Can Mendenhall survive the unhoused and housing crises or will we see Rocky 2
SALT LAKE CITY — If it feels like déjà vu in Utah’s capital city during election season, you’re not the only one thinking so. So ubiquitous are the red, white and blue “Rocky for Mayor” yard signs it’s like the city’s front lawns were overrun by a pack of gremlins that suddenly got doused with water.
It also harkens visions of two decades back when Rocky Anderson, wielding the same “Rocky” lawn signs, served two turbulent terms as mayor from 2000 to 2008.
By early spring, it was evident the cause-driven and often cantankerous former mayor was serious about his bid to unseat first-term mayor Erin Mendenhall and reclaim City Hall.
Of course yards signs never translate to ironclad support or actual votes in politics, and Anderson, now a more subdued 72, was mounting his campaign couched in a considerable fundraising hole.
At the same time, Mendenhall has been taking fire from what residents describe as duel existential crises: the growing unaffordability of housing, and the proliferating urban camps of the unhoused, swept every few weeks to different pockets of the city by police, like a perverse real-life game of Whac-A-Mole.
By early fall, the candidates hopscotched through a dozen spirited debates, where everything from building policy and sanctioned campgrounds to relations with the conservative Utah Legislature and misogyny were volleyballed around.
The race is unique for Utah, says Brigham Young University Political Scientist Kelly Patterson, who notes it’s the rare electoral jurisdiction so decidedly liberal that only two candidates from the political left could contend.
“She’s probably closer to Rocky than she is to the median member of the legislature,” Patterson says about Mendenhall. “But if that’s the case, it comes down to style. The style matters more than the substance.”
Independent community activist Michael Valentine, whose top cause was saving the Pantages Theater, is also in the race but not expected to challenge the frontrunners.
As the election fast approaches November 21, City Hall insiders are whispering two things: the Mendenhalll camp expects her to be re-elected, but they’re nervous. And pledges by some city staffers to resign following an Anderson victory persist.
LEGIONS OF UNHOUSED: A BLIND SPOT IN PLAIN VIEW?
Drive by virtually any of the city’s traditional hangouts, from Library Square to Liberty Park, and chances are you’ve seen rag-tag encampments with tents, tarps, sleeping bags, shopping carts and bags of belongings as men, women and even children mill about.
It is a depressing and all-too-familiar scene in Salt Lake — and multiplying to varying degrees — across urban America. Mendenhall, who took to Twitter and other digital platforms to communicate with constituents throughout the Covid-19 years, has tried to stay in front of the issue with mixed results. She’s championed partnerships with the state for affordable housing projects and services that nevertheless can’t come fast enough. Exasperated by the closing of the downtown shelter and the pandemic, unhoused encampments are suddenly part of most residents’ daily experience.
“I voted for Erin but our city is literally in decay,” Camille Perkins told the Underground following one of the candidate debates. “I live downtown so I see it everyday — no police presence, human feces. I’m picking up needles in my garden bed. Ever since she’s been in office it’s been really bad and it’s gotten worse.” Perkins, who is 51, says she has complete faith in an Anderson sequel. “He’s the most genuine politician I’ve ever met in my life and one of the most generous human beings.”
Brandee Burnam, who lives in central city and says she was recently assaulted by someone who appeared unhoused, won’t decide who to vote for until the very end.
“She’s well-intended and wants to do the right thing but there’s also some planned responses,” Burnam said about the mayor. “He’s unfiltered. I’m very in the middle on the homeless issue. I want people to be held accountable when it comes to crime and safety.”
In an interview, Mendenhall conceded that homelessness was unquestionably the number one issue in the mayoral election. But she quickly pointed to relationships with state lawmakers and a collaborative and constructive tone as the key for finding solutions.
“When I came into office we were squarely alone — no partnerships, no agreements,” Mendenhall said. “Today, there is a 413 percent increase in (funding for) homelessness. It’s big. State investment is even more significant. The progress on homelessness is a game changer from where we were when I came into office.”
Anderson calls the homelessness issue “a disaster” and the driver for him getting into the race.
“I finally reached the conclusion that she had zero concern for the dignity or hygiene of anyone in the homeless community…or to find a way out of it,” Anderson said in an interview. “We used to do remarkable things. We were seen as the example for the rest of the country on how to eliminate homelessness. We were on a tear and then it all came to a grinding halt. This does not have to be this way.”
The National Homelessness Law Center’s “Housing, Not Handcuffs” campaign calls for the repeal of laws that prohibit or limit the use of public spaces by the unhoused. They argue it costs more to jail the unhoused and hold court hearings for them than is would be to house them.
