By Curmudgeon
Let me call attention to a long op-ed piece in this morning's Standard Examiner by Mr. John Patterson of the Godfrey administration.
It's a plea for moving the St. Anne's Center to a larger facility on 12th Street, as part of a six acre "campus" designed to house a variety of services for the homeless by other providers. Mr. Patterson is to be congratulated for laying the city's case [and I presume he speaks here for the Godfrey administration] for moving the St. Anne's Center out fully and openly. He talks about not only the desire to provide better services for the homeless, but the desire of some groups to have problems associated with the homeless congregating downtown [like pan-handling which reportedly creates problems for conventions and meetings coming to Ogden] removed to another part of the city.
We can now, at last, start to have the public discussion we should have when all this first surfaced in the papers, and when Administration spokespersons were denying that getting the homeless away from the developing business district downtown had anything to do with the idea of moving St. Anne's. It would have been better had the full case, all reasons, motives, etc. been laid upon the public table right off, but it's good now that a Godfrey administration spokesman has finally done it.
Of course, what Mr. Patterson does not mention is his having informed the City Council that the St. Anne's management was all for the move, which it turned out it was not. Let's hope the Administration has learned not only how important it is on matters of importance to fully disclose and fully inform the public of what is being advocated and why, but that it has learned to take care to make sure the information it passes on to other branches of the city government is accurate.
Mr. Patterson's op-ed piece is an encouraging sign that maybe, just maybe, the Godfrey administration is capable of learning. We can only hope that more evidence that it is will appear soon.
Update 3/6/07 2:30 p.m.: We hereby incorporate the pertinent part of a very important comment from the lower comments thread per Dan S.:
Off-thread breaking news: The Salt Lake TribuneDon't let the cat get yer tongues.
reports that WSU now has "every reason to say no" to Chris
Peterson.
28 comments:
I'm so glad that Patterson from West valley is so smart when it comes to knowing the history of Ogden. I think that moving the shelter over to 12th street location is a great Idea. That is where the homeless can go to get a hot meal, look at all the free dumpsters that they have, all the big macs and the flame broiled burger kings whoppers, and for some of those that would like to have some home grown food there is a taco time there too. then up the street they can go for medical help with the clinic by smiths. then if they need a warm place to stay they could sleep in the trains that are parked at BDO. Boy I'm so glad that we have Patterson here in Ogden to loook out for the best intrest of the homeless. OH by the way for intertainment they could just go up to channel 17 and help the mayor with his little talk show. wouldn't that be special?
Where is getto going to be when all the shelters are closed?
As I pointed out before when Councilman Safsten was arguing the administration's position on this blog, the bus service to west 12th Street isn't particularly good. There's no service after 7 pm or on Sundays, and the mid-day and Saturday service runs at one-hour intervals. Of course, the frequency of service is irrelevant to many of the homeless who can't afford the bus fare.
The fact is, rounding up the homeless and shipping them off to west 12th Street ain't gonna solve any of the problems that Patterson mentions. We'll still see plenty of homeless folks downtown, and 12th Street ain't any safer for pedestrians than Wall Ave. (In fact it's worse.)
What a shameful sham. I thought that Patterson still had a shred of morality and character left even though he works for Godfrey.
We can all see that the Emporer is nekkid....and we can all see the Aryan Nation King's desires for his pure society.
We can imagine the Godfrey inner circle thinking up this dreadful 'solution' on the 9th floor:
"Can you even contemplate Fronrunner embarkees mingling with and having to look at the 'homeless' near the station and around 25th Street?
This is not good for business and all those recreation buffs who will flock here! After all, we are the ski company capitol of the country....(that's in the WSJ)...and high toned tourists must not be repulsed by the sight of the less fortunate."
Is there any room at the present St Anne site for expansion? Maybe inside the bldg too. Perhaps a redesign would be helpful and less costly than a $4.8 mil. new structure. AND, St Anne's is expected to come up with $3.8 of that amount...plus overrides! How will they raise the money? With Sloppy Joe suppers?
Just what are we "teaching" these people? Job Corp teaches skills.
Working in the kitchen and dining room at St Anne's teaches proper food handling skills.
Mopping floors and doing general chores around the place teaches valuable janitorial skills.
Being assigned as a greeter/helper to new arrivals teaches customer service and social skills.
Does a new building have to be constructed to teach those things?
Moving the building out of town to a place without sidewalks, and on a heavily traveled street puts the neediest in grave danger. Who picks up the tab for funerals for those killed by cars? Who pays hospital expenses for those injured walking along 12th Street? Let me guess! YOU and I!
