The first is a guest commentary by Wayne April, an Ogden resident who was active in the unsuccessful anti-mall-bond petition drive a couple of months ago. He theorizes that Mayor Godfrey will not run for a third mayoral term, based on an "observation" made at an unspecified meeting not long ago.
At a recent meeting, I asked Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey if it was true that he did not intend to run for re-election in the next mayoral race. His only response was a coy smile.From this off-hand gesture Mr. April bootstraps a fantastic grand conspiracy theory, which goes something like this:
Ogden City is "broke" and mayor Godfrey knows it. Notwithstanding this knowledge, the mayor is wilfully barreling ahead with the Rec Center project, even knowing it's doomed from the start. Mayor Godfrey continues to borrow and spend, hypothesizes Mr. April, because he plans to depart from city hall a little over two years from now, thus avoiding the indignity of dealing with the inevitable loan defaults which will occur right about that time. It'll be somebody else's problem, Mr. April further hypothesizes, when Mayor Godfrey's succussor-in-office is forced to clip the taxpayers with a remedial tax increase, necessitated by a "moral obligation" to "cover" Mayor Godfrey's defaulting loans and bonds.
I am not making this up. You can read Mr. April's guest commentary here.
The only factor that Mr. April glaringly leaves out, gentle readers, is his undisclosed owner-operator interest in a climbing center in Harrisvile, which will become a main business competitor of the Ogden Rec Center climbing wall, unless Mr. April can succeed in bringing the Rec Center project to a halt. I'm certain however, gentle readers, that this factor in no way influences Mr. April's position regarding the Ogden Rec Center project.
The second article is today's main editorial, which also lambastes public planners for botched Recreation Center planning. The subject Rec Center isn't the one on Ogden, however. What the Standard-Examiner editorial board complains about is one that's planned for Centerville, in Davis County.
It seems that the residents of Centerville approved $20 Million in bonding in 2004, to construct their own recreation center. Now that the final estimates are in however, the project will go over-budget by some thirteen percent, due to increased materials costs.
The Centerville City fathers are now scrambling to make the project go, one way or another, either by raising the extra funds, or cutting back project amenities.
I'm linking this article here, not only because Weber County Forum has a substantial number of readers in south Davis county, but also because I wonder whether this Davis County debacle portends the future for our own Rec Center project here in Ogden City.
Will the $17-19 million dollars now projected to be required for the Ogden Recreation Center be sufficient? Or will our local RDA and city government find itself scrambling, due to the the unanticipated, but steadily-rising costs for necessary contruction materials?
As an added bonus for Grohndahl fans, this morning's Std-Ex editorial is accompanied by this great companion illustration:
Click to enlarge imageFeel free to comment on either of these articles, or anything else you choose.
