Residents and several businesses are angry about an access-restricting raised median that went up on Washington Boulevard last month without public hearings or prior notification.And why has the barrier gone up [and with no, repeat not public notice]? Why, to accommodate development in the River Project zone of course. From the story:
A small yellow curb divides the state-owned Washington Boulevard between 18th Street and 20th Street and keeps drivers from making left turns in or out of businesses and apartment complexes.
Jim Koertge, proprietor of the Prairie Schooner Steak House, 445 Park Blvd., said the inconvenience has already hurt his business, which has its main access from Washington Boulevard.
"Locals will find a way to get here even if it's a long way around, but tourists won't," he said, adding that out-of-towners account for 80 percent of his business.
A half block away, at Nationwide Auto Glass, the sentiment is the same.
"I think it's terrible and it's damaging our business," said Chris Johnson, a manager at Nationwide. "I don't think it does any real good."
In 2006, Ogden applied for a permit from the Utah Department of Transportation to give Park Boulevard an access on the west side of Washington as part of a redevelopment agency project along the Ogden River. Before that, Park ended at the east side of Washington.UDOT thought all this was not a good idea, particularly because the city wanted...
the intersection off-set to provide some space between the river and Park on the west side of Washington, said Adan Corrillo, a spokesman for UDOT". [...]OK, to summarize: City wants new road alignment at Washington and the River, that UDOT thinks is a bad idea. But if the city insists, UDOT will comply but expects the city to do proper notification of pending change for businesses and residents. And what happened then?
"This proposal would create unacceptable conflicts with the left turn movements. In order to mitigate these conflicts, a considerable length of raised median would have to be constructed. This would be a costly addition and would also have impacts on existing access in the area," Pope wrote in the July 10 letter. "If the City still desires to move forward with the original proposal, we will be happy to assist in recommendations for the raised median. We would also expect the City to take appropriate measures to inform adjacent communities of the change in access prior to beginning the project."
According to its rules, UDOT must hold a public hearing "where the project would have a substantially different social, economic or environmental effect; or where the project would essentially change the layout or function of connecting roads or streets."Gosh darn it, says Mr. Patterson, Godfrey's CAO, we just forgot. Sorry 'bout that. And what, you might ask, does the Godfrey administration propose to do about its failure to do what the law requires? Nothing:
A public meeting should have been held, Carrillo said, but it was the city's responsibility, because it was the entity requesting the access to the state road.
Koertge said he never heard about the project until construction began last month. Patterson said the city did not hold any public hearings because they were unaware of the UDOT policy. He said the city intended to notify the affected residents and businesses before construction began, but there was a breakdown in communication.
"There was a gentleman in our office who was responsible for notifying the people," he said. "But he left and delegated it to someone else, and it didn't happen."
At this point, Patterson said, there is not much the city can do."The median is in and it's not going to be coming out," he said. "We're just complying with what UDOT required."Why, Mr. K? Because the Godfrey administration does not much give a damn about already established local businesses. It is devoting its full energies to enriching its developer cronies and to concocting grandiose schemes to lure Paris Hilton to stay in Ogden to ride gondolas. If your business, and others, have to suffer to achieve great wealth for Godfrey cronies, well that's just the sacrifice you will, as a public spirited citizen business man, you will have to make, I guess.
For Koertge, the issue is not closed. He said he can't understand how UDOT and the city could be so careless concerning their taxpaying constituency.
"After 30 years of business, I've never seen anything like this," said the white-bearded Koertge at his rustic restaurant that has become an Ogden landmark. "Really, it hurts your feelings. It gives you a funny feeling in your stomach. Why would they do something like this to you?"
Often in sports, when a team finds a way to use a violation to its best advantage, the rules committee changes the rules. So it should be for political campaigns. And, fortunately, several lawmakers gearing up for the 2008 legislative session are on-board for altering "business as usual" when it comes to campaign finance reform.We in Emerald City have recently had our own unpleasant experiences with the laxness of our current campaign finance disclosure laws, of course; and we wish these two legislators our best in their possibly "uphill effort" to achieve meaningful reform during the next legislative session.
Unfortunately, getting campaign finance reforms through the state Legislature can be like ushering a cat through a dog pound.
On the upside, Rep. Greg Hughes would like to see fines for candidates who fail to file critical disclosure forms on time. Currently their names are simply lifted from the ballot or the candidate will get a judge to waive the penalty and allow them to be put on the ballot.
Rep. Sheryl Allen says that too many office holders also play shell games with disclosure reports. They refuse to list substantial contributors and expenditures on the initial report, then file an amended report after the election is over in order to avoid criticism and scrutiny. [...]
