In Monday's Standard-Examiner story, Ace Reporter Schwebke revealed that Ogden City has "applied for a $4.8 million Weber County RAMP grant for the field house that could be funded over five years."
In his Monday Magnum Opus, Dan Schroeder made it clear that the Godfrey administration had pulled out all the stops to hustle his knuckleheaded Field House Project forward.
Field House promoters even have a website dedicated to hyping the project, as we noted in our 1/11/11 article on this topic.
What's obvious now is that the Godfrey administration has built up a true head of steam, in typical "hypster" fashion, and that if level headed opponents don't do something about this project, we'll soon have another multi-million dollar boondoggle shoved down the Ogden/Weber County taxpayers' throats. Unfortunately, level headed project opponents have up until now been basically sitting on our thumbs.
In our previous article of 1/11/11, we announced that we would launch our own public relations counter-campaign after last Friday's RAMP grant application deadline.
Time for that citizen counter-offensive, wethinks.
In that connection, we now put the following Weber County Forum resources at our readers' disposal, by which our readers can register their opposition to RAMP funding for this project:
First and foremost, here's a link to our handy new archives utility, with live contact links to the key RAMP grant decision makers. If you'd like to lodge your objections to RAMP funding for the Field House project, we urge you to do that here:
And if you're presently short of reasons and rationales to publicly oppose this project "off the top of your head," be sure to check out these two informational links for inspiration:
- Full Weber County Forum Field House article collection
- Weber County Forum Field House Project Reader Objections Summary
Please don't dawdle. Contact the key RAMP decision makers NOW!
Update 1/19/11 12:19 p.m.: Be sure to click the little icons at the bottom of this WCF article, to share this citizen call to action on Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Let us all do our part to take this message viral!
17 comments:
One of many interesting things in the emails that Dan published the other day was the one where the Godfreyites portrayed Council Woman Van Hooser as the arch enemy who was trying to kill the whole silly deal.
If that is true, I say hooray for Van Hooser! We should all support her in any way we can in this effort.
Also found it interesting that the tone of the emails more or less paints Gouchner at a mayoral stoog!
Rudi, could you put up some information as to who the RAMP contacts are, and possible E-Mail addresses?
Dang, youwho!
If you'd made the effort to open the FIRST link, you'd realize that's exactly what I've done!
Dear RAMP Committee: Weber State seems to be quite privy to this boondoggle, Weber County appears to know it's a white elephant, the archers even realize it's a money pit and bailed and all of the private investors seem to be sprinting the other direction, fast! It also appears to have become divisive with existing businesses who are well established and entrenched in downtown Ogden.
RAMP Recommendation: A great investment at this time would be hiring a private investigator or attorney to assist in the investigation of Blain Johnson and his alleged illegally attained campaign funds. This would discourage this behavior from happening in the future and and possibly weed out those who may not represent what is best for our great city. This could also help to "elevate" the city and would fit nicely into the "entertainment and arts" category of donated funds. (tongue in cheek)
Rampitupnow:
Re: Hiring an investigator. RAMP funds cannot, I think, legally be used for that purpose.
In one of the emails Godfrey says that to get Bart to vote for this horrific project, "We will need to work him hard."
It reminds me of prison shower talk. This is how our mayor talks in emails? He has no respect for Bart Blair at all.
I wonder if Bart Blair has any respect for himself. Godfrey has a pretty good nose for such things. I think he works Brandon Stephenson pretty hard too, if you get my drift.
Danny:
The most insulting thing in re: Blair in those emails was the Administration's belief that if former WSU AD Graybeal took him to lunch, and Coach Mac gave him a call, they'd have Blair's vote locked up. The familiar Godfrey administration contempt for the Council and its members nicely illustrated. If I were on the Council and discovered the Mayor thought my vote could be locked up on a $40 million project by a free lunch and a coaches call, I'd be truly pissed off.
I wonder if Blair is.
Curm,
I agree. But is seems like some council members have unlimited ability to tolerate Godfrey's clear disrespect. I truly wonder about such people.
Here's another eye opener.
In the emails, the General Manager of the Ogden Marriott (Scott Sloan) writes to our mayor, expressing disappointment that he was notified of the new, taxpayer subsidized downtown motel by reading about it in the newspaper.
He says that he will just have to accept that his $8 million in revenues is not part of the big picture in Ogden.
Godfrey replies by saying that he didn't get to read the press release himself either, and basically spits in the man's face telling him that on the contrary, Godfrey has been very open with him. In other words, Godfrey told the guy he is a liar.
Godfrey affords only that he's sorry Sloan FEELS the way he does, but Godfrey does not apologize.
Then Godfrey says that locating the Imaginary Wonder Dome near the Marriott should make him happy, and should be more important to him than Godfrey's lack of common courtesy.
