Godfrey's dismal record speaks for itself
By Ozboy
There is a very good letter to the editor on the Standard site from the ever sensible David Smith - who incidentally I think would make a great Ogden mayor.
See it here:
Nuff said?
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18 comments:
nuff said ...
Where is the "like" button?
Cross-posted from the S-E site, in response to some of the other comments:
I think it's important to have an honest discussion about Mayor Godfrey's record: the successes, the failures, and the works in progress. Unfortunately, nearly all of what we hear on this subject is greatly distorted for partisan purposes. This isn't the place for a thorough treatment of the topic, but let me add a few facts:
* Most importantly, Ogden was not dead before Mayor Godfrey took office. We had some important new developments downtown including the conference center, Egyptian Theater, Lindquist Field, new courthouse, new restaurants and other businesses on 25th Street, and renovations to the Municipal Building. The mall was on the decline but many still considered it worth trying to save. Our trail system was starting to get national recognition, the Ogden River Parkway was complete down to Washington Blvd., and there were plans to extend it westward. The 2002 Olympics were on the way.
* BDO was put in place under the Mecham Administration, and the lease agreement with Boyer was finalized just before Godfrey took office, over his loud objections. This is now the cash cow for some of Mayor Godfrey's major development projects, including The Junction and the proposed Field House. It's also where most of Ogden's new jobs have been created over the last decade. But Mayor Godfrey doesn't deserve credit for BDO.
* There has been much genuine progress with downtown development during the last eleven years, most notably the IRS complex, the FrontRunner, the Colonial Court apartments, and the Union Square development on the lower block of 25th Street. We can probably argue over how much credit for these developments belongs to Godfrey, and in some cases I honestly don't know how much credit he deserves. But the improvements are real.
* The Junction looks nice in some ways, but it has fallen fall short of what we were promised. Much of the space is still undeveloped or unleased, and the property tax revenues are only about a third of what the mayor's office said they would be in 2007. Even then, he knew better and had no business making such promises. We were lied to.
* The River Project is a 60-acre embarrassment, much worse today than it was a decade ago. Sure, nobody expected it to happen overnight, but we have been repeatedly promised by the Godfrey administration that it would happen faster than it has. For example, in January 2004, the Standard-Examiner announced that construction "should begin in 2005"; and again, in June 2008, we were told that the Ernest Health project was a "done deal".
I hope these facts can serve as a basis for a more informed discussion of this topic, moving beyond the ridiculous exaggerations on both sides.
Dan, Thank you for the accurate and concise summaries of 5 experiences, but please allow me to add a few more items:
6. Blain Johnson and his cohorts ongoing campaign funds investigation with the state attorney general
7. Ogden Envision and FNURE non-profit organizations possibly illegally funding candidates including Blain Johnson
8. David Phipps - nuff said
9. Lawsuits financed by taxpayers.
Readers, feel free to add numbers 10 to whatever to provide an accurate representation.
Let me add two more projects that people think Godfrey was behind. The Intermodial Hub and the Amphitheater were designed, approved and funded under Mecham and finished when Godfrey was in his first term. Did he take credit, I don't know. I do know he didn't shy away from the cameras and press upon their completion.
As for the statement that 12 years is enough, boy howdy, actually 8 years too many!
I appreciate Rudi posting my letter. But in spite of all the comments, it troubles me that one issue is still overlooked by so many.
How come David Goode gets to use the 21st Street pond as his private property? It is city property! We can fish there, and walk around it, but the only boats on the water, and the only cars that can park there, are his.
And for what? $5,000 in campaign cash for Godfrey? It's an outrage.
Try as I might, nobody else seems to be outraged.
The Public Safety Building (Police and Fire Station on 22nd and Lincoln) was Mechams baby, but godfrey takes credit for that one also.
Off thread but Utah politicians were just nationaly mentioned, Comedy Central.
First on Jon Stewart with Chaffitz saying he would have to hurl if seated next to a Democrate.
Then Rep Oda on killing feral cats, clubing or beheading cats.
Sure makes a major company want to move to Utah.
No wonder Utah looks bat sh__ crazy to normal middle of the road folks.
Did I miss something? Did Godfrey actually announce that he is running again?!
And speaking of bat shit crazy Godfreyites, I just read where the god father of this loony tunes group, Stuart Reid, who of course is Ogden's newest disingenuous (lying bastard) State Senator has introduced his first bill. Hold your hats now, he is proposing that the state constitution be changed so that the Governor can take control of all the schools in Utah away from the School Board of Education.
If you think Utah schools suck now in comparison to the rest of the country, can you imagine what would happen if total control of them were turned over to this band of morons!
Maybe he will appoint his right hand stooge Wimmer as University of Utah President - and chief fire arms instructor.
Oz:
Can you post link to the Reid story?
Oz:
Never mind. Found it over at the Trib site. Interesting that the Reid proposal is reported along with Buttar's proposal to place all public ed under legislative control. It's the Reid and Buttars show!
OneWhoKnows-While design, funding. and approval for the amphitheater was begun under Mecham the plaque at the amphitheater lists Matthew Godfrey and the members of the city council at time of completition as responsible.
12 minutes of Godfrey was enough.
Dan
While I agree with the bulk of your cross post with the Standard, I would like to comment on the paragraph where you seem to be giving credit to Godfrey for at least four deals.
"There has been much genuine progress with downtown development during the last eleven years, most notably the IRS complex, the FrontRunner, the Colonial Court apartments, and the Union Square development"
It is hard to give credit to him for the IRS complex givin that it is the federal government and of course took a very long time in the planning stage. I also seem to recall from the misty past that the ball got started rolling on that one under the past administration.
The Frontrunner is a UDOT deal and would come to Ogden regardless of who was mayor.
I think the Colonial Apartments are Church owned and next to the Temple. Don't know how Godfrey could get much credit there.
And the Union Square apartments cost the city tax payers over $2 million in losses before it became occupied. I guess one could call that a success - Godfrey style!
It is curious to say the least. When going online to read the original letter I noticed something interesting. The S-E under the comments counter show 0 comments. If you cling on "read more" it brings up 14 comments. I'm not really a conspiracy guy but it interesting to see the paper decline to show the real amount of interest in the letter.
BR:
Several of the SE's aggregate sites listing links to stories do not track the number of comments and report them as "0" no matter how many there are. They didn't single out this story for that, I think
The "popular comments" stack on the main home page [center column] is usually pretty accurate. It currently lists 19 comments for this story.
Oz
One other point on the IRS in Ogden that you didn't mention, and that is the IRS was already in Ogden on 12th street for many years and merely expanded their operations into the buildings closer to the town center. The original planning for that was done under the Meacham administration but the actual move took place after Mr. Godfrey became mayor, thus he takes credit for bringing a couple of thousand jobs to Ogden. This is typical of the his dishonesty.
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