Write it down so you don't forget it
Now that Boss Godfrey has become a dedicated election season crime-fighter, it must have been a mite disturbing for the poor little guy to have known that his Emerald City voter constituency was reading all about the latest gang murder under yesterday morning's blaring Standard-Examiner headline, "Gang death in Ogden - Teen, 15, suspected of killing man who was holding bat".
Our readers will all recall that it's been a short two months since Boss Godfrey held that press conference announcing his "War on Gangs;" and although we Emerald City citizens were tentatively reassured in the knowledge that our can-do Mayor was looking out for us on the simmering gangland front, headlines like the one above really aren't the kind of thing a politically weakened mayor likes to see splashed all over the front page of the home town newspaper, six weeks before a crucial general election.
Godfrey's a resourceful guy, however, and he apparently didn't let any grass grow under his feet in putting a Godfreyesque spin on this politically damaging story. And although this is just speculation on our part, we suspect that what Godfrey immediately did was call his friends at the Standard-Examiner, to engineer a front-page Std-Ex story which would result in at least some political damage control.
And thus we highlight this morning's Sam Cooper cover story, in which the Ogden Police Department's Lt. Tony Fox (Chief Greiner is out of town) lays the entire blame for this politically inconvenient homicide on -- get this -- the owner of the parking lot where Jesus Aparicio was shot dead on Friday night by a rival gang member.
The spin is Godfreyesque, as we already mentioned. When something goes wrong in MattGodfeyWorld, it's always somebody else's fault.
And don't get us wrong on this; we don't think this "cover story" was Lt. Fox's own idea at all. Suffice it to say that when you're a guy like Tony Fox, who depends for his paycheck on a petulant Boss like the Boss of Us All, you don't ask questions or raise objections -- you simply start spinning the story just like you're told. That's our "take," and we're sticking to it -- until further notice at least.
And at risk of intruding into the policy territory of our Crime-fighter Mayor, wasn't it reported that our city council passed a broad new "anti-gang" ordinance just last month, prohibiting loitering in circumstances such as those at 30th & Washington on Friday night last? Why, we ask, is Boss Godfrey still relying on a trespass ordinance to control a 100-member mob-gathering on an Emerald City Friday night, when the council has now provided a law-enforcement blunderbuss, specifically intended to prevent loitering and the thwarting of gang turf-battles?
We confess we don't know the answer to that. Maybe one our gentle OPD readers can enlighten us on this.
On an entirely different topic tangent we'll also highlight this morning's most excellent Standard-Examiner editorial, in which Don Porter (or somebody on the Std-Ex editorial board) once again chides Boss Godfrey for his continuing pattern of government uber-secrecy:
"For the zillionth time, people: Operate in the open to begin with and these sorts of blunders can be avoided. And when someone asks for information, just give it to them. It really is that simple," Don Porter says.
And to Don Porter we say, "That's good advice, but we think you're wasting your breath. Nobody -- but NOBODY -- tells Boss Godfrey what to do -- not even those 'friends' who do him special favors."
It's all yours from here, gentle readers.
© 2005 - 2014 Weber County Forum™ -- All Rights Reserved
46 comments:
Well, we disagree again, Rudi. I thought this morning's editorial was one of the SE's weaker editorial efforts. It kept getting in the way of its own point, wandering off point [to speculate, for example, on the motives of those who called for the audits], and then at the end, it delivered its "punch" [politely so-called] swathed in a velvet glove.
Here's the editorial's "hard-hitting conclusion" [if there was an emoticon for "being sarcastic" I'd insert it here.]
the audit says... that while the “city may have complied with the letter of the law, it certainly did not comply with the spirit of the law, which includes providing citizens with answers to their questions about the use of their tax dollars.” Ouch. For the zillionth time, people: Operate in the open to begin with and these sorts of blunders can be avoided. And when someone asks for information, just give it to them. It really is that simple.
Hard-hitting? It's conclusion has the general tone of a parent sighing and reminding a five year old that "we've told you to pick up your toys a zillion times."
If the SE wanted to boost it's reputation for doing hard-hitting editorials on significant public matters, seems to me it could have managed something more than a long-suffering sigh by way of taking the Godfrey administration to task for its continued, repeated refusal to disclose public information. It could have put this latest example of administration stonewalling in the context of the Bootjack refusal, the secrecy surrounding the recently signed contract between the Godfrey Administration and UTA, and so on.
But no. Insead we got: "Sigh. We've told you a zillion times...."
Where's William Allen White when we really need him?
I find it quite humorous and sad that the only focus in this deal has been the $900,000.00 state grant. Folks, that the tip of the iceberg.
This Can thing has so many different angles and improprieties it's hard to know where to begin. All principal players are still involved and have been thru out, in Riverside, Ogden comunity foundation and now Amcan llc.
