Here’s the answer. Not in a very very long time if ever.

Why do you think ACHD got terrible ratings from the ULI on public participation? (notwithstanding their spokesmouth’s propaganda which turns day to night and up to down.

Specifically, it was the cost for something that wasn’t there when we bought the property; nor did we want it.

Additionally, since the road had already been widened, any additional width would have eliminated large trees in front of many homes along about a mile-and-a-half of street. (And, yes, I do feel the same way about cutting down trees to widen roads or make life easier for the electric company. I miss the trees everytime I drive between 28th and 16th streets on State, among other denuded roads in Boise. My horses miss the trees that used to shade one end of their pasture but that Idaho Power cut down last year — also on State.)

We did, by the way, move to the country when we bought our sidewalkless property; the city though came out and grabbed us.

You said you’d prefer a walking and bike path as part of the street (presumably to be shared space with autos). I can’t imagine that a neighborhood too primitive for sidewalks would have a marked pathway in the street. As for trees, sidewalks can often be routed around them. I’d rather see kids be able to walk to school, even if it means a few less trees. Trees are cut and chopped all the time for roads and power lined but suddenly they are objects of worship when sidewalks are proposed.

What frightened you so much about sidewalks? I recall taking a petition door-to-door in my neighborhood for sidewalks. I was astounded at the people who didn’t want them. I could never get them to articulate an actual reason. Some just had a vague dislike about the idea of people walking in front of their home, others were afraid their property values would go up, other said they didn’t care if kids had to walk in the street.

It’s called a Mobocracy – the rule of the mob. In this case the “mob” believes it is entitled to walk away from sidewalk repair costs – what happened to high school civics classes (maybe they don’t have those in Boise).

Personally, I like sidewalks – even after I had to pay for the one in front of my house to be repaired. In this case “sidewalks” are a synecdoche for “civility”. Sidewalks, how they are constructed and cared for, are a fairly accurate gauge of the overall civic health of a community. Those who don’t want them, or refuse to repair them, or refuse to shovel them, are social introverts – better left to live in the wilds, not a city. And the same can be said of a city & its citizens that refuse to maintain landscaped boulevards – is it really a city, or just a backwater frontier town.

Now we can choose to raise our taxes to cover these construction, maintenance, cleaning, and indemnity costs (funds for which, we are not currently assessing ourselves). It just seems more responsible to take care of the portion that fronts your own property and assume the liability for that same portion.

BTW, when I broke my ankle after I tripped over a broken sidewalk in front of a neighbor’s house I didn’t sue (because it was my neighbor) – nor did I rat them out to the highway district for having a “hazardous” sidewalk. They took the money they saved and repaired the sidewalk. I doubt that if we had some type of centralized liability tax assessment we would see the same level of cordiality – we would sue the highway district every chance we got.

Which, of course would be the same as sueing ourselves.

The hearings are often instructive. The Curtis Road extension/widening was a good example of “PITBYS,” a variation of NIMBY that stands for “Put It in Their Back Yard.” These are neighbors who will testify in favor of widening the street in front of someone else’s home so they can get to work or shopping a little faster. You know darn well they’d go berserk if someone proposed widening the street in front of the PITBY’s home, however.

Institutions like the ACHD reflect the common values of the majority. As long as people place cars above children, pedestrians and bicyclists, cars will always come first in process and funding.

Worse than the repairs: If someone slips on an icy sidewalk in the winter and gets injured, that someone can sue YOU, the homeowner, even though, nope, it’s still not YOUR sidewalk.
And if the snow piles up on it, you are required by law (so they say, anyway) to shovel it off.
Something’s really rotten in any system that can require a citizen to care for, clean and repair something he or she does not own and has no control over (You might try putting up “No trespassing” signs on it, or deciding which people you would allow to use it, just as you can decide which people to allow into your house or to have a picnic in you yard. Heh! I’ll bet the powers that be would raise all kinds of hell with you. You have no rights — just financial responsibilities.)

Can someone please explain how that works, how it can be constitutional, and wherein lies any for of logic?

“We’re widening this road because our public process has concluded the extra capacity is a public necessity”

What public process do you think ACHD engages in?

Here’s a hint. There isn’t any.

Realy, the ACHD’s whole approach to sidewalks is wrong – sidewalks are at the bottom of the totem pole. To get them installed, you need like 90 percent of the homeowners agree to donate their property for a sidewalk. If a few object, they can hold it up for everyone. The ACHD says that’s to make sure they’re not forcing sidewalks on anyone and only the neighborhoods that really need and want them, get them.

Oddly, when the ACHD wants to widen the road in front of your house, they don’t go door-to-door with a petition saying, “We’d really like you to donate your front yard for a new lane of traffic. Will you kindly sign this petition because we don’t want to force this road expansion on anybody?” HA! They say “We’re widening this road because our public process has concluded the extra capacity is a public necessity. And we’re going to forcibly buy the land from you and so can’t hold it up.”

If only the ACHD gave sidewalks that kind of respect, funding and authority.

Much as I hate finding things that the government really ought to pay for, in this case, unless the property owner has actually CAUSED the problem with the sidewalk adjacent to his/her property, ACHD should pay for 100 percent of the repairs.

To add insult to injury in the ACHD sidewalk saga, the entity has no sidewalk inspection program, so enforcement is haphazard, at best. In other words, if you tell on your neighbor, ACHD will come out, inspect, and enforce their sidewalk repair ordinance if it is warranted. They then have very particular rules about how many houses to either side of the one in question (I seem to recall it was exactly one each way) in front of which they will also inspect the sidewalk. So, if you are at least TWO houses away, you are okay, even if they have a sidewalk inspector there looking.

Is anyone catching on, yet, as to how very absurd this sidewalk ordinance and enforcement program are?

And, while we’re on the subject of ACHD, has anyone tried to circumnavigate the “Southwest Community” lately? Lake Hazel Road is closed, they are chip-sealing Amity and Victory, and there is major roadwork going on, on Overland. Those are only the east-west roads. Of course, if you would rather travel north-south on the west side of Boise, then look out for over-crowded Eagle, which has periodic lane restrictions for roadwork (this is more likely ITD”s fault, though, but the two agencies could certainly try to coordinate better.) Also, avoid Cloverdale, since the overpass is being repaired, and watch out for Maple Grove, since there is still work being done between Franklin and Fairview. Five Mile Road is still open, but then EVERYBODY and their uncle is on Five Mile, since it’s the only major north-south arterial that goes through right now (and that’s only if there aren’t any more traffic accidents that shut it down in both directions over the interstate, as happened about a week ago.)

So, the bottom line is: does anybody wonder why we are frustrated with ACHD?

To the ACHD commissioners: it’s time to start coordinating roadwork so that you leave at least every other major arterial open at any given time; and, how about fixing that logically (and likely legally) flawed sidewalk ordinance?!