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City Government

Mayor Hotline June 23 to 29

 July 1, 2007 ⋅  Post a comment

NO WAY HALFWAY
GOOD COP BAD COP
ACHD ISSUES

6/22/07
Gaylon Hughes
1273 N. Astor Pl.
Boise, ID 83704
Half-Way House: I’m calling to voice my concern about the new halfway house or inmate detention center, or whatever you want to call it, that’s been placed with eight men living on my street now without any notification what-so-ever to me or my children. I believe this is an instance that is unsafe, and to me it’s also a commercial venture in which people are profiting in a residential district, and I don’t believe this is valid. If you would like to contact me, I would love to speak to you about it. Thank you.
M/CC PDS

6/22/07
Martha Boeckling
83704
Half-Way House: I will not give my address for public record since I do fear retaliation. I have been following the story about the Dennis Mansfield stuff that’s in the paper, about what he is trying to do in our neighborhoods, particularly on the west side of Boise, and I just wanted to voice my concern about this, that he has been able to do this. I think the Mayor needs to do something about this, and I think he needs to make his presence known. I just wanted to let you know that I am a voter and I will be considering that in November depending on what happens in this issue. Thank you.
M/CC PDS

6/23/07
Glenn Miles
1306 N. 26th
Boise, ID 83702
BPD: My lawyer and I together observed two white vans with expired license plates. One was parked in front of my place at 1306, and also parked in front of 1304 N. 26th with license plate # 2C73701, computer going full boar inside the van. The individual did not answer to anybody calling outside the van. He later came out of the home of 1304 N. 26th. The license plate expiration date was January of 2007. It was an Econoline Ford and for some strange reason we’re seeing more and more of this in the North End and there needs to be a clamp down. Oddly enough 26th was blocked off going to State St. and no one needed to be particularly parked there for any reason other than skull-duggery if they’re going to have a license plate expired in January. If the police force isn’t going to look into the number of vans going through the North End with expired license plates, it makes you wonder from a neighborhood watch standpoint, why neighborhood watch no longer is a phone number in usage, and what recourse does the public have to make sure that some of this stuff is clamped down for a targeted type of crime. Thank you so very much, Miles out.
M/CC BPD

6/23/07
Glenn Miles
BPD: I would urge you not to sign the union contract. Former Police Chief Church had a really great idea that if we cannot re-assign the policemen within the city, there’s no effective control or discipline. Certain areas of the town in the North End are not enforcing the decal code, for instance IA MJI56 has an over-expired decal on the back and one of the indications on N. 26th St. is that there’s an over-occupancy of this house. Sometimes this ford is parked in front across the street, as now, and sometimes in back. The police tend to be looking the other way, and the only way that something like that can be effectively changed is if the Chief of Police can re-assign the policemen and exercise meaningful discipline. There are other reasons that I have for this, but by cracky, I would argue that either we need to move to the Ada County / Boise City police and get rid of the union contract for disciplinary reasons, or we need to figure out some way of making effective change. Thank you.
M/CC BPD

6/24/07
Anonymous
Police Contract: I wanted to leave a message regarding the lack of a police contract for the Boise City Policemen that’s been going on now for several years. I wanted to comment that my husband has been on the force for quite a while, but I was shocked the first three years that we were here in Boise and my husband was a member of the police department. His salary put us under the poverty level, and my kids at the elementary school qualified for poverty level for reduced lunches for my children. It was embarrassing; here my husband was a Boise City policeman and we were making below what is considered in Idaho as poverty wages. What Bieter is doing by not having a contract, especially for the young officers on the force, is a crime. He will not be getting my vote this election. Thank you very much.
M/CC BPD

