Utah Supreme Court Throws Out Ogden Gang Injunction

When it comes to personal liberty, it's encouraging to observe a Utah Supreme Court which will not tolerate "shortcuts."

No Shortcuts

Blockbuster news from the Salt Lake Tribune and the Standard-Examiner, as the Utah Supreme Court summarily guts Weber County Attorney Dee Smith's signature anti-liberty, anti-gang law enforcement injunction "masterpiece":

• Utah Supreme Court throws out Ogden gang injunction
• Utah Supreme Court strikes down Weber County's anti-gang injunction

By way of overview, folks, Friday's decision involved two "consolidated" cases. The first was a direct appeal from an injunction entered against Ogden Trece, Ogden's notorious criminal street gang. The second was a petition for an extraordinary writ brought by three alleged Trece members who were personally served with the injunction.

And here's what the court decided, wherein we'll liberally incorporate the language of the court ruling, with the unsightly "legal citations" omitted, and "emphasis (occasionally) added," just for clarification and simplification:

1) The Court lacked appellate jurisdiction, because the so-called individual Appellants (Roman Hernandez, Chase Aeschlimann, and Jesse Aeschlimann) were not real parties in interest to this lawsuit. "Since none of the so-called appellants were parties to the case, they are not entitled to an appeal as of right. Under applicable rules, it is the service of process, the affirmative act of filing suit, or the act of seeking to intervene as a party that subjects one to the jurisdiction of the court and puts him on notice that he is subject to ongoing court proceedings.” Mere notice of or appearance in proceedings is not enough. Even though the district court allowed the so-called appellants to be heard, they were not named parties and never filed motions to intervene. They were therefore not entitled to appeal and we lack appellate jurisdiction over the appeal." In Short, it was the Trece Gang which was named in the original lawsuit, and not any of these individual litigants.

2) The court did have jurisdiction to consider these individuals' Petition for an Extraordinary Writ, in order to clarify their legal rights with respect to the permanent injuction. These individual Petitioners "filed a petition for extraordinary writ directly with this court. Pursuant to the Utah Constitution, we have “original jurisdiction to issue all extraordinary writs.” This is the proper vehicle by which nonparties to a lawsuit may challenge a district court’s order. A petition for extraordinary writ filed with the appellate court provides an adequate remedy in light of the appellate court’s obligation to give due regard to principles of due process.” Thus, we have jurisdiction to consider their petition and turn to the merits of their claims," the Court said. Inasmuch as these three individual Petioners arguably suffered "wrongful restraint on personal liberty" so long as the subject injunction remained in effect, they were well within their rights to seek relief through the Utah Supreme Court.

3) Trece is an unincorporated association which is amenable to suit."...Trece transacted its business under a “common name” under rule 17(d). Because Trece (1) transacts business (2) under a common name, it is an unincorporated association amenable to suit." So technically, the Ogden Trece gang can be sued and enjoined, theoretically at least, provided our Weber County Attorney isn't too lazy to do the necessary footwork.

4) Trece was not properly served with process.  The devil's in the details when purported service of court papers occurs through publication, rather than direct service, of course.  "The party seeking to effectuate service through publication must exercise reasonable diligence in attempting to identify and then personally serve an officer or managing or general agent or his equivalent. At no time during the [original court] hearing did the County make any assertions that it had exercised reasonable diligence in attempting to identify or serve an officer or a managing or general agent of Trece," the court held. So far, at least, it seems the Dee Smith and his crack crew of "legal eagles" have so far adopted "the lazy" approach.

5) No attorneys fees for the Petitioners' attorneys."Petitioners have failed to articulate any argument or cite to any authority supporting their entitlement to an award of attorney fees when a permanent injunction is vacated. We accordingly deny their request for fees."

There you have it, O Gentle Ones.  Easy as pie, innit? From the point of view of Weber County Attorney Dee Smith, it's now back to the drawing board, we suppose.

For those WCF readers who'd like roll up their sleeves and dive into the "original" source material, here's a handy SCRIBD embed of the Full Utah Supreme Court decision:

Weber County v Ogden Trece:

When it comes to personal liberty, it's encouraging to observe a Utah Supreme Court which will not tolerate "shortcuts."

The floor's open for you comments.

Don't let the cat get your tongues.

