in Sheriff
Summit County Sheriff’s Office Impresses Again
This morning I was in the Wal-Mart parking lot with my two year old. As we walked out of the store to my car, I heard yelling and then saw one man slam another into the back of a Jeep and punches were thrown. It was violent. So much so that I decided I better get my two year old in the car and call the Sheriff. A normal variety fight between two teenagers probably wouldn’t warrant such a call, but this seemed like it had the potential to degenerate into something dangerous for both the men fighting and any bystander.
The Sheriff’s dispatcher was friendly and asked a few questions. I said this probably wasn’t an emergency but they may want to check it out. About 4 minutes later a deputy rolled into the parking lot and I left. On the way out, another deputy appeared to be headed that way.
In so many areas of the country, the police force may have responded twenty or thirty minutes later (or perhaps not at all). In this case, they were there almost immediately. It once again gives one faith, that if you have a problem, the sheriff’s office is going to be there almost immediately and that they have your back.
It’s good to live in Summit County.
in Vail
Where Was “Park City” in 2014?
It’s interesting watching the battle brewing over Vail’s trademark application of the words “Park City.” According to the Park Record, over 50 entities have, or are preparing to, challenge Vail’s trademark application. As long time readers will note, the Park Rag created a website in January called parkcitysucks.com when we became fed up with the confusion over reading the term “Park City” in the Park Record.
About a month later I had the chance to sit down with Bill Rock, Park City COO (the Vail Park City COO) and Kristen Kenney Williams, Vice President of Vail’s Mountain Community Affairs group. They explained Vail’s position that they had altered their trademark application from something very broad (i.e. almost anything to do with any business in Park City) to something more narrow (Vail doesn’t want another ski resort to be called Park City). They did a good job of convincing me that they would not “go after” a local business using the Park City name. I specifically asked if I could open up a business called “Park City Ski Shop” without worry of legal issues from Vail. They assured me it wouldn’t be a problem. So, I left that meeting feeling better on the trademark issue.
Leaving the meeting, I still had concerns over Vail using the term Park City in marketing. They told me that locally they were shifting advertising to use the words “Park City Mountain” but that nationally and globally they would refer to themselves as Park City. This frankly worried me more than the trademark issue. We are a community that depends on tourism. Having our name linked to an outside company, at some point, will not be a good thing. Something will happen to Vail and it will reflect negatively on our town, because the resort and town share the same name. It’s not an if scenario… but a when.
Now we are months on, and it looks like formal opposition is rising against Vail on the topic. Again, I for one believe Mr Rock and Ms Williams have no intention of trying to prevent any local business from using the Park City name. However, they may not stay in their positions forever and once they are gone, their “words” may not hold as much weight as the desire of the Vail legal team to try and enforce an action against the use of the words Park City. Again, as stated on parkcitysucks.com, I would love for Vail to assign any rights to the trademark “Park City” to Park City Municipal and have the city license the use of the trademark back to Vail (in perpetuity) for the sole use of the name as a ski resort. It would alleviate so many concerns.
That said, I read about the Park City government’s potential objection to the trademark application with a little chagrin. One of the things that Mr Rock and Ms. Williams made sure I understood was that this trademark was initiated by Powder Corp in 2014. It came into Vail’s possession as part of the sale of PCMR. Powder Corp’s trademark application attempted to trademark everything from skiing, to ski shops, to restaurants, to golf and the list goes on. So, where was Park City Municipal and the city council back then? Were they asleep at the wheel, were they turning a blind eye, or did they just miss it? Would it have been Ok for the Cumming family to own “Park City”? It seems strange that they would not have been fighting this from the beginning.
I see why local businesses may challenge the trademark application. You never know what the future will bring and as they say, speak now or forever hold your peace. I guess I also understand why Park City government is now looking at fighting this. However, what I really wonder is where were they in 2014? Perhaps they did file an objection back then… but I doubt it. The better question is why not?
in Schools
Office Hours with Park City School Superintendent Dr. Ember Conley (5/27/2016)
On Friday, Park City School District Superintendent Dr Ember Conley, School Board members Julie Eihausen and Phil Kaplan, and school district public relations specialist, Molly Miller sat down with concerned citizens to answer questions about our schools.
