First in order is this interesting Steve Gehrke front page feature, briefly summarizing the history of several of the various Malan's Basin Resort schemes that have arisen and faded away since the early 1900's. In a case of family history deja vu, the article profiles Ogden resident Maurice Richards, uncle of prominent present-day gondolists Ed and Bernie Allen. Uncle Maurice is a gondolist from an earlier generation of a committed Malan's Basin Gondolist family, reporter Gehrke informs us. Gondolism is a tradition in the Richards family -- the single-minded inter-generational familial obsession that will not die.
Richards reminisces about the failure of another ambitious gondola plan which withered and died in the 60's, when two gondola-proponent county commissioners were ushered out of office by the ever-sensible voters of Weber County:
Richards said the project was rolling along toward fruition when election time came around and his two fellow commissioners, Favero and Elmer Carver, lostNo business sense, indeed. Richards has by no means given up on his family's gondola dream, however. Gondolism runs in the blood, it would seem. The Richards clan are not quitters -- no, nay never:
their seats.
"The two fellows who came in were caretakers rather than commissioners," Richards said. "They had no imagination or business sense at all, and they cut all the plans right off."
Richards said the commission trashed the long-coming idea, and it was never seen again.
Richards said he is hopeful the gondola project will succeed this time so people might rediscover the beauty of the area the Malans had established more than 100 years ago.Where have we heard that last line before, we ask? Thanks to this morning's Standard-Examiner story we now know it's an ancient and cherished Richards family tradition.
"I think, for the community, it would be one of the best things that ever happened,"he said. "We need this to have things that other western cities don't have."
And speaking of deja vu, reporter Gehrke offers up this interesting background information, from the venerable Bernie Diamond, one of Maurice Richards' generational peers. Mr. Diamond was an Emerald City mover and shaker during the period of the 1960's, and if memory serves, a former (6 year) Emerald City councilman, and also former acting mayor of the capital city of the Land of Oz:
Hmm...There is truly "nothing new under the sun" here in Emerald City, as the foregoing comments aptly illustrate.But Bernie Diamond, who was the head of the chamber of commerce around the time the old gondola was being proposed, said there are still lingering doubts similar to those of 40 years ago.
"The big question was, would there really be enough people who would go out of their way to come to Ogden to ride a gondola?
"I think the feeling was that it would not be a destination point. While it might be a novelty to begin with, you couldn't keep it going."
A second Standard-Examiner article places on the front page the information that the Std-Ex had hidden on the obituary page yesterday. "Council to set up gondola process", this morning's section B headline announces.
Now that this information is in the general public domain, we do hope Emerald City citizens will pack the council chamber tonight. Many of us are asking why the Emerald City Council and Planning Commission are falling over themselves to set up procedures for a plan which has not yet materialized. Perhaps some of our questions will be answered this evening.
The floor is now open for your gentle comments.
