Comments on: Promoting Growth While Lamenting Lack Of Housing

By: Frank

Frank — Wed, 29 Dec 2021 20:16:35 +0000

At the risk of sounding redundant, we need to refer to those we call politicos, officials, etc as ELECTED PUBLIC SERVANTS?
When decisions are made by ELECTED PUBLIC SERVANTS that aren’t for the good of their constituents we need to ask THEM why they aren’t working like the public servant that they are.
We pay public servants to make decisions for growth. Advertising brings investors into the treasure valley housing market. Probably using 1031 monies, buying up properties that they rent.
Our elected public servants are deciding, now, if it’s OK for a developer to build a 46 unit apartment, on 3/4 of an acre. Located on the corner of Vista Ave and Targhee st? It will take out 7 or so AFFORDABLE houses?
The CCDC is like training wheels on a bike. Could have needed the BRA years ago? Is the CCDC needed NOW? Not with qualified public servants!

There is a thin line between GROWTH and GREED!

By: To some of you

To some of you — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 22:25:07 +0000

Funk Hobo69 – no 180k homes in Boise ever again. It is two income households who are buyers – or mover uppers. This place does have many environmental drawbacks, political drawbacks, and educational drawbacks. If you can afford to stay where you are stay. If you cannot, move to Alabama or Louisiana.

By: FunkHobo69

FunkHobo69 — Tue, 14 Dec 2021 17:13:06 +0000

There are currently more than 3 times as many houses for sale in Ada County than there were at this time last year. Where did all these houses come from? Did Harry Potter wave his magic wand to make them appear as if by magic? The truth is they are being held by so-called “investors” all along who soon enough will realize leverage can be thrilling on the way up, but be absolutely brutal on the way down. A median selling price of over 1/2 million dollars was never going to last in our quaint cow town in the middle of BFE, and will quickly return to at most 3X median local incomes, which by my calculations would be under $180K. OUCH! Hope nobody paid too much.

By: A Real Idahoan

A Real Idahoan — Tue, 14 Dec 2021 02:03:57 +0000

Interesting how so many domestic refugees think Idaho is still such a great place. That it is the mythical Shangri la that the chamber of commerce, land rapers and real estate pimps claim it is. Where outlanders move and immediately think they are magically transformed into Idahoans. Or for that matter that they are now, or ever will be welcome here.
For these simple lemmings that wonder when Idaho WAS a great place (NOT the current idafornia sewer) I direct them to a time when this valley was called the BOISE VALLEY or just the BOISE AREA. This so called treasure valley gambit was foisted by, you guessed it, a developer pimp in the 1960s and it took swarms of locust people that didn’t know any better to start calling it that.
According to one of these useless TV motor mouths, Long Valley Idaho is actually THE Long Valley. But then, he probably thinks he is from THE kalifornia and moved to THE Middleton. . .

By: Jo Jo

Jo Jo — Mon, 13 Dec 2021 21:48:08 +0000

As much as I want to agree with Bikeboy on this one, 1985 around here wasn’t all the great. Downtown devoured itself in the goal of getting a big mall (which ended up being Boise Town Square), leaded gas and other air pollution sources were probably more prevalent (the east side of Nampa started smelling way better once Armour closed), and I’m sure there is other stuff I’m missing. However, I will agree we don’t really need to encourage others to come at this point–I really want to quote Mr. Creosote from Monty Python’s Meaning of Life when he is offered an after-dinner mint, but this might be considered a family forum 🙂

Biggest problem as I see it, even worse than the advertising is land usage. We are strongly independent here in Idaho (which is something I like), but without a commitment to stronger zoning and development standards, it’s really no surprise what is happening. When you have a farmer who is tired of making a go at it who is cash-poor and land-rich, of course you’re going to have it sold for development when he wants out. Find a better way to solve that problem, and we might have a chance of getting ahead of the problem.

Eagle Rd is the best example to me. Whoever allowed all that haphazard development along the sides, and then expected traffic to flow might have been spending too much time shopping on the other side of the Snake River over in Ontario!

By: PD

PD — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 21:44:27 +0000

Ban all advertising at the airport, Erico49? Sounds like the airport in Stalingrad, or Beijing. But, okay, whatever to pacify the growthophobes.

By: McLean IS worse than Bieter

McLean IS worse than Bieter — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 19:59:51 +0000

What’s especially irritating is that the mayor/council wants to put taxpayers on the hook to create housing for homeless people. Anything government touches makes it way more expensive. That’s how we end up with a multimillion hardcore homeless apartment building that requires nothing of the residents. Want to stay dunk or drugged? No problem.

Of course, they’ll raise property tax every stinking year which only adds to the us affordability.

By: Forced Air

Forced Air — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 17:59:29 +0000

TFBoy…I’m sure that Denverites are telling themselves the same thing today….LOL! You can’t see what you want to ignore.

I applaud any migration of people who seek to escape Gavin Newsom’s insane asylum on the Left Coast, but along with the “nutjobs” who you say controls everything here are Stage 1 progressive cancer carriers who packed up to escape their own ideology that metastasized into Stage 2 and now Stage 3 Leftism where mobs rule the streets and homelessness is a normal lifestyle with poo poo on the sidewalks. The Stage 1 crowd thinks that Idaho will be that happy little medium and vote Democratic, just like back home.

Then if enough of them vote in bulk in Boise they can start experimenting with Stage 2 “solutions” and here we go again. Wash-Rinse-Repeat. Fortunately, one seat has been claimed on City Council to hopefully stem the cancer. But the base ideology remains….more socialist “solutions” for problems self created.

I used to be one of those progressives and drank the KoolAid for many years, but it’s a trap. The corruption steals the show and the hammer of Government is too tempting to wield. Liberty is vanquished in the name of the Collective. Ayn Rand was right after all. It took me forever to see it, but I finally did.

By: Talking from both sides of their mouths

Talking from both sides of their mouths — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 16:39:03 +0000

I would say it is time to eliminate advertising from the airport entirely. It is tasteless. Decent art could replace the ads. The income from the ads is probably not keeping pace with the price of housing and taxes anyway.

The city cannot promote the story both ways and have credibility.

By: Erico49

Erico49 — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 16:03:03 +0000

Great point, Jimmy. They could however, ban all advertising.