By Monotreme
I'd like to start the piñata party over John Patterson's Op-Ed piece in this morning's Standard-Examiner, concerning the Godfrey administration's recently revealed GRAMA email collection.
Right out of the gate, Mr. Patterson promises us "the simple truth," yet his explanations are convoluted and don't even fit in the Standard's Op-Ed block. One has to go to the online edition of the piece to read the full version of Mr. Patterson's dissembling.
"Please understand all of the numbers we have used were calculated by consultants not hired by this administration."This is simply false. The ridership numbers used (and the financial projections) were made up out of whole cloth. No consultants were used to derive these numbers, because no studies were done.
I challenge Mr. Patterson to reveal the sources of the ridership numbers and financial projections used in the so-called "gondola study". The Baker Study concerned projected need for mass transit, as far as I'm aware, not how many people would actually ride a jacked-up amusement park ride. Big difference.
"The Adopted Strategic Plan stated GOAL 9.0: Evaluate the feasibility and merits of a gondola from Ogden to Snowbasin." Well, yes. And did the City Council, at any time, adopt a GOAL of looking into an urban gondola to nowhere in particular, connecting to a gondola to an imaginary mountain troll lair halfway up Mt. Ogden? The proposed gondola-gondola study, for which the city tried to obtain UTA funding, was for a gondola that did not go to Snowbasin.
The final paragraph is a masterpiece of nonsense. "There has not been any attempt by the administration to 'keep the public and the City Council out of the loop as they studied the gondola-resort proposal.'"
Heck, I'm a member of the public, and I felt kept out of the loop. What about the years of "we have the draft form of the double-top-secret gondola study, but I don't know if I can release it"? What about the years of "I don't have to tell you who paid for the consultants, the trips, the expenses for a public relations firm to prepare this dog and pony show that my friend Chris is peddling"? Yes, Mr. Patterson, we were kept out of the loop. We continue to be out of the loop.
Have you ever answered Councilwoman Wicks' question about how much city money was spent on this nonsensical (and now-abandoned) plan?
Come September 11, we intend to vote for someone who will keep us informed of how our money is being spent and how public policy decisions are made. We want a city government that operates in the light, not in the dark. We want a city government that informs us, not one that responds half-heartedly to repeated GRAMA requests. We want a city government that doesn't lie to us.
