I spied an article in the Salt Lake Tribune today, titled: "A Future Mayor Could Give Up Plaza Easement." The article was written by Heather May, who was on my high school debate team. The content of the article worries me, and makes me wish I could still vote in Salt Lake elections. I've copied the text of it below.

   It may not matter if Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson refuses to budge on the Main Street Plaza. After all, he won't be mayor forever.     A future mayor -- perhaps as soon as the next term, or even years from now -- could give up the city's easement through the plaza, allowing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to control behavior on its property like it does at Temple Square and other church grounds.     David Spatafore -- a lobbyist for the Utah League of Cities and Towns and the only candidate so far to announce he will run against Anderson next year -- said Monday he would get rid of the easement.     "As long as there is the prospect of dissidents . . . that plaza will remain an open sore in our community. I just don't think that we'll heal unless the church has the easement," said Spatafore, who pointed out he is Roman Catholic.     Spatafore, who said he would work with the church to keep the plaza open to the public, compares Mormons' feelings about the plaza to Catholics' thoughts about the Vatican. "If [the plaza] were the only 660 feet in the city to protest, I might consider it differently. That's not how we ought to respect areas that are important to a segment of our population."     Lobbyist and former state Rep. Frank Pignanelli, who is considering running for mayor, said he would give up the easement as well, though he would try to win some concessions to allow leafleting on part of the plaza -- something the church opposes. "The property owner did not intend to have full-scale demonstrations and protests," said Pignanelli, also a Roman Catholic. "You have to look at what the intent of the parties were."     Dave Buhler is a potential mayoral candidate, but won't say what he would do as mayor because he also is the City Council chairman. The all-LDS council was told by a private attorney it has the power to eliminate the easement and could vote as soon as Dec. 3.     Anderson, a nonpracticing Mormon, refuses to hand over the easement -- despite repeated requests from LDS officials.     Even so, church officials said they will not get involved in the 2003 mayoral race. "Is the church going to weigh in on an election of a public official? Absolutely not," Elder Lance B. Wickman told The Salt Lake Tribune on Saturday.     Anderson suggests the church should stop asking for the easement.     "I urge you and other leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ to focus your efforts on reducing the divisiveness in this community, rather [than] increasing hostilities with demands that I act in abrogation of the terms of the Special Warranty Deed," he wrote to LDS Presiding Bishop H. David Burton in a letter sent Monday.     The deed contains a severability clause that Anderson says means that if the restrictions on behavior through the plaza are held to be unconstitutional, the easement remains. Both the city and the church agreed to the clause when they crafted the deed in 1999.     Anderson concedes a future mayor could probably do away with the easement, but would have to get fair market value for it.     The church paid $8.1 million for Main Street between North Temple and South Temple and spent millions more to turn it into a plaza with a reflecting pool, grass, benches and tables.     The Utah chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union would probably sue again if the city gives up the easement, believing the First Amendment still must be upheld on the plaza because of its past history as a public forum.     Giving away the easement also could violate the Constitution's establishment clause, which says government "shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."     Anderson says a majority of residents believe the city -- where most residents are not Mormon -- should keep the easement. Besides, "it would be unbelievably divisive for anyone to [give up the easement]," he said. "I would be shocked if anybody seeking this office would contend that the city should back away from the written agrement that was previously entered into which guaranteed public access."     But Spatafore said he could help the community by trying to get other concessions from church officials, including their support for hate-crimes legislation, looser liquor laws and west-side development. hmay@sltrib.com