The fines suggested would be stingers: $1,000 for filing a late report, with $50 added to that for each day after the deadline. A proposal also would ding candidates for amending reports.
“I don’t think public safety is being compromised,” he said.Well yes -- for our Ogden City Firefighters there's always the old "tin cup." Thank goodness for those federal grants -- and we're keeping our fingers crossed.
Nevertheless, he vowed to leave no stone unturned in his search for funding to beef up staffing, purchase new equipment and renovate aging fire stations.
“I’m looking under any rocks that I can for money,” Mathieu said. [...]
The city is using a $375,000 Federal Emergency Management Agency pre-disaster mitigation grant and a local match of $125,000 from its capital improvement budget to upgrade Station No. 5.
That work should be complete in June. The fire department will use the renovation project as a template to determine specific costs for seismic and structural improvements at other stations, Mathieu said.
Although the department has applied for several federal grants to address some of its most pressing needs, there is no guarantee funding will be forthcoming, which means the city may have to step up to the plate, said City Councilwoman Dorrene Jeske.Jeske's suggestion seems sensible enough. Stepping up to the plate (providing adequate funding) is the manner in which other cities fund their fire departments. We'll presume, at least for the moment, that most other cities don't compel their city fire chiefs to lurk around the local federal building, begging for spare change.
“We can’t depend on grants to remedy the problems,” she said. “The city is going to have to take the bull by the horns, and we are going to have to fund it one way or another.”
Let's see now. The Ogden Fire Department is "short" $5.7 million, and Ogden City will be "charging off" some $6.3 million in "uncollectable" receivables.
Coincidence? Misplaced priorities, perhaps?
And a gentle (but possibly unecessary) reminder to our Emerald City readers this holiday season: We hope you'll all pay particular attention to fire safety this year.
And one thing more: If you see Chief Mathieu standing outside a store today, along-side the Salvation Army guy -- as you finish any last-minute Christmas shopping -- we hope you'll be sure to drop a little change in his cup.
The photo:a) Singer, model, actress, author, and world-famous heiress/gadabout Paris Hilton.
b) Pop music singer, songwriter, dancer, actress and model mom Britney Spears.
c) Comedienne, actress, talk show host, businesswoman, and celebrity Joan Rivers.
d) Utah State Senator, Ogden Police Chief and certifiably macho all-round tough guy Jon Greiner.
The city’s Redevelopment Agency adopted a resolution Tuesday night that retroactively ratifies Mayor Matthew Godfrey’s transfer of 38 property purchase options within the second phase of the Ogden River Project to California businessman Gadi Leshem. ...In these tidbits of information, we find the Little Lord invoking at least 4 rules from the historical game of Calvinball, to wit:
City Council Chairman Jesse Garcia said the RDA board, which is made up of the city council, didn’t learn until October that the city had obtained and transferred 38 options in the project’s second phase to Leshem.
The resolution approved Tuesday night will keep the RDA in the loop regarding future option transfers, Garcia said. “The RDA board should be kept informed,” he said.
• 1.2 Any player may declare a new rule at any point in the game. The player may do this audibly or silently depending on what zone (Rule 1.5) the player is in.For a complete listing of the rules to the aforementioned game of Calvinball, please go to The Official Rules of Calvinball.
• 1.4 Any player legislation may be in the form of pain, embarrassment, or any other abasement the rulee deems fit to impose on his opponent.
• 1.5 The Calvinball Field should consist of areas, or zones, which are governed by a set of rules declared spontaneously and inconsistently by players. Zones may appear and disappear as often and wherever the player decides. Zones are often named for their effect.
• 1.9 Any rule above that is carried out during the course of the game may never be used again in the event that it causes the same result as in a previous game.
"Some talk about how he [Southwick] used his membership in the LDS Church to assure investors or potential investors about his honesty and the safety of their investments. Brad Hatch told of one investor, who, after payments stopped, went to speak to Southwick on behalf of others with whom he had vouched for Southwick. Southwick invoked the Sunday school lesson he was planning that week about the need for patience.Where, we ask, have we heard that story before?
"That gave credibility to him, that Val was telling the truth," Hatch said.
Enemies? We believe that may be a bit of an overstatement. Let's just say that almost half the voters in Emerald City apparently believed a reckless-spending authoritarian like Boss Godfrey is unfit for elective public office. That doesn't however mean any of us are enemies.OGDEN — Mayor Matthew Godfrey says he spent a record $181,948 in last month’s general election to fend off opposition to some of his controversial initiatives so he could win a third term.
