On the road it meant driving with intelligence and realizing the speed limit is not a suggestion. Your turn signals are meant to be used in a timely manner. One of the most basic ways to be respectful is to use your turn signal.

We can’t read your mind. So do not make a turn or cut into a lane without signaling a good distance away. Stop signs mean full stop, not rolling through and putting others in danger. You are on the road driving a vehicle with the potential to cause great harm so please pay attention. Not the time for putting on make-up or texting. It also meant living in a neighborhood, a place where neighbors are people who know, help out and care for each other.

Sadly, things have changed so much in the last few years. This up-zone is a developer’s dream. The neighborhood I live in is on a road that is 25’ across. It actually should be a lane as two cars cannot park across from each other or emergency vehicles cannot get through. Our street, sadly, now has 5 rental houses. Some are rented by the room and are overflowing with occupants, too many cars on the street and an abundance of visitors who come and go. Most of these have Cali plates and go way too fast up and down the street without paying attention. Damn, there are small children who live here!

Along with the above, other traffic has really increased with trucks from UPS, AMAZON, FED EX and food delivery ALL DAY LONG. Places that were once homes and focused on family living are turning to rentals, Air BnB, and VRBO.

So, from one who grew up here, I feel there is very little respect left. It’s a losing battle to get newcomers to understand and I feel our city government has lost control and can’t seem to help in any positive way. They don’t seem to care much about the Boise way of days past and now seem to react only to the green…..and I don’t mean the trees.

The proposed project included “60 condos and 20 AFFORDABLE HOUSING units!” That prompted us to ponder just exactly what constituted “affordable” on the trendy real estate? Then, we realized the local lingo seems to be the same throughout the USA.

With that in mind the GUARDIAN has compiled a list of terms which can mean whatever the politicos want them to mean.

TERMS WORTHY OF LIMITS

REVENUE, CLAWBACK, TRANSPARENCY, SHARROW, AFFORDABLE HOUSING, HOMELESS, INCENTIVES, HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION, CONNECTIVITY, URBAN RENEWAL, TAX INCREMENT FINANCING, SUSTAINABILITY, GREEN CERTIFIED, ROUNDABOUT, COMMUNITY POLICING, OUTREACH, LISTENING, FIRST RESPONDER, CLIENT, CONSULTANT, DEVELOPER, SURVEY, POLL, PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP, SUSTAINABILITY, LOCAL OPTION TAX, TRANSPORTATION CORRIDOR, INCREASED DENSITY, MASS TRANSIT, BICYCLE FRIENDLY, URBAN RENEWAL, INFILL, INCREASED DENSITY, SMART GROWTH

SELECTED DEFINITIONS

REVENUE–a term used to disguise “tax money taken from the hard earned wages of local citizens, usually against their wishes.

CLAWBACK–A way to grab REVENUE previously not collected.

TRANSPARENCY–A way to hide CLAWBACK of missed REVENUE.

TRANSPORTATION CORRIDOR–Formerly called streets, but includes bike lanes, pedestrian routes, street cars, scooters, electric bikes, and some autos.

ROUNDABOUT–A junction of two TRAFFIC CORRIDORS where it is difficult for HOMELESS to solicit because cars don’t stop.

MASS TRANSIT–Church bus for Catholics or use of TRAFFIC CORRIDORS.

INFILL–Result of INCREASED DENSITY and justification for MASS TRANSIT.

BICYCLE FRIENDLY–Motorists who stay out of SHARROW lanes to make a right turn.

SUSTAINABILITY–The ability to keep collecting REVENUES.

GREEN CERTIFICATION–A government declaration of color. Not red, yellow or blue. The certification can lead to SUSTAINABILITY.

INCENTIVES–Payments and tax breaks for DEVELOPERS and businesses seeking to exploit Idahoans. These lead to increased density and the clamor for GREEN CERTIFIED BUILDINGS.

PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP–A scheme for DEVELOPERS to get tax REVENUES and INCENTIVES for free.

