March 26 Ogden City Council Meeting: Part Deux

Bonus video: A most interesting Council session from start to finish

In the interest of wrapping up our discussion of  last Tuesday's Ogden City Council meeting, wherein the council considered, among other things,  the Paris Cafe Zoning/Conditional Use Permit matter and the un-calendered "Not Going Away! Group Talk-in," we're delighted to discover that the full council video has now popped up on the City Council website, providing a particularly interesting glimpse into the Council's treatment of these and other matters. It's an interesting video from start to finish, wethinks, kicking off with a heart-warming ceremony at 01:08 in which Councilwoman Wicks read a special Council resolution honoring Ogden Homeboy and Mountain Climbing World Legend Jeff Lowe, and Mayor Mike awarded your blogmeister's old high school chum a much-coveted and richly-deserved key to Ogden City.

Following this and a prolonged discussion of amendments to the City's Capital Improvement Plan, the video gets down to the WCF-topical nitty gritty at 1:14:24, with the Paris Cafe discussion, where, following another laborious "background" presentation and discussion, the Council finally gets around to approving Mr. McKown's subject "social hall definition amendment" by a 6-1 vote, where a very curmudgeonly Councilman Stephens can be observed to be visibly scowling,  whilst casting the single Council "nay" vote over in the right corner of the video player screen.

From there, interested readers can skip the intervening "Infill Project" discussion and fast forward to 1:47:45, which commences what you've all been waiting for, i.e., the "Not Going Away! Group Talk-in," wherein no fewer than sixteen steely-eyed, concerned citizens bent the Council's ear for over forty minutes about the growing evils of police militarization, door-busting warrant service tactics, police violence in general and a law enforcement-fearful citizenry in particular.  It works out to be a pretty effective presentation, we believe, inasmuch as not only Mayor Mike but also Councilmembers Garner,  Hyer, Stephens and Van Hooser practically leap out of their chairs to thank the "Not Going Away! Group" upon the end of their extended and inspirational presentation, but also to further attempt to reassure these dedicated citizen activists to the effect that they're "taking their issues seriously," and working quietly (but feverishly) behind the scenes to solve these obvious problems.

We got the impression that the Council were quite favorably impressed by the NGA! group's ad seriatim, mostly highly-articulate and touching presentation.  But why take our word for that, when you can view the video evidence yourselves:


So what say you, O Gentle Ones?

• Does it appear that Paris Cafe proprietor Mr. Mckown is finally making progress; or is it evident that he's merely getting the usual City Council "Big Government" runaround even now? 
• Did the "Not Going Away! Group" "get through" to the Ogden City Council to a degree sufficient to precipitate any actual action to solve the all-to-obvious and troubling "Ogden police violence" problem? 
• Was it overly "tacky" for Councilman Garner to recite the text of the Ogden Council's "Standards of Civility" prior to opening the floor for the "Not Going Away!" group's public comments?
• Wasn't it great to see Jeff Lowe get some public recognition beyond his earlier and unfortunate association with Boss Godfrey's failed Ice Climbing Tower, (otherwise "affectionately" known around these parts as the "The Fortress of Mayoral Ego")?

 Let's hear your ever-savvy analysis and commentary, folks!