Powder Mountain Update: Misguided neoCON Soul Spouts Off in the Standard-Examiner

Poor old Russ Brown attempts to "pull rank" on Valley "newcomers" with unspecified aristocratic genealogy

Disappointing letter in today's Standard-Examiner from a misguided soul from West Haven, by the name of Russ Brown. This "deep thinker," who's probably never even visited Ogden Valley in his whole pathetic life, nevertheless offers his unfettered views about un-reigned growth in Ogden Valley. Descending as he claims to be from the "founding fathers," he attempts to "pull rank" with his dubious yet unspecified aristocratic genealogy, and assaults recent Ogden Valley "newcomer" arrivees (some from godless California, by god) who've invested their own cash, and spiffed up their properties under the rules of the existing General Plan, hoping to make our pristine and bucolic Ogden Valley their comfortable final home. How dare they oppose untrammelled growth, says Mr. Brown. Adding insult to injury, he offers up standard canned "neoCON truisms," such as these:

Companies like Powder Mountain will bring us great opportunities -- jobs that will keep our children close to home, tax revenues that improve our schools, and our quality of life.

Living as he does in West Haven, he has no skin in the game, so it's thus possible for him to spout off, and make broad unthinking statements about a subject he plainly knows absolutely nothing about. And far be it from him to respect the views of Weber County residents in communities other than his own, when they act to protect their own community interests.

The poor schmuck obviously has no knowledge of the dangerous Powder Mountain access road; and no understanding of the dangers of multiplying the density in the fragile Ogden Valley mountain desert environment by a factor of at least ten. Likewise, he exhibits no obvious comprehension at all about the scores of other issues that make the massive proposed Powder Mountain Development a disastrous fit for Ogden Valley. Simply put, this poor fellow simply spouts the usual neoCON pap, probably hoping, at the least, that his own West Haven property values will go up, in the wide wake of this mindless proposed megadevelopment. Perhaps he'd feel differently, if a similar development invasion were happening in his own back yard. Who knows however. It is possible that a guy like this could be a hopeless and impractical corporo-fascist ideologue, we suppose.

Nevertheless, it's probably fair to speculate that this poor fellow's views are not so different from many ambivalent citizens of Weber County who actually have no clue what's going on in Ogden Valley right now.

Those of us in Weber County who are attuned to the nuances of this issue obviously have much remaining to do even now. We need to sing our song to the high heavens, and edumacate everyone in Weber County about this issue. So far, the message doesn't seem to have yet sunk in, judging from today's Russ Brown missive.

Any ideas about we can all do, other than writing letters to the County Commission, blogging incessantly and hiring skywriters? People like Russ Brown aren't necessarily evil, we think... just ill-educated. And we suspect they remain numerous.

And if any of our gentle readers know this "Russ Brown" person, give him a thump in the skull, c/o Rudi.

Don't let the cat get your tongues.

Proposed Solutions for the Northern Utah Police Fuel Price Crisis

Chief Greiner's proposed draconian solution faces off with some less publicly burdensome alternatives

A couple of weeks back, we focused on another dire consequence of the current fuel price crisis, noting that upwardly-spiraling gas prices are putting a crimp in northern Utah police department budgets. The OPD fuel budget, in particular, reportedly suffered a $130 thousand shortfall during the past fiscal year, according to this July 6 Standard-Examiner story.

But we learn from yesterday's Std-Ex story (The SL-Trib has the AP version this morning too) that Ogden City Police Chief Greiner hasn't been simply twiddling his thumbs while the situation's continued to fester however. He's put on his thinking cap, and has come up with this possible solution: A traffic ticket surcharge. Here's more from yesterday's Sam Cooper story:

OGDEN — With record fuel prices stretching budgets, two police agencies in the Top of Utah are considering proposing a fuel surcharge on some traffic violations to help offset rising costs.
Ogden Police Chief Jon Greiner said Friday he would like to add the surcharge to traffic tickets and accident-related citations, but is awaiting a legal review of the idea before moving forward. Adding the charge would require the city council to adopt a new city ordinance, he said. [...]
With uncertainty about future energy costs and the possibility of a full year of $4-a-gallon gasoline, the additional revenue could help the agency avoid making cuts in other areas.
A $20 surcharge on tickets associated with traffic accidents could generate between $55,000 and $60,000 per year, Greiner said.

Chief Greiner isn't entirely sure this idea is legal however. The story further reports that he has the Ogden City Attorney's office checking it out.

A traffic ticket surcharge? Why not? It seems a another clever way to squeeze a little more milk from the trusty Justice Court Cash Cow. With thousands of motorists blithely driving around Ogden every day, the lumpencitizens are ripe for the pickings.

Still, Chief Greiner's solution seemed a mite heavy handed, we thought, particularly in these hard economic times, as more than a few lumpencitizens are scrambling to put food on the family dinner table. It's one thing to milk the Godfrey administration cash cow; and quite another to march her down to the slaughter-house, we think. And being the curious type, we googled, and came up with this interesting story from yesterday's online New York Times edition, discussing how other U.S. police agencies are coping with the fuel price crisis:

As Gas Prices Rise, Police Turn to Foot Patrols

Police officers walking a beat? Now there's a novel and innovative idea. Whether it will catch on with the Chief, who patrols Ogden's streets in his air-conditioned Cadillac we don't know. And whether it would be popular for patrol officers who'd be required to "hoof it" for a few shifts every week (and mingle with the citizenry) remains another unanswered question. Foot patrolling isn't the only innovation mentioned in the article however.

Lest we be accused of being dreaded naysayers, who never come up with alternative solutions, how about something like this:


OPD could buy two or three of these fast, agile and fuel efficient (51 mpg urban/64 mpg highway) American-made Buell "police specials" for the price of every one of its present passenger sedan gas-guzzlers; and we doubt this cool and sexy mode of transportation would find much objection among patrol officers. Most of the traditional squad cars could be mothballed for the warmer summer months, and the OPD could thus save beau coup fuel bucks.

And what say our readers about all this? Are there any among the intellectual giants of Weber County Forum who have other creative police agency fuel saving ideas?

Article Spotlight: Two Public Transit Oriented Stories From This Morning's SL-Trib

Utah Rail Transit priorities -- Present and Future

By Curmudgeon

Two interesting stories in this morning's Salt Lake Tribune, on Frontrunner and the impact it's had already, and the future of rail transit in Utah.

The first article discusses the surprising Saturday traffic Frontrunner carries between Ogden and Salt Lake City. Just about the same number of people as it carries on Monday through Friday [commuter heavy days]. This in particular caught my eye:

Saturday trains carried an average of 7,113 people in June, compared with 7,809 on weekdays. FrontRunner does not run on Sundays.
The train has inspired a wave of intrastate tourism, and as many day-trippers are heading north to Ogden as are riding south to the bigger city, said Paul O'Brien, Utah Transit Authority rail general manager. "People get off the train [in Ogden] and ask, 'Where's a good place to eat lunch around here?' " O'Brien said.

The question is, is Ogden doing anything actively to promote, tap, assist the pleasure travelers riding the rails north?

The second article discusses the Wasatch Front's need to invest a great deal more in rail infrastructure over the next decades than in road construction, or we will find ourselves in a competitive disadvantage of significant size. Here's a taste:

The Salt Lake region and the other burgeoning "megapolitan" areas of the Intermountain West need renewed federal cooperation to build more such connections, the Washington-based Brookings Institution finds in its latest metropolitan study, "Mountain Megas: America's Newest Metropolitan Places and a Federal Partnership to Help Them Prosper." If Congress continues to shrink from infrastructure spending and to insist its money go mostly to roads, Brookings scholars predict Utah could sprawl in ways that choke productivity. The Salt Lake region must keep up with 1.5 million newcomers over 30 years.

Comments?

Chewy Trentelman Column on the "Costs" of Progress

Progress, or something: Watching the passing scene fade

By Curmudgeon

Charles Trentelman has a chewy "Wasatch Rambler" column this Sunday morning, discussing the difference between change and progress and balancing what might be gained by development [broadly considered] and what might be lost. Here's a taste:

I know: If we don't grow, we die. Quit fighting progress. Don't slam the door after you come in. People in Ogden Valley used to talk like that. They dreamed of growth making them rich. In a way, it did. They're all living in million-dollar homes and eating oatmeal because of their newly inflated property taxes. Now they're trying desperately to slam the door on that Powder Mountain city proposal....

