By Curmudgeon
Assistant Managing Editor Dave Greiling's Saturday column reports this morning on three winners of excellence awards at the Standard Examiner. The prizes are given by the paper's editors to "to recognize top performers in the newsroom for 2006."
The three award winners were copy editor Laura Withers, police beat reporter Jordan Muhlestein, and [the award probably of most interest to WCF readers], City Hall reporter Scott Schwebke. While praising Mr. Schwebke as a "tenacious" reporter, Editor Greiling added this:
Early in my reporting career, I covered an embattled school district and took criticism from both sides. An editor told me that since I was getting shot at by both sides, I was probably in the middle — right where a reporter should be. Scott has experienced some of that this year, in covering city hall....Leaving aside for the moment Mr. Greiling's debatable characterization of Mr. Schwebke as "tenacious," I'd like to focus on the claim that if a reporter is catching hell from both sides of a public issue, he must be doing his job well. It's a common claim by newspaper people, particularly editors and reporters. I've heard it now from two editors at the SE and from the usually perceptive columnist Charles Trentelman. And as I recall it is repeated endlessly by J-school faculty.
Is it true? Or is it just one of those self-satisfying bromides news people like to tell themselves by way of patting themselves on the back when they get complaints?
I suspect it's the latter. Let's look at the possibilities. If a reporter is catching hell "from both sides" covering a controversial issue there are at least three possibilities: (a) he is covering the matter well, but extremists on both sides of the issue are angry that the reporter is not siding with them, slanting his stories their way. (b) he is doing such a bad job of reporting the story that both sides are critical of the shoddy work (c) his work is slanted in one direction, so that reasonable people on the other side complain about the poor work, while zealots and extremists on the other side are still unhappy that it's not slanted enough in their direction.
I can understand why people in the news business like Assistant Managing Editor Greiling, and Managing Editor Andy Howell, and even Columnist Trentelman [and an endless number of reporters under fire] prefer version (a) and keep telling each other reporters must be doing something right if both sides are unhappy, but neither logic [nor I think the evidence] sustains their self-congratulatory back-patting preference for option (a).
I can also understand why the editors might feel some obligation to rally round their reporter. Standing by your people is, on the whole, an admirable quality in management. However, another goal of the editorial staff, it seems to me, ought to be encouraging excellence in the newsroom. Repeating bromides of doubtful validity and rewarding so-so work does not seem to me to be the way to raise the level of excellence at the SE, the way to make the paper's news columns better than they are and as good as they should be.
And what think our gentle readers about this?
Update 4/1/07 1:58 p.m. MT: Speaking of awards, The Salt Lake Tribune received the General Excellence Award from the Utah Press Association at the organization's annual banquet in St. George on Saturday. The newspaper also took first-place awards in investigative reporting, spot news coverage, general news reporting, feature reporting, sports column, sports reporting, news photography, feature photography and best front page.
No mention of the Standard-Examiner.
53 comments:
Erudite Curmudgeon has once again hit the old nail on the head!
Curm, I particularly like the way you just zoomed in on the 'bromides of doubtful validity and rewarding so-so work' of the SE's reporters's and, dare I say, edtorial staff?
I suppose it's not a grunt and sweat job to attain mediocrity. Patting oneself and newsroom companions on the back for a job barely done should not take up space in the editorial slot.
Seems that it may be helpful for some J-101 refresher courses to be taught at the SE hedadquarters. Perhaps the gang could have a brown bag lunchroom seminar on
a) ask questions
b) ask the follow-up question
c) ask some more follow-up questions
d) question what you've just been told as 'truth'.
e) especially question and then go dig for facts if the mayor and his administration give you (reproter) an answer to your question(s).
The SE showed us they have grit when they went after records denied to them. Mr. Schwebke can do what the well-informed and very curious posters here do: request a GRAMA for the whole 'story', Scott.
Personally, I'd like to see Scott Schwebke put a little 'color' into his musings about the CC meetings and other doings at City Hall.
I'd like to see him ask for reactions to an agenda item discussed by the Council and attendees. I'd like to see Mr. Schwebke ask for a pithy quote from the citizens who attend the CC and/or PC meetings. I'd enjoy reading a bit of the remarks offered by citizens at CC meetings on a hot topic.
Anyone of us is capable of reading the printed agenda on Tu. nights. We don't need to see it reprinted the next day.
It's curious to me why Mr. Schwebke isn't a "curious" reporter....a real 'snoop dog' sniffing to snoop a scoop.
The accolades for mediocrity, with the exception of a few shining journalism highlights from Mr. Trentleman are simply curious.
