Comments about ‘Wasatch Front still growing’

"The Wasatch Front seems never to lack for critics who see it as boring or too uptight to be attractive to outsiders, and yet it keeps growing."

"Americans still seem to be searching for the traditional detached family home with a yard, boring as that might seem to some."

"It also should revel in just being itself, a family friendly place attractive to children, even if some people continue to find that worthy of criticism."

It seems the author of this article is the one obsessing about how boring Utah is. For anyone that has lived in or visited Utah, they know the opposite is true. The clean environment, the outdoor activities all across the state, and the family friendly culture should be able to draw most Americans.

So get over it. Take the advice in the last line - "revel in just being yourself" and stop obsessing about what others say. What matters is what you think of it. That's all that should matter.

This has been interesting to watch - big city problems and small town mentality. How will Utah adjust over the long term?

This editorial correctly points out that the Wasatch Front has a great deal going for it. Hopefully, its people will keep it the place that it is.

The East Coast has largely become a place in which left-wing immorality reigns supreme. Indeed, it becomes harder and harder for traditional American values to survive.

The growth of the Wasatch Front, however, shows that there are still many citizens who wish to practice the traditional values that made this Country great, such as moderation, prudence, and chastity. For the time being, the Wasatch Front is that place.

It remains to be seen whether Utahns will retain their values, or throw them away in pursuit of the almighty tourist dollar. If Utah continues to push for greater access to alcohol and sexually oriented business, it will become just another moral wasteland in which no right minded individual would want to live.

In my mind the term "Wasatch_Front" refers to a geographic location. So no... the "Wasatch_Front" is not growing. It can't grow unless we have and earth_changing event that expands the geography of the area we call the "Wasatch_Front".

The COMMUNITIES along the Wasatch_Front ARE growing however... and that is the thing that needs to be watched and managed. UNLESS we don't mind becoming like LA, and over_populate the area with more people than can be sustained by the natural resources (water, air, etc).

We already have air_quality problems. We are already diverting water supplies from other parts of the state to sustain the Wasatch_Front population (a sign that we are growing beyond the geography's ability to sustain it's population). This is dangerous and should be taken into consideration when blindly encouraging population_growth, regardless of the areas natural_resources and ability to sustain the population without taking natural_resources (like water, etc) from surrounding areas.

I know the population needs to grow to spur economic_growth... but there will come a time where economic_growth doesn't trump all. In a high_desert eco_system... our natural_resources are extremely limited. We may be nearing the point where population_growth is not king.

Keep pushing to be 'little LA'. Gangs, grafitti, smog, crime and all the rest are the hallmarks of the Wasatch front. Crime statistics show Salt Lake City is more dangerous than New York City - not really anything to be proud of.

Yes, lower taxes for all businesses, not just the favored few, and even more jobs will be here.

I see Utah's growth happening in 3 ways:

1. Most people never leave, family is first.

2. More low paying jobs are created for even more & more illegals...with full blessing from the State legislature and Construction lobbyists.

3. When 2 young people actauly leave the State after college (because there are no REAL jobs here), eventually most will return 10-20 years later with their 6 kids in tow, now adding 8 to the census numbers.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see this pattern.

Don't believe me, ask yourself honestly -- When was the last time you've met anyone who's ever moved here from somewhere like the East Coast, Europe or Asia because of the totally awesome jobs here, or awesome sceneary?

LDS Liberal | 10:18 a.m.

Honestly... I have LOTS of neighbors who moved here from the Eastern USA (Boston, Vermont, North Carolina), and from other nations (Holland, Fiji, India, Japan, Nigeria, Mexico)....

Don't be such a closed minded and judgmental person... Just because YOU don't know anybody who moved here from the East... doesn't mean they don't exist.

I don't know WHY they moved here... I just know they moved here. I ASSUME they have a job they like and don't mind the scenery.

I also know lots of people who move back here after moving to other parts of the country (so your post is PARTIALLY correct). I don't think ANY of them were FORCED to move back to Utah. I think they all CHOSE to move back to Utah.

2 Bits: Actually the Wasatch Front (mountain range) is growing by several inches a year...

As for me, I figured out fast that the author meant communities along the Wasatch Front were growing, or the population was growing etc. instead of nitpicking the author on details that actually are accurate if one wants to get "technical." Of course I also figured that the headline is often times not even the choice of the author of the piece, thus I can still give the actual contents of the said article value.

LDS Liberal: I know plenty of people that came to Utah for family values as well as for the scenery and outdoor life. Some were even those liberal environmental types that you would probably approve of.

It's another big city, albeit with some quirks and the odd stupid law. We can work around those.

re: John Charity Spring | 8:16 a.m. April 18, 2011

The more that the Ogden to Provo corridor grows; the more cosmopolitan/liberal it becomes IMO.

The dominant sect does not have the overwhelming majority it used to along the Wasatch front. Maybe, that is why the churchislature overcompensates some of the time...okay most of the time.

Question... how much of the growth is the fact that Utah has the highest birth rates in the nation?

atl134 | 11:15 p.m.

Why does it matter what percentage is due to birth rate? Or immigration? Population growth is population growth... the source doesn't really matter!

And adding to the ever-expanding population explosion (as in Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, Beijing, etc.) is just peachy-keen because ...?

"Why does it matter what percentage is due to birth rate?"

Because the editorial argues that the growth is due to job opportunities and things like that. Well, if that is going to be the argument (and I think to some extent it's a valid one) you have to factor in things like "they breed more". Is our growth based on people coming here for opportunities or is the growth predominantly baby-making? It matters seeing as Utah is the state with the highest birth rate.

atl134 | 4:29 p.m.,

Population_growth is population_growth. It doesn't matter (to me) what the specific source is, or if it can be used to point the finger at the people in the community who think multiplying and replenishing the earth is not a bad thing.

It's just the usual "blame it on the Mormons" rhetoric we get here daily. Nothing new... just a little more veiled than usual.

I just thought I'd point it out.

===

I think we need to manage population growth (see my posting above).... but I think we can manage it by making more areas livable, instead of just killing babies or prohibiting the "baby-making" (as you call it)... in the first place.

If you want to make the wasatch front even more popular, take 25 degrees off of summer and add it to winter. Move the great salt lake 40 miles to the west. Let it rain a little more to green things up, so there aren't so many brown grasses and weeds everywhere.

LDS Liberal,
I am from New England actually, thanks for asking. There are lots of "awesome" jobs here. Notice how Adobe, Oracle, eBay, Twitter, Royal Bank of Scotland, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft just moved in and are actively hiring. I believe average salaries at Goldman's are in the 6 digit range. Skilled labor appears to be in high demand right now in Utah, fuelling the growth. My neighbors are from Florida and Illinois. There are lot of very well-paying jobs here.