The SLC City Council Needs Rainer
 

The Salt Lake City Council is badly lacking in diversity of thought and thus does not represent the interests of many constituents. On July 20th, Mayor Mendenhall and the entire Council declared “Racism” to be a “Public Health Crisis”. I know it’s become quite fashionable these days to blame everything on racism, but for a government to make such a declaration indicates they might have a bit of a tenuous connection with reality.   

 

If we want to talk about real public health crises, how about homelessness, drug addiction, mental illness, obesity, cancer, heart disease, neurological diseases, and many other more pressing issues.   

 

When I ran for Mayor in 2019, I had the solution for the homeless—a homeless campus where all the needs of these unfortunate people could be met. The Tiny Home plan currently under consideration will be a failure, as have been the current shelters. I will work tirelessly create a safe and hospitable environment where homeless people can live until such time as they are able to rejoin mainstream society.

  

I believe that further investments in mass transit will be a waste of money. We are no more than five years away from the time where a majority of commuter traffic will be autonomous electric cars. Think of an Uber or Lyft with no driver. These cars will pick you up at your home and deliver you to your desired location. They won’t need any parking as they will be immediately off to find a new rider. This system will be much more convenient and efficient than mass transit which nobody likes and is prone to major disruptions and creates a vector for the corona virus and other infectious diseases.

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We badly need reform of our police department. For far too long, they have been the agents of the state rather than the agents of the people. They must return to the mission for which they were founded which was to protect people and their property from violent criminals. There must be transparency and accountability, both of which are sadly lacking at this time. We need fewer police but higher quality police. We also need to eliminate SWAT cops and undercover (secret) police which have no place in a democratic society. We need to stop arresting and imprisoning so many people for nonviolent and made-up crimes. The US has only 5% of the world’s population but has 25% of its prison population. The ordinance proposed by the SLC Civilian Police Accountability Council will go a long way toward solving this problem.

 

I’m an immigrant who has lived in and loved Salt Lake City for 72 years. I’d like to be able to help young people build a better life and share in the opportunities that were available to me. Government is making this increasingly difficult each and every year. If you elect me I will work hard to reverse this trend.