Just to kick off the morning discussion, we once again remind our readers of the city council work session this evening, during which Boss Godfrey will unveil his long awaited $70 million Mt. Ogden Golf Course makeover plan. We have good reason to believe that this is one event that Emerald City citizens will not want to miss. Here are the date, time and location particulars, for those lumpencitizens who'd like to attend:
Date: April 9, 2009
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Place: City Council Work Room – 3d floor - Municipal Building, 2549 Washington Boulevard
In this connection, we'll highlight this morning's Standard-Examiner Viewpoints puff piece, wherein Boss Godfrey's hand picked Golf Course "Citizens" Committee Chairman Kent Petersen (affectionately known around these parts as "The Skipper") waxes on about how his committee labored hard over the past year, "independently" coming up with the very same "plan" which Boss Godfrey had already "preordained" even prior to selecting the committee. Funny how that all worked out, innit? Be sure to read up. It's a real beauty -- custom designed to get the taxpayer juices flowing:
• The Mt. Ogden Golf Course: Ogden's gemstoneWe don't know whether there will be any earth shaking surprises tonight, as the general details have already been revealed fairly thoroughly here and here. Nevertheless, everyone loves a grand Boss Godfrey Dog and Pony Show; and we expect something exactly of that sort to be on the council agenda for tonight. And perhaps (hope springs eternal here in Emerald City) part of tonight's presentation will include an explanation of how the taxpayers will be expected to pay for this boondoggle.
Added Bonus:The Skipper will be there to strut his stuff:
Kent "The Skipper" PetersonThis is definitely one event you're not going to want to miss, as we already said.
And don't let the cat get your tongues. There's plenty of material in this morning's Kent Petersen op-ed to discuss. If ever there has been a Std-Ex guest commentary ripe to be sliced, diced and ginsu-knifed, this is it, we think.
Who will be the first to comment? Who will be the last?
20 comments:
There's a section of the consultant's report to the Mayor's East Benchlands Development and Parklands Reduction Committee [Phase II] --- sometimes falsely called the Mt. Ogden Golf Course Committee --- in which the consultants say that a gondola that will connect Ogden rapidly with Snow Basin and pass right by the hotel and condo development is "undergoing approval" right now.
Since Snow Basin has repeatedly told the city that it is not interested in an over-the-mountain gondola connection to Ogden [at one point contacting the SE to make it plain that Godfrey's Folly --- the flatland gondola --- would not connect to Snow Basin], and since there is at the moment no gondola plan so far as I know before any regulatory body... not the city council, not the planning commission, not the Weber County Commission, not the Forest Service... we're left to wonder what undergoing approval could possibly mean beyond Hizzonah's stamping his feet, crying "I want it, I want it, I want it!" and threatening to hold his breath until he turns blue unless he gets his way.
Here's my worry: if the administration either directly or via the committee told the consultants a gondola passing the hotel/condo project will connect downtown Ogden to Snow Basin and that it's currently undergoing approval, then we have to wonder what other unreliable "information" [politely so called] the administration fed the consultants, on which information they rested their analysis of the development proposal.
Should be quite a show tonight. I suggest the city sell pop corn to the audience at movie prices, proceeds to go to the Marshall White Center.
I loved the two comments on this article in the Standard:
The first by "Tom"
"What a pile of drivel Mr. Peterson!
You list all the "participants" as if they were truly an independent group when truth be known you are hand picked hand puppets of the mayor, and true to form you have come back with just the exact plan he pre-ordained you to produce.
If your "plan" is so grand, why don't you and your fellow puppets finance it yourselves instead of fixing it so the poor tax payers bear the huge cost of this boondoggle?
You sir, along with your so called "committee" and mayor are a joke!"
and the other by our very own "we love this town Svengalli"
"70 million dollars. 70 MILLION dollars.
We all like golf, but 70 million?
Please, no; please".
Curm,
clearly the consultant's report which claimed that the hotel and timeshares at the top of 36th would both be a success was based on the assumption that a gondola to the top of Mt Ogden to connect with Snow Basin would be in place.
We have seen this strategy before. Bring in consultants to study whether or not a proposal will be successful, but then tell the consultants to assume a, b, and c in making their determination. While neither a, b, nor c are very likely. Regardless, this will allow the consultants to determine that said proposal will be a success.
Clearly the Mayor needs to come up with some new stratgies to try and fool the citizens of Ogden.
As usual before the Mayors boobdoogles there are letters to the editor, commentaries from supports in the paper to sway the uneducated lump citizens to approve any idea for development. $70M will fund the MTGC for over 259 years.
Show us the real debit of the golf course and compare it to the bonds we are paying for the Junction.
I can't wait for the claim it won't cost the taxpayers anything, based on anticipated revenue generated by the sale of the condos, lease agreements when they move the clubhouse and the Weber Staet buildings.
Peterson commentary today sounds like a done deal and everyone from the college trustees, city council, county government are all in agreement.
Lets hope our esteem City Council will call BS and really show the mayor who runs the city for the average taxpayer and not the out of state, city, county developers.
I am relatively new to Ogden but I have strong feelings about this crazy approach to solving a relatively small budget shortfall for the golf course.
A couple of questions, who exactly is Kent Peterson, What does he do in his real life, does he have an expertise for this area.
thanks for any infor that can be provided.
