Natalie Gochnour, an associate dean, was quoted in this article about the revitalization of downtown Salt Lake City. Read the full article at the Deseret News.
Ten years into the campaign to revitalize Salt Lake City’s once disparate and crumbling downtown, local leaders applauded the strides that have been made as well as work that remains to be done.
Marking the initiative’s 10-year anniversary, Natalie Gochnour, an associate dean in the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business, recalled the condition the city found itself in back in 2006 when the Salt Lake Chamber and a few business leaders mapped out a plan for a financial infusion into downtown.
Light rail was snaking through the city, but construction was too slow, leaving businesses to suffer on closed streets. Road work that cut I-15 down to just two lanes meant a harrowing commute in and out of the city and dried up the flow of visitors. Boarded up buildings dotted Main Street like so many “missing teeth,” she said.
Meanwhile, ideas about the city’s future were splintered between a number of competing visions.
“We had to come together and do something right for this city,” Gochnour said. “We got on the same page and identified signature projects that would make this city fulfill its potential. We’re well into it now at our 10-year anniversary.”