Seriously though, this John Wright article reports that Ogden city officials have received some kind of a lender "commitment," one of the heretofore unresolved crucial steps in moving our downtown recreation center project forward. My initial impression, upon reading the article was that Ogden had perhaps changed its financing approach, inasmuch as the story didn't say anything about bonding. This however is not the case at all
I put in a call this morning to Scott Brown, Ogden City Economic Development Manager, to try to flesh out the story a little bit. Scott is Ogden city's financial guru; the man who's putting the deal together. Scott indeed informs me that a general written lender commitment has been obtained, for the issuance of the letter of credit that will allow the issuance of the bond certificates that will be sold to pay for the rec center's construction. The only loose end of the letter of credit agreement is the precise interest rate and terms; and Scott is still working on this. It's a task easier said than done in the current commercial credit environment, where interest rates and commodities prices move wildly hour-by hour. Scott assures me though, that the final deal is imminent. The bonding arrangements are already set up, Scott also assures me. I believe him. He and I have a track record. He's NEVER lied to me.
In addition to this, Scott is working on finalizing an extension agreement with the project contractor, and attempting to nail down construction materials and labor costs. This aspect of the project is a thorny one. Steel and concrete prices have escalated through the summer, as we've previously noted; and the twin hurricanes in the Gulf Coast region have made some materials entirely unavailable. Scott is confident however that the project can be brought in at the current $18.5 million estimated price, (which reflects a $2 million "fudge factor over the original $16.5 million estimate,) although he confides that this aspect of the project is causing him intermittent "heart pains."
And then of course, there's the lingering question of TCE contamination. Nobody really knows how that's going to shake out, notwithstanding Dave Harmer's
I for one hope that Scott's efforts are not in vain, and that he's able to pull the rabbit out of the hat. Scott is a brilliant, hard-working and decent guy, and a pre-2006 groundbreaking would be a real feather in his cap.
Once again, and for the record, I'll reiterate that I am in favor of the rec center project. I'm an inveterate gym rat. I can't wait to start pumping iron at a new flagship Gold's Gym.
And while we're on the subject, I think it's time for a new poll. I've had a poll running since September 26, and it's time now to close it out.
Here's the question I asked, and the results to date:
"Will all necessary legal prerequisites for the Recreation Center project be fulfilled prior to the January 1, 2006 "drop-dead date?"
Yes (18) 19%
No (76) 81%
Total Votes: 94
I'm going to zero out the results and leave the same poll query in the right sidebar. I think it will be interesting to see how our readers react to the new information we've received today. Don't forget to cast your votes.
And isn't it great to embark on the weekend with just a little bit of positive news?
Comments, anyone?
15 comments:
Rudi, despite your frequent paeans to John Wright, you are the best reporter in town and you deserve our thanks for this new information from Scott Brown.
I, too, want the Rec Center and the surrounding development to happen. But then I would've been highly pleased with the CitiVenture plans, too. The Godfrey Gang has fooled us too many times for me to be impressed by this latest volley of City Hall spin. Does anyone remember the SLT article of Aug. 10, 2004 (that's LAST year), in which Ms. Moulton quoted Elder Godfrey as saying by the end of August -- 2004 -- "several anchors for the development's north end would be announced"? And then, "no agreements have been signed, but 'we're really close.'"
It was the resounding silence after these promises that moved me from a Godfrey fan to a Godfrey detractor.
I also agree that Scott Brown is the most able person at City Hall right now, but I have heard too much unrealized spin from him (face-to-face on 25th Street, in relation to Union Square's virtues just before its meltdown), as well, to be moved much.
I hope I'm wrong. But even Bill Cook concedes in the article that everything must be delivered by November 1st for the Dec. 31st deadline to be met. And the heavy hand of the Dept. of Environmental Quality over this project is scarcely acknowledged.
Let the games begin (again)!
Thanks for the kind words, Elder McConkie. For me it's a fascinating hobby I've picked out for myself. I'd never compare my rambling, stream-of-consciousness approach to the craftsman-like reporting of John Wright though, although I do believe I have the "edge" sometimes, due to lots of "life experience." (I'm an old and experienced "dude.)"
"Most good judgement is based on lots of bad judgement." That's my motto.
As for Scott Brown, I have considerable respect for him. He and I have spent MANY hours on the phone in the last half-year, delving into the intricacies of Ogden city's many "grand schemes." In that connection, there's never been a single instance where Mr. Brown has ever tried to "snow" me, or where he's failed to intelligently acknowledge and address what I deemed to be "plan defects."
My neighbor Mayor Godfrey has of course given him the "thumbs up" on this.
