Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey spent 2 1/2 hours on train and on foot recently trying to reach the American Institute of Architects' green development forum in Liberty Park.

Make no mistake, Godfrey is a fan of public transportation.

But after sitting for 75 minutes on FrontRunner, waiting 10 minutes for a Sandy TRAX train and then discovering he would have to march more than a mile to Liberty Park from the 1300 South stop because (contrary to what he was told) there was no eastbound bus, he was a bit agitated.

Godfrey reached the forum - albeit an hour late.

"We have to have a transit system that works," he vented to the architect crowd.

The mayor could have stayed on TRAX until 2100 South, where he could have hopped onboard a bus that wrapped around Liberty Park on 900 South.

But the system needs to flow a little smoother, Godfrey said, even for those who haven't memorized the routes.

Forty-five minutes after the forum, Godfrey was back on the train. And an hour and 15 minutes after that, he had only reached Layton.

"I'm really proud of what [Utah Transit Authority] has done," he said, "but we are obviously not there yet."

Hefty price for a free home

A recent $250,000 home giveaway came with a laundry list of restrictions.

Among other things, contestants for the free 2,500-square-foot Alta Vista home had to have been on active military duty in the past three years and suffered a life-changing injury that limited their mobility, speech, sight, hearing, cognitive thought and memory.

The rules also specified their injuries must prohibit them from earning a living to sustain a family, that the winner must be willing to share his or her story and agree to sell a current home and give all proceeds to a nonprofit organization.

But the official rules and exclusions for the Home for a Hero giveaway saved perhaps the biggest restriction for last:

"Nominee must be willing to move to Eagle Mountain in Utah County."

Haven't these soldiers been through enough?

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