Good news from the Standard-Examiner this morning. Ogden's Salomon Center Flowrider is back in action:
• No waiting ’til summer to ride the ‘gnarly’ waveAfter some $309 thousand in repairs, we're hoping that this previously ill-designed high adventure recreation appliance is now finally "up to spec."
With another $3/4 million bond payment looming for the Emerald City taxpayers in June, we believe it's high time that Peewee's Playhouse started earning its keep.
Comments, anyone?
17 comments:
Ride the "gnarly wave"?
The gnarly wave?
Good lord....
On a previous post here Mar 8 12:00PM, Positively stated the flowrider was packed and last Saturday with people waiting. Today's paper announced the Flowrider re-opening today. Since I wasn't downtown last weekend can someone clarify if the Junction was packed last Saturday night, or was Positively just blowing smoke?
Are they going to raid the BDO cash cow again?
Good thing to have reports on gnarly happenings in our City such as this. Out of curiousity, does anybody know what the gnarly budget situation looks like for the City? I'm assuming Ogden isn't immune to the current economic woes the rest of the world is facing. My guess is that based on the City's willy nilly spending tendencies, that things aren't so rosy? If things are peachy, GREAT! But I am concerned that we are indeed in a huge hole and are burying ourselves even deeper with projects like this.
When the final Junktion story is written I predict it will go down as the biggest financial disaster in Ogden's history. The hundred million dollar loss will set the city back decades and will be a tax drain on our children and grandchildren for the next thirty years.
Meanwhile the Lil Lord and his circle of sycophants will be blaming the fiasco on the "Naysayers" who predicted this massive failure from the beginning.
The only justice will be that the Sub Standard, who's disingenuous reporting made it all possible, will be out of business and on the dust heap of history - just where they belong.
When do the bonds on the Junction renew?
In this tight money market that could get very scary because who would want to be on the hot seat for issuing the bonds?
In re: WSU involvement in planning for Mt. Ogden Golf Course makeover. I emailed Mr. Tarbox, asking for information and he kindly sent me WSU's statement about its involvement planning for a possible course makeover. It is reproduced below, verbatim:
Weber State University has actively participated in the development of plans to renovate and expand the Mount Ogden Golf Course. Our interest is in helping develop something that is mutually beneficial to the city of Ogden and WSU. Of most interest to WSU is the possibility that an expanded Mt. Ogden could be a "home course" for the WSU golf teams--with the capacity to host collegiate golf competition. Changes that would be needed for this to occur include; 1) developing a driving range, 2) extending the length of the course, and 3) addressing the widely acknowledged playability issues related to fairways and greens. Also of possible interest to WSU is the development of academic programs that could run in concert with the expanded course.
To the degree that a small portion of WSU land is needed for such a renovation, the university is willing to discuss a partnership similar to that underlying the Ogden Ice Sheet project--where a long-term, low-cost lease of WSU land facilitated the construction of the Ice Sheet in return for access and ice time for WSU users.
The following caveats should be mentioned regarding use of WSU land. First, any land used for the golf course should be located in the "no-build" zone of campus (identified in a recent seismic study) or in adjacent areas determined to be undevelopable for university functions. Second, the WSU land should primarily remain as green space. Golf holes or a driving range would be deemed as appropriate uses. Third and finally, any existing WSU buildings or infrastructure that are displaced by the golf course expansion would need to be relocated to other parts of the campus at no cost to the university.
It is hoped that a mutually beneficial plan can emerge from the City's current planning process.
Curm: Thanks for posting that statement from WSU. My first thought upon reading it was that the city ain't gonna make money on any such partnership. The city's interest must therefore be based on some other goal besides solving the course's financial problems.
Dan, quite the opposite. The City will go deeply into debt, just to facilitate moving the clubhouse, which you may note is not specifically mentioned in the letter.
I shared my notes and minutes of the golf course committee with a buddy that was involved in the golf course land grab scam, he replied," looks like Chris Peterson's gondola thing, modified".
Why is moving the clubhouse the single most important element of the Mayor's agenda? Brace yourselves for more delusional gondola hyperbole.
Also not addressed in the letter are, hotels, condos and of course a halfpipe for snowboarding, complete with bleachers and concessions, all plugged right into the mouth of Strongs Canyon.
I thought this was a golf course committee, looking at ways to improve the bottom line of a municipal golf course? Funding this will make the Jackass Center deal look like a signature loan.
The City (read: Da Mayor and his Outdoor rec cronies) has an interest in Strong Canyon for a snowboard half-pipe. in fact, there has been some talk that while work is going on to put new Water tanks in near the mouth of Strong Canyon, the crew should just create the drop off necessary for the half-pipe. Then, once the club house for the "golf course" gets moved, we will have a winter staging area.
Do remember that this was in an article in the SE a while back about what the "golf course committee" was considering proposing.
Curious 1,
The flowrider was operating Saturday night. Call them and ask them if you don't believe me.
We like the half pipe idea.
It would seriously rock.
Bill: The problem with the golf committee is half or more don't even play the course or haven't in a number of years. I was talking with one of the members about the third hole and that member had no idea about where the hole was or even what it looked like. When are they going to invite actual golfers to become members of the committee?
GnR, the formation of this committee only included one regular player of the course, an older fellow. He formed the sub-committee that took a completely different approach and drafted their alternative plan. After they finished and presented their plan, which caused contention and ill will, he seems to have ended his participation and the committee took off down the road to their intended objectives of moving the clubhouse and bulldozing the course. This of course led to the totally non golf related condos, hotels and half pipe as a means of possibly funding their plans.
It's sad to say that neither plan has input from the regular users of the course, they seemed to have intentionally avoided our input.
At this late date I believe they are now realizing that they somehow need our support, but their plan goes far overboard and it's not likely that they'll get much. I've tried to communicate with them, but they seem bent on going forward with grandiosity.
back to the flow rider for a second. found it interesting in the paper that they mentioned that the flow rider belongs to fat cats.
now know why the city wanted to call the repairs a capital improvement rather that a operating or mantenence cost. if fat cats owns the facility they would have been the ones that also specified the requirements for the system thus their bad and any modifications should have been their cost.
by calling it a capital cost the mayor was able to make this wear and tear expense or wrong spec problem and the cost of repairing the mistake the city's problem and would require the city to pick up the cost rather than his fom who designed it wrong.
once again the residents get shafted.
Disgusted, Fatcats does not own the flowrider. The deal is not a lease to own. The gondola examiner repeats these types of lies all the time. You're welcome to borrow my copy of the lease, maybe we should get Schwebke one also.
It wouldn't do any good, it's nolonger newsworthy in their eyes, this story is now 3 days old.
On another note: we are on our way to go shoot the Flowrider, right now.
Surf is indeed up; up, right in the middle of the desert.
We love this town.
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