Lets see how the city treats an honest business that has the funding already in place.
By What Will It Cost Us
Today's Standard-Examiner business section reports that the folks who want an Hispanic themed market in the old IGA building will be going for approval with the city council on Tuesday. Lets see how the city treats an honest business that has the funding already in place. No city funds or grants asked for, to occupy and to add to the city's tax revenue base.
Ms. Wilkerson, the Landmarks Commission Chairman, has fought against the company since her business is across the street. I have also heard rumors she is renting part of her residence out on Jefferson Avenue, against city ordinance.
Lets see if the city is willing to help a business establish itself with a real need for a market in that location, or throw up more barriers that they need to cross to finally have a business at 24th and Monroe. They have been trying to get established for over 5 years with the city denying them at every turn.
The city planing department should be bending over backwards to help new businesses rather than to be in an adversarial role.
Look at their current operations in Salt Lake to see how a successful business can be run.
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19 comments:
This post applies to yesterday's as well as today's WCF article. This is a letter I sent to the city council.
January 8, 2008
Dear City Council Member,
An issue has been raised frequently regarding the possibility that the response of the Administration to permits of various kinds, particularly Planning and Zoning (P&Z)related requests, are handled more favorably by the Administration if the mayor has received money from the petitioner.
For instance, the Administration has been fairly resolute in opposing the redevelopment of the former IGA property in the East Central District, and we understand the owner of the Helena on 25th Street has been blocked from developing his property into a bed and breakfast. I suspect these persons are not Godfrey campaign contributors.
On the other hand, the owners of the Windsor, the Star Noodle, and people such as Gadi Leshem seem to be able to get the Administration to go to almost any length for them. I suspect these are all campaign contributors of the mayor.
Is this reflective of an actual trend, or is it simply a false perception?
There are those who would dismiss such concerns, feeling that, “Since Godfrey is good for Ogden, what’s good for Godfrey is good for Ogden.” But these sorts of rumors are fairly serious. I believe you are presently using a consultant to review the P&Z. The mayor’s campaign contributors are a matter of public record. It would seem worthwhile and fairly straightforward to do a statistical comparison between the contributor list and the response of P&Z to all persons to see if there is a correlation. At a minimum it would confirm these serious concerns or lay them to rest.
Thank you,
Here is a list of the developer's other properties. They look fine to me. What's Godfrey's problem?
Legaspi Properties
RUDIZINK:
Your assumptions that Legaspi is asking for nothing from the city is in error.
Legaspi is in fact is asking for a massive variance to new zoning that is in line with the East Central Neighborhood Community plan that is currently being formulated. Having attended these meetings regularly, and in speaking with Greg Montgomery who is in attendance at all the meetings, the East Central community is in almost total concesus that new construction needs to be in architectural harmony with downtown's current historic charm.
Legaspi seeks to put a stucco atrocity in the heart of our neighborhood.
Lets keep our neighborhoods historic and avoid making the same mistakes that made IGA what it is in the first place.
I believe their market will be successful with these architectural ideas in mind.
P.S. The Sacred Heart Academy site, with its prairie school architecture, is a good example of compensating for the sin of tearing down the Academy that was there previously.
Thanks for the correction, KIV. You'll note from the story byline however, that it was not your blogmeister, but gentle reader What Will it Cost Us who wrote and submitted this morning's article.
I do agree with you however that we must be proactive in avoiding another IGA type architectural blunder. Whether Legaspi's current plans call for a "stucco atrocity" is in the eye of the beholder, we suppose.
Do you have an electronic copy of the Legaspi plan you could send us, for posting here on the blog?
Thanks in advance.
Sidebar to "psycosis" (sic), who just had his comment deleted:
Don't be a little shit.
How does the Rodeo Market with the old west theme get permission with the spanish style? Also having an overhanging cover up to the sidewalks edge? I also don't see the problem of exisiting building being used even with a facade that has been there for over 20 years.
The Windsor owners and the developers of the Star Noodle just want new businesses on 25th. I did notice there is no mention of historical integrity in the petition for the variance on 25th street, urban mixed use.
The East Central neighborhood would like some retail and I don't think most care about what the building looks like. The blighted area where Wheelwright was located and is now owned by the city needs some clean up.
Is KIV "G Train" by chance? I don't think a stucco facade is atrocious. Look at the Junction and it wasn't built as a model of historic 25th.
WTF Ogden? You care so much about an atrocious architectural POS located at 24th Street and Monroe that you will do everything you can to create design guidelines to restrict development? Yet, some of these same people worked their asses off to try to water down ordinances regarding design elements that we currently have along our historic 25th Street? Does any of this actually make sense? What is going on here? Maybe KIV can provide some input? Does anybody in the city actually have a vision of what Ogden should be, instead of this piecemeal shit that does nothing but divide the community?
Unfortunately, the Rodeo Market was renovated prior to the inception of the ECCP. I have been involved with the ECCP not 25th Street so I can't speak to that.
As I am someone living in the East Central neighborhood, you are again in error when you say most "don't care what the buildings look like." Call Greg and ask. On the contrary, almost everyone does!