The mayor has commandeered Ch 17 for his ad infinitum self-aggrandizing tributes to his ego.
Sometimes...he has to take a break to cut a ribbon or something. During that dead time, maybe a posting of scheduled PUBLIC metings could be displayed on the screen?
We just googled the search term: "televised city council."
Check out the array of other American cities which not only broadcast city council announcements -- but entire city council meetings -- on their city owned TEEVEE stations. Seems to us this is most appropriate use of a government television channel.
But Boss Godfrey has misapproriated channel 17 to his owen self-serving use.
The lumpencitizens want information about what's happening in their city council chambers.
What they get instead is the mayor's propaganda.
And our gentle readers need to ask themselves whether it's ethically correct (or legally permissible under Utah election law) for Boss Godfrey to be televising, at public expense, what amounts to an endless stream of administration propaganda, as the election season approaches.
So many unanswered questions in our Brave New MattGodfreyWorld...
Along with channel 17, explore the city's website. Not much better. One thing I found quite interesting was the detail about "the gondola" seeing as no proposal exists. Shouldn't that, and related links be removed? What concideration has been given to accuracy?
Greiling's praise of Schlepke is like the parent patting the idiot child on the head so as not to hurt his feelings while praising the brighter siblings.
Schlepke is a piss poor reporter in any body's book. Greiling is equally incompetent on the editorial staff.
If fact the whole paper is a mere shadow of its former great self. With the exception of Trentlman, Grondahl and Porter on his good days, the Standard is a sorry assed joke. This Greiling congradulating Schlepke, and himself, for lameness is a perfect example of why that is. Schlepke is clueless, questionless, and stupid. In other words the modern face of an over the hill, out of state owned, sorry excuse for a newspaper. I wouldn't disrespect my canaries by putting it in their cage.
There is a good analysis of newspapers -vs- the internet in Today's Utah newspaper the SL Tribune.
Reader Advocate: Nobody digs out the real news like the daily paper
I don't know if Mr. Schwepke is "stupid" or not, but he sure doesn't seem to be a very curious or competent reporter.
Ozboy:
Just got back from morning coffee transfusion, where I read the SL piece you linked to. It was very interesting. With repect to the Standard Examiner, I noted especially the speech of David Zeeck, president of The American Society of Newspaper Editors and executive editor of the Tacoma, Washington News Tribune . He was listing what he thought were newspapers' three great strengths [not possessed by internet news sources]. The second of these was this:
* "Another newspaper strength we must carry into the future is our investigative and enterprise reporting. I prefer [Washington Post editor and associate editor] Len Downie and Bob Kaiser's phrase - accountability reporting - because it recalls our constitutional mandate to hold the powerful to account. Whatever you call it, newspapers are still the source of almost all serious accountability reporting in the nation."
Yes, they are. And it's on exactly that point that I think the SE falls short of where Ogden's home town paper ought to be. It ought be, in its news columns, doing a great deal more "accountability reporting" than it is. [In its news columns. It can say what it pleases, or not say anything at all in its editorials. They reflect either the publisher's or the editorial board's opinions. Truly great newspapers reknowned for excellent reporting can exist even if their editorial pages are owned and operated by certifiable whackos. The Wall Street Journal comes to mind. Hmmmm... on rereading that, let me add, to avoid any possible misreading, that I am not suggesting the editorial page of the SE is run by whackos. It's been, on the whole, pretty good over the past year I think, despite Mr. Gibson's periodic op eds warning of commies under the bed.]
But a paper's "accountability reporting" --- what someone, maybe H.L. Mencken, described as its obligation to "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable" --- happens in its news columns or it doesn't happen at all.
Zeeck also noted, of blogs as news sources [he says they are not] this:
"I'm told the blogosphere is going to eat our lunch. Well, the blogosphere, for the most part, spends its infinitely expanding gas talking about what we - newspapers - write, not what some blogger reported. If newspapers disappeared tomorrow it would be like pulling the fuel rods from a nuclear reactor: The lights would go out and the blogosphere wouldn't produce a single BTU of intellectual heat."
That's a little overstated [even print sources are now crediting blogs like Josh Marshall's "Talking Points Memo" with breaking major stories the print and broadcast media missed]. But it is true that much of what gets discussed on WCF is what appears in the SE first. [This discussion a good example.]
The SE is not the "rag" some here claim it is. It's a reasonably decent small city [living in the shadow of a metropolis] newspaper, and it is essential to Ogden's holding together a sense of being a community with a history and a future, not simply an extended bedroom for Salt Lake City. However indadequate some of us, my self among them, think local coverage of Ogden city hall is, we would know far far less about how Ogden operates if the SE were not here. The point is, it could be, should be, can be better than it is.
