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City Cast Salt Lake

We ask local movers and shakers the essential questions.

 in Utah’s West Desert had me thinking of this City Cast Salt Lake interview with a Taylorsville mom 

. Because if you were born and raised in Utah, chances are you’ve been told once (or a hundred times) that the “big one” (earthquake) is coming.

What’s the most important thing in your emergency prep kit?

“Since I have two kids, it is entertainment. Because if you are in a shelter during a natural disaster, they don't provide entertainment. You need to have a book or some games, and that's what I put in when I had kids. Most people don't think about that.”

What kind of events are you preparing for?

“Since I've been married, I've lived in five states now, and each state has their own natural disasters. Like when we lived in Florida, we had 12 hurricanes that came through [over] four years. We were there when Katrina hit. These 72-hour kits are for if we have to leave the house, we at least have something ... that we're not going to be dehydrated or bored. We also have a 24-hour kit in each of our cars because we now live in Utah where there's snowstorms and blizzards, and you could be stuck in your car. So we have a little one in the car with a blanket to keep warm and some water and some snacks.”

“My mom did it. Her grandmother took her to church, and they had a lesson on [emergency preparedness]. So she thought, I'm gonna go and start saving stuff. She was about 10, and she just saved a few cans here and there. Her dad actually kind of made fun of her, and they owned a grocery store and the grocery store burnt down. What got them through was they sold their food storage that she had saved. So my grandparents were like, 'OK we’re really sorry we made fun of you.'”

Do you keep a food storage?

Don’t call them preppers, but the off-the-grid community in Utah’s West Desert had me thinking of this City Cast Salt Lake interview with a Taylorsville mom on emergency preparedness. Because if you were born and raised in Utah, chances are you’ve been told once (or a hundred times) that the “big one” is coming.

An Interview with a Salt Lake City Prepper

3 Questions With Prepper Emily Cottam

What Salt Lake City celebrities, public figures and key citizens have to say about living here.

3 Questions With Salt Lake Public Figures

3 Questions With

The Salt Lake City Marathon is just a few months away, and as someone who despises running, I just don’t get it. Recently City Cast Salt Lake spoke with a couple of seasoned runners about 

, including Shireen Ghorbani. Below she shares her tips and tricks to get from couch to 5K and the best places to run in Salt Lake City.

“Liberty or Sugarhouse Park are great places to get started. The Jordan River Trail offers shade and nice uninterrupted stretches away from traffic. A personal fave is the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, if you don’t mind the possibility of encountering a snake every now and then.”

How do you get started/motivated if you’ve never run before?

“I’m a proponent of just walking out your door and getting started. A few laps around the block can quickly expand as your confidence grows. There are a number of wonderful running groups like 

. I’ve never joined, but they seem friendly.”

“My biggest tips are: Take it easy, listen to your body, and always remember that you can do hard things.

While I don’t have strong suggestions on particular gear, shoes, goos/food/snacks, or trackers, as I feel it’s all so personal, something I have very big feelings about [is] sports bras. For those of us running around with boobs that need support, I highly recommend finding the right running bra for you. I run in the 

 and once I found it, it was a total game changer. Comfort and functionality go a long way in supporting you on your running journey.”

The Salt Lake City Marathon is just a few months away, and as someone who despises running, I just don’t get it. Recently City Cast Salt Lake spoke with a couple of seasoned runners about hitting the pavement, including Shireen Ghorbani. Below she shares her tips and tricks to get from couch to 5K and the best places to run in Salt Lake City.

Tips & Tricks from a Salt Lake Runner

Tips & Tricks From an Avid Runner

With elections right around the corner, you may be asking yourself, “What does the Salt Lake City Council do?” Here is the skinny on their roles and responsibilities, a few initiatives in motion, and what you can do to get involved.

Like our federal government, the municipal government is divided into 

; in this case, executive (mayor) and legislative (city council). The council approves budgets, votes on ordinances, and holds regular public meetings. In a nutshell, they’re responsible for making decisions and setting policies that affect the daily lives of Salt Lake City residents.

For example, affordable housing (or the lack thereof) is a 

. Two proposals the council is considering are the 

, which encourage the development of more housing throughout the city.

 the city council is currently working on.

