There have been some big changes in downtown Salt Lake City in the last year.

One of the biggest was also one of the most controversial -- and continues to be.

News Specialist Richard Piatt has a look back at the evolution of the Main Street Plaza.

Main street memories go back longer than a year ago. But around the time these pictures were taken, May of 1999. conflict was already a part of those memories.

There was both vocal and legal opposition to closing Main Street. Salt Lake City's sale of the block to the LDS Church for $8-million brought up questions for the ACLU, for example.

Even as construction began, the ACLU filed a lawsuit, challenging the Main Street sale and it's affect on the public.

Stephen Clark/ACLU Legal Director: "WHAT THE CITY HAS DONE HERE IS GIVE THE LDS CHURCH A PREFERENTIAL PLATFORM TO EXPRESS ITS VIEWS TO THE EXCLUSION OF ALL OTHERS, AND THAT'S INCONSISTENT WITH THE CONSTITUTION."

The ACLU says the Main Street plaza should remain public in the same sense a city street is public.

For a while, the Church was silent on the issue. Then, in September of this year, Presiding H. David Burton spoke out on the issue.

Church officials clearly resented accusations that it misrepresented what the block of Main Street was to become.

H. David Burton, LDS Church Presiding Bishop: "BUT CERTAINLY IT IS AN EXTENSION TO TEMPLE SQUARE. IT IS INTENDED TO BE THAT, AND WE ADVERTISED THAT FROM DAY ONE. THAT'S NOT SOMETHING OF RECENT ORIGIN. THAT'S NOT A BAIT AND SWITCH KIND OF A PROPOSAL THAT SOME WOULD LIKE TO SUGGEST THAT IT IS."

Even now, two years after the sale of Main Street was announced, the ACLU's lawsuit is still pending.

Both the church and Salt Lake City are fighting that lawsuit, even as people from around the world stroll the plaza in question.