Boss Godfrey's Crime Reduction Squad Reportedly Takes a Bite Outta Ogden Crime

Crime in the city down 14% and 17% in two recent months... according to "Crime-fighter Godfrey"

By Curmudgeon

Just want to note, briefly, that the Standard-Examiner has three interesting gang crime stories up this morning. Two on the front page, both by Sam Cooper, can be found here and here. The unit is having a significant impact in the central city, community residents are becoming involved in crime control, and crime in the city overall was down 14% and 17% according to the Mayor in two recent months.

And in the Top of Utah section, another story reporting that gangs are moving to the suburbs to escape the increasing heat put on them by urban police gang units. Good news for Ogden, not so good for Clearfield. The story is here.

Of late, the Std-Ex has been doing some good reporting on gangs in Ogden.

Ed. Note: And wasn't it just last Thursday that we openly queried: "Whatever happened to Godfrey's 'zero tolerance policy'?"

Emperor Godfrey Fiddles While the Lumpencitizens Duck For Cover

Godfrey's "crime fighter" campaign promises fizzle

Despite Boss Godfrey's glib 2007 election campaign promise to adopt a zero tolerance gang crime policy, Ogden's Central City remains a virtual war zone, as the Standard-Examiner again reports in this morning's edition. From today's Sam Cooper story, under the blaring front page headline, "Shooting shocks residents":

OGDEN — A 19-year-old Ogden man and several residents of a downtown apartment building are grateful to be alive today after a drive-by shooting sprayed their building with bullets.
Police said four or five shots from a dark-colored SUV smacked into an apartment at 235 28th St. shortly before midnight Tuesday, one piercing the wall and another narrowly missing a woman and her young child nearby.
Witnesses said nearly a dozen people were near, or in, the apartment at the time for a barbecue, including five children between the ages of 7 months and 5 years old.
“I was sitting on the couch watching TV, then it sounded like fireworks or bottles breaking out on the sidewalk,” said Jordan Nelson.
Then a bullet burst through the wall, sending a cloud of plaster into the air. It passed directly over the children’s play area, and over the head of a young girl lying on the carpet, witnesses said.
“Everyone started running toward the kitchen,” Nelson said. “I went to do the same thing, but couldn’t … I’d been shot.”

Six months post-election, the lumpencitizens, men, women and children alike, are still ducking for cover, terrorized by gang violence, even inside their own homes.

And where is Boss Godfrey and his "zero tolerance," as the gang crime situation continues to deteriorate in our inner city?

Godfrey plainly has other fish to fry.

As Godfrey pursues his single-minded "vision" to transform Emerald City into the world's largest (and silliest) amusement park, we predict custom-fitted flak jackets and bullet proof vests are bound to become the newest locally-inspired haute couture MattGodfeyWorld urban battle gear/fashion statement:

Friday's Emerald City Lowdown

How "low" can the Standard-Examiner go?

By Curmudgeon

Quite an issue of the Standard-Examiner this morning. Remarkable stuff therein. Let's begin with a piece by Mr. Schwebke, reporting that a new gang-crimes unit will hit "the mean streets of Central Ogden" this weekend. And he also reports that "The unit was supposed to begin operating in January, but instead will start next month to get a jump on crime. "

Ahem. Can it possibly be so that a daily newspaper reporter, in this cynical day and age, is so naive the he failed to so much as notice that the jumped up starting date for the gang crimes unit is two days before an election in which gang violence in Ogden has become an issue? That he believes the sole motive for suddenly jumping deployment of the unit ahead to two days before the election was purely to "get a jump on crime," and not to "get a jump on the election?" And I note Mr. Schwebke reported that conclusion about why the deployment date was advanced --- to "get a jump on crime" --- as his own, not Chief Greiner's. If Mr. Schwebke is in fact that credulous, I suggest the Std-Ex News Editor dispatch him to cover the arrival of the Easter Bunny on Ogden lawns next Spring. Maybe he can get an interview.

