All neatly packaged in today's Standard-Examiner edition
The Standard-Examiner delivers the Emerald City townsfolke a real Std-Ex/Boss Godfrey love-fest this morning, with shameless and sophomoric rah-rah pieces plastered all over its front page, and weaving deeply into its back-pages. Through the magic of our web-based Weber County Forum blog medium, readers around the world can instantaneously learn of the sheer wonderfulness of Boss Godfrey, by simply clicking the links here and here.
"Rising from the dust," blares the Std-Ex main headline. A fair description, we concede. We remember all too well that vacant square block in the heart of our downtown, which languished muddy or dusty for most of Boss Godfrey's 6-year reign. We're grateful that at least that vision won't haunt us for yet one more Halloween.
Yeah. It's nice to finally see some activity downtown. And we're keeping our fingers crossed that it all succeeds, inasmuch as we dumb taxpayers are invested up to our eyeballs in all this.
We suppose the timing of these articles in some way relates to next week's election. Remember, Senate 18 candidate Stuart Reid is the true architect of all this. Reid is the guy who actually comes up with all the good stuff, as Boss Godfrey admits in his more candid private moments. It's a handy division of neoCON labor. Reid does all the scheming. Godfrey claims the visions and takes the credit.
And Boss Godfrey isn't ready to sit back and rest on his laurels. He stays up nights with his buddy Stu concocting even more grandiose projects and schemes, one of these articles reports. And lest we be lulled into a false sense of confidence -- the Peterson Landgrab is "key" to the whole vision -- the ever-restless Boss Godfrey reminds us. As long as there remains a single parcel of Emerald City taxpayer property that can be either sold or hocked, Godfrey will be gulping No-Doz and huddling up with Mr. Reid -- and the frantic efforts of this financially dysfunctional duo, to remake Emerald City into a giant amusement park, will continue unabated.
We find two other potential topic threads in today's Std-Ex Letters Section:
Std-Ex reader letters are starting to trickle in on the subject of Chief Greiner's Hatch Act problem. Read David Blaylock's intelligent take here, and Bruce Gladwell's here.
And Emerald city resident Steve Conlin takes a well-deserved shot at the Emerald City Council's new all-purpose government secrecy policy in this hard-hitting reader letter.
Don't let the cat get your tongues.
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29 comments:
The Standard Examiner embarasses itself again... big time.
The two pieces, one by Jeff Demoss and one by Steve Gehrke [the oft-criticized Mr. Schwebke is off the hook for this one], can be called "reporting" only by stretching the meaning of that term beyond saving. What they are, largely, is Chamber of Commerce style puff pieces.
The Mayor, for example, is quoted yet again insisting that his proposed gondola/gondola real estate speculation in support of the Peterson Malan's Basin development is the major engine driving all kinds of development in downtown Ogden. That the as yet unbuilt gondola which he wants to invest millions in, which will connect with an as yet unbuilt gondola at WSU which will connect with an as yet unbuilt gondola to carry people to an as yet unbuilt mini-resort in Malan's Basin is creating so much excitement, that now all kinds of people want to get in on Ogden's development.
Want to try something interesting? If you are a subscriber to the SE, and so can use the search function on their on line full text edition, search today's paper for the word "Frontrunner." Nothing comes up. Yup, that's right: a front page feature article on Ogden's redevelopment downtown and the coming of Frontrunner to Ogden, connecting Ogden by commuter rail with SLC is not there. Much about the gondola [no proposal yet submitted, nothing yet approved, no feasibilty studies yet done] gets whopping credit for fostering growth. Frontrunner not so much as mentioned. Imagine that.
Oh, lets have some more fun with the SE's front page embarassment: try searhing its on-line edition for "streetcar" or "trolley" or "Wasatch Front Regional Council" which endorsed the streetcar solution to Ogden's downtown transit and development problems, and which recommendation has already been approved by Ogden's Planning Commission. Never mind, I'll save you the trouble. The search engine covering today's SE turns up none of those terms. Not one. No where in either puff piece is the fact that there is an alternative proposal to the gondola/gondola scheme on the table, that has considerable public support, and that has already been approved in concept by the Planning Commission mentioned. Not once. Of course, the stories do manage to get in Mayor Godfrey's claim that opposition to his plans comes only from a small group of CAVEs [which he says means Citizens Against Virtually Everything].
