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OGDEN -- Even amid the sea of junk that litters the yards of boarded-up homes throughout the Ogden River Project area, the red boat shipwrecked on the front lawn of 1862 Childs Ave. was a duck out of water.
Someone with a sense of humor painted "SS Menow" near the stern, which may be a sardonic nod to the SS Minnow, the boat at the center of the 1960s television sitcom "Gilligan's Island."
But like the lyrics from the show's catchy theme song that laments tough living conditions for the desert isle's seven castaways, the appearance of Ogden River Project properties is as "primitive as can be."
Twisted strands of wire ripped out of an abandoned house by brazen thieves in search of valuable copper lie in a heap in the 1800 block of Kiesel Avenue, just a few feet from the Ogden River.
A few doors down, a leaf-strewn mattress lying in a yard has become home to numerous feral cats. Bags of trash and discarded construction material also are abundant.
The boat parked on the Childs Avenue property was hauled away Friday by the city and taken to the Weber County transfer station.
It's unfortunate that parts of the Ogden River Project, a proposed 60-acre retail and residential development that straddles the river from 18th to 20th streets and Washington Boulevard to Wall Avenue, have become a dumping ground, said Alene Evans, the city's code enforcement supervisor.
"This doesn't need to be here," she said earlier this week while standing near debris left outside an abandoned home on Kiesel Avenue. "Once a pile is started, it gets added to."
The identities of those dumping rubbish are unknown.
"We don't track those who are responsible for discarding stuff," Evans said.
Vacant parcels like those in the Ogden River Project area are often a magnet for litterbugs who want to avoid landfill tipping fees, said Keith Morey, the city's community development manager.
"They are too lazy and don't want to take (debris) to the landfill," he said, adding that litterers who are caught are fined.
Ogden Riverfront Development, a company with ties to developer Gadi Leshem, is the largest landholder in the Ogden River Project area with 42 parcels, according to Weber County property records.
Four other parcels in the project area are owned by trust named after Leshem's wife, Miri, and daughter, Mori.
Leshem was contacted by phone Friday, but declined to comment on the property owned by Ogden Riverfront Development.
The city's Building Inspection Department recently completed an inventory to determine the condition of properties and boarded-up homes in the project area, Morey said.
Efforts to keep the area free of litter have been hampered because Ogden Riverfront Development has had four property maintenance companies quit in the last two years, said John Patterson, the city's chief administrative officer.
"You would think someone who has a contract would want to keep it because there isn't an overabundance of work out there," Patterson said Friday.
It would cost the city $142 per house just to mow each lawn, making it far too expensive for the city to clean up the entire project area, Evans said. "If the city had to pay, it couldn't do it."
Morey said the city hasn't levied any code enforcement penalties against Ogden Riverfront Development because the company plans to hire a new property maintenance firm in the next few weeks.
Related link: This article is a topic of discussion at Weber County Forum.
Wooing business
One impediment to businesses moving to Ogden is Mayor Godfrey himself. I know of thriving businesses outside of Ogden which would have considered moving here, but didn't because of the Mayor. His arrogant, sometimes vindictive behavior has repercussions, whether he realizes it or not.
Perhaps if we had a new Mayor, who behaved in a Mayoral, businesslike manner, we could attract businesses other than those of Godfrey's cronies.
Lettin' 'em off easy
This is representational of Ogden's failed leadership.
Downtown? How is that no-shopping "high adventure" Junction better than the mall it replaced? The scary old parking terrace is still there, inconveniently blocking off one entire side of whatever's at the Junction.
I don't want to climb an ice tower. I don't want to ride on a gondola, trying to carry luggage and skis....trapped with whoever got in the car with me. A velodrome? Isn't that a high-priced bicycle oval that's normally built in less harsh climates? A five-star hotel for WHO? People who want to eat bar food or theater snacks?
What I do expect of a city, is a central business area with shopping. Where I could easily park (diagonally on the street like in Salt Lake City) and WALK to the businesses. Some restaurants IN the shopping area (no, not bar food). How about a Trader Joe's or REAL Fresh Market (freshmarket.com), or even a Whole Foods? Bring back Nordstrom, and some other destinations that people WANT to shop at. But no, we hear about "scratch and dent" outlet stores! Get real. How can a downtown area rise above the worst parts of itself....when you're planning on putting trash there.
