Oh What a Tangled Web We Weave

Boss Godfrey has some 'splainin' to do

In yesterday's WCF article we opened a new chapter in the ongoing Boss Godfrey saga, springboarding a lively discussion off yesterday's Scott Schwebke/Standard-Examiner gondola study expose'. It was within this article that our favorite Ace Reporter revealed that our city council is looking into a purported Utah Transit Authority-funded study, whereby $200,000 of UTA money had been reportedly devoted to the question of whether gondolas represent a feasible transportation alternative in Emerald City.

Mr. Schwebke's report went on to quote Boss Godfrey and his loyal henchman John Patterson, as representing that UTA had agreed to fund this new gondola study. "UTA agreed more than a year ago to fund the study," said the ever-reliable Emerald City CAO John Patterson.

Being the curious type, we put a call into the UTA offices this morning, requesting a call-back from UTA Executive Director John Inglish, the UTA representative who purportedly entered into this alleged "agreement" with Boss Godfrey. All-in-all, we've in the past regarded the UTA as a "class act" for the most part. We'd hoped Mr. Inglish could explain to us how his normally prudent quasi-public agency got roped into such a patently absurd arrangement.

As luck would have it, Mr. Inglish was out of town today. That didn't prevent a knowledgeable UTA spokesman from calling us right back however. We spoke with Chief UTA communications officer Andrea Packer just a couple of hours ago, and she gave us the very information for which we had been looking:

Although UTA officials have been having preliminary discussions with Emerald City officials for a "considerable period of time," those discussions have to date "fallen short of a funding commitment," she said.

"There is no agreement for UTA funding of a gondola feasibility study," she told us. "UTA does not consider itself on the hook" for whatever pending study Boss Godfrey is presently "managing."

UTA has spent "not a dime" on this study. Ms. Packer further assurred us.

Referring back to yesterday's Scott Schwebke story, we confess we'd gotten the distinct impression that this study is nevertheless "in the works," notwithstanding UTA's professed financial non-participation. The study was reported to be at least in the "draft stage," according to Boss Godfrey:

"Godfrey said he has received a draft of the study’s financial analysis, but declined to provide a copy to the Standard-Examiner because he isn’t sure if it has been finalized by UTA," according to yesterday's article.

From the above it's apparent that somebody is paying for this pending $200,000 study.

If the UTA isn't footing the bill, we ask "who is?"

Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to decieve. - anon.

Seems to us Boss Godfrey has some 'splainin' to do.

Comments anyone?