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Posts published in “Day: March 6, 2014”

Overreliance

ridenbaugh Northwest
Reading

From a March 6 post on the Boise Guardian.

At the risk of posting another typical “growthophobe” story, we offer up a major caution in the rush to embrace the Gardner folks’ latest plan for downtown Boise.

As wise businessmen, they are gathering as much public funding as possible to build on some pretty small plots adjacent to the Grove Hotel and the U.S. Bank building.
Plans for their “City Center Plaza” call for buy-ins from Valley Transit for an underground transit hub as well as the Greater Boise Auditorium District which has money burning a hole in its pocket collected from the hotel tax.

There will be assorted easements and complex deals regarding above and below ground ownership as well. The Urban renewal agency, Capital City Development Corp (CCDC) will also give taxpayer funds to Gardner.

It wasn’t long ago that Mark Rivers was the heart throb of city development politicos. He went with the Lt. Guv to Europe, was featured speaker at the City Club and offered all sorts of plans to supplement his BoDo project. Well, BoDo was built, tenants have come and gone, a third of the parking spaces in the public parking garage are not available to the public and the rest of the spaces are so cramped they keep body shops in business fixing dents. It’s a success.

For more hints on why Rivers has faded from prominence, just do a Google search for MARK RIVERS DEVELOPER.
Gardner has filled the hole in the ground with the Zion’s Bank building and is looking for more. The problem we see is the urban renewal district expires in 2017. We expect some manipulation of the law and funds in order to extend the CCDC jurisdiction beyond 2017. The best we can learn from sources is “its unclear” who owns what and who pays after 2017.

In conclusion, we urge caution in putting too much faith–and public money–in one developer. We joke that “downtown Boise is so crowded no one goes there.” Jamming more buildings into our once “quaint” downtown creates shadows on existing structures, high winds with the venturi effect, and blocks the scenic views from many angles.

Washington, D.C. doesn’t allow tall buildings and that isn’t all bad. Our message is to reassess the need and desire to fill all the surfaces with megastructures. Do we really want to hide the capitol from view and create a big city feel?

Some would say building downtown condos, megastructures, etc. creates a demand for more traffic which can then be managed with a transit system which needs a transit center, which makes the foundation for another tall building…we see another Fairview and Eagle, but with no sunshine.

An upset alert

malloy CHUCK
MALLOY

 
In Idaho

Governor Butch Otter, as the leader of Idaho’s Republican Party, should have clout when it comes to issues such as closed primaries. But on this issue, party loyalists are more likely to listen to former Sen. Rod Beck than Otter. Now, the governor is stuck with a voting system that could bite him on the backside as he seeks his third term in office.

Conventional wisdom suggests that Otter should have no trouble sailing through the primary and winning re-election. I’m not buying it.

With a closed primary and a probable low voter turnout, Senator Russ Fulcher has a legitimate shot at pulling off the upset. Fulcher doesn’t have Otter’s bankroll, and the media is largely ignoring his campaign. But Fulcher has one big thing on his side: People who vote in primary elections and have no hesitation about registering as Republicans. Tea party supporters and social conservatives aren’t bothered by the lack of press coverage; they don’t care much for Idaho newspapers anyway.

So Fulcher has a clear path to victory. The first step is rounding up those who supported Congressman Raul Labrador and former Bill Sali. Fulcher has served plenty of red meat to that crowd, voicing his displeasure with Obamacare and Common Core. The senator can count on help from social conservatives, who learned a long time ago that political power comes from voting in primary elections. Otter is many years removed from a DUI arrest and participating in tight-jeans contests, but religious conservatives have long memories and Fulcher is about as squeaky clean as a politician can get. Fulcher also could look to support from those advocating for term limits. All they need to know is that Otter is a 71-year-old career politician who is seeking a third term in office. And there’s nothing stopping him from going for a fourth, fifth and sixth term – unless he dies, or voters boot him out.

