This past year has been very exciting. We have seen many projects come to fruition and many more begin. Crowne Plaza Hotel was completed in time for the Olympics. We hosted a very successful Olympics and many celebrations here in Ogden. The new mall plan was approved after months of community input and now demolition is nearly complete. The River Project was approved. Union Square along 25th Street began construction. Phase 1 of IRS was completed bringing 1,000 jobs to downtown. Phase 2 of IRS is underway which will begin the renovation of another city block and preserve the historic Scowcroft building and bring another 600 jobs to downtown.

That is a sampling of what was accomplished this past year. The coming year will be just as eventful. The “new mall” construction will begin. The first phase of Union Square on 25th Street will be finished in 2003. Major revitalization in the inner-city neighborhoods will be underway, as demonstrated by the work we just completed on the 2500 block of Jefferson. Crime will continue to go down. This past year marked the 5th straight year of lower crime in Ogden. While most every other city in the State is seeing crime go up, ours continues to decline.

We will continue to bring jobs into downtown and throughout the city. There are several deals we are working on to strengthen the job base in the community. The High Tech Center we are working on will be a major factor in recruiting more high paying jobs to downtown.

The trail system in Ogden will also continue to grow this coming year. We will finish the parkway trail under Wall Avenue this year and begin the acquisition of property to the confluence of the Ogden and Weber rivers. The Parkway will more than double over the next two years.

In all there is over 120 acres of redevelopment that has occurred or is in some stage of development in downtown. Such investment is unparalleled in the community.

These are exciting times for Ogden.

It’s an honor to be a part of it.

Mayor Matthew Godfrey - Winter 2003

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