City Government

Boise Councilors To Hold Town Hall Meets

Boise’s city council is planning to host a series of town hall meetings around the city in the coming year. They hope to create an opportunity to connect directly with citizens and to engage with them on the future of our city.

Each citizen who wishes to address the mayor and council will be given three minutes and we will hear from as many citizens as time allows. As this is not a formal public hearing, it is requested that citizens avoid discussing items that are related to land use applications already submitted to the city.

The first town hall will be held from 7-9 p.m. on Wednesday, April 11 at Fire Station 4, at 8485 Ustick Road. Information on the next two town halls will be announced at a later date.

One topic of conversation would be library services. Boise currently owes the Ada Community Library $544,000 for services provided to Boise. Boise Public Library is apparently unable to keep up with demand for services as the city mothers and fathers keep annexing more land in their quest to expand the city limits through urban sprawl.

Also worth a question is why the downtown library executed a long-term lease on their warehouse when they knew a new facility and parking were needed. It should be noted that LEASES can be executed without a public auction. If land is SOLD, the council has to declare the property as “surplus” and sell it to the highest bidder.

Finally, be sure to ask why they commissioned a foreign architect to come up with a new library proposal instead of giving the nod to one of the fine local firms.

Seems odd that we have to pay for neighborhood service to the Ada Library, but their patrons get to use Boise Library for free. Once again the GUARDIAN suggests exploring a consolidated library for all of Ada County.

Comments & Discussion

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  1. City hearings are a joke with this bunch. The mayor does as he damn well pleases, no matter what the citizens say. Amazing how he came up with $70,000,000 out of his back pocket to build a new library. Sure is a slap in the face to the local architects.

  2. Great they want to meet.
    Strange they tell you to not bring what may matter most to most – a new CBH subdivision near EVERYONE in Treasure Valley.

  3. If we’re not discussing politics with politicians then what’s the point? Oh yea, diplomacy – “nice doggy, don’t bite me until I find a big rock to beat you with”.

    A physical downtown library is all waste and ego. Nearly everyone has a smart phone or tablet – changing 90% of what a library does to electronic books/music/movies would be far more useful and less expensive. For those few that don’t have a tablet, rent out small vacant store fronts through the city, install free wifi, and tablets or laptops that can be borrowed on site.

  4. What a load of crap. To quote Josie Wales, “Don’t piss down my back and tell me it’s rainin'”.

  5. If we are consolidating, let’s consider fire and police too.

  6. Yeah, having just attended the Public Meeting on the radical shrinking of the Dog Park area in Military Reserve so an “All Skill Levels” ZoomAbout Bike Park can be put in its 7 acres site, it is crystal clear Bieter and crew have no real desire to “Listen”. The City made a Decision on the Bike Park Track area without ever telling the public. Albertson’s Foundation dangled some funding in front of them, so the City proceeded to hatch their plot in secret for over a year. (But the City has to come up with a LOT more funding for this, too).

    A Bike Park in Military Reserve will greatly increase walker, dog and bike conflicts in an already heavily used and congested area.

    The Dog Park will removed to the Archery site, and shrunk to less than half the current size, and sub-divided into small and large dogs areas basically – with not enough space for people with medium or large dogs to exercise their dogs. This will all result in a lot more people and dog use all around the sensitive areas of lower Cottonwood Creek and the uplands where the new Idaho rare plant, Andrus’ Lomatium lives. It is found nowhere else in the world except a small area of the Boise Foothills.
    And no matter how many “Stay on Trails” signs and little fences the City puts up, you can be darn sure the Bikes will be running all over the place tearing things up, and creating hazards for walkers.

    At the City meeting last night, we were handed little blue dots as we walked in the door, and directed to place them on displays that showed Happy Dogs running or jumping through bright plastic things. There were several of these. Not a single Display to place a little blue dot on “No Bike Park here. Keep the Dog Area the same size” as the “amenity” to choose. The City’s whole method of getting Input on their Deal was rigged.

    I have talked to folks who were involved in getting the Dog Park established, and involved in dog-Foothills measures over the years – and they say they had repeatedly approached the City to “upgrade” the Dog park, and were told “No, no, no. That Basin is strictly for Flood Control, and no structures can be placed there”. So the City in the past took federal funds and likely used tax dollars for the Flood Control pits, where the Dog Park and Archery Range area are located, and now they want to put structures there.

    Also, the City’s scheme is to move the Archery Range (the new location of the shrunken Dog Park) to an Open Space area just south of the Old Vets Cemetery – marring the scenic views and setting of the cemetery.

  7. Maybe I’ve become too cynical… but I’m convinced that these events are mostly intended to give citizens the impression that our Overlords care about their opinions. They know what they want to do, and by golly they’ll do it until the 15% of registered voters who participate, vote in somebody else. (And max out your tax load, to pay for it.)

    Regarding the library… when they were planning a branch library in my neighborhood (Hillcrest), I was skeptical. I thought the day of the printed book was dead. Lo and behold, my mind has been changed! Whenever I visit that branch, it’s full of patrons engaged in various activities including book-reading. I routinely reserve books, movies, CDs, etc. online, and pick them up a few days later at the branch. (I have reservations about spending $75 million or whatever, for a new main library. Maintain it as the book/media warehouse, with branch libraries scattered about as end-user access points. That would be good for reducing commuter traffic, as well.)

  8. A Library Too Far
    Apr 5, 2018, 1:44 pm

    We have bridges in need of replacement. Neighborhoods with no sidewalks. Schools in disrepair. Teachers leaving the state for better pay. Hundred year old water pipes break every day. All this in excellent economic times.

    Like the bridge to nowhere in Alaska, suggest national exposure and embarrassment for the $70M handout to political developer friends. These are the same people who are raising rates on absolutely everything.

    Listen carefully to them. Bullshit with every breath. Their entire existence is bullshit. They say bullshit so often they believe their own bullshit. They pay the media to bullshit for them. They have social gatherings where they congratulate each other on the quality of their bullshit.

  9. Concerned ought to pay a visit to one of our libraries to discover that they are already doing what he suggests and much more to help Boiseans negotiate the digital universe. Librarians have been on the forefront in this effort.

  10. Think bigger
    Apr 5, 2018, 5:46 pm

    70 million is a huge number is it not? I like the idea of many small stops for wifi or computer use, but books still seem like a great and valid thing. We need to have them.

    Wish we could be a Google town with free wifi everywhere, everywhere. How can we make that happen? Anybody know?

  11. As to the comment of BS all the time.
    Right about the time the City went public with the plan to cut dog park in half. The Idaho Statesman printed an article that Boise is #1 for the number of dog parks per capita. You decide if it is newsworthy. I think it was BS, sorry PR, to make up for them working out the plan without the public knowing.

  12. I would propose a grand monument to our great leader, Dave Bieter.

    Visitors would leave the airport and as they crest The Bench, they will be met by a 200 foot tall Dave Bieter that straddles Capitol Blvd. He will have his chin up and in his hands shall be a Golden Trolley Car. The library shall be housed within this great monument.

  13. western guy
    Apr 7, 2018, 4:21 pm

    All snark aside, this is a great approach for the Council to take… but a few years too late.

    Taking government to the citizens, vs making them go downtown (where the meters are still stalked when the Council meetings begin), is a spendid idea.

    Several of you should compliment the City Council for this approach and ask that it continue for at least 4 meetings per year.

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