Below are the questions and answers that occurred during the meeting. Please forgive any short sentences or grammar errors, as I tried to capture the conversation in real-time.
Citizen: I would like more information about what is happening with the library if High school expansion takes place.
Phil Kaplan (school board member): One of the major things with the high school expansion, is that we are looking at CTE from a regional perspective. If we can work with other school districts we can work together for CTE. As we look at expansion and CTE facilities it makes sense to look regional.
Citizen: Is collaborating with other districts new?
Phil: Yes.
Citizen: I have a student graduating this year. So, i am done but my kid is special needs. In 2011, there was supposed to be a technical high school. But somehow that morphed into PC CAPS. He was the first kid in PC CAPS. However it hasn’t worked out great for him. So, I am hoping things can be better.I would encourage us to use Wasatch district because they have some good technical opportunities. There are a lot of programs that we need to start and there is a huge need and there is s regional problem and there is not enough addressing of the trade school.
Julie Eihausen (School board member): Every space is being looked at the high school.
Citizen: A trailside meeting happened last night. There was a room full of happy parents. The parents are so happy with the French Dual Immersion program. French is third in business languages spoken behind Mandarin and English. Trailside Principal said people are moving to trailside to get in the French Dual Immersion program. That is how successful the French Dual Immersion program is.
Citizen: I have a daughter who graduated from park city schools in 2012. She is now graduating from MIT. She had so many AP classes that it made it better for her once she got to MIT. She could double major because of it. Sometimes people forget that AP classes serve a huge population.
Citizen: Why isn’t process of high school redesign being open to every one?
Molly: It’s many people. Minutes are available. People are splitting into sub committees and discussing things. Once they are ready to have something to show, people will be brought in.
Citizen: We should be able to sit there and listen.
Julie: There are probably five meetings going on during one meeting. They are moving all over the place. It’s a different process.
Phil: The number one criticism was that we weren’t transparent. We are working toward that.
Park Rag: My experience during the Master Planning Committee process was that being there was extremely valuable. I attended almost all master planning committee meetings and that’s where I heard any details I would have otherwise missed. If the public isn’t invited to committee meetings on the redesign of the high school, how do we know the details? How do we ensure the public isn’t spoon-fed a short list of choices that may not be in our best interest?
Molly Miller (School District Community Relations): How do we do that?
Riki Case (parent and PTO leadership): II went to the Mountain Recreation Master Planning presentation this week. Web page specific to the high school redesign would help. Also, the recreation master planning was very quantitative. There was no personal agenda. It was unbiased. You didn’t feel like anyone was trying to convince you of anything.
Citizen: Also, providing studies and information that is used to base decisions is helpful. We need to lay it out. It will stop the chatter that happens.
Phil: Would encourage everyone to look at strategic planning website.
Citizen: Need to get the park record to publish the strategic plan.
Phil: We are advanced in some ways and not in others. We still have a ways to go.
Julie Eihausen: At some point Those professionals are the people who are stearing the ship. We want buy in from people and citizens. As an example, if the decision was made by teachers we would not have DLI. However, the administration decided to do it.
Petra Butler (School board candidate) : However, we need to make sure data drives the decisions.
Julie Eihausen: For DLI, there was data.
Petra: It is important for public to be able to see meetings.
Citizen: On rec docuemnts, why is lacrosse listed under school district on charts? It’s not a school sport.
Julie Eihausen: Schools provide facilities for lacrosse. However, we have other need before lacrosse that need it. Most importantly cheerleading and wrestling are the top two.
Citizen: I love lacrosse but its not a school need. This should be under the community need.
Citizen:I find the employees of this district extremely responsive. I have sent emails at all hours and often get responses.
