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| DOWNTOWN SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH GRAND OPENING - MARCH 22, 2012 |
Granted, it is very beautiful - and it adds a touch of elegance to the city. High-end stores, shops and trendy boutiques (like Macy's, Nordstroms, Tiffany's, Michael Kors, Brooks Brothers, Ann Taylor, Hugo Boss, BeBe, BCBG Maxazria, Porsche Designs, and on and on). Restaurants. Retractable roof in the atrium area. Performing Arts Center. Theatres. Luxury condos. Sports and Fitness Center. Office buildings. Banks. Grocery store. And on and on...
The fact is, the Mormon Church built this Mall via one of its "real estate arms," City Creek Reserve Inc. (which I find very interesting). According to varying reports, it cost somewhere between $1.5 billion and $5 billion dollars, depending from what source you obtain the figure. But regardless of whether it cost $1.5 billion or $5 billion, that's a whole lot of money to spend on a mall no matter how you look at it - especially when the church could have spent it on helping the poor that they profess to care about. From what I have read, from 1985 to 2011, the LDS church spent $1.212 billion on humanitarian aid. That means that this mall cost much more than what the church spent on humanitarian aid in 26 years. To me, that's mind-boggling.
Even the condos they built that included in the City Creek complex are "high-end," and not affordable by average people by any means, let alone poor people. The message this gives is very contrary to what the Mormon Church supposedly stands for -- anti-materialism, garishness, alcohol use (since restaurants there are serving alcohol), etc. It certainly gives the aura of affluence, especially since only affluent people will be able to shop there - or live there. Not the average Mormon for sure. Someone who lives in SLC posted something a couple of days ago on Facebook about having walked through it and feeling like they were on Rodeo Drive.
Just look at this website -- http://www.downtownrising.com/ -- which, by the way, is being sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (in other words, "paid for").
And so, in honor of the opening of City Creek Center, here is a reprisal of an LDS hymn parody that I wrote in June 2011.
THEY, THE BUILDERS OF THE CENTER
Sung to the tune of They, the Builders of the Nation, #36
They, the builders of the Center,
Spent $5 billion as of now.
Lots of stores to do your shopping,
Nordstrom, Macy's, take a bow.
Building new exclusive condos,
Costs are rising as we speak,
Rising upward, ever upward,
This expensive City Creek.
Though they say no tithing monies
Have been used to build the Mall,
They must think we're really stupid,
Idiots, for that to fall.
They're transforming Salt Lake City,
Modern and extremely chic,
Doesn't fit the "Mormon image,"
This expensive City Creek.
Mormons Inc. is even truer
Than it ever was before.
Its net worth was $30 billion
In the 90's, now much more.
But they try to keep it quiet,
Do not ask and they won't speak
Of their many "wise investments,"
As they're building City Creek.
Such religious implications,
Christian charity they boast.
Pay your tithing, fill the coffers,
Profit is what matters most.
Helping people, so they'll tell you,
Aid the poor whose lives are bleak.
But the poor won't live in condos
At expensive City Creek.
Follow us or you will suffer,
So the Mormons tell us all.
No Celestial glory given
To the heathens who will fall.
But on Sundays, stores will open,
On the Lord's day, every week.
What examples are these Mormons
In their Mall called City Creek.
Word of Wisdom, so important,
Coffee, tea and alcohol
Are considered evil items,
Said to be a huge downfall.
But at City Creek they're selling
All of that, just take a peek,
Word of Wisdom out the window
Everywhere in City Creek.
Grand hypocrisy inflated
What the Mormons daily tout.
God's commandments must be followed
As they preach, and scream, and shout.
But don't point out contradictions
In their teachings, what they speak.
And be sure to never mention
That outrageous City Creek.
© Diane Tingen, 6/14/2011
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| www.shopcitycreekcenter.com |
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