Experiencing Another "Utah Epiphany"

A short essay on political cowardice: So-called "remedial legislation" will still leave aggrieved Ogden Valley citizens politically disenfranchised

“We don’t want to deal with retrospect. There are numerous incorporations already going forward, and to roll back the clock would put us in a litigious situation.”

Sen. Kevin Van Tassell, R-Vernal.
Standard-Examiner
February 16, 2008

“If the law supposes that, the law is a ass, a idiot.”

Mr. Bumble
Oliver Twist - Dickens
1838

“Lawsuits are likely regardless of what happens, and the potential fallout from House Bill 466 last year needs to be stopped. Just because we opened the door and the animals got out, that doesn’t mean we can’t gather up the animals and put them back in the barn,”

Sen. Allen Christensen, R-North Ogden
Standard-Examiner
February 16, 2008

Hoo-boy, gentle readers. After perusing the Standard-Examiner this morning, we're having one of those startling flashes of clarity that we call a "Utah Epiphany." Here we've been naively working like madmen over the past few weeks, trying to muster support for Senator Stowell's (R-Parowan) SB-25, which we believed to be curative legislation for the evils of last year's HB-466; and now we learn -- in this morning's Jeff Demoss story -- that the current version of this bill, which passed in the senate yesterday by a 26-1 vote, is not designed to operate retroactively.

Yesiree, folks, those gutless wonders in the senate passed a remedial bill alright; but it won't do anything to help those folks in Ogden Valley who stand to live for at least two years without elected town representation -- under the dictatorship of corporate Powder Mountain developer appointees. Senator Allen Christensen made a valiant effort to add a retroactive provision to the bill, according to today's story, but his cowardly Senate colleagues apparently turned him down flat.

Our take on the solution to the current political predicament is of course very simple. It was the Utah State Legislature who caused this problem; and it's the responsibility of that same legislative body, (the entire body, including the senate,) to fix it. The solution seems fairly uncomplicated, we believe, if we can rely on the accuracy of today's story. The House of Representatives can pass one of the two other pending House bills which do contain retroactive provisions (HB-413 or HB-164,) and send one of them on to the Senate. Alternatively, the House could kick back a House-amended SB-25 (with retroactive provisions.) Whatever they do, we hope representatives like Gage Froerer (R-Huntsville) will have the courage to stick to their guns. Otherwise it will be, once again in Utah, the "little people" who are left holding the bag.

As to the threat of developer litigation, by the way, we'll offer that we are not impressed. And to our gentle readers we ask, in the event that litigation will be the inevitable result of the legislature's "doing the right thing," how, exactly will any developer prove damages? Will Utah developers with pending incorporation petitions argue that town incorporation is a vested property right? We believe it's pretty clear that town incorporation is a political "privilege," and not a "right." And even assuming that a pending incorporation petition is a vested and valuable property right entitled to protection in Utah courts, how would a court deal with the problem of the political disenfranchisement of those citizens who have been unwillingly dragged into new municipal entities at the whim of neighboring property owners, because of the unintended operation of an ill-conceived law that everyone (including legislators in the State Senate) seems to believe to have been flawed from the outset?

Senator Christensen is quite right, of course. There will be litigation regardless of the manner in which this situation shakes out in the legislature. And in the event of litigation we'll put our money on the litigants who have ALL the equities on their side, i.e., the 100 or so people of Ogden Valley, whose own property and political rights are being trampled by one greedy developer who readily admits its incorporation petition action is tactical, cynically intended to sidestep Weber County regulatory authority and "...take complete control of their own destiny". [Paragraph 4]

If there is to be litigation, bring it on. In the meantime we call on all members of the Utah legislature to check out their own moral compasses. We think it's time to "gather up the animals and put them back in the barn," as Senator Christensen suggests.

The State Senate's most recent inaction leaves your blogmeister with a profound sense of disgust this morning. It's difficult to believe that this situation is happening in America. Of course this really isn't America, good readers. It's Utah. We're again experiencing another Utah Epiphany, as we said.

And what say our WCF cyber-folke about all this?

Good Ogden Ink in Today's New York Times

More Emerald City bait to lure the well-heeled "high adventure" tourist

By Curmudgeon

Interesting article on Ogden and skiing in today's New York Times about skiing the west face of Mt. Ogden from the ridge line to Ogden city.

Here are a few of the opening graphs. It's a very long article, with a good picture included:

It was a Saturday morning, sunny and clear at 8:30. Mr. Robinson, an airline baggage handler and budding professional skier, was transferring his gear to an idling car parked next to his.“I could ski from the summit right to this street,” said Mr. Robinson, who lived five blocks away when he was in college.

The summit Mr. Robinson referred to was Mount Ogden, which, at 9,570 feet, dominates the skyline above its namesake town. In a good snow year, a massive squiggle of white known as the Banana Chute fills in on Mount Ogden’s rocky northwest face, creating a dramatic entrance to a skiable descent that is larger than any lift-accessible run in the country.

Calibrate your altimeter at the top and you can ski for four miles and nearly 5,000 vertical feet, from the thin alpine air, down through the maw of the chute, over ridges and meadows of untracked snow, then into a creek bed that funnels the backcountry line to its unlikely terminus at the residential grid of a midsize American town.

The Banana Chute experience, which can be reached by a short hike out of bounds from Snowbasin ski resort off Highway 167 east of Ogden, is not for the tame or the uninitiated. This is a locals’ adventure, where avalanche dangers are present and real. The terrain is for advanced and expert skiers only, with cliffs, trees, traverses and rock-studded slopes best led by a guide who knows the route.

Ed. note: Well let us see... in order to properly service that route for all those east coast tourists, we're probably gonna need a couple of gondolas, right? It appears as if the gondola cult is putting in a little public relations overtime.

The gondola-obsessed never rest!

Gondolas, anyone?

Don't all chime in at once.

The Plunder of the Lumpencitizens Will Continue

Senate Committee kills Rep. Neil Hansen's citation quota prohibition bill for the second straight year

It’s a little far-reaching for any legislator to pass legislation that micro-manages how we implement the laws we make.

John Greiner
Utah State Senator
Ogden City Chief of Police
Standard-Examiner
February 15, 2008

The law perverted! And the police powers of the state perverted along with it! The law, I say, not only turned from its proper purpose but made to follow an entirely contrary purpose! The law become the weapon of every kind of greed! Instead of checking crime, the law itself guilty of the evils it is supposed to punish!

Frederick Bastiat
The Law
1850

To our considerable disappointment, this morning's Standard-Examiner reports that state representative Neil Hansen's HB-264, which would have prohibited Utah law enforcement agencies from requiring officers to write a set number of citations in a specific time period, was killed in the Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee yesterday, by a 3-2 vote, with Ogden's own police chief and state senator (who sits on the committee) delivering the fatal coup d'gras.

The plunder of the lumpencitizens will no doubt continue. Local governments will continue to place bounties on the lumpencitizens heads -- for another year, at least.

Against our strongest impulses, we'll resist the temptation to launch another rant on this topic for now. Readers who are unfamiliar with WCF's position on this subject can however bone up on a couple of years worth of collected rants here. For now, we'll just put the topic of traffic citation quotas on the back burner, and revive it again prior to the 2009 legislative session. We have many other fish to fry.

Before closing, we offer a Weber County Forum Tip O' the Hat this morning to Rep. Neil Hansen, for his noble effort in attempting to serve his constituents with this bill, while other elected legislators served the interests of the well-oiled right wing socialist state instead. Hopefully there will be better news on this subject around the same time next year.

Comments, anyone?

What are the Standard-Examiner Editors Smoking?

Perhaps Std-Ex subscribers should donate a few more kilos of whatever strange shrub it is

By Curmudgeon

OK, the situation now requires some serious investigation. What have they started putting in the water over at the Standard Examiner? Or, more likely, what have they stopped putting in the water? Because for the second time in less than a week, the Std-Ex has a truly fine editorial up, this time taking to task Sen. Buttars and his ilk who support his bill to make police disciplinary records into secret records unavailable to the public. [I am ashamed to admit that Mayor Becker of Salt Lake City, a Democrat, has endorsed this proposal on grounds that his police chief recommends it, and he is deferring to the chief's expertise on the matter. Wrong. Flat wrong.]