As for the comments on posts above about Mr. Schwebke, two observations: (a) some of the criticism he gets seems to me to be unfair since it's about news judgments --- story assignments, column inches devoted to which stories, what gets in and what doesn't, where stories appear, limiting City Council coverage to one topic per night, etc. --- that are made by the news editors, not the reporters.
And (b): some of the other criticisms seem way over the top. He's broken some good stories much appreciated by WCF readers as I recall. Some. The problem is, as others have pointed out, that he rarely questions statements by those in office, or digs beyond the press release to see if the claims made by those in office can be corroborated, are in fact supported by fact. I wish he was more curious about official statements, and I wish [with respect to those in office --- yes, that includes members of the Council too, and yes, even those I generally agree with about public policy] he had more of what someone, I can't remember who, described as "an instinct for the jugular." Maybe an "instinct for the jugular" is too much to want, and not a good idea for a reporter anyway. Probably isn't, now that I think about it. But an ingrained skepticism about all public pronouncements by office holders would not be too much to ask, to expect, in a City Hall reporter. It's that skepticism and the follow-up it breeds that I find too often lacking [not always, but too often] in Mr. Schwebke's reporting. And maybe we should trace that to editorial choice, to the prevailing newsroom culture of the SE as well. I don't know enough about SE operations to say for sure.
But, with good editorial direction, and an editorial commmitment to develop excellent reporters from among those not quite there yet, it's a correctable weakness. I'm still hoping for improvement.
I nearly spat corn flakes all over Greiling's column when I read it this morning.
One point I don't see among the excellent comments above is that Schwebke, like too many reporters, operates at the level of quotes, not facts. When he calls me up, he doesn't want me to explain the facts to him; he wants me to give him a verbatim quote that he can put in the paper.
I occasionally have conversations with people who seriously claim that there are no such things as facts: everything is a matter of opinion. (I'm often tempted to belt these people in the face and then shrug and say that the pain is just their opinion.) I wonder if this shallow-minded, postmodern attitude might be making its way into the journalism schools.
Reading Glenn Greenwald, (Rudi has his blog linked)
It seems to be a trend in newspaper reporting everywhere that reporters seem to have lost the hunger to separate press release from the story. We would not be in Iraq had the press done it's job.
We would not have this gondola hype still swirling about Ogden if the press hungered enough to get to the bottom of the simple facts, is it feasible?, who says so?, is it appropriate technology?, how much will it cost?, does Doppelmayer or Poma engineers think it is a good application of resources?
They could also spend a little time educating the community and defining the components for those who like to lump it all together as "the Gondola"
This vision of Ogden with a gondola is just as marketable with a foothill-to-mountain gondola only. Palm Springs seems to feel no need for a downtown-to-tram-base gondola. Same for Albuquerque, and everywhere else there are sightseeing trams and gondolas. Nowhere else have they been so low on self-esteem that they felt a need to build a gondola... to reach the real gondola!! What losers we have here in Ogden. Isn't that a little bit of gondola overkill.
Tec:
Nice post. Thanks. Going to read Greenwald now. Thanks for the pointer.
Yeah Dan,
Facts are now replaced with truthiness
So much easier for the dimwitted to absorb.
Facts require a foundation of education to relate back to for reference. A database of well established facts to build on for a greater understanding of our world. Unfortunately we have a population now weaned away from math and science. Without the basic appreciation of and understanding of that which represents fact, opinion is the new factual language. If you can spout enough stuff to sound factual that is good enough. Godfrey certainly spouts enough stuff to sound factual. Put on a suit and surround yourself with more people in suits and rugs and you have the making of a regular factual quorum. Like a thousand nodding-head novelty dolls. Amen they say.
can you do that? I mean really can you do that?
What? Nod your head?
Watch Safsten, Stephenson, Cook, and whomever sits next to the king at the next Council meeting.
Oh, and don't forget to glance over at the Choir members.
The polls are still open!
Leave your comments too.
Well, sunday morning and the local award wing reporters have yet to inform the general public of the lien on the cout building. The sad fiscal state this administration has placed the city in is only one angle of this news. How about the ironic comical relationship to the Matt Jones ticket quota fiasco. One could get the impression that on an editorial level(far above Schwebke) the paper is in cahoots with Godfrey. Are they intimidated by the PR campain Godfrey's supporters have ramped up recently? A couple of inaccurate write ups in larger publications. All this talk about a buzz.Don't misinterpret what I am conveying, I don't mind a little ink for the city, but keep in mind it lacks substanse, it's just hype, some of it ridiculous. As an anecdotal reminder, Frisco, Eureka and even La Platta enjoyed a period of national notoriety,where are they now. The Wall Street Journal cannot keep this city solvent, neither can subsidizing space for offices and warehousing for ski companies. Don't the people of Ogden deserve some real accounting of what this Rec center is truely going to cost them? How much a month they are going to have to subsidize Fatcats and Golds Gym? You know the real price the mayor wants you to pay will be your golf course,trails and open space. That's his vision, that's his method of staying ahead of his financial ruin.
