We've all seen the articles and followed the controversy over the proposed skybridge at Taubman and PRI's City Creek development in downtown Salt Lake City, but should we really care one way or the other if the city's general plan is amended to allow it?

We should! I'm amazed at how many people I've spoken with in the last week who don't seem to care whether or not the skybridge is allowed to be constructed or — even worse — are beginning to be sold on the believable excuse that it's necessary because of the traffic. But realize what the pedestrian connector is doing. It is a design element that will help "guide" shoppers from one side of the mall to other side. The only reason that Taubman and PRI are forcing the skybridge and creating the controversy is they're afraid they will lose customers if they don't have the bridge. They conceal their intentions under the guise of pedestrian safety, diversity of structures and ease of navigation. Hey, they even have a retractable roof and a moving walkway in case you're just too tired from walking and shopping in their development.

The real problems with allowing this to happen is it chokes off pedestrian activity from the street, obstructs the views of the

mountains to the north, destroys connections with the rest of downtown and — most of all — it sets precedence for more skybridges in the future. If you're like most of the people I've spoken with, it's not enough to show those consequences. The idea of a skybridge just seems "cool" and is going to somehow help to restore our downtown. But this is an investment. It is not only an investment for Taubman and PRI but an investment in all of us. Bruce Heckman with Taubman stated, "What we're trying to do here is to create a project that draws people into downtown and becomes a people pump for the rest of downtown. That makes a thriving environment for everyone to succeed."

What we need to ask Bruce is whether or not a pedestrian connector is really the answer.

Skybridges may be needed in very cold areas and areas with high traffic such as Minneapolis. But these are not issues here. In places where they don't make sense, efforts are being made to rid cities of the structures. Cincinnati is now taking its skybridges down. Dallas is now offering incentives to businesses if they relocate to the street. Des Moines has limited the expansion of their skywalks. These cities understand now, in retrospect, that the skybridges merely choke off pedestrian activity from the street, which hurts street-level retail and creates a ghostlike antiseptic, controlled and boring downtown. They understand that skybridges create an area to pass through — not live in. They destroy connections with the rest of downtown and create a box of isolated economic-generating activities, not a genuine, diverse quality of life that many of us respect and believe in.

It wasn't until a friend from out of town asked me why the center of our downtown was walled off did I realize the isolated feeling that such a one-sided development can create. We don't need a renovated downtown that includes some and excludes others.

This is not a finished deal. With community support at tonight's public hearing at the City-County Building, we can send a clear message to Taubman and PRI that we're not happy with "their" investment that is clearly not for everyone to succeed.

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Daniel L. Ball is a student of Urban Planning at the University of Utah.