Standard-Examiner: Garcia Pledges to Remain Advocate For Minorities

A well-deserved tribute with an added bonus: A little trip down memory lane

Uplifting Scott Schwebke story in this morning's Standard-Examiner, wherein a number of city officials (Boss Godfrey included) pay well-deserved tribute to Ogden City political heavyweight Jesse Garcia, who's now departing the city council, after sixteen years' dedicated service, zealously representing the interests of the citizens of Ogden City's Municipal Ward 1:

• Garcia pledges to remain advocate for minorities

In addition to a series of stirring tributes, Mr. Schwebke also significantly devotes two brief paragraphs to at least one "striking" instance where Councilman Garcia had been seriously "at odds" with the now-complimentary Mayor Godfrey:

A striking example of Garcia's differences with Godfrey came in 2007 when he opposed efforts by the mayor's administration to have Utah Transit Authority earmark $247,500 in federal grant funds for engineering, planning and other studies for an urban gondola system.
Those funds have been designated to the city for a street car transit alternative analysis but the gondola project aimed at linking downtown and Weber State University has not come to fruition.

Regular readers will recall the developing story in 2007, all of which we've assembled here in our Weber County Forum Secret Gondola Study Collection.

To refresh our readers' recollection, and for a little trip down memory lane, here's the Secret Gondola Study story story in a nutshell:

At some point in 2006, Mayor Godfrey's Washington lobbyist finessed a $247 federal public transportation grant, which, as per custom, was turned over to the Utah Transit Authority, as local funds administrator. Godfrey did not report to the council the allocation of these funds; and they were only inadvertently revealed to the council months later.

Although these funds were designated with Ogden City as the intended beneficiary, Boss Godfrey adopted the preposterous position that these funds did not belong to Emerald City, that they were not subject to the authority of the Ogden City Council, but that they were instead placed at UTA's sole disposal, and for disposition at its sole discretion, toward a previously commissioned gondola engineering study.

Godfrey's mendacious words still ring in our ears: "It's not our money!" said Boss Godfrey, (with his fingers crossed behind his back, and his toes crossed inside his shoes). Ultimately, when the smoke cleared, after at least one citizen GRAMA request, a blistering Std-Ex article... or two, and the public release of a series of incriminating emails establishing that the Godfrey Administration (and possibly the UTA) had attempted (and colluded) to hide the true material facts from the city council, it turned out that these funds were indeed subject to disposition by the Ogden City; and (thanks in large part to Councilman Garcia's efforts), Godfrey and the UTA quietly backed down, and the heretofore disputed funds were ultimately earmarked by the council for the now ongoing street car transit alternative analysis, (as the Standard now reports with undue modesty).

(For the full un-abridged story, we again urge our readers again to check out our previously linked Secret Gondola Study Collection.)

As Councilman Garcia vacates his Ward 1 Council seat, we join in his tribute. As Councilwoman Gochnour says, "He will be missed."

"Sorely missed" we'll add: "Don't it always seem to go... you don't know what you got til it's gone?"

Good News for Advocates of Open Government

Judge orders Ogden City to to describe withheld records in more detail

Regular Weber County Forum readers will recall the pending Second District Court GRAMA lawsuit, wherein the Ogden Sierra Club has sought production of Ogden City administration records pertaining to the Godfrey/Peterson gondola project. So far the administration has stonewalled both the plaintiff and the court, by inadequately describing documents which it has withheld from GRAMA document production.

In this connection, we're delighted to report that The Sierra Club achieved a major victory in the District Court yesterday, with a ruling from Judge West, ordering the administration to describe these withheld records in sufficient detail to justify the record's exemption from disclosure under Utah's open records law. We link this morning's Sierra Club press release below:

JUDGE ORDERS OGDEN TO DESCRIBE WITHHELD RECORDS IN MORE DETAIL

We'll refrain from making our own editorial comments on this, in the interest of not killing off the robust reader discussion in the lower thread.

Suffice it to say however that we're proud of the Ogden Sierra Club for vigorously pursuing this expensive and time-consuming litigation. Hopefully this new development will result in the production of documents which will shed more light on the secret back room dealings of the Godfrey administration, in connection with the boondoggle that so deeply divided our community for several years.

A Weber County Forum Tip O' the Hat to the Ogden Sierra Club, for their demonstrated diligence and persistence in promoting the principles of open government.

Added sodden humor bonus (Click to enlarge):


Update 10/17/08 8:45 a.m. MT: The Salt Lake Tribune has a short article this morning on this topic. There's still nothing from the Standard-Examiner.

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.

Boss Godfrey's #1 Henchman Responds

Invitation to a Weber County Forum piñata party

By Monotreme

I'd like to start the piñata party over John Patterson's Op-Ed piece in this morning's Standard-Examiner, concerning the Godfrey administration's recently revealed GRAMA email collection.

Right out of the gate, Mr. Patterson promises us "the simple truth," yet his explanations are convoluted and don't even fit in the Standard's Op-Ed block. One has to go to the online edition of the piece to read the full version of Mr. Patterson's dissembling.

"Please understand all of the numbers we have used were calculated by consultants not hired by this administration."

This is simply false. The ridership numbers used (and the financial projections) were made up out of whole cloth. No consultants were used to derive these numbers, because no studies were done.

I challenge Mr. Patterson to reveal the sources of the ridership numbers and financial projections used in the so-called "gondola study". The Baker Study concerned projected need for mass transit, as far as I'm aware, not how many people would actually ride a jacked-up amusement park ride. Big difference.

"The Adopted Strategic Plan stated GOAL 9.0: Evaluate the feasibility and merits of a gondola from Ogden to Snowbasin." Well, yes. And did the City Council, at any time, adopt a GOAL of looking into an urban gondola to nowhere in particular, connecting to a gondola to an imaginary mountain troll lair halfway up Mt. Ogden? The proposed gondola-gondola study, for which the city tried to obtain UTA funding, was for a gondola that did not go to Snowbasin.

The final paragraph is a masterpiece of nonsense. "There has not been any attempt by the administration to 'keep the public and the City Council out of the loop as they studied the gondola-resort proposal.'"

Heck, I'm a member of the public, and I felt kept out of the loop. What about the years of "we have the draft form of the double-top-secret gondola study, but I don't know if I can release it"? What about the years of "I don't have to tell you who paid for the consultants, the trips, the expenses for a public relations firm to prepare this dog and pony show that my friend Chris is peddling"? Yes, Mr. Patterson, we were kept out of the loop. We continue to be out of the loop.

Have you ever answered Councilwoman Wicks' question about how much city money was spent on this nonsensical (and now-abandoned) plan?

Come September 11, we intend to vote for someone who will keep us informed of how our money is being spent and how public policy decisions are made. We want a city government that operates in the light, not in the dark. We want a city government that informs us, not one that responds half-heartedly to repeated GRAMA requests. We want a city government that doesn't lie to us.

Pure Genius

"Taking care" of Boss Godfrey's crony: A novel approach to "saving" taxpayer dollars

By Dan S.