Well, we'll be contributing to the fiscal solvency of the Justice (a misnomer) Court.
That experience Karen Ridell who wrote aobut the Kangaroo Court last week and her rotten experience will be ours, I'm afraid.
We pulled up to a stop sign at a school...which we do at the same spot every week! We stopped. The cop was sitting across the intersection facing us!!!
We slowly pulled around the corner to prk in the school parking lot.
The cop follows us in...lites flashing.
I jumped out and gaily called..."Hi! Did you come over to say 'hello?"
HAH !! He wrote a ticket for Stop Sign Violation....said he'd clocked us at SEVEN MILES AN HOUR! going around the corner.
We may not be the brightest bulbs in the package...but 1)...we are at a school...been stopping there all year!
2) WE SAW THE COP ACROSS THE STREET FACING US
3) he didn't write the 'speed' on the ticket..he told us that.
On the way home..we made a point of traveling so that we'd hit every stop sign. We stopped..pulled right around the corner...and the odmoter barely registers above zero!
IF you put your foot on the gas to GO...then you can make about 15 mph.
Now, we're going to court, of course. We get to speak to a city prosecutor first...yea! Sure helped Ms. Riddell.
Oh, we cn sign up for Traffic School first for ONE HUNDRED BUCKS prior to our court date...and then our insurance won't go up.
$82.00 for the bogus ticket.
This young cop never smiled...said howdy do...just was all police academy business.
I really thot he knew us, and had come over to say hello.
A friend said..."boy, are you a pollyanna!"
Well, we stopped at the sign....and we think he only saw us going around the corner and ASSUMED we'd run the stop sign.
G'parents of 37 g'children don't run stop signs at an elementary school! (unless they're high on crack or been hanging out with Jim Beam).
This is a clear case of funding the 'their ain't no' Justice Court.
Welcome to Ogden City, home of Mayor Godfrey's Ticket Quota...you and your friends were right Matt Jones.
how about Hansen being right on the ticket quota bill that our senator greiner the weiner stoped. keep up the good fight Rep. Hansen.
Hey, Representative Hansen: Will you go to court with us?
That should give Godfrey and Company a high case of hives and apoplexy!
Two articles from today's (Sunday) SL Tribune. The first is another heart warming Gondola story:
Gondola malfunction strands skiers
And the other about how the Evil Mayor and his immoral minions in Econ Development treat new investors in Ogden, especially if they are minorities:
River project spawns worries
Thanks, Marv. The second article, on the Ogden River Inn property and its owners, is a great example of something that Scott Schwebke would never write and the Standard-Examiner would never publish.
I have no idea whether ethnic discrimination is an element in the way the owners are being treated. But it's absolutely clear that the Godfrey Administration, whether intentionally or not, is adopting policies that will drive small business owners out of Ogden.
Heber Open Space Issues
Heber struggles with purchasing open space for the future.
Meanwhile, in Ogden,
The open space is already publicly owned, it is already city parkland
There is now a booming local economy not dependent on home building
There is a predatory mayor seeking to liquidate this very open space
Sadly the mayor and his choir continue to wallow in last century's Ogden decline stories to boost their hair brained gondola plan.
This is an interesting quote from the river story...
They hoped to make enough money to replace the old buildings with new ones in five or six years.
This is wise business management. Not getting ahead of yourself. Allow demand and cashflow to provide the foundation for redeveloping the buildings they already have.
The LO choir use building the gondola as a symbolic vision to bring enough people to Ogden to justify and pay for transit. Apparently they think there are not enough people here already to use transit. Maybe they think a gondola is kind of Transit Training Wheels, getting us used to a streetcar that actually has some utility. You see, we are so removed from using transit effectively that we need a gondola that goes nowhere to train us to use a streetcar that links neighborhoods and drives inner city redevelopment. I'm sure they just want us to get used to spending millions on something useless so we won't get fussy when real transit spending is due.
Confusion reigns supreme in the minds of the NEO-cons (the new con men)
I was present at the CC meeting when Moyal spoke at the podium. Godfrey, in his ingratiating smarmy way, at the end of the public comments section, assured Moyal' that we don't want to stand in the way' and, we want to help you in any way we can'.
