City Government
City Land Speculation Unabated
July 16, 2006 
City government in Boise is in disarray as mayor and councilors are preoccupied with growth.
We don’t know what is going on at City Hall, but neither do most of the city councilors. We do know they are hellbent on getting bigger at all costs and seek to create urban sprawl on a massive scale southeast of what used to be our city. A dozen housing developments are pending in the area.
Meanwhile city-owned land sits idle gathering trash and weeds–but no tax revenues– despite official mandates from the council to sell the land to the highest bidder. Councilors, staff, and the mayor have ignored a 2004 resolution declaring vast parcels of land as “surplus” in the Fairview-Main Street corridor.
Mayor Dave Bieter and his Team Dave crew managed to obligate part of the public land for a 50 year lease to a rock climbing gym that has very little traffic these days.
With such ill planned intentions as a shuttle parking lot, police station, libraries, and godonlyknows what else over the years, Boise has acquired a multimillion dollar portfolio of land. At one point in 2004 various parcels were ordered sold, but they never followed through.
Then, after the library bond failed Bieter told the media they really didn’t need the bond money because they could sell the surplus land and put libraries in strip malls using proceeds from the land sales. Nothing has been made public on that plan either.
The Sunday issue of the daily newspaper had no fewer than 11 stories directly connected with growth, taxes, and transportation issues caused by growth. As long as elected officials continue to encourage growth and offer tax breaks to the likes of Micron, we will all experience the decline in our quality of life and call it progress.
To insure more advertising-free Boise Guardian news, please consider financial support.
Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Jul 16, 2006, 5:22 pm
I can only think of one reason for ” Team Dave’s” lack of organized ,intelligent response to our growing problems of taxation, lack of reasonable public transportation, and uncontrolled growth. Greed is the answer. Especially when the city is continually making large land grabs, worth mucho millions, that it does nothing with. Greed, again,is all too obvious.
Team Bieter’s plan is to work with these developer’s by buying up all this valuable land which will supply the developer’s building needs for years. At the same time these rich builders/contractors will keep ” Team Dave” and the like in political camapign funds just as long.
Meanwhile, the real needs of the people of Boise, will go unnoticed or ignored, at least by our incumbent local politicians who seem to be learning from our State and Federal reps. how easy it is to ignore the needs of your constituents while enriching yourself at the expense of that same taxpayer.
Jul 17, 2006, 12:01 am
Can you say recall? Criminal charges of malfeasance?
Guess I’d better not suggest tar and feathers — that’s probably illegal.
A few (way too few) of our Congress members have faced investigations and occasional charges, but so far governor, legislators, mayor, city councilbeings, county commissioners, ACHD comishes etc. just go their merry way, doing whatever they want to.
There must be some legal way to deal with the whole damned batch of them.
Of course, we should vote them all out of office when their turn comes, but, unfortunately, we seem to just get more of the same. I’m sure at least some of the candidates go in with the best of intentions, but all but a very few seem to be quickly infected with the power-and-greed virus. Unfortunately, I don’t know of any vaccine to prevent the continuing spread.
Jul 17, 2006, 7:12 am
Joe is right to say that all this is driven by greed.
Our Mayor and City Council, as well as our “civic leaders”, and unfortunately, most of the voters, care more about the profits of businesses than the quality of life of the people who live here.
Jul 21, 2006, 11:23 am
I believe it is apathy. Their thoughts and feelings seem like that if they don’t take care of the customer, maybe we’ll stop bugging them. They don’t give us enough credit because they can’t stay elected forever, even though it seems like it at times.