Ogden mayoral race: Susan Van Hooser

NAME: Susan Van Hooser

AGE: 68

POSITION: Former Ogden school teacher and current city council member

1) What is your opinion of the 12-year tenure of Mayor Godfrey?

The Mayor has made a great number of changes that are readily visible in our city. Downtown is improving, some of our historic neighborhoods are being preserved and Ogden is stepping out of Salt Lake's shadow and becoming known as its' own center throughout the country.

The most significant accomplishment during his tenure in my opinion was the decision to rezone most of the area in East Central Ogden from R-2 (residential 2 units) back to R-1 (residential - single family units). Downtown Ogden will only survive if people using this retail area have the disposable income to take advantage of all of the work done to revitalize our downtown. The East Central Ogden neighborhood is the closest large population center to downtown. While it will take years for the full effect of this decision to be felt, we are beginning to see a rebirth in this neighborhood already. Ensuring that our residents in this area have a better mix of economic means protects our investment in downtown and helps those with less feel support in raising their family and keeping crime better managed.

I applaud all of the work and dedication he has shown Ogden City. I am grateful he has been so open minded to so many projects. Some have been a rousing success and others have not, but Ogden was in desperate need of someone willing to push the envelope when he was first elected. I thank him for his service to our city.

I am hopeful the residents of Ogden will entrust me with the next four years to continue this work. We must restore the public's complete trust in city government while continuing to make progress!

2) Do you think an Ogden streetcar system is economically feasible?

The only viable major line in Ogden City currently is the downtown to WSU line run by UTA. I think the streetcar may be economically viable in this case. There have been a few studies now that suggest Ogden would do well with a streetcar system. Before embarking on such an ambitious project however, the city has hired an outside expert on this subject from Portland Ore., who is pouring over all of these documents and will be presenting a report to the council on his opinion. This outside perspective should prove very insightful. Personally, I really like the idea of a streetcar system, but we must be very careful with the public's money, especially during these economic times. It is important to remember that streetcar is not simply about ridership and people moving. The greatest contribution streetcar can make to Ogden as it has done in other cities around the country is Placemaking. That is, the economic development and neighborhood gentrification that comes once "rails are in the ground." It has been shown time and again that once communities commit to streetcar, both of these concepts follow closely behind, usually with great success. Lastly, the streetcar is an "Ogden only" solution for a major connection in our city. There is clearly a need for a regional transit solution that incorporates the rest of our neighbors here in Weber and North Davis Counties. As the urban center for Northern Utah, we should be leading the way in helping to define and create this regional approach with our sister cities, UDOT and UTA. Streetcar will be in that mix I am certain, but again we must be very careful with tax dollars and I do not want to see Ogden going it alone, when there clearly is and will be an increased need to have mass transit that interconnects us all.

3) List three initiatives, or main themes, of your administration if you are elected.

First and foremost is to have more people involved in the decision-making process. Ultimately the decisions are made by the administration and council, but I want more of our residents and our business community to feel they are included and have been an integral part of the process. Ensuring people feel appreciated as we boldly move forward with so many initiatives will ensure more public confidence in how we are using the people's money. This allows our city's dedicated employees to rise to the occasion and shine as the professional staff they are. Anyone should feel comfortable coming to any member of the council, the mayor's office or any city employee and know their ideas and concerns will be heard.

In addition to a more open government another way to restore public trust is to focus development in all of our communities, not just "the downtown!"

In the last decade our downtown has seen a great renaissance. While there's still a lot to do, I want a whole city approach moving forward.

Second, building good public and private partnerships. Between the successes of the BDO and the Ogden Industrial Park, we have a good base for a diverse local economy. Combined with our Outdoor Gateway to the mountains we can have lively commercial and retail sectors.

What do I mean about public private partnerships? We have limited money and we need to focus where we get the most return. Some believe the heart of the city is 25th and Washington. Our most successful downtown business core, however, is built around 25th and Union Station! We didn't need a lot of tax dollars to make this area work and local business paid for most of it. The rest came from a special improvement district.

We have had many studies tell us we need to focus along Wall Avenue from 20th to 25th. This will support the most successful area of downtown (25th) and enhance the entrances to our downtown from the freeway exits at 24th and 20th streets.

The largest challenge facing downtown success is population density. As we focus more on mixed use with an emphasis in residential units we enhance both the commercial real estate market, creating the projects, and the residential real estate market, creating newer urban housing, to be placed in our inventory. This diversity in housing offerings should make us more attractive to a broader range of buyers and help encourage both new businesses and new residents. This also ensures we have the population to support the vast quantities of existing buildings currently dedicated to retail. We must increase the occupancy rates of our existing commercial and retail inventory downtown. This will only happen with the right population density. I plan to focus more heavily on Wall Avenue in order to accomplish this. This area needs public/private partnerships or it will never be redeveloped. There are land toxicity issues that must be mitigated for future development. Additionally, this will greatly enhance the entrances to Ogden city from the freeway and provide a more positive outlook on the remaining existing infrastructure downtown. This area is also closest to mass transit and helps enhance Union Station, Lindquist Field, and the Junction simultaneously. And if you have been down Wall lately, you can see it really needs some attention.