So don’t be too quick to write off Fulcher in this election. Otter supporters may like the numbers they see. But will their voters come out on May 20? I worked with former state Senator Sheila Sorensen’s congressional campaign in 2006 and we were pretty optimistic about the numbers we saw two months before the election. Bill Sali, the most conservative candidate in the field, was the clear winner. Vaughn Ward probably felt good about his numbers two months before the 2010 primary, but his campaign imploded and Raul Labrador – the more conservative candidate -- was the easy winner.

Those things happened when Republican primaries were “open” to Democrats, independents and anyone else who wanted to vote. Today’s closed-primary format sets up perfectly for Fulcher.

Otter’s concerns about closed primaries are legitimate. In a speech to Farmer’s Insurance agents, as reported by the Statesman’s Dan Popkey, the governor talked about voters’ reluctance to sign a paper declaring themselves as Republicans. As Otter accurately states, many people are disenfranchised with closed primaries, including state employees who are supposed to be non-partisan.

“Now when you sign this piece of paper, it says that ‘I am a Republican,’ and it’s the only way you can get on the Republican ballot,” he said.

In my view, it’s Otter’s own fault for allowing himself to be steamrolled on this issue. Sure, he made a few token statements in opposition to closed primaries, but he wasn’t putting himself on the line. After two embarrassing political defeats – the dismissal of Kirk Sullivan as the GOP chairman the killing of his gas-tax proposal to improve Idaho roads – Otter wasn’t about to take a third whipping.

“I didn’t think it was a good idea to do that,” Otter told the insurance agents. “But that’s what the party wanted to do and that’s what the Central Committee voted for, so that’s what we do.”

Now that’s what I call leadership … for a church mouse. Otter was merely employing the kind of political survival skills that have allowed him to hold high office for parts of four decades.

If he had stood up to the Rod Becks of this world and put up a real fight against close primaries – as one might expect from the party’s leader -- he would have lost big. And he knows it.

On the front pages

news

Here’s what public affairs news made the front page of newspapers in the Northwest today, excluding local crime, features and sports stories. (Newspaper names contracted with location)

Parks buys land near Shakespeare festival (Boise Statesman)
Will protests delay legislative adjournment? (Boise Statesman)
WA starts licensing for marijuana (Lewiston Tribune)
Washington recoups pre-recession jobs (Moscow News)
Boise Co-op may open second store (Nampa Press Tribune)
Suit vs Dept of Juvenile Corrections advances (Nampa Press Tribune)
Sheriffs supporting guns on campus (Pocatello Journal)
Blackfoot restricts smoking in its parks (Pocatello Journal)
Possible flooding around Sandpoint (Sandpoint Bee)
Sun Valley Lodge shuttered for 9 months (TF Times News)
Cigarette tax/aquifer bill advances (TF Times News)

OSU studies girls who play with Barbie (Corvallis Gazette Times)
Corvallis waste leak investigated (Corvallus Gazette Times)
Congress investigators will look into Cover Oregon (Eugene Register Guard, Salem Statesman Journal, Medford Tribune, KF Herald & News)
KEZI television station to be sold (Eugene Register Guard)
Klamath water deal reached (KF Herald & News)
Klamath College bond possible in 2016 (KF Herald & News)
Ashland-Medford water deal, $2.6m payment (Ashland Tidings)
Profs at SOU vote no confidence in leaders (Medford Tribune)
Legislature moves close to adjourning (Portland Oregonian)
Kotek blasted for adding language for donor (Portland Oregonian)
Growing mortgage-relief efforts (Portland Oregonian)

The why of possible cuts at Hanford (Kennewick Herald)
URS Corp to research possible Hanford reactor (Kennwick Herald)
Money uproar at Clallam PUD (Port Angeles News)
Big Seattle hearing on $15 minimum wage (Seattle Times)
Seattle housing market eases (Seattle Times)
Spokane businessman gets pot license (Spokane Spokesman, Yakima Herald Republic)
Sumner car dealership deals with neighbors (Tacoma News Tribune)
Longshoremen, United Grain battle it out (Vancouver Columbian)
County workers don't want guns there (Vancouver Columbian)
WA recoups pre-recession jobs (Vancouver Columbian)
Yakima starts major road projects (Yakima Herald Republic)