More Gondolist Flights of Fancy

By Curmudgeon

They just can't help themselves...

The Standard Examiner this morning has a long op-ed bit of gondola fantasizing by Mr. B. Geiger, identified as Chairman of Lift Ogden. It is filled with flights of fancy and what an uncharitable soul might consider deliberate mis-representations. For example, here are a few statements taken, verbatim, from Mr. Geiger's piece:

WSU will be, he says, will be linked to "an international airport... via gondola and commuter rail." And "WSU is about 35 miles from Salt Lake International Airport, and will soon be connected by commuter rail. " And WSU will be "the only university in the world linked to... an international airport... via gondola and commuter rail."

Ah, Bob... Frontrunner, the comuter rail coming to Ogden, will not go to SL International airport. Frontrunner will have two stations in downtown Salt Lake, but it will not connect either SLC or Ogden to the airport. Mr. Geiger has dropped into this piece false claims that the gondola/gondola system he proposes will connect Ogden with Snow Basin. That is very encouraging. It shows he is capable of learning. One would have hoped, however, that by now he might actually have looked at a UTA map and discovered that the Frontrunner commuter rail will not connect Ogden with the SLC airport. Maybe by the next time he inflicts his fantasizing on the readers of the SE he will have figured that out and removed yet another false claim from Lift Ogden's appeals. We can only hope.

But there's even more fantasizing in his piece. He writes "WSU is 20 minutes away from the nearest ski resort, Snowbasin. Twenty minutes? How? By helicopter? I will admit, I've seen people trying to drive from WSU's campus to the parking lots at Snow Basin in twenty minutes, but usually I see them pulled over to the side helping Ogden police make their weekly quota of speeding tickets. If he can't figure out something as simple as the driving time from WSU to Snow Basin, I can't help but wonder how accurate his other observations are. And remember, he seems to think Frontrunner will take him from Ogden to the SLC airport. This the guy you want planning your city's future?

Finally, he compares WSU to Colorado State, claiming WSU can certainly draw lots of ski/snowboard/mountain activities oriented students as he says Colorado State does. Why, CSU is, he points out, 70 miles from the Denver airport, while WSU is only 35 from SLC airport. And CSU is 70 miles from the Rockies and its trails, etc, while WSU is tucked right under the Wasatch range and has trails running from the campus up into the mountains. CSU is an hour's drive from the nearest ski resort, while WSU is closer than that to Snow Basin, a world class resort [say a 35 minute drive, barring any serious traffic].

Well, here's the question, Bob: all of the above is true right now. With no gondola in place. Without a huge real estate development eating up WSU wild lands adjoining the campus and separating the campus from the mountain trails. All of it true right now. So, Bob, since WSU is right now, according to you, a far more attractive campus for skiers, snowboards, hikers, trailriders, than CSU is, my question is this: why aren't all those CSU students here right now?Why, if closeness to mountain recreation is why many many students, the land over, choose colleges, and WSU is so much better situated than CSU in this regard right now, why aren't they here, Bob? Why will a train and gondola system that won't take them to or from the airport, and a real estate development imposed between the campus and the mountain trails, and a gondola that won't take them to Snow Basin draw all these people when they haven't come to a campus that is by your own account already far superior to CSU as a mountain-oriented college site?

Update 7/26/06 4:35 p.m. MT: Today's Std-Ex Thom Kuehls guest commentary skillfully dismantles Bob Geiger's earlier pro-gondola commentary piece. Be sure to read Mr. Kuehl's most excellent and intelligent retort.