June 2024 | Vol. 10 Iss. 6
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THE FIGHT IS ON TO SAVE WEST VALLEY PERFORMING ARTS CENTER By Tom Haraldsen | t.haraldsen@mycityjournals.com
J
ust before the West Valley City Council met on May 7, the public learned of the city’s plan to close the West Valley Performing Arts Center when the current season concludes this fall. Since that announcement, leaders have heard from hundreds of residents either in person at council meetings or through emails and social media voicing their objections to that decision and citing the importance of the theater to the community. Many of them are taking action and asking for the city to reconsider. The proposed closure came after new city manager Ifo Pili looked at reports of the subsidies West Valley has put into the center over the past three years, as well as a feasibility study about the costs of needed repairs to the building. Pili also serves as president of the West Valley Arts Foundation Board of Directors. “The large part of the equation is the building, but the other part is operations,” he said when addressing residents at the May 7 meeting. “It was never supposed to be totally sustainable, just like a park isn’t, because there’s a value that’s created in the city. However, it wasn’t supposed to continue on a trajectory that continues to bleed money from the general fund.” He said in fiscal year 2021, the city Continued page 6
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The West Valley Performing Arts Center could be closed once the current season ends this fall due to high subsidies and needed costs for repairs. (Photo courtesy of WV Arts–Save the West Valley Performing Arts Center)
Legos across the Great Salt Lake
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Magna now a city
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Historic Hunter season