Standard-Examiner: Next Stop for (Faux) Trolley Report -- Analysis

Does this morning's story provide yet more evidence that Little Lord Godfrey has finally lost his marbles (to adopt highly-technical psychiatric terminology)?

The Standard-Examiner reports this morning that "[Ogden] city has compiled a ridership report that shows about 26,000 passengers have used two trolley-style buses that have looped around the downtown area for 10 months," and that the report "has been submitted to the Wasatch Front Regional Council and the Utah Transit Authority for analysis." This analysis would ostensibly determine whether a permanant "streetcar cirulater" (which would "loop" through two [easily walkable] blocks within the downtown area, and would soak the Ogden taxpayers with a cool 5 million bucks in "upfront money," plus $1 million per year in operating costs), might (in some wacky alternate universe) qualify for a grant of $25 million in federal funds:

• Next stop for trolley report -- analysis

Three questions:

1) Who will be paying for this percipient UTA analysis? (not the beleaguered Ogden taxpayers, we hope).
2) Does this "loopy" Godfrey project belong right up there near the top of the "short list" of other boneheaded Godfrey projects, right along with "crackpot flatland gondola" and "the loonybird ice tower"?
3) Does this morning's story provide yet more evidence that Little Lord Godfrey has finally lost his marbles (to adopt a highly-technical psychiatric term)?

Have at it, O Gentle Ones...

Emerald City Monday Morning News Roundup

Plenty to talk about this morning; so don't hesitate to chime in with your own 2¢.

Several interesting pieces online this morning via the Northern Utah print media:

1) Here's an informative Cathy McKitrick story this morning from the Salt Lake Tribune, reporting in detail some of the planned improvements on the slate for the new St. Anne's Shelter:

• Current Ogden shelter too cramped, new digs in the works

Once again the Tribune is the johnny on the spot to report the more interesting developments in our town.

2) For those readers who don't subscribe to the Standard-Examiner, here's David Smith's letter to the Standard, which was published in the hard copy edition this morning on the editorial page:

• Envision Ogden antics resemble money laundering

It's encouraging, we think, for the Standard to accept and publish public criticism for its dawdling on the Envision Ogden story. Kudos to David Smith for helping to keep the story in public view.

3) And last but not least we'll shine the spotlight on this Stephen M. Cook letter (available online only), which will provide regular WCF readers a strong sense of deja vu:

• Downtown trolley doesn't run as advertised

Another of our gentle readers had urged Livin' Downtown to submit his disappointing faux trolley experience to the Standard; and we're delighted to see WCF regular Stephen ditched his anonymous handle and followed up on this.

That's it for now gentle readers.

Plenty to talk about this morning. Don't hesitate to chime in with your own 2¢.

More Disappointment In Re the Goofy Godfrey Downtown Faux Trolley Route

Downtown Trolley Loop? Fail , says one WCF Reader

By: Livin' Downtown

I stood out in the snow at 160 25th Street, waiting with my toddler son for a much-anticipated trolley ride to the Tree House Museum;

And waited, and waited...

At 55 minutes, I prevailed on the crestfallen boy, and we arranged other transport to the Children's Museum.

We called the City, and were connected with a Mayoral Representative, who politely informed us that the Trolley DOES NOT ALWAYS run the copiously posted hours, nor does it always run every 15-20 minutes.

It seems, without updating the informational signage, the city has decided to only run one trolley, and if we plan on using it, sometimes it will come in a few minutes... sometimes it will come in a hour... maybe...

No way I am standing in the snow for 45 minutes again, not when we are waiting for a child-pleasing ride, one that we could walk in half the time.

And especially, no way we are going to use it in the snow.

I am sure there are great reasons, bus changeover, driver lunch, whatever...
Try telling that to a three year old who is shivering, and wondering what dad means when he says, "The trolley will be here any minute".

Downtown Trolley Loop? Fail.