SMART GROWTH–A cult following. Those in the cult advocate SUSTAINABILITY, SHARROWS, INFILL, ROUNDABOUTS, MASS TRANSIT, COMMUNITY POLICING, CONNECTIVITY, SURVEYS, CONSULTANTS, CLAWBACKS. A fantasy not rooted in reality.

The standard response to critics of growth was, “You can’t stop growth. People just want to come here.”

Now, more than 70% of those taking the scientific survey are saying growth is too fast. The majority of respondents were ready to accept slower development even if it meant a slower economic growth. If only our “leaders” would use these latest results as a call to reason.

Our lifestyle, culture, economy, and environment are changing beyond our control and not for the better.

The GUARDIAN has a logical, common sense solution to the accelerated growth rate. The cities and state should honor the will of the citizens and stop advertising. If a merchant has more demand for product than he can supply, it is downright stupid to keep advertising.

We are too full of tax incentives, offers for businesses to relocate in the Treasure Valley, assorted promotions at trade shows, planted feature stories about the joys for living here, and inclusion on “top 10” lists.

If the various mayors used their offices to distribute information about housing being too expensive for many workers, homelessness, winter air pollution, massive traffic issues, and the fact more than 70% of residents surveyed don’t want the rampant growth, perhaps it would discourage some of those new residents. Many days the air in Boise is worse than Los Angeles.

Combine that with some serious impact fees on developers who prey upon Treasure Valley residents who have to come up with schools, roads, and sewers for their profit and growth just might slow down.

We need to collectively take a break. Catch our breath. Stop and think about what we want out of life and what we can afford. New local option taxes and fees are not the solution.

Crappy. That adjective was used at a recent Valley Regional Transit (VRT) Board meeting by none other than the Leader of Team Dave (Mayor Dave Bieter) to describe the Valley Regional Transit System. At a later VRT meeting Hizzonor tried to walk back his comment saying he was referring to the financing available to VRT and not the actual operation of the system itself.

But the recently released VRT 2018 Annual Report seems to confirm Hizzonor– a system of extremely poor quality — one definition of crappy.

A few highlights.
• VRT spends about $ 10 million a year to provide bus service in the Valley.

• Passenger fares covered about 7 % of the cost in 2018. Possibly a new low. Most of the remaining 93% was borne by local and Federal tax dollars.

• Bus ridership is down, again, Valley wide despite all the population growth in the Valley.

• Even after adding service in 2018, Boise bus ridership declined about 4% from 2017- a new recent low. The 2018 ridership level, about 1.46 million trips, has not been seen since the 1980s when Boise’s population was half of what it is now.

• Nampa, Caldwell, and Intercounty ridership declined about 7% from 2017. Why is ridership down in the Valley despite adding evening and other services? Well, one reason could be riders like buses to be on time. Buses in the Valley aren’t running on time.

• Boise buses run late (more than 5 minutes) nearly 35% of the time.

• Nampa and Caldwell buses run late about 45% of the time.

• Intercounty service buses late about 45% of the time. Worse yet, buses pass their stops early. Nothing more aggravating than seeing the back end of the bus you were trying to catch because it passed the stop early.

• Boise buses run early nearly 6% of the time.

• Nampa or Caldwell buses run early 12% of the time.

• Intercounty service operates early about 10% of the time.

Bus riders appreciate clean, well maintained buses, which operate on time, or nearly on time, providing consistent service by friendly, knowledgeable, safe drivers. Those are key elements to building ridership and increasing passenger revenue. As usual, VRT is moving with glacial speed to address declining ridership and buses not running on time.

Rather demanding administrative cost reductions and better management of existing resources from VRT, the only answer Boise politicos seem to have for improving the bus system is to throw more money at it.

Certainly a crappy deal for local taxpayers who already pay more than $7-$8 in excess of the fare for every person who rides a bus.

The writer has extensive education and professional experience in transit issues.

EDITOR NOTE— here is a link to a BUS SOLUTION we posted 12 years ago…it got nary a nod from the bus folks, the council, or the mayor.