What a B S er! Moyal told me and the public that night, that godfrey and his team had told him in the mayor's office that the motel had a bad reputatuion and wouldn't amount to anything respectable. Are they discriminating? Because Singh is from India? They intend to srve Indian food? Which is popular here??
Perhaps these young men need a GOOD attorney who will file an anti-defamation and anti-discrimination suit against the city??
We need to stand up for Moyal and Singh...shall WE storm the meetings and ask for justice for these guys? The choir have told us they intend to take over the podium to sing the mayor's praises...and Amen and Amen the gondola vision.
Confronting this arrogant elitist in defense of Michael and Singh would be a worthy use of our time!
What is being done to these ambitious young men who want to bring diversity and chic to our city is a travesty.
I heard this week that NU Skin...NU Skin! for pete sake! is getting the same treatment from our Business and Development (LOL) gurus out at BDO!
What the hell is happening here? We have a run-away egotistical, small-minded tyrant surrounded by equally dysfunctional thugs attempting to 'bring propsperity' to Ogden by undermining honest entrepreneurs.
Medical science will have a field day when Godfrey's pea brain is autopsied.
How many of who grouse here will stand up for Michael and Singh at the Council meetings?
Sign me up! Where can I buy a ticket?
Being stuck in a gondola for 3 hours, freezing my anatomy off in the winter and boiling to death in the summer!
Wow! That's more exciting than climbing a fake wall in a mall.
DeLaveaga Park
Hopelessly backwards Santa Cruz, CA has a foothill park called DeLaveaga Park. It includes a golf course, trails, ballfields etc.
I golfed there in about 1970. Incredible golf. Kind of like Mt. Ogden. Potential to loose a few balls. Overgrown with poison oak. I have a feeling no amount of budget crisis would invite any contemplation of selling this local jewel. Have a look at the website. Cool place. Some communities consider their foothill parks a valuable component of the local quality of life.
Protect OC Foothills
Another hopeless backwater, Orange County, CA where they have paved over every last namesake Orange Grove finds quality of life in preserving their last remaining foothill open space.
NYC Central Park
Wouldn't you know it...
New York City, decadent, overcrowded, financial capital of the world, highest per square foot cost of land,
wasted 843 ACRES on a stupid park instead of building more residential towers and officeplexes. Who's in charge there anyway. We have a mayor that will set these recreational hungry fools straight. Build an indoor climbing wall and one-rider-only fake wave and devote the rest for productive use. I wonder what 800 acres of Manhattan could be sold for to my friend to build another gondola to connect buildings and islands.
I bet Michael and Singh could open an Indian food restaurant right in the middle of that silly park! I hear there is a lot of crime there, and loft apartments would be more stylish.
BoulderCO
Boulder is located in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, just 35 miles northwest of Denver. Home of the University of Colorado's main campus and the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder sits 5,430 feet above sea level and is surrounded by a greenbelt of city trails and open spaces. Boulder is known for its natural beauty, outdoor recreation, natural product retailers and restaurants, outstanding alternative transportation options, diverse businesses, and technological and academic resources.
Ogden UT is located on the Wasatch Front just 30 minutes north of SLC. It is known for natural beauty, outdoor recreation, and now known for the vision of the gondola requiring the liquidation of it's prime recreational parkland, Mt Ogden Park, to build an ill-conceived urban gondola instead of proven transit options.
Dear Mr. and Mrs:
Aw, come on now.... Ogden has just taken out a $2 million mortgage, it seems, on the Justice Court building so the city can make sure the wind tunnel tourist ride opens on time. Surely you're willing to do your part to service that new mortgage....
Much has been made of Ogden being the next Boulder, whatever the hell that means. Maybe the next place discovered by brainless out of state investors converting residential areas to property management.
Recent conversations with LO groupies reveal that Ogden would make a great ski town. REALLY!!!
These Johnny-come-lately ski-town visionaries seem to forget one little detail...
There are a whole lot of transplant and native skiers here already. Why is it that these newcomers think Ogden needs promotion as a ski town? Savvy skiers and snowboarders have been flocking to Ogden since well before the Olympics. The upgrades at Snowbasin really put Ogden and the local resorts on the map and now Godfrey and co. want to take credit for it all.
People enthusiastic enough to know where the powder falls arrange their lives to live near it. I really can't imagine why AmerSports needed 10 mil to move here. The fundamentals along with the proximity to the mountains should have been enough. It was enough for me. Did they have choices that offered nearly what we had here naturally without serving up the incentive bronus.
