We find three articles in this morning's Standard-Examiner which should be of interest to our Weber County Forum readership.
By far the most important item of the day is this story, in which Scott Schwebke reports that the council approved the Mt. Ogden Community Plan, which was the main item on the council agenda at last night's meeting. We incorporate here Ace Reporter Schwebke's pertinent paragraphs:
"OGDEN — Following months of public input, the city council Tuesday night amended the municipality’s general plan by adopting a community plan for the Mount Ogden area.Now that this new plan has been formally adopted, and thereby becomes a part of the Emerald City General Plan, we offer a hearty Weber County Forum Tip O' The Hat to each and every Emerald City citizen who participated in our community's herculean effort to bring the plan into fruition. As we've noted before, thousands of hours of citizen efforts contributed to this remarkable achievement, in a political environment in which Boss Godfrey and his administration fought like demons to undermine the process, and to thwart the will of the lumpencitizens. Emerald City citizens should be quite proud of themselves this morning, for their remarkable demonstration of democracy in action.
Community plans have a narrower focus than the general plan and are used to balance the interests of the city and neighborhoods in addressing such issues as transportation, infrastructure, housing and public safety.
The Mount Ogden Community plan was developed by several citizen committees, the city council, and the municipality’s planning commission.
The 30-page document details characteristics and objectives important to the Mount Ogden area.
Those characteristics include community identity, land use, parks, open space, public infrastructure and services. ...
"Several objectives in the Mount Ogden Community Plan seemed aimed at Peterson’s proposal.
For example, the plan says the city should retain ownership of Mount Ogden Golf Course, an adjoining park and adjacent undeveloped open space and trails.
The city’s ordinances should also be revised to prohibit new gated communities and subdivisions in the Mount Ogden area, the plan states.
In addition, the plan recommends development of a citywide open space plan that creates an open space inventory and explores options for funding open space priorities. Also, open space zoning should be retained on Mount Ogden area land currently designated as such, the plan states."
We'll also briefly highlight the two other stories, with minimal editorial comment:
Sam Cooper's report of last night's mayoral candidate forum is available here; and we invite any gentle readers who attended this event to carry on the discussion, and offer their further comments below.
Finally, as regular readers already know, Judge Baldwin of the Second District Court dismissed Ms. Littrell's lawsuit yesterday, as Tim Gurrister reports this morning. Inasmuch as this matter is now dismissed, without leave to amend, we trust that this will be the end of the discussion of this topic, and that we can all move forward to deal with the primary issues concerning our 2007 municipal election, which looms less than two weeks from today.
What's on the minds of our gentle readers this morning?
Update 10/24/07 10:57 a.m. MT: One reader has emailed us, requesting that we publish a reminder notice concerning tonight's Godfrey/Van Hooser debate. Once again, here's the event information: 7:00 p.m. today, Ogden Eccles Conference Center, 2415 Washington Boulevard, small ballroom. We also plan to establish a separate article thread early in the evening, dedicated to comments and observations from those readers who do attend.
37 comments:
Congratulations to the Mt. Ogden Community: Our new Community Plan was approved unanimously last night by the City Council. And they made a great final round of changes, such as removing all reference to the clubhouse relocation and adding a very strong statement on keeping the entire Mt. Ogden Park complex in public ownership.
The end was somewhat anticlimactic. Only two citizens (Deb Badger and David Smith) spoke, and both simply thanked the Council and asked them to adopt the plan without further delay.
All Council members were present and several of them commented on what a positive process this has been for the city. I only wish someone had publicly recognized Smart Growth Ogden for organizing the petition to initiate the planning process.
The mayor did not attend the meeting, nor did John Patterson. The administration was represented by Mark Johnson, who made no comments.
Dan S:
Yes, it would have been nice had someone on the Council given SGO a nod. As I recall, it was an SGO-called community meeting at Wasatch Elementary School [organized and paid for by SGO] that started the process off. The later meetings were organized and run by the Planning Commission and, finally, the Council, but without SGO starting the process off and building community support for it, it would not have happened. So a mention at least would have been nice.
But you know, in the end --- and full disclosure here, I have been and am an active supporter of SGO --- the people of SGO have the best possible thanks for their work, the best possible monument to what they began over a year ago now. It's called "The Mount Ogden Community Plan." Recognition enough, I think
The Salt Lake Trib this morning has an interesting story about last night's Council meeting not reported in the SE. The story, by Kristin Moulton, can be found here.