Change happens, but the question has to be asked: Is losing the things we love worth what we get? Are city planners protecting what really matters? Is it even possible to slam that door?

Thoughtful piece of Sunday morning reading. Worth more than a glance.

Amy Wicks: Utah's #1 City Council Hottie

Ogden's Council Chairwoman finishes first amongst a field of five extremely well-qualified Utah city council hotties

Well, the most most recent Elected Hotties Blog contest is now concluded. All the votes are logged and tallied. So who's the "hottest" city councilwoman in Utah, according to the expert readers of that most-excellent blog?

Ogden City's own City Council Chair Amy Wicks -- that's who.

This from this morning's Elected Hotties announcement:

Our 20th Elected Hottie won a major battle of north vs. south over the past two weeks. An aggressive campaign to elect St. George Councilwoman Suzanne Allen got under way shortly after our poll was launched. But Amy had her share of local support, too.
So, what makes Amy so hot? Here we go:
According to her bio, she's been elected twice to the Ogden City Council and is the council's chairwoman. She works for the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome and was interviewed last week by STLtoday. When she's not debating the future of Ogden's water system, she loves (deep breath) snowboarding, skiing, mountain biking, hiking, climbing and whitewater kayaking.

We of Ogden of course always knew that Amy is always a top vote-getter. She finished #1 of all council candidates in last year's municipal election, after all. This, despite having no significant campaign warchest. And her unique combo of brains, athleticism, charm and, yes, danged good looks always seems to propel her to the top, as the true "woman of the people" that she is, just as it did in this most recent instance. Everybody in Ogden loves Amy, save Boss Godfrey, Bob Geiger, a few scattered Gondolist relics -- and prominent Ogden City Godfreyite Jay Cavendish, of course.

Even considering her formidable Ogden City electoral achievements these past eight years, we believe this latest achievement is particularly "special," coming as it does, from a Utah political blog which never indulges in political acrimony, and instead focuses entirely on the fun side of Utah politics.

Amy Wicks -- THE HOTTEST OF THE HOT!

Write it down so you don't forget it, Boss Godfrey.

We invite you all to prowl the Elected Hotties site through the link we've provided above. Once you've done that, we believe you'll fully come to understand what we mean when we tout this most remarkable voter-generated achievement. Everyone in the competition is definitely most hot, wethinks.

Our beloved City Council Chairwoman won a tightly-contested race here, indeed.

Comments, anyone?

Vacant House Burns in Ogden River Project Neighborhood

Ogden Fire Department resources wasted due to the negligence of one Ogden property owner

Tantalizing article in this morning's Standard-Examiner, regarding a house fire in the neighborhood adjacent to the Ogden River -- 262 W. 20th St. -- to be exact. It seems this vacant residential property had been occupied at the time of the fire by three "transients," who were escorted from the burning structure by responding Ogden City firefighters, and later interviewed by police and a fire marshal in connection with the incident. The structure had been slated for demolition, the article says.

This set our minds to speculating, of course; and we wondered whether this particular property might have been one of absentee property owner Gadi Leshem's River Project properties, about which the Standard-Examiner's Don Porter complained in this fine and hard-hitting April Editorial:

"Roll out the bulldozer".

As anyone who is familiar with real estate management is well aware, vacant properties are prime targets for arson, along with the full range of other criminal activities which occur when properties are left abandoned and unattended. In this instance it's clear that Ogden City Fire Department resources were unnecessarily wasted on Friday, due to one landowner's apparent negligence in failing to secure and/or demolish his abandoned derelict property.

This brings us back to the fundamental questions, of course: Does this property belong to Leshem? If so, nobody can argue that he wasn't forewarned. We don't like to point the finger, but we do believe this is a question which needs to be answered.

Can any of our gentle readers shed any additional light on this? Is there an Ogden firefighter-WCF reader in the house this morning?

Whomever the landowner turns out to be however, we hope Ogden Fire Chief Mike Mathieu promptly sends him a hefty bill.

And what about our Ogden City administration's code enforcement responsibility in this? How many other unattended properties along the Ogden River front are vulnerable to similar incidents?

Update 7/19/08 11:31 a.m. MT: One of our sharp and resourceful readers takes our above query out of the realm of speculation, and confirms that the offending subject property indeed belongs to Leshem. This from gentle reader Southsider in the lower comments section (per the Weber County Parcel Search Engine): "LESHEM, MIRI TRUSTEE".

The Godfrey crony plot sickens.

Governor's Office Approves $8.3 Million Tax Incentive Package

GOED puts bags of taxpayer cash on the table, to lure an international airplane maintenance and repair heavyweight to Ogden

Great economic news for Ogden City this morning, with this front page Standard-Examiner article, reporting that the Governor's Office of Economic Development (GOED) has followed through on the story reported last May, and approved a multi-million dollar incentive package to lure an international airplane maintenance and repair heavyweight to Ogden's Hinkley Airport. We incorporate Jeff Demoss's lead paragraphs below:

OGDEN — The state has approved a package of incentives totaling more than $8.3 million to secure Ogden-Hinckley Airport as the expansion site for an international airplane maintenance and repair company.
The Business Development Board in the Governor’s Office of Economic Development approved the incentives for the Swiss company Jet Aviation at a Friday meeting.
The incentives would be awarded on a post-performance basis, meaning the company would have to meet specific benchmarks in terms of jobs and other economic contributions to get the money.

According to this morning's story, Jet Aviation will occupy the 91,000-square-foot facility at the Gateway Center, which was vacated by Adam Aircraft last winter, when that fly by night company went unceremoniously belly-up. Unlike the now defunct Adam Aircraft however, Jet Aviation appears to be robust and viable; and can be reasonably expected, we think, to deliver these significant benefits to our local economy, as projected by the gnomes at the GOED:

• 650 new locally-recruited jobs;
• Wage scale 50 percent above the Weber County average;
• $6.9 million of its own investment in the expansion of business operations;
• $420 million in new state wages;
• $28 million in new state tax revenue.

As our gentle readers have to be painfully aware, Weber County Forum isn't overly fond of of the whole concept of awarding taxpayer handouts to private entities. Unfortunately, corporate welfare is integral to the the economic development game as it's currently played in America; so we'll just bite our tongues, reluctantly go with the flow, and close with this observation:

If the taxpayers of Utah are hell-bent to court businesses with bags full of taxpayer cash, it's industry powerhouses like Jet Aviation that we should be courting.

All-in-all, Jet Aviation will be great for the local economy, we believe.

And what say our gentle readers about all this?

Good News For Utah Fishermen and Assorted River-users

Power to the people, right on!

Danged good news for stream fishermen, kayackers and assorted other users of Utah's rivers and streams. The Utah Supreme Court apparently issued a decision today, according to the Salt Lake Tribune, proclaiming that all you folks who spend your summers in search of the wily troutfish, or just navigating Utah's many river watercourses in variously competent floatable devices, can now legally set foot on the "stream bed" of river-adjoining landowners' properties, whenever you dang-well want. Here's the gist, from today's SLTrib web article:

Utahns who fish, float or swim in public streams and rivers may also touch and walk on the beds of those waterways, even when the water flows across private property, the Utah Supreme Court ruled Friday.
In fact, the high court noted that without the ability to touch streambeds, members of the public cannot effectively enjoy their right to recreational activities.
The only caveat, is that water users must behave "reasonably and cause no unnecessary injury to the landowner," the high court ruled.
"It's an exciting decision," said attorney Robert H. Hughes, who argued the case before the high court in April. "I'd call it a landmark decision in the body of law on public waters.
"I think anglers in Utah will be very happy to hear about this."

So here's the deal. If you set foot on the stream bed on some shotgun-toting, trigger happy Morgan County (pick your county) farmer's land... whilst fishing or floating on the Weber River (pick your river)... be sure to have a printed-out copy of Salt Lake Tribune article of today in hand.