But two excellent editorials within a few days? In the Standard-Examiner? What are they smokin' over there in Mr. Porter's shop these days?

In the early days of the War of Southern Treason, when Lincoln proposed promoting one of his few successful generals, U.S. Grant, there were objections that the General drank more than he should. Mr. Lincoln is reputed to have replied "Find out what he drinks and I'll send a barrel to all my generals." If we can find out what they're smokin' at the Std-Ex Editorial Board these days, I propose we all chip in and send some over at regular intervals. Maybe it will help keep the string going.

Well...?

Powder Mountain Development Update: Is Legislative Leadership Dragging its Feet?

The clock keeps ticking while remedial legislation reportedly gathers dust on some lawyer's desk

The Powder Mountain town incorporation story is once again on the Standard-Examiner front page this morning, with a well-crafted article by Marshall Thompson, providing updated information on the heroic effort of our Weber County neighbors in Ogden Valley to prevent a fair sized portion portion of the area's unincorporated neighborhood from being gobbled up by Utah's newest developer-controlled company town.

Today's article emphasises the tight timeline now bearing down upon these valiant folks. While the Powder Mountain developer still remains optomistic that town incorporation could be achieved within two weeks' time, the two remedial bills which would thwart the develeloper's backhanded efforts have more or less stalled in the legislature. The Ogden Valley citizen activists grow suspicious:

“I think it’s being held up, and it’s moving slower than it should,” said Richard Sorensen, a Huntsville Town Council member who helped pass a resolution opposing the massive development last year.

And those suspicions are certainly NOT unfounded:

One unforeseen problem was that Senate President John L. Valentine, R-Orem, and Speaker of the House Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, both described the proposed amendments as unfair to developers and pledged to delay their passage. [Emphasis ours].

While "freshman" House District 8 state representative Froerer attributes the legislative delays to to the tight scrutiny being given to the text of the two bills by the legislature's legislative attorney staff, we're not quite sure we're ready to swallow that entirely.

Speaker Curtis "declared in January that he has a conflict of interest when it comes to land issues because his law firm represents several developers." So why, we ask, does he seem to be dragging his feet? Why hasn't he handed it off to somebody else in House leadership who doesn't have a conflict? Our BS-O-Meter is jumping off-scale even as we feverishly post his blog entry on our keybord. Somebody needs to build a fire under his and President Valentine's feet.

One possible way to do that, we think, is to sign the petition, folks.

In the event you haven't done that already... you can find it here. As mentioned in today's Std-Ex article, over 300 Utah residents have already jumped aboard (339, to be exact, as of the time of this posting). And for the most up-to-date news on this topic, we remind you to check out Ogden Valley Forum. Lots of good information on this subject there.

On the other hand... if you'd like to see Ogden Valley become the next Park City... ignore this article (and the petition) entirely.

Comments, anyone?

Update 2/14/08 9:55 a.m. MT: Whilst reading through some of the excellent material on Ogden Valley Forum this morning we stumbled upon this wonderful article, reporting on one of the developer's "sales meetings" which are being held to beat down small groups of Ogden Valley residents one by one. The article provides some good analysis and also provides at least a glimpse of the aggressive evil corporate foe that Ogden Valley residents are up against. We're pretty sure the author won't mind our taking this liberty. (The article was "broken at the fold," and difficult to link, so we just unceremoniously copied it to our own storage site.) Read up, gentle readers. You won't believe your own eyes at the audacity of these Powder Mountain development folks.

We'll also note that we've now added a direct graphic link to the Powder Mountain petition in our right sidebar.

Pigs... The Lot of 'em

"Screw the workers" bill almost made it out of committee

By Curmudgeon

You want to talk conflict of interest, take a look at this one from Paul Rolly's column in today's SL Trib:

Rep. Mike Morley's attempt to help employers get injured workers kicked off the workers' compensation insurance program got a cool reception from a state advisory committee overseeing workers' compensation issues.

The Spanish Fork Republican [of course --- Curm], who is a construction company owner, brought his HB384 to the Utah Labor Commission's Workers Comp Advisory Committee for a favorable recommendation to the Legislature, but only got a 5-5 vote Monday.

Employer-based groups backing the bill have clashed on the issue with advocates for the working class who oppose it. The bill creates avenues for companies to avoid liability if certain workers get hurt on the job. Morley's construction industry, by the way, is one of the industries most prone to injuries on the job.

His bill would make ineligible for workers' compensation benefits or disability payments an injured employee who was convicted of a crime, like being in the country illegally, for example. (The construction industry hires a lot of undocumented workers, by the way.) The proposal flies in the face of five Supreme Court decisions in other states, the latest being in South Carolina, where the court held such a law would encourage employers to hire undocumented workers since they wouldn't have the burden of insuring them because they wouldn't be eligible for workers' compensation.

Morley's bill also would allow a company to fire ''for cause'' an injured worker getting workers' compensation benefits at the time. That counters a 2006 Utah Supreme Court decision that said La-Z-Boy could not fire a worker while she was getting workers' compensation payments for injuries on the job.

The Gilded Age is alive and well and living in the Utah Legislature. If this passes, a company could hire a construction worker, and if he's injured on the job and gets workman's comp [which his employer has to contribute to], the employer can look back over his record, discover he's been late to work a couple of times, and fire him "for cause" and thus no longer have to pay a dime to cover his injuries.

These people are pigs. Flat out pigs. And this "screw the workers" bill almost made it out of committee. 5-5 vote. Just one more "yea" and it progresses.

Pigs. The lot of 'em.

Utah Justice Court Reform Moves Forward in the Senate

Senator Hillyard's SB-72 clears committee

The Salt Lake Tribune reports this morning that Logan Senator Hillyard's Senate Bill 72, aimed at cleaning up the act of local justice courts, has cleared committee, and now is headed to the Senate floor for a vote. It's a short article, so we'll incorporate its text in full:

A bill aimed at giving justice court judges more independence from the cities and counties they serve unanimously passed the Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice Committee on Tuesday.
SB72 first substitute, sponsored by Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, would:
* Create a nominating commission to review and recommend judge candidates for appointment.
* Increase terms from four to six years beginning in 2010, and set salaries between 50 and 90 percent of those of district court judges.
* Prohibit judges from working in law enforcement, or as prosecutors, criminal defense attorneys or correction or court authorities while on the bench and require them to have four-year degrees.
* Make all judges subject to retention elections.

Although yesterday's committee action is merely an initial first step, we'll chalk it up as an interim win in our two-year campaign to pry Utah justice courts loose from the grasp of some local Utah officials, who have treated justice courts within their political jurisdictions as instruments of citizen plunder, rather than institutions of justice, as originally intended under Utah law.

As our regular readers are aware, this remedial legislation has been a pet project of ours for almost as long as we've been blogging.

Notably, this bill was approved unanimously by the Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice Committee, not exactly a gaggle of pushovers in the law & order department. We believe the unanimous vote demonstrates the committee's recognition that justice court administration, policy and procedure desperately needs to be brought into alignment with the rest of the Utah court system; and we're therefore keeping our fingers crossed that the necessity for change will be equally obvious to lawmakers in both bodies of the Utah legislature.

It goes without saying that we'll be keeping a close eye on this bill, as it winds its way through the legislature.

Comments are invited, as always.

Emerald City Junction Project Already Running in the Red

The Godfrey administration finally provides some loose Junction project numbers

Tantalizing headline on the Standard-Examiner front page this morning: "Junction exceeds funding," the headline says. As a convenience for those readers who across the nation who are not Std-Ex hard-copy subscribers, we provide a link to the full story, together with Scott Schwebke's pertinent paragraphs:

OGDEN — Cost overruns for The Junction, an entertainment, residential and retail complex being built downtown, are expected to total at least $774,890, according to a report from a city official.

Dave Harmer, community and economic development director, will present the report during tonight’s work session with the Ogden Redevelopment Agency Board, made up of the city council.

The board has asked Harmer to provide monthly financial updates on The Junction.

The projected overuns at the development were derived by subtracting expenses from funding sources totaling about $45.5 million, according to Harmer’s report that covers activity through the end of 2007. [...]

The projected overruns at The Junction are expected to exceed funding by about 1.7 percent.

That's right, folks, it seems that administration officials have taken the easy way out in reporting today's figures, netting cost overruns to date against funding sources for the entire junction project. While we'd have preferred to have been presented with calculations comparing expenses and funding sources element by element (netting expenses and funding sources for the Salomon Center, for example), that's not what we got from this morning's Std-Ex story.

