LOGAN – As the owner of Anderson’s Seed & Garden, Mark Anderson has spent the last 20 years helping Cache Valley residents find solutions to all things green and growing successful gardens.
“I’ve got so much experience at doing that,” he said, “I feel like I can translate that over in to concerns about the community as well.”
Anderson is one of the seven candidates running for three open seats on the Logan City Council.
The native Logan resident has two advanced degrees in history from Utah State University. He served on the Logan’s Forestry Board and is currently active on the Wilson Neighborhood Council.
Anderson said he is very concerned about the rate of growth in the area and would like to “see consistent, sustainable, steady growth in Logan. Anything we can do to support our local businesses,” he said.
Anderson is also troubled by the number of large anchor retailers closing and leaving the valley.
“I feel like Logan is very strong in small business, too and so we’ve got to try and support our local economy. We need to encourage a lot of other manufacturing and service businesses to come to Cache Valley. It’s such a great place to be, we should be able to attract some good-paying, stable jobs for our citizens,” he said.
Lack of affordable housing is another concern for Anderson. He’s watched his son scramble to find a reasonably-priced home, only to be outbid or quickly snatched up by another buyer.
“We need some options,” he said. “There’s no more room to grow horizontally, we’re definitely going to have to do something.”
Anderson said he became interested in running for city council after he and family members complained about the politicians at the national level. “We didn’t like any of them,” he said.
“You’ve got to start somewhere,” admitted Anderson. “It really hit me hard that we’ve got to have great people in our local community. That’s really where we can make a difference in our communities and in our state.”
This story is one in a series of profiles about the candidates running for Logan City Council. Cache Valley Daily will profile each of the seven candidates in an effort to give residents an opportunity to get to know those interested in being elected to public office.
The Primary Election, held August 13, will narrow the field down to six candidates. The General Election is November 5. Residents in Logan will be voting in the Primary Election by mail. Ballots for the Primary Election will be mailed out on July 23.
I’m interest in your comment, ““There’s no more room to grow horizontally, we’re definitely going to have to do something.” If not horizontally, then vertically? Where would you plan on growing vertically? I would hate to see some of the old historical neighborhoods lose their charm by putting in large city type multiple story buildings. Part of what is so great about Logan are the classic buildings.