Some Things Change in Ogden While Others Stay the Same

Mayor’s office touts prescription drug drop-box, Forbes ranking

By Dan Schroeder

It’s the last Thursday of the month, and Ogden newspaper subscribers know what that means: time for the monthly “Ogden Update” nearly-full-page advertisement from the mayor’s office!

In this month’s installment you can read about upcoming events like the Tour of Utah bike race and Night Out Against Crime. You can also read about the recently opened Hilton Garden Inn and about the new plans for twice-weekly commercial air service between Ogden and Mesa, AZ.

There are two more items, though, which I think are especially noteworthy.

First, at long last, the city has announced that a year-round prescription drug disposal bin has been installed in the lobby of the downtown Public Safety Building at 2186 Lincoln. The bin is available to residents from 8 am until 10 pm daily.

Regular Weber County Forum readers will remember how more than a year ago the city council proposed an ordinance requiring the installation of such a drop box. Police Chief Greiner objected loudly, for reasons that never made any sense. To all appearances, the Godfrey-Greiner administration was against the idea merely because the council was for it. Needless to say, the controversy-averse council backed down.

Although there’s no sign that the city council is any less timid than last year, we now have a new mayor and a new police chief. It would appear that the new administration is less petty, and the drop box has been installed with a minimum of fuss.

A second noteworthy item appears under the headline, “Forbes ranks Ogden, Utah, #6 Best City in US for Business and Careers.” Here’s a scan of this short blurb (click to enlarge):

What you would never know from reading this is that the Forbes ranking doesn’t look at individual cities; it looks at metropolitan statistical areas, for which the government publishes the most up-to-date economic data. The distinction is critical in our case because the Ogden-Clearfield MSA includes all of Weber, Davis, and Morgan counties. Ogden City accounts for only 15% of the MSA’s population and only 25% of its jobs. So the chances are that a high (or low) ranking for the Ogden-Clearfield MSA says more about Davis County and the Weber County suburbs than it does about Ogden City. Without further information, there’s no basis for the mayor of Ogden to take credit.

Of course, the distinction between Ogden City and the Ogden-Clearfield MSA never stopped Mayor Godfrey from taking credit whenever the MSA did well in one of these rankings. When it comes to puffy political rhetoric, Mayor Caldwell is proving to be no different.

Wednesday Morning Emerald City News Roundup

Conciliation and compromise are the order of the day

A couple of Standard-Examiner news items worthy of note:

1) Scott Schwebke reports on last night's RDA meeting, in which prospective River Project developer Steve Peterson, a principal with Millrock Capital, asked for concessions regarding the size and construction schedule for "apartments." Tellingly, they're not even bothering to refer to them as "condominiums" any longer :

• Developer asks for apartment changes

Sadly, it appears that tiny tenement-style residential rental units may now set the River Project tone.

2) After several stinging broadsides by the Standard-Examiner (and others), it appears that Chief Greiner may be adopting a more conciliatory attitude toward the Council's proposal to place a pharmaceutical drop-box within the Ogden City Public Safety Building lobby:

• Department, Ogden council can work out concerns over drop box

Yeah, Chief Greiner devotes considerable column space toward explaining why the lock box concept is a non-starter; but in the end he seems to suggest "[c]oncerns can be worked out," no?

Update 5/11/11 9:51 a.m.: Per Dan S... "Rudi, you missed at least two great articles in the Trib":

• Ogden Council agrees on streetcar up 25th Street
• Utah’s big political donors have friends in high places

Yesiree, folks. There's plenty to chat about this mornin'.

Monday Morning Emerald City News Roundup

Pick up on any of the below topics, or talk about whatever floats your boats

Red meat political news is once again in short supply this morning; so we'll set up an open topic thread. Just to get the conversation rolling, here are a few suggested topics, for those readers who'd like to work out the kinks after the now-concluded Mothers Day Weekend.

1) We took the day off yesterday; but we don't want to let one more minute slip by without shining the spotlight on yesterday's strong editorial, wherein in this the Standard-Examiner editorial board joins with Weber County Forum in urging the Ogden City Council to "force [Ogden Police Chief] Greiner to allow a permanent [pharmaceutical collection] lock box in the [Ogden Public safety Building] lobby":

• OUR VIEW: Lobby should collect meds

You'd think a hard-core crime-fighter like Chief Greiner would be falling all over himself to do anything possible to help get unused or unneeded prescription medications outta the medicine cabinets and offa the streets. Instead, he's baffling everybody, it seems, as the sole top cop in Utah who refuses to lift a finger to help implement last year's federal Safe and Secure Drug Disposal Act. Time we think, for the Council to give him a nudge. Yes everyone knows that Chief Greiner always wants to do what's right, right? Right!

2) On April 29, the Standard published this puff piece, announcing "[t]he most expensive public art piece in city history, costing $300,000, will be unveiled late this summer as part of the long-awaited Ogden River Project." Ogden resident and SE reader Ruth Darrington now follows this up with this pot-stirring letter to the editor, questioning everything from the price tag to the "artsiness" of this "pricey" riverside art project.

• We should use local artist for Ogden River project

So what about it, O Gentle Readers? Has Emerald City arts spending jumped unreasonably outta control, just like everything else that originates on the ninth floor of city hall? And does Ms. Darrington make a reasonable point in suggesting that projects like these should be shuffled to local artists?

The Deseret News reports that House and Senate voted to return the state to a five-day workweek over the weekend, with an extraordinary Saturday night vote:

• Utah Legislature overrides veto of bill requiring state offices to reopen on Fridays

So what about it, WCF readers (just outta curiosity)... Is this veto override a major step in the right/wrong direction... or no big deal at all?

You know the drill. Pick up on any of the above topics, or talk about whatever floats your boats.

Standard-Examiner: Greiner: Not At Police Lobby

Our advice to Ms. Gochnour and the rest of our will-o-the-wisp City Council? Pass the danged ordinance as originally proposed

We'd like to call attention to a revealing example of wacky Ogden politics this morning, as the Standard-Examiner reports that "the city council may adopt a resolution later this month asking police to hold monthly medication take-back events because of Chief Jon Greiner's reluctance to put a pharmaceutical collection box in the lobby of the Ogden Public Safety Building":

• Greiner: Not at police lobby

It seems to us that somebody on the council initially came up with a pretty good idea, an eminently sensible proposal to locate a permanent drop box for the disposal of unused prescription and over-the-counter medications in the Ogden Public Safety Building lobby. According to this Standard-Examiner graphic, the idea wasn't a novelty either, inasmuch as similar drop boxes seem to have already been employed in the lobbies of police departments all across our fair state:


Sadly, the idea didn't play out all that well in Ogden however, where Ogden City administrative departments oddly and jealously guard their turf against the perceived encroachment of our Ogden City legislative body, the City Council. Accordingly, Chief Greiner has come up with a set of vague and a half-assed formal excuses to oppose the installation of a cop-shop drop-box. Topping it all off we now find our Ogden City Council Chair, Ms. Gochnour, (not exactly a model of strong political will herself,) rolling over on the issue without so much as a whimper, and saying (with a completely straight face) that "having monthly collection events is a good compromise to a permanent disposal bin."

Our advice to Ms. Gochnour and the rest of our will-o-the-wisp City Council? Pass the danged ordinance as originally proposed, and explain to Chief Greiner that he can either live with a drug drop-box in his precious Public Safety Building lobby, or find new employment in a city where the Chief of Police sets overall city policy.

That's our take and we're stickin' to it!

So what say our gentle readers about all this?