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City Government

Mayor Hotline Aug. 28 to Sept 4

 September 10, 2009 ⋅  Post a comment

SORRY ABOUT THE FORMATTING, WORKING FROM A STRANGE SITE IN PARIS FOR THE DAY JOB.

8/30/09
Pete Peterson
6212 W. Lucky Ln.
Boise, ID 83703
853-0932
BPD: The reason for my call is I had a very bad experience with a bicycle policeman today at Curb Cup about 3:45 p.m. Two bicycle policemen arrived, Officer Louis Gutierrez and the other one whose name I don’t remember off hand but I will be finding it out; anyway Officer Gutierrez
remained on his bicycle and the other officer told me the sign that I had was inappropriate for family setting and told me not to show it any more. I didn’t actually agree but I did lay it face down and complied with his order. At that point he picked it up and tore it into little pieces in
front of me, which really pissed me off. To have anyone ruin my personal property is inappropriate and I’m not going to let this go. I am a gubernatorial candidate running against Butch Otter and I’m not going to let the Boise Police Department be his hired thugs. Thank you.
BPD

EDITOR NOTE FROM BOISE PD CHIEF: “We, BPD, completed an RRC (complaint investigation) and re-made the poster for Mr.
Peterson at his request. We met with him and apologized. He was quite satisfied with the resolution. The resolution was also a public apology.”

8/4
Dan Conley
3177 Bryson Ave.
Boise, ID 83713
375-8935
Bike Safety: I called Wednesday about bikers and their bad driving. I just had it happen again
at the 120 at the top of Glenwood where it hits Mountain View. We had the green light, cars
were going through, these two bikers just shot out into traffic and everybody had to hit their
brakes. I nearly got ass ended by the truck behind me. You know, you want us to have
courtesy for the bikers; when are they going to have courtesy for us? When are they going to
obey the laws of the road? You know, I have purchased a video recording camera for my car
and I am going to mount it in my car for when I run over one of these people who are illegally
driving on their bicycles, cutting out in front of traffic, I’ll have proof of who’s at fault. Thank you
very much and I would appreciate it if you would get back to me.
Action Taken: already spoke to him

8/31/09
Scott
83707
Misc: I ride my bike around Boise quite a bit to try to alleviate the smog situation, but yet I see
hundreds of people sitting in their cars idling all the time – Fred Meyer, downtown, the Post
Offices, sitting in their cars for a half hour. I just took a bike ride for about a half hour, 45
minutes, and this guy was just sitting in his pickup truck, talking on his cell phone while his truck
idled for 45 minutes. It’s not hot outside. Whoever wants to pass this idling thing is great. I just
called ACHD regarding a deer, wildlife that tries to cross Warm Springs Road around the Harris
Ranch area, yet they failed to even talk to me, they put me through to voice mail. I don’t
understand why these people are still in office. The bus system is a joke. I’m not the type of
person who complains, but something needs to be done about both, the ACHD and the bus
system. They’re both an absolute joke and they’re a hindrance to taxpayers. I hope, Mr. Mayor,
that you do something about it as soon as possible. I would suggest firing all of them and
redoing the whole thing. The deal with Warm Springs, they don’t even have a sign that says
“Deer Crossing”, “Wild Life Crossing”. In Oregon they have solar-powered flashing lights that
say “Wildlife Corridor”, but yet here in Idaho they would rather have people hit deer or be hit by
deer. Thank you.

8/31/09
Parta Inderson
President
Taxi Drivers’ Association
Non-profit organization
697-0982
Taxi: I have a small complaint. A long time we have a problem with the airport administration
and we have so many problems; the drivers, we are treated like a dog there and so much
problem that we need help from your office to the Mayor it’s great for us. Anything, please give
me a call. Thanks.
Action Taken: already spoke to him

