“E” Will Get You Passing Grades On Bikes

By JIM KERNS
Deputy Chief, Boise PD

The tragic deaths of 3 cyclists this last spring led to a call to action for the citizens of Boise to become more aware of the bike riding public. It seems that there are many polarized attitudes regarding bike riders on public streets. If you read the blogs, [...]

Copper Ignores “FIRE LANE” To Park Scooter

After all the heat the Boise copper took parking a squad car in a motorcycle space at City Hall (he eventually paid a hefty parking ticket) it is nothing shy of ironic that a motyorcycle copper parked his scooter in front of a NO PARKING FIRE LANE sign Thursday at the Cole Station post [...]

Cyclists Call For Enforcement of New Law

By STEVE HULME, BIKEBOY
Guest opinion
With last summer’s three fatalities still painfully in mind, bicycle enthusiasts turned out to testify at Boise City Council’s Tuesday meeting in favor of bike laws aimed at increasing safety.

City Council considered – and passed with minor but significant amendments – some new laws recommended by the mayor’s Cycling Safety Task [...]

Another View On Bike Safety

GUARDIAN reader Clancy offers up some logical and common sense ideas about bike safety as school gets underway in Boise and all the surveys, committees, and news of bike accidents have been discussed.
BY CLANCY
GUARDIAN Guest Post
Boise and the Treasure Valley are in the midst of an epic bike and motor vehicle conflict. New cycling infrastructure [...]

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 [...]

State Workers Targeted By Boise Parking?

Complaints from several state workers have reached the GUARDIAN regarding the following memo circulated among staffers regarding parking tickets from Boise City. They characterize the enforcement action as the work of Nazis, but we think it is just the Parking Czar’s people enjoying a fresh crop of cherries to pick.
CAPITOL MALL PARKING NOTICE
Concerning on [...]

Toll Are Answer To Costly Highways

The GUARDIAN is currently driving around France for the day job and spending more Euros than we like on tolls, but it is obviously the only fair way to finance highways.
The surfaces are flawless and drivers are courteous and competent–despite what you may hear about speed and disregard for safety in Europe. The exception [...]

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 [...]

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 to [...]

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 much [...]

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 and [...]

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 blog [...]

Boise Coppers To Cut Code 3 Responses

If it seems like you can’t walk outside without hearing an emergency siren wailing, you are probably correct.
Boise coppers made more than 10,000 high speed responses in the past three years, but an estimated 38% of those adrenaline charged car races will be eliminated when a new set of rules go into effect by March [...]

AMBUS Yet Another Transit Solution

We get fed up with all of the competing logic when it comes to the government bailing out the auto manufacturers while at the same time some folks say we have to stop building roads and advocate more trains.
We need a nationwide intercity government operated bus system. We can call it AMBUS, retool the [...]

ACHD Commish “On The (political) Road Again”

Sara Baker, the new ACHD Commish took the oath of office today and set the tone for her agenda during her remarks.
She offered an olive branch to local governments saying, “No longer can we have jurisdictional squabbles. We all live and drive in this county.”
She has long been a critic of [...]

New Voice Sounding Like A GROWTHOPHOBE

Here is a nicely written piece BY JEAN McNEIL, a Boise Freelancer, which also appeared in the Daily Paper. It is published with her permission.

When I moved to Boise 30 years ago, I called it a 10-minute town – you could get from almost anywhere to almost anywhere else in 10 minutes or less. [...]

Time To Clear The Roads Now

Anyone who shovels the snow from their driveway knows it is a lot easier to do BEFORE several inches have accumulated and packed down.
We go through this every time it snows or there is any kind of emergency. Before we go any further, SOLDIERS, NURSES, FIREMEN, COPPERS, TEACHERS, SNOWPLOW DRIVERS, and the TRASH GUYS [...]

End Of Year GUARDIAN Review

Believe it or not the GUARDIAN has been on line going on four years.
As the year winds down we want to offer a refresher course in the “theme” we use to offer that different SLANT on the news.
–We take credit for creating the words “GROWTHOPHOBE” and GROWTHOPHILE.” No better confirmation for our [...]

City & CCDC Seek Trolley Pitchman

At a time when the economy is tanking and wasteful spending needs to be curbed, Team Dave at the office of Mayor Dave Bieter and the folks at the urban renewal agency are ready to spend $25,000 in public money for a Street Car Pitchman!
Like Prof. Harold Hill in the “Music Man” it looks like [...]