Each council member represents one of seven similarly populated districts. They serve four-year terms and work part-time.

📍Not sure which district you fall in? 

 is a great way to stay informed and make your voice heard (plus, we love 

 of it all). Tuesdays are meeting days. The council’s work session (where they’re informed and ask questions about proposals) starts at 2 p.m., and the formal meeting (where they vote) is at 7 p.m. You can learn what topics the council plans to tackle during their meeting 

Public comment happens during the formal meeting, and you can 

. And if you missed the meeting? No problem — 

What Does the Salt Lake City Council Do?

Love boating at Lake Powell? There’s a controversial proposal to drain the lake to help with the Colorado River water crisis. City Cast Salt Lake host Ali Vallarta spoke with Luke Runyon, co-director of 

Can you explain the relationship between Lake Powell and the Colorado River?

“[The Colorado River’s] headwaters are here in Colorado … high up in Rocky Mountain National Park. The river then flows down through the mountains into Utah. It meets the Green River in Canyonlands National Park. They flow down through Canyonlands and start to enter Lake Powell. Massive dam on Lake Powell, called Glen Canyon Dam, was built in the 1960s. Lake Powell is essentially just a massive bucket of water that was built In order to deliver water further downstream.”

Why is the idea to drain Lake Powell suddenly gaining traction?

“The federal government is going through a process to rethink how we manage the Colorado River. The current guidelines for the river's management were passed in 2007… The federal government has put this charge to the states that rely on the Colorado River to be thinking about how they want to manage this river into the future. In 2007, those guidelines didn't really take into account climate change and this dramatic reduction in water supply.

“[So], you get all sorts of people who come out of the woodwork and say, ‘Here's my dream scenario for the Colorado River's management,’ and that's what you're seeing. This is really giving an opportunity to folks who have been wanting this idea of draining Lake Powell to enter into the conversation.”

What’s the case for draining Lake Powell?

“There have been studies that have looked at evaporation across these two large reservoirs [Lake Powell in Utah and Lake Mead in Nevada], and do you lose less water if you have it all stored in one large reservoir. But I think the argument has been more from the heart … When Lake Powell was built it flooded Glen Canyon. And Glen Canyon was this amazingly beautiful landscape that had tons of wildlife and these little side canyons that come off the Colorado River. It's just as beautiful as the Grand Canyon or Canyonlands National Park, and these environmental advocates say, ‘Why not restore that? Why not bring back that landscape that was essentially drowned underneath Lake Powell for so many decades?’ That's really where a lot of the argument is coming from. Like, this place has a value beyond just water storage.”

Three Questions With Luke Runyon, Co-Director of The Water Desk

Stuart Melling is a former restaurant critic for the Salt Lake Tribune and the 

. If you ever need to know where to eat, Gastronomic SLC is the ultimate resource. So we asked Stuart about his recommendations for every occasion, from late-night meals to Sunday morning hangovers.

 on Edison Street in downtown SLC. The kitchen is open till midnight, I believe, and it’s seven days a week. Moreover, it’s also their full menu, not a redacted late night eats list. When you put it all together it means no matter the time/day/mood, I know I can stop by Franklin. I love the burger there, the pasta dishes, [and] the great cocktails.”

 brunch burrito is a monster of a thing and capable of curing the most painful of Sunday mornings. It’s a mammoth hangover prescription coming in a huge 14” tortilla. It's stuffed with chunks of pork, shredded hash browns, and scrambled eggs. There’s green verde and a thick New Mexico chile sauce on top as well as Oaxaca cheese.”

“The bigger the guest list, the bigger the menu needs to be. Somewhere where everyone can find something to eat probably tops fine dining or trendy. It also probably means we’d have to skip the 21+-only spots as well as pick somewhere where the restaurant is happy for people to hang out a little longer. Brewpubs are usually my go-to pick when having to balance all these points. Places like 

 downtown [have] deep menus, lots of seating, rarely a wait, even for a big group.”

“Wow. Where to start. The fried chicken at 

 is an under the radar pick and a favorite of mine. The salted fish and chicken fried rice at 

 is a comfort food classic for me, as are any of the dishes at 

every day for the rest of my life, too.”

