Comments on: Boise Ponders 50% Parking Fee Hike

By: J Smith

J Smith — Sat, 30 Jan 2016 14:00:36 +0000

Robin Hood – Civic Planners discovered long ago what happens when they keep adding capacity to roads as needed. The city eventually ends up with 12 lanes of traffic going in both directions, all reduced to a crawl, in a permanent stop and go traffic jam.
The easier it is for people to drive more, the more they will drive. It is a negative feedback loop that always ends up creating traffic hell, and choking smog problems.

By: Fred

Fred — Sat, 30 Jan 2016 04:26:49 +0000

Speaking of traffic lanes downtown, and ignoring for now those closed for construction at Grove Plaza (that will be a nightmare when all employees and customers descend upon new buildings), why does the lane on east side of Grove Hotel, northbound, always have people parked at curb, with red cones protecting them?

Why these special privileges? Who enforces: BPD, ACHD, CCDC (lord of all)?

EDITOR NOTE–Last time we checked the hotel got a permanent (perhaps annual) permit from ACHD to block the street. Just wait till the buses start running the wrong way on Capital in that lane from Main!! We have the same concerns on 9th where trucks for just about any event block the street. Currently 9th seems blocked (choked) between Front and River with construction closures. We are told it will only be getting worse.

By: Robin Hood

Robin Hood — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 21:22:40 +0000

It’s intentional. Somewhere on the net is an internal City of Portland (OR) document which someone pot-smoking employee posted to the net by mistake. (No, I can’t find it now) The document made it very clear how the larger metro areas are intentionally providing under capacity roads so as to force people onto public transit or just not travel at all.

We are about ten years into this kind of stupidity here in Boise. We need to clean house of the top planners and get a new group which does not worship Al Gore. Makes perfect sense considering the Boise City idiots and ACHD just screwed up the traffic flow in downtown by reducing lanes available and are steadily jacking up parking.

I encourage any and all profitable Boise businesses to move to Meridian if your business success is not dependent on location. These people will not stop until your business is dead.

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 17:46:35 +0000

Editor: While also not passing judgement on pro bike, pro car, I would agree with you that the Boise city politicos are trying to force their own agenda – the same politicos mostly re-elected just a few months ago. Is their own ‘agenda’ that different from what the people want? It would very much seem that way. It’s a distinction with no difference.

As for the cultural differences, I don’t think they’re as big as they’re made out to be. You’re right, not many people want to spend $400,000 on the Aspen lofts, but a lot of people will pay top dollar to live close to downtown – just take a look at the house you could get in Nampa for the price of a 2br in the Boise northend or eastend. Demand is driving that price, and I believe a very large part of that demand is that you can actually do things without getting in your car when you’re that close to downtown.

Mitchell Jaurena, the public has noticed that the only ‘social engineering’ going on is the kind that is supporting and heavily subsidizing car-only transportation. ‘Alternate’ transportation (or as I like to call it, ‘transportation’) is only occasionally getting a bone thrown at it. Luckily, citizens and public officials are starting to realize this lopsidedness is a poor investment, and leads to a lot of undesirable outcomes.

EDITOR NOTE–Perhaps with a bit of envy, we concede that it is nice to live in the north end and be able to walk or bike to the nearby downtown…actually quite european. All that takes on an air of hypocrisy when the city fathers and mothers keep expanding their reach with vast urban sprawl into the SW and E deserts. Water, sewer, roads, schools are needed to facilitate all the growth while downtown gets all the sweetheart urban renewal deals and is difficult to navigate by auto.

By: Robinhood

Robinhood — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 09:43:22 +0000

Unite and overcome the greedy scum.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qanejHKeFHY

By: Mitchell Jaurena

Mitchell Jaurena — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 23:36:10 +0000

Huge parking rate hikes. Pandering to the social engineers under the guise of “ACHD listening to the public”. High pitched squalling from bike riders asked to pay their fair-share. Imagine that. Who could have predicted that?

By: L.D.

L.D. — Mon, 25 Jan 2016 13:26:12 +0000

is this really any surprise?

By: Easterner

Easterner — Wed, 20 Jan 2016 23:25:27 +0000

Guardian, maybe we could be a little more like Europe. A bottle of wine on the way home…. c’mon, what is not to like about that?

While I agree with your NOTE, “Idaho is not urban”… Boise is becomeing more and more urban-like. It’s all about the current trends.
Globalization. Urbanization. Opa!

By: erico49

erico49 — Wed, 20 Jan 2016 20:18:26 +0000

J Smith .. that was proposed for Boise back in the day when we were all stressing about what to do for a mall. An open downtown was one concept (Oppenheimer I think). The other was a big enclosed mall downtown.

By: P. Hautzinger

P. Hautzinger — Wed, 20 Jan 2016 20:04:09 +0000

Some of us would get out of our cars on onto to the sidewalks if it were not for the hazard of whizzing bikes on the sideWALKS.

Please, get the bikers off the walkways. They are frightening when they shout, “on your left” and there they are forcing a walker off the cement.