More ridiculous pro-Godfrey spin from the even more ridiculous neoCON Standard-Examiner
By Ozboy
It seems that the Standard-Examiner has decided to be the great uniter, and in this case explainer away of BS, for the citizens of Emerald City.
Thus the article yesterday that was commented upon in an article below, and another in the form of this morning's (26 Dec) Std-Ex editorial:
Standard-Examiner kisses Godfrey Butt again
This editorial seems to be telling us hoi polloi that the outrageous bending over the barrel we are about to be administered - by the city water and sewer problem - is really our own fault and long overdue at that!
It totally ignores the underlying issue, the one that proves the incompetence of Godfrey and his circle of empty suits. The BDO profits that were supposed to underwrite the repair of the city infrastructure, you know - the profits that are now being pledged to pay for and prop up PeeWee's playhouse.
For eight years now PeeWee and his little circle jerk pals have twiddled their collective thumbs while the city continued to slide into disrepair. All the time they were playing their fairy tale developer games with each other - and our money.
Yes folks, if it weren't for the total and complete incompetence of the the stooges on nine we would be getting our water de-yellowfide, thanks to our ownership of that wonderful gift from the US Army - the BDO - and not humongous rate increases - which we know are really tax increases called something else.
© 2005 - 2014 Weber County Forum™ -- All Rights Reserved
13 comments:
It's interesting, but not surprising, that the title of the SE editorial was:
"A much-needed rate increase"
Note that the title was NOT:
"A much needed improvement in infrastructure"
Similarly, the concluding line was:
"We urge the council to make the case for the rate increase often and clearly in 2008 -- and beyond -- to residents who will feel the rate increases in their wallets and purses."
You see, the real joy, the real importance of what has been done is an INCREASE IN TAXES. What it is being used for is secondary.
And Oz is right. The BDO revenue was supposed to pay for this. But since it was blown on the Sal Center, we now need a tax increase.
Godfrey's plans are working only if one feels (like the SE editors) that the sole purpose of city government is to get bigger, and spend more, it doesn't matter for what.
At least some of the money will go to useful infrastructure. It's nice that will happen, even if it is after the mini golf and bowling in the Sal Center got paid for first.
In Ogden, the rats always eat first, and always have.
Yeah the local rag gives credit to the Council for doing the heavy lifting, and credits them for how they went about it. Narry a word about how lying little matty not only ignored the issue for eight years and even stole funds from the department for his favored endeavors.
As for the merry christmas gadi story, this really was a gift from the citizens of Ogden, to an indicted fraud, wannabe developer. Why was the RDA board kept in the dark? Simple, had it been known what Harmer and lying little matty were doing, normal questions would have come up. It would have been exposed that this guy hasn't developed anything in his life. The paper would have had to explore his fraudulent dealings in Ca. in more detail with more frequency. And a much better probe into his financials would have been called for.
As for phase 1 of the eternal river project, the City Council should explore whats being planned for the Earnst hospital thing now. They should make it clear to the administration and planning commission that we do not want a repeat of the placement of buildings,(Bingham bikes) on the river. This needs to be communicated now, before any holes or construction begins. They should also be told to develope in such a manner as to protect the river from any adverse consequenses brought about by developing.(Run off from Roofs,parking lots and such)
There is no reason fot the incoming Council to be timid, they have the power, and need to be assertive and command the respect they deserve from the administration. This shouldn't be the same as the last few Councils, the history of lying little matty's reign calls for this.
OK, time to invoke a little fairness here [yes, even for the Mayor]. First, the water rate increases are specifically dedicated to pay for the various water improvement projects. To say therefor [as Reader does above] that the SE editorial showed no regard for the uses to which the money would be put, but only applauded the increase in rates is inaccurate and unfair. The money cannot be used for anything other than paying for bonds for the water projects. Period.
