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City Government

Mayor Hotline February 20 – 26

 March 5, 2010 ⋅  Post a comment

DOGFIGHT WITH F-35, TRASH TALK, PHOTO OP AT REDLIGHTS, SNEAKY SMOKERS

Dan Buerstetta
5473 S. Broad Wing Way
Boise, ID 83716
336-4464
F-35: I attended the meeting that the government put on regarding the F-35, I’ve read articles, and I’m very much against it. I think it would be devastating for the tax base, homes will devalue dramatically with this extremely loud aircraft, 10 percent louder than the F-16’s that were really too loud.

And, it hasn’t been talked much about, but at the meeting with the military, up to 72 aircraft will be assigned to Gowen Field and about 23 or so to Mountain Home. So, we’re going to get the “lion’s share” of the aircraft; it will be a training base that will be flying constantly, even if they’re not allowed to fly at night, which really they’re going to need to do to
do effective training. It’s school stops teaching, teacher has to stop talking, it’s going to be devastatingly loud, cover your ears, and it will be miserable to live in this town.

Two other states have – one has a law suit and the other is contemplating a law suit where they have loud military aircraft flying overhead, and those planes are not as loud as this. Air pollution will also be a consideration; if you have this huge number of jet fighter craft which burn up a lot of fuel, it adds to the already precarious situation with inversions, making it hard to attract businesses to town.

I resent that the public does not have a vote in this, they merely have a provision through the military to give input to their database system, but it does not preclude them from putting it here should they decide this is the best place for them to put it. So, it is dramatically reducing the quality of life in this town and we don’t even get to vote on it.

I question the billion a year; I think they’re factoring in some businesses that are already in existence and I think that’s a hugely optimistic assessment of the economic impact and it hasn’t backed out the detrimental impact of the recruitment of businesses and reduction tax bases. Feel free to call me; I would be happy to discuss this further with anyone there at the city headquarters. Thanks again.
Action Taken: sent letter

2/20/10
Anonymous Citizen
Boise, ID 83702
Grapevine: I was calling regarding the property at 1518 Fort St. under current reconsideration of the lease with the Grapevine Club. There is a city ordinance that requires city-owned buildings to be non-smoking. The Board of Directors of the Grapevine Club at a general membership meeting decided to continue to allow smoking until the city intervenes. I’m asking that the city intervene and state that this is a city ordinance. Thank you.
Legal

2/22/10
Retired Resident
Lester Mesbergen
767 E. Parkcenter Blvd
Boise, ID 83706.
608-5342
ACHD: My concern is there’s a sidewalk at Pennsylvania Ave. and Parkcenter and it’s being put in by C&M Construction Co. The problem is it’s taking a long time and for those of us who are handicapped there’s no way to get to Walgreens. I’m in a wheelchair and I can’t get across the street because you can’t trigger the light to change because of all that construction, and there’s no sidewalk across the street. So, anyway if there’s some way that that can be expedited, I’m
not sure it can. I think they’re putting in a credit union but there’s no way to get across the street.
ACHD
Action Taken: contacted
2/22/10

2/23/10
Anonymous
ACHD: I just wanted to say thank you for having the street cleaner come out and clean our street on Quicksilver. They cleaned it today and thank you for listening. I’m glad we have a Mayor who listens to us; thank you very much.

2/23/10
Lorrie Graves
7586 N. Peppermill Way
Boise, ID 83714
340-0029
Garbage Cans & Red Lights: I’m calling about two separate topics. The first one has to do with the new garbage cans that the city provided residents with. I saw this as a problem from the get go and it has only gotten worse. I don’t know who in their right mind would have given out bright blue garbage cans and light gray garbage cans; oversized cans no less. They could have easily have been done in dark green, dark brown, dark gray or black. Instead they radiate from the residences; you can’t miss them, they’re all over town. My homeowners’ association is trying to get people to put those horrific cans behind their garages. So far, people are not abiding by that. I think what you need to have is some sort of city ordinance that says these cans cannot be left out in front of properties; they need to be put out of sight. Otherwise you’re going to be known as the city of garbage cans. It’s just preposterous and it is hideous. I hope you’ll do something about this; I’m sure something can be done if you make the effort. My second issue has to do with traffic problems. In the city of Boise you have an epidemic of individuals who insist upon going through red lights. Now this is dangerous to say the very least, and nothing is being done about it. I’ve had a discussion with one of the detectives and he says they’re trying, in a feeble tone, as if that was going to accomplish anything. I read recently that Las Cruces, New Mexico just installed some cameras in main intersections. You’ve got to do something about this. I’ve lived in other cities and I’ve never seen anything as bad as what goes on here in Boise. You’re just turning away from this problem. You could also, if you don’t want to put up the cameras, you could also run some advertising campaign like you did for seatbelts. Put it up on billboards; increase the amount of the fines for going through red lights, and push that whole theme so people get it through their thick heads. It is extremely dangerous; I always have to wait now at any intersection. I wait past the turning of the light to allow the other cars who are going through a red light to get through so that they don’t run into me. So, this is a serious problem in Boise; I don’t know if you’re aware of it and just turning an eye the other way. I’m not sure what you’re doing, but I’ve never seen this in another city to this extent. Anyway those are my two issues – do something about the garbage cans; it is a horrific
eye sore on the city. The cans are not only brightly colored to advertise garbage; they’re also oversized to make the matter that much worse. So it’s time you take this up as an issue and do something about it unless you want to continue having this kind of blight on the city of Boise.
Thank you.
BPD & Code Enforcement

2/23/10
Charlie Brian
5074 N. Lena Ave.
Boise, ID 83713
899-1419
Parking: I rarely go downtown and I thought I would try it again, go get a hair cut right downtown. I parked at one of your parking meters; was five minutes over, didn’t know it would take a full hour to get a hair cut, but it did. I came out to a parking violation of $15. It was a hassle coming up with the change to begin with to put in the stupid parking meter and now I’ve got a $15 parking ticket. I will not be shopping downtown any more and I’m calling the barber shop that I went to and telling them why I’m not coming down any more. You have a poor and crummy system downtown and it certainly doesn’t encourage me going downtown ever again.
Thank you.

2/23/10
Anonymous
City Fleet: Hi, I’m wanting to know if the City of Boise is doing that well to where the employees can take a van home and be home at 3:00 in the afternoon. Is the City of Boise doing that well to where these guys can drive our taxpayer dollar vans home? I mean you know it’s already 3:00 and he’s got plenty of time to get to work by 5:00. You know what I’m saying? Anyway, I just wanted to let you know.

2/24/10
Anonymous
Trash Cans: I’m calling about the trash cans that are left out in public view which is against the code. There are several houses on Maywood; their addresses are 3004, 2961, 3055, 3072, 3047, 2950, 2889, 2882, 2808. Thank you. If you could have someone go out there and take care of their trash cans, I would appreciate it. Thank you.
Code Enforcement

2/26/10
Anonymous
573-0298
Graffiti: I’m trying to find a source of contact for how much it costs the city or county for antigraffiti. Would somebody give me a call back?
BPD

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