We're greeted by a pair of reportorial oddities in this morning's Standard-Examiner.
First, on the section B front page we read that a world-renowned Olympic gold medalist will be in town tomorrow, to promote the Peterson/Godfrey land-grab. Tomorrow morning, Park City's own Jim Shea "get a close-up look at the location of the proposed multimillion-dollar 'resort' at Malan's Basin." In addition to looking over our legacy Mt. Ogden parkland, he'll hobnob for a while with Chris Peterson, on Chris's via ferrata (Italian: rock-climbing for pansies.) Later on (6:30 p.m.,) ace reporter Schwebke reports, Shea will be on hand to deliver a motivational speech at the Ogden amphitheater. In the unlikely case you've forgotten, gentle readers, Shea medalled in 2002, in our personal favorite Olympic sport --- skeleton.
Standard-Examiner news sleuth Schwebke also managed somehow to get a couple of classic pre-speech "teaser" quotes out of gold-medalist Shea:
"I want to be supportive of all visionaries in Utah," Shea said in a phone interview. "Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. There is a lot of smoke coming out of Ogden... " Shea said.
Shea definitely said a mouthful there, we think. He apparently knows a lot already... about Ogden city politics.
In the event that a few of our gentle readers may have inexplicably lost track of Jim Shea in the intervening years since his stirring 2002 Olympic triumph, they can rest assured that he's let no grass grow under his feet. A quick google search reveals he's now earning a little extra cash in the twilight of his Olympic career, milking a few extra bucks as a featured speaker for Brooks International, a haven for washed-up genuine sports stars and athletic also-rans-for-hire, on the lucrative American motivational speech stump-circuit. Yep, he's right there on their 'medal-winner" speakers' list.
Anybody wanna hazard a wild guess about who will be ultimately picking up the tab on this?
A Standard-Examiner page A-1 oddity also caught our attention. Ogden City's own management director, Mark Johnson, commutes to work at City Hall in a 8500-lb+ 10 mpg City-owned HumVee H2, we learn this morning. We won't belabor the point, but we think it fitting and proper that at least one member of Mayor Godfrey's "million dollar brain trust" is "upfront" enough to drive a car that truly reflects the city administration's mega-big-government, mega-big-spending, resource-wasteful spirit and mentality. We won't however say a word about possible personal psychological implications of this personal transportation choice, although we cannot resist incorporating this pithy quote from the preceding link:
"I too assume that someone driving them is an ass or compensating for something. A friend of mine wanted to put a note "Dude, sorry about your p****" on the windshield of a Hummer, but she was only 5 ft tall. I boosted her up :)."
Finally, we're linking to a thought-provocative Deseret News opinion piece, which quite rightly asks the question: how is it possible that the original golden spike, a rendition of which will soon circulate around the world, impressed on the newest commemorative U.S. quarter, remains languishing in some obscure California museum? Now that the State of Utah will be getting all this free publicity, shouldn't we be agitating support to bring the spike back home? What a fine centerpiece it would be for a new railroad museum, as the DNews's Lee Benson seems to suggest. Isn't it really time for us to get moving forward on this?
The floor is open, gentle readers.
What's on your gentle minds today?
Update 5/15/06 1:17 p.m. MT: In the most recent development, the odd story about Mark Johnson's odd vehicular prosthesis has now been apparently picked up by the AP wire service.
Update 5/18/06 9:58 p.m. MT: We had a sneaking suspicion that the Standard-Examiner editors would make additional hay with the Mark Johnson HumVee story. In the event any of our readers in out-of-the-way places missed today's editorial, you can check it out here.
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13 comments:
Well! I can see that the beef is in the management vehicles and they are loosing or spending our tax money.
here is the big waste of money just like the golf course so let chris peterson buy these too for pennies on the dollar.
but you don't see the mayor closing down this big waste of our tax dollars, after all why do these guys need these vehicles any way, all they do is sit behind a desk and push a pencil all day. Maybe if you did away with this mayor, we could hire some more police officiers to arrest the crooks in city hall. what an abomination. what say you mayor? do you have any guts to reply!