Do some of St Anne's clientele need to learn English? Send them to night school. Work with the Employment Agency for jobs as day laborers.
I think with some creative thinking by St Anne's Board, they can solve some of their problems right where they are!
What does it say about our society and our individual morality if we are a party to hiding the weakest among us, and aiding and abetting this 'crime' that the mayor is scheming and perpetrating?
Patterson and Safsten can call this a merciful progressive action, but the rest of us know it is a wicked attempt to purify downtown.
Godfrey: Purify the water for a whole section of this city. Now that would be a sign of good leadership and management.
This concept of making downtown Ogden "pure" continues but it started before Godfrey.
When you go by the Ogden Rescue Mission look at the East entrance and how there is a sidewalk that goes down under the front entrance.
This sidewalk expands into an area where the homeless gather out of sight which was the express requirement of the City administration in power at the time that the Rescue Mission was built or it would not have received a building permit.
The attitude of Ogden City's rulers toward the homeless is stranger than fiction.
My my.
Such a nice piece, Curm.
Yes, this is a hopeful sign. Perhaps Godfrey is learning.
Perhaps someday we can hope that when people like Mr. Moyle have their financial throats cut by the Godfrey administration, people like Mr. Patterson will not throw the bodies into the street and dance around them, but rather, will tastefully place them in a receptacle.
Moreover, rather than treating the city council like they are bubonic rats in clown costumes, perhaps we can hope Godfrey will begin to treat the council members more like, dare we say, humans.
Or perhaps, this is just a damage control piece from a hopelessly corrupt organization that has gotten caught with its pants down so many times lately that it has to appeal to the ever forgiving, Pollyanna public, hoping for exactly the sort of response you have expressed.
I wonder which it is.
Quite suprised to see the administration hasn't tried to send the homeless to Riverdale, like they seem to with retailers.
BTW.
Standard Examiner:
Over the last few days, how much ink have you given to the Godfreyites?
Let's see there was a big spread from Stephenson, from Geiger, a couple of pieces from Schwebke that came from Godfrey, and this nice long Patterson one.
And on the other side, one lonely letter to the editor from a little guy who got totally shafted by these people and what they stand for.
Real nice editing. Real even.
Returning to Mr. Patterson's article, he states
"The city was willing to help by donating land. We needed enough land to create a campus of human services agencies to assist the homeless and indigent. If we could co-locate a food service center, health clinic (including mental health), welfare agency and others on the same site, it could better meet the needs of our homeless. Similar models in other cities have proven to be highly effective."
What a pretty picture! However the reality is that IF Saint Anne's came up with their "contribution" to the cost of a 12th street center, and the City kicked in the rest, we still have a new shelter surrounded by nothing.
Who is going to guarantee that there would be buildings housing auxiliary services within a short distance of the shelter? That point wasn't addressed in Mr. Patterson's smoke and mirrors presentation.
"We can only hope that more evidence that it is will appear soon."
Forget about that. We are the elcted masters of you all.
You people elected us; and we'll do whatever we want to do to represent our rich friends, regardless of what you think.
Remember this: Ogden is a Republic!
Danny:
I've been called lots of things over the years, in four states --- the WC Forum posting rules prevent my listing all of the names --- but never "Pollyanna." First time for everything I guess.
You wrote: Or perhaps, this is just a damage control piece from a hopelessly corrupt organization that has gotten caught with its pants down so many times lately that it has to appeal to the ever forgiving, Pollyanna public, hoping for exactly the sort of response you have expressed.
Perhaps. You did note I said "maybe, just maybe" and "We can only hope that more evidence that it is will appear soon." We'll have to see.
I'm all for thumping the Godfrey administration when it dissembles [think "The gondola will connect downtown Ogden with Snow Basin"], when it conceals [think Bootjack], and when it embraces the downright goofy in the name of development [think sinking 35 million plus in public money into a 4.3 mile flatland gondola over city streets with two right angle turns in the cable system to deliver people from downtown to WSU and back].
And I thumped 'em for dissembling on the St. Anne's matter when first it arose because they refused to admit that a desire to remove the homeless from the developing downtown business and residential district had anything to do with the plan.
However, when the administration makes its case for a policy openly and without dissembling, it has [somewhat belatedly, I agree] done the right thing, because now we can discuss the plan, what's behind it, and its implications and possible consequences fully. Seems right to say they've done something right, however tardily. That's what I said, and that's all I said.
It would be good for Ogden if, in the future, when the Administration floated an idea or a policy recommendation, it engaged in full public disclosure about what was behind its thinking up front. The funny thing is, I think, that had the Administration followed a "full disclosure" policy from the day it came into office to the present, it would be in much better shape vis a vis the Council and the voters than it is.