Standard-Examiner: Clang, Clang, Clang - The New Free Trolley Goes All Around Downtown Ogden

The starry-eyed Boss Godfrey is still sticking to his facially-absurd story that this hokey downtown short route shuttle is some kind of greater street car ridership experiment

Well, the magic moment has arrived, folks... the golden day Emerald City citizens have been eagerly awaiting. Starting this week, Boss Godfrey's faux trolleys will be traversing a short circular downtown loop, ferrying enthusiastic riders round and round and round the downtown Ogden business district, in a dizzying array of Dowtown Ogden-centiric "right turns." Scott Schwebke provides the lowdown in this morning's Standard-Examiner story:

• Clang, clang, clang - The new free trolley goes all around downtown Ogden

Weirdly enough, the starry-eyed Boss Godfrey huckster is still at least loosely sticking to his absurd story that this hokey downtown short route shuttle bus represents some kind of greater overall street car ridership experiment:

The trolley replicas are part of a yearlong experiment to determine whether there is adequate ridership to support a permanent streetcar system within the downtown corridor, said Mayor Matthew Godfrey.

The more level-headed Dan Musgrave however, does advance a more rational argument for the justification of this taxpayer-funded downtown fake trolley conveyance:

Dan Musgrave, executive director of Downtown Ogden Inc., said the trolley replicas will help alleviate parking issues while providing needed transportation.
"People will be able to hop on the trolley and will be able to ride all over downtown."

Yes, we do believe that Mr. Musgrave, unlike Boss Godfrey, does at least make a fair point.

New Downtown Businesses and Faux Trolleys Coming Soon

Part of a forward trend for downtown, or just a temporary lurch?

By Dan Schroeder

With all the recent election-related news, this blog almost overlooked two interesting items in the Thursday Standard-Examiner.

First was this article in the Business section, describing in more detail than ever before the plans to open three new outdoor equipment shops in downtown Ogden: Recreation Outlet at 2324 Washington; Ogden ROX at 2314 Washington; and G4G Adventure Sports and Gear at 2348 Kiesel. All three are promised to open around mid-November, and should be welcome additions to The Junction and the block just across from it on Washington Blvd.

The article also mentions that a pair of affiliated software companies, DAKCS and PDC4U, have recently relocated from Mount Ogden Plaza (near St. Benedict’s Manor and Mt. Ogden Park) to the new Wells Fargo Building in The Junction. Although this relocation doesn’t appear to be any net gain for Ogden, it does lessen the embarrassment caused by that brand new building being mostly empty and previously attracting only two tenants, both from across the street.

The gradual leasing of empty space in and around The Junction is, of course, good news for downtown Ogden. Let’s hope these latest additions are part of a continuing trend, and not just a temporary forward lurch.

Meanwhile, hidden in the Weber Plus section of Thursday’s paper, at the bottom of the monthly Ogden City advertisement, was another interesting item:

Yes ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, Ogden’s rubber-tired faux trolleys will soon be up and running! Regular readers will recall that Mayor Godfrey harassed the Weber Area Council of Governments for several months until they finally relented in August and agreed to fund this demonstration project for one year, signing over $175,400 of transportation sales tax revenue for this purpose. To access this pot of funds, all parties had to agree to call the project a “study”, intended to measure ridership potential for the proposed streetcar between downtown and WSU. I’ve been trying to obtain more information from regional transportation officials about how this “study” will be conducted and what they’re hoping to learn, and will post an update here whenever they answer my inquiries.

For now, however, patrons of downtown Ogden can enjoy the faux trolley ride around Historic 25th Street, Washington Blvd., The Junction, and the Intermodal Hub. The ride will be free, with service every 20 minutes. The northern limit of the route was originally supposed to be 20th Street, but it sounds like that has been changed to 21st or even 22nd. Now let’s see... How long would it take to walk from 22nd Street to 25th?

