Salt Lake Tribune: Former Nuisance Waterway Now a Prime Attraction in Ogden

A Weber County Forum  Tip O' The Hat this morning to Dan Schroeder, for once again setting the record straight

Turning to our back-burner Ogden City topical news queu on this, yet another uber-slow news day, the Salt Lake Tribune's Cathy McKitrick provides a little something for Ogden City residents to crow about as we stand mid-way through a long holiday weekend:

• Former nuisance waterway now a prime attraction in Ogden

In her possibly over-yeomanlike efforts to provide background to this story, Ms. McKitrick slips in this quote, from former Ogden City Mayor Boss Godfrey, who in truth, effectively paralyzed the economic health of the Ogden River project area with a heavy-handed Big Government-style "economic development" interference for many years:

Reached by phone Wednesday, Godfrey called the award "a great honor, especially from an organization that was so helpful in making it a reality."

"It was highly controversial at first," he said of the project he introduced a dozen years ago to redevelop several blocks around the Ogden River. "We never would have been able to clean up the river without cleaning up what was around it."

Fortunately SL Trib readers have sharp-eyed and alert Ogden City community activist Dan Schroeder to counteract the self-serving Boss Godfrey spin:

Controversial?

Yes, the redevelopment project on 60 acres surrounding the river was (and is) controversial. The city declared the area "blighted" and scheduled for demolition years before coming up with the money to actually carry out its intentions. The property owners naturally stopped maintaining their buildings, turning a marginally blighted area into a badly blighted one. Shady back-room deals with prospective developers and a continuing debt of several million dollars have added to the controversy.

But that's the redevelopment project--not the river restoration. The ex-mayor has it exactly backwards when he says that the former was necessary for the latter. In fact, most of the redevelopment project has still not happened, yet the river restoration is now complete. With hindsight, it would have made far more sense to carry out the river restoration before even attempting to begin any redevelopment.

There was also some controversy with the river restoration itself. Some of the money for it was illegally diverted from other projects without city council approval. Some of the contractors were hired without competitive bidding. These were unnecessary controversies, which a more grown-up mayor could easily have avoided. And finally, there's the fact that most of the cost of the restoration ultimately came from residents' utility bills, which are among the highest in the state. While I don't mind paying for projects like this, it would be wrong to spend that kind of money without a little controversy.

A Weber County Forum  Tip O' The Hat this morning to Dan Schroeder, for once again setting the record straight.

The "Genius" Known as Leshem

Truth is stanger than fiction: We are not making this up!

One of our readers sent us a link which will surely add to our readers' morning merriment and mirth. We swear this is something ya gots to see with your own two eyes:

• The Genius Known as Leshem

We're filing this under the category "Alternative Reality Department," of course.

Standard-Examiner: Godfrey Proposes a River Project Land Swap

Seems to us that Godfrey's proposal is an offer that Leshem can't refuse

As we enter the month of June, Ogden City's traditional arson season is upon us folks; and in recognition of that, this morning's Standard-Examiner reports that our ever-vigilant Boy Mayor, Boss Godfrey, has evidently decided to act proactively this year, in order to prevent another wave of arson fires in Gadi Leshem's River Project firetrap. Nosiree, it appears that Boss Godfrey's definitely not going to again get caught with his pants down in Leshemville this year, if he has any say in the matter:

Scott Schwebke reports this morning that Boss Godfrey is floating a clever land-swap scheme to deal with those derelict Ogden Riverfront Development Company properties once and for all:

• Deal for Ogden River park? Property exchange would allow for demolition of vacant houses

Seems to us that Godfrey's proposal has to be an offer Leshem can't refuse. Leshem can do it the easy way, by voluntarily going along with Godfrey's plan... or alternatively do it the hard way, it seems to us. The Ogden adminstration has ample tools at its disposal to abate the Leshemville nuisance, right there within the Ogden City Code, (with or without Gadi's help,) provided that Godfrey has the political will to get the problem fixed:

• Ogden City Code - Chapter 8 - ADMINISTRATIVE ABATEMENT OF NUISANCES

We've been arguing for quite a while that Boss Godfrey ought not embark on and new grand schemes or projects until he's finished the necessary spadework on projects he's already started. So we're thus delighted to see Boss Godfrey turning his attention back to the languishing Ogden River Project at long last.

According to Mr. Schwebke, Godfrey wants to horse trade for a small parcel to build a park:

The proposal calls for the city to fund the demolition, which McConkie estimated could cost as much as $500,000.
In exchange, the city would seek to have Ogden Riverfront Development and Leshem's wife, Miri, donate parcels totaling about three-quarters of an acre just north of the Ogden River to the RDA. The land would be combined with about 2 acres of adjoining property the RDA owns to create a public park, said McConkie.
"We think a park would be a great amenity along the river," he said.

Q: Oh where, or where will the 500 grand in demolition money come from, our readers may ask?
A: No problemo. Godfrey apparently believes the city has a cool $1 million layin' around, doin' nothin'. Problem solved.

