What's the matter with the Ogden-Weber Chamber of Commerce?

By Curmudgeon

Mr. Dave Hardman [OWCC President and CEO] is in the Standard-Examiner this morning with another Op-Ed piece [written in tandem with the heads of the Davis C of C and the Brigham City Area C of C.] It's quite a piece of work.

The point of it is to convince voters to approve the transportation sales tax up for a vote this November. Hardman and Company spend much of their time belaboring the obvious: traffic in Weber and Davis Counties is a mess; the population is growing dramatically; traffic will get a lot worse unless we do something; whatever something we do will cost a lot of money. No reasonable person could argue with any of that.

Then Hardman & Co. move in for the kill: "The money generated by the additional quarter-cent sales tax," they tell us, "will fund mass transit projects, road construction and corridor preservation at current prices."

Quite a list. Very impressive. And "mass transit projects" right up there in the first spot among the benefits of passing that tax. Of course, what Mr. Hardman does not tell us is that in the suggested priority list of projects slated for Weber County [Ogden included] there is exactly one... count 'em one... transit project. A Bus Rapid Transit line from downtown to WSU and McKay Dee Hospital. That's it. [And he does not tell us either that Mayor Godfrey is fighting even that, hoping to preserve the route for his Quixotic gondola.] The overwhelming majority of the money [in the suggested Weber County priority projects list] will go to road construction, which, oddly, only makes second place on Mr. Hardman's list. Imagine that.

And what Mr. Hardman and Company also do not tell us is that none, repeat none, of the projects on the suggested priority list are guaranteed to be built with the tax money. That's right, none. UDOT and UTA and WACOG [Wasatch Area Council of Governments] which have to approve projects can spend the tax money, once it's approved, for other projects than the ones on the priority list. What they're saying is "give us the money without strings attached. Trust us to use it wisely. "

In the recent Salt Lake City referendum on a transportation tax, voters knew they were voting for new TRAX lines. Guarantees were given beforehand about what the money would be spent on. It wasn't a general transportation tax, it was a transit tax voters were asked to approve. That is not what is being proposed here. That is not what Mr. Hardman et al. are touting.

And of course, Mr. Hardman does not mention that he and the Ogden-Weber Chamber of Commerce have been touting, loudly, for two years now, the selling of the city's parklands in the foothills to a real estate developer for a gated community of vacation villas in order to raise money to build Mayor Godfrey his gondola --- a plan the Mayor has now announced he not only no longer supports, but a project he now recognizes was never feasible in the first place because the land is too steep to build all those vacation villas on anyway. [Apparently, Mr. Hardman and the Chamber he leads either did not notice that the land was steep, or the land has suddenly gotten a lot steeper than it was two years ago. Take your pick.]

Which means Mr. Hardman and his Chamber backed the project without, apparently, having done any research to see if it was feasible or not. Mr. Hardman followed the Mayor and the Chamber followed Mr. Hardman straight over the cliff, without fear and without research. Which at least entitles us to ask of Mr. Hardman if he and the Chamber have put any more work into researching the tax proposal and its impact than they evidently put into backing the park sale and gondola fiasco.

I don't know if the tax is a good idea or not. I haven't decided yet. There are reasonable arguments to be made on both sides. But the tax advocates and the members of the Ogden-Weber Chamber of Commerce do their cause little good by sending Mr. Hardman out to write op-eds that dissemble, and obscure, and leave out key information that voters ought to have. I'd have found a full consideration of the proposal, pros and cons, leading to the Chamber's decision to support it far more convincing than the blending of the obvious with convenient half-truths and omissions Mr. Hardman and his co-authors served up to Ogden voters this morning in the Std-Ex.

Update 10/10/07 3:27 p.m. MT: A Not so subtle reminder: Amy Wicks, who is running for the Council again, will be at Grounds for Coffee at 30th and Harrison today, Oct. 10th, from 7 pm till 9 pm. Great chance to meet the Councilwoman and talk with her about what concerns you most about Ogden -- or what you like most and want to see preserved. A chance to ask questions and make your views known, straight up and face to face.