Why would anyone choose to move to Park City — a community people around the world dream of calling home — if it were really the “broken” place Jack Rubin describes?
People don’t retire or move their family here because it’s dysfunctional. They come to Park City because generations of leaders, staff and volunteers have built something remarkable: preserved open space, a vibrant Main Street, world-class trails, thoughtful infrastructure, and an engaged public that truly cares about its future.
That’s why it rings hollow when Rubin talks about “taking Park City back” or draining the swamp of special interests that have the town in their grip. If this place were as bad as he claims, why move here at all?
The truth is, the Park City we know today is the result of decades of work and hard choices. Over the years, councils, commissions and community members preserved Round Valley, Treasure Mountain, Bonanza Flats, Clark Ranch and the White Barn, built the best trail system in North America, secured Park City’s place in the 2002 Winter Olympics, and launched affordable-housing programs well before most cities thought to.
Those weren’t slogans. They were years of planning, negotiation, and advocacy.
Rubin hasn’t been part of that process. He hasn’t engaged in council or planning meetings or offered the kind of input that shapes policy here. Unlike thousands of average citizens past and present, he’s never provided a single comment at a council meeting. Now he’s running on the idea that everything is broken and only he can fix it.
Leadership in this town doesn’t work that way. Leadership is a contact sport: You show up, get involved, take some lumps, and build trust over time.
Ryan Dickey has been such a leader.
In the recent Park Record article, Rubin laid out his vision for the first 100 days, emphasizing “repairing regional and agency relationships,” launching infrastructure and circulation planning, and “resetting old disagreements.” Those are important goals — yet he openly frames them as if they didn’t already exist, or like he’s reinventing a wheel that’s been rolling for years.
Let’s dissect that:
- He prioritizes relationship-building in his first 100 days. Fair enough. But how do you expect to mend fences when you’ve spent your campaign disparaging civic leaders, the resorts, City Hall staff, non-profit leaders, and others as some sort of deep state with a hold on the city?
- He calls for a reset of conflicts and stale divisions. But he fails to acknowledge that many of the same partners he now says he wants to work with are the very people he’s criticized. Rubin is starting from behind.
- He outlines sweeping goals — circulation, infrastructure, Bonanza Park, transit — without institutional grounding. We’ve been working on those subjects. They require deep knowledge of how the municipal code works, which relationships to lean into, and how prior plans, deals, and constraints shape what’s possible now.
Leadership isn’t a campaign gimmick. It’s earned over time. During my years serving, I sat in council chambers, overseen open space purchases, engaged with planning commissions, liaised across departments and with the county, and helped advance projects that built this city.
I know the difference between someone who has a lot of campaign signs and someone who has walked through years of policy debates. We are blessed Ryan Dickey has stepped up.
Yes, Park City faces real challenges: traffic, growth pressures, infrastructure strain. We’re largely a victim of our successes.
But the solutions start with credibility, experience, and a deep understanding of our community. Park City isn’t begging to be fixed — it’s waiting for positive leadership that can move us forward thoughtfully.
Jack Rubin is not ready for that responsibility.
Jim Doilney
Park City