Ogden City Councilman Doug Stephens facing challenge from Taylor Knuth
Ogden City Councilman Doug Stephens, left, faces a challenge for Nov. 7, 2017, from Taylor Knuth, right.
Ogden City Councilman Doug Stephens seeks his fourth term in Nov. 7, 2017, elections. He faces a challenge from Taylor Knuth.
Taylor Knuth is running for the Ward 3 seat on the Ogden City Council, challenging three-term incumbent Doug Stephens.
OGDEN — Ogden City Councilman Doug Stephens, seeking his fourth term on the body in upcoming city elections, says he has the needed experience to do the job and wants to keep at it.
“I think we’re doing some great things in Ogden,” Stephens said, alluding to city efforts to bolster Business Depot Ogden, the business park in northern Ogden, and develop the downtown area around 25th Street.
Challenger Taylor Knuth’s work as community services coordinator with United Way of Northern Utah has him wanting to do more to help the city, particularly underrepresented residents, including Latinos and those in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Lack of affordable housing is a particular concern.
“My work with United Way has really catapulted me into the community in an awesome way,” he said, alluding to his grassroots efforts for the organization in the city’s older core.
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Stephens, 71, faces Knuth, 24, for the Ward 3 seat on the Ogden City Council, which covers east central Ogden and meanders northwest to the edge of the BDO. Mail-in ballots are to be sent starting next week, with in-person voting set for Nov. 7. Also up for grabs in Ogden are the Ward 1, At-Large A and At-Large B seats on the on the seven-member city council.
25th Street, an arts district
Stephens, now retired from his work in management and sales with ZCMI and Macy’s, the retail outlet, puts a particular focus on city efforts to promote and bolster the area around 25th Street, saying he wants to keep such initiatives going.
A massive new apartment building at 2276 Washington Blvd., Tower View, is to be formally unveiled on Oct. 18, and he noted city plans to demolish a motel at 445 25th St., behind The Bigelow Hotel and Residences, and turn the land into a public plaza. He envisions what he calls a Downtown Arts District stretching from the Eccles Community Art Center on Jefferson Avenue west to the area around Historic 25th Street.
Being a good environmental steward, too, is important, he said, to preserve the trails, parks and open spaces in and around the city, a big drawing point. “That helps with economic development. That’s why people come to Ogden, because of the many amenities,” he said.
Public safety ranks high, Stephens said, noting recent raises to Ogden police and firefighters to prevent turnover, and his efforts to establish four neighborhood watch groups in his city council district.
He’s knocked on 90 percent of the doors in Ward 3 in his campaigning, he estimates. “That’s the real education for me. I’m out meeting with the people, writing down their concerns,” he said.
Affordable housing, sidewalks
Knuth, making his first bid for public office, puts a focus on issues that particularly impact lower-income Ogden residents. The limited super market offerings in east central Ogden, the city’s older core, is a concern, creating a “food desert,” as is the lack of affordable housing, brought on, he says, by growing property taxes and skyrocketing property values.
If there is affordable housing, it’s frequently in poor condition, he said, forcing lower-income residents to sometimes live in blighted conditions. The city could implement ordinances to address the situation, perhaps requiring landlords to complete periodic tests of fire alarms in their properties, he said. The Ogden Redevelopment Agency, moreover, should craft a strategy to create more affordable, quality housing.
Many Ogden sidewalks need to be improved, Knuth said. The issue emerged in talking with Ward 3 residents in his campaigning and was also brought to the Ogden Diversity Commission, a city body he serves, by a group that advocates for the disabled. “They’re not safe. They’re not walkable,” Knuth said.
Being gay and Hispanic, he said he’s attuned to the import of including all sectors of the community in city affairs, but doesn’t see such broad involvement, something he’d push to reverse. “I think it’s crucial to include members of these communities in every conversation,” he said.
Contact reporter Tim Vandenack at tvandenack@standard.net, follow him on Twitter at @timvandenack or like him on Facebook at Facebook.com/timvandenackreporter.