Growth
Eagle Council Wants Greenbelt Open To Bikes In G.C.
In a move that may be a wave of the future, yet another local government has joined the will of the people. The Citizens for an Open Greenbelt (COG) made its case to the Eagle City Council on Tuesday, seeking to get the Greenbelt opened to bikes in the Garden City stretch currently blocked to [...]
Metal Dragging On Pavement Suspected Fire Cause
Metal hanging off a truck dragging on the pavement off South Cole Road is the suspected cause of multiple wildfires which erupted early Wednesday afternoon, sparking a multiple alarm response from firefighters. For the second time in two years Boise and BLM crews battled the wildfire in the same area to protect home under a [...]
Chamber Wants YOU To Pay While Business Gets Tax Breaks
The Idaho Chamber Alliance met in Meridian this week to plan how to influence the legislature. The Chamber of Commerce is a private special interest lobbying group–not officially connected with government. The alliance consists of 21 chambers of commerce from across Idaho, including Boise Metro, Eagle, Garden City, Gem County, Kuna, Meridian and Nampa. Their [...]
Can’t Find Local Officials? Try Valley County’s Tamarack Resort
If you can’t find your local mayor, city councilor, or county commish, try looking at Tamarack Resort in Valley County. These members of the “Treasure Valley Partnership”–comprised of local elected officials–are spending YOUR tax money for hotel rooms, travel, and rental houses to meet and discuss a topic near and dear to Treasure Valley residents: [...]
Bad News: Property Taxes Rise Over 30% In Past 4 Years
We are in much deeper economic trouble than it would appear when we take a close look at property taxes in Ada County. The Daily Paper’s Cynthia Sewell filed a TAX STORY Thursday which was accurate enough, but didn’t sound the alarm we should all be hearing. Sewell properly noted that property values are going [...]
Leave Town To Attract Boise Tourism, Business
Treasure Valley Politicos just “DON’T GET IT.” They want to attract people to the Treasure Valley for tourism and economic development, but they choose to do their backroom deals clear up at TAMARACK in Valley County of all places. It makes no sense to the GUARDIAN for all the citizens of the various units of [...]
Peddle Pushers To Protest Prohibitions
The group calling itself the “Citizens for an Open Greenbelt” (COG) is planning a “demonstration of outrage” at Garden City along the greenbelt at the northwest corner of Glenwood and Riverside Drive (near the Moxie Java) on August 13. Organizer Gary Segers said the plan is to to tell Garden City “enough is enough – [...]
Optimistic Developer Gambles On Boise “Hole”
Yet another developer has signed on to build something at 8th and Main –the site of the infamous downtown vacant lot known variously as “the hole, ground zero, and the pit.” A feasibility study is planned to decide just WHAT to build. If the Gardner Company wants to insure success, they will look toward something [...]
Yet Another Baseball Park Survey
Team Dave and a group calling itself the Better Boise Coalition is aiming to commission yet another survey about the feasibility of building a minor league baseball park in Boise. They are doing wonders for the consulting industry, but everything is predicated upon the “need” for a new ball park. The Boise Hawks team is [...]
BIGGER Isn’t Better, BETTER Is Better
The downtown deciders need to take lesson from the previous Bronco Football God, Dan Hawkins who once proclaimed that “Bigger isn’t better, better is better.” The Sunday DAILY PAPER has a story by Cynthia Sewell detailing the the “options” for a new convention center. One of the ideas would involve demolishing a newly constructed county [...]
Chinese “Takeover” Is Like Japanese Boom Of 1980′s
Conservative American blogs have created a significant buzz over the issue of a “Chinese Takeover” of America and much of the fear mongering is centered in Boise–thanks to statements by politicos seeking the almighty Renminbi. Some of those concerns have a foundation in fact. In reality, the situation so far is much like the Japanese [...]
Boise Budget Grows 8 Times Faster Than Population
A big shout out to the STATESMAN and reporter Cynthia Sewell for once again doing lots of digging through census, budget, and other records prior to the annual Chamber of Commerce “Live Aid” speech Wednesday by the Mayor Dave Bieter which grosses up to $45,000 for the private special interest lobbying group. We have been [...]
CCDC Chief To Get $114,000 Retirement Bonus
CCDC Pays Arid Club Dues March 14, 2007 A recent tip to the GUARDIAN confirms our worst fears about Boise City’s urban renewal agency operating without oversight or accountability to the citizens. The CCDC (Capitol City Development Corp.) is funded by property taxes and income from publicly owned parking facilities in the downtown area [...]
Foothills Lockout Not Popular With Neighbors On Eve Of Levy Celebration
Some neighbors in the eastern foothills area purchased by Boise City at a cost of $4 million last year are joining forces to protest a lockout by Idaho Fish and Game on the public land. No two ways about it, Boise has been less than transparent with the expenditure of public funds and the subsequent [...]
Conservation Group Heads For the Hills
The Land Trust of the Treasure Valley is after $580,000 by the end of the year to acquire a parcel of Boise foothills land for hikers and dog walkers. The area is known as Harrison Hollow off Bogus Basin Road. We applaud such private efforts and will go a step further, offering them some tips [...]
Crouch Needs A Covered Bridge, Not Super Span
Folks in the tiny mountain hamlet of Crouch probably have a legitimate beef with the Boise County Commishes when it comes to construction of a new bridge across the Middle Fork of the Payette River. Some residents call it overkill, according to quotes in a KTVB story Tuesday. The ancient single lane span has outlived [...]
Nampa Homeowners Face $48 Flat Tax Hike
Question: When is a tax not a tax? Answer: When it comes in the form of a mandatory “fee” from Nampa City Hall. Mayor Tom Dale has sent a letter to property owners inviting them to attend an April 27 meeting at the Nampa Civic Center to discus a plan to curtail the continued pollution [...]
Idaho Cities Battle For Convention Dollars
GROWTHOPHOBE (growth o phobe)–”One who opposes growth just for the sake of growth. Usually refers to municipalities and governments seeking to increase population and attract businesses merely for the sake of growing without due regard to long term affect on citizens and taxpayers.” The opposite of GROWTHOPHOBE is GROWTHOPHILE and that special breed seems prolific [...]
Hammer Flat Declared “No Fly Zone”
Hang glider enthusiasts are at odds with Boise City–especially Team Dave–because they have been banned since the land came under public ownership using $4 million in public Foothills Levy funds. John Kangas, spokesman for the group claims his fellow flyers have soared over the eastern edge of the city for 35 years from the Crow [...]
Idaho Offers Businesses A Welfare Home
While Idaho legislators are looking for money in all the wrong places, the text from a Dept. of Commerce brochure is quite revealing. In short, the state and local governments are in an economic civil war with their neighbors in a battle predicated upon seeing who can give away the most. Businesses decide where to [...]
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