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City Government

Mayor Hotline May 12 to 18

 May 24, 2007 ⋅  Post a comment

OPEN THE DEPOT REPEATEDLY, SEX OFFENDERS UNWELCOME REPEATEDLY, IDLE COP
Good calls with good opinions. Councilors please take notice–these people are voters.

5/15/07
Marge Wary
1105 Houston Rd.
Boise, ID
Depot: I’m calling to encourage opening the Depot more for public use. My friends and I love to water color paint in the Platt Gardens and would appreciate a rest room. A coffee shop might help defray expenses. Thank you very much for listening.
M/CC
Action Taken: left msj

5/15/07
Blanche Kadel
Depot: I was just reading in the paper about the Boise Depot. We live up on the bench and we love the Depot, but we do miss being able to go inside. I think it’s been a shame for a long time that the Boise people and others are locked out. So, whatever you decide to do to open it up to the public would be great with me. I don’t need a return call.
M/CC

5/15/07
Rena Mitchell
3030 Clark St.
Boise, ID 83705
Depot: This is regarding opening up the Depot. I think it’s a very good idea; the Depot should never have been closed. The Boise people helped open that building and the taxpayers paid for it. I think it should be something that we can all enjoy and tour. I would like to go see it, and I think that I’m looking forward to having the ability to do that.
M/CC BPR

5/11/07
Marilyn Collins
N. 7th St.
Boise, ID
Sex Offenders: I’m calling to ask the Mayor to look at looking for restrictions for city ordinance that restricts where sex offenders can reside. This is in support of Tiffany Tanner’s letter that she has sent out to all the PTA presidents; I’m the PTA president from Washington Elementary. I would like the Mayor to look at something to help the parents and children in Boise restricting where sex offenders can reside.
M/CC Legal

5/14/07
Kim Herage
W. Secretariat St.
Boise, ID
Sex Offenders: I’m calling in support of creating a city ordinance similar to Garden City’s that restricts where sex offenders can reside. The restriction is to be 1000 ft. from schools, pre-schools, day cares, bus stops, parks, boys and girls clubs, after school programs, and other places where they congregate. I’m also calling to restrict the number of sex offenders that can reside in one home. If you could please respond to this, I would appreciate it. Thank you.
M/CC Legal

5/15/07
Emily Jennings
Depot: It’s a wonderful idea in the opinion page of the newspaper today to give the depot back to the public. I’m a visitor to the city and the Depot is a wonderful building and I would love to see it but it’s only open on Mondays. An idea for gaining some revenue would be to have some pictures of the old steam engines and trains that visited Boise in the past and sell them as posters; they do that in Anchorage, AK where I’ve lived many years. It’s a wonderful idea; they have railroad memorabilia and they sell it to the public, and the seniors and the other people volunteer to serve there. It is a wonderful, wonderful, beautiful place and I hope you can have it open more to the public than it has been. Thank you.
Action Taken: wrong phone #

5/15/07
Ms. Beynon
Depot: This concerns the public comment on the Boise Depot; we love to go there. One of the things we attended there that we especially loved was the Coy and Garden Show and we still have stepping stones in our garden that we purchased there. We loved the tours of the old place and its history, so we would love to see more events scheduled there so that we could come in. We live in Nampa, but we especially go into the Depot when we see things that are open.
M/CC BPR

5/16/07
Patricia Gulledge
3719 W. Quail Heights Ct.
Boise, ID 83703
363-0756
5/16/07
Nettie Compton
Depot: I just wanted to voice my opinion about the train depot. It holds many, many years of memories for me, my family, and my kids. I love the idea of opening it to serve coffee, sandwiches, books, souvenirs, and tickets for the tour train and events. Wonderful, wonderful idea, keep the doors open.
M/CC BPR