“There is an old saying in politics that ‘Your friends come and go, but your enemies accumulate,’ ” he said.
“I have eight years of enemies who haven’t liked any of a number of my projects. I had to spend a lot more money to get my message out.”
Godfrey said The Junction, an entertainment and retail development at the former Ogden City Mall site, and the Ogden River Project, which calls for the construction of businesses and residential units on 60 acres near downtown, are among his pet projects that have drawn the most criticism.Noticeably absent from Godfrey's "issues list" is of course the gondola/landgrab issue, the radioactive problem that caused a near civil war in our formerly bucolic community over the past several years. Except for fancy footwork on Boss Godfrey's part, this politically toxic issue probably would have scuttled Godfrey's re-election campaign entirely -- yet Godfrey fails to recognise it as having been a "problem" issue. We suppose however that it's OK for Boss Godfrey to ignore this pesky issue, and to continue to live in his world of self-delusion. The voters of Emerald City had the opportunity to give Godfrey a dose of true reality in November after all... and Boss Godfrey's "mushroom vision" prevailed (fair and square) by 449 votes.
However, those amounts pale when compared with the recent Salt Lake City mayoral race between Ralph Becker and Dave Buhler.Being the curious type, we went back to the official Weber County election data, did a quick calculation and determined that Boss Godfrey spent approximately $25.10 per vote, a few pennies more than the prevailing SLC mayoral candidate Becker, who reportedly spent $24.26 per vote. Godfrey's campaign spending wasn't necessarily over extravagant therefore, at least when taking into consideration the standards of our big-city neighbor down south. Nevertheless, (so long as we're keeping it all in context) we'll make the point that candidate Becker's unsuccessful opponent Buhler actually outspent Becker (per vote) -- on a relatively equal financial playing field -- whereas Godfrey outspent Van Hooser by nearly a 3 to 1 margin -- on a financial playing field that was anything but even. And we can't overlook Godfrey's own proud admission: "Godfrey said the amounts raised and spent by his campaign are the most ever by a local candidate."
Becker raised $683,201 in campaign contributions and spent $668,580; Buhler raised $489,952 and spent $485,682.
After The Bookshelf is closed, there’s going to be this moment when I stand outside, pound on the glass and yell, “Books! Books!”You can read the rest of the article here.
If you are familiar with the movie “The Graduate,” Dustin Hoffman does the same thing, for the same reason, at a church door. It is a last-gasp attempt to stop agonizing, gut-wrenching loss.
OK, he is calling “Elaine!”, played by actress Katharine Ross, who is, I’m pretty sure, not a book. Other than that, the parallel is complete.
I’ve been in Ogden 29 years. The Bookshelf, between 24th and 25th streets on Washington Boulevard, has been here 27.
It is something one assumes will never go away –– then Pat Ortega, the owner, gets this silly idea he can sell the building and retire.
Really, Pat, isn’t the world cruel enough?
Notably, Commissioner Lythgoe (who has a property interest in an parcel of property adjacent to the proposed development) abstained from voting on the matter, thus demonstrating ethics of the highest order, we think.Commissioner William Siegel said he wanted to vote against the rezone, but realized if the Ogden Valley Planning Commission voted it down, the proposal would just go to the Weber County Commission, which often votes differently.
“Denying this would be just liking punting the ball into their side of the field,” he said.He said the best option was to approve the rezone with stiff conditions, although the County Commission can still remove any requirements.
So, Mr. Harmer "forgot" to tell the Council. The same Mr. Harmer, I believe, who refused to tell the Council who the Mayor wanted to sell the Bootjack properties too... which turned out to be another Administration crony buying city land not offered to others [and in that case, land someone had offered more for]. Now we learn the Administration made a secret arrangement with one of the Mayor's cronies to covertly act as his agent in acquiring options for him on 38 parcels in the River Project RDA. No one other than the Mayor's crony was permitted to make offers for those options. Imagine that. And all kept secret from the public and the RDA Board (City Council.)OGDEN — The city obtained and transferred 38 purchase options for property within the second phase of the Ogden River Project as part of an exclusive deal on behalf of a private developer. Dave Harmer, the city’s community and economic development director, said he initiated an informal agreement in fall 2006 with California businessman Gadi Leshem to transfer the options. ...
The city used earnest money provided by Leshem to secure the 38 parcels, Harmer said. Harmer was unsure of the amount of earnest money provided. ...