You know, I really can't blame the editors for this shameless puffery. The people who should hang their heads in shame and find honest in a field more suited to their talents than journalism... I'd suggest lobbying or televangilism... are the paper's editors.
One major problem with what passes for journalism at the SE these days is a tendency in stories like these to assume that planned developments are,simply by virtue of being planned, already successful. The print edition has a big and colorful map on P.4A labled "remaking Ogden" and it shows all the redevelopment projects either completed or underway as evidence of the Mayor's success in fostering growth in Ogden.
It lists, for example, the Union Square development on lower 25th Street listed. Completed in 2003. I seem to recall it failed initially, went into receivership. Its residential condos are fully leased now, finally, I believe, but some of its commercial storefronts are still unleased I think. The map lists the Amphitheater too as evidence of successful development. Nice to have, I agree, but as I recall it was touted when being planned as a venue that would bring successful rock and other music shows to downtown Ogden and generate lots of downtown business plus revenues for the City. Has a for pay concert in the Amphitheater ever made money? Maybe so, but most of the stories the SE carried about shows there emphasized the low turnout and the failure to break even for the city, much less profit.
The Mall redevelopment is touted as well, along with the River Project. I hope these succeed. I truly do. But at this point, we don't know if they will or not. We're a long way from success yet. One may succeed, one may fail, both may succeed, both may fail. The point is, at this point, we don't know. [And once again, the role of the Frontrunner, often mentioned by the Mayor, and rightly so, as a key element in planning for the Mall redevelopment] somehow manages not to be mentioned at all now that he wants the emphasis shifted to his gondola/gondola scheme. And the SE, shamefully, plays along.
The Mayor commands press attention by right of his being Mayor, and that is as it should be. And he has had some successes, and deserves credit for them. But not all of what he's done has succeeded as planned. And on much of the rest, the jury is still out. And commanding press attention as he rightly does should not mean Ogen's press meekly reporting the Mayor's claims as fact, unexamined and unchecked, and his wishes as reality.
And if you were expecting to see the SE cover this morning the story that ran in the SLTrib yesterday, reporting challenges to the Mayor's and Lift Ogden's claims about how many jobs the gondola/gondola Peterson real estate specualtions can be expected to add to Ogden's economy, you will be disappointed. Nowhere to be found. But then, when you devote huge sections to Mayoral puffery, who has space left for actual news?
Why don't they just change the name from Standard Examiner to The Ogden Standard Booster and be done with it.
Another puff piece for Godfrey...they even threw themselves a celebration!!
Where is a real investigative reporter at the SE? Why haven't they exposed the mayor's financial dealings?
Why don't they look into claims of the citizens who drink and bathe in orange rusty water?
Why don't they question $43,000. of snow removal dollars poured into the sinkhole on CH Drive?
Why wasn't there a barrage of questions and a demand for answers when Godrey and Peterson went on their excellent European adventure and were wined and postum'd by the gondola makers??
Why hasn't the SE DEMANDED some answers from Peterson? And Godfrey about their goodfy gondola, Malan's and our golfcourse/parklands grab? Why didn't their ace reporter ASK G to explain himself when he told Rep. Neil Hansen that the golfcourse would not go the the highest bidder, but 'to the person with the smartest plan!"???
We KNOW who that smart guy is don't we? Consider this: once a buyer gives you a check for your property, you don't have any claim left to tell the buyer that what he want to do with just acquited property is 'smart' in your eyes or not. So, what's in this for Godfrey? ASK, SE.
WHY WHY WHY can't this paper ask pertinent questions and do some digging?
I groaned when I read that the visionary just keep thinking up new projects. Well, when you sit in your too big chair and survey all your kingdom from the 9th floor, it's easy to think you really ARE the ruler and keeper of all the people and their aspirations.
I keep asking...who are the retailers coming into the Junction? Even in today's big pat on the back for Godfrey and his team....not one is mentioned! Why, SE??
