To date, he says, city leaders have neglected the west side. That's because they feel separate from it — and a little afraid of it. In reality, the west side has no more crime than other areas of the city, he says, pointing to police department reports that he says show neighborhoods like Sugar House are more likely to be the site of car burglaries, for example.

It's those stereotypes that he believes helped land him in jail in early June for violating his probation on a 2-year-old traffic stop.

Renteria believes the media have focused too much on his jail time — "they just want to villainize me like a Mexican bandido" — and he emphasizes that he is not a criminal.

The west side, he says, is heavily patrolled by the Utah Highway Patrol, a doubling-up of police service that he says other parts of the city don't experience. Troopers are quick to pull people over on the west side he says, adding that he has been the victim of abusive law enforcement.

In 2005, when a trooper attempted to pull him over for a missing front license plate, he instead drove home. He was convicted of failure to stop at an officer's command and was placed on probation. Then in June, he admitted to drinking while on probation and to driving twice on a revoked license, which landed him in jail for two weeks.

"Never in my wildest dreams did I think I was going to be doing jail time for this," he says. "It got resolved. As far as I'm concerned, I'm trying to get that behind me."

Now, Renteria says, he wants to promote the trove of "hidden treasures" he sees on the city's west side, including the Jordan River Parkway Trail and the area's numerous neighborhood parks.

But he's also concerned about the city's downtown. He is critical of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' role in downtown development, especially its estimated $1 billion investment in the planned City Creek Center mixed-use project.

"The conflict I have (is) with any religion that is supposed to serve the common good and that religion also being in business," he says. "A billion dollars for commercial development tied to a religion is just something that kind of almost disgusts me. As if they can't use that money for something else more charitable or that serves a more religious purpose."

Still, Renteria sees the church's downtown involvement as "a done deal" and says he wouldn't be an obstructionist mayor in working with the church.

"Any mayor has to work in a friendly capacity with the church — and hopefully in a way that it also helps the city's standing with the Legislature," he says. "If you're friends with the church, then you're going to be friends with the Legislature."