Rubber-Tire Trolleys, Downtown Business Loans, and Leshemville Demolition

Heads-up on this Tuesday’s City Council agenda

By Dan Schroeder

The Ogden City Council agenda packet for this Tuesday, September 7, contains some items that are sure to interest Weber County Forum readers:

1. Allocation of the $175,400 that WACOG granted the city last month to operate a rubber-tire trolley system circulating around downtown Ogden.

Officially this project is a “study”, to assess the feasibility of someday building a genuine streetcar along the same circulating route. The cost of such a system would be in the tens of millions of dollars, so it would compete for funding with the far more important transit line between downtown and WSU. The $175,400 grant comes from the 1/4-cent sales tax fund that we approved three years ago for “regionally significant” transportation projects. Because the downtown circulator is not a regionally significant project, it was actually illegal for the Weber Area Council of Governments to grant the funds for this purpose. It did so, in part, because the Wasatch Front Regional Council wrote a letter last April blessing the circulator project, and even calling it a “portion” of the WSU line. Anyone who doubts that Mayor Godfrey has political clout should consider how he coerced WFRC into telling this outrageous lie and thus got the money he wanted out of WACOG.

Now that the money has been handed to Ogden City, of course, it would be foolish for the council not to approve spending it. But it would be equally foolish for the council to hand it to the mayor with no strings attached, as they’re apparently about to do. At this time neither the city nor WFRC has any written protocol for how this “study” is to be conducted, or even a list of specific questions that the study is supposed to answer. We can be sure that under these circumstances, the mayor will declare the study a “success” no matter what the outcome. To make matters worse, the administration intends to outsource the vehicles’ operation to Downtown Ogden Inc., a nonprofit organization that is wholly controlled by the mayor but immune from public records requests.

2. Creation of a new Tenant Improvement Loan Program for downtown retail businesses, and allocation of $315,000 of BDO revenue to this program.

The high vacancy rates for retail space at The Junction and along Washington Blvd. are a continuing embarrassment for the city in general and for Mayor Godfrey in particular. This latest attempted remedy would provide incentives in the form of loans to tenants for finishing or improving the interior of retail spaces. Such a program sounds reasonable, though I question whether the administration can be trusted to award the loans fairly.

I also have a more immediate concern: Why is the loan program being created through a resolution, rather than by ordinance? Whereas an ordinance carries the weight of law, a city council resolution is merely an expression of opinion, with no teeth. Thus, if the loan program is created as currently planned, the administration would apparently be free to change the terms and conditions of the program at any time.

3. Allocation of $545,150 of BDO revenue for demolition of vacant houses in the River Project area.

Of course, the houses need to be torn down. But I seriously doubt that Mr. Leshem or his associates will ever reimburse the city for this expense, so we should chalk this up as yet another subsidy for this black hole of a project (over $7 million spent so far, and counting).

The good news is that the city council has put a restriction into the proposed ordinance, allowing no more than $25,000 of the funds to be used to clean up sites where the homes were intentionally burned. But it’s not at all clear that this restriction is sufficient. The administration could still use additional money to prepare houses for incineration, by removing the asbestos and so on. If the council wishes to stop the city from burning more of the houses, it should stipulate that no funds be used on sites of intentional burns, other than the two that have been burned already.

In summary, this city council meeting will be an important one—and there are plenty of reasons to lobby the council to improve these proposed measures before passing them.

To see the full city council agenda packet (10.7 MB), click here.

For an abridged version of the agenda packet, including all the items discussed in this article (2.4 MB), click here.

Update 9/8/10 8:00 a.m.: Both the Standard-Examiner and the Salt Lake Tribune report that the Council has allocated $545,000 in Business Depot Ogden lease revenues to demolish the derelict Leshemville residential structures, and that further "burns" are off the table:

• Ogden won't burn other vacant homes
• Ogden mayor: Halt plan to torch vacant homes

Unfortunately, there's no word on the Council's treatment of either the $175,400 WACOG grant or the proposed $315,000 Tenant Improvement Loan Program. Perhaps one of our readers who attended last night's meeting can help us out with these latter two issues.

