Comments on: MAYOR’S HOTLINE April 17 to 21 2006

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 13:29:57 +0000

NR says, “And when Chinden and Fairview reaches capacity, then what?”

Now, THAT is a good question. And when your city council and/or municipal planning department has their big “approved” rubber-stamp out, stampin’ the development applications as quick as they come across the desk, people should definitely be asking that question.

Regarding the current Ustick conflict, I’ve got a certain degree of pity for ACHD. You’ll recall the debate about the Curtis extension. According to the comprehensive plans, Curtis was never intended to be a major arterial, so ACHD built it as a collector, which was quickly outgrown. Long story short – after ceaseless caterwauling, ACHD rebuilt the road with an additional lane in each direction, and has been the wuppin’ boy ever since, for not gettin’ it right the first time.

If they build Ustick wide, they’ll be the pariah for people in the Ustick neighborhood. But if they cave to the local politicians and scale back the plan, they’ll guarantee themselves a repeat of Curtis Road… Wayne and all those other Ustick users will blame them for not getting it right the first time.

By: NR

NR — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 13:51:49 +0000

And when Chinden and Fairview reaches capacity, then what?

By: Joe Moran

Joe Moran — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 00:37:35 +0000

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… the Boise guardian is doing another great job by publishing citizens actual ” mayoral Hot Line” problems so it’s easier for all of us in Boise to see the actual problems called in and what the mayor and city council actually do about them.

By: confidential

confidential — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 22:23:11 +0000

Dave, I think you ought to edit out the callers’ names. Yes, it’s public record, but hey…

I like the feature. How about a police blotter?

EDITOR NOTE–We do edit phone numbers out, but addresses are often important to the call. Also anyone appearing at any public hearing has to give their address and that is on TVTV. If it gets to be a problem we can revisit.

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 21:09:44 +0000

Well, there you have it, Guardian.

Terry Dougal, living on Ustick Road, calls Mayor Dave to complain that not enough is being done to protect the integrity of resident-friendly narrow Ustick. (Golly! That seems pretty reasonable, coming from a guy who LIVES on Ustick.)

But how selfish can you get?

Wayne Crawford, who lives on West Alfred Street (?) calls Mayor Dave because by damn, he’s a TAXPAYER and he doesn’t approve of stupid old NARROW Ustick! To quote Crawford, “It’s not right that a smaller group of people affects the greater good.”

Right on! Spock said it even better, in his Vulcan style: “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”

Terry and his neighbors oughtta be willing to fall on the sword. After all, Wayne and his neighbors need to get into town every morning! (While we’re at it, shouldn’t Harrison Boulevard and Warm Springs Avenue be bumped out to 7 lanes or so? For the good of the many?) (Yeah, right!)

It’s apparently irrelevant to Wayne that Terry may have lived on Ustick 50 years longer than Alfred Street has even existed.

I’m curious as to why Wayne doesn’t take Chinden. It appears that Chinden is substantially closer to Alfred… and it’s already an “arterial” road. (But Wayne’s lucky. It’s unlikely that somebody further out in the boonies will EVER be demanding that his front yard be taken out “for the greater good.”)