Mr. McConkie is right. A riverside park is a great idea, wethinks; and those 40 derelict properties need to be leveled... like yesterday. The knuckleheaded velodrome scam can wait (til hell freezes, we hope). Time for the Council/RDA Board to roll up its sleeves and accomplish something truly useful. We'll definitely be sitting on the edge of our seat, hoping that Gadi will come out of hiding and wisely play along.

Comments, anyone?

Standard-Examiner: Filings Needed To Cover Leshem Property Demolition Costs

Added Bonus: A plan to help bail one of Boss Godfrey's bestest buddies out of an embarrassing financial jam

Hoo Boy! Interesting followup story this morning from the Standard-Examiner, reporting on the current status of the eight Gadi Leshem-controlled River Project homes demolished on Ogden City's dime in April of 2009. The taxpayers of Ogden have been "carrying the freight" for the costs of this demolition since that time and are only just now getting around to placing a $9,917 lien on these properties. Somebody "apparently" flat "forgot" to do it, says Tom Christopulos, the city's sometimes forgetful business development manager:

• Filings needed so costs of demolishing homes on lots with ties to Leshem can be recovered

Hey, here's a great idea. Leshem donated a cool $10 thousand to Boss Godfrey's mayoral re-election war chest in 2007; and Godfrey is still sitting on something like $80 thousand in unexpended campaign funds from his 2007 campaign. Boss Godfrey could quickly clear Gadi's tax lien immediately, by simply disgorging the ill-gotten ten grand donation and paying off Gadi's delinquent property demolition account.

Gadi's a Friend of Matt (FOM) of course. And what are "bosum buddy" friends like Godfrey and Gadi good for for when economic times get tough, if not to help bail their bestest buddies out of embarrassing financial jams?

Bestest Buddies - " I love you, man, even now that you're completely broke!"

If Godfrey can't do this, or if the Little Lord believes he's extended too many favors to Gadi already, perhaps he can at the very least get another of his loyal Godfreyite pals to help out Gadi instead.

Just a thought.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Returns to Utah

Will Mr. Kennedy will find the time to take another short trip "up north" to revisit the "Leshemville" River Project site?

It's deja vu all over again. Do you all remember back in 2007, when Robert Kennedy, Jr. visited Ogden, with erstwhile Ogden moneyman/developer Gadi Leshem in tow? Those were Leshem's "glory days" indeed... before it was publicly recognized that Gadi would suffer his leaden fall from grace.

Well... according to info received from a sharp-eyed WCF reader, Mr. Kennedy will again be visiting Utah next week. Here's the data, from a gentle reader who'd prefer to go unnamed:

Come join us for a ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. DISCUSSION featuring The Cove: Mercury Rising - Sunday, December 06 2009 at 5:00 PM The Eccles Center, 1750 Kearns Blvd., Park City Tickets are $15 ($5 for students) and available through The Eccles Center Box Office. Purchase tickets by calling 435.655.3114 or online at ecclescenter.org. Visit www.slcfilmcenter.org for more details.

Our WCF reader/tipster also accompanied her above information with this savvy comment:

Wonder if Mr. Kennedy will make a visit to the Ogden River Project area (aka Leshemville) while visiting our fair state? I'm sure he would be unimpressed with the progress.

For those who haven't been keeping track, this November 7, 2009 Weber County Forum article describes the current condition of the Ogden River Project, by the way.

Hopefully Mr. Kennedy will find the time to take another short trip "up north" to revisit the River Project site.

Who will be the first to comment?

The River Project Graduates From Firetrap to "No-Fee Landfill" (aka "Boss Godfrey's Unofficial Downtown City Dump")

That's how it works (and will continue to work) with Ogden City government, so long as Boss Godfrey remains at the mayoral helm

Eye popping front page story in this morning's Standard-Examiner, reporting that Boss Godfrey's once ballyhooed Ogden River Project, which the administration brokered into the hands of the now missing-in-action Gadi Leshem (Boss Godfrey's #1 2007 election campaign donor), has now descended from the status of Ogden's most ignominious firetrap, to Ogden City's unofficial no-fee landfill, aka Boss Godfrey's Downtown Garbage Dump:

• Desolate Ogden River Project area becoming a dumping ground

It's quite a long downward road we've travelled since December of 2007, when Leshem was treading the trail alongside the Ogden River with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in tow, boasting of his pie-in-the-sky Renaissance Village project, which "envisioned" that trendy 200-unit development, featuring trendy lofts, trendy restaurants and trendy boutiques. The idea of course was to repopulate the riverfront area with new residents; and in that respect we suppose we can concede that this goal has been at least partially achieved, inasmuch as this morning's story does report the the area is now the home of an apparently thriving population of feral cats.

