With *apologies to the Late Winston Churchill, this may be...
Something Up With Which We Should NOT Put.
Around Labor Day weekend, certain selected residents of 23rd Street received the following letter, on letterhead, from the Office of the Mayor, Ogden City:
Of course, neighborhoods being what they are, there was one resident who heard about this meeting and who had not received notice of it, and who then subsequently found that this was intentional. Small, selected groups of people were asked, by invitation only, to meet on the ninth floor. Some were included, some were excluded. It is said that there are to be more meetings, with different selected groups of 23rd Street neighbors, in the future.August 29, 2006
Dear [23rd street addressees],
There has been a lot of discussion about a gondola system and resort coming to Ogden. The proposed route of the gondola goes up 23rd Street. Because this will have an effect on your property, I would like to meet with you to discuss the proposal, receive your feedback and answer any questions you may have.
The meeting is scheduled for September 5th at 5:00 p.m. in my office at 2549 Washington Boulevard, 9th floor. Please call Christy at 629-8211 to confirm your attendance.
Thank you for your interest.
Sincerely,
Matthew R. Godfrey
Mayor of Ogden
At least one resident who wishes to remain anonymous and who did attend this September 5th meeting does not wish the gondola to go up 23rd Street, but the process, it seems, has progressed way beyond whether people do or do not want the gondola. According to this source, the meeting with the Mayor included particulars about where the gondola will go and what will happen.
For instance, our source states from the information given by the Mayor at this meeting that the poles will be 35 feet high and placed roughly 375 feet apart. They will go directly up the center of the street, erupting (my word) from a median which will be landscaped, thereby adding to the "attractiveness of the neighborhood," (purportedly the Mayor's words.)
A cherry picker, (coincidentally, "cherry picking" was the term used by at least one person to describe the selection process for attendees at these meetings,) will be brought in so that neighbors can ride up on it and actually see how high the cars will be. More trees will be planted, in an effort to give these neighbors privacy from riders of the gondola, our source reports.
Our source further informed us that, after listening to a bit of this, someone asked if the gondola were really going in, then, and that the Mayor allegedly replied that all they were waiting for was the Forest Service, which would allow it to go to the top of the mountain. And when someone stated that property values under the gondola would decline, the reported response to this was that they would increase, and that he wished it were running through his yard. Its operating hours will be roughly from 7 AM to 10 PM.
Our source went on to say that someone brought up the possibility that people would not wish to park at the Intermodal Hub, and would instead park in front of the residences on 23rd Street. The Mayor's reported answer to this was that parking permits, to park on the street in front of their houses, would be issued to the residents. The presentation, the source reported, also focused in large part about how great the skiing in Malan's Basin was going to be, since it was north facing.
After the meeting, our source reports, one of the neighbors said, "Well, we'd better get used to it."
Very odd, this. Very odd indeed. What has happened to the painstaking process for approval of this project outlined in the "Discovery Ogden" document, upon which Council and City Hall staff have worked themselves to the bone this past month? What has happened to the required public hearings, public processes, the input and decision from Weber State University, whose land, it was stated earlier this year, is absolutely crucial to this project? In short, what has happened to the mandated processes required to perform all steps necessary for this project to even reach the table? Has the Council signed the requested "pre-development agreement" granting the No-Zone Zone? Is it really true that all that is keeping the project from moving ahead is the permission of the Forest Service for access to the top of the mountain?
One would prefer to answer those last two questions with the word "no," and proceed to smooth things over with conciliatory statements as to how the process, which was mandated by the Ogden City Council, is still in place and will be followed. Yet for some of these neighbors, who do not keep up on these issues, and who, upon hearing the presentation about what was going to happen in their neighborhood, the inescapable conclusion was that they'd "better get used to it."
If events in this meeting actually did take place as indicated by our source, and if the alleged statements made by the Mayor during it are true, this is not to be borne. The public has received information indicating that a process will be followed in making the decision as to whether or not to even do this project, and these neighbors are being told basically that it is moving ahead, that there will be flowers in the median, parking permits, more trees, 35 foot poles every 375 feet, operating hours of 7 AM to 10 PM, and that that is their future.
Which is it?
