The latest shenanigans are reported to us in this morning's Standard-Examiner, courtesy of the always excellent John Wright:
Ogden looks for better polling place"That's a good one, Comrade Safsten...," we thought to ourself, our eyes wide with amazement, after reading the John Wright article,"...or that blatantly stupid, either."
Friday, September 9, 2005
By John Wright
Standard-Examiner staff
Councilman cries foul when new spot named
OGDEN -- Officials are working to find a new polling place in west Ogden, after Councilman Jesse Garcia questioned whether a decision to close the previous one was designed to hurt his re-election chances.
Voters in west Ogden's Precinct 39 traditionally have cast ballots at a city fire station between E Avenue and F Avenue on 24th Street. But according to a list of 23 polling places proposed by the administration and approved by the City Council Tuesday, they will have to travel to Union Station to vote in this year's election races, including the race for the Municipal Ward 1 seat held by Garcia.
With the 24th Street viaduct closed for construction until late October, that means west Ogden residents will have to take a detour to vote in the Oct. 4 primaries.
Mayor Matthew Godfrey said the polling place was closed because the fire station does not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. But Garcia wondered why the decision came in a year when he is up for re-election, given that the fire station did not comply with the act in previous years.
"Why is it so important to do it now was my question," said Garcia, who faces two challengers in the primary. "All of a sudden, this year, it's let's go ahead and close it."
Garcia said Precinct 39, one of nine in Municipal Ward 1, has low turnouts but has voted heavily in his favor in four previous elections. He called it a diverse area, with Hispanic, black and Caucasian neighborhoods.
Garcia, the only Hispanic council member, acknowledged administration officials compiled the proposed list of polling places before they knew the viaduct would be closed. However, he said there should be a polling place in west Ogden.
Garcia said he met with City Recorder Gloria Berrett Wednesday to discuss the issue. Berrett declined comment, but Godfrey confirmed officials are now working to find another polling place in west Ogden.
He was not aware of the proposal to close the polling place until Tuesday's City Council meeting, he said.
"I think that's sad that he would make that kind of an accusation," Godfrey said of Garcia.
Garcia, who ran against Godfrey two years ago, suggested that the Catholic Community Services building, at 2504 F Ave., be used as a polling place. But Godfrey said the city prefers to have polling places in public buildings. The problem, Godfrey said, is that there are not many of those in west Ogden.
"I think it makes a world of sense to have a polling place in west Ogden because it is so isolated," Godfrey said.
The council voted 4-2 to approve the polling places, with Councilwoman Donna Burdett joining Garcia in dissent. Amy Wicks was absent.
Council Chairman Rick Safsten said while it is an unfortunate situation for west Ogden residents, he does not think the proposal to close the polling place was politically motivated.
"I don't think anybody out there is that malicious," Safsten said.
What these nit-wits did, apparently, was summarily shut down a familiar and traditional west-side neighborhood polling place in Councilman Garcia's Ward 1, where a variety of Ogden City's "less advantaged" citizens have voted for many years.
The pretext? The federal Americans with Disabilities Act -- which was passed in 1990, and which took effect July 26, 1992! And they say they didn't know that the 24th Street viaduct will be closed on the October 4th primary date? We have to ask how they could possibly have not known about it. We knew about it. Most people who regularly read the Standard-Examiner knew about it. Notices of the closure were posted there numerous times recently. Notices have been posted at various places downtown for quite some time too. They're our Mayor and City Council fer cripesake; and they should have known about it, even if we're gullible enough take them at their word.
And the result? Those "disabled people" whom they're suddenly trying to "protect" will now have to take a detour of several miles to get to their new polling place across the old railroad yard at the Union Station.
We say it's time to sweep the City Council Playhouse clean. Its been an entertaining roadshow, but it's getting old. The gang of six (sometimes known as the gang that couldn't shoot straight) consistently displays no morals, no ethics, no common decency and no clue. I think it's time they exited stage left.
(Editor's note: In all fairness to Councilwoman Burdett, it must be noted that she cast a dissenting vote on this issue. She's apparently gotten in touch with her conscience just in time for the October Primary. Whew! Better late than never, eh, Donna?)
Comments, gentle readers? Did these people actually think that they'd get away with this, and that nobody would discover what they'd done until primary election day?
There's a little icon at the bottom of this article, by the way. Press the icon, and you can email this article to everybody on your email list. Let's all be sure that everyone in town knows how desperate these people have become to hang on to their city council block vote. Let's expose these people far and wide, and spread the word about how truly rotten things are here in Emerald City.
Update 09/13/05 12:12 a.m. MT: It appears that the Ogden City council has decided to revisit this issue. John Wright reports this morning that Council members are scheduled to vote today whether to amend a list of 23 polling places, and add a west Ogden polling place, to the list approved Sept. 6 for this year's municipal elections. Hopefully they'll surprise everyone, and do "the right thing" on this.
Update 09/14.05 8:30 a.m. MT: All is well again in the Land of Oz. After a week's reflection, and considerable adverse publicity, the city council voted 6-1 last night to restore Ogden City's west-side polling place to its original location, the West Ogden fire station, as reports John Wright in this morning's Std-Ex edition. According to Mr. wright's report, Councilman Safsten, who cast the only dissenting vote, doesn't believe this decision delivers Ogden City much bang for the buck. We're sure our gentle readers will hope that Mr. Safsten continues to maintain this suddenly frugal state of mine, if and when the matter of Stuart Reid's re-hiring comes up on the council floor.
