Any NON-Mormons living in SLC?

[ducklite]

Anne.... You must have been at the Park City Hot Air Balloon Festival. It is beautiful when they all go up in the air at the same time!

We try to go every fall to watch the balloons but usually it's too early

Well, I was in town at that time, but not for the festival...and I wasn't getting up--rather headed in the other direction. My earlier post on this thread and that I've mentioned a few times on the Dis the industry I worked in for many years (and still do in a roundabout way) might give a little inclination as to what I was doing.

Anne

 

[hydster]

What possibly could that have been?

 

[Judy from Boise]

Everyone has the right to express their own "personal truth". I think posters have been very careful to explicitly attribute the information they are passing on.I am not sure it is valid to rate a personal belief as true or false.
Anyone soliciting input on the Community board has their own obligation to "consider the source" and assign validity.

 

[EthansMom]

Hydster,

I'm sorry if you feel attacked. The OP is concerned about her kids feeling like outsiders in SLC. In my experience, non-Mormons moving to SLC can feel like outsiders. Could the OP "deal" with it? Yes. Can SLC be a nice place to live? Yes.

Regarding some of the statements that you took issue with:

Having to have a member "vouch" for him was my husband's experience from several years ago. That law may have been changed. You still need a membership in order to enter a club.

State law only allows 1 oz. of liquor to be served to each person at a time. You are not permitted to have more than one alcoholic drink at a time. Thus, the person who said they could not have 3 drinks on the table for 2 people was correct. The chain restaurants that serve large fishbowl-type drinks still serve those drinks in SLC, but they only have 1 oz. of alcohol in them, which is quite a bit less than you can get anywhere else.

While there is adult entertainment and novelties in SLC, it is discouraged by the local government and zoning. The only place I ever saw adult novelties during my 2.5 years in SLC was at a private party (a la Tupperware, but adult items for women).

I had a friend who ended up quitting his job because he was passed over for promotion twice by Mormons who were less qualified and had less seniority. Now, I'm not saying that he was mistreated by his boss because he was non-Mormon. It may be that my friend wasn't able to "network" as much because he wasn't in the same ward. But my friend's opinion was that his being non-Mormon caused him strife at work. He ended up moving after a couple of years.

As a non-Mormon living in the SLC area, I found many regional differences that were affected by the Mormon culture. Houses tend to be larger than elsewhere, there are more parks than anywhere else I've ever lived, and clothing styles are more conservative.

Some things the OP could do to feel more comfortable living in SLC:

Join the church of your choice. I made many friends at the local Catholic Church and through my church's playgroup (our playgroup's membership included several nice Mormons, also).

Put your children in private school, especially one that is through a church; they'll likely get a better education than the public schools and feel more included.

On a non-social aspect of living in SLC: There are several coal-processing facilities in the SLC valley that put out soot into the air. If the OP's kids have breathing problems, she'll want to look at houses up on the Eastern Ridge if she wants to live above the inversions. You still have to go down into the valley for work/school/shopping, however. Summers aren't so bad, but during the winter, the smog can settle into the valley and get quite nasty.

 

[phamton]

Salt Lake City is less than 40 percent Mormon. Close to half of the LDS popualtion are inactive Mormons, i.e. non-practicing Mormon.

 

[motherhen17404]

I am sorry that some people here are upset by some of my postings. However EVERYTHING I posted was true AT THE TIME I LIVED IN SLC. I do not lie, and I resent the implication that I posted false statements.

I do however feel that the SLC area is a very pretty place to live. Every door you walk out of you see mountains. That just took my breath way everytime. We lived in the Sandy area, and my son was 5 at the time, and he called the mountain range closest to us "his mountain".

When we moved to SLC we went in with a very open mind, we really tried to fit in, but our experience was not a good one, and that is what I posted about. Again, I am sorry if people are upset, but I have posted the truth, as we saw it.

 

[WDWguru]

Haven't read the thread yet, so forgive me if I repeat anything. DH and I moved out here to SLC more than 11 years ago with 10 days notice as part of a job transfer. We were nervous, but figured if we hated it, we'd move in a year or two. As you can tell, we didn't hate it.

Neither of us is LDS and we don't want kids, so we were prepared for culture shock. The real shock was that there wasn't much of one. In Salt Lake itself, the LDS population is actually down to less than 30%. In the state as a whole, outside the valley, it's about 65% but very rural. However, a lot of the government is populated by LDS folks, so their value systems tend to dominate public policy. It's just like any other area with a dominant culture - Baptists in the south, for example. It's certainly not an oppressive environment.

What do we love about SLC? It's beautiful, people are friendly, it's CLEAN, easy to travel out of, safe and affordable. We can be up shopping or skiing in Park City in half an hour, hiking the beautiful red rock canyons in a couple of hours, or in Vegas in time for dinner! I highly recommend keeping an open mind and giving it a chance. You may fall in love with it just as we have.

 

[cardaway]

I do find these comments about my state and some of my family who are mormon entirely insensitive, sad and misguided .

Really...They look no different than this...

I would suggest as a non-mormon to try NOT to live near Provo/Orem/Spanish Fork. There is a HUGE # of mormons there. Also you need to be prepared that people here WILL automatically assume you are LDS. They aren't doing it to be mean or make you feel bad...they do it I think mostly out of habit. I don't know how old your kids are but I do know that school friendships have changed since I was in school as there are many more non-mormons than there was when I was a kid growing up. You will occasionally meet the psycho mormons who won't let their kid play with anyone not in their "ward" for church but those are becoming less common with time.

