Petersen may challenge Watts for Logan City Mayor

Less than a month after Logan Mayor Randy Watts announced that he  plans to seek a third term as mayor, a Cache County Councilmember says he just may try to keep that from happening.

On <a href=”http://610kvnu.com/assets/podcaster/328/2013_04_16_328_10103_2867.mp3″ target=”_blank”>KVNU’s Crosstalk program Tuesday</a>, Logan resident Craig Petersen  said he is thinking seriously of challenging Watts for the job of mayor and he plans to make a decision before long. Petersen said he is a little concerned about the way Logan’s demographics are moving in the direction of more apartments and rental units.

“Not that renters are bad, because they are wonderful. I love USU students. I think renters make a great contribution,” Petersen said. “But I think one has to look at what’s the proper proportion for a city.

“One of things that does concern me, I became aware of this a couple of months ago, is that Logan City is proposing zoning changes that would densify the city.”

Petersen said he also believes Logan City is under-performing, not doing enough to promote trail systems along with recreation and arts activities.

Petersen also said he opposed the city’s plan for countywide recycling not because he was against recycling but because he felt the numbers didn’t add up at the time.

“One of the things that concerned me most about it was that you make the argument that we recycle because those recycle materials are valuable,” Petersen said. “But the initial proposal had Logan City paying $25 a ton to the person who is taking the recycle materials. That didn’t make sense to me.

“If these are valuable materials why isn’t there a market for them? And a big part of the cost problem was that huge expenditure for the materials. Over time that’s reversed itself. Now the recycler pays for those materials, as it should be.”

Petersen said he feels he is qualified to be mayor since he has been representing Logan while serving on the county council. Petersen has been a member of the Cache County Council for 18 years and plans to retire from his job as economics professor at Utah State University at the end of Spring Semester.

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