Petra: I agree generally but we need to keep focusing on making sure some people within our schools are customer focused.
Phil: We are talking about front line employees and not highly paid executives. We have had conversations about this. We do need to keep working on this. For instance, we have a person who has taught school in Mexico and SLC and he is working to help us figure out how to meet the needs of the Hispanic community. With these front line employees, we are working on it.
Citizen: Andrew Caplan, you are running for school board. Tell me about yourself.
Andrew Caplan (School Board Candidate): Lived in Park City 4 years. I’m a parent of two kids. One will start Parley’s next year. That is why I am running. I have been on the PC ED foundation for a while.
Citizen: Andrew, how much in the know do you feel you are, since there is so much going on?
Andrew: I am familiar with the district through work on PC ED. I have been involved in many program. I don’t believe I am an expert on educational issues however I have managed my company. With the exception of Phil, there is no one on the school who has children. Those interests should be represented.
Citizen: Andrew, what do you see as the role of school board.
Andrew: Budgetary needs. Help drive policy. I think there are a number of challenges. The board needs leadership. With a large change in personnel that is likely coming. I have experience in that?
Citizen: What about you Petra?
Petra: The school board defines the direction of the district. Some of the big issue are the master planning issues. I think the board also needs to get back trust and transparency. The board needs to instill trust in the public. We will need buy in.
Andrew: We need to provide a voice to the constituents.
Phil: My priorities are academic excellence, fiscal responsibilities with transparency. I thin we need to understand that the board are community representatives. We need to look at student population nd their needs. We have a talented superintendent. We have a team under her that makes things happen. the board is a policy body that sets direction. We need to have excellence in academicic performance.
Citizen: I am concerned with two things. y honors in 8th grades honor maths at TMJH. I learned that they take all their tests on computers. I realize that I’m not from the computer generation. Perhaps kids are used to taking tests on computer. The first bad grade that came in, I told my daughter that we should look at the information she used to answer the questions and the answers. Those weren’t easily available. The teacher provided some good alternatives. Then we tried to figure out how to take tests on paper. She then took the most recent test on paper. My daughter got a 97% on the first three pages that were actually printed out (teacher didn’t know). Then she took the other two pages of the test ten days later. She did horribly. Who decided to take math tests on computer? I have a 6th grader who has a math teacher that circles the work on written math. Its so much better.
Citizen: I ditto that. It is horrible.
Dr Conley: One of the things we are doing is changing to having frequent, common assessments. These are not on computers. We found we didn’t have curriculum maps in place. Until that happens, there will be some issue. I completely agree, as a former math teacher, that math on computer isn’t the way to do that. I am happy to talk with you and the teacher on that.
Citizen: A friend of mine’s daughter knows math and she is getting a D. However, they can’t figure out why. She has met with the teacher and it doesn’t help. The teacher agreed the student understands the math concepts, but her grade doesn’t reflect it.
Dr Conley: We’ll take care of it.
Citizen: Asks about homework via computer and says that is a problem too.
Julie Eihausen: I would love to ban homework.
Andrew: Are we moving more towards mastery of skill?
Dr Conley: We are moving toward making sure that our kids master skills versus grades. We have a team of teachers who want to go to competency based grading. We have to go through a shift though. How do you put that on a transcript? How do we make parents understand and be comfortable.
Citizen: I love PLCs but why are we so behind?
Julie Eihausen: For a decade our district has not changed based on data. We have felt we are the best. We also like new and shiny things… versus looking at what works long time. That was due to past superintendents and boards. We have a new superintendent that is looking at data. It is about leadership.
Citizen: Yes, it is about leadership. I am so happy that we are making changes.
Citizen: I grew up in Germany and went to school there. I have a daughter that is going to school there. In Germany, there is no respect for teachers. There is no tech in the schools. She now looks at our schools here and says, “wow, we had it good.”
Dr Conley: When I got here there were no curriculum maps. That is now good. Now, we are all working towards that.