“What we’re seeing today is Great Depression levels of homelessness, even without the stock market crash, because the economic inequality has grown so deep,” Eric Tars, senior policy director for the National Homelessness Law Center said. “And we’ve lost the social safety nets we built after the Great Depression to prevent this from happening again.”
Anderson argues years of indifference from City Hall has led to a lack of beds in shelters, encampments in residential neighborhoods, and too many unhoused dying from exposure.
“We need to get rid of encampments and let children use our parks,” Anderson said in a debate. “Provide sanctioned camping with food and storage lockers, where people want to be away from people and businesses. Right now, it’s a lose-lose for everybody. And I’ve got story after story about people being victimized because of a lack of attention. I’m running for mayor because I refuse to give up.”
Mendenhall also favors sanctioned camps and her administration recently announced the first such project is underway.
“The city is not perfect…but we’ve made huge steps and we’re not going to let anyone take us backwards,” she said in a debate. “We’re going to always be humane. I’m never going to lie to you or tell you what I think you want to hear so I can get re-elected.”
The mayor has been endorsed by all seven Salt Lake City Council members, 12 community councils, former Mayor Ralph Becker, former Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and Gov. Spencer Cox.
“Mayor Mendenhall is doing much better than any of the people complaining from behind their keyboards,” said Paul, no last name given.
Dee Jaxon agrees. “Rocky is a bully and you can just see in the debates, he can’t wait to take over Utah’s largest city and start bullying,” he said. “He’s a control freak and a nuisance.”
Fair or not, homelessness is one of the barometers in determining the health of a city — and it’s the one thing the average voter sees in their day to day lives, says Patterson, the political scientist who also was the director of BYU’s Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy.
“Voters will hold somebody accountable for it,” Patterson said. “That’s probably her biggest weakness. Salt Lake City seems to be following some of the biggest dynamics of the biggest cities in the United States, which is a declining quality of life. Say what you will about Utah, but we’re not used to this.”
The issue is two-pronged, Patterson adds, contributing to both human misery and the toll it takes on people’s perception of the city.
“What would prompt a person like Rocky Anderson to come out of retirement and participate in politics again,” he asked? “This is a good environment for someone if they’re going to make a comeback because of the declining quality of life in Salt Lake.”
THE ‘HEARTBREAKING’ COST OF HOUSING
If City Hall were equipped with blinking DEFCON buttons like the movie Wargames, skyrocketing housing costs forcing people out of Utah’s capital would be DEFCON Level 1.
How outrageous is it, and suddenly out of reach for most families to own if they don’t already? A Kem Gardner Policy Institute study reports the average resident would have to make six times more to afford a house in Salt Lake.
Certainly influenced by the pandemic, tech companies allowing employees to work remote, and the seeming daily discoveries of Utah’s outdoor lifestyle by hordes of outsiders, the housing spike has lawmakers, economists, academics, and especially families seriously spooked.
Mendenhall is quick to cite a 400 percent increase in affordable housing on her watch, resulting in 4,000 new units, aided once again by state funding. Her administration has invested more, she says, and will be tenacious in creating more affordable housing in a second term.
“This is affecting us now, this is affecting our kids,” Mendenhall said, adding that only three affordable housing units are currently available for every 100 families in need. Salt Lake needs more mixed income households, the mayor says, and she criticizes Anderson for “bailing the state out” on affordable housing — ironic based on his history as a thorn in Capitol Hill’s side.
For his part, Anderson gives Mendenhall no credit for leveraging state money for housing, calling the fact so many families can’t afford to live in the city “heartbreaking.”
“We do not have affordable housing in Salt Lake, either in ownership or renting,” he argues, insisting developers have to fund more.
“When I come out against for-profit development that is ruining the city and making things unaffordable…look at the pride we took in the building of the Main Library,” he said. “We can make things architecturally interesting and sustainably affordable.”
Nick Godfrey, an Anderson supporter, says the former mayor’s approach makes sense. “I’ve seen this pattern of constant abatements without any solutions of where people are going to go,” he said about the Mendenhall administration. “He has a good track record and proven leadership.”
But Brooke, who withheld her last name, vehemently disagrees. “Heaven help us if Rocky Anderson wins this,” she said. “Erin does a fine job — better than her predecessor. Fingers crossed this all goes well.”
Embedded in many voters’ memory is the almost cartoonishly contentious exchanges Anderson as mayor had with the super-majority Republican legislature and sometimes the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“It will be hard for him in some respects because he has a reputation,” Patterson says. “He’s a known quantity to a lot of voters who may not have liked his style. You can’t make that go away.”