Second: yes, revenues from BDO should have been used for infrastructure purposes like water projects, but those projected revenues [even optimistically] would not have paid for the entire water project bill. So while it can be, should be, argued that the water rate raises would not have been as high had BDO revenues not been committed to the mall project bonds, those revenues would not have eliminated the raises entirely.
As for who is to blame: mayors and Councils have been neglecting the water system's necessary maintenance and upgrades, as the editorial rightly notes, for two decades. This huge bump can be laid at the feet of all the Councils of the previous 20 years [with the exception of the current one] and all mayors of the previous twenty years as well. Certainly Hizzonah gets to shoulder a significant proportion of the responsibility for having done nothing on the matter over the previous eight years... as did the Councils then in office as well. But not all of the responsibility is his.
Finally, the SE editorial rightly focused on the Council's decision to bite the bullet and do what needed to be done. It should also have congratulated the present Council for getting professional advice, for commissioning a study on the extent of the repairs needed, the costs, and funding options, and rates. And for doing all of it in public via the Water Horizons process. And over the Mayor's complaints and objections, since he preferred to simply have his office arbitrarily assign a new across the board rate hike, as is his custom [policy first, facts... if they look like they will come out right... later].
I thought it a good editorial until the final paragraph. Once again, the editors seem not to have been reading their own paper. [Let us charitably refrain from snarky comments on their wisdom in that regard. It's Christmas.] They admonish the Council to explain to residents why their rates are going up. The Council has been doing that, and seeking public input for months [via the Water Horizons public meetings] which were miserably attended for the most part. All of which has been reported at length in the SE. If the editors wanted to admonish anyone in their getaway paragraph, it should have been (a) Hizzonah for opposing the Council's efforts to arrive at the new rates via a very public process and by seeking, practically begging for, substantial public input first, and (b) the ratepayers who are now very likely to scream when their new rates kick in, but who could not drag themselves to Water Horizons meetings to get their opinions in before the decisions they are now going to complain about were made.
Curm, I didn't say Godfrey has done nothing. Sheesh, had he built a bonfire and burned the money would that too have been nothing?
He spent the money on something else, leaving the council to do the heavy lifting. Of course, had they raised taxes for anything else, the SE (conveniently located outside Ogden's tax reach) would have applauded that too, no doubt.
I'm still eagerly awaiting Ace Dumbass Schwebke's teflon explantion about Godfrey's $6.3 million debt writeoff. I say this now as I look at my $44 water bill, which has strangely doubled within the past several months, and is set to least double again within the next five years.
This is a tax increase folks, any way you cut it. And I'm NOT blaming the current City Council.
It's the gang of six councilpersons: Jorgenson, Safsten, Burdett, Stephenson and Filiaga who negatated an earlier council resolution which had earmarked BDO income for water/sewer infrastucture repairs, but instead diverted these monies to Godfrey's loopy fun center.
These five dolts should be branded with shame in Ogden City history. These five Godfrey lackys should be forever shunned.
Rev Bill:
Hell, I'm waiting, still, for anything in the SE about the recent Ogden City financial report, and the million dollar write-off of RDA funds. I'll take [at this point] straight reporting, never mind explanation or analysis. SE readers, so far as I know, still have (a) no idea that the financial report was issued (b) no idea of what it said (c) no idea of what it meant [i.e. the significance of its contents]. Leave aside for a moment the RDA write-off, the SE recently reported [yet again] on the Mayor's claim that he has a plan to pay off the city's debt in just a few years. Did the recent financial report support the feasibility of the Mayor's alleged plan or not? It isn't just the RDA write-down that should have pointed the SE toward the recent Ogden City financial analysis as grounds for a story --- though that should have done it --- but the Mayor's oft-reported never analyzed or evaluated [by the SE] debt-pay-off plan.
For all anyone can guess, SE included, this is the mayors debt elimination plan, claim it uncollectable and cover it with general fund revenues. Once more the truth comes just a hair too late. RDA debt is not City debt, that's right lying little matty.