Then there's the Std-Ex's editorial endorsement of Blain Johnson for a seat on the Council. [I notice the editorial manages not to so much as mention the name of his opponent, Aardema.] What's interesting about the endorsement is that it highlights the way Mr. Johnson is running by claiming to oppose some of Mayor Godfrey's key initiatives over the past four years. Johnson says he's opposed to a city built downtown gondola. He is not, the Std-Ex editorial board concludes from that, a "yes man." Or, he's a Godfrey clone seeking election by pretending not to be. The editorial does note Mr. Johnson made his living as a lawyer for land developers for the most part. That of course does not make him necessarily a poor choice for sitting on the Council, but I would think it might have raised an eyebrow or two when the Mayor Mr. Johnson is supporting for a third term has spent the last four years truckling to large developers, trying to sell the city's parklands to one of them, and using developers' lawyers to draft legislation for the Council's consideration. [Recall the "Ellison Ordinance" from Mr. Peterson's attorney, just by way of example?]

Hmmmmm. Maybe my comments above were unfair to Mr. Schwebke. Maybe he is merely reflecting the credulity of his editors. We shall see.

Then there is the Std-Ex's reporting that Golf course, park to remain free from development --- the same golf course, mind you, that Mr. Blain Johnson's plans for development so impressed the Std-Ex editorial board. The story, by Mr. Schwebke, says that Mayor Matthew Godfrey signed a declaration Thursday to ensure Mount Ogden Golf Course and an adjoining city-owned park remain as open space. The declaration places legally binding covenants and restrictions on the property to prevent it from being developed, Godfrey said.

On this one at least, the fact that there is an election underway seems to have popped up on Mr. Schwebke's reportorial radar, for he adds that Mayor Godfrey is seeking a third term in next month’s general election.

A declaration? I'm more than a little confused about how a mayoral declaration can be legally binding on anything or anyone. Executive proclamations are normally used to declare National Brown Mustard Week or CrossWalk Safety Awareness Week In Ogden. But the story insists the Mayor insists that the declaration involves placing legally binding restrictions on sale or development of the park and surrounding park lands. What are these legally binding restrictions? The story doesn't say. Are they in fact legally binding? The reporter doesn't ask. Come Wednesday morning, the day after the election, will they have any force whatever? Readers aren't told.

This is, sadly, another exercise in press release journalism by the Standard-Examiner... just days before an election. From Ogden's home town paper, during the endgame of an election, we ought to expect better.

Another Gang Murder in Fair Emerald City

And Ace Reporter Schwebke Misses a Golden Reportorial Opportunity to Mightily Expound on Boss Godfrey's Continuing Misdeeds

We'll shine some daylight on two items in this morning's news, both from our home-town newspaper.

1) Today's Standard-Examiner breaks the news to the general public about something Weber County Forum readers have known about since Friday. There's been another gang-related murder in Ogden. We incorporate below the lead paragraphs from this morning's story:

OGDEN — A 22-year-old man is dead and a 15-year-old boy has been arrested and accused of killing him, while a community is left reeling over the latest gang-related violent incident as police continue their investigation.

The fatal shooting occurred at 11:30 p.m. Friday at the Phillips Kicks 66 gas station and convenience store at 30th Street and Washington Boulevard.

“I always get nervous around this part of town, just for that reason. You could just be an innocent bystander … and you could get shot,” said Joe Bauer, 52, of South Ogden, as he filled his car at the station Saturday.

This is Ogden’s third fatal gang shooting for 2007, according to police reports.

Friday night, when the shooting occurred, about 100 youths were milling around their cars and motorcycles in the parking lot, according to witnesses. The convenience store is a popular stop for people cruising the boulevard, police said.

100 youths milling around a downtown parking lot late on a Friday night, (an accident waiting to happen), and not a single Ogden Police Department patrol unit in sight? What happened to proactive policing, we ask. And no, we're NOT putting the knock on our sorely understaffed men and women of Ogden's Finest. We know where the responsibility really lies:

We got the straight story from OPD Sgt. Troy Arrowsmith in midsummer of 2006, when he informed us, right there on the Std-Ex editorial pages, about Boss Godfrey's twisted, upside-down law enforcement priorities:

"...Mayor Godfrey has chosen to address the crime issue in Ogden by adding more officers to the Traffic Division (officers whose primary mission is to write citations). The mayor effectively doubled the size of the Traffic Division. No addition in personnel has been made to the Patrol Division (those officers who handle your calls and proactively prevent crime), to the Narcotic Unit, Gang Unit or the Detective Division. This is an obvious plan to use the police department as revenue generators and raise money from you, the citizens, to pay for who knows what project....