Here are some key graphs:
OGDEN - Ogden residents will be asked to swallow huge increases in their water rates next year, but it's possible one of their biggest complaints - that the water stinks and tastes bad during summer - may not get fixed anytime soon.
The City Council debated Tuesday night the ramifications of holding up the Water Horizons Rate Study while city engineers study what it would take to fix problems at the plant that filters water from Pineview Reservoir. "The state may say it's safe, but it's unacceptable. It stinks. It literally stinks," said council member Amy Wicks. "It smells like taking the lid off my aquarium."
And... Replacing the filtration plant and pipe to Ogden - a possible $46 million expense - wasn't on the list of projects brought to the table by city administrators.... Mark Johnson, the city's management services director, said the administration considered the filtration plant problems to be less pressing than other infrastructure needs.
Mayor Godfrey, running true to his core beliefs, insisted that studying the problem, and its dimensions, and possible solutions, and the best way to raise money to pay for them, is a waste of time. From the story:
Mayor Matthew Godfrey has called the council's rate study as unnecessary.
For those still undecided about the mayor's race, that statement alone, and the "decision first, get the facts later" management style is springs from, should provide a great deal of food for thought. And kudos to Councilwoman Wicks for reminding Hizzonah's administration that stinking water coming out of the city's taps into homes is not a minor matter.
[NB: in fairness to the SE, let me point out that SL Trib did not cover the Council's action on the Mt. Ogden Community Plan. The SE's policy is to cover only one Council meeting topic per story, and I presume the water matter will be covered in a later story.]
The SL Trib also has coverage this morning of the dismissal of the Littrell lawsuit. It can be found here. It does not include anything of substance not reported by the SE.
Will any attorneys on this list please comment on whether the East Bench parks and golf course are now truly and completely safe from greedy hands?
ogdenlover,
I'm not an attorney, but I do know this: When it comes to real estate and development, there's no way to be truly and completely safe from anything.
It'll be interesting to see this restrictive covenant document that Godfrey says he'll sign today. How such a document can legally tie the hands of future governments (or even himself in the future) is beyond me. Also, he said pretty plainly last night that the "protected" area will not include all of the city's foothill property. Presumably there will be a legal description of the protected land, which we'll need to read carefully.
From Cooper's mayor candidate forum article:
"Oftentimes, people that you cross sabers with, and disagree with, become your greatest allies," Godfrey said.
Oh yeah? Did Godfrey provide an example of any time that's ever happened?
Curmudgeon, I have to disagree with your statement: "without SGO starting the process off and building community support for it, it would not have happened." Most of the Council members have always been very concerned about keeping the Mt. Ogden Golf Course and Park and surrounding areas as open space. Susie Van Hooser and Dorrene Jeske have spent hours looking at ways to keep it as it is. Also, they both insisted that the Mt. Ogden Community Plan be developed and added to the General Plan before any zoning changes were done or any development plans or agreements were considered.
I agree with Rudi, the Council performed very well, spending hours reviewing and discussing the recommendations made by the citizens and planning commission, making sure that the plan was what the residents wanted.
Kudos to the Council!
OgdenLover, the restrictive covenants that the Mayor has said that he will place on the Mt. Ogden park area is the best assurrance that the land will not be sold nor developed. That covenant would have to be removed, and I'm not sure what that process consists of, but the Council last night in approving the Mt. Ogden Community Plan, made it difficult and a long drawn-out process before it could be sold and it gives the Council the only control they have over the sale of park and golf course. The community plan would have to be amended and the General Plan would have to be modified as would the zoning. It would take a majority of the Council to vote for these changes, so unless Eccles, Peterson and Johnson are elected to the Council, the open space at the golf course and park will not be changed for some time.
The Des News has a write-up of the erstwhile caped crusader tackling a bicycle thief last nite! Interesting that Godfrey took on the bandit all by himself without calling his new crime fighting/reporting number!
Rudi...perhaps you can link this exciting story?
SE reports Mayor Godfrey catches drunken would-be bicycle thief. The story is up as "breaking news" on the paper's free website and can be found here.
OGDEN — Mayor Matthew Godfrey took down a would-be robber early this morning as the man tried to ride a way on a bicycle taken from the mayor’s home. According to the police report, at 2:56 this morning, a 20-year-old man tried to first break into the mayor’s home before taking a bicycle from the Godfreys’ shed. As he tried to ride away, Godfrey “took (the suspect) to the ground,” and the man lay their until police arrived.