We're also sure that this article will spare everybody who's involved with more than a little political grief, and hopefully NOT a volley of buckshot.

Just another helpful post from yer old pal Rudi.

Read the Utah Supreme Court opinion here.

And what say our gentle readers about all this?

Update 7/19/08 11:55 p.m. MT: More on this blockbuster Utah real estate law story from today's Std-Ex. The Utah Supreme court is talking "public easement rights" here, gentle readers, rather than "incidental rights" of folks who use public waterways for commerce. This decision is really "big" for the recreational watercourse rights of Utahns. It'll be most interesting to see where the court cases cases go fom here.

The Standard-Examiner Opines on the Fannie/Freddie Bailout Dilemma

Added bonus: an instructive supplementary article and a revealing video piece

The Standard-Examiner this morning finally weighs in on the Fannie-Freddie bailout situation, which has dominated world financial news since the past weekend. And the editorial board gets it mostly right, with savvy observations such as these:

America, you just bought giant ownership stakes in two privately held companies that hold and/or guarantee half of all U.S. home mortgages. How does it make you feel?
Over-extended? Sick to your stomach?
Us, too. This home-foreclosure crisis was getting scary long ago. Now it’s getting worse. [...]
The Freddie and Fannie watchers are growing nervous because it is suspected the companies don’t have adequate cash reserves to weather this housing trough. According to a report by The Providence Journal newspaper, the $83 billion Freddie and Fannie hold in reserve is a pittance of a rainy day fund when stacked against the companies’ combined $5 trillion in debts.
So, the federal government — the White House is taking the lead, but the movie is supported by congressional Democrats — is stepping in to buttress Freddie and Fannie against anything like a collapse. Congressional Republicans have so far been reluctant to go along, calling the plan “socialism” and worse.

So far, so good; but then the Std-Ex goes "soft in the knees":

We wonder, though. Allowing Freddie and Fannie too close to default could damage financial markets around the world, not to mention perhaps a cascading smashup of the U.S. markets.
In a situation that could potentially be so grave, we wonder: What other option is there?

The other option, of course, would be to allow market forces to solve the problem, which is what's supposed to happen in a so-called "free market economy."

And granted, the failure and market liquidation of Freddy and Fanny would cause serious short-term disruption, as these entities moved through bankruptcy court, where viable assets would be efficiently identified and liquidated, and the nonviable ones written off. And yes, this would be a severe blow to G.E.S. stockholders and other financial institutions who hold all these entities' hokey $5 trillion in debt paper.

The aftermath of the mortgage market meltdown will however be painful, regardless of which approach becomes public policy.

So once again we ask the question: Is turning the American taxpayer into what's known in investment circles as "the bagholder" the better of the solutions?

Just for kicks, we'll segue into another solution offered by one of our favorite financial sites, "The Onion": Recession-Plagued Nation Demands New Bubble To Invest In

As an added bonus we provide this humorous and topical video clip, which was contributed by Gentle Curmudgeon in one of our lower comments sections last night:


We thought it would be useful to launch into the coming weekend with something light.

Consider this an open topic thread, if you like.

Ben Lomond Hotel Heads for the Auction Block

Ambitious hotel development project hits a slight snag... i.e, Foreclosure

It was a mere six months ago that the Standard-Examiner delivered optimistic Emerald City economic development news, with the announcement that a Las Vegas investor had acquired the venerable Ben Lomond Hotel. Ian Dixon, president of UIG Resorts reportedly intended to renovate the Ben Lomond’s lobby, install an upscale restaurant, convert existing commercial space into 147 condominiums, and ultimately build a 200-room tower near the hotel’s parking garage.

What a difference six months (and an economic recession) make. The Std-Ex reports this morning that Dixon's ambitious project, or at least a portion of it, is headed for the auction block:

OGDEN — A notice of default on a $5.3 million bank loan has been filed against a corporation that owns condominiums and suites within the historic Ben Lomond Hotel.
The notice filed with the Weber County Recorder’s Office indicates 2510 Washington LLC is in default because it has failed to make monthly installment payments to Financial Freedom Loans Inc.
Information was unavailable Wednesday regarding whether foreclosure on the Ben Lomond is imminent. Timothy W. Blackburn, an Ogden attorney representing Financial Freedom Loans, was out of the office.
The notice doesn’t detail whether the default involves all of the hotel and doesn’t list the principal owners of 2510 Washington LLC.
It’s unclear whether the entire Ben Lomond is owned by a single corporation or multiple individuals, said Tom Christopulos, the city’s business development manager

We had a fairly robust discussion on the this topic back in January, in which a number of our gentle readers expressed reservations about the wisdom of launching another hotel project in the Ogden market, where existing hotels already seemed to be struggling with low occupancy rates. On top of that, a few of our readers expressed concerns about the financial capacity of UIG, whose sole apparant assets appeared to be limited to a website, some undeveloped acreage in Paraguay and the Phillippines, and a vague business plan emphasising mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and... get this... web design.

According to this morning's story, this is one of the few downtown development projects that hasn't been on the public dole, so this doesn't appear to be a project where taxpayer dollars are at risk. Nevertheless, the apparent failure of this project piques our curiosity, and we're curious about what happened here, as a highly ambitious privately-financed developer seems to have hit the terminal skids.

Was Mr. Dixon and his company simply hamstrung by the tight credit market, which has existed since at least March of 2007? Did Mr. Dixon make the original puchase on the basis of flawed due diligence, learning only after acquiring the property that The Godfrey Vision wasn't quite the "hot real estate ticket" that had been portrayed by the administration? Did Mr. Dixon lack the financial capacity to pull off such an ambitious project in the first place, as several of our readers suggested? Did Mr. Dixon acquire his ownership interest in the property merely as a short-term play, with the intention of "flipping" it for a quick profit, once the newly-sworn in Boss Godfrey, secure in his third four year mayoral term of office, set forth to work his high adventure destination magic? Does this latest story development have anything to do with gondolas... or lack of gondolas?

We realize these questions all call for plenty of speculation, since today's story is a mite thin on the facts. And in the next few days, time permitting, we plan to mosey on down to the County Recorder's office to find out who's really in title... and whose property interests are truly at stake.

In the meantime however, we invite you all to put on your thinking caps, and offer your own insights at to what may be happening at the Ben Lomond Hotel.

And if any of you are privy to additional facts to add to the discussion, we'd love to hear about them.

Comments, anyone?

Larry Myler Update: Contractors and Lenders Fight Over Who'll Be the First to Be Paid

Friend of Matt (FOM) Myler adds new meaning to the phrase "going for broke"

Just for the sake of archival consistency, we'll post the latest news in the deteriorating Larry Mylar multi-county Mid-town Development situation. For the full history, check out our blog archive here.

The Provo Herald published an article on Larry's latest travails with respect to his Orem "Midtown" project yesterday; and the Deseret News followed it up with its own revealing article early this morning.

As all our regular gentle readers will recall, Larry Myler was the bigshot developer who trumpeted a 14-story hotel development here in Ogden in January of this year, (complete with a gondola portal and fancy water park,) only to put the project on hold in February, under the pretext that Boss Godfrey and his A-Team "had misplaced 275 parking slots" -- or so was the transparently lame explanation.

What's fairly obvious from each of the above stories is that Mr. Myler is broke, and that his next publicity will no doubt involve the U.S. Bankrupcty Courts.

So what about it, gentle readers?

Did Ogden City dodge a bullet, or not, with regard to this typically insolvent Friend of Matt?

Just for fun, can any of our gentle readers name one single FOM who IS NOT broke, these days?

The G.S.E. Bailout Plan Redux

More blowback from the U.S. mortgage industry meltdown

On Monday we commented about the proposed G.S.E. bailout plan, which was hastily cobbled together over the the last weekend by officials of the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department, with an object of expanding FED authority to provide rescue taxpayer funding, to prevent the twin public/private hybrid mortgage industry entities, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, from further sliding into financial oblivion.

We watched FED Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony before the Senate Banking Committee yesterday, during which he made his first pitch to congress for expanded FED financial and regulatory authority.

