Bill - A Rebirth at 50: “Serendipity at Its Finest”

How different would Salt Lake City look, without the care and consideration of Bill Knowles?

Twenty-seven years ago, Bill sold his food brokerage company, after 40 years in the grocery business. His plan was to retire and go skiing. Of course, he made a list of some other things that he might like to enjoy, “I wasn't going to crawl up and sit in the backyard and drink beer. But this list grew to about 10 things that I thought I'd be interested in.” Most of what Bill was driven to do in the past was “based upon survival” and what was right in front of him. He was looking forward to doing what he “wanted” to do. Out of all of the things that he’d written down, none of them were this. 

For 20+ years, Bill had an attorney. “This guy was recommended to me, fresh out of law school and it was Rocky Anderson.” “His company helped engineer the contracts and everything for the selling of my company. So, he knew I was no longer doing anything, and he was running for mayor. He called me one day, ‘What are you doing?’ I said, ‘Well, I was thinking about going skiing.’”

Bill ended up managing Anderson’s campaign and developing a working relationship with him. Shortly after Anderson won the election, Bill got a phone call from a buddy who worked for UTA. “About a month before the election, the city council had voted to take off the Trax project that was already voted to be soon constructed on 400 South, up to the University. [It was] part of the Olympics’ plan. The business community revolted in such a strong way, as to what had happened Downtown, when they built the Trax [line] through Main Street.” Bill’s buddy knew that he had been working with Anderson and asked if Bill could get them an audience with the mayor. Bill called in this favor with Anderson, no strings attached, just a meeting.

This “favor” led to Bill’s next adventure. “I was caught up in the intrigue and here again, still not getting paid.” Bill had developed “a lot of connections in the food business” through his time in the food brokerage industry, making him an idyllic person to take this census door to door. One hundred and twenty-five businesses were on that street, many of which were food businesses and restaurants who were very unhappy. “I basically started the conversation.” 


Bill met with the business owners and asked, “What would you do differently and/or better than what was done on Main Street? IF. 
If you were doing this project. Just saying if.” He gathered with people he knew well enough at the New Yorker for a glass of wine, or at Market Street for a beer. Just getting people together and taking notes, not looking to sway or convince them of anything, just listening to their concerns. He filled up one and a half legal pads with notes and shared what he’d learned with Anderson and UTA. 

UTA agreed to hire someone to oversee the project, “In terms of [the project] being done, what they're supposed to do, and having a contractor be doing what everybody agreed to do.” Bill took the job and became the liaison between the UTA workers and the community. They completed the project ahead of schedule, but Bill’s fondest memory from the project was watching Rod Decker interview Mark Hale of Hires Big H. Mark Hale shared that, “It just goes to show whenever government and private industry talk to each other, they can do good things.” Bill still tears up over this “seminal moment.” “That's what we did. I didn't know we were doing it while we were doing it, but we were working together, public sector, private sector; finding a mutual sweet spot for everybody.” 

In 2001, a different adventure was in store for Bill; a lady came to work for Mayor Anderson. Bill talked to her on the phone many times. Oftentimes calling the mayor’s office every day, “And of course, we're chatting it up pretty good,” shares Bill. He had never seen her, until an in-person meeting called him to the mayor’s office, where he finally met Sally. They’ve now been married for almost 25 years. 

“So much of it is just serendipity at its finest.” 

“I happen to be standing in one of the most vibrant, and incredibly successful cities in the country, over the last 25 years… at a time that I just happened to be available.”

Bill reminds us, “Don't ever underestimate how big the Olympics were in 2002. 
You cannot overstate how big that was for where all this stuff came from, where we are all standing here today; you cannot imagine.”

At 80 years old, Bill is still actively receiving invitations from consulting teams, for ongoing projects, in Salt Lake City. He’s “worked on almost every transit project that has been done.” From projects with Trax, Frontrunner, the airport, and beyond, Bill has collaborated with both the public and private sectors to find workable solutions that keep businesses running and public transportation routes expanding. “I cannot overstate that. 
It has been the joy of my life, never anything planned. It just was one of the happiest accidents you could ever imagine, dropping out of the sky.”