We'll also note in passing our great delight to read that our Ogden City RDA Board is now at least monitoring the Junction project, as is more particularly set forth in these encouraging paragraphs:

Harmer’s report should help the RDA board get a handle on funding and costs at The Junction, said City Councilman Jesse Garcia.

“We just want to see what’s going on with funding at The Junction,” he said. “I don’t anticipate any problems, but when we have a question, we would like to have an answer.”

Let's just say that former RDA Board Chairman Garcia is a very patient man. Our insider sources inform us, by the way, that the RDA Board has been demanding financial updates from the Godfrey administration for the past 15 months, to no avail, until now.

Perhaps the RDA Board will be able to squeeze out more detail about individual project elements, item by item, at tonight's work session. And from here on out, we hope that the RDA Board will insist upon timely updated administration financials, on at least a quarterly basis, at the VERY least. Without access to this most basic ongoing financial information, the RDA Board has been flying financially blind since last summer. That's not a good position to be in, we think, for an elected board of public fiduciaries.

We have a busy calender this afternoon, so we'll resist the temptation to indulge in our usual microanalysis, and rely upon our gentle readers to provide that instead.

Please consider this an invitation to crunch the numbers that ARE provided in today's Ace Reporter Schwebke story. The floor is now open on this topic. Perhaps a few of our gentle readers can help us make some sense of all this.

That's it for now, gentle readers. Time for y'all all to let 'er rip.

Kowtowing to the Blue-nose Puritans

Cowardly commission decisions inalterably made behind closed doors

By Curmudgeon

There is a fine editorial in the Standard-Examiner this morning, taking the Weber County Commission to task for its secret [in violation of the open meetings law?] back room decision to ban cage fighting from the fair because some of Ogden's resident bluenose puritans [who didn't attend and won't attend] called up to demand that other people not be allowed to attend. Of a piece with the bluenose local Cotton Mathers [e.g. Hizzonah, Mayor Matthew Godfrey] running the Ogden Summer Fest out of business because [gasp!] there was arm wrasslin' and beer drinkin' and such like sinnin' right out there in front of god and everybody!

And the Std-Ex editorial picked up on Commissioner Dearden's contemptuous "the public be damned" announcement that "he would make nixing the mixed-martial art event an agenda item at a public Commission meeting [if he was forced to]. 'It doesn't matter to me. The decision won't change.'"

But then, he is ... in fact all the commissioners are... Republican. [Strange, but the Std-Ex editorial somehow managed not to mention that.] Contempt for open meetings and for the public that elected them is what we've come to expect from elected Republican bluenoses here in Zion.

And the beat goes on....

Boss Godfrey's New "Snitch on Your Neighbor Program"

Mess with your neighbors anonymously

Found this wonderful item while prowling the Ogden City website this morning. Boss Godfrey has a new program, offering lumpencitizens the glorious opportunity to be "good Godfreyites," and anonymously snitch on their neighbors. Here's the deal, straight from "The Mayor's Action Center" page:

Do you have renters on properties near you?

Description: Do you have properties near you that has (sic) Renters? If so Ogden City would like to know.
Please leave the Property address and we will do the rest.
If you would like us to respond to you, type in your name, phone number or e-mail, or you can submit it anonymously.
simply add the information in the boxes and click on submit

Be a good Godfreyite. Rat on that neighbor lady who informally lets a spare bedroom to a struggling college kid. Send Godfrey's Good Landlord Program investigators to interrogate that new neighbor you haven't yet met. The possibilities are endless. Be a snitch for Boss Godfrey. Be a junior G-man. Be a Friend of Matt (FOM)!

Kinda makes you feel warm all over, dunnit?

Don't let the cat get your tongues, O gentle ones.

Adam Aircraft Closes its Doors

Airplane manufacturer appears one announcement short of calling it quits

It looks like it's curtains for Ogden Airport aircraft manufacturing tenant Adam Aircraft, according to this morning's Standard-Examiner story. Adam Aircraft, which has been under severe financial pressure for the past several months, now announces it has shut its doors, Business Page Ace Reporter Scott Schwebke reports:

OGDEN — Adam Aircraft Industries suspended operations Monday at its headquarters in Colorado, putting about 500 remaining employees out of work indefinitely.

The measure stemmed from Adam’s inability to come to terms with a lender for funding to maintain business operations, the company said in a prepared statement.Although the most recent company press statement falls short of announcing the full liquidation threatened earlier in the month, press spokeswoman Shelly Simi also hints at followup announcements later in the week. The company is still evidently holding off the inevitable, hoping and praying for the appearance of an investor "white knight."

Upon hearing the latest news on Adam's plight, Ace Reporter Schwebke apparently speed-dialed his buddy Dave Harmer, for the latest visionary wisdom on Adam Aircraft's apparent demise:

Dave Harmer, the city’s community and economic development director, said he remains hopeful that Adam will find new funding partners to allow production of the A500 and A700 to resume.

“I’m still hopeful they will continue and that the aircraft plan is a good plan and will survive,” he said.

Hope springs eternal in Emerald City, aka Prozac City.

We're going to go out on a limb however, and predict that its "all over but the shouting" for erstwhile Ogden airport tenant Adam Aircraft.

What a shame. That model A500 in the photo at the header of today's Std-Ex story appears to be one sweet bird*.
Comments, anyone?

*airplane jargon

A Short Biography Our Readers Will Not Want to Miss

The lowdown on the Emerald City Ice-tower co-designer and promoter

As regular denizens of our Weber County Forum community blog are well aware, Mayor Matthew "Boss" Godfrey and his administration are moving full speed ahead to install yet another recreational novelty attraction in downtown Emerald City, namely "The World's first refrigerated, year-round, outdoor Ice Climbing Tower." And to WCF newcomers we'll say "No; we are not making this up. This fantastic structure depicted in the above link could very well be standing on the corner of 25th & Kiesel, possibly as early as this summer." For proof of that, we link our home-town newspaper's recent article on this topic, which spells out the whole exciting story in grand detail.

Yes, gentle readers; some folks are quite serious about this. This project is an integral part of Boss Godfrey's "vision" to transform Ogden City into a giant amusement park, of course. As Emerald City CEO John Patterson also assures us, it's certain to be a money maker. Godfrey has the Midas Touch, as we all know.

Regular readers who've followed discussions of this story are aware that we at WCF within the WCR editoral circle are NOT, shall we say, "overjoyed" about this project. It's not that we're NOT fans of refrigerated, year round ice climbing towers in general. It's just that we bristle when our elected officials build (and propose to operate) such knuckleheaded public projects on the public dime. Jurassic-period economic theorists that we are, we believe promoters of knuckleheaded plans and schemes ought to finance such projects on their own dime instead.

In this connection, we've observed cost estimates for this project escalate over the past couple of years, from $275 thousand to $1.6 million. These costs of course will be mainly borne by the taxpayers. And with Boss Godfrey ram-rodding the project, there's no doubt in our minds the costs will continue to skyrocket. Enormous refrigerated year-round neo-mesopotamian era architectural-style monuments to Mayor Godfrey's ego don't come cheap; and as we lumpencitizens of Emerald City know -- money is no object in MattGodfreyWorld -- when it comes to Magnificent Godfrey Monuments.

OK. Suffice it to say in summary that we continue to believe this is a dumb idea.

Having provided the above introduction, we realize that some of you may wonder who might have had the audacity even to design and promote such a project in the first place. One of the co-designers and promoters, Jeff Lowe, is of course mentioned in the above Std-Ex article. He's been more or less the mystery man behind this project for several years, although disconnected bits and pieces of information about Jeff have cropped up at various times in the media.

From here, we'll now launch into another patented neck-snapping WCF-style segue®. Jeff Lowe remains the mystery man no more. The Deseret Morning News published a candid and robust biographical piece on Jeff Lowe in yesterday's edition. Here's the lowdown on Jeff Lowe. We invite you all to read up.

At the very least, we think you'll all agree that Jeff Lowe is a quite remarkable man. Who can blame him for his desire to fulfill his dream? Really. And for Jeff's sake, we hope it works.

Comments, anyone?

And please be nice. Jeff Lowe and your blogmeister go way back.

