This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2005, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
He's questioned many of Utah's bedrock beliefs: Traditional marriage. Alcohol laws. Gun rights.
But nothing since the Main Street Plaza has created Rocky Rage like his attack on our automobiles.
The uproar arose after Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson's State of the City speech last month when he criticized commuting by automobile and the proposed Legacy Highway for harming his constituents' - and others' - health and environment.
At the time, Mark Scadden of Syracuse was looking for an RV. He planned to shop in Salt Lake City but instead found a dealer in Davis County and told him, "The only reason I'm here is because of Rocky Anderson." And he was pleased the $2,000 in sales tax he paid wouldn't benefit Utah's capital.
Others have written the mayor and told him they plan to drive their Hummers even farther to further pollute the air and shop anywhere but Salt Lake City.
They view Anderson's comments as a personal attack - he didn't mention commuters from Tooele or Utah counties, Park City, or Sandy by name, just Davis County. Plus, the wound still festers over Anderson's role as a roadblock to the Legacy Highway when Salt Lake City residents have access to two more freeways than they do. And they want credit for raising their taxes to expand rail and bus service.
Matthew Burbank, a University of Utah political science professor, says the reaction also says something about the importance of automobiles and Anderson's role as a lightning rod.
"It strikes exactly at something that people care a lot about. The whole issue of gay marriage . . . it's not nearly as tangible as if you can find a parking spot.
"What's going on is a broader debate about the nature of the state," Burbank adds, noting Anderson enjoys support inside the city where voters are more liberal but is widely reviled outside where voters are more conservative. "He really is a symbol of many things people outside the city aren't happy with. He's also someone perfectly willing to wade in. Most mayors stay away from those kind of issues."
Anderson's speech was almost a month ago, but people are still buzzing about it at the Legislature, in their neighborhoods, and at Davis County government meetings. Bumper stickers are being made to tout "I [heart] Davis County" and "I [heart] Salt Lake City".
The mayor explains that his comments weren't intended to pick on anyone - nor does he want people to stop driving to his city. His more odious comments about wanting his "friends from the north" to commute but not ruin the air, increase traffic and "make us sick" were all about the proposed Legacy Highway, he says. That's why he mentioned Davis County by name.
"People can't keep moving further and further away from where they work and expect their lifestyle choices to be accommodated by everyone else," he says. "Change is very hard to come by, in this state particularly, when it relates to the daily habits of people. I think people will look back in 30 years and say, 'What was the big deal? Of course mass transit was the healthiest, least expensive, most convenient alternative.' ''
Layton resident Phil Mickey says Anderson's comments - which he interprets as "if you don't live in Salt Lake City, you're destroying the universe" - as "typical" capital condescension toward the suburbs.
And Mickey, who read Anderson's speech online, even agrees with the mayor on some points. "It's kind of like spiking the Kool-Aid. You put a tiny bit in and it ruins it for everybody. Don't let the soapbox get the best of you.
"We would like to come there and not pollute the air. Unless he starts coming up with some magic, 'Star Trek,' beam-me-up-Rocky [machine], that ain't going to happen."
Billie Bennett commutes to Salt Lake City from Layton by bus. Anderson has made her fume before, but this time she has decided to stop spending "one more cent" in Salt Lake City and she told him so in an e-mail.
"He was bad-mouthing Davis County residents and acting like we are making Salt Lake County worse because we come here to work. This time I thought, 'You need to hear from one of your friends from the north.' "
Ivan Cutler of Centerville thought so, too. "Rocky does his own thing and has his own agenda. People are getting sick of the talk and all the things that he does. That's kind of the last straw for a lot of people."
Anderson has found support at home and across the nation. He spoke about similar issues at a smart-growth conference in Florida last month - sans the Davis County comments - and he soon will speak in Wisconsin.
Anderson backer David Cone expects eventually to move out of Salt Lake City because of the wintertime inversions. And while some Davis County residents insist Anderson has no business talking about their proposed highway, Cone expects his mayor to. "He has a duty to his constituents . . . to protect their interest and do whatever he can do to make it a better place."
What Burbank is struck by is the amount of attention - good and bad - Anderson elicits. "Most people couldn't even name the mayor of Sandy or the mayor of West Valley City."