"Are your elected city officials representing your views on this? Is this fair to you? Why are they trying to raise funds in such an underhanded way? Your elected officials are using the police department as a revenue generating machine instead of the job we were sworn to do: public safety. "

Godfrey's obsession with feeding his Justice Court "Cash Cow," at the expense of real law enforcement, has left the citizens of Ogden in a terribly tight spot. We're now reaping the fruits of Boss Godfrey's revenue generation obsession, and it's costing human lives. And at the rate things are going in Emerald City, it's only a matter of time before an entirely innocent citizen catches a stray bullet.

And the next time Boss Godfrey tells you he's reduced crime 23% during his tenure as mayor, flash this morning's Std-Ex headline under his nose, or better yet, ask him to respond honestly to this.

2) In yesterday's article we linked to our city council's 9/21/07 press report, in which our city council tried to set the record straight, and to alert the general public that, contrary to some published reports, our city council had been cut out of the loop, and was NOT involved in the UTA/Godfrey administration's August 29 written agreement, intended to dispose of the $247 thousand in federal funds that's been sitting in a UTA account for over fourteen months.

Believing this story to be Scott Schwebke's "baby," we deferred to our favorite Ace Reporter, awaiting another blockbuster revelation in this morning's Standard-Examiner, laying out in detail how the city council got royally screwed over. And we got a tiny bit of that, at least at the start of this morning's article, which bore the headline, "Council denies involvement," and the even more accurate sub-headline, "Godfrey, they say, signed UTA-gondola agreement on his own."

And in all fairness to Mr. Schwebke, his article did adopt verbatim a few of the council's press-release paragraphs.

From there, however Mr. Schwebke's article spirals downward toward the mundane. And we just loved this couple of short (and carefully crafted) Schwebke paragraphs:

The urban leg of the gondola project remains in doubt because Godfrey has refused to sell city-owned Mount Ogden Golf Course to developer Chris Peterson, the driving force behind the proposal.

The city had initially planned to use proceeds from the golf course sale to help fund an urban leg of the gondola extending from downtown to Weber State University. It was estimated to cost about $20 million, [Emphasis added.]

We've seen Ace Reporter at his best; and he's certainly nowhere near that level this morning.

As one of our readers has already commented in a lower thread:

What's with Scott Schwebke this morning?

"Godfrey has refused to sell city-owned Mount Ogden Golf Course"

Makes it sound like Godrey's the man to protect us from those crazy gondolistas!

Take it away, gentle readers.

Let us all know what you think. Do it now, or after you get back from church.

Gangs, "The G-Train" and a Hard-hitting Letter to the Editor

A Tuesday morning Emerald City news potpourri

Once again, this morning's top Standard-Examiner headline story is focused on the rampant "gang problem" in Emerald City, with an Ace Reporter Schwebke report on last night's Councilman Jesse Garcia's community meeting, which had been earlier announced in Sunday morning's Std-Ex edition.

From all reports, there was a "standing room only" crowd of concerned Emerald City citizens in attendance, together with a panel of "experts," assembled by Garcia on short notice to give their presentations.

Noticeably absent from this event was Emerald City's "Boss of Bosses," Mayor Matthew Godfrey, the one Emerald City citizen who ought to have been there, listening with his ears wide open. We're going to assume that Boss Godfrey was busy with other more important business (such as shaking down other Emerald City citizens for four-figure campaign contributions.)

We've received a report that several other elected officials and candidates for municipal office did however make room in their own busy schedules to attend this event, i.e. Neil Hansen, Susie Van Hooser, Amy Wicks, Jim Freed, and Caitlin Gochnour, thus giving us assurance that there are at least a few candidates for elected city offices who are interested in hearing from the lumpencitizens.

As an added bonus, we link this special first-hand report from Weber County Forum's own reader-correspondent Bill C., who kindly sent us his short write-up late last night.

Also in the news today is one of Boss Godfrey's very own most special friends, Sue "G-Train" Wilkerson, who, according to this additional Scott Schwebke story, is snatching up and developing central city properties like a madman. The article refers to hundreds of thousands of of city dollars floating around for the construction and rehabilitation of homes in the Jefferson Avenue Historic District. Whether Ms. Wilkerson actually got her hands on some of that taxpayer dough for her own projects -- Ace Reporter Schwebke does not tell us. What we do know however, is that it's usually financially beneficial to be a close and loyal "Friend of Matt (FOM)." In other words, being an FOM is not an entirely irrational state of being.