Petra: I applaud board and the superintendent. People focus on negatives but good things have happened.
Citizen: With change in leadership, we are learning what we don’t know.
Is the Summit County Sheriff’s Office Committing Entrapment?
A 16 year old kid comes up to you outside a liquor store and asks you to buy her some booze. What do you do? YOU DON’T DO IT.
With that out of the way, the Park Record is reporting that the Sheriff’s Office is setting up a sting where underage children will be to used to solicit adults to buy them alcohol. They call it the “Shoulder Tap Campaign.” According to the paper, anyone who buys for the minor will be charged with a crime by the Summit County Sheriff.
While the “ends” are admirable, the question to ask is if the “means” are appropriate. In this case, is the Summit County Sheriff entrapping people into a crime they would not otherwise commit? Many people would argue that this practice is NOT OK — that unless the adult has repeatedly proven that they are a source of alcohol to minors, they were coerced into committing a crime by an agent of law enforcement. They were entrapped. That makes logical sense.
However, it seems that entrapment may be a more nuanced subject than Law and Order and Hill Street Blue taught us. Utah code section 76-2-303 says that “Entrapment occurs when a peace officer or a person directed by or acting in cooperation with the officer induces the commission of an offense in order to obtain evidence of the commission for prosecution by methods creating a substantial risk that the offense would be committed by one not otherwise ready to commit it.” Holy crap, given that, it sounds like anyone charged with a crime based on Summit County’s sting would be found not guilty. However, the code continues, “Conduct merely affording a person an opportunity to commit an offense does not constitute entrapment.” So, it sounds like if a 16 year old asks you to buy beer and you immediately agree, then you are toast.
The problem I have with this is the same problem I often have with the FBI “grooming” terrorists. They find the uneducated. They find the mentally disabled. They find the poor. They find people who would never do such a thing but in some circumstance they get led down the path by law enforcement. As this 2012 New York Times article says, “This is legal, but is it legitimate? Without the F.B.I., would the culprits commit violence on their own? Is cultivating potential terrorists the best use of the manpower designed to find the real ones? Judging by their official answers, the F.B.I. and the Justice Department are sure of themselves — too sure, perhaps.”
I just don’t like these types of actions. Catch people committing crimes. Don’t cause people to commit crimes and then catch them. I understand that this, what some would call a publicity stunt, is aimed at changing behavior so that fewer people buy minors alcohol. I get it it, but I don’t agree with it.
The Sheriff’s office, and the minors who agree to be bait, should also keep in mind other parts of Utah law. Section 32B-4-409 of the Utah code is about purchasing alcohol. It states, “It is unlawful for a minor to solicit another person to purchase an alcoholic product.” In a cursory review of the code, there is NO exception for “helping law enforcement.” So, we are left with someone committing a crime to try and convince someone else to commit a crime.
Dirty.
There has to be a better way. If not, I hope next January we read about Park City police “selling” GHB on street corners during Sundance. Last year, that drug almost killed 3 people on Main Street in a two week period.
I won’t be holding my breath.
Note: I am not a lawyer. The above should not be construed as legal advice. Consult an attorney before providing any alcohol to underage children that are likely to have already gotten alcohol from their parents (which appears is legal in the State of Utah)… but again check with your attorney to know whether that is legal either.
Park City parents… The New Yorker Hits it head on…
Park City parents, ignore this at your own… or should I say … your kid’s own peril.
in Schools
An example of how to communicate about school threats
A reader sent the following Facebook post to us today. It appears that over the weekend a former student made the threat of a school shooting on the last day of school (June 1) at Hillcrest Junior High in Salt Lake. Sound familiar?
What did the Murray School District do about it? According to Gephardt Daily, the school district sent all parents a recorded call and email regarding the student threat that was brought to the school’s attention on Monday morning. The police were involved and they took the alleged perpetrator into custody. The school then reorganized activities for the last day of school. All students will enter through the same door and no purses, backpacks, or bags will be allowed at school that day. All doors will be monitored by law enforcement and school personnel. Yearbooks, traditionally handed out on the last day of school, will be handed out before. School counselors are available to meet with any student who would like to visit with them regarding school safety.Security cameras will al be constntly monitored. Police will step up their presence throughout the end of the school year.
