By Curmudgeon
Sunday's Standard-Examiner is chockfull of interesting stuff. First off, there is an editorial discussing an apparently not-well publicized proposal in Kaysville to sell a city-owned park preserve to developers. But it's clearly not only about secrecy in Kaysville. Here are the closing graphs:
We hope everyone who was privy to this discussion of selling park property before the mayor and other city leaders heard about it will understand that their dealings out of the public eye give everyone the impression that what they're doing must not be on the up-and-up. When you're dealing with public funds, public information or public property, it's the public's business from the get-go. If you want to bring people on board instead of making them suspicious and, perhaps, resentful, you better make sure the whole process is conducted in the glaring light of day.Kudos to the often-critized Std-Ex editorial board. They got that one right.
That's something for every government body and developer in the Top of Utah to remember: secrecy guarantees mistrust.
Next, a good column by Charles Trentelman discussing the delicate balance between growing and developing Ogden and preserving what is [and always has been] good about it as a place to live, raise families, work and play.
Here are Trentelman's closing graphs:
Growth can destroy. An ugly reputation kept Ogden relatively free of developers who, too often, glorify the future, make their money and scram. We live here now. We love it now, and we’ve had to clean up developers’ messes before.And finally, another interesting piece from Mr. Schwebke, front page, top of Utah section. It reports that "OGDEN — Federal officials are keeping mum on the status of an investigation launched in 2004 into the transfer of Defense Depot Ogden land and equipment from the Army to the city." He adds that
In its soul, Ogden has always been a really cool place. Even a curmudgeonly DeVoto felt it. He spoke fondly of the “all-inclusive freedom that touched every aspect of our lives” as he rambled the valleys and canyons, camping in the mountains and climbing the peaks.
Ogden’s soul nourished DeVoto’s genius and is part and parcel of who we are. It made the town good no matter what others thought.
It is up to us, as change comes, to keep it so.
But it wasn't just the mall loan the Army wondered about:"A $10 million loan in 2001 to the city from the depot-turned-industrial-park to purchase and demolish the former downtown mall that is now the location of The
Junction development sparked the investigation.
An audit commissioned by the Army determined the loan was out of compliance with provisions of the city’s purchase contract for Defense Depot Ogden.
Melodie Rydalch, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Salt Lake City, said no charges have been filed against the city in connection with the probe. However, she declined to comment on whether the investigation has been completed."
"In addition to the mall loan, the Army audit questioned about $500,000 in costs Ogden reportedly incurred between 1997 and 2001 under the caretaker agreement, which called for the city to perform certain tasks at the depot while the property was being conveyed by the Army, city officials have said.Perhaps someone should explain to the Mayor that what matters is not whether the matter has been resolved in his opinion, but whether it has been resolved in the opinion of U.S. Attorney’s Office in Salt Lake City, which clearly, according to the Std-Ex story, it has not.
Some of those services included providing security, building maintenance and snow and debris removal, according to city officials.
The audits also probed whether the city had reinvested proceeds from the lease of depot property back into the development. "
The Mayor insists, however, that there is nothing to be concerned about because "it his understanding the investigation is over and the city has been cleared of any wrongdoing. 'At least in our minds, it has been resolved,' he said. "
But then, our Mayor has had problems before confusing what he wishes was so with what is in fact so. [Remember his convincing the council that a tile company was just itching to buy the Shupe Williams property and getting the Council to approve the sale, only to have it turn out that the Company didn't want to buy the property after all?]
If you're looking for a way to wile away an hour or so on this Sunday when the Junction is closed, pick up today's Std-Ex. Some chewy reading therein.
Update 7/1/07 11:15 a.m. MT: This is truly hilarious: Davis County Clipper includes a voucher debate section with no debate.
21 comments:
Gosh, it would be a damn shame if the Mayor were under Federal indictment just when he is mounting his re-election campaign.
Interesting items as I peruse the Junction Lease
Item 2 of the Commercial lease agreement between Ogden RDA and Health & Fitness Holdings LLC applies to Additional Tax Increment Financing.
Second Sentence reads One requirent for "additional tax increment" financing is that the property ba a public owned "recreational facility"
My question is: does the leasing of a "public owned" recreational facility to a profit making private entity violate the spirit or the language of the special public financing. Seems to me the spirit of public financing is so that the public gain the benefit of its application. If otherwise than these types of finance vehicles simply make the RDA or whoever a banking institution for the benefit of those close to it's director...one Matt Godfrey
It is spelled in the following sentence: "that the property be owned by the landlord and tenant operate the property as a "recreational facility"."
But it is not clear to me if the ultimate sub-leasing of the recreational facility for profit violates the spirit or intent of the financing.
It also appears to me that this lease agreement is a wholesale blanket lease on the full building and maybe H & F LLC subleases to Costa Vida or does H&F have the franchise for it. I have not read the whole lease but I also winder if the property is to be operated as a recreational facility, then how do the restaurants fit into that profile. Surely we want restaurants down there but the language seems mushy and the Godfrey's RDA seemed to have completely missed the opportunity to be the operator of the flowrider or be the direct landlord to Costa Vida offering substantial return over the present sweetheart arrangement for H&F.
I'd like to hear other opinions from others who have seen the lease.
I remember letter to the editor, that said godfrey was the only qualified candidate and that we are not play with monopoly money.
Well so much for being qualifed as the only candidate to think that all this debt is nothing more than monopoly money. So I ask where is all that accountibilty, now I have seen only one canidate stand up to accountiblty and that is not godfrey but it is hansen.
He has always been one to say that our elected officals should be held accountible, he has run bills in the legislature for accountible. There is too much unacountiblity going on, and this needs to stop.
Trentelman's column reminded me of the Greg Brown song Boomtown. You can listen to 30 seconds of it here.
