Parks and profits

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Don't be selling off public parks on the Wasatch benches.

That's the message that's been coming through from some people in Ogden -- regarding a proposal to sell the Mount Ogden Golf Course -- and now the mayor and a majority of the Kaysville City Council in light of a previously little-known discussion of selling park land to a developer.

The Ogden proposal is well known and has been vigorously debated for a couple of years.

Not so with Kaysville; indeed, most city leaders say they knew little or nothing of an idea to sell some of the 140-acre East Wilderness Park on Kaysville's bench.

It's hardly surprising, then, that they've greeted the news with opposition -- nobody likes having this kind of news dropped on them without warning.

This is not to say the whole council is rigidly against at least discussing a possible sale of some East Wilderness Park property. Councilman Bradley Caldwell has said he thinks the council should study the proposal before slamming the door shut on any possible sale. He wants to hear the pros and cons, he says.

Though we generally dislike the idea of selling increasingly rare public land -- except in unique circumstances when it might actually benefit a given city or county -- Caldwell's suggestion seems reasonable to us.

It may change no one's mind, but then again ...

We hope everyone who was privy to this discussion of selling park property before the mayor and other city leaders heard about it will understand that their dealings out of the public eye give everyone the impression that what they're doing must not be on the up-and-up. When you're dealing with public funds, public information or public property, it's the public's business from the get-go. If you want to bring people on board instead of making them suspicious and, perhaps, resentful, you better make sure the whole process is conducted in the glaring light of day.

That's something for every government body and developer in the Top of Utah to remember: secrecy guarantees mistrust.

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