City Government
GUARDIAN Year In Review Ballot
December 20, 2010 
We are working on our 6th year at the GUARDIAN and it is time to have you weigh in on the biggest stories of 2010.
The most disappointing for us and a clear victory for government and big money was the passage of the three state constitutional amendments which take away our right to vote on certain public debts. Realistically we conclude folks simply didn’t care or understand the issues…or they trusted local government over their own judgement.
Some issues just don’t go away. Still no directional signs for tourists, politicos want trains and trolleys, the city of Boise continues to claim transparency and refuse to share media info with the GUARDIAN, the Chamber of Commerce is still an inordinate influence on government, and the depot remains closed to the public most of the time.
We would like to hear your comments, suggestions, and vote for top story of 2010 from this list. You can also add categories for humor, “gotcha,” etc.
—BOISE CITY secretly pays $150,000 to convict in “bum Taser” case.
—G-BAD boys send media birthday cakes.
—EAGLE MAYOR resigns after GUARDIAN story reveals BSU job.
—GARDEN VALLEY school patrons debate management issues.
—HAMMER FLATS purchase and secret sale deal by Boise revealed
—IDAHO LAND BOARD goes into storage business.
—CALDWELL MAYOR and urban renewal cleared of wrongdoing by AG.
—COPPER cycle caught in no-parking zone by reader.
—GUARDIAN donates safety signs, rebuked by city PR maven.
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Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Dec 20, 2010, 12:50 pm
Dave, I’m awfully glad you do what you do. I often disagree with you, but the kind of digging your do is sorely needed.
Dec 20, 2010, 12:53 pm
Dave,
If you viewed the piece on 60 MINUTES last night it won’t be long until taxpayer abuses will be over. There is literally no more credit, scams,schemes or other ways for government to spend more than they take in. We’re broke and the States will be hit hardest and first as things implode. Public employee retirement systems are also broke and underfunded.
NO, to just about everything, will be the answer to just about all programs funded with tax dollars. The Yaba-Dabba days of politicians promising more and taxing less are going off the tracks in the near term.
We are also going to have to come to the conclusion Medi-Care funding of terminally ill people to give them a month or two more of lousy existence will come to an end.
Schools are going to have to suck it up as well. We’re broke due to overspending by politicians of all stripes.
Dec 20, 2010, 1:59 pm
G’s worst slant on a story was Hammer Flats. The area is within the Boise City area of impact and is now protected from a developer who was/is about to go under. The purchase is well within the purview for use of Foothills levy money and many land deals with shaky developers are necessarily conducted “close hold” as most shots are being called by the banks, as was the case here.
Best story: Idaho Land Board goes into storage business. Thanks, many thanks for that one.
EDITOR NOTE–Doc, we agree with you on the PURCHASE, but there was no excuse for not coming clean on the SALE agreement with Idaho F&G. An otherwise proper deal took on the odor of secrecy.
Dec 20, 2010, 3:51 pm
Dave, thanks for another year of sleuthing out local stories; you are indeed doing work that PROFESSIONAL news gatherers are ignoring… for whatever reason.
OF COURSE you have your opinions, but in this reader’s viewpoint, you do a pretty darn good job of keeping it both fun and factual.
The most significant story was the Land Board’s, um, uh… “entrepeneurial spirit,” all right. But on a more selfish note, I sincerely appreciate your ongoing coverage of the Garden City / Riverside Village BIKE PATH shenanigans! You reach an audience that others of us could never reach.
May your days be merry and bright.
Dec 20, 2010, 4:00 pm
Hammer Flats is a clear winner. As Dave said, the purchase was clean, it was the secrecy that clouded an otherwise wise purchase. The current problem is “show me the money”! This may very well wind up the top story in 2011 if these clowns don’t get their act together!
Dec 20, 2010, 4:04 pm
Fiona, we need to fund what we need to fund and not fund what we don’t need to fund. It is a matter of priorities. We do NOT need to fund useless wars in Iraq & Afghanistan (and Pakistan). We do NOT need to fund the continued occupation of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Japan, and South Korea. We do NOT need to fund huge tax breaks for the wealthy. We DO need to fund Social Security and Medicare (which are both off budget, self-funding, and not part of the deficit or national debt). We DO need to fund regulation of food safety, banking & investing, airlines, mine safety, etc.
Best story is the tasering of that guy, coupled with secretly paying him off. Further proof that we need federal martial law here and to have the BPD, Mayor, & City Council thrown in Leavenworth or sent to Guantanimo.
Dec 20, 2010, 6:54 pm
fiona and Rod,
The magic missing money is the massive shift to employee costs within government. Public service and safety are no longer top priorities, even for the cops & FD. The public employees have put themselves at the top of the spending list. Because they fear what is coming, they are shifting away from voter-approved spending. And that is the top story of this year.