We've been scouring the web for one particular video segment of yesterday's committee hearing, and the one we were searching for finally popped up on YouTube about an hour ago. We hope you'll share our delight, as Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning tears FED Chairman Bernanke "a new one." (WCF Disclosure: We have no idea who the Arab guy is who rattles on in the left frame, or why he chose to mug and comment on camera. Fast forward to 1:42, and you can skip most of the guy's blathering, and get to the real red meat):

As an added bonus to those political wonks among us whose eyes don't glaze over when presented with discussions involving economics issues, we'll also link two highly instructiive articles on the topic of the government's percipient intervention in this matter, and what it all possibly means for the U.S. economy: The Financial Tsunami: The Next Big Wave is Breaking Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and US Mortgage Debt Freddie, Fannie, and Curses on FDR
Don't let the cat get your tongues.

Southwick Parole Hearing Set For December... What???

Not to worry folks -- the Std-Ex editorial pranksters were just having a little fun with a "crafty" teaser headline
Our prediction? Val Southwick won't be coming home for Christmas

By Curmudgeon

Sometimes, I have to wonder about news judgment at the Standard-Examiner. It's running this morning, front page of the Top of Utah section, big bold black letter headline, this story: Southwick Parole Hearing Set --- "Man Convicted of Fraud to Go Before State Board in December".

I reacted as, I suspect, the Std-Ex intended its readers to react: What? The man convicted of the biggest fraud in the history of Utah is up for parole after only six months? After being sentenced to nine consecutive 1-15 year terms? What the hell?

So I read the story. Here's the first paragraph:

The state Board of Pardons has set a December parole hearing for imprisoned Ogden financier Val Southwick, but he’s not going anywhere. Setting the hearing is the policy norm for all inmates whose cases do not involve a death, said Jim Hatch, board spokesman. “All inmates, except those with a homicide, automatically have an original hearing after serving six months,” he said. “The fact he’s having this hearing doesn’t mean there’s been any review done or any kind of quick release anticipated. It doesn’t portend a release at all.”

So I have to wonder... where's the story? He's up for a mandated first hearing six months after being incarcerated, as all who have committed non-lethal crimes or crimes not involving children undergo. That's it. The lead paragraph and more further down makes it clear he is not going home for Christmas. So, where's the news? Why did this essentially nothing story lead the Top of Utah section with a bold all-across-the-page headline? Or was tricking people into reading the story the goal all along?

I don't know. Maybe putting "Southwick" in the headlines as often as possible works as well as putting "gondola" in the headlines to sell papers. But there seems, really, to have been no real story here, and certainly not one justifying banner headline treatment on the front page of the local news section.

Powder Mountain Update: The Developer's First Proposed Developer-agreement Draft Is At Last Revealed!

The Powder Mountain initial written developer proposal lands in the Weber County Commission's lap

We got an email from Justin Morris, of the Weber County planning staff a few minutes ago, regarding the "Powder Mountain Development situation".

Here's the prefacatory information provided by Mr. Morris: "The proposed development agreement in linked under Pending Projects at the County Planning Website."

And here's the link to that site:

Proposed Powder Mountain Development Agreement page

Embedded within the page is the following pdf document, which appears to be to be the first publicly-available draft of the Developers's (Western America Holdings, LLC and Eden Heights II, LLC) written proposal.

In releasing this proposed developer-proposed agreement, the Weber County Commission also issues this caveat:

In accordance with our commitment at the close of the public hearing we are making the proposal of Powder Mountain available for public review. Please note that the County Commission has not agreed to the terms and provisions of this agreement. Each Commissioner finds certain terms of the agreement unacceptable and will not approve the agreement as presently constituted. The Commission is appreciative of Powder Mountain’s willingness to discuss a development agreement in lieu of incorporation but Powder Mountain and the County remain far apart on certain major terms of the agreement.

We haven't had time to review the document ourselves. We thus throw it out for the comments of our gentle readers as a matter of first impression, just as it is for the Weber County Commission.

Our special compliments to Weber County Commissioner Dearden, who promised us he'd send the draft agreement to us for public inspection, as soon as it would be available. And here it is... one day earlier than the Developers promised.

The time has come to start digging into this document, gentle readers. The Weber County Commission obviously seeks the lumpencitizens' input.

Let's NOT let them down.

A Gentle Reader Asks: Shouldn't Five Utah Legislators be Recognised For Their Political Courage?

A great question originally posed by the Deseret News

One of our gentle readers lodged a comment in a lower article comments section today, upon which we've decided to put the WCF spotlight this afternoon. Here's what our sharp-eyed reader said:

"Hey Rudi, What would you say of this article?":

Deseret News: Applaud 5 Utah lawmakers for their courage

We have good news this afternoon for one gentle reader, whom we'll identify as Where's the Beef.

The mighty Glen Warchol has assembled that, and several other recent topical articles in his most-excellent Salt Lake Tribune blog article of today.

(Amazing what a blogger can contibute when he's actually paid for blogging, innit? Some of the rest of us in the Utah blogosphere eke enough out barely enough, from google ads and such, to pay for our ISP connection -- if that. )

Indeed there are many questions to be asked of the ethically-challenged BYU Law school graduates who run our Utah Legislature.

The bigger question, we believe, is whether docile Utah Republicans will show up to vote this pack of GOP crooks in yet again in November.

Calendar-maker Earns His Fifteen Minutes

Las Vegas man pays the ultimate ecclesiastical price for stepping "outside the image"

Well, under the circumstances of the situation, we suppose it was inevitable that this would happen:

Excommunicated: LDS Church boots creator of 'Men on a Mission' calendar

And we know the "The Lord moves in mysterious ways"... but nevertheless can't help but wonder if the penalty of being eternally banned from heaven might not be a mite harsh for publishing and schlepping a few cheesy beefcake calendars. This seems particularly incongruous, we think, when scoundrels like this still apparently enjoy full church fellowship.

Who knows? Its all a mystery, as we said.

On the bright side, we learn from the story that Mr. Hardy has already managed to bank a cool $150 thousand consolation prize... and gotten his fifteen minutes of fame. A fair trade off? We don't know.

So what say our gentle readers about all this?

The Federal Reserve Crosses the Rubicon

US taxpayers to increase their stake in the 2008 banking industry meltdown

As the world economy continues its inexorable slide into recession, we receive news this morning which, once the situation plays out, will likely make the March 2008 Bear Sterns bailout look like small potatoes. In this connection, we'll spotlight a couple of news items from bloomberg.com this morning.

First, from Paulson Puts Treasury's Weight Behind Fannie, Freddie:

July 14 (Bloomberg) -- Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson put the weight of the federal government behind Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the beleaguered companies that buy or finance almost half of the $12 trillion of U.S. mortgages.
Paulson, speaking yesterday on the steps of the Treasury facing the White House, asked Congress for authority to buy unlimited stakes in the companies and lend to them, aiming to stem a collapse in confidence. The Federal Reserve separately authorized the firms to borrow directly from the central bank. Fannie and Freddie shares rose in New York trading.
The steps would bring the U.S. closer to giving an explicit guarantee for the debt sold by the shareholder-owned, federally chartered companies. That reflects a need for the government to bail out an economy that's been rocked by the worst housing recession in 25 years, the credit crisis, and soaring energy costs.
"They appear to be crossing the Rubicon," Sean Egan, president of Egan-Jones Ratings Co., a credit-rating company based in Haverford, Pennsylvania, said, referring to Caesar's invasion of Rome to set up a dictatorship.