Millions have been laundered by City officials thru these, and now they are the beneficiaries of their dirty work.If in fact it has been determinded, finally, that the comunity foundation was just a clandestine arm of the Ogden City administration, where's the total financial accounting. Let's see the whole money trail as well as if the City has been compensated for it's investments.
Riverside is mentioned, but not the fact that they were never the type of entity they claimed to be, were they legal at all?
Porter's piece is just another whitewash, showing once again the papers total bias towards lying little matty.
Curm-
That was the Standard's version of taking Godfrey and his administration to task. Can't wait for the Standard's fluffy recommendation of Godfrey for Mayor (that is a foregone conclusion, right?). It'll be interesting to see how they will justify his re-election. Anyway, the rule of reason is dead and gone in Ogden.
Had one of the OPD officers tell me that there is usually 5 or 6 patrol officers on duty, covering the entire city. Numbers like those would make it hard to enforce much of anything.
Bill C:
Came across a story about Huey Long early this morning that put me in mind of Hizzonah Mayor Godfrey receiving all those fat campaign contributions from his docile grazing herd of hat-in-hand and paws-out project developers, real estate hawkers and other assorted recipients of his Administration's largess with the public's money. The story goes like this:
The Kingfish was preparing for an election. He called together the big-money men of the Bayou State and blandly told them this: "Those of you who come in with me now will receive a big piece of the pie. Those of you who delay, and commit yourselves later, will receive a smaller piece of the pie. Those of you who don't come in at all will receive --- Good Government!"
If Mayor Godfrey is returned for a third term in office, maybe we should just start calling him "the Kingfish" and be done with it.
C'mon! Since when do we expect the government to protect us from crime?
We need to wake up and take our city back! This begins in the home and with the family.
No elected official is going to make us safe, keep us skinny, save our earth, or pay my bills!
Rudy...I thought you were Libertarian!
Da Chap seems to be confusing the principles of libertarianism with those of anarchism.
I am so disgusted with the Mayor, his stooges, the City Council and the VOTERS of Ogden! I want to know where the Council's and the voters' spines are! Have they no backbone and no brains?!!
We need to clean the mayor's office of the scum and crud that fill it now and get someone in there with integrity and common sense. Instead of the rat-fink that sees visions and has his head so far in the clouds that the crime, rotting infrastructure and needs of the city are not in line of sight.
VOTE THE LYING, CHEATING, LAW-BREAKING S.O.B. OUT OF OFFICE IN NOVEMBER!!
I keep hearing from the gang last month meeting and the the paper quoting the Kicks 66 manager mentioned that the police will not repond when called. Seems as if They look at certain areas of the city as on their own. If there was a shooting near the Mayors home or up on the east bench I bet we would have more police than traffic ticket writers.
da chap:
Police can't do it all. But then, neither can families. We're a community, whether we like it or not. A community. One. Or at least we should be. And to deal with problems like drugs and gangs and crime in general, will take the efforts of government and families and individuals and business owners, and churches and NGOs. All of us. [And not just when an election looms.]It would be, seems to me, as foolish to read government out of the equation as it would be to read families out.
There just is no silver bullet one-dose cure-all solution for problems like gang violence. Which is what has me concerned about the Mayor's last minute cobbled together in the face of a coming election gang crime initiative. Having been asleep at the switch on rising gang violence in Ogden ever since he took office... [Hey, cut him some slack, it takes a lot of time to convince people that selling off the city's parklands to benefit his crony's real estate development plans so Ogden can build a gondola. There just isn't much time left over for working on things like gang violence.]... the Mayor seems to have almost desperately embraced a last-minute gang-control "get tough" plan as his solution to the problem. Sadly his plan seems to rely heavily on solutions that have been tried for years in places like Los Angeles and Boston and that have not worked. LA and other cities that adopted them are now backing off them as "silver bullet" solutions, and substituting instead along with increased policing initiatives, other programs. The mix of approaches seems to be working better.
This from a recent NYT story on the "get tough" only approach that the Mayor has introduced to Ogden recently:
At least 36 states have passed hard-line laws similar to those pioneered in the 1990s by Los Angeles, and enacted statewide in California. The laws prohibit public gatherings of two or more people suspected of being gang members; establish databases to track gang members; deploy broad sweeps of suspects; and lengthen prison sentences for gang-related crimes.
But... doubts have been raised across the country about the value of the approach. A growing number of law enforcement officials, including some in Los Angeles, suggest that such aggressive suppression tactics may worsen some gang problems by alienating whole groups of people from the police and stocking prisons with thousands of young people, many of whom are transformed into hardened gang members while incarcerated.
“L.A. has this approach of being tough on crime,” said Craig Watkins, the district attorney in Dallas, where some Los Angeles-style tactics are being rolled back. “But the result of that is overflowing prisons, high crime rates and increasing numbers of gang members. Now we want to be smart on crime....”