They will fail eventually, but will manage to destroy the middle-class (people with money, but can’t afford a lobbyist to protect it) in their efforts at a free lunch.
Dec 20, 2010, 8:54 pm
Don’t think I can pick one story.
Lump all the scams, secret shenanigans etc. by the various levels of government and quasi-government into one category — that, to me, is the biggie, rather than any one of their hide-it-from-the-public tricks, the fact that they just keep doing it, doing it, doing it.
Dec 20, 2010, 9:54 pm
Several stories over the past year have incited my outrage enough to share my thoughts, such as they are, with BG readers. The local GOP’s shameless treatment of Commish-elect Bisterfeldt pre- and post-election is the first to come to mind. Add to that the threats by Ada commishes to withhold funds from Allumbaugh House, 2C’s PA contract fiasco and the defeat of the constitutional amendments. The BPD’s diva spanking of the BG for doing a good deed also triggered a near nuclear blonde meltdown!(That’s for Cyclops!)I think I most enjoyed hearing from the good folks of Garden Valley who publicly shared their angst over school board issues that affect their children. I’m also glad that Fiona has joined the BG ranks so I don’t feel so alone.
I hope 2011 will be better for all of us and other good souls who continue to fight the good fight!
Merry Christmas!
KTA
Dec 20, 2010, 9:58 pm
Correction: the approval of the constitutional amendments that rob voters of their rights! Hand is quicker than the eye!
Dec 20, 2010, 10:14 pm
I believe it was the transportation hub scheme, the constant refusal to build anything in the hole downtown, and the fake trolley boondoggle that were the most important.
Dec 21, 2010, 10:21 am
I have come to depend on The Guardian to keep me updated on happenings in Boise. I am now in an assisted living center and do not get out much. Also I want to extend my heartfelt wishes to all of you, staff and regular commenters, for a blessed Christmas and the best New Year.
That being expressed on to disect the potential damage the Legislature will do, and I know they will.
Dec 21, 2010, 7:20 pm
AHAA! I knew you were blond KTA!
Just kidding. In reality, the vast majority of blondes that I know are sharp as a tack and able to go “toe to toe” with anyone on any subject. In fact, I wouldn’t exclude women of any hair color. (It must be my “hair envy” that causes it.)
Anyway, KTA. I hope you have a very merry Christmas and a glorious new year! I need to thank you as well in that I have really enjoyed our “correspondance” this year.
Dec 22, 2010, 10:29 am
Mr. Guardian
One of the “big” stories you missed that has a huge impact on us folks from Boise County is the judgement against Boise county for rejecting Alamar because of unreasonable expectation.
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/12/21/1462743/boise-county-owes-4-million-for.html
Us folks up here are going to have to pay for up to 6 million…. with lawyer fees we are hearing…. and the county is already broke. And no insurance for stupid mistakes by commissioners
Merry Xmas
EDITOR NOTE–Porc, the legacy media did a pretty good job of covering that one. I would be happy to post a version from you and your fellow Boise County folks especially a response to the lawyer comment about you guys reacting, “out of fear and ignorance.”
Dec 23, 2010, 2:05 pm
Worst case of sudden onset amnesia I have ever seen. The Guardian story of the year, perhaps the Guardian story of the century, is not even on the list.
I am talking, of course, about the day Dave’s desicated derriere was dropped in a dumpster with the Frazier Decision stuffed between its cheeks.
Regardless the intent, public oversight of public purchases is now, thanks to the Guardian, at its lowest point since Idaho achieved statehood.
Dec 23, 2010, 8:26 pm
“H” back away from the keyboard and put the pipe down!! What the #%&! are you talking about????
Dec 23, 2010, 11:56 pm
This ties into the “new easy way” to issue debt… All the bankrupt states have been doing it for years:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704278404576037681933247842.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories
What wsj.com was too kind to mention, is how many of these people are allowed to pad their overtime just before retirement so the pension will be bigger. We are getting hosed, and even the libs are starting to smell it.
Dec 24, 2010, 11:09 pm
There is scuttlebut about the Gov. putting some low level person in a $75k/yr job just before they retired to get a huge bump in their PERSI retirement benefits last year. It flew under the radar except for a couple of people who raised a stink and are now paying a polictical price for their candor.
It is this sort of thing that points to the need for a stop to defined benefits and a IRA/401K retirement system for public employees.
On the subject of public employees..they are the very people who turn out for elections and vote in people sympathetic to public employee pay, benefits and retirement issues.
The majority of the voters are playing RIP VANWINKLE on most public issues.
Feb 5, 2011, 12:01 am
And Tomlin continues to cause chaos at Garden Valley. We’re drowning here and we have a super who has only one agenda item – get his contract extended.
Had the Executive Officer of the district acted as such, we wouldn’t be in this mess. Thanks a lot.