The Salt Lake City Council will hold one more public hearing ahead of its final vote on the proposed downtown sports and entertainment district, according to a Monday news release that came less than a day after a survey about the project drew flak on social media.
State lawmakers gave their seal of approval to the Smith Entertainment Group’s plan for the area around the Delta Center last week. But a private poll sent to residents generated online criticism, alleging misrepresentation of the project.
A text message distributing the survey told respondents that “Utah needs your input,” according to a screenshot, and stated that “local leaders” partnered with Utah-based research firms to collect data on area issues.
In its news release, the City Council says it, too, “learned of a survey being distributed in partnership with ‘local leaders,’” but adds that it was “not involved” in any surveys about the proposed sports, entertainment, culture and convention district.
“We continue to work hard to make the best decision for our community and want to reassure you that openness and transparency are central to everything we do as a council,” the release stated. “Our focus remains on providing clear, objective information and acting in the best interest of Salt Lake City residents, including preserving public benefits.”
A spokesperson for the Utah Legislature also said lawmakers were unaware of the survey.
The survey seems to have provided respondents with their own unique link, so that once completed, other respondents could not complete the poll with the same link. One survey accessed by a reporter at The Salt Lake Tribune included questions that differed from some of those circulating online.
A question posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, read, “If the project does not move forward, the Utah Jazz and Utah Hockey Club will relocate, causing a massive blow to the city’s economy. Downtown Salt Lake could turn into Detroit where companies stopped investing in the city — businesses leave, jobs disappear, poverty and homelessness run rampant and the city becomes an empty shell of itself.”
The survey continued: “How important, if at all, is this consideration to you and your opinion about the project and the proposed sales tax increase?”
A spokesperson for Smith Entertainment Group — the company headed by Utah Jazz and Utah Hockey Club owner Ryan Smith — said the survey did not come from the company. Quin Monson, a partner at Y2 Analytics, which is running the poll, confirmed Smith’s conglomerate did not commission the survey.
Monson said Monday he couldn’t share the identity of Y2 Analytics’ client with The Tribune because it is a private company. The questions included, he added, changed from respondent to respondent because it is a “message testing effort.”
“In a typical message testing survey,” Monson said, “we would identify both positive and negative messages, and we would randomly assign a survey respondent to receive a subset of them. By having somebody receive not all of the messages we’re testing, but a subset of them, that allows us analytically to understand better the effects of different messages on public opinion.”
Fairpark resident and Salt Lake City native John Hatch was one of the locals who said he received a text with a personalized survey link. He thought the poll was an attempt to sway residents or to win good publicity for the project, which calls for an increase in the city’s sales tax.
For Hatch, the question that raised the biggest red flag asked, according to a screenshot, the following:
“If the project does not move forward, the Utah Jazz and Utah Hockey Club will relocate, causing a massive blow to the City’s economy. Downtown Salt Lake could turn into Detroit where companies stopped investing in the city — businesses leave, jobs disappear, poverty and homelessness run rampant and the city becomes an empty shell of itself. How important, if at all, is this consideration to you and your opinion about the project and the proposed sales tax increase?”
Hatch said the survey was “very clearly very biased.”
“It was just kind of odd and sort of interesting, and then when I saw other people got it, that also made me interested,” he said. “I think I mainly kept going because I was curious, and I mainly kept going because I wanted places to be able to say, ‘Don’t touch Abravanel Hall.’ That’s what I really care about.”
The council has elected to hold another public hearing Oct. 1 to discuss the proposed sports district and the accompanying half-a-percentage-point sales tax hike, which would funnel $900 million of public money into the project.
If the council signs off, the Utah State Tax Commission would need three months to implement it and begin collecting revenues, according to Monday’s release. The council plans to hold its final vote after next month’s hearing, a spokesperson said, but could defer to a later date.
Correction • Sept. 24, 12:15 p.m.: This story has been updated to include an interview with a representative from Y2 Analytics.