Here is what came out of a recent VRT Board meeting.

Seems the big dog has litter mates here in the Valley. The contractor who operates the local bus service for VRT is owned by the same British based company that owns Greyhound. Separate operations but common ownership.

Greyhound is proposing to use Main Street Station as a passenger and package express station. Buses would sit on Main St in front of the Wells Fargo building to load and unload passengers. VRT would handle ticketing, package express, public relations, and related duties for Greyhound in the Main Street Station multimodal facility.

After discharging passengers downtown the big dog would run a few laps to the VRT Orchard Street Maintenance Facility by the airport where it would fuel, “lift a leg,” take a bath, and get groomed for passengers before returning downtown to pick up customers. Fees to Greyhound for these services are still being worked out.

With passenger fares down 8% from 2017, VRT is keen to sniff out additional revenue sources. It estimates net revenue of about $ 10,000 a year from Greyhound for use of Main Street Station plus additional monies for servicing the big dogs.

The VRT Board directed staff to develop more information about the proposal and ensure all related costs were covered by Greyhound. They also requested a Greyhound management representative be present the next time the proposal is discussed by the Board.

No word on what will happened to the current Bannock St bus terminal should the VRT Board approve this proposal but it appears its days as a kennel are over.

Here are some topics for discussion and we freely admit they are not all new.

–Boise officials and the USAF staged a demonstration of their close air support (CAS) urban warfare training over our fair city at the end of August, but we don’t recall seeing any press releases before or after. Seems odd the flyboys suck up to the mayor, but every time someone complains about military air traffic, they get a letter from Team Dave saying, “we have no control over the military.”

–Lots of talk about that armored ambulance costing $300K. We shared that with some out-of-town paramedics who replied with, “Wow. I hope we get one too.” Logically it is like the MRAP truck from the military…do they need one in Pocatello and Cascade as well? Same is true for those “mobile command” buses. We think it has a lot to do with how much citizen cash is available. Think fire truck. Those are needed EVERYWHERE.

–Bus system still sucks.

–Why not put up freeway ramps during the Cloverdale overpass rebuild?

–Are the greenbikes dead with the advent of the scooters? Are the scooters working out?

–Should citizens get a VOTE on the library funding rather than manipulated “input” meetings?

–ACHD sure ate it when they told us “the citizens want the vehicle fee hike.” When it came to the ballot box it was another story. Legislature will likely allow ACHD to tax the heavy trucks as well as the small cars under 8,000 lbs.

The City of Boise seems to be deeply and obsessively involved in frenetic real estate horse-trading, to a degree rivaling the daily sales of a “ReMax” franchise. Large, complicated land swaps and deal-making to an extent I’ve never seen in other, similar-sized cities. When did Boise stop being a city government and jump headlong into the real estate game, which I thought was supposed to be the exclusive province of the private sector? A little history lesson, please, for any of us unused to living in a town that’s running a land office out its backdoor like the Oklahoma land grab. (And should we start donning gold “Century 21” blazers any time we do business at City Hall?)
Thanks, DAVID KLINGER

ANSWER
Mr. Klinger, You are spot on with your comments! It probably started out with 1970s Urban Renewal and evolved into elected officials telling each other they needed “a vision.” One group wanted a downtown mall and another did not. The big issue was women being forced to go to Salt Lake or Seattle for high end shopping.

The result was an impasse that left the vacant downtown core looking like a “war zone.” Dirk Kempthorne and Brent Coles were both younger mayors with an eye toward “running government like a business.” That created a period of executive car allowances, severance bonuses, phony business travel, credit card (P-card) abuse—all rather mundane and accepted in corporate life, but unacceptable with citizen’s money.

Bieter came in on an “ethics” platform, but he too has succumbed to the lure of having a vision and being able to build, grow, and “get things done.” Trouble is, he avoids bond elections and has spent $$$ on PR efforts and surveys to buttress his personal desires such as INCREASED DENSITY, GROWTH, A TROLLEY, F-35 JETS, KILLING ACHD, INDUSTRIAL PARK, ASSORTED ENERGY DREAMS. Citizens tend to get in his way, so he manipulates the media and stages highly managed workshop seminars and “surveys” aimed at supporting his plans.

