You make a strong case.

Agreed, Sisyphus.

It’s been a mess since it started; it replaced the Boise Redevelopment Agency, whose primary purpose seemed to be to tear down all historic structures and replace them with whatever developers wanted. Downtown was a mess for years.

Changing the agency’s name to CCDC didn’t help a bit; if anything, it has gotten worse and worse, with the conflicts The Guardian lists showcasing some of the ineptness and very questionable aspects.

And obviously this group sure knows how to pick the developers!!!

As for The Hole — it still ain’t as ugly as the huge towers these guys keep proposing.

So just how does one go about ridding ourselfs of
the varments?

Maybe the guy pictured with the no Shooting sign has a few ideas.

Mike Murphy has some great points. Joe Estrella wrote a great article and has portrayed the rot and greed that CCDC stands for- the large hole in the ground downtown demonstrates for all where taxpayer money goes when Phil Kushlan and fellow developers Rivers and Rogers are given a free hand by The mayor and City council.

At the same time the tax money CCDC gets and keeps to enlarge their Bureaucratic dukedom actually takes away from Police,Fire and Emergency services financing for the People of Boise! What a smell ( it’s worse than a drive through the garbage mounds of Seacaucus in August with the car windows open!) It’s election time folks and it’s time to let the new mayor know that part of his platform has got to be getting rid of CCDC and finding out who in Boise’s Urban renewal agency gave Rogers the green light to default and then get rid of every unneeded excess bureaucracy in Boise ( make them get an honest job,maybe one of the minimum wage /no benefit jobs the city teems with!)

CCDC’s mission has been accomplished in the downtown core. There is no longer the need for an agency to purchase land for future development. The question is what will replace this agency? Maybe just a simple design review committee specializing in commercial and multistory development. That being said. CCDC has helped to create a very nice downtown area aside from the HOLE.

As for developers defaulting on loans, I think that may be common in the development industry. Most traditional banks will not provide financing to get the ball rolling. Developers take these non traditional loans in hopes of preselling enough units to provide some “equity” to regular banks.

EDITOR NOTE– Perhaps city councilors should take a lesson from the banks. But it’s only taxpayer money, not shareholder money, with which the councilors deal.

Thanks, John. I retract my comment.

Yes, Sharon, it’s a terrible shame that people who don’t live in Boise don’t get to vote in Boise elections.

EDITOR NOTE–She makes a very good point because COUNTY taxes on new downtown buildings is diverted to CCDC, forcing people like Sharon to pay a little extra to make up the difference.

(Dylan, I found you in the junk file. EVERYONE needs to put “Dave” as the answer to “what’s Dave’s first name?” We use that as a filter to keep the porn spam off the site.)

Sharon: I agree — except I think the proper time to dissolve it was about 13 seconds after it was created. It seemed obvious at the time that the plan had too many holes in it (No pun on The Big Hole intended), with lack of sufficient oversight, siphoning off of taxes, etc.

Wonk: If you consider a bunch of shoe boxes, some of them standing on end, to be a “nice-looking skyline,” then I guess it is.
Downtown wasn’t a bad place to be until the BRA tore down everything it could, in hopes somebody would come in and build something. We had a good supply of dirt “parking lots” for a long time, and, yes, CCDC had a hand in changing that — along with adding The Hole to downtown. But it seems likely that much of the useful development would have arrived on its own as the population continued to grow.

But whatever the past, there’s no apparent reason for the thing to continue to exist, expand, and deprive the rest of our big, fat, flabby government of taxes.

How long is our city going to run on ‘autopilot’? Where’s the oversight? With elected officials too timid to take charge, let’s consider dumping trash in ‘the hole’ and fill it up! This will relieve pressure on the county landfill and allow space for more uncontrolled growth. I suggest this be one of the topics at the Chamber-sponsored Sun Valley retreat and wine tasting, where City Policy is made. Alas, “Those who have the hole make the rules”.

Dave,

You left out some of the best stuff! And I fully agree with you that it’s long since time for them to go away!! The CCDC should do this community a vast service and voluntarily dissolve. However, as President Reagan suggested, the closest thing to eternal life on this earth is a Government Program.

Check out the record. When they (formerly the BRA now CCDC) came imploring the Idaho Legislature to grant them tax increment financing legislation, the legislature was skeptical and conditioned the tax increment financing scheme on the following pledges:

1. They would NEVER expand beyond the 9 nine blocks of the original tax increment area.
2. They would NEVER bond in excess of $12,500,000.
3. They would voluntarily dissolve and turn the assets over to the City of Boise before 2000.

So much for the so-called promises of a government agency.

When the CCDC first proposed another tax increment area I went to the public meeting required by law and reminded them of the commitments they had made in order to get the legislation passed. They completely ignored my concerns and comments.

I next went to the Boise City Council hearing required by law to enact the ordinance establishing the new tax increment area and reminded the Boise Mayor (Brent Coles) and Council of the commitments that had been made in order to get the tax increment legislation passed. At that meeting the former Chairmen of the Ada County Highway district also testified that it was his understanding that the tax increment area was NOT to be expanded. Again, the city ignored both of us.

It is simply time for them to slip off into the sunset. Hopefully, the CCDC issue will be a major component in the upcoming Boise elections.

I, and any other candidate for office, can make this an “issue” all we want. Change, however, requires participation.

The first step is to start rocking the boat now by registering to vote, thereby creating an “unknown” voting block that worries career politicos

That ALONE can be a catalyst for change.

What about the DOWNTOWN BUSINESS ASSOCIATION. If we want to address the waste in our city, let’s take care to examine the DOWN TOWN BUSINESS ASSOCIATION. It has been sucking the blood out of many of us for years, and taking the credit for the success of down town. What is the down town bussiness association? How can we get rid of it?

Or how can we change it from being a mandatory thing to a volunteer thing. I hate paying the fee’s. If you don’t pay, they take you to collections. They don’t do anything. I don’t need some stupid beaurocracy holding my hand. This entity infuriates me to no end. It is white collar extortion. Forcing me and all the other business’s to pay is border line criminal. We need to act now before this ridiculous entity becomes larger and more menacing.