“My heart, or belly, always has a soft spot for 

 in Sugar House, more specifically their gyro with red sauce. I’d pay good money to get my hands on the recipe for Yanni’s red sauce, which eclipses any I’ve tasted. It’s a meaty gravy with wonderful depth, and I’ve not a clue what goes into it.”

When you go out of town, what’s one Utah-specific dish that you miss?

Send me an email

Stuart Melling is a former restaurant critic for the Salt Lake Tribune and the mastermind behind Gastronomic SLC. If you ever need to know where to eat, Gastronomic SLC is the ultimate resource. So we asked Stuart about his recommendations for every occasion, from late-night meals to Sunday morning hangovers.

Rapid-Fire Recommendations With Gastronomic SLC

Rapid-Fire Recommendations With Food Writer Stuart Melling

Tattoos are more than skin deep in the Pacific Islands. Although they may go by different names — in Hawaii it’s “kākau,” in New Zealand it’s “tā moko,” and in Samoa it’s “tatau” — the Pasifika tradition of tattooing is deeply rooted in ancestral connections, spirituality, identity, and culture.

On the City Cast Salt Lake podcast, lead producer Emily Means spoke with Verona Mauga, co-founder of the Pacific Islander advocacy organization 

, about this tradition and its revival, as well as 

“The word ‘malu’ actually means to shelter and protect. And so that is what the tatau is called that the women wear. It comes from our upper thigh, just right down below our knee, and then to the back of our calves. It's a reminder to us [in] everything that we do there's meaning and purpose behind it. It's something sacred that we wear daily, it's tattooed onto our bodies, but it's also a connection to our ancestors. My great-grandmother had her malu, and my aunties have their malu. I've always admired the women who had the courage to go under the au [tattooing tool].”

“Three summers ago, my sisters and I went through our own special tatau journey and it's something we grew up always wanting. It meant more than a regular tattoo. It was something that was a reminder of our culture, our heritage, how we serve others, how we serve our family. It was a very special journey that we prepared for and were fortunate enough to experience it with each other. My sisters are actually the other founders of Le Malu, which we created after we received our malu.

“It's all done traditionally. We're not sitting on a massage table or even in a chair, we're laying on a floor on mats, just how you would do it back in the islands. And it's done the traditional way with the au, which is the tool that's used, and so they're hand tapping it. You're surrounded by your family members, people bring pictures of family members who have passed on, and so it's a very inviting space for connection.”

How did you feel while taking part in this tradition?

“It was one of the most spiritual experiences I've ever experienced, to be surrounded by your loved ones and to be laying there on the floor. You're also very vulnerable because it's on a part of your body that you may not always show to others … and you have needles being tapped into your body. But at the same time, you open your eyes and you see that you're surrounded by your loved ones, and when your eyes are closed you feel it.”

” exhibit at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. It’s open now through December. Plus, this 

An Interview on Tatau, the Legacy of Samoan Tattooing

Do you know the tale of Hogi Yogi/Teriyaki Stix? They disappeared over the years, but 

. On City Cast Salt Lake, she regaled her personal story of love, loss, and redemption with the hoagie/frozen yogurt/chicken teriyaki chain.

“Hogi Yogi was a chain of restaurants that sold hoagies and frozen yogurt. There's nothing better to me than a build-your-own sandwich situation. They had a variety of breads, freshly baked — [at least] in my mind they're freshly baked. A really good sandwich artist would put together this hoagie for you, and then the frozen yogurt, to me, was the star of the show. They did a blackberry frozen yogurt that you could get in a waffle cone.

“Then later they decided, ‘Hey, we're not Japanese, but let's add some Japanese food to our menu,’ and opened a Teriyaki Stix at a separate counter, which sold chicken bowls with a really starchy rice and a teriyaki sauce that I believe was mostly corn syrup mixed with soy sauce and then like Cisco chicken. Disgusting, but also delicious, you know? So Hogi Yogi had something for you, depending on whatever mood you were in. It was a magical place.”

What is your best Hogi Yogi/Teriyaki Stix memory?

