MGN Podcast - Amy Wicks, Ogden Trails & Protecting Open Space

We're giving the below link a strong RECO, people.

Here's an awesome web resource which we stumbled upon via Facebook.  Check out this podcast link from somebody named "WOJO", whom you'll soon conclude is one complete gem of a podcaster, provided you have 1-1/2 free hours on your idle hands to take a trip down Ogden City Memory Lane, and listen to the ever-awesome Ogden City Council woman Amy Wicks wax on with her indelible memories of Ogden City's"Gondola Daze."

• MGN Podcast - Amy Wicks, Ogden trails & protecting open space

We're giving the above link a strong RECO, people.

Standard-Examiner: Godfrey Looks Back at 12 Years as Ogden Mayor

We'd expected a whitewash; and it's a whitewash that we got

Thanks to Friday's timely heads up from former Ogden City Councilwoman Dorrene Jeske, we were forewarned that a Standard-Examiner Godfrey Administration "retrospective" was coming up; and lo and behold, it's right there at the top of the S-E front page, under Mr. Schwebke's byline this morning:

• Godfrey looks back at 12 years as Ogden mayor

We'd expected a whitewash; and it's a whitewash that we got. File this story under "Puff Pieces" or "Alternate Reality Department," folks.

Although we hardly know where to start, we'll hit a few of the low points:

1) The Gondola(s)/ Mt. Ogden Park Fiasco. Weber County Forum political wonks will well remember the five year municipal "civil war" over Boss Godfrey's gondola obsession, which split our community down the middle, over Godfrey's plan to sell our crown jewel Mt. Ogden Park to finance a couple of gondolas to serve Mr. Peterson's hopelessly ill-conceived (proposed) Malan's Basin Ski Resort. In a marvel of historical revisionism, Mr. Schwebke spruces up Ogden City history this morning and lets Godfrey get away with this throwaway quote: "When it became apparent there was not going to be a proposal from him (Peterson), we backed away." WCF readers will of course not need to be reminded of the true reasons that Godfrey at least publicly dumped his gondola obsession on the eve of the 2007 Municipal Election campaign kickoff, i.e., flagging job approval numbers and a gondola project which was politically toxic in and of itself.

2) The Junction Money Pit. In truly mind numbing disregard for the truth, Schwebke allows Mr. Godfrey to "re-frame" the downtown Junction Project, a boondoggle which required a full bond re-financing in 2009, but which even today costs the Ogden taxpayers upwards of $600 grand per year in public subsidies. This project was originally billed as one which "wouldn't cost the taxpayers a red cent," we note in retrospect. In any scenario other than the upside-down alternate Godfreyite universe, this project would be recognized for exactly what it is, a gigantic economic flop.

3) The 2007 Ogden Municipal Election. Mr. Schwebke breezes through Godfrey's 2007 re-election with this: "In 2007, running on a platform of reduced crime and increased economic development, Godfrey won a third term by defeating challenger City Councilwoman Susan Van Hooser." That's it.

And here's at least some of what Mr. Schwebke leaves out, concerning the totally messed up 2007 election:

• The Envision Ogden scandal, which exposed levels of political corruption heretofore never seen in Ogden politics, including The Ogden Salomon Center 2007 "Sneak Preview" event, which was largely instrumental in generating sufficient Godfreyite "under the table" political slush funds to bankroll a whole separate political scandal, i.e., The FNURE money laundering scandal, the acrid smoke from which still hasn't cleared yet.
• The Godfreyite 2007 voter suppression effort, conducted by Godfrey acolyte Blake Fowers, who gummed up the 2007 election works by issuing a "blanket" challenge to "140-odd" Ogden voters. This one got so bad that even the normally gutless Utah ACLU chimed in with a report stating that Godfreyite misconduct "marred" the 2007 mayoral election.
• And who among our gentle readers can forget the sheer idiocy of the 2007 Lawn Sign Wars, which ultimately resulted in Godfrey Lieutenent Bobby "Short Deck" Geiger's criminal conviction?

Ah yes, the 2007 Election was far more memorable than Mr. Schwebke or Mr. Godfrey would otherwise lead us to believe. Thankfully for Boss Godfrey, the slavish "Ace Reporter" Schwebke continues to cover Boss Godfrey's back.

4) Godfrey's Secret Gondola Study. And in closing, here's another memorable Godfrey administration moment in time, (which Mr. Schwebke also forgot to mention), which nicely illustrates Boss Godfrey's mendacity and complete disregard for our City Council's role as the City's co-equal government branch. Take a little trip down memory lane folks, and recall the time Godfrey tried to hide and misappropriate a $250 thousand Federal Transportation grant from the Ogden City Council, and then got caught red-handed in a highly-incriminating GRAMA produced email paper trail, like the proverbial kid with his hand in the cookie jar.

That's it for now, O Gentle Ones, although we do realize we haven't even scratched the surface in our own Boss Godfrey Retrospective.

Time's a ticking however, WCF readers, so we'll hit the "publish" button now, and rely upon our Gentle WCF Readers to fill in the other parts that we left out.

Wasatch Rambler: A Victory for the Tenacious... and More Bicycle Safety Lessons - Updated

No surprises here concerning Charlie's seeming ho-hum reaction however

Charles Trentelman chimes in via his "Wasatch Rambler" column on Friday's Ogden Sierra Club victory story this morning... with what we take to be a giant, gaping yawn. Charlie says: "The documents show a lot of back and forth that is, frankly, boring." Yep, that's what he says about the set of highly revealing documents released as the lawsuit was settled... before he segues off into a "ramble" about a subject more mentally stimulating for him (bicycle safety, that is):

• A victory for the tenacious, and more bicycle safety lessons
  

No surprises here concerning Charlie's seeming ho-hum reaction to the OSC's big court victory however, we guess. Throughout the four-year course of the Godfrey administration's heavy-handed and obsessive Gondola/Mt. Ogden Park Landgrab full court press, Trentelman was never even remotely onboard what we'd call the opposition bandwagon.