According to the story, the alleged thief is the Mayor's neighbor, with a substantial arrest record to his name. From the story:
The man was booked into Weber County Jail on suspicion of burglary, robbery, possession of marijuana, unlawful consumption of alcohol and public intoxication. He was arrested in September on separate burglary charges, and was released on his own recognizance, Ogden Police Chief Greiner said.
“Why’s this guy even out of jail?” Greiner said. “There’s a breakdown here.”
Very good question, Chief Greiner. Very good question. Maybe you could look into it and find an answer or two?
Prediction:
The Godfrey apprehends would-be bike thief story is going to generate more fatuous blather [from both sides of the political divide] than we've seen in some time. Hope I'm wrong, but that's what I'd put my money on, if I were a betting man.
That said, I'm glad he nailed the guy and I'm glad the Mayor was not seriously hurt. Apparently he tackled one of the eight people in Utah who don't tote guns everywhere they go. Very fortunate.
Godfrey's bicycle is his most prized possession.
And apparently the thief was one of the eight people in Utah smaller than the Mayor.
I know, I know, very petty. But I couldn't help myself.
What's lying little matty's bike doing in some shed? The way he went on and on about things like fresh air fridays, and how he's adopted a new high adventure outdoor recreation lifestyle now, though offering no specifics, how could we interpret this?
Furthermore, just what is a high adventure recreation life style? How does this apply to an urban center, like Ogden?
Please if you respond, focus on the high adventure aspects.
Beaver:
The would-be thief was presumably bloined and stoned to such degrees that he allowed Lord Littlebrook to whoop his ass, "...[acting] quite heroically."
Yeah. My good God.
I offer an example to all of you that should cause at least some questioning of lying little matt'y sincerity, as well as establish some serious questioning of how he's been doing things here abouts.
I believe I touched on this briefly some time back, but here goes again.
Outdoor capitol of the country, lying little matty continues to boast. There is an outfit in Riverdale, Canyon Sports. They have just moved about a block from their previous location. Thes folks are truely the best outdoor recreation retailer in these parts. They offer everything that this mayor has tried to define as outdoor recreation, climbing gear, kayaks, backpacking equipment ski equipment, as well as all sorts of clothing and accessories.
They knew their lease would be up, and that the exsisting location wasn't adequate to accommidate their future needs. They were shopping around for somewhere to relocate. Since they weren't insiders of lying little matty's close knit circle of supporters willing to endorse and advocate all his little propositions,good and bad, they weren't offered any incentives to move to Ogden, in fact they were treated rather coldly.
Was lying little matty protecting the interests of Bingham, who competes with them in the bicycle arena, or just servicing his own ego because they don't sing his praises, or both.
Canyon Sports represents sorely need retail and the sales tax revenues that Ogden so desperately needs, lying little matty has eluded to this on many occassions.
He's spent conciderable time and resourse recruiting little outfits like Kahuna, that offer no retail and no sales tax revenues.
As you concider the value of these efforts ot branding our city, please also concider how these efforts are being done.
Was that a staged bicycle robbery, with none other than Bob Geiger taking the fall for his liege's political benefit?
Well, from what I've seen so far, I'd say I bet the right way.
Show some respect, people!
I am "the" man, and I'll be your mayor for the next four years, and for as long as I want!
Ask the Standard-Examiner, if you don't believe me!
And that makes you feel, oh-so superior, doesn't it Curmudgeon?
In adddition being flexible on the issues, that rubbery spine also makes it easier to pat yourself on the back. No?
Do you suppose the little bicycle caper at the little lord's house last night will end up in his crime statistics?
PeeWee sure is protective of that shiny bicycle ain't he!
Oh no. Now by Godfrey reporting the incident that makes for another incident to be reported in the Unified Crime Report (UCR), the Utah Bureau of Criminal Identification (BCI), and the Greiner Report. Wonder how he is going to fudge the numbers there. He should have helped his cause and not reported the incident and taken the R&O money (the $7,500 not reported) to buy another bicycle.
Darn the luck...
Cameron Greener Sucks!
What a schmuck!