Standard-Examiner: Ogden using $175,400 "Experiment" to Determine Streetcar System Need

We swear we couldn't make this kinda B.S. up

Both trolley replicas would remain in operation for at least a year to collect ridership data for a proposed $160 million streetcar system extending along a busy corridor from the Intermodal Hub to Weber State University and McKay-Dee Hospital, both on Harrison Boulevard.
Introduction of the trolley replicas will help gauge whether a streetcar system would be successful, said Greg Scott, a transportation planner for the Wasatch Front Regional Council.
"It's a good realistic way to have wheels on the ground to see if it will fly."

Standard-Examiner
Ogden using $175,400 experiment to determine streetcar system need
August 16, 2010

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.

Hunter S. Thompson
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Despite a seemingly cool reception with the Weber County Council of Governments (WACOG) last March, it appears that the silver tongued Boss Godfrey is achieving his two-year obsession, latching onto a wad of "quarter-cent sales tax" cash, to fund a "loopy" downtown Ogden "faux trolley" loop:

• Ogden using $175,400 experiment to determine streetcar system need

This bogus trolley/downtown bus shuttle is part of "a yearlong $175,400 experiment to determine ridership for a possible permanent streetcar system," a "transportation planner" (bureaucrat) for the Wasatch Front Regional Council tells the SE's Scott Schwebke, with a completely straight face.
We swear we couldn't make this kinda B.S. up.

Who'll be the first to knock back those post-weekend cobwebs and chime in?

Standard-Examiner: Boss Godfrey Puts His Little Self Into The Weber County Council of Governments Hot-seat

Boss Godfrey presents his "Faux Trolley" "downtown streetcar circulator plan" to an obviously skeptical Weber County Council of Governments (WACOG) meeting yesterday afternoon

Just to keep our hysterical archives accurate, we'll duly link this afternoon to this morning's Standard-Examiner story, wherein intrepid Weber County Government Beat reporter Di Lewis reports that the ever-lovable Boss Godfrey presented his "Faux Trolley" "downtown streetcar circulator plan to an obviously skeptical Weber County Council of Governments (WACOG) meeting on Monday afternoon:

• Mayor grilled about Ogden streetcar

Seems THE BOSS OF OGDEN didn't receive a particularly warm reception from a group of local government representives who are fully aware that Boss Godfyrey is a 'lyin' POS:

Commissioner Jan Zogmaister said she doesn't agree with the Mayor's numbers. She said she also was concerned that because the downtown streetcar would be different from the one on the university route, they wouldn't be able to share maintenance space and costs.

It also appears also that Commissioner Bischoff isn't aboard the Boss Godfrey bandwagon either:

Those [fudged Godfrey] numbers worried Weber County Commissioner Ken Bischoff. He said WACOG has been more focused on a long-term streetcar project connecting downtown Ogden with Weber State University and McKay-Dee Hospital Center.
"Going out 10 years, we've got $10 million less in funding to build the route to the hospital," he said, referring to the ongoing maintenance costs that would be coming from the transportation tax money.

And then there's this, from West Haven City Mayor Brian Melaney, who most likely speaks for other WACOG members who don't consider Boss Godfrey's Ogden City to be the center of the Weber County universe:

I'm not sure that my city's residents would approve of spending such a large portion of the tax money on a downtown Ogden project. [paraphrased]

Please chime in on this, O Gentle Ones. Interesting local political nuances, no?

Downtown Ogden Tourism Kicks Into High Gear

Two downtown tourist welcome centers and possibly much more!!!

