Sunday, April 14, 2013

Standard-Examiner: Officials Peddle Ogden As New Cycling Center

When it comes to adding the slightly less pompous tout-phrase "North American cycling cluster" to our Ogden City resume, we ask: "So why the hell not?"

Just like clockwork, and as a followup to our March 22, 2013 WCF story reporting that "our beloved Mayor Mike was enjoying the gracious hospitality of Taiwan bicycle factory owners and bike manufacturers, together with the the cheerful camaraderie of other fellow Taipei Cycle Show attendees," in the interest of "developing a 'sister city' [relationship] with Ogden and establishing it as the North American cycling cluster," we find  the inevitable post-mayoral junket puff piece plastered right up there on the top of the Standard-Examiner front page this morning:
Aerospace Industry View
Mayor Mike sez "the city’s aim is to turn Ogden into a North American cycling cluster, bringing an interconnected concentration of cycling businesses to the city — similar to the thriving Northern Utah aerospace industry," which has something of a eerie and familiar ring to it, dunnit?

In point of fact, the beleaguered citizens of Ogden City have heard variations of this tired old theme song many times before, come to think of it, in circumstances which, sadly, never even came close to living up to the public relations-hype.

It'll be fascinating to stand back and watch how this all pans out down the road, once it's been subjected to a proper cost/benefit analysis, don'tcha think?

And we'll all be keeping our collective lumpentaxpayer fingers crossed; right, O Gentle Ones?

As for the minor detail of Mayor Mike's proposed  "North American Cycling Cluster" motto, we'll pose a question to you all:

Why, we're already the "High-advenure Recreation Capital" of the whole danged planet after all, not to mention the "Disneyland for Adrenalized Adults." So when it comes to adding the slightly less pompous tout-phrase "North American Cycling Cluster" to our Ogden City resume, we ask, "Why the hell not?"

8 comments:

blackrulon said...

What's next? Recycling the Urban Gondola proposal? I highly suspect our city business and promotion leaders have a serious case of Attention Deficit Disorder. At least there will be available bicycling headquarters space in the many Ski Company buildings that are now vacant. Are any of the Geigers involved in the cycling industry?

Ogden Lover said...

Granted it isn't millions, but the money spent on this trip could have been put into the Water Dept coffers instead.



I am so tired of seeing money given away in the name of expansion when we need to be taking care of our infrastructure and city services for the people already living her.

Bob Sawatzki said...

All we need now is a GREENWAY, so there will be a SAFE way to bike across town. What part of Safe, Green, and NO CARS ALLOWED don't they understand?

blackrulon said...

It might be safer for cyclists to bike across town if they obey traffic regulations.

rudizink said...

This is interesting, methinks...
When Bikes And Cars Collide, Who's More Likely To Be At Fault?

Bob Becker said...

Only slightly off topic....

Has anyone else looked at the SE's Sunday dead tree edition front page? It's one god-awful layout design. Something I'd expect from the San Antonio Light on a bad day, or a supermarket tabloid. But an urban daily? Good grief.... Hope this is not a Sign of Things to Come under the new publisher.

[And no, I'm not talking about the ads running across the bottom of the front page. I don't like 'em, but I understand the revenue bind urban dailies are in. It's the tabloid layout of the rest of the front page that I find appalling. ]

Bob Becker said...

The stats don't surprise me, since many of the same bikers who loudly point out they have as much right to the road, under the law, as a motorist does, also zip through stop signs and red lights, etc.


Regardless of who's at fault, seems to me bikers ought to keep well in mind that the driver coming at them or up from behind, is encased in a steel protective framework in the event of a mishap, while the biker absolutely is not. Recalls those old safe driving ads that showed a gravestone, the engraving of which said: " He Had The Right of Way."

Dennis Craig said...

Whem you look at the lack of bike lanes in our county, we need to get serious if we want this reputation. Heck, we don't even have a complete bike lane going around Pineview and where we have it the cyclists don't use it!

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