Of Skybridges And Sidewalks

"When the [Latter Day Saints] Church wanted a sky bridge connecting the ZCMI Center to a cross-street parking garage in the 1980s, Salt Lake City sky-bridge haters printed up posters of an apocalyptic vision: a sky bridge between ZCMI and the Crossroads Mall hanging over a deserted Main Street.

It was meant to be outrageous. 'We never thought in our wildest dreams' a sky bridge would be proposed for Main Street, said Stephen Goldsmith, who is reprising the anti-sky-bridge effort today as the Mormon Church and its mall developer partner, Taubman Centers, propose the sky bridge of his nightmares. Many Salt Lake City planners and architects are dead set against the idea, saying sky bridges breed more sky bridges. Cities that have gone down that road, they say, ended up with downtowns where the affluent walk above and streets below are the boarded-up refuge of the poor and outcast."