Guess Opinion by
KEN PIDJEON

Boise currently allows between 15 to 45 dwelling units per acre, sometimes more, and under the proposed Zoning Code those numbers remain but, in some cases, unlimited density is allowed.

Contrast Boise with all five boroughs that comprise New York City – the most densely populated city in the nation.

According to the 2020 Census, New York City, overall, has approximately 19 dwelling units per acre. Boise’s currently allowed maximum density and proposed maximum density is at least twice that of New York City overall and about two thirds the density of Manhattan which has 63 units per acre.

After New York City, San Francisco is the second most densely populated city in the United States.

So why is Boise attempting to surpass both New York City and San Francisco in density? Do Boise residents really want to live in the most densely populated city in America? As a 45 plus year Boise resident, who grew up in Philadelphia proper, I don’t think so.

It is time to make both rational and realistic decisions about population density. 45 dwelling units per acre is neither rational nor realistic. The same goes for unlimited density. Perhaps 10 to 12 dwelling units per acre would be sufficient. Dwelling units per acre in that range are more than double the 2020 Census reported dwelling unit density for Boise and they are more than sufficient to support a transit system per St. Paul, MN Metropolitan Council guidelines.

Claiming she still had a desire to help with City Council problems, former councilor Elaine Clegg has come up with a novel solution to help solve the problems of the “unhoused community.”

Clegg is the recently appointed director of the Valley Regional Transit bus system. She noticed upon taking the job there are a number of used buses which were retired from service, replaced with electric models.

Since the Ada Commishes balked at continued funding of 52 rooms at the Downtowner hotel for homeless folks, Clegg has come up with a plan to convert the old buses into “homeless camper vans.”

“We can hire a team of planners from out of state along with an outside legal firm to insure our unhoused community members have a place to sleep out of the weather,” said Clegg. She noted at least 15 bunks could be installed in each bus.

She suggested outfitting each coach with lavatories and parking them in City-owned areas near Harris Ranch, Ann Morrison Park, and the Foothills Learning Center.

Director Clegg said she hadn’t discussed the plan with Mayor Lauren McClean because it would probably be considered just another GUARDIAN April Fools story.

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

BY STEVE HULME

In 1986, I was a working-class guy, married with two kids and another on the way. And a dilemma. I had a new job – downtown. (Up ’til then I’d been in easy walking distance from the office.) With one car between us, suddenly we were competing for the wheels. Occasionally I drove to work; more often I took the bus, or Robin dropped me off and kept the car.

Betty, a friend at the office, rode a bicycle… and she lived twice as far away as me! Betty was always cheerful and energetic… and was an enthusiastic proponent of bicycles-as-transportation. Her steed was a pretty red Gitane road bike; she had a choice parking spot in the back hallway. (That was another thing about driving to work… sitting in traffic, finding a parking spot, etc., etc.) Betty really put me to thinkin’.

I told wife Robin I was going to get a bicycle and start riding to work. She was skeptical… confident I was just negotiating for some “new toy money” from our very limited budget. But I forged ahead, ultimately deciding on something that was new-fangled in ’86 – a “mountain bike,” they called it. Nobody was sure whether they’d catch on.

But – it caught on with me! That’s what matters. That bicycle became my primary mode of transportation. Riding up “Mount Protest Road” seemed like a daunting task at the time! But I got to coast down in the morning, and the rest of my route was pretty flat.

I immediately started appreciating some of the benefits – no traffic headaches… no parking headaches… no pumping gas! But as the days got longer and the weather nicer, my route started varying (at least in the afternoon, when I wasn’t pressed for time). Bicycling proved itself as recreation and exercise, besides transportation.

That first year, I ended up riding 2195 miles. (I spent $80 or so extra for another new-on-the-market gizmo – a Cateye bike computer.) 1986 was the last year I bicycled less than 4000 miles, as the bike became my primary transportation. (I still occasionally rode the bus, or a motorcycle, or caught a ride, but 95% of my commuting was on the bike – year ’round.)

The last day I drove a car to work was in September, 1997. I retired in 2019 – twenty-one years later, and exactly one year before the pandemic.

On September 6, 2004, I hit 100,000 cumulative bicycle miles.

Today – April 23, 2022 – I hit 200,000 cumulative bicycle miles. It doesn’t seem as momentous. I s’pose it’s like birthdays – after enough of ’em they lose a bit of luster. Bike miles are bike miles.

I still average about 350 “bicycle days” per year. I still ride about 5000 miles per year, and have no intention of letting up. 300K seems pretty unlikely, but I’d like to shoot for 250,000 miles, 9 or 10 years from now. Back during the employment years, probably 2/3 of my miles were transportation, 1/3 pleasure/exercise/recreation. Those numbers are reversed now… the majority of my miles are just because I love to ride! The best rides these days, are rides with my grandkids. (Oh, and 2022 Steve is considerably slower than 1986 Steve, despite all that “training”!!)

The number of HOURS spent riding over 36 years? That is a sobering thought! But consider how many hours a lot of people are sitting in traffic over the course of a year. Consider how many gas station fill-ups I’ve skipped. And – most of that bicycle time is combined transportation/recreation/exercise! Win-win-win!

