Standard-Examiner: The Powder Mountain Debate Rages On

Why one gentle reader does not find it reassuring that Rep. Froerer is trying to cut a deal with the Powderville jackals that starts "at the development agreement"

By Curmudgeon

The Standard-Examiner has up Friday morning a good news/bad news piece on the Powderville mess:

• Powder Mtn. debate rages on, unsettled

First, the good news. The Utah Supreme Court, which has received appeals from both sides in the controversy, has issued a stay order to prevent the appointing of a town government by the developers until the appeals can be heard by the court. The developers opposed the stay order, but the court issued it anyway.

And what did the developers have to say about all this? From the story: "Spokespeople for the town sponsors did not return calls for comment." Of course. Such people much prefer to operate in dark damp places out of the public eye. It is their natural environment.

The story reports that opponents of Powderville [aka residents of the developer-decreed and to-be-developer-governed town] are also hoping the legislature's leadership will not this year cave to the realtor lobby as it did last year by preventing a bill to give town residents the immediate right upon incorporation to dissolve the town by popular vote. Based on past performance, relying on the House leadership to do the right thing when its Utah realtor lobby masters wants it to do otherwise is a doubtful strategy unlikely. But we can still hope, I suppose. Miracles do happen they say.

And the not-so-good news? The story reports that Rep. Gage "Asleep At The Switch" Froerer [who managed not to notice that his constituents were being sold down the river in the Developers Dream Bill] is trying to cut a deal with the developers. From the story:

While the talks are still very preliminary, Froerer said he thinks a deal is in everyone's best interest....
Froerer said he wants to go back to the beginning of the problem. "We can pull the lawsuit, pull the incorporation off the table and start at the development agreement," he said.

Uh oh. Mr. Froerer's legislative career has mostly involved his sitting up and rolling over on cue from the Utah realtors' lobby [as frequent poster Machman has often pointed out]. Why do I not find it reassuring that Mr. Froerer is trying to cut a deal with the Powderville jackals that starts "at the development agreement?"

Going to be interesting to see what the Utah Supreme Court does with the appeals.

Thanksgiving Day Open Topic Thread

Added bonus: A short video piece expounding upon one widely practiced American Thanksgiving Day tradition

It's Thanksgiving Day, Weber County Forum readers; and according our tradition, we're setting up an open topic thread, for those readers who might find their way to their keyboards on what we expect to be a low blog traffic day.

In honor of today's particular holiday however, and before turning over the floor for reader comments, we'll lead off with this clever Onion Network video, expounding upon what for many Americans has become a time-honored Thanksgiving Day tradition:


Americans Enjoying Thanksgiving Tradition Of Sitting Around At Airport
We invite you all to talk about your own Thanksgiving Day activities and traditions; or consider this an open topic thread.

Last one out... please turn out the lights.

Crime is WAY down in Ogden... Scout's Honor

Standard-Examiner publisher Lee Carter expesses his "special" Thanksgiving thanks for Ogden City's crime fighting team, Chief Greiner and Boss Godfrey

Just for sake of archival consistency, we'll highlight two items appearing in this morning's Standard-Examiner, which fall into the well-travelled Weber County Forum topic category, Godfrey the Crime Fighter.

First, the SE carries this front page Scott Schwebke story, wherein Chief Greiner pats himself on the back for a purported 23% crime reduction and then whines about Ogden's "parolee problem":

“It’s not fair to the citizens of this community,” Greiner said of the inordinate amount of parolees in the city. “It’s not fair to have to police them.”

And our readers won't want to miss this morning's Boss Godfrey guest commentary, wherein the Crime Fighter Hisself ushers himself into view, for a share of the spotlight:

I think Ogden's story is important because it tells other communities that the right plan and implementation can change the paradigm. One of the reasons I ran for this office was because a former city official told me that "you can't do anything to change crime. It has always occurred and always will."
I'm surprised at how many people really believe that, especially when there have been remarkable changes in other high-profile cities like New York City. Crime will always exist in New York City as it will in Ogden, but we can significantly reduce crime. In fact we have done so.
There will be some that won't believe that Ogden is as good as I'm painting it to be. To them I ask that they come to Ogden and see for themselves. Walk our streets and experience the change. There is much more for us to do in Ogden, but we are encouraged by the progress.