And finally, we highlight this morning's Emily Smith letter to the editor, bringing again to the public forefront questions about the pathological secrecy and questionable business practices of the current mayoral administration. This letter packs quite a political wallop, and is a model of efficient and intelligent argument, we think. As we stand poised with less than one month remaining before the 2007 municipal primary, we hope many of our gentle and well-informed readers will be inspired by Ms. Smith's effort, and write their own missives for publication in our home-town newspaper.

Okay, that's it for now, gentle gentle readers. It's now your turn to let everybody know what you think.

Update 8/18/07 10:31 a.m. MT: Std-Ex editor Dave Greiling has an article in this morning's edition, providing some interesting background information about the production of the Standard-Examiner's recent "gangs series."

The Topic of Ogden City Gang-bangers Dominates the Discussion

Boss Godfrey's worst pre-election nightmare

We have to hand it to the Standard-Examiner. When they get a bee in their bonnet, and sniff out a hot topic that will sell a whole lot of newspapers -- they commit themselves 110%.

We refer of course to yesterday's Std-Ex edition, in which our home town newspaper features no fewer than eight stories about the festering local gang problem, in and about our beloved Emerald City. In the course of compiling information for yesterday's newspaper, the Std-Ex editors assigned at least seven reporters and other staff to this herculean effort, according to our quick head-count. We'll make the tally "eight," if we count the fine Grondahl cartoon.

While to some readers this will seem like reporting yesterday's news today, your blogmeister took most of the weekend off, so all of this was news to us this morning when we arrived back in our plush and hi-tech Weber County Forum offices high on the hill overlooking Emerald City. For those readers (especially the out-of-towners who may not have already taken a peek at this impressive collection of articles, we've helpfully gathered the links below:

The Standard-Examiner 8/12/07 Emerald City Gangsta Article Compendium

(Chris Peterson was unavailable for comment.)

Not to let any grass grow under the Std-Ex's feet, the folks at the newspaper provide yet two more stories today, on the local gang-banger topic:

The first of these,"Suppression versus Prevention", consists of a somewhat predictable he said-she said crosstalk, on the issues framed in the headline, between a former Emerald City gang-banger turned criminal justice professor, and hard-nosed Emerald City cops (Chief Greiner, for instance.)

Today's second article, "Too many parents in denial, police say," is aimed at the family values segment of Std-Ex readership, and to those parents who have latch-key kids, we guess. Here's the gist of it:

OGDEN — A nurturing home environment is key to keeping impressionable kids out of gangs, says a veteran Ogden police officer.

Parents must be involved in their children’s lives and be willing to face the cold reality that certain kinds of tattoos, clothing and behavior are an indication of gang affiliation, said Sgt. Kevin Cottrell, head of the Ogden Metro Gang Unit.

“We deal with so many parents who are in denial,” he said. “They tell us to our face that their kids are not in a gang.”

Coming soon from the Standard-Examiner, we hope, will be a thoroughly-researched and information-rich expose' on the gang that operates from the ninth floor of city hall. The "Boss Godfrey Gang," is how they're known "on the street."

For that we can only hope.

We'll now abruptly shift gears to another subject that's near and dear to our Weber County Forum hearts, and focus on this morning's Tim Gurrister article, which reports that State Supreme Court efforts to overhaul the Utah Justice Court system are right on track. Good on ya, Tim. Thanks for the update.

The floor's all yours, gentle readers. Please don't hesitate to use this forum to clear out the weekend cobwebs.

When Is Enough Enough?

Wanted: A mayor willing to spend more time administering his city than putting it "on the map"

This morning's Standard-Examiner letters section includes a reader letter, framing a thought that has rattled through the brain of many an Ogdenite in recent years:

It's time Ogden addresses safety issues

I would like to congratulate Mayor Godfrey on the new downtown developments. Now, if it just felt safe to leave my house.

Jay Hartwell
Ogden

The spate of recent Emerald City gang violence has many of the lumpencitizens scratching their heads, wondering how it was possible for Boss Godfrey to have so casually neglected the festering criminal culture which appears to have arisen in our city during his 7-1/2 year administration.

