Growth
Share BAD BOISE With Friends
After the Zamboni drivers midnight run to Burger King garnered international attention for Boise, a reader suggested we share more REAL Boise in an effort to slow the growth factor. The Chamber of Commerce claims to have raised about $5 million to spend on attracting new businesses and jobs to the Boise area. The GUARDIAN […]
Chamber Creates Growth Problems
Growthophobes are losing the battle daily as local governments and outside business interests continue to “pave Paradise and put up parking lots.” The Saturday edition of the Daily Paper makes the GUARDIAN want to pull out his three remaining hairs and scream at the inane remarks. On the business page a headline problems “Mayor says […]
Utilities Dominate Growth Decisions
THE FOLLOWING IS WRITTEN BY A GUARDIAN READER WHO HAS DISPLAYED A FIRM GRASP OF GROWTH ISSUES AND WE THOUGHT HIS RESPONSE TO “CANNING THE PLANNING SHOULD GET BETTER DISPLAY. Guest Post By CURIOUS GEORGE Less government? I’m not sure it’s possible to get less government unless we revert to Kurdish-style warlord-ruled fiefdoms. Hegemony anyone? […]
Time For Canning The Planning?
Following the Tuesday election, political observers have taken note of the growing gulf between Idaho’s conservative and liberal voters–and subsequently the politicos elected. Nowhere is the gap more apparent than in Boise–where the Dems have made some serious inroads–and Meridian where conservative “family values” people have made their voices heard at the polls…it is as […]
Developer Gets Ag Exemption
GUEST POST BY TONY JONES (Jones lives on the plateau being developed by Skyline Development and heads up the “Save The Plateau” group.) The Idaho tax code is designed to encourage farming and ranching, most notably via property tax agricultural exemptions. Basically, the agricultural exemption creates a formula whereby farmers and ranchers are taxed on […]
I Wanna Put You In The Movies
The movie dude hitting the Daily Paper front page and Channel 7 news stories with his subdivision dream has appealed to the collective quest of Idaho business, media, and education to be recognized. The growthophiles have been duped in our humble opinion. Like the ill-fated “Sweetwater Junction” that was supposed to be in Nampa about […]
G-BAD Convention Center Take IV
The bungling efforts of the Greater Boise Auditorium District have reached epic proportions as they announced Wednesday at least their fourth try to build a convention center in downtown Boise. –Voters have turned them down twice. On the first go around they couldn’t even get 50% of the required 67% majority required by law. –Round […]
Sad Commentary On Growth
GUARDIAN GUEST POST BY: Joanne Pence Dry Creek Rural Neighborhood Association Twenty-three new planned communities are proposed for Ada County according to the Statesman’s front page article of October 11, 2006. If approved, these massive “planned communities” will give us sprawl as far as the eye can see. It’s this kind of mindless development that […]
Quasar Proposes Illegal Development
Quasar Development continues to push for an illegal condo project on Park Blvd. at Park Center. City zoning law limits buildings to 45 feet at that location, but the developer wants to disregard the law and build a structure nearly double the legal limit at about 80 feet. They also want the city to let […]
Growth Triumphs Over Good
“The mayor told me that if you don’t grow you die. I got to thinking the faster you grow the sooner you die.” –Pete Seeger on Democracy Now! Ada County’s local governments (Boise, Garden City, Star, Kuna, Meridian, Eagle, ACHD, and Ada County) have been working on a dream plan called “Blueprint For Good Growth” […]
Door Banger Parking Lot
Like one of those computer graphics programs, Boise’s newest parking garage was programmed to, “SHRINK TO FIT PAGE.” As a result, the Myrtle Garage is difficult for the upscale SUV crowd to navigate due to hairpin corners and substandard parking stalls. Instead of the 8 foot 6 inch width, the new garage features 7 foot […]
BoDoSo NotSo GoodSo
What a difference objectivity makes! The IDAHO BUSINESS REVIEW, that weekly with nothing but business stories, just may be something worth checking out. The daily paper gave us several days of hype and architects drawings last week promoting the BoDo developer’s plan for a six block development and a new library that nobody sought. Reporter […]
Library Scam Explained
We can’t tell if it was ignorance or deceit, but the daily paper ran a blatantly erroneous story entitled “Developer Envisions Library Blocks” in Friday’s edition. The short version is BoDo developer Mark Rivers wants to take over six blocks of of our city and include a library– which he will rent back to the […]
Desert Homes In Fire Peril
Thursday night’s intense thunderstorm and accompanying winds were not really unusual for Southwest Idaho, but losing homes and risking lives should send a signal to local authorities considering development in lands subject to wildfire. Three occupied homes and an empty house trailer burned in the Tipanuk (Kuna Pit backwards) settlement just north of I-84 at […]
Insurgent Developers Invade Ada
There has to be some kind of analogy to the mideast situation with all these invanders imposing their will on the peace-loving people of Boise and Ada county. The latest aggressor is Westpark Company with ‘Mayfield Springs.’ It is another of those mass subdivisions billed as a “Planned Community” proposed for land located northeast and […]
A Hump For The Cliffs
Ada County’s chief civil attorney made what some saw as a surprise appearance at the county P&Z meeting Thursday–looking to hump the CLIFFS development at Hammer Flats. Ted Argyle appeared with his fellow homeowners in the Surprise Valley subdivision asking for a berm along Highway 21 if the project is ever built. Wasn’t Surprise Valley […]
More Rooftops For Growthaphiles
JMM Dry Creek, LLC, today submitted their initial planned community application for the ‘Dry Creek Ranch’ Planned Community proposed for land on the east side of Highway 55 south of Shadow Valley Golf Course in unincorporated Ada County. The proposed 1,414-acre community would include approximately 4,300-residential units ranging from custom homes to multi-family residential buildings. […]
Why Ruin Our Nice Town
The local politicos are at it again trying to make Boise a big city by filling in every square foot of space they can fill to include that ill advised convention center plan. Narrow streets and limited space are not conducive to massive public buildings. We don’t have the broad avenues of Paris or Buenos […]
Developer After Public Land For Road
Looks like the Idaho Transportation Department not only holds the key, but they also own the door to the proposed Cliffs subdivision overlooking Lucky Peak Dam east of Boise. Long time opponent of the project, Tony Jones, claims ITD owns land that Skyline Development has designated as primary entrance to the plateau. He says the […]
Boise Spins Wheels On Ustick
The Idaho Attorney General’s office has issued a statement backing up the Ada County Highway District (ACHD) argument that Boise City councilors have no authority over ACHD decisions. At issue is the widening of Ustick Road from three lanes to five. ACHD says it is necessary due to traffic volumes and general growth of subdivisions […]
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