Tour to explore neighborhood's evolution

She and her husband moved to Toronto in 1968 in protest of the Vietnam War and because they did not want to see their sons drafted. In Canada, she fought the expressways because they bisected and divided neighborhoods. Toronto was the first city to declare a Jane Jacob's Day on May 4, 2007. This year the free walks will take place in eight Canadian cities.

But even before he knew who Jacobs was, Goldsmith was using her language, he says. Back in the 1980s, he and other artists came together to try to change zoning laws and secure the Pierpont warehouse that eventually became Artspace. As they talked to city officials, he notes, they started tossing out the term "mixed use."

At the same time, the Salt Lake police also were using Jacobs' words when they talked about "eyes on the street." When people live downtown and walk the streets at all hours, then the entire neighborhood is safer, Jacobs said.

When he leads the Jane's Walk Saturday, Goldsmith will talk about the transition he's witnessed. He'll talk about buildings "learning to become." As the buildings in the Pierpont neighborhood learned to become something new, entire blocks grew out of their reputation for drug deals and into a reputation for vibrancy.

Goldsmith will talk about houses and shops taking root in what used to be a purely industrial zone. He'll point out a bookbindery, a piano store, a flower shop, a narrow between-the-blocks street where vines grow and birds nest. He'll point out a long strip of land behind the Rio Grande depot — where Goldsmith and others tried and failed to facilitate the building of housing and shops.

He will mention a few of the battles they lost. But Goldsmith won't focus on what he considers to be the losses for good urban planning on Salt Lake City's west side. Not with so much going so right, he says.

If you go ...

What: Jane's Walk 2008, led by U. architecture professor Stephen Goldsmith
Where: Starts at Higher Ground Learning, 325 W. Pierpont Ave. (250 South between 300 West and 400 West)
When: Saturday, 1 p.m.
How much: free
Web: www.janeswalk.net

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E-MAIL: susan@desnews.com