During the years the Ogden Police were screaming for more funds and manpower to fight our city's looming crime problems, Boss Godfrey responded by doubling personnel in the Traffic Division. As it became obvious to every "street cop" in Ogden that our OPD Patrol Division, Narcotic Unit, Gang Unit and the Detective Division were laughably understaffed and underpaid, Boss Godfrey misapplied police manpower to the writing of traffic citations.

And now that our city has arrived in the unenviable position of arguably becoming the violent crime capitol of Utah, the citizens of Ogden are falling back on quick-but-cheap solutions:

• Last Wednesday, Boss Godfrey held a press conference to announce an eleventh-hour administration "War on Gangs," an obvious band-aid approach, which boils down to adding a mere two OPD vehicle patrol units to the thousands of miles of Emerald City streets.

• Today, the Std-Ex breathlessly announces the arrival in Emerald City of New York City's famous "Guardian Angels." We'll assume that this is a purely citizen-initiated, do-it-yourself approach, inasmuch as Boss Godfrey held no press conference.

And yet even now, Boss Godfrey has announced no comprehensive plan to seriously beef up the OPD division that is charged with the duty of patrolling Ogden City's thousands of miles of streets, nor to provide direly-needed funding to the Gang Unit or other sub-divisions in the Ogden City Police Department whose missions are to fight actual crime.

Somehow, in our blindness, we citizens of Emerald City allowed ourselves to twice elect to the mayoral office a man whose priorities are obsessively focused on building monuments to himself, and always giving a friendly helping hand to his crony friends. During nearly eight years in office, Boss Godfrey has evidenced neither the interest nor the inclination to devote himself to the fundamental tasks of administering our city. Our public safety is of little concern to a man who considers the city that he governs to be his personal monopoly board.

At this point we're going to segue to an article appearing in yesterday's Salt Lake City Weekly, about the City of Murray, a Utah blue-collar town with demographics quite similar to ours. And from that article -- we'll extract what we believe to be some very wise observations:

It depends on what you’re looking for, but for smart residents of the area, Murray fits the bill as the valley’s top city. Murray has a mayor who spends more time administering his city than trying to put it “on the map.” Murray has its own cops and fire department. It has its own school district, its own water and its own electricity. Murray has everything any decent taxpayer could want from Little Leagues to fine parks and recreation centers to decent roads and safe streets. Murray has its own parades, fireworks and picnics. Yet two things clearly stand out in Murray’s favor: lots of bars and low taxes.

Tax appraisals and assessments were recently sent to area homeowners. As folks opened those letters, slight registries were made at the University of Utah’s seismic center as one person after the other fainted and fell to ground. Blip. Blip. Blip. Many of them got up and sent bitchy letters to the editor to local newspapers. As if that would help—criminy, people, the local papers want land values to go up! A depressed community can’t support crappy newspapers! Have you missed all those glowing reports of how fast our homes are accelerating in value? Weren’t you pleased to read about that and then nearly spending your newfound riches? Only to find that there are not enough qualified buyers or Californians to go around? But your appraisals and associated taxes went up anyway?

I opened my appraisal letter and saw that Salt Lake County claims my home is far more valuable than I thought. They have it increasing dramatically over the prior year, like homes across the valley. Then I looked at the next line that says how much tax I have to pay this year on my home. I live in Murray. What, me worry? Nope. My property taxes went down around 10 percent from the year prior.

What Mr. Salas doesn't tell us is that, although his Murray property values "went up," ("dramatically" he says,) they obviously didn't "go up" nearly as dramatically as those of his neighbors in other communities in Salt Lake County -- communities who aggressively (and blindly, we think) continue to pursue the government-driven economic development siren-call. Thus Mr. Salas's tax bill actually declined, even though his property value had risen. In the final analysis, his increased property value apparently represented a smaller slice of the tax assessment pie than that of like-situated taxpayers in neighboring communities.

Food for thought for the Emerald City lumpencitizens, we think. What true value do citizens of a stable community place on increased property values anyway, unless they're planning to sell their properties, or buy new toys through financially imprudent, equity-gobbling second mortgages?

As the September 11 municipal primary approaches, perhaps it's time we gave a thought to our priorities as a community. How much aggressive government-driven development is enough, we ask? Will we ever know when we've had enough?

Is it time for the residents of Emerald City to elect a mayor who spends more time administering his city than trying to put it “on the map?” Is it time to once again rely primarily on the time-tested forces of the free market? Isn't it time to insist that Boss Godfrey play the game of "Monopoly" with somebody else's "Monopoly Board?" And what about public safety? How long can this city keep it on the back-burner?

