Leaders of Utah’s capital city say they don’t want to wait for Smith Entertainment Group’s downtown plans to move forward with enhancements to what’s left of historic Japantown.

Members of the Salt Lake City Community Reinvestment Agency board of directors, who are all members of the Salt Lake City Council, didn’t take action on the project during a meeting on Tuesday; however, they agreed that they’d like to proceed with a new mural and cherry trees outlined in a planning document presented to them, before moving onto the rest of project funding.

“Really, (we) just want to get something on the ground as soon as possible to signify that this is Japantown, it’s going to stay Japantown and more investments are on the horizon,” said Salt Lake City Councilman Darin Mano, who also serves as

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