I say pull their vehicle allowance and give them a UTA pass!Like every city official...these people make WAY enough money to afford a car payment. Why then are we, as citizens, forced to give them a car to drive, pay the insurance etc. In these days when times are so hard for most of us to get buy, please give us a break and stop the nonsense of giving these city employees a free car to drive. I don't care if he's forking out a few dollars out of his pocket. That money could be used for better things..mostly an increase in the pee on employees who make next to nothing.
Just another one of my opinions, When you're using public tax dollars for an obvious and unecessary means of transportation, you're going to get criticism. I feel that $375 is way too much for an public official to use for a vehicle. He's only driving to and from work. Stick him in a Dodge Neon or Honda Civic and put the money that will be saved to better use like the failing golf course..
You say, "if the government wants to compete for good employees they need to allow similar practices". give them a free golf pass.
I would say if Mr. Johnson has a "REAL ATTITUDE" it is news worthy. I doubt your company cell phone is paid for by my tax dollars.
Get a life in public office. With an attitude like that you ought to be put out of office. Another "BIG SH(i)OT" in office.
how do I get signed up on this program. The one guy gets $525 a month car allowance. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me. Doesn't the city have a fleet for these yahoos to use for business? most cities do and if they don't they should. No wonder polititions don't care about rising fuel cost. our tax money buy them cars and pays for their gas too. what a load of bunk!
Will they get Gondola allowance - something like $525/month?
Ogden - the place to be when you're nowhere else.What kind of rocket scientists are coming out of Ogden. It's not in your budget to buy and own these vehicles, you can't even RUN, let alone OWN a mall.
This is just one more way that overpaid public officials spend our tax dollars on themselves and what THEY want instead of putting the money into things and issues that the people of the city need to better their lives. I wish I could have my employer pay me to drive the car of my choice. Gotta love public officials that think they are "GOD-free-ites".
This guy needs a Hummer to haul his big ol lard ass around town. It especially comes in handy after a particularly heavy trouph slopping session with the rest of the Little Lord's million dollar team of losers.
The whole gang is perverse in their fantasy world that seems to defy any logic what so ever.
I heard from a fly on the wall of the mayor's office that he wants to go on the line for $400 thousand dollars a year in rent on additional space at the mall. That means that the tax payers of Ogden would be paying Boyer comany close to $400 thousand bucks a year for empty space. We would have to do this for as long as it would take to rent the space to comanies. Could be years! From what I hear, Boyer does not want to build the space because their take on the whole project is that they cant rent that space in any reasonable time frame and it is not worth their money to build it. The Mayor disagrees and wants the extra space and is willing to bet the tax payer's money on his hunch, you know, the one that contradicts the experts at Boyer!
You may ask: "has he no shame?"
The answer is: "No"
Look for this to come to a council near you soon.
omigosh...what a sad state of affairs we have with this so called administration.
Well, I'm glad Lee Benson is getting on board with many of us who think we NEED a Smithsonian NATIONAL RAILROAD MUSEUM here in Ogden...
first in the country'.....wouldn't that be a fitting place for OUR golden spike??
Council meeting at 6 pm...
work meeting (budget at 5.
A car pool is the answer! Sign out, sign in, with mileage accountability.
Oh, great. Just great. The wire services have picked up the hummer story. Fan-damn-tastic. Just the kind of press we need to convince business owners that Ogden is a well-managed, well-run city with a good grip on public finances. Just great.
Ah, well. I see I too must become a visionary. Ogden must recruit, train and deploy its own Delta Force Unit to "liberate" the golden spike now held in shameful captivity by some California university. [We can bond for their pay, can't we, and promise them all Hummers for a successful mission?] Once the spike has been liberated and housed in Ogden, we can build a gondola to take visitors from the nearest I-15 exit ramp to see it. And back. If it pulls only ten percent of the millions travelling I-15 each year to ride the gondola in Kellog, Idaho off the interstate, we will be the new Park City/Aspen/Vail [pick one] overnight!
