When Osama Bin Laden and a bunch of Saudi terrorists hit the World Trade Center and hid in Afghanistan, Bush bombed IRAQ.

In raucous downtown Boise the drunks pee in the alley, push each other through windows, shoot people and jaywalk. So the logical thing to do is move the food vendor carts??

At a public hearing Tuesday a woman who identified herself as a social scientist testified that it made little sense to blame food vendors for the misbehavior and violence in the area of 6th and Main. When she sarcastically said the rowdiness could be caused by a litany of issues, including the “rise and fall of the stock market,” Councilor Alan Shealy chastised her mention of the stock market and essentially discredited her remarks.

After a long public hearing with testimony from food cart vendors, taxi drivers, and downtown business owners, the council approved a “pilot project” to move the taxis to a bus lane west of Capitol Blvd. on Main and restrict food carts to the North side of Main–across the street from the bars.

The 2 a.m. drunks seeking a hot dog will make a bee line across Main for their health food treat. Fearing for the safety of pedestrians, the cops say they will have extra officers on duty to write jaywalking tickets. That’s a recipe for confrontation if ever there was one–writing tickets to drunk jaywalkers in an effort to make them safe.

The city had previously allowed the restaurants to spill onto the sidewalk with outdoor seating and now bemoan the crowded sidewalk conditions. The council is like a Yo-Yo with three strings and it doesn’t spin very well as a result. Councilors are trying to accommodate the cops, the businesses, and the vendors by dispersing the crowds that everyone wants to insure profits and a “vibrant downtown.”

The GUARDIAN would like to offer its own pilot project. How about simply closing Main to vehicles on Friday nights from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. in the congested area between Capitol and 5th. In Memphis, the famed home of blues music, the cops block off Beale Street and park a police car right in the center as sort of a beacon to those who need help or just want to chat.

Meanwhile people with plastic cups full of adult beverages wander from bat to bar with no fear of a ticket or getting smacked by a Ram diesel 4WD. They even sell booze out the window like McDonalds drive through!

We don’t advocate any illegal behavior, but to encourage the sale of alcohol and then crack down on all the booze driven activity seems silly.

Like the activist she is, Hillary deftly handled on camera interviews and schmoozed with the mayor and council president.

Hillary wrote to Mayor Dave Bieter and City Councilors asking them to amend the parking code which limited parking to just a single scooter in downtown parking spots. She thought it was dumb to not share space with other scooters and actually free up parking for the gas guzzlers.

Team Dave and the Councilors jumped aboard the scooter plan and within 60 days they had signs in place–encouraged no doubt by the e-mails and calls from GUARDIAN readers and other scooter and motorcycle riders who used the blog to share their ideas and game plan.

At the Wednesday photo op, Bieter was taken for a ride by a scooter babe wearing a pink helmet. In most situations it is the politician taking the citizen for a ride. Turn about is indeed fair play.

Part of the balancing act for the council is making the on-street parking a “pilot program.” If it works they can make it permanent or kill it if there are major problems. Locations at Main near 5th and on Bannock near 8th Street have been designated as “Two Wheel Parking.”

Search SCOOTER at the upper right of the page for previous stories.

The office of internal auditor was set up in the wake of the scandal surrounding former mayor Brent Coles. Coles, and two city staffers were jailed and others quietly resigned over financial irregularities.

Internal Boise City audits have either revealed or assisted in at least two criminal cases which have resulted in arrests of city employees–the Ice World and Poop Farm scandals. In fact, the GUARDIAN has sources who claim more than 90% of all city audits have resulted in “unsatisfactory” performance evaluations. Part of that is because audits are performed when there is suspicion of wrongdoing.

It has been nearly three months since former internal auditor Steve Renn resigned in the middle of the “Poop Farm” audit. We hear of even more items that “turned up missing” at the City’s 4,000 acre farm. Things like generators, trailers etc. The new manager is on board and most of the old players have left the farm for greener pastures.

The GUARDIAN asks rhetorically: “Why hasn’t the mayor and council given some direction to the finance department to hire a new field auditor?” Readers of the GUARDIAN alone could keep a guy busy full-time chasing down irregularities in the Public Works Department!

In our story of MORE POOP ON SEWER PLANT (scroll down to March 11) we told readers that city officials had told us there was no problem. Readers have responded with plenty of allegations to the contrary. We don’t disclose names and many of our readers have blind e-mail boxes, but there seems to be enough smoke for us to think there may be some fire.

While the council has been consumed with detox, skinny houses, county planning, and a library bond, the important task of getting us a new auditor has been ignored.

Lots of hugs and kisses as Jerome Mapp said his farewells and just as many as Councilors Vern Bisterfeldt and Maryanne Jordan took their oaths of office.

Former councilor Mike Wetherell, dressed in his black 4th District Judge robe, administered the oaths to Jordan and newly elected Jim Tibbs. Bisterfeldt asked that county clerk Dave Navarro do the honors for him–as he did when Bisterfeldt was elected to the Ada County Commission.

Everyone said nice things about each other and the audience was responsive with prolonged applause and standing ovations.

Perhaps the most telling and least noticed moment of poetic justice came when Mayor Dave Bieter graciously installed TIBBS’ nameplate at the end of the dais–this after Bieter had declined to give Tibbs the nod as police chief.

Former Councilor Paula Forney remained on the board of the powerful taxpayer funded Capital City Development Corp. for two years after she lost a runoff election to Councilor David Eberle who only recently was appointed to the board. She said she was appointed as a citizen–not as a councilor.

We posed the issue to city councilors and at the moment no one has an answer to the question of whether or not there should be two city councilors on the CCDC board. The agency has a board of unelected members who have authority to spend millions upon millions of taxpayer dollars without citizen-taxpayer scrutiny.