So you complain about the posts of others in this thread after using the word psycho to describe people and pointing out pretyy much the same things as others did? How does that work?

I stand by what I posted, it was that person's experience, no exageration. Given the us vesus them attitude the XX % of LDS take there, it's quite common for folks to feel unwelcome pretty quickly. IMO it's a very valid and responsible question to ask, especially when kids are invovled.

 

[ducklite]

What do we love about SLC? It's beautiful, people are friendly, it's CLEAN, easy to travel out of, safe and affordable.

You forgot to mention the REALLY HOT firemen. I don't know why, but the firemen in SLC have it all over the firemen I've seen anywhere else in the world LOLOL!! Not that's I'd notice such things...

Anne

 

[bizeemom4]

Oh my heck! <-- See I've been doing some research on the local lingo. I just finished reading this whole thread. Quite a lot of info to consider. I'm thinking at this point to just go alone (if I get the job) and feel it out, have the kids come for the summer and see how they like it.

I looked into the private schools but at $7000-$15000 per child x 4, we just can't swing that every year.

 

[Bbgrizzle]

I am LDS, but I don't live in SLC, I live in Las Vegas (where there is a large LDS population, by the way). Growing up, I had never spent time in SLC and I had always heard from other people that the LDS people in Utah were snooty, very materialistic, looked down on non-LDS people, etc. I always felt that way about Southern Utah (St. George), where I have spent a lot of time. When I went to college, I REFUSED to go to BYU because of everything I had heard. As an adult, I have had several occasions to spend time in SLC/Provo and I have found that not to be the case at all. I love spending time there! Utah is so much prettier than Vegas, and the people are SOOO much nicer. These are strangers, they have no idea if you are LDS, but they are just nice! I like the atmosphere there. I love how family-friendly it is.

As for not being able to get a teaching job there, I would submit that it probably has nothing to do with whether or not you are LDS. Teaching seems to be the occupation of choice for a lot of LDS women. There are a LOT of people with teaching degrees in Utah, and not enough positions. (I am a teacher too). It is not surprising that you would have a difficult time getting a job there, LDS or not.

 

[Michelle2]

I am LDS, but I don't live in SLC, I live in Las Vegas (where there is a large LDS population, by the way). Growing up, I had never spent time in SLC and I had always heard from other people that the LDS people in Utah were snooty, very materialistic, looked down on non-LDS people, etc. I always felt that way about Southern Utah (St. George), where I have spent a lot of time. When I went to college, I REFUSED to go to BYU because of everything I had heard. As an adult, I have had several occasions to spend time in SLC/Provo and I have found that not to be the case at all. I love spending time there! Utah is so much prettier than Vegas, and the people are SOOO much nicer. These are strangers, they have no idea if you are LDS, but they are just nice! I like the atmosphere there. I love how family-friendly it is.

As for not being able to get a teaching job there, I would submit that it probably has nothing to do with whether or not you are LDS. Teaching seems to be the occupation of choice for a lot of LDS women. There are a LOT of people with teaching degrees in Utah, and not enough positions. (I am a teacher too). It is not surprising that you would have a difficult time getting a job there, LDS or not.

Wow. I was just going to post these same things. I think we could be twins. At first I wanted to post to this thread, then I got a little nervous to, but I am going to anyways.

I am LDS too, but was born and raised in Las Vegas also. And Bbgrizzle is right, the LDS population there is getting larger and larger...especially since I went to high school. I still do not live in Utah, I am in Boise.
I have my own opinions about Utah locations and being ostracized by LDS people, and I am one (LDS)!!! I have never been more ostracized and predjudiced against in my life until I moved to southern utah when I went to school there for 2 years(St. George area). I think alot of these "types" of LDS people are against outsiders, whether one is LDS or not--- did not make a difference. I think that you will find this everywhere you go, but I honestly did not think to find this among people of my own religion--and I was just a college kid.
People make their own choices, and unfortunately those that make stupid decisions like the ones mentioned in this thread, are their own mistakes and their OWN teachings and not ever condoned by our church--the problem is, it starts to associate and misconstrue the church to people. I am always shocked at how hypocritical some can be, I know I was in reading the examples in this thread.
In actuality our church teaches the opposite, which is acceptance and respect for all. People go inactive or fall away because of being hurt or offended all the time, so some people that are LDS are just being stupid and make stupid mistakes by being ridiculous to people (LDS and non-LDS). Please do not judge a church or a state/city by people that obviously were being dumb. I have been offended, cut down, cheated and lied to by LDS people, but I know that it is just the stupid people, and not the church they (we) belong to.

 

[Rajah]

Another problem with the public schools is that some of the non-Mormon kids are ostracized by some of the Mormon kids.

As one of those kids who grew up ostracided by the non-Mormons, I also would strongly suggest trying to find a way out of moving to SLC if you're not Mormon.

As someone else said, the SLC Mormons are not nearly as accepting of others as the Mormons you find elsewhere.

Personally, I'd quit and find another job before I'd take a transfer back to Salt Lake. Especially with kids.

 

[Rajah]

What do we love about SLC? It's beautiful, people are friendly, it's CLEAN, easy to travel out of, safe and affordable. We can be up shopping or skiing in Park City in half an hour, hiking the beautiful red rock canyons in a couple of hours, or in Vegas in time for dinner!

And *that* is the one thing I really, really (add a few bazillion more "really"s in there) miss about SLC.

Utah is one of the most beautiful states I've ever seen.

I just won't live there again.