January 2026 | Vol. 23 Iss. 1
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Midvale
Goodbye 2025
Some of our favorite photos from the past year Page 6
Leveling the field
How high schools address athletic equity
Page 16
Salt Lake County to build library in Midvale City Park By Giovanni Radtke | g.radtke@mycityjournals.com The planned library will replace the aging Ruth Vine Tyler Library in the coming years.
“It’s just been really exciting to bring will help oversee the design process to “enour community together around something sure community needs and park features,” that’s going to be such an asset to the Mid- according to City Manager Matt Dahl. vale we’re building, and I’m really, really Longtime Tyler Library Manager Daexcited about that,” Councilmember Bonnie vid Burke said he would ensure Midvale Billings said. residents would take part in the library’s s the Ruth Vine Tyler Library nears its The land deal was finalized in Decem- design process. end, its planned replacement will be ber, and the county will spend 2026 on public “It’s been an honor to be the manager stationed in Midvale City Park. outreach and hire an architect to finish up the for the last nine years,” Burke said during On Nov. 18, the Midvale City Coun- planned library’s design. A Midvale official public comment in November. “I’ve been cil approved selling a southwestern chunk of its central park to Salt Lake County to begin the development of a new library. The nearly 60-year-old Tyler Library will remain open for a couple more years as the city park library’s development is underway. “The Tyler Library has been in existence for 60 years, so this new library, we are hoping, will be there for at least 60, hopefully more,” Mayor Dustin Gettel said during the November council meeting. “So this is a rare opportunity for us as a council to do something that’s going to … cement a legacy for the next 60 years.” Salt Lake County bought the 2.56 acres of Midvale City Park on 362 W. Center St. for $1,215,786. The park parcel will place the new library branch a stone’s throw from the Midvale Boys & Girls Club and a block away from the Midvale elementary and middle school. “I’ve been a Midvale resident all my life. I actually went to elementary school where this library is going to be,” Councilmember Paul Glover said. “So it’s exciting, and I think it’ll be a great add-on for our community.” The transferred land will remain open to the public until the county breaks ground Kids using the computers at the Tyler Library. (Giovanni Radtke/City Journals) on the new library.
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your neighbor, and I’m also not planning on going anywhere. So I want to make sure that, as being part of the conversation now, as we design this, we’ll make sure that the public has plenty of input on what they want it to look like, what it’s going to be, the service.” The Tyler Library will shut its doors because its limited space and “declining facility” cannot support community residents, Joey McNamee, the director of the Salt Lake County Library, said in a news release. Councilmember Bryant Brown – who represents the district where the Tyler Library is located – said he is “kind of disappointed” about the county not planning what it will do with the aging library once it closes. Brown said he is particularly concerned about the risk of vandalism at the shuttered building. “What worries me is [that the] county and state seem to be fine with just sitting on properties,” he said. “And I think that’s unfortunate.” Dahl replied that the Tyler Branch will stay open for a couple more years, as the Midvale Park branch is in the works. Jason Baxter, a resident in Brown’s district, said he appreciates the councilmember’s concern for his neighborhood. He added that Midvale City Park is a great location for the new library, as long as the city considers the safety of schoolchildren crossing the street from school to the park. “That’s been a long-running concern,” Baxter said. “... But overall, I’ve heard nothing but positive feedback from my neighbors that there is a new potential location, and so we are very encouraged to see this moving forward.”l