Announcing Ogden's First Winter Fest Where "Cold is Cool" February 12-14, 2010

The good life in Ogden does not end just because it is cold outside, in fact it is quite the opposite. This will be a great opportunity to come out and have fun in the snow downtown with family activities, good food, music, and of course fireworks.

It’s Ogden’s first Winter Fest! We are hauling in and making snow to transform downtown into the ultimate winter celebration location. Toboggan parades, block parties, snowmobile street drag races, fireworks, concerts, skiing, snowboard and snowshoe sports demos are all part of the new tradition. This three-day celebration will play host to events like skijoring (skiing behind horses), snow sculpturing, a 5K race, as well as humorous competitions including human snow bowling, human dogsled races, and doggy look alike contests. Come participate or watch. The best part is—it’s free!

Grab your skis, boards, snowshoes, friends, and kids and come play on our ramps, rails, trails and ski hill or battle it out in our friendly competitions. Stroll through the metro with tasty food and drinks while you check out the newest gear, cheer on your favorite contestants, or decide which ice or snow sculpture should take top prize.
Make sure to take a look at the 3 day schedule and pick your favorite event to come and participate in and or watch. Its sure to be a fun exciting and sometimes humorous experience. Ogden’s Winterfest where Cold is Cool.

Check us out at - winterfest.ogdencity.com

The Winter Dew Tour

Snowbasin has been selected to host The Winter Dew Tour Jan. 15-17, 2010. The Winter Dew Tour showcases top winter athletes from around the world competing in freeskiing (slopestyle and superpipe) and snowboarding (slopestyle and superpipe) for both men and women.
All three stops of the Winter Dew Tour will be televised Live on NBC and simulcast around the world on Eurosport 2, Extreme Channel and Fox Sports Australia, with additional coverage on USA Network and MTV2.
The economic impact to the state of Utah is anticipated to be about $6 million in national and international media exposure. Immeasurable are the tourist dollars that will be realized as those who view our spectacular scenery chose to vacation here at a later date.
Ogden will be fortunate to host many of the after parties and events on Historic 25th Street.

Housing at the Junction

The housing project at the Junction is going very well with many of the units full and the project is ahead of the projected time line.
The neighborhood fabric represents a diverse and mixed demographic. People from all walks of life are enjoying downtown living. The benefit to the downtown is immeasurable; residents help to create a 24 hour buzz and presence in the city. In the past, employees would leave the downtown area at the end of their work day. Now, many are staying for the evening or arriving at their homes in downtown Ogden. This brings patrons to the downtown businesses for dinner and after hour entertainment.
This shows us that there is a demand for downtown living. There are Urban Pioneers among us who like the idea of living in the heart of the city where they work and play. There is a different vibe and energy living downtown that you can not recreate in the suburbs.
The success of this project will help us as we move forward towards providing others with the same opportunity.

Some Ogden City Council refuse to debate

I have had a lot of questions recently about the Channel 17 debate where three of the eight candidates did not show up. Let me give you an update on what actually happened.

There has been broad agreement that we need to have debates on Channel 17 for city races. One of the greatest frustrations that we hear from the people of Ogden is that they don’t know who they voting for because of the sparse information with these elections. We have talked in public meetings on many occasions about how Channel 17 will be a great forum for getting to know candidates better so people can be better informed for their voting.

After the primaries Channel 17 selected a date for the debate. It was chosen for a week out on September 24^th because that is the night of their monthly show and they have the people and equipment all there ready to go. Because there was a short time frame to notify the candidates, Christy Shaw from our office offered to help make the calls. The following is a written statement from Christy as to what transpired next:

“On September 18^th, in an attempt to assist Bill Francis to schedule a candidate debate to be recorded on 9/24/09 and aired on Channel 17, I contacted the candidates to inform them of the upcoming debate and give them details about the format, schedule and rules. I informed them that this would be an unedited recording. We offered to have the debates filmed here on the 9^th floor because the equipment to film is already set up, and Channel 17 was here to film the Mayor’s call in show that same day. The moderator is a third party, Doug Jardine, who would come up with the questions. Doug does not personally know any of the candidates but is familiar with Ogden issues. I encountered resistance from some of the candidates.

The first scheduled debate was with Susie VanHooser and Mark Hains. I contacted them first. When I phoned Susie she was immediately resistant, saying she didn’t trust the Mayor, and because Bill Francis and Doug Jardine work closely with the Mayor, she doesn’t trust them either. I reminded her that her opponent would get the full ½ hour and she said she realized that, would think about, and let me know. I reiterated that this would be a fair, unbiased debate and encouraged her to participate. She told me she did not believe that. I asked Bill Francis to follow up with her and all the candidates, which he did. Bill informed me on September 23^rd that Susie declined to participate.

I phoned Mark Hains to inform him of the debate. He agreed to re-arrange his schedule to be able to participate.