6/24/07
Mika Holloway
Police Contract: Mayor Bieter and City Council, say you’ll get used to my name because if there’s an issue in our city that needs to be looked at, I’m an educated advocate, X-Marine. I’m involved in veteran’s affairs, city affairs, county affairs, and now I’m calling you about this march on City Hall with the Boise PD. You’ve got plenty of money for the Olympics that are coming and the Harris Ranch development. You’re going to hire 130 more; do you think a 130 more police officers are going to come into your city and work for you if you won’t pay them properly? What the heck. I’m a former dispatcher too from the state of California and we didn’t treat our police officers that way. They didn’t ever, ever have to march on city hall for a pay raise. There was a 10%, if not a 15% pay raise, not the lousy pay raise that you’re proposing. Give them some money; that and teachers too. Teachers and police officers are the best citizens we can have in our communities. All of you should understand that. Hello Sly, if you don’t know who Mick Sly is, ask your child’s neighbors, they know. Well, get it right you guys and quite fooling around with these police officers who are saving your life, and your children, and your grandchildren from harms way. Good bye.
M/CC BPD

6/24/07
Anonymous
Police Contract: Regarding the police – screw ‘em. They make up to $49,000 after five years of work. What’s the medium income in Idaho for a job that doesn’t require a college degree? Screw ‘em!
M/CC BPD
6/25/07
Anonymous
Police Contract: I do not want to give my name because of possible intimidation by the Boise Police. I’m really upset about what is happening. I just found out that the Boise Police earn more money than any other city employee. These people are the ones who are supposed to be upholding the law and yet they have resorted to intimidating the populous instead of doing what they’re supposed to be doing. I might add again, paid handsomely to do, which is to uphold the law. Because they carry guns, they feel like they have the power to put fear in the hearts of Boise citizens. Something must be done to put a stop to their aggression. What is this anyhow, a third world city? Thank you.
M/CC BPD

6/25/07
Marita Drucker
Ellens Ferry 83703
ACHD: I’m concerned that I cannot turn left onto State St. from Ellens Ferry on my bike. I carry my two four-year olds behind me on a bike tandem burley setup. I have my 7 year old beside me on her bike. We have to use the regular left-hand turn lane to get across because there’s no sidewalk; it’s a gravelly, rocky, broken glass, goat head infested slope; it’s not even appropriate for pedestrians. If there’s no traffic turning onto State St. from Ellens Ferry, I have to leave my kids in the left-hand turn lane, go across and punch the cross-walk signal to get across, because the light will only turn for one or two seconds. I know the Mayor is a very busy person, and I’m sure he gets an endless stream of complaints all the time, and I have called several other people about this, including ACHD light timing coordinator; Christian Lingstrom, the bike road coordinator for ACHD; and I’m going to continue calling a couple more people, so this isn’t just a single call. I do want to call anyone I can because this is a situation that is inappropriate. The light needs to stay long enough before it turns to allow bicycles to get across by 5 or 6 seconds; we’re a very slow moving setup, so we need 5 or 6 seconds to get across; the light will only turn for 1 or 2 seconds. This might be a simple issue; it might be a big issue, I don’t know. This is another thing, since I’m on the phone with you. My husband travels from 4th and Bannock to Ellens Ferry every single day because he works down there. The bike lane on State St. we all know is atrocious to begin with; it’s inadequately large, it’s so small and it’s terrible. I would never take my children on it even though it’s a bike lane. There’s debris, debris, debris; dead cats, boards, hub caps, all the debris from the road. It seems like it’s getting swept into the bike lane, but I think it’s just happening haphazardly and no one is paying attention. My husband traverses this six nights a week and here we wanted to have Boise as a bike friendly community; we’re not. We are native Boiseans who have ridden our bikes here our whole life and we laugh at that. The only bike friendly part of this city is down here in the main part of the city, and this part of the city is not even that bike friendly. I want to travel with my children; I want to be an example for my neighbors and the community that you can get around; get to the library, the post office, the grocery store, all off of the Greenbelt with our bikes. But here, to get onto the Greenbelt, we have to go through this intersection. I shouldn’t have to leave my young children in the left-hand turn lane to walk across and punch the button for the light to change. There should be a sidewalk there, that’s what it needs. But to cure the problem for now would be if the signal turned long enough to let my children and I on our bikes get across to the sidewalk. Then of course, the sidewalk is littered with goat heads on both sides for the first stretch of the way. I’m just thankful that I live in an area where we have a little chunk of sidewalk to get to the Greenbelt and we don’t have to go all the way around through the communities and up 36th and across the 36th section to get to the Greenbelt. I know that in other countries it is not like this; even in other cities in America they have very appropriate, safe setups for bikes. They’re very thoughtful of their cyclists. I know Mr. Bieter is a wonderful, wonderful Mayor who I adore and everyone I know adores him. I just wanted to let you guys know that as a person who uses bikes a lot in this community, these are the issues that my husband and I are facing. Thank you for your time.
M/CC ACHD

