Deedee Corradini
| Deedee Corradini | |
| |
| Order | 32nd Mayor of Salt Lake City |
| Term of Office | 1992–2000 |
| Predecessor | Palmer DePaulis |
| Successor | Rocky Anderson |
| Date of Birth | |
| Place of Birth | Providence, Rhode Island |
| Profession | Businesswoman |
| Political Party | Democratic |
Deedee Corradini served as mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah from 1992 to 2000 Corradini was Salt Lake City's first and only female mayor.
Corradini attended school in Lebanon and Syria for 11 years as a child. A graduate of the University of Utah with a Masters in Psychology, she served as Press Secretary to US Congressman Wayne Owens of Utah and then Rep. Richard Ottinger of New York in the early 1970s.
Although the office of mayor of Salt Lake City is a nonpartisan one, Corradini was a Democrat. This is not unusual for Salt Lake City, which tends to have more Democrats than the rest of historically-Republican Utah. Indeed, the city has had several Democratic mayors in the recent past, including Ted Wilson and Palmer DePaulis (Corradini's two predecessors) and Rocky Anderson (her successor).
Corradini's efforts gave Utah the initial shove that landed the state the 2002 Winter Olympics. Corradini was the first woman to receive the Olympic flag when it was passed to Salt Lake City at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
Under Corradini's watch, the city's population experienced a tremendous growth spurt, as the metropolitan area of Salt Lake City and the rest of the state began to grow by thousands of families a month.[citation needed]
Many were upset with a deal she negotiated on behalf of the city to sell a block of Main Street — then city property — to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the "Mormon church"). However, the conversion of this block into a church plaza was one of the 14 major projects put forth by the city in its 1962 Second Century Plan. While some asserted that the transfer was in exchange for the LDS Church's support of the Olympic Games,[citation needed] the church was not initially in favor of them.[1]
During her tenure, Corradini pushed hard (and ultimately successfully) for the relocation of the Union Pacific railroad tracks that divided downtown, pushed through the TRAX light-rail system, and won massive federal funding for reconstruction of the freeway system in advance of the Olympic Games (one of the largest single public works transit projects in recent American history). She also was the guiding force for the construction of the popular baseball stadium for the (then) AAA Salt Lake Buzz, at the time, the farm team for the Minnesota Twins), the redevelopment of a 50 year old railyard into the 30 acre (121,000 m²), $375 million Gateway District mixed-use development, resulting in two million square feet (186,000 m²) of shops, restaurants, office space, and housing, as well as a 12 screen movie theatre a planetarium as well as plans for a children's museum.
Corradini served as the President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in 1998.
References
- ^ Shipps, Jan. "The Mormons Score a 9.6". Religion in the News. Trinity College, Hartford CT. Spring 2002, Vol. 5, No. 1.