Scott Schwebke provides a quite informative Standard-Examiner story this morning, reporting on last night's Jeff Lee Council presentation, during which he unveiled his proposed River Project Master Plan, which would involve the construction of "about 1,000 residential units, including 96 single-family homes," together with "300,000 square feet of commercial and retail space as well as open space" over a projected ten-year period:
• Calif.-based firm's proposal for Ogden River Project includes 96 single-family homesWe're encouraged that Mr. Lee is approaching the council with full project details at the project's inception, and we appreciate the Mayoral Administration's apparent efforts to add uncharacteristic transparency to the process, even at this relatively early stage of the game.
Having said that, we're also keeping our fingers crossed that the council will not shirk it's obligation to conduct a proper independent "vetting process," to carefully examine Mr. Lee's company's financial capabilities and fitness for tackling an ambitious project such as this. There are some hard lessons which ought to have been learned from the Godfrey Administration's earlier blind commitment to Gadi Leshem as the project's would-be developer; and we wouldn't like to see history repeat itself in this instance.
We'll be additionally keeping our eyes peeled for any still un-mentioned "economic incentives" which Boss Godfrey may have up his sleeve to assist Mr. Lee in his pursuit of this project too, inasmuch as current economic conditions make taxpayer financing tricky at best. In the wake of the exceedingly disappointing performance of the Junction Project, we believe the Council must continue to be particularly wary of any "Blue Sky" proposal which would even potentially place Ogden taxpayers "on the hook" again for further bond debt. The days are long gone, we believe, when even the most naive Godfreyite would have the nerve to attempt to confidently assure the lumpencitizens that projects financed by tax increment financing "pay for themselves."
And while we're at it, we believe this is probably a good time to reprise one of our favorite, highly-instructive Econ 101-style videos:
We do hope our ever-attentive new city council is "listening up."
That's it for now, Gentle Readers. Howbout chiming in with your own commentary on this topic? We'd especially like to hear it from any WCF readers who sat-in on last night's City Council meeting, whilst in the illustrious company of the SE's intrepid Ace Reporter, Mr. Schwebke.