6/25/07
Barbara Martin-Sparrow
Budget: Thank you for this service. Because I’m taking care of my mother in a hospice situation, my mailing address is 6945 Holiday Dr., Boise, ID 83709. It’s best to call me in the p.m. This message is about the budget meetings this week, and today is Monday. I want to encourage the Council to budget for a Senior Citizen Center West. The present center serves the north and east; the graying population is now in the west and southwest, many of whom are long-times residents and taxpayers. The Boise School District is presently closing or changing 16 schools because of the graying of our population in the west, yet no west center is available despite needs for a respite daycare and senior program such as arts therapy. My suggestion is to examine trading land with the School District for one of those schools. I will try to email a letter today with the solutions and possible ideas for this need. Thank you very much for your consideration.
M/CC
Action Taken: contacted her w/ public hearing date

6/25/07
Marita Drucker
ACHD: I called this hotline earlier and voiced my concern about bicycles and some issues with the roads. I wanted to give you a follow-up call because I did call and leave a long message that I have spoken with a woman called Christian Lungstrom, the ACHD Pedestrian Bicycle Coordinator. She has informed me about the bicycle group meetings that they have the first Monday of every month and that there’s a big project underway with a group from Portland to redo the bike systems down here in the city. We spoke for a long time and got a work order put in with ACHD that we had verified by Christian Lungstrom, to sweep the bike lanes from downtown to out here in this area. Evidently the chip seal sweepers haven’t been available to do this. As far as the light is concerned, I also complained that I can’t turn left onto State St. with my children when there’s no car in the lane to trigger the light, and there’s no sidewalk. As far as that issue, I spoke with the light coordinator, Mike. Hopefully we can get that taken care of too. I should have probably waited until I had spoken with all these people, but I was just trying to touch base with anybody who might have cared. Thank you for your time.
M/CC

6/25/07
Anonymous
Depot Flag: I’m at the Platt Gardens at the Depot and I’m noticing that the flag is tattered in a manner that would offend many right-thinking Americans, and I suggest that you get it replaced, certainly before the Mayor faces re-election. You do not need to know my name to contact me, I WILL BE WATCHING. Thank you.
M/CC BPR

6/26/07
Glenn Miles
1306 N. 26th
Boise, ID 83702
BPD: This item should be put under the subject of drugs. We live in a triangle affect of Heron, 26th St., Ellis. That little triangle at times is a source of drugs. The record will show that there is an apartment house building that oft times has been selling drugs. We’ve observed in the recent last three days, a van, Econoline Ford, with a computer running in the back of the van. There is nobody in the van; it has an expired license plate of January 07. I don’t know whether it’s a stolen plate or what have you, but when I was riding around the North End with my lawyer, I discovered that there was another white van with an expired license plate, and in the course of neighborhood watching in my area, when someone was putting up shingles on a house, and the workers had a break, somebody asked me if I wanted to buy drugs in the same area I’m talking about. So I think the drug questions is real; it’s in the neighborhood of Lowell and St. Mary’s schools, and I think when it gets down to the grade school level, it’s pretty bad. I think this is a potential election issue, and I wish that the police force would stop looking the other way because it sure looks as if that’s exactly what they’re doing, and it’s really sad. Thank you so much.
M/CC BPD

6/27/07
Addie Haus
1285 N. Astor Pl.
Half-Way House: Good morning Jerry. Thanks for coming to the meeting. I am still concerned that a certain amount of the population has more rights than taxpayers and law abiding citizens. Moving into our neighborhood has been very upsetting and disturbing. I’m not stopping, I’ve got a list of phone numbers to start in, so I’ll let you go for now, but I’ll call you tomorrow.
M/CC PDS

