Gee, I’ll bet Doan wishes he had taken that job in Oregon, instead of pretending to be interested in it just to get a raise. He, like all city department heads, should be a little nervous.

Watching the election coverage tonight, Bieter’s HQ was the firefighters union hall. Awkward, huh guys. Somebody better call Lauren and make nice.

The Tribe has spoken!

Congrats to Lauren McClean!

In 2015 about a total of 33,000 voters cast a ballot for mayor.
Bieter got about 23,000(70%).

Now, the 2019 general election
Of the total 53,303:
McClean 23,669
Bieter 15,711

Runoff:
McClean 29,189
Bieter 15,320
total 45,547

—15,711 & 15,320

Well, at least Bieter now knows his number of real ‘fans’.

I say this is also a small part of the pink wave. I said it here in May, 2018:
[It is] the political ‘rejection of old white men’ — regardless of party affiliation.
On to 2020!

Drove into downtown on the Connector this morning and noticed a tent pitched in the old Cooper Court. Here we go again! Looks like the hobos are already celebrating.

Now the burden is on her to deliver all of that change that she promised during the campaign.

Doesn’t Dave have the CCDC to fall back on?
Based on his actions, in the past, he has worked harder for out of town developers than fellow Boise-ans.
Maybe Lauren will be nominated to join the CCDC?

EDITOR NOTE–Bieter appointed himself to the CCDC. State law says the only grounds for removal is “for cause.” Once appointed, members are part of the “independent body, corporate and politic” which is NOY part of city government. The CCDC board is currently stacked with Bieter advocates.

Mayor elect McClean will be judged by her actions. If she indeed wishes to make changes she will need to get people who are department heads who support her. Without meaningful changes in the people entrusted to carry out her vision it will be same o same o. Hopefully some retirements will be announced soon.

We can vote for someone new to represent the people, but she can only represent the people if the people keep the pressure on. As citizens, it is up to each one of us to keep our eye on the ball, and not expect someone else to do the heavy lifting.

I was disappointed when Bieter explained that the people wanted an expensive library and a baseball field because they voted for him. A few months later, they voted against that same pair of white elephants by voting him out.
I hope everyone appreciates missing the bullet of a surplus baseball stadium when the team goes away per the new MLB rules.

I’m sure she has a progressive list.

Copied from Commiefornia/NYC:

-electric only cars in Boise city
-bicycle-centric traffic plans
-less green lawns, more brown ones
-gun control (aka self-defense control)
-Behind the Meter electrical plans (see Australia)
-no more single family home permits
-stack and pack residential housing
-density boosting
-adoption of alt-gender sensitive pronoun ordinances
-sanctuary protection for non citizens
-encourage more cultural shift to politically correct social-justice agendas (aka white people suck – see AOC and The Squad)
-More permissive street crime policy (like Cali Prop 47 etc)
-allow non-citizens to vote in city elections
-freedom of speech control (yeah, that’s a thing now)

All of this stuff was considered crazy and totally unobtainable about 10 years ago. Now all of it is in effect somewhere in the USA. All of it built on fake scares and bogus information….big lies told by expert propaganda teams.

Add to Mr. Guardian’s to-do list:
* re-evaluate (eliminate) the current Office of Police Oversight, which is almost a year behind in its annual report for public. Nothing meaningful has happened in this $90K annual part-time gig since Bieter changed the purpose of this office and hired a friend to fill it.

I hope she will prove to be a good and decisive manager, not a story teller. Of the city departments that are making news right now she has police, fire and library. The police, so reports are saying, are having some problems with a hostile work environment. The fire teams are stretched, too thin, they need some stations, and the outgoing library manager may attempt to puppeteer the organization in absentia. In all cases there are many secrets and the employee morale is suffering. If she asks the right questions of the rank and file she will be immediately more effective.

Boise’s reply to the Idaho Property Tax Working Group’s recent survey for cities regarding fiscal health and future challenges: November 18, 2019

Provide a summary of your city’s fiscal situation as you begin the new year:
Boise: The base budget for the City of Boise is balanced, however with rapid population growth, cost increases are anticipated. Apart from normal cost increases (personnel costs, construction costs, non-personnel- e.g., fuel, software maintenance) costs associated with growth (e.g. new police officers, new fire stations, new parks maintenance, etc.) are anticipated. At this time, the City is actively working to accommodate these costs, however tradeoffs will be required. Property taxes comprise approximately 66% of the City’s General Fund revenues, and personnel (current levels) comprises approximately 66% of General Fund expenditures. In the present environment, it will be difficult for the City to keep up with increasing growth and expectations (although we are trying very hard). To the extent revenues are reduced, personnel will certainly need to be reduced, and it will be very difficult to respond to growth. The City is a major contributor to VRT (in the absence of other local dedicated funding), so public transportation would also take a hit. The City has actively worked to establish a modest “rainy day fund” of 8% in the General Fund.

What are the biggest fiscal challenges facing your city in the next 12 months:
Boise: Potential reductions to property tax/sales tax, responding to growth (additional personnel is required that revenues on their own cannot support) increasing construction costs, growing/maintaining the public transportation system (difficult given current funding situation), keeping up with repairs and maintenance (e.g. facilities and parks), rapidly increasing software maintenance and workers compensation costs.

Thank goodness the citizens applied common sense and spoke up by voting for the library and stadium petitions, otherwise the city would have just doubled-down on their fiscal challenges and used “rainy day funds” for non-critical expenditures. All the while the 3% budget increase each year simply tracks the increase in personnel costs. This expenditure does have control levers, but the city chooses not to pull any.

Bieter lost due to his persistence in spending money without thought to those stuck paying for his flights of fancy. The railroad to nowhere, the new library and sports stadium. I am sure there are others but these are the ones that stick out in my mind.
The biggest fraud on taxpayers is the 3% limit on increases in property tax. New growth does not figure into the the 3% and isn’t even part of the next year in property tax increases. That is why we see double digit increases in property taxes and they have the nerve to say they are holding the line on property taxes.
I would like to see efficiency experts audit both city and county government positions to validate the actual need for the large payrolls we see. Deloitte and Touche is a company that comes to my mind for this effort.