Earl C. Paysinger, an assistant police chief and operations director for the Los Angeles Police Department, said the department’s “assertive gang suppression” was appropriate for gang members “whose sole purpose is to wreak havoc on the community.” But Chief Paysinger said the department had not been discriminating enough in dealing with people suspected of being gang members who pose a lesser threat. He said a new mindset was beginning to take hold among the department’s leadership.
He said the police in Los Angeles were now focusing more on prevention and intervention before making arrests. Officers conduct more visits to the homes of possible gang members to encourage parents to become involved, Chief Paysinger said, and the department has made it easier for youngsters to purge their names from a gang database if they stay out of trouble. “During my career I’ve probably arrested tens of thousands of gang members,” he said. “That doesn’t work. And now we’re doing what we can to, as my son says, flip the script....”
In Boston, Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis said his department had narrowed its focus to violent offenders....
But the tough approach still has great appeal in many states, especially those where serious gang problems are relatively new.... [Emphasis added. The full NY Times article on gang-control measures that have not worked and some others that seem to be working better can be found here.]
At a recent neighborhood meeting on crime and gangs, Councilwoman Amy Wicks [I think one of only two Council members who live in central Ogden below Harrison] spoke about the problem needing far more than just increased policing. She talked about involving community groups, of involving non-government organizations that work within the community, and with families directly, to head off problems before they begin, and to retrieve those who've started out in the wrong direction before the only solution left is a long jail term and, in the end, the creation of a career criminal. She seemed to be talking about the same broad range of gang control initiatives discussed in the NY Times article that places like LA and Boston are now turning to as more effective than just "get tough."
Increased policing, yes. But it can't be just that. That's been tried, in many cities for a long time. And it hasn't worked. As the DA of Dallas said above: getting tough on gangs isn't enough. We need instead, he said, to "get smart on crime." Which, seems to me, is precisely what Councilwoman Wicks was saying as well.
Rudi you called this one wrong. Being about as aniti-Gofrey as you can be, and also being a cop, I must say that Lt. Fox was reporting the truth. The police department has worked on trying to curtail all of the youngsters from congregating at the Kickss-66, but have continually run into trouble with the owners. The have upwards of a hundred a fifty kids in their parking lot on any given Friday or Saturday night and the owners will not allow us, the police, to move them along. We do get calls about the large crowds at this spot, but without the cooperation of the owner, we are powerless to do anything about it.
I would like to point out that the issue of having all the kids there really has nothing to do with the shooting. It was two small groups of Gang Bangers that came together; it could as easily happen anywhere in Ogden.
AS for the war on gangs…..give me a break. The Mayor is just blowing pre-election smoke up voter’s asses. We have had building gang problem for years that the Mayor has placed way down the list of priorities. Why is it after seven and half years that we declare war on gangs now? We all know the answer to that and if the little man gets his way the gang problem will soon be on the back burner and be replaced with some multi-million dollar land scheme that will be shoved down our throats.
Back another century or so ago most of the kids in and around Ogden that had cars would cruise the boulevard from one end to the other.
The South end was anchored on about 38th and Riverdale road by a drive in joint called Mason's. Its where the Japanese restaurant on the west side has been in recent years.
We would cruise through the parking lot a couple of times so's that every one could check out our ride, and then we would peel out, head north on Riverdale, hook a slight left onto Washington then cruise, and flirt, and bull shit all the way out to 12th where the north end was anchored by Combes, another drive in burger joint. I think there is a big modern self serve gas station there now.
I had a 48 ford convert, metalic marroon, lowered and leaded with black and white naugahyde upholstery. Pretty cool ride for a sixteen year old with a duck tailed haircut and a little curl down over the forehead. I had the shifter switched over to the left side of the steering column so I could be real cool and put my right arm around my sweety, who on a lucky night would be curled up tight next to me on that cool black and white and tucked and rolled seat as I cruised back and forth through the O town on a balmy summers eve.
It was a lot of fun going from one end to the other about a dozen times, or as far as we could make it on the .27 cent gas we were pouring through those old ford flatheads, chevy sixes and what ever else we could get to run or borrow from mom and dad. Lucky was the kid whose mom let him take the family Pontiac or Chevy hardtop.
The king cruisers of all in those years, the ones with the most ultimate cool were Bobby Burns and Wendell Page.
Yep, that same Bobby Burns that later became one of Ogden's great skiing legends, the same guy that first caught the dream and took action to make Ogden the home of hip ski manufacturering. He called his skiis "The Ski" as I recall. Such wonderful Ogden chutzpa the dude had, and I presume still does wherever he is.
Bobby was a little older than me, had a mother or something that kept him in fine cars, cool clothes, plenty of jingle in his pocket and a killer smile on his ever so pretty face! This is the guy we all wanted to be!