6/27/07
Ann Giles
1351 N. Astor Pl.
Half-Way House: I’m calling regarding the halfway house that was just opened in my neighborhood. I just wanted to lend my voice to say that we are not in support of these homes being opened around Boise, and would appreciate any kind of follow-up that the Mayor’s office could give. Thank you.
M/CC PDS

6/27/07
Monte Gamble
1274 N. Astor Pl.
Boise, ID 83704
Half Way House: I’m calling in response to these group homes that are popping up now in Boise. It’s a concern; I have one in my neighborhood. It’s unfair to have neighbors subjected to that without any knowledge or understanding with no way to protect themselves.
M/CC

6/27/07
Floyd Loomis
5203 W. Silver Lake Ln.
Boise, ID
Lake Harbor Noise: My call is regarding Lake Harbor, otherwise known as Silver Lake. There is a Lake Harbor retail operation on the north end of Lake Harbor. A number of homeowners here have been discussing in recent weeks the increase of noise coming from the retail center in the form of concert activity on weekends, particularly on Friday nights. We would like to know whether or not the city has authorized some sort of permit to allow concerts at this retail center. The concerts have actually been taking place within a few of at least one of our homeowners here in this area. He can’t even go out on his back porch on Friday nights because there’s a music concert going on just across the grass from him. I represent the East Lake Homeowners Association and I have been in discussions with some other homeowners associations on the lake who are concerned about this recent development. Most of us are working families and we don’t have a lot of time during the day to investigate these things, so I thought I would inquire directly to the Mayor’s office to see if there has been a permit issued to the owners of the Lake Harbor waterfront retail operation to permit this kind of thing. If so, it appears that the city has agreed with a private business operation to circumvent certain noise ordinances which are on the books in Boise. Our primary concern is that the noise ordinances be enforced and that primarily involves public address systems in areas where people live. If somebody could get back to me, I would certainly appreciate it. Thank you.
M/CC BPD
Action Taken: contacted

6/27/07
Jennifer Grimes
1321 N. Gawaine Pl.
Boise, ID
North Hampton Subdivision
Half-Way House: I called last week to express my concern regarding the Dennis Mansfield home that’s been placed in our little subdivision. I just wanted to call to follow up to see what plans there were internally to review this. We are very concerned; we had another neighborhood meeting last night and we’re looking at all of our options. It is my understanding that at the city and state’s hands are somewhat tied, however I do know that if you’re going to address a federal situation, it’s always better to have your city and state representatives behind you. We are looking for your support, understanding, and compassion in this issue and ask that you please review it. Dennis Mansfield has moved into a facility in our neighborhood, with eight adult men who are convicted felons. I’m not sure of the specifics, which is one of the issues we have in the neighborhood. This has all been so secretive. We all know each other pretty well, we know what to expect, we would like to know what to expect specifically in regards to this. We don’t know what the rules and regulations are with the home; we don’t know what type of individuals are being placed in the home; it was very secretively done, they kind of snuck them in there and asked us to just live with it. This is a man who is running a business making good money off of it. I hate to believe that a for-profit company is impeding the lives of 47 homes in this little area. It’s frustrating and we’re all very concerned. This is affecting all of us; it’s a nuisance; it’s causing a burden on every single person in the neighborhood and we would love and appreciate your help in addressing this matter.
M/CC PDS

6/28/07
Larry Kelly
Caldwell
Budget: I’m not going to give my address or anything like that; if you want to get hold of me, look it up in the phone book. I want to find out what the Mayor is thinking wasting all that money on the whitewater thing, then moving the police way out where they can’t get out during the heavy times and everything else like that. Why is he wasting all the taxpayer’s money? I haven’t seen him do anything right yet; when is he going to straighten up and do something right in this city?
M/CC

