Sorry folks, due to personal calender business, it's taken a little longer this day to discuss this morning's red-meat Standard-Examiner story, which reports that the city council and the Godfrey administration are once again at odds, because Boss Godfrey has again unilaterally decided to divert council earmarked funds toward another of his pet projects. This time he's misappropriating $275 thousand taxpayer dollars, which had been designated by the council to pay for storm drain improvements along Harrison Boulevard, which were to be funded by the most recent Ogden City bonding for water system and related improvements.
Read Mr. Schwebke's full story here:
• Council questions project funds / $275,000 in storm water cash to go to Ogden River restorationSame ole garden variety Boss Godfrey dealing behind the scenes in secrecy scenario, we think... but the that's not the whole story at all. There's MORE:
Adding insult to injury, your blogmeister has talked today with several property owners along the Ogden River whose properties would be affected by the million in dollars that the Godfrey Administration seems to have tentatively reeled in, at least prospectively, in federal stimulus funds.
According to riverside property owner Ray Jensen, he doesn't know a single Ogden riverside property owner who would be willing to "go along" with the the grand Ogden River Remodeling Scheme, which would transform the Ogden River into a beachfront for soon to come tourist kayakers, river surfers and other touristy types. According to the proposed maps Mr. Jensen and other riverside property owners have been studying over the past few weeks, the proposed encroachment upon his and other riverfront properties would gobble up 60-70 feet or more upon their own properties from the present riverbank.
In order to receive the $1 million grant, and in order to implement Boss Godfrey's scheme
to turn the Ogden River into another MattGodfreyVille amusement park feature, he'll have to bring property owners whose properties directly abut the Ogden River owners into line.
That's one of the several explicit conditional criteria for the the awarding of that $1 million dollar grant, by the way.
So far the Godfrey administration has already lied about this, and misrepresented to the state officials who administer the stimulus funds that all property owners are "on board," notwithstanding that none whom Mr. Jensen knows are actually "in the bag." Sounds like the same old broken Godfrey record, dunnit? So what else is new?
How will Godfrey accomplish this and make it all come true? Will he make these aggrieved property owners a fair offer at taxpayer expense; or will he resort to the power of eminent domain?
Nothing ever changes in Ogden City, where our administration officials will lie like rugs to rake in a little more grant dough.
This story will be a fun one to watch as it develops.
We''ll be standing back watching development of this story with glee.
And what say our gentle readers about all this?
Who will be the first to comment?