This morning's Standard-Examiner reports the latest on Ogden's Dining Car/Tourist Welcome Center, which has been the subject of considerable previous discussion here on Weber County Forum. You can read Di Lewis's full story here:

• Downtown Ogden continues welcoming visitors by building tourist infrastructure

Ms. Lewis provides a good nuts and bolts rundown on the project's current status, and among other things, also informs us that there will be not just one, but two downtown "welcome centers."

Ms. Lewis's story also mentions FOM* Jeanie Milne, owner of "Choo-Choo's Kafe and Deli." Ms. Milne is working with Trudy Soland, who in turn will be operating a second welcome center at 25th Street & Washington Blvd., according to Ms. Lewis's report. This morning's article doesn't clarify exactly what Ms. Milne's full role is with respect to her Ogden tourist welcoming concession, but we believe her following quote could very well provide some slight hint:

"I have all the tools and tours to get them on their way and then she (Soland) can give them information for the merchants for that part of town," Milne said.

As our long time readers will no doubt recall, it was only about a year ago that Ms. Milne was touting (and assembling) a downtown Faux Trolley Fleet.

We'll be sitting on the edges of our seats, awaiting the next "exciting" development for downtown Emerald City tourism.

Well... at least this is something for our gentle readers to ponder... on an otherwise S-L-O-W news day.
_____
*Friend of Matt (Godfrey)

New Frontrunner Tourist Center Nears Completion

Savvy Friends of Matt craftily nail down the entire Frontrunner tourist concession

This morning's Standard-Examiner reports on the continuing progress of Emerald City's Frontrunner station dining car/tourist information center, which has been the topic of several earlier reader discussions here at Weber County Forum:

OGDEN — The conversion of an old railroad dining car into a tourist information center at the downtown intermodal hub is rolling along and should be completed next month city officials say.
Improvements to the car’s exterior are complete and efforts are now under way to renovate the interior, which will include restrooms and a cafe, said Phil McDonald, the city’s fleet shop supervisor.
The exterior of the dinning car will be painted with a high-adventure and “Welcome to Ogden” theme.
A directional sign to various areas of the city will be constructed next to the car.

Yesiree, it won't be long now before hordes of de-training tourists arrive in Ogden, seeking out the MattGodfreyWorld high adventure fake trolleys, fake rock wall, fake ice cliff and fake sky diving ride located in our downtown center. And when that time comes, it will be Friends of Matt who will be there to help them out.

This morning's story also reveals that Boss Godfrey has selected a lucky concessionaire to operate the cafe which will be situated within the revamped dining car:

In addition, Jeanie Milne, owner of The Hole, a dough- nut and specialty drink shop at 2393 Wall Ave., will relocate her operation to the dining car.
Her new business will be named Jeanie’s Cafe and Deli and will serve doughnuts, drinks, sandwiches and soups.
Milne said she is pleased the city has selected her as the concessionaire for the rail car information center, because it will provide three times more space than The Hole.
“Working hand-in-hand with the city has been incredible.”

Regular Weber County Forum readers will of course recall that Ms.Milne is also one of the clever entrepreneurs behind the high adventure faux trolley system, which Boss Godfrey has commissioned to ferry tourists between and among the various carny tourist attractions (which are bound to put our fair city on the world high adventure recreation map.)

We congratulate Ms. Milne and her business associate Mr. Laub, for quietly and decisively nailing down the entire Frontrunner tourist concession, at a time when our Emerald City Council probably wasn't even aware there was a valuable Frontrunner tourist concession up for grabs. Further compliments to Ms. Milne too, for wisely abandoning the unfortunate trade name, "The Hole," and adopting something a little bit more visitor friendly and less self-effacing.

No word this morning from Ace Reporter Schwebke on the final cost to the taxpayers of the Frontrunner tourist center project. Although it's been rumored that costs have now ballooned into a region at least quadrupling the project's original $34 thousand council appropriation, we suppose Mr. Schwebke believed this to be a question too trivial (or inelegant) to ask.

So what say our gentle readers about all this?