Wendel Page's deal was he always had total killer cars like Corvettes or 57 Chevy converts or two door hardtops, always with Corvette engines and triple carbs, and always the fastest from one red light on Washington to the next. When he went up and down the boulevard everybody's eye balls were strictly on him. He and Bobby were the king cruisers of their time on Washington.
Mid point on the endless cruise of Washington was a joint at the corner of 28th and Washington that had a parking lot around it, It was one of the few mid boulevard stops on the cruise. The place was called Rego's. It was an Italian place with the front door perpendicular to the corner. Rego himself was the proprietor and ever present major domo. He only allowed so much BS to go on in the parking lot before he would come out screaming and waving a kitchen utensil. We used to have a lot of fun taunting him, but of course never had the balls to get too close! I always had the feeling that old Rego kind of enjoyed the encounters himself! He was a pretty colorful guy that liked to pretend he ran a tight ship in a Italian sort of way.
One night we were cruising North in my buddy Sam LaFrenier's 49 Olds when some chick pulled up on our left in her daddy's 54 Studebaker and got Sam's attention. Next thing you know the 49 Olds with Sammy and Me in the front seat has crashed through those double wide front door on the angle to Washington and we are wedged right in the entry, half in and half out!
Looking through the front windshield, there we were in the front of the restaurant by the cash register and here comes old Rego out of the kitchen with an incredible and wild look on his face! Man O Man were we totally screwed!
I was able to jump over the back of the seat, sneak out the back door of the car and crawl around the corner before I got up and ran as far and fast as I could! Poor old Sam couldn't get out and caught holy hell for months over the deal, but he never did rat me off as being the other rider with him. Sam's dad knew however, and both Sam and I spent literally hundreds and hundreds of hours working off the damage with our old mans. In my case I was slave labor for the rest of the summer on a house my dad was building, Sam had to do his penance as a janitor in an industrial building his dad owned. The saving grace was that we were both still able to cruise the vard once in a while in my Ford convert although we had to forgo the burgers and cokes at one end or the other for lack of cash. As for Rego, he got the front of his restaurant remodeled and he never seemed to hold it against either one of us after we got old enough to take dates to his place and spend money.
A lot of the times there would be fights break out along the cruise. It would liven up the scene, especially if two known tough guys tangled. My favorite was always to see Royce Hess duke it out with the many contenders that were after his tenuous crown of toughest guy in town. Royce was one of those that held the title for a while in those years. Fortunately he was my friend and I never had to suffer the consequences of his negative attention!
Hard to think those were gentle times when you consider some of the violence demonstrated in these street fights. There were no weapons beyond fists, which are actually quite brutal themselves. No body ever even dreamed of getting a gun, or even a knife, even if they got beat up. It was always mano a mano. The idea was that you were either man enough to kick ass or you were smart enough to keep yourself out of situations where you were called upon to try. If you had to resort to a weapon you were a punk.
Boy o boy how things have changed!
Now cruising Washington Blvd is like running the gauntlet in one of these more severe and violent video games, only your life really is on the line.
As long as folks are driving around in cars I suspect there will be one form or other of cruising Washington. It is ingrained in our Ogden genes. Hopefully we can get a decent mayor who will get his priorities in line with the people and real life, reorganize the police with an emphasis on the real problems in Ogden and off this revenue generating bull shit Godfrey has been on, and make Washington safe for fun times and cruising once again.
And one last thing about yesteryear, back in the halcyon days of Washington Boulevard cruising, any time a crowd got bigger than 20 or 30 kids, the cops would cruise through the scene themselves, and stick around if there was any hint of trouble. So what the hell is going on with the mayor's crime fighting game plan when the cops allow a hundred people to congregate on a regular basis. And then to add insult to injury they blame it on the business owner in their typical business friendly manner. I mean this friggen place is hanging right out there on Washington Blvd in the middle of town and and they are telling us the cops need some one to call when a big crowd gathers? This is just plain bull shit if you ask this old cruiser.
I am compelled to go on record for the umpteenth time:
The $900,000.00 INDUSTRIAL ASSISTANCE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE STATE OF UTAH AND THE CITY OF OGDEN signed December 16, 2002 by Mayor Matthew R. Godfrey signing for Ogden City and Mark Renda, IAF Director and David Harmer, Department of Community and Economic Development Approval for Funding signing for the State of Utah contains this very specific clause:
ARTICLE VIII
FAILURE TO DEVELOP OGDEN HIGH-TECH CENTER
"In the event that Applicant does not make a good-faith effort to develop the Ogden High-Tech Center as contemplated herein within two years of the date hereof, the Administrator shall have the option to require return of the Total IAF Disbursement.