Marv:
Thanks so much for the SL Trib link on the River Project. It's a hell of a story. Here I suspect is the key section:
They fear the city - whose officials they say want them to tear down the buildings to make way for commercial buildings and loft housing - will force them out.
"The city is trying to [make us] spend money we don't have," says a bitter Moyal. "Since we don't have it, they're graciously offering to give our property to one of their buddies."
Mr. Moyal needs to partner up, right quick like, with one of the Godfrey Inner Circle, at which point I suspect the city's objections will magically disappear. After all, didn't the Administration just sell three parcels downtown, in an RDA area [though not the river project RDA area] to Mr. Chris Peterson who did not file, so far as we have been permitted to know, any specific plans for its development or use? Why, I think it did. Imagine that....
Starting to look more and more like the governing philosophy of the Godfrey Team is "Crony Government."
Dan S.
You wrote: The second article, on the Ogden River Inn property and its owners, is a great example of something that Scott Schwebke would never write and the Standard-Examiner would never publish.
As I recall, the SE did do a piece on Moyal's complaint to the city council some weeks ago, but it was only in the context of his comments to the Council. Nothing on the administration's attempts to graciously permit Mr.Moyal and his partner to sell out to the administration's buddies.
The fault here should be laid I think at the feet of the news editors. They assign stories. If they wanted a follow-up on the first Moyal piece or some digging deeper into it, they could and would have assigned a reporter to do it. Evidently, they did not.
And I find it odd, and disconcerting, that readers who depend on the SE for the bulk of their Ogden news still do not know that the City has apparently mortgaged a municipal court building to HUD in order to raise money [$2,000,000] to complete the Rec Center on time. Readers of the SL Trib learned it three days ago. So, Dan, seems to me that we're getting more and more evidence that many of the weaknesses in the SE's news reporting can be traced to the editors. If they wanted this stuff covered, it would be. Reporters are not making those calls. I suppose it's possible the story hasn't appeared in the SE yet because they're in the middle of a deep investigative report on Ogden debt and the Rec Center. I suppose that's possible. But I wouldn't want to bet grandma's false teeth on it being so....
Hmmmmm.... I wonder if the Gondolistas, and Mr. B. Geiger, are going to add K. Moulton's article today to the emails they like to send around touting "the buzz" about Ogden.... Think so? Naw, neither do I.
Rudi:
In re: Utah press awards. I'd dispute only one of the SLTrib's awards, that for investigative journalism. Hands down best in the state in that regard is I think the SL City Weekly. But maybe alternative weeklies were not included in the awards.
Mr and Mrs Been Had..
I would be happy to go to court with you.
Curm: Can you give me the date on that S-E article on Moyal's complaint? I can't seem to find it.
I strongly suspect that Kristen Moulton suggests a lot of story ideas to her editors, so she deserves a lot of the credit for what she does (not just how she does it). But I agree that the buck stops with the editors. They not only assign or approve individual articles--they also make hiring decisions. I will say (not for the first time) that the Standard-Examiner's coverage of Ogden City government has declined since the days of Cathy McKitrick and John Wright.
In other news, I just checked the Weber County web site and it still lists the Bloom's property as owned by the RDA--not by Bootjack. The option to buy the property should have expired by now, so it may be time for some journalist or other to look into the status.
More info from the Weber County web site: The assessed value of the buildings on the Ogden River Inn property is nearly $1.4 million. Typically the actual value is somewhat more than the assessed value. So that's what the city is asking the owners to throw away by demolishing the buildings.
It makes me heartsick to read of the chicanery, foolishness, and downright shady, if not, illegal practices of this administration.
Don't these sycophants KNOW they'll be the first to go under a new administration? Surely they can't believe this punk will be mayor AGAIN?
One would think they'd be using common sense and try real hard to display honesty and integrity in their dealings....for the time they have left.
What will Matt do? Fire them?
I don't think so. Can't think of anyone dumb enough to want to be part of this clown's inner circle.....well, yes I can. It would be someone as crooked as Godfrey who will milk us dry with a BIG salary and benefits for the time remaining. Then this guy will laugh all the way to another town and another crooked mayor.
I implore Moyal and partner to find the BEST atty they can to fight this overthrow.
Well, Curm,
Realizing the precarious financial condition of the 'there ain't no' Justice Center, and the black ink turning blood red in the city's ledgers; we have decided to eat gruel, (if we can afford milk), a banana every other day (for the potassium), some canned vegetables already on the shelf and be ever so happy to sacrifice for the good of our city!!!
It's the least we can do. Of course, my husband could take the jail time and be better fed than the gruel we will survive on til we make up the shortfall. If he takes the jail time, will he still have to pay the exorbitant fee of $100. for 'traffic school'?