What would a mayor with class have done? He would have called Sloan, asked him to go to lunch, and apologized, asking him how he could make up the oversight.
But Godfrey has no class, and never admits he is wrong. His is venal piece of crap masquerading as a human being.
Food for thought: The third highest paid employee in Davis County whose salary is derived from public taxes is Resident Golf Pro Matthew Lyons, who pulls down $142,000 dollars per year. On the Ogden list the Mayor comes in as the 34th higest paid employee in the city with $87,840 per year. Now I know some of you will say he's still overpaid but I'm one of those Glass Half Full kind of people. I'm inclined to think Ogdenburgers getting their incompetant mayor @ a steal compared to what Davis County is paying for their golf pro.
AWM:
Look at it this way. The Davis Golf pro is skilled labor. Current Mayor of Ogden, not so much....
Within the e-mails that DanS. acquired from his GRAMA request I found page 14, the letter to the City Council from Godfrey, particularly telling. In it is his explanation as why the City Council is too dumb to understand the details pertaining to the RDA projects. Most administrations would provide an overview sheet with the detailed back-up data to allow the members to see the big picture and then review the details to see if they agree with the conclusions in the overview. But not so with our Boozo council. They just eat the spoon feed crap.
Anyone that has read the RDA project details would see that other than the BDO the rest of the projects in the RDA portfolio are crap. Godfrey’s track record is appalling.
With regards to the field house why has the conversation switched from a conversation as to whether the city should invest in this project (which in MHO it should not) to a conversation as to how should it be managed. Understand of course that outside management of the operation just allows the administration to distance itself from the project should it not preform as promised yet still leaving the residents on the financial hook. I mean is this a done deal?
Not to change the subject, but did ya all catch that nausiating guest editorial by Gene and Linda Atkinson?....who are these peeps?
As a note to thier #5 suggestion...the LDS Church has the block well planned out.....
Bart Blair is a supporter of WSU and a sports fanatic. But to suggest a call from addled old Coach Mac would convince him to support this lunacy is typical Midget Mayor delusion.
Bart isn't one to call attention to himself. He isn't self serving or self important. In other words, he isn't your typical politician. He's on the council for one purpose and that is to serve the best interests of the people he represents and the city he's always called home. He is a man of high integrity and class. You won't see him wring the tiny tyrant's proverbial neck, as much as I'd like to see him do so. It's not his style.
He's aware of the Mayor's misguided opinions about him and he finds them laughable. You don't have to worry about Bart. In him, you have a more critical, intelligent, and observant councilman than you realize. Want to know where he stands on this ridiculous Fieldhouse boondoggle? Stay tuned or simply ask him. As a constituent, I've found him more than approachable.
As for that vomit-inducing editorial in this morning's fishwrap, if Godfrey runs again and wins, you'll find a for sale sign in my front yard the next day. This bullshit is getting tiresome.
Beaver
I sure do hope you are right about Mr. Blair. So far however, he has come across as a bump on the log who doesn't seem to comprehend what is going on about him.
Along those lines, it might be interesting to GRAMA Bart Blair or all correspondence to Mr. Blair to see exactly what has been said to him as our councilman.
Arrogance and hubris have no limits. Yes if I were Mr. Blair I'd find it disturbing, but any decission maker should feel the same.
This so-called project doesn't even reflect what was rejected prior. It's nothing but a hodgepodge of things that won't compete with Golds Gym which was also guaranteed to raise all county boats, but hasn't. This thing is minus last years main attraction, archery, which was projected to have the ability to carry all the other financial losers included at the time.
The location has changed two or three times.
All I can see is an arrogant attempt to grab the remainder of funds with no respect for the intended purpose of the funds or the folks charged with deciding how to distribute the funds.
This is so insane an idea that I can only believe the mayors team members have lost all self respect and have adopted the lying little crooks distain for other public servants.
All decision makers should respond with a rowsing no, but a hell no.
And as far as this topic goes, the City Council should speak with a unified voice condeming the request and refusing to discuss this matter any farther.
Bill
As far as the council, or the RAMP decision makers, speaking with a unified voice and turning thumbs down on this atrocious scheme, I don't think that is going to happen. In my opinion the fix is already in and none of these so called "decision makers" will lose a penny personally if they squander thirty or forty million of public money on this. The only hope that the tax payers, who will end up losing another forty or so million, have is for the custodians of the public money in question to make it a condition that the ten million from private donors has to be in the bank before a penny of public money is moved into the Mayor's control. (Like they did with the dumb ass icicle idea).
I can't see any private person or organization taking a ten million dollar flyer on one of Godfrey's ridiculous loser schemes. After all, there has been no marketing study and the so called "feasibility study" was a complete farce - both rather large red flags in the private capital markets.
Post a Comment