What does that sound like to me? A School District that has its sh*t act together. No apologies. No having to have 30 hours of meetings with the public explaining how they screwed up. No having to promise that they will get their communication plan in place “soon.”
Is every parent happy with how this was handled? Probably not. Are most? Probably. Does this ensure that no violence will happen at Hillcrest Junior High? Of course not. But Does it give people comfort that their schools know what they are doing and taking every precaution? Yes.
It’s definitely appears like an example of the right way to handle this difficult subject.
Here is the facebook post from the Murray School District:
h/t to the person who sent this to us. We really appreciate it!
in Recreation
Should Park City and Summit County Charge Fees For Use of Trails?
The Salt Lake Tribune is reporting that The National Forest Service is considering charging $6 per car for use of popular trailheads in Big and Little Cottonwood Canyon. An annual pass would cost $45 for frequent users of the trails. Their rationale is that five to six million people use these trails every year but there is little money to actually improve trailheads, etc.
It brings up an interesting question, should Park City and Summit County trails cost something to use? Maybe it costs $5 per car to park at trail heads? I know that people will say, that we already pay for open space, our taxes fund some trails, and that Mountain Trails does a good job of keeping up many of our trails. I agree with all of that.
Yet, shouldn’t the users of trails, pay for their use?
Perhaps a more tenable idea would be to provide an annual pass for free to people who live in Summit County. Those people from outside Summit County would need to purchase a pass. During the summer it’s not uncommon to run into people from the valley escaping the heat and using our trails. It’s sort of like the rumors you hear where a survey was done of the people who use the Park City ice rink and something like 50% of them were from Heber (if the Park Rag had a staff, we’d try to see if that rumor is fact… so for now take it for what it is… a rumor). Yet, the people of Park City were left paying more taxes to potentially build another ice arena because ours is at capacity. Shouldn’t the people, who haven’t paid for the construction of it, be required to pay a little bit toward it?
Our trails, just like our ice arena, have a cost. Shouldn’t all users bear those costs?
I’m not sure what the exact answer is. Perhaps, fees like this aren’t even legal given the conservation easements on much of our open space land. However, it’s something to consider.
At some point the people of Park City and Summit County will tire of paying for other people to use our services. That could be just around the corner with all the tax increases (transportation bonds, recreation bonds, school bonds, etc) that are likely coming our way. It could come as all the growth starts to happen across the Wasatch County line and people from Wasatch County want to use our nice new aquatic center, and field houses, and dog parks that we will likely be building.
I believe that time is drawing nearer.
in Development
Four Seasons Resort coming to Park City area?
Just when you thought the Park City area was full of luxury, it appears more may be heading our way.
The Real Deal is reporting that Gary Burnett, one of the biggest names in New York real estate, is considering bringing a Four Seasons hotel to the Park City area. In 2015 he purchased 40 acres adjacent to Deer Valley and is reportedly in negotiations to buy 1,000 more acres in the area.
Industry observers say that as people are getting priced out of markets like Jackson Hole, they are considering secondary markets like Park City. The development has the approval for a hotel and up to 200 condos.
It is always interesting to me that so many people are eager to put hotels near Park City. This week the hotel occupancy rate is hovering at 16%. During Sundance we may reach near capacity but generally “good times” of year have our occupancy rate below 60%.
