As a followup to Saturday's story, this morning's Standard-Examiner announces a tentative solution to the Bruce Edwards/Ogden City F-bomb signage stalemate, which has filled our lower comments section with 133 highly intense comments during the past week. Thanks in part to the efforts of a member of the Historic 25th Street Association, who has offered to mediate with the city, this unfortunate chapter in 25th street squabbling may well be on its way toward reaching a cooperative and relatively friendly final conclusion. Read Scott Schwebke's encouraging writeup here:
• Owner removes offensive signWe'll be keeping our fingers crossed that everybody involved will continue to behave like grownups, and that this unfortunate tempest in a teapot will soon fade away as just another colorful story in the long annals of colorful Two-five Drive.
Reader comments are solicited, as always.
16 comments:
Welcoming peace to the valley of sin ...
Smile on your brother ...
Now that everyone's delicate, somewhat false sensitivities have been placated,( business owners acting extremely offended by a word, most of which the buildings were previously brothels, taverns and gambling parlors, and don't forget the opium dens) I ask why their anger was directed at Bruce rather than at the administration for it's discriminatory enforcement of these dubious ordinances?
Anyone one that was fined last year should recieve a full refund, and continue to be granted an allowence until Lesham is fined retroactively for the same on all his properties.
Why I ask, is this 25th st. business assn so favorable to this Fisher guy, who's nothing more than a realestate flipper and whose building is the most unsightly on the street? Shouldn't this aasn be concerned that his Star Noodle building looks like an old photo from East Beruit and poses a safety hazzard to all it's neighbors? What about the back of the Windsor?
If there is anger that should be directed, it most certainly should be directed at the mayor, the guy that used city property for a political fundraiser for his own benefit and refuses to enforce these ordinances on any of his own campain donors.
I forgot to mention that I believe I would not have taken the same action as Bruce, but I have not been in his shoes. Therefore it would not be right for me to judge his actions. I'm sure that none of the folks that reacted so venomously have suffered the same discrimination Bruce has.
Obviously, he should be charged with a public nuisance crime.
Certainly, he should not be given any leeway as regards the code violations on his property.
As a matter of principle, he should be ashamed.
If the city caves on this, they are only encouraging more of the same dickish behavior.
Throw the book at him.
Trust me Bill, not everyone connected with the 25th Street Association is smitten with Fischer and his monstrosity ...
After losing his bar ordinace appeal, rather than trying to enhance the appearance of the Star Noodle building to lease or sell, he told Karen Waters (Karen's Cafe) - "You beat me once, you won't beat me again" ...
Nice guy ...
Makes Bruce look Father Flanagan ...
I don't know why honest people are trying to make a go of a business on 25th Street when the decks are stacked in favor of the pro-Godfrey devotees.
Ras Svengali
you wrote:
"Obviously, he should be charged with a public nuisance crime."
If there were any chance of the city prevailing you can bet your butt they would charge him.
Problem is that they have tried that before only to have it jammed down their throats by the courts. Something about some pesky crap called "constitutional rights".
The city has squandered hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees in ill advised attempts to either squash Edwards, imprison him, run him out of town or alternately turn him into a Godfreyite. Of course it is the ever beleaguered tax payers of Ogden who have footed the bill for these pathetic and losing attempts, including presumably you.
Edwards is obviously a big thorn in the side of a lot of the 25th street merchants, and most of the rest of us citizens join them in wishing he would do something different with his building than what he has, but it seems the damn so called "U S constitution" keeps getting in every ones way that is trying to create a little utopia here in the land of Oz.
Mr.Edwards, Thank you for removing the signage. I hope that everyone involved with take a break and let emotions calm down. Lets all try to make this the wonderful place to live and work that it can become. Could you keep the WCF posted on the status of your city problems?
Bruce, I think the above poster has an excellent idea about you posting details about your ongoing drama with the city. In fact, I think it would be great if you wrote some true tales about your long and winding road with the city and give us the inner details of just how the bounders in city hall have harassed you over the years and how you have kicked their butts in court. It sounds like it could be some pretty compelling reading.
Wm III, that would be Fishers second beating. It's quite well understood that he was behind the hight restriction push that would have jeopordized the Historic Designation of the whole district.
Again I must question why anyone in the assn. listens to a guy that has only one goal in mind, get in and get out to turn a quick buck.
All those folks trying to make their livelyhood down there should soon realize, guys like that are not doing them any favors.
Bill C,
I want to assure you that my outrage over what Bruce did was in fact quite real.
When someone assumes a big feces eating grin, and then blows a big fart in everyone's face, with the bad manners to call it "free speech", and then blames the fumes on his being probed by aliens in some intergalactic conspiracy...
Well, you can call it free speech.
We call it Level Two Psychiatric Diagnoses material.
As our Uncle Crowley used to say:
your right to wave your arms about wildly ends where our nose begins.
Evidently, some are so overwhelmed by the stench some say emanates from the mayoral office, that they have developed a high tolerance for Greasy Edwards equally foul vapors.
We have no such handicap.
Bruce even put up "For Sale" signs.
Unfortunately, someone would have to be as nutty as he to pay such a price.
(I was told $3 mil for all his properties.)
If the outrage was real, then possibly could you leave your names if you are a real person and a contact email or phone number. I have been advised that several names that are posting are actually the same person.
I went around to a few merchants and asked if they really lost any business due to the signs and basically key bank employees didn't' know it was happening or roosters. Or many others. Only people that were very close even knew it was there. Some people even said it increased business. There is really no way to know either way, but it is true that there was genuine rage at the sign being in close proximity to certain businesses. It is also true that life marches on.
If you want to say something put your name on it. If you want to do something what ever it is you should be proud of it.
The fact is that the reason we have have had censorship in the past was to protect women and children. Other facts are that there is no harm to seeing a word printed. That there is no corpse to examine after exposure to ideas. Some people make a lot of hay about values and decency, but usually those are people that seek power from those 'values' to them I ask "Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator.... You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"-Welch.
Nice straw man ploy, Mike. I saw you foot-padding around after your idol Edwards, hoping that he would throw you a few crumbs, or some free space for you to pursue your passion of taking pictures of young children. If you don't know about community standards, common decency, or what your mom would call "manners", fine. Just don't pretend that they don't exist, or are irrelevant. They are important to a lot of Ogdenites. And a lot of these decent folk have a very low opinion of you and your master. There are ways to be rid of a vile nuisance other than the courts.
Michael Tanner,
From all the businesses I have talked to they see you as a dumbass and are likely to tell you anything to get you out of their establishments.
And you are not welcome in mine.
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