Powder Mountain Development Update: The Plot Sickens

Another dunning reminder to SIGN THE PETITION!

Interesting twist in the Powder Mountain development/town incorporation brouhaha, with Friday's Marshall Thompson story, reporting that a Powder Mountain development project manager had held a meeting with the Cache County planning commission on Thursday:

LOGAN — If the proposed town of Powder Mountain incorporates in Weber County, it could annex the nearly 3,500 acres of the ski resort that lies in Cache County, a county planner said Thursday.

Brooke Hontz, a project manager for Powder Mountain, asked to speak to the Cache County Planning Commission to explain how the petition to incorporate as an independent municipality in Weber County will affect service agreements in Cache Valley.

“It will not affect the process in Cache County,” Hontz said. “It really is the same situation.”

So although people from the planning commission ostensibly got together to work out details regarding "service agreements," (with an emphasis on water issues) affecting Cache County, clearly there appeared an elephant in the room -- and other more important concerns were plainly on the minds of Cache County officials, regarding the PM developer's town incorporation plans:

But planning commissioners asked if Powder Mountain resort turns into Powder Mountain Town, could it expand across the county line to include land in Cache County.

“They could, in theory, incorporate the Town of Powder Mountain in Weber and then annex the portions that are in Cache,” said Josh Runhaar, county planner.

If that happens, he added, the county would no longer have any land use authority for the area, and the town would create its own zoning regulations.

“They would even set their own road standards,” Runhaar said.

If you're thinking Cache County planners may be a mite nervous about the bull-in-a-china-shop developer from Weber County encroaching upon the planning authority of Cache County, you're probably right. Although the Powder Mountain developer has handled Cache County officials with kid gloves so far, you'd better believe those officials are painfully aware that the same pushy folks who are riding roughshod over the citizens of Ogden Valley (and Weber County) are also casting a covetous eye toward the 3,486 acres of Cache County mountain acreage which are described in their project master plan. If they succeed in obtaining town status under the provisions of the flawed HB-466, annexation of the Cache County land could likely be a relatively easy slam-dunk, we believe.

It's in that connection that we once again issue a dunning reminder to all residents of any county which might be remotely affected by the Powder Mountain town incorporation action, to beat feet over to the Ogden Valley Forum blogsite to sign the petition.

Time's a'wasting, gentle readers. As set forth in Friday's Std-Ex article, the PM developers are optimistic that town status could be achieved in as little as "two or three weeks."

And if the foregoing isn't enough to get you all riled up, read today's Deja Mitchell letter to the editor.

The petition is available for your electronic signature here. Don't forget to provide your zip code, which helps with signature verification, and lets individual legislators know they're hearing from their own constituents.

The floor is now open for reader comments. Surely at least a few of our readers will have something to say about this.

The Topic of Animal Cruelty Moves to the WCF Front-burner

An examination of Sen. Alan Christensen's SB-117

To start out the discussion this morning, we'll put the spotlight on this Voice of Utah blog article, which we think, frankly, is too danged good to miss.

The article revolves around Senator Alan Christensen's proposed SB-117, which pits animal rights activists (including the Humane Society) against Utah farmers and ranchers. Opponents of the bill argue that Sen. Christensen's bill actually weakens existing protection for animals as a practical matter; while the Utah Farm Bureau backs the bill, arguing that it merely protects traditional animal husbandry practices.

Opponents of the bill also contend that a proper "animal cruelty" bill (unlike SB-117) would give prosecutors at least the option to prosecute as a felony on a first offense. (Your Weber County Forum blogmeister leans toward agreeing with the bill's opponents on this point, by the way, in case any of our readers are curious.)

In that connection, check out the the succinct paragraph of reader "Help Us," in the VOU article comments section:

"What if" scenarios do not apply. Logic follows that if you enable a prosecutor the option to employ a felony when considering punishment, he or she will make a decision. We are not talking mandatory minimums...we are saying quit giving the prosecutors empty tool bags!

On the same topic -- and as an added bonus -- we link this ABC-4 webpage, which does a particulaly good job of framing the issues.

So what about it gentle readers? Are there any Utah farmers or ranchers who'd like to comment on this proposed bill? Owners of domestic pets? Connoisseurs of graphic images with clever cartoon balloons? There's a little something for everybody in this article; and we thank the Voice of Utah blog (and the Utah Amicus) for bringing this timely topic to the public discussion front-burner.

More Info on Rep. Hansen's Controversial HJR-15

A few things Hansen critics neglected to mention

By Curmudgeon

The Salt Lake Tribune this morning has more information on Hansen's proposed legislation to couple fixed annual legislative salaries with a gift ban, including some important elements of his plan strangely not mentioned by those disparaging his proposal on WCF. From the Trib article:

One Utah lawmaker suggests banning all lobbyist gifts on one condition - that senators and representatives receive an annual salary rather than the current pay per day in session. At present, Utah's legislators get paid $130 per day in session or interim meetings plus an allowance of $54 for meals, $94 to $107 for hotel (depending on time of year) and 48.5 cents per mile.

Rep. Neil Hansen, D-Ogden, presented HJR15 to the Constitutional Revision Commission Friday, saying he got the idea from a newspaper editorial urging a gift ban and pay raise. Hansen's joint resolution also would require that, if approved by two-thirds majority in the Legislature, the question be put to voters this November, when the presidential election would draw a large turnout.

Still not sure the idea is a good one, but kudos to Rep. Hansen for proposing that the annual salary provision go before the voters as a referendum. A proposal to shift to full time legislators should go before the people first. [Compare, for example, the Republican majority in the last session ramming through a school voucher bill that the public did not want, and forcing voters to mount a difficult and expensive petition campaign simply to get the right to vote on the matter. Which when the public got enough signatures to put the voucher plan on a referendum ballot over the annoyed opposition of the legislature, they voted down resoundingly.]

Why does it not surprise me that it's a Democratic member of the Utah legislature who wants the people to decide, in the end, if the basis for legislators' pay should change or not?

I have to disagree with Hansen on this though: his tying an annual legislative salary to a ban on lobbyists' gifts. I understand the tactical advantage of doing that -- it increases the odds of a gift ban passing significantly. But they really are, or ought to be, separate issues. The legislature ought to pass a gift ban straight up, now, with no strings attached. And it should send Hansen's plan to the voters for their decision, straight up as a stand alone referendum. Each proposal should be considered on its merits, independent of the other.

Comments, anyone?

Straight Talk by Democrat Steve Olsen

Democrats preaching fiscal prudence -- Imagine that

Fantastic Op-ed piece in the Standard-Examiner today, by Steve Olsen of Plain City, former candidate for Utah's 1st District congessional seat. Lots of good stuff to perk up the ears of this lifelong Economic Conservative:

In early February, the Bush administration proposed a massive tax hike, following up on previous record hikes during its tenure to the most regressive, unfair tax in our nation’s history.

You may be asking right now: What planet is this guy living on? The Bush administration can be faulted for a lot of things, but raising taxes surely isn’t one of them.

The tax I’m speaking of is what I call the grandchild tax, otherwise known as deficit spending. Deficit spending is simply a deferred tax, and this tax is especially pernicious. Not only are the Americans who must pay it currently in diapers, but we’ve committed them to pay the interest on these taxes that will accumulate between now and when they start working.

The budget recently presented to Congress included record amounts of over $400 billion per year in deficit spending. This incomprehensible amount actually understates the problem, because Congress continues to use a dishonest sleight of hand by not including the cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in the budget numbers. Add this in, and the deficit over the next two years probably will exceed $1 trillion.

By the time President Bush leaves office, he will have been responsible for adding about $5 trillion to the national debt, thereby doubling it — during a time of prosperity in which we should have been paying down the debt in preparation for the baby boomer retirement bubble that is inexorably heading our way. Rather than providing serious solutions to approaching government insolvency, we’ve borrowed to the hilt and created new, unfunded benefits.

It gets worse. [...]

And indeed it does... Read Steve's full essay here.

A mere ten years ago (except for the mention of GOP President Bush) the argument in today's article could have been the rant of any number of warhorse American GOP political figures, (directed at any number of Democratic party politicians), preaching the doctrine of government fiscal prudence and frugality, back then a mainstay philosophy of the Republican Party. Alas, the philosophical picture has changed drastically in the past decade, as Bush, and his pack of neoCON BIG GOVERNMENT SPENDERS have highjacked the political platform of the GOP Party, and turned the American political terrain (and economy) upside down.

