Posts Tagged ‘Salt Lake City’

2.96 miles – Musician on Main – Salt Lake City’s Main Street is a popular area for street musicians; however many of the small businesses as well as some of the  large ones have folded or moved away.

“Now Main Street’s whitewashed windows and vacant stores seems like there ain’t nobody wants to come down here no more.”  – Bruce Springsteen

.1 miles – Michael – It took a little less than 500 feet to move from an icon of Salt Lake City to a scene that generally gets ignored by many of the city’s residents. It is interesting to me how often people associate panhandling with fraud and deceit. I am certainly willing to concede that there may be a great deal of fraud being perpetrated by the city’s panhandling population, but what is so interesting to me is how upset and insulted many people get about panhandling fraud. We fully expect and tolerate dishonesty and deceit from our politicians, lawyers, bankers, brokers and car salesmen but damn it we are going to draw the line at someone asking us for a buck when he or she doesn’t really need it.

June 1, 2009 – “As GM goes, so goes the nation.”  GM declared chapter 11 bankruptcy today. Apparently Rick Wagoner (the former CEO of General Motors) panhandling the federal government and receiving billions of tax payers’ dollars just wasn’t enough to save the sinking ship.

0 mile – The Salt Lake Temple – It somehow seems fitting to start a trek of Salt Lake City at the Salt Lake Temple. The Salt Lake Temple has been a focal point and icon of Salt Lake City for over 100 years and like it or not it is certainly a unique landmark on the landscape of Salt Lake City.

Salt Lake City is my city. From the days of my youth, sluffing school and hanging out in the city’s bookstores and head shops, to witnessing its current state of decay, Salt Lake City is my city.  

The following web log is the record of a thousand mile trek I took documenting the city I love and chronicling a nation in distress.