The Salt Lake Tribune Predicts a Low Turnout at Tomorrow's Northern Utah Primary Elections - UPDATED

Citizens who vote in the primaries have MUCH MORE relative individual political juice, however

Here's an interesting story from today's Salt Lake Tribune, geared for those Utah voters who might be a mite lackadaisical about showing up tomorrow to vote in the several Northern Utah municipal primary elections, such as the one happening in Emerald City tomorrow:

• Primary contests abound but turnout could be grim

Here's the setup from SLTrib reporter Derek P. Jensens's opening paragraphs:

There is a Utah election in two days -- really.
Sure, there are few high-profile contests -- no statewide races, no governor on the ballot, not even a Salt Lake City mayoral matchup -- but scores of municipal hopefuls from Logan to Springville to St. George face do-or-die primaries Tuesday.
Eight of Utah's 10 biggest cities have nonpartisan mayoral chases this year -- some with primaries Tuesday. And two of the four Salt Lake City Council chairs up for grabs in 2009 have field-winnowing contests this week.
Tuesday's primary survivors will advance to the Nov. 3 general election.
But in this off-, off-year election cycle, turnout is expected to be meager at best. That may mean, despite the cliché, that every vote truly counts. And that includes early balloting, which, after last fall's presidential flood, has subsided to a trickle.

And here's your Weber County Forum-style neck-snapping segue:

Your blogmeister checked with the lovely Tracey today, of the Ogden City Recorder's office. (The City Recorder's Office will be running tomorrow's Primary & the November 3 General Elections, BTW.)

Here's what she told me about the 2007 Ogden City Municipal Primary Election:

"The 2007 primary election generated 16.8% of the registered Ogden resident vote."

This shows it pays off to vote in the Ogden primaries, people. The voter turnout in the 2007 General Election was , BTW, more like 47%.

Let's have no excuses, WCF readers. Browbeat your friends, families and foes. Tell then all to buckle up on their on morals, and to vote "no on the Big Spending Godfreyites" in the 9/15/09 primary, please. Citizens who vote in the primaries have MUCH MORE relative individual political juice than in the better-attended General Election.

The fewer people who vote in the primary, the more political muscle we lumpencitizens will actually have relatively, so long as hard-core WCF voters show up at the polls to vote. And if politically alert WCF readers and their friends vote to hamstringVal Southwick's very bestest friend... that reminder is all good!

The Godfreyite real estate corporo-welfarists (the people with all the lawnsigns) laugh at Ogden City voters behind their backs, because they have tons of money to throw at this primary election.

Don't let these neoCON nitwits get the last laugh!

Update 9/15/09 8:00 a.m.: The Standard-Examiner continues with the "voter apathy" theme this morning, with this Bryon Saxton story, reporting that Weber County officials expect a 25% voter turnout in the various Weber County cities which are holding primary election polling today. Strangely, Mr. Saxton reports (quoting Weber County Assistant Elections Administrator Melanie Langford) that "County officials are unaware of any big primary races in any of the Weber County cities, ... nor are they aware of many contentious races," despite the major brouhaha which is shaping up in Ogden City. This leads us to conclude of course, that Weber County officials such as Ms. Langford surely must dwell in a cave on Mars, or some other remote venue like that.

Real Time Vote Tallies: And yes, gentle readers. Just as we've done in the past, we'll be posting a new article later this afternoon, with a link to Ogden City's live elections feed, so that Emerald City political wonks can monitor the real time vote tallies, straight from the Ogden City Recorder's counting room.

The LDS Church Returns $200 K in Ill-gotten Val Southwick Gains

Sodden prediction: There goes Southwick's Temple Recommend

Amidst another slow news Monday morning, we'll lift another story from yesterday's Standard-Examiner news queue. We've expended substantial electronic ink over the past couple of years covering the Val Southwick Ponzi scam; and as always, we'd like to keep our archival history fully updated.

So here's the most recent Val Southwick story, in which Tim Gurrister reports that the LDS Church has entered into an agreement with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission to disgorge $202,761.74 in tithing, which Boss Godfrey's bestest buddy (Southwick, of course) paid over to the LDS Church during the period 2001 through 2006:

• Swindler's tithing returned

What will be the next step in the Val Southwick saga, aside from the further rounding up of other culprits and co-perpetrators who aided and abetted Southwick in his $142 million Ponzi ripoff?

We'll go out on a limb and predict this: There Goes Southwick's Temple Recommend.

Dang!

Standard-Examiner: Panic Over Ethics Reform - UPDATED

Our home town newspaper issues a strong citizen call to action

By Curmudgeon

In all the discussion over the Standard-Examiner's less than stellar reporting on the campaign, don't want to lose sight of the fact that the paper ran another good strong editorial yesterday morning on the drive for a citizens' ethics reform initiative:

• OUR VIEW: Panic over ethics reform

From the editorial:

Some Utah legislators are already screaming that the sky will fall if voters decide next year to take matters into their own hands and implement tough legislative ethics reform.
House Majority Leader Kevin Garn, R-Layton, claims that lives and reputations can be ruined if the initiative is passed. He adds that if the initiative is passed, it will be tied up in the courts for years.
That sounds to us more like a threat. Witness the hysteria from state Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, who calls the initiative an attempt to suspend free speech and basic rights.

The editorial provides a link to the referendum proposal by Utahns For Ethical Government and summarizes the proposed ethics reforms. And the SE concludes:

We support these measures.... To sum up the initiative's goals, it only requires that legislators not use their political clout to receive gifts or personal, political and business advantages. In other words, it requires our elected officials to conduct themselves with high ethical standards.... Unfortunately, in the Legislature, these standards have been replaced by a favortism and trading system where privilege trumps common sense.
It was... necessary for Utah citizens to do what the Legislature simply won't do: enact serious ethics reform.
We urge Utahns to sign the initiative petition when they have the opportunity to do so.

