But a much-publicized two-year crackdown on crime near the 210 S. Rio Grande St. shelter includes a treatment phase that has been copycatted from the county’s dust-binned blueprints — bringing online not only a new drug court, but up to 241 treatment beds, according to a Tuesday announcement.
House Speaker and Operation Rio Grande engineer Greg Hughes smiled sheepishly when asked after Tuesday’s news conference about the inspiration for the newly unveiled behavioral health components. His own wife has given him grief about stealing thunder from Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams, he said.
But “a lot of that thought and work informed what we’re rolling out now, and I’m not sure we could get it up and running as quickly as we have, not having gone through that experience and having all that work to draw from,” Sudbury said.