It's been six long months since we reported that Ogden City appeared to be on the verge of calling out the code enforcement dogs. And where exactly have we gotten in the interim? Exactly nowhere, according to this morning's Scott Schwebke story:

The city's Building Inspection Department recently completed an inventory to determine the condition of properties and boarded-up homes in the project area, Morey said.
Efforts to keep the area free of litter have been hampered because Ogden Riverfront Development has had four property maintenance companies quit in the last two years, said John Patterson, the city's chief administrative officer.
"You would think someone who has a contract would want to keep it because there isn't an overabundance of work out there," Patterson said Friday.
It would cost the city $142 per house just to mow each lawn, making it far too expensive for the city to clean up the entire project area, Evans said. "If the city had to pay, it couldn't do it."
Morey said the city hasn't levied any code enforcement penalties against Ogden Riverfront Development because the company plans to hire a new property maintenance firm in the next few weeks.

That's right, folks... after all this time, Ogden City's code enforcement folks haven't even gotten as far as issuing a single citation.

And that's how it works (and will continue to work) with Ogden City government, so long as Boss Godfrey remains at the mayoral helm.

And the beat goes on... as the situation continues to deteriorate on the Ogden Riverfront... and Boss Godfrey persists in dreaming about more numbskull "visionary projects," like icicles, velodromes and bulldozers on Ogden's East Bench... and so on and so forth, ad nauseum.

Take it away, O Gentle Ones.

Boss Godfrey Seeks $4 Million in Federal Ogden River Cleanup Funds

Godfrey and "Broke-ass Leshem" scramble for a $4 million Obama administration handout

This is interesting. Today's Standard-Examiner reports that Boss Godfrey has applied for a $4 million federal grant to clean up the Ogden River:

• Ogden to seek $4M to clean up part of river

And here's a fairly startling snippet from today's Ace Reporter Schwebke story:

The river clean-up initiative is being spearheaded by California businessman Gadi Leshem.

That's right. "Spearheaded" is the word Ace Reporter Schwebke used, possibly a little tongue-in-cheek. Big Money (now broke-ass) Investor Gadi Leshem, who's basically been in hiding ever since his Coverall, Inc. revenue source filed for Chapter 11 protection last year... is "spearheading" the Ogden River Cleanup, says Mr. Schwebke, with an apparently straight... (but possibly playful) face.

Yes... "Spearheading" is the description Schwebke used, we reiterate. Too funny.

Very humorous of you, Mr. Schwebke. (wink, wink; nudge, nudge)

Comments?... Anyone? Does Schwebke have an EXTREMELY subtle sense of humor, or what?

Imagine if these creeps Gadi and Godfrey were to actually receive a $4 million federal handout. Imagine how much of that would actually go to the federal project intended, ha-ha-ha.

And it's not as if the federal government exactly follows up on the massive money it doles out, in which connection we'll post this, which pretty much illustrates exactly how lame the U.S. government is now... as it hands out billions to losers like Leshem and Godfrey:

• Fed Inspector General Knows Roughly Nothing About The Fed (VIDEO)

Gentle reader comments are invited, as always.

Std-Ex: Leshem Denies Ownership of Eight Derelict River Project Properties

After aggressively assisting Gadi assemble the properties, Ogden City gets stuck holding the bag for demolition

By What Would Jesus Say

My oh my, I just read the article in the Standard Examiner this morning about the demolition of houses in the river front project which was reported in this earlier WCF article. It seems as though the rats are beginning to jump the sinking Matt Godfrey ship.

Gadi denies owning the properties, Godfrey doesn’t know who owns the properties, and the Bank (Centennial Bank) won’t say who owns them.

By the way, a couple of weeks ago I noticed a list of possibly troubled banks in Utah, and lo and behold, Centennial is one of them.

So the mayor has his city paid staff strong arm people into selling options on their homes to help Gadi, now the city will have to place a lien on them after demolition, and Gadi craps all over Godfrey.

It could only happen in Ogden; it's getting better all the time.

The Boss Godfrey Administration Finally Gets Off Its Ass Re Gadi Leshem

Eight Gadi Leshem firetraps appear to be getting Orders to Show Cause from the erstwhile "asleep at the wheel" Boss Godfrey administration

Here's something interesting for our readers' consumption on yet another otherwise slow Emerald City news day. One of our sharp-eyed readers sent us an electronic copy of Boss Godfrey's April 17, 2009 Administrative Review Meeting Agenda, which would seem to suggest that the administration is at long last getting off its ass, and taking formal action against at least one owner of the firetrap properties within the Ogden River Project:

• Mayor’s Administrative Review Meeting Agenda April 17, 2009

We travelled to the parcel search section of the most excellent Weber County website, and gleaned ownership info on the eight "dangerous buildings" which were the subject of Boss Godfrey's April 17 meeting. Here's the information that we found:

030350004 - OGDEN RIVERFRONT DEVELOPMENT CO LP - 1915 GRANT AVE
030350003 - OGDEN RIVERFRONT DEVELOPMENT CO LP - 1921 GRANT AVE
030350001 - OGDEN RIVERFRONT DEVELOPMENT CO LP - 1929 GRANT AVE
030370010 - OGDEN RIVERFRONT DEVELOPMENT CO LP - 1935 GRANT AVE
030370008 - OGDEN RIVERFRONT DEVELOPMENT CO LP - 1951 GRANT AVE
030370007 - OGDEN RIVERFRONT DEVELOPMENT CO LP - 1955 GRANT AVE
030370006 - OGDEN RIVERFRONT DEVELOPMENT CO LP - 1957 GRANT AVE
030370005 - OGDEN RIVERFRONT DEVELOPMENT CO LP - 1965 GRANT AVE

And who is the investor/principal who hides behind the Ogden Riverfront Development Co. Ltd, corporate shell?