The whole editorial --- and the petition --- are worth a serious read.

Update 9/15/09 7:30 a.m.: In response to Curmudgeon's earlier query, the Std-Ex provides a Utahns For Ethical Government press release online this morning, informing its readers that the UFEG will be holding a number of public hearings within the next several weeks, including this one in Ogden:

Tuesday, September 29, 2009--7-9 p.m. (An optional 8th hearing)
Weber County
Mound Fort Middle School, Media Center
1400 Mound Fort Drive
Ogden, UT 84404

We urge all WCF readers to mark their calenders and plan to be in attendance.

Standard-Examiner: First Time Candidate Raises Most Money for Ogden Council Race

The Std-Ex embarrasses itself on a major story yet again

By Curmudgeon

Just when I start to think the Standard-Examiner is improving its news reporting and editing, it embarrasses itself again on a major story. This time, it's Ms. Lewis's story on campaign donations in Ogden's City Council races

Certainly the topic merits a story. And identifying the candidates [Mr. David Phipps among them] who are raking in the most money from special interest groups like the Northern Wasatch Association of Realtors [NWAR] is appropriate. As is asking a spokesman for the NWAR why it has given Mr. Phipps [and two other candidates] four-figure donations. As was asking Mr. Shroeder why he was donating to the candidates.

But only Mr. Phipps was allowed to state why he thought the realtor and developer lobby was shovelling so much cash his way. [He says it's because he's so independent he will work to end divisiveness in city government.] That segment of the story reads like an out-take from Mr. Phipps stump speech to civic groups. Does Reporter Lewis include his opponents' opinions about why people are donating to them? No.

Then it gets worse. Lewis writes: "It was important to Phipps that he not run just because he supported one side or the other, but to make the decisions he felt were best for the city." That's reported as straight fact, not Mr. Phipp's claim about why he is running. Straight fact. Where the hell were the SE's news editors when Lewis submitted her story? Did none of them point out that the sentence as written makes it Ms. Lewis's conclusion [and therefor the SE's] that Phipps is running as an independent to do only what's best for the city? Did no editor of remind her [News Writing 101] that such would be proper for an editorial, or a column, but has no place in a campaign news story? Did it occur to no editor to add a "he said" to the sentence? Where the hell were the news editors? Did none question the propriety of interviewing only Phipps about why he was running and getting large cash donations, while asking none of his opponents why they thought people were giving to them?

Lewis also reports Phipps claiming "he declined contributions from a few politically-charged groups or people, saying he didn't want them to feel like they had control over his decisions." Oh, really? And what "politically charged groups or people" were they? We don't know. Did Ms. Lewis ask? We don't know. Did Phipps refuse to say? We don't know. Hard to believe a reporter who got at least a C in News Reporting 101 didn't ask him who he refused money from. Harder still to understand why, if he refused to answer, the story didn't report that he refused to answer.

Evidently, the SE has tasked Reporter Lewis with covering the Ogden Council campaign. Since her grasp of basic political reporting standards seems... well, let's just say not as robust as it ought to be.. some crusty cynical old green-eyeshade cigar smokin' news editor who's been around the political block a time or two needs to be assigned to read what she submits during the campaign, to prevent embarrassments like today's story from landing on readers' front porches.

One final point: apparently Mr. Phipps thinks the NWAR is not a "politically charged" special interest group. At least that's what he told Reporter Lewis, who apparently did not press him on the matter. This leads, I think, to only two possible conclusions: (a) Mr. Phipps is so Pollyanna naive that it would not be prudent to place him on the Council or (b) Mr. Phipps was being disingenuous in trying to slip the NWAR past Reporter Lewis as some kind of a-political public spirited group, and that Reporter Lewis was so Pollyanna naive as to let him get away with it.

One Gentle Reader Tips Us Off to a Suspicious Ongoing Telephone "Poll"

Is someone currently in the process of conducting an election-related "push poll?"

Interesting email which has been sitting on the back-burner for the past couple of days, concerning a purported Mount Ogden Golf Course-related telephone survey, which is reportedly being conducted in the Ogden area. Our reader's missive contains a query which we'll pass on to our gentle readers:

Wednesday, September 9, 2009, 4:58 PM

Has anyone gotten a phone call from an independent research group asking questions about raising taxes to cover the $250,000 deficit that the Mt. Ogden Golf Course costs the city? The 1st question was about the million dollar revamp that's needed to improve the course. I asked the questioner who was conducting this survey and said that I had an issue with the assumption behind the 1st question--mainly that it assumed that millions were needed to revamp it. Some of the other questions involved re-zoning the areas adjacent to the course.
Argh!

Becky McShane

Given the timing, we believe it's reasonable to infer that this "poll" may be related to the pending Ogden municipal election, and that one or more council candidates may be interested in accomplishing something other than collecting and analyzing response data.

So to fine tune our reader's query we'll ask this: Is someone currently in the process of conducting an election-related "push poll?"

Broadly defined, a push poll is a political campaign technique in which an individual or organization attempts to influence or alter the view of respondents under the guise of conducting a poll. The Center for Media and Democracy provides a slightly narrower definition: "A push poll is where, using the guise of opinion polling, disinformation about a candidate or issue is planted in the minds of those being 'surveyed'. Push-polls are designed to shape, rather than measure, public opinion." Notably, legitimate pollsters regard push polling as "unethical," at least in its more aggressive manifestations.

Notably, the pollster in the instant case evidently attempted to predicate the line of questioning on the assumption that the Mt. Ogden Golf Course in fact actually suffers a $250,000 annual deficit. Encouragingly, our alert reader didn't take the bait.