City Council Chairman Jesse Garcia said the city’s RDA board, which is made up of the city council, didn’t learn until October that the options had been transferred. ...
Harmer said it was an oversight on his part, and he assumed that the RDA board was aware the options could be transferred. ...
It made sense to assign the options to Leshem because he was already acquiring a significant number of parcels in the second phase of the project on his own, Harmer said. ...
Eventually, three developers, Leshem, Michael Moyal of Ogden, and Jeremy Bell, a project manager for Orem based Sandstone Development, began acquiring land within the project’s second phase, Harmer said. Since Leshem was already a “key player,” the city transferred its options to him and didn’t consider offering them to anyone else, Harmer said. ...
Moyal, who owns the Ogden River Inn at 1825 Washington Blvd., said city officials promised in 2006 they would transfer to him options for three parcels on Kiesel Avenue off 18th Street. “They said I was best suited for them,” he said in a phone interview. However, the RDA instead gave them to Leshem. Moyal described the move as “disappointing but not surprising. ...”
Moyal said Leshem asked him to contribute the River Inn property to the Renaissance Village development in exchange for financial interest in the project.
Dave Sexton, who lives at 1887 Childs Ave., said he is upset that it has taken six years to reach agreement to sell his property as part of the River Project.And for more on the manner in which River Project Area property owners have been adversely affected by this project, don't miss yesterday's Salt Lake Tribune article, wherein Kristen Moulton gets down to the nitty-gritty.
However, he says he will be pleased when Leshem finalizes the purchase of his home in January for $110,000.
"It makes me happy to get the heck out of Ogden," he said, adding that he plans to relocate from the city once his home is sold.
The Ogden Riverfront Development Company [ORDC] is a real estate development firm specializing in municipal planning and urban development. The company is currently involved in projects in downtown Ogden, with the emphasis on building communities around the river.Being the curious type, we did a quick Department of Commerce search on ORDC, and came up with this filing, indicating that this company was formed only in July of 2007, and thus has no apparent history of successful real estate development. Once again the question arises: Does Gadi or his real estate development company actually have any experience with large projects of this sort?
ORDC strives to create commercial and residential neighborhoods of superior quality while capitalizing on the beauty of Ogden and solidifying the city's position as a hub for outdoor recreation industries.
Three grass-roots organizations have banded together to lean on lawmakers to overhaul the state's property-tax system.We've added live links to the aforementioned organizations where available, for those readers who'd like to follow up on this story.
"We hope to accomplish significant tax reform, not the Band-Aid proposals that we've heard," says Donald Bell of Huntsville. "The balancing act is to assess all types of properties fairly and equitably across the board."
The new statewide coalition is called Citizens Coalition for Tax Fairness.
To form it, Bell's Weber County organization, Wingmen for Property Tax Reform, recently joined forces with Davis County's CitizensForTaxFairness.org and Washington County's Fair Property Tax Committee.
Blain H. Johnson, who will occupy at-large Seat A, and Caitlin K. Gochnour, who will represent Municipal Ward 4, are cautiously optimistic they can help thaw the chilly relationship between the council and administration.Then Mr. Schwebke asked Mayor Godfrey for his views on the matter. And Hizzonah offered this:
“I’m completely independent,” Gochnour said. “I want to be able to communicate openly with them (the city’s administration) when I support them and when I’m not supporting them. I feel like we can disagree in a dignified fashion and still respect each other.”
Johnson said he doesn’t believe in finger-pointing over past differences between the council and administration. However, he hopes to be a catalyst to foster a better relationship between the two bodies. “I’m only one person, but I know I will do what I can,” he said. “We need to get both sides together.
Mayor Matthew Godfrey said he’s encouraged that Johnson and Gochnour want to engage in open communication. He hopes other council members, particularlyThus signaling his willingness to try to mend fences and create a more cooperative relationship with the Council by promptly attacking two of the City Council members [one week after telling the Std-Ex that Council Chair, a third member, was lying about a private conversation he'd had with the Mayor]. One sentence stating his hopes for a better relationship, followed by an immediate attack on Council members who had the effrontery to disagree with him and to say so publicly.
Dorrene Jeske and Amy Wicks, the council’s vice chairwoman who was elected to
another term last month, will follow suit.
Godfrey said Wicks and Jeske have refused to meet with him individually to voice concerns, but have repeatedly taken his administration to task for being uncooperative and secretive.
“It’s tough when you have that kind of situation,” said Godfrey, who won re-election to a third term last month by defeating challenger City Councilwoman Susan Van Hooser. “I can’t force them to communicate with me.”
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