Challenge accepted.
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall has come out with a forceful response to a demand from the state’s top elected officials that she come up with a workable plan to address homelessness and street crime in the capital city. One that calls out their frustration and rightly raises them a demand to do their part as well.
“I am fed up. And I am frustrated,” the mayor said to The Salt Lake Tribune editorial board Wednesday. “I want to be held accountable for every role we have in this system. I want every other partner to be held accountable in this system.”
Homelessness and the crime that often shadows it are problems that just don’t seem to go away, despite years of plans and rumors of plans, the destruction of one central homeless shelter and the announced creation of another.
The simple fact is that, while most of the suffering and drama plays out on the streets of Salt Lake City, the causes of the problem are much larger and beyond the reach of one municipality. Other cities, counties and, most of all, the state — with the deepest pockets — must step up. So must the state’s philanthropic and religious leaders.
Mendenhall Thursday released her detailed plan, as demanded recently in a letter from Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, House Speaker Mike Schultz and Senate President Stuart Adams. It involves street-level law enforcement, shelter and ongoing case management services. It recognizes that most of the stress on public services and most of the crime comes from a relatively small number of people who can no longer be allowed to slip through the gaps in the system.
The mayor’s plan rightly does not accept all the responsibility for solving the problem, though she appears ready to accept the leadership role that geography and historical forces beyond her control have laid upon her.
State officials said they wanted a plan from the city’s mayor. Now they have one. If they really think that this was her job, and not theirs, then they should either adopt her ideas, and attend to their role in carrying them out, or come up with something better. And soon.