As many of us were hoping, the Standard-Examiner's Ace Reporter Schwebke has a second article today on the revelations of the recently obtained emails regarding the secret gondola study and UTA.

For Std-Ex readers, the new information here is that the Godfrey administration wanted to use the rest of the $247,500 (after getting LYRB paid) to reimburse Chris Peterson for his costs associated with the project. As I reported above, UTA is emphatic that it will not make any such reimbursements.

For those who have been following this issue here on Weber County Forum, the only thing new in the story is Mayor Godfrey's explanation: "We were trying to connect UTA with vendors to get information that UTA wanted," he insists. "A lot of the background work has been done" by Peterson's vendors, so having UTA reimburse these vendors will "save money for UTA" -- in the words of the mayor.

That's right, folks: According to our mayor, the way for UTA to save money is to give the money to Peterson. I really have to congratulate Godfrey for this one. He's an absolute genius. This method of saving taxpayer money never would have occurred to me in a million years.

Presumably, we can also infer that this valuable information from Peterson's vendors will now not be made available to UTA or to the public, since UTA is unwilling to pay Peterson for it. Any studies that Peterson has already commissioned will be kept secret from UTA and from the public.

Peterson, once again, did not respond to an email from the Std-Ex seeking comment.

Of course, the mayor's response is also an admission that he was fully aware of the plan to ask UTA to reimburse Peterson. If I had to guess, I'd say he's probably the one who thought up the plan.

Pure genius.

Ed. Note: A hearty Weber County Forum Tip O' the Hat to both Dan Schroeder and Scott Schwebke for their tireless efforts in bringing this important information to the public forefront.

Shining the Light on the Roaches at City Hall

Extra: Read Dan S.'s expanded 29-page GRAMA document collection below

By Curmudgeon

The Standard-Examiner this morning has a story based on the administration’s emails obtained by Dan S. via GRAMA request and made public last week on Weber County Forum. [The Std-Ex, churlishly, simply says the story is based on ”according to e-mails obtained by the Standard-Examiner.”] Still, it’s a remarkable story.

Several notable things in it. For example, it discusses the Mayor's retroactive waiver of the competitive bidding requirements for hiring Lewis, Young, Robertson & Burningham to do a financial analysis of the now defunct [the Mayor says] Peterson proposal. About which Hizzonah has this to say:

"I sign dozens of documents every day," Godfrey said. He said he is unsure why Patterson requested the waiver more than a year after the city commissioned the study. "These kinds of things are brought to me routinely," he said.

Huh? Have I got this right? The Mayor is saying he was not aware of what he was signing? That somebody, presumably Mr. Patterson, just stuck it in front of him and he signed it without knowing what it was or why he'd been given it? That's what it seems to say.

Sort of make you wonder what we are paying the Mayor his hefty salary to do, doesn't it? I wasn't aware that blindly signing whatever anyone of his staff puts in front of him constitutes responsible governance. But apparently the Mayor does.

By the way, I hope Mr. Patterson noted that the finger pointing has begun, and the Mayor is pointing at him. You're not working for a stand up guy, Mr. Patterson. In fact, watching all the Godfreyistas scamper for cover, the Godfrey Gang is beginning to look a lot like the Tweed Ring.

It hardly needs to be pointed out, I think, that if the Mayor... or anyone who slides a piece of paper before him for his signature... can retroactively grant waivers to the city's competitive bidding regulations, then those regulations have been rendered entirely meaningless.

Other elements of the story suggest that instead of a new incarnation of Boss Tweed's ring, the Godfrey Administration should instead be called "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight."

From the story: “I have never been a part of a mess like this project has become,” Patterson wrote in an April 13 e-mail to Arrington and copied to Management Services Director Mark Johnson, Community and Economic Development Director Dave Harmer and former Business Development Manager Scott Brown. “It is an embarrassment to the city.”

Indeed it is, Mr. Patterson. Indeed it is. But you'd better get used to this sort of thing. You work for Mayor Godfrey.

Overall, the frantic scuttling here and there trying to cover the city's tracks on this ---- reminds me nothing so much as the frantic scrambling of roaches living under a flat rock in a damp place when the rock is turned over and the sunlight shines in --- is yet more evidence, as if we needed it, of the Godfrey administration's preference of operating out of sight and in the dark, and its dislike of open government. Makes it hard to arrange sales of public land without bidding and at a lower price than others offer for it if people are actually allowed to watch what you're doing.

Rep. Hansen ought to ask the State Auditor to widen his investigation beyond how the Godfrey administration handled its grant money. Perhaps an audit of the Administration's general business practices could use a little sunlight... and disinfectant... too.

Remarkable story, even if the SE didn't credit Dan S. or WCF for breaking it. Don't miss it.

Editor's Note - Special GRAMA Document Collection: We are pleased to announce that we have uploaded the full 29-page Ogden Sierra Club GRAMA document production collection, discussed in our previous article on this topic. Chairman Dan S. has taken additional time to carefully "scrub" the data of private contact information, and has selected and provided the most interesting and relevant documents, which we link for our reader's attention: July '07 GRAMA Document Production Collection.

Boss Godfrey: Higher Integrity Than Anybody in the Room - UPDATED

Newly-obtained documents reveal a city administration pattern of fraud, deceit, conspiracy and insider cronyism

We've just received another press release from the Ogden Sierra Club's Dan Schroeder, containing what we consider to be bunkerbuster information concerning Boss Godfrey's "Secret Gondola Study Saga."

In the interest of inserting this information into the public domain as quickly and efficiently as possible, we incorporate the entire document in full, without analysis or editorial comment:

Dear members of the press:

In response to a GRAMA request submitted a month ago, I have just received from Ogden City a large stack of documents. Several of these documents contain information that seems newsworthy to me, although they leave many questions unanswered.

The documents center around the "Ogden Gondola Fiscal Impacts Analysis" study performed last year by Lewis Young Robertson & Burningham (LYRB), which was the subject of several news articles last month. Most of the documents are email messages exchanged among various city staff members and UTA staff regarding the arrangements and procedures for paying for the LYRB study. Among other things, the documents reveal the following:

• Whereas UTA was apparently willing to reimburse Ogden City for the cost of the LYRB study, high-level city officials repeatedly insisted that UTA instead pay LYRB directly. For example, a March 23, 2007 email from Ogden CAO John Patterson to Mick Crandall of UTA states that "it is IMPOSSIBLE for us to do so," referring to paying the bill from LYRB.

• In response, Crandall states in an April 2, 2007 email that for UTA to pay contractors directly "would be a violation of our procurement rules and accounting standards and UTA cannot make an exception." Crandall goes on to state that UTA "is very reluctant to interject itself into internal matters of a City" and is therefore requiring a written agreement in part to "ensure that the Mayor and the City Council both would concur at least in the use of these funds..."