The mayor and council appoint all of the members to the board and two seats have always been held by incumbent (elected) councilors. Certainly, whenever there is a vacancy to be filled due to departure of a councilor, it is NEVER filled by a mere citizen.

Without regard to Mapp’s ability or devotion to duty, we feel he should leave ALL city positions–even the unpaid CCDC post once he leaves the council. After all, he was appointed BECAUSE he was a councilor, it is only right that he be replaced by a councilor. We feel CCDC NEEDS representation of elected officials who answer to the voters.

The weak explanation we have heard is that CCDC is “different” than the airport, parks, or public works commissions which all have councilors assigned as liaison duties. In researching the Idaho Code, the GUARDIAN has found the law provides for the city council to DISBAND the urban renewal agency board and have the council perform those duties with the simple passage of an ordinance.

We feel this would be more honest than hiding behind another level of bureaucracy and dividing the public ownership of our town between CCDC, Boise City, and Ada County Highway District.

To his credit, Tibbs has been doing his homework. He campaigned hard to get elected and then made it a point to attend council meetings after the election and prior to assuming office–not many would do that for free. We look forward to Councilor Tibbs hitting the ground running with a solid background knowledge on the issues facing the council.

Meanwhile, Mapp keeps his seat on the CCDC urban renewal agency (Capital City Development Corporation) which oversees the spending of citizen tax money diverted from Boise’s general fund for downtown development.

A proposed high end development in Eagle built around a designer golf course along with a designer swimming, tennis, and soccer sports programs is a far cry from Boise’s penchant for “infill.” Boise provides those amenities at taxpayer expense.

Both philosophies have the same goal: accommodate developers and increase tax revenues. To increase revenues you either raise prices or increase volume.

Eagle may have found a dirty little secret as they cater to big houses on big lots. Here is a simplistic, but accurate example of how it works:

EAGLE divides 10 acres into 10 parcels with $1 million homes. They collect taxes on $10 million worth of property and provide roads, sewer, schools, sidewalks, and water lines to 20 people.

BOISE divides the 10 acres into 40 parcels with $150,000 homes. They collect taxes on $6 million worth of real estate, but serve 80 people…four times the people for almost half assessed the value. This results in higher tax rates in Boise.

Part of Boise’s desire to cram more houses into existing neighborhoods is to increase the tax revenue–make up in volume what they lose in price. If they can jam 80 homes into that 10 acres they can grab taxes on $12 million worth of real estate value, BUT they have to serve 160 people.

Boise officials think it is a good deal because the roads, sewers, schools, sidewalks and water lines cost the same if used by 20 people in Eagle or 160 in Boise.

The result is Boise has even more $150,000 houses–and people who can afford them. Folks who don’t want to rub elbows with the neighbors and grow a garden not shaded by a two story “skinny house” flee the city, but come back in the daily commute to earn a living.

Eagle would be hard pressed to “lower” its standards and Boise is finding it a difficult sell to “raise” its standards with the perceived “need” to increase density to increase the bottom line.

Meanwhile, when you read reports on the Wednesday IDAHO ENVIRONMENTAL FORUM discussion about “infill” bear in mind there is a fair amount of incest.

Here is a rundown of speakers:

GARY ALLEN is a lawyer who represents developer BILL CLARK who is a director of Idaho Smart Growth which employs ELAINE CLEGG who is on the City Council which employs Planning Director BRUCE CHATTERTON who works with neighborhood association advocate ELLIOT WERK who is also a state senator.

Who’s your daddy?

The gist of the editorial was “play nice,” but the GUARDIAN got to thinking: Other than the Chamber of Commerce, what group is really happy with the city council?

Councilor Vern Bisterfeldt went to Ada County in an attempt to mend the fence between the rest of the council and the commishes, but the commishes didn’t want to talk in public and got crossways of the attorney general and the Idaho open meeting law.

Then there are unhappy North Enders, Bench-Depot neighbors, Ten Commandment folks, Anti-Annexation people, Infill Foes, Historic Preservationists who ALL would have a hard time giving passing grades to the councilors.

Are all these groups and individuals out of step with the wise and considerate drumbeats of the city council? Maybe the November 8 election will give us some answers.

Brandi Swindell was sentenced to 25 hours of community service for her role in a protest over removal of the Ten Commandments rock in Julia Davis Park. Now she wants to do it full time.

To hear incumbent city councilors tell it, she will do 25 hours community service the first day on the job–if she defeats Council President Maryanne Jordan.

The attractive 28-year-old single woman currently works for a pro-life Christian group, but says she will be more than a one issue candidate. In a STATESMAN interview she touched on issues such as infill development, growth, annexation of people against their will, and smoothing the way for developers. Something for everyone.

The GUARDIAN will do a broader posting after the Friday filing deadline for council candidates.

If Tibbs unseats the veteran councilor–and he has a good chance–Mayor Dave Bieter could have an incumbent councilor (Tibbs) gunning for his own BIG chair at the city hall. We think Tibbs will take a long hard look at running for mayor two years down the road if he can stay awake during all those exciting meetings and hearings.

The mayor’s race is two years off, but it looks like there are going to be plenty of tryouts for the junior varsity before that big game in 2007. We hear the poster girl for the Ten Commandments group, Brandi Swindell, is poised to go for a council seat–probably Maryanne Jordan’s.

The Depot-Bench neighborhood folks also claim to have candidates “ready and waiting” to run if the council goes against them at a hearing which will be set in September. They had a “successful” garage sale publicity stunt and seem to have grabbed some support for the fight against a large apartment/condo complex near the depot.

That group is working at potentially expanding its “TOO DENSE MAKES NO SENSE” campaign…there are some double entendres in that phrase which will make for some fun stories. (“double meaning” for you non-library users)