Economy
Different DIFFERENT Slants On Urban Renewal
At least four bills aimed at getting more citizen approval for debt, election of commissioners or creation of Urban Renewal Districts are headed for the floor of the Idaho House. Politicos bent on keeping the public from having any authority over their tax spending as mandated by the Idaho Constitution are rallying to oppose the […]
Cities Seek More Authority Without Oversight
While at least 7 bills are pending in the Idaho Legislature aimed at limiting Urban Renewal by allowing citizens to vote on board members and creation of districts, Idaho”s cities are pushing for a law allowing “Intermodal Commerce Authorities” with no voter control. SB 1060 passed the Senate Friday and is headed for the House. […]
City Should Strike Out On Foul B’ball Survey
Boise’s City Council will consider a wind up and pitch from Team Dave on Tuesday to commission yet another survey–this one on baseball–and no doubt the results will claim a home run on a bunt. This field of dreams will be built on the premise that a big stadium will be worthy of a AAA […]
Paramedic Trade Worthy Of Major League Baseball
In a four-way trade between Ada County, The Western Idaho Fair (Expo Idaho), North Ada County Fire & Rescue, and the Ada County Emergency Medical Services, the Chinden Blvd. fire station will reopen… sort of… sometimes. In October the fire station was closed when NACFR ran out of money due to lower assessed property values. […]
PUC Deals Big Blow To Wind Generators
Idaho’s Public utilities commission has dealt a blow to companies seeking to sell massive amounts of electricity to Idaho Power and two other utilities in the Gem State. Monday the PUC issued an order putting a temporary limit on the size of so-called PURPA projects which require the big utilities to purchase power from alternative […]
Local Issues Cropping Up In Legislature
The GUARDIAN is familiar with much of what’s on the plate of lawmakers this session. We brought the issue of a state-owned storage business to the attention of readers last fall. Sen. Russ Fulcher of Meridian went after the deputy director of the State Lands Department in a Senate State Affairs committee hearing Wednesday over […]
Sunshine On Wind, Solar Finances, Politics
For folks investing in those mandatory “PURPA” electricity generating projects, their plans could face a short circuit, thanks to recent developments in science, business, and politics. The most important issue for Idaho consumers is a report from Idaho Power Company telling the GUARDIAN they are approaching enough wind generating capacity to meet their minimum daily […]
F-35 May Not Fly In Congress (or Boise)
Despite the endorsement of the Boise City Council and Team Dave, it looks like the skies over Boise won’t soon be bothered by F-35 fighter jets. The program is grossly over budget. Here is a WEBPOST from last Friday detailing the problems. http://spectrum.ieee.org/riskfactor/aerospace/military/us-joint-strike-fighter-f35-hits-afterburners-on-cost-overrun No word from the State, Feds, or Boise about mixing military fighters […]
How To Buy Friends And Influence People
It just never stops!! We are working the Day Job on a summer shoot in Argentina and depend upon our great readers for tips. This came in today showing Boise’s plan to spend taxpayer dollars for some sort of influence peddling scheme with CCDC. A legal notice published in the Daily Paper: LEGAL NOTICE NOTICE […]
Some Grist For The Coffee Shop Mill
We offer a round up today of some topics of conversation, bearing in mind the legislative crazy season will soon be upon us. That means the legacy media will do their “one stop shopping” at the Statehouse instead of Bronco Stadium. –The G-BAD boys will get a report from a consultant on Monday saying it’s […]
Avimor Parent Could Leave Arizona Buyers On The Hook
One of our GUARDIAN admirers in Arizona sent this news story regarding a planned community in that state developed by the same outfit that built the Avimor development off Highway 55 north of Eagle. The story points out the potential nightmare Idaho buyers could face if infrastructure is financed using a law that SunCor/Avimor lobbied […]
Ada Sues Boise, Meridian, Garden City
Ada County has sent Christmas Greetings to Boise, Garden City, and Meridian in the form of a lawsuit and a demand the cities pay up millions of dollars for magistrate court facilities provided by Ada County. The lawsuit was filed last week in Fourth District court and is part of a long festering feud between […]
Greed and Politicos Diddle Retirement System
A reader sent us a link to a WALL STREET JOURNAL story about ailing public retirement plans. Idaho’s PERSI (Public Employee Retirement System) covers city county and state workers so each city doesn’t have its own burden, but we still need reform. PERSI is full of flaws that cost taxpayers millions and is in danager […]
GUARDIAN Warned of Fizzled Fission Three Years Ago
Thursday’s story by Rocky Barker in the DAILY PAPER about an alleged scam involving the SEC investigation of Alternative Energy’s proposed nuclear power plant near Payette didn’t really surprise us. The GUARDIAN, along with readers and writer Jo Kirkpatrick warned folks of the “smooth operator” in this NUKE STORY. Our hat is off to the […]
Paramedic School Hit By CWI Competition
Editor note: Despite the GUARDIAN name, there is no connection between the blog and the school in Meridian. As the economic woes continue in Idaho and the USA, we thought this piece was worthy of a post here. It demonstrates the difficulty of the private sector in direct competition with the government–CWI in this case– […]
AG Sticks To His Principles On Land Issue
Gotta hand it to Lawrence Wasden, Idaho’s Attorney General. While we disagree with his Land Board position when it comes to the state owning and operating a storage business under the guise of “obtaining maximum return for the education endowment fund,” at least the guy is consistent. He has taken his fellow Land Board Commissioners […]
Generation Gap Has Many (electronic) Faces
We got a note from a typical “grumpy old GUARDIAN” reader today questioning the authority of the government to “get into our accounts” when we send them a check, prompted by the notice above. It brought to mind the half dozen clients who will pay us for the Day Job images only through direct deposit. […]
Government PR Offers Economic Bright Spot
Rather than offer any “GUARDIAN prose,” we will just share what a reader sent Thursday on the actions of Idaho’s Land Board. This type of spending in the face of budget cuts and economic tough times is why our citizens feel so betrayed by those who rule us. I’ve been thinking about this since yesterday, […]
Self Storage Association Quizzes Idaho Land Board
The national president of the Self-storage Association in Washington, D.C.has asked the Idaho Land Board to curtail future purchases of retail storage businesses, investing instead in Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) specializing in self storage. The letter to the board is dated November 5 and includes numerous questions and concerns about the practice of state-owned […]
State Acts As Schill For Insurance Broker
A state worker sent us the accompanying flyer from the Idaho Department of Administration, questioning the propriety of using the official state seal to encourage insurance sales for only a specific broker. Our brief inquiry revealed that a Utah insurance broker, Moreton and Company, approached the department of administration which was under the direction of […]
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