Boss Godfrey's hand-picked Ogden City River Project savior, of course, the broke-ass Gadi Leshem, naturally.

We've been screaming bloody murder about the city's lack of action in this matter for over a year; and our friends at the Standard-Examiner have been raising holy hell about it too. So far however, the financially prudent voices in our community have been greeted with a giant Godfrey administration yawn.

So at this juncture we'll once again appeal to our gentle and savvy readers to help explain the meaning of all this. Has Boss Godfrey finally finally grown fed up with his erstwhile buddy, Gadi Leshem, who didn't even have the decency to donate anything more than a measly ten grand to Godfrey's 2007 reelection campaign? Or, on the other hand, is Boss Godfrey moving in the direction of giving formal notice to Gadi merely to placate the critics, and to do what Gadi should have done over a year ago (demolish his dilapidated vacant structures) at the taxpayers' expense? We talked to an official in Ogden City Government by the way, who told us the cost to the taxpayers for the city's demolition of these properties would average out at around $10 thousand a pop.

Just for fun on a Saturday afternoon, we'll also reprise and re-display this mood setting WCF Five Star rated Don Porter Video Piece which is embedded in the above-linked Std-Ex editorial:


Chime in people. Ignore the wonderful weather. Please stay indoors and post your comments during this latest episode of what experienced Utahns call "false spring."

Std-Ex: Leshem to Close Business Doors

Gadi announces plans to fold the bulk of his national Cover-All, Inc. organization

More discouraging news from the Standard-Examiner, concerning River Project "moneyman" Gadi Leshem's Cover-All, Inc. Chapter 11 bankruptcy matter. Ace Reporter Schwebke reports this morning that Mr. Leshem has filed a declaration with the Bankruptcy Court, announcing his intention to shut down most of his national operation:

OGDEN — A financially troubled California carpet-installation company owned by local developer Gadi Leshem is closing nearly all of its facilities — including one in Ogden.
Bankruptcy records from Leshem on behalf of Cover-All Inc. indicate the company plans to maintain only two of its 23 facilities nationwide.
“It is the debtor’s intention to keep only its Las Vegas and Chatsworth (Calif.) facilities open,” Leshem wrote in a declaration filed last week in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California.

In an earlier article, we speculated that Mr. Leshem might be preparing the way for a straight Chapter 7 style liquidation:

Could it be, gentle readers, that Mr. Leshem contemplates converting his Chapter 11 Reorganization into a straight Chapter 7 Liquidation, thereby allowing Mr. Leshem to jettison his floundering floor company, and then apply his energy full-time as a real estate developer? There's plenty of big money to be made by Gadi and his purported investor "partners," provided they have the financial juice to weather the current recession and move their project(s) forward. Enough money, we suspect, for Gadi to satisfy his obligations to his most pesky and formidable creditors, the State of California and the IRS, and to put a little dough in his own pocket. The rest of his creditors he can probably throw overboard via a Cover-All, Inc. Chapter 7.

On the basis of the new information provided by Mr. Schwebke this morning, this appears to be exactly where Mr. Leshem's erstwile Chapter 11 "Reorganization" is now headed. As of now, his bankruptcy prodeeding is looking more like a straight Chapter 7 "Liquidation." Expect a formal motion for a Chapter 7 "conversion" very soon.

And for those lumpencitizens anxiously awaiting some palpable action on the languishing River Project, it would probably be advisable to not hold your breath. By folding up the bulk of his national operation, Leshem will obviously be deprived of much of that revenue stream that he milked from his Cover-All business for the past several years, in order to acquire his fifty or so Ogden River Project properties.

As for the pool of mysterious un-named investors who now represent Leshem's River Project investment capital fall-back position, Leshem has already hinted that his River Project development timeline may very well be measured not in months, but years:

Overall market conditions, including the softening of the real estate market in recent months, will probably have some effect on the pace of our partners’ development progress,” he said in the statement. “Because we are still quite early in what we have always described as a multiyear process, the actual impact of the current slowdown may be relatively minor. It is quite possible that market conditions, along with investor and consumer confidence, may have strengthened substantially by the time we are further along in our plans.

Chalk it up as "another fine mess" that the visionary Boss Godfrey's "gotten us in."