Ogden Voters are of course no strangers to political telemarketing abuse. As our readers will remember, the Godfrey administration was accused of using this same deceptive telemarketing technique in 2006, when gondolas were the "hot" item on the "visionary" Godfrey agenda. Are we seeing a re-run of this unethical tactic yet again?

Our readers will of course also recall another abuse of the infernal telephone autodialer in October of 2007, at the tail end of the 2007 mayoral election runup. Who can forget the completely bogus Jon Huntsman endorsement, which Boss Godfrey ultimately "pulled" at the then-Utah governor's "request?"

Perhaps might be helpful to get more reader input on this. Are there other WCF readers who've been contacted regarding this purported poll? Can a few of our gentle readers fill in the nature of some of the other "survey" questions, such as those involving re-zoning issues? Can anyone provide more information on this issue at all?

We believe that Ms. McShane presents a fine topic for discussion on this otherwise slow-news Saturday morning; and we'll therefore offer her a hearty Weber County Forum Tip O' The Hat, for bringing this issue to the forefront.

Who will be the first to comment?

Standard-Examiner: Dirty Politics Hitting Hard In Syracuse

Rumors of a mayoral candidate being associated with the Democratic Party

By Curmudgeon

Ah, Utah. Ain't no place quite like it. This morning, the Standard-Examiner reports in a front page story that things are getting down and dirty in the campaign for control of the Syracuse City government. Here's the headline: "Dirty Politics Hitting Hard: Rumors Create Fireworks Before Syracuse Primary."

How bad is it getting? Pretty bad. The SE reports that there are even "rumors of a mayoral candidate being associated with the Democratic Party." No! My god, will these gutter-dwelling candidates stop at nothing to win office? Is no slur too slimy, no mud too gross for them to sling? Think of the poor man's family, his children --- how can they face their friends, their schoolmates once the charge that their father is "associated with the Democratic Party" is out there? Is there no decency in Syracuse, no restraint?

Ah, Utah....

River Project Developer "Could" Be Chosen Soon

Then again... maybe not

By Curmudgeon

How to explain Thursday's odd River Project story in the SE's "Top Of Utah" section... If in fact it is a news story. News stories, after all, ought to actually contain some... well, some news, shouldn't they?

Even the SE seems a little confused about what, exactly, the story is. It's print edition headlines it this way: River Project Could Start In 2010. [Note: not will start but could start.] But the on line edition headline is different: River Project Developer Could Be Chosen Soon. Not exactly the same thing, is it.

The piece is one long string of conditionals. "A developer may be selected by the end of the year...." [But Ogden's business development manager, Tom Christopulos, refused to name any of the thee developers allegedly contending for the job.]

What else did Mr. Christopulos have to say? That if in fact a developer is chosen by the end of the year, then "a master plan should be updated with city council input." Should. Not will. The orginal master plan for the project [nearly ten years old now] the story reports --- and this may be the only real news in it --- will have to be thrown over the side. It's no longer viable. Too many residential units in it, it seems now. But that's not all. The city will also have to decide "which components of the project should be undertaken first" and "the number of phases needed to complete the work." That too from Mr. Christopulos.

But that's not all. Mr. Leshem of California is listed as owner of 60% of the River Project's properties. However, the story reports, "it hasn't been determined if Leshem will sell his parcels to a developer or participate in construction within the River Project," Christopulos said.

So, what are we left with? Maybe a developer will be selected by the end of the year. Could happen. And the former development plan is now kaput and an entirely new one will have to be agreed upon. Maybe that will happen by the end of the year too. Or maybe not. And before a developer can go forward, if and when one is selected, to work under a new development plan [which does not yet exist], someone will have to figure out if Mr. Leshem will sell his property to another developer, or take part in the development himself. And what does Mr. Leshem have to say about this not inconsequential matter? From the story: "Leshem could not be reached for comment Wednesday."

Other than that the existing development plan is now, the administration concedes, a non-starter, I'm hard put to find any real news in the story, as replete with "coulds" and "mays" and "shoulds" as it is.

This is pure speculation, but I suspect something like this might have happened and might explain why the story appeared [happily, given its gossamer thin news content, not on the front page]. I suspect Hizzonah had a hissy-fit over the SE's front page story about the River Project's problems yesterday, and told his business development director to get out there and say something positive to spin and counter. And Mr. Christopolus did, being careful to salt his remarks will all those conditionals, since I suspect he knows just how iffy things regarding the River Project are. Or something like that.

If I were teaching in a J-School, I think I'd use today's piece in the SE as an example of a non-story: something that appears to report news but actually doesn't. Or not much of it anyway.

A Flurry of New Ogden City 2009 Municipal Election Information

The Standard-Examiner releases the results of its candidate survey; And the first set of candidate financial disclosure statements appear on the Ogden City website

There's lots of new 2009 Ogden City municipal election information available this morning, for the perusal of our gentle readers:

1) As promised, the Standard-Examiner delivers its-long awaited Ogden Council Candidate Questionnaire this morning, with responses from fourteen of the fifteen declared candidates for council seats At Large "B", Ward 1 and Ward 3. These materials are available for viewing on the Std-Ex website:

• Ogden At Large "B"
• Ogden Ward 1
• Ogden Ward 3

For the sake of archival permanency, we'll also link these duplicate pages from the Std-Ex Digital Edition:

• Ogden Seat "B" & Ward 3
• Ogden Ward 1

2) And thanks to the efforts of WCF reader and contributor Dan S., we're delighted to present the first set of financial disclosure statements, which are gleaned from the Ogden City website:

• Contribution and Expenditure Reports 9/08/09

We've already added the the financial disclosure materials to our 2009 election module in our right sidebar; and we'll set to work this morning to add all of this information to our 2009 Election Council Candidate Roster.

