There is a story that's been rattling around the Emerald City rumor-mill for over a month, concerning a purported $2o0 thousand Utah Transit Authority study (we've heard the figure $250 thousand,) aimed at studying the feasibility of gondolas for Emerald City.
This story has finally emerged on the public radar screen this morning however, thanks to this morning's Ace Reporter Schwebke Magnum Opus. We incorporate here the lead paragraphs from this morning's Standard-Examiner article:
OGDEN — The city council is looking into a claim from the city’s administration that Utah Transit Authority has agreed to spend up to $200,000 to study the feasibility of a controversial gondola proposal.The most troubling aspect of this story, to us, is that there seem to be two opposite versions of the facts, depending upon who's telling the story:
Council Chairman Jesse Garcia said the board wants to verify Mayor Matthew Godfrey’s promise that no municipal money is being used to finance the analysis. “We are being told that UTA is behind it,” he said. “There are just things we need to find out.” The council learned about the study from the administration last week, Garcia said. John Patterson, the city’s chief administrative officer, said UTA agreed more than a year ago to fund the study. “It’s old news,” he said. Godfrey said there was no reason to inform the council earlier about the study, which is designed to determine if a gondola is compatible with UTA’s mass-transit objectives.
"It is UTA’s component and doesn’t involve us," he said. "All of this (the study’s findings) … has to come before the council before it makes a final decision (on the gondola proposal). It’s not like it’s secret. The city council has also said it doesn’t want piecemeal information."
Godfrey said he and UTA General Manager John Inglish mutually decided the study should be undertaken.
UTA spokesman Kyle Bennett said it is his understanding that the study is being managed by the city.
He referred questions about funding and the status of the study to UTA Deputy Operations Director Mick Crandell, who could not be reached for comment.
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.
Whereas the city council says it learned of this study only recently, administration spokesman Patterson says it's "old news" -- despite the fact that the Godfrey administration apparently didn't tell anybody about it.
Whereas Boss Godfrey seems to maintain, with a completely straight face, that "it's UTA's component" (whatever that means,) UTA's spokesman insists the study is being "managed by the city."
We especially loved the part of the story where the Boss Godfrey administration admittedly kept the whole situation under wraps -- because the council doesn't like to receive "piecemeal" information. We're betting Boss Godfrey's pinocchio nose grew a full couple of centimeters when the little dissembler suddenly blurted out that tall tale.
We thank Standard-Examiner reporter Schwebke for finally bringing this story out in the open, even though today's report leaves many questions unanswered. And we offer kudos to the city council, for drawing a line in the sand. Additionally, we agree generally with councilman Safsten's possibly prophetic take:
Councilman Rick Safsten said it is troubling that the council has been kept out of the loop regarding the study and predicted it will provide ammunition for gondola opponents.What may not have occurred to councilman Safsten is this fundamental rule which operates in the twisted, inverted MattGodfreyUniverse:
“Those who are most opposed to this will go nuts,” he said.
We sincerely hope Mr. Safsten (and indeed all other council members) will write this down so they don't forget it again. We lumpencitizens, of course, already have the concept down pat. And Mr. Safsten is right: it drives rational and honest people "nuts." Whether it drives delusional gondolist Godfrey-lackeys like Mr. Safsten any more "nuts" than they already are... that's an entirely different question, of course.
There are other interesting aspects to this story; but we'll leave the full analysis to our wise and gentle readers.
The floor is officially open, this rainy Monday morning.
We'd be most interested to hear what our readers have to say about this.