Thanks for the tip, Dan. I went and spent some money on that on iTunes, and picked up a coupla more Greg Browns as well.
I have a particular interest in radically-different covers of pop/rock songs, so his cover of "You Can't Always Get What You Want" appealed to me as well.
That, in turn, reminded my of one of my favorite song titles of all time: "You Can't Always Not Get What You Don't Want" by Tracy Bonham. Unfortunately (in my opinion) the song doesn't live up to the wonderful title.
What we don't want in Ogden is unfettered, developer-driven growth. We can't always not get that, can we?
I was glad to see Trentelman mention Ogden's own Bernard DeVoto, Utah's first Pulitzer Prize winner. Whatever else you believe about DeVoto, he loved Ogden's natural beauty. Read his novels if you doubt it, especially the Crooked Mile.
Does anyone know who won the Plein Air painting competitions at the arts festival?
Driving home on Harrison yesterday, I noticed that the old South Ogden Golf Course is already stripped of grass and trees and the dirt is bulldozed into streets. Ugly.
Item 10 under the Junction lease:
Continued Operation. Throughout the lease term, Tenant shall continue to operate or sublease the premeises exclusively as a recreational facility during normal business days and hours,...
That's fairly indefinite but in my opinion normal business days might be defined as every day as most retail and recreational businesses are open 7 days. It is far more the norm than to be closed. So that defines normal in my mind.
Does this Neilsen character live in some bizarro world where his way is normal?
I have derived some small snippets of secret pleasures in the past on this blog, by introducing names, and name dirivatives, into the Ogden debate. One of my favorite example's is "Godfreyites" borrowed from the infamous "Morrisite" movement.
I now once again amuse myself, and hopefully a few of you, by presenting a new word to describe that lamentable condition that the adherents to the Godfreyite movement suffer so mightly from.
The new word comes to us today from the smartest woman in the known universe, one Marilyn Vos Savant, it is OSTRICHISM.
The meaning is: "The deliberate avoidance of reality"
As in: "One of the main oddities of the Godfreyite movement was their collective ostrichism"
Your history lesson for today is the "ite" tag coming to identify a cult. In the Mormon history it started very early in the 1800's. There was a very early merger between Joseph Smith and his small band of believers and another small cultish religion that was following the teachings of a guy named Thomas Campbell. They were know as the "Campbellites". This merger more than doubled the LDS church and brought it some of its most dynamic early leaders.
After that the Mormons were known derisevily by a lot of outsiders as the "Mormonites"
Later, in Utah (South Weber in fact) the followers of a crack pot named Joe Morris, much like our own modern day Matt Godfrey, became known as the "Morrisites".
The "Morrisite War" happened, a very brief and bloody skirmish actually, and old Joe Morris was sent to his reward and his little band of believers were scattered to the wind by the big kahuna Brigham Young who took unkindly to having his position challenged.
Where is brother Brigham now when we need him to do it again?
Ozboy
With the Morrisites it's even worse than you realize. The highest concentration of Morrisites in the territory of Utah came originally from Weber County.
I believe they held out in Uinta!
Have a Hansen sign and got a warning not to post this sign and it might be in violation of the city code 18-4-1, but in another section of the same code 18-3-26 it states that political signs are exempt.
Rudi can any of your reader give me their view on this part of the city code.
Is this another way for godfrey to use the taxpayer money to come at his opponents? what say ye.
Well, I have a Hansen sign in my yard! I double dog dare the yellow dog to tell me to remove it.
Wait! One of his henchmen will just steal it like they did the Jeske signs!
Mayor Godfrey's people sure cry about the Hansen's signs, but Godfrey's been fundraiseing for the past 8 years.
I say to the five Godfrey supporters. Stick the fork in him he's done.
How can I get a Neil Hansen sign for Mayor?
Go to his house and ask. He will give you one or more if you want to help out or call him he will bring to you.
Hansen For Next:
Political signs on residential properties are not banned by the city's sign ordinance. It is possible what the objection was was where you placed it. Traditionally, and under an older ordinance political signs were not allowed on the "parking strip" --- the area between the sidewalk and the kerb. But I think some years ago the city suspended all regulations about political signs and advocacy signs [as opposed to, say, commercial advertising signs] on residential properties, pending a study to be done as the basis of a revised sign ordinance. I don't think the study was ever completed and I think the suspension of all the rules [pending the study] is still on the books. You might want to check that with the City. [I haven't done a search of the city sign ordinances myself so cannot say for certain that's so. But I think it is.]
In any case, I suspect what problem [or maybe alleged problem would be better] was was the placement of the sign [where on the lot it went], not its content or its existence.
Let us know what you find out. City clerk or someone in the compliance office should be able to help on this. And if you get stonewalled, let us know that They ought to be able to give you the exact reference to the precise ordinance [page and paragraph] they say your sign violated.
As for complaints about signs disappearing... we all remember the wails of Mr. B. Geiger claiming that gondola opponents had teams of sign-stealers prowling the nights, yanking LO signs... I've never been in a political campaign in which signs did not disappear on all sides. Sometimes kids take 'em as a lark. Windstorms. Pissed off neighbors, and yes, some over- zealous campaigners take down opposition signs. On all sides. [I spent some time replacing missing SGO signs for a while.] Sad though it may be, it kind of comes with the territory these days. Put up a new one if yours disappears and get on with the campaign. Every candidate I've ever worked for was more than happy to replace missing signs.
Neil Hansen has the information for anyone interested! Codes and all.
Mayor Godfrey is hypocrite.
He has his cronies, complain about his opponent’s campaign signs. Where there placed and the timing of the signs (that their up too early).
But in the past two election cycles; Mayor Godfrey has had signs up this early and in parking strips and some even in vacant lots that the Mayor never got permission.
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