When the City Council met at Backman Elementary in Rose Park last Thursday, Angie Vorher, chairwoman of a nearby community council, implored the representatives to focus more on west-side services. Gigante would be a good step in the right direction, she said. Vorher has been particularly irritated with developers who claim her neighborhood doesn't have enough houses for large grocery and department stores.

"Why don't you look into the chimneys and look to see how many people are living under them?" Vorher said. "Sometimes there's two to three families living together. It's not the chimneys that count. It's the amount of people, and I see it growing."

McFarlane's numbers match Vorher's hunches. Between 1990 and 2000, the northwest neighborhoods of Salt Lake City grew by 42 percent — besting Salt Lake City's 13 percent and Utah's 29 percent growth during the same period.

McFarlane told the council that the west side of Salt Lake City is ready to capitalize on its population growth — including 74,000 daytime workers — and shed its reputation as a neglected quadrant.

The city has invited 62 retail real estate brokers to tour the area in the next few weeks and offer suggestions on behalf of their clients for developments.

"What do they hear from their clients? What potential do they see in those boundaries? What are the challenges in those boundaries?" McFarlane said. "We want to present our information but then say, 'Tell us what kind of projects you're working on. What are your impres- sions?' "

McFarlane's message resonated with Vorher, who said the northwest part of Salt Lake City is a logical next step for new stores and growth.

"All they can do now is keep climbing the mountain or go out to the lake," Vorher said. "They have to start thinking of the future and not just about Sandy, Taylorsville and South Jordan."

Vorher may have a tougher sell for her neighbors. Burt told the council she didn't want another Latino grocery store nearby because the existing stores stocked plenty of Mexican food products.

"We, as a community, have a long way to go before we find out that people who are Latino, Vietnamese or Chinese or whatever ethnicity also have to have a grocery store," said Councilman Eric Jergensen. "They have to have a place where they can buy household commodities, and frankly (they) are our brothers and sisters just like everybody else in our community."

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E-mail: kswinyard@desnews.com