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Rocky is anti-LDS Church

You're obviously no relation to Rod Decker, who like Rocky, once was affiliated with the Mormons, and having found a reason to be offended, allows no opportunity for vengence to pass.

I had almost forgotten why I dislike the D-News and its readers so much. Then Richard Decker had his letter published in today's paper. I bet he popped a vein in his forehead as he typed up this little missive about how much Rocky supposedly hates anything and everything about the LDS Church. He simply refuses to consider that there might be something more important in SLC than making everything conform to LDS "standards". It is a joke for Mr. Decker to talk about Rocky's supposed anti-LDS bias since he clearly believes Rocky is the worst thing that ever happened to Utah.

LDS and non-LDS could work together for the good of the city. However, this does not mean doing what the Church wants in all cases. Perhaps part of the reason that Rocky seems, to you, to be anti-LDS church is that the Church has pressed, hard, on some positions that are not for the good of all of the cities citizens. Over time some animosity has been built up. Neither Rocky nor the LDS church are solely to blame.

The church should secede, take the gaudy temple and a few other buildings and create it's own version of the vatican. Then, maybe, the perspective would change as it becomes so evident that the local politicans bow first to a foreign dictator. For some of us, it's already pretty evident.

I know they exist because I've seen some (very few) letters criticizing Rocky Anderson written by citizens who are actually citizens of Salt Lake City. Maybe all you folks from Sandy and Orem and all the other cities that collect your taxes and allow you to vote for their elected officials should share some insight about your perfect communities and your perfect elected officials!! Please!

The election of Rocky Anderson as the mayor of the largest city in the state, certainly puts to rest the idea that the LDS Church "controls" Utah politics.

It is unbelievable that people in SLC complain about the LDS influence. The only reason SLC exists as it does is because of the Church. People say they move to Utah because it is a great place for families and is a great place to live. Have you ever thought that the reason Utah is this way is because of the LDS Church. You should not come to Utah and complain about its culture once you are here. You also should not attack the culture that made this state what it is, and complain about its influence. It is like this wherever you go when there is a dominating group. Just like the people in NYC should not complain about the Jewish influence. People in San Francisco are suppose to allow the Gay culture to have a lot of influence because of their large presence, and the city revolves around what they want all of the time. The LDS Church does involve itself in some issues, but certainly not everything or even a majority. And the simple fact is, without the Church, SLC would probably not exist, and at best would be a struggling city. Take away the Church office building, Temple Square, the Conference Center, and the New church developments all throughout the city and what would you have. the only reason SLC has the non-Church sponsored commerce is because of the LDS presence, plain and simple.
Get rid of everything lDS and just watch the city crumble, just like any other city when its prominent economic base falters. Detroit with the auto industry, the Steel belt cities, or Orlando without its amusement attractions.

yawn

Keith V,
I find your response a little silly. People who live anywhere should feel free to complain about anything they dislike about their community. I would also suggest that, because there are many places that are not Mormon dominated that are great places to raise families in, that Salt Lake just might be similar without the Mormon influence. You don't know if it would or would not, and neither do I. I do think that the city could do quite well if the Church pulled out. It is a crossroad in the West. It will however probably continue to do quite well with the Church presence. If we focus on solving the real problems (money for schools, air pollution, traffic, housing etc...) Salt Lake will do fine with or without a Mormon presence.

I don't think the LDS Church is going to pull up and leave anytime soon, nor should they. They are a positive influence in many ways, but they sometime have the appearance of having too heavy a hand over the city. Like the Roman Catholic HQ in Rome, they should definitely be part of the city, but not the WHOLE city. SLC has been much more religiously, culturally diverse than the rest of the State for quite a long time, certainly much longer than Rocky Anderson has been Mayor, and the people of areas like the letter writer here need to come to terms with that, accept it, and quit their constant whining about it.

I don't know what religion our mayor is and I don't care. I love living in a city were no race or religion feels a moral or historical need to ride shot gun over the lives of others.

A friend and his wife couldn't decide between two wall papers. She had her gay hair stylist vote the tie breaker.

I go to a meat shop run by a sausage maker trained in German. There are black people here buying ham hocks and hot links.

No church blocks our main street. We have a Mormon Temple. I haven't been interested enough to see it. It uses the mirrors to save the church buying 12 golden oxen.

Rocky just needs more attention, his days are numbered and he has not been the center of attention since Hannity showed him up. Picking a fight with the LDS church, wow, how original.

Dear Amy,
Me thinks thou dost protest too much, or did I hit the nail right on the head.

Perhaps we dont own utah but we are utah. Try looking for something positive about where you live and let go of the attitude. Trust this, you get rid of the LDS influence and you won't want to live in SLC even worse than you don't want to now. You wont find a general authority statement asking members to quit telling people to leave. And seriously,if you are so unhappy in the great state of Utah, why do you stay? My company relocated to Arizona and I am still here. That's simply because I dont want to live there. I once moved into a community that had a small airport. I knew it was there when i moved in and was content with it. There were others though that moved in and immediately complained about the noise of the airplanes and wanted to shut down the airport. See the analogy?

There's something about Utah that many of you have taken for granted. I've lived there for two-thirds of my life. I'm now living in another state and now I wished I didn't leave. For anyone to leave Utah because of inconveninces would be crazy to think LDS are to blame but it's really you to find a bone to chew on. It's just their way of life and you didn't have to let it contol you. You are your own destiny and embrace what Utah have given you. I love the lands and its nature that is incomparable to anywhere else. Enjoy what you have there!

There's an old song from the 60's that goes something like this.... "Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me." The sun will rise in the morning and when it does we should all try to get along. You don't have to embrace my opinion, nor I yours, but a little respect goes along way in keeping our community from slipping into open warfare, such as we see in Iraq, Northern Ireland, and Pakistan. If we can back off a bit we will all find that everyone offers a valuable contribution to our community.

Amy,
You tell em. I think us Mexicans will move in and MAKE all you americans speak spanish once we become the majority. I like it here and im NOT going anywhere!!!

If you have problems than leave. Stop complaing about the LDS church. Rocky is Rocky...he's done a good job considering. I think he's to disgruntled about things he disagrees with but that's fine allow him that right. I just say to those who don't like the LDS church they should be thankful for the fact that this city and state are held up by the LDS church influence and what has been built here because of it. If you can't acnowledge that and be mature than stop spreading your bad attitude and energy and just leave. Go to Vegas or something...wait...that was built by Mormons too. ha. That' kind of ironic huh? ha. Happy Labor Day!

reading all these comments make me realize why i'm happy not to live in salt lake city. petty! myopic! Unfortunately, it seems a staple of Mormon culture not to be self critical at all. congratulations for having achieved perfection as a group while still on earth.

I think you may find that the majority of people in Utah already speak Spanish. Many are here because of the Mormon church. Even us white folks!