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Posts published in “Day: April 22, 2014”

Downtown Boise, fate unknown

frazier DAVID
FRAZIER

 
Boise
Guardian

The GUARDIAN has been doing some preliminary inquiries regarding the fate of downtown Boise after the Central District urban renewal project expires in 2017.

As it sits currently, no one can offer us a definitive answer to questions of ownership, management, and responsibility for certain Capital City Development Corp. properties.

For instance, CCDC owns 8th Street. It was vacated by the Ada County Highway District and is no longer a public street. It is privately owned from store front to store front between Bannock and Main. Despite that “parking lot” status, Boise parking Nazis continue to issue tickets at meters and enforce the private parking hours as though they were passed by the city council.

No one seems to know exactly who will own the Grove Plaza and the fountain area after CCDC’s district expires. Under current law it appears they are not allowed to expend funds outside a district and if a district no longer exists, who will own the real estate?

We have heard talk of splitting the Grove Plaza ownership among the Auditorium District, the Grove Hotel, and the Gardner Company in order to control access for protest groups that could offend guests at any of the venues. We strongly oppose that move because the area was purchased and improved with public funds and should remain public.

While some folks are enthralled with “private/public partnerships,” we urge caution with the deals. Developers like Gardner sound like great visionary planners when they include public transit centers and open spaces in their plans, but another view would see the taxpayers providing structure foundations and restricted access to public areas.

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)

Improving crime rates at Canyon County (Boise Statesman)
Steve Antone dies (Boise Statesman, TF Times News)
Dredge miners blast EPA on rules (Lewiston Tribune)
Bond ratings stopped for Whitman County (Lewiston Tribune, Moscow News)
Nampa mayor reviews downtown construction (Nampa Press Tribune)
Updating the ag-gag lawsuit (Pocatello Journal)
Judge wants Google to ID email writer (TF Times News)
Little recycling, but uptick, in area recycling (TF Times News)
TF planning commission membership reviewed )TF Times News)

Corvallis reviewing OSU parking plan (Corvallis Gazette Times)
Whole Foods may take site (Eugene Register Guard)
Veterans health clinic groundbreaking (Eugene Register Guard)
Reviewing solar energy in Oregon (KL Health & News)
Phoenix I-5 work held off (Medford Tribune, Ashland Tidings)
Lithia moving from downtown to edge of town (Medford Tribune)
DEQ dredging rules draw protests (Medford Tribune)
Oregon long-term insurance rates rise (Pendleton East Oregonian)
Tight Portland-area rental market (Portland Oregonian)
Criticism of state forest land sale (Portland Oregonian)
Group files in court to defend marriage provision (Salem Statesman Journal)
Marion Commissioner Milner retires (Salem Statesman Journal)

Obama coming to Oso (Seattle Times, Everett Herald)
Everett changes port renewal plans (Everett Herald)
More teacher molestation claims at Kennewick (Kennewick Herald)
Wahkiakum county takes over riverside park (Longview News)
Dungeness flooding a concern (Port Angeles News)
Representative Kilmer at Port Angeles (Port Angeles News)
Bertha inactive for narly a year to come (Seattle Times)
Special election voting day in Washington (Seattle Times)
How much surgery room does Spokane need? (Spokane Spokesman)
Pierce Transit may spend $450k on PR (Tacoma News Tribune)
Medical provider needs at Yakima area (Yakima Herald Republic)