Update 6/5/11 3:44 p.m.: Trentelman's column has now been posted to the SE Live! site:

• Persistence pays off

Sierra Club and Ogden City Settle Open Records Lawsuit

Sierra Club clips Ogden City for $10,000 in costs/attorneys' fees; declares total victory

We're pleased to report this morning that The Sierra Club and Ogden City have settled their gondola-related open records lawsuit, which had been pending for three years running. The Sierra Club, plaintiff, has reportedly received from defendant, Ogden City, 43 of the 46 disputed records and clipped Ogden City for $10,000 attorneys' fees. The Sierra Club quite properly considers this a complete victory, as is more thoroughly set forth in this morning's press release:

• Ogden Sierra Club Press Release - 3 June 2011

Be sure to visit the Sierra Club website, where you can examine the array of documents finally released to the persistent Sierra Club plaintiff:

• Records Released by Ogden City

Putting it all in a nutshell, these records document both "the depth of involvement of Ogden City officials and others in promoting the gondola-resort proposal," and "city’s overly broad interpretations of several GRAMA exemptions." Additionally, these documents "highlight the city administration’s troubling preoccupation with secrecy, even in instances when the withheld records contained no information worth protecting." Moreover, these documents expose the bad behavior of almost everyone involved in the Gondola Fiasco, from Boss Godfrey, to the Ogden Records Review Board, to officials of the Utah Transit Authority, etc.

A Weber County Forum Tip O' The Hat this morning to the Ogden Sierra Club for its dogged pursuit of the truth in this matter, and for serving as a champion of government transparency and accountability.

And no... we're not happy to observe that Ogden City taxpayers have coughed up $10k in costs and attorneys' fees. Having said that however, we'll also observe that it wouldn't have had to happen this way, if Boss Godfrey had in good faith complied with GRAMA in the first place.

Okay... that's it from us for now.

Time for our gentle readers to let 'er rip.

Update 6/3/11 7:20 p.m.: The Salt Lake Tribune is carrying Cathy McKitrick's writeup on its website:

• Sierra Club wins release of Ogden gondola records

Update 6/4/11 4:13 a.m.: The Standard-Examiner is now running the story too:

• Sierra Club ends suit with Ogden

The Ogden Sierra Club Gets a Third Straight Court Victory in the Now Three-year Old "Gondola GRAMA Document Production Case" - Updated

A Weber County Forum Tip O' The Hat to The Ogden Sierra Club for their dogged persistence in re this matter

Attention Weber County Forum readers! here's the latest in the story about The Ogden Sierra Club's original 2007 Ogden GRAMA request case, which has now been lingering in the Utah Courts, thanks to Godfrey Administration foot-dragging, for over three years. The Ogden Sierra Club has nevetheless again gained another decisive court victory over the Godfrey Administration, however. Read the Ogden Sierra Club's latest explanatory press release:

• Ogden Sierra Club October 25, 2010 Press Release

As regular Weber County Forum readers will recall, the first emails pried out from the Godfrey adminstration under a GRAMA request court order were damning as hell, as they revealed a veritable UTA-Boss Godfrey Administration conspiracy to conceal from the Council a Federal Transportation Agency grant, and mendaciously divert it, without the Council's knowledge, to a Godfrey Administration-preferred Chris Peterson "Gondola Engineering study."

• Boss Godfrey Adminstration e-mail revelations

We'll be standing by with abated breath, WCF readers, to find out what other damning evidence the Godfrey administration is yet keeping under wraps, now that the Ogden Sierra Club has obtained yet a third unequivocal document production court order, while the Little Twerp has dragged his scurvy ass at great taxpayer legal expense to conceal his administration's obviously bad conduct in re this matter.

Update 11/10/10 6:15 a.m.: Per Dan S... "It took a while, but it was worth the wait. Here's Tim Gurrister's writeup in the Standard-Examiner":

• Sierra Club still pushing Ogden for gondola plan documents

Hot Emerald City Rumor of the Day

Interesting intel re Boss Godfrey's unquenchable gondola fetish

By: WhatWardRUin

Chris Peterson and Godfrey have had a falling out; in fact they have become bitter adversaries.

Godfrey is now working with Sen. Hatch, Gov. Huntsman, the Board of Regents and Earl Holding to develop Weber State University land and run a gondola to the top of the mountain to link directly to Snowbasin. The latest Nicklaus golf plan shows a new driving range and golf holes surrounded by condos on WSU property.

Godfrey has "foreign" investors lined up to finance the whole thing, including relocating WSU maintenance buildings.

Remember you heard it here first.

Delightful Gondolist Rant on Today's Std-Ex Editorial Page

Bob Geiger resurfaces with a new op-ed piece, in a posture as cranky and illogical as ever

Absolutely delightful and entertaining op-ed rant in this morning's Standard-Examiner, by Emerald City's #1 rabid gondolist, Bob Geiger. Responding to Tuesday's Std-Ex op-ed piece, within which Weber State University Provost Vaughn politely noted the broad and favorable national and international attention which Ogden has received as a recreational tourist destination over the past few months, Mr. Geiger inexplicably caroms into a stinging tirade against various Weber State University professors and administrators who stood on the front lines during our community's raging 2005-2007 gondola debate, which ultimately resulted in the WSU regents' April 2007 decision to hang on to the foothill raw land, which Chris Peterson had targeted for his Golf Course/McMansion buildout.

This Geiger article, which could have been alternately entitled "Lift Ogden Sour Grapes Redux," is a marvel of that special brand of Geigeresque illogic and passion, which has been missing from the Std-Ex for so many months. For our own part, we'll say we're glad to see little Bobby back ranting on the Std-Ex editorial pages. This morning's crabby contribution added greatly to our morning mirth.

We have a tight calender this morning. So we'll dispense with our usual microanalysis, and leave the picking of nits to our gentle readers.

Before we close however, we'll make note of our favorite Geiger morning non sequitur (paraphrased):

President Milner opposed the knuckleheaded Godfrey/Peterson landgrab/gondola plan, ergo, she's opposed to Ogden's economic rebirth.

Take it away, gentle readers. There's plenty of red meat to be plucked from this morning's steaming Bob Geiger op-ed carcass, we think.