We'll rely upon our readers to carefully examine and digest this new information; and readers are invited, of course, to chime in with their ever-savvy comments. With five days remaining before the September 15 polling, there's still plenty of time to vet these candidates, and to separate the wheat from the chaff. We're also quite certain that our readers will be able to do just that.

(In that connection, we've also already moved over a few on-topic reader comments from yesterday's article comment section.)

Take it away, O Gentle Ones.

Standard-Examiner: River Project Not Flowing Smoothly (To Say the Very Least)

Another delightful illustration of the Godfrey administration's "three stooges" style of management

Delightful story in this morning's Standard-Examiner, which once again clearly illustrates the "three-stooges" style of management which is so typical of the Boss Godfrey administration. Regular Weber County Forum readers will recall that Ogden City qualified for a $1 million state Water Quality Board grant in late June, which funds were designated to rehabilitate a polluted mile long stretch of the Ogden River. During the application process, the Godfrey administration apparently represented to state Water Quality Board authorities that property owners with parcels adjoining the river were "onboard" with the project, and willing to donate easements along the river, to accommodate the project. According to this morning's story however, that's not, well... quite true.

Interestingly, important elements of the story vary, depending upon whom Mr. Schwebke managed to interview. Whereas Caroline Bradford, a spokesperson for RiverRestoration.org, (the outfit who'll be the ultimate beneficiary of these grant funds,) represents that 85% of the property owners are all lined up, Ogden City Engineer Justin Anderson frankly admits the number of property owners who have actually donated necessary easements is exactly zero. And when the ever-diligent Scott Schwebke dug in deeper, to seek out property owners who might verify Ms. Bradford's statement, all he apparently could come up with were three obviously disgruntled riverfront property owners who said, "hell no." Of course regular readers of WCF already knew that. Here's Mr. Schwebke's full morning story, for those folks who'd like to read up:

• River project not flowing smoothly

Inasmuch as there's reportedly a mid-November drop-dead deadline for commencement of this project, it appears that Ogden City and RiverRestoration.org will need to do some fancy footwork, and do it soon. Encouragingly however, Mr. Anderson exudes the same brand of confidence that typifies the Godfrey administration any time it's confronted with a seemingly insurmountable obstacle:

If Ward, Berrett and other landowners refuse to provide easements, the river restoration project can be reconfigured around those properties, said Justin Anderson, the city's engineer.

Perhaps Mr. Anderson is contemplating moving the river?

And the beat goes on...

(Nice work, Mr. Schwebke, by the way.)

Who will be the first to comment?

Deseret News: Proposed Ethics - Too Strict to Live By?

Some Utah legislators are already screaming bloody murder about a citizens' initiative which would enact broad Utah legislative ethics reform

There was more news about Utah state legislative ethics reform late last evening from the Deseret News, which reports that some members of the state legislature are already firing back at the grass roots organizations Utahs For Ethical Government and Fair Boundaries, who are beginning the process of gathering signatures for a citizen's initiative which would enact a strict code of ethical standards for Utah lawmakers and create an independent ethics commission to apply the code and make enforcement recommendations to the Utah state legislature. You can read the full text of the proposed citizens' initiative here:

• Government Ethics Reform -Final Version

Those readers who'd prefer NOT to wade through the esoteric legal jargon can read the shorter Executive Summary here:

• Executive Summary

Deseret News columnist Bob Bernick reports that citizen legislators such as House Majority Leader Kevin Garn, (R-Layton) and Senator Howard Stephenson, (R-Draper) are screaming bloody murder that the legislation contained in the proposed initiative would trample legislators' constitutional rights... and we found this comment from Representative Garn to be downright laughable:

"Under this initiative, any three people in Utah could (bring a complaint and) ruin your reputation," said House Majority Leader Kevin Garn, R-Layton, who has attended detailed briefings on the initiative presented by legislative attorneys. "It has so many unintended consequences, you could be a legislator trying to do the right thing in your business and your legislative work, and you get nailed. It is ugly and mean-spirited."

We believe Mr. Garn's statement illustrates the precise reason that it's time for Utah citizens to pick up the reins, sign the petition and enact this legislation, which will drain the ethical swamp that's existed in the Utah legislature for far too many years. If Mr. Garn doesn't realize that it's already his unwritten ethical obligation as a state legislator to leave the special interests of his private clients (and campaign donors) at the door when he enters the legislative chambers, this new proposed legislation will certainly clarify the situation for him.

At the beginning of the last legislative session, there were almost four dozen bills aimed at creating broad changes in the state legislature's ethical landscape. By the end of session, the legislature had killed most of these bills... and instead passed paltry legislation which we labelled the equivalent of hitting the snooze button.

As State Senator Scott McCoy, (D-Salt Lake) says, The Legislature "has only nibbled around the corners" of true ethics reform. "The heavy lifting — like this initiative — has not been done. And it is perfectly appropriate for citizens to say, 'We'll do it for you,' if the Legislature itself won't."

We couldn't be more in agreement.

And if this proposed new law would result in a flurry of legislator resignations, as Rep. Garn suggests, we hope these departing legislators won't let the screen door slap them on the backside as they scurry out the State Capitol back door.

We'll continue to keep our eye on this highly-encouraging grass-roots movement, and will publish information about how to get your signatures affixed to a petition as this matter progresses.

That's it for now.

Don't let the cat get your tongues.

The Standard-Examiner Reports on Boss Godfrey's Central City Fixer-Upper Project

Does Ogden City's most prominent "real estate flipper" rightfully deserve to place his Central City Fixer-Upper Project in the "win" column?

