Weber County Forum Field House Project Reader Objections Summary

Here are a few selected Weber County Forum readers' unedited objections to Boss Godfrey's Crackpot Ogden Fieldhouse Project, selectively gleaned from reader comments under our WCF article collection on the Fieldhouse topic :

1. There's a good reason why there aren't many velodromes in this country - they aren't money makers.
2. Ogden City funds, Weber County funds, RAMP funds and Weber State University funds are taxpayer dollars and should be spent wisely...not on toys.
3. How about finishing the River Project first?
4. Government should not be doing what the private sector can do.
5. Its still 30 to 40 MILLION that we don't have, reguardless of where it goes....
6. Do we really want this field house? Do we need it or can we afford it? No way! In Salt Lake and Provo, the universities own them, not the cities. Ask yourself, why does Godfrey push such lame ideas that benefit only the few?
7. There is no mention of what it will cost or more importantly WHO will be paying for it...who wouldn't want it if it were free...
8. Even if it was good for Ogden to have a fieldhouse/velodrome/whatever, and financing it wasn't an issue, I think the proposed location is terrible. Now I think it's great to have venues that will bring people downtown, but placing it on Grant is a lousy idea.
9. This is a ridiculous site for this thing....at least they should locate it at the River Parkway so all those residents could enjoy it and walk to it..if they ever come...
10. The whole "study" game is a scam!...
11. "Studies" are just one more way that crooked and overly ambitious politicians have of pulling the wool over da sheep's eyes.
12. You can be sure that whatever Boss Godfrey says the cost is, it will cost about 10 times more.
13. Just what downtown Ogden needs; a kids swimming pool with waterslide.
14. It's clearly time for this (Ogden City) Council to grow a spine.
15. Who thinks a 5 member family is going to spend over $100/day on this more than once?? (figuring $17.13 / person average entrance + snacks n stuff).
16. It will be another project that the taxpayers will have to subsidize. Then there is lost revenue from the hotel and other businesses that will be displaced. This is not good business sense! What kind of business leadership does Ogden have at the helm? Is this the kind of leadership we want or deserve?
17. It's utter madness if this thing gets funded..there has got to be better ways to spend 40 million dollars that we as the taxpayers dont have!
18. I'm guessing there is a hidden agenda(s) and somebody stands to make a lot of money when all of the specifics come out...the WHOLE story has yet to be told.
19. I read the "study" and have the opinion that it is a lot of unsubstantiated projections and general "dazzle em with bull shit" copy...
20. Has any single business in the history of Ogden, other than real busy grocery stores had 1,100 paying customers come through the door every single day they were opened?
21. Shades of the Salomon Center and Junction, which cost the Ogden taxpayers upward of $700 thousand per year.. This latest idiocy by our erstwhile city administration is shaping up like another familiar Godfrey development that hasn't developed.
22. The conference center is an ass looser. It has always been. Ogden City used to pay around 650K per year to help subsidize the hole. Now they want to expand it and cost the stupid damn taxpayers more money.
23. What's next? Summertime refrigerated ice climbing?
24. Without a fitness area, I am not inclined to use the facility regularly as it becomes cost prohibitive. Example: if the yearly pass cost is $450 (as it is at the new South Davis Recreation Complex) I will be spending $37.50 per month plus two Gold's Gym memberships of at least $20 each. It is realistic to believe the families in Ogden who want to exercise and visit the new field house will spend $77.50 MONTHLY ($930 Yearly) because I don't believe it is.
25. This is insanity. For several reasons, some bigger then the others. As mentioned mostly here... the money, cost, debt. Second, the inappropriateness of having it in the middle of downtown like a huge elephant sitting in the center like the Ogden mall.
26. Spending more than the Public Safety Building or Municipal Building...something actually needed....this is nuts...the water features and tennis courts are nothing more than subsidizing hotel amenities...
27. Stupidest Idea Ever! Where are the studies showing this is (1) needed; and (2) will do any good in bolstering downtown?
28. Unfortunately thus will probably work with the nit-wits that we currently have on the council.
29. More evidence that Matthew Godfrey is an emotionally stunted person, and a so-called "adult" still responding to juvenile impulses.
30. When will the council independently audit the Mayors office?
31. Aren't we taxpayers already paying for a family gym called Gold's? Whose pockets will this latest money line at taxpayers expense?
32. Godfrey has squandered a hundred million tax payer dollars on has worked as advertised. How these folks in high places with fingers on lots of public money can continue to ignore his profound dishonesty and incompetence is truly astounding.
33. People who do not use it should not pay a cent towards subsidizing my enjoyment of the facility; it is not essential infrastructure, it is a quasi-public an amenity, and should be self-sufficient.
34. Why do I even have to mention all of this?
35. It's one thing (and bad enough) to give incentives to private business to move in and bring a much of the money themselves. It's another to ask for millions for a typically foolish idea where the taxpayers foot the whole bill.
36. Where is everyone going to park? And why put the county taxpayers on the hook for another bond that will benefit the few? GOVERNMENT STOP GETTING INTO THE PRIVATE SECTOR!
37. Borrow spend is worse than tax and spend. at least with tax and spend you pay for it without the interest.
38. Our petulant little mayor has his heart set on a velodrome, so that's all that really matters, isn't it?
39. What is the deal with this administration building more stuff? How about the city pays for what it has already built, and then move on to essential services?
40. I seriously do not understand this need of Godfrey to create more public debt when the whole country is bankrupt.
41. Fiscal responsibility no longer applies. Leaders are hypocrites. When will it end?
42. Let's remember that there was a "study" that showed that the (later admitted as non viable) Ice Tower was a financial winner...
43. Yes, pay the "study" prostitutes, and they'll give you what you want, just like the "regular kind".
44. Nicely Done, prep work for where Lord Gadfly will bury the bodies...
45. I find disturbing that the administration uses the RDA to circumvent the requirement of the city government to put bonding issues to a vote and for the city council in the role of the RDA members to go along with it.
46. Glad to see there is a huge potential for profit on this new facility. Supposing we never have to maintain it or replace anything then it will only take approximately 77 YEARS to repay the initial cost. Maybe my kids can come to the celebration when Ogden celebrates breaking even on it. My oldest will only be 86 YEARS OLD!!!!!!

That's just for starters, folks.