Salt Lake City Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall shoveled piles of dirt onto a maple tree sapling in a west side neighborhood on Thursday — a visual mark of her campaign pledge to plant at least 1,000 more trees on this side of the city every budget year if elected as mayor.
Such a move would improve not only air quality, the candidate said at a news conference announcing the plan, but would also promote walkability, improve equity on the sometimes-neglected west side and improve property values.
“More trees really means less pollution,” she said. “It means more walkable neighborhoods.