This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
To hear both District 6 challengers tell it, Tuesday's primary is all about J.T. Martin — whether the funny and sometimes fiery Salt Lake City councilman deserves a second term.
On one front, opponent Charlie Luke argues a "berating" Martin has a temperament unfit for public office. Newcomer Tracey Harty alleges Martin "stopped listening" then quit the fight to establish a Yalecrest historic district "when it got tough."
Martin shrugs off the zingers but explains he is more passionate everyman than polished politician. And he maintains the east bench has scored more street upgrades, attention and open space on his watch than during the terms of his past two predecessors. "I have brought a lot of dough into the district."
Still, next week's runoff poses a referendum of sorts. And it also is sure to draw the camps of people polarized over the Walmart rezoning debate and the Yalecrest preservation push.
Politics in a big box • Harty doesn't dance around the impact of the Walmart vote. It will decide the primary, she says.
"I had no idea how big it was," she notes. "There is definitely a huge chunk of this district that surrounds Foothill and surrounds Parleys [Way], where this was a bigger issue than any of us realized."
The marketing professional insists her objection to rezoning the Kmart at 2705 E. Parleys Way for a new Walmart — and Martin's council vote this week that helped kill the retailer's request — leaves Luke as the odd man out. That's because Luke voted for the rezone earlier this year as a member of the Planning Commission. Luke says his motive was to keep control over store design with the city.
"I just don't see it as being as polarizing as it's been made out," says Luke, a lobbyist who has run a government-relations firm since 2004. "Depending on where you are in the district, rarely does the issue even come up."
Several hundred residents packed August's public hearing and the council chairwoman pegs the 6-1 rezone denial as one of the most contentious votes of the past decade. Walmart, which owns the property, now says it will remodel the Kmart and open next summer.
Martin wanted the vote to be settled before the primary. "It was becoming a campaign issue — I didn't want it to be," he says. "I didn't want people not knowing where I was going to be."
So is it a deal breaker for Luke? "I've found people passionate on both sides," Martin says. "Very few are ambivalent."
Still, the apparent finality of Tuesday's vote could keep some people from the polls.
Preservation in a box • Residing in a 1922 Tudor revival, Harty joined the council race because of the Yalecrest stalemate. She supports creating a historic district there but favors an organic solution, without deadlines set by state lawmakers.
The flawed process convinced her the city too often fails at soliciting public involvement — from preservation and master planning to charting the future of Foothill and Sunnyside. If elected, she would flood social media sites and promote meetings with old-fashioned yard signs. "It's effective. It has to be on their local level," Harty says. "I want people to know that we are planning for their kids and their grandkids."
She maintains the city dropped the ball on Yalecrest and that Martin "didn't continue representing us."
Martin rejects the charge but says he "absolutely" could have been more patient. The turmoil, he adds, erupted in the middle of the "stressful" sale of his Emigration Market.
"People were upset that homes were coming down and pretty obnoxious, bad additions were going on. But when it came down to what the alternatives were, it was a big learning curve," he says. "I fought against loud voices on both sides of the issue. The great middle, which I believe is 80 percent ... were not being heard."
Luke doesn't back a historic district but finds the status quo unacceptable. A solution, he says, must come from the neighborhood "rather than top down."
Since the Legislature imposed a one-year historic-district moratorium on Yalecrest, a neighborhood mediation effort has commenced, led by Michael Zimmerman, the former chief justice of the Utah Supreme Court.
Robbed of cops? • Luke contends the lack of an east-side police precinct has "seriously jeopardized" public safety. Worse, he derides a policy that requires officers to start and stop their shifts at the Pioneer Precinct and refuel on the west side as well. "It takes them out of their patrolling purview," he says. "We need to have a good police presence up here."
Luke also fears the city "doesn't really have a strong plan" to address crumbling roads and century-old water and sewer lines — despite Martin's checklist to the contrary. "I don't think he's done as much as he should have, and I'll do more."
Martin says he has used "a really strong bully pulpit" to beef up infrastructure, from sidewalks to pipes. But he agrees the district deserves a police precinct, saying it is "frightening" to hear from cops and constituents that coverage is too light.
For her part, Harty says many crimes are caused by valuables left in cars and garages left open. A precinct would be nice "someday," but Harty notes police "do so much work in their cars with their computers now that I don't think it's a critical situation that we have it."
Fitness for office • Despite being first-time candidates, Luke and Harty haven't struggled to corral cash on the stump. Luke leads the trio with nearly $20,000. Harty reports close to $11,000, while Martin is just shy of $18,000.
But conflict-of-interest questions could arise, stemming from each challengers' careers. Luke's former lobbying clients include Reagan Outdoor Advertising, the Utah Transit Authority and Waste Management — all familiar parties at City Hall. Likewise, the Utah Department of Transportation is one of Harty's prime clients.
Harty calls her advertising job a help, not a hurt, noting she is "not in deep enough" to develop UDOT projects or write contracts. And Luke says city attorneys have assured him he won't have to recuse himself on certain votes. "If those were an active client, absolutely."
The fitness question dogging Martin surrounds emotional outbursts. Luke and Harty say Martin's sometimes-argumentative tone stifles public engagement. Martin agrees he could be more measured, but emphasizes he is "not a politician" treating the council as a stepping stone.
Peeling back a veil to a painful past, Martin repeats a delicate revelation — that he lost both parents when he was 9 years old.
"That informed my psyche," he says. "That taught me to be a fighter. Not a fighter in terms of obnoxious, but a survivor — to stick up for myself. That's why I have such a passion for the underdog. I was an underdog. ... What some perceive as grumpy goes to serve my community."
Meet the candidates
Tracey Harty
Age • 45
Family • Married with two children
Education • Bachelor's degree in mass communication, University of Utah
Priorities • Ensuring resident participation in long-term planning projects; continuing city's historic-preservation discussion
Charlie Luke
Age • 38
Family • Married with two children
Education • Bachelor's degree in political science, University of Utah
Priorities • Redirecting funds toward rebuilding infrastructure; public safety
J.T. Martin (i)
Age • 51
Family • Married with four children
Education • Bachelor's degree in political science and communication, University of Utah
Priorities • Planning Foothill corridor; restoring Miller Park with Chevron oil spill funds