ADDDITIONALLY, (emphasis added by me), IF APPLICANT SELLS THE AMERICAN CAN COMPANY PROPERTY OR ANY PART THEREOF FOR ANY PURPOSE OTHER THAN AS A PART OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE OGDEN HIGH-TECH CENTER THEN ALL AMOUNTS PREVIOUSLY CREDITED OR DISBURSED TO APPLICANT SHALL BE DISALLOWED AND RECAPTURED BY THE STATE.
IN EITHER SUCH EVENT, APPLICANT SHALL IMMEDIATELY REPAY IN CASH TO THE STATE THE DISALLOWED IAF PROCEEDS, TOGETHER WITH ANY AND ALL COSTS AND FEES OF COLLECTION."
The Contract could not be clearer regarding the "Either or" event.
No one on the Utah State level has bothered to consider the second caveat.
This verifies that the State Auditor did not do an audit as the first place he should have started was with the grant document that I am quoting from.
The sad part is that this person is my peer and knows better.
Right on, Dorothy. Anyone reading the SE's "editorial" this am...that did NOT know the particulars would have been just as uninformed at the end as when reading the whole thing thru.
I thot it was cotton candy fluff. A snide sneer to Dorothy (unnamed) and to Neil for asking for an audit in the "middle of Godfrey's campaign"...it was Neil's campaign too!
The last paragraph of the so-called editorial tried to sound hardhitting, but the pablum of the first parts were dribbling all over it.
Is the SE signed on with Godfrey's re-election campaign as donor/advisor/cheeleader?
Shouldn't they register with the State as such?
Carefully placed non stories with huge headlines that favor only Godfrey...BIG story on crime fighting the day before the Primary.
6 weks to go...how many pro Matt stories and headlines can the Se come up with for him?
No wonder Schwebke does such a lousy job some days...orders from headquarters?
DL:
I am not an attorney [having been properly brought up], but it seems to me that the State can elect not to enforce a particular clause of a contract that benefits the state if it chooses not to. And it seems clear now that the state has chosen not to exercise the "return on sale" provisions of the grant contract with Ogden City, that the state has decided that enforcing the "return on sale" provision would not be in the best interests of Utah. [We could argue about whether the state is right in that judgment, but it seems clear the judgment has been made.]
Not being an attorney, I am not sure if the rules are different for contracts between various government bodies, but I know that contract provisions can be, and sometimes are, waived by private parties, so long as both parties to the contract agree to waive them. Since Ogden and the state both seem to have agreed to waive the "return on sale" provision of this agreement, I don't see how they can be forced to do otherwise. Nor am I convinced that, at this point, forcing them to do otherwise would end up benefiting the city.
Perhaps contract obligations are different when they involve two public bodies [city and state]. I don't know. But in either case, seems to me this particular fight has been lost.
curmudgeon,-
The State which is the State Legislature did not waive anything on this contract.
This interpretation of the Grant has been made by an employee in the Utah Attorney General's office who isn't even an elected official although the Attorney General put the opinion out on his letterhead.
I have my opinion and it will remain my opinion. It is as good as the Attorney General's political opinion even though to this point he has prevailed.
The issue has never been brought before a sitting judge in a Utah court.
And that is because no ordinary Utah taxpayer can afford the $100,000.00 it would take to get the issue into court.
And that is exactly why Attorney General Shurtliff continues to make Utah law by giving his opinion on issues we citizens can't afford to fight.
Dorothy
I think motorcycles some time have a kosmic effect on karmic justice. Case in point being the Attorney General's recent encounter with two wheels.
Find a nice collection about "Black Mark," the pirate Utah attorney General's motorcycle accident here:
Current Biker News Updated
The story collection about this GOP moron pussy can be found in the middle of the left column.
germ
The story got better after that news article in the Tribune. Seems like it was way more serious than a simple broken leg. Like seven breaks from this thigh to his ankle and more surgeries for him in the future.
Couldn't happen to a more worthy NeoCon in my estimation.
DL:
I'm in no position to argue the law on this with you and won't. But as you note, if it takes $100K to mount a legal challenge, and no one will or can put up that kind of bread to take it to court, then, as I said, this particular battle seems to have been lost. Rightly or wrongly, justly or not, this one seems to be effectively over.
On the Atty General's Accident:
I don't know enough about his politics and how he's conducted himself in office to make any great judgments about that. I know he's stood tall on the matter of gay rights, against the clear will of his own party in the state, and he gets some chops for that.
But regardless of his record, even if he was the blackest-hearted Republican backward-looking mindless Eagle-Forum lackey imaginable, I'm not yet so far gone in partisanship that I'd welcome in any way a cycle crash that broke both the man's legs and sent him under the knife twice.
I wish him well, and a speedy recovery.