8/31/09
Kevin Hudson
3130 Edson Terrace
(behind South Jr. High)
Boise, ID
345-7283
Bowden Park: We have a little city neighborhood park behind here called Bowden Park that
comes around Edson St. then ties back into Cassia directly behind South Jr. High. My comment
is that all summer long we have had a group of indigent, presumably homeless, clearly jobless
young men who have taken up residence in the park, hanging out at the picnic table all day
long, drinking and smoking and tearing branches off the trees to make fires in the fire pit and the
like. The police have been over here a couple of times, once when I called them and a couple
of other people apparently called them. I was told by one of the police officers that of the known
indigent or unemployed folks wandering around town, this particular group is one of the least
threatening. My question is – how long is this going to be tolerated to where they just come here
and hang out all day long? I realize this is a city park, but they have plans of putting a little
amusement area in the corner that they’re talking about spending a lot of money on, and at this
point no mothers with their little kids are willing to go over and get anywhere near the picnic
tables because these guys are taking it up all day long. I just don’t want this little park to turn
into a vagrant state park, if you will, and the police say there’s really nothing they can do about
it. I know that there are other parks where loitering is discouraged, and I wonder how come this
one isn’t one of them. One of the things that I’m worried about, besides the fact that it looks
unsightly, is that there are a lot of kids from this junior high school that play out here, and it’s a
little annoying to have these folks here all day long, and not the least of which to mention is the
worry that they stay here all day long, they watch the comings and goings of all the people who
live here in the neighborhood, and it wouldn’t take very long for them to be able to formulate
some sort of pattern of when people are there and not there if they ever decided to jump over
the fence and break into their house to steal things to support their drug or alcohol habits.
Again, I don’t know that they’ve done anything bad, but they’re out there until way after dark,
and a couple of them I think have pretty significant mental illness because they stand out there
in the back of the park and scream by themselves into the wind. This is very disconcerting for
this little neighborhood and it really doesn’t fit the nature of the neighborhood. I would sure
appreciate it if there’s anything that you can do to help understand why it is that this is been tolerated to the degree it is when it’s not tolerated at some of the other more populated parks.
Thank you for your attention and I would appreciate a call back.
Action Taken: left msj
8/31/09
Glenn Miles
1306 N. 26th St.
Boise, ID 83702
Water Thief: My concern and complaint, if you will, are people drilling into the aquifer in order to
pump water directly onto their lawn and not have to pay taxes or anything else. Some renters in
our area thought they were going to buy the property, dug a well, and then were told they
couldn’t do it, but left the well still dug. In trying to retrieve some animals, cats, I fell into the
well. Now, my question is somewhere along the line when are we going to start taxing people
who are digging wells into the aquifer. Nampa and cities around us have stopped that kind of
access to the water system underneath their city without people being required to do city water.
It is not fair to the rest of the people in the area to have to subsidize individuals who are digging
wells, pumping the water up, and then avoiding the city water system and the requirements for
pay. Something’s got to be done about this as the world, some say, is getting hotter and hotter.
8/31/09
Lisa
Boise
Homeless: I certainly hope you’re not releasing my name and address to the media. I was just
listening to your message. Again, this is not public information; I don’t want my address and
phone number given out to anyone, I’m only giving it to you. I left a message last week; I called
about all the bicycles racing on the sidewalks. I’ve been working downtown for several years; I
work at U.S. Bank on the corner of Capitol and Main. There’s something else I wanted to share
with you, and it’s more of a question. This summer seems to be worse that I’ve noticed, and
that is there are more and more street people, more and more people asking for money. I’ve
noticed a couple of people that camp out; they lay out their blankets, their dog pillows, I mean
they’re really just making themselves comfortable on the sidewalks, in the Grove by the
fountain, always asking for money. I don’t often have them come up to me and ask for money,
but they have signs. I asked the gentleman at the visitor’s center if he knew what the ordinance
was and he wasn’t sure. There was this one gal on the Grove, and I’ve seen her around for a
while now, and she puts her blankets out and her dog pillows out and spreads her things around
so she’s really comfortable. He said she has been there all morning long. I sure hope Boise
doesn’t become like downtown Portland with beggars, panhandlers, and drug addicts just
hanging out on the street. I mean, gosh, this is Boise; I don’t know if anybody else has noticed
that or said anything to you, or if the city has some sort of plan in place, or if there are some
ordinances. I surely would like to know. Like I said, it’s just become more obvious to me this
summer; I know in the winter time I don’t see them so much because it’s so cold outside. I
certainly don’t give them any money; I learned a long time ago from our people who work in
Portland that giving them money just encourages them, so I don’t do that. I trust that are plenty
of public services in place to help these people. So, there you have it; that’s my second
concern about downtown Boise. Thanks a lot for listening.
BPD
Action Taken: left msj
HOTLINE
August 29 – September 4, 2009
Page 4
9/1/09
Mike Murphy
Graffiti: Hello Mayor’s Hotline. I have one comment and one minor complaint. Let’s start with
the comment. I live behind Boise High School and I am no stranger to the Mayor’s Hotline. I
have called to complain in years past regarding the teachers and faculty and a handful of
students treating a four-way stop as a mere suggestion; that seems to be under control these