I then phoned Bart Blair and David Phipps. They both agreed to the debate. A short time after my conversation with Bart, he phoned me back and said he didn’t think he could do the debate because of a scheduling conflict. I reminded him that we would proceed and David would get the full half hour. At the time I suspected that Susie had called Bart. That was later confirmed by another candidate that she in fact had phoned the other candidates to discourage them from participating. Bill Francis followed up with Bart again and offered every solution to Bart’s conflicts and still Bart refused to do the debate.

The next debate was with Jesse Garcia and Neil Garner. Neil agreed to the debate, but Jesse said he would have to think about it. On Tuesday, September 22, Jesse left a message with our receptionist (see attached e-mail) that Jesse would not be able to make the debate. He did say he would be interested in having one, but needs more time to arrange his schedule, would like a neutral venue and he wants the questions before hand.

I phone Doug Stephens regarding the debate and he readily accepted. Patrick Dean was notified by Bill Francis after the provisional ballots were counted and Mr. Dean agreed to do the debate.”

Bill Francis then contacted Bart and Jesse, who said that they had a scheduling conflict and offered to move the debate to a time that worked for them. Bart then said he just didn’t want to debate. Jesse then raised philosophical concerns. He also contacted Susie again, to encourage her to attend the debate. She sent an email to him stating that she too now had a scheduling conflict. Bill offered to accommodate her schedule and she didn’t reply to his offer.

The only editorial I will offer is that I really don’t understand what is meant by Channel 17’s studio “not being neutral ground”. What does that mean? Are they saying that because it’s next to my office it will somehow influence how the candidates respond? Are they concerned that my proximity would make the questions biased? Everyone will hear the questions and would know for themselves if it was biased.

For the record, I didn’t have anything to do with the questions. In fact, I still don’t know what questions were asked because I haven’t seen the debates. The moderator, who is a professional with decades in the business, came up with the questions.

You now know what happened. You can decide what you think is right and wrong about all this.

The availability of federal funds have created a unique opportunity for Ogden to advance its plan to clean and repair the Ogden River between Washington and Gibson Avenue. Ogden was awarded 1.3 million dollars in federal funds to facilitate this cleanup. The final design for the project should be approved by state officials before the end of September. Because the exact design of the project hasn’t been finalized by the state easements with property owners haven’t established. Once the project is approved the City will be in a position to finalize the easements. Although some property owners have been unwilling to participate the vast majority support the project and recognize the value the cleanup will add to their property. Where property owners will not cooperate we have designed alternatives that will allow us to move ahead with the project.

It is important for Ogden residents to recognize that this is 1.3 million dollars of funding with the potential for more to complete the entire project. Without these funds the city and individual property owners would be required to make these improvements and perform this clean up at their own cost.

Ultimately this project improves most properties by reducing the size of the flood plain, increasing the amount of developable property and improving an incredible natural asset.

2300 Washington Blvd

A little over a month ago we announced plans for a major renovation to the east side of the 2300 block of Washington. This renovation will include not only the buildings themselves, but also the parking behind those buildings. There is widespread misunderstanding about what the city is doing and who will ultimately benefit from this plan.
These properties have fallen into tremendous disrepair. Current property owners are unable and unwilling at this point to make the significant investment for the required renovations without having tenants who are committed to moving in and doing business. Tenants or retail businesses who would be willing to come into downtown are not visionaries of what the buildings could be, nor can they make the financial investment in redoing a store front. This vicious cycle keeps the market of the downtown area in a failed condition.
Here is where the City can step in and help the market that is unable to be fixed on its own. Using Stimulus money and tax revenues the city will be able to renovate the buildings and parking structure. The current property owners will not receive rent for several years. Once retailers sublet the property the rent will be used to reimburse the city. Under the best case scenario the city will break even and possibly even make a little money. The greatest return however is the value of the property will increase, sales tax revenue will also increase, and we will have a vibrant downtown.
Currently we are working with several companies who have expressed interest in opening store locations in downtown Ogden. We are moving forward with plans to have locations open for business in time for the Christmas Season.

Super Wal-Mart in Ogden

Our office has taken several calls regarding the status of the new downtown Wal-Mart which will be located on the west side of Wall Ave., just north of 20th Street. I am happy to report that the project is still moving forward. Ogden is fortunate to be one of the few locations where a new Wal-Mart will be built throughout the remainder of this year. This is a very encouraging sign regarding the state of our economy here in Ogden, and the confidence that the private sector has in the current direction of the city.
This Super Wal-Mart will produce estimated tax revenues of a million dollars per year for the city. There may be some decline in revenue from existing stores, however, this will be off set by the additional revenues that come in from the surrounding Wal-Mart’s not currently in the city, but patronized by Ogden residents.
Beyond the revenue benefits is the significant traffic increase brought to the downtown area. Current businesses that are located around Wal-Mart locations flourish. There will be thousands of shoppers in downtown Ogden as a result of the new Super Wal-Mart. The current businesses in downtown are one-of-a-kind, therefore not competing with Wal-Mart sales, therefore this is excellent exposure to them and their products.
Construction is scheduled to commence later on this year with a planed grand opening in the fall of 2010. Ogden’s Super Wal-Mart will help clean up a blighted part of downtown, add significant revenue to the city, and help current small business owners while attracting additional stores to downtown Ogden.