'Don't Cry for Me, Argent....uh...Ogden!' We are true patriots...whatever our government needs of us...we will surrender, dear.
Thank you N, Hansen....I'd love for you to come with us! Bring a big stick, if it isn't metal, it'll go through the detector.
Dan S
Well if it aint racial discrimination on the Lord Mayor's part it is a very close kissing cousin.
We have the current case of Moyal and partner from India.
We have the case of "Lucky" who had his beer license lifted on 25th, he also is from India.
Then there was the other beer license cancellation of the folks from Viet Nam.
Of course we cannot forget the little bastard's attempt to sell off the Marshall White Center, jewel of our black community.
And of course we won't mention the Dean Martinez persecution, or the the attempt by his henchman to destroy Jesse Garcia.
Nope, nothing racist about these swine, even tho they all would fit right in the Montgomery, Alabama city government circa 1950.
Lionel, more like a more recent time in Louisiana, a known crook got re-elected, but he was running against David Duke of KKK notoriety. So is your question, which one does Godfrey represent? In all seriousness, because of this non-proposed land grab I have attended a whole lot of planning commission meetings and work sessions, Mr. Moyal's situation has played right along side with the land grab. The first time he came before the planning commission you could sense something was not right. After his next appearance I posted on this blog that the administration/RDA must have promised his property to some other party. I still believe thats the case, but as usual, with this administration, there's one more twist. On his no live question call in show,he was blowing his horn about phase 1 of the river project. The first building going up will be the Bingham Cycle shop. this building will sit on the river directly accross from Mr. Moyal's. Now why would that be problematic? I'm glad you asked, this bike shop is more than a bike shop. They plan to also have a riverside cafe. Is that foul stench really coming from the dog food plant, or the 9th floor? P.S. don't expect any real scrutiny of this administration on the part of the Standard Examiner, they are enjoying some subsidized space at DDO.
I need to finish my thoughts about Mr. Moyal's ordeal. Who can forget the disengenuous littlle twit's remarks to Mr. Moyal after the comment period at the council meeting, I paraphrase "we're doing our best to help you make a wise decision, given the history of that place, no one will patronize that location, you must demolish the structures." Is that within his authority? Is this the little slum lord that belatedly went into partnership with Benjamin Logue to distance his potential conflict of interest, two years after taking office? I find his experience in property development inadequte,to say the least. On his own nickel,uhh, on the public's a disaster. By the way, the little twit appointed his clandestine business partner to the green team. Ben Logue SLC.
Threadjack! Something for Little Matty, the Geigers, G-Train Wilkerson and Co. to ponder as they sip their Sunday evening milks and dream of a glorious gondola ride over 23rd and down Harrison: Your hero, the lardass who is going to save OTown with a half-billion investment in a fairy-tale castle built with no roads, Wayne Chase Peterson, has had since 1994 a business license for Wayne Peterson Enterprises, a Murray company apparently involved in computers; in February, its license lapsed due to nonpayment. Coincidence? Also, I know unconditionally and with good reason that UDOT will never -- never, you goddamn children -- allow a circus ride to be strung over their property due to liability concerns. Do you like apples? How about them apples?
I wonder if Mike Dowse of Amer-sport conciders the $4,000,000.00 dollar parking structure the city just finnished at the can building just another expected perk that any company moving to this city would recieve?
Speaking of Dowse (Gondola boy! Welcome to Ogden, jackass!), where is the Amer and Descente boycott link? I have dozens of friends who continually ask how they can register their displeasure with these asshats who advocate the theft and pillage of publicly owned open space?
Also, while we're on the topic, are the Geigers, G-Train, and Bernie Allen going to attend every City Council meeting after Little Matty is ousted in the primary and are they going to burst into applause when citizens comment about the ability of the new mayor to audit every single city department and root out all the dishonesty, corruption and malfeasance? From where will the 'hey-ya' to the Lilliputian landlord come?
Oh, and I forgot the most salient point in all this discussion: after spending all his money on Tom Ellison's services, Wayne Peterson cannot afford to bring together another incarnation of his Squirrel Patrol to keep the critters off the land he wishes to steal. Nuts! Get 'em!
Jason W:
You wrote: after Little Matty is ousted in the primary .
Jason, do not underestimate Godfrey in the coming election. He is very well funded, there is substantial money behind him and more on tap if the need arises. Sometimes people of one particular political persuasion spend a lot of time talking to people who share their views, and so such folks can convince themselves [unwisely] of the certainty of the outcome they favor. Wishing and wanting will not be enough: "If wishes were horses then beggars would ride."