Of course, just like the hotel under construction between Highway 248 and Peace Trail, this hotel will likely be in Wasatch County. That means any development and its tax dollars are outside the control of Park City and Summit County. Although, I’d hazard a guess that visitors to a Four Seasons will make a stop or ten in Park City during their stay. They’ll bring their cars, eat at Park City restaurants, ski a bit, maybe buy a fur or two on Main Street… and then head on back to the Four Seasons where they’ll pay their $10,000 bill at the end of the stay.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t begrudge Wasatch County too much or the developer if he builds this. It’s just a reminder that the times-are-a-changing a bit. We’ve all heard that there is a massive amount of development approved (but unbuilt) right over the county line in Wasatch County. It makes our approved but undeveloped land look like nothing. Given that, it will be interesting to see what our leaders do as Park City’s resources are utilized but our share of the tax base likely isn’t proportionate to the impact. It’s not an easy problem to solve, but it is coming our way.
I hope our leaders are up for the challenge.
in Schools
Mental Health and Student Safety Panel @ Ecker Hill Middle School Auditorium
The school district is hosting a mental health and student safety panel tonight (Monday, May 23) at Ecker Hill. If you are interested in this topic, you may want to attend. Here is the info from the district:
Please join this critical community discussion on mental health and student safety in the Ecker Hill Middle School Auditorium. Participants: Captain Phil Kirk and Student Resource Officer Zach Nakaishi from the Park City Police Dept.; Samantha Walsh, M.S.W. and Intervention Counselor at PCHS; Leslie Czerwinski, School Mental Health Program Manager with Valley Behavioral Health and Dr. Ember Conley, Superintendent for PCSD. Our student population is growing – and so is the need for mental health awareness. The discussion will include an examination of how mental health intersects with student safety.
A lesson for Park City from the country’s airports
One of the ideas you hear from time to time is that Park City should be make it so painful to drive a car that we’ll all jump into buses. I envision parking on Main Street at $30, comparable to what you’ll find on the Magnificent Mile in Chicago. I envision one lane traffic on 248, with the other lane dedicated to buses. I envision painfully unfortunate ideas that someone thinks will force drivers off our roads.
Frankly, making something so painful that others don’t want to do it just never made sense to me.
With that in mind, you may have read or seen news reports about recent issues at airports where TSA checkpoint lines can be almost two hours long. It appears the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) had to reduce their budget, so they reduced staff and hoped that travelers would go through the TSA-PRE process. The PRE process requires travelers to submit fingerprints, go through a background check, pay $85, and go to the airport for an afternoon of interviews. For that inconvenience, you get to keep your shoes and coat on when going through security. You also get to go through metal detectors versus the RAPI-SCAN Machines (that’s actually what the body scanners are called).
Unfortunately, it appears enough US citizens weren’t willing to trade their personal information for convenience. So, not enough people signed up with TSA-PRE. So, the feeling is that the TSA further reduced staffing and changed rules to PROVE how painful it can be to go through the airport, unless you get TSA-PRE.
Sound familiar? We are going to make something so painful that it will cause change!
Will it work? It’s probably too early to tell. Early reports are that TSA-PRE are up a bit. However is that because every single media source in the US is now suggesting you sign up for TSA-PRE (oh the power of media connected to government). Does it cause long term changes? It’s too early.
However, what it has done for sure is paste pictures of 2000 person airport lines on the front page of every major paper in the country. All you read is about how BAD the TSA is. TSA Sucks. TSA horrible. TSA is ineffective. For instance:
Chk out this monster TSA tangle at Washington Reagan Airport today.
https://t.co/vYkctJhYIv— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) May 20, 2016
There is obviously a difference between the TSA and Park City. However, our paths likely converge if our city follows the same route as TSA.
Hypothetically, if Park City decided to remove half of its parking spaces, would people happily conclude, “Wow. We should ride buses” or would they complain to their friends, neighbors, and anyone that will listen about how hard it is to visit Park City? I’m betting on the latter… if we were successful enough in making Park City such a hard place to get around.
I know we are not at the point where we are implementing these type of ideas in some sort of wide scale fashion yet … but you can never start too early with raising awareness in Park City. Hopefully our leaders won’t consider tarnishing our city’s image in order to (likely unsuccessfully) convince people to ride buses. If they do, they need to know the consequences.
People don’t always like being treated like a rat in a maze.
Parkrag
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