Shurtleff has repeatedly turned his back on and abandoned the many and various people of Ogden that have taken serious concerns and lots of proofs to his office concerning Ogden mayoral malfeasance. The late great Dian carried on a long dialogue with his office while they pretended to be interested and strung her out for 6 to 8 months. There have been many others that have had simaliar experiences with our main law enforcement office of the state. It called getting shined on, toyed with and finally avoided.
They know how the little peckerwood operates and my guess is that a lot of them are pretty disgusted with his MO. But they chose to look the other way and to go along to get along.
Shurtliff and his office, and the Republican naybobs of Utah, have taken a hands off approach to the little dude. I don't think any of them like or respect him, but he is blazing a trail with this develope at all and any cost, and do it with public money regardless of what the people or the experts say. The powers that be just simply don't want to upset that apple cart or cast any shadows on practitioners of their grand wealth transference and empire building schemes.
Its all about a club of huge NeoCon egos who meet once a year in January in Salt Lake and give late night comedians tons of new material to make fun of Utah with. The whole world laughs and the citizens of Utah often get it in the shorts. This stiffing us by letting the little pecker head get away with the shit he does is about a big a poke in the eye as this gang can give us Land of Oz lovers.
I heard Hitler is running for mayor,YEA,anybody but Godfrey!
anybody but godfry:
How can you be against Godfrey?
He is a Republican. He goes to my church. He doesn't slap his wife.
Why doesn't Susie tell us how she's going to give the Ogden Citizens the Gang Unit back?
That Godfrey got rid of, by pulling those Officers into traffic, but doesn't have them working together anymore.
Its in title only.
I think SVH missed an opportunity. When asked for comment on Godfrey's decision to further protect the Mt Ogden park area, she should've said something to the effect of If he had reached this conclusion a couple of years ago he could've saved this city a lot of frustration. Instead he told people who were for protecting Mt Ogden park that they wanted to see Ogden fail, that they were CAVE dwellers (citizens against virtually anything). He should have actually done his job and seen what the public thought of the idea of selling the golf course and trails and looked into whether building houses and redesigning the golf course was actually feasible FIRST, rather than trying to force it down the city's throats. Keep in mind, if he had had his way 18 months ago, the chance to protect the Mt Ogden golf course and trails we be long gone.
Poor Schwebke, I wonder if he proof reads his finished product, or if he fails to comprehend the contadictions line by line. Could be he's just including his lying little matty quotes with previous background material and wants them to clash.
Lying little matty claims this is not a campain move to get votes. This realazation came to him while campaining, knocking on doors. Seems to me had he a desire to listen to the public he would have done this 2 years ago.
OUST LYING LITTE matty GONDOLA GODFREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bill:
Hey, I pile on Schwebke when I think his reporting is not what it should be, but you're off the mark on this one. He reported what Godfrey said in a news story. That's what he should have done. Contradiction of the Mayor's claim needs to come from his political opponents, not from the reporter. Schwebke was not endorsing what the Mayor said, merely reporting it, which in this particular story was absolutely the right thing for him to do. The Mayor's claim was not a matter of checkable fact [such as a claim about, for example, the amount of debt the city is carrying. It is Mr. Schwebke's job to check those kinds of claims and report in a story. But the Mayor this time was describing his motives for doing something, the origins of his idea. That's not checkable fact, and so Schwebke would have been wrong to challenge it himself.] He offered Ms. Van Hooser an opportunity to comment and she passed. [She is, I understand, attending a family funeral half a continent away, and doubtless was asked to comment on the phone about a Mayoral press release she'd either just been told about or had seen, if at all, only a short time before. I'd have passed too under those circumstances until I could look at the proposal more careful and reply thoughtfully.]
Mr. Schwebke did not drop the ball on this story. The story can be found here.
Just a reminder of Godfrey's "tough on gangs" stance. In the time he has been in office the gang division has not grown at all. 4 detectives and a Sgt. The traffic division, in the same time frame has more than doubled. It is now (and has been for a while) 10 officers and 2 Sgts. This is from 4 officers and 1 Sgt before he started.
Funny thing is that I do not see any improvement in the driving habits of people in Ogden from before the increase in the traffic division. That is, after all, the goal of the traffic division right? To pro-actively create safer driving habits through traffic enforcement.
Ooops, what was I thinking...My mistake. It is just a CASH COW for Godfrey!!!
Cato, don't be too hard on Susie Van Hooser. She is out of state to attend a family funeral. Right now her heart and thoughts are with family members as they should be.
Am I missing something?
Story in today's SE in the business section [link here] reports that:
An investment group with ties to area auto dealerships has bought a 1.5-acre parcel within the first phase of the proposed Ogden River Project for about $1.1 million. Homer Cutrubus, who is a partner with H&P Investments and Cutrubus Motors, which operates several car dealerships in Ogden and Layton, said efforts to initiate a specific proposal for developing the property may begin in mid-2008.
