Worel's Tenure: A Sunset

Fifteen years is a considerable span, certainly, though hardly a generational investment. Mayor Worel’s departure feels less like a civic loss and more like a portfolio adjustment. Her emphasis on ‘opening up City Hall’ is amusing; accessibility doesn’t increase intrinsic value. The 3Kings water treatment facility, while laudable in its engineering, is merely infrastructural maintenance. More interesting, naturally, is the Studio Crossing project— a forced synergy with the state legislature that, thankfully, matured into a vehicle for affordable housing, and, incidentally, capital appreciation. The EngineHouse units in Bonanza Park, 99 in number, represent a minor uptick in a severely constrained market. Frankly, the protracted negotiations over the Mawhinney Lot for a senior center are baffling; a delay that actively diminishes returns. The Sundance and Kimball departures are acknowledged as negatives, though their absence creates opportunity. The 5-Acre Site remains a persistent aesthetic blight, an unaddressed liability. Worel’s concern for Main Street’s ‘competitiveness’ is quaint; preservation rarely equates to profitability. Ultimately, the city’s health remains tied to visitor expenditure, and that figure is, presently, robust. I advise a cautious ‘Buy’ – provided one secures acreage adjacent to Deer Valley Resort and utilizes native sandstone for any new construction.