Rather than create more cancer treatments and simply concede “cancer will always be around,” let’s eliminate some of the causes.

Wetherell’s admonitions to clear freeway medians and expand rights-of-way along State Street sound reasonable at first blush, but those “mass transit” systems depend upon MASSES. Wetherell is an attorney, former judge, and former city councilor. He is a problem solver.

We are reminded of the kid who showed up at the scene of a traffic incident where an over-height truck was wedged beneath an overpass. Massive winch trucks were unable to extract the trailer, police feared the bridge would be pulled off the abutment. The kid asked, “Why not let the air out of the tires?”

The same is true for the crowded roads. Why not stop encouraging people to come to Boise and Treasure Valley? Stop paying businesses INCENTIVES to relocate their facilities here and “create jobs” which increase the population and jam not only the streets, but the schools, the sewers, etc. Stop encouraging “increased density” to justify the need for mass transit. Eliminate “economic development” schemes.

Let the air out of the tires and give us a little breathing room. Enjoy what we have and stop trying to grow.

Today’s “official versions” of local events really need to be compared to ALL the facts. Here is a sample of Tuesday’s events.

First off we got a PRESS RELEASE from the Community Planning Association (COMPASS) declaring the multi-county board of local governments had endorsed the ACHD proposed ballot measure to raise vehicle registration fees for Ada County cars, but not for vehicles over 8,000 lbs. Tom Dale, a Canyon County Commish, is chairman of COMPASS and he was quoted favoring the fee hike.

We noted he favored a fee hike in Ada even with the unfair language exempting heavy trucks. Upon talking with Dale, we learned he really “favored letting people vote, but apparently that included endorsing the fee hike–not just having a vote.” He said there was no need for an extra vehicle registration fee in Canyon.

Then, we learned from other sources that the entire ACHD board favors the GUARDIAN proposal to charge ALL vehicles and not just the small cars to pay the fee. In fact, there has been some pretty intense back room work on the part of legislators of both parties as well as ACHD commishes to “getter’ done.”
So much for voting to tax only Ada passenger vehicles. Our point? The COMPASS endorsement is premature and probably not needed if our sources are correct.

Later, along comes an ADA COUNTY RELEASE claiming the commishes approved a 2019 budget just shy of $281 million. The release quoted Commish Chairman Dave Case supporting the “tough decisions” over the budget.

Then we got a message from Commish Rick Visser informing us the budget represents a 14% increase over last year and he voted against approval. The official release never mentioned Visser’s dissent nor the 14% hike over last year’s spending.

Finally, Visser also mentioned that he and Commish Jim Tibbs (also on the COMPASS BOARD) both voted “no” on endorsing the ACHD fee hike. OUR POINT? Things are not as unanimous as they would have you think.

Government press reports tend to offer only a single point of view–usually that of the majority. We cannot rely on “official versions” of events any more than we can rely on ads telling us the legislature banned horse racing when they really banned slot machines.

I have lived in Boise for 50 years. All but two of those years in the same house. I am the oldest guy on the block and number two for length of residency behind a neighbor who was born here.

I have pretty much lived my entire adult life in Boise and cannot think of anywhere else I want to live. That said, I witnessed unbridled growth, massive traffic impacts, urban sprawl and a constant effort on the part of city, county, and state politicos to increase population and then work to solve the problems they create through various incentives and public relation stunts designed to attract more people.

Annual smoke photo.

This is all the result of a growth-oriented mentality that has altered–if not destroyed–our culture and the way of life we used to cherish.

So, “WHY DO WE KEEP ATTRACTING MORE PEOPLE AND WHY DO THEY COME HERE?”

CONTINUING UPDATE

Idaho is #7 for suicide rate according to CDC.
Idaho is in top 10 states for vehicle deaths according to INSURANCE INSTITUTE.