Am I missing something? I thought the end goal of the first phase of the river project redevelopment was a mixed use area building upon the scenic and recreational possibilities of the Ogden River. I thought it was going to be an area of outdoor oriented businesses, condos, fern bars, restaurants and small shops. Wasn't that the vision?
So far, as the story notes, there are now three projects under way: the Bingham Cyclery building [which fits the original design, clearly], a rehabilitation hospital [?] and now an auto-dealers facility of some.[Though the new buyer, the story reports, has not yet decided on exactly what will be built on the property.[ “We haven’t got plans at this time,” Cutrubus said. “There will be a structure (on the property) of some kind.”] In the only other activity in the River Project Phase One I know of, the city threw road block after road block in the path of an Ogden businessman who has been trying to open an Indian restaurant in the River Project Area for some time. [According to the businessman, the Mayor doesn't like the building he wants to open it in and has been trying to muscle him into tearing it down and building another or selling to the Mayor's associates who will develop it in ways the Mayor likes better.]
Was I wrong in my understanding of the design of the first phase of the River Project? [Outdoors oriented, condos, restaurants, fern bars and allied shoppes?] And if not, can someone explain how a rehabilitation hospital and auto-dealer facility of some sort fit in?
Waterboy:
Interesting numbers indeed. Thanks.
This cutrubus deal is intended to deflect the upcoming disclosure that the dept. of ecconomic development has been working directly for gadi. They have secured and transfered all these options over to gadi. I guess they figure including one local, campain contributer to lying little matty's campain, in the river devl. may just provide some political cover.
There's no way to disguise the fact that lying little matty and his administration team are flat out crooks.
I wish Neil Hansen was still in the race for mayor.
He has the courage to take on the hard issues and to represent the people, If either campaign wants to win this. They should be actively taking to him. I talk to him almost daily and he does not like what he is seeing going on in this city. He has some great ideas and nobody is cares to find out what they are! But at the same time they both want to win. I suggest they ask just what he wants for the city and then do what ever it take to get him on board. The election is yours to lose and the people will suffer. I would ask the question to all of you. When the election is over just what have you done to this city? Will you be pleased with the out come? This is your future as much as mine and I still think that Hansen has the key to the city as well as the Election?
JUST A COP, your statement is most interesting: “Why doesn't Susie tell us how she's going to give the Ogden Citizens the Gang Unit back? That Godfrey got rid of, by pulling those Officers into traffic, but doesn't have them working together anymore. Its in title only.” I know that I was unaware that the lying little mayor had moved the officers from the Gang Unit to Traffic. When did he do that? Is the Council aware that he dissolved the Gang Unit? Or was this another one of his “behind the scenes” maneuvers? This is just another example of what a lying, devious hypocrite Godfrey is! The public can NOT believe one thing he tells them. All the headlines that the sub-standard has given him about how he’s fighting the gangs and how crime has decreased in Ogden since he became mayor!!
Lovely Jennifer, there’s a question for you to ask Godfrey: Is the increase in gang-related activities and deaths, a result of his moving officers from the Gang Unit to Traffic?
Also, another question you could ask is: “Where does the revenue from the traffic citations and traffic school along with the money from “weed patrol” citations
go?
Has anyone noticed the increase in activity of the “weed patrol” since Lying Matty has hit the campaign trail? Everyone you talk to lately has been given a citation! Rather curious! Is it his revenge for the reception that he is receiving from residents or does he get a kickback?
Waterboy, Thanks for your comments and the additional information on the Gang Unit and the Traffic Unit: “Just a reminder of Godfrey's "tough on gangs" stance. In the time he has been in office the gang division has not grown at all. 4 detectives and a Sgt. The traffic division, in the same time frame has more than doubled. It is now (and has been for a while) 10 officers and 2 Sgts. This is from 4 officers and 1 Sgt before he started.” Someone needs to see exactly how many police officers we do have in the Gang Unit.
The SE would be doing the voters a favor if they would report the facts and not the campaign hype that many of the recent editions of the rag for the last several months have headlined. They don’t have to write an article on whom they endorse – it is obvious!
LET'S TAKE THE CITY BACK!! Let's get the word out about Ogden's Potential Rescuers: Susie Van Hooser, for Mayor, Caitlen Gochnour, Ward 4, Sheila Aardema and Amy Wicks, At Large Council Seats A and C! They should receive the same amount of headline and press coverage as Godfrey receives. These are very intelligent women with integrity, who will NOT be bought like a couple of men who were elected to the Council! What a fantastic City Government Ogden could have! We know from past experience, that the women are more conscientious, more honest, more dependable and make better government officials! Let’s get out and support them and GET THEM ELECTED!!
Schwebke must not read his own copy. It was reported that VanHosser had to go back East for a family emergency, and yet Schwebke disengenuously writes that she had 'no comment' about Godfrey's latest campaign ploy.
