Comments on: SW Boise: “We Get No Respect”

By: Western guy

Western guy — Sun, 01 Aug 2021 02:47:32 +0000

Just what was ‘Frank’s point? Too much rambling, here…

By: Richard Llewellyn

Richard Llewellyn — Wed, 28 Jul 2021 18:42:22 +0000

Some of the comments reveal a basic lack of understanding of city geography. Some people lump the Optimist Sports Fields in NW Boise as primarily serving ‘West Boise,’ but these are significantly closer to the North End (Harrison Blvd & Hill Rd) with a 15 minute/7.2 mile drive, compared to central ‘West Boise’ (Fairview & Cloverdale) with a 20 minute/8.8 mile drive. Add another ten minutes for much of SW Boise.
Anyone familiar with Boise overall understands that west of 36th street, the primary division of Boise is by the river, not the cardinal directions.
Likewise, the North End is about as close to the Simplot Sports Complex (21 minutes, 8.5 miles) as West Boise is to the Optimist Fields.
It does seem like City Hall also lacks this basic familiarity with the geography of the City. We also hear that not many people live in SW Boise, so they don’t need a park, but take a look at the new District Map. Almost half of Boise already lives south of the river and west of 36th street, with some of the most dense areas on the western edges of Boise. Soon most Boise residents will live in the West and South, even without new annexations.

By: Easterner

Easterner — Wed, 28 Jul 2021 16:18:24 +0000

Agreed for understanding impact fees and same applies for URDs.

Great idea for a community ed class or something online put on by the State Legislative Services office (since they are probably the only experts on the topic).

How much time/money would be people be willing to expend just to understand it- and then to get involved in the budgeting process?

By: Impact Fees & This Park

Impact Fees & This Park — Wed, 28 Jul 2021 06:06:21 +0000

I wish more people understood the statutory methodology for calculating impact fees and were also aware of the shuffling and sweeping that has occured with these fees.

By: Frank

Frank — Tue, 27 Jul 2021 23:06:24 +0000

“Taxation without representation”?
Most of Boise City’s elected, appointed and hired public servants come across as unqualified for their positions. I’m sure most public servants are put in place for payback by elected public servants. We pay to have a public servant spin issues! Then we have the CCDC calling the shots for Boise’s growth? Who is paying for the downtown park at 11th street? Next to a CCDC property? Or the over built 8th street and sidewalk redo in front of state buildings? Do state buildings pay property tax? The redo of ninth street in front of city and state properties? As we continually put elected public servants on a pedestal they will act accordingly. I’ll put up with the disrespect but not the dis-representation.

By: Who Cares

Who Cares — Tue, 27 Jul 2021 17:32:58 +0000

Really, what’s the number of people in so called SW Boise?

The parks are near where the people live and recreate. Most properties in S Boise are larger lots. They can run their dogs on their lawns without goose poop and homeless people.

A map of Boise parks shows less density and less # of parks south of the freeway. Hello, airport noise!
Who wants to visit a park with a 737 bursting a take-out?

“Acres of park/per resident” within a 5 mile radius, is probably comparable. Most Northend parks are old and have been there forever. The other gems along the river have been donated. Are any other property owner in SW Boise going to donate 50 acres for another park? David King, do you have 100 acres to donate?

West Boise has the fairly new Optimist parks and SE Boise has Simplot fields. I suppose northenders could complain they don’t have adequate giant sports fields for tournaments.

In any case, develop the MP with a pond sufficient to propagate e-coli, and definitely include a homeless shelter. Then, SW residents can stop crying!

By: Branden Durst

Branden Durst — Tue, 27 Jul 2021 14:44:18 +0000

When I represented District 18 in the legislature, I always made a point of making to give as much attention (possibly more) to my SW precincts as the rest of my district. I found out that this was pretty unusual as they had just sort of been forgotten. My good friend, Vern Bisterfeldt, used to tell me how much his neighbors appreciated knowing that he was in the City Council fighting for them and I tried to follow suit. SW Boise really doesn’t get respect. Its time to elect leaders who care about their issues and will do something about it.

By: Porcupine

Porcupine — Tue, 27 Jul 2021 14:04:53 +0000

If the folks in SW Boise think for one minute that Murgoitio property will become a park within the next 30 years….. even if the city annexed it and says yes we will build a park….are not facing reality. One of the latest parks that the city has done is Bowler Park. Property was donated/Purchased by the city in 1995. It has 25 acres…. 19 ares were left undeveloped. It took 26 years for this park to be built. And the cost of Bowler Park was nothing like the cost people in SW expect to be done on Murgoitio.

Boise Parks also has many on going cost… green belt replacement…. 2 pools that have been shut down for maintenance issues ($2.4 million per pool so they say)….along with a list of other smaller parks in the city that have been promised to be built…. some promised longer than your promise.

Maybe the SW folks should step up and try to buy the property or get one of the rich people in Boise that have foundations to buy it for a private park only for the SW neighbors.

If not you might want to consider when the property is developed and it has a small park included, to get involved with the developer and come up with a nice park that could be done in a couple of years.

By: AOCI

AOCI — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 20:45:14 +0000

No Respect – It is Boise when understanding how Idaho’s Area of City Impact law works, which is referred to as the AOCI in various governing documents. This SW area is in Boise’s AOCI, which designates an area that a city expects to annex in the future and its creation is governed by the provisions of Idaho Code 67- 6528.

It is Boise that is “cheaping out” on most all other areas of Boise except for the spending in the north and east ends. And the AOCI currently pays the highest amount for the Regional Park Impact Fee of the seven collection areas; $807 versus $167 to $797.

Jennifer Tomlinson of the Parks Dept. has said at least $10 million in park impact fees has come from development permits in this part of Boise’s AOCI. The park impact fees have been collected in this area since 1995, but somewhere along the line the City arbitrarily chose not to spend the fees in this part of the AOCI so they could spend them elsewhere, including $6 million that went to the Regional Parks located downtown. The City says they cannot spend until annexed but the record shows they spent park impact fees on Optimist Youth Sports Complex before it was annexed in 2015.

In 2011, the City made it look like they spent park impact fees in the SW AOCI by moving the designated collection area boundary line to the north, from Victory Road to I-84, which magically made Peppermint and Molenaar Parks be in the SW collection area rather than their original collection area of the West Bench. I would attach the maps to show this if I could.

It’s easy to color outside the lines and move the goalposts when the citizens are not closely watching and the majority of elected and appointed positions do not live anywhere near the areas that are receiving far less in tax-and-fee supported services.

By: No Respect

No Respect — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 18:07:30 +0000

It is not actually Boise, so that’s a start. People live in SW ADA because it is cheap. It is cheap because those people are cheap and they are satisfied with cheap living. That is why they get no respect and no amenities. No decent shopping. Walmart and other dealers of cheap crap are the only stores there. The residents drive to Boise city parks instead of paying for a close-by park. Just like other places in Ada County. Are there any nice parks in Kuna? Star? No. Those people all drive to nice Boise parks. And they pollute our air and jam up the streets and parking to do it. Does the mayor drive to a park?Of course, not. Look at the visitors of Boise’s new parks at Quinn’s pond. Who floats the Boise river? Cheap trash. Probaly from SW Boise. And that is exactly why they trash the river and Boise parks with their garbage. They don’t respect themselves or our parks. Cheap! Those people should be sending thank you notes to the Boise council since they use Boise parks and don’t have to pay full rate. Cheapskates don’t get nice parks! It has nothing to do with city government. Those people don’t want to pay for nice parks and amenities, that is why they don’t already have such places. Corey Barton and Hubble houses are more proof. Cheap!