5/16/07
Anonymous
Ombudsman: I was calling to comment on that thing that Channel 2 had; they interviewed the Mayor and they were talking about whether or not it was a waste of money to keep the Ombudsman’s office because they said the internal affairs division of the Police Department investigates the police. Well, you know, with all the problems we’ve had with the Boise Police Department over the years, I think it is very important that we keep the Ombudsman’s office. We have to have somebody who is a non-policeman, somebody outside the system to investigate the police in order to be objective. When you have somebody investigating themselves, then naturally you’re going to get a very prejudiced investigation. In fact, I would go one step further – I think we need an oversight board made up of just ordinary citizens to oversee the police department; just like we have a school board to oversee the school system. But, yes, we do need to at least keep the Ombudsman’s office, and no, it is not a waste of money. Thank you.
M/CC Ombudsman

Allied Waste: I just called BFI for the third time asking them to pick up the large trash container that they left for us to try out, without asking our permission, if they could leave it for us to try out. It’s been sitting outside for ten days; when I called just now, they said they would refer it to a supervisor. It seems to me that if the city is going to be dealing with them, we ought to be able to say whether we want stuff delivered to us or not, and at the very least they should pick it up without making such a mess in front of our house by having to leave it there. I would appreciate if somebody would follow up on that because I know I’m not the only one who didn’t want the big trash can. Thank you.
M/CC PW

5/16/07
Liz Smith
5337 Waterwheel Dr.
Boise, ID 83703
Rewards: Mayor Bieter, I read in our local newspaper about the two women who were arrested for the murder of Shawn Holcomb in the foothills, and it being solved by a local man who routinely goes through garbage cans, and was smart enough to report his findings to the police, so that crime was solved. I think he should be rewarded monetarily; I really do believe that because he really did help. Also, the cleaning personnel at Motel 6 who reported all of the bags that were found with $50,000 worth of local merchandise of clothing, etc., that person should be rewarded monetarily for helping solve that problem. I believe that Boise has grown so that people are not alert enough to report things that they see. I think these people should be rewarded for being the good citizens that they are. Thank you.
M/CC
Action Taken: contacted

5/17/07
Bill Erickson
P.O. Box 5621
Boise, ID 83705
Fuel Waste: I am a manager of a small retail store here at the bottom of Bogus Basin Rd., a little ski shop called Eco Lounge. I recently understand that you have agreed to be one of the “green cities” in America, and to take on that campaign. I have a small suggestion from an observation I made. I had a Boise police officer parked out in front of the street here for about 40 minutes with his engine idling. I can’t imagine that’s a conservative approach to fuel savings for the city to have a big powerful V-8 police cruiser idling for 40 minutes when it’s going to be 90 degrees outside. We all know the protocol, if you’re idling for 30 seconds or more, you’re wasting fuel. So, that’s one observation I just made today, and I see it all the time with other city vehicles. I think it should be a broad band protocol for all departments, that you do not let your vehicle idle for more than 30 seconds. When I worked for the federal government in the national parks, they drilled that into us. I think it should be the same, especially if you’re going to campaign yourself as going down the road as one of America’s green cities. We barely pulled that off I believe; we don’t have any light rail, we don’t have any surface ski lifts or tram ways. If you’ve been to Europe, you know what I’m talking about, or even the east coast.
M/CC BPD
Action Taken: left msj

5/17/07
Nancy Brennan
6025 Plano Ln.
Boise, ID 83703
Foothills Development: My concern is that a developer has purchased land up the hill from us on Plano Ln.; he has foothills land and he had a neighborhood meeting about a week and a half ago and he is planning to put in an application for annexation, and he wants to rezone the land from one house per 40 acres to one house per 2 acres. He wants to build 150 high-end homes above our house, and he wants to widen the road and take part of our front yard. Our concern is there are going to be twice as many, about 300, new cars coming down Plano Ln., coming onto Hill Rd. in the morning and evening, which is going to create a huge traffic problem. The Collister Neighborhood Association has informed us they are backing us up, and are very upset with this as well, because it’s going to create more traffic going down Collister onto Hill Rd. With the ordinance in the foothills, as well, we’re concerned that the ecology of the foothills will not be respected as well. We feel that the traffic problem is very preventable, and we don’t think it’s necessary for them to build a new housing community up there. We’re planning to fight this tooth and nail, so when there is a meeting, we don’t know how to find out when the public hearing will be so we can get all the neighborhood associations involved, and there are several of them upset about this so they can voice their opinions. I am also sending in a letter to Mayor Bieter because I wanted him to have a heads-up that we’re trying to get this into his attention. I appreciate your attention.
Action Taken: contacted

