Mayor Ralph Becker Appoints Nationally Renowned Expert on Theater Development to Lead Salt Lake City’s New Downtown Theater Development Project

Mayor’s Downtown Theater Action Group is Established

SALT LAKE CITY – Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker announced today that he has appointed a nationally recognized, Tony Award-winning expert in the field of theater development, production and management to oversee Salt Lake City’s plan to build a Broadway-class theater.

William Becker will work on a volunteer basis to chair the newly announced Mayor’s Downtown Theater Action Group, a team of community and business leaders who will investigate options currently being considered for the location, size and financing of the capital city’s new theater and recommend a final decision on the matter.

In making the announcement, Becker said, “I know Bill will work with this group to quickly and effectively determine where and how Salt Lake City should build our theater, to fit the needs of the capital city and indeed the whole state of Utah.”

“There are a handful of excellent locations in the capital city to establish this theater. I have worked closely with the Salt Lake Chamber and Downtown Alliance to determine this next step. We all agree that appointing this group and chairman to advise us on our best options will produce efficient and effective results.”

The entire membership of the group will be announced in the next few weeks. The Mayor is encouraging the group to begin its work quickly so the Salt Lake City can, once a specific site is selected, get the theater development project underway.

Becker concluded, “I am pleased to announce today that, in partnership with the arts and business community, a new Broadway-class theater is going to be built in Salt Lake City, Utah’s capital city and the heart of our state.”

Biography of Bill Becker

Bill Becker is a Tony® Award winning producer who organized TheatreDreams with Larry Wilker in 2001 and currently serves as Chairman. TheatreDreams has become an internationally regarded theater producer, owner and operator. Since 2001, the company has co-produced four Broadway and several road productions; acquired, restored, and operated The Chicago Theatre; and managed the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. By 2007, when The Chicago Theatre was sold to Madison Square Garden (Cablevision), the venue had become one of the world's outstanding presenters of popular entertainment programming.

Becker left his law practice and his position as the Kennedy Center General Counsel to organize and operate TheatreDreams with Wilker. Becker had provided legal counsel to the Kennedy Center since 1969, before initial construction was completed. During his tenure, he oversaw performance contracting and, beginning in 1994, the transfer of building operations and a $225 million construction program from the National Park Service to the Kennedy Center. He guided the project to expand the Kennedy Center parking garage with a $32 million Industrial Revenue Bond issuance, and was instrumental in the planning for a $400 million expansion of the Kennedy Center to include a 17-acre public plaza to the east of the Kennedy Center site, utilizing air rights over the existing highway system.

Becker has negotiated thousands of theater production, television, licensing, recording, and other performing arts contracts since 1969, including presentation, stage, television, record, movie, and other production and presentation arrangements for Leonard Bernstein's Mass, Captain Brassbounds Conversion, First Monday in October, Seinfeld, American Idol, ESPY Awards, Pippin, Annie, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in Private Lives, Bolshoi Opera, CNN Debates, Bolshoi Ballet, Les Miserables, and the Kennedy Center Honors.

Becker has vast experience in corporate finance, copyright and intellectual property matters, computer and Internet issues, real estate development and labor relations. His legal work also included commercial litigation, insurance, labor relations and other employment matters, tort litigation, federal ethics statutes and regulations, legislative matters, construction contracting, crude oil pipeline and trucking regulation, and federal agency status issues.

He also represented Kennedy Center Productions, Inc., a funding entity for the Kennedy Center, and represented Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts in its early years. For many years, he was General Counsel and on the Board of Directors of the Greater Washington Board of Trade, Washington DC and The Voice Foundation. Becker has written and participated in symposia on performing arts related subjects. Becker is a graduate of the Harvard Law School (LLB) and the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration (MBA). Until leaving his law practice, he was admitted to the bars of the District of Columbia, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Supreme Court.

Becker lives outside of Park City, UT, with his wife, Joan Alper, where his extracurricular activities include hiking, flyfishing, and downhill and backcountry skiing.

Keith Christensen endorses Ralph Becker

(Salt Lake City) - Former mayoral candidate Keith Christensen announced his endorsement of Ralph Becker for Salt Lake City Mayor today. “Ralph Becker conducted himself with dignity throughout the primary. I have known Ralph personally for many years, and have always been impressed with his deliberate and well reasoned approach to City issues.”

Christensen, a former City Councilman and Olympic trustee, says he believes Becker is the “clear” choice to become Salt Lake City's next mayor. “In the dozens of forums and debates I participated in, Ralph refused to pander for votes, he spoke clearly and stayed focused on important issues facing Salt Lake City,” Christensen noted. “His experience as a former member of the Planning Commission, a Legislator and small business person will serve him well in the Mayor's office.” Christensen noted that “Ralph and I became closer friends during the primary run, unusual in today's world of partisan bickering.”

“It is an honor to receive Keith Christensen's endorsement to serve as the next mayor of Salt Lake City,” says Ralph. “Keith and I worked together when I was on the Salt Lake City Planning Commission, and I appreciated his thoughtful, well-considered approach to matters that came from the Planning Commission to the City Council. During this campaign, Keith and I developed a rapport that increased my respect and admiration for him. Keith presented himself as enormously capable of serving as the next Mayor, and his dignity helped shape a civil mayoral
primary."

Ralph Becker Fights for Public Education and Applauds Supreme Court Decision on Vouchers

Ralph Becker, a long-time opponent of vouchers in Utah, applauded the Utah Supreme Court’s decision Friday that recognizesd both the will of the people and the letter of the law.

As the Democratic leader in the House, Rep. Becker (D-Salt Lake City) led the fight against vouchers, which passed the House by a single vote in February. Along with Senator Dimitrich and the Legislative Democratic Caucuses, he also pushed hard for a special session to address the confusion of two voucher bills, forcefully urged the state board of education to stand up to the Utah Attorney General’s interpretation of the validity of the second voucher bill, and fought to clarify the language of the referendum for November’s vote.

“It is deeply wrong to underfund Utah public schools and at the same time even more in order to subsidize private education,” Becker said on Friday. “Our per-pupil spending is last in the nation, and the distance between Utah and the next lowest state has grown to more than $1000 per student. Our children deserve the opportunity, the gift, of public education that only society can give them.”

Becker has a blueprint for how Salt Lake City will play an active role in developing a top-tier education system for its children. “The mayor has a responsibility to promote the interest of public school students and parents, as well as the interest of taxpayers who help fund the schools. As mayor of Salt Lake City, I will work hard every day to make Salt Lake City’s public schools the best in the region.”

In the next two weeks, Ralph Becker will present his education platform to accomplish these ambitious goals.

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