Archive for June, 2007
Boise To Sell Surplus Holdings
FINALLY! Boise City looks to be getting out of the real estate speculation business. After three days of endless presentations and debate, the City Council has decided as part of the 2008-09 budget process to sell what they hope will be $11 million worth of “surplus land.” Auction sales will include a couple hundred acres […]
Pollution Solution: Bottle And Sell It
The guys at the Federal Environmental Protection Agency need to take a positive view of the 1,200 pounds of phosphorus (an element in most fertilizers) being dumped into the Portneuf River at Pocatello each day. Instead of viewing it as “pollution” they need to start bottling the stuff and selling it as MIRICAL-GROW liquid fertilizer. […]
Ag Exemption Is Dirty Secret
Psst! Wanna save a bundle on property taxes? Just get yourself an agricultural exemption. Developers do it all the time and farmers love it because they can go for years with minimal crops or grazing and then cash in for megabucks by selling to developers who grow houses. The Ada Assessor has recently jerked agriculture […]
Gentlemen, Start Your Engines
Following two Daily Paper Sunday reports noting that he was a nice guy, but had offered no substance, Boise City Councilor and mayoral candidate Jim Tibbs revved his engine Monday at incumbent Dave Bieter on the topic of working with ACHD. Tibbs issued a press release applauding an Ada County Highway District-funded Study which said […]
Boise City Campaign Issues
The single most important role of any city council is the budget process. Boise City is about to embark on the process of deciding how to spend more than $157,000,000 of our tax money. The department heads will parade through with power point presentations full of charts and graphs explaining why their requests should be […]
Mayor Hotline June 16 to 22
WATER PARK SHOULD GO DOWN THE DRAIN GOOD COP BAD COP NOISE MAKES NOT A LIVABLE CITY OPEN THE DEPOT AND FIX THE CLOCK NO WAY FOR HALF WAY HOUSE SCARY STORY SAD STORY. Lots of long winded calls from people unhappy with city hall, so be sure to “continue” at the bottom of the […]
Property Tax Woes Explained
GUARDIAN reader Tom Lopez sent us a rather articulate letter he had sent to Guv Butch eloquently detailing what is quickly becoming a TAX CRISES here in Idaho. Your comments are welcome. Since the letter is long, please click on the bottom CONTINUE button to see the entire version. Tom asks readers to write their […]
City Budget News
Boise City Councilors will hear Team Dave and department heads present shopping lists for three days next week. We are concerned about plans to spend more than $113,300 to refurbish the “railroad to nowhere.” The city acquired 18 miles of track that runs roughly from Gowen Field to a lonely junction in the desert. The […]
Highway Money Goes To Consultants
–Ada County Highway District paid $115,000 for a consultation by the Urban Land Institute to tell them what they wanted to hear. Namely that 6 cities within the county have to stick to their comprehensive master plans and ACHD should work with them. In short, everyone should play nice. The GUARDIAN would have told them […]
Your Ride Tells All, Even With Bikes
After a recent movie at the Flicks Theater a friend remarked as we came outside, “Look at all the Northender Bikes.” We never thought of bicycles as having a demographic origin, but sure enough–most of the bikes looked perfectly at home in the North End. You all know what we are talking about. Those fat […]
Development Tide May Be On Ebb
The young man sitting next to me on the flight to Boise grew excited when I told him I have lived in the same home for nearly 36 years. “Wow! You gotta be happy about property values going up over that amount of time,” said the newcomer from San Jose. He had attended university and […]
GUARDIAN Saves Taxpayers $49,000
After the GUARDIAN questioned the propriety of Agricultural tax exemptions on land at the corner of Linder and Chinden in a posting by “Taxpayer Murphy,” Ada County Assessor Bob McQuade made adjustments to the tax status of the land. The changes came after appraisers looked at the land and the use. McQuade said his office […]
Where Has All The Money Gone?
THIS PLEA COMES FROM A YOUNG BOISE BANKER I think you should post an article on how the generation that currently runs the state (30+ years old) has all but wiped out any chance for the younger generations to live in Idaho. Housing is ridiculously expensive, and is continuing to rise rapidly. Most new construction […]
Guardian Goes Green, Supports U.S. Mail
The recent hike in postal rates to 41 cents prompted the GUARDIAN to recycle a “green idea” while supporting the U.S. Post Office at no cost to you and me. Not bad when you can help the environment and the economy at the same time for free. Here is how it works: Every day we […]
New Building Is Good Cop, Bad Cop
After years of bungled attempts at giving Boise’s finest a new cop shop, it looks like the first positive steps have been taken. Top Cop Mike Masterson wants to split the department into thirds and notes about 55% of the population lives in what will be the new “West Division.” That division and a headquarters […]
Mayor Hotline June 2 to 8
FIREMEN JUST DUCKY, SETTLE WITH COP UNION, PROPERTY TAX SHOCK, NUKES, BOOM BOXES 6/2/07 Rebecca Rene Resident of Boise BFD: I work at Treasure Valley Hospital and we had a duck running around here with ducklings most of the day, then the ducklings disappeared. When I got off shift, we went out and found them […]
Be Careful With Growth Process
Guest Opinion by Timothy Kempf, PhD Growth and economic development are inextricably linked to a variety of environmental and public health problems. Here in the Treasure Valley we have experienced significant growth in the past decade as evidenced by population, new businesses, jobs, incomes and housing. We have also experienced an increase in the number […]
Competing With L.A. For Smog
Boise is quickly qualifying for another of those “Top Ten” lists, but this time it will be for “worst air quality of business friendly cities in America.” GUARDIAN reader Eagle Eye sent us this photo made last Saturday.
Ag Exemption Right or Wrong?
By: Taxpayer Murphy For all the taxpayers who are unhappy with their recent assessment increase, there should be an even greater cause of concern. Any property which is under assessed or is receiving some form of an exemption not entitled by law is being subsidized by all other taxpayers, by reduced taxes. Properties which are […]
Boise Promotes Urban Sprawl Movement
We have been out of town and busy at the day job, so please accept apologies for lack of new posts. The GUARDIAN has suffered a severe bout of “growthophobia” as the Boise Fire Department has made public its plans for 7 new stations–all aimed at accommodating GROWTH. They include Gowen Road near the Outlet […]
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