Bush coming to Salt Lake City
Rice also to visit for convention next month
A report to Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson, obtained by the newspaper, stated that the city's Department of Airports has "been informed by the Secret Service that President Bush and Condoleezza Rice will visit Salt Lake City on August 30."
Anderson refused to comment on the document, dated June 23, which was included in the city's response to a recent open-records request. But an airport official on Thursday confirmed the visit.
Roy Williams, the airport's executive director, said he was surprised by the advance notice from the federal government. Williams said he knew about the visit shortly before the June 23 report to the mayor.
Williams said he does not know when the president is expected to arrive on Aug. 30, or how long Bush plans to stay in the state. The president's two previous visits to Utah each lasted only a matter of hours.
Plenty of planning remains to be done, Williams said. In addition to the dignitaries arriving on Air Force One, a transport plane is expected to arrive several days earlier, carrying presidential fleet vehicles. A separate media plane also could accompany Air Force One.
Williams also must figure out how the visit will affect regular air travelers. When Bush arrives, "at what point do you close that runway?" Williams said. "At what point before he arrives do you stop all movement?"
Bush has visited Utah twice before, spending about nine hours here for the Opening Ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics and even less time on Aug. 22, 2005, when he spoke in Salt Lake City at a convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
During Bush's visit last year, Anderson drew national media attention by hosting protests against the president and the war in Iraq. The mayor's spokesman, Patrick Thronson, did not respond to phone and e-mail requests for comment Thursday afternoon.
Anderson was reached by telephone, but said, "You don't get a comment," when asked about his plans for the presidential visit.
The American Legion's 88th annual national convention is scheduled to be held at the Salt Palace from Aug. 25-31. On the day of the presidential visit, a general session is planned from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.
You can be the first to comment on this story.