While he hasn’t issued any tickets, these cop encounters of the close kind give him a chance to meet the same people the patrol officers encounter and it certainly sends a message to the cops on the beat that the boss is out there “stopping violators.”

He has been on the job a year and a Saturday STATESMAN piece by Patrick Orr reviews some of the low points–like a cop convicted of having sex with a 17-year- old girl and the inquest surrounding the shooting death of the Jones boy. High points include rearranging his patrol assets–eliminating the costly horses for instance–to improve response times to calls and put more officers in the field.

The GUARDIAN agrees that Masterson has made a pretty fair accounting of himself during the year. He has provided some leadership by joining the troops on the beat at night and he is working on a new police headquarters for the future–along with a couple of precinct facilities as well.

Our only real concern–and it is a big one–is the public has been cut out of the loop on what is really a major move that affects all of us. City Council, not the chief, has made the decision to go around the voters.

City Council taxes citizens an extra $2.5 million a year more than they need to run the city budget. The money is put into a “slush fund” with the INTENT–but no mandate –to be used for a police station. Since there is no definitive plan for a location, architectural drawings, size, etc. they can’t really tell how much will be needed. But whatever the decide upon they will have some cash.

The GUARDIAN feels that just like the library, this long term debt should go to the voters in the form of a bond election. That way, THE PEOPLE can decide the location, size, and cost of our police facilities. Boise’s mayor and council will argue that it is simply a “savings account” and they are going to pay cash. They didn’t “save” to pay the library or the Foothills debts and they shouldn’t do it with the police buildings.

We wondered if the mall was a result of “Smart Growth, Blueprint for Growth, or just Greedy Growth.”
Hard to argue with the mother who gushed that with a mall in the neighborhood her daughter would have a chance at one of the 900 jobs the developer is promising.

No doubt those jobs will all be high paying management positions. Others in the newspaper story were quoted as wanting an electronics store and a Starbucks! Did they forget McDonalds, Borders, Best Buy, and Red Lobster–all well known local establishments.

Then the eye in the sky guy read an ad for the “stealth bus” system which connects the old Karcher Mall with the Boise Mall and a couple hospitals–there must be a link in there somewhere. Can you see all those Christmas shoppers lugging bags from Nampa to Boise and stopping off to visit Grandma in the hospital?

Wasn’t that long ago (1968) that EVERY vehicle traveling from Salt Lake to Portland drove right down Capitol Boulevard and out Fairview or Chinden.

Boise retailers pretty much were able to charge whatever they pleased and if they didn’t have it in stock they could ship it from Salt Lake overnight on the train or the bus. People begged for a shopping mall like they have in Portland or Salt Lake.

Well, they got their mall and half a dozen more. Meanwhile the roads are not keeping up with the massive retailing outlets that are clogging every exit along the only freeway in the valley. Let’s face it, malls are dependent upon huge amounts of car traffic. Does anyone take the bus to Home Depot?

With the completion of the freeway and subsequent shopping malls we became just like Portland and Salt lake and Denver and Seattle and Tucson and Riverside and on and on and on. Progress!

The solution is a by-pass around Boise across the desert south of town. A “Foothills Parkway” is another idea that may be worth a look to serve all the developments in that area. That road could serve as a true LIMIT to the city and be a gateway to the wilds of Idaho above town.

We wondered if the mall was a result of “Smart Growth, Blueprint for Growth, or just Greedy Growth.”
Hard to argue with the mother who gushed that with a mall in the neighborhood her daughter would have a chance at one of the 900 jobs the developer is promising.

No doubt those jobs will all be high paying management positions. Others in the newspaper story were quoted as wanting an electronics store and a Starbucks! Did they forget McDonalds, Borders, Best Buy, and Red Lobster–all well known local establishments.

Then the eye in the sky guy read an ad for the “stealth bus” system which connects the old Karcher Mall with the Boise Mall and a couple hospitals–there must be a link in there somewhere. Can you see all those Christmas shoppers lugging bags from Nampa to Boise and stopping off to visit Grandma in the hospital?

Wasn’t that long ago (1968) that EVERY vehicle traveling from Salt Lake to Portland drove right down Capitol Boulevard and out Fairview or Chinden.

Boise retailers pretty much were able to charge whatever they pleased and if they didn’t have it in stock they could ship it from Salt Lake overnight on the train or the bus. People begged for a shopping mall like they have in Portland or Salt Lake.

Well, they got their mall and half a dozen more. Meanwhile the roads are not keeping up with the massive retailing outlets that are clogging every exit along the only freeway in the valley. Let’s face it, malls are dependent upon huge amounts of car traffic. Does anyone take the bus to Home Depot?

With the completion of the freeway and subsequent shopping malls we became just like Portland and Salt lake and Denver and Seattle and Tucson and Riverside and on and on and on. Progress!

