Utah's Changes May Be as Fleeting as Olympic Glory

For nearly three weeks, downtown streets here, normally deserted after 6 p.m., were crowded well into the night. Store signs spoke in a rainbow of languages. Public squares were filled with exhibitions and entertainment.

The Winter Olympics, a jewel that cities spend millions to acquire, transformed Salt Lake City, bringing it a rich diversity of culture and languages to lift it into the league of cosmopolitan centers. Downtown felt more like New York or Paris than Salt Lake's poky old self.

"I've never seen Salt Lake City quite like this," Brian Challis, an artist from a Salt Lake suburb said the other day, marveling at the throngs walking the streets. A ticket scalper from Manchester, England, who gave his name only as Simon, stood on a busy corner and said, "Seems like this is America's hidden secret, doesn't it?"

But is it, really? What happens now? What happens with the show moving on, visitors leaving and traditional issues, like Utah's $200 million budget deficit, nudging their way back into view and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which agreed to a muted role during the Olympics, moving back to the forefront of daily life?

During seven years of planning, state and local leaders looked longingly into their Olympic future, half promising, half hoping that Salt Lake's 17 days with destiny would change forever the profile of a city known best as the Mormon capital of the world and of a state known widely for its staggering conservatism and homogeneity, owing to the influence of the church.

Yet it remains far from clear to what degree, if any, those enduring aspirations might be achieved.

Some buds of change are evident. New roads, light-rail lines and hotels reflect part of the $4 billion in construction that preceded the Olympics. Gov. Michael O. Leavitt, a Republican who predicted the Games would bring new businesses to the state, spent much of the last two weeks squiring around venture capitalists, promoting Utahans' work ethic and high educational level.

Utah ski resorts, which have often played second fiddle to those in Colorado, have now been seen by a television audience of several billion, an almost certain boon for local tourism. Tourism officials say the competition sites built for the Olympics, like the luge and bobsled runs, could turn Utah into a winter sports center.

"This is a launch, not a landing," said Mr. Leavitt, assessing the effect of the Olympics on the region.

But all that reflects a potential economic effect of the Olympics, which concluded tonight. Harder to predict is whether they might serve as a sociological crowbar, opening Utah to new ideas through culture and political shifts.

As one of the fastest-growing states, with a population of 2.2 million, Utah remains fiercely Republican. Its only Democrat among three members of Congress, Representative Jim Matheson of Salt Lake City, was the bull's-eye of a redistricting plan that diluted his concentration of Democrats to make him vulnerable to a Republican challenger this year. The Utah Legislature is overwhelmingly Republican, as are almost all judges and county officials.

Most of them are Mormon, reflecting a church to which 70 percent of state residents belong. In addition, almost 90 percent of state residents are white.

As a result, any change that would dent majorities is viewed with a high degree of apprehension. Chic and diverse, such as they are in Utah, play well only here in Salt Lake City, where just fewer than half the 181,000 residents are Mormons, where voters have elected a Democrat as mayor, Ross C. Anderson, and where the populations of minorities like blacks, Hispanics, Asians, gays and lesbians are growing.

Some experts predict that by drawing in tens of thousands of outsiders, the Olympics will transform Salt Lake City and Utah.

"The Olympics are now part of the state's history, and they are going to have an impact," said Theresa Martinez, a professor of sociology at the University of Utah. "Whether the L.D.S. church wants it or not, they will lead to a new openness and consideration of the more liberal side of things."

Still, evidence suggests that even in the state's largest city, change comes only grudgingly. At the downtown Nordstrom department store here, racks upon racks of women's designer shoes were displayed with great prominence these last few weeks, but their shelf life was short.

"They were brought in just for the Olympics," a sales clerk said last week. "On Monday, they all go back to the West Coast."

Some economic signs are not encouraging, despite the nightly crowds. Mr. Challis said sadly that the gallery on Main Street that he has been sharing with other artists for the Olympics is scheduled to return on Monday to its former self, an unoccupied storefront. Business owners outside the downtown ring complained steadily that they accrued little benefit from so many visitors to the city.

Only time will reveal which snapshot of the last few weeks might foretell the future of the city and state. Taking the bright side, Ms. Martinez suggested looking at Utah like "a dull, awkward child" suddenly energized and polished by the possibilities of life.

"The liberal elements have always been here," she said. "That's going to receive new fuel and strength from all this, and I think the L.D.S. church will be transformed, as well."

As for residents of the state, she was less certain the Olympics would alter their politics. Noting that so many visitors had a good time in a safe and festive atmosphere, she said the locals might take that as a positive reflection of themselves.

People here, she said, "want to be accepted, it goes so deep. I'm sure they are feeling, `Wow, aren't we proud?' and maybe now they have a sense that other people might like them, after all."

I did go up to the ski jump last summer, took some out-of-state friends there. This is one Utahn you'll never see do a ski jump! And SLOC worked really hard to make sure that the venues would be used after the Olympics are over. It will be interesting to see how many more Utahns (the young ones) take up Olympics sports, we now have world-class facilities.

And John McCain has been complaining about Utah getting light rail and a reconstructed highway. We got TRAX earlier because of the Olympics, it was scheduled to be built here a few years later.