Be sure to let Mr. Geiger know exactly what you think.

Two Ogden Projects Put on Varying Degrees of "Hold"

Larry Myler's Ogden Midtown Hotel/Waterpark is actually just plain defunct

Just to get the discussion rolling this morning, we'll direct our readers' attention to this revealing Scott Schwebke story, from the front page of this morning's Standard-Examiner.

The story isn't exactly breaking news, but rather reports something most of us already knew or suspected: Stuart Reid's ambitious Ashton Square condo project is on indefinite hold; and Larry Myler's Hotel/waterpark project is now officially defunct. Mr. Reid blames it all on the economy, but Mr. Myler's excuse is far more interesting. And it's not a consequence of Myler's twin "Midtown-branded" financial disasters in Orem and Clearfield. It's all about gondolas (or lack thereof,) Mr. Myler's spokesman, Rob Storey informs us, (with a completely straight face). From this morning's story:

OGDEN — Two major projects touted as shining examples of Ogden’s downtown renaissance are officially off the table.
Midtown Development has canceled plans to build a $115 million luxury hotel and waterpark because it appears a proposal for a twophase gondola system between downtown and Malan’s Basin is dead, Rob Storey, an official with the Orem-based company, said Tuesday.

And the intrepid Scott Schebke provides more:

Midtown’s plans for a hotel at the northwest corner of 23rd Street and Washington Boulevard and a waterpark across the street always hinged on tourism being generated by a gondola system and a proposed resort at Malan’s Basin, Storey said.
“The buzz (about the gondola and resort) definitely attracted us to the area," he said.

And here comes the clincher, an astounding revelation that's never been reported before, (according to our recollection):

Midtown had offered to spend about $15 million in profits to construct an urban leg of the gondola that would have begun at the intermodal hub at 23rd Street and Wall Avenue, stop at the company’s downtown hotel and end at Weber State University on Harrison Boulevard, Storey said. [Emphais added]

How 'bout that? It would appear that Mr. Myler may have been one of those mysterious private financiers the gondolists had been whispering about these past several years.

Quick sidebar to Dave Harmer: We guess it's OK to call off the search for those 275 parking spaces. It's obvious now that this that was just another lame and mendacious excuse.

Sadly, we predict that today's news will provoke groans in what remains of the Emerald City gondolist camp:


And what say our gentle readers about all this?

The Gondola... It's Baaa-ack

Signpost editorial manages to straddle the issues, and to leave the paper standing firmly and boldly nowhere in particular

By Curmudgeon

It's baaa-ack. The gondola that will whip Ogdenites straight to Snow Basin. That particular pipe dream seems to have more that the nine lives cats are supposed to get. Its latest manifestation appeared in an editorial in the WSU student paper, The Signpost. [Title: "Will The Giant Icicle Save Us?" ] The editorial discusses Mayor Matthew Godfrey's vision for Ogden's future:

The goal is to make Ogden a high-adventure destination with ski shops, outdoor clothing companies and a gondola that goes straight to Snowbasin. As an all-around outdoor stop, Ogden could become a tourist hotspot. Weber State could potentially benefit from this attention too. Students could hop the gondola and ski before class. The holographic ice-wall is one-of-a-kind and might attract climbers internationally. Maybe ice-climbing would even be offered as a course. This is the vision of many, including Mayor Godfrey.

Readers of the editorial do not learn that the Mayor's proposed flatland gondola would not go to Snow Basin, but only from downtown to WSU. Nor will they learn that the proposed up-mountain gondola with its base near WSU would not go to Snow Basin either, but only to a proposed and highly speculative vest-pocket ski venue to be built, maybe, on the west flank of Mt. Ogden in Malan's Basin. Nor will they learn that Snow Basin management has said no, repeatedly, to the idea of an over-mountain gondola connecting Ogden to it. Or that Snow Basin management got so tired of Mayor Godfrey implying [wink wink, nudge nudge] that his two-gondola solution would connect to Snow Basin that it contacted the Standard-Examiner about the matter, and Mr. Trentelman subsequently did a story about Snow Basin's flat rejection of any kind of over-mountain gondola to Ogden.

That Mayor Godfrey has an interest in not letting the facts get in the way of what he wishes to voters to believe is understandable. But journalists should set a higher, a much higher, standard for themselves. [Unless their dream is to someday work for Fox News of course.]

To be fair, the editorial in The Signpost is somewhat skeptical about the feasibility of it all, but in the end, the paper's editors want to believe. And so they end up with an editorial that wanders around, larded with "on the other hands" and that fails, in the end, to take much of a stand at all:

We are skeptical, after all, we are journalists. We want to know if it will work. Are there hidden costs? Who really benefits? And who is paying for the other million dollars needed to erect the wall? Seriously, do people actually like climbing ice cubes? You'd think your fingers might get cold.
We are skeptical yet idealistic. Deep down we hope something will bring about real change, because we think Ogden has a bright future. The vision is lovely. The debate, however, is a mess. But the debate occurs because we all know something needs to happen.And we are open to change.

Declaring itself "open to change" is, for an editorial board, the equivalent of a candidate for office boldly proclaiming his [or her] undying support for motherhood, apple pie and the flag. It's like Orrin Hatch coming out, as he did yesterday, for "fair" Senate hearings on polygamy. [Who advocates unfair hearings on anything?]

The Signpost editors are to be congratulated for not swallowing the Kool-Aid Hizzonah is pouring uncritically [as the Ogden-Weber Chamber of Commerce did], and for raising some of the right questions. But in the end, the editorial manages to straddle the issues, and to leave the paper standing firmly and boldly nowhere in particular.

"Stand By Your Tram"

More innovative and entertaining stuff from the Standard-Examiner

We really have to hand it to Don Porter and the rest of the crew at the Standard-Examiner. With the newspaper's recent foray into online multimedia, these guys and gals are proving themselves to be imaginative, resourceful and downright entertaining. In an era when most of the print media remain, shall we say, stodgy, and seemingly unable (or unwilling) to adapt to the realities of a web-based media marketplace, the folks at the Std-Ex have demonstrated an encouraging propensity to experiment and innovate, and in the process have managed to produce some online material which is quite worthy of note.