PS: Now that I too have become a visionary, can I get an Oly medalist to visit me? If so, I pick Picabo Street.
Curm....did you attend the pony show tonight that Godfrey 'hosted?'
I attended the CC meeting, so went late. Godfrey dashed out of the CC jst as the police rep was getting up to ask the council's help in getting their pay hike.
]Tom Owens really blasted the mayor for ducking out and not supporting the policemen!
I was so incensed at the tripe being spewed by Godfrey at his invitation meeting, that I thought I was hyperventillating.
The LO's were there giving their lovenotes to the mayor for all his brilliance and vision for Ogden. 'What more can WE do to get the word out than just talk to our friends?" Old time snake oil
shills.
I thought this was a throwback to Woodstock and soon the (some) unwashed would be expressing their love and devotion in the aisles.
It was an absolutely shamefull showing of the Little Lord's true colors tonight at the council meeting!
He sat there all smug as one of his incompetent, and hightly overpaid, suits proposed to the city council that they vote the authority for the Little Lord to spend close to $400,000.00 a year to rent empty space that the Boyer company does not think is feasible to build! This empty suit made a whole case out of a bunch of hooey. Showed a bunch of finance charts with a bunch of made up numbers to support this latest stupid idea. These numbers of course were invented by the same gang that can't shoot straight, the same inept group that made all kinds of high fallutin projections about how great the Union Station project and the American Can Building would do - both complete failures in the real world!
This is the same gang that does not have one single win to their credit in spite of spending $50 to $70 millions of tax payers money!
So the little punk set there while his loser assistant spins this inplausible story to support one more loser deal that will waste our tax money. Then as soon as the cops get their turn to make their position known to the city, the little chicken shit ducked out on them. A real insult from the Lord to the room full of cops that put their butt's on the line every day for us! He didn't even have the common decency and respect to hear them out!
This alone tellw us all that we need to know about this arrogant punk!
ML:
Not tonight's. But I attended one three weeks ago and Mrs. Curmudgeon attended one last week. She descibed it as largely composed of LO cheerleaders. "Almost a revivial meeting." Pushing the same tired line we've heard for a while now. And not discussing the substantive questions out there.
Apparently someone... I suspect LO... is doing phone polling on the gondola issue. Be interesting to know who, for sure, and for what purpose.
As for the police matter: some months ago I saw one of those "Ten best places to retire" articles, and it had a link so you could see how your city rated, or cities you were thinking of retiring too. Ogden rated high on very nearly every measure: available health care, recreation, climate, affordable housing, etc etc. Except one: crime. And the low ranking on crime [meaning there was more crime than in other comprable cities] was enough to bump Ogden way down in the ratings.
Seems to me that places like St. George have demonstrated beyond doubt the economic potential of attracting retirees. Also seems to me therefor that improving police services is not wholly unrelated to making Ogden a more attractive place to live. And not only for retirees.
The other thing that matters a lot in making a city attractive to potential residents is quality public schools. [Ask any realtor who has "buy" clients with children what their first question is about a potential home. "What is the school our kid will go to? How good is it?" ] Investing money in police protection and in schools are probably two of the most effective things a city can do to make itself more attractive as a place to live. I know, I know, not nearly as sexy as gondolas and Tyrolean village condos.
Naturally, people move in mostly because they find work in the area, about which Mr. Charles Trentelman had a very interesting column in the Standard Examiner recently. Very interesting indeed.
Curmudgeon, PLEASE run for mayor. We need your level-headedness in our city's government!
From Anonymous Too -
More on the Mayor's Tuesday night dog and pony show.
Did you know that those invited are selected randomly from phone listings? That raises two questions: 1. How come some with very private unlisted cellphone numbers were invited, and 2. Isn't it a strange coincidence that Bob Geiger, the mayor's father-in-law, and several other vocal Lift Ogden supporters just happened to be chosen as well. Ah those goofy random selection processes!