• An April 2, 2007 email from Finance Manager John Arrington to Patterson similarly indicates that the administration's concern was to keep the City Council from learning about the payment: "we paid an expense in the past without out [sic] Council knowing and we are still suffering from that decision."

• A May 16, 2007 email from Arrington to Patterson again indicates that the administration was concerned about the City Council: "I hope we can get this done without dual payees (City and UTA) since the Council will be looking for anything running to or through the City. [City Attorney] Gary Williams doesn't like the duel [sic] check either, because it still implicates Ogden City."

• Val Brown of UTA expressed an additional concern in a pair of emails to Arrington on May 10 and May 14, 2007: "Frankly, from past experience we've been a bit disappointed in Ogden City's compliance with requirements ... we have audit reports indicating that in the past there have been some problems."

• Mayor Godfrey was involved in several of these email exchanges. For example, on May 15, 2007 he emailed Patterson asking him to "please work with John [Arrington] on this." On December 22, 2006, Patterson forwarded two of Arrington's emails to Godfrey, adding the comments "Does he have early onset Alzheimer's?" and "AMAZING!!"

• Although the bill from LYRB was for only $16,250, the city administration's intent was for UTA to use the rest of the money freed up by the $247,500 federal earmark to reimburse Chris Peterson for his expenses related to the gondola project. In his May 16, 2007 email to Patterson, Arrington states: "I think [Crandall] would be the one to have Chris work through also in getting his vendors qualified as direct pay providers. I'll be sending him an e-mail with UTA's procurement guidelines and ask that he work through UTA involving us for information purposes to get $231,250 of his expenses covered."

• On June 12, 2007, Mayor Godfrey signed an official memorandum to "waive the competitive selection process" for procurement of the services of LYRB for their study (which was initiated around March, 2006). Such a waiver is apparently required by the Ogden City Code. UTA had previously expressed its concern that the city follow its own procurement procedures in this matter.

• An email from lobbyist Ken Lee to Patterson, dated June 1, 2007, acknowledges his receipt of a copy of the LYRB study. Lee then asks, "Has it been leaked? Is the opposition up in arms yet?" In a second email to Patterson on the same date, also copied to Godfrey, Lee says, "I want to get it in the hands of everyone on the Hill. OK with that?" These emails seem to imply that Lee is engaged in a further lobbying effort on behalf of the Peterson project.

• On another subject (probably unrelated), Mayor Godfrey received an email on May 14, 2007 from Mori and Gadi Leshem, proposing that the Leshems lease a portion of UTA's property near 17th and Wall for use in a development they were planning. Godfrey then forwarded this email to Art Bowen of UTA. I contacted Bowen by phone and he indicated that UTA was not interested in leasing its property. However, the Leshems already own a large amount of property in this area and this email indicates that Godfrey is working with the Leshems on a development proposal of some kind. The City Council recently approved a rezone of the Leshems' property. As far as I'm aware, the public has not been told what sort of development is being contemplated.

Besides the documents provided in response to my GRAMA request, the City Attorney's office has withheld other "draft agreements and correspondence" that are protected because they are drafts or "by attorney-client privilege." Among the protected records is the draft agreement between UTA and the city. I spoke with Crandall by phone and he told me that he expects the agreement to be finalized very soon, and he'll send me a copy as soon as it is.

I would be happy to provide you with copies of any or all of the documents I've received. Alternatively, I'm sure you could easily obtain copies directly from the City Recorder's office. The full collection is probably about 300 pages, although much of it is redundant because of the way email replies usually incorporate the message being replied to.

I hope you can find a way to bring some of these details to the attention of the public. Please let me know if I can help in any way.

Dan Schroeder, Conservation Chair
Ogden Sierra Club

We intend to take Sierra Club Chairman Schroeder up immediately on his gracious offer to provide copies of these documents. If all goes well, we'll be able to expeditiously obtain and upload the most relevant material to our storage site very soon, for our gentle readers' benefit.

In the meantime, we present this "raw" information immediately -- for the enlightenment of those few remaining gentle readers who still entertain lingering confidence in the trustworthiness of Boss Godfrey -- the man who always "lies whenever his lips are moving" -- yet nevertheless claims to have "higher integrity than anybody in the room."

Update 7/28/07 1:15 p.m. MT: At our request, Chairman Schroeder this morning kindly furnished us a CD, containing electronic versions of the GRAMA-produced documents provided pursuant to the Sierra Club's GRAMA request. In that connection we have uploaded and linked some of these documents, to corroborate the allegations set forth in the forgoing press release.

Update 7/31/07 12:03 p.m. MT: We have now uploaded and linked the data contained in the above-referenced CD. Twenty-nine pages in all, these pages represent the most interesting and relevant material furnished by the Ogden City Mayor's Office, pursuant to the Sierra Club's July GRAMA document production request. You may view the full document collection here.

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."

Ace Reporter Schwebke Catches UTA and Godfrey Administration Officials with Their Pants Down

A sad testimony to the lack of candor of state and city government officials

The Standard-Examiner's Ace Reporter Scott Schwebke has done a yeoman's job these past few weeks, doggedly digging up the truth regarding what we've been referring to on these pages as Boss Godfrey's Secret Gondola Study. As our readers will recall, Utah Transit Authority (UTA) officials have steadfastly denied making any legal commitment for the funding of further gondola studies. Similarly, Emerald City administrative officials have also denied knowing much of anything about such a study (or studies,) notwithstanding the administration's voluntary production of this Lewis, Young, Robertson & Burningham Inc. study (they call it a "fiscal analysis,") commissioned by an un-named "somebody" in May of 2006, and delivered (and billed) to Boss Godfrey's administration in November of that year. For those readers who'd like to review the body of Mr. Schwebke's reporting to date, we have assembled (in reverse chronological order) our previous Secret Gondola Study articles in this special WCF collection, within which each of Mr. Schwebke's articles is thoroughly discussed and dissected.

This morning however, Ace Reporter Schwebke breaks entirely new investigative ground, revealing in this morning's front-page headline article that a $247 thousand federal grant was actually funded to the UTA last year, not merely to pay for a gondola study, but rather to fund a gondola plan. We duly incorporate Mr. Schwebke's lead paragraphs here:

OGDEN — An unanticipated $247,500 federal grant to the Utah Transit Authority obtained by a lobbyist for Ogden will allow the agency to fund a gondola plan for the city.

UTA has money set aside for the plan but has not disbursed any because it hasn’t reached an agreement with the city, UTA spokesman Chad Saley said. UTA sent a draft management agreement in December to Ogden’s Chief Administrative Officer John Patterson, but hasn’t received a written response, Saley said.

The city is working on a response to the draft agreement, Patterson said.

The money for the finance-and implementation plan for a gondola system would be provided to the city in exchange for a $247,500 Federal Transit Administration allocation awarded to UTA last year, according to a July 20, 2006, letter from Mick Crandall, UTA’s deputy chief for planning and programming, to John Arrington, the city’s finance manager.

"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.

Crandall could not be reached for comment regarding the letter, obtained by the Standard-Examiner from the city through a public records request.