Next, we get something from commodities investment hawk Jim Rogers: Fannie Mae, Freddie Rescue a `Disaster,' Rogers Says:

July 14 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Treasury Department's plan to shore up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is an "unmitigated disaster'' and the largest U.S. mortgage lenders are "basically insolvent,'' according to investor Jim Rogers.
Taxpayers will be saddled with debt if Congress approves U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's request for the authority to buy unlimited stakes in and lend to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Rogers said in a Bloomberg Television interview. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analyst Daniel Zimmerman predicted the mortgage finance companies' shares may fall another 35 percent.
"I don't know where these guys get the audacity to take our money, taxpayer money, and buy stock in Fannie Mae,'' Rogers, 65, said in an interview from Singapore. "So we're going to bail out everybody else in the world. And it ruins the Federal Reserve's balance sheet and it makes the dollar more vulnerable and it increases inflation.''
The chairman of Rogers Holdings, who in April 2006 correctly predicted oil would reach $100 a barrel and gold $1,000 an ounce, also said the commodities bull market has a "long way to go'' and advised buying agricultural commodities. [...]
"These companies were going to go bankrupt if they hadn't stepped in to do something, and they should've gone bankrupt with all of the mistakes they've made,'' Rogers said. "What's going to happen when you Band-Aid and put some Band-Aids on it for another year or two or three? What's going to happen three years from now when the situation's much, much, much worse?'' [...]
The U.S. economy is in a recession, possibly the worst since World War II, Rogers said.
"They're ruining what has been one of the greatest economies in the world,'' Rogers said. Bernanke and Paulson "are bailing out their friends on Wall Street but there are 300 million Americans that are going to have to pay for this."

US taxpayers can surely thank their lucky stars that the kindly folks at the FED and the US Treasury Department have the foresight to rescue the banking industry from the results of their own recklessness and perfidy. And as continuing infusions of hundreds of billions of US dollars continue to stream into our already inflationary economy, and the purchasing power of the our currency continues to descend into the realm of "play money," remember... they're doing it all for us.

Comments???

Standard-Examiner: What's Vacant; What's Not

A summary of trends in occupancy rates in Weber and Davis counties

By Curmudgeon

There's an interesting piece respecting development in today's Standard-Examiner. It's headlined "What's Vacant" and it summarizes trends in occupancy rates in Weber and Davis counties for office space, multi family housing and industrial space.

Interesting results. Vacant office space in Ogden jumped from 14.5% to 23.5% over the past year. Retail space vacancies up about 1%. But there's been a significant drop in available industrial space, and in vacancies at BDO. And vacant multi-family unit vacancies dropped from 5% a year ago to 1% now. And yet apartment rents have not risen.

Very chewy story, well worth perusing.

Farmer's Market Season Kickoff Draws Thousands of Visitors

An invitation to attendees to chime in with their own impressions and observations

The Standard-Examiner carries a short Top of Utah section article this morning, reporting on yesterday's 25th Street Farmer's Market season opening, where 5,000 visitors were expected to be in attendance.

Read Mitch Shaw's full story here.

If any Weber County Forum readers happened to attend yesterday's summer kickoff event, we invite you to chime in with your impressions and observations. We think it would be interesting to hear how it all went.

Boatload of Federal Cash to Clean Up the Ogden River?

New federal appropriations bill could yield Ogden $6.5 million

This morning's Standard-Examiner announces that the City of Ogden may well become the beneficiary of a boatload of federal cash to clean up the Ogden River. We incorporate below the lead paragraphs of this morning's Scott Schwebke story, which provide the gist:

OGDEN — Millions of dollars in federal funding may flow to the city to clean up the Ogden River.
A Senate committee has approved a federal appropriations bill that seeks funding for restoration of the entire five-mile stretch of the river that passes through the city.
The project could cost as much as $10 million, Jason Carey an engineer with RiverRestoration.org based in Glenwood Springs, Colo., estimated.
The federal government could contribute up to $6.5 million for the project and local funding sources would likely provide $3.5 million in cash, land or materials, he said.
At the city’s request, U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, succeeded in adding language to the 2009 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill that makes the river restoration project a priority, said his spokeswoman, Tara Hendershott.
The bill has passed the Senate Appropriations Committee and is awaiting consideration by the full Senate.

Now we know that some of our fiscally conservative readers are bound to complain that this prospective financial windfall is just another example of Senator Bennett's propensity for pork-barrel politics; but please remember this:

"Appropriations such as these are only considered pork when they go to the other 49 states. Monies coming to Ogden are always well deserved!"

Reading between the lines, we suppose Ogden's high-priced Washington lobbyist probably had a hand in this too, so perhaps that 100 grand we pay him each year is well spent.

And what say our gentle readers about all this?

Boss Godfrey KCPX Radio Interview

The latest public propaganda regarding Boss Godfrey's high adventure vision

One of our readers sent us a link to this KCPW radio article, containing a link to an on air interview with Ogden City Mayor Matthew Godfrey, which was live broadcasted on Friday morning. We've edited it down to Godfrey's live segment... and for those readers who'd like to listen to the latest public propaganda regarding the Boss Godfrey high adventure vision, it's available at the link below. It's a fairly large mp3 file, so it will take a few seconds to load:

Boss Godfrey 7/11/08 KCPW Interview

We're posting this "on the fly," and will thus refrain from offering our own crabby editorial comments. We will however incorporate a few text snippets submitted by our alert reader in the email accompanying the KCPW article link:

Who is funding the free downtown bicycle program (it has not even been mentioned to the Council yet)? What about a replacement program for when they disappear?

"...Recreation is a foreign idea to the mostly blue collar population of Ogden and they look at you like you have three eyes when you talk about mountain biking, hiking, kayaking, rock climbing..."

Maybe they just look at the Mayor this way. I see plenty of blue-collar Ogdenites while enjoying the trails and rivers. They don't look at me like I'm nuts for being on a mountain bike or in a kayak. Hiking above town to escape the heat of the city is one of the best free family activities in town.

Indoor Velodrome- funding??? Taxpayers? When are we going to let private business take some risks?

At least the words "high adventure recreation" were not inserted into every sentence. What the hell is that anyway? Google it... every hit somehow links back to Ogden's Mayor or something originating within the city. I'd like to hear him "define" it some time.

We don't know about the rest of you... but speaking for ourself... we can never get enough of Boss Godfrey's droning on... with that totally annoying nasal munchkin voice.

Consider this the kickstart to a Saturday open thread.

You know what to do. Do it here.

Powder Mountain Update: Open Letter to the Weber County Commission

An enlightening graphic comparison of Utah ski area access roads

We received some informative material from gentle reader Dan S. this morning, something which we believe will be of interest to those of you who are closely following the Powder Mountain Development situation. We incorporate below a letter sent by Professor Schroeder to the Weber County Commission, on behalf of the Ogden Sierra Club:

-oOo-
To: Weber County Commission
From: Dan Schroeder, Conservation Chair, Ogden Sierra Club
Re: Powder Mountain road
Date: 11 July 2008

Dear Commissioners:

At Tuesday’s public hearing regarding the proposed Powder Mountain rezone, a couple of speakers made comparisons between the Powder Mountain access road and the roads leading to some of Utah’s other ski areas, specifically the Cottonwood Canyons and Brian Head. So you won’t have to rely on qualitative impressions, I’ve plotted the elevation of each of these four roads vs. horizontal distance:

As you can see, none of the other three roads is as steep as the Powder Mountain road, whether one compares grades over long stretches or shorter segments. For example, the steepest 1000-foot-vertical portion of the Powder Mountain road has an average grade of approximately 14.0%, while the steepest 1000-foot-vertical portions of the other roads are approximately 7.0% for Big Cottonwood Canyon, 9.4% for Little Cottonwood Canyon, and 10.6% for Brian Head. The comparison for 2000-foot segments or 500-foot segments is similar: Powder Mountain always “wins” by a substantial margin. Therefore it is invalid for proponents to imply that the Powder Mountain road would present no more access and safety problems than these others.
I obtained this data from rasterized copies of the standard USGS 7.5-minute topographic maps, sampled at each point where the road in question crossed a 40-foot contour line. This method over-estimates all the slopes very slightly, but is more than accurate enough for making these types of comparisons. The graph above, of course, uses a great deal of vertical exaggeration in order to fit all the data in a convenient space—but again this does not affect the comparison of one road to another.

In case you would like to check my work or calculate other average slopes, I have attached a spreadsheet of the raw data and all my calculations. I’m sure that your GIS Department could also verify the raw data itself, by starting with the maps and going through a similar process.
-----
As an added bonus, we hereby unveil the latest Powder Mountain illustration, from the highly talented Devon Hoxer.