There IS a down-side to transportation cycling. There is some effort involved (if you consider that a “down-side”). Cold and wet weather… really HOT weather… and slippery road conditions… wind… an unpleasant encounter with another roadway user, can take the gilt off the lily. You are severely limited in carrying capacity – no stops at the lumber yard on the way home from work. Probably a half-dozen times I got home… took my shoes off… and poured water out of ’em. I’ve had a few crashes – some painful! – fortunately never involving a serious injury. But the wonderful days far outnumber the marginal days.

One thought that gives me comfort: Lots of old geezers get to a certain age, and their kids intervene and take the car keys. For me, that won’t be too painful. (Now if they lock my bike up and hide the key… THAT might be a problem!)

If you are thinking about riding a bike to work – START TODAY!

I’d love to answer any questions you GUARDIAN readers might have – please submit them, and with help from Mr. Frazier, I’ll do my best to provide a forthright response. THANK YOU to everybody who is patient with bike riders, and gives us space to operate. Be safe – keep the shiny side up!

“Bikeboy” Steve Hulme

Exercising forward planning and backward logic, Ada County Highway District has installed an ADA certified wheelchair ramp TO NOWHERE at the corner of Columbus and Targee.

The GUARDIAN didn’t even bother to file all the record requests to find out what it cost to install, but the concrete placing, excavation, and ramp component provides access to NOWHERE! If the installation could even be justified as a “future use,” it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to relocate utility poles and condemn private property for future sidewalks.

There are sidewalks on the opposite sides of both Targee and Columbus.

Meanwhile local politico mothers and fathers work overtime to attract more population, cars, trains, planes, and buses through “incentives.” They want those of us who live here to finance their addictive habit.

As budget approval times approach for local governments, tax increases are coming and expansion of everything from schools to roads, coppers, city workers and traffic are imminent.

Those of us who have lived here and revere the lifestyle, weather, and culture of SW Idaho are an endangered species. In a nutshell we are being exploited by outside forces and have to pay the bill so developers and other “birds of prey” can flourish.

We often hear the cry, “We have been discovered and we can’t keep people from moving here!” True, but we shouldn’t have to PAY them to come here. Paylocity posted a testimonial on a chamber of commerce site which is worth noting:

“In Boise’s favor were state incentives like a Workforce Development Training Fund, a reimbursement program to help cover the costs of training and onboarding initiatives, and a Tax Reimbursement Incentive (TRI) of 28 percent for 15 years. TRI is an incentive available to new or existing Idaho companies that create 50 or more high-wage jobs in Idaho. Companies have the ability to receive a reimbursement on their payroll, sales and corporate income taxes up to 30 percent for a maximum of 15 years. TRI is awarded to companies that prove their stability and significant economic impact to the industry, community and state.”

Wouldn’t we ALL like to have a 28 percent tax kickback for 15 years?

To top it off, the land was formerly agricultural cropland. Meridian made it an urban renewal agency and none of the taxes on the multimillion dollar buildings go to schools, ACHD, the city or the county. Sadly, the scenario is repeated over and over.

In the annual budget competition between local governments to see who can offer the most “savings,” Ada County is this year’s winner. The commishes budget includes a $12M cut in property taxes. Don’t hold your breath because future budgets can “clawback” the foregone taxing authority. Just ask the Ada County Highway District.

ACHD is faced with dozens of needed road projects and they are exploring to use that clawback feature to add $7.5 million cash to their bank account. See this BoiseDev piece.

Boise City has approved a $276.2 million budget to include 44 new hires in various departments–because of growth. Officials predict a 29% tax hike.

All these new people and companies need a bigger airport with more flights. Alaska Airlines has a deal with the University of idaho to pay the carrier if their new route to Moscow-Pullman is not profitable. Also, we wonder about the “incentives” offered to airlines for new flight routes. Do they pay landing and gate fees like everyone else?

In summary, when local government works against the will of the citizens thinking they are “creating jobs” and “competing with other cities,” they are destroying our culture and a way of life that has been eroded almost to the point of destruction.

When growth is the number one concern of society it is counter- productive to encourage growth. The politicos have caused the price of housing to climb out of sight and then they strive to build some cheap housing to take care of the problem they themselves created.
They create that which they seek to escape.

What a waste of effort and tax money to keep doing surveys, hoping the facts will change. Nearly 12 years ago Crapo pushed for a “survey” about the cost of bringing Amtrak to Boise. We doubt it got any cheaper over the years. Some of the players have changed, but the idea is still not in the best interest of taxpayers.

Here is what happened in 2009 after Crapo dropped a ton of citizen cash on the survey.

Study Shows Boise Amtrak Not In Financial Best Interest Of USA
After spending at least $374,000,000 to get the tracks and people up to speed, Amtrak would have to charge passengers an average of $353 for each ticket–IF they could get 102,000 riders–just to break even on the cheapest option for rail service to Boise, according to figures released in an Amtrak report.