As far as the hometown paper giving truth and facts...this is a gulag.
Godfrey kept mentioning his team. I wonder if that's cuz his integrity is gonna rise up and fill the room by giving credit, or is he distancing himself from any failures cuz of the actions of his 'team'?
His sons are very young...unless the parents are telling the kids that daddy's a pain in the collective rear of the majority of his subjexts...they know only, as one singsonged to me..."MY daddy is the MAYOR!? Let 'em believe.
" I wonder if that's cuz his integrity is gonna rise up and fill the room by giving credit, or is he distancing himself from any failures cuz of the actions of his 'team'?"
The louder he talks of his honor, the faster we count our spoons.
Can any one name a real bonafide success that the little lord and his team of numb skull trough sloppers are really responsible for? Every thing they have touched has either failed, or has not been completed yet.
While it is nice to see the mall a rising, it is the result of a long series of lies, screw ups and manipulations. And as Curmudgeon says a long way from a success.
Nothing in these articles about how the mayor was responsible for the debacle there in the first place. Nothing about the Army criminal investigation, subsequent mega million dollar settlements, many millions lost in the Woodbury law suit. Nothing about the gifting of a $20 million dollar facility to a couple of his friends for a miniscule rent payment. Nothing about the citizens being on line financialy to cover the failures when they occur. Nothing about the 4 years of promises that the citizens would never be liable for it, then the last minute switch that put all the mega millions of risk on our backs. Nothing about the deteriorating infastructure that has been left to rot while the public treasury is looted to pay for these ego monuments and his inner circle of incompetents. Nothing about the crushing $70 million plus debt the citizents of Ogden are faced with. Nothing about the arrogance and abuse the jerk shows toward the public safety employees and all citizens of Ogden. Nothing about trampling Matt Jones' civil rights. Nothing about the draconian policies toward the poor and people of color. Nothing about the contemp that a huge segment of Ogden has for Godfrey. Nothing about how certain Godfrey friends and "team members" have been trying to buy up assets using their insider knowledge as members of his team. Nothing about Ogden's cops and firefighters being the lowest paid in the state. Nothing about the featherbedding jobs of the mayor's pals that the Ogden tax payers are unknowingly supporting. Nothing about the $2.5 million dollar give away to his buddy Kemp. Nothing about the miltimillion dollar law suit by OK3Air. Nothing about the last election which was a referendum on Godfrey and where those who opposed his policies won by big margines. Nothing about Godfrey manipulating the system to facilitate giving away Ogden's crown jewel park land to his buddy for a song.
Yep, just one more example of the Standard's PR release journalism skills. Another case of this sorry assed excuse for a newspaper aiding and abetting the mugging of Ogden and the looting of the public treasury.
Yes, I am proud to be a "CAVES" person. Citizens Against Virtually Everthing Stupid. This includes the vast, and half vast, number of projects and policies that have this little worm's finger prints on them.
LOL, Ozboy.
THAT comment is the current front-runner for Weber County Forum Comment of the Year.
Yes, we have that one bookmarked.
Oz:
Well, I can think of a couple. The recruiting of Amer and other sports-related companies is something the Mayor pioneered, is pursuing and has had some success with. [If he just stop trying to leverage his success in this area into support for the downtown gondola, I could and would applaud his success on this without a qualm.]
I think the Ogden Farmer's market was begun under Mr. Godfrey's administration, and I think it clearly is a success, and adds not insubstantially to life in the city in the late summer and fall.
But he's had some missteps too. He killed the Ogden Summer Festival in one year. Successful event to non-existant in one year flat. And some of the successes touted in the SE pieces are... dubious at best. Even the SE piece notes that the really nicely designed commercial building at the corner of Lincoln and 25th, an RDA project I believe, completed about a year ago, remains unoccupied. The Embassay Suites Hotel, on the list of RDA projects in the SE wasn't really. That hotel began life as a high-end Crown Plaza property, much ballyhooed by the administration as a sign that Ogden was on the march. [The owners of the Ben Lomond fought it, claiming Ogden could not support three large hotels downtown, that the Crown Plaza development attached to the convention center would put them out of business. Sure enough, immediately following the Olympics, the Ben Lomand closed.] And the Crown Plaza went under costing the major Ogden invester a seven figure loss, I believe. Out of that failure, the much more down market Embassy Suites was born. I'm glad it's there. Does yoeman service as a convention center facility. I've put up friends and visiting firemen there. But it hardly counts as a stunning example of the Administration's successful planning. The hotel it banked on sank like a stone.
