There have been a handful of recent letters mired in political shrapnel. I have nothing to gain from public service except a future that every Park City resident should be able to hope for. I care deeply about this community and preserving its magic.
There was an event in December 2021. I’ve never denied it. The backstory includes years of harassment from a particular employee of White Pine Touring.
You elected me to stand for fairness. That means no special treatment and no backroom deals. It means following the rules or changing them through transparent public process.
So when Park City’s winter cross-country skiing concessionaire, White Pine Touring, saw massive growth following COVID, based on neighborhood feedback I asked they honor their agreement with the city: Use the $10 million maintenance facility taxpayers funded just prior to my election, respect agreed-upon hours of operation allowing the stipulated shared parking agreement with Hotel Park City to work, and show consideration for neighbors.
One employee didn’t want to follow rules. Instead, he harassed me and my family at our home on multiple occasions caught on home security camera footage and in front of our daughters, just 3 and 6 at the time. We asked White Pine leadership to step in. Repeatedly. I have the emails where they promised they would.
Then, while shoveling snow from my deck as my family took down holiday decorations, the employee flipped me off and initiated confrontation. Multiple witnesses testified to this. I walked to the touring center immediately after the incident and pleaded with leadership to take the situation seriously. They assured me they would.
I implored Park City leadership to proactively mediate conflict between a councilor advocating for consistency and a municipal concessionaire employee defying our goals. I was told there would be a meeting with White Pine the next day. But instead of addressing things with their employee or with the city, White Pine filed a police report against me.
City Hall clammed up. The mayor encouraged White Pine to proceed however they saw fit. The city attorney distanced, perhaps because Park City knowingly permitted illegal land uses and ignored neighborhood code enforcement requests for years. No collaboration. No push for resolution. In a surprise move to local law enforcement, the Summit County Attorney’s Office filed charges. Mutual friends of the attorney and some county officials told me they felt “pressured.”
Around the same time, I received threatening texts from someone with direct ties to City Hall (nonprofit partner/part-time consultant) and White Pine Touring (former owner) telling me to recuse myself from future council decisions involving White Pine to “save face” and insinuating it all goes away.
I didn’t bend. I stood my ground for my family and this town and spent thousands defending myself in a process that was more about politics than truth. Documentation and video footage remain available for anyone interested in facts.
Confident my peers would see through the political theater, I requested a jury trial. I was denied. Five witnesses took the stand, each one contradicting the next under oath. A White Pine executive admitted his police statement was pure hearsay. When my attorney offered video evidence refuting testimony of the employee who initiated all this, the judge declared it inadmissible.
Still, I was convicted. Not of anything criminal, but of disorderly conduct, an infraction like a parking ticket. Essentially, speaking too loudly from my own home. No violence. No threats. Just a ruling based on the judge’s guess at volume and her opinion that public officials don’t have the same First Amendment rights as everyone else.
Rather than risk more community strain or thousands in appeals costs, I paid a $100 fine and moved on, even seconding the motion to approve White Pine’s five-year renewal after collaboration with the city made it fairer and offered additional benefits for our local community. I’ve never feared revisiting these truths. I’ve simply continued working hard and looking forward.
In summary, transparency and consistency threaten special interest strongholds. Unlike many candidates this year, I don’t represent special interests. That allows me the freedom to continue standing up for all of Park City, and advocating for balanced solutions and amenities we all enjoy!
Jeremy Rubell
Park City