For example, in April, we highlighted a hard-hitting Don Porter video editorial, for which we offered our rave review. More recently Mr. Porter gave us a heads-up on a series of online Boss Godfrey audio interview snippets, which served as the foundation for another WCF article and provocative reader discussion.

This morning we'll highlight still another notable Std-Ex online offering, a highly-humorous music video parody on a topic that's near and dear to our Weber County Forum hearts, featuring, as an added bonus, the multi-talented Don Porter on vocals.

Before we provide the link however, this morning's Don Porter commentary provides the setup.

And without further ado... the video: Stand by Your Tram:

According to this morning's commentary, Don is seeking reader input. Don's email addy is here: dporter@standard.net We don't know about the rest of you, but we intend to write in and give Don, Mark, Bryan, et alia a very hearty thumbs-up.

Godfrey's Twisted Gondola Obsession Arises Again

The sociopathic monster from Boss Godfrey's id again lurches to the forefront and into this morning's news

Like the Hollywood "B" grade horror-movie monster that never has "the stake" quite driven cleanly through its evil heart until the end of the last reel, Boss Godfrey's strange gondola obsession arises once again as headline news this morning, with this Scott Schwebke story, reporting that the Godfrey administration and the Utah Transit Authority have reached agreement for disposition of the $247 thousand in Federal Transportation Administration grant funds that have been languishing on the UTA books for over a year.

Yes, gentle readers, the secret gondola study is once again back on the WCF discussion front burner, right back where it belongs, with a municipal election approaching in a mere 46 days.

As is the usual circumstance in anything involving Boss Godfrey obsessions, opinions differ about the operative facts. Whereas Boss Godfrey contends that the expenditure of these funds will be for the benefit of the UTA, rational spokesmen for the Utah Transit Authority have previously expressed a drastically differing opinion on the subject:

Godfrey said transportation information from studies funded through the contract will benefit UTA, not Ogden, because the city wouldn’t own, operate or maintain the urban gondola.

“They (UTA) requested the contract,” he said. “They need to find out if it (the urban gondola) is viable to get people from point A to point B.”

However, a July 20, 2006, letter from Mick Crandall, UTA’s deputy chief for planning and programming, to John Arrington, the city’s finance manager, indicates at the time the municipality was interested in using the $247,500 allocation to further study the gondola proposal.

“Ogden city has determined that its preferred use of the funds would be to refine the proposal for the aerial cableway which the city is pursuing as part of a public-private cooperative endeavor,” the letter says.

Boss Godfrey of course resides in his own private gondolist universe, and is no stranger to drastic differences of opinion, especially among rational, non-sociopathic people.

Among the details nailed down in the UTA/Godfrey agreement are these, according to this morning's Ace Reporter Schwebke story:

"UTA will allocate a portion of the funds to pay Salt Lake City-based Lewis, Young, Robertson & Burningham $16,250 for a gondola fiscal impact study completed in November 2006...

"With the exception of the Lewis, Young, Robertson & Burningham bill, UTA will be responsible for all contracts financed in connection with the agreement...

In addition, the city and UTA will jointly develop a “scope of work” for gondola studies that maximizes “benefits to the constituents” of both entities, the agreement says...

The city and UTA will also designate an equal number of representatives to a committee that will review gondola-related study proposals, according to the agreement...

In addition, UTA will review all invoices submitted by each consultant to determine eligibility for payment.

And there's also one additional element of the story that we find curious:

"After UTA pays Lewis, Young, Robertson & Burningham, the balance of the funds available through the contract won’t likely be expended, unless Peterson finds a way to fund the urban gondola, said John Patterson, the city’s chief administrative officer."

We're not sure what the above language means, although it might suggest that UTA will not be required to disburse any funds under express terms of the agreement, until Chris Peterson comes up with a viable mechanism to fund the whole crackpot scheme.

Is the production of a viable financing plan a condition precedent to the implementation of this UTA/Godfrey agreement under its own written terms? Will the UTA be legally required to hold off on wasting these grant monies, until the gondolists produce a plan on paper that passes the "sniff test" -- or is Mr. Patterson merely suggesting that this probably won't happen as a practical matter? There remains a large hanging question in the possible interpretation of Patterson's above statement.

Frankly we do not know. Unfortunately Ace reporter Schwebke apparently didn't ask the obvious followup question. This, buy the way is not intended as a slam on Scott Schwebke, who played perhaps the key role in publicly exposing the Godfrey administration's earlier devious misbehavior in connection with this matter, and whose article today is otherwise very revealing.

We'll attempt to reach a UTA spokesman this morning. If we can get some clarification on this, we'll put it up by way of an article update.

And what say our gentle readers about all this?

Update 9/20/07 11:45 a.m. MT: One of our gentle readers has kindly forwarded to us a full text pdf version of the above-mentioned 8/29/07 UTA/Godfrey Administration agreement, which we've uploaded to our storage site and now make available for our readers' inspection here.

Update 9/21/07 9:05 a.m. MT: Scott Schwebke provides a followup story in this morning's Standard-Examiner, fleshing out yesterday's story with the added information that UTA officials are also dealing directly with the city council and its legal representatives, regarding the ultimate disposition of the Federal Transportation Administration funds.

A Plea to the Council to Put Our Transportation Future "On Track"

Too much time and treasure has been wasted already

Mayor Matthew Godfrey expects UTA to spend $247,500 set aside for the [gondola study] plan because he believes the gondola would provide cost-effective public transportation along a busy corridor from downtown to Weber State University. Godfrey believes Peterson will come up with a new proposal. "I think he will do something."

Standard-Examiner
UTA may still pay for study
July 16, 2007

"My significant other right now is myself, which is what happens when you suffer from multiple personality disorder and self-obsession."