Mr. Brown has been authorized to speak frankly with me. And he's fulfilled that authorization very well.
I have deep respect for Scott Brown. The batch of incompetents who surround him have made his job very difficult. Yet he's still scrambling, and employing that great brain that God and his parents gave him, despite the many obstacles that have been thrown into the path.
And you have to understand the problem of a staff employee who meets even so intelligent a person as you at the Farmer's Market. He's a staff person, afterall, and it's not his job to bitch about the current administration. Remember...he works for an administration that brooks no dissent. None.
I'm pulling for this "kid." I want to see a rec center groundbreaking for Scott Brown's sake.
Dear Rudi,
You weren't around in the meetings that Scott Brown had with property owners in the area condemned to go to Wal-mart that took place during most of the year 2004.
We have Scott Brown on tape threatening and trying to intimidate those property owners so Ogden could seize their property to sell to Wal-mart at a much discounted price.
I doubt that Mr. Brown has really changed his spots or had a "come to Jesus meeting".
You are the obvious one to court because your influence is growing daily.
Don't be hoodwinked by his condescending to give you some information because it is all for the Mayor's benefit.
Thanks for you comment, Dorothy.
I've gotten to know Scott Brown fairly well in past months, and I think it wouls be safe to say he's a "fish outta water" when it comes to talking to the common folks.
He would be quite dominent, personality-wise, I think, in a setting where he's talking to the townfolks.
I'd love to hear the tapes.
I think Scott Brown is one of the "good guys" in our city government. He does his job; and he does it with extreme intensity.
He would probably operate differently under a different mayoral administration, if he had different marching orders.
The problem, I think, is that he's way too intense for most of the townfolk to handle.
That doesn't make him a "bad" person at all.
He merely exucutes his job efficiently.
Is this lender just for the cost of the rec center, or is this the note for the $30 million debt consolidation which was going to include rec center costs at one point?
Again, what's the REAL cost? So far, there's the 30 mil. Then there's the "new Lender" with about 18 mil in bonds. 48 mil and counting. And Godfrey enjoys telling the sotry about Mitch Moyes developer pal who was shocked that Godfrey could put the rec center togehter for $8,000,000 (it's on one of those fool taped messages on Utmomo's blog). But I get $48,000,000, not $8,000,000. And, if it doesn't fly, we get stuck with the lease payments of approximately $70,000 per month.
What a deal.
Also, the Scott Brown affair. Who know how he'd act if he were sent by the Mayor, the Way Dorothy says. Maybe he's REALLY good at what he does, including the art of deception. That ever cross your mind, dude?
Jesus Jones Rudi have you been seduced or what?
Reading all this fawning crap about Godfrey's hired gun Brown almost made me puke.
You don't have decent moral people doing the dirty work of indecent immoral regimes. Godfrey and his gang are either low life snakes or they're not. You can't have it both ways. Maybe you ought to go back and read some of your own words about the "gang of six". Next thing we know you will be telling us how Goebels was actually quite a nice chap who merely worked for a bad boss.
And this BS about you being a gym rat therefore you're all for this rape of the common man is absolutely disgusting. You are no better than all the rest of the elitists who would pawn off the cost of their thrills onto the backs of the poor and working class of Ogden.
You have finally shown you're true colors and it aint a pretty picture. I just hope that Brown and Godfrey don't turn any sharp corners, you may end up with a broken neck.
Whew!
Kind of the way I see it, too, Mr. Luke....you don't find a water snake in a nest of cobras. You stick you hand in there and you might just get bit.
The thing about Godfrey's rec center: it's probably too well along now to imagine that it will just go away. The gang behind it has no flexibility, just take a look at the Episcopal Church deal, the lending for bonding seems to be at hand, and the rest, as they say, is just about history. This thing will happen, but that's not to say that I like the method....the City should not be in this business, and the secrecy that is wrapped around it bothers me. Kind of like the gondola, and all of those secret players.
On the surface, with private investment and ownership, and great care as to the obligation put on the City, there might be some potential here, but with the "Gang of Six" leading the way, along with these other mysterious people who have not fully surfaced, lends me to believe that Sherlock Holmes ought to be called in to sort things out for the people before we get all warm and fuzzy over either idea.
I don't think that Brown is spelled H-O-L-M-E-S, so one should always consider where one's source comes from. Just a thought.
"Jesus Jones Rudi have you been seduced or what?"
I'll make no bones about it, Thomas Luke. My motives are purely selfish. I've worked out at Gold's Gym flagships on the West coast; and I'd flat love to have one about three minutes from my front door.
I'm also trying to get into the neoCON groove -- the one that stands for corporate welfare -- and Karl Marz's public ownership of the "means of production."