We wonder what our gentle readers think about all this.

Don't let the cat get your tongues.

Tuesday Morning Tidbits

One month prior to the election primary, Boss Godfrey begins posing as a real mayor

By Curmudgeon

Mayor Godfrey is a seasoned campaigner, who knows how to use his incumbency to good advantage, to win him good ink the papers, and to shift the public's focus off topics he'd rather not have people discussing over their morning coffee -- like his attempts to have the taxpayers pay off a quarter of a million dollars in development costs for his crony Chris Peterson, involving the failed real estate development scheme intended for Ogden city parklands on the benches.

Good examples in this morning's papers here and in Salt Lake City.

First, in this morning's Std-Ex, there is this story headlined "Godfrey, vets lobby for nursing home." Here are the opening graphs:

SALT LAKE CITY — Mayor Matthew Godfrey and a contingent of veterans lobbied state officials Monday for $19 million to construct a long-awaited nursing home in Ogden. The group wants Gov. Jon Huntsman to include the allocation in his fiscal 2009 budget request to be submitted to the Legislature next year, Godfrey said.

Then there's this story from this morning's Salt Lake Trib, headlined "Ogden to crack down on gangs." The story combines a report of the latest gang violence in Ogden [more yesterday] and reports of a new initiative by the Mayor to deal with it. From the story:

OGDEN - Police plan to double their efforts to crack down on gangs in the wake of a double homicide Sunday that punctuated a recent spike in gang-related violence. And Mayor Matthew Godfrey is preparing to announce several initiatives today to battle the crime wave.

Police and politicians alike say that seven gang-related shootings in a month are unacceptable in a city that has touted its decline in crime over the past eight years.

"We're going after [gangs]," Godfrey said. "We're not going to wait around and see if this subsides. This kind of increase happens in Salt Lake County, but it does not here, so we will be putting a stop to it."

[The Std-Ex has three gang-related stories, but nothing yet on the Mayor's new gangs initiatives, though once he holds that press conference, it too will be front page news.]

Now, let me say that of course, the Mayor of Ogden supports the building of a veteran's home in the area. It's a good idea, long overdue, and would help the area's economy as well, and I do not doubt for a second the sincerity of the Mayor's support for it. Similarly, of course he wants to cut down on gang violence, and eliminate it if possible in Ogden, and sincerely so. No sane public official would want to do anything else --- though it might be suggested by some, myself among them, that the Mayor seems a little late focusing on gang-violence in the city and coming up with initiatives to deal with it. And he is coming very visibly on board as the election approaches. But that, really, is the point. He is a seasoned campaigner and an elected official and he knows how to use the fact of his being Mayor to generate press coverage and move the public's focus in directions favorable to him.

The Mayor was working the crowd at the "night out against crime" event downtown yesterday evening. Shaking hands, talking to voters. Big signs announcing his presence. I'm not sure how many other mayoral candidates were there, if any. If they were, they were not nearly so visible as the Mayor. He knows how to do this, has a record of doing it successfully and is, reportedly, well financed. All this by way of suggesting to those who think the Mayor is done [and some who think that post here regularly] that such assumptions are risky when the guy you think is done is an experienced, successful and now well-financed candidate.

Finally, there is a Std-Ex piece on transit, pretty far back in the paper that it might not get noticed much, so I thought I'd link it here. The headline is "Fresno mulls a return to streetcars." From the story:

FRESNO, Calif. — Fresno leaders are looking into an old idea to deliver new life downtown. Think streetcars. That’s a key element of the latest revitalization plan from Mayor Alan Autry’s administration....

Streetcars are being used by more than two dozen cities across the United States as a way to jump-start development and reduce air pollution.

Fresno hopes to follow suit. About 30 city officials, elected leaders and local developers are traveling to Portland, Ore., this week to look at its streetcar system and the residential and commercial development that has sprung up around it. The city is picking up the group’s $20,000 airfare and lodging tab.

In Portland, they will examine a 7.2-mile streetcar loop that links downtown with several neighboring districts. It cost $100 million, and another mile will soon be added to the route for $14.5 million.

Since it opened in 2001, more than $2 billion in development has occurred within two blocks of the streetcar rail line, Portland officials say. This includes about 7,200 new homes and 4.6 million square feet of offices, stores and hotels.