Those of us who are fiscal conservatives shuddered when Dick Cheney said in 2002 that "deficits don't matter;" yet even then we could not imagine how horribly irresponsible Bush and his administration would become. In the ensuing years we've learned the sorry lessons of the Bush administration's misinterpretation of the lessons of Reaganomics. Once installed in office, Bush and his neoCON handlers made mincemeat of classic conservative economic policy. Like kids in a candy store, they were.

Now the Republican Party has become the party of reckless borrowing and spending; and now it's a few Democrats like Steve Olsen who carry the torch of financial prudence.

What a difference a decade makes.

Fantastic article, Steve. Thanks for reminding us that it's our grandchildren who'll ultimately bear the burden of reckless neoCON economic policy.

Don't let the cat get your tongues, gentle readers.

More Evidence of Ogden's Growing Reputation for Mayoral Skullduggery

Salt Lake City Weekly examines State Representive Neil Hansen's proposed 2008 election law reform legislation

By Curmudgeon

The current issue of the SL City Weekly has a longish article headlined: "Ballot Lessons: An Ogden election fiasco prompts proposals to overhaul voting in Utah’s Legislature."

There's much copy on Rep. Hansen's pending bill, on some proposed amendments, and the likelihood of passage, and a flattering photo of Rep. Hansen. Interesting reading. Just more evidence of Ogden's growing reputation for skullduggery under Hizzonah, Mayor Godfrey.

The article can be found here.

Please don't hesitate to chime in with your comments.

Walmart: Convenently Located Adjacent to Ogden's Favorite Strip Club

Project site plan sails through the planning commission and is now headed to the Council for approval

Last week we reported on the sudden announcement of the impending arrival in our Emerald City downtown of a Walmart Super-center. The Standard-Examiner follows up on that story this morning with the report that the store's site plan has already cleared the planning commission, and is now headed for the City Council for approval.

This article, which we confess took us by surprise, seems to indicate that Wal-mart officials are bending their backs to design this store in compliance with Emerald City architectural requirements. Even Robert Arrington, a Wal-mart project planner makes comment about standard Wal-mart design, which he candidly (and derogatorily) refers to as the Wal-mart "blue whales" motif:

OGDEN — The Ogden Planning Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to approve the site plan for the proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter at 1945 Wall Ave.
The commission heard public comment prior to the vote and queried planners about concerns with waste water, street access, the appearance of the store, landscaping and traffic flow.
The 176,000-square-foot building, which will be built on the northeast corner of 20th Street facing Wall Avenue, will be designed to incorporate architectural elements common in other downtown Ogden buildings, said project planner Robert Arrington, of CLC Associates Inc.
"We’re working with the city to get things done,” he said. “It’s been interesting, some of the things we’ve been asked for, but we’ve complied with everything.”
Design and planning requirements have been more stringent in Ogden than in other cities, Arrington said, adding that this was the sixth Wal-Mart he’d worked on in Utah.
“Ogden’s asking for a little more than what’s normal. It would be good to let them (residents) know, this is going to be one of the nicer ones (Wal-Marts),” he said.
The Supercenter will be constructed with Quik-Brik, brick-colored masonry slabs, with a color scheme revolving around reds and light, dark and yellowy browns. Other construction elements will include columns, upper-level windows and ornamental fencing.
City planners acknowledged the urban design conforms with goals outlined by Ogden for the central business district.
“Thank you for leaving the blue off,” joked one commission member, to a chorus of laughter.
“It’s not going to be like other sites, what we call the ‘blue whales,’ Arrington responded. “It’s going to be specific to Ogden.”

We've already had a few comments about this project in the lower article thread; and we'll move those comments over to this new article, just for consistency's sake.

Today's Std-Ex story also includes a site map overview, showing a giant parking lot, which doesn't exactly conform to our preconceived notion of what a new retail business would look like in a "walkable" downtown area. But what do we know about modern urban planning anyway?

Patrons of Ogden's downtown strip-joint will be delighted, we're sure, that access to the new Wal-mart Supercenter will be located just to the south of the club, providing Northern X-posure patrons with the opportunity for a convenient "two for one" entertainment and shopping experience.

If you'd like to offer further comment on this latest chapter in Emerald City's Wal-mart saga, feel free to do it here.

Ogden Financier Gets the Criminal/Civil "Double Whammy"

And some basic investment advice for our LDS brothers and sisters

We've discussed the continuing legal troubles of Ogden "investment broker" Val Southwick on Weber County Forum at various times before; but we learn this morning from the Standard-Examiner that Southwick's legal problems have now kicked into high gear. We incorporate below the essential facts concerning Southwick's latest "double whammy" legal problems, as reported by veteran Std-Ex reporter Tim Gurrister:

OGDEN — Officials simultaneously filed state criminal charges and a federal Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit Wednesday against Ogden financier Val Southwick.

The filings list 817 investors who authorities say were bilked out of an estimated $140 million.

But one of Southwick’s lawyers said it’s possible the 61-year-old real estate speculator has enough assets to repay the money.

Ah yes... there's always that wishful glimmer of hope -- divine intervention, perhaps.

Southwick's jilted investors comprise a broad spectrum of investor types, from sophisticated professionals to "babes in the woods," according to this morning's story:

Southwick and VesCor raised more than $445 million from banks, professional investors and so-called “unsophisticated” investors — nonprofessionals typically entrusting Southwick with their life savings, according to an investigative summary released with the court documents by the Utah Division of Securities.

Here's the part however, that really sticks in our craw:

The summary said Southwick emphasized his membership and ecclesiastical roles in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during solicitation meetings with investors.

“Southwick was touted to investors as a respectable LDS gentleman who was more concerned about the consequences of the after-life than those in this life if he lied to investors,” according to the summary.

“Investors appear to have lost $140 million of their life savings and retirement funds,” division director Wayne Klein said. “The fraudulent elements of the investment scheme remained hidden so long because Southwick kept assuring investors the company was profitable, then solicited money from new investors to pay interest to existing investors.”

We have little sympathy for bankers and professional investors who may have been taken in by Southwick's alleged ponzi scheme; but it's those trusting and financially unsophisticated "little people" for whom this seasoned investor feels the pain.

The fleecing of the flock at the local wardhouse is an all-to-familiar theme here in Utah we believe; and we wonder if devout LDS church-members will ever get wise to the fact that it isn't smart to put blind trust, (let alone your life savings or entire retirement account) into the hands of somebody who says he's real smart, just because you know him from church.

One reader said it best we think, in a comment under an article in today's Deseret Morning News on this same topic: "When you walk into an office full of ANY kind of religious memorabilia, count your fingers before you walk out."

Having said all this, we'll remind our gentle readers that, as to the pending charges, Mr. Southwick enjoys the benefit of the doubt -- and the legal presumption of innocence -- unless or until he's convicted or cops a plea.

Southwick's Vescorp Capital - in happier times:


And what say our gentle readers about all this?

Update 2/7/08 10:28 p.m. MT: The Salt Lake Tribune also has a thorough writeup on this story, followed by a robust set of interesting reader comments.

The Standard-Examiner Editors Practice Caution

Little or no Chamber of Commerce babbitry evident in today's Standard-Examiner editorial

By Curmudgeon

There's an interesting editorial in the Standard-Examiner this morning about the pending development agreement between Ogden and those proposing the hotel/condo and water park projects. I expected [given past performance] that the Std-Ex would do its usual Ogden-Weber Chamber of Commerce booster rah-rah dance and gush with unrestrained enthusiasm for the project. It didn't.

Here are the opening graphs of the editorial:

Ogden's proposed 14-story, 300-room hotel and adjoining water park has the potential to bring in nearly $2 million a year to the city in property taxes -- if, as hoped, the hotel and water park are moneymakers. That could mean $391,000 for the city each year, and $1 million for the Ogden School District, reports the Standard-Examiner's Scott Schwebke. Of course, those numbers are coming from the chief developer, Midtown Development, but if the company delivers it'll be good for Ogden.

The Std-Ex editorial board seems to have learned some caution. The editorial doesn't say the project will bring in $2 million a year in property taxes, only that it has the potential to do that if the projects succeed. And then it adds the further caution that those numbers are coming from the developers, and will materialize only if they can deliver on their claims.

