Crossing the Great Chasm From Ward of the State to Productive Citizen In response to a reader's comment: on Reddit: I've actually been doing an assignment surrounding homelessness and a part of me wishes I've chosen another social issue. The more I learn the more I get depressed. I have no idea what the solutions are, and it appears to me as if there may be none to speak … [Read more...]
The Failure of the Metaverse and the Rise of the Real World
Meta (Facebook) CEO Mark Zuckerberg made a massive bet on the “Metaverse” or the concept that Facebook users would want a more “immersive experience” when they join online communities. The metaverse consisted of massive, elaborate virtual meeting spaces, and the ability to customize your own avatar to your liking, making your online presence even more of your personal … [Read more...]
Utah’s Little Cottonwood Canyon: A Gondola Wins, Granolas Lose
UDOT (Utah Department of Transportation) determines to move forward with the Little Cottonwood Canyon expansion plan, which is a gondola serving Snowbird and Alta skiers using Utah's taxpayers' dollars. A series of up to 40 poles, each with a concrete base of up to 15 feet in diameter, all serviced by new roads big enough to allow for huge trucks will be installed in some of … [Read more...]
Salt Lake City’s Homeless Abatement Policies Examined
If the homeless abatement policy and program were designed to help the homeless to find a more secure place to camp or stay, perhaps this $1-$2 million per year cost to Salt Lake City taxpayers could be justified. But it could be argued that the opposite is true. The cruelty of moving unsheltered people and families from empty lots who have nowhere else to stay is essentially … [Read more...]
Local and Mixed-Use Superior to Corporate Big Box Zoning
Would you rather walk around Sugar House or the big-box complexes in Sandy? Would you prefer to window shop in Park City or Draper’s Big-Box Furniture Row that offers acres of asphalt parking? Would you rather live in a rambler in Taylorsville or an old two-story Victorian mining house in Park City? These might sound like silly questions because if you know these cities … [Read more...]
The Magnolia Apartments: The new Homes for the Homeless are a “Complete Failure” According to an Inside Source
An inside source provides Utah Stories with an inside look into the reality of the Magnolia Apartments. Salt Lake City, along with the organization Shelter the Homeless, have been working to build “permanent supportive housing units for the chronically homeless”. The Housing First Model is an excellent idea in its basic theory: give temporary homes to the homeless first so … [Read more...]
Challenges and Obstacles to Maintaining the Utah Lifestyle
In the 1840s, a persecuted religious group headed west, braving hostile Indian/Mexican territory so they could control their own destiny. The Mormons designed and built this grid city so that everyone coming could homestead and raise their own food away from the menacing factories and the industrial revolution. They voted for a more simple self-sufficient lifestyle by moving … [Read more...]
Localism vs. Globalism: Utah Companies Bill Gates put out of Business
The world’s global elites convened last week in Davos, Switzerland to decide how to steer the ship they control–the world economy. Should we embrace their vision of the future? Leaders like Bill Gates and those who put more miles on their private jets in one year than most people will travel in their entire lives, want to tell us how to live our lives and more importantly … [Read more...]
Utah’s Saints & Sinners
Reconciling the strange world of living amongst one of the most dominant cultural/political/religious forces in the world as a “sinner” has been interesting. It was discovered over a decade ago that Utahns consumed more online porn than any other state. This became a serious problem. Surveys and polls showed that virtually zero LDS members admitted to viewing porn, but it … [Read more...]
Free Speech and Censoring of Independent Voices and News Outlets
Big Tech platforms such as Twitter and Facebook along with large corporate media outlets are actively silencing and censoring independent voices and opinions. Utah Stories has personally been silenced and shadow-banned for our social medical posts on the LDS Church's involvement in Utah's medical cannabis legislation, as well as our coverage of a right-wing protest at Utah's … [Read more...]