Tantalizing front page article in this morning's Standard-Examiner, focusing on the heretofore mainly unheralded efforts of the the Godfrey administration to revitalize the Ogden Central City area, by purchasing, refurbishing, razing and/or rebuilding dilapidated residential properties, and then putting them back on the local real estate market:

• Renewal a home at a time

Long-time Emerald City political wonks will remember when the Godfrey administration negotiated an exclusive agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to purchase foreclosed or otherwise repo'd HUD properties, fix them up, and then "flip" them for a profit. Well, according to this morning's Scott Schwebke story, it would appear that the administration has become quite deeply (and possibly successfully) involved in that. As a matter of fact, it would appear that Boss Godfrey may have simply ditched the original plan (to refurbish and sell these properties to low-income residents) and instead put together an in-house operation which might arguably be the biggest "real estate flipper" in Ogden City.

At the time the administration negotiated this HUD agreement, we recall significant grousing from members of the Ogden real estate community, inasmuch as this insider deal would squeeze private investor "flippers" out of the HUD repo market. Moreover, we heard complaints that these properties, once placed into Ogden City ownership, would erode the local tax base, inasmuch as city-owned real estate is exempt from the property tax rolls.

Disregarding for the moment the above two objections, we'll say that from the point of view of central city aesthetics at least, the photos accompanying Mr. Schwebke's morning article do convey a suggestion that Godfrey's inner city real estate may actually be a success. A couple of "before and after"pictures tell a couple of thousand words:


We gotta say we loved these particular before and after pics. And we do confess we did ask ourselves whether a hypothetical private investor/flipper would have devoted the necessary capital to removing that grotesque "Faux Greco-roman Revival" facade... and to expending the extra dough which was obviously required for the highly-detailed "Victorian Style" restoration and remodeling.

We'll admit our curiosity was piqued by this morning's Schwebke story. Unfortunately, Mr. Schwebke left us hanging. What's missing from Mr. Schwebke's story is the financial bottom line. Is Godfrey's Central City Fixer-Upper Project operating at a profit, or even a break-even? Or is this project running in the red, like most other administration projects?

Ace Reporter Schwebke had the opportunity to deliver a blockbuster story this morning; but he instead delivered another puff piece, we think.

Financial figures, Mr. Schwebke! That's what thoughtful Emerald City lumpencitizens want to see.

Before closing, we'll also add that we're not unaware of the intangibles here. Aside from increasing the property values of neighboring properties, in what other ways do the projects which Mr. Schwebke touts benefit the taxpayers? The value of removing "problem" apartment conversions from the Central City area is something to which nobody can readily attach a dollar figure. Does Boss Godfrey rightfully deserve to place his Central City Fixer-Upper Project in the column labeled "successful?" Should those fiscally-conservative lumpencitizens among us make an exception to the general rule, i.e., that local governments should not be directly involved as "principals" in real estate development?

Even though it's a holiday, we're sure that there are more than a few WCF readers who'll check in here today. Hopefully today's article will provide fodder for at least some new WCF discussion.

Take it away, WCF readers.

Winners and Losers at the Standard-Examiner

A belated spotlight on yesterday's Dave Greilling column

There's not much to write about in this morning's Emerald City news, but there is one back-burner item worthy of note. Std-Ex editor Dave Greiling provided an informative Std-Ex column yesterday, which touches on two topics which have been discussed earlier on Weber County Forum, i.e., the Standard's newly redesigned website, and the upcoming September 15 municipal election primary:

• Adding the word Drupal to your vocabulary

First, Mr. Greilling points out that the new website is the first full website makeover in five years (we guess we can assume a change was overdue); and he predicts that once Std-Ex readers get used to the new format, it will be "easier for site visitors to find the content they’re looking for." We spent several hours prowling the site yesterday; and it this point we believe Mr. Greiling is right. Whereas our main initial usability gripe had related to what seemed to be the poor indexing of online articles, we've now discovered that the indexing is actually improved. For those who haven't yet explored the website, look for this link in the front page upper left column: "Read more popular stories...". When you click this link you'll find a long list of story headlines which are available for quick and efficient browsing. And in truth, it's apparent that the Standard is increasing the volume of articles appearing on its website; and decreasing the number of them which remain hidden behind the paid Digital Edition firewall too.

Mr. Greiling also mentions the revamped article comments sections, and the beginning of a "voluntary" registration system, (which signals the end of "anonymous" comments on the Std-Ex site). We can well understand why the Standard decided to adopt this new system. Take it from us. From a webmaster's point of view, the task of monitoring the trolls and vandals is a royal pain; and we thus applaud the Std-Ex for taking this decisive step. While we'll predict that this system will result in a drop in reader comments, we believe there's also a bright side to this. We completed the simple registration process yesterday and were delighted to find that the the comments section module has been vastly improved, with word-processor-style text formatting functions and a whole potload of other new capabilities. Yeah, it's a tradeoff between privacy and greatly enhanced usability. On balance however, we're going to call the new comments system, and the site design itself... a Winner.

Mr. Greiling devotes the second half of his column to the Standard's decision to withhold the results of its forthcoming council candidate questionnare until September 10, a full ten days after early voting had commenced. He justifies the decision on the basis of the fact that a number of council candidates had missed the September 1 submission deadline; and here's our take on that: Serious candidates who were truly interested in providing information to the public would have made this a first priority. Apparently numerous of them didn't. If we'd been running the Standard-Examiner news room, we'd have told the late submitters "tough luck."

Unlike the Standard's new website, we'll label the decision to withhold important candidate information during the week of early voting as the bone-headed decision that it was... a Loser.

Of course that's just us. So what say our gentle readers about all this?

WSU Kicks off the 2009 Season against Wyoming This Afternoon

Sorry... no live video podcast for our gentle readers

It's a great day for Weber State University football fans. WSU travels to Laramie to kick off the 2009 season at 1:00 p.m. against Wyoming of the Mountain West Conference. The Standard-Examiner provides two pre-game teasers in this morning's Digital Edition:

• Laramie shootout?
• Bolen a special teams secret

We've checked the local listings; and it appears today's game won't be available on local TeeVee. An audio version will be broadcast live on KLO radio, of course.