In 2006, unbeknownst to UTA, the city secured the Federal Transit Administration funds which were approved as part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s annual appropriations budget, Saley said.

Ken Lee, the city’s Washington, D.C., lobbyist, sought the federal funds on his own without direction from Ogden’s administration, Patterson said.

"He seeks funds when he sees that they are available," Patterson said.

Mayor Matthew Godfrey said he is unsure what led to the Federal Transit Administration allocation. “I don’t know how it came around,” he said.

The funds were allocated to UTA, which applied the money toward the purchase of a new bus already on order for the Ogden area, Saley said.

As a result of the federal allocation, UTA has been able to free up $247,500 from its general fund budget for the gondola plan, he said.

In view of these most recently revealed facts, it becomes painfully clear that both UTA officials and Boss Godfrey henchmen have played it very cagily in their press responses re this story until now. UTA had consistently taken the position that it had never agreed to expend, nor had it actually expended any of its own funds on further gondola study projects. Nevertheless, we now learn that UTA officials plainly knew very well about the substantial chunk of federal cash which was rattling around in a UTA account -- earmarked for a gondola plan -- but they inexplicably elected to keep mum about it.

Likewise the administration had fairly consistently taken the position, preposterous as it is, that it had been basically "in the dark" about the entire matter. (The ever-truthful Boss Godfrey should be reminded, by the way, that his administration is legally-chargeable with any knowledge that his Washington lobbyist/agent possessed regarding this federal grant.)

Now that this new information is out in full public view, it will be interesting to hear the explanations of UTA and Godfrey administration officials about the earmarked federal grant that both governmental entities "forgot" to mention.

Another Weber County Forum Tip O' the Hat to Standard-Examiner reporter Scott Schwebke this morning. He deserves his community's hearty thanks for his recent great work on this story. This new information ought to have been readily and voluntarily provided to him upon initial inquiry. It's truly shameful that he had to pry it loose via a GRAMA request.

Update 6/25/07 11:45 a.m. MT: For the benefit of our North Ogden City readers, who are being called upon to vote on the North Ogden $2.5 million "swimming tax" bonding proposal TOMORROW, we link this excellent Reach Upward Blog article, providing what we think to be an intelligent analysis of the issues at stake for the citizens of our neighboring city, along with a gentle reminder to be sure to get out to the polls tomorrow.

Ace Reporter Schwebke Again Hits 'Em Where It Hurts

Boss Godfrey Henchman clarifies low-ball property value assumption

The Boss Godfrey administration continues to respond to the relentless investigation of Standard-Examiner Ace Reporter Schwebke, who continues to hound administration officials day and night for more more information about the Secret Gondola Study, covertly prepared by the Salt Lake City venture capitalist firm Lewis, Young, Robertson & Burningham, back in November, 2006.

This morning's Std-Ex showcases yet another article in investigative reporter Scott Schwebke's tour de force expose' series, this time addressing the $2 million sales price assumed in the LYR&B report.

Mr. Schwebke succeeds in setting Administration CAO John Patterson into back-pedaling mode, forcing him to admit that the Boss Godfrey never really intended to sell our cherished Mt. Ogden Parklands "crown jewel" for a mere 5% of fair market value. The Godfrey henchmen just pulled the $2 million low-ball figure out of their... er... hat at the time, Patterson admits. "We didn't want to be accused of padding the numbers," John Patterson said. Like every other assumption in this study, we just "made it up." With luck, adds Mr. Patterson, the city might squeeze as much as $7 million from real estate developer wannabe Chris Peterson, if administration officials play their cards right, [wink-wink.]

Now our regular long-time gentle readers will recall that we've had numerous discussions about the Mt. Ogden Parklands acreage over the past year or so; and we thus confess we also find even the $7 million figure to be pathetically low.

The most useful calculations we've seen to date spring from a reader-suggested comparative analysis of the recently-completed Golf City land transaction, wherein 20 acres of prime South Ogden residentially-zoned property sold for a cool $6 million. Applying the Golf City dollar-per-acre numbers to calculations of the Mt. Ogden Parkland property's 150 or so acres, we come up with a value of approximately $45 million.

So what Mr. Patterson seems to be telling us is that a proposed sale of prime Emerald City foothill property to Peterson at a hair over 15% of calculated fair market value (assuming highest use) would be a good deal for the lumpencitizens of Emerald City.

It's people like Mr. Patterson, supposed guardians of the public pocket-book, who make us eagerly look forward to the upcoming November elections. And remember -- John Patterson is part of Boss Godfrey's A-Team.

Hoo-Boy! We can't wait to check out the B-Team.

We've already seen the G-Team, by the way, and were not favorably impressed.

And before we get the inevitable chain of godfreyite comments chiding us for indulging in an apples-to-oranges comparison, we'll concede that the Golf City property was sold for residential development, whereas at least some portion of the anicipated Peterson landgrab "proposal" would supposedly remain devoted to open space.

With that in mind we'll suggest the true fair market value of the Mt. Ogden Parklands property probably falls somewhere between the figure quoted by Mr. Patterson, and the figure derived from our own calculations, based on a recent comparable sale, valued according to its highest use (residential.)

Notably, Mr. Patterson's comparables consist of two flatland non-residential golfcourses, whereas the Peterson "proposal" (so-called) is predicated quite substantially upon dense residential use.

Equally notably, Mr. Patterson frankly admits that the city has not bothered to order an appraisal. A competent appraiser could of course fashion a property-specific appraisal, calculating estimated value by factoring in proportionate residential and open-space use.

Before we start falling all over ourselves trying to arrive at a proper formula for calculating the true fair market value of the Mt. Ogden property however, the issue of whether we should even consider selling the property at all remains an open question.

And in that connection we'd like to highlight a fine Standard-Examiner article which appeared in yesterday's paper, in which Peter Metcalf, a local outdoor sports company executive, makes a strong case for leaving our Mt. Ogden Parklands property alone.

And before we close this morning's article, we'd once again like to thank Scott Schwebke for his valiant work in getting to the bottom of Boss Godfrey Secret Gondola Study document. And in that connection we offer a gentle reminder:

We still don't know who, if anybody, paid for the study. Any help that you can provide in this regard would be appreciated.

And one more thing. We loved this paragraph, Scott: "A sale price for Mount Ogden Golf Course hasn’t been formally presented to Peterson, who is spearheading the gondola project, Patterson said. Peterson could not be reached for comment." Pure genius! If the eight months missing-in-action Chris Peterson is currently "spearheading" this "project," we'd love to see his performance if he suddenly decided to start "sand-bagging."

Take it away, gentle readers.

Godfreyite Freak Out

We gotta stop 'em before Zappa finds out and makes 'em do it in the movie

The lumpencitizens of Emerald City are treated to a virtual feast of red-meat political news in this morning's Standard-Examiner and Salt Lake Tribune. We hardly know where to start.

