By: Fly on the Wall
- Carbon Commission Holding Public Discussion Concerning the Future Use of Courthouse Building
- Carbon County and Better City want your input
At the helm for 15 years?
Over a period of 15 years, with Godfrey at the helm, [Ogden] was revitalized and when he decided to rejoin the private sector, officials from other communities began asking Godfrey for his expertise in revitalizing their towns, leading to formation of Better City, LLC.An Ogden Restaurant that employs 750 people?
Another blighted building was transformed into a restaurant that now employs 750 people, and an area that Godfrey said once was "the place you went of you were homeless, looking for a prostitute or a fight" is now filled with boutiques, restaurants and residences:A concept with a familiar ring: "What you need is a fieldhouse":
"It is the direction of successful, innovative education around the nation," Godfrey said. "That's why the federal government is funding it so heavily." "In addition to gaining what he says could be a model school in the region, the district would gain an attractive venue to draw sporting events and other productions. The fieldhouse, when not in use by the school or hosting an event, could also be open to members of the greater community as a practice field or for league sports," he said:"Partnering" with local educational institutions:
Specifically, Godfrey said, he wants to build upon an education "cluster" that already exists in the city, with Kent State University, the active high school alumni association, the online school and another post-secondary school looking at locating downtown:
So who'll be the first to lodge an ever-savvy comment?
Ferris?
8 comments:
One has to give Matthew Godfrey some credit. He is able to locate the few remaining communities where public officials are unable to use the internet to search out and verify the claims Godfrey makes.
This is a great article Rudi, and a great comment blackrulon.
Say this about Godfrey: The guy has energy and gets people going .... kinda like an invading army does.
I loved this comment from one of the articles.
Board member Richard Wolf strongly voiced his skepticism about the plan, saying that he remembers past revitalization efforts that ended up costing the city income in tax abatements, but yielded no measurable economic growth or other progress. "Let the property or business owners make some sacrifice, not this school district and not the general public," he said.
But Mr. Wolf, you see, with such an approach there is no possibility of a select group of cronies having access to a vast trove of public money they can parcel among themselves.
Godfrey's response: "The decision before you tonight is, do you want to do something different and try to revitalize your town, or do you want to sit on your haunches and hope for a miracle that's not going to come?"
It's just like old times! I noticed the local news already is referring to Godfrey as a "visionary". How long will it be before people like Mr. Wolf are referred to as "naysayers"?
We've all seen this movie before! Yes, when Godfrey comes to town, let the polarizing begin!
Godfrey's keeping his powder dry, knuckle-headed-projects-wise. So far, at least. Wait until Price, Utah and East Liverpool, Ohio find out that a gondola is essential to their economic survival.
if it's raining money, then it must be a sign of phiscal responsibility (spelling).
how can u embezzle money when it's right in front of your face ?
It is just a matter of months before Godfrey tells the citizens he has numerous investors lined up that he will disclose at a later time.
The nauseating thing about this is that when you look at the website the only "success" that is being claimed is things in Ogden..and there are quite a few stretches in that.....what do have they go going in "all" of these other cities that have been ponying up taxpayer bucko's....it's been 2 years and they are still high fiving each other about what they "did" in Ogden....buyer beware peeps...buyer beware...
"Better Utah had worked hard to take a dying, historic downtown and turn it back into a thriving hub of the state."....Excuse me...did Ogden City hire Better Utah?? this appears to be quite a stretch in the truth...its one thing to be a consultant to a municipality and its another when you are "running it" and have a very different position to see that certain things happen....jmho...
"Price City Council member Rick Davis was in support of the proposals, but also wanted to know if Better Utah had experience working with communities as small as Price. Godfrey assured him with several examples of other communities they have helped.:....Name one please..."working with" and "getting results" are two different things....
are these city's this stupid or what?!
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