Through collaboration between the City Council and the Administration, we now have an open space ordinance to help us protect more valuable spaces. The ordinance, coupled with the $5 million bond approved by Salt Lake City voters for the preservation of open space, will enable our community to preserve crucial green space through the City�s Open Lands Program. That is a path toward progress, for which later generations will be grateful. We look forward to working with the City Council to make the most of the extraordinary opportunities we now have to preserve valuable open spaces in perpetuity.

In order to progress as a community, we need stability and continuity in the institutions and social relationships on which we all rely. Crime, including the predatory, destructive drug trade, erodes the mutual trust and cooperation needed for individual security and the advancement of the common good, leaving fear and tragedy in their wake. Over the past seven years, the Salt Lake City Police Department has made remarkable strides to promote the safety of those who live and work in our city, as well as those who visit our city. Now, under the conscientious, determined leadership of Chief Chris Burbank, the Police Department has combined innovative methods with good old-fashioned police work to make life better for law-abiding people in our city.

Richard was a model high school student, even being elected Student Body resident. One week after his election to that office, Richard began to exhibit symptoms of a mental illness. During the next year, he experienced family and social problems. Richard dropped out of high school and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He was in and out of local hospitals on a regular basis, and by 2001 had been stabilized on medication. Unfortunately, Richard did not consistently take his medication. Although he was able to re-enter high school and eventually graduate a year later, he spent a good portion of that year living in a vacant field. Over the next two years, Richard lived in many different low-cost apartments and spent many nights on the streets homeless.

Beginning in 2003, Richard had stopped taking his prescribed medication. During the following months, police were called numerous times because of Richard�s conduct.