Have to admit, I have kind of enjoyed watching the Godfrey administration shoot itself in the foot with remarkable frequency over the last year and a half --- I know, I know, I shouldn't laugh. I'm not a nice person --- but however much it makes me chuckle, an administration that reduces itself to a front page joke a lot [think of the Mayor of a city this size playing Junior G-Man following a city employee's wife around downtown] is not good for Ogden. Truly, it isn't. We'd all be better off --- the city, the voters, the homeowners, the Council and the Administration too --- if it became more open and more professional in its management of city affairs. I saw Mr. Patterson's op-ed piece as a small, but significant, step in that direction. Whether it is a first step, with more to follow, remains to be seen. We can only hope....
Off-thread breaking news: The Salt Lake Tribune reports that WSU now has "every reason to say no" to Chris Peterson.
Nice Dan, WSU can say no to Peterson but can Peterson finally say no to Godfrey?
Thanks for the heads-up Dan. First time I've seen a price tag attached to the WSU land. So if it's worth $10 million on the market, how much should Mt. Ogden park go for?
You're a great guy Curm (who I've never met by the way), and you are right. Had Godfrey been honest, he'd be way ahead of where he is by now.
Sadly, Godfrey has become the precise embodiment of everything he hated, when he ran for mayor at a young age just a few years ago.
Dan:
Wow.
Great catch on the SL Trib article. Thanks for the pointer.
Peterson's Squirrel Patrol finally has its out; Teeny Mayor, however, has dumped every one of the very few ounces of political capital he had into this nonsense because it was a divine revelation: look for things to get even more bizarre from here. And be on the lookout for nut caches!
Jason, you're nuts,my nuts, everybodies nuts...........Little Bobby can keep his family job, after moving to Colorado.
Mr. Patterson said:
"Property in the downtown area has risen in value such as to price itself out of consideration. Indeed, in our fundraising plans, the St. Anne’s site would be sold for commercial prices and could raise a considerable amount for the new building"
Well now, if that be the case, why is the city unloading, at what appears to be a very low price, the prime piece of commercial real estate right next door to the new train station, on that very same Wall avenue?
Weber State's home page reports apparently the same information.
The replacement price tag for the WSU property east of Skyline has been set between $40 and $47.7 million.
Money talks, bs walks, Mr. Peterson. Time to lay down the cash if you've got it.
Is there ANYTHING these guys cAn do right?
Reader:
Well, they might start to get more things right if they followed the way Weber State considered the matter before it: research first, conclusions to follow --- even though WSU has not reached its conclusions yet. At least the University got the sequence right. Instead, the Godfrey administration decided on conclusions first ["I want to build the gondola! I want to! I want to!"] and research... well, we can't say second since so far as they've let anyone know, none has been done yet [feasibility studies, cost/benefit studies, marketing studies] regarding the Godfrey/Peterson proposal... whatever it may be at the moment, since they aren't telling us that either.
Just stumbled upon this whilst googling.
Looks like a secret Gondolist Cult Lair!
I wonder why they keep referring to CP as a "developer" or an "entrepreuneur?"
Has he ever "developed" his own project? Has he ever run his own successful business?
Everybody knows his only major claim to fame is marrying Earl Holding's daughter, and that even Earl Holding doesn't think much of him.
I don't understand all the fuss about this opportunistic loser.
Replace the shelter? It isn't the shelter that needs to be replaced up in Ogden.
Brilliant thinking Ogden! Put the homeless shelter right next to the Ogden Nature Center (great place for a hobo camp). And last time I was up there, I didn't see substantial sidewalks or street crossings on (much busier than Wall Ave) 12th Street.
anyone care to report on the fireworks and the mayor's dissembling tonite at the CC meeting?
Its all up there in Curmudgeon's new lead article, all ears!
I am surprised that Boss Godfrey has not suggested moving St Anne's and the Rescue Mission to Clearfield. His distaste for Clearfield was made evident several years ago in a "mandatory" annual meeting with city employees. He mentioned his desire to make downtown Ogden a "white collar" community with people living and working in the city at some of the good jobs he was bringing in. When asked where the "blue collar" citizens would have to go he said "I don't know, maybe Clearfield".
Funny, there has not been a "mandatory" annual city employee/mayor meeting for a couple of years. Wonder why? Guess he could not handle his "blue collar" employees asking intelligent well thought out questions and calling him out on the carpet.
Slight correction Anonymous.
If any city employee, blue or white collar, were to call the little tyrant out on the carpet, they would more correctly be referred to as ex-empoyees. He just can't stand to have people point out his nekkidness.
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