Joaquin Phoenix
The Reluctant Hero
May, 2000

Ace reporter Schwebke is right back on the "secret gondola study" article series, with this morning's Standard-Examiner front page story. Boss Godfrey reportedly remains obsessed with his gondola to nowhere vision, despite his recent and sudden purported abandonment of the politically-disastrous golf course sale funding element. At least one voice on the council however, the ever-sensible Dorrene Jeske, reportedly believes it's time to consider realistic transportation alternatives:

OGDEN — The Utah Transit Authority may spend almost $250,000 for a gondola study, even though the future of the Ogden project is in doubt.

Chad Saley, a spokesman for UTA, said the funds are still available but wouldn’t necessarily have to be used for a gondola study.

"The funds could be used to do another study if Ogden wanted to study streetcars and other transit modes."

Mayor Matthew Godfrey expects UTA to spend $247,500 set aside for the plan because he believes the gondola would provide cost-effective public transportation along a busy corridor from downtown to Weber State University.

"This has the opportunity to provide transportation along the corridor with no operational costs to (UTA),” he said. “Their interest is to have this investment made by the private sector."

However, City Councilwoman Dorrene Jeske said the UTA funds should not be earmarked specifically for the gondola, but for an overall mass transit plan for the city.

"We have got to address our transportation problems — the sooner the better," she said.

What ought to be clear from this story is that our Emerald City Mayor still remains absolutely fixated on his "gondola vision," even in the absence of so much as a shred of evidence to demonstrate that it makes any sense at all. Boss Godfrey refers to the "private investment" which would ease the public sector burden of operating a transportation system within the WSU-downtown corridor. Yet in two years, no private money seems to have been committed to this project. And in the same two-year period, the single "investor" who appears to have shown even some slight interest in this "investment" has produced nothing tangible at all -- not so much as a plan or drawing -- not even hasty scribblings on a cocktail napkin.

Once again our delusionary visionary Boss of Us All falls back to the pattern which has become so familiar to the lumpencitizens of Emerald City over the past 7-1/2 years, i.e., clinging stubbornly to one evidence-unsupported crack-pot scheme after another, "digging-in his heels" and asking sensible people to take it all on "faith."

We're encouraged by the quoted comments of Councilwoman Jeske; and it's our sincere hope that other council members will get aboard her bandwagon. It's well within the power of the city council to order that the one-quarter million in transportation study dollars, which are presently languishing in a UTA account, be applied to a realistic overall mass transit plan for the city; and we believe the council should do just that. Our city has already wasted far too much time and treasure pursuing Boss Godfrey's compulsive pipe-dreams. It's time, we think, to put our public transportation future "on track."

Engage Brain Before Opening Mouth

A basic research tutorial for an impulsive and public input-unfriendly mayor

By Curmudgeon

We want to call your attention to today's editorial in the Standard Examiner.

It reviews the Mayor's recent announcements regarding the Mt. Ogden parklands and the storied [but never produced] "Peterson Proposal," and today's Mayor Godfrey clarification about the "city gondola," stating in no uncertain terms that such a gondola will not be built with city funds, and would now only be built if Mr. Peterson agrees to pick up the entire construction, maintenance and operating costs.

The editorial is suffused with a quality far too lacking too often in the discussion of the gondola/gondola and "Peterson Proposal" so far. There is much to commend in it. Well worth the reading, every line of it. But let me highlight here a small portion near the editorial's conclusion:

"Godfrey backed Peterson -- at least in part, we presume -- because the developer kept promising to submit his formal proposal to the city, setting deadlines and then blowing them time and time again. As far as we know, there still has never been a full-blown, formal plan submitted to anyone in an official capacity.

Absent the details in such a document, speculation by both supporters and detractors has filled the void, and the Ogden community has been polarized on the topic....

And we will continue to wait with great anticipation to see where Peterson plans to go from here with his 1,440 acres east of Ogden.

The resort idea sounds interesting to us, but absent the details it's impossible to know whether it deserves support."

"...absent the details it's impossible to know whether it deserves support."

Exactly. And think how much better off Ogden would have been, how much rancor and ill-will might have been avoided if Mayor Godfrey had grasped that simple and common-sense-filled point two years ago: that absent the details... or what most might call instead "the facts"... his enthusiastic championing of the plan, his denigration of those who raised questions about it as "naysayers" and enemies of progress in Ogden, his administration's active support of zoning ordinance changes to accommodate a Peterson Proposal that never appeared [recall the "Ellison Ordinance" matter?] --- all of that, absent the details, the specifics, the facts, was ill-advised, inappropriate and did not well serve the interests of Ogden and its people.

Update 7/11/07 8:22 a.m. MT: Alert and gentle reader "Jill" provides a link to this morning's Salt Lake Tribune editorial, which presents a challenge to we citizens of Emerald City, to act decisively to permanently protect our precious open space.

This is must reading, we think, especially for our city council.

Despondency & Gloom in the Gondolist Camp

And some soothing words of encouragement to our gondolist neighbors

Ace Reporter Schwebke delivers a heart-rending front-page story this morning, reporting on the reaction in the gondolist cult camp to Saturday's five-star rated Boss Godfrey flip-flop.

The loyal gondolist lemmings had campaigned tirelessly for Boss Godfrey over the last two years, hoping to wrench seed money from the sale of our cherished Mt. Ogden parklands acreage, to be applied as a down payment toward their cherished amusement park ride to nowhere.

They're feeling more than slightly "let down" by Boss Godfrey, to say the very least, according to Ace reporter Schwebke, although even now they maintain "hope."

Amazingly, the plainly disappointed Curt Geiger even lets slip a telling amusement park metaphor with this curt statement: "The brass ring on the carousel went past us,” Geiger said, “and we didn’t grab hold of it."

Perhaps the amateur psychologists among us can provide some enlightenment on the true meaning of this.

And the usually upbeat Dave Hardman, President of the Weber/Ogden Chamber of Commerce, utters a crack that's positively nasty, in the context of his constantly grinning, Enzyte-guy normal demeanor. "It would be dumb of our community to miss this opportunity,” Mr. Hardman snapped.

Maybe it's just us -- but we are curious as to our readers' impressions of the possibly subtle meaning of this Dave Hardman comment. Did Dave Hardman actually tell Scott Schwebke that he thought Boss Godfrey's latest decision was dumb?