Shame on him. More of the SE's signing onto Godfrey's campaign tactics.
Whey does it take 3 weeks for the Godfrey legal team to save Mt Ogden Golf Course and park and trails?
Will he show his little mug tonite?
One of the best things SVH can say to the people is that she will listen to the Council, OGDEN'S LEGISLATIVE BODY, instead of the other way around.
It'll take more than Jeske's flashlites to uncover all the financial misdealings, cronyisms, land giveaways to FOM's without the public haaving a crack at them too. Untangling the knotted ball of twine that is 8 yrs of Matt's misdeeds, will need a forensics team and several torchlites.
Schwebke must not read his own copy. It was reported that VanHosser had to go back East for a family emergency, and yet Schwebke disengenuously writes that she had 'no comment' about Godfrey's latest campaign ploy.
Shame on him. More of the SE's signing onto Godfrey's campaign tactics.
Whey does it take 3 weeks for the Godfrey legal team to save Mt Ogden Golf Course and park and trails?
Will he show his little mug tonite?
One of the best things SVH can say to the people is that she will listen to the Council, OGDEN'S LEGISLATIVE BODY, instead of the other way around.
It'll take more than Jeske's flashlites to uncover all the financial misdealings, cronyisms, land giveaways to FOM's without the public haaving a crack at them too. Untangling the knotted ball of twine that is 8 yrs of Matt's misdeeds, will need a forensics team and several torchlites.
Sharon:
Sorry, but you too, along with Bill C, are off base on this one. Mr. Schwebke reached the candidate, as he should have done, gave her an opportunity to comment, as he should have done, and reported her reply, which was "no comment." I might have put it: "Ms. Van H, reached while out of town, said she had no comment at this time." But no more than that, and to be honest, I don't know of Ms. Van H. said "at this time" or simply said "no comment."
Schwebke did not drop the ball this time.
save ogden...
I once had a sex change and it hurt to become a woman. Is what really hurt was when they sucked out 2/3rds of my brain.
Listen Up:
The primary is over. Rep. Hansen did not make the final field. I wish lots of things. I wish the Mets had won the World Series last year. I wish Weber State was 3-0 in football today. I wish George Bush had not won his last election as President. I wish Bill O'Reilly had been born with a brain or a conscience [at least one of those two]. But none of those things happened.
There is little point to saying over and over that you'd wished something else had happened than what did. We have two candidates in the field now for Mayor, Matthew Godfrey and Susan Van Hooser. Those are the two the voters gave us.
The question for Hansen voters [of which I was one] now seems to me to be this: which of those two candidates is most likely, as Mayor, to advance the ideas, the issues for which Rep. Hansen campaigned in the primary.
Seems to me the answer to that question is clear: Ms. Van Hooser. Her victory in November will be in part at least a victory for some of the major issues Rep. Hansen spoke to in his campaign, like the city's need to pay serious attention to the growing gang violence problems in Ogden, and the need for a mayor who believes in open government as a matter of principle, and an end to the kind of behind-closed-doors cronyism that has marked the Godfrey administration all too often. A Godfrey victory will be, seems to me, amount to a rejection of very nearly all of them.
Wishin' endlessly that things had turned out differently achieves nothing at this point.
I was wondering when Homer Cutrubus' name would be coming up in regards to Ogden. I noted that Godfrey's financial disclosure listed him as giving $6,000 IIRC. At the time I wondered what he had in Ogden, now we know, he was negotiating the buy of RDA property.
He is building a mixed use development in Riverdale in a partnership with Big D, "The Crossings". It is at Riverdale Rd and 700 W. bottom of the viaduct over the river and RR tracks. Plans include some townhouse type housing along 4400 S an office building, a retail building and at least one resturant pad. So he could be looking at doing something other than car dealerships in Ogden.
Forgot to add that the project in Riverdale included an estimated $1.3 Million give away to him for which the City got virtually none of the things it had asked for. It supposibly assured the development of the entire piece of property from Riverdale Road to 4400 S.
Arcritic:
Thanks. I didn't know Cutrubus did MUD. Interesting that he was donating serious cash to Godfrey campaign at exactly the time he was negotiating to buy land in the River project RDA. Nice catch.
We all need to get as many campaign signs out there as possible for Gochnour, Ardema and Wicks. Get them plastered everywhere!
We just might make the illustrous WSJ when we have so many women being voted into city government! After all, Sally Field thinks that wars would end if mothers were in charge!
What better endorsement than that, eh?
Ha Ha Ha,
What brain? Saying that you had a sex change operation proves that you were so stupid (no brain) to think that would help you. Got news for you -- you're hopeless!! You sound just like bigoted little Godfrey who can't stand women -- he thinks that he can intimidate them with his bullying and who says he doesn't slap women?! Go suck your thumb, Dumbo!
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