How about simple fixing up existing Greater Boise Auditorium District facilities and make them better–not bigger?

The Wall Street Journal published a story Saturday (Dec. 31) which revealed that cities from “Boston to Austin” are building bigger convention centers at a time when the convention business is totally over built as it is. A Boston Globe writer is quoted as declaring convention center building as “a racket.” The WSJ piece cites Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Phoenix, Austin as places that continue to expand facilities and fail to live up to predictions.

Those cities and many others across the nation all cite surveys with the central message of, “If we build it they will come.” Problem is, they don’t come. Convention business is on the decline and it isn’t just a “bad economy.” In 2010 the industry reported 86 million conventioneers compared to 126 million in 2000.

The GUARDIAN has reported frequently on the need for directional signs for visitors. With at least $11 million in room taxes burning a hole in their pocket, we think directional signs, promotional maps, and more “user friendly” policies like free parking could go a long way toward enhancing the visitor experience and getting repeat customers. More construction and higher overhead aren’t exactly selling points that attract visitors.

We could fix up Table Rock as a “Vista Viewpoint” to view the entire valley, open the Boise Depot to the public daily during summer months and include some free bus shuttles–that way visitors would have a feeling they are getting something for the taxes they pay at hotels.

Mayor Dave Bieter constantly declares, “Boise is the most remote city in America for its size.” He is correct and that is one reason we will never be a destination travel location. Better to attract folks wishing to experience the Payette and Salmon Rivers, Sawtooth Mountains, and great skiing (when we have snow) than to attempt to compete with less remote cities featuring naked dancers, Mickey Mouse, Broadway Shows, or Lake Michigan shoreline dotted with museums.

One of the signs of “worldliness” is knowing one’s place in the world. And Boise’s place is not as a major convention city which has no directional signs and closes it’s best assets to public access.

The WSJ story also noted cities tout expansion of facilities as a sign of local pride and confidence rather than just a way to build more hotel rooms and restaurants.

Related Posts

1. Apr 17, 2011: Idaho Cities Battle For Convention Dollars — 3 comments
2. Apr 27, 2011: G-BAD Election Is About Spending Room Taxes — 11 comments
3. Jul 10, 2011: BIGGER Isn’t Better, BETTER Is Better — 14 comments

–We met people from Utah State who not only didn’t visit the Famous Potato Bowl, but didn’t think much of it.
–We met lots of BSU supporters, watched the “Body Shop Bowl,” in Vegas and again not much good was voiced. It appears the plethora of college bowls is self destructing. Even the Hawaii Bowl was played to a nearly empty house.
–There is a lot of action in the field of waste-to-energy projects in Ada, Kootenai, Clark, Freemont, and Bonneville counties and from our standpoint it looks like various government credits are the driving force rather than electricity generation.
–The hang glider folks will probably get “grandfathered into using Hammer Flat if they play nice with Idaho Fish and Game. The best flight path right now is to give Director Virgil Moore a way to ALLOW recreational use of the land rather than bombing him into submission.

Related Posts

1. Jun 9, 2011: HELP! We Need Some News — 13 comments
2. Sep 15, 2011: Attention Editors & Reporters: Give Us NEWS! — one comment
3. Sep 15, 2011: Bad News: Property Taxes Rise Over 30% In Past 4 Years — 14 comments

#1–Would the legislature appropriate funds to send 10 of its members on the “goodwill” trip to Turkey?

#2–If the answer is “no,” why did they accept the foreign sightseeing package which couldn’t even be disguised as a “campaign contribution?”

Related Posts

1. Jan 24, 2012: Idaho Legislative Control May Be Worse Than Most Realize — no comments
2. Sep 22, 2011: Legislators Have No Business In Turkey — 11 comments
3. Nov 21, 2011: Geezer Group Talks Turkey Over Raising Rates — 12 comments

The local news outlets played it pretty straight yesterday when news was received that a delegation of Idaho legislators and their spouses was safe following a terrorist blast in Ankara, Turkey. This was nothing more than a junket payed for by the Turkish government in our opinion. It could be only a tourist promotion, but the Turks have been hustling public officials for several years. WHY?

Over the past 40 years the GUARDIAN has witnessed visits from officials in Taiwan to the legislature at a time when the island nation was struggling to remain independent–the USA does not recognize Taiwan today as a country, but various states have trade offices in Taipei.

We also saw farmers sucking up to a Libyan delegation claiming to be interested in Idaho wheat–they wanted hard red, but we grow soft white. A complex sale agreement was worked out, but the actual grain was not grown in Idaho. The reason for the Idaho interest turned out to be former Senator Frank Church’s opposition to selling US-made C-130 aircraft to Libya which could be used against Israel. The deal even had an “anti-Zionist” clause.

One politico appeared on Channel 7 saying he had taken the bait last year and had a most pleasant trip, noting the Turks are interested in Idaho beef. The legislature has no beef to sell. Ranchers have beef, but they didn’t get the freebie. We think there is a move to “BUY” political support for Turkey which has a lot of politics and diplomacy on its plate with the European Union, USA, Russia, and Israel at the moment. There is also an Islamic group called the “Gulen movement” which may be using local officials as pawns in an international chess game centered around charter schools of all things.

We got a call from one local official who said he turned down the offer for a free trip to Turkey–airfare was NOT covered–because it was simply against the law. The local guy told us there was so much value in the gift that it would have clearly violated the Idaho ethics law. He was invited solely based on his official position.

Seems HAWAII has a little better handle on ethics issues.

