MORE APARTMENTS for Crescent Rim residents to view in the Lusk area.

We took a little tour of our downtown area recently and sadly realized it is nearly impossible to see the foothills or much of any horizon thanks to the big city apartments and other structures.

The state capitol used to be the centerpiece of the Boise skyline, but it is pretty much obscured today unless you happen to be in the middle of Capital Blvd looking north.

Our city fathers and mothers have carried on a love affair with developers to the point Front Street is a deep canyon with tall buildings crowding the street. They have given away several traffic lanes on both Capital and often on Front.

While the zoning ordinance is about to undergo wholesale changes, it is not an understatement to claim that nearly every development in the past ten years included “variances” for everything from parking requirements to building materials. So much for the rule of law. If it doesn’t fit, change the rule.

The upcoming election for councilors and mayor are of particular importance. We get to vote for only one of the six councilors. Here are some views of our fair city as it continues to grow like cancer.

FRONT STREET canyon looking east

NO VIEWS from street level, no horizon.

LONELY TREE downtown.

CAPITOL PEEKS from behind downtown apartments.

ORCHARD AND FRANKLIN apartments on city land partnering with developer.

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.

RESPECT THE CULTURE was actually emblazoned on the tailgate of a small truck. It got us to thinking.

How many of the thousands of newcomers to Boise and Idaho in general come here to join in the lifestyle, rather than change it? Do folks come here to take advantage of cheap labor, cheap electricity, business “incentives,” or do they want to become Idahoans?

We would welcome your thoughts. When farms start growing houses, schools are overstuffed, the roads are insufficient for the traffic volume, and there aren’t enough jail cells, the culture changes.

Boise is pretty much midway between Salt Lake and Portland. Sort of in the “middle of nowhere.” Unless folks in those population centers want to board at midnight, Boise will once again be a “wee hours” stop. It is also cost prohibitive to offer more than a few trains a week, let alone multiple daily trains.

Going east, after Mountain Home the only towns served would be Glenns Ferry and Shoshone until Pocatello. There would be no rail service to Hagerman, Buhl, Filer, Twin Falls, Burley, Rupert, Wendell, Jerome or any of the smaller Magic Valley settlements.

Why no rail service? Because THERE ARE NO RAILS!

The idea of passenger rail service is simply a novelty based on old memories and dreams of someday being “just like the Eastern seaboard.”

We challenge local and national politicos to agree to use any future rail service for their routine government work as public policy. That would be for all conferences, meetings, and any other public business. NO PUBLIC MOTOR VEHICLES ALLOWED–just trains. It would never happen.

Please take a look at two previous GUARDIAN stories. We suggested a federal bus service we dubbed AMBUS, but it got no takers.

We also panned Sen. Mike Crapo’s SURVEY spending

The recent announcement of a Meta data center moving to Kuna would be great if the predicted 100 workers were from the ranks of Idaho unemployed. Whenever state or county governments offer any “incentives,” the beneficiary should post a bond to insure they pay for all the promised items like sewer, water, schools, roads, etc.

If not, we can expect a desert “State Government Campus-South” just like we have at the former H-P site on Chinden.

GROWTOHOBES stand by the policy of welcoming anyone who wants to locate a business here as long as they pay a fair wage and the same taxes the rest of us pay. Growth for the sake of growth is like cancer and it is expensive.

To further add salt to the wound, Kuna politicos are planning to create an urban renewal district in the desert. That means the city of Kuna, the schools, ACHD, and Ada County will receive NO TAX revenue on the $800 million building. It will be diverted to the urban renewal district.

Her allegiance appears to be to corporate America rather than the citizens of Boise since she has a “non-disclosure agreement” with the business (according to the BoiseDev story) in an effort to deprive citizens of information until the timing is right.

A November story in BOISEDEV details the mayor’s secret taxpayer-funded trip to an undisclosed destination to meet secretly with an undisclosed business in an attempt to lure them to Boise.

While growth, the “housing crises,” and increased demand on sewers, water, schools, and municipal services are major issues, it appears our city mother is far from transparent in her actions.

In a transparent environment citizens would be advised of the interest a business may have and the intent of local politicos to sort of “test the water.” Instead we citizens are left to navigate the cloudy waters until it is too late to effectively protest any actions.

Perhaps some “water renewal” is in order.

UPDATE–Evening TV news on the national CBS segment showed a feature on Boise being the #1 least affordable city in the USA when it comes to housing. Secret government encouraging more workers needing more houses will do little to abate the “housing crises.”

