Tuesday Morning News Roundup

Boss Godfrey is keen on luring a new hotel chain.... Biker brawl story redux

The Standard-Examiner carries this morning a couple of items worthy of note:

First, Scott Schwebke announces, seemingly out of the blue, that the Godfrey administration is hot on the trail of a new project for The Junction... What else? A national flagship hotel:

• Ogden considers Junction hotel

In the comments section under the above story, gentle reader Dan S. speculates about the timing of this announcement:

The picture is becoming more clear. Next week the city will again ask the Taxing Entity Committee to extend the city's collection of tax increment from the Junction for another 12 years, until 2026. The reason they're asking now (rather than in 5 years when the tax increment is due to expire) is so the city can borrow against this anticipated income. And the reason the city wants to borrow more money is so it can "participate" in the hotel project, perhaps by building another parking garage.

Bingo, Dan! We do believe you may have connected the dots. Check the comments section under the above linked article for Dan's full analysis.

Secondly, Std-Ex reporter Di Lewis proves herself true to her word, and provides a followup story to the "biker brawl" story which we wrote about on Sunday. Ms. Lewis has done some interviews with witnesses and participants in the Friday night Ogden melee, and offers more balance than Trent Toone's previous Std-Ex story, which had the tone of a regurgitated police report:

• Incident frustrates cyclists / Critical Mass riders, Ogden officials, police meet

As an added bonus, Ms. Lewis provides this fascinating tidbit:

A group consisting of law enforcement, city officials and Critical Mass riders met Monday morning to discuss the incident and talk about cycling in Ogden.
John Patterson, Ogden’s chief administrative officer, said the city regrets what happened, as it is trying to build a friendly cycling environment.
Patterson said the city is going to start a campaign to bring about civility between motorists and cyclists. He and the mayor will ride with Critical Mass next month, and they are considering starting regular rides with the mayor.

So the Mayor wants to ride with Critical Mass...

Query: Does Critical Mass want to ride with the mayor?


That's it for now, Gentle Readers.

Don't let the cat get your tongues.