Mercifully, neither of these items is bogged down by charts, graphs or much in the way of verifiable substantive data. Godfrey has tried citing real data before of course, with very unfortunate results.

As for the SE's reason for the timing of these two articles, we can only speculate:

It's Thanksgiving eve, gentle readers... and SE Publisher Lee "Gondola Boy" Carter was perhaps overdue in expressing his perfunctory "special thanks." Perhaps these two items were stuck in a SE email inbox somewhere, since prior to the election.

And here's the truly sad part, we believe. With Boss Godfrey's long history of dissembling, spinning and prevaricating, even his remaining supporters don't know what to believe.

Tuesday Morning Emerald City News Roundup

Open topic thread: Dwell on any of the topics suggested below... or start up a discussion all your own

Three Weber County Forum-topical items on this morning's Standard-Examiner Live! Website, which we'll briefly reel off one-by-one, as a prelude to a WCF open topic thread:

1) Scott Schwebke reports this morning that Ogden whistle blower Dean Martinez, who's fought a quite valiant uphill court fight, learns the hard way that the average Joe Blow lumpencitizen gets just as much "justice" as he can afford:

• Suit against Ogden officials dismissed

2) Ogden resident Troy Lincoln weighs the evidence, and offers a well-reasoned conclusion:

• Evidence points to development of Ogden foothills

3) For the Weber State Wildcats and Wildcats fans, the reality of Saturday's FCS playoff game sinks in:

• 'Cats prepare to go East, young man

With back-to-back playoff trips, will WSU fans start feeling "a little spoiled" and start expecting a similar playoff run every year?

"That's what you want," sez Da Coach!

That's it for now WCF readers. Dwell on any of the above suggested topics... or start up a discussion all your own.

Standard-Examiner: Utah GOP Opposes Citizens Initiative on Ethics

Sign the petition and sending a strong citizen message to the fatcats in Utah GOP legislative leadership

The Standard-Examiner carries an Associated Press story this morning, reporting that the Utah Republican Party's "governing committee" passed a resolution on Saturday, opposing the Utahns for Ethical Government UEG citizen legislative ethics initiative, which among other things would establish an independent ethics commission, a code of conduct for state lawmakers, a lobbyist gift ban and limits on campaign contributions:

• Resolved: Utah GOP opposes citizens initiative on ethics

For those readers who are familiar with state GOP politics, this action should come as no surprise at all, inasmuch as party insiders know that the State GOP Central Committee has long served as a lapdog for Utah GOP legislative leadership, who vigorously oppose any serious Utah legislative ethics reform.

This morning's story provides an ideal opportunity, we believe, to remind our readers that petitions are available locally. So for the benefit of those WCF readers who've not yet signed the petition, we'll once again provide the the two centrally-situated Ogden locations where you can sign a petition:

Joyce Wilson (Weber County)
979 27th
Ogden, UT
801-941-1613

Ogden-Weber UniServ (Weber County)
939 25th St
Ogden, UT 84401
801-399-3746

Notably, this morning's story reports that "former Republican Gov. Olene Walker and other former Republican lawmakers are expected to express their support for the initiative during a news conference at the Capitol." Yes gentle readers, there are many Utah Republicans who are fed up with the ethical cesspool which presently exists on Utah's Capitol Hill; and the State GOP Central Committee's attempt to transform ethics reform into a party-partisan issue should not dissuade anyone of any political persuasion from signing the petition and sending a strong citizen message to the fatcats in Utah GOP legislative leadership.

Don't let the cat get your tongues, O Gentle Ones.

