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McAdams, Crockett Talk Arts, Parks in Rotary Club Debate

Salt Lake County Mayoral candidates Ben McAdams and Mark Crockett squared off in a debate Tuesday during a Salt Lake Rotary club meeting at the Little America Hotel.

Both candidates said they’ll support the renewal of Salt Lake County’s Zoo Arts and Parks tax in 2014. But GOP candidate Mark Crockett said following several years of new recreation projects in the county, it’s time to take a second look.

“With $200 million in deferred maintenance, meaning stuff that needs fixing that we can’t afford to fix, maybe we want to take a little bit of that off and start putting it to maintaining the great things that we already have,” Crockett said.

Both candidates have concerns about the economic impact a new Broadway style theater will have on surrounding venues. Democrat Ben McAdams says finding balance will be important.

“I want to make sure that we use people who are going for the first time to see a live performance of Wicked, that we entice them to buy a season pass to the Pioneer Memorial,” McAdams said.

Crockett says there is no doubt the theater will negatively impact surrounding venues and it’s likely a good number of those Broadway tickets will go unsold.

The candidates’ next scheduled debate is Monday October 8th at the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

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