Nothing Like This Has Come Down the Pike

The gondolist stealth juggernaut grinds on. As can be no doubt inferred from the headline story in the Standard-Examiner Sunday edition, the Utah Board of Regents will likely be the latest group to be be targeted for the scheduling of secret sales meetings with "developer" Chris Peterson, and his lovable but manic sidekick, the globe-trotting Matthew Godfrey.

"While the university would have an opportunity to review the plan, a final decision on whether to sell property to Peterson would rest with the Utah Board of Regents," ace reporter Scott Schwebke dutifully reports.

Yeah, that's the ticket. President Ann Milner and the local crew don't ultimately call the shots at WSU anyway, right?

And comments from local citizens are already beginning to trickle into the Std-Ex letters section, in the wake of reporter Schwebke's March 30 story.

One correspondent complains about government secrecy. This letter mirrors what we've been saying about government secrecy for months on Weber County Forum.

And another Std-Ex editorial section letter deftly examines the true definition of "progress," and succinctly makes a point or two about public interests that need to be considered by the Ogden townsfolk and their public decision-makers in the weeks and months to come.

Our community needs to discuss Mr. Peterson's proposal out in the open, we think, before the public decision-makers even begin their deliberations. Perhaps the discussion process is beginning now. Hopefully the key public decision-makers other than Mayor Godfrey will not already have made their minds up, one way or the other, by the time the public is finally invited to contribute to the debate.

Weber County Forum suggests the scheduling of a series of public hearings or town hall meetings on this subject at the earliest juncture. Architectural renderings, overview maps and supporting documents and memoranda should be lodged for public inspection at City Hall immediately.

"I've never seen anything like this come down the pike," said Norm Tarbox, Weber State University vice president of administrative services. "It's a significant proposal."

Mr. Tarbox certainly got that one right.

Comments, gentle readers?