And courtesy of gentle reader Dan S. we refer our readers to this morning's most excellent Kathy McKittrick story on this topic. As Dan S. notes, the hiring of Ms. McKittrick by the Salt Lake Tribune was clearly Emerald City's loss, and Salt Lake City's profound gain.

But before we turn the floor over to our readers this morning, we're going to offer a few words of consolation to our poor Emerald City brethren who feel betrayed by the "visionary" leader who apparently "hears voices" of conflicting "instruction" from time to time:

1) Remember, when Boss Godfrey makes a promise while his lips are moving, you can expect his actual behavior to be the dead opposite of what he says. Based on careful observation of the Boss of Us All for almost eight years, we're going to go out on a limb and predict he'll in all likelihood sell the park to Chris Peterson anyway -- win or lose or lose the election -- shortly after the November polling date. If the little guy can unabashedly do an 180 degree flip-flop once, he can most certainly do it again. That's one thing you can definitely take to the bank.

2) And even assuming the low-probability alternative, i.e., that Boss Godfrey is breaking new ground -- and actually telling the truth at long last -- our despondent gondolist friends and neighbors should be reminded that the paltry $2-7 million that Godfrey expected to generate from the Mt. Ogden Parklands sale was just a drop in the bucket when compared with the $45 million projected urban gondola price-tag. Loyalist gondolists would have been compelled to beat the bush for another $38 million in investment capital anyway, even if Godfrey hadn't pulled the old last-minute political "switcheroo." Accordingly, the additional $7 mil is just "chump change" with regard to a wonderful project like this. We're sure eager investors will be beating down gondolist fundraiser doors with bags of investor cash, in order to get in on the ground floor of a sure-fire investment like this.

We do hope that our gondolist friends feel better now. As always, we're trying to "stay positive."

Take it away o gentle ones.

Gotta Love Those Gondolistas

Another revealing Standard-Examiner letter from the Godfreyite/Gondolist brain trust

By Curmudgeon

Interesting pro-gondola letter in the Standard-Examiner this morning by one Milt Neely of Clinton.

What makes it interesting? Well, first, here's how the Std-Ex headlined the letter: "Ogden business owner happy with progress." Why is that interesting? Because nowhere in the letter does Mr. Neely indicate he is a businessman of any kind, in Ogden or in Clinton or anyplace else. Creative writing kudos to the headline writer on that one.

Mr. Neely is happy about "about all the positive changes going on in Ogden," and particularly about the River Parkway, which he enjoys a great deal. No problem there. Good things, and the River Parkway is one of them, please me too.

But then he goes on to say that "the gondola needs to be installed" because "it is a good risk to take." Does he offer any reason for thinking it's a good risk? Any evidence in support of his claim? Of course not. But it gets better. He then says: "I have seen this in another city, and it appears to be a major asset." Does he tell us what other city he has seen a gondola being a major asset? No, he does not.

Mr. Neely concludes his letter this way: "At this time, I would like to raise a middle-finger salute to all the critics who have stood in the way of Ogden's progress. There are those who get things done, and there are those who complain about what is being done."

Of course, it did not occur to Mr. Neely that many of those enemies of progress to whom he so happily gives the finger in this morning's paper [presumably for opposing the Peterson/Godfrey gondola/gondola/real estate speculation scheme] were major supports of and movers behind the various River Parkway projects... the only specific element of progress in Ogden that his letter mentions.

So, he likes the gondola, but he can't explain why; he's seen it work as a major asset in another city, but he won't say which one; and anyone who thinks differently than he does is an enemy to progress to be flipped off at will.

Gotta love those gondolistas. Class acts all the way.

Turn Out the Lights; the Party's Over

Events of the past several days seem not to be working out well for our Emerald City Gondolist Cult. Their grand schemes are suddenly toppling around their gondolist feet.

One of our gentle readers posted a link to this Kristen Moulton story yesterday, reporting that "Weber State University has every reason to say NO to Chris Peterson & Co., and their "plan" to acquire "the large swath of undeveloped land above the WSU campus":

"Why would they give up their property, which is extremely vital for future expansion?" said Richard Kendell, Utah's commissioner of higher education, after
meeting with the WSU Board of Trustees"

Excellent question say we. This is also a question many citizens in the Emerald City community have been asking -- rather incessantly too.

This morning's Standard-Examiner edition follows up yesterday's Salt Lake Tribune story with an Amy Stewart and Scott Schwebke one-two punch. "Gondola plan in jeopardy" blares today's main front page headline. Through the miracle of the electronic on-line medium, our gentle readers can read these two stories just below:

WSU trustees add key parcel to master plan

City leaders, proposal followers wonder if university is ‘posturing’

Curiously, Boss Godfrey refuses to see the writing on the wall, and speculates that the University may be merely "posturing." Posturing is of course something Boss Godfrey knows very much about; but this time we think Boss Godfrey is more wrong than usual. Living as he does in his "visionary" world of alternate reality, we think he's missed something of obvious importance:

Barney Chapman, vice chairman of the Weber State Board of Trustees, said the university would review a proposal from Peterson but likely won’t sell the property.

“Our intent is to keep the property,” he said. “We want to make sure that we do what’s best for the students and the university.”

While we realize that our lovable Emerald City Gondolists will be scurrying around, trying to spin something "positive" about these latest developments, we think one thing has now become crystal clear. And we want to be the first to publicly make the call:

Turn out the lights!

The party's over!

Let's move on to making our community a better place to live, sans the gated community and rinky-dink amusement park gimmicks. We've wasted far too much citizen time and public money on this already. Time for the Gondolists to take a dose of reality, we say. Time for Boss Godfrey to call it "quits."

And what say our gentle readers? Could it be that Boss Godfrey and Chris Peterson have another card or two up their sleeves -- or is our gondolist nightmare effectively over?

Chime in please, O gentle readers.

Update 3/8/07 8:27 p.m. MT: The Jackson Hole Star-Tribune gets it right here: College nixes gondolas. Query When will the Geigers, Godfreys and other delusional Gondolists ever seek professional help and get the message? Psychotic delusion is a serious and dangerous symptom. We advise the three G's to immediately consult the mental health professional of their choice.

