Rocky's flower plan hasn't wilted just yet

Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson is nothing if not persistent.

The City Council has opposed three of his pet projects — revamping Pioneer Park, streetscape improvements to 300 South downtown and flower baskets on Main Street — at every turn.

Anderson has refused to concede.

Earlier this year the mayor had his administration send funding request to the City Council for both Pioneer Park and 300 South improvements.

Now Anderson's administration once again wants money for flowers on Main.

"The mayor has seen several successful examples of flower baskets in other cities, and they do enliven the streetscape tremendously, and we would like to try that here," Anderson's spokeswoman Deeda Seed said. The move is "part of our continued effort to create a vital, attractive downtown," she said.

And this time the plan appears to have enough support among City Council members to pass when the city's Redevelopment Agency Board meets Thursday.

The latest plan calls for $73,000 to spread hanging flower baskets and ground-level floral arrangements through downtown's most discussed thoroughfare north of 300 South.

The request isn't without opposition. A committee that advises the city's Redevelopment Agency Board, which is the City Council, has recommended that the funding request be denied.

According to the advisory committee, putting water-guzzling flowers on Main Street is not prudent given Utah's uncertain water situation.

In the past the City Council, most recently in a 4-3 vote, has denied the floral money saying Main Street is already attractive enough. The street's problems — some vacant storefronts and perceived inactivity — are more than skin deep, some council members maintain.

Flowers are only a cosmetic fix that won't solve the street's underlying problems — a lack of patrons willing to support many Main Street shops. Money that might be wasted on flowers would be better spent on more effective programs, some council members say.

But Anderson and his administration, including Public Services Director Rick Graham, counter that flowers could spark interest in the street and bring more activity.

They point to Victoria, British Columbia, which has since 1937 sported magnificent flowering baskets on the city's streets.

"Visitors come from all over the world to marvel at these creations, which are now known as one of the city's most recognizable trademarks," according to a Victoria brochure touting the floral arrangements.

Anderson maintains Main Street baskets could become a similar draw, tying Main Street into the LDS Church's Temple Square and Main Street Plaza, which always contain spectacular floral arrangements during the spring and summer.

RDA Board Chairman Eric Jergensen has come around to Anderson's thinking. Last year Jergensen broke a tie vote by siding against a Main Street flower plan he said was flawed. Jergensen says the new plan is better and less expensive.

"It's a neat idea," he said. "The idea is to create a sense of place on Main Street even more than what we have."

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E-mail: bsnyder@desnews.com