Do you see those kids, downhill from a careening truck, with failing brakes, on a "kid killing" general trajectory?

This topical political cartoon, we believe, provides the ideal finishing touch to Dan's most excellent submission:



And what say our gentle readers about all this?

More Good Ink For Ogden: Emerald City to Host Archery's Elite

Boss Godfrey seizes the opportunity to pitch another "visionary" pet project

By Curmudgeon

More good ink for Ogden. Ogden city has landed the first-ever Archery World Cup competition. The Standard-Examiner reports it is expected to bring hundreds of competitors from up to 30 foreign nations to Ogden in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Full story here. The city will also host a Youth World Cup Archery competition in 2009.

This is all good news. It will bring visitors to Junction City, fill some hotel rooms, create business for eateries. Just flat good news, and active pursuit and cooperation by the Administration played an important part in landing the competition for Ogden, the Std-Ex reports.

But... late in the article, Hizzonah appears, saying that "a facility like a velodrome, which is a specialized arena that would feature indoor tennis, cycling and archery, would likely have to be built if the city intends to host the World Cup on a continual basis...."

You know, it would be nice if just occasionally, when Ogden scores a coup, (and getting the archery world cup competitions staged here is one), if the Mayor could announce the event, celebrate the coup, and take some deserved bows, without giving the impression that he has another agenda at work, without straight out of the gate trying to use one success to leverage another project he's going to present to the Council at some point.

When he makes his case for the multi-sports velodrome, it would be perfectly appropriate to refer to the Archery World Cup and the options for future competition the multi-sports facility would open up. But does the pitch for more have to come instantly, as part and parcel of the same story announcing that Ogden landed the competition for three years?

SL Trib: Utah is No. 10 in Foreclosures

Utah: Top ten finish in the "going broke" sweepstakes

By Curmudgeon

Since economic and quality of life top ten lists seem to be all the rage at the moment in these parts, I thought I'd point out the latest one, reported on line tonight by the Salt Lake Trib:

Welcome to Utah, one of the new foreclosure capitals of the United States. After years of economic prosperity, Utah now has the country's 10th highest home foreclosure rate. One in 600 households in the state is in some stage of losing a home because the homeowner is behind on loan payments, according to RealtyTrac, a service that tracks foreclosure filings nationally.

The full story, with considerably more detail, can be found here. Unless of course all those foreclosure notices are really imaginary and the people losing their homes are nothing but whiners....

George Will: Survival of the Sudsiest

Beer: a driver of the species-strengthening natural selection process

By Curmudgeon

In these parlous times, when every morning's headlines seem to bring new accounts of Republican skullduggery, it is refreshing to come across a Republican pundit with a healthy grip on common sense and his feet planted firmly in reality. And so let me recommend a column today by Republican/Conservative pundit George Will. An excerpt:

The story asserted: "The [alcoholic beverage] industry's continued growth, however slight, has been a surprise to those who figured that when the economy turned south, consumers would cut back on nonessential items like beer."
"Non what"? Do not try to peddle that proposition in the bleachers or at the beaches in July. It is closer to the truth to say: No beer, no civilization.
The development of civilization depended on urbanization, which depended on beer. To understand why, consult Steven Johnson's marvelous 2006 book, "The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic -- and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World...."
Often the most pure fluid available was alcohol -- in beer and, later, wine -- which has antibacterial properties. Sure, alcohol has its hazards, but as Johnson breezily observes, "Dying of cirrhosis of the liver in your forties was better than dying of dysentery in your twenties." Besides, alcohol, although it is a poison, and an addictive one, became, especially in beer, a driver of a species-strengthening selection process....
The gene pools of human settlements became progressively dominated by the survivors -- by those genetically disposed to, well, drink beer. "Most of the world's population today," Johnson writes, "is made up of descendants of those early beer drinkers, and we have largely inherited their genetic tolerance for alcohol...."
So let there be no more loose talk -- especially not now, with summer arriving -- about beer not being essential. Benjamin Franklin was, as usual, on to something when he said, "Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." Or, less judgmentally, and for secular people who favor a wall of separation between church and tavern, beer is evidence that nature wants us to be.

A sane conservative Republican! Who'da thunk it? Somebody call the Guinness Book of World Records.

Will's full column, well worth a read, can be found here.

Rank Smell Eminates From Capitol Hill

Time for Weber County Attorney Decaria to break out the trusty Nasal Ranger Olfactometer?

Fine editorial in this morning's Standard-Examiner on the Walker Bribery Probe topic, under the headline, "A cloud over House leadership." The editorial starts out with this:

Rather than be hauled up on ethics charges within the Utah House of Representatives, Rep. Mark Walker opted for political seppuku -- suicide -- via resignation from his elective office.
His surrender stops the ethics investigation resulting from a complaint filed against the Sandy Republican by a bipartisan group of five House colleagues, including two from the Top of Utah.
But it will not -- or at least should not -- blunt the ongoing criminal investigation into allegations of bribery.

The editorial makes a strong pitch for Weber and Davis County attorneys Decaria and Rawlings to get on with their investigation, and to "be thorough and swift." We couldn't be more in agreement with the Std-Ex about this:

It will be important not only to confirm or reject allegations about Walker's behavior, but to resolve the questions now swirling about the possible involvement of House leadership. Voters in various House districts are currently wondering if they have cause to worry about backroom dealing by powerful incumbents who will be on their ballots this fall.

Perhaps Mark Decaria could speed up the process by borrowing Ogden City's Nasal Ranger Olfactometer, and taking it for a walk around Capitol Hill.

Powder Mountain Update: A Public Hearing Post-mortem

A collection of media reports, together with a couple of blogmeister observations

For those carefully following the developments at Powder Mountain resort, we've found three informative articles this morning, reporting on last night's Weber County Commission public hearing agenda.

The Salt Lake Tribune's Kristen Moulton provides her writeup here.

The Standard-Examiner's Brooke Nelson story can be viewed here.

During last night's meeting, both the Commission and the Developer's representative framed the discussion as if there were only two alternatives on the table, i.e., 1) Approval of a County Commission/Powder Mountain development agreement, or alternatively, 2) Completion of Powderville town incorporation under the terms of the original SB 466.

Ogden Valley Forum has a thoughtful article on the subject this morning too, which delves into a discussion of a third alternative which goes beyond the two options listed above -- litigation in federal court. From this morning's OVF article:

You have to admire the chutzpah of the Powder Mountain people. They are trying to hold a gun to the head of the Weber County Commission and Weber County citizens by threatening to go forward with the incorporation petition if they don't get everything they want, including the additional units beyond what they asked for originally.
We in the Valley have news for Powder Mountain and Weber County. Bring on the Incorporation! It is very likely that a Federal Court will see things differently on the incorporation and the denial of the civil rights of Weber County citizens due to the ill advised HB466. A Federal Court case could tie up the process for years and during that time, Powder Mountain can sit on its assets.

Read Ogden Valley Forum's full morning article here. It's short but sweet, with a flavor resembling a citizen manifesto. Yes, litigation remains a viable alternate -- perhaps the most viable alternative of all. Moreover, this "hanging alternative," (a "wildcard alternative" if you will), is just the kind of option that's likely to keep both the County and the Developer at the bargaining table.

Your blogmeister also attended last night's meeting, and had originally intended to write his own article on the topic. Thanks to the hard work of the authors above however, all of the important issues arising at last night's hearing are embodied within one of the above articles or another.

We'll nevertheless throw in our own two bits, with a couple of observations we made during last night's two hour meeting:

1) Last night's hearing was a wonderful demonstration of openness, transparency and democracy in government, we believe. No fewer than 25 concerned citizens made their way to the podium last night to make their comments, and lodge their objections to the skeletal draft proposal which was presented by the developer. One of these citizens actually made a second trip to the microphone, without any objection from Commissioner Zogmeister, Commission Chair. Although an electronic 3-minute clock prominently ticked away in one corner of the commission chamber, it was quite clear that nobody was watching the clock. Our County Commissioners listened intently to the sometimes long-winded citizens, leaving your blogmeister with the distinct impression that the commissioners were quite interested in all citizen input which was offered. We believe this impression was shared by most hearing attendees. After the hearing, scores of citizens remained in the chamber and hallways for an impromptu post-mortem; and it seemed to us that everyone was "all smiles." Everyone got to "speak their minds;" nobody got shut down in mid-sentence upon the running of the three-minute clock. There are lessons in this for other local government officials, we think (wink-wink).