First on the menu we suppose, however, is this morning's Scott Schwebke story, wherein our suddenly Pulitzer Prize-material Ace Investigative Reporter relates the fireworks that occurred at last night's city council meeting:

OGDEN — Mayor Matthew Godfrey accused Ogden City Councilwoman Dorrene Jeske Tuesday night of trying to tarnish the administration’s reputation over a fiscal impact study for a gondola resort project.

Godfrey questioned a comment Jeske made Monday to the Standard-Examiner in which she likened him to a “pot calling the kettle black.”

The comment was in reference to Godfrey taking the council to task for failing to give him advance notice about their concerns regarding the study.

Godfrey said in a letter to the council he is disappointed the concerns weren’t raised during a meeting he attended Thursday with the council’s leadership just an hour before the questions were released to the Standard-Examiner.

Jeske told the Standard-Examiner that Godfrey had no right to criticize the council because he didn’t inform them of the study’s existence after it was completed in November 2006.

Godfrey asked Jeske during the council meeting to clarify her comments to the newspaper.

The council wasn’t informed about the study because it told the administration it didn’t want piece-mealed information about the gondola project, Godfrey said [with a completely straight face.]

Therefore, Jeske shouldn’t accuse the administration of withholding information, Godfrey said. “You can’t have it both ways,” he told her. Jeske responded that Godfrey seems to have a track record of keeping the council in the dark on important projects.

“There have been several times since I’ve been on the council that we haven’t been given information,” she said. “The study started a year ago. We knew nothing about it.”

City Council Chairman Jesse Garcia interrupted Godfrey and Jeske telling them they would have to continue their discussion after the meeting.

They did [for a little while, at least.]

The article goes on in some detail; but there's one element that Scott Schwebke neglected to fully report: Bad Public Behavior by our two favorite local nitwit ski haberdashers. We got this via email just a few minutes ago, from an Emerald City citizen who attended last night's council meeting:

Tonight was “Beat on Councilmember Jeske night." Bobby Geiger got up during “Public Comments” and accused the Council of trying to prevent the City from moving forward. Councilwoman Wicks answered his comments and so did Councilmembers Garcia, Jeske and Stephenson – all of them stating that the Council did not go to the State to snitch about Godfrey's $900,000 American Can bait-and-switch.
Then the Mayor said that he had only one comment for Councilmember Jeske – he wanted to know why she would refer to him as “the pot calling the kettle
black." Jeske answered him the same way as she did to Schwebke. Godfrey started to retort, but Garcia cut him off and told him to talk about it later.
When the meeting was over, Curt Geiger came up to Jeske and tried to start an argument by telling her that she had a moral obligation [we are not making this up] -- to contradict or stop Sharon Beech from saying the mean things that she does on "The Blog" [WCF, we suppose.] Then the Mayor came over and picked up his old argument. This went on for 5 – 10 minutes, and by then Little Bobby had come over to join in. He and Curt started in again and got so loud that I thought Officer Gardiner was going to come over and break it up. So Jeske then just graciously walked away – she apparently didn’t want to put Gardiner in an awkward situation.

We could be wrong on this, but perhaps the Geiger boys need to take a little "structured" vacation time. Thorazine might be a useful medication at a nice palm-draped spa in the Caribbean. Father-son lobotomies perhaps? Mebbe these boys ought to find a "hobby" a little less stressful than politics.

Next in order of importance, we guess, is a story probably a little more hum-drum, at least from the point of view of jaded Emerald City citizens who've grown accustomed to being mired in expensive and un-necessary lawsuits over the past seven years.

Boss Godfrey has predictably gotten us into another legal mess, according to this morning's second Ace Reporter Schwebke story:

OGDEN — Former Ogden Human Resource Manager Dean Martinez is suing three of the city’s top administrators, alleging racial discrimination contributed to his
firing last year.

Defendants named in the 17-page lawsuit filed in 2nd District Court include the city, Chief Administrative Officer John Patterson, Management Services Director Mark Johnson, and City Attorney Gary Williams.

Martinez, who is black, alleges actions by Patterson, Johnson and Williams resulted in 10 offenses including defamation, infliction of emotional distress, free speech violations and wrongful termination.

Martinez is seeking reinstatement to his former position with the city and unspecified damages for lost wages and emotional distress and suffering. He contends in the lawsuit his annual salary of $63,136 was less than that paid to white managers who worked for the city with similar responsibilities.

Schwebke says Martinez's prayer for damages is unspecified. Kristen Moulton however informs us this morning that Mr. Martinez is suing for at least a cool $.5 million.

And it's not that we haven't already had a heads-up on this. We warned about this probable consequence way back in December.

And what the hell! The 500 grand that Mr. Martinez seeks as compensation is mere chump-change to a big-shot like Boss Godfrey. The important thing is that Boss Godfrey proved why they call him "The Boss."

And why should Boss Godfrey worry about it anyway?

It's merely the taxpayers' money, afterall.

A Weber County Forum Tip O'the Hat to the very tenacious Dean Martinez for sticking to his guns.

We need more stiff-spined people like Mr. Martinez here in Emerald City.

He obviously ain't intimidated by narrow-minded and inexperienced Harrisville "plastic people."

("Harrisville... a real nice place to raise your kids up. Harrisville it's really neat! Churches... Churches... And liquor stores...")

And two more things before we turn the floor over to ya's. One of our gentle readers sent us copies of the two letters referenced in Ace Reporter Schwebke's recent articles. Check out the council's original Secret Gondola Study inquiry letter here. And you can find Boss Godfrey's insolent and juvenile response at this link.

And whatever you do... Don't let the cat get your tongues, gentle readers.

The Mayor with the Mostest

Boss Godfrey goes on offense with the council as per usual, and also commissions a popularity poll

Ace Reporter Schwebke this morning continues his relentless reporting on Boss Godfrey's secret gondola study, with the news that Boss Godfrey has now fired off an angry letter to the Emerald City council. In classic Boss Godfrey fashion, the Little Lord goes on offense when cornered, twists the facts, blames the victims (the council) and whines that it's the council (and not he) who is "fostering" all the ill will -- cunningly dodging the council's questions all the while:

OGDEN -- Mayor Matthew Godfrey is taking the Ogden City Council to task for failing to give him advance notice about concerns regarding a fiscal impact study for a much talked-about gondola project.

Godfrey said in a letter to the council he is extremely disappointed the concerns weren't raised during a meeting he attended Thursday with the council's leadership just an hour before the questions were released to the Standard-Examiner.

"I cannot see how this kind of action fosters good-will and positive relationships between the administration and city council," Godfrey said in his letter, which he provided to the newspaper.

Councilwoman Dorrene Jeske said Godfrey has no right to criticize council members because he didn't inform them that the study exists. "It's like the pot calling the kettle black," she said.

Councilwoman Jeske hits the nail squarely on the head with her above retort, of course. As the Standard-Examiner has previously reported, the $16,250 Lewis, Young, Robertson & Burningham study, completed in November of 2006, remained Boss Godfrey's little secret, until it inadvertently came to the council's attention earlier this month.

