city
BOISE HOTLINE HIGHLIGHTS
The GUARDIAN is aiming to share what Team Dave and the Councilors get to hear from the “Mayor’s Hotline” at city hall. Our first installment follows and it is the written summary provided to the mayor and council. We don’t know if this will be useful and interesting to GUARDIAN readers, but it may give […]
More Poop Farm Charges
Another former Boise City employee has been charged with criminal activity related to the scandal at the Twenty Mile South “Poop Farm.” Bradley G. Holmes is charged with a misdemeanor for allegedly “splitting invoices” for eight tractor tires. He has entered a not guilty plea. City purchasing regulations require bids for items worth more than […]
Drowning In Bureaucracy
Looks like the GUARDIAN is forced to take back all the NICE THINGS we said about Boise Parks. See Swimming Upstream. Last week we chided the Statesman a bit for the play they gave a story about a fallen tree blocking the Boise River, but not doing anything about getting signs posted to warn cold […]
Swimming Upstream
The GUARDIAN had a chance to meet all the new brass at the Statesman Thursday for a sneak peek at the new graphics they plan to unveil after tax day in April. We chided them about favoring form over substance noting the lead news story in the local section was about a tree falling in […]
Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil
Tuesday the GUARDIAN received copies of the Boise Public Works newsletter from three sources. All three were probably employees of the department and expressed concernes about a message from the PW director. People are so spooked that one copy was FAXED from KINKOS, one came from a blind e-mail account (they actually retyped the text […]
Auditor! What Auditor?
Boise city councilor Vern Bisterfeldt has previously declared the internal auditor was, “worth his weight in gold.” Trouble is we don’t have an auditor and none is on the horizon at present. The office of internal auditor was set up in the wake of the scandal surrounding former mayor Brent Coles. Coles, and two city […]
More Poop On Sewer Plant
Insiders tell us there have been some “come to Jesus” meetings with about half of Boise’s employees, including those at the Public Works Department’s sewage treatment facilities. These group ethics training sessions were prompted by the scandals during the previous city administration which saw several leaders go to jail. To his credit, Mayor Dave Bieter […]
Boise Mayor Charms Local Governments
“LOOKS LIKE WE GOT A FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE” Recent news reports sound like Boise’s mayor may have attended the “Rumsfeld-Cheney School of Charm.” The mayor’s recent track record for making friends would qualify him as an honor student at that institution. Here are some of the memorable items: –DETOX center fell apart after city council […]
Local Governments Need Scrutiny
Ada commishes approved plans for the SunCor Development planned community off Highway 55 north of Eagle a month ago and now the City of Boise is taking them to court over the decision. Mayor Dave Bieter has opposed the project from the beginning–now he knows how it feels to be ignored by local government officials! […]
Boise City Land Speculators
Defeat of the Boise Library bond was a perfect example of WHY we need bond elections to keep the local government leaders in check. Mayor Dave Bieter now wants to sell off excess city property, get private funding and build store front library branches WITHOUT a tax increase or a bond. Great idea! He should […]
Change the Law Just For ME
Residents of the two story “Square at Strawberry Lane” condo complex off Walnut and Park Blvd. have lived within the law for many years and are unhappy about a planned development which would be outside the law. Quarsar Development wants to build a 119-foot-high complex which is illegal. The land is zoned to allow buildings […]
The Cost of Progress
GUARDIAN CORRESPONDENT STEVE HULME OFFERS AN OPEN LETTER TO ELECTED OFFICIALS: Our elected “representatives” are currently giving only lip service to the notion of residential property tax relief. Seems those tax bills, which in many cases have gone up 20 or 25 or even 33 percent over the space of a year or two, have […]
Library Plan Needs Refining
A GUARDIAN correspondent received a slick brochure urging residents to “Vote Yes for Boise’s Library!” The brochure is from “Great Libraries for Great Neighborhoods” and offers Shauneen Grange at 345-2125 as a contact. The GUARDIAN correspondent lives a good mile and a half from the Boise City Limit and cannot vote on the measure! We […]
Library Type Ice Rink
We knew the city council couldn`t resist finding a way to plug their library bond at a meeting. For you non-library types, the councilor was trying to say “it didn`t look like they were going to make any money.” Councilor Alan Shealy, after hearing a report the city owned Ice World was about to break […]
Power To The People
Congratulations and a pat on the back to John Weber, Richard Kaylor and Tish Hetrick who have each paid $174 to file an appeal on the Boise planning commission’s Jan. 9 approval of the two natural gas-fired plants. Among other reasons for filing the appeal, the trio have cited the importance of the decision to […]
Masterson Meets Motorists
If you want to have a personal chat with Boise’s Police Chief all you need to do is zip past him in traffic–he has made nearly 40 “contacts” with motorists during his first year on the job–along side the road. No doubt those he meets call him “sir” and say “thank-you” when he lets them […]
Power Plant Poses Problems
The proposed gas-fired electrical generating power plant on Boise City owned land presents some ethical concerns of potential financial conflicts of interest. The site of the proposed generating facility is on a desert sage covered parcel off Gowen Road near the Outlet Mall. It was originally purchased as an “Industrial Park” site during the Brent […]
Downtowners Fight 8th Street Project
(A GUARDIAN correspondent report) Downtown residents have appealed the Design Review approval for the proposed 81 unit apartment complex slated for 100 N. 8th St in the heart of downtown. Residents and business owners fear the project, with little additional parking will cripple the vital Capitol Terrance garage, which is already heavily used by visitors […]
Poop Farm Problems Persist
Just when we thought there was a some movement on the irregularities at the City owned “Poop Farm” we hear the internal auditor has quit. Steve Rehn would not discuss his departure, but said he is leaving by his own choice to accept a “better job opportunity.” The GUARDIAN has been deluged with information about […]
Mapp Gone–Almost
While we are not as exercised as a GUARDIAN reader about former city councilor Jerome Mapp remaining on the board of the urban renewal agency (CCDC), we fail to understand why only council members are appointed to a pair of seats, but they keep their CCDC positions after being voted out of office. Former Councilor […]
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