In the News

Utah’s political action committee representing gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and ally community, Equality Utah, announced their endorsements for the 2013 election year. Elections in off years are generally for municipal races and, potentially, issues and ordinances.

Candidates in cities and counties across the state were given surveys about their positions on issues important to the LGBT community. From the surveys, the PAC interviews the top respondees and forwards recommendations to the Equality Utah board of directors.

Financial contributions, which come from member donations and the annual Allies Dinner, are also determined by the board.

This year, these endorsements are:

Mayoral Candidates
Cherie Wood, South Salt Lake
Dave Sakrison, Moab
Jerry Rechtenbach, Taylorsville
JoAnn Seghini, Midvale
Nick Castleton, Eureka

City Council Candidates
Boyd Marshall, South Salt Lake
Brigham Mellor, Farmington City
Diane Turner, Murray City
Erin Mendenhal, Salt Lake City
Lars Norfelt, West Valley City
Lisa Ramsey Adams, Salt Lake City
Marcia White, Ogden City
Sharla Beverly, South Salt Lake
Stan Penfold, Salt Lake City
Sterling Beck, Provo City
Turner C. Bitton, Ogden City

Read more

In the race for Ogden City Council Ward 3, the Standard-Examiner Editorial Board recommends a vote for challenger Turner C. Bitton.

This was a very competitive race. Both candidates are qualified to be on Ogden’s city council. Doug Stephens, the incumbent, has served with distinction. Both of these candidates would likely have been endorsed in other council races. However, they are pitted against each other, and Bitton merits the nod.

Bitton is a remarkable young man, the kind of public-minded individual who is needed in politics. He has a wide command of the issues, and also shows a positive trait of thinking beyond the regular issues. One example is the idea to create an infrastructure bank that could provide very small loans to Ogden residents who wish to fix their sidewalks. The loan would encompass the value of the sidewalk. The homeowner, after a deposit, gets a low-interest loan to improve his or her property, and by extension, the neighborhood.

Another idea of Bitton’s we like involves having a program that encourages landlords to xeriscape the yards of rental properties. He suggests that the program could be done through incentives on property taxes or through an existing loan program. There’s no doubt that at many rental properties, xeriscaping would improve the neighborhoods. Another idea is to look at ways to make paying city utilities easier for many residents, perhaps through a widespread equal pay plan.

These are just a few of many interesting ideas from Bitton. He will work hard to make Ogden a better place for all its residents, including those who live paycheck to paycheck and deal with fears of gangs and other dysfunctional elements.

Bitton will work to promote Ogden’s growing reputation as an outdoors, recreational city. On transportation, he favors bus rapid transit while Ogden studies the issue further and comes up with a long-term transportation model that meets present needs and anticipates future needs.

As mentioned, Bitton is a young Ogden leader who is passionate about contributing to the city’s success. He deserves to have that opportunity.

Read more

OGDEN — Utah’s large class sizes, underfunded schools, parental burnout, grade inflation and dissatisfaction with local school district leaders were all discussed Tuesday night at an Ogden town hall meeting, as was the problem of local students who arrive at Weber State University requiring remedial math classes.

The meeting, attended by 30 or so community members, was titled Reclaiming the Promise of Public Education and was sponsored by the American Federation of Teachers, specifically by AFT Utah.

Panelists were Martell Menlove, Utah’s superintendent of public education; AFT Utah President Brad Asay; Lisa Arango, Davis School District high school teacher; Ruth Stubbs, Weber State director of Educational Access & Outreach; and Turner Bitton, candidate for Ogden City Council. The discussion was moderated by Doug Gibson, of the Standard-Examiner.

Read more

OGDEN — Aging infrastructure, economic viability, stable neighborhoods and a vibrant downtown are the biggest issues for eight city council candidates running for four seats in November’s general election.

Running for Ogden’s Municipal Ward 1 are incumbent Neil Garner and challenger Pamela Stevens.

Garner said the city must fix its aging infrastructure and do it in a fiscally responsible manner.

The city continues work on an $8 million water line replacement project through tOgden Canyon and has issued $18 million in bonds to pay for a new water treatment plant and other storm sewer improvement projects.