Anderson was not shy about calling out lawmakers and Republican leaders, either face to face or through the media. He once debated Fox News host Sean Hannity in a raucous affair on the Utah Valley University campus.
“Mayor Mendenhall, whatever you think about the city and the state of it, it seems less tense,” Patterson added. “People think back to Mayor Anderson’s time as a time of conflict — for good or for bad. Maybe the younger voter doesn’t remember how polarizing he was, but the younger voter doesn’t get out to vote like the 60-plus crowd.”
Utah’s liberal capital was still being punished from Anderson’s time in office when she was elected four years ago, Mendenhall says.
“Real Salt Lake? It’s not in Salt Lake,” she retorted during a debate. “Legacy Highway? It happened…When you throw bombs, as he was so good at doing…we’re the only ones who suffer. Throwing bombs is not a strategy.”
She doubled down on Anderson’s polarizing nature in an interview. “As a blue dot in a red state of a super majority legislature, how we work has everything to do with tone,” Mendenhall said. “We’ve seen what his tone does. It isolates us. And it sends opportunities outside the city.”
Anderson, of course, downplays accusations about his too-tough tone, or any political ramifications it could cause. He points to a civil relationship with Spence Eccles and Mitt Romney, noting the latter exchanged endorsements.
“They like the fact that I hold my ground — they can trust me,” Anderson said in an interview. “They respect the fact that I’m not going to wuss out just to keep my seat at the table.”
The former mayor insists the city was never punished for his pugilistic style, adding that the RSL stadium is better off in Sandy. “Frankly, I think Mayor Mendenhall is incredibly partisan,” he continued. “I’m not that much of a party guy. I just want to solve problems.”
ANTI-MISOGYNY MANEUVER
Throughout the campaign, one of the more sensitive — and personal — subjects focused on Anderson’s treatment of women, barely veiled accusations of misogyny, and a passionate defense from the former mayor and civil rights attorney.
At issue were allegations of discrimination based on gender by terminated members of Anderson’s law practice. And umbrage taken by Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson over leaked news that Anderson had been critical of her serving in such a demanding public role as a mother of young children.
Anderson claims both were blown out of proportion and exploited by the Mendenhall campaign, while also defending himself in a lengthy local newspaper piece.
The candidates debated the controversy before a full house at Fisher Brewing Company, where Mendenhall cited testimony before the legislature of a toxic culture during Anderson’s City Hall tenure, where 41 employees quit or were fired in his first six years.
Mendenhall also pointed to Anderson questioning Wilson on whether she could do both jobs as a mom and a mayor. Anderson said his point was to simply question how any parent with young kids could spend quality time with their children and still do the job. He could not have performed as Salt Lake City mayor, for instance, as a father of a young son, he said.
In a tense moment, Mendenhall’s husband stood up in the audience and yelled at Anderson, “She’s a great mom! A great mom!”
“To challenge someone who holds public office just because she’s a woman does not make you a misogynist,” Anderson argued. “She calls me a misogynist because she has failed so many women. I have worked well with women my whole career. I might be intense with everybody, but it wasn’t because of gender.”
In an interview after the debate, Anderson called the accusations “garbage.”
“I was saying mothers of young children shouldn’t run for public office,” he said. “They got that and tried to turn it into a matter of sexism.”
Asked directly about the misogyny spat, Mendenhall said, “his record speaks for itself.”
TO THE POLLS
In an otherwise sleepy off-year election, the Salt Lake City mayoral tilt has sometimes felt like a title fight. Anderson’s aggressive tack has forced Mendenhall to sharpen her tongue. Money has materialized for both sides, showing the intense interest of stakeholders. And the first-ever ranked-choice voting method may make a difference on the margins.
The intensity has often been personal — and uncomfortable. So how did the candidates close on the stump?
“Salt Lake City is not perfect — we’ve got real challenges,” Mendenhall said. “But for the first time in decades, we’re not alone. We’re leveraging….with the state of Utah. The tone of the leadership of the city is what will guarantee our success.”
“If tone will guarantee success, then something has been very wrong for four years,” Anderson responded. “I’ve watched what it was like to be up against a bureaucratic person, who didn’t care about the people, the businesses in our city and especially the homeless community. I will bring about the change that we all want to see.”
Back to all those Rocky yard signs, still blanketing the city. Some residents complained Anderson’s campaign had planted the colorful advertisements without owners’ permission.
“This practice may be legal, but I surely wouldn’t call it ethical,” Alexa Oldham wrote in a letter to the editor. “It’s deceitful and designed to convey a false sense of support among residents.”
In the end, votes — not signs — are the only count that matters.
