Economy
County Amps Up The Voltage On Dynamis Deal
When Ada Commishes Sharon Ullman and Rick Yzaguirre approved a last minute extension to the Dynamis “franchise agreement” at the landfill, they added “significant value” to the deal according to a GUARDIAN financial consultant. It appears the lease has jumped from 5 years to 30 years. Additionally, the contract now allows Dynamis to bring in [...]
Some Educated Thoughts To Consider
Its an annual event this time of year: students graduate either high school or college, there are inspiring stories of old immigrants getting degrees, students overcoming emotional and financial hurdles, and of course politicos making commencement addresses to show they are “pro education.” Just today we encountered a couple of youngsters (nearly everyone is a [...]
Ada County Buys Foreclosed Subdivision
First it was the Idaho Land Board purchasing a private storage business, now Ada County Commishes bought a foreclosed subdivision on 250 acres north of Hidden Springs and east of Highway 55 for $240,000. Known as Red Hawk Estates, the development fell on hard times and was foreclosed by Bank of The Cascades from Dry [...]
Boise To “Upgrade” Council Chambers For Only $1,300,000
UPDATE Tuesdy 5/8/12–Councilors passed the expenditure on a 4-2 vote. Councilors TJ Thomson and Ben Quintana stood up against staff and four of their colleagues to cast the no votes. Thomson noted it was hard to justify the expense in the face of the current budget crunch. The GUARDIAN was asked by one wag if [...]
Assets vs Liabilities In Banking, A lesson
Boise’s SYRINGA BANK is in trouble and faces a merger or takeover from state and federal regulators because it’s capital level is less than 10% of its assets. Terms used to describe banks are somewhat reverse of what we normally think. When we DEPOSIT funds in a bank–savings, checking, or CDs–the institution shows that as [...]
Thoughts From The Road
The day job has the GUARDIAN on the road making photographs and observing the “American Condition.” We share some random observations. –The new bridge across the Coloorado River below Hoover Dam is a great time saver if you are headed south of Las Vegas, but you can’t see it (or the dam) as you drive [...]
Idaho Power Tells Commission Its “Over Powered”
Idaho Power is seeking a suspension of the law which requires the utility to purchase power from small “renewable energy” producers. A hearing is set for Wednesday at the Idaho Public Utilities Commission headquarters 9:30 a.m. at 472 W. Washington St. in Boise. Oversupply of wind power has been a major bone of contention recently [...]
Trash Talk–Power, Politics, Economics, Ownership
A forum of experts in turning “Waste To Watts” was assembled Tuesday by the IDAHO BUSINESS REVIEW and it completed the circuit for many not plugged into the energy circuit. Idaho Power rep M. Mark Stokes, along with attorney Peter Richardson who reps small electricity producers selling power–like wind generated and landfill projects, really cut [...]
City Staff Reduced, Management Seeks More Efficiency
The GUARDIAN got a tip late last week claiming there were layoffs at City Gall. We sent a query to Team Dave and spokesman Adam Park provided the following statement: “In 2012 the City has laid off one employee and restructured one position following the retirement of another employee. Both of these actions were done [...]
House Panel Votes To Keep State Out Of Commercial Ventures
On a 15-1 vote The House Resources and Conservation Committee approved a measure Wednesday to prevent the state endowment fund from purchasing and running businesses. This is a practice the GUARDIAN revealed in 2010 when the Dept. of Lands went into the private storage business with the purchase of Affordable Storage in Boise. With an [...]
Anti F-35 Post In Interest Of Fair Play
We are providing space to those opposed to the F-35 being based at Gowen Field in the interest of fair play. Various state and local governments have come out in favor of locating the noisy fighter here, but those opposed don’t have access to the public money or forum. The GUARDIAN will gladly entertain any [...]
Ball Park Bad Idea, Bieter Still Pitches It
Team Dave’s captain, Mayor Dave Bieter used the City Club of Boise Thursday as a forum to pitch a new public baseball park for private gain. We see it as another swing and a miss. At the same event, Bieter recruited the audience to seek petitions asking for a referendum to allow the city authority [...]
F-35 Opponent Questions Air Force Report
This is a GUARDIAN guest opinion By Kevin E. Cahill, PhD Is the Air Force being honest with Boise? The United States Air Force is proposing Boise’s Gowen Field as a possible Pilot Training Center and base for F-35A fighter Jets. The Air Force has just released a draft Environmental Review (Environmental Impact Statement or [...]
Local Option Tax Hike Bill Likely In Legislature
A bill to bump up the sales tax by 1%–with voter approval–will probably surface in the coming legislative session. Ironic that local politicos and Chambers of Commerce favor allowing voters to approve a sales tax hike when last year they almost uniformly opposed allowing citizens to vote on long term public debt at airports and [...]
Eastern Idaho Energy Dreams Slowly Crumbling
Eastern Idaho’s grandiose efforts to attract business with “incentives” taken out of the pockets of taxpayers are slowly crumbling despite feeble attempts at life support. First it was the Hoku solar panel plant in Pocatello falling on hard times with plummeting stock prices and Idaho Power ready to pull the plug on its electricity. Now [...]
Burning Issues And Libraries Maxed Out
Our GUARDIAN staff tax expert has alerted us to possible funding issues in 2012 for some fire districts and libraries. These taxing districts are limited in their legal ability to levy taxes and as property values declined, they have almost uniformly “gone to the max.” City and county governments can raise budgets up to 3% [...]
“Buying” New Business Not Worth The Price
We’ve all heard of the husband who purchased a new boat the couple couldn’t afford so the wife gets even by remodeling the kitchen and installing new carpet they also couldn’t afford. That same silly fiscal policy is being advocated by government and editorial writers from Idaho Falls to Boise–if a business isn’t financially sound [...]
Idaho Power May Pull Plug To Hoku Plant
The Hoku solar panel plant struggling to get itself up and running in Pocatello can’t even pay its agreed upon electric bill to Idaho Power, it was revealed in a filing before the Idaho Public Utilities Commission Thursday. The Chinese backed company has been the beneficiary of all kinds of public largess including local urban [...]
Dorothy Goes Down Yellow Brick Road To Credit Union
This is a new comment on a previous post and we felt worthy of a stand alone story By DOROTHY Guardian Reader Due to corporate “downsizing” (job elimination), my company is no longer paying for the car they “required” me to purchase. I approached my lender and asked to refinance the loan for a longer [...]
Secret City Land Deals Explained On Map
The GUARDIAN has acquired numerous documents with regard to the land swaps involving the armory on Reserve Street and assorted Boise City-owned properties in the area of Eisenman Road and I-84. Based on the information provided by Boise City, coupled with their refusal to communicate with the GUARDIAN except as required by law, we offer [...]
Get the Guardian by Email
Categories
Recent Comments