Local Lift: City Council candidate Jamison Brandi

Photo: Jamison Brandi

PARK CITY, Utah — Jamison Brandi has lived on Park Avenue in Old Town for 10 years. A native New Yorker, he originally fled to Los Angeles to attend film school. You can watch his most recent film on Youtube.

“I left LA because everyone was talking about doing stuff — they weren’t doing stuff,” said Brandi.

He started working as a snowboard instructor during the day while serving at the Montage at night. He now works at the St. Regis. “I’ve done very well here,” he said.

“I have the unique ability to actually connect with people that are visiting, and people that live here. A lot of stuff they [City Council] talk about, they don’t really bring to fruition because they’re not out there. They don’t know how expensive it is.”

Brandi is approaching the race with a working-class voice. One unorthodox idea he is proposing is allowing residents in the Snyderville Basin to vote in Park City Municipal elections. “You’ve got 5900 registered voters in Park City proper, and it’s the same people voting over and over again. The ones that really crave change are the ones that actually work here and keep this town alive. They live in Junction.”

He also wants to see more workforce housing built — to him it’s all about the City finding the proper balance between caring for residents and workers while still welcoming tourism.

Brandi thinks resort workers should be living at work, allowing them to walk for their commute.

“This town is built for the rich, but it will not survive unless people like us are serving the rich.”

He said his neighbors across the street used to be ski instructors, liftees from Australia, J1 and K2 workers — now he said it’s all nightly rentals.

“The city can’t stop Airbnb.” He said a good model is his current building, which he manages. Out of 12 units, three of them are used for nightly rentals in the winter.

He said he supports the lite deed restriction idea that the City has recently discussed. The model has been successful in other ski towns like Vail and Breckenridge. The program pays property owners to place a deed restriction on their homes. It restricts properties to full-time residents, meaning they work 30 hours a week within Park City limits. It would also apply to long-term rentals (more than 6 months) and retirees.