The solution is a by-pass around Boise across the desert south of town. A “Foothills Parkway” is another idea that may be worth a look to serve all the developments in that area. That road could serve as a true LIMIT to the city and be a gateway to the wilds of Idaho above town.

We wondered if the mall was a result of “Smart Growth, Blueprint for Growth, or just Greedy Growth.”
Hard to argue with the mother who gushed that with a mall in the neighborhood her daughter would have a chance at one of the 900 jobs the developer is promising.

No doubt those jobs will all be high paying management positions. Others in the newspaper story were quoted as wanting an electronics store and a Starbucks! Did they forget McDonalds, Borders, Best Buy, and Red Lobster–all well known local establishments.

Then the eye in the sky guy read an ad for the “stealth bus” system which connects the old Karcher Mall with the Boise Mall and a couple hospitals–there must be a link in there somewhere. Can you see all those Christmas shoppers lugging bags from Nampa to Boise and stopping off to visit Grandma in the hospital?

Wasn’t that long ago (1968) that EVERY vehicle traveling from Salt Lake to Portland drove right down Capitol Boulevard and out Fairview or Chinden.

Boise retailers pretty much were able to charge whatever they pleased and if they didn’t have it in stock they could ship it from Salt Lake overnight on the train or the bus. People begged for a shopping mall like they have in Portland or Salt Lake.

Well, they got their mall and half a dozen more. Meanwhile the roads are not keeping up with the massive retailing outlets that are clogging every exit along the only freeway in the valley. Let’s face it, malls are dependent upon huge amounts of car traffic. Does anyone take the bus to Home Depot?

With the completion of the freeway and subsequent shopping malls we became just like Portland and Salt lake and Denver and Seattle and Tucson and Riverside and on and on and on. Progress!

The solution is a by-pass around Boise across the desert south of town. A “Foothills Parkway” is another idea that may be worth a look to serve all the developments in that area. That road could serve as a true LIMIT to the city and be a gateway to the wilds of Idaho above town.

We wondered if the mall was a result of “Smart Growth, Blueprint for Growth, or just Greedy Growth.”
Hard to argue with the mother who gushed that with a mall in the neighborhood her daughter would have a chance at one of the 900 jobs the developer is promising.

No doubt those jobs will all be high paying management positions. Others in the newspaper story were quoted as wanting an electronics store and a Starbucks! Did they forget McDonalds, Borders, Best Buy, and Red Lobster–all well known local establishments.

Then the eye in the sky guy read an ad for the “stealth bus” system which connects the old Karcher Mall with the Boise Mall and a couple hospitals–there must be a link in there somewhere. Can you see all those Christmas shoppers lugging bags from Nampa to Boise and stopping off to visit Grandma in the hospital?

Wasn’t that long ago (1968) that EVERY vehicle traveling from Salt Lake to Portland drove right down Capitol Boulevard and out Fairview or Chinden.

Boise retailers pretty much were able to charge whatever they pleased and if they didn’t have it in stock they could ship it from Salt Lake overnight on the train or the bus. People begged for a shopping mall like they have in Portland or Salt Lake.

Well, they got their mall and half a dozen more. Meanwhile the roads are not keeping up with the massive retailing outlets that are clogging every exit along the only freeway in the valley. Let’s face it, malls are dependent upon huge amounts of car traffic. Does anyone take the bus to Home Depot?

With the completion of the freeway and subsequent shopping malls we became just like Portland and Salt lake and Denver and Seattle and Tucson and Riverside and on and on and on. Progress!

The solution is a by-pass around Boise across the desert south of town. A “Foothills Parkway” is another idea that may be worth a look to serve all the developments in that area. That road could serve as a true LIMIT to the city and be a gateway to the wilds of Idaho above town.

We wondered if the mall was a result of “Smart Growth, Blueprint for Growth, or just Greedy Growth.”
Hard to argue with the mother who gushed that with a mall in the neighborhood her daughter would have a chance at one of the 900 jobs the developer is promising.

No doubt those jobs will all be high paying management positions. Others in the newspaper story were quoted as wanting an electronics store and a Starbucks! Did they forget McDonalds, Borders, Best Buy, and Red Lobster–all well known local establishments.

Then the eye in the sky guy read an ad for the “stealth bus” system which connects the old Karcher Mall with the Boise Mall and a couple hospitals–there must be a link in there somewhere. Can you see all those Christmas shoppers lugging bags from Nampa to Boise and stopping off to visit Grandma in the hospital?

Wasn’t that long ago (1968) that EVERY vehicle traveling from Salt Lake to Portland drove right down Capitol Boulevard and out Fairview or Chinden.

Boise retailers pretty much were able to charge whatever they pleased and if they didn’t have it in stock they could ship it from Salt Lake overnight on the train or the bus. People begged for a shopping mall like they have in Portland or Salt Lake.

Well, they got their mall and half a dozen more. Meanwhile the roads are not keeping up with the massive retailing outlets that are clogging every exit along the only freeway in the valley. Let’s face it, malls are dependent upon huge amounts of car traffic. Does anyone take the bus to Home Depot?