This is significant progress, I think, on the part of the Std-Ex Editorial Board. And it gets better. The editorial notes that:

Part of the package will involve $18 million worth of city-issued bonds to build two parking structures....Ogden City Councilwoman Dorrene Jeske, who has often clashed with Mayor Matthew Godfrey in the past, told the Standard-Examiner's Schwebke she's "pleased that Ogden is at the point where it doesn't have to use tax increment to entice businesses to come."

But then the editorial continues:

True, the $18 million for the parking structures won't be repaid with tax-increment funding, but the mechanism is comparable: The city would create a "special assessment" area, levying an assessment against properties in the location to be improved -- the hotel and water park, as well as other developments that would use the parking -- to repay the costs of the projects. The continued financial well-being of the hotel and water park will be necessary for the city-issued bonds to be repaid in full.

No dissembling, no slight of hand. The board says flat out, right in front of god and everybody, that if the projects go belly up, the city [i.e. the ratepayers] will be on the hook for paying of that $18 million on bonds for parking to service the two projects. Admirably straightforward.

The editorial goes on, of course, to imply [it never really comes out clearly on the matter] that the City Council's apparent intent to ratify the development agreement is a prudent one. And sadly, [to paraphrase Dan S. slightly] "the white elephant in the room" --- the extent to which the project's success depends upon the success of Mayor Godfrey's flatland urban gondola between downtown and WSU --- is not discussed at all, nor is the related worrisome language in the development agreement: ""The city understands and agrees that the Developer is relying on the location of the Gondola Stop as a material factor in deciding to build the project." Does that mean the city has accepted responsibility for arranging for the gondola line to be built? That its [i.e. the Mayor's] assurances on this matter are part of the agreement between the city and the developers? It could be read to mean that. On this, the Std-Ex board sadly says nothing.

But still, the editorial shows, I think, a laudable evolution of caution on the Std-Ex Editorial Board vis-a-vis developers' claims and promises, and a laudable willingness to indicate the risks involved in city participation in such projects. The editorial, in short -- though it reaches a conclusion I would probably not have reached, at least not yet -- is not the Chamber of Commerce Babbitry I was expecting. I hope the Std-Ex's tendency to look upon developers' promises and claims with at least a partially gimlet and jaundiced eye is a harbinger of even better things to come from the Board down the road.

Comments, anyone?

Ouch! Another Ogden Airport Operator Bites the Dust

Silver State Helicopters closes its doors and files for bankruptcy

It's definitely been a bad month at the Ogden Airport for businesses involved in the civil aviation industry. First, Adam Aircraft fell into financial freefall in January. Now we learn that Ogden-Hinkley Airport's resident helicopter school is calling it quits for good. We include below the pertinent paragraphs from this morning's Standard-Examiner story:

OGDEN — A national helicopter pilot school with a campus at Ogden-Hinckley Airport fired all of its employees and closed its doors Sunday night, leaving students stranded with thousands of dollars in loans.

After watching the Super Bowl, Garett Oberg, an Ogden resident and student at Silver State Helicopters, said he found the school’s secretary had left him a voice mail.

“They said there’s no school for a week because Silver State was having a problem with a financial backer,” he said.

On Monday, the school was locked up, the Web site had a news release declaring bankruptcy, and the answering machine had a message for the aspiring pilots: “If you’re a student at Silver State, we recommend you contact a lawyer immediately.”

What a difference a couple of months make. As recently as 11/26/07, Silver State Helicopter press releases were touting the company as one of the high fliers in the U.S. economy:

Silver State Helicopters has been named as one of the fastest-growing companies in the country by Inc. magazine's 2007 Inc. 500 list. Silver State Helicopters ranked number 243 among the Inc 500 as well as ranked fourth in the Inc 500's Top Companies in Transportation.

Silver State Helicopters achieved a six-year sales growth from 2001 to 2007 of 963.4 percent with revenues growing to $78.1 million in 2006. As the fastest-growing rotorcraft company in the world, Silver State Helicopters has a business model that is unequaled by any other in the industry. The company has the largest flight training institution in the country with the additional commercial operations that include search and rescue, air ambulance, cargo transportation, seismic exploration, law enforcement air support, agriculture, fire fighting and many other services.

"It is an honor to be ranked again among some of the most dynamic businesses in the country," said Jerry Airola, president of Silver State Helicopters. "The growth and the strength of the company is a testament to the incredible team we have here at Silver State Helicopters."

The Inc. 500 ranks U.S.-based privately-held companies according to revenue growth from 2003 through 2006. To qualify, companies must have had at least $200,000 in revenue in 2003 and at least, $2 million in 2006. The Inc. 500 is a prescient indicator of the companies and industries that are driving the economy forward.

Now this erstwhile "up and coming" company will apparently be doing all its high flying in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

We'll offer a helpful tip for those youngsters among our readership who've never experienced an economic recession: this is what recessions look like at the outset. Expect more stories like these in the coming months. Just a helpful hit from yer old pal Rudi.

That advice goes double for our Emerald City Council/RDA Board, as they blithely continue to commit millions of public dollars to numbskull public projects and schemes, without so much as running a credit check on project promoters and/or schemers.

Reader comments are invited, as always. We know you're out there; we can hear you breathing.

Powder Mountain Petition Reminder

Put your electronic signature on the online petition before it's too late

For the benefit of those who may have missed it down-page, we posted an article on Sunday, updating the Powder Mountain development situation, and urged our readers to sign Ogden Valley Forum's online petition, asking state legislators to pass legislation to thwart developers from engaging in the rape of Ogden Valley, one of the most flat-out gorgeous mountain valleys remaining in America.

For those readers who missed our Sunday article, here's the link.

And for those readers who already know the score about Powder Mountain's attempt to impose town incorporation upon unwilling citizens of unincorporated Weber County, in order to circumvent county planning ordinances, you can go straight to the petition here.

Please don't sit on your heels on this, gentle readers. Time is running out; and as Roy City's Ernest D. Smith expressed in yesterday's Std-Ex letter to the editor, the Powder Mountain developer's aggressive action to abuse the defects in the provisions of last year's flawed HB-466 adversely affects all of us downstream in Weber County and neighboring counties.

Don't forget to include your zip code.

Thanks!

Adam Aircraft Ain't Sayin 'Nuttin" About Rescue Refinancing

One of the key tenants at the Ogden Airport still won't disclose whether they're broke or not

Adam Aircraft is once again front page news in the Standard-Examiner business section this afternoon,(strangely enough) with a fine Scott Schwebke story, neatly summarizing the current situation with the financially-plagued Ogden Airport airplane manufacturer. Even more strangely however, the major news of the day is that there is no news on the results of Adam's eleventh hour efforts to obtain $30.5 milllion in new operating capital by the end of January. The Std-Ex headline says all: "Adam Aircraft mum on quest for cash." Here's today's story lead:

OGDEN — Adam Aircraft Industries plans to disclose later this week its progress in raising $30.5 million to keep the company operational.

Shelly Simi, a spokeswoman for Adam, declined Monday to say whether the company had met its self-imposed deadline for obtaining the funding by the end of January.

Our take on this? Adam officials would be crowing now, if they'd successfully obtained the new financing. The plain fact that they're NOT doing that doesn't bode well [sigh].

We'll also remind our readers that Ace Reporter Schwebke doesn't tell us whether he obtained this information by actually interviewing Ms. Simi, or whether he googled (at long last) and got his info from one of the several articles on the net like this. Gawd knows the Std-Ex is loathe to admit that it ever lifted an element of story from lowly WCF.

Interestingly, our favorite Std-Ex Ace Reporter finally tangentially mentions that the founder and heretofore CEO of Adam Aircraft mysteriously left Adam in August, just as we reported earlier here.

As an added bonus for today we link this article from USA Today, published a little less than a year ago, touting the founder an then CEO Rick Adam. Here is that article's information on the company founder (article loads slowly). Hard to believe a smart guy with such a track record of building succesful companies might have been forced out by the Adam Board of Directors for a lack of business acumen, as some on WCF have suggested.

We're still wondering how it could be that the company founder, who led the company from its founding in 1998, could have fled his company in August 2007.