If you enjoyed that Junction Dirt-pile which remained untouched and idle in the heart of Ogden's downtown, for the better part of 44 months during Boss Godfrey's second mayoral term...


Expect more of the same.

The world blogsphere is stting on the edge of its seat, awaiting our gentle readers' ever-savvy comments on this latest news development

Have at it, O Gentle Ones.

Ace Reporter Schwebke Drops Another Gadi Leshem Bombshell

Despite the news that Cover-All, Inc.'s largest revenue source is in the process of "flying the coop," Boss Godfrey's confidence in Leshem "remains solid"

There's more information on the Gadi "River Project Moneyman" Leshem available this morning from the Standard-Examiner, thanks to the relentless reportorial efforts of Scott Schwebke. Mr. Schwebke drops another front page bombshell this morning, with the news that Home Depot is in the process of severing its ties with Leshem's Cover-All, Inc. floor installation firm, due to complaints from customers and retail stores of "poor service."

This development certainly doesn't bode well for Mr. Leshem's Cover-All, Inc. Chapter 11 Plan, inasmuch as Home Depot is reportedly "Cover-All's largest source of revenue." Nor would this seem to be positive news for proponents of Leshem's Ogden River Project(s) which, according to former Community and Economic Department Director Dave Harmer, has depended upon Cover-All "profits" for past funding.

Up on the ninth floor of City Hall, however, Boss Godfrey is apparently taking the whole matter in stride. From a separate Scott Schwebke business page story, we learn that Godfrey's confidence in Leshem reportedly remains "solid."

We don't What Emperor Godfrey is smokin' up their in his ninth floor throne room, but we do wish he'd share some of it with us.

And what say our gentle readers about all this?

Gadi Leshem Update: Gadi Claims He's Still in the River Project Game

The "moneyman" offers assurances... and purports to have "other investors" in tow

Mainly for the sake of archival consistency, we'll briefly highlight this morning's Scott Schwebke story, wherein Mr. Schwebke provides something of an Ogden River Project update. "Moneyman" Gadi Leshem has resurfaced, at least for the moment. He's furnished Mr. Schwebke a "prepared statement," wherein he reportedly offers the citizens of Ogden City his assurances that his presently embryonic River Project plans (such as they are) will be unaffected by his floor installation company Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.

Although most of this morning's article amounts to a rehash of matter earlier reported by the Standard-Examiner and other print media, there is one new tidbit worthy of note:

For the first time, Mr. Leshem represents that he's working with an unnamed pool of "other investors," and that he therefore won't be required to rely upon revenue from his Cover-All, Inc. business to move his project(s) forward. Assuming Mr. Leshem can be taken at his word, this is probably a good thing, inasmuch as his statement contains other information that is less than encouraging:

Leshem also said the future of Cover-All is uncertain because of the economy and a sharp decline in consumer purchases of flooring.

Could it be, gentle readers, that Mr. Leshem contemplates converting his Chapter 11 Reorganization into a straight Chapter 7 Liquidation, thereby allowing Mr. Leshem to jettison his floundering floor company, and then apply his energy full-time as a real estate developer? There's plenty of big money to be made by Gadi and his purported investor "partners," provided they have the financial juice to weather the current recession and move their project(s) forward. Enough money, we suspect, for Gadi to satisfy his obligations to his most pesky and formidable creditors, the State of California and the IRS, and to put a little dough in his own pocket. The rest of his creditors he can probably throw overboard via a Cover-All, Inc. Chapter 7.

Stranger things have happened.

Remember you read it here first.

As for the rest of this morning's Schwebke story, we invite our readers to slice, dice and dissect it.

And remember, that to be a Godfrey-Class Schemer, ya gotta think BIG.

Who will be the first to comment?

Ace Reporter Schwebke Reveals More Facts About "Moneyman Leshem" and His Pending Bankruptcy

$44 thousand in delinquent taxes... and other problems

Scott Schwebke provides further information this morning regarding Ogden River Project "moneyman" Gadi Leshem's Cover-All, inc. bankruptcy troubles. Ace reporter Schwebke's been doing his homework and reports that Leshem is delinquent by approximately $44,000 in 2008 property taxes, factoring in the downtown 42 parcels held in his own name, together with another 11 parcels held in the names of surrogates.

Ironic, isn't it? Over the past several years Boss Godfrey and his loyal acolytes have been telling us that the whole purpose of consolidating all these downtown properties into the moneyman's portfolio was to improve the city's tax base. And now Gadi's taking a free ride... on the taxpayers' backs.

According to Gadi's spokeman, however, these tax delinquencies are merely inadvertant error and present no problem at all. "...[T]he property tax matter is an oversight, is not related to the Cover-All bankruptcy filing, and will be taken care of,” Alex Auerbach assures Mr. Schwebke. Seeing will be believing, of course.

We also wonder whether he or his spokeman tendered the same lame excuse ("Oops! we forgot") to his Cover-All employees, when he shafted them just prior to the Christmas/New Years' holidays with $100 thousand (or more) in rubber payroll checks.