“It's kind of a tragic story, and I'm sorry to take us to this dark place. But I was in the car with my mom, grandma, and two siblings, and we were on our way back from St. George. There was a gas station that had a Hogi Yogi attached, which many did at the time before the great Hogi Yogi rapture. We all got our sandwiches, and my mom got this beautiful sandwich that had sprouts, freshly sliced cucumbers, banana peppers, and really good turkey. She went to get in the car, and the sandwich fell on the ground, and my mother, bless her heart, started crying. She was so devastated to have lost this perfect sandwich. And every time I ate Hogi Yogi after that, I was like, do not take this for granted. Understand the value of what's in front of you, because it could be gone at any moment.”

Tell us about your journey to rediscover the Utah Teriyaki Stix.

“I'm into adulthood, not really understanding that these things were vanishing from underneath my feet, until recently when my friend Scott Wessman posted a photo in front of the Teriyaki Stix at Lagoon, saying, ‘I believe this is the last Teriyaki Stix on Earth.’ I was like, ‘oh my gosh, there's only one of these left, I must visit.’ And so I did. It’s over by the entrance to the white rollercoaster, which I cannot believe is still functioning. It is just a lone little island in the middle of Lagoon. There's a crew of 12-year-olds operating it. [I] ordered my Teriyaki Stix — it still hits. Sadly, no Hogi Yogi available. You cannot get one of those sandwiches or that blackberry frozen yogurt. That is lost to time and a real shame, in my opinion.”

 opens Sept. 8, so it’s a perfect time to visit the last Teriyaki Stix. And while you’re at it, listen to the full episode on your commute 👇

How the Last Hogi Yogi/Teriyaki Stix on Earth Holds Up

An Interview With Hogi Yogi/Teriyaki Stix Stan Meg Walter

 in Utah. On City Cast Salt Lake, we talked with sixth grade teacher 

 about school closures, new leadership at Salt Lake City school district, and how teachers are feeling as they open their classroom doors this year.

“Every school closure means there are suddenly students who need a new home. It's a complicated issue. School is such a critical piece of our community, and it's where people go for not just education but services. This is where people come when they need help with getting connected to medical care, and getting their kid glasses, and food insecurity. They also know that we are a building full of trusted adults who will go out of our way to try and connect them with whatever it is that they are looking for.

“But at the same time, when you've got dwindling enrollment numbers, if your school suddenly gets an influx of children, that's also an influx of funding. That means more teachers and resources coming into that school. So some people are looking at this issue and thinking, ‘how do we not get left out as more attention and resources are focused on the places that are most impacted?’”

“I wanna see the same thing I wanna see from any leader. First, and foremost, I wanna see empathy for the situation and humans that she's coming in to work with. The majority of our students are not Caucasian. It's beautifully diverse and culturally rich here. 

"I'm really heartened by the credentials that Dr. Grant is bringing to the table. Her level of experience and the fact that she does come from here [having previously worked in Salt Lake City School District]. The best thing she can do, and that I've seen her doing, is talking with administrators and other people in our district and asking them: ‘What do you need? What has worked? What needs to be fixed?’ She's been listening to folks, and I hope she just continues on in that spirit.”

What is the best way we can show up for teachers and students this school year?

“What other job do professionals have to go on and say, ‘Hey, I'm going to work tomorrow. I need a stapler, tape, and water bottles, who can help me out?’ So as you see those lists, help 'em out, but also recognize when it comes time to vote, pay attention to funding during the legislative session for folks who are prioritizing funding for teachers in classrooms.

“At the same time, we don't just need supplies — we need support. And no one's leaving the profession because they don't have enough pencils. They're leaving because they don't have enough people standing up in our defense.”

How New Laws Will Play Out in Classrooms This Fall

It’s back-to-school season in Utah. On City Cast Salt Lake, we talked with sixth grade teacher John Arthur about school closures, new leadership at Salt Lake City school district, and how teachers are feeling as they open their classroom doors this year.

An Interview With Elementary School Teacher John Arthur

The Utah Supreme Court just heard arguments to determine whether the injunction 

 can be upheld under the state constitution. While we don’t have an answer yet, the ongoing battle over the legality of abortion in our state is causing stress for patients and providers (Note: You can still get an abortion in Utah, up to 18 weeks of pregnancy). On City Cast Salt Lake, host Ali Vallarta talked with the executive director of 

 Rachel Dyer to find out what we can learn from the conversations being had on the post-abortion textlines.