The old Greyhound station is now occupied as a business incubator, which is good [though how much the administration had to do with that, I don't know]. Ogden Blue is a good thing. And a few small businesses are located in the storefont venues of the project. [The residential condos behind them were fully occupied only after the original project went into receivership, I believe.]
So he's had some successes. And he's muffed some. The point is, his record as a predictor of business success backed by city funding is not un-mixed. And it certainly has not been successful enough so far, that we ought to blindly follow whatever project he offers up, to be funded by the taxpayers, merely because he offers it up.
And as for his major development projects... the mall redevelopment, and the riverside project: we will just have to wait and see. From talking around town with people in the biz, the residential portions are being invested in by those who are convinced Frontrunner will make residential property w/in walking distance of the train station very valuable. I think they may be right about that. I certainly hope so. None of them I've talked to, though, mentioned the gondola/gondola scheme as a major incentive for investment. What they talk to me about is the expected impact of Frontrunner.
By the way, Oz, I am absolutely not a CAVE person. Nor are most of the people I know in SGO. I'm strongly behind a streetcar development as a way to solve Ogden's transit problems and as a way to spur economic growth downtown and all along the line to WSU, especially when 80% of the funding or more will come from Federal and UTA funding, not city funds, and especially when, as a transit project [which the gondola isn't], it will operate [as the busses do] with UTA subsidies. When the Mayor proposes good projects, carfully thought out, backed by sound feasibility and market studies, I'll be happy to help him sell them.
It' just that I have this old preference I picked up somewhere along the way. I like to see evidence that something is a good idea, feasible and will probably work before I sign on to it. Hizzonah seems to embrace a different tradition: conclusions first, facts and evidence later. It's that approach to wagering that makes casino owners in Vegas and Wendover very very happy. And if the Mayor wants to put his own money on the line in support of his preferences, I'd be the last one to object. But when he wants to bet my tax dollars and Ogden's economic future on a "invest first; study later" project, then we have a problem.
I have been a CAVE woman and didn't even know it.
Curmudgeon
Well it is Sunday morning and we do have an extra hour thanks to the day light savings gods.
Sooo, let me address your last post.
I think the Governor's development people would argue the idea that Amer Sports coming to Ogden was a direct result of Godfrey. Truth be told the whole thing just sorta fell into Utah's and Ogden's laps! Very convenient for Godfrey who of course didn't miss a chance to take full credit and attribute it to the Gondola. Credit incidently that even the Governor's people do not have the hubris to claim.
Farmer's market? Who knows who came up with the idea. In any event it has been problematic because of the Mayor's meddling and it doesn't add any money to the city treasury. I say it is a nice deal inspite of Godfrey, not because of him.
The Times Square bldg on 25th & Lincoln has been finished, and empty, for about 3 years now I think, not one. And yes, it is very nicely designed and there have been signs of life with work in the lobby going on lately. Hopefully some good company will move in there soon.
I don't recall the details, but I do think the Hotel on 24th & Washington was an RDA project to begin with. It used to be the Eccles Bldg and was offices. I think the Greek dude (Vasilios?), that is married to the Bamburger heiress and owns "InterNet Real estate" in SLC, did the project. I think the Ogden RDA took a major league bath on the project and it is highly doubtful that the Salt Lake dealster lost any money on it.
The old Greyhound station, now biz incubation center, was a project of the phone room guy. I heard that the mayor did his best to take credit for it. In any event, there are very few signs of life around and in it on the half a dozen times I have been by there looking in the window. It has the appearance of a non starter to me. I do like the idea however and I hope that it does what it was designed to do, especially considering it doesn't appear to be a public welfare deal.
If the Union Square fiasco, that cost the citizens of Ogden $2 million bucks of losses, is occupied like you say, it must be by ghosts and goblins. If you go down and wander around a bit you won't see many signs of life. And the whole deal is still in the courts I believe.