Stop whining. You people just don't get it, do you? We all should just give our property and money to Chief Republican Senator Greiner and Republican Mayor Godfrey.
Sewers and firefighters are "BIG GOVERNMENT"
If you need your shit pumped out of your house, then don't shit, because republicans don't shit!
You know, leave it to "Curm" to try and be "fair". If anyone should doubt what the mayor will do with the money from this water rate increase it should be "Curm". Just like the BDO was supposed to fund infrastructure this rate increase is supposed to pay for the various water improvement projects.
Unlawful or not, this rate increase will not go to fund infrastructure, but go to help pay whatever whenever.
Whether or not the BDO funds would have paid for all of the improvements or kept our taxes from being raised is irrelevant. Fact of the matter is, that money should have been there for the improvements and not pissed away on that piece of crap downtown.
Maybe we were due for a tax increase, that's fine everything costs more now then it did back then, but when our government takes the assets of the citizens of our city and gives them to private developers and then raises my taxes to cover that give away, they should be held accountable.
Think about how much cheaper it could have been to address these infrastructure issues eight years ago as opposed to now. The costs for everything as risen substantially in the past eight years. Everything from concrete to copper to steel has increased substantially in the past two years let alone the last eight. This $51 million project would have probably only cost $40 million eight years ago.
"Curm" pull your head out and tell it like it is. The Substandard is Godfrey's cover up and Godfrey is a lying little crook. Quit trying to play both sides of the fence.
The bullshit that the Standard is trying to pass off in their editorial is going to blind the majority of the stupid people who don't pay attention to what is really going on in their own backyards.
And yes, a majority of the people in Ogden are stupid since they re-elected that jackass and elected one of his biggest supporters onto the city council, Blaine Johnson.
It is unfortunate that we are all going to have to pay for past mistakes. These problems should've been addressed years ago. I'm a fairly new homeowner in Ogden and wasn't accustomed to the old prices, so it might not be such a jar to me to see the new cost increases, but it does blow that I have to pay more now for something that should've been taken care of years ago. I dunno, I assume it will be worth it if it increases my water pressure and eliminates the funky stink, or water, coming out of my sink. I'm afraid rate increases, tax increases, etc. are going to be the wave of the future for Ogden. Times are pretty good right now I suppose, but as our larger economy continues to slump and eventually hits Ogden, more and more of the burden will be put on us taxpayers as the City is stretching its resources way too thin in too many unstable directions. Likely by then the Mayor and all his friends will be long gone, leaving us holding the bag.
not until someone posts something in the letters to the editor about the rda debt write down will the se do any kind of news story. then it will soft peddle the story to minimize the impact on the mayor. i don't know why they have people called editors on the employment role other than to check grammar and spelling. sure isnt for their journalistic skills. the are a bunch of political brown nosers.
this is a paper that is reactive not proactive. this paper is a farce.
I Can't Take It:
On one point, I'm afraid you're simply wrong. The bonds issued for the water improvements are backed by the rate increases. The money can not be used for other purposes. The Mayor has no control over it, nor can the Council subsequently re-direct the money to other purposes until the bonds are paid off. Twenty years down the road. The BDO projected revenues, by contrast, were not tied to specific projects or project bonds, and so could be [and were, some of them] redirected to other purposes by the Mayor with the approval of the Council at the time.
I'm not sitting on any fences in re: Godfrey. But simply criticizing everything he does all the time [justified or not] is not an effective way to counter his ethically-challenged and fact-starved behind closed dors way of conducting the city's business for the benefit of his cronies.
what godfrey will do is not touch the city bond funds but will use the remaining revenues not pledged to the bond repayment within the water and sewer fund to do with as he pleases. several of the dollars collected within the funds or otherwise recieved by the various city funds are strictly no touch but the rest are free for the grab by this administration. that is how they get around the bond requirements. he will divert everything else.
Post a Comment