2) Commissioner Dearden performed with particular distinction, we believe. Upon the conclusion of the meeting he pressed the Developer's representative for a "date certain" by which a complete written copy of the Developer's proposed agreement could be furnished to the commission, for posting on the Weber County government website. After some hemming and hawing, the Developer's representative agreed to furnish such a document "within a week."

Not only that, Dearden closed the meeting with this final comment (and parting shot) to the Developer: "I'd suggest that you take another look at density." Project density, of course, was one of the two prime objections (along with inadeqate roads) raised by many of the concerned citizens last night. With Commissioner Dearden's pointed admonition, it was clear to most in attendance, we think, that Commissioner Dearden is carefully looking after the citizens' interests.

We'll now open the floor for reader comments. Let's hear from other meeting attendees who might want to throw in their own two cents.

It’s No Wonder That Voters in Utah Are Disillusioned

Don Gale Opines on the failures of Utah's "dominant political party"

By Curmudgeon

The Standard-Examiner this morning has a very interesting op ed piece by Mr. Don Gale, an editorial writer for KSL radio and TV.

Mr. Gale begins thusly:

July is the month we celebrate citizenship and patriotism and pioneers and other soul-stirring recollections of our great heritage. But Utah held an election not long ago, and fewer citizens showed up to vote than show up at college football games on a typical Saturday afternoon in September. It’s another indication of how badly broken the political system is in Utah ....

He then goes on to catalog the reasons he thinks the "political system in Utah" is "badly broken." It's a very interesting list.

One note: when Mr. Gale mentions "the dominant political party" in his list of particulars... and he uses that phrase a lot... he means Utah Republicans. Just in case you were wondering.

Chewy article. Worth a look.

Powder Mountain Update: Important Public Hearing Tonight

An opportunity for public comment on the as yet un-revealed Powder Mountain developer proposal

Just a quick reminder of tonight's public hearing, before the Weber County Commission, wherein the public is invited to comment upon the terms of the development agreement proposal in re the Powder Mountain development matter:

Date: July 8, 2008
Time: 6 p.m.
Place: Commission Chambers, 1st Floor, Weber Center, 2380 Washington Blvd., Ogden

Those readers who need to bone up on the history of this matter may review our archived Powder Mountain articles here.

For the convenience of those who plan to attend tonight's meeting, you can view the Ogden Valley Planning Commission's December 10, 2007 Planning Staff Report here. In this connection we'll suggest that it might be useful to print out a copy of this report (which includes the original Staff Recommendations), for review prior to the hearing, and for comparison with the developer proposal which will be revealed at tonight's hearing.

We'll add parenthetically that we've been trying, without avail, to get our hands on a written version of this proposal since early this week, but that even the County Commissioners had not received a written copy from the developer even as late as yesterday afternoon. We're thus presented with a situation where the public will apparently be flying blind, without any opportunity to review the relevant documents prior to the hearing.

We hope all interested Weber County Forum readers will attend tonight's hearing; and we'll be keeping our fingers crossed that we aren't about to be blind-sided.

Comments, anyone?

Hottest City Council Woman in Utah Contest - Per The Experts in the Field

Council chair Amy Wicks continues to run on the inside track on the subject of the "hottest" city council members in Utah

Great article today from one of our very most favorite political blogs, Elected Hotties. We bring this article to our Weber County Forum readers' attention, because one of our Emerald City's own" is a contestant in this contest. From the EH 4/7/08 post:

After slaving away at their regular jobs all day, the brave men and women of Utah's city councils gather to debate projects, property taxes and zoning. Occasionally, they have a spat or two with the mayor. Sometimes, they go until the wee hours of the morning with these discussions.
But this group of women manages to keep looking hot through the heaviest of discussions in council chambers. Check 'em out.

Here's a link to the Elected Hotties city council article, where you'll properly conclude that our cerebral and athletic Council-chair Amy Wicks is obviously the best of choice among the nominated Utah council "hotties."

Of course the EH hotties nomination leaves a few things out. Not only is Amy "drop dead gorgeous," but her athleticism and intellect eclipse every fat-ass empty suit in the entire Boss Godfrey administration.

You can vote for Amy in the right sidebar of the article linked above.

We could go on and on, but we're now getting the psychic feeling that we need to elicit reader comments.

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

Next....?

Breaking: Representative Mark Walker "Cuts and Runs"

Walker turns tail, and resigns from Utah Legislature

Startling news from this morning's Deseret News. Hours before the Utah House of Representatives ethics committee was set to bring down the opening gavel, Walker jumps ship. According to House Counsel, Walker's resignation deprives the committee of further jurisdiction in the matter. From the D-News article:

Rep. Mark Walker, R-Sandy, resigned his seat in the Legislature, his campaign manager in his unsuccessful run for state treasurer said Monday morning.
The confirmation came just moments before the House Ethics Committee was scheduled to convene to consider allegations that Walker tried to bribe his GOP primary opponent in the treasurer's race, Richard Ellis.
"He said, 'I just can't do this to my family anymore. I know I should stay and fight….I'm done,' " said Steve Hunter, who ran Walker's campaign.
Hunter said Walker turned in a letter of resignations Sunday night to House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, and plans to spend a few weeks with his family in a secluded cabin.

And this is very interesting, we think:

"He feels like if he resigns, everyone's going to say he's covering for the unnamed legislator. There's no one to cover for," Hunter said, a reference to suggestions another lawmaker was involved in the alleged bribe.

Remarkable political insight for a poor guy (Walker) who's likely to wind up as "Utah's Political Patsy of the Year."

And so much for the concept of using the ethics committee investigation as a vehicle to clear his name.

Of course the criminal investigation remains pending, and unfortunately, Mr. Walker can't "resign" from that.

Perhaps Walker will "draw his line in the sand" there.

Well....?

Behind the City Council Scenes

A not-so-robust Standard-Examiner glimpse upon the the inner workings of the Ogden City Council

Just to get the discussion rolling this morning, we'll put the focus on this politically soothing Scott Schwebke story appearing in the Standard-Examiner, under the headline, "Behind the scenes, behind the city council." The article touts the performance of our city council staff; and for our money could have easily been subtitled "Ode to Council Director Bill Cook." We'll resist the temptation to label this story a "puff piece;" but we will nevertheless suggest that this story represents another instance where the sometimes uninquisitive Scott Schwebe failed to ask obvious follow-up questions, thereby missing a golden opportunity to produce a journalistic work which might otherwise have been truly informative for the lumpencitizens of Emerald City. We'll provide a few examples (and some suggested follow-up questions,) starting with this excerpt from this morning's story:

OGDEN — City council offices at the end of a terrazzo-tiled hallway on the third floor of the Municipal Building are deceptively quiet.
It’s there, out of the public spotlight, that the council’s staff screens proposed policies, initiatives and ordinances that may ultimately affect Ogden residents.
“There are always a million things happening,” said Bill Cook, the city council’s executive director.
“There are no calm moments.”
Nothing gets by Cook or his policy analysts, Alan Franke and Sue Zampedri.

Suggested follow-up questions:

• What about the Bootjack stealth transaction, wherein the Council/RDA Board approved the sale of a critical downtown property to Godfrey crony Chris Peterson, notwithstanding the administration's wilful refusal to identify the buyer in the transaction?
• What about the St. Anne's Shelter matter, in which the council approved a legislative request for a $1 million dollar grant to move the St. Anne's Center, based on the false assurance of administration staff that The St. Anne's Board had agreed to embark upon such a move?
• How about the Shupe-Williams property sale resolution, wherein the Council approved the sale of an important downtown property to a purported buyer who had absolutely no intention of buying it?

