My hope for the new year is that the incoming mayor of Salt Lake City will succeed in carrying out his "blueprints for a great American city."

Each administration brings a new buzz, excitement and expectation that promises will be kept. In many ways, the new mayor's agenda for the city is ambitious. Immediately upon taking office, his priorities include creation of a downtown cultural district, preservation of the Utah Theater, development of a performing arts center, a year-round public market, a global exchange place and a safe bikeway system downtown. It's a great agenda, but somehow it seems to have an elitist flavor designed for the young and newcomers with promises of nightlife, entertainment and cultural centers.

My hope for the city is that the new mayor will consider the needs of all, including those longtime residents who built the city and created a place where people from all walks of life lived, worked and enjoyed their neighborhoods. In earlier times, it was a city that provided services that met the needs of all.

These are people concerned about personal safety and the security of their neighborhoods and taxes that are so prohibitive they keep their grown children from being able to afford to move back into the city to live. It's romantic to talk about walkable neighborhoods, yet for many, they are not accessible or safe, especially for those with physical limitations.

These are individuals who contributed much to make this a great city and now deserve to have the opportunity to live their lives with dignity in a community that meets their needs as well.

They still live with pride in the same neighborhoods they cultivated, live within their means — and expect the city will do the same — live on fixed incomes and worry about paying their taxes to make the city run. The mayoral candidates all talked about what they wanted to build, yet no one talked about how or who would pay for it.

As mayors take office, they quickly set the priorities of their administrations and show how well they will carry out the principles espoused during the campaign. The reality is that the best-laid plans and intentions are often quickly taken over by unexpected events, such as the decision of the Salt Lake Housing Authority to sell 300 low-income homes and apartments, leaving the poor with no place to go this month. How the new mayor handles this issue will test his leadership and ability to make decisions based on principles. It could well set the tone of his administration.

This new mayor, like the last one, has talked about equality, fairness and helping those in greatest need in our community. The last one talked about improving the west side, revitalizing the Glendale neighborhood and helping west-side minority businesses. Will the new mayor continue to pursue those efforts and promote diversity by actions, rather than by appointments or simply another study?