Update 11/24/09 10:07 a.m.: Fine article on this topic from The Non Partisan blog, from which we extract this stirring quote:

Wake up people of Utah, this is your GOP and what they stand for. They stand for themselves, their power, their privileges, and their ability to continue to profit from the positions of trust you’ve given them.

Read the full article here:

• Utah’s GOP - Bastion of Corruption:

If this won't get our readers' juices flowing this morning, we frankly don't know what will.

Update 11/24/09 10:44 a.m.: Mark your calenders for 11:30 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 30, folks. The Deseret News reports that Weber State University will host a debate on the current citizen legislative ethics initiative at that time and date:

• Weber to host ethics debate

Seems to us that this would be the ideal opportunity for petition promoters to have petitions available for signature at this event.

The Ogden Streetcar Corridor Must Run Up 25th Street

Be sure to sign the online petition, and register your support for a 25th Street alignment

By Dorrene Jeske
Ogden City Council Member

UTA has posted information and maps for the Ogden Downtown to WSU/McKay-Dee corridor on their website. You can find the 11-page document www.rideuta.com/files/Ogden_WSU_briefing%20materials32309.pdf. It provides several suggested corridors and asks for public input.

After attending two Rail-Volution conferences (San Francisco, 2008, and Boston, October 2009), and taking several mobile workshops to suburban towns who have embraced and planned for transient-oriented development, I am convinced that the streetcar corridor must run up 25th Street at least to Monroe. The city has been working for years to revitalize east central Ogden and the historic district. We now have the perfect impetus for the project with the streetcar and planned transit-oriented development.

I have provided City staff members with information and examples of how transit-oriented development transformed deplorable areas in these metropolitan cities into thriving, desirable living communities.

Public input will have a great deal of influence as to which corridor is chosen so please don’t be silent. Voice your choice for the corridor with your reasons for supporting such a route. All agencies involved realize that the success of a mass transit system is public acceptance and use.

The reasons that support a 25th Street corridor are: 1) It passes through two different developing historic districts; 2) The main Weber County Library is located on 25th Street and Jefferson; 3) The Golden Hour Senior Center is located just east of the library; 4) The Ogden L.D.S. Family History Center is on that route; 5) Old historic homes and houses within the area are being renovated and turned into owner-occupied single family dwellings; 6) All of these are ridership resources with more potential than other proposed corridors, and 7) The revitalization of the historic districts.

The only drawback to this corridor is the cost. It will cost tens of millions of dollars more than the proposed corridor along Washington Blvd. (UDOT will be a major provider of readily available funds because of a currently proposed major road construction project). Ogden needs to decide how much they are willing to pay for a mass transit system and how to fund it. It really should be considered as an investment in Ogden’s future and economic growth.

For those who agree with me, be sure to sign the online petition, and vocally register your support every chance you get for a 25th Street alignment.

Standard-Examiner: OUR VIEW: Mayor's Salary Not Top Priority

Your WCF blogmeister admits he's stumped, and poses a sincere reader query

Interesting example of how something which we believe was really a non-story has proliferated out of all reasonable proportion on the pages of the Standard-Examiner (and elsewhere) during the past week.

Last Sunday the SE published this story, reporting that four so-called Ogden "business leaders," (all FOM's*) were floating an informal trial balloon, seeking to raise the mayor's salary to attract high-caliber candidates for the 2011 election.

In the ensuing few days this story provoked this Cindy Hellewell letter to the editor and this John Thompson guest commentary, not to mention this WCF article, which itself generated 44 reader comments. Thanks to the Standard-Examiner's original story, what started out as a fairly feeble proposal built up quite a head of steam.