As to Ace Reporter Schwebke's latest article we'll also say this: Last week, gentle reader Curmudgeon suggested thusly (paraphrasing): "The Adam Aircraft story belongs on the "business page."

And lo and behold; there it is today! Kudos the the Std-Ex for finally taking WCF advice; and congratulations to Ace Reporter Schwebke for morphing into a Std-Ex business page contributor.

We're always here to help.

More Adam Aircraft Troubles

Plane Manufacturer Owes City For Lack Of Jobs

From yesterday's article on manufacturing.net:

PUEBLO, Colo. (AP) — The city is seeking to reclaim $2.37 million in incentives to Adam Aircraft, which fell short of promises to provide 448 local jobs for seven years.

Layoffs wiped out most of its local work force.

The privately owned aircraft developer said last month that it laid off 170 employees in Centennial, 80 in Pueblo and 50 in Ogden, Utah. Its plant in Pueblo was manufacturing tail sections for planes.

The company was given three years to create the jobs in Pueblo before facing potential fees for missing the target. The ramp-up period ended Feb. 6, 2006. Adam Aircraft could get credit for employing between 80 and 90 people, though, City Manager David Galli said.

The city was waiting for an official head count from the company before deciding how much to seek in repayment.

"Our goal now is to make sure we protect the city's investment and we're prepared to do whatever we need to do to get the taxpayers' money back," Galli said.

The city had made $3 million available to the company from collections of a half-cent sales tax for economic development, based on Adam's promise that it would provide 448 employees for seven years or pay for the shortfall every quarter, Galli said.

Of the $3 million, about $2.37 million was spent on a building and equipment to lure the company to town. Galli said the city owns the building and has placed liens on equipment Adam purchased with the money.

Query: How much, exactly, is Ogden City out of pocket to lure Adam Aircraft to town?

And can we see by a show of hands just how many of our gentle readers believe that Adam Aircraft will be re-hiring its laid-off Ogden employees in the spring?

So many questions; so few answers.

An Opportunity for the Lumpencitizens to Throw in Their Two Cents

An invitation to help our beleaguered City Council/RDA Board with the latest Boss Godfrey development agreement

The Midtown at the Junction Hotel project is again in the Emerald City news this morning, with this Scott Schwebke story, from which we incorporate the essential facts:

OGDEN — The developers of a proposed 300-room downtown hotel and adjoining indoor water park would be responsible for repaying $18 million in bonds that may be issued to build two parking facilities for the project, according to a city official.
Ogden may establish two special assessment areas for parking at the proposed 14-story Midtown Village at The Junction hotel at the northwest corner of 23rd Street and Washington Boulevard and a 32,000-square-foot water park planned across the street, said Richard Mc-Conkie, the city’s deputy director of community and economic development.
A special assessment area is a designated location in which the market value of real estate is enhanced by public improvement projects, McConkie said. A special assessment is levied against properties in the improvement area to cover the costs of the projects. [...]
The responsibility for repaying the bonds would rest with Midtown Development, Wave Development and possibly other businesses that may be served by the parking facilities, McConkie said. [...]
The Ogden Redevelopment Agency Board, made up of the city council, may vote on a development agreement for the Midtown Village hotel Feb. 12.

We've tangentially discussed this proposed development agreement before, in various lower comments sections; but we believe the publication of today's Std-Ex story presents an ideal opportunity to bring this document to the Weber County Forum floor for a more focused examination; and we're going to go ahead and do just that. We're hoping that our community-minded readers will all roll up their sleeves and chip in their own 2¢. Any terms or provisions that our readers reasonably believe to be problematic, we'll be sure to pass on to our Emerald City Council/RDA Board, prior to February 12. We know our city legislature loves to hear from us -- and frankly -- we believe they need all the help they can get.

The full text pdf document can be viewed here. It's a fat document; so please be patient while it loads.

For starters, several readers have already raised red flags in comments and emails about paragraph 2.9.1 of the document, which appears beneath the section heading labeled "2. 9 Urban Gondola." The last sentence of that paragraph contains this language: "The city understands and agrees that the Developer is relying on the location of the Gondola Stop as a material factor in deciding to build the project."

Although the subject paragraph begins with conditional language ("...if and when the Urban Gondola is built..." ), we do believe our readers have a valid point in raising their objections to the inclusion of this language in the proposed development agreement. The term "material inducement" is a legal term of art, implying that the RDA Board (or its negotiator & RDA Director Boss Godfrey) may have made representations of fact to the developer during negotiations which are not set forth in the document itself. We've scoured the web for a good reference to the potential legal implications of this; and we believe we've found an accurate and succinct description of the nature of the problem here.

Express representations are statements of material fact, made by one party to induce the other to agree to the contract. Often these are oral statements made during negotiations. Sometimes a prudent party will insist that representation be recited in the contract itself and declared to be a "material inducement" to the agreement. If the representation later proves to have been misleading or inaccurate, the party who relied on it might have a claim for misrepresentation (intentional or negligent).

In truth, we really don't know the precise nature of representations that might have been made to the developer during negotiations. We do however know, from eight years experience, the nature of Boss Godfrey himself, and that his style is expansive and grandiose -- and sneaky. Inasmuch as the failure of the above-stated "material inducement" provision (predicated upon construction of an urban gondola) could conceivably spring forth an array of legal remedies for the developer (actions for breach of contract, rescission, fraud, etc.), we believe the objections of the several readers who have already chimed in on the subject are well taken, and we do hope the Council/RDA Board will at the very least run this provision by their independent legal counsel.

Okay, we've now gotten the ball rolling on this; and we'd now like to hear from our gentle readers, some of whom have been champing at the bit for a week for a dedicated discussion thread on this topic.

The floor is open. Let the discussion begin.

Don't let the cat get your tongues.

Powder Mountain Development Update

Invitation to sign a petition

Several items in the weekend news, concerning the ongoing Powder Mountain development story.

First we'll highlight this morning's Standard-Examiner article, wherein Marshall Thompson reports that the developers of the Powder Mountain Resort have produced a feasibility study report, in support of their municipal annexation petition. We incorporate here the lead paragraphs from the article:

OGDEN — Powder Mountain owners released the results of their privately commissioned feasibility study Friday showing the ski resort could become a viable municipality if the developers provided cash upfront.

If Western America Holding, LLC, coughs up $750,000 for its proposed town government, there would be no need to levy an additional municipal property tax or telecommunication tax on the residents, the study said.

“Assuming creation of a fund from prepayment of development fees, there is adequate funding to allow the newly incorporated town to operate through the end of Fiscal Year 2012,” the report read. “If resort development does not begin in 2009 as planned, there will be adequate time for the Town Council to dissolve the town or identify alternative revenue sources or expenditure saving to allow the town to continue.”

We're just speculating on this, but it's likely that the production of this report represents a proactive attempt on the part of the developers to anticipate the passage of one of the two remedial bills which are now pending in the state legislature, each of which contains provisions referring to a county-required feasibility study. An article in yesterday's Voice of Deseret blog provides information about these two bills, along with links to several recent northern Utah news articles:

The now infamous HB466 created the problem. Passed by the Utah State Legislature, it liberalized the criteria required for a developer to form a town. Rep. Mel Brown (R-Coalville) sponsored the original law, but now that he's seen how predatory developers have abused it, both in the Wasatch Valley, and now up in the Ogden Valley, he's submitted a draft bill, HB164, which changes HB466 by stiffening the requirements for incorporation. On the Senate side, Sen. Dennis Stowell (R-Parowan), has already produced SB25 to accomplish the same purpose. It's probably a good thing it's also being worked in the Senate, because, according to the Tribune, the House bill has stalled, most likely to reconcile it with the Senate version.

We received an email yesterday from our friends and cohorts at Ogden Valley Forum, requesting that we direct our readers' attention to an online petition, directed at the above-referenced senate bill. We accordingly provide the text of this message below:

We have a new petition available to all residents and property owners in the state, but more specifically Weber County residents. We would love to have your readers sign the petition, which is available here.

We urge all Weber County Forum readers who are concerned about the quick passage of a bill curing the defects of last year's HB-466 to visit the site, and to affix their signatures to this online petition. As of the time of this posting, the petition had already registered 71 signatures.

As for the legal effect of the feasibility study report discussed in this morning's Standard-Examiner story, we suppose we'll have to wait and see how it all shakes out.

