SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (dpa) – With an ear to their conservative past and an eye to a burgeoning future, citizens of Salt Lake City are uncertain whether the 2002 Olympic Winter Games will be a hindrance or a help to their Western way of life.
Mention the Olympics around town and you will find a diverse range of opinion from profanity laced tirades to unbridled enthusiasm. But the most common response is one of apathy and a separation from the events due to begin in less than a year at sites in local neighbourhoods and recreation areas.The city sits in a spectacular, yet isolated, location bound by snowy mountains to the east, a desert to the west and a briny, lifeless saline lake to the north. This geography for generations bred a fierce independence among its residents and a deep distrust of outsiders.In recent years the valley has grown to contain more than 1.3 million people as thousands are drawn from other parts of the United States to Utah’s natural beauty and sunny climate. With the newcomers has come more openness and a desire for more diversity beyond the monoculture Mormon Pilgrims created 150 years ago.“Utah is a state full of people that long cherished their isolation,” says Bill Fitzgerald, a 49-year-old enjoying himself at a local ski area.“This is a big step. To embrace outsiders not only nationally but internationally is something we haven’t done before. Some are not ready for it and many others don’t see a need for it.“Personally, I’m excited. I think it will be great for our city and the state. But I think I’m in the minority right now,” Fitzgerald said.Other residents said they were planning to leave the area during the Olympics in February 2002. They are worried about the impact of up to four million visitors, including thousands of officials and media, on their lifestyle.“I’m going to Costa Rica,” said one man. “I don’t want to be around that. But overall I think some people are coming around. The attitude’s a lot better than it was two years ago when nobody wanted it.”“They didn’t ask us,” said two construction workers at a gas stop. They then launched into a profane tirade against the local Olympic organizers for being more concerned about making money than helping the city.Officials with the Olympic organizing committee strongly disagreed that local sentiment was against the Games. They say tens of thousands of local residents have volunteered to assist with the Games while 40 per cent of the tickets sold so far have gone to Utah citizens.“The scandal took the wind out of our sails for a while. But every day the Games approaches, the enthusiasm grows a little bit,” said Nick Thometz, director of the Olympic speed skating venue.The bribery scandal which emerged three years ago involving senior members of the Salt Lake bid committee left Utah residents shocked and disillusioned.News of more than 1 million dollars given in cash and favours to International Olympic Committee members tarnished a city and state best known for obeying laws and following the strict morality expressed in the Mormon religion.Long-time environmental activist Alexis Kelner says the scandal could be forseen from years before dating back to 1968 when Salt Lake boosters made the first of six bids to host the Winter Games.Kelner, a founding member of the group Save Our Canyons which opposes increased development in the Wasatch mountains, saw the process first-hand as a member of the bid committee in the mid-1980s.“The whole Olympics thing here stinks,” said Kelner. “It was obtained dishonestly and I don’t think an honest competition should be tarnished by something so blatantly dishonest,” he said.Kelner said up to 60 million dollars in public debt had been piled up in direct costs while “many millions” more were going towards infrastructure projects related to hosting the Games.“They claim they’re going to break even,” says Kelner of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. “But you very seldom see a full accounting of how much the public pays so a few private individuals can get wealth and prestige by putting on the Olympics.”A massive reconstruction project of the highway that runs right through downtown Salt Lake City turned thousands of residents against the Olympics. The rebuilding of highway I-15 began in 1996 in anticipation of the Games and came with an additional local gas tax and horrendous traffic confusion.“They didn’t reach out the community,” says Paul Borichevsky, an airport shuttle van driver who hasn’t decided if he will stay for the Games although he could make a considerable amount of money working during the Olympic period.“I don’t think people know what the benefits are personally for them. It’s really far removed for most people.It’s one thing to watch these wonderful competitions on TV, but it’s entirely different when your highway is blocked off and dozens of buses are pulling through your neighbourhood,” he said.