Besides the (rumored) convalescent center, what IS planned for the river area? Oh yeah, WalMart. And that other new grocery store 8 blocks away. What's going to happen to that huge, abandoned Fred Myer store? Why not put the "scratch and dent" places there?
So many plans; so much rotting away all around.
Ahem. We like bar food....
In re: this --- "no, not bar food."
Ahem.
Mrs. Flatlander and I like bar food on occasion. There are times when it's been "one of those days" that that's exactly what's wanted. While I agree there should be more than that in available in a downtown mix, I'd want to make sure the opportunity to slump wearily down onto a bar stool, there to consume a refreshing libation or two and some well-done bar eats is in the mix too.
As for why we don't have a Trader Jim's or a Whole Foods or Nordstrom's downtown: Laytonian, I'd love for them all to be there. But cities cannot simply summon them to appear on demand. The people who run those chains have to be convinced that there is a market here for their products that will make them a sufficient profit to justify their investment. If Whole Foods decides it wouldn't be profitable to invest in a store in downtown Ogden, it isn't going to happen. Ditto Nordstroms. Ditto Trader Jim's or any other company you'd like to mention. Hell, I wish Tony Caputo's would open a store on Historic 25th Street. I understand the city pitched that some years ago, and TC decided against doing it. Private companies get to make investment decisions by applying criteria that seem compelling and important to them, and those criteria may not be the ones you and I would find compelling.
One way to overcome that reluctance is for the public to subsidize, with tax funds one way or another, companies Ogden is trying to lure here. But there are, as we all know, problems with that approach as well, particularly in the hands of an administration with the business judgment of Edsel designers.
The now apparently defunct River Project, and all the condos that were going to be the mainstays of The Junction's retail [food and goods] component have to happen first, I think, before what you want to see in downtown Ogden happens. There has to be a sufficient downtown-living population with a sufficient level of income to keep a Trader Jim's, a Nordstroms and a Whole Foods Market in business. It just isn't there yet.
According to the Weber County
According to the Weber County Tax Assesor's website listing unpaid property taxes for 2008:
Mira and Mori Lesham owed $10,892.
Ogden Riverfront Properties owed $34,890 bringing the grand total to $45,782.
Just how much debt is necessary before property is lost for taxes?
Answer: As long as Gadi is good for a $5000 campaign contribution next time Matt Godfrey runs for office, he's got it covered.
Why not take back the property?
Gadi Leshem (along with wife, daughter, and the organization he's fronting) have proven unable or unwilling to maintain this property, much less actually do anything constructive with it. I'm betting he hasn't paid taxes on it either. If you or I let our property decay and blight our neighborhoods, Code Enforcement would be all over us. I suggest that the City clean up this site, and send a bill, with additional fines, to Leshem.
Just because he's a friend of the Mayor, he has no right to allow this situation to continue. Clean it up and take it back to cover the costs and taxes involved.
Didn't the SE do an article some months ago...
Didn't the SE do an article months ago about the deteriorating properties, and didn't someone in the adminstration then say it was working with the development owner to get the sites taken care of, and that it would do the work and bill the company if the owner didn't take care of it promptly? Months ago? And what do we hear from the Administration now, months later? This: "... the city hasn't levied any code enforcement penalties against Ogden Riverfront Development because the company plans to hire a new property maintenance firm in the next few weeks."
Uh huh. Right. I'm sure people living on the edge of the Leshamville slum district will take great comfort from that promise, since, as the article reports, "Ogden Riverfront Development has had four property maintenance companies quit in the last two years..." In the midst of the greatest business downturn since the Great Depression, four maintenance companies have walked away from working for Riverfront Development? Can't help wondering why. Wish the story had told us why. I wonder if the SE contacted the companies that walked away and ask them why.
What a trainwreck the administration has made of this project by mortgaging so much of downtown Ogden's future to Mr. Lesham and his associates. But hey. Don't dispair. The Mayor assures us he has great plans for other projects that are sure fire can't miss propositions: an outdoor year round ice climbing popsicle on a downtown streetcorner; a multi million dollar velodrome downtown; another massive real estate development to be built on some public, some private bench land; a gondola flatland tourist ride from downtown to WSU; public-subsidized five star hotel at The Junction. Sure things, all of them. Can't-miss developments --- just like the River Project.
No wonder the Ogden/Weber Chamber of Commerce leaders, who used to be among the loudest public cheerleaders for Mayor Godfrey's very expensive serial obsessions, have become noticeably quieter of late.