We don't have a copy of the council's letter. According to this morning's story, however, the letter enumerates two main queries:

The council asked Godfrey to explain a Dec. 22 expenditure of $16,250 to Lewis, Young, Robertson & Burningham Inc., a Salt Lake City firm that completed the study. The expenditure was later canceled.

The funds were to come from the city's Crossroads of the West Historical District account, according to city council Executive Director Bill Cook.

The council also asked the administration to detail two other financial postings of $16,250, dated March 9, for payments to Lewis, Young, Robertson & Burningham
Inc.

Quite predictably, Boss Godfrey's response to the first question has solidified since he was first quoted on the subject a mere four days ago. This was Godfrey's "explanation" on or about June 15:

He said he has no idea what the council is referring to relating to the payment for the study.

"My guess is, there is confusion on who was supposed to pay the bill and it was canceled," Godfrey said. "(Lewis, Young, Robertson & Burningham Inc.) could have been paid for some other consulting work, such as bonding for the city."

Here is today's version, wherein he acknowleges his understanding of the question, and then blames it all on some dumb clerk in the accounts payable back office:

"It was a clerical error," the letter says. "When the error was discovered it was corrected. There was confusion from some about the city's role versus UTA's role. There is no nexus between the gondola study and the Crossroads of the West."

Yeah... that's the ticket. When under fire, blame your secretary for your problem.

Of course the second council question, i.e., "What about the two other $16,250 LYR&B book entries(?)" remains entirely UN-answered.

We hope for a future Schwebke article about this shortly.

In another related morning story, Ace Reporter Schwebke reports something that Weber County Forum readers already knew -- that Boss Godfrey has been running a pre-election poll. We give due credit to Boss Godfrey for doing this. He obviously understands that his email letters of support come mostly from the Crazed Gondolist Cult Letter Mill. We congratulate his effort to find out how he's perceived by normal, rational Emerald City citizens.

And in an effort to help Boss Godfrey properly gauge his level of popular support, we graciously offer Boss Godfrey free and unfettered use of our own highly-scientific ongoing mayoral popularity poll, which is conveniently located in our right sidebar.

Amongst our gentle readers, at least, Boss Godfrey is certainly "The Mayor with the Mostest."

Friday Morning "Three-fer"

A Standard Examiner Trifecta

By Curmudgeon

The Standard-Examiner is packed this morning with interesting articles, editorials and letters, well worth perusing.

First, on the front page, Mr. Schwebke has a story on the City Council's continuing attempts to find out who paid for the gondola financial analysis that was the subject of yesterday's editorial in the SE. Here are the opening graphs of the story:

OGDEN — The Ogden City Council is questioning whether Ogden’s administration funded a recently released fiscal impact study for a controversial gondola project.
The council asked the administration in a letter Thursday to explain a Dec. 22 expenditure of $16,250 to Lewis, Young, Robertson & Burningham Inc., a Salt Lake City firm that completed the study.

The expenditure was later canceled.

The funds were to come from the city’s Crossroads of the West Historical District account, said City Council Executive Director Bill Cook.

The council also has asked the administration to detail two other financial postings of $16,250, dated March 9, for payments to Lewis, Young, Robertson & Burningham Inc. The council wants to determine whether those payments were actually made, Cook said.

Curiouser and curiouser.

Next, there is the SE's lead editorial on the opening of The Junction. It is a curious, and slightly schizophrenic piece. It opens this way:

"Some people are calling it a "risk," but as we look at The Junction development taking shape in downtown Ogden, it already looks like a victory to us."

And a bit further on, it berates those who opposed the Junction project from its inception:

"For many city residents, this day was hard to fathom. They predicted certain ruin and financial catastrophe. We know, because we still bear the lash marks: Years ago in this space, when the Standard-Examiner's editorial board encouraged the city to purchase the failed mall, demolish it and create something new in its place, lots of our readers responded angrily."

The editorial goes on to concede that:

"It's true, as we recognized at the outset, that this experiment in redevelopment has been expensive; the city has had to spread a lot of money around in the form of incentives. It's taken a share of profits from the Business Depot Ogden and more than a little debt to make this happen. Now, we hope, the momentum will be sufficient to begin making more happen -- along the east side of Washington Boulevard, north of Temple Square, etc. -- without the city having to prime the pump with taxpayer funds; we'll know soon enough."

OK, let me make sure I have this straight: According to the SE, the Junction is a victory, a success! [Hasn't opened yet, of course, but it's a success!] But the same editorial concedes only "hope" that the city will not have to "prime the pump with taxpayer funds" any further to cover the debt it has incurred already to fund the Junction's construction. Adding, fingers crossed, "we'll know soon enough."

Note to SE Editorial Board: If we are still "hoping" the Junction will be financially successful enough that taxpayers will not have to pour millions more into it, then your boosterism claim at the head of the editorial that it already looks like a winner seems a little out of place. I hope it does succeed. Very much. I hope it is successful beyond the wildest dreams of the Mayor and Council that invested city money in it. But we won't know that for a while. A little patience, please, before announcing victories. Let's let the evidence come in first.

Finally, there is a letter to the editor by John Arrington, Ogden's finance manager. He disputes the claim by some that Ogden's bonded indebtedness is $93 million instead of the approximately $20 the mayor claims. Mr. Arrington explains that "The Redevelopment Agency does have its own debt that is secured by new revenue generated by separate RDA projects. There is no city obligation for those debts, with two exceptions in which city assets were pledged in order to obtain significantly lower rates."

His argument would have been more convincing had he indicated how much Ogden city indebtedness the "two exceptions" involved, but, alas, he did not. [What is it with this administration about full disclosure? Why do they find it so hard?]

We Asked for It; We Got It

Ace Reporter Schwebke's persistent digging yields yet more pay-dirt

A hearty Weber County Forum Tip O' the Hat this morning to the Standard-Examiner's Ace Reporter Scott Schwebke, who has recently been exhibiting the traits of a journalistic ferret, digging out facts like an old-fashioned investigative reporter on a Mission from the Journalism God.

After nearly two weeks of hemming and hawing, the always evasive and hyper-secretive Boss Godfrey has finally released to Mr. Schwebke the Lewis, Young, Robertson & Burningham Inc. "fiscal analysis," commissioned by an un-named "somebody" in May of 2006, and delivered in November of that year.

His Standard-Examiner story of this morning provides us a short synopsis of the document's contents -- and as an added bonus -- the Std-Ex has uploaded the full-text PDF version to its website.

Our quick glance at Mr. Schwebke's article reveals that the cost of this study was actually $16 thousand, and NOT the $200 thousand figure which has been rattling around these past two weeks, although it remains unclear which, among the various players involved in this story, actually coughed up the sixteen thousand bucks to Lewis, Young, et al. Curiously, the document has the word "draft" stamped all over it, raising the tantalizing question of whether the paid consultant ever got paid at all.