Mr. Schwebke also reports that Mr. Leshem's lawyers successfully prevailed on an emergency motion Thursday by Cover-All's lawyers to use an unspecified portion of creditor Bank of the West's cash collateral so the company can continue to operate. We'll presume that the money that's been pried loose by the Bankruptcy Court judge is intended to take care of those disgruntled employees whom, last time we heard, were feeling mighty steamed about those "hot checks."

Although it will no doubt be months before the smoke clears on the Chapter 11 matter, we're betting that even now, Boss Godfrey wishes he never heard of Gadi Leshem. Rumor has it that Godfrey is preparing to soon unveil another Grand Development Scheme involving the Mount Ogden Golf Course. With the Leshem albatross hanging around his neck, it's a sure bet his next moneyman will draw much closer scrutiny than was previously devoted to Leshem.

Further comments, anyone? Schwebke provides plenty of material to discuss.

Std-Ex: Bankruptcy May Not Affect Gadi Leshem’s Ogden Project

But then again... it most likely will

The Standard-Examiner furnishes further information on the Leshem/Cover-All Inc. Bankruptcy story this morning, providing in the story's lead paragraph that classic Std-Ex Pollyanna spin:

OGDEN — City officials remain optimistic businessman Gadi Leshem will be able to undertake large-scale development downtown even though his California based carpet installation company has declared bankruptcy.

For starters, Mr. Schwebke dutifully provides Ogden Chief Executive Officer John Patterson's obligatory "optimistic" take on this matter:

The Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing earlier this month by Cover-All Inc. may give Leshem breathing room from creditors so he can focus on Renaissance Village, a commercial and residential development that’s part of the proposed Ogden River Project, John Patterson, the city’s chief administrative officer, said Thursday.
“He (Leshem) has given us assurance that this would not impact the River Project or his commitment to Ogden,” Patterson said of the company’s bankruptcy filing. [...]
Ogden Riverfront Properties is a separate legal entity from Cover-All and likely won’t be affected by the bankruptcy, Patterson said.

The best that Boss Godfrey can muster up is "hopefulness," which is a few clicks shy of optimistic, at least on our WCF B.S.-O-Meter:

Mayor Matthew Godfrey said he’s hopeful Leshem will be able to follow through with his development plans.
The city will have a better idea of whether the Cover-All bankruptcy will affect those plans later this year when Leshem is required to pay for the demolition of boarded-up houses in the river project area, Godfrey said.

What ought to be clear from these above statements is that neither of these Ogden City officials has the slightest clue whether Mr. Leshem's bankruptcy filing will impair Mr. Leshem's River Project. They're as much in the dark as anyone else, it would appear.

But interestingly, the ever-resourceful Ace Reporter Schwebke finally gets down to business, and drags out some revealing commentary from former Ogden Community Community and Economic Development Department Director Dave Harmer, whose view falls quite a distance from optimistic (or so it seems to us):

Leshem’s largest obstacle will be convincing skittish lenders to invest money in his project amid an economic downturn, said Dave Harmer, who retired in October from his post as the city’s community and economic development director.
“The biggest thing is the lending situation,” Harmer said. “Before he can do anything he’s going to have to secure financing.” [...]
In the past, Leshem has relied on Cover-All profits to help fund its investments in Ogden, Harmer said.

Assuming that Mr. Harmer is right, and that Mr. Leshem's further pursuit of his Renaissance Village Project will depend upon Cover-All Inc. "profits," we believe we can see where this story is leading. It's difficult to imagine that the revenue from a company which has $1 million in assets, and is upside down with its creditors to the tune of $42 million, would allow Mr. Leshem to qualify for construction financing, in this, or any other credit market.

Adding insult to injury, this morning's article reels off a list of other obstacles which don't bode well for Mr. Leshem or his troubled company, even assuming he is able to work out a viable Chapter 11 Reorganization Plan.

We don't know about the rest of our Weber County Forum readers, but for our own part... suffice it to say that we're not exactly brimming with optimism for the prospects of Gadi's Renaissance Village Project.

We'll even go out on a limb on this and hereby predict the imminent listing for sale of Gadi's fifty properties, under supervision of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Trustee. If Gadi truly desires to save his company, the expeditious liquidation of these properties is by far the most logical approach.

Our compliments to Scott Schwebke, by the way, for digging out and providing for his readers a robust array of pertinent facts.

Reader comments are hereby invited.

Yet Another Economic Blow to Emerald City

Gadi Leshem's California company files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection

By: What Will It Costs Us

Well now another blow to the city... Ogden River Project developer Gadi Leshem is bankrupt. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Cover-All Inc., the California based carpet installation company owned by Gadi Leshem, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this month, claiming it has just $1 million in assets and $46 million in debts. When will the Standard print this story? The Trib is always ahead of Ogden.

And his property in Ogden is in default in taxes. Will it take years to move through the courts and a tax sale?