Sowing the Seeds of Boss Godfrey's Third Mayoral Campaign Run

Property seizure on the Godfrey agenda; nary a word about gondolas

By Curmudgeon

Several interesting recent stories which might be of interest to Ogden and Weberites.

First, eminent domain powers to take private land, including homes, to sell to other private developers, are it seems about to return. Full story in the SL Trib here. The Trib details the enthusiastic support for the return of eminent domain powers to take private property to benefit another private entity by Ogden's very own Godfrey administration spokesperson Mark Johnson:

"Two years ago, the Legislature stopped cities from using eminent domain for redevelopment projects.

At the time, Ogden's effort to replace homes and businesses in a blighted downtown neighborhood with a Wal-Mart was cited as an abuse by legislators who subsequently put a moratorium on such use of eminent domain.

Under an amendment to HB365 approved by the committee, Ogden would be able to pick up where it left off in trying to acquire homes and businesses in that area north of Union Station - as well as in the Ogden River Project area.

Mark Johnson, Ogden's management-services director, praised the measure.

"This really helps some of the key projects in the city, such as the river project, which is part of the downtown rebirth."

The second phase of the Ogden River Project - a plan to transform 60 acres north of the LDS Temple downtown with new homes, shops and restaurants - has been stymied by the moratorium, he said. "

And then yesterday, there was the opening salvo in Hizzonah Mayor Godfrey's re-election campaign, fired appropriately enough by Godfreyista Councilman Stephenson in an op-ed piece in the Standard Examiner. The evidence of Councilman Stephenson's enlisting in the Corps de Godfrey can be found here.

Stephenson's piece is remarkable as an example of political sophistry at its best/worst [pick one]. It rings all the old Godfrey Gondola Amen Chorus chimes... like wondering what would have happened to Ogden if naysayers back in the day had prevented the railroad from coming here, and likening current opponents to vague un-named plans of the Mayor and others to the non-existent RR protesters in Stephenson's imaginary history. Stephenson insists that we "must" -- all of us -- actively support the plans of Ogden's Mayor to bring new business to the city, whatever those plans may be. Stephenson notes that a dozen companies have come already, and he concedes [somewhat grudgingly] that fast access here to mountain recreation is at least a reason they came. But that's not the major reason they came. What was that reason? Well, let Councilman Stephenson explain it for you:

"However, most of those that I have communicated with admit that the most compelling reason they came to Ogden is the excitement generated by projects and proposals currently under way, and because of the progressive and can-do attitude of the mayor, his administration and other city leadership. "

I found it interesting that nowhere in his op-ed piece does Mr. Stephenson so much as mention any of the following terms: "gondola" or "Peterson" or "Peterson proposal." Not to be found anywhere in his essay. Not once. Imagine that. Nary a mention.

Notice too that at the recent Godfrey-organized "Envision Ogden" announced at its founding meeting that it is taking "no position" on the gondola proposal.

From which I think we can conclude two things: (a) The Godfrey campaign brain trust has concluded that the gondola and Peterson Proposals are not winning issues for the Mayor in his pursuit of re-election. So the Mayor's surrogates like Mr. Stephenson have been directed to keep them out of their campaign screeds. And that (b) should the Mayor be re-elected, all the vague "plans" mentioned in campaign tracts like Stephenson's will be revealed as [ta-da!] the gondola and Peterson proposals to buy Ogden's public open space on the benches and turn them into a real estate development to finance the Mayor's crony Chris Peterson's development dreams.

Just like last time. We know now that Hizzonah was already canoodling with Mr. Peterson about selling the golf course and public bench lands to finance gondolas here, gondolas there, gondolas everywhere! before his last re-election. The Mayor just didn't happen to mention it during the campaign. Looks like he's working from the same playbook this time: keep the gondola/Peterson proposals off the stage as campaign issues, until the morning after the votes are counted, when he will trot them out yet again. And no doubt he will be campaigning hard to elect compliant Council members as well.

Thursday P.M. Tidbits

We find several Weber County Forum topic-specific articles in this morning's Standard-Examiner.

First, we link to this morning's Scott Schwebke story, wherein the Emerald City Council breathlessly announces the official release of its Urban Gondola/Tram Comparison Report, compiled by council staff in lieu of accepting Boss Godfrey's gracious invitation to an all-expense-paid Telluride junket.

We're running a little behind today, so we haven't yet subjected this report to our usual micro-anlysis, although it appears at first glance to be a mere a re-hash of the material we'd thoroughly discussed here in an earlier comments thread (and other places.)

Have at it, gentle readers. Please feel free to offer your own micro-analysis.

Next, Ace reporter Schwebke has again been working feverishly on the fast-developing Dean Martinez story. From today's Scott Schwebke article we gain this brand-new information:

• Former Emerald City Human Resources Manager Dean Martinez had formed an administration-unapproved internal affirmative action committee, for the purpose of exploring ways to improve employee hiring and promotion practices. This unauthorized act didn't apparently wash with Boss Godfrey's current practices, which are geared, according to Mr. Martinez, more closely toward favoring white L.D.S. guys in suits. Godfrey thus pulled the plug on the committee, but did spend thousands of dollars producing a nice (Rupert Hitzig?) video, we are told. Boss Godfrey remains of course entirely unaware of any existing hiring/promotion policy problems. "If we had any problems, I would already know about them," suggests the All Knowing One on Nine.

• In classic neoCON fashion, the administration is sticking to its story: "Martinez is merely a disgruntled employee; and his claims are entirely without merit."

• The Standard-Examiner, which has utilized state law open-records request procedures numerous time recently, with mixed success, has now filed a new GRAMA request, seeking salary information on all Emerald City division managers.

The floor is open for further comments, analysis or speculation...

Or address whatever you wish to address.

12/14/06 4:05 p.m. MT: Being the curious type, we googled "Dean Martinez" and came upon this revealing web-page, from a more optimistic time, gleefully announcing the hiring of Mr. Martinez, and setting forth his ambitious original "mission statement."