Faux Trolleys in Ogden: Where Will the Funding Come From?

An invitation to put on your thinking caps

Chirpy editorial in this morning's Standard-Examiner, adding new information on the privately operated trolley buses which were sighted shuttling passengers during last week's Ogden Pioneer Days celebration. Contrary to our earlier speculation, the editorial reports, (to our considerable relief,) that the mayor's administration does not intend to divert funds from Ogden City's ongoing combined alternatives analysis and environmental impact study, but instead seeks other funding sources to assist this private venture in operating its four bus shuttle fleet. From the editorial:

John Patterson, Ogden’s chief administrative officer, says the city does not have access to any transit funds right now, but is on the hunt for money to help the entrepreneurs succeed. He said specifically Ogden would not cannibalize a previously announced “combined alternatives analysis and environmental impact study” for mass transit in Ogden. (That money will fund a corridor study to determine the best routes and methods for mass-transit upgrades in Ogden.

We'll tentatively join with the Std-Ex in recognizing this new private venture as a welcome solution to the logistical problem of shuttling visitors from the FrontRunner station to various downtown and outlying destinations. We'll withhold our full approval however until we find out where the actual funding will be coming from. The "devil's in the details," after all, and our attitude will surely sour if this supposedly private venture turns to the city council for substantial city taxpayer funding.

In an earlier article, one of our readers suggested that downtown business owners who would benefit from this shuttle service might be voluntarily tapped to provide some of the money to keep these faux trolleys on the road. This seemed like a sensible idea to us. So in closing we'll pose the question: What other ideas do our readers have for funding this much needed public transportation solution? Should business along the shuttle route be assessed involuntary contributions to be expended toward this venture? Is it possible that the UTA might cut the red tape and enter into its own contract with this private company, which will surely add value to the presently existing FrontRunner service?

Our gentle readers are always full of good ideas. Let the brilliant suggestions flow forth.

The Standard-Examiner Announces Ogden's New Faux Trolley Fleet

Godfrey's dream bogus street car system suddenly appears fully in place

Fascinating article in this morning's Standard-Examiner, announcing that the fake trolley buses foreshadowed here have now suddenly appeared on Ogden City streets. Ace Reporter Schwebke's lead paragraphs provide the initial lowdown:

OGDEN — Rubber-wheeled trolleys are making a comeback in downtown Ogden, thanks to a newly established company.
Two trolleys, owned by Innovative Transportation Services Inc., are debuting this week with free daily rides from the FrontRunner intermodal hub at 23rd Street and Wall Avenue to Ogden Pioneer Stadium.
The inaugural run is tied to the city’s annual Ogden Pioneer Days celebration that concludes Saturday.
The vintage-looking yellow, blue and red trolley buses have received a favorable reception, with long lines of passengers waiting to ride them, said Jeanie Milne and Anthony Laub, owners of Innovative Transportation Services, based in Ogden.

The story goes on to report that a these two above-named local entrepreneurs have come out of nowhere to acquire four of these rubber tired monstrosities, (presumably with their own money, right?) and that routes and itineraries are already planned between Ogden's tourist hotspots.

And here's where the story turns from strange to bizarre. Even thought the idea of using faux trolleys was originally Boss Godfrey's idea, he feigns complete surprise about this latest "public transit" development. Here's more from this morning's story. We swear we are not making this up:

Mayor Matthew Godfrey said city officials were surprised but pleased to learn that Innovative Transportation Services had already purchased four trolleys.
“We think it’s a great idea and hope to see it up and running,” said Godfrey, who has long advocated a downtown trolley system.

And here comes the Godfrey money quote:

It’s possible the city may be able to contract with Innovative Transportation Services using existing municipal funds already budgeted for transportation services, he said. [Emphasis added]

Our gentle readers will no doubt remember the $200,000+ federal grant which the council believed Godfrey had agreed to allocate for further Ogden public transportation studies, i.e., real street cars?