With the completion of the freeway and subsequent shopping malls we became just like Portland and Salt lake and Denver and Seattle and Tucson and Riverside and on and on and on. Progress!

The solution is a by-pass around Boise across the desert south of town. A “Foothills Parkway” is another idea that may be worth a look to serve all the developments in that area. That road could serve as a true LIMIT to the city and be a gateway to the wilds of Idaho above town.

“How about an article on the Boise city police patrolling the freeways. I-84 looks like a police convention in the morning and afternoons. They write lots of speeding tickets and cause numerous traffic delays. Why not escort
the speeders to an off ramp and ticket them away from traffic?”

We don’t pretend to know if the situation described in the letter is accurate, if moving to an off ramp is practical, if the cops have thought of it, if they even write tickets during rush hour.

For an answer we called the police spokesperson and forwarded the writer’s comments. She was polite for the entire conversation and first suggested he call the mayor’s placebo hotline. Then she said if he wrote to the PD on THEIR web site he would get a response. Finally she offered her e-mail address and the GUARDIAN sent the following note with the reader’s question: “Lynn–Here is the message from my reader…I will be happy to run a short answer.”

If the answer ever arrives, we will share it with you. Let’s hope we don’t get a “Something’s wrong with our computer response.”

Then they all want to get together and pay big bucks to “consultants” who will tell us all how to “manage growth.” It’s simple folks: STOP EATING!

Somehow the cities and counties of the Treasure Valley have all resigned themselves to certain “facts” which are not necessarily true like:
–You can’t tell someone what to do with their property. UNTRUE–we have had zoning laws for years.
–People love it here, you can’t stop them from coming. If they don’t have a place to poop or a classroom for their kids, they won’t love it so much.
–Increased tax base means more money for government services. It means more people and the problems they bring.

The unbridled growth we have experienced over the past 5 or 10 years will be the death of us all unless it is limited or stopped now.

When a farmer wants to rezone and subdivide his land, cities rush to annex it before their neighbors get that “valuable tax base”. Cities all compete to see who can be the most “business friendly” and they eagerly welcome new companies to their towns…along with more traffic, children in schools, people pooping in the sewers, and all that goes with it.

And it is all justified with, “This is nothing you ought to see Los Angeles or Denver where we used to live.” The create what they seek to flee. On a smaller scale those who flee Boise create the same in Kuna.

Folks don’t come to the Boise area for well engineered traffic signals, good code enforcement, high density in-fill, cops in every school. They come because it is cheap and there is plenty of OPEN SPACE! You don’t see brochures and web sites with pictures like those with this article. You seldom hear anyone say, “I wish my neighbors were 12 feet closer and the street was 8 feet narrower, and there were 10 more kids in my son’s classroom.”

Here are some quick solutions:
–IMPACT FEES–charge up to $15,000 per house and much more for businesses to even build a structure.
–Make no changes to current zoning and allow no “variances” for two years.
–Let infrastructure and services catch up with current demands before adding any new demands.
–In short, make growth pay, or don’t grow. That will slow things a bit and also relieve some of the growing pains.
–Either build some high volume roads or require people to live where they work. Creating low paying jobs along with high value residences spells disaster. Worker bees fly west after work and east to the hive every day.

We have built a local economy based on expansion. The farmer, developer, contractor, supplier, banker, landscaper, and government all benefit from this insane growth, but it cannot go on forever. When the boom turns to bust, these folks will move on to the next gold rush and leave a tattered ruins behind.

We need a “time out” so we can catch or collective breath.

Working mostly at night, the crews were able to bring in the “anteater” pavement grinder, chew up the rough surface, recycle it with new asphalt, relay it, and paint stripes within just a few nights.

Problem now is a prime spot for “road shopping” has been eliminated. Those rough intersections and railroad crossings were ideal for shaking misplaced tools from under the hoods of cars.

The patio coffee wonks at Moxie Java will also have to seek a new source of entertainment as well–trailers full of junk and even residential windows often met loudly with disaster crossing the deep ruts.

Like most big cities Minneapolis has the carpool “diamond lanes” on the freeways which are restricted to vehicles with two or more passengers including buses. Now, thanks to technology, they sell that lane to drivers who wish to go around the traffic snarls and slowpokes. First day reports indicate drive times are shaved in half.

With a credit card only you can get a little $40 transponder identifying you as one of the “go fast guys.” Monthly rental is $1.50 plus use fees. There are sensors along the road that monitor both traffic and those with transponders. Big fines if you cheat and the user fees range from 25 cents to $8 depending on traffic flow and time of day.

The Guardian thinks this would be great for Boise as well. Go fast from Caldwell to Boise for $8, make prohibited left turns for $5, run red lights for $1 each, drive in the bike lane for $3…what a way to raise much needed revenues to pay for the deficit at ICE WORLD!