Boss Godfrey Sticks it to Another Emerald City Business Owner

You're not a Friend of Matt? Tough Luck!

By Curmudgeon

If there was any remaining doubt that the Godfrey administration is primarily concerned with taking care of insider-owned businesses, and doesn't much care about the rest of the business community, that doubt should be removed by a Top of Utah front page story in this morning's Standard-Examiner.

The story concerns a raised median traffic barrier that has suddenly appeared on Washington Blvd. adjacent to the River Project redevelopment area in Ogden. Here are the opening graphs:

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.

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."

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:

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". [...]

"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."

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?

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."

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."

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:

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."

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?"

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.

As for the public hearings and public notice that never happened? Well, Mr. K, that's what happens when we have a Mayor who does not give a damn about public notice or open government, a Mayor who prefers to operate in secret. What this administration cares about gets taken care of. The rest it lets slide. And it doesn't much care about holding required public hearings about projects designed to enrich its developer buddies when those hearings are likely to raise complaints from existing businessmen not included in the Godfrey Enrich My Cronies Club.

Can any one imagine Mr. Patterson ever saying, "There was a gentleman in our office responsible for transferring the city-owned options in the River Project area to Mr. Leshem, but he left and delegated the job to someone else, and it didn't happen, so the options lapsed. Too late to do anything about it now."

No. Neither can I.

It's about time, in fact it's long past time, for members of the business community in Ogden not included Godfrey's Cronies Enrichment Club to wake up, smell the coffee and begin to act as members of the Chamber of Commerce and other local business organizations to protect their interests before they find out what next Godfrey plans to benefit the RDA zones at their expense.

Interesting that stories illustrating either the mendacity or incompetence of the Godfrey administration [in re: in this case failure to hold required public hearings on the traffic median on Washington] are breaking in the Std-Ex post-election.

Imagine that... .