Seemingly out of the blue, Boss Godfrey's eerily grinning portrait peers out from this morning's Standard-Examiner front page, along with a public transit-oriented story, reporting Godfrey's prediction that everyone in Emerald City will soon be singing Kumbaya. Godfrey reportedly has been visited by a new public transit brainstorm/vision, one that's already being greeted with some skepticism however. We incorporate Ace reporter Schwebke's introductory paragraphs below:
OGDEN — Mayor Matthew Godfrey says the city council should be pleased with a proposal he will unveil this week to study the feasibility of a local streetcar system.As Ace Reporter Schwebke reports (and as reported on WCF last week), Godfrey remains opposed to initiating an "alternatives analysis," a formal process which, according to our understanding, would be a mandatory stepping stone toward federal funding of a street car system such as is being contemplated for Emerald City. Street cars are too expensive, he insists. Thus Godfrey apparently has schemed up another tactic which, it appears to us, wouldn't put an Emerald City Streetcar project anywhere near the federal funding fast-track.
“I think they will be thrilled, and we will be singing ‘Kumbaya’ at the end,” said Godfrey, who intends to present the plan during a council work session Thursday night.
But City Councilwoman Dorrene Jeske is skeptical of Godfrey’s proposal. She believes the plan is a diversionary tactic to prevent a formal, more extensive transit alternatives analysis of the corridor between the intermodal hub at 23rd Street and Wall Avenue and Weber State University and McKay-Dee Hospital.
“It’s a way to waste time,” Jeske said.
According to the Federal Transit Administration website, the completion of an alternatives analysis is a mandatory prerequisite for federal funding:
Alternatives Analysis -- To specifically qualify for New Starts funding (49 USC §5309), candidate projects must have resulted from an alternatives analysis study (also known as major investment study or multimodal corridor analysis) which evaluates appropriate modal and alignment options for addressing mobility needs in a given corridor. Alternatives analysis can be viewed as a bridge between systems planning (which identifies regional travel patterns and transportation corridors in need of improvements) and project development (where a project’s design is refined sufficiently to complete the NEPA environmental process). The alternatives analysis study is intended to provide information to local officials on the benefits, costs, and impacts of alternative transportation investments developed to address the purpose and need for an improvement in the corridor. Potential local funding sources for implementing and operating the alternatives should be identified and studied, and New Starts criteria should be developed.We also invite our readers to view the handy flowchart on the FTA site, which shows where an alternatives analysis fits within the "formal" federal funding scheme. To our dismay, we don't see "Boss Godfrey Brainstorm" anywhere on the chart.
And there's another element to today's story we mustn't forget. Godfrey's continued dawdling also places local funding in jeopardy:
If an alternatives analysis isn’t undertaken soon, Ogden may lose out on its share of proceeds from a Weber County quarter-cent sales tax earmarked for transit projects, City Council Chairwoman Amy Wicks said.Admittedly we haven't yet had an opportunity to hear Godfrey's new "plan." True to his persistent "mystery-style" of municipal governance, he's keeping his new tactic close to his vest until Thursday night, when "all will be revealed."
We'll therefore try to keep an open mind for now, until we can find out exactly what Godfrey has up his sleeve (although we'll forthrightly confess we're feeling the irresistible compulsion to go along with Councilwoman Jeske's assessment.)
And what say our gentle readers about all this? Has Boss Godfrey come up with a way to cut the red tape... and save taxpayer money... or is he merely still dragging his feet?