Any success on lower two bit street is a direct consequence of all the hard working people that have invested a huge part of their lifes and wealth in the private businesses that have been struggling there for over 25 years now. Yes, 25 years! That is how long that renaissance has been going on. It pre-dates the little lord by 20 years or so.
I still believe that Godfrey and his troupe of empty suits are winless inspite of blowing $70 million of public money on one goof ball scheme after another.
You would have to actually live in a cave to not see the ridiculousness of this gang that can't shoot straight.
And again, I am a proud member of CAVES! That is: "Citizens Against Virtually Everthing Stupid", which includes everything and anything with the Little Lord Mayor's imprint on it.
Great post, OZ! You've put your finger on what's worrying quite a few of us, and what seems to be, for some reason, not newsworthy in the mainstream media.
However, Cathy McKitrick today in the Trib has an article that might bring pie in the sky Ogdenites back to the ground with a bump. Our "city", it seems, is lobbying vigorously (again,) for the return of eminent domain for development. They want that power back, and are willing to deal by proposing that they would have that power if a 2/3rds majority of affected residents wanted to sell.
Utah's older cities such as Ogden, Provo, Salt Lake City and St. George, are eager to regain the use of the condemnation tool in a less-oppressive form.
"It's a move to alleviate some of the fears people have with the more traditional eminent domain we've had in the past," said Mark Johnson, Ogden's management services director. Those fears involve being forced from their homes or being paid less money for their property than they think it is worth.
Johnson said he did not participate in drafting the league's resolution but supports the effort.
Mark Johnson, as we know, is an active member of the Utah League of Cities and Towns, to whom we owe this proposed amendment. Also active from Ogden are Brandon Stephenson and Bill Cook.
Amendments proposed in Utah League of Cities and Towns eminent-domain resolution:
* Redefine blight and redevelopment of blighted areas as an appropriate use for eminent domain
* Implement a threshold of receptiveness. At least two-thirds of the property owners representing at least one-half of the land area must be under option to buy or willing to sell in order for eminent domain to be used on the holdout properties.
* Require a separate supermajority vote (67 percent) of the governing body before eminent domain can be included in the project area plan and used by the agency. Supermajority would vary with council size - either five of seven members, or four of five members would be required.
* Reinstate relocation assistance provisions for owners of condemned properties.
The rest of the article is here: Cities pushing to get back limited eminent domain
Mark Johnson's position at ULCT can be viewed here: ULCT
as well as with Bill Cook and Brandon Stephenson appearing here: ULCT
Curm..CAVES, as I said, is Citizens Against Everything Stupid...you don't subscribe to that?
We could be "Citizens ADVOCATING Veritable Excellence"
Or 'Citizens
Against Virulent Egotism'
'Citizens Against Visionary Excrement'.....
Yes, I'm a SGO supporter, but proud to be a CAVEwoman!!!
The mayor thot he was snide, insulting, and clever when he threw that nickname at us...what he continues to tell the SE world is that we CAVE people are 'against everything'...nah, just stupidity, egotism and his visions.
It's really cheesy of the Godfrey Geiger Gulch Gang to be taking credit for this so-called phoenix rising out of the dust of the mall site when their own fecklessness and intransigence with CitiVenture caused the site, unforgiveably in my opinion, to remain bare for three years longer than it should have. It is also a source of amusement to me that Godfrey has this rose-colored, squeaky-clean notion that a downtown can be revived in an atmosphere of outright hostility to the consumption of alcohol. Non-drinkers simply don't shell out big bucks to be entertained. Actually, I think the Gang has tacitly admitted this in its propaganda for Malan's Basin, which has yet to claim to be a temple of temperance for the abstemious.
I read your blog every once in a while when Ogden comes up in the Salt Lake news. That has been happening more frequently of late. I wish we had something like this forum in SL even though our political scene is not as crooked as yours. Our local politicians could use a little more light on their actions like you shine on yours.
As a tax payer in Salt Lake City, I can give a hearty thank you to the good people of Ogden for taking Stuart Reid off our hands.
