THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE: From small-town roots, Stan Penfold now pledges to be a progressive force.
All he really wanted to do was garden. Now, Stan Penfold is poised to sow the seeds of progressive policy in Salt Lake City.
It is quite a baptism for the city's newest councilman, a self-described unlikely politician, elected to lead the liberal Avenues and Capitol Hill areas.
But so too was growing up Mormon in Humboldt County, Calif., "the pot capital of the planet," Penfold smiles.
"I remember having to navigate that," he says, eating a fish platter at downtown's Oyster Bar. "I was this strait-laced kid around everybody that drank and smoked pot. The experience taught me it's sort of OK to be who you are."
That mantra has paid dividends throughout his life. It helped him comprehend the strange land of Utah when he moved here to practice landscape horticulture nearly 30 years ago.
And, as an openly gay man (thought to be the capital council's first), it helped him grow comfortable despite being immersed in the state's conservative culture.
"I discovered I kind of liked it here," says Penfold, the decade-long executive director of the Utah AIDS Foundation who travels the world and always expected one day to return to California. "Nobody was more surprised than I was."
Now, after three decades of building a life, career and penchant for a growing community, the erstwhile gardener is ready to dig in to city politics. He replaces Eric Jergensen, a moderate who stepped down after eight years. Rather than being a lightning rod for gay rights -- "the city has done a remarkable job on the social-issue stuff," he says -- Penfold will focus on the grass-roots stuff -- improving quality of life where residents live.
"I want Salt Lake City government to see a city of neighborhoods," he says. "People function well when they are recognized." >>> Derek P. Jensen | Saturday, January 02, 2010
ADVOCATE.COM: Gay Man Joins Salt Lake City Council >>> Advocate.com Editors | Sunday, January 03, 2010
