Archive for February, 2009
G-BAD Boy Gets 25% Bonus Despite Downturn
It sounds like one of those reports from the Wall Street gang or a banking CEO, but this story is about a local government official. The GUARDIAN was presented with documents today showing the general manager of the Greater Boise Auditorium District (G-BAD) got a 25% bonus on top of his $103,000 annual salary for […]
More BPD Tickets Likely In Future
More than a third of the anticipated Boise City budget deficit will hit the coppers according to an internal memo being circulated at the cop shop, saying they need to come up with a plan to save $1.2 million. While the document is clearly a “work in progress,” one of the items bound to raise […]
Mayor Hotline January 31 – February 6
2/6/09 JoAnn Kachigian 376-1772 Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial: I’m just calling to see what it would take to put a sign up there on Capitol Blvd. to show all of these visitors who are here for the Special Olympics, that we have the Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial. I have been calling the Mayor’s […]
ACHD TO Allow Public Comment Thursday
After the GUARDIAN contacted the Ada County Highway District in an attempt to secure “equal time” for the public at a Thursday 11:30 a.m. meeting, ACHD Commish Carol McKee said she would allow citizens to speak, even though the joint meeting with the Boise City Council is not an official public hearing. There are actually […]
Big Bens Burn For Vietnam New Year
ANOTHER SPECIAL POST FROM THE GUARDIAN’S RECENT EXPEDITION TO VIETNAM There are many traditions practiced by the Vietnamese at Tet, the lunar new year, but none catches the eye of the American tourists more than the act of burning thousands of U.S. $100 bills with the familiar face of Ben Franklin turning to ash. Instead […]
Businesses Could Be Forced To Pay For Trolley
Struggling downtown Boise businesses could get whacked with a big tax bill for a trolley to nowhere if a funding scheme is created to go around the will of the voters. Rather than put the funding straight forward to a vote of the citizens, they are exploring the creation of a LID–“local improvement district.” LIDs […]
Bungling Bureaucrats Botch Boise Buses
In a refreshing bit of local journalism, Cynthia Sewell of the Daily Paper detailed a pattern of BUNGLING BUREAUCRATS either unwilling or unable to put together a plan to spend federal funds for a downtown transit center. The fed money was earmarked for Boise in 2005, but Boise City, the Urban Renewal Agency (CCDC), Ada […]
Streetcar Desire At CCDC Prompts Notice
A short little legal notice in the Daily Paper Friday includes an invitation to engineering firms to submit a “Statement of Qualifications for conceptual design consultant services” for a downtown streetcar project. No budget is mentioned for the six month contract, but it looks like local officials are forging ahead with their “street car named […]
CCDC Short On Funds For Courthouse Debt
The new blog by Ada Commish Sharon Ullman yielded a little gem about the Capitol City Development Corp and the controversial funding scheme for the courthouse. According to Ullman’s POST, CCDC officials met with the three Commishes looking for some bucks to make bond payments on the Courthouse which just happens to be owned by […]
Boise Coppers To Cut Code 3 Responses
If it seems like you can’t walk outside without hearing an emergency siren wailing, you are probably correct. Boise coppers made more than 10,000 high speed responses in the past three years, but an estimated 38% of those adrenaline charged car races will be eliminated when a new set of rules go into effect by […]
No Surprise, Woods Gets City Job
After being defeated by Sharon Ullman and losing his Ada Commish seat, Paul Woods landed a job at Boise’s Public Works Dept. as a division chief–to the surprise of no one. By all reports, Woods is a great guy and highly qualified for the job which had a new description drafted just prior to the […]
Idaho Power, PUC Join Growthophobes?
In what can only be termed a good move toward the common sense line of thought espoused by GROWTHOPHOBES, Idaho Power and the Public Utilities Commission are aiming to have growth “pay for itself” with a modification of rules and increases to developers. Surprise to no one, Building and Contractors Association of Southwestern Idaho, the […]
Arabs, Jews Have Message For Team Dave
When the Wall Street Journal ran a story over the weekend reporting that both Arabs and Jews in Jerusalem were united in their opposition to a light rail tram in that mideast city, we were instantly notified by a local reader. The JOURNAL STORY says both sides call the project a “dumb idea.” Sounds like […]
Warning Lost In Translation
THIS POST IS PART OF A SERIES OF REPORTS TO COME FROM A RECENT GUARDIAN EXPEDITION TO VIETNAM. At the top of the high pass north of Da Nang, Vietnam on Highway 1 we encountered a highway sign that looked like it belonged on some wintery Ada County highways. We did a double take and […]
Guardian Upbeat Views From Vietnam
THIS POST WILL BE THE BEGINNING OF A SERIES REFLECTING ON A JANUARY TRIP TO VIETNAM BY GUARDIAN EDITOR DAVID R. FRAZIER. TIME HAS A WAY OF PUTTING EVENTS INTO PERSPECTIVE. Four decades have passed since the GUARDIAN sat in Saigon in 1967 watching the tracer rounds, rockets, and flares pass overhead while listening to […]
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