Vote for new public safety complex

Salt Lake's public safety building is the kind of place where detective Joe Friday would have felt at home. After all, the building was constructed in the same era when "Dragnet" aired on television.

While the groundbreaking police drama ended decades ago, Salt Lake's public safety workers continue to work in a 1950s-era building at 315 E. 200 South. While it may have served the needs of Friday and his partner, Bill Gannon, the building is too small and inefficient to adequately serve Salt Lake's public safety requirements in 2009. It needs to be replaced.

Come November, Salt Lake City residents should support a $125 million bond to construct a new public safety complex, which would include an administrative building and a separate communications/emergency operations center.

This will require sacrifice on the part of property owners in the city. Property taxes on a home valued at $261,000 would go up $75 a year to repay the bond. It's a sizable increase, but the needs are substantial. Public safety is an essential function of government. Salt Lake residents should consider this bond a sound investment in the city's future public safety needs.

The existing facilities are inadequate in many ways. Aside from the leaky roof, unreliable elevators and crumbling parking lot, the facility does not meet the needs of the substantially larger work force needed to serve and protect the state's capital city.

Given the age of the building, it is questionable how it would fare in a natural disaster such as an earthquake. Considering that the city would need every available police officer and firefighter to respond to such an incident, they need a well-functioning headquarters to support their efforts. As Police Chief Chris Burbank puts it, "We do not want to fail in our mission."

Salt Lake officials have done a good job of educating the public about the need for a new building. Now that city officials have retreated from a proposal to place the complex on Library Square, the issues should be more palatable to Salt Lake voters. It would appear that the complex will be located on the east side of the 300 East Corridor — between 400 and 500 South, although discussions with Salt Lake County are continuing whether it would be feasible to house the District Attorney's Office within the public safety complex.