During the 2008 season we were able to embed live Big Sky TV video broadcasts of most of WSU's games. Unfortunately, BSTV won't be broadcasting today's game, so we won't have a live podcast for our readers today. Hard-core WSU fans can catch the live video of the game (on a pay per view basis) via CBS Online Sports, however. (Of course truly hard-core WSU fans are already tailgating in Laramie as we write this.)

We're thrilled to see WSU back on the gridiron; and we'll be closely covering our home town team right here on Weber County Forum through the rest of the season.

Good luck, coach Mac and the WSU squad. A victory over a MWC team would be the ideal way to start off the season.

Update 9/15/09 9:30 p.m.: Final score: Cowboys 29; Wildcats 22. Due to a series of dumb penalties and mental errors, our beloved Wildcats narrowly lost today's game by a score of 29-22.

That doesn't mean we don't still love 'em.

Standard-Examiner Editorial; The Powder Mountain Road is a (Big) Problem

As a major opinion leader in Weber County, the Standard-Examiner said something this morning that needed to be said

It may have been a big success for Powder Mountain, but it was a nightmare for commuters and residents on the Powder Mountain road. The congested road was dangerous both for drivers and nearby residents. It simply is not big enough to handle thousands of vehicles over a short period of time, particularly very large vehicles, which were in abundance last weekend.

Standard-Examiner
OUR VIEW: Road to resort a problem
September 4, 2009

Good strong editorial in this morning's Standard-Examiner, referencing Sunday evening's rollover fatality on the Powder Mountain road, and urging the greedhead Powder Mountain developers to exercise basic decency and common sense:

• OUR VIEW: Road to resort a problem

The residents of Ogden Valley have long been acutely aware of the inconvenience and outright danger the the Powder Mountain road presents. Sunday's rollover fatality is only the most recent deadly accident on that steep, narrow and winding road. The most recent previous rollover fatality occurred only in 2006; and that deadly accident still remains painfully fresh in the minds of local residents too.

Yes, the residents are well aware of the problem, as was the Ogden Valley Planning Commission in 2007, when that governmental body recommended a pared down Powder Mountain development plan, upon the conditional requirement that they construct a second, permanent all season road.

Of course conditional rezoning wasn't good enough for the Powder Mountain greedheads; and in the name of "private property rights," these developers thumbed their noses at Ogden Valley citizens and Weber County government regulators, and filed their ill-conceived petition for town incorporation.

At present, Powder Mountain is still pursuing its effort to perfect its township petition, to form a lackey company town government, and to ensure that government regulation will not impede its effort to add 10,000 new residential units to its planned mega-resort. This plan, of course, if brought to fruition, would increase the usage of the Powder Mountain road at least ten-fold.

Will the SE's appeal for an exercise in decency and common sense sway the Powder Mountain developers? Based on their track record, we have our serious doubts. But kudos to the Standard-Examiner for chiming in on this issue anyway. As a major opinion leader in Weber County, the Standard-Examiner said something this morning that needed to be said.

In our view, by the way, we believe the SE's sound argument against the staging of large off-season events also applies equally to Powder Mountain's planned year-round mega-development.

And what say our gentle readers about this?

The Standard--Examiner Live! Edition Has Been "Upgraded"

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it," as the old saying goes

By Curmudgeon

The Standard-Examiner's new on line page is now up. Sort of. [They're still stamping out gremlins over there and much that wasn't working earlier today seems to be working now.]

It is touted as a grand improvement. In some ways, possibly it is. Possibly. But there are two "improvements" that seem to me bad ideas.

1. The old page contained, as soon as it came up, ten or a dozen lead stories --- the headlines and a one sentence lede. You could scan quickly and click on the story your wanted. The "improved" version now puts up only five stories, with much longer excerpts. At the top of the page, there is a picture box with fifteen numbered buttons below it. The top fifteen stories scroll through that box, one a time coming up every few seconds. So to see all the stories available, other than what the SE thinks are the top five, you have to either wait for the box to scroll through until the story you want comes up, or you have to click through the number tags, one at a time, until you find the story you want, if it's there. If yours happens to be number 14 or 15, or it's not on the scroll through list at all, you're going to do either a lot of clicking or a lot of waiting to find that out. The old system which provided instant access to the top ten or twelve stories immediately [and let you know if the story you wanted was not there so you could do a search for it right off], was, I think, much faster and easier to use. Much more user friendly, as they say.

2. The "most recent comments" box has disappeared entirely. Gone. I don't know about others, but I found that box very useful, and a fast way to pick upon the current on-going conversations. Now I'd have to note the number of comments on every story I was interested in, and when I come back later, remember what that number was to know if, when the story came up, any new comments had been added. And if the story I was interested in wasn't one of the top five, I'd have to either wait or click through to even see the number of comments attached to that story. The "latest comments" list was fast, and useful. And it's apparently gone gone gone. Why?

The Utah Association of Realtors: The Biggest and Baddest PAC in the Land

Should Ogden voters consider the receipt of real estate PAC campaign donations by any Ogden Council candidate to be a disqualifying factor in the 2009 election?

Enlightening column in today's Deseret News, focusing on the political muscle of the Utah Association of Realtors. Bob Bernick's opening paragraphs provide the gist:

Even in these tough times in the housing market, the Utah Association of Realtors is still one of the most powerful financial political organizations on Capitol Hill.
New political-action-committee reports show that the group came away from the 2008 elections with $1 million in cash; has raised $261,000 already this year; spent $222,000 (mostly giving to its national PAC and to local Realtor associations) and has given legislators and Gov. Gary Herbert — none of whom will be running in elections this year — more than $56,000.
In the 2008 elections, the PAC gave legislative candidates, political parties and other PACs nearly $200,000, an analysis by the Deseret News shows. [...]
Chris Kyler, chief executive officer of the association, told the Deseret News several years ago that he wanted to build the best and biggest PAC in Utah.
Clearly, he's done so..

