ACHD
Commish Baker Proposes ACHD Budget Cuts
Ada County Highway Department Commish Sara baker has proposed some across the board budget cuts in HER BLOG. She may qualify as a “rebel with a cause” by seeking $1,000,000 in savings. While the local street budget for the county is not the hot button issue of ambulance service, there are many similarities in the [...]
Boise Bicycle Nerd Survives On Attention
To say Bob Tencate likes attention is an understatement. When he hits the street it is impossible to NOT notice him and that’s the way he wants it. He really stands out in a crowd. Tencate is among a growing community of “transportation cyclists” in Boise who have forsaken automobiles in favor of bikes to [...]
COMPASS Action Politically Linked To Otter
THE GUARDIAN HAS OBTAINED THE FOLLOWING PUBLIC DOCUMENTS WHICH DEPICT A SAD BIT OF PARTISAN POLITICKING ON THE PART OF AN AGENCY SUPPOSEDLY DEVOTED TO PLANNING. If you are the veto-wielding governor of Idaho, you take friends wherever you can find them. Such was the case Wednesday when the Community Planning Association of southwest Idaho [...]
“Rest of Us” Pay For Failed Development Costs
Reporter Cynthia Sewell has an interesting piece in the Daily Paper about life in AVIMOR for the five residents of the so-called planned community of 850 homes. But who pays for that quiet existance? A GUARDIAN reader pointed out “the rest of us” are already on the hook to take care of failed developments like [...]
Seal The Deals For Hot Meals On Wheels
When Central District Health Department officials announced last week they were getting out of the “meals on wheels” program to provide a hot meal a day to needy folks, we didn’t respond because it was a sure bet good Boise people would step up. We won the bet when Life’s Kitchen, a do gooder outift [...]
Risky Business In Local Government
Wild projections of economic boom, be they for convention centers, a trolly, retailers in a court house, airport users, condo buyers, or golfers have a tendency to fall short. The weekend Wall Street Journal has a great example in story about funding woes for a golf course in CARLSBAD, CA. Substitute “GOLF” for parking, airport, [...]
GUARDIAN Offers Yet Another Transit Plan
We don’t get paid for our services, but the GUARDIAN is able to provide thinking people of Treasure Valley with transportation alternatives much more logical than those being promoted by Team Dave and the CCDC. For the cost of the proposed downtown “Trolley Folly” we think a Bus Rapid Transit system (BRT)– similar to previous [...]
Time To Stop The Trolley Folly
Too much tax money has been spent doing surveys, plans, and proposals for a local transit system. Those who administer COMPASS, CCDC, and Valley Transit have demonstrated remarkable ineptness in providing any workable system. Those elected officials who sit on the various committees and boards have demonstrated a remarkable lack of leadership and concern for [...]
Boise Stimulus Projects Identified
The Team Dave folks at Mayor Bieter’s office are keeping a scorecard of funded projects from the feds. Here is the current list: Transportation 36th Street Bike and Pedestrian Bridge: $550,000 Northeast Downtown Sidewalks: $519,000 Ada County Highway District ADA Sidewalks: $500,000 Ada County Highway District Thin Lift Overlays: $4 million Ada County Highway District [...]
Owyhee Plaza Good Deed For Public
The management of the Owyhee Plaza Hotel gets a hearty ATTABOY from the GUARDIAN for offering up a free room to downtown businesses opposed to the 10th Street Transit Center being pushed by some local politicos. The free room is adjacent to the one rented by Valley Regional Transit to push for a transit center [...]
ACHD Offers Street Sizes S,M, L, and XL
The Ada County Highway District is holding some OPEN HOUSE events during the next 10 days to see what size and price range citizens would like on their streets. We hate to always be so cynical, but if citizens indicate a desire for broad avenues with trees, bike lanes, and sidewalks, it really won’t make [...]
GUARDIAN Primer On Local Governments
A recent reader comment requested that we post some sort of organizational chart explaining local government. We will give it a go, but space will limit detailed explanations. We will be glad to made additions based on reader comments from those in the know. Click on MORE for the complete summary.
Transit Guy Stands To Gain From Decisions
Once again the Daily Paper’s Cynthia Sewell has come up with a GOOD STORY about developer Jim Tomlinson’s land holdings being considered as parts of a downtown transit scheme. The story accurately points out that Tomlinson is a member–and currently president–of the Downtown Business Association which is an official agency created by Boise City government. [...]
Raleigh, NC Has New Transit Center
A GUARDIAN reader was nice enough to send us a link to a story about a new transit center in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina along with a story about their new DOWNTOWN CIRCULATOR which of course is a rubber tire vehicle as instead of steel rail buried in the street. As for the transit center, it [...]
COMPASS To Provide “Hosted Bar” to Legislators
COMPASS, the Community Planning Association funded by local city and county governments throughout Ada and Canyon Counties has scheduled a 2009 Legislative Reception Thursday to include free booze. Each city and county pays dues to COMPASS which supposedly acts as a regional planning agency for things like Transit. Just in case anyone in the unwashed [...]
Merchants Not Onboard 10th Street Bus Hub
Despite official claims to the contrary, based on what we have seen and heard about a transit mall on Boise’s 10th Street, it looks pretty much like a done deal. The goal is to get a federal grant from 2006 spent before a March 2009 deadline. Officials at all levels of government–and there are many–are [...]
ACHD Chair Snubs Citizens, Denies Comments
Ada County Highway District Chairman Carol McKee went back on her word Thursday and snubbed at least two citizens who wished to share their thoughts about a proposed street closure relating to a “multimodal transportation center downtown.” When GUARDIAN readers expressed an interest in speaking at a Thursday joint meeting of the Boise City Council [...]
Daily Paper Sells Feature Space To ACHD
DISCLAIMER–At the risk of sounding like a pitchman for female politicos who have recycled themselves back into office, the GUARDIAN was fascinated by an item posted on a new blog by Sara Baker, the newest Commish on the ACHD board and a former Boise City Councilor. Like Ada County Commish Sharon Ullman, Baker runs a [...]
ACHD TO Allow Public Comment Thursday
After the GUARDIAN contacted the Ada County Highway District in an attempt to secure “equal time” for the public at a Thursday 11:30 a.m. meeting, ACHD Commish Carol McKee said she would allow citizens to speak, even though the joint meeting with the Boise City Council is not an official public hearing. There are actually [...]
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