Call it partly selfish, with a little bit of curiosity built-in.
I'm trying to groove-in to our Brave New neoCON Mattgodfrey World -- with a little self-seving going in.
Have no fear, Thomas Luke! Rudi will NEVER sip the extremist neoCON Kool-aide.
Let's put it this way. I'll enjoy Gold's Gym as long as it lasts.
Perhaps its probable failure is what will wake the somnambulant Ogden up.
Rudi, you got a Golds Gym on 25th above Washington where Weber College once was. Being that you're a rich bastard from above Harrison I figure that one is closer to you than anything they might build at Yorgenson's toxic dump.
I hope if and when they build it that all the nasty stuff comes up through the floor and up your kiester and gives you a great big gut ache like you just gave me after finding out you're one of them sleaze balls that want to heap a pile of debt on the poor folks of Ogden so you can have some fine toys that none of them will be able to afford.
You my ex-friend are a friggen traitor in the first degree. Next thing we know you will be passing sacrement to your AHole buddy Matt and his once X'ed pal Larsen.
If any one want's to know about that X'ed biz, just ask.
I don't know why any one would be surprised that Rudi has been exposed as a Godfreyite! Hell if you look at him and the twerp together they appear to be twins, ala Swartzenager and Divito.
And don't be fooled with that "kool aide" BS that Rudi is putting out as a diversion. I saw Rudi and the twerp together with Stu Reid swilling whiskey at Brewski's the other night. Mad Matt was decked out in his full colors and Stu was in biker chic drag. I aint gonna tell what I saw em doing in the head, but Stu's number is on the wall next to the pisser.
Meanwhile this Wreck Center Lender bull shit is just that. It is the first round in what has been suggested already in this blog. The Godfrey gang is going to be giving us a string of "good new" right up to Nov 8, trying thier lying best to convince the masses that they some how know what the hell they are doing.
The lender has already been identified several months ago. It is Wells Fargo and their in house bonding agency called Northern something or another. It is the gang from Minnisota that owns Wells Fargo. They are going to put up around half the dough it takes to build this immoral monument to a little man's ego. The other half will be taken out of the hides of the tax payers of Emerald City. When the whole dumb ass deal goes tits up, Wells Fargo will step in and foreclose on it. Bottom line, Wells Fargo will end up owning the heart of down town for fifty cents on the dollar. Just like that other Godfreyite dude got the Union Station project for half price.
Politics makes for strange bed-fellows, doesn't it. Statement, not a question.
It appears that there's a "tear" developing between Ozboy and Rudi, both pretty good pals of mine and at one time, of each other.
I wonder: If Gold's Gym is such a meaningful place to him, does Rudi go there now and work out, like that proverbial "gym-rat" he suggests he is? If not, are his latest positions regarding the recreation center real or disingenuous? Has he, as Ozboy suggests, fallen prey to the Godfrey schemes and succumbed to "the buzz?" I hope he maintains a NEUTRAL position until everything is on the table, not just Scott Brown's endosement.
To witt: Many unanswered questions remain about the recreation center, and I too believe that the only news we'll get, regarding this and other "downtown projects," will be good news until the elections are held. Between Godfrey and the City Council's new PR person, the news will be slanted and we will have to stay alert and vigilant in deciphering what's real and what's not.
Public Hearings will be scheduled and hopefully, the people will attend and ask pertinent questions, although I've yet to see the Council swayed by the public input, on ANYTHING, except of course, the Ferret, that monumental issue that so activated the people. A pity that same "lather" can't be worked up over the recreation center and other MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR projects that mean so much more to the citizens.
Ozboy's right about the Wells Fargo deal, of course, and the opportunity for that entity to own the bulk of downtown Ogden for 50 cents on the dollar. This whole thing is set up for failure, and the "Gang of 6" will be right there, working out at Gold's Gym until it does.
I suppose that, the blog being Rudi's own, he can tell it the way he wants to, but I would hope that he maintains a NEUTRAL position until all the facts are in, not just Scott Brown's endorsement.
"If Gold's Gym is such a meaningful place to him, does Rudi go there now and work out, like that proverbial "gym-rat" he suggests he is?"
Don't be silly, Enthused Citizen.
Rudi like to work out in places like this; not this.
Good heavens, Rudi---isn't that second picture from the Titanic?
Of course you wouldn't want to work out there, knowing what you know.
Hmm.
When all the frenzy dies down remember one thing: who the hell is driving the wreck center boat?
Captain Godfrey.
Enough said. Keep your hand on your wallet and your hope under control! Stu Reid is watching, and it's LEGAL.
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