Read the full article here:

• Utah Realtors Association a powerful lobby group

With the above information in mind, we can't wait to get to get our hands on the first set of Ogden municipal election campaign finance disclosure statements, which, according to Ogden City's 2009 Candidate Guide to Elections (p.23), are due to be filed by 9/8/09:

Each candidate or personal campaign committee must file with the City Recorder a “Report of Contributions & Expenditures for Candidates”, signed by the candidate, by 5:00 p.m. on the following dates:
• September 8, 2009 – Seven days before the date of the primary election, if the candidate is involved in the primary election... .

We'll be keeping our eyes peeled for that first set of candidate reports; and well post them right here on this blog as soon as we get our hands on them.

As anyone who's paying attention knows, the real estate lobby is a prime driving force behind Boss Godfrey's "vision" for unbridled Emerald City development. Council candidates Mark B. Hains and and David Phipps are of course employed in the real estate industry, so we can take it as a given that they'll have plenty of realtor dough in their campaign warchests. What will be really interesting however, will be to find out which other council candidates turn out to be recipients of the real estate industry's 2009 Ogden City election campaign donation largess.

And here's a query for our gentle readers: Would it be wise for Ogden voters to consider the receipt of real estate PAC campaign donations by any Ogden Council candidate to be a disqualifying factor in the 2009 election? We have to confess we're leaning in that direction.

So what say our WCF readers about that?

The floor is now open for your comments.

Ogden Sierra Club Releases the Results of Its 2009 Ogden City Council Candidate Questionnaire

Twelve of seventeen Council candidates have responded so far

The Standard-Examiner reports this morning that municipal primary election early voting is now underway across northern Utah, and Ogden City in particular. In conjunction with this, we're delighted to provide the results of the Ogden Sierra Club's latest Ogden City Municipal Election Candidate Questionnaire:

• Ogden Sierra Club 2009 City Council Election Questionnaire

It will be our intention to link individual candidates' responses from individual candidate pages within our own Council Candidate Roster. But for the time being though, until we've had the time and opportunity to accomplish that, our readers can examine the aggregated responses of the twelve candidates who did respond via the above-linked Sierra Club Questionnaire page index. Conspicuously missing in action, by the way, are responses from the Godfreyite candidates, Travis Pate, Mark B. Hains and David Phipps. Go figure.

Who will be the first to comment?

Ogden City Decides How to Blow $310 K in Federal Stimulus Funds

Boss Godfrey funnels federal stimulus dollars to select private property owners

Upon the earlier request of gentle reader disgusted, we'll belatedly refer to an article which inexplicably appeared this morning only in the Standard-Examiner hard-copy and Digital Edition versions this morning, but not in the Live! Edition:

• Ogden starts using stimulus funds/City hopes rehabilitating buildings will boost downtown development

For openers, here's our above-named reader's setup on the subject:

Rudi
You need to post the article in todays paper local section about the city funneling dollars to private property owners on washington and 23rd to fix up their buildings. the city is going to lease the building from the fom who own the buildings and then the city is going to try and sub-lease the buildings per the article. City bd admits that its a hard time to rent out space.
Sounds like another drain on the residents

It's late in the day, so we'll skip our own analysis and simply open a thread dedicated to the discussion of today's Ace Reporter Schwebke story. Sorry disgusted; we'd intended to put this up earlier in the day... but we got distracted and flat forgot.

In the interest of keeping this and other threads on topic, we'll also move the several reader comments which have already been lodged in response to disgusted's earlier query over here.

Have at it disgusted, and the two other readers who have demonstrated interest in this topic. At Weber County Forum, we always aim to please our gentle readers.

Another Brake Failure-related Fatality on the Powder Mountain Road

6 - 8 Life Flight helicopter rescues from Powder Mountain to area hospitals over the weekend

Excellent article up on Ogden Valley Forum this morning, leapfrogging off a story carried this morning by the Standard-Examiner, reporting that there's been another brake failure-related fatality on the Powder Mountain road. Read Larry Zini's full writeup here:

• Fatal Accident on Powder Mountain Road

Today's OVF article is chock full of informative links, and also offers an eye-opening Powder Mountain spokesman comment. And be sure to read the Standard-Examiner and KSL News comments sections, where online reader/commentators again point out the sheer insanity of building a Mega Ski Resort (or holding major public events) at the relatively inaccessible Powder Mountain site, which is dependant upon rinky-dink and dangerously steep access road.

In addition to the rollover fatality, OVF also reports "a huge weekend for Life Flight as they made some 6 - 8 flights to area hospitals" over the weekend. Quite an astounding drain on public rescue resources for one resort over one weekend, we think.

If the greedhead Powder Mountain Developers have their way with their Powderville Township Power-grab, we'll confidently predict we ain't seen nuttin' yet. Imagine the slaughter on state highway 158, if the Powder Mountain Resort succeeds in increasing traffic along that road by a factor of ten.

Who will be the first to comment?

Update 9/1/09 9:07 a.m.: Carlos Mayorga provides a front page followup story this morning, which has been appended to the Std-Ex story linked above.

Ogden City Primary Election Voter’s Guide for 2009

Weber County Forum Special Guest Commentary - (Parody) 

Dear Friends,

I, your mayor, have been on a roll lately. I just got the tax increment for downtown extended, so I have School taxes and County taxes I can bond against for twelve more years. The depleted borrowing capacity of Ogden City can no longer stop my vision.

