

City Cast Salt Lake
City Cast
City Cast Salt Lake is Salt Lake City’s daily news podcast. Host Ali Vallarta and a bevy of smart and entertaining locals will bring you conversations about the issues that matter most to SLC. Some days City Cast will make you proud; other days it’ll make you angry. It will celebrate Salt Lake’s triumphs, (try to) solve its mysteries, and explore its history. City Cast will help you feel more connected to the Wasatch Front – whether you’ve lived here for 6 months or 6 generations.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Mar 1, 2024 • 37min
Smith Enterprises Futurama, Who Broke Laws at Brighton? And GSL Plates
The Utah Legislature’s 45-day general session ends today, and all we got was a Futurama rendering of a proposed sports complex in downtown Salt Lake City. Host Ali Vallarta and executive producer Emily Means unpack billionaire Ryan Smith’s vision for a brand new NHL/NBA arena. Plus, who was in the right during the altercation between a gun-toting Brighton resident and backcountry snowboarder?Consider becoming a founding member of City Cast Salt Lake today! It’s the best way to support our work and help make sure we’re around for years to come. Get all the details and sign up at membership.citycast.fm.Reporting and resources mentioned:
Ryan Smith’s vision for SLC’s downtown sports district.
Watch the video of a gun altercation at Brighton.
GOP lawmakers used misinformation about trans Utahns to rally support for bathroom ban [Salt Lake Tribune]
Sign up for the Great Salt Lake License Plate.
Subscribe to our daily morning newsletter. You can find us on Instagram @CityCastSLC and Twitter @CityCastSLC.Looking to advertise on City Cast Salt Lake? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads.Learn more about the sponsors of this episode:
Women’s Work: neighborhood caucus night on March 5, 2024.
Utah Museum of Fine Arts: “Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo” exhibition open now to June 30, 2024.

Feb 29, 2024 • 21min
How SLC Criminalizes Homelessness
Salt Lake City police are asking for an extra $1.8 million from the City Council to keep cracking down on illegal camps. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that since October, officers have made 60 arrests and written up 152 citations. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court will soon decide whether cities can punish people for sleeping outside when there’s no shelter available. But when folks have nowhere to go, what are their options? Taylor Hastings, an attorney with the Salt Lake Legal Defender Association, joins executive producer Emily Means to explain how the city criminalizes homelessness and what measures could keep folks out of the criminal justice system while trying to survive on the streets. This show originally aired March 16, 2023 Consider becoming a founding member of City Cast Salt Lake today! It’s the best way to support our work and help make sure we’re around for years to come. Get all the details and sign up at membership.citycast.fm.Subscribe to our daily morning newsletter. You can also find us on Instagram @CityCastSLC.Looking to advertise on City Cast Salt Lake? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads.Learn more about the sponsors of this episode:
Women’s Work: neighborhood caucus night on March 5, 2024.
Utah Museum of Fine Arts: “Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo” exhibition open now to June 30, 2024.

Feb 28, 2024 • 31min
Backyard Concert No More, $2K for Your Street, and Leap Day Hoops
Salt Lake City brings the hammer down on a longstanding yard party in the 15th and 15th neighborhood, after a neighbor complained about noise and traffic. Host Ali Vallarta and executive producer Emily Means muse on what the story says about the need for more community connection in Salt Lake. Plus, funding is available for neighborhood projects, and Ali and Emily share local shoutouts.Consider becoming a founding member of City Cast Salt Lake today! It’s the best way to support our work and help make sure we’re around for years to come. Get all the details and sign up at membership.citycast.fm.Resources mentioned:
Learn more about the Love Your Block program at SLC’s Sip ‘N Share event.
Download Utah WBB head coach Lynn Roberts’ excuse note for Thursday, Feb. 29.
Subscribe to our daily morning newsletter. You can find us on Instagram @CityCastSLC and Twitter @CityCastSLC.Looking to advertise on City Cast Salt Lake? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads.Learn more about the sponsors of this episode:
Women’s Work: neighborhood caucus night on March 5, 2024.Utah Museum of Fine Arts: “Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo” exhibition open now to June 30, 2024.

Feb 27, 2024 • 25min
Housing is Coming. Where Will State Street’s Beloved Restaurants Go?
State Street in Salt Lake City is getting an extreme makeover. Picture high-density housing where strip malls and motels have stood for decades and an urban hospital to anchor it all. But what do we gain and lose in the facelift? Building Salt Lake editor Taylor Anderson joins host Ali Vallarta to talk about the future of life on State Street.Related:
What’s Your Vision For State Street? [City Cast Salt Lake]
As Sears Comes Down, We Flirt With State Street’s Past [City Cast Salt Lake]
Consider becoming a founding member of City Cast Salt Lake today! It’s the best way to support our work and help make sure we’re around for years to come. Get all the details and sign up at membership.citycast.fm.Subscribe to our daily morning newsletter. You can also find us on Instagram @CityCastSLC.Looking to advertise on City Cast Salt Lake? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads.Learn more about the sponsors of this episode:
Women’s Work: neighborhood caucus night on March 5, 2024.Utah Museum of Fine Arts: “Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo” exhibition open now to June 30, 2024.