Maybe the city should be better at buying property for developers that don't have any money.

And what will be the ultimate repercussions for Gadi's stalled River Project?

So many questions... so few answers.

Update 1/15/09 3:oo p.m. MT: We're reminded that we posted a fine Scott Adams (Dilbert) cartoon, referencing Godfrey administration incompetence and hubris about three years ago. We believe it remains apropos.

Continuing comments are invited.

Salt Lake Tribune: Ogden City's River Restoration Project Stalls at the Starting Gate

Another grand Godfrey scheme gets shuffled to the back burner

Discouraging Kristen Moulton story in this morning's Salt Lake Tribune, regarding Boss Godfrey's languishing Ogden River Restoration Project:

Ogden » One year after Robert F. Kennedy Jr., chairman of the international Waterkeeper Alliance, spoke at an Ogden River celebration -- also billed as a restoration kickoff -- there is still no grand plan for the river.
Nonetheless, the celebration did energize community cleanup efforts and a bid for federal funding for restoration of the river, which flows from Ogden Canyon through the city to the confluence with the Weber River west of downtown.
"It's a long process," said Jason Carey, a consultant from Glenwood Springs, Colo., who has been working with developer Gadi Leshem and an ad hoc committee of people interested in restoring the river. "These restoration projects, even the most fast-tracked of them, take at least two years."
Restoring the Ogden River likely will take much longer.

Ms. Moulton goes on to partially enumerate the laundry list of pesky problems which have landed the project on the VERY back burner, not the least of which is the generally dismal state of the economy, wherein funding for projects of this kind is a trifle "tight."

Compounding the problem of course, is the uncertain posture of U.S. Senator Bob Bennett's $6.5 million proposed federal appropriation earmark, which unceremoniously stalled in the Senate last year. In this connection Senator Bennett hints that the future of the appropriation is what we'll characterise as "iffy." We'll suggest however that it may be quite a bit worse than iffy, now that Mr. Bennett sits on the minority side of the Senate, in the absence of his former GOP majority clout.

And developer Gadi Leshem hasn't been much help either, according to Ms. Moulton's morning report. Notwithstanding all the grand hoopla last year, Mr. Leshem has evidently dropped out of sight, and remains missing in action. Specifically, Leshem draws criticism from Great Salt Lakekeeper Jeff Salt, who complains that Leshem has entirely failed to "keep him in the loop about the river's restoration, in spite of such a promise" during last December's Robert Kennedy, Jr. dog and pony show:

Salt said he believes Leshem used Kennedy to give his project a "greenwash."
"He used Bobby Kennedy to launch the project, and he hasn't kept his commitment to communicate with us or involve us," Salt said.

And this is interesting. Ms. Moulton reports that the city is trying to "find a deep-pocketed partner for Leshem who could finance massive demolition work" on the numerous derelict and abandoned residential fire traps he owns in the River Project area.

Hey waittaminute, gentle readers! We thought Gadi WAS SUPPOSED TO BE the deep pocket.

Sadly, like all the other grand plans and schemes of the "visionary" Godfrey administration, this one is panning out to be long on vision, but painfully inept in the execution. So what else is new in MattGodfreyWorld anyway, we ask?

And what say our gentle readers about all this?

More Progress in re the Ogden Walmart Project

Gadi Leshem transfers 16 acres

Ace Reporter Schwebke reports this morning on the latest development in Ogden City's heretofore languishing Wal-Mart Superstore project. The opening paragraphs provide the gist:

OGDEN — Wal-Mart finalized its purchase Tuesday of 16 acres from developer Gadi Leshem, paving the way for the construction of a super-center store downtown, says Mayor Matthew Godfrey.
Leshem and officials with Wal-Mart could not be reached for comment regarding how much it paid for the land at the northwest corner of 20th Street and Wall Avenue.
The sale culminates more than a year of work by Leshem to assemble several parcels for the Wal-Mart project, Godfrey said.

Whether this latest transaction fully assembles all the parcels necessary for the project, Mr. Schwebke doesn't explicitly tell us.

The last time we looked at the situation, at least four target parcels remained in limbo.

Perhaps one of our well-connected sources can explain the meaning of all this.

Are the required Wal-Mart parcels now fully-assembled... or not?

First Bulldozers Begin Demolition in Leshemville

Leshem expects to have a full demolition plan... within three months

This morning's Standard-Examiner reports that some progress -- however slight -- is being made in the Ogden River Project area, with the razing of one of Gadi Lesham's burned out homes. Oddly, the $10,000 demolition is currently being paid for on the taxpayer's dime. The city is carrying out the demolition, and will lien the property in the expectation of being reimbursed later. In addition, Scott Schwebke reports that Mr. Leshem, who owns some 50 vacant homes in the area, "hopes to complete a plan within three months for the demolition of all of the vacant homes he owns within the river project’s boundaries."

Three months? What's the rush, we ask? At the rate our local arsonist is moving, all fifty of Gadi's properties ought to be burned out by mid-January. We're sure this is NOT good news for the Ogden Fire Department.