When the floor was opened to questions a pattern emerged. A good question that deserved a well-considered answer was met first with a joke. Fire and emergency medical support for a Malan's Basin resort? "Fire and medical emergencies will be illegal up there."
When asked about Chris Peterson's experience and track record we were told that he was checked out by a third party. Who? The mayor's father-in-law? BTW, the joke response was "Chris is a terrible person." The laughter was not deafening.
We were also informed by a vocal member of the audience that those opposing the gondola project were uninformed, hadn't attended any information sessions, didn't read the websites or newspapers, etc. They just picked up misinformation at the barbershop and proceded to spread it. And here it was I thought I was reading and attending everything possible trying to find some hard answers and information that could be evaluated logically rather than constantly-shifting smoke and mirrors.
About 3/4 through the evening, who should happen to arrive but Chris in the flesh. How fortuitous!
Unlike other ventures, run by governments or corporations, this project seems to hinge entirely on the bank account of one person. We were told for example that Chris will run the downtown gondola. If it loses money, it's his problem, not ours. What happens if he goes bankrupt, is struck by lightning, or if his wife shoots or divorces him?
Gee, Anon. Two. Bob and Chris were randomly selected to be invited to the Godfrey Tuesday Night Soiree I went to two weeks ago.
Imagine that. Randomly selected twice.
Hey....I bet we could make a movie...'hey kids...want to put on a show? We could use my barn.... it'll be swell. Wow, we could call it REALLY DUMB AND DUMBER, or REALLY DUMB AND DUMB, AND DUMB AND DUMBER AND SMART-MOUTHEd STUPID TOO.'
Who has video cam experience?
We could showcase it at our 2nd annual independent film festival.
Chris is 'going to open up Beus Drive...it's awful to drive there when snow is on the ground'. That was news to a woman who lives on Beus Drive.
Sounds like they're planning a tower on Country Hills Drive.
I asked 4 questions toward the end. Only because I called out (nicely, tho). He said he'd only answer 3, as he'd already answered them. Some called out that THEY would like to hear the answers...but the shills agreed with Godfrey. He didn't want a 'diatribe' like the one he felt he'd had from the elderly woman who spoke for about 10 minutes. She defended herself and others who 'want answers....that doesn't make me a nitpicker (pointing at Curt Geiger) or a naysayer....etc, etc, etc,"
The mayor told her to stop reading letters to the editor and commentaries. HAH! Isn't he a prolific 'guest commentary writer' and the Ballantynes, who called out replies and answers to questions from the audience?
Most of the audience are plants...some may be potted, of course, but most are just carnival shills.
The mayor told everyone who wanted to know the 'TRUTH' TO 'COME to me or Chris." "Come into my web said the spider to the fly."
It's extremely apparent why Godfrey conducts these meetings. Chris is the dumber of the two...he's incapable of answering questions, at least in a 'plausible' way. Such a doofus. But, Godfrey is glib...a motivational speaker for that snake oil and it's efficacious properties. He can let a whopper roll off his tongue like an ice chip melting in July. And in his reptilian way he never blinks while schmoozing the devotees.
Yes, he makes his little jokes. The ensuing laughter masks what is no longer obvious to his fans....they didn't get a straight answer. But, hey!! As James Brown sang..."I FEEL GOOOOD!" AND, IF THE MASSES FEEL GOOOOD...."THEN WHATEVER HE SAID, MUST BE GOOD FOR US, RIGHT MAUDE?"
We needn't wonder what will happen to the boy who would be king after 2008. We'll be able to catch his infomercials at 2 AM. (not only on Ch 17). Perhaps selling shares in a gondlola scheme? Trying to unload Peterson's gated community? Selling investments, along with Ed, in a 'downtown revitalization scheme' for YOUR decaying city.
Boyish grin Chris in his faded jeans and boots, (just like you and me)!, and the glib spinmeister Godfrey selling it, without even a swig of water to wash it down, to the eager eyed, open mouthed drooling groupies.
Oh, I was 'randomly' selected 'from a list', also. Perhaps they think I drool?
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