'Friends from north' seething

Davis County leaders are fed up with Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson and are demanding an apology.

Davis County Commissioner Alan Hansen sent a letter to Anderson Friday asking that he apologize for comments he made during his recent State of the City address.

During the annual speech, Anderson lambasted his "friends from the north" who clog traffic, foul the air and "make us sick simply because of the choices they make about where they live and how they get around."

Hansen called the comments "very insulting and unprofessional for an elected official."

"Your city is not an island surrounded by a moat, with you at the drawbridge deciding whom you will let in," Hansen wrote.

Anderson was a bit contrite toward Davis residents Friday, saying his comments were meant to be critical of the planned Legacy Parkway, not of the county's residents.

"My comments were, on their face, very reasonable and not intended to insult or disparage anybody," Anderson said. "I was simply emphasizing, and will continue to emphasize, the enormous importance of doing everything we can to improve air quality and reduce the incidents of cardiac and respiratory illness from pollution in this area. . . . We can plan now to prevent far worse than that for future generations."

Anderson said Legacy proponents have no answers when asked what plan they have to improve the Wasatch Front's often abysmal air quality. They also fail to justify spending what could top $750 million when the state has other funding priorities such as education.

Anderson said he does support a western road alternative in Davis County, just not the massive parkway. He also wants light rail and commuter rail built before the highway.

"I also never said — and never intended to say — that our air pollution problems are caused solely by those who commute into our city," he said. "There are far too many people, even within our borders, who drive one person per automobile."

Rep. Stuart Adams, R-Layton, said that there are 1 million people in Salt Lake County — many of whom are commuters — and only about 200,000 people in Davis County. To say that northern commuters are making Salt Lakers sick doesn't seem logical, he said.

The Layton representative also pointed out that when the quarter-cent sales tax increase — which funded commuter rail and the University of Utah light-rail spur — was on the ballot, it passed by a greater margin in Davis County than in Salt Lake County.