Peterball, Kent was a car dealership owner on Riverdale, invested and lost a million or so to an LDS member Val Southwick in a Ponzi scheme. I think he was sentenced to 15 plus years and screwed a lot of folks here in Ogden and Las Vegas out of their life savings.
When sentenced the Mayor stood up to try and avoid jail time for Val with a lame excuse that the jails were over crowded.
Hope you enjoy living in Ogden, and if a gentile or a regular citizen go to the city council meetings, they are always interesting.
This committee was hand picked, just like most of the citizens committees in Ogden.
I am unable to understand the reasoning of the golf course committee. In what alternate universe do you spend 70 million dollars to solve an alleged $250,000 shortfall. Open the books to let a independent auditor inspect the figures. What solution will be submitted to solve the money transfers to the airport or the downtown junction? Years of the mayor disparaging the golf course and how difficult to play has had a major impact on the number of rounds played annually. Many business lower prices to get more people to use their services. It is nice however to see that the skipper was rescued from the island. 70 million dollars!
Correction. The Skipper lost his shirt to Wayne Ogden, not Val Southwick. It's hard to keep track of the active Ponzi schemers in Utah though, for sure.
Kent's still a big player with the local LDS Church [an ex stake pres, I think], which gives him local street cred, notwithstanding his demonstrably horrible business judgement.
Speaking of Stake Presidents, on my way back to the salt mine after a quick stop for Ogden's finest $2.00 lunch (26th and Washington taco cart) I think I spotted Stuart Reid waddling across the parking lot apparently headed into the city building. Makes one wonder if his Ashton Square condos are moving on up to the east side.
Just finished looking at the Skippers formal proposal, what a joke.
For any interested, it's the plan option B, and it looks like the condos have been expanded to encroach on areas that are currently golf holes.
Please Council, just say no. Your own credibility and sanity are at stake.
Um, er, Bill. Is it possible that SOMEBODY could sent an electronic copy of this document?
a PDF would be good.
I'd like to upload it and post the link to it on Weber County Forum from my kickass storage site.
Kent Petersom got ripped off for millions in his greedy investment with Wayne Ogden. As a result, he had to sell off his Auto dealership.
Now Boss Godfrey brings this Idiot up to promote another Godfrey money losing project.
$70 million folk, to cover a purported (and still yet NOT documented) $250 thousand/year Golf Course revenue shortfall.
This is definitely too funny.
Am I the only one who knows Godfrey is completely NUTS?
Mr. Peterson inherited the car business from his father. They go way back in Ogden as an auto dealer and were located at 32nd and Washington for many years. I believe they led the exodus of car dealers from Ogden to Riverdale. They later got into the boat business representing BayLiner. That biz is now near point of the mountain in the south end of SL County. Don't know if the Peterson's still own it and the car dealership or not.
Interesting that Mr. Peterson would bail out on Ogden a number of years back, but is now active in the efforts to resurrect the town.
His dad was a pretty good guy to work for when I did so in 1962.
Sorry Rudi, even though it's a public document, no electronic version exists, the recorders office doesn't even have one.
Just got home from the dog and pony show, long. I have to go check on the animals, more later.
Bill C:
Trying to work out the chronology here. Do you know the date on which the city contracted with the consultants to do the report on the hotel/condo/golf course mauling proposal? The front page of the consultant's report says it was prepared for Mayor Matthew Godfrey, Ogden City. Any idea when the contract was signed?
Did anyone hear what I heard at the meeting? What I heard was the golf course had been loosing money for the last 25 years. If I'm not mistaken 10 of those years have been under Godfrey's incompetence as the C.A.O. of this city. If that had happen in any other private business, he would have been fired. It is time to let the dogs out!!!!!!!
Curm, I'm not sure when it was signed, but you're right about lying little matty's intentions. The water tanks, gondola portal and such, the committees' repeated claim of independence is laughable, but what would one expect? I'll look into the date the consultants came on board and let you know.
Candy, that is a myth. The course actually made all it's payments including interest, which I wonder if the cemetary ever received, thru 1998.
Almost every city loses money on public recreation. That is part of the deal being a city with taxpaying citizens picking up the tab, for libraries, swimming pools, public recreation.
When we taxpayers subsidize private business for profit like we do with the Junction it is unethical and wrong.
Until we have independent auditors for both the golf course and the Junction we cannot see where our money is going and where to make improvements.
Maybe the next mayorial election the citizens will be tired of paying for empty promises, empty lots, empty storefronts, and empty ideas coming out of city hall. As long as concerned citizens keep asking questions maybe we can put off any decisions that put the taxpayers at risk, again...
Too Funny’s comment “Kent Petersom got ripped off for millions in his greedy investment with Wayne Ogden. As a result, he had to sell off his Auto dealership,” just proves that what goes around comes around. Kent Petersen was such a sheister that people lost millions to him when he owned Petersen Motor Co.
I think he was only on the High Council in his Stake, and not a Stake President. But I’m not sure because our son moved out of his Stake in the early 1990’s.
His “Chairman’s Note” at the front of the committee’s report is just one lie after another. No wonder Godfrey hand picked him to run for the Council and when he lost to chair this committee – neither one of them possess any ethics.
Had to smile when Petersen made a big deal about the spelling of his name saying that it was "sen." Anyone with Scandinavian ancestors know that the Danish spelled their names "sen." I guess you could say that he is a "great Dane." He is a dog!
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