Draper Mayor Troy Walker rescinded his offer to host a homeless shelter in his city Wednesday night after more than 800 Draper and Bluffdale residents threatened to impeach him, sue the city and even oppose him in his potential November re-election.
It began as an open-house-style affair, with residents filing into the Draper Park Middle School lobby to mingle and look at maps of the two proposed draper properties. But as the crowd grew larger and unhappy with the format, they moved into the school’s auditorium, where it quickly turned into a raucous town hall.
Residents scolded Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams and Draper Mayor Troy Walker for springing the option on residents so late in the process. McAdams is required to pick a location for a third homeless shelter/resource center by the end of today.
McAdams got pushback from Mayors in West Valley City and South Salt Lake on the seven potential sites he’d identified within their cities. On Monday, it seemed he’d found an ally in Walker, when the Draper Mayor offered up two pieces of property-both of which are in remote parts of the valley near the Utah State Prison.
But residents complained the decisions were lacking transparency and they questioned the motives of the two political officials.
In the end, Mayor Walker said, while he thought it was the right thing to do, he can’t in good conscience say the city of Draper wants the shelter to be there.
McAdams left quickly following the nearly 4-hour meeting and didn’t speak to the media.
