Sunday Morning Emerald City News Roundup

An upcoming column series by Rep. Neil Hansen; and an editorial admonition for River Project "Plan B" thinking

By Curmudgeon

Two items of real interest in this morning's Standard-Examiner, both worth a look. First, the SE will be running a column by Rep. Neil Hansen [D-Ogden] during the current legislative session. Excellent decision on the part of the SE editors. Be nice not to have only a Republican legislator from Davis County telling us what the boys and girls in Salt Lake are up to this time round.

Hansen's first column appears today. In it, he reviews the standards he tries to apply when considering whether a particular piece of legislation is a good idea or not. His standards are good ones, but I'd suggest, given the Utah House's past performance, that Rep. Hansen add one more to his list: "Is this legislation likely to have unanticipated consequences?" The Developer's Dream Bill that created the Powder Mountain Town mess comes to mind as a bill that might not have been adopted had legislators thought about its likely unintended consequences first.

Second, the SE has yet another sound and sensible editorial up today. It points out that obvious, that "developer Gadi Leshem's California company's bankruptcy is a legitimate worry for Ogden's future, notwithstanding the developer's assurance that he plans to move ahead with his Junction City development projects." And then goes on to wonder if the Godfrey administration has "a solid "Plan B" prepared in case Leshem can't fulfill his obligations." Good question.

The editorial continues on to consider what key elements of that Plan B might involve, the most important of which [the SE says] is "an assurance that the properties remain under a single entity committed to the local projects." I'm not sure that's so, and I'll need to think about that some, but it's certainly something worth thinking about, and kudos to the SE for doing some Plan B thinking in advance. We must hope, along with the SE, that the Council and Administration are doing the same.