And our Evelyn Wood-style perusal of this "fiscal analysis" posted on the website suggests that it's nothing new, and that it's really no big deal at all -- raising once again the question of why Boss Godfrey didn't release it in the first place.

Our personal calendar is fully booked for the day, so we'll merely lay out the new information, and leave the analysis to our gentle readers. Number-crunching types are invited to pore over this document, and give us their lowdown on its true meaning.

For those readers with a burning issue of your own, you may consider this a pre-weekend open-topic thread.

Comments, anyone?

Ace Reporter Schwebke Peels Back the Facts

The Standard-Examiner reveals more discrepancies in the Secret Study Story

We honestly don't know what's come over Standard-Examiner reporter Scott Schwebke recently, but we'll remark that his journalistic performance has been most excellent of late. While most of our readers gentle were out playing on the long Memorial Day weekend, Ace Reporter Schwebke was slaving away, adding another reportorial gem to his already excellent series of articles exposing Boss Godfrey's $200 thousand secret Gondola study.

Yesterday's front-page article reveals these further essential facts, wherein the stories of all the "players" grow increasingly divergent:

• A spokesman for Lewis, Young Robertson and Burningham Inc., the Salt Lake City-based company who prepared the study (over a year ago) claims UTA paid for the study that measures cost and revenue projections for a proposed gondola system stretching from Ogden’s downtown intermodal hub to Weber State University.
• UTA has failed to provide a copy of the purported study pursuant to the Standard-Examiner's GRAMA request, claiming it doesn't have a copy of the study. UTA has of course previously denied either paying for the year-old study, or agreeing for the payment for such a study.
• Key gondola proponents, including developer Chris Peterson, Ogden Mayor Boss Godfrey and Lift Ogden chairman Bob Geiger, claim they don’t know who funded the study.

Boss Godfrey of course continues to admit having a copy of the study, and even claims "I would love to have (the study results) come out." Yet he nevertheless declines to voluntarily provide a copy to the Standard-Examiner, preferring instead to play "cat and mouse" with the home town newspaper's pending GRAMA request. Ominously, Boss Godfrey apparently continues to contend that this year-old study is merely a "draft," raising the distinct possibility that he'll claim that it's "work product," a category of information legally excluded from GRAMA document production requirements.

We'll resist the impulse to engage in any microanalysis at this time. We believe it's impossible to draw further conclusions until our favorite Ace Reporter relentlessly digs out further facts. Scott Schwebke's reporting on this story has nevertheless been most revealing thus far -- like the journalistic equivalent of peeling back the layers of a rotten onion.

We do believe it is fair to draw one early conclusion at this juncture however: Somebody ain't telling the truth.

In spite of low-volume site traffic over the weekend, we have had some reader comment on this story in the previous comments threads. In the interest of keeping our new Secret Gondola Study article category on-topic, we'll thus dutifully move some of those earlier comments over here.

In the expectation of the usual flood of post-weekend readers, we now establish this new article thread.

The floor is open, gentle readers.

The world is waiting to know what you think.

The Plot Sickens

Ace Reporter Schwebke digs out further details about Boss Godfrey's secret $200 thousand gondola study

By Curmudgeon

This morning's Standard-Examiner has a front page above the fold banner headlined story about the pending UTA-funded feasibility study of Mayor Godfrey's flatland tourist sky ride to Weber State, which has been the main Weber County Forum topic of discussion, for nearly the entire week.

It is very interesting. Among other things, it confirms that the new feasibility study will be a kind of do-over for the Mayor of the feasibility study already paid for and done, minus looking at the only two options the previous study identified as viable mass transit options for Ogden. UTA told Schewbke that the new study will examine [among other things], the gondola's "financial feasibility" and "potential ridership" along with its "environmental impact." Though of course the UTA has allocated no funds to study the environmental impact of a street car line [the recommended transit option of the earlier study], or of a BRT system [the second choice of the previous study]. So: a partially UTA funded study recommends streetcar first, BRT second, gondola not recommended at all, and what happens? UTA allocates money to re-study the financial feasibility fo the gondola, and its environmental impact, and no money [so far] to study the impact of streetcar or BRT... which environmental study must be done before federal funding can be accessed. But to be fair, so far as we know, the Mayor has not asked for a dime to study the envrionmental impact of the options the earlier study endorsed. He's only asked for money to study, again, the feasibility and impact of the option the earlier study rejected: the sky ride. The question is, what in the world possessed UTA to agree to give it to him?

The new UTA funded study is on life support at the moment, UTA says, because the city hasn't submitted an acceptable management plan for the study it wants UTA to pay for. The Mayor says he hasn't done that because he's trying to "clarify" its management role. Been trying, apparently, for about a year now, when a preliminary agreement with UTA was reached.

The story reveals that Godfry already has "gondola data" from a "preliminary financial analysis" done by the SL City consulting firm of Lewis, Young, Robertson and Burningham. "Godfrey declined to provide a copy of the report to the Standard Examiner because, he said, it is a draft document."

"Draft document" is beginning to look like Godfrey-speak for "the results came out wrong, and we're not going to release it until its re-done so the results come out the way I want them to."

The Std-Ex is filing a GRAMA request for the information Godfrey is refusing to release. Godfrey also claims he "doesn't know" who paid for the report he has but won't release. We are to believe a study of the financial feasibility arrives in the mayor's lap and he has no idea who commissioned it? The consulting firm that did the study isn't returning phone calls on the matter, it seems. And, according to the Standard Examiner, "Chris Peterson... did not respond to an e-mail seeking information on whether he financed the consultant's study."

The Mayor's not talking, Chris Peterson's not talking, the consulting firm's not talking. Thus are public affairs conducted in Mayor Godfrey's Ogden

Kudos to the Std-Ex for staying on the story.

Update 5/24/07 8:59 a.m. MT: One of our gentle and attentive readers has transmitted to us a letter, which we speculate might provide the basis for Boss Godfrey's bizarre contention that he has some kind of an "agreement" for UTA funding of his secret gondola study.

Our quick perusal reveals that UTA's contingencies are quite clear, and that the UTA placed a number of serious hurdles in Boss Godfrey's funding path from the outset. It would seem that UTA at least a year ago shared most of the concerns which have been also been registered here at WCF during the last year or so, and it is evident that the UTA has been anticipating the same competent level of feasibility analysis that many of our gentle readers have been consistently demanding from the Boss Godfrey administration.

What say our gentle readers?

Foggy Comments From a UTA Spokesman

Mercilessly carrying yesterday's topic into yet another day, we now put the spotlight on interesting additional information provided in this afternoon's Standard/NET mid-day update, in which we get some very foggy statements (we're trying to be nice) from Michael Allegra, director of transit development for UTA.

While the article starts out with Mr. Allegra's comments, reaffirming yesterday's UTA position, i.e., that UTA has made no agreement for the funding of yet another gondola study, Mr. Allegra then seemingly makes an abrupt 180-degree turn, suggesting that UTA is head over heels in love with the "concept" of Gondola transit in Emerald City, with the apparent insinuation that such UTA funding will be readily available, merely upon Boss Godfrey's submission of an "acceptable plan."