It is going to take a lot of hard, and very smart, campaigning by supporters of candidates challenging Mayor Godfrey in the coming election. A lot of it. Keep in mind that running media and PR campaigns is what many of his most ardent supporters do by way of making a living. Do not under estimate him.
FOUR MILLION dollars for parking for the Can bldg?
Where was I?
Drive on Lincoln and look east between 20th and 22nd. Nice multi level parking structure. Ogden City built it, anybody's guess who owns it now.
Curm, I can see it now. Little Matty standing in front of the rec center proclaiming, I've restored downtown Ogden, look how new and beautiful this is. No mention of what amount of money each tax payer is committed to, it will still be too soon for the reality of failure to grip the casual observer. I wonder if they will hurry to remove the theatre just accross the street from Larry Miller's new theatre. There will probably be lots of promotions going on so as to look vibrant, free bowling, two for one dayglow mini-put, maybe even wind tunnel rides that only cost $35.00 a pop. He'll be telling folks how he goes to church and has the most integrety in the world. NO mention of his reckless use of tax dollars for the betterment of his supporters, covering up multiple sexual harrasment complaints and porn on the computer of his right hand man. How about his close ties to the accused fraud, or the fact fact that he's subsidizing all these new recruits at a loss to the city. Could be a tough fight this year.
Many of your folks sure are experts at everything...but you don't know a bit about how a newsroom operates.
If memory serves, I think there were two different RDA TIF bonds issued on the American Can project.
One was at $4 million for the parking structure,
The other also at $4 million for the building restoration.
This on top of $900,000 grant from the state to help buy the building,
and another $2 million from the Feds, also to buy the place.
So, if my calculating is correct, that is $10,900,000 dollars of tax payer money sunk into this white elephant and the thing isn't finished or paying taxes. In fact, it has never made any money, and is a black bottomless pit that has done nothing but spawn failures and eat enormous amounts of public money. Also, I think the place is $32,000 in arrears for property taxes alone. These property taxes by the way are where the repayment money is supposed to come from to pay for the TIF bonds.
Now there is some reasons to believe that the whole deal has somehow been given over to friends of Matt, and/or relatives of Scott Brown, neither of whom has paid the deliquent property taxes.
So my question to the Mayor and his hired gunslinger Brown is: "How do I, or my cousins, get in on this gravy train?
DAPS:
Granted, I am not in the business. And the [formerly] working reporters and editors I knew and worked with elsewhere were in the biz about 20 years ago, so in this computer driven age of declining print media revenues, what little I did know may be out of date. WAY out of date.
So, if you are in the biz, enlighten us. Or at least me. If any of my critiques of the SE are off base, I'd like to know that and to know why. Same, if any of my kudoes for the SE are off base, I'd like to know that too, and why. If you're in a position to clear misconceptions up, please do.
And it would probably be good to do so without indulging in smary sarcasm like ["Many of your folks sure are experts at everything." [--- thought that can be really tempting. Beleive me, I know how tempting it can be. Don't always rein in the tendency myself. I should.]
I don't know anyone who posts here regularly who claims to be that, expert on everything. Some of us have some expertise in particular areas. And draw on it occasionally. But one of the most useful things about WCF is that people who do know a great deal about things I know little about post here regularly. I learn from them. Occasionally change my POV on something entirely as a result.
So, if you're particularly knowledgeable about how the modern newsroom of a newspaper works, weigh in on any mistakes you've seen posted. Be glad to hear from someone on the inside.
[A caution: You probably need to know, vis-a-vis me, that in a conversation not too long ago, Mr. Schwebke told me I was watching reruns of The Front Page too much. He was probably right.]
People on this blog may not know a lot about how a news room works, but most of us sure can recognize an incompetent reporter's work. We all seem to be readers and consumers of print news.
If a student of the news doesn't know how the news room works does that diminish their opinion of the news that comes out of that news room? If a person doesn't know how the sausage is made does that disqualify their opinion of how it tastes? If Mayor Godfrey doesn't know anything about integrity and sound business practices does that...... oh never mind, poor example on this one!
Mr. Schwepke's competence as the Ogden beat reporter does not hold up at all in comparison with his two immediate predecessors. He seem to be the least curious reporter in all of Utah's papers.
The Standard is a second rate paper as evidenced by the recent awards for Utah Papers. Ogden is hands down the most ripe city in Utah for scandal and shady government dealings, yet the Standard does not even get an honorable mention for investigative reporting at those statewide awards. Apparently people in the news industry that vote on these things do not think any more of Mr. Schwepke and the Standard than most of the people here do.
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