10 seek Salt Lake mayor post

The slate of candidates hoping to replace outgoing Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson is now 10 strong.

State House Minority Leader Ralph Becker and former Utah Democratic Party Chairwoman Meghan Holbrook each said this week that they are in the running for the capital city's top seat.

Both Democrats tout histories of working with members of the state's majority Republicans to get things done.

"I have a lot of experience working across the partisan divide," said Holbrook, who is currently director of government affairs for Zions Bank, a job that requires close work with Republican lawmakers on a regular basis.

Becker, who has represented the Avenues and Capitol Hill neighborhoods in the Legislature for 10 years, has helped bring funding for a number of Salt Lake City projects — most recently the planned realignment of a west-side railroad line that will route noisy trains away from neighborhoods.

Becker said his goal as mayor would be to build coalitions across partisan and cultural lines.

"The best way to make decisions and to carry out decisions is to include the many people who will be affected by those decisions in a meaningful way," he said.

He and Holbrook also agree on another issue: Education, they both say, needs to receive more emphasis from Salt Lake City leaders.

"We're an academic city," said Holbrook, who sits on the Utah State Board of Regents. She said the presence of the University of Utah and Salt Lake Community College, as well as a Brigham Young University branch, gives Salt Lake City unique opportunities.

Becker also praised the U. as a "great research university that very few capital cities have." In addition, he wants to improve the schools in the Salt Lake City School District.

"I really believe that if we work together, the Salt Lake City school system and Salt Lake City government, we can go a long ways in having a better public-education system," he said, adding that better schools would lead to more families moving into the city. "There's no reason why we in Salt Lake City shouldn't be recognized as having the best schools in the region."

He said Salt Lake City has "a great foundation" — with the city's proximity to the mountains and its status as the headquarters of a world religion — that would give him as mayor a lot to build on.