Pity the poor people of Portland, and now Fresno, who have Mayors who support investing those cities' transit money in to streetcars instead of gondolas. Think how angry all those people in Portland who invested billions... yes, with a "b" ... in trackside commercial and residential development are going to be when they realize they could have had a gondola whizzing overhead carrying potential customers and residents past their businesses and apartments and condos with no way to get down to them instead.... Think how lucky Ogden is to have a mayor who thinks differently.

[Sigh.]

Thursday Morning Scatter-shot

Taking a welcome partial breather from the incessant Boss Godfrey blunders

Emerald City shoot-em-up. Although we normally don't cover the crime beat here at Weber County Forum, we can't ignore today's Standard-Examiner front page story, headlined: "Double shooting on Ogden street." In a scenario reminiscent of South-Central L.A., west-side Oakland, California, (or Tombstone Arizona, circa 1881) gunfire erupted yesterday between two vehicles travelling along Monroe Boulevard in broad daylight-- 20th and Monroe -- to be exact.

A neighbor who resides near the intersection where the shootings occurred described the aftermath of the incident, and told the Std-Ex reporter that "she just moved from a small town out of state and was not used to seeing 'stuff like this.'"

"We're quite shocked by 'stuff like this' this ourselves," your Ogden-native blogmeister also confides, in a rare WCF self-interview.

Now that Emerald City is "on the map" we suppose we'll have to get used to big-time street gun-play, just like many other cities who are map-worthy. As we learned during our interactions with Ogden police officers during the 2005 "public safety officer pay plan flap," Boss Godfrey's major anti-crime emphasis centers mainly on writing tickets to little old ladies who've inadvertently rolled through a stop-sign, or nailing crazed motorists with a burned-out tail-light. It's a question of mayoral priorities, of course. Busted gangbangers don't contribute much cash revenue to the city coffers, even when they're actively involved in blowing away other gangbangers.

The last time we spoke with OPD gang-unit officers about this, BTW, they told us they were seriously understaffed, with barely enough manpower to manage the bare paperwork. Perhaps we'll be lucky enough to hear today from one of our "Ogden's Finest" officer readers, with an update on this situation -- so we can decide whether we need to arm ourselves for our own protection -- until after the November election.

River Project progress. We were pleased to read this morning's Std-Ex/Ace Reporter Schwebke Business Section article, reporting that the River Project is "taking shape." Ogden City's own Bingham Cyclery is planning to occupy its soon to be constructed building 200 feet from the river, and adjacent to the riverside bikepath/trail.

What makes this story especially newsworthy, we think, is that it's actually a local company who's received the mayor's favorable nod on this, rather than some giant international bicycle retailer conglomerate, who might have been lured here by generous tax increment discounts and other glad-handed favors.

A WCF Tip o' the Hat to Bingham Cyclery, with added best wishes for business success.

Lambs to the Slaughter. In other news, our northern neighbor Pleasant View, is taking a long look at getting aboard the economic development bandwagon:

“We want to encourage nice development,” said Councilman Kevin Bailey. He would like to see more restaurants in Pleasant View, as well as big box stores and offices.

Hooray for Big Box Stores. That's what we call "nice development!" Just what that sleepy little residential community needs. Bring on the Big Box Stores, we say. Bring in the Big-Gummint central planners and schemers, too. We wonder which lovely Weber County community will be next to redraft their business plan to mimic the Riverdale, Utah model, and pave over their entire town with asphalt. Huntsville, Perhaps? We can only hope!

Somewhere in the background we seem to hear the bleating of lambs being led off to slaughter.

UDVA promoted to "cabinet" status. As a military veteran ourself, we are happy to read this morning that our former Ogden High School classmate Terry Schow's State Department of Veteran's affairs has been "kicked upstairs" to governor's cabinet level status. Terry and his dedicated crew have labored long and hard to browbeat the state legislature into doing the right thing, i.e., building a Veteran's Home in Weber County. Much to our encouragement, we are delighted to read that Terry and his staff will be able to bend the governor's ear about this, and various other important veterans' issues, from an office "right down the hall" from Chief State Executive Jon Huntsman's sumptuous office "digs."

Take it away, gentle readers.

Talk about any of the above; or feel free to start up a topic all your own.