Emerald City shoot-em-up. Although we normally don't cover the crime beat here at Weber County Forum, we can't ignore today's Standard-Examiner front page story, headlined: "Double shooting on Ogden street." In a scenario reminiscent of South-Central L.A., west-side Oakland, California, (or Tombstone Arizona, circa 1881) gunfire erupted yesterday between two vehicles travelling along Monroe Boulevard in broad daylight-- 20th and Monroe -- to be exact.A neighbor who resides near the intersection where the shootings occurred described the aftermath of the incident, and told the Std-Ex reporter that "she just moved from a small town out of state and was not used to seeing 'stuff like this.'"
"We're quite shocked by 'stuff like this' this ourselves," your Ogden-native blogmeister also confides, in a rare WCF self-interview.
Now that Emerald City is "on the map" we suppose we'll have to get used to big-time street gun-play, just like many other cities who are map-worthy. As we learned during our interactions with Ogden police officers during the 2005 "public safety officer pay plan flap," Boss Godfrey's major anti-crime emphasis centers mainly on writing tickets to little old ladies who've inadvertently rolled through a stop-sign, or nailing crazed motorists with a burned-out tail-light. It's a question of mayoral priorities, of course. Busted gangbangers don't contribute much cash revenue to the city coffers, even when they're actively involved in blowing away other gangbangers.
The last time we spoke with OPD gang-unit officers about this, BTW, they told us they were seriously understaffed, with barely enough manpower to manage the bare paperwork. Perhaps we'll be lucky enough to hear today from one of our "Ogden's Finest" officer readers, with an update on this situation -- so we can decide whether we need to arm ourselves for our own protection -- until after the November election.
River Project progress. We were pleased to read this morning's Std-Ex/Ace Reporter Schwebke Business Section article, reporting that the River Project is "taking shape." Ogden City's own Bingham Cyclery is planning to occupy its soon to be constructed building 200 feet from the river, and adjacent to the riverside bikepath/trail.
What makes this story especially newsworthy, we think, is that it's actually a local company who's received the mayor's favorable nod on this, rather than some giant international bicycle retailer conglomerate, who might have been lured here by generous tax increment discounts and other glad-handed favors.
A WCF Tip o' the Hat to Bingham Cyclery, with added best wishes for business success.
Lambs to the Slaughter. In other news, our northern neighbor Pleasant View, is taking a long look at getting aboard the economic development bandwagon:
“We want to encourage nice development,” said Councilman Kevin Bailey. He would like to see more restaurants in Pleasant View, as well as big box stores and offices.Hooray for Big Box Stores. That's what we call "nice development!" Just what that sleepy little residential community needs. Bring on the Big Box Stores, we say. Bring in the Big-Gummint central planners and schemers, too. We wonder which lovely Weber County community will be next to redraft their business plan to mimic the Riverdale, Utah model, and pave over their entire town with asphalt. Huntsville, Perhaps? We can only hope!
Somewhere in the background we seem to hear the bleating of lambs being led off to slaughter.
UDVA promoted to "cabinet" status. As a military veteran ourself, we are happy to read this morning that our former Ogden High School classmate Terry Schow's State Department of Veteran's affairs has been "kicked upstairs" to governor's cabinet level status. Terry and his dedicated crew have labored long and hard to browbeat the state legislature into doing the right thing, i.e., building a Veteran's Home in Weber County. Much to our encouragement, we are delighted to read that Terry and his staff will be able to bend the governor's ear about this, and various other important veterans' issues, from an office "right down the hall" from Chief State Executive Jon Huntsman's sumptuous office "digs."
Take it away, gentle readers.
Talk about any of the above; or feel free to start up a topic all your own.