The Solomon Center architecture was a huge disappointment. Just about as ugly as McKay Dee Hospital. I am just glad they got the store frontage on Washington Blvd right. Ensign plaza looks good too.
KIV is not "G Train", but just someone whose very involved and cares a lot about our heritage in downtown. I suggest you let those in the East Central community plan their future as we let Mt. Ogden plan their's without reproach.
KUDOS!
Arbitrary.
Hopefully Legaspi can overcome these unnecessary design games (which is what they are) and other hurdles and get the project underway. East Central and Ogden will most definitely benefit from the project.
So, what about the Rodeo Market project (a block away)? Why didn't that fall under the same purview?
Hey, Keep it Vintage:
You have a developer who wishes to invest in your neighborhood to renovate an eyesore.
You sit in your ivory tower and would rather keep the eyesore.
Legaspi is bringing money to the table to invest in the community.
What are you bringing but your empty pockets and your hot air?
What makes you think your "vision" should apply to somebody else's property? Do you invite Legaspi to approve your remodeling?
What, do you people think you are members of an Architectural Control Committee? How do your neighbors get to choose you or get rid of you?
This East Central Committee is a load of baloney. These people are clueless.
Historic charm? Are you talking about the borderline slum that is East Central?
Yes, deeply restricting developments and forcing people to comply with your architectural musings - that's what we need to renovate East Central.
It sounds like after I drive though East Central I should go straight to the car wash to get all the "dumb" off my tires.
Citizen,
Architectural codes are found in most of your better communities. If you want to make a place nice, you do what other nice places have done.
Its not smart growth to develop a place just because you can. That is what causes easy obsolescence in the suburbs.
You should build it in scope and way that makes sense. There is twice as much retail space as our market can support herein East Central. If it is redeveloped in an unsustainable or fad type of way then where is the perpetual use? There isn't any and the building goes right back to being an abandoned eyesore if a business fails. None of us want that.
Make it right the FIRST time. In this case we are working on trying to do it right the SECOND time.
PS. Next time, leave the rest of your adolescent remarks for the high schoolers. Last time I checked, this was forum for grown ups.
Seems like G Train and all the Godfreyites were beating their drums for the Windsor addition which was going to be modern, glass and steel and totally out of character. That proposal was right in the heart of the area they are now claiming as the architectural model for the east central area. Seems like a pretty big double standard to me, but then again that is what the Godfreyite movement is all about.
I don't have a dog in this fight. I don't live in the neighborhood [though I agree the IGA was an eyesore the day it opened and now is simply a dilapidated eyesore]. But if the folks in the neighborhood are in the process of developing a community plan, seems to me they ought to be allowed to complete the process before a major development takes in their midst in a way that might violate the community plan they're putting together. It's their neighborhood, que no? So long as we have a community plans process in Ogden, we ought as a rule to allow it to work.
"East Central"? That's a pretty name for what I've always called Downtown Ghetto.
IGA has been sitting vacant for what, nearly ten years. What we really need to do is sell the IGA property to Lesham.. then KIV can stare at a weed-covered, vacant lot (with hundreds of code violations that are never cited) for five years. Or if the building is left standing, you can at least roast marshmallows when the building burns every month or two. You can meet interesting people with the squatters that take it over.
Oh, wait.. I forgot, that's what his Majesty Lord Godfrey brought my wife and me across the street. Boy, KIV, keep chuggin that koolaid and soon you too can enjoy the lovely sights we get to enjoy every day!!
Good luck with that community plan. Hopefully you'll have one rammed down your throat the way we did, and when you reach for the vaseline and realize that Stewey Reid already used it up, perhaps we won't seem so crazy after all.
One last thing, KIV.. do you still have a Lift Ogden Yes sign in your window like sycophant Wilkerson?
i go right back to the comment i posted in the prior posted article.
as long as the planning commission is controlled by the staff and the staff is controlled by godfrey youre going to have more of the same.
those that think they are dealing on a level playing field and approach business in a straight up manner have to live by the rules and ordinances of the city and those that are considered a fom in other words those who are willing to pay his tax get whatever they want irrespective of the city rules and ordinances.
my question now is how long will it take the city to develop a community plan for that part of the city. my guess is just long enough for the current developer to tire from trying to get their development through the city process. once that happens and a fom buys the property they will have a community plan that either conforms to the fom plan requires or the community plan will be later altered to conform to the fom plan.
willing to bet a dime on this one.
East Central is not a slum. It is a great neighborhood which holds thousands of Ogden's working class families. Your comments are as insulting as the IGA is ugly. Move the project forward.
The problem with these people who want to enforce bogus "historic" architecural standards isn't the real historic architecture my gringo friends.
Ogden City is packed with racist assholes who don't want Hispanics to get "too comfortable" in the Central City area, with Spanish Mission styles.
Prior to the construction of the brick kiln in Ogden Canyon, the historical architectural standard in Ogden was clay and wattles huts, by the way -- Adobe.
Adobe has always been an architectural Standard in Ogden.
Adobe and Teepees!
I can get behind that.
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