Thirdly, this minor shift in downtown focus will free up redevelopment dollars to invest on Harrison, East Central Ogden, Mt Lewis, West Ogden and help other neighborhoods have their own identity and preserve their integrity. Ogden's primary housing inventory is on good sized lots with homes that have smaller footprints. Many buyers today are looking for homes with an open concept and Ogden offers a lot less of that, as a percentage, than our neighboring cities, like West Haven, Plain City or North Ogden. We must therefore ensure that the urban dwellers are pleased with our inventory and that buyers who may consider Ogden are attracted by the sense of community. Each neighborhood should be named.

I believe we should work with community councils and real estate professionals throughout the industry to understand how to help identify and protect the integrity of Ogden's many neighborhoods. Do they need signage, or street lamps or a new walkable commercial and retail center? What can we do, working together, to help clearly identify and create the feel the residents want?

There are many parcels of land in most of these neighborhoods that can be developed into commercial and retail hearts for these communities, such as 2nd and Harrison, the block at Monroe between 24th and 25th, better clean up along 24th, west of the viaduct. Our residents should feel pride in their neighborhoods and the city can help without picking economic winners and losers.

This focus will also help our commercial real estate market in each neighborhood and in our downtown. As we focus on new appropriate public/private partnerships we will see an even greater resurgence and may even show Ogden to be a bright spot in this national economy.

My goal is for people to feel both safe coming downtown and pride in their own neighborhoods.

The time to start focusing on all our communities is NOW!

4) Do you agree with the Ogden Ethics Project that candidates should not accept campaign contributions from businesses and unions and other business-related groups?

I completely agree with the premise the Ogden Ethics Project proposes with regard to city government and both candidates and city employees. There is a serious need for more trust in local government. There is a major need for more openness and transparency that allows the public to see what or who is working with the city. We need to ensure there is no undue influence being exerted on either candidates or elected officials. While I agree with all of these things I believe it is very possible to have sunshine laws that allow for this transparency without saying to the entire business community they are not welcome to participate in our political process. These organizations pay taxes, just like individuals and we do regulate what activity is reportable etc. We should do more to shed light on how business interacts with candidates. I have pledged to report all business contributions no matter their size. My campaign has also pledged to refuse or return any money we suspect of being funneled by a business to my campaign through individuals, whether these funds exceed the contribution limits or not. We will not refuse to allow business to participate but we are doing what we can to ensure our campaign is open and transparent.

5) Why should people vote for you instead of the other candidates?

I am currently your City Council Representative. I have served on the Council now for nearly 4 years. As an At Large council member I already represent the entire city. I have served as Vice Chair of the Council. This experience has given me insight on how the mayor and council could work together to develop a common vision for Ogden and how we can together develop the framework to implement this vision. I have also served on the Ogden City Landmarks Commission, Egyptian Theatre Foundation, the Weber County Heritage Foundation, the Salvation Army Board and the Crossroads of the West Advisory Committee. With all of this experience I feel the time is right for me to serve as your next mayor. What we need right now is a mayor that knows where the strained relationships are to more quickly repair them. We need a mayor that can keep our economic engine moving forward faster than the national average. We need a mayor that understands how to preserve the story of Ogden and ensure we retain our character. Most importantly, we need a mayor that understands the vision being unfolded and how to make minor adjustments so Ogden shines in the way it is meant to. I have lived here for more than 30 years. I have raised my family here. And, I have taught school for more than 30 years, 20 of them here. I also have formal education in outdoor recreation and I understand what makes Ogden tick, what makes us unique. We are a diamond in the rough and I am the only candidate with the experience in city government and the experience in historical preservation to make all of the above happen!

6) What do you think about security measures in Ogden, including the crime center and upcoming police blimp?

Personally, I am very pleased with the innovative ways our law enforcement professionals are looking to combat and curtail crime! I think the idea of the crime center is great! It will allow for more coordination with our law enforcement agencies, faster response times for our residents, and greater safety for our officers.

I think the blimp is an interesting idea. Ogden has many of the same issues facing major urban cities. Ogden is not a bedroom community; we are an urban center on a smaller scale. However, a close to silent aerial, which may patrol over the skies of the city, poses some significant concerns for privacy and decency. While it may be comforting that this video is completely recorded, it is also disturbing that, if abused by anyone for any reason, this video could be seen by many people or leaked to the world at large. Finding the balance between these potentially competing needs is the challenge. I will continue to study this issue and would ask our residents to become more informed and provide me with additional feedback. We need to "embed" officers in our most at-risk neighborhoods to give a feeling of access and quick availability to our citizens. We must find a way to protect society as a whole, without sacrificing our Constitutional Freedoms. I will not accept any solution that compromises this ideal.