Are They Serious? Are We? - Updated

City Council Work Session: 8/8/06

By Dian Woodhouse

I have attended almost four hours of various City Council functions this evening. I am better off than those actually serving on it, however, since they attended at least five. I will therefore start with the Peterson proposal, which occurred in a Council Work session after the regular meeting, because that, in my opinion, is a new, important, and momentous occurrence. Other momentous occurrences will come later.

The purpose of this Work Session was to impart information about the proposed project to the Council. Bill Cook began by welcoming us all, more chairs were brought to the work session room, and we were informed that there would be no public comment. He then introduced Chris Peterson and his attorney, Tom Ellison from Stowe Reeves Law Firm.

Chris Peterson began by stating that, as he had begun this project and talked to people he respected, two strategies became clear. The one was to take the traditional path of development, involving creating a proposal and presenting it. The second was the view that members of the public would appreciate the opportunity to be included while the project was still a concept. He chose the second.

During his talks with members of the community, he was "encouraged about how much people care about their community," and also by the good ideas that were generated as to how to make the project better. Some of what people wanted was: continued urban access to the mountains, more stops for the gondola, parking lots around these stops, and an assurance that the housing development would indeed lead to the building of the resort. In a meeting with the Ogden Trails Network, for instance, he was asked if he could put a trailhead at a higher elevation. The concerns regarding WSU were---"Help us with our parking problem." Also a land shortage for expansion--could land be worked into the deal for the property Peterson wants, and also that WSU could benefit by having a "campus life." Also, a "link" from the land WSU owns by the Dee Events Center to main campus would be favorable for them.

But Peterson was not there tonight to talk about how these things could be accomplished. Instead, he and Tom Ellison were there to talk about how to put something together that works best for everybody. He introduced Mr. Ellison, who would discuss the process, and ended by stating that "Tarzan never let go of the last vine until he had hold of the next vine," and the forthcoming process discussion would be along those lines.

Read the the rest of the article.

But they want us to show them that we're serious, by doing the things outlined above. Are we? Are they???)

Update 8/9/06 2:22 p.m. MT: We have just now received from Dian her report on the events at last night's council meeting, which preceded the above-described "work session."

Among other things, Boss Godfrey (with a completely straight face) apparently once again publicly reitered his denial of the existence of any ticket "quota" system, notwithstanding the admitted existence of a written policy requiring all police officers to write a fixed number of tickets in order to qualify, at least in part, for merit pay increases. How this oft-repeated statement squares with a common definition of the word "quota" leaves us feeling frankly mystified. Then again, many of we lumpentownsfolk simply don't have the "Godfrey Vision," we guess. As we have recently come to understand, normal definitions and conventions common to the "outside world" simply do not apply in our strange inverted universe known as MattGodfreyWorld.

Read Dian's Council Meeting Notes: 8/8/06 here.