Thank you for another amazing Spring Breakfast!
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Thank you to everyone who joined us at this year's Spring Breakfast, and a special thanks to our sponsors and our wonderful keynote speaker—BYU law professor and disaster law expert Lisa Grow Sun—for making the event such a great success!
Lisa explained the safety hazards and economic risks of living on a major fault line, why we're often reluctant to prepare for a natural disaster, and how we can build our community resilience in case of a large earthquake.
What are the risks?
The Wasatch Front region is overdue for a "Big One" (an earthquake with a magnitude around 7.0). The following Hazus estimates show the potential for devastation if the earthquake were to occur along the Salt Lake segment of the Wasatch Fault:
- 2,000 - 2,500 fatalities (putting us in the top five worst natural disasters in U.S. history)
- 7,400 - 9,300 critical injuries
- 84,400 displaced households
- 480,000 homes without potable water (that's over 60 percent of homes in the area)
- 444,000 homes without power (59 percent of homes)
Why is Utah at such a high risk?
Not only is most of our population and infrastructure concentrated along the Wasatch Fault, we also live on the former bed of Lake Bonneville. That means a big portion of the Wasatch Front is at risk for
liquefaction
during a major earthquake.
On top of those risks, we had limited awareness of our earthquake risk until the 1970s, so fewer of our homes and businesses are built to withstand a disaster.
Why don't we do more to address the risk?
Because of the high costs of preparing our communities for an earthquake and the complexity of retrofitting privately owned homes and other buildings, tackling this problem can feel a little overwhelming. Plus, Lisa explained, there are psychological elements at play. Most of us love living in Utah, so we subconsciously downplay the risks of that choice.
What should we do to prepare?
Lisa offered a handful of ways we can prepare our state for a big earthquake or other natural disaster, like retrofitting old buildings, upgrading building codes, insuring our homes and businesses, and investing in lifeline infrastructure resilience. It's a lot to take on—but Utah was built on just the kind of "can do" attitude we'll need to make these changes happen.
C
lick here
if you'd like to view Lisa's slides. Thanks for such a great event—we'll see you again at next year's breakfast!
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Honoring people, projects, and organizations that make Utah a better place
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This month we were pleased to hold our annual Your Utah, Your Future Awards to honor people, projects, and organizations doing amazing things to make Utah a better place.
Governor Gary Herbert, Envision Utah CEO Robert Grow, and Quality Growth Commission Chair Greg Todd presented awards to seven Utah-based projects and one individual for projects and developments that are actively addressing some of the state's toughest problems.
The awards are based on the
Your Utah, Your Future Vision for 2050
—a plan to improve quality of life while accommodating future growth in Utah. More than 52,000 Utahns participated in the Envision Utah-led
Your Utah, Your Future
process, creating a vision to keep Utah a great place to live even as population grows.
The awards mark progress towards that vision—the only statewide vision in the country—and recognize projects across four categories or “cornerstones”. Read more about the awardees below. Congratulations!
Cornerstone One: A Network of Quality Communities
West Valley City Fairbourne Station
Holladay Village Center
Cornerstone Two: Homes, Buildings, Landscaping and Cars of the Future
Localscapes
Mark Miller Toyota: Smog Rating Window Sticker
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Disaster Resilience
Cornerstone Three: A Thriving Rural Utah
Grand County High Density Housing Overlay Ordinance
Cornerstone Four: People Prepared for the Future
Salt Lake City School District Peer Assistance Review Program
Lifetime Achievement Award
Wilf Sommerkorn
You can see pictures of awardees and learn more about their projects
here.
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Free early learning film screening
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Back by popular demand, don't miss a great (and free!) opportunity to see "No Small Matter", a documentary film about early learning and the potential for quality early care and education to benefit America's social and economic future.
The free screening is on Wednesday, June 12 at 6 p.m. at the Jordan Commons Megaplex. Come for the film and stay for a panel discussion with Dr. Sam Goldstein, Neuropsychologist & Author, and Tracy Gruber, Director of Utah Office of Child Care. Thanks to the Children's Service Society of Utah for hosting the event!
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We greatly appreciate all of our contributors for enabling us to carry out these efforts. Please consider a donation to support Envision Utah today!
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Utah Business
For growth to be good, it must be accompanied by careful planning, smart investments, and collaborative leadership. When these three things work in harmony, we create fertile soil for Utah companies and residents to prosper. Without them, growth threatens the very conditions that attracted growth in the first place―a great place to build a business and raise a family.
Quality growth should be our North Star. And quality growth requires planning, investment, and collaboration.
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The Daily Herald
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was recognized and honored Thursday for its efforts in making Utah more disaster resilient. Gov. Gary Herbert presented the “Your Utah, Your Future” awards to local organizations, including the church, for improving life in Utah and helping address various challenges.
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KUER
As Utah faces an ongoing teacher shortage, a growing number of school districts are looking to bump up salaries as a way to recruit and retain educators. The latest is Ogden School District, whose board approved a 5.7% pay increase for its educators during a special session Monday afternoon. That will bring up the starting salary for new Ogden district teachers from $42,172 to $45,472.
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