6/28/07
Julie Houk
3167 E. Bonview Dr.
Boise, ID 83712
Ada County Parks Greenbelt: I am calling regarding one of Boise’s greatest amenities and that is the Greenbelt. I would like to voice my concerns and complaints regarding the Greenbelt. It is a great attraction and helps draw people here. It is very well used and unfortunately it is not maintained in accordance with its use. Specifically, I would like to let you know that my husband crashed on his bike two weeks ago, on the 13th of June, on the bridge going over the Boise River at Barber Park. He hit a concrete post that is not so conveniently placed in the middle of the path, with a sign saying “No Motorized Vehicles”. I’m wondering if that’s really necessary; I’m not quite sure how motorized vehicles, except dirt bikes, or small motorcycles, but it seems more of a hazard than an aid. Also the condition of the path in general is deplorable. There are bumps, holes, ruts, there are sections where the path is just caving in and is falling away. There are sections that are incredibly hazardous to young riders, there are tremendous drop-offs and there are other areas where these posts are placed in the middle of the path. My family uses the path a lot, so we’re pretty familiar with the path from Warm Springs Golf Course to Lucky Peak Dam. The other really treacherous part is as you enter Discovery Park. There’s a huge railroad tie that is vertical in the middle of the path. One-half of the path is a big hump where I suppose maybe tree roots are growing or something. It is a very dangerous area, particularly if there are people going both directions at the same time. At Diversion Dam, right where there is an information sign, there is what is left of a big huge metal link of a chain and I just want to let you know that we are very unhappy with the condition of the path and my husband broke his collar bone, had multiple contusions and abrasions, and he’s a very experienced rider, a very experienced endurance athlete, and the position and placement of that post that he clipped with his handle bars is ridiculous. Fortunately he is healing, but it’s not how he wanted to start his summer off. I just wanted to let you know if the path is not maintained and hazards removed, the city will probably be looking at some law suits. If you would like to call us, that’s fine. Hopefully we will see some action on the path. Maybe Boise should look to the Sun Valley / Ketchum area for some advice because their path is completely smooth and free of obstacles and hazards. On your website, you list safety and hazards, and you warn people about personal safety on the path, but what you should be warning people of is the holes, the ruts, the bumps, and the obstacles in the middle of the path. We look forward to action on this. Thank you.
Ada County Parks & Waterway
Action Taken: contacted

6/29/07
Melissa Goff
1254 N. Astor Pl.
Boise, ID 83704
Half-Way House: I’m calling as a concerned neighbor of the new half-way house, or whatever you want to call it, of Dennis Mansfield. I live two houses down from it and I believe in a system for these guys, but not at our expense. Being put into our neighborhood without our knowledge is deceitful and disregards our rights as citizens of Boise. There’s a huge question of why they have more rights than the rest of us. Why can’t we know their names and what crimes they have committed; it’s a huge secret and I believe that’s putting more fear into us in the neighborhood and the community. Please note that I am not against helping these guys; I’m just against the way and the location it was done. My husband and I not longer want to raise a family here because of the situation, yet we are stuck here. Our property value has decreased immensely. We want to be able to get out of the house without loosing money because we are two houses down from eight grown men and one has a felony. I believe that this definitely needs to be a huge concern to our city since at least 30 houses like this will be going up like this soon. I ask you to please listen to the people who helped put you into office. You need to stop this and change it before it gets too big. I believe this is a huge responsibility of the people in power of this city and I think they need to step up. Thank you for your time and feel free to contact me. Thank you.
M/CC PDS

6/29/07
Jill
6/29/07
Toni Breese
8050 Crestwood Dr.
Boise, ID 83704
Fireworks: My comment is that I continue to be outraged that fireworks are sold to the public in Idaho. With temperatures soaring to 100 degrees, I believe that we are endangering our fire fighters’ lives and potentially overwhelming their capabilities. Anybody who thinks that the 4th of July is fun should visit the burn unit and take a look at those who have been burned or disfigured by fireworks. I believe the time has come for our firework policy to change and for the citizens of Idaho to have the potential to vote on this. Thank you very much.
M/CC BFD

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