In each of these instances the council suffered public embarrassment due to a failure to do its due diligence -- due diligence which was the responsibility of council staff. These are instances, we believe, where important details most certainly "got by" Cook and his policy analysts. We accordingly believe that these are questions a truly diligent reporter would have asked.

And then this morning's story provides this delightful gem: "The city council’s budget for fiscal 2009 is $845,725, compared with $482,525 budgeted for the mayor’s office." And the graphic accompanying the story contains a misleading numeric reference, comparing the council's staff of five, with the Mayor's staff of three.

Gentle reader Dan S. has of course already latched onto this misleading comparison in his comment in a lower thread:

There's a highly misleading front-page article in today's S-E, comparing the Ogden City Couincil staff and budget to those of the mayor's office. Nowhere does the article point out that the city's 700 other employees also report to the mayor. How many times have the mayor's department heads given the council incorrect information, or withheld information, forcing the council and its staff to do their own research? The mayor has his own personal legal office, planning staff, accountants, map makers, business liasons, and even police statisticians.
I was also struck by this sentence from near the end of the article: "Cook also encourages council members to develop initiatives so the city isn't constantly reacting to proposals from the city's administration." In fact the system is set up to make it almost impossible for a council member to introduce a piece of legislation. Individual council members have no staff support; the council staff don't want to work on anything until after the whole council is behind it; and again, everyone else reports to the mayor.

We believe Mr. Schwebke ought to have asked something about the actual Council/Mayor staffing discrepancy.

And we loved the part where Boss Godfrey says, with a completely straight face (and after 8-1/2 years of "service" in the Mayor's office,) that he has absolutely no idea what the city council staff does.

This called for an appropriate follow-up question we think, such as: "Well, Mr. Mayor, what exactly have you've learned about Ogden City government these past 8-1/2 years?"

We'll also note in closing, that we're not altogether displeased with our council staff's performance. We merely believe there's room for improvement in the area of due diligence. As the article notes, they're well-liked and work very hard. And Bill Cook is right: The council has done especially well of late, with its own self-motivated initiatives, such as the Water Horizons project.

As for this morning's article, we believe Schwebke has produced far better work.

And what say our gentle readers about all this?

Foul Odor Update: Boss Godfrey's Sniff Detectives Ready to Deploy

The Emerald City Mayoral administration finally comes clean about the real reason Boss Godfrey is having trouble bringing businesses and tourists to town

Bad-smelling air runs afoul of the city’s efforts to promote Ogden as a great place for tourists and new businesses, Patterson said. “It’s really tough for us to attract people to the community when stench is wafting through the air.”

Standard-Examiner
Sniff squad waiting in the wings
July 6, 2008

It's been a little over a year since the Standard-Examiner gave us the first heads-up on Boss Godfrey's plan to remove the foremost impediment to the recuitment of new business investment and tourism in Ogden. We don't know how to say this delicately, although it's something about which all Emerald City lumpencitizens are painfully aware.

We'll just come out and say it, without mincing words, since we're all familiar with the problem: Something in downtown Ogden reeks.

The Standard-Examiner provides more information in this morning's edition, which we'll label a Std-Ex stink patrol update, under the Top of Utah section headline: "Sniff squad waiting in the wings -- Ogden's odor patrol to be called to duty."

According to this morning's story, the Godfrey administration has already acquired its high-tech Nasal Ranger Olfactometer, and has deputized a highly-trained anonymous committee of five, to sniff out the source of Ogden's malevolent downtown malodors. And surprise of surprises, the problem doesn't seem to eminate from the American Nutrition dog food factory, as many of us earlier suspected. According to this morning's story, Godfrey's Stink Patrol already checked that site out; and it passed the electronic "sniff test" with flying colors.

Undaunted, Boss Godfrey's sniff detectives stand ready to further deploy, collecting air samples from a wide array of suspected sources "...including landfills, wastewater treatment plants, composting operations and factories."

Weber County Forum readers had a little fun with this story when it fist came out in the Std-Ex last year. Several of our gentle readers had their own theories about the true source of Ogden's downtown stench.

Perhaps a good sniff on the ninth floor of City Hall would be a good place to start. Just a helpful hint from gentle reader Ozboy.

And one more thing. This is what 1400 bucks will get you in the high-tech olfactory electronics department:

Don't let the cat get your tongues.

High Fuel Costs Tax Northern Utah Police Budgets

One gentle reader raises questions re Boss Godfrey priorities

By Concerned About Safety

Interesting article in the Standard Examiner this morning regarding the high fuel costs and the challenges police departments are faced with in budget over runs.

It would seem to me that Boss Godfrey would have budgeted some of the one time monies to allow for the budget over runs, rather than piss it away on popsicles, and other shaky business deals.

Ogden Police is $130,000 over for this last budget year alone just on fuel costs.

The other unnerving part is the Chief Greiner blames the council for not budgeting more money for fuel costs.

The last time I checked, the Mayor is the clown who puts together a budget and presents it to the council. They can add money to certain areas of the budget, but the Boss doesn’t have to spend it on the areas designated by the Council. I would think that the budget presented by Godfrey is his baby, not the Council's.

It shows me where the Godfrey Administrations priorities are as far as funding necessary items in the budget, popsicles, or public safety. Which would you prefer?

I would choose public safety, but I'm not Godfrey.

Per the Standard-Examiner: Name Calling at the Capitol

A glimpse into "sausage-making activities" within the Utah GOP legislative inner circle

The Standard-Examiner editorial board finally jumps aboard the bandwagon this morning, demonstrating that they, like we, are closely watching the spectacle surrounding this year's Utah State Treasurers' race, an election contest which has been considerably spiced up, by the sideshow which we've now taken to calling the Walker Bribery Probe.

This morning's strong Std-Ex editorial provides a tidy fact summary for those in the Std-Ex's general readership who were not heretofore aware of the story, and then goes on to focus further on the past week's "meltdown" by Rep. Stephen Urquhart, (R-St. George), during the past week on his blog:

Even more entertaining: Rep. Stephen Urquhart, R-St. George, chairman of the House Rules Committee and a candidate for vacated Senate District 29, used his personal blog to savage Reps. Hansen’s, Allen’s and Mascaro’s reputations within the House. Here’s what he wrote about them complaining that their legislation wasn’t getting out of the Rules Committee: “When Hansen, Allen and Mascaro complained that their legislation wasn’t moving, I candidly told them that they were perceived on both sides of the aisle to be grandstanding hacks who brought little of value to the process, and that the perception probably wasn’t helping their cause” (www.steveu.com/blog/).
If anyone ever tells you Utah politics are polite, point them in Urquhart’s direction — he’ll disabuse them of that notion in a hurry.

This morning's editorial was apparently drafted before the revelation of the latest plot twist, of course -- the rolling out of the neoCON slime machine -- in re GOP House Representative Mascaro. But that's OK. The Std-Ex editors can always catch up on the story here at WCF.

We welcome the Std-Ex editors to join us as we all sit back to watch this clownish sideshow from the "cheap seats" -- while certain blockheads in the Utah GOP continue the process of public pre-general election self-cannibalization.

The Std-Ex editors make a good point with this, we believe:

There’s that old saying about how watching laws get made is a little like watching the doings at a sausage-making business. Arguments over alleged ethics violations are the same thing, but nevertheless they give us an indication what sorts of people we routinely elect to powerful positions.

Special thanks to Rep. Urquhart, among others, for giving us a public glimpse of that.

Why 'Atheists' are Praying

An important query for the gentle readers of Weber County Forum

From Thursaday's Washington Post: A new Pew Forum survey surprisingly found that 1 in 10 American atheists pray at least once a week. Here are 10 possible explanations. Are there others?

1. Notice that lately even Red Sox fans get their prayers answered.
2. Jamie Lynn Spears' immaculate conception.
3. 7+ years of the Bush Administration.
4. They are homeowners.
5. Notice that lately even Democrats get their prayers answered.
6. Flooding of biblical proportions in land-locked Iowa.
7. Worry about impact of global warming on the afterlife.
8. Putting in a good word for George Carlin.
9. At least 10% misread the survey and ID'd themselves as 'a theist'.
10. Better safe than sorry.

Well...?