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City Government

Mayor Hotline December 22 to 31

 January 2, 2008 ⋅  Post a comment

12/27/07
A.J. Smith
1407 Jefferson
Boise
Police Academy: Good evening, this is a message for Mayor Bieter. My name is A.J. Smith of Boise, 1407 Jefferson. I am calling as a citizen, someone who voted for the mayor, someone who is very concerned over a Channel 7 news report regarding the police academy graduation using the term PTSD as a slogan on their graduating list. The slogan read, “Don’t suffer from PTSD, go out and cause it.” The story went on to say it’s got some concern from veterans. I’d like Mayor Bieter to please be advised that PTSD doesn’t just effect veterans. It’s what a woman goes through after she is raped, it is what the survivors and victims of the 911 terrorist attacks in New York City go through, it is what people who are severely traumatized go through. Now, I want to know as the mayor, are you advocating this or is this some rogue operation going on at the police department? Idaho is working still to clean its image up around the country from the white supremacist days of years ago. How can we have the Boise Police Department advocating that they are going to go out and induce psychological trauma into people? Very inappropriate, and as a citizen, and someone who respects Mayor Bieter and his staff, I would strongly urge and request that you reign the police department in and demand that they issue a public apology for this. At a minimum they should do that. Secondarily, I think education about what PTSD is, is highly appropriate for the police department who sees itself as a paramilitary outfit. Idaho does not need this and the citizens of Boise do not need this and I would hope we have more mature people instructing people with guns out there on the streets. Thanks Mayor Bieter. I appreciate it.
BPD

12/27/07
Peggy Bergquist
1315 N. 10th
Boise 02
Police Academy: I was very concerned when I saw on the news the article about the new graduating class, the police academy that is now put on by the city, a local academy for new police officers, and their slogan was to the effect that they were not going to suffer from PTSD, but were going to go out and cause it instead. As a citizen, that leaves me rather afraid to deal with the police department. I’m concerned about their attitude and the attitude being fostered by the academy. I would hope the mayor would address this and there should be some apology from whoever runs that school or the police chief or someone, to reassure the public that’s not really the attitude the police department is trying to foster in their new recruits. I would hope that somebody would handle this and we would hear some further news stories on it and retracting that slogan from the graduating class. Thank you
BPD

EDITOR NOTE—Boise PD had no officers at the academy which is a state academy for police officers. Boise runs its own academy at present. We do agree the slogan was in appropriate.

12/23/07
Merlyn Hodge
1301 N. Gawaine Pl.
Halfway House: I just finished listening to Mayor Bieter’s accomplishments for the year on Channel 7 and I didn’t hear one thing about what he had done or tried to do about our situation with Dennis Mansfield and his so-called safe houses. When we had the meeting with Mayor Bieter, I was quite impressed thinking that he was going to try and help us in this situation, but I understand now that maybe Dennis Mansfield has more connections and influence than Mayor Bieter, and we as people living next door to these so-called safe houses. The one behind me started out having eight young men, and it has now moved to twelve. As we said before, no way could I have eight or twelve non-related people in my home. As far as I’m concerned it’s over filled with people and the traffic situation is bad. Again I say I’m disappointed in that Mayor Bieter and his influence has not had any affect on this situation. Thank you.
PDS

12/26/07
William Miller
Miller St.
Boise, ID
ValleyRide: It’s no coincidence, my grandfather’s name was William Fred Miller; I was named after him and have lived in Boise almost all my life. I just recently saw an access bus, this is a bus now (Valley Ride) pull into a dental office. This is one of those huge buses that say Access on it. So there is a 45’ bus carrying one guy around Boise. Now they want a fee hike; I don’t believe they need it. I think they’re a bureaucratic mess and they need to be disbanded immediately. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a bus with one person or nobody on it. I don’t know how the City of Boise can justify having people drive around in circles, waste gas, waste energy, waste vehicles, have mechanics working, have everything going for the city, and it’s a no worth deal. I’ve ridden the bus a couple of times and it’s some of the worst service I’ve ever had. I’ve been to Salt Lake, Portland OR, Austin TX, Vancouver BC, and Boise has the absolute worst bus service going. You guys know it and you need to fire everybody in the bus service and buy smaller buses that will alleviate the problem. You need shuttle buses like the airport buses, not these big huge natural gas buses. That’s my comment. Dave Bieter is doing a wonderful job, stay in office. Thank you very much.
ValleyRide

12/27/07
Glenn Miles
1306 N. 26th
Boise 83702
Misc: A couple of years ago when the mayor hurt his back and was flat on his back. There was a Basque fella riding through the town and across the world and I asked if he wanted to go to the mayor’s office and he felt very reticent about that. He evidently had problems in Spain with mayors and people of authority so I got him to go talk to your brother. Somewhere along the line I’d like to know if he made it safely back to the Basque country again. I met him at the public library. Item #2: At 11:04 I’m seeing a mail truck going down my alley between Ellis and Lemp. That happened awhile back, about a year ago, in which a mail truck was peering over the wall at some Jehovah Witness kids. We are seeing mail trucks in places they don’t belong. There is construction at the other end of the alley. So why he thinks he can go through? In the Midwest if you will remember, people had bought former mail trucks then repainted them back to the mail covers then were using them as a gangster fixture. This is happening more and more in the north end we have to start having a heads up policy on that. Miles 713-4326 if you want to get back to me. We are having problems in the north end with drugs I sure hope its not just graffiti we’re paying attention to. I’d appreciate a note from the mayor in the mail. Thank you.

12/28/07
Nick Brizzi
12105 W. Bowmont St.
Boise, ID 83713
Sewer Project: My concern is the condition of Cloverdale Road between Ustick and Fairview after the completion of the city’s sewer project. The pavement is extremely poor in that the surface condition and smoothness is not even close to what was there prior to the sewer project. I wrote an email to “Tell us” at ACHD to ask what the county’s smoothness specifications were. This was about six weeks ago and I’ve never got a response. I’m requesting some information from the city or the Mayor’s hotline as to what exactly is an acceptable standard for the pavement on a city / county roadway such as Cloverdale between Ustick and Fairview. If you could provide me with that information, I would appreciate it very much. Thank you.
PW

12/28/07
Brent Marchbanks
1207 N. 14th St.
ADA Accessibility: I was just checking on wheelchair accessibility in a downtown business. The name isn’t particularly important, but it’s Superb Sushi in the lower level of the Idaho Building. Their elevator does not go down there; it’s not that it’s broken, it just does not go down there. There is no other access for a person who might have a mobility impairment. One of your council, Amanda Horton, told me that the city doesn’t have anything to do with enforcing ADA. She couldn’t explain to me why a permit was given for a significant remodel of that building since the ADA was passed. The city business licensing referred me to the State; the State Building Safety division referred me back to city government. It appears that there is no one responsible for enforcing basic accessibility standards either in the private sector or in the governmental functions, such as carried out by the city. I have yet to get hold of the business owner, but that leaves people such as me who are concerned about such things with limited options, including formal complaints through the Human Rights Commission and/or Federal Court. There ought to be some way of enforcing these standards as we go. Thanks for any potential attention given to this matter.
PDS

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