Regardless of how clean these folks think they can filter the sewage, it will end up in the Boise River—upstream from the area where thousands float in their inner tubes and rafts each summer and upstream from where Suez Water pumps drinking water from the river.

A NO vote on the sewer bond will force the council to either risk being unelected if they raise sewer fees 53%—as threatened– in the event the bond is rejected by voters OR to take notice of the “gravity of the issue” and refrain from seeking voter approval of an upstream sewer plant that could truly threaten clean water.

City councilors need to rethink the funding sources and scale back the proposal. A modest rate hike is in order to maintain the sewer system, but it should not be expanded in an effort to foster more growth and industrial use of our resources, including the Boise River.

Most households have received printed mailers urging a “yes” vote on the bond. It was paid for by a political action group calling itself “Yes for Clean and affordable Water.” Far from a grassroots citizen movement, this outfit is a who’s who of special interests destined to benefit from increased population and growth.

GUARDIAN volunteers did the research at the Idaho Secretary of State and identified the following list of players and what they paid to influence your vote.

o Blue Cross of Idaho — $10,000
o J.R. Simplot Company — $10,000
o Hayden Beverage Company — $5,000
o Republic Services (trash hauler) — $5,000
o Block 22, LLC (property management) — $5,000
o Roundhouse Group, Inc. (condo developer, formerly known as Los Angeles-based “LocalConstruct” — $5,000
o Micron — $10,000
o Patrick Bageant for Boise City Council — $1,000
o HDR, Inc. Employee Owners PAC (Omaha, Nebraska-based industrial planning and design company) — $5,000
o Conservation Voters for Idaho — $2,500
o Ball Ventures Ahlquist/BVA Development (Meridian, Idaho) — $5,000
o Old Boise LP (Boise developer) — $3,000

The bond proposal timing is brilliant. The voter turnout is likely to be sparse and the North End district will be the big council race

The craftily worded City ballot proposal:

X– IN FAVOR of funding clean water improvements by issuing bonds for the purposes stated in ORD-39-21
X– AGAINST funding clean water improvements by issuing bonds for the purposes stated in ORD-39-21

Boiling the question down to being either IN FAVOR or AGAINST clean water is akin to the classic, “Are you still beating your wife?” A legal challenge would be nice to obtain “judicial confirmation” the language is impartial and not electioneering.

This deceptive language would have voters think the City is “saving” money if they approve the bond. Sounds like the guy who bought a new fishing boat because the price was lowered $5,000. “Honey I bought a new boat and saved us $5,000.”

We all want clean water, but Boise has a never ending cycle of favoring costly growth, then working to solve the problems it creates. Money spent creating increased population and “density” would go a long way toward preserving a better quality of life AND water.

Growthophobes suggest this more realistic and honest language for the proposal:

X–IN FAVOR OF highest debt in Idaho history
X–AGAINST higher tax debt to create more growth

The GUARDIAN suggests the legislature amend the ballot language process for municipal bonds to include “FOR and AGAINST” explanations just as we have on statewide constitutional amendment ballots. One way to create the language would be by a court approved order following open testimony from citizens.

To further promote their move to increase growth and help the real estate development folks, Boise officials have set aside $300,000 to “educate citizens.” If they spend the tax money, much of it will go to the same public relations individuals who were on the losing side of the F-35 and mega-library projects. Growthophobes would love to have a $300,000 “education fund.”

BOISE DEV has a good explanation of the financing scheme.

FOR WHAT? There was no one drying the car, vacuuming the interior, or cleaning the glass. The entire experience is automated and self service. You wouldn’t tip at the automated super market check stand.

We generally leave a 20% gratuity in restaurants and even as much as $100 at a regular coffee haunt during the Christmas holidays–to be spread among the baristas. But a tip to an automated computer screen is simply too much. We also find it intimidating when restaurant wait service staff produces a credit card device with built in tip calculations. They are holding the device and you feel like a bum if you don’t tip the suggested high end amount.

We feel it is up to the employer to pay the staff at the car wash and not try to grab extra cash from customers. Please feel free to share your thoughts.

We get a kick out of listening to the radio ads for real estate agencies claiming to get the “highest prices” for the houses they sell.

Simple logic would suggest that BUYERS avoid those agencies. Who wants to pay the highest prices? Imagine a super market advertising they have the highest prices for vendor goods!

We can only hope Boise doesn’t come up with a plan to buy up homes that are up for foreclosure in the name of providing “affordable housing” while propping up the owners who are financially underwater.