Feb 26, 2024 • 25min
Will A New Strategy Change Where We Recreate?
Utah has a shiny, new strategic plan for outdoor recreation; the first of its kind. What does it mean for the places visitors and residents “love to death”? Draper Republican Rep. Jeff Stenquist, the chair of Utah’s Outdoor Adventure Commission, joins host Ali Vallarta to break down the strategy for delivering on “the nation’s most well-funded and well-managed outdoor recreation system in the country.”Apply for a Utah Search and Rescue Assistance Card.Consider becoming a founding member of City Cast Salt Lake today! It’s the best way to support our work and help make sure we’re around for years to come. Get all the details and sign up at membership.citycast.fm.Subscribe to our daily morning newsletter. You can also find us on Instagram @CityCastSLC.Looking to advertise on City Cast Salt Lake? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads.Learn more about the sponsors of this episode:
The Shop Workspace
Women’s Work: neighborhood caucus night on March 5, 2024.
Utah Museum of Fine Arts: “Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo” exhibition open now to June 30, 2024.

Feb 23, 2024 • 30min
Fairpark’s ‘Slap in the Face,’ ’Burbs Bus Service, and a Good Cry
A Salt Lake County lawmaker wants more transit in the south valley — so do we! — but what’s the tradeoff in her current proposal? Plus, the Larry H. Miller Company and legislators’ plans for an MLB stadium in Fairpark are starting to feel Inland Port-esque. Will Westside electeds regret calling it a home run? Host Ali Vallarta and executive producer Emily Means discuss two very wonky proposals and share picks of the week from two local beacons.Bills mentioned:
HB 430 Local Government Transportation Services Amendments
HB 562 Utah Fairpark Area Investment and Restoration District
SB 272 Capital City Reinvestment Zone Amendments
Our take on the MLB stadium proposal.See “You Will Get Sick” at Salt Lake Acting Company through March 3.Consider becoming a founding member of City Cast Salt Lake today! It’s the best way to support our work and help make sure we’re around for years to come. Get all the details and sign up at membership.citycast.fm.Subscribe to our daily morning newsletter. You can find us on Instagram @CityCastSLC and Twitter @CityCastSLC.

Feb 22, 2024 • 25min
A Funeral For Salt Lake’s Late Restaurants
From Holladay to downtown Salt Lake City, we’re getting used to seeing our favorite haunts toppled by a wrecking ball, listed for sale, or mysteriously shuttered. Which is why the entire City Cast Salt Lake team — newsletter editor Terina Ria, host Ali Vallarta, producer Ivana Martinez, and executive producer Emily Means — have gathered in a conference room to eulogize the iconic institutions left behind in the construction dust.Consider becoming a founding member of City Cast Salt Lake today! It’s the best way to support our work and help make sure we’re around for years to come. Get all the details and sign up at membership.citycast.fm.Subscribe to our daily morning newsletter. You can also find us on Instagram @CityCastSLC.Looking to advertise on City Cast Salt Lake? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads.Learn more about the sponsors of this episode:
The Shop Workspace
Lux Floral: terrarium and planter classes in March
Mattress Warehouse Utah

Feb 21, 2024 • 30min
$1B for a Billionaire? Air Polluter’s Big Donations, and ‘Gwyneth’ Returns
The $3.5 billion vision for reinventing Salt Lake City’s Westside neighborhoods into a mixed-use Major League Baseball district is eye-popping. Host Ali Vallarta and executive producer Emily Means take a look at the details and how much public financing Utah leaders could be willing to invest in the project. Plus, a story about coincidental (read: suspicious) donations has us cocking our eyebrows, and “Gwyneth Paltrow” is back in Park City. Listen to our conversation with City Cast Las Vegas about public/private sports models.The Secret Sauce [The Utah Investigative Journalism Project and City Weekly].Consider becoming a founding member of City Cast Salt Lake today! It’s the best way to support our work and help make sure we’re around for years to come. Get all the details and sign up at membership.citycast.fm.Subscribe to our daily morning newsletter. You can find us on Instagram @CityCastSLC and Twitter @CityCastSLC.Looking to advertise on City Cast Salt Lake? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads.

Feb 20, 2024 • 29min
Two Salt Lakers Weigh Having Kids
Utah leaders often tout us as a family-friendly state. But with declining fertility and marriage rates, it seems Utahns are more hesitant than ever to start their own families. Salt Lake City-based birthworker Ashley Finley joins host Ali Vallarta for a candid conversation about what goes into deciding for ourselves whether to have kids in Salt Lake.Consider becoming a founding member of City Cast Salt Lake today! It’s the best way to support our work and help make sure we’re around for years to come. Get all the details and sign up at membership.citycast.fm.Subscribe to our daily morning newsletter. You can also find us on Instagram @CityCastSLC.Looking to advertise on City Cast Salt Lake? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads.Learn more about the sponsors of this episode:
The Shop Workspace
Lux Floral: terrarium and planter classes in March

Feb 16, 2024 • 39min
Will Cline Resign? Potty Policy, and Free Local Stuff
From potty training to liquor laws, what’s the Utah Legislature been up to? Host Ali Vallarta and executive producer Emily Means break down the bills that caught their attention. Plus, we’ve got an update on the response to Utah State Board of Education member Natalie Cline’s bullying of a high school athlete, and Ali and Emily share their picks of the week.Bills discussed:
HCR 18 House Concurrent Resolution Condemning and Censuring State School Board Member Natalie Cline
SB 211 Generational Water Infrastructure Amendments
HB 548 Alcohol Amendments
HB 331 School and Classroom Amendments
Get tested for chlamydia at the Salt Lake County STD Clinic.Free services to know about in Salt Lake.Consider becoming a founding member of City Cast Salt Lake today! It’s the best way to support our work and help make sure we’re around for years to come. Get all the details and sign up at membership.citycast.fm.Subscribe to our daily morning newsletter. You can find us on Instagram @CityCastSLC and Twitter @CityCastSLC.Looking to advertise on City Cast Salt Lake? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads.Learn more about the sponsors of this episode:Mattress Warehouse UtahWomen’s Work Utah: Attend Neighborhood Caucus Night on Tuesday, March 5