By OneWhoKnows
In this mornings SE, the Leshemville Demolition political spin comes full circle:
• Ogden to compare demolition methodsGodfrey is quoted saying he notified everyone and later denies he had the luxury of notifying everyone. The Council was left in the dark again and got to read about it later in the SE. Both administration and council come off as incompetent buffoons and the public should be outraged. Then comes Community Development's Ballard, who has got to be related to Scott Brown, the all knowing go-to guy of Godfrey. By burning two at a time twenty times...problem's solved and saved half a mil. Community Development should not be involved with construction matters they don't understand only because they are loyal to Godfrey. The Fire Department, Engineering and Building Code Enforcement should be the ones that work this problem out. The half a million will not be paid back to the city because Leshem will most likely file bankrupcy and leave Ogden City holding the liens and property with the banks involved. I wonder if they will notify us when the house of cards finally come tumbling down? Probably not!
Editor's addendum: As an added bonus, we're compelled to post this email, transmitted by Dr. Peter C. Clemens to Emerald City CAO John "Pureheart" Patterson and the full city council on August 30, 2010:
• Peter C. Clemens EmailAt present, it appears that, despite the best efforts of the Utah medical community to educate the Administration on the subject, Boss Godfrey, et al. remain entirely oblivious to the serious public health threat caused by the prospect of further Leshemville "burns."
Don't let the cat get your tongues, O Gentle Ones.
17 comments:
And they get caught with their pants down by Ms.McKitrick on the purpose of the the fires as training for firefighters, there was none. This is clearly a slap in the face of the stupid citizens who reside in Ogden.
Balls the size of Texas. That is what the mayor and his minions have. Using no water on the houses makes for the most reduction in material. How is this supposed to make comparisons of demolition methods valid ? Kind of like using the 2 trolley buses to gather data for a proposed Weber State trolley line. The masters of smoke and mirrors are alive and well in O town. Where or where is the rest of the council other than Amy. So very dissapointed in our representatives and their willingness to speak up for the citizens they supposedly represent. Shame on them.
And this month, the coveted "Sun Rises In East/Pope Is Catholic/Brown Bear Craps In Woods" award goes to Mr. Clemons who in his email linked above discovers "a lack of accountability" in the Mayor's office.
The bottom line to this whole mess is that the city can do what they want and get away with it! Who will stop them? Who will make them be accountable for what they're doing and spending at the taxpayers expense?
The editorial in the Standard Examiner on July 18, 2010 stated that people would be notified-
OUR VIEW: Burn vacant homes
"We trust that local officials would make sure that training that involves burning would be done in a manner that does not adversely affect the air quality in the community. Mathieu assures the city council that local residents would be notified prior to burn days and that burns would occur when smoke would dissipate in a proper manner. "
When will this newspaper hold the Mayor and his administration accountable for their actions and remember something from a few short weeks ago? Does it not matter that funding for the demolition has not yet been approved yet the Mayor went ahead anyway with blatant disregard for the established approval process and the citizens in the area.
If the mayor really intended that his crony - Gadi LeSham - was going to eventually pick up the bill for the demolition, what difference would it make rather the burn or tear down method was the cheapest? If any one besides a mayoral crony owned this property they would have the code enforcement people on their back with fines and demands that they take care of the problem on their own dime - not the tax payer's.
Tom Wrote:
"If the mayor really intended that his crony - Gadi LeSham - was going to eventually pick up the bill for the demolition, what difference would it make rather the burn or tear down method was the cheapest."
Exactly what I've been wondering.
When society housewives run for office and elected chair they need to show they do really care about the common citizens of Ogden rather than side with the mayor and meet him in private.
If the mayor lived in the hood where these homes are being burned or abondoned they wouldn't be burned, but hauled away.
I also agree Gadi will not pay a cent, the property will be evaluated high only when it is traded to the city for a park. Or will the property back taxes be auctioned off in a tax sale, or a fire sale. I'm hoping the county maintains high assessments on these propereties.
I think it's time for a lawsuit enjoining the City of Ogden from burning any more houses pending a thorough review of the health effects.
"When society housewives run for office and elected chair they need to show they do really care about the common citizens of Ogden rather than side with the mayor and meet him in private."
Really? And what about rest of the dough-heads on the Council - Blair, Stephenson, Stephens, Garner - are they society househusbands? What a sexist remark.
My take on this council:
Blair
a bump on the log with no
personality, intellect or balls (where the hell did he come from anyway?)
Stephenson
a Godfrey robot with his nose up the big bosses keester so far he hasn't seen daylight in 8 years.
Stephens
Well intended but quite stupid
Garner
Honest but with no balls to stand up to a fellow priest.
Gouchner
Mormon housewife who knows her place.
VanHooser
Smart with good intentions but overpowered by Godfrey.
Wicks
Smart, well intentioned, ballsy, but with no support from the above dead weight.
Viktor,
It's nice, really nice, to see somebody else is paying attention.
Hindeman:
You wrote: "What a sexist remark."
Right on.
Viktor - I couldn't agree with your assessment more!
Thank you.
Perhaps you are being a little severe in your evaluation of the city council Victor. They spend a lot of time and effort wrestling with difficult issues that face Ogden. The methods of the Mayor make the council's task even more difficult. I advocate cutting them a little more slack than some posters here do.
Dave:
Agreed, particularly with relatively new Council members. Those who do the job right put in I think close to 20 hours a week all told, most weeks. If it's done right, it's no sinecure. Takes some time to get acclimated, learn where the bodies are buried, whose chain to yank to get something to happen. A lot of the commentary here seems to treat every vote as a clear black and white good vs evil choice. By the time something gets to a vote, the outcome may represent days [or weeks] of negotiation and compromise so that a majority of the members can agree on what to do. Or not to do. Sometimes first rate council work involves building a majority by compromise and horse trading, little of which is necessarily visible at the final vote-taking meeting.
That said, over time, Council members build a record that entitles people to draw conclusions about their competence, independence, etc. based on that record. Mr. Stephenson, for example, can 90 times out of a hundred, be counted upon to be in the Mayor's camp no matter what the issue involved.
A lot of the critics a lot of the time assume, or seem to, that the job of Council member is an easy one, or should be. I don't think it is, most of the time, and it certainly shouldn't be.
The only comparision is to find out which method will cause the least citizen outcry. It has nothing to do with air quality or cost.
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