And this morning, the Standard-Examiner perpetuates the discussion and carries the below-linked lead editorial, reiterating some of the arguments of the above two SE reader-contributors, and making a few additional points of its own. But in the end, the Standard-Examiner editorial board urges everyone to place this issue squarely where we believe it belongs -- well back on the Emerald City political priority back burner:

• OUR VIEW: Mayor's salary not top priority

So in the wake of a week's worth of sturm and drang, we're still scratching our heads wondering why this story commanded the SE's attention in the first place, inasmuch as Boss Godfrey plainly admits he's not seeking a pay raise. Here's the money quote, by the way, as set forth in the original 11/14/09 SE article:

Mayor Matthew Godfrey, who is in his third term, said if he decides to run again in 2011 and is re-elected, he would refuse a pay raise and instead keep his current $80,294 annual salary."
I knew what the salary would be (when first elected in 1999) and don't think it's right to get a pay raise," he said.

In the interest of promoting a little Sunday reader discussion, we'll admit we're stumped, and ask the question again: What was it about this story that generated so much SE ink and SE/WCF reader attention?

The floor's yours, O Gentle Ones.

Who will be the first to comment?

-----
*Friends of Matt

Standard-Examiner: "Mt. Ogden Golf Course Losing Money! Really!"

Mayor Godfrey again presents the golf course "problem" as one with only two possible solutions

By Monotreme

The Standard-Examiner has seen fit to repeat the "Mt. Ogden Golf Course Losing Money! Really!" meme one more time:

• Upgrading Mt. Ogden Golf Course to take money

Mayor Godfrey is once again presenting the golf course "problem" as one with only two possible solutions: float a bond, or sell to developers. You can see where this is going, because he has commissioned a push poll that shows that people don't want to vote for a bond issue (or so he says, at least not a bond issue framed the way he chose to frame it).

Of course, the fact that even more people don't want to sell off open space to developers bothers him not one whit.

It would be interesting to know what a real poll, instead of a b.s. push poll, would find as far as public opinion regarding Mt. Ogden PARK.

WSU Game Day Thread - UPDATED: 'Cats Make Playoffs

“We’ve just got to worry about ourselves,” said WSU coach Ron McBride. “We put ourselves in this predicament."

From this morning'sStandard-Examiner front page sports story:

OGDEN — Weber State University fans will not only be cheering for the Wildcats today as they take on Cal Poly, but they’ll be hoping for victories from the Montana Grizzlies and Northern Arizona Lumberjacks.
They won’t be alone.
Somewhere in the back of the minds of the No. 19-ranked Wildcats, they’ll be wishing for victories by the Griz and ’Jacks as well. That thought hasn’t been easy for the Wildcats to handle, especially since they lost to the Grizzlies 31-10 in Missoula last month.
“It’s a little hard rooting for them, after what they did to us, but we’ve got to,” said WSU defensive lineman Kevin Linehan, one of 17 seniors playing their final game at Stewart Stadium.
WSU (6-4, 6-2 Big Sky Conference) needs a victory over Cal Poly (4-6) as well as help from other teams to get into the Division I Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. The Wildcats are one of 11 teams in serious contention for eight at-large playoff spots. So are Montana State, which plays at Big Sky champion Montana today, and Eastern Washington, which ends the regular season at Northern Arizona.
Since Montana State and No. 18-ranked Eastern Washington could improve to 6-2 in league play with wins, which would tie them... blah, blah blah.

Let's hope our lucky stars are in alignment, WSU fans.

As Coach Mac sez:

“We’ve just got to worry about ourselves,” said WSU coach Ron McBride. “We put ourselves in this predicament."

Go Wildcats.

Update 11/22/09 9:07 a.m.: WSU kicks ass, 47-14:

• WSU seniors shine in home finale

Update 11/22/09 4:45 p.m.: Great News for WSU Football fans. From this hot-off-the-press story, we learn that the Wildcats have been selected to enter the FCS playoffs, with a first round faceoff against William & Mary:

• Weber State earns second straight playoff berth

11/23/09 12:22 a.m.: The Std-Ex just posted their own playoff selection story on the Live! Site about an hour ago:

• Wildcats play on / WSU football earns playoff bid

Congrats to the "Cats! From this point on, Coach Mac's team has the luxury of controlling its own playoff fate.