Meet Salt Lake City mayoral candidate Michael Valentine
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Michael Valentine. Photo: Courtesy of Trent Pow
Salt Lake City mayoral candidate Michael Valentine is a small-business owner and activist who advocated for the conservation of the historic Utah Pantages Theater before it was torn down last year. He faces incumbent Erin Mendenhall and another candidate in the race.
Of note: The candidate's responses have been edited for length and clarity.
📲 First tap in the morning: "Probably my email/calls/texts."
😄 Hobbies: "Movies, reading, love going out in the city to concerts, events, museums, bars, clubs, etc. Also, love being in nature, hiking, camping."
🏠 What neighborhoods have you lived in? "I've lived by Liberty Park and on North Temple on the west side for a bit, but have mostly been living downtown the last six years."
🎨 How would you bring more public art to the city? "I'm the director of Friends of the Historic Utah Pantages, a 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to the advancement of cinema and the arts."
- "We ran the Pantages Street Theater and would show movies every week on Main Street downtown and it quickly became a very popular art event for the community."
- "I would expand that, but also invest in so many art projects on every level and get creatives the resources and support they need."
🤔 What's the top issue Salt Lakers face? "Public corruption is the No. 1 issue. We must be able to have local leaders that are trustworthy, who conduct themselves with transparency and are held accountable when they don't. We need this first to solve all other issues — it is foundational."
🏠 How would you address the lack of affordable housing in Salt Lake City? "I would make the fundamental switch back to where it needs to be so the Salt Lake City Redevelopment Agency is using public money to build public housing, fight for rent control/inclusionary zoning and build housing at the bottom of the market."
🌊 As the Great Salt Lake dwindles, what policy solutions would you recommend to conserve water? "I support the recent lawsuit from the Sierra Club against the state of Utah for failing to protect the Great Salt Lake.
- "I support the lake being given personhood status to protect from collapse, which has happened for waterfalls and rivers around the world before. I also would champion the EPA to step in immediately and declare an ecological emergency."
🚩 What sets you apart as a candidate: "Almost everything. … I'm an artist, a filmmaker, a student at the University of Utah, a millennial and, if elected, the third youngest mayor in city history at 35.
- "I'm the only candidate running for office in Utah that has personally been homeless that I know of."
☝ First action as mayor: "I would declare a state of emergency on homelessness the very first second I am sworn in so we can get to work right away to help the community and solve the issue across the board."
🏛 Finally, why do you want to be mayor? "I actually don't really want to be the mayor haha."
- "After four years of fighting for the community to save the Historic Utah Pantages Theater … members of the community kept asking me to run as the director of our nonprofit.
- "They finally wore me down and it made more sense to me when I realized I'd be running to serve others, to help the community in ways that would be much harder outside of office."