“We need to continue to improve our roads, sidewalks and sewer and water systems, but also look for ways to do it without bonding for so much,” he said. “We need to put money aside every year and be proactive in planning.”

Stevens said Ogden has many issues that need fixing, but that citizens don’t have enough input in the process.

She said she would use modern technology to hold “virtual” town hall meetings to gather citizen input on certain issues.

“A lot of people don’t have time to attend every city council meeting,” she said. “We need to find ways to get people more involved in the issues that are affecting them.”

Read more

For this race the Sierra Club is making a dual endorsement of Turner Bitton and Doug Stephens.

Turner is an energetic new voice in Ogden politics who is a strong supporter of the Sierra Club. He is an advocate of bicycling, public transit, and clean, livable communities. He also recognizes the role that the city council can play in advocating for regional environmental initiatives such as clean air and better transportation planning. 

Read more

OGDEN -- If area Democrats take the advice Howard Dean offered them Monday night, they will be visiting with their LDS neighbors about politics.

Dean, a former Vermont governor and Democratic National Committee chairman, was touted as the biggest political name to visit Weber County since former President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. His visit to the MTC Learning Park was designed to correspond with a Weber County Democratic Party effort to register voters and organize precincts.

"There are no substitutions for personal introductions between human beings, especially people you know," he said. "Talk to your Republican neighbors, your LDS neighbors. Start now. Establish a relationship if you don't already have one."

Read more

Results from the upcoming Ogden City Council elections could determine the fate of backyard chickens in Ogden for the next four years. Although not directly noticeable by looking through the city ordinances online, chickens are not allowed within Ogden city limits.

Bart Blair, city councilman for Seat B, tried to explain the situation.

“Right now chickens are not allowed in the city,” he said. “There was an ordinance presented that included the 75 feet language, but it was voted down.”

This begs the question, if the ordinance was voted down, how did it end up in the online city code and why hasn’t the online code been updated yet?

Some Ogden residents, like Dave and Shauna Wolfgram, bought chickens after looking up the city code online, only to discover the code was incorrect.

“We looked on the Web page and it said 75 feet from the house and that whole thing. So we got them, and then there were issues later,” Dave Wolfgram said.

Dave Wolfgram said he has attended city council meetings to plead his case and collected signatures in support of backyard chickens at Ogden’s Farmers Market, but said his efforts have been largely ignored by the city council.

“I don’t know what it is that people are so afraid of. On city ordinance you can have a hundred pigeons and no chickens. It’s a right to be able to live sustainably and consciously and know where your food comes from. We’re not going to go buy a Jersey milk cow and stick it in our yard. We don’t have a hundred chickens.”

This article originally appeared in the Standard Examiner on July 31st, 2013.

Read more

Read more

 

OGDEN — Two local groups that sprung up in reaction to controversial decisions by the Ogden School District are pledging to make their voices heard, on both the district and state levels.

• The Weber County Democrats launched an education caucus June 6, with goals of making the Ogden School District address specific issues of concern.

• Focus Ogden, http://focusogden.com, formed in late April after the district announced the district’s 20 library media specialists would be eliminated because of a budget deficit.

The district has since announced the hiring of seven library media specialists for the 2013-2014 school year. Some funding for the project — which requires the media specialists hired to create a system for best serving district students with fewer librarians — is one-time money that will not be available in future years.

Kim Irvine, a former Ogden district teacher, chairs the Education Caucus.

“The school board is unmoved by the outcry from parents, teachers and citizens,” Irvine said. “Our objective is to unite into one strong voice that cannot be ignored.”

The caucus sent a June 12 letter to the Ogden board, seeking information.

The caucus wants test scores for the last three years, so it can evaluate district claims of improvements.

The caucus also wants a detailed account of how many teachers have left the district since 2012.

“We are concerned about how many teachers have left the district,” Irvine told the Standard-Examiner on Monday. “And a lot of their replacements are very nascent, young teachers. We would like weight given to more experienced teachers. We are afraid the ratio is slipping.”

Read more