Growth
G-BAD Fails Again
November 28, 2005 
Message for the Greater Boise Auditorium District: “Give it up. Three strikes, you’re out. Let it Go, Forget about it.”
The citizens have twice voted down your plan to build a convention center and now your hand picked private sector developer has also shown disinterest and failed to meet an October 31 deadline. We don’t need another “rebar pit” in downtown Boise.
The Nov. 28 issue of the IDAHO BUSINESS REVIEW had a good piece by Steven Anderson detailing the failure and certain options help by the Simplot family real estate company, S-Sixteen.
The deal under discussion had developer Gary Christensen getting land at 11th and Myrtle for a dollar a year. He was to build a $ 35 million convention center and then lease it back to G-BAD for $2 million a year in an effort to go around the voters who already said “NO” in 2003 and 2004.
The Idaho Supreme Court also spanked G-BAD in August for using public money to advertise in favor of the proposed convention center during the 2003 election. They were sued by Ameritel Inns who prevailed in the action.
The G-BAD needs to either turn in their guns or get bullet proof shoes so they won’t keep shooting themselves in their collective foot.
To insure more advertising-free Boise Guardian news, please consider financial support.
Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Dec 1, 2005, 4:43 pm
Just more of the same people trying to make their money off all the taxpayers.
Dec 12, 2005, 12:47 pm
What these idiots who still want a convention center in Boise don’t get is the fact that we don’t have a red light district or enough escort services for the venue. No all nude drinking establishments and no gambling. There are about three OK restaurants to go around and some really 2nd rate hotels probably without 24/7 porn channels. Bogus is a family resort so that won’t attract the hot ski crowd. Plus we are rapidly falling from our perch on “the best places to live” list. But hey, that might be a good reason to build a convention center. How many places are there with bonafide convention centers that you would really want to live near. Most convention centers in metropolitan areas are built in the marginal parts of a city, not in the heart. My bet is we already have a convention center in the heart of the city. It’s called the BoDo Edwards theater. When that poorly planed idea go’s south, the brilliant minds that run this community will bail it out at tax payers expense and re-invent the building as the “New Boise Convention Centre at BoDo”. While we are at it, why don’t we just rename the city, drop Boise, since almost everyone calls it “Boyzee” anyway, and call it BoDo.com