Plus, I have the city council lined up to vote for my new water tanks at 36th Street so I can build my gargantuan motel and condo project at the golf course, paid for by city water bills.

Just like all little piglets know – when I suck one teat dry, I just find myself another one!

Anyway, now that I have the water rate payers covering the cost of my golf course “handoff” and construction project, I’ve been able to start calling contractors to do the deal for me. As you can see from the expression on my face, I’m getting some very favorable responses! I’m glad to say that even in today’s economy, there are still plenty of contractors and bankers who are willing to take a big chunk of “public nuisance” land off my hands for next to nothing!

But I’m getting off track. Today I wanted to let you know about the people running for city council, while showcasing my own personal favorites. I even utilized the help of my business development office, to give these recommendations a professional quality. So without further adieu, please consider my recommendations.

At Large Seat B – David “Alfred E” Phipps

David’s nickname is “Alfred E” because that’s what everyone called him when he was a kid. This race is so important to me I had a campaign portrait commissioned for him (with his tie straightened). Like everything I do, I think it turned out rather well, don’t you?

“Alfred E” Phipps is very sensitive to Ogden issues. You can see for yourself in his letter to the editor, where he refers to Ogden as an “armpit” and an “unsafe place”.

No wonder he chose to have his business office located in Layton! So the next time you’re in Layton to get away from the drive-by shootings in Ogden, stop in, and tell him “Hi”. His address and real estate profile are here.

In his letter to the editor, you’ll notice he also did a super job of lying about all the debt that I’ve piled on, and made it sound like you taxpayers would never have to pay for any of it! He wrote his letter 2 years ago to help me get re-elected, and since then, taxpayers have been paying through the nose for the Salomon Center debt!

Now I know you people keep knocking me on my record. But notice that Alfred E not only has a keen sense of how bad things look after ten years of ME as mayor, but he supports me anyway. No wonder I love him! He’s loyal! Vote for “Alfred E” Phipps!


In his letter to the editor, you’ll notice he also did a super job of lying about all the debt that I've piled on, and made it sound like you taxpayers would never have to pay for any of it! He wrote his letter 2 years ago to help me get re-elected, and since then, taxpayers have been paying through the nose for the Salomon Center debt!

Now I know you people keep knocking me on my record. But notice that Alfred E not only has a keen sense of how bad things look after ten years of me as mayor, but he supports me anyway. No wonder I love him! He’s loyal! Vote for “Alfred E” Phipps!

Municipal Ward 1 – Travis “G-Trav” Pate

If there’s one guy who is more dyed-in-the-wool, pro-gondola than even me, it’s Travis Pate. He’s had some trouble holding a job, but he sure could hold a “Lift Ogden” sign when he worked for the very pro-gondola Chamber of Commerce. He’s also a close associate of my personal friend Sue “G-Train” Wilkerson. That’s why people call him “G-Trav” Pate.

Now, you’ve probably all heard about the basement room under the home of Jay Asquith Cavendish. It’s where an important new committee meets – one that I formed between the Chamber of Commerce and the Realty people called the... Supreme Committee of Real Estate Workers – United!

Since the Chamber of Commerce meets there, we call the meetings “Down in the Chamber with the Chamber.”

Here’s a picture of G-Trav all dressed up in his curly wig and suit, getting ready to plot ways to borrow money from banks and spend it on building projects – in other words, plotting ways to Lift Ogden!

We’ve held many important meetings in this basement with our city’s rightful leaders, and have had many good times there. And G-Trav fits in perfectly with our group!

So whether you want to see the gondola get built, love borrow-and-spend government, or just want to give an unemployed guy a break, vote for G-Trav Pate!

At Large Seat A – Mark “Stinky” Hains

Stinky Hains has only one person running against him so you won’t get to vote for him until the general election on November 3. But I wanted to introduce you to him right now anyway.

Nobody knows whether “Stinky” got his nickname from 14 years in the real estate business, or from the expression he gets on his face whenever he smells fresh air blowing off undeveloped land that could be plowed under for new houses!

But you can see at his website that Stinky is an avid photographer. And you have to admit, looking at his self-portrait you can almost imagine him sniffing the stink from the undeveloped hillside! You have to admit, Stinky is one accurate photographer!

In addition to paving every inch of open space into row houses, what Stinky wants is for Ogden to get moving – literally! Whether you love or hate me, you have to admit, I make people want to MOVE – if I'm not actually forcing them to MOVE! And as a real estate guy, that’s what puts money in Stinky’s pocket. In fact, it’s the only thing that puts money in his pocket!

Real estate people are used to getting what they want, so expect to see a lot of campaign signs to buy Stinky’s election, paid for by the... Supreme Committee of Real Estate Workers – United!

And the next time you see some disgusting, wasteful open space, pinch your nose and remember to vote for Stinky Hains!

In Conclusion

Now I admit, my list of candidates this time around may be a little forgettable! So to help you remember those who will rubber stamp the mayor's plans – people the mayor respectfully calls his “Godfreyites” – take a minute to click and print my...

“Mayor Godfrey's Clip and Carry Guide to the Primary Candidates”

Now I was going to write some additional comments, but I'm told the bank is on the phone. They’re going to pull their Salomon Center loan again and then re-issue it, so they can charge another $1 million fee, which is no problem, since these guys are always good for a very reasonable 1% kickback! Like I said, I'm on a roll!

And remember, if  I can get a bunch of my rubber stamps on the city council you won’t have to worry about anything. (And it won’t make any difference if you worry anyway, since none of my Godfreyites will listen to what anybody tells them except me!) So be sure to take my “clip and carry guide” to the polls with you on September 15!

Once again here's the link to my  “Clip and Carry Guide to the Primary Candidates – Vote on SEPTEMBER 15th”