Obviously you all don't read the news, or at least don't read the news carefully, because besides the report from the paper, everything else has been spin. According to the Deseret News it was his daughters bike and the guy, it appears, was quite larger than the Mayor. Good Heavens, the man was defending his family and property while you all just critize- Don't you guys wonder if you are a tad out of touch with regular people on this one?
Lying little matty finally found his high adventure.
Websters New Wold dictionary defines adventure, 1. a daring, hazardous undertaking 2.an unusual, stirring, often romantic experience.
We all ready knew he fit one of their definitions of, adventurer, the second one.
adventurer, one who has or seeks adventure 2. one who seeks to become rich, etc. by dubious schemes-
I don't know how to break it to you, "young idealist."
If you're backing Matt Godfrey, you've been suckered by a con man.
Happens a lot in Utah, I understand, the home of trusting, gullible people -- the state that's otherwise known throughout the USA as the Fraud Capitol of America.
You want 'regular people", Idealist?
Stick with All Bran and prunes.
Hey young idealist, speaking of spin, the DN said nothing about the size of eithe the bicycle or the neighbor.
Lying little matty is not that big, we all know, perhaps he has a need for a small bike, and his close relationship with Tom Moore might explain why it would be of the female's variety.
Just a thought.
Beaver:
You wrote: And that makes you feel, oh-so superior, doesn't it Curmudgeon?
No, Beaver. Just resigned to and bemused at the American political process and its passion for elevating the trivial into significance, and demoting the significant into the trivial. It happens so often now, with such regularity that it's become as predictable as the tides. That's all.
Young idealist:
You wrote: "Obviously you all don't read the news, or at least don't read the news carefully, because besides the report from the paper, everything else has been spin. According to the Deseret News it was his daughters bike and the guy, it appears, was quite larger than the Mayor. Good Heavens, the man was defending his family and property while you all just critize-
Well, once again, you've demonstrated an alarming inability to read carefully or well. Not everyone here has criticized the mayor for nabbing the bike thief. And speaking about spin....
So far as we can tell from the police report, the Mayor took off after his drunken young neighbor and subdued the drunk until the cops came. I'm glad he did that, and that his drunken young neighbor is now locked up. I'm also glad the Mayor was not seriously injured as he might well have been if the drunk was a little less whacked and had been carrying a weapon. Truly glad he came through with only minor scratches.
But as the report stated, when the Mayor took off after him, he was riding away from the house with the purloined bike. [Does it matter to you, Young Idealist, that it was the daughter's bike? Would it have been any different if it had been the Mayor's bike? I don't think so. But for your spin purposes, it seems to matter to you.]
A point perhaps worth noting from all this is that the Mayor lives in what the realtors like to call a "nice part of town." If drunk dopers are trying to break into houses in the Mayor's neighborhood in the middle of the night, it kind of underlines the fact that crime in Ogden is a city wide problem, not just one involving gang shootings in the mid-city blocks. And that perhaps over the last four years a little less time should have been spent by He Who Was In Charge meeting endlessly with people to find ways to sell the park to build a gondola, and more time focusing on the problem of providing basic services to Ogden's residents. Like crime control, something I'd prefer my mayors to focus on rather a lot, and not simply when an election looms.
He done good. He's not seriously hurt. A presumptive criminal is now in jail. All that is good news. What is says about the wisdom of re-election is another matter. Unless you plan, should your home be broken into in the middle of the night, to call Mayor Godfrey instead of 911, I don't think it bears much on the question of whether it would be wise to return him for a third term.
Do you?
Not only is crime a problem, but the perception of crime is as well. I was a "streetwalker for Susie" (my term, not hers) a few weekends ago and rang doorbells in the upper East Bench. The number of burglar-barred screen/storm doors really surprised me. Most of these doors were answered by elderly ladies, btw.
Curm:
Just to underline what I think you're saying, following people around, calling in their license numbers, and tackling drunks on stolen bicycles is NOT part of the Mayor's job description.
What is in that job description is keeping accurate statistics on what crimes have occurred, and then deciding on the best policies to ensure crime is reduced.
The statistics pushed out by the mayor after my column yesterday indicate that armed robberies dropped from 107 to 35 between 2004 and 2005. No one has cared to comment on this, and so it seems like the mayor hasn't even read his own stats.
The same document claims the violent crime rate in 1992 was 0.0, when even I can see it was 5.5.
It's like no one has read these stats, or cared to, beyond using these obviously faulty numbers to claim a "43%" or "21%" reduction in crime.
