Rocky's speech pats Salt Lake., self on back

With a long list of Salt Lake City's past successes in hand, Mayor Rocky Anderson used his State of the City speech Tuesday night to extol the past and herald a future that sounds safer, fitter and greener than the present.

Among the praise Anderson gave himself and the city during the 50-minute talk were mentions of lower crime rates in 2005 than in 2004, a program that encourages more exercise, free parking at city meters for fuel-efficient or green vehicles, several popular music and art festivals, numerous environmental awards given to the city, and the extension of benefits to partners of city employees.

The last item has provoked an ongoing discussion at City Hall about who should have access to city health insurance. Anderson signed an executive order in September that gave benefits expressly to hetero- and homosexual partners of city employees; the City Council is considering an ordinance that would extend benefits to all adult cohabitants of city employees, including romantic partners but also adult siblings, parents or long-term roommates. The City Council is expected to have another hearing about the benefits in early February after employees have a chance to comment on the plan.

Anderson also took aim at discrimination against gay people, specifically mentioning Larry Miller's decision to pull "Brokeback Mountain" from his Megaplex Theaters in Sandy.

"The recent decision at the Megaplex 17 at Jordan Commons to cancel a run of 'Brokeback Mountain' shows how far we are from our goal of understanding, compassion and inclusion — and how the decisions and practices of one person, or a few people, can reflect poorly on our entire state," said Anderson, who also condemned Miller's apparent implicit endorsement of the violence in "Hostel" as manifested by continued showings of the horror movie. "Apparently, some members of our community find this despicable, sick, women-hating film more acceptable than a beautifully rendered love story on the sole ground that the people portrayed as loving each other are gay men who faced cruel, malicious, hurtful judgment by those who lacked understanding and compassion."

Neither Miller nor his spokeswoman returned phone calls seeking comment.

Anderson, who spoke to a full crowd that broke into applause 10 times during the speech and gave him a standing ovation at the end, touted the inclusion of Salt Lake City in several national rankings based on quality of life, including nods from Outside magazine, Men's Health magazine and the book "50 Fabulous Gay-Friendly Places to Live." He tied quality of life to a social responsibility.