Back to the Pioneer Days for Parts of Ogden City

5,000 households in Ogden deal with no running water during a harsh winter

Although Emerald City citizens have been generally aware of the dilapidated condition of our city's water infrastructure for a number of years, a substantial number of Ogden residents (5,000 households, perhaps) had the opportunity to deal with the problem up close and personal within the past few days, following the failure of an Ogden Canyon water main nine days ago. Here's a re-run of that news on this story:

The Standard-Examiner first reported the water main breakdown story on the morning of January 25, in an article entitled "Third of Ogden out of water".

Although Ogden City public works crews quickly responded to the site of the leak, we learned on January 26 that the repair remained incomplete, inasmuch as the trench containing the failed pipe and valve had at some point in time been (strangely we thought) "encased in concrete."

The following day, the Std-Ex reported that the earlier-reported "concrete encasement" had slowed the repair project down considerably. It was also in this same article we learned that it wasn't merely the water main which was "rotted out;" the control valve (once again strangely encased in concrete) was apparently "rusty". We also learned that the concrete which had apparently been poured around the leaky valve and pipe was, quoting the Std-Ex article... "an eight foot wall of concrete."

Ask yourselves, gentle readers, why anyone would pour a wall of concrete around a leaky valve in a 36" water main pipe? Never mind. We already know the answer.

It was about this same time that various schools and gyms in Ogden graciously opened up their doors, showers and commodes, for the 5,000 or so Ogden households who were getting a little bit ripe, shower-wise, and might have also needed to use the bathroom -- other than the one in their own back-yard.

Then, on February 1, we were informed by the Std-Ex that the water was back "on," although pipes and valves started blowing out downstream, due to the repaired infrastructure upstream.

How funny. The repaired leaky hardware upstream is increasing water pressure downstream, and blowing out other dilapidated pipes and valves which are also in serious need of repair.

Perhaps Blessed Boss Godfrey will appear everywhere there are leaks, and put his little magic finger in the dyke, heheh.

And then today, the Standard Examiner reports that the water isn't "quite" on yet. Maybe Monday.

We had a couple of thoughts about this; and we were about to wax on about it, until we stumbled upon today's Std-Ex letter to the editor by the inimitable Tom Owens:

Mr. Owens expresses our exact sentiments, in his letter today, with this.

And what say our gentle readers on this topic?

The Presidential Candidate of Your Choice May Not Appear on the November Ballot

One gentle reader reminds everyone to vote in Tuesday's presidential primary

By Rebel With A Cause

Because on Tuesday twenty states, including Utah, will be voting on each party's candidate for president of the U.S., let me diverge from the continuing mischief, etc. going on here and talk about the depressing prospect of the presidential election. Both of the Democrats' candidates are promising to reinstate all previous taxes, which is a sure ticket to a recession. They talk about bringing back the troops immediately, as in the Vietnam fiasco. While the Republican establishment and the media are foisting John McCain down our throats.

As an example consider the response Bill Crystal made when asked after the South Carolina and New Hampshire primaries in which McCain won, who he thought would be the eventual Republican winner? He answered "McCain. He has won 2 states. No one else has." Right. At that point Romney had won 3, Michigan, Wyoming, and Nevada, and had the greatest number of delegates. But those facts were not mentioned. Also, just before the voting in Florida, the governor and Congressman Martinez endorsed McCain, but nary a word was mentioned about Connie Mack's endorsement of Romney.( He is another congressman from Florida.)

The latest McCain TV ad promotes him as a war hero and a conservative. Untrue on both counts. According to the Vietnam Veterans Against McCain, he was a collaborator with the enemy to save his own skin, and he broke the rules of air combat procedure by returning to the same target, after missing it the first time,getting shot down as a result of poor judgment. That doesn't constitute a hero in my book. Then consider his McCain-Feingold Bill, his McCain- Kennedy (amnesty)Bill, and his McCain-Leiberman Bill, all bills he sponsored with Democrats, and recently stated that he would still sign the amnesty bill if he were president (Hardly a conservative position.)

Romney would oppose such bills, build a border fence, be smarter on the economy,save American sovereignty and the Constitution, like he saved the Olympics while in SLC. But not being a member of the Council On Foreign Relations and the One World Order crowd, like the Bushes and Clintons, he is marginalized by the press in a most unfair manner, and thus putting him at a great disadvantage. Depressing, isn't it?

Remember to vote on Tuesday, Feb.5

The candidate of your choice might not be on tne ballot in November.

Editorial note: The above article has been elevated from one of our lower comments sections. Although off-topic in the lower thread, we believe this article is sufficient in form and substance to stand as a main article. We'll also take the editorial liberty of adding a few links. We've had little discussion of presidential politics on Weber County Forum to date, and we thought this article presented the ideal opportunity to provoke such a conversation on on our normally non-party-partisan community blog. Please take additional note that this article does not necessarily represent the views of your blogmeister; and neither does it constitute an implied forum endorsement of any presidential candidate.

More Strange Tales Re Floundering Aircraft Manufacturer Adam Aircraft

The company's founder and CEO jumped ship in August

Over the past two weeks, Weber County Forum has devoted a fair amount of electronic ink to the travails of Adam Aircraft, the Ogden Airport's key manufacturing tenant, from the company's announced layoffs on January 17, to Wednesday's revelation that the company had warned stockholders that the company might be two short days from possible liquidation.

We now learn this morning from the Denver Post that Rick Adam, the company's founder and CEO, left the company in August, to to pursue "his next entrepreneurial venture." The article does not tell us whether Mr. Adam retains any financial interest in Adam Aircraft, or whether he instead disposed of such interests (sold his stock) prior to his departure, and before it had become publicly apparent that his company was in deep financial doo-doo.

Hmmmm....

It never ceases to amaze us what we stumble upon whilst googling.

Comments, anyone?

Ogden "Snags" a Downtown Wal-mart

Boss Godfrey's mushroom dream to be fulfilled

We've discussed the possible arrival in Emerald City of a Wal-mart Supercenter so many times over the past few years that today's Standard-Examiner story seems almost anticlimactic. But here's the announcement that many of us have been dreading, under the headline, "Ogden snags its very own Wal-Mart." Walmart's coming to town, just as Boss Godfrey predicted back in January of 2005. Here's the lead setup, straight from this morning's Ace Reporter Schwebke morning piece:

OGDEN — Developer Gadi Leshem will present site plans to the city’s planning commission next week for a proposed 176,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter at the northwest corner of 20th Street and Wall Avenue.
Plans call for the store to occupy about 17 acres, said Greg Montgomery, the city’s planning manager. The property, which is owned by Leshem, is already zoned for retail.
Several buildings on the property will have to be demolished before construction on the store can begin, possibly later this year, Mayor Matthew Godfrey said in a phone interview Thursday from Las Vegas, where he was attending the Snowsports Industries of America annual trade show.
The store would generate $700,000 to $1 million a year in property and sales tax revenue for the city, as well help rejuvenate downtown, he said.

As our Ogden city center proceeds with its urban revival, we suppose we can forget the images of Gucci, Cartier and Prada. A year from now instead, Emerald City will have the Wal-mart brand endelibly stamped all over it.

Anticipating the lumpencitizens' possible uneasiness about the addition of Wal-mart tackiness to our snazzy new downtown, Ace reporter Schwebke offers soothing words of reassurance:

Leshem could not be reached for comment Thursday. However, his spokesman, Alex Auerbach, said Leshem is pleased by how negotiations are proceeding with Wal-Mart.
The city won’t provide Leshem or Wal-Mart any financial incentives for construction of the supercenter, Godfrey said.
The city’s Redevelopment Agency has obtained and transferred purchase options for at least 38 parcels within the second phase of the Ogden River Project to Leshem for the construction of Renaissance Village, a proposed 60- to 80-acre mixed-use development.
The Wal-Mart site is outside the boundaries of the river project and is not one of the 38 parcels.
The Wal-Mart store, which would have architecture that would complement downtown historic buildings, would help increase trade for other local businesses, Auerbach said.
Wal-Mart is also committed to participating in an initiative to clean up a two-mile section of the Ogden River downtown as part of a project being spearheaded by Leshem, he said.

As to the issue of whether this new downtown big box store will help increase trade for other local businesses and otherwise be good for Emerald City, let's just say that remains a matter of some debate.

So what say our gentle readers about all this?