Related Posts

1. Sep 29, 2011: Idaho Legislative Turkey Trot Redux — 3 comments
2. Sep 30, 2011: McGee, Other Legislators Pad Expenses — 6 comments
3. Nov 21, 2011: Geezer Group Talks Turkey Over Raising Rates — 12 comments

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: How to promote Treasure Valley as a tourist destination, attract conventions and visitors to the area. Local venues apparently were not adequate for the two day “retreat.”

They need to take a lesson from the bankrupt Tamarack and the economically depressed Valley County!

PREVIOUS POST.

Related Posts

1. Oct 24, 2011: M3 Spring Valley Development Has No Voters To Approve Financing Scam — 4 comments
2. Mar 12, 2011: Boise Officials Avoid Public Scrutiny — 2 comments
3. Aug 22, 2011: Leave Town To Attract Boise Tourism, Business — 4 comments

The Greater Boise Auditorium District treasurer refused to sign a check to BCVP, citing a Pocatello court ruling that prevented using auditorium taxes for anything other than auditorium district projects. Stephanie Astorquia had asked repeatedly for outside legal counsel, but the boys refused her request.

Rather than fight, they just switched–the rules. Only the treasurer was previously authorized to sign checks in excess of $5,000. Chairman Hy Kloc, a BCVP advocate, finally signed the check which was kept below the $25,000 threshold that required a bid. BCVP needs the cash to keep its doors open to receive state travel council funds which cannot be used for salaries.

Meanwhile the Ada prosecutor is investigating allegations filed by board member Judy Peavey-Derr regarding meetings violations, bid splitting, and ethic violations.

Related Posts

1. Jul 27, 2011: Still No Check To BCVB From G-BAD — no comments
2. Aug 15, 2011: GBAD Scuffle Turns Serious — 16 comments
3. Aug 9, 2011: Volunteer Report on GBAD Meeting — 3 comments

The two players who say they may circulate the petition (copy below) are a couple of losers in last November’s election, Mike Sullivan and Steve Schmader. They are supporters of the Boise Visitor and Convention Bureau which is a private non-profit ad agency dedicated to promoting tourism. It is funded almost entirely with public funds.

GBAD Chairman Hy Kloc has sent a memo to the board asking for consensus to get Boise City to pay for a mediator to settle various conflicts. Boise City has no dog in the fight as the district is an independent taxing body funded by the local hotel-motel room tax.

Use of that tax to fund the private BCVB is the major controversy at hand. A court ruling in Pocatello banned using auditorium district funds for the general tourist promotion, limiting expenditure of the auditorium money to promoting the auditorium.

Related Posts

1. Jul 27, 2011: Still No Check To BCVB From G-BAD — no comments
2. Aug 25, 2011: GBAD Ponies Up Cash To BCVB — 6 comments
3. Apr 27, 2011: G-BAD Election Is About Spending Room Taxes — 11 comments

It makes no sense to the GUARDIAN for all the citizens of the various units of government in this area to be forced to pay travel expenses so their respective mayors and officials can spend a couple days September 15 and 16 adding to the economy of LONG VALLEY and the defunct Tamarack Resort.

Not only does the local area lose out on the potential revenues, we all have to pay for these elected officials to go to the bankrupt Tamarack resort instead of one of the Boise area’s top notch lodging establishments that pays its employees and taxes.

Would be interesting to hear from The Boise Convention and Visitor’s Bureau on this one.

Of course the nature of this planned “retreat” is to avoid public scrutiny and have a pleasant get together at taxpayer expense. The standard mantra is they are “away from their offices, phone calls, and other distractions to do their planning”…will city council budget sessions head for the hills next?

Related Posts

1. Sep 22, 2011: Legislators Have No Business In Turkey — 11 comments
2. Jan 1, 2012: “Buying” New Business Not Worth The Price — 12 comments
3. Sep 22, 2011: Chamber Wants YOU To Pay While Business Gets Tax Breaks — 3 comments

The 90 kph speed limit translates to 55 mph. These big blue and yellow signs were an intimidating factor when it came to passing someone doing about 50 mph. For conversion, use .60 times 50 kph and you get a mere 30 mph. Imagine how easy it is to pass a slow mover and punch it to 80 mph downhill.

Our final thought on traffic laws in Ontario was, “do they use anesthetic for the surgery if you get caught with a DUI?”

Related Posts

No related posts.

The GUARDIAN has learned GBAD board member Judy Peavey-Derr has filed a formal complaint with Ada County Prosecutor Greg Bower against three fellow board members. Her allegations include illegal meetings between the three board members without notice to two others who generally have a different philosophy. These meetings were possibly via telephone based on her complaint.

She also claims bid specs for advertising promotion were rigged to favor the Boise Visitor and Convention Bureau and payments were split for some services to avoid the $25,000 threshold for compteitive bidding.

The open meeting violation issue is ironic because Peavey-Derr was subject of charges filed by the office of Attorney General when she was an Ada County Commish. The case was settle with only a technical violation of the law for not having a recording or minutes of a closed meeting. For Peavey-Derr it was apparently a learning experience with regard to how public meetings should be conducted.

No doubt Bower will farm out the investigation to another county in lieu of being drawn into the local issue.

Related Posts

1. Aug 25, 2011: GBAD Ponies Up Cash To BCVB — 6 comments
2. Aug 9, 2011: Volunteer Report on GBAD Meeting — 3 comments
3. Jun 17, 2011: Dirt On Cleaning Contract Turns Muddy — no comments