What do you think are some of the biggest misconceptions about the psychology of abortion?

“The relationship between abortion and people's mental health is very under-discussed, and if it is talked about at all, it's typically talked about incorrectly. People assume that if someone has an abortion, they're going to have adverse mental health outcomes, and that is not true. It is clear from decades of research that having an abortion does not negatively affect your mental health. And in fact, if you do not have an abortion when you need one, that is the thing that negatively harms your mental health. Mental health and emotions are also two different things. So while abortions do not impact your mental health, people have feelings about everything, right? So that's where Exhale Pro Voice comes in, to talk with people about their feelings.”

What are some of the common themes in the text messages that Exhale Pro Voice receives?

“Many people don't know this, but 59% of people who have abortions are already parents. They don't want having another child to interfere with their current family structure or financial ability to take care of their kids. So that's a huge consideration for a lot of people and comes up quite a bit on the text line. Abortion stigma is also a very significant factor in people's emotional well-being. We live in a society that often tells us that people who have abortions are selfish and evil. And you can imagine that being immersed in that isn't super great for people's emotional wellbeing.”

It's been just over a year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a ruling that protected the constitutional right to an abortion. What have been the ebbs and flows of the text line since then?

“Our utilization [after the decision] increased by over 200%. It decreased a little and then increased again around the anniversary, but a lot more people were sharing our phone number, which was fantastic. People were sharing things like, you know, I haven't really felt distress related to my abortion experiences. I haven't really thought about them, but this is scary and different and I worry about the other people in my life. I worry about my kids, I worry about my loved ones. So a lot of people are reaching out to us for different reasons and in more distress than they had been.”

How Abortions Impact Mental Health

An Interview With Rachel Dyer of Exhale Pro-Voice

 to the Utah Office of Homeless Services. It outlines a strategy to help unsheltered people during the harsh winter months. On City Cast Salt Lake, we spoke with Andrew Johnston, 

Salt Lake City’s director of homeless policy

New laws require other cities and counties, along with Salt Lake City, to think about 

. How will that impact the city's efforts?

“I think we're still committed to doing everything we can to help, because people are here and we have to deal with the reality that people don't have a place to go. What we need from a city perspective is more partners and more resources to help with that. If somebody's experiencing homelessness in another city, in another county, they really shouldn't have to move across the state to get resources. The more that every area in the state can have services available, the more families can stay intact, the more folks can stay in places that they feel comfortable where they've had jobs or housing before.”

 is not a solution, but real solutions — like deeply affordable housing and mental health services — feel far down the road. What relief can the city offer unhoused residents in the short term?

“The first thing we did earlier this year was go after 

. We put out $6 million from the city budget to say, ‘are there programs to get units available quickly that would address this population we're talking about? Do it, apply, let's get the money out the door.’ The state did the same thing with their funding. We knew that some of those were 

. We have motel conversions, essentially. Sometimes it's gonna be a learning experience, so we don't get the units we need as quickly as we wanted to. So I think we gotta be creative in our housing outreach and do that differently.”

The city and state are trying to figure out what a site could be for a sanctioned camp, and the 

Salt Lake City Council allocated $500,000

 in its budget specifically for sanctioned camping. What could this program look like?

“Looking at places we think have done it well, there are some things we've seen pretty consistently. We've seen they have professional staff running them. They have very clear size regulations. You've got services on site, like case management, healthcare, food, whatever it is that's needed to help people move through that to another [housing] location. When it works well, it works a lot more like a homeless resource center, but just not with the bricks and mortar walls of it.

In our case, working with the state makes a lot of sense because $500,000 doesn't go very far, and even a million doesn't go very far in these situations. If we can combine, great, if we need to find separate ways to do it, that's fine, too, but we wanna make sure that we're collaborating with them to get something that works together, so it's most effective long-term. Because nobody wants to close it down in three months if you run outta funding.”

Could the SLC Mayor Declare a Homelessness Emergency?

Mayors from Salt Lake County recently submitted a winter homelessness plan to the Utah Office of Homeless Services. It outlines a strategy to help unsheltered people during the harsh winter months. On City Cast Salt Lake, we spoke with Andrew Johnston, Salt Lake City’s director of homeless policy, about the city’s approach to our homelessness crisis.