Candidate Hola ladles soup in 'night on town'

Molonai Hola, Salt Lake City candidate for mayor, tied a white plastic apron on Friday night and spent nearly an hour ladling bowls of clam chowder at the Salvation Army.

"It's humbling. It really is. Look at their faces. You're here to serve them. It's very touching. I didn't know it was going to be like this," Hola told a reporter as he filled bowl after bowl.

The candidate later ate with the more than a hundred men and women gathered for a free dinner of soup and sandwiches. Hola paid for his meal with a contribution of $100 worth of miniature candy bars that he handed out to the departing diners.

The soup kitchen was one of three stops on what was billed as a "community-inspired night on the town" for the media. Both Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson and his closest competitor, Frank Pignanelli, have held similar events for the media.

Anderson took reporters bar-hopping to showcase downtown. Pignanelli, a former legislator, opted to hit family-friendly locations. Hola, a Tongan-born business owner who grew up on the city's west side, said he wanted reporters to see how the city works together.

He started the four-hour evening on Main Street, vowing to slice the wide sidewalks in half to make way for 45-degree-angle parking places from South Temple to at least 400 South.

More parking will bring more customers downtown, Hola said, pointing to the many empty storefronts along Main Street. He said the city should be willing to pay chain restaurants like the Cheesecake Factory an incentive of up to $50,000 to locate there.

"Imagine a big concrete saw. That's my plan," Hola said, using a slash of pink chalk to mark where he would rip out the sidewalk. "We need to create the buzz. We need to create the vibrancy."

Now, he said, Main Street is "dead. It's a tomb. It's like going to a graveyard." Hola did not have too many specifics about his proposal, although he said he'd like to save most of the sidewalk's trees and limit parking to as little as 12 minutes.

Hola talked most about the importance of coordinating volunteer efforts through the mayor's office. "We need to emphasize volunteer work," he said, calling on all public officials to volunteer at least once a month.

He said his last volunteer stint was at Christmas, serving dinner at a nearby homeless shelter, through The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Friday marked his first visit to the Salvation Army's homeless community dining room.