Guest Opinion: Federal permitting reform would help advance economic development in Utah
by Derek Miller
Investments in infrastructure and economic development help create jobs, strengthen Utah businesses, and support a stronger, more vibrant economy for our entire state. However, an onerous, inefficient permitting process can often delay or prevent these efforts from moving forward under a reasonable timeframe, undermining economic growth that could improve our communities. To address this issue, Congress should work to pass federal permitting reform in a timely manner while agreement abides on both sides of the aisle for this issue.
In Utah and across the country, businesses face enormous obstacles when seeking federal permits for a range of infrastructure and economic development projects. Burdensome regulations and government red tape create massive delays that can increase costs, reduce flexibility, and prevent the benefits of these projects from ever reaching Utah communities.
Congress must work to pass additional meaningful, bipartisan legislation that simplifies, streamlines, and modernizes our nationâs outdated federal permitting process to reduce the time it takes to obtain a permit. Commonsense permitting reform would help improve coordination between different government agencies so businesses can move critical projects forward more efficiently while being able to respond to market demands and create jobs for Utahans more effectively. The recent debt ceiling negotiations and deal included a step in the right direction by setting quicker time limits for assessments, but more work needs to be done with legislation specifically focused on direct permitting reform. (Read More)
Guest Opinion: Making musicians central to the startup economy
by Geraldo Ramos
Salt Lake City has continually made a name for itself in the tech and entrepreneurial sector â and for good reason. Our access to the mountains, favorable business climate, and vibrant startup community have spurred jobs and opportunities for techies across the city with a passion for developing ideas into realities...
While Iâve had the privilege of pursuing a number of entrepreneurial ventures over the course of my career, none have been so close to my heart as Moises.ai, an app allowing users to isolate and remove the sounds of instruments in their favorite songs, enabling them to master instruments by playing along without that background support...
The infrastructure of todayâs digital marketplace has been essential for getting Moises.ai into the hands of users. The consumer feedback our company receives through our developer network has allowed us to grow using data-informed decisions around how our customers interacted with our app in real time. And, digital marketplaces allow us to sell our app, including through Google Play and other app markets, enabling our company to reach a greater audience than if we were attempting to promote and sell our app independently. Iâm just as excited to see the future developments of Moises as I am for the other apps and ideas that will come out of Salt Lake! (Read More)