He was a major money loser here with the few RDA ventures he was involved in. Fortunately we got rid of him before he could do to us what he did to Ogden.
It seems the rolls are reversed for Mr. Reid in Ogden.
In Salt Lake it was others who did the heavy lifting, thinking and planning, but it was Mr. Reid who was always putting himself infront of the cameras and news people and taking the credit.
The people here, both citizens and public officials, got very tired of him pretty fast. As you may know, he ran for mayor and was soundly defeated by none other than Ogden's own Rocky Anderson. Even the church people voted against him.
I believe that his record of losses in Ogden could very well have happened in Salt Lake had we not had the good fortune of dumping him off on you good people to the North. Sorry about that.
As it is, our RDA, though very controversial, has fairly good checks and balances built in, and so far has been pretty successful in the projects they have developed. Rocky, fortunately, does not consider himself to be a great visionary developer like your Mayor. As a result he has pretty much left the developing to the experts and things have worked out fairly good so far. Salt Lake also has a diverse council and RDA board who ask the difficult questions and demand legitimate answers.
Nobody here misses Mr. Reid in the least. Thanks again.
Ozboy,
You are right on point when you say that the current blossoming in Ogden literally fell on the laps of the current administration. This is so common in politics when an official whether it be a mayor or president simply walks into the more favorable climate for one thing or another and then take full credit for it. The no-brainer here is that Ogden was so supremely destined to be discovered that if anything the mayor can only claim credit for nudging things along. It doesn't take a genius or a crack accountant to look at a city where industrial, office and residential space are several notches below the regional average. When you add the proximity of Snowbasin, Powder, the Trail system, the freeway, the airport and more..it would seem any sports manufacturer executives have been living in some kind of cave to have not seen this place sooner. Nevertheless they are seeing it now and gondola or not they are coming based on the fundamentals and the setting. The recent housing boom in most areas of the west sent prices soaring and for some reason Ogden escaped investors' view, more hung up on the sexier places. Well they ain't so sexy anymore with dropping values and excessive sale inventory. Only time was needed for eager investors to be looking for where the values are not so ridiculously inflated...BINGO...Ogden was it. Yes Ogden is now in it's own little housing and building surge because everywhere else is so played out. The mayor and his projects had little to do with the ripening fundementals that have Ogden today enjoying what has been so overdue. I am glad to be here. It is an exciting time in a beautiful city. Let's keep the golf course...
You are right, of course, tod.
Do recall that Curt said he and his wife came back here BECAUSE the rent was soooo much cheaper than in Denver. Godfrey hadn't made him the PR man for the gondola then! So, he makes your point. This place is a great fit for residents and businesses WITHOUT a gondola to nowhere.
Socialist
Politicos
Of
Indeterminate
Limited
Experience
Developing
But
Running
After
Tax dollars
Still
Darned
Ingenious
And
Neat !!
While we are speaking of "civic improvements", why isn't our drinking water fluoridated? The SE had an article last week on tooth decay in Ogden children and a letter today.
I looked on the web and learned that our drinking water contains a small amount of natural fluoride (0.18 mg/L), which is below that needed for optimal dental and bone health. Other cities supplement levels to 1.0 or even 2.0 mg/L. The difference this makes has been proven again and again.
Oh - adding fluoride to the water is inexpensive and it isn't sexy. Never mind.
Dian..re: eminent domain. Do you remember me saying that when I was at the Capitol with Dorrene last winter, we met Jolley, the lobbyist?
He sat at our table and said that Godfrey wanted him to lobby for eminent domain.
Jolley: "I told him (MATT) that it wouldn't fly this year...." but that he'd give it the ol' well-paid try again this session.
He was working on getting SB229 passed...for Godfrey, which was a take-away of the Civil Service Commission. He also is on Sandy's payroll, for one other.
The legislature will do enuf damage on its own, with either Reid or Greiner in there, so Ogden does not need to pay a lobbyist to help along this egregious push to grab the citizens' homes.
Can you imagine how many more blighted areas we're going to be seeing and reading about?
We have one year left of this little dictator/conqueror. Who will step forward to run for mayor?