I don't think it's too much to ask that the mayor and his appointee, the chief, sit down and say, "Gosh, I wonder why our numbers don't match the FBI or Utah BCI numbers? Does it matter for crime reduction that we get these numbers right? If not, why are we collecting them, and reporting them as a victory?"
This lack of an ability to criticize oneself is the etymology of the word "hypocritical".
One of the personality traits associated with sociopathy is the inability to find fault in their own actions.
In Mayor Godfrey's world he can find nothing to fault in his own actions.
Another trait of this disorder is blaming one's victims, something the Mayor does with some frequency.
Jim:
My prediction: he will ignore the numbers. He's had some luck. The day after the numbers ran in the paper, the judge ruled on the suit. Then the Drunk Neighbor Nabbed headline will be top news tomorrow. Debate tonight. He's not going to address the discrepancy in the numbers at all. His handlers see no benefit whatever to his doing so, so he will continue to claim 43% reduction.
The institution that is supposed to be calling politicians and elected officials to account when they make stuff up or report numbers on anything not sustained by the evidence is the Fourth Estate, aka the press. But that is precisely the kind of aggressive journalism aimed at public officials that the SE does not do much of. Sadly.
In fairness, the entire American press has not done much by way of holding government officials [any level] to account for their statements. Look at he pass the national media gave President Bush in the two years following 911. Very nearly total abdication of the role Jefferson thought essential for the success of the Republic. So the SE is, at the moment, fitting into the national trend, I'm afraid.
And so hizzonah will go on ignoring the difference between his claimed crime states and those reported by the FBI and BCI, and will not be called on to explain the discrepancies outside of the letter column, blogs and the occasional op ed piece.
Saw the news report at 10:00 p.m. on Channel 2 with bits of the Godfey-van Hooser debate tonight.
I couldn't believe that the mayor of Ogden appeared in the debate with no tie and no jacket. In contrast Susan van Hooser looked very fashionable and came across very well indeed.
She certainly outclassed Godfrey in appearance and presentation.
I hope there are more televised newscasts as Susie left the mayor in the dust on this one tonight.
Godfrey made it a point to tell how many ski companies he had brought to Ogden. Also someone said that Godfrey wants to add white collar jobs and van Hooser believes in adding manufacturing jobs.
I would think that the manufacturing jobs will add a lot more to the wage base than white collar jobs. He must think everybody coming to town will be a top executive making $100,000.00 grand a year.
But then Godfrey never has come across as a realist.
Update:
Truly healthy local economies have a mix of business types. Mono economies --- defined, let's say as communities whose prosperity depends heavily one one kind of business or industry --- are notoriously subject to booms and busts. Ogden needs a diversified economy, of which ski and outdoor-oriented business can and I hope will, play an important role, but it needs other economic growth as well. "Most of our eggs in one economic basket" is not a wise plan for a city's economic growth or stability. It had better not be a matter of either/or with respect to ski businesses or other manufacturing. If Ogden is to have stable long term sustainable growth, it had better be both/and.
Bill C., I was at the work meeting with Councilwoman Jeske mentioned to Harmer that the businesses in the building where Canyon Sports used to be were going to have to move because Tony DeVino had bought that building for his car business, and she suggested that they contact and encourage them to consider moving to either the Junction or River project. Councilwoman Van Hooser agreed and said there was a pastry store that she said would be a real asset to Ogden and suggested that the Economic Development Department look into bringing it to downtown. As we know, none of those businesses have moved to Ogden. Kind of makes you wonder if being close neighbors and knowing what a rat fink Godfrey is had something to do with why they're not down town. I've said many times that I know Godfrey has driven as many if not more businesses from Ogden than he has brought -- what happened to that multi-million dollar Hispanic center that a developer wanted to bring to the block between Monroe and Quincy and 24th and 25th? Godfrey drove the first developers of the new proposed development on the old mall site away so that the taxpayers of Ogden could build a place that looks like some cheap carnival place for Fat Cats and Gold's Gym complete with their equipment. We don't need a mayor whose economic development is so screwed up. We need a mayor who welcomes ALL development proposals that fit within the zoning requirements and allows free enterprise. But Godfrey is stuck in RDA land and believes that the Ogden taxpayers' pockets are bottomless. THROW THE SCREWBALL OUT OF OFFICE NOVEMBER 6TH!
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