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DAVID FRAZIER Boise Guardian |
In recent months the GUARDIAN and Mrs. GUARDIAN have been wracked with guilt and ridiculed by friends for our practice of taking “Sunday Drives,†to places like the Riverside Restaurant at Horseshoe Bend or the Boise Stage Stop east of Boise.
While the food at both locations is surprisingly good and the staffs are genuinely friendly “Idaho Folks,†we have come to realize you have to go 15-20 miles to “get away from madding crowds.†The sea of rooftops to the west and endless snake of traffic on Fairview, I-84, Eagle Road, State Street, etc. tend to tighten our neck muscles.
The current crop of politicos in Boise, Meridian, and Garden City are bent on “increased density†as the basis for planning the future of our community. These are the folks who give away our tax dollars, make exceptions to zoning laws to benefit developers, and refuse to allow citizens the voice we are guaranteed in the Idaho Constitution. As the song goes, “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.â€
Their decisions create problems, which demand solutions, which cost money, all contributing to the decline of our quality of life. The school and highway districts constantly scramble to keep up with the demands caused by unnatural growth. Boise officials have dumped their sex offenders (21 at Vista and Canal), impoverished citizens, trailer parks, low cost housing, and skinny houses in the Vista neighborhood. Now they are spending a federal grant to address the issues. (A few perverts living along Warm Springs and skinny houses in the Harrison Blvd. median would be a good start)
For the past half century we have watched generations of politicos destroy our downtown, leaving a vast wasteland in favor of the Towne Square Mall. The polluted aquifer was ignored, money was squandered over a fire station location, and some of the busiest streets in the state were created.
Meanwhile the downtown wasteland was ripe for development. Thanks to “tax increment financing,†all the property owners living outside the redevelopment area funded the services required when the growth took off. One smooth talking developer after another came in with slick plans which always depended upon taking public money for their private benefit. Taxes on new construction and increased property values goes to CCDC (Capital City Development Corp.) NOT to the city, county, ACHD or schools.
In this latest round of insanity we have people eagerly awaiting recently announced projects including:
–160 unit apartment complex in the area of 5th and Front
–100 room hotel at Capitol and Myrtle (with 26 parking spots)
–100 room hotel across Myrtle on the Dunkley Music property
–300 room convention hotel at 11th and Front with a possible 5,000 seat soccer field
–St. Luke’s seeks to close Jefferson for its private benefit
Meanwhile after half a dozen rejected locations, Boise is building an underground bus station and Gardner is putting the entire Center on the Grove in shadows with new office condos. Buses will be doing some sort of loop against traffic on Capitol.
Not to ignore the rest of the city, Boise leaders are in the process of annexing land on South Cole for a development called “Syringa Valley.†The area is predicted to have 1330 homes, 1110 apartments, 480 condos, and a business park and shopping center.
Both ACHD and Boise Schools have developed plans to spend millions of dollars on the planned urban sprawl.