days. What I am calling about is the city’s contractor for the geothermal project running along
Franklin St. is wonderful. I believe the name of the company is Knife River and they were the
most courteous group of people; unlike the people, who had been working on the high school,
they did not start firing up power equipment at 6:00 a.m., they left the street cleaner than they
found it, and used all proper traffic control measures. I mean these guys were pros and I think
the city could learn a lot from their contractor. So that’s the comment. The minor complaint
here is you list in the phone book and the beginning of the message for the Mayor’s Hotline that
the number for the graffiti hotline is 377-6790. That’s Ada County Dispatch; it seems like a
tremendous waste of resources to direct calls for graffiti to the police dispatch office. They
seemed a little surprised when I called, commenting that they could take a message and pass it
on. So, I’m going to complain here about the graffiti. On the back of the signs, traffic signs,
specifically on Franklin in the 10th and 11th Street area, we’re seeing an increase in graffiti on the
back of traffic signs. The concern here is that it appears to be gang-related text, not simply
some knucklehead writing, “Snoopy was here”, generally I could care less about that sort of
thing, but what concerns me again, these appear to be real honest gang related text. Thank
you for your time.
BPD
9/1/09
Lisa
Boise
Bike/Pedestrian Issues: Good afternoon; this is Lisa again. I don’t know if other downtown
pedestrians are calling you, but every time I get almost run over by a bicyclist, I’m going to call
you. I was walking south on Capitol Blvd. along the Key Bank Building, up against the building
on the far right of the sidewalk, and two bicyclists came from the west, turning left and cut right
in front of me. They didn’t even see me until they were on me. I could have reached out and
touched them; they were that close to me. As I’ve stated before, please do not disclose my
name, address, or phone number to the media or newspapers; I don’t want my name and my
address disclosed to the public. You can disclose my comments; I mean they were so close I
could have pushed them over. I’m glad I didn’t, but I tell you a part of me wished I had. I just
don’t like it very much, and there you go. This is Lisa giving my daily bicyclist confrontation
report. Thank you.
MZ
9/1/09
Michael Sety
4629 Mountain View
Boise, ID
867-1751
Boise School District: I don’t know if this is the place to leave my message, my comments that
is, but I can’t think of anywhere else, so maybe you can get it to the right location. It would
appear that somebody is going to put chain-link fence around the Cole School, up close to the
sidewalk bordering Fairview and Cole Road, and I think that would be a real eyesore. I can’t
HOTLINE
August 29 – September 4, 2009
Page 5
imagine why someone, anyone, would need to fence off access to Cole School, unless it’s a
temporary situation while they tear the building down. A chain-link fence along Cole and
Fairview is sure not going to be attractive, so I would appreciate if somebody would look into
that and let me know if it’s to prevent access to a construction site and it’s temporary. If it’s
going to permanent, I really object to it. Thank you very much; I’m glad there’s some place I can
talk.
Action Taken: contacted
9/2/09
Anonymous
BPD: I’m concerned about the safety of the highway patrol officer who is manning a speed trap
underneath the Overland Overpass on eastbound Interstate 84. He is using stops off of his
motorcycle, no flashing lights, and using the shadow cast by the overpass, essentially to hide in.
I’m sure it’s a great place to catch speeders, but he is in a very vulnerable place and is very
difficult to see; motorcycle, no lights in the shadow, no yellow on; he is an accident waiting to
happen. If anyone else was parked there, they would be writing them a ticket for doing
something unsafe. Please look into that and talk to the officer about doing unsafe things. Have
a good day.
BPD
9/3/09
Shirley Sterner
3016 W. Woodlawn
BPR: I am calling to complain because they have just put in a new dirt road for people to access
to the ponds and I don’t believe they took into consideration the amount of dust that it has
created and noise for the homeowners in that area. We can’t breathe, it’s affecting our
electronic equipment, and it’s horrible. So, that needs to be paved and there needs to be
something designated for noise control as well. This isn’t something that was talked about or
discussed, or that any of the homeowners had a say in. We are all pretty upset. My email
address is [email protected] . Thank you.
BPR BPD
9/4/09
Danielle Ingerham
514-7251
Towing: I’m calling in regard to having cars towed after BSU games. One of my Boise State
students was parked in the parking lot at Julia Davis Park and her car was towed after the
game. I don’t know what message you guys are trying to send to these teenagers or young
adults, but I think it’s completely ridiculous that you would tow cars, when they did the
responsible thing by if they felt like they had too much to drink, they didn’t drive. So, they get to
now go pay $100 to get their car out of a towing company because they chose to do the right
thing. I think it’s completely ridiculous and you should really re-evaluate that choice.
Action Taken: contacted
HOTLINE
August 29 – September 4, 2009
Page 6
9/4/09
Carolee DeGrange
713-3966
Towing: I am just calling in response to last night being one of the biggest football games of the
season, probably, and my daughter works at the Boise City Zoo, and left her car at the Boise
City Zoo from the end of the game until 9:00 this morning, and it was towed in the meantime.
We encourage our children; we encourage everybody not to drink and drive, and that’s the price
she paid. I would like a response to how you justify that. We don’t want people to drink and
drive; I’ve trained my child not to drink and drive. The public announcement at the game last
night was to party responsibly and drive responsibly, and she was responsible and left her car
there for less than 12 hours, and it was towed. So now a 21 year old college student has to pay
because she was responsible. I would like a response immediately, please.
Action Taken: left msj

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