintenance, repair, and renovation) to go to three hotel projects that were supposed to help the homeless population by this past spring, when the winter overflow beds were no longer available.
Without doing a relative financial needs analysis between three projects, the City Council simply divided the $6 Million by three and dedicated $2 Million to each of the three projects.
The public was promised by the current mayor that the money would result in the opening of the three hotel projects to house 400 homeless people by the time the winter overflow shelter capacities were terminated. "Mendenhall asked the City Council . . . to steer $6 million in unspent capital improvement funds toward a series of grants to infuse money into properties that could be remodeled relatively quickly into transitional and permanent supportive housing. The funding request, she said, is intended to accelerate completion of nearly 400 permanent or transitional beds — with many drawn from converted motels. . . . The idea behind the new $6 million request, the mayor and other officials said, is to have new beds and services in place when frigid temperatures lift and those overflow shelter beds no longer are available."
'We are making this happen. Not one of us. All of us together,' Mendenhall said . . . " https://www.sltrib.com/news/2022/09/14/when-winter-shelters-close-slc/
The fact is that hundreds of homeless people have been left on the streets since almost nothing promised by the mayor has happened.
Only one of the three projects receiving the City's infrastructure money, the Point Fairpark, has opened.
Incredibly, the location of one of the projects receiving $2 Million of the City's infrastructure money, purportedly for medically vulnerable homeless people, has not even been identified as of July 9 (several months after the overflow shelter beds have not been available).
The other project receiving another $2 Million of the City's infrastructure money, Ville 1659 (a renovation by a private developer of an old Ramada Inn) doesn't have one unit open yet (again, months after the overflow shelter beds have been unavailable) and will only be accepting tenants who have housing vouchers so the developer will be able to pocket market-rate rentals (currently approximately $1,000/mo. for a studio, compared with $450/mo. rent at Point Fairpark).
This is a rip-off of millions of dollars of the City's infrastructure budget, benefiting only tenants who have rental vouchers (a small minority of presently homeless people) and the developer, who has used state and city money to purchase and renovate the hotel and will be using government-funded vouchers as a condition to renting any of the units to homeless people so he can pocket market-rate rents.
This recklessness by the current mayor in her diversion of infrastructure funds reflects the indifference toward infrastructure maintenance and repair that shows up vividly in our roads and parks, both of which have been horribly maintained during the past four years.
I would change the culture and operation of the SLCPD from the top down. We will have new leadership, who will (1) achieve fast response times (5-6 minutes for Priority 1 calls); (2) restore the morale of police officers; (3) cut waste out of a department whose budget was increased by the mayor 25% in one year; (4) fairly and timely investigate complaints against officers (one investigation currently pending has lasted over three years); (5) implement community-based policing; (6) make certain that officers truly serve and protect all of those in our community and repair the destroyed relations between the police department and the homeless community; (7) coordinate consideration of internal affairs investigations with the investigations and recommendations of the Civilian Review Board; and (8) always be completely straight with the public regarding crime rates.
The police department should be de-politicized and focused on good policing, in such a manner that parents will once again feel their children are safe walking to and from school in all of our neighborhoods and so everyone has full, secure use of public spaces, including our parks.
I will never instruct police officers to tell people who break the law that they should just "move on," as many police officers have told business owners they have been instructed by the current mayor.
I have been an international leader in the climate protection movement, recognizing that climate chaos, caused primarily by burning fossil fuels, poses a dire threat to habitability of our planet. When I was Mayor, SLC provided an example for the rest of the world as we reduced greenhouse gas emissions from city operations by 31% in three years. As Mayor again, we'll re-gain that vigorous leadership, while cleaning up our air.
I've always fought, successfully, for protections against government oppression, and for government transparency and accessibility. (See https://www.rocky4mayor.com/human-rights.html.)
I've assisted numerous homeless individuals over the years. I personally know our homeless community and am committed to never allowing one person to be left in freezing weather without adequate shelter, as our current mayor has, with tragic consequences.
I'll insist on accountability for illegal acts, implement restorative justice principles, and make sure all will have needed treatment. Businesses and residents will be protected and will once again feel safe.
(1) FDR led our nation with wisdom and a steady hand at a time of tremendous international risk and also, caring deeply for common men and women throughout the nation, put into place brilliant work and training programs like the WPA and CCC that helped pull our nation out of the Great Depression and helped millions of people who had been financially devastated.
(2) Eleanor Roosevelt provided an incredible example of highly principled, independent leadership for international peace and respect for fundamental human rights.
(3) Daniel Ellsberg exemplified tremendous moral courage, with the risk of spending his life in prison, in exposing to the world the lies behind our nation's immoral and unconstitutional involvement in the tragic, unnecessary war of aggression in Viet Nam. Also, after having served as a nuclear war planner when he was a young man, Ellsberg spent decades, until the end of his life fighting against nuclear proliferation and for the elimination of nuclear weapons.
I am an exemplary leader who is open to all points of view before making a decision and capable of changing my course if I receive persuasive information or reasoning.
Those who work with me know I am dedicated to taking the high road and doing whatever is required of me to achieve the best results in the service of good causes.
I am energetic, intellectually curious, hard working, respectful of all who do their best, and committed to making our community and our world a better place.
I'm a careful, highly competent manager and I make sure that everyone, including me, gets the job done, applying a standard of excellence.
I care deeply about making life better for everyone and about improving our city and enhancing opportunities for everyone to enjoy the highest possible quality of life. I'm friendly to all, except those who harm or are dismissive of the rights and interests of others.
The current SLC mayor has repeatedly sought to escape responsibility for the homelessness crisis in SLC, pointing her finger at the state, the county, and, most recently, at the federal government. Because of the mayor's failures at meeting her responsibility toward the homeless community, several hundred homeless people were left out in the freezing cold this past winter and several died and others lost fingers, toes, or feet from frostbite and amputation. The hundreds of people all suffered abject misery because of the lack of adequate shelter, due to the mayor's failure to make necessary arrangements when all available shelters were filled to capacity. Also, because of all the encampments throughout our city (a result of the lack of shelters or housing), the quality of life for residents was significantly diminished and many businesses suffered enormously. The mayor's abdication of responsibility runs directly counter to the following description of the duties of mayors in cities with homelessness problems:
Too often, the present City Council has lined up blindly behind the current mayor and no Council member has publicly expressed disagreement or done anything to achieve other than what the mayor is intent on doing. One example of that is the issue of a sanctioned homeless camp. Only recently did the City Council take independent action and authorize some funding for a sanctioned camp, when the need has been evident for a long time.
Too often, the state prohibits municipalities from seeking solutions when the best decision-making might be at the local level. For instance, when I was mayor I met a mother whose only child had been killed by a young driver who had been looking at his phone. I wanted to pursue an ordinance prohibiting the use of mobile phones by drivers of motor vehicles. I learned, however, that the legislature had passed a statute, apparently at the behest of a telecommunications company, prohibiting cities from restricting the use of telephones by motorists. Also, at a time when housing is so unaffordable in SLC, the legislature should allow cities to experiment with such measures as inclusionary zoning to provide for more affordable housing units.
Relationship-building, in a non-partisan manner, makes all the difference.
Chris Burbank, who was Chief of Police when I was mayor, was interviewed and asked how the police department maintained a response time of six minutes or less. He responded that they met that goal because "Mayor Anderson called me every month to make sure we were on track."
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See also
2023 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on July 18, 2023
- ↑ Utah Alumni, "A Selection of Outstanding University of Utah Alumni: Rocky Anderson," accessed August 21, 2023
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