(UNEDITED)I am taking this opportunity to respond to your recent article "Ogden may act on payday loans", February 1, 2010.
While I am a payday loan customer and live in South Ogden City, I do a lot of business in Ogden, know a lot of people that live in and frequent the Ogden area, and I am frankly, quite surprised that the Ogden City Council and Mayor Godfrey are even considering the ordinance outlined in the article.
Admittedly, I have not seen the entire ordinance nor am I a legal or political expert. ¬ But from a "regular person's" point of view, I've made the following observations:
First, while there may be a desire to restrict payday lenders within the city, why is it necessary for there to be an official ordinance? ¬ The city has to approve all the business licenses so they can just stop approving licenses if there is a problem. However, I can see why the business licenses are approved; those businesses are injecting some major taxes into the city.
Second, does the council "really" want to start to dictating the color schemes of Ogden businesses? ¬ To me, this is almost a rhetorical question. Why are we exhausting ourselves discussing payday lenders when we should be calling Mayor Godfrey's and the Ogden City Council's attention to beautifying all of Washington Blvd. ¬ Have you seen the condition of the more than 22 used car lots lately?
Lastly, this concept of placing signs with specific language on them is absolutely ludicrous. ¬ If this is the way the council wants to go, then I would admonish them that those signs then need to go into every furniture rental company, every bank (yes banks do payday lending too) and any business that offers subprime loans - such as car dealerships. ¬
I realize I must sound like a harpy on this subject. ¬ I love Ogden and all of its communities! ¬ I would prefer to see our city council, our mayor, and our journalist funnel their efforts into real community issues.
Chris Doyle
South Ogden
Comments