Perhaps significantly, Mr. Allegra makes no mention of a year 2004 UTA gondola feasibility study, in which flatland ski-gondola transit finished dead-last in a field of three.

We've been out all day and thus haven't been able to devote much time to ponder what Mr. Allegra's reported statements really mean -- if anything.

So we ask our readers this: Is Mr. Allegra officially "hedging" on UTA's statements of yesterday... or are these merely the inarticulate mumblings of that UTA "guy" whom the UTA lawyers would really prefer not to make statements to the press?

Perhaps out gentle readers can help us out with their interpretations.

Oh What a Tangled Web We Weave

Boss Godfrey has some 'splainin' to do

In yesterday's WCF article we opened a new chapter in the ongoing Boss Godfrey saga, springboarding a lively discussion off yesterday's Scott Schwebke/Standard-Examiner gondola study expose'. It was within this article that our favorite Ace Reporter revealed that our city council is looking into a purported Utah Transit Authority-funded study, whereby $200,000 of UTA money had been reportedly devoted to the question of whether gondolas represent a feasible transportation alternative in Emerald City.

Mr. Schwebke's report went on to quote Boss Godfrey and his loyal henchman John Patterson, as representing that UTA had agreed to fund this new gondola study. "UTA agreed more than a year ago to fund the study," said the ever-reliable Emerald City CAO John Patterson.

Being the curious type, we put a call into the UTA offices this morning, requesting a call-back from UTA Executive Director John Inglish, the UTA representative who purportedly entered into this alleged "agreement" with Boss Godfrey. All-in-all, we've in the past regarded the UTA as a "class act" for the most part. We'd hoped Mr. Inglish could explain to us how his normally prudent quasi-public agency got roped into such a patently absurd arrangement.

As luck would have it, Mr. Inglish was out of town today. That didn't prevent a knowledgeable UTA spokesman from calling us right back however. We spoke with Chief UTA communications officer Andrea Packer just a couple of hours ago, and she gave us the very information for which we had been looking:

Although UTA officials have been having preliminary discussions with Emerald City officials for a "considerable period of time," those discussions have to date "fallen short of a funding commitment," she said.

"There is no agreement for UTA funding of a gondola feasibility study," she told us. "UTA does not consider itself on the hook" for whatever pending study Boss Godfrey is presently "managing."

UTA has spent "not a dime" on this study. Ms. Packer further assurred us.

Referring back to yesterday's Scott Schwebke story, we confess we'd gotten the distinct impression that this study is nevertheless "in the works," notwithstanding UTA's professed financial non-participation. The study was reported to be at least in the "draft stage," according to Boss Godfrey:

"Godfrey said he has received a draft of the study’s financial analysis, but declined to provide a copy to the Standard-Examiner because he isn’t sure if it has been finalized by UTA," according to yesterday's article.

From the above it's apparent that somebody is paying for this pending $200,000 study.

If the UTA isn't footing the bill, we ask "who is?"

Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to decieve. - anon.

Seems to us Boss Godfrey has some 'splainin' to do.

Comments anyone?

Write It Down So You Don't Forget It

The Emerald City council again finds itself "out of the loop"

There is a story that's been rattling around the Emerald City rumor-mill for over a month, concerning a purported $2o0 thousand Utah Transit Authority study (we've heard the figure $250 thousand,) aimed at studying the feasibility of gondolas for Emerald City.

This story has finally emerged on the public radar screen this morning however, thanks to this morning's Ace Reporter Schwebke Magnum Opus. We incorporate here the lead paragraphs from this morning's Standard-Examiner article:

OGDEN — The city council is looking into a claim from the city’s administration that Utah Transit Authority has agreed to spend up to $200,000 to study the feasibility of a controversial gondola proposal.

Council Chairman Jesse Garcia said the board wants to verify Mayor Matthew Godfrey’s promise that no municipal money is being used to finance the analysis. “We are being told that UTA is behind it,” he said. “There are just things we need to find out.” The council learned about the study from the administration last week, Garcia said. John Patterson, the city’s chief administrative officer, said UTA agreed more than a year ago to fund the study. “It’s old news,” he said. Godfrey said there was no reason to inform the council earlier about the study, which is designed to determine if a gondola is compatible with UTA’s mass-transit objectives.

"It is UTA’s component and doesn’t involve us," he said. "All of this (the study’s findings) … has to come before the council before it makes a final decision (on the gondola proposal). It’s not like it’s secret. The city council has also said it doesn’t want piecemeal information."

Godfrey said he and UTA General Manager John Inglish mutually decided the study should be undertaken.

UTA spokesman Kyle Bennett said it is his understanding that the study is being managed by the city.

He referred questions about funding and the status of the study to UTA Deputy Operations Director Mick Crandell, who could not be reached for comment.

Godfrey said he has received a draft of the study’s financial analysis, but declined to provide a copy to the Standard-Examiner because he isn’t sure if it has been finalized by UTA.

The most troubling aspect of this story, to us, is that there seem to be two opposite versions of the facts, depending upon who's telling the story:

Whereas the city council says it learned of this study only recently, administration spokesman Patterson says it's "old news" -- despite the fact that the Godfrey administration apparently didn't tell anybody about it.

Whereas Boss Godfrey seems to maintain, with a completely straight face, that "it's UTA's component" (whatever that means,) UTA's spokesman insists the study is being "managed by the city."

We especially loved the part of the story where the Boss Godfrey administration admittedly kept the whole situation under wraps -- because the council doesn't like to receive "piecemeal" information. We're betting Boss Godfrey's pinocchio nose grew a full couple of centimeters when the little dissembler suddenly blurted out that tall tale.

We thank Standard-Examiner reporter Schwebke for finally bringing this story out in the open, even though today's report leaves many questions unanswered. And we offer kudos to the city council, for drawing a line in the sand. Additionally, we agree generally with councilman Safsten's possibly prophetic take:

Councilman Rick Safsten said it is troubling that the council has been kept out of the loop regarding the study and predicted it will provide ammunition for gondola opponents.

“Those who are most opposed to this will go nuts,” he said.

What may not have occurred to councilman Safsten is this fundamental rule which operates in the twisted, inverted MattGodfreyUniverse:

THE EMERALD CITY COUNCIL IS ALWAYS OUT OF THE "GODFREY LOOP."
We sincerely hope Mr. Safsten (and indeed all other council members) will write this down so they don't forget it again. We lumpencitizens, of course, already have the concept down pat. And Mr. Safsten is right: it drives rational and honest people "nuts." Whether it drives delusional gondolist Godfrey-lackeys like Mr. Safsten any more "nuts" than they already are... that's an entirely different question, of course.

There are other interesting aspects to this story; but we'll leave the full analysis to our wise and gentle readers.

The floor is officially open, this rainy Monday morning.

We'd be most interested to hear what our readers have to say about this.