The pandemic has exposed inequalities in our community that we can now overcome.
(Francisco Kjolseth | Tribune file photo) A pedestrian walks past an empty Gateway Mall in downtown Salt Lake City on Wednesday, April 29, 2020.
By Erin Mendenhall | Especially for The Tribune
As Salt Lake City marked a year since the day I signed the first of 17 emergency orders in the course of the pandemic, I was thinking about how far we have come as a city, how much we have endured, and where we are going.
While I couldn’t have predicted everything the year had in store for us, it quickly became clear that COVID-19 was going to be a big problem – not just for a year, but at least for my first term as mayor.
Those early days in March 2020 were marked by great uncertainty and fear. As our office buildings and classrooms emptied, we faced upheaval on a scale that most of us have not seen in our lives. It didn’t help that our frayed nerves were immediately shaken again by the March 18 earthquake and the thousands of aftershocks that followed. The crises have exposed and exacerbated existing weaknesses in our systems as well as the opportunity and responsibility we have to solve them.
I’m so grateful that the case numbers are falling and the vaccinations are increasing, but I’m not interested in going back to normal as the pre-COVID status quo wasn’t good for everyone. It wasn’t just, or safe, or fair for everyone. We can do better and I’m proud of how our capital city has already started.
Creating fair opportunities for every resident is one of the most important pillars of my administration. I came into office with plans to close the digital divide that acts as a barrier preventing many of our residents from meaningfully connecting to the city, its schools, their workplaces and their communities. We sped up those plans in a hurry, noting that the city’s practices, from permits to committees and commissions to judicial court hearings, have all been postponed online to allow residents to safely interact with us.
We have seen the disproportionate impact of the virus on our color communities, not just in terms of health outcomes, but also in terms of job loss, housing and food instability, challenges that existed before and were exacerbated by the pandemic. My office is currently in the process of hiring a Chief Equity Officer who will work to ensure that equity and access to opportunity support all of our city functions.
Leveraging growth for the benefit of every resident is a second pillar of my management and I am proud to report that we have kept our promise to create an apprenticeship program. This program pays a living wage and offers young people and adults without prior knowledge the opportunity to acquire valuable skills as well as training and supervision on the job.
Last year’s tests also showed that our regular communication and engagement methods were inadequate. Dealing with a public health crisis, particularly one that has hit various communities in such devastating ways, challenged us to get messages across in new ways. We have regularly posted videos on COVID in 11 languages, pinned informational flyers on grocery bank bags, and posted bulletins in grocery stores and other high-traffic areas.
We also discovered how confusing the deluge of information and misinformation was for many residents who struggled to figure out what rules were where and who was responsible for what. We still have a lot to do to improve communication in the event of a crisis.
On March 1, Salt Lake City Council members and I, along with millions of others across the country, remembered the victims and survivors of COVID-19. Salt Lake City lost 150 souls to this harrowing disease. And to date, nearly 340,000 Utahns have been fully vaccinated.
These two ever-changing characters are always with me. The former demands to be remembered, to be honored, to be mourned. And the latter gives me hope. With every vaccination we have the chance to build a future that is stronger and more just for everyone.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Erin Mendenhall in Salt Lake City on Friday, January 3, 2020.
Erin Mendenhall is the Mayor of Salt Lake City.
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