Step lively, please, whoever you are!
Sharon:
You wrote "We have one year left" of the Godfrey administration.
I'm curious: what makes you think he is not running for re-election? Sunday's flackery in the SE suggests to me that he definitely will run for re-election. And when he does, he will have behind him powerful and well-financed backers. I wouldn't be too sure that he won't be re-elected. Certainly it would be a race, depending to some extent on who entered the lists against him.
But the calm assumption, which often appears on WC Forum posts, that Ogden faces only one more year under a Godfrey administration seems to me to be not at all certain.
Good point, Curm.
One year of THIS administration for this run.
Of course, egotists like Godfrey will never believe that they don't deserve accolades and the crown for another term.
Sociopaths are high on their own self-aggrandizement! Naturally, he sees nothing wrong in his behaviors. so, it's very possible that if only ONE sycophant whispers in the emporer's ear, ;'you look mahvelous, darling, in your ermine cape'...he'll run again.
It would sure be a totall bummer if the little Dick Head didn't run! You can bet there will be some one in the race carrying the Godfreyite banner, but it wouldn't be near as much fun without him there to answer for his dismal rcord of losses and his human respect record.
That election is bound to be a referendum on all things Godfrey, and I mean ALL things. I am confident that at the end of that election cycle the people will be fully informed about his true nature and actions.
I have confidence that the people will show a lot of common sense and reject his royal arrogance.
I fear that everyone has already packed up their marbles and gone onto the next topic, but because Ozboy and Curmudgeon have cited Union Square in their Godfrey-bashing (a pastime that I endorse), I'd like to go on record as highly pleased with my condo there. I can't stop gloating over its proximity to the Intermodal Hub (and soon the FrontRunner) and the effortless access to Salt Lake with free wi-fi to boot, Lindquist Field and the fireworks, the farmers market, the Egyptian, the First Friday art stroll, and all the great establishments along Historic 25th. (Where else in the entire state is there such a sublime absence of chain stores? Forget the Gateway ...) It's true, and deplorable, that the Time Square Building is mostly empty, but give it credit for housing the one thriving establishment (Karen's Cafe) that it has. I believe Curmudgeon's sources are correct that "Frontrunner will make residential property within walking distance of the train station very valuable." However, the neighborhood is worth living in on its own strengths, not just as an investment. As to the windows in Union Square being dark, the master bedrooms don't front 25th Street, so of course a passer-by won't see them at night.
Moroni:
Just to make sure my point was clear: I cited the Union Square development as an example of an RDA project that did not work out as the Administration had intended and predicted. That implied nothing about the residences themselves, or their ultimate worth as homes in which to live. The point I wanted to emphasize by mentioning Union Square and the Times Square building was that the administration's record of predicting the success of projects it backs has not been so impressive overall as to justify blind faith in administration proposals and predictions of success just because the administration makes them. It has sometimes misread the market badly.
Delighted you are delighted with your digs. Now if the development gurus could manage to attract a foodstore downtown, and an indy bookstore that would carry a good selection of new titles in timely fashion, and perhaps provide a venue for panels, readings, signings and the like... like for example "Politics and Prose" in DC or "The King's English" in SLC [located in the Times Square bldg, maybe?] or "The Tattered Cover" in Denver, or "Powell's" in Portland... why, your digs would become even more pleasant and, I suspect, valuable. [What I suspect we are going to get instead is a cookie-cutter big box chain in the Mall redeveolpment. Better than nothing, but a chain provides no real reason for folks out of town to come downtown. A unique indy bookstore would. Hell, Mrs. Curmudgeon and I drive to SLC once a month as a rule, in no small part to visit "The King's English" and Sam Weller's store. I'd love not to have to drive that far for a good, up to date, well stocked and run indy bookstore. One that might provide a reason for folks out of Ogden to come downtown, as a chain big box would not.]
Moroni
Welcome back! Haven't read any of your posts in quite a while and thought you may have perished along the trail back in Wyoming or something.
After reading your post this afternoon I went down and walked around two bit street and the Union square project. Although it does appear that more of the store fronts are occupied than the last time I checked it out, the over all place still looked dead to me. It was about 3PM, and I went by again after a meeting just after dark.