5/17/07
Anonymous
ACHD: I was calling because I just saw on Channel 7 News that Boise’s air quality is at 105, which is like triple of what Los Angeles is. I was just curious whether anyone has thought about the fact that they’ve got every road in the west end of Boise torn up; I don’t know if anyone has driven on Five Mile lately, but the idling time on there is a long time. Now they’ve got Overland torn up as well. I just think that somebody really did a crappy job of organizing this road renovation, and something needs to be done. It is really bad. Thank you.
M/CC ACHD

Jennifer Whitewing
1450 W. Highland View Dr.
Boise, ID 83702
ACHD: It’s just such a lovely time of year in Boise; everything would be perfect in my life, except somebody stole my bicycle, but I think I can go to a used bicycle store and pick up another one. I wanted to comment that bicycles are really a good thing and they’re kind of what are going to save us. I was thinking it would be kind of neat to look at what San Francisco does regarding bicycles; I don’t know whether it’s a good thing, the way the citizens can take over the highways one day a month or some nutty thing. Maybe there could be like a Sunday when a certain street is turned into an all-bicycle street; it might be kind of inspiring. I work in a health care capacity….
ACHD
Action Taken: letter sent

5/16/07
Robert House
2435 Overview Pl.
Boise, ID
Air Quality: I’m calling about the air quality the last few days, especially today, and what’s going on, whether they’re doing a control burn or what. I think they need to check other days to burn because it’s very smoky in the valley today. Also, they continue to not have the smog control in Canyon County; the residents from there drive into Ada County, and also the air tends to blow from the northwest to the southeast, bringing that air to the Boise area. Anytime you’re up in the foothills, even on nice days, you can see the yellow-brown color hanging over the eastern and western part of the Boise valley. Anyway, I hope that things get better, because it’s very sad that you cannot see more than about 4 to 5 miles due to smoke. Thank you.
M/CC
Action Taken: contacted w/ air quality phone #.

5/11/07
Rita Fry
Sex Offenders: We would really like to visit with you a little bit about a situation in our neighborhood that we feel like we have no control over. We want to visit a little bit about finding out what direction we need to go in to have some of the laws changed locally so we can control what happens in our neighborhood. We need to have some laws changed about the sex offenders and the people who are placing them in these homes, and we just need to find out which way to go and what we might do to get these laws changed to protect our children. We are feeling very helpless right now; we have eight sex offenders living on our street and right across the street from a family of eight children. There are children all up and down our street and we cannot get any peace of mind; every body keeps passing us around. We need some real answers; we need to find out what to do to change all of this. If you could give me a call, we would really appreciate your time. Thank you.
M/CC Legal
Action Taken: left msj

5/11/07
Robin Johnson
N. Samson
Boise, ID 83704

Sex Offenders: I’m calling because I’m in support of creating an ordinance restricting where sex offenders can reside. I want a 1,000 ft. from schools, pre-schools, day cares, bus stops, parks, boys and girls clubs, after school programs, etc. I have one living, not next store, but right next to me. There’s two residing in the home, and there’s another one up above a block with eight in them, and I really don’t appreciate how they can congregate in one home when I think they should be separated. When my children and all of my neighbors have children, that they are right here, and we didn’t even know they were here. I think something should be done; they should be in a separate apartment or put them in a nursing home or an elder home where they don’t have the temptation of children. My children are kind of freaked out now and so are neighbors and I would really appreciate if we could put an ordinance in effect where they cannot be housing them right where our bus stops are and our children are. Thank you.
M/CC Legal
Action Taken: left msj

5/14/07
Jean Girvan
5651 Bull Run Lane
Boise, ID 83704
Misc: I was just wondering; a few years ago you used to have a Senior Fair in August outside the old court house and I wondered if you ever thought about starting it up again. I would be happy to hear from you.
Action Taken: contacted her

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