As added bonuses, be sure to read Mr. Martinez's October 3, 2003 Std-Ex letter to the editor, in which Mr. Martinez "butters up" his prospective boss, and the Cathy McKittrick piece, written before Mr. Martinez had actually begun to work with real-life Boss Godfrey cultural xenophobe.

12/15/06 7:50 a.m. MT: Kristen Moulton weighs in on the council's Gondola/Tram Comparison report with this morning's SL Trib story.

Weekend Kickoff Bits and Pieces

As we enter the weekend, we submit three print media articles for our readers' attention, as another weekend kick-off potpourri:

First, the absence of a palpable Peterson Plan is again strange Standard-Examiner front page news this morning, with an Amy Stewart headline piece, reporting that key local government decision makers still remain entirely outside the Peterson information loop.

Members of the Emerald City Council and Weber State University officials reportedly met in semi-annual joint session last Thursday to compare notes on the Peterson Land-grab. Unfortunately the information available to share in connection with the Landgrab Scheme amounts to exactly zero, zilch, zip & nada.

All the council has gotten from Chris Peterson so far is dead silence, says Councilwoman Wicks. And the council's carefully-compiled 184 council questions remain entirely ignored. WSU officials stand in a very similar position, of course.

Lacking anything substantive to talk about on the subject, WSU and Emerald City officials apparently reverted to a discussion of comparative bureaucratic plans and procedures to review the Peterson Proposal -- should such a proposal ever arrive at all.

We would consider the current state of affairs nothing more than antic comedy, were it not occurring right here in our beloved home town. Unfortunately, we find it difficult to laugh. The stakes are too high to work up much mirth. And it's discouraging to observe our conscientious public officials being compelled to run around in circles, as they faithfully perform the obligations of their public offices. On top of that, Peterson's secretive and uncommunicative behavior has been quite disgraceful, we think.

It's difficult to imagine the current mind-set of our official decision-makers concerning this topic at this juncture. They have a myriad of factors to consider. Still we think it's fair to speculate about what must be running through their minds at this point in the Peterson melodrama. Surely they must be coming to some conclusions, and drawing common-sense inferences about Mr. Peterson's aptitude for following through with his grand-scale project. And in this connection we think it's possible to consider what we'd be thinking, if we were standing in their shoes. If we were the official decision-makers what conclusions would we be drawing -- so far -- about Mr. Peterson's competence, capacity -- and character?

Our conclusions so far are not at all favorable. In our view Mr. Peterson has demonstrated a continuing pattern of aloofness, inattention, secrecy, duplicity and lack of follow-through. His inability to meet deadlines is demonstrably consistent. We think his continuing failure or refusal to keep our city council and WSU officials informed of his progress, if any, demonstrates discourtesy, at the very least, and outright disrespect, in a less-generous-case scenario.

Our official decision-makers ought to be reaching these same conclusions, we would logically speculate. They're only human, afterall.

And what think our gentle readers? Even assuming for sake of argument that Mr. Peterson has the financial capacity to pull off this project, is Chris Peterson the guy you would choose to ram-rod such a grandiose project? Would he be a tolerable public-private "partner?" Is it reasonable to expect that Mr. Peterson's performance, once he's in the developer driver's seat, would be any different from the level of performance he's demonstrated during the 1-1/2 years he's been in the Emerald City spotlight? So many questions -- so few answers.

Secondly, we move to the first page a link provided yesterday in a lower comments section by gentle reader Curmudgeon. The Standard-Examiner printed a fine article earlier this week, dealing with the topic of street cars and trolleys. We invite reader comments on this article.

Finally, we bring to the forefront a December 1, 2006 Std-Ex guest editorial, relevant to the Parklands Land-grab scheme. We find this article to have been particularly significant, in that it comes from a member of the locally-prominent Goddard family. Susie Goddard Hulet is of course the daughter of Jack Goddard, a well-known local real estate developer and financier. We've been keeping this article on the back burner, and have now decided to throw it out for discussion.

Don't let the cat get yer tongues...

Waiting for the Gondola

A Saturday evening bike ride through Ogden while it’s still real.

By Bob Sawatzki
SL City Weekly - 9/28/06

Utah Highway 89 runs like a river through the heart of Ogden, where its name changes to Washington Boulevard and “crusing the ’Vard” is entertainment in itself. As the parade of vehicles flow past, we sit on mountain bikes in front of a vacant storefront, waiting for the gondola. According to the map, it will pass right over our heads—hard to imagine, considering what the area looks like now. Since the fall of the Ogden Mall, most of the stores on this section of the ’Vard are closed. There’s graffiti, litter and dubious characters (like me) lurking in the shadows.

All this will change when the 21-acre brown field where the Mall used to be is reborn as The Junction, a mixed-use development of residences, retail, entertainment and office buildings. And when the gondola comes, it will be possible to catch a lift with our bikes to the top of the mountain and roll downhill all the way.

Until that day, we’ll have to pedal uphill on our own power, as we always have. So we geared down and started biking up 23rd Street, following the proposed route of the gondola. It will continue in a straight line up this quiet, residential street to Harrison Boulevard.

But it made for a dull, steep bike ride, so when the terrain leveled off at Jefferson Avenue, we did too, heading toward Lester Park and the historic center of Ogden. This part of Ogden will not be seen by gondola riders, almost as if planners were trying to keep tourists from seeing what the real Ogden looks like.

Read the Rest of Mr. Sawatzki's thoughtful piece.

This City Weekly article was linked last night by Bob Sawatzki in one of our lower comments sections. We're always fascinated by the viewpoints of "outsiders" who aren't wholly immersed in the sheer wierdness of the MattGodfreyWorld/Land of Oz experience, so we're promoting it to the main page for today's discussion, for the benefit of those readers who don't bother to read the what's often the best part of this blog -- the comments sections.

We think Mr. Sawatzki for the most part "nails it" with this. But then we hear that $500 million investment "thingy" again. Amazing how that deceptive little meme continues to pervade the public consciousness, innit? We thank Mr. Sawatzki for the submission.