And the NY Times did miss the point, you are absolutely correct. Salt Lake City is the way it is because of the people. If we changed, then SLC wouldn't be SLC anymore, it would be a little NYC or San Francisco (heaven forbid!)

I visited the jump and bobsled run last June. They were pretty impressive!

St. Lake City is a great place, unless you are into a lot of hedonistic pleasures. It's like a family town that became a real city. There's nothing wrong with that, and there's a lot to like about that.

New York City reporters, who look down their noses at the rest of us, not only don't understand that but actually abhor it.

Well, it makes me crazy at times. I visit NYC once a year and love my visits because of the culture. I am tolerant of their views and how they run their city and live their lives. I don't see why they don't extend the same courtesy to us when they visit Utah. But then, that is what liberals do, squawk and scream if their viewpoints aren't addressed, but tromp all over everyone else's. /rant :)

And those hedonistic pleasures do exist in SLC, the escort services were complaining that business during the Olympics was way below what they were expecting. They actually hired extra limos and bussed in women from Las Vegas, expecting a big response from visitors. Didn't materialize...

Ah, we intend to...Utah is close to us, so it is definitely in our plans...I like a state which has a great diversity of terrain...here in Washington we have mountains, forests, a rain forest, the ocean, prairie, and desert...sounds like Utah is much the same...mountains, The Great Salt Lake, the desert, and spectacular rock formations...look forward to spending more time there...

I think some visitors to that city might be surprised by the people they see. At the bus stop two blocks from Temple Square, you can see all kinds of kids with purple spiked hair and body piercings. You can buy illegal drugs there and hire a hooker. It's all there.

While it may not have the nightlife of Manhattan or Miami, it's not all mormon missionaries on bicycles, by a long shot.

Anyway, I think the city did a fine job hosting the Olympics, and I hope it doesn't really change the city at all, at least not the way this reporter would hope.

I could tell the Olympics in Utah had ended because a couple of missionaries came to my door this morning, but left after I offered them some of my morning coffee laced with a jigger of "Jack." Wish those Islamists would go away that easily.

The New York Times was hoping the Olympic Games and the influx of all those visitors would make Utahans more... (gasp) LIBERAL!!!

Which of course stems from the assumption that you have live an ignorant sheltered life to be a Republican. I would not be surprised if the games actually caused a few people to become more conservative instead.

Why would a two-week event change any city or state? ... Nothing is going to change.

I wouldn't say that. It's long been known in the church that 'Utah Mormons' were not quite the same as the rest of us who live very much in the minority in our communities. I bet more than a few Utah Mormons got a taste of what it's like for the rest of us, and I expect they came away from these games with a deeper gratitude for Utah's uniqiness and a greater commitment to their faith.

"The Mayan in Jordan Commons."

Thanks! I knew you'd know it in an instant. We'll be in SLC one entire night (!) late June, and thought we'd swing by.

Michael

As a Mormon living in Utah, this article just reminds me that liberals, in their own way, are even more parochial than they accuse us of being. They just assume everyone should be like them. There is no other valid point of view.

"The Mayan is great fun, even with kids because there is so much going on."

I doubt they'd let OUR children in. One is a Golden Retriever, one a Siberian Husky, and the third a Chow-Chow. Wouldn't be much food left for the rest of the patrons. The Golden would also insist on busing all the tables, the Husky would howl at the divers, and the Chow would make sure NO ONE "walked" their checks.

Is the Mayan all non-smoke, or do they have room for a generous Freeper smoker? Either way is cool - just like to know in advance.

Michael

. . . a state known widely for its staggering conservatism and homogeneity, owing to the influence of the church.

One might suspect the author of harboring a bias against conservatism.

Yes, the New York Times stays true to form. The only truly negative articles I have read about the Olympics and Utah have come from the NY Times, the LA Times, and the Washington Post. And the one article from Woody Paige of the Denver Post.

And John McCain has been complaining about Utah getting light rail and a reconstructed highway.

That's because AZ taxpayers pay more in federal transportation dollars then it gets back. He's got a legitimate beef.

Utah got light rail a few years early because of the Olympics, it would have been here anyway, and I wonder if we bumped Arizona down the list when that happened. The reconstruction of I-15 was already a done deal by the time we got the Olympics bid.

That said, I'd urge anyone in a community in the US who wants to bid for the Olympics not to. I think Rogge, head of the IOC, wants to start bringing the Olympics down within a reasonable size and cost. It is always "Let's make it bigger and better than the Olympics before." With the cost of security for terrorism, very few places will be able to afford the Olympics in their countries. Mitt Romney, head of SLOC, has submitted a report for his recommendations on future Olympics to the IOC.

I don't AZ could ever bid for the Olympics. The summers are just too hot and our winters don't provide enough snow. We're getting light rail but we're paying for it ourselves. Sen McCain does have a legitimate beef.

I agree, McCain proably does have a legitimate gripe about the federal government paying for light rail early for Utah, OTOH, early TRAX for Utah was granted, realizing it was for the Olympics, and the Olympics weren't just for Utahns, that they were for all Americans. McCain should have spoken out back then at allocation time, and he didn't, only after the fact a couple of years ago.

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