Politicos with overly optimistic plans were surprised at the projected costs, but not deterred. U.S. Senator Mike Crapo has urged folks to comment at HIS WEBSITE. He wants the train, but the GUARDIAN urges him to do the responsible thing and declare: “the report has clearly shown that AMTRAK service to Boise would not be in the best financial interests of that nation at this time.”

Boise Mayor Dave Bieter has taken to “government by resolution” and convinced the city council ro approve a resolution supporting Amtrak’s return to Idaho. These resolutions have no legal standing, but they create the illusion of a broad support for Amtrak and foolishly spending tax money to support a political goal.

GUEST OPINION
By Lawrence Wasden

I’m writing to make you aware of a piece of legislation currently working its way through the state Legislature. The bill is being pushed by Idaho’s gas retailers and, if approved, would make it easier for these businesses to price gouge during declared emergencies.

As you are likely aware, Idaho suffers from some of the highest gas prices in the nation. And by law, I have only two tools to fight unreasonably high gas prices. One prohibits businesses from colluding to set prices. The other prohibits sellers of fuel, food, water and medicine from charging “excessive or exorbitant” prices during an emergency. Senate Bill 1041 was proposed by the Idaho Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association to undercut my ability to protect you from price gouging during an emergency.

So why have Idaho’s gas retailers made this a priority now? Well, there’s a backstory here. Last March, COVID-19 prompted an emergency declaration that triggered the state’s price gouging law. In the weeks that followed, oil prices fell dramatically. Gas prices at the pump, though, did not drop as quickly.

I wanted to know why. So I contacted Idaho’s three largest gas retailers – Maverik, Jacksons and Stinker Stores – and asked them to explain their pricing and remind them that Idaho’s price gouging law was in effect. They rejected my concerns and did not satisfactorily explain the pricing we were observing. My office soon initiated a formal investigation that focused on the retailers’ margins. I did so because Idaho’s current price gouging law directs that examination as a way to determine whether prices are excessive or exorbitant.

We found that during the first few weeks of the pandemic, these retailers’ margins increased dramatically. Our independently-sourced data from the last 14 years showed Idaho retailers usually make about $.10 per gallon of gas. (The gas companies contend their historical margins are closer to $.20 per gallon.) Three weeks into the pandemic, Idaho gas retailers – including the three my office investigated – were making a record margin of $.63 per gallon. This was well above the previous high of $.42 per gallon set in 2008.

While retailers could buy their gas at a steep discount, those savings, by and large, weren’t passed on to you. In fact, despite some increased costs connected to the pandemic and a reduction in their sales volumes, these inflated margins allowed the retailers’ gas profits to swell.

After presenting our findings to the retailers, my office negotiated a settlement that includes $1.5 million in credits that will go back to Idaho consumers this year. That settlement was announced on November 30. Less than two months later, the gas retailers were in front of the Idaho Legislature urging major changes to the very law that allowed my office to investigate them in the first place.

If the gas companies’ proposed changes become law, a future investigation and settlement similar to the one initiated by my office last year would no longer be possible. So far, the gas retailers’ bill has been welcomed by lawmakers. It passed unanimously in the Senate and is now headed to the House. If successful there, it could be signed into law by the governor.

It’s extremely rare that I speak publicly on the merits of a particular piece of legislation. But you deserve to know about this bill. If you believe that gas prices shouldn’t be excessive or exorbitant during an emergency, you need to contact your legislators now and let them know.

The GUARDIAN received several calls from readers commenting on the excess noise from the fighters, so we called the Idaho Air National Guard command post to see if they could provide any info.

The duty sergeant told us, “I am in the basement with no windows. I can certainly hear them, but they are not using our facilities and I don’t know who they are.”

GUARDIAN reader Katie Fite got a reply from Lt Col Chris Borders, the ANG spokesman and he told her this:

“The sounds you’re hearing are the result of 10 USMC F-18 Hornets from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. They are not here to train with the IDANG, nor are they utilizing any of our facilities, ramps or services.

They are staying on the BOI (airport) side, receiving services from a commercial facility (Jackson Aviation) there. From what I can tell, they plan to be here through October 30th.

I don’t believe they are here for a “named” exercise (as in a major regional or larger exercise). They are utilizing/training in the Mountain Home Range Complex.”

NOTE 10/24: TRAGEDY FRIDAY

Inside we found a CD and a two page letter from ANGELA R. McCullough, Vice President Mission Support Services.

The subject of the letter was a Freedom of Information request made by the GUARDIAN — almost FOUR YEARS AGO! It was in regards to the “non-response” of air traffic controllers at the Boise airport control tower Nov. 19, 2016.

Coppers and firefighters in a panic responded to the tower at 3 a.m. after aircraft pilots were ignored during attempted landings.

In the letter dated October 2, 2020 which discussed the 2016 incident, the FAA redacted 56 of 313 email message between investigators and supervisors. They claimed, “if this material were released, it would likely stifle honest and frank communication between agency personnel.”

Much of the redacted content was obviously over concerns of employee unions, attorneys, and how to obtain police reports. Our conclusion was the incident caused a lot of angst at the Fed agency and provided jobs for at least a dozen bureaucrats.

The Original JOINT INVESTIGATION POST.