Connect the dots, gentle readers. It would now appear that Godfrey has other ideas for the use of that money, and that the council has yet another fight with the administration looming. Get set for Ms. Milne's and Mr. Laub's arrival at a city council meeting very soon, looking for a taxpayer handout.

Who will be the first to comment?

Trolley Buses for Emerald City?

Boss Godfrey looks into fake trolley buses

Another fascinating Scott Schwebke story in Sunday's Standard-Examiner , under the headline "Trolley buses in Ogden?" It was only a couple of days ago that gentle reader "Fly on the Wall" hinted in a lower comments thread that Boss Godfrey was interested in "trolley buses" for downtown Ogden; and lo and behold... we suddenly find a story on the subject spashed all over the front page of our home-town newspaper. From here on out, we suggest that we all pay much closer attention to the revelations of reader Fly, just as Ace Reporter Schwebke apparently did. We incorporate Mr. Schwebke's lead paragraphs below:

OGDEN — Mayor Matthew Godfrey plans to ask the Weber Area Council of Governments to recommend the use of money from a quarter-cent sales tax to purchase a pair of trolley-style buses to serve downtown.
Voters in November approved the tax that’s expected to generate about $9 million annually for transit and transportation infrastructure in Weber County, said Douglas S. Larsen, the county’s chief deputy assessor.
Godfrey is hopeful the Weber Area Council of Governments, which is responsible for recommending which projects are funded, will request that some of those proceeds be used to buy two rubberized trolleys from the Utah Transit Authority.

As encouraging as it is to learn that our esteemed mayor is actually considering forms of public transit that don't involve gondolas, Ace Reporter Schwebke's article leaves a few questions unanswered. This morning's story cries out for a further definition of terms, we believe. When Godfrey refers to "rubberized trolleys," is he referring to something like this?

The above illustration, gleaned from this Wikipedia article, portrays what most folks would consider to be a "rubberized trolley bus," we think. This form of urban conveyance has proven popular in cities across the globe. Powered by electicity, these vehicles don't belch reeking diesel exhaust, and would be ideal in a downtown loop such as the one discussed in this morning's article. On the other hand, the above vehicles require overhead electrical wiring, an expensive infrastructure item not mentioned anywhere in today's Ace Reporter Schwebke story. And our readers will also note some special terminology: "Trolley-style buses."

It's upon these clues that we're going to take a wild guess it's another form of trolley bus that Boss Godfrey is thinking about:

The above vehicle, a diesel-powered, bus chassis-mounted contraption, manufactured by a company called Cable Car Classics, of Healdsburg, California, is right up Godfrey's alley, we think. In those comunities where these vehicles drive the streets, they are affectionately known by locals as "faux trolleys." Given Boss Godfrey's well known preference for anything and everything "fake," (rockclimbing, iceclimbing, skydiving, surfing, Tyrolian Ski resorts, etc,) we're going to go out on a limb and suggest that it's the latter vehicle which truly suits Godfrey's fancy. Imagine a couple of these, festooned with ski company decals and Ogden City logos rolling around the downtown Ogden streets. Imagine commissioning one of these beauties by the hour for your kid's wedding, baby shower or bar-mitzvah. It doesn't get any better than that, does it?

So what about it gentle readers? Is Godfrey finally getting serious about downtown public transit; or is he merely chasing another Godfreyesque lame gimmick?

Update 5/1/08 1:03 p.m. MT: Due to the popularity of this article, which was originally published on Sunday, 4/27/08, we're re-publishing it with today's date. The farther down the front page an article progresses, the less comment traffic it generates. We don't intend to let that happen in this instance. Our apologies go out to our email subscibers, who will have a deja vu experience when this article appears in their email inboxes for a second go-round. Sorry email subscribers... this cannot be helped.

And while we're at it with this re-posting, we link this fine article from the Transit In Utah blog, which adds further "grist to the mill," re our original topic.