Don't let the cat get your tongues.

The Standard-Examiner Finally Gets around to Reporting Ogden City's River Project Arson Crime-wave

Better late than never, we suppose

The Standard-Examiner reports this morning on a story that's been rattling around Weber County Forum for at least a couple of months:

"Fires sweeping Ogden neighborhood slated for demolition"

Scott Schwebke does flesh out this ongoing story a bit, with interesting tidbits such as these:

• Ogden City Planning Commissioner Iain Hueton owns a property in the area;
• An eyewitness actually saw somone torching a home last Tuesday night;
• "At least three of the homes that have burned" are owned by Gadi Leshem;
• Leshem plans to file insurance claims on these properties;
• City officials have been working with Leshem to get him to demolish the abandoned homes as soon as possible.

Not exactly red meat news for a Friday morning, but it's encouraging progress, we think, to see that the Std-Ex has finally gotten around to reporting this ongoing Leshemville arson crime wave, after being scooped by Weber County Forum over the past several months.

And what say our gentle readers about all this?

Drewmeister?

Anyone?

Boss Godfey Proposes "Zeroing Out" the Ogden RDA Bank Account

This is what happens when brain-dead citizens elect a mayor with zero business experience

Disquieting article in this morning's Standard-Examiner, regarding Ogden City's River Front Development Project. Scott Schwebke this morning reports that Evil Boss Godfrey has found almost $1 million languishing in the Emerald City RDA's bank accounts; and in true Godfrey fashion, the little shite wants to spend every dime of it. It's a short article, so what the hell, we'll incorporate Ace Reporter Schwebke's full text below:

OGDEN — The city’s Redevelopment Agency Board agreed Tuesday night to hold a public hearing next month to consider increasing its budget by $895,368 to acquire properties for the proposed Ogden River Project.
The hearing will be held Sept. 23. Following the hearing, the RDA board, made up of the city council, may consider allocating for the river project housing funds that have accumulated and weren’t transferred in fiscal 2003, 2004 and 2005.
The funds would be used for property acquisition within the project’s boundaries, said Dave Harmer, who is the city’s director of community and economic development.
“We are trying to move forward with remaining properties in negotiating options on behalf of the RDA or closing (the purchase) on some of them,” Harmer told the Standard-Examiner. The RDA still needs to obtain more than a dozen commercial properties within the river project area, Harmer said. However, the $895,368 isn’t adequate to finalize all of the purchases. “It’s nowhere near enough, but it’s all we’ve got,” he said. All told, the river project will encompass about 60 acres that straddle the Ogden River from 18th to 20th streets and Washington Boulevard west to Wall Avenue and will be a mix of residential, commercial and retail development, said Harmer.
Gadi Leshem, a developer from California, plans to construct a 200-unit development, dubbed Renaissance Village, along the Ogden River in connection with the project.
The development would include shops, lofts, townhomes, apartments and restaurants.

Seems to us we have several problems here:

1) Boss Godfrey's Riverfront project is bogged down. The Ogden RDA lacks the money to acquire ALL of the necessary properties, so the Godfrey plan seems to be to drain all available RDA funds, and assemble these properties "piecemeal."

2) Godfrey has established with the Riverfront Project an ever-increasing money pit. Realistically, this grandiose project cannot move forward unless all targeted properties are acquired by the Ogden RDA. Yet Godfrey poposes that the RDA "zero out" the RDA bank account.

3) Godfrey's economic savior Gadi Leshem seems to have gone into hiding. We haven't read anything about Gadi since this story, which reported that Gadi was on the hook for $6.3 million in restitution to the California Insurance Commissioner.

4) Dozens of property owners within the Riverfront Development have been held in economic limbo since Boss Godfrey first designated their neighborhood as part of his right wing socialist River Front Development scam. For many of them it's been at least three years.

One of the factors that RDA board members should consider is whether at least some of these property-owning innocents should just be bought out, and finally let off the hook.

We'll add snarkily that this situation is one more reason that we all need to reconsider the business qualifications of our little-shite mayor, whose only experience in business (prior to being elected Ogden's Mayor) involved being a pizza delivery boy, before his father-in-law Ed Allen loaned him $30 thousand for his initial campaign run in 1999.

Its should be obvious to all of us that Godfrey bit off a little more than he could chew with the Ogden River Project, just as he's done with several other mindlessly ill-conceived other projects.

As we examine the languishing River Project, our memory turns to this:

This is how the now-floundering Junction Project looked for 44 months under Godfrey's command, almost FOUR FRIGGIN YEARS after he demolished the Downtown Mall:

The clock is ticking... and Boss Godfrey continues his efforts to acquire the whole Riverfont Development parcel, even though "moneyman" Gadi has obviously "flown the coop."

HA-HA!

We're going to assume that Godfrey's River project will move along at about the same relative pace.

So what say our gentle readers about all this?