What is the occupancy of the two rear bldgs that have most of the condo's?
I drove around the block and looked at the place from several directions and didn't see too many lights or signs of life in and around the place. In fact I never did see a live person walking around inside the gate.
I hope you do well there. Do you hang out at the Kokomo or the biker bar across the street? Do you ever see Matt and Stu in their biker drag nuzzling it up in the dark booths or in the head? I think they still hang there when its dark and they are free to be themselves.
I also went by the biz incubation center at the old bus station and once again did not see one single person inside the bldg. Pressed my face up against the windows on both street sides and not only didn't see any people but very little signs of life of any sort. No stuff on desks, no waste baskets, no computers, no coat racks - you know, the normal signs of occupancy. There were five cars in the gated parking lot though which was puzzling considering there were no people in the place.
I also cruised through the antique shops which only had the lonely clerks inside but no shoppers.
I do hope that it works out in time for all the people down there that have invested so much of their lifes and fortunes in the street. It is a pretty cool place with a rich and exciting history.
And what about the old boarded up building across the street that seems so lonely with the empty lots on both sides? Is it salvageable? Who owns it? Is there any plans for it?
Maybe Matt and Stu could buy it and turn it into a transvestite biker cat house and really liven the street up!
Oz:
You wrote "and what about the old boarded up building across the street that seems so lonely with the empty lots on both sides? Is it salvageable? Who owns it? Is there any plans for it?"
Sadly, my suggestion of a year ago that some entrepreneur "discover" that that building was once a brothel, restore it to turn of the century elegance, and open it up as a museum and B and B has not been realized. Given the success of restored historica brothels in various western towns as tourist attractions, that might actually pull a car or two off the interstate now and the.
We can only hope.
Curm
DeCaria, Greiner, Godfrey and company are turning the whole town into a whore house with their outrageous manipulation of justice.
Welcome back to Weber County Forum, Elder McConkie!
Your pithy and wise posts have been much-missed in recent days on our humble community blog.
Glad ya took us up on our advice to buy that condo, BTW.
As the recent Emerald City saying goes...
Don't listen to the naysayers!
You're gonna make a bundle on that Union Square investement...
In the event you ever decide to sell it off.
It wasn't the snows of Wyoming that sidetracked me, Oz, but the Dummar case. So much to be done!
That abandoned building on the north side of the 100 block of 25th Street is owned by Scott Van Leeuwen, proprietor of the Gift Shop and a Marriott-Slaterville city councilman. I spoke with him about it last year. It is theoretically for sale, but he's holding out for at least as much as the cumulative taxes he's paid to Ogden City on it, which by now amount to about a quarter of a million. He said he and Ogden have agreed to disagree about the building's fate for now -- they want him to tear it down but he's getting a kick out of being a beam in their eye. He has concluded that holding onto it costs him less than to tear it down.
And a year before that, the ProTerra marketers were saying that building was condemned because it couldn't possibly be brought "up to code." Could Ogden could arrange for the same fate that took Shupe-Williams?
Curmudgeon: Your knowledge of the nation's best bookstores is astonishing. Who'd've thunk to see Politics and Prose or Powell's cited on this blog? I'd love to see such a shingle on 25th. As for the abandoned hulk, I suspect the impasse may be resolved when a developer decides the foot traffic to and from FrontRunner reaches a certain threshold.
Oz: I've been told all the condos behind 25th are sold; many of them are occupied and you see occupants growing tomatoes (in warmer weather) and flowers, walking their dogs, and taking the trash out. The developer is scheduled to transfer control to the owners at the annual meeting next week.
MM:
You wrote: Who'd've thunk to see Politics and Prose or Powell's cited on this blog? I'd love to see such a shingle on 25th. As for the abandoned hulk, I suspect the impasse may be resolved when a developer decides the foot traffic to and from FrontRunner reaches a certain threshold.
I expect you're right. I do know a possible bookstore was looked at on that block about a year ago [not a chain] but the idea was dropped because those looking into it concluded that there was not [at that point] sufficient traffic on the street to sustain a bookstore there. Maybe post Frontrunner....
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