By Curmudgeon
They're at it again! The Godfrey administration is trying to give the St. Anne's Center the bums rush out of downtown, and just as happened before, the St.Anne's Board is not sitting still for it. [Charle's Trentelman's story can be found here:
• Moving time for St. Anne's?It's quite a tale reporter Trentelman has to tell. Seems Hizzonah, Mayor Godfrey and his gaggle have announced a ground breaking ceremony for a new St. Anne's Center to be built out of downtown. Only problem is, St. Anne's Center says its way too early for a ground breaking ceremony, and they're not going to show until they have a signed agreement with the city about the move, which they don't have yet. From the story:
The city and the directors of St. Anne's Center agree it is time to move the homeless shelter from central Ogden to a location on Pacific Avenue, but St. Anne's officials are resisting a city effort to hold an Oct. 14 groundbreaking until they have details in writing.The Administration notified the Standard-Examiner that the ground breaking ceremony would take place, that it's inviting the Lt. Governor, and that it has "a major donor" to help build the new St. Anne's --- nameless of course --- "already on board." [We can only hope it's not the same nameless donor who the Administration said was on board with the money for the ice tower, only it turned out, he wasn't.]
It seems the Administration announced the groundbreaking ceremony without bothering to inform, much less invite, the St.Anne's Board. From the story:
Asked about the groundbreaking, several St. Anne's officials, including Graham Lovelady, treasurer of the board of directors, said the board didn't know anything about it.Mayor Godfrey's CAO, Mr. Patterson, insisted however "it was all still going to happen." [He didn't quite say "Liar! Liar! Pants on fire!" to the St. Anne's Board. Not quite.]
Trentelman reports that the St.Anne Board held "an emergency meeting Wednesday night" and "voted to tell Ogden to slow down." The Board wants "a signed memorandum of understanding before it proceeds." [Seems the St. Anne's Board has learned the hard way, as have the rest of us, that the Mayor's word is no good. We want it in writing, the Board insists. Smart people.] What must the signed agreement include? This, say's St. Annes: "basic stuff like, here's what we're going to do and here's what we expect the city to do. And it will include things about the land swap."
A spokesperson for the St. Anne's Board put the matter so plainly, it's possible even the Mayor and Mr. Patterson [both out of town yesterday] might understand it: "We're not going to be pushed into something if we're not ready."
There is much else in the story about the history of St. Anne's in Ogden, and the history of its relations with the Godfrey Administration. All well worth reading.
But you would think after finally wiping the egg off its face for its last grand announcement of an agreement with St. Anne's about its moving to 12th Street when it hadn't agreed at all, the Administration would have learned something. Apparently not. What it has not learned yet, evidently, is that "agreements" involve the cooperation of all parties involved, not just the Mayor.
Good story. Good work by the SE. Hope we see more of it.
