Musings of a Patriot

Tag: Utah

  • Put in the Effort

    Maybe I’m just reacting to the tone of the article suggesting that Twitter is taking the place of blogging among elected officials in Utah (and elsewhere) but this quote by Ric Cantrell says it all: ”Maybe this is a sign of the times, but blogging got to be too tedious,” said Ric Cantrell, chief deputy…

  • Third District Debate

    I enjoyed going to the debate at the Sutherland Institute between Jason Chaffetz and Bennion Spencer. A one-on-one debate between the candidates is much different to attend than a “meet the candidates” kind of affair for city council when six candidates are seeking three seats without any specific match-ups. Until now those were the only…

  • Talk About Tolling

    As another group of local government officials stands up in opposition to tolling the Mountain View Corridor (MVC), I was surprised to read this in the Salt Lake Tribune: While the Utah Department of Transportation has explored user fees as a funding option – one that could cost some west-siders up to $200 a month…

  • Regions for BNN/Utah

    It’s been a busy month for me personally since I asked about implementing regional classifications for Utah blogs listed on BlogNetNews. I am finally ready to implement regional categories. The options are going to be: Salt Lake Utah Valley/Happy Valley Weber/Ogden Cache Valley/Logan Davis Dixie Tooele The classifications will be self-selection – if you want…

  • Doug Wright – Stuck on the Freeway

    I rarely listen to the Doug Wright show. When I do, I generally wonder afterwards how I am any better off than if I had simply listened to the fuzz between stations. Today I happened to hear Doug when I turned on the radio and he was speaking on a subject I care about –…

  • When Mandates Are Not Optional

    I generally do not favor government action that places a mandate on citizens. I don’t believe that it is the place of government to decide whether citizens should recycle or not, but if the options are between mandatory recycling and no recycling option after the citizens have overwhelmingly favored optional recycling it makes sense for…

  • Editing for BNN/Utah

    I have been given the opportunity to function at the editor for BlogNetNews/Utah. That is not likely to produce visible changes to the site because the purpose of BNN is to remain neutral while providing an image of what’s happening in the various corners of the blogosphere. Functionally, it means that when people want to…

  • Performance Pay – Round 1

    The Legislature approved funds and loose guidelines for merit pay for teachers earlier this year. I really like the first news I have heard about the issue since then: Each district and charter school that wanted money had to come up with its own plan following broad guidelines lawmakers set earlier this year. . .…

  • Congestion Tolls

    The Deseret News is recommending congestion tolls to help pay for our transportation needs. I have previously stated my generic approval of tolling while recognizing that there are issues of fairness to be addressed. (Toll roads on the west side, but not the east side is not fair.) One comment on the editorial suggested a…

  • Toll Roads and MVC

    Nobody should be surprised that some west-side cities don’t like the idea of tolling on the Mountain View Corridor. Some are suggesting that it is unfair. I think tolling generally is not a bad idea but I think I would agree that tolling on MVC while leaving I-15 free would be unfair to the growing…