On Thursday, November 6, the Salt Lake City Council adopted the "Downtown in Motion" mobility and transportation master plan for our Capital City's central business district. The plan is intelligent and forward-looking. For those who have lamented the demise of activity on Main Street and in the downtown over the past few decades, this plan is a bold and visionary plan to bring people back downtown, and to connect people to the capital city in meaningful ways.

The City and others such as, the Downtown Alliance, Salt Lake Chamber, Utah Transit Authority (UTA), and Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) have worked diligently over the past 18 months to make this plan a reality. The working group has drawn heavily on the "Downtown Rising" vision for Salt Lake City prepared by the Salt Lake Chamber and the American Institute of Architects in early 2007. Additionally, the working group has met with and received input from the broadest possible group of stakeholders-from business and civic leaders, to downtown merchants and residents, to advocates for the homeless and impoverished-and are grateful for the thousands of hours of brainstorming, input and review that have been contributed.

The City and others mentioned above have drawn heavily on the observations of other successful cities. In the words of the late Jane Jacobs, noted author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities, "You have to learn from successes.  You have to learn from things which are working well.  In anything, that's what you should be doing.  Study what is working somewhere else.  Learn from what is a success.  Look at the principles that make a thing a success."

In developing this plan, we have done just that. The City and all associated have looked closely at Denver, Portland and Seattle to see how light rail and streetcar systems support their business districts. We have studied Boulder and Sacramento to gather ideas about bicycle systems that work. We have studied Vancouver and San Francisco to identify improvements to our pedestrian facilities and to explore links between walkability and sustainable economic development evident in these communities. We have witnessed in all of these communities ways to balance accommodation of cars with all of the other mobility systems that serve great and successful cities. Most importantly, we have carefully evaluated our own assets and conditions to create a plan that will help us achieve our own success.

This plan is about connecting people within our downtown and to the entire region. We applaud this notable achievement, and look forward to the years ahead as we move forward with implementing the many projects and goals to make a more connected downtown a reality.