What to expect for 2008?

What things can we expect as citizens of Woods Cross during 2008? Some of the things that will happen as well as my comments about how they will impact us are listed below.

1) More homes built west of Redwood Road. There are several subdivisions that are being built now that will continue to grow throughout 2008. With more residents means more needs for water, and fire and police protection. This will put an increased demand on the city budget.

2) Menlove Toyota moving temporarily to Bountiful City. The car dealerships in Woods Cross provide a large sales tax base for the city budget. Larry Miller's Bountiful dealership moved to their new location by I-15 in West Bountiful this week. Wes Johnson (owner of Menlove) is going to be remodeling the Menlove dealership that exists in Woods Cross on Highway 89. In order to facilitate this remodel, the Toyota dealership will be moving to the old Larry Miller dealership building on Highway 89 in Bountiful. What does this mean for Woods Cross residents? Our city coffers will take a big hit during the time Menlove Toyota is located outside of Woods Cross, as the municipal portion of the sales tax collected by Menlove during that time will go to Bountiful City.

3) Completion of Front Runner. The commuter rail is scheduled to be up and running in the spring of 2008. This could bring an increase of traffic to the 500 South area. Many Woods Cross residents already avoid 500 South since CostCo opened. Adding traffic to this already congested area can't be good for our city.

4) Completion of Legacy Parkway. The Legacy Parkway is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2008. When this opens, it could help with the traffic congestion on 500 South. During the commuting hours, several people use 500 South to drive between Redwood Road and I-15. If those living north of Woods Cross have an alternate route, they may not use 500 South as much. The other plus for Woods Cross could come in that the vacant land that exists North of 500 South and East of Redwood Road could turn into a viable commercial area. Woods Cross could use the additional sales tax money that could come from such a commercial development.

All in all, it will be interesting to watch how our City Council deals with these many changes that will be coming to our city. All of these changes will continue to impact each of us who call Woods Cross home.

I appreciate the snowplow drivers!

With all the storms lately, I've been thinking about the snowplow drivers and how under-appreciated they are. How many of us would have been able to make it to our destinations on Christmas Eve or on Christmas Day if the snowplow drivers hadn't been out taking care of clearing the roads? Most of the time we take it for granted that the roads will be clear shortly after the storm. Did any of us think about how many people had to be away from their families on Christmas Eve because they were out clearing snow from the roads so that we could be with our families?
Thanks to all the snowplow drivers who gave up their Christmas Eve so that I could make it to my destination safely! I appreciate it!

Give to someone less fortunate.

It is the giving time of year. Many of us in Woods Cross are living in favorable circumstances. There are some in our city, however, who won't be able to provide a Merry Christmas for their families. I encourage any of you who read this blog, and have the means available, to look around and see if there isn't a family or two who may be less fortunate than yours that you could help out in some way.

w00t!

Merriam-Webster has announced their word of the year for 2007! The winning word is w00t! Some of you may have no idea what the word w00t means or when it might be used. If you've spent much time in irc (internet relay chat) or with online gaming, you've probably seen the word and maybe even used it.
The Merriam-Webster website says of w00t, "This year's winning word first became popular in competitive online gaming forums as part of what is known as l33t ("leet," or "elite") speak—an esoteric computer hacker language in which numbers and symbols are put together to look like letters. Although the double "o" in the word is usually represented by double zeroes, the exclamation is also known to be an acronym for "we owned the other team"—again stemming from the gaming community." It also goes on to list other words in the top ten words of 2007 as voted on by visitors to their website.

Water rights a very hot issue

An article in the Deseret Morning News talks about the fight that Roosevelt is having right now to be able to use water that they have a right to use. When I was on the City Council, Weber Basin Water wanted to drill a well located on city property. I got more phone calls on this issue than on any other single issue that came before the council. Water rights are still an extremely touchy subject in the state of Utah. This lawsuit that Roosevelt is involved in could easily affect every city in the state. Should our city give some of our money to help fight this battle?

Keep the proper perspective.

With the recent shootings at the mall in Omaha, Nebraska, I think it is always important to remind oneself to keep the proper perspective. I also thought of this due to a post a friend of mine made. He said that the comment "it's just a job" surprised him. It sounds to me like that comment is coming from someone who has kept the proper perspective. We need to remember that our jobs are "just a job." Politics are just politics. We all need to keep the proper perspective. The things that really matter in life should be first and foremost, our families. Everything else should come after that. Did you tell your kids, your spouse, or your parents that you love them before you left your house this morning? If you didn't, then maybe it's time for you to re-evaluate your perspective.

Here comes an increase

I had a moment of inspiration during my lunch break today. I decided to write a song. These lyrics should be sung to the tune of "Here comes Santa Claus."

Here comes an increase, here comes an increase,
To our garbage fees
Decker and Earnshaw and even Mayor
Want us recycling
Yuppies are singin', seniors moanin'
Jennie is happy and bright
Pay your fees and say your prayers
'Cause fees're increasing tonight!

Does curbside recycling make sense?

The Woods Cross City Council will vote on implementing curbside recycling tonight. I have this nagging thought that I believe decisions to implement curbside recycling are more emotion based than science based. I decided to do a search on the Internet about the science of recycling and found a great blog post about it. You can find that blog post at http://sxxz.blogspot.com/2005/04/does-recycling-make-sense.html. One of the most fascinating quotes from that blog post is, "Face it, most government decisions are based on gut feel, ideology or political expediency, not on dispassionate technical or economic analysis." I found this to be overwhelmingly the case when I was on the council. How different would your decisions be if you based them on "dispassionate technical or economic analysis?" Our council must do a feasibility study before implementing UTOPIA, but, not before implementing recycling. Why the double standard?