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35 |
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11 |
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24 |
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| SUI |
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| NED |
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Never-ending party on the front porch
But Medals Plaza neighbor is a good sport about hubbub
By Diane Urbani
Deseret News staff writer
Jodi Wheeler is the Olympic ideal of the good sport.
Wheeler isn't competing in an event. But she, as they sort of say, got Games — in her front yard and in every room of her home.
Each evening, the grand scale of the the Winter Games spills out of the Olympic Medals Plaza and rushes, riverlike, over Wheeler's doorstep at 200 North near 500 West. She watches the Jumbotron screen and can sing along with the entertainers at the nearby Olympic Medals Plaza.
"It's kind of cool," she says. But on the other hand, "it's kind of like going to a party and not being able to go home."
Wheeler bought her house two years ago, and of course she knew the world's biggest party would set up camp nearby. "I know this is so much fun for everybody," she says of the nightly fireworks show, medals ceremonies, roaring throngs and concerts by the likes of Sheryl Crow, Dave Matthews Band and Smash Mouth. It's just that "they started out pretty quiet, but it seems like they're getting louder and louder."
Next door to Wheeler, the International Broadcast Center has set up shop, so television types from all over the globe are hauling equipment across her front yard. "I know they have a job to do," she says. "I just want them to respect my property." Her calls to the broadcast center haven't been returned.
Perhaps the most unusual aspect of Wheeler's experience is that she isn't looking for someone to blame. She's not calling the city or the Salt Lake Organizing Committee or anybody else with any demands.
She's a little worried about her Airedale, Riley, however. The dog starts "frothing at the mouth" when the fireworks explode nightly. Morning walks have helped. On Sunday morning the neighborhood was at peace for a few hours, and Riley seemed her carefree self again.
Dog and owner can endure, Wheeler said, since the Olympics are going to be over as fast as they began. And it's not as though she hasn't experienced the impact of a heavyweight passer-by. Union Pacific freight cars roll past her street regularly, despite a contractor's prediction two years ago that the trains would be rerouted soon. "Every now and then a big one will come by and jiggle the house," she said. "But the trains aren't bad. I kind of like the sound. It's only obnoxious when you can't get home."
Wheeler moved to this fledgling residential neighborhood just before construction of The Gateway began, hoping property values would rise alongside the commercial development. And her house was a free, five-minute TRAX ride from her downtown office — until this month. Her TRAX stop at the Delta Center was shut down just before the Games began, catching Wheeler by surprise one day in early February.
"I love to walk," she says. That first day at the closed TRAX station, however, "I hadn't planned on (walking to work), so I had heels on." But since she and other workers in her Eagle Gate building can't use their parking structure during the Olympics, off she went. Now Wheeler dresses for the 20-minute on-foot trip.
"In some aspects, I feel lucky," she said, to be in the Olympic vortex. "Who else gets to hear every concert" without having tickets?
E-MAIL: durbani@desnews.com
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February 19, 2002
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