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Posts tagged as “Boise”

Obama candidate fallout

January 20, 2009

The call in today's inaugural speech by the new president for getting involved may cause a whole large new crop of candidates, some of them recent graduates of the successful Obama campaign, to jump in. Here's one in the Northwest who just did.

Thomson logo

logo for TJ Thomson campaign

From a just-received press release (oddly, no web site yet): "At the Obama Inaugural Celebration in Boise tonight, TJ Thomson declared his intent to run for the Boise City Council in 2009. Earlier today, TJ filed an Appointment and Certification of Political Treasurer for Candidacy with the City of Boise, naming former Idaho State Senator, Gail Bray, as his Political Treasurer. TJ is well known throughout Idaho as an engaged citizen and respected policy analyst, program evaluator, and community organizer. More recently, TJ lead the grassroots organizing efforts for President Barack Obama in the State of Idaho, served as the State Chair of Idaho Veterans for Obama, and addressed a crowd of over 14,000 at Taco Bell Arena, during Barack Obama visit to Boise prior to Idaho’s Super Tuesday election."

No particular predictions, other than this: He's likely to run a strong campaign. The basis for thinking he will, at least, is pretty solid.

Avimor’s timeline

January 19, 2009

We've been wondering about how the string of mega-developments around Boise, all launched a year or two to mere months before the real estate/finance crash last year, are getting along. The key case would be Avimor.

Avimor is a big development, located in the Boise foothills partway between Eagle and Horseshoe Bend off Highway 55. The developers' web site offers a by-the-numbers rundown: "684: The number of housing units. The majority would be single-family homes, with about 60 multifamily units such as lofts. 75,000: Square footage of commercial and community space. 1,952: Projected population of Avimor. 830: Total acres in Avimor. 498: Acres of open space and parks in Avimor. 9.5: Miles of public trails in Avimor. 5: Years to build Avimor."

Note that last: Five years to build, according to the web statement in February 2006. We're now nearly three years into that.

Their odds of hitting target don't look great. From a post a few days ago in the Boise Guardian:

We got the following from an obvious insider and frankly what they apparently see as a positive sign is pretty weak.

“Avimor has had residents since October. There are three homes closed, two with families living therein. One home is under construction for a family. Another pre-sold home is about to start for yet another family.

“All four families are from the valley and have lived in Idaho for several years. The MLS only has a few spec homes listed which none have sold. Two spec homes have contracts pending, contingent on financing which is almost impossible to get.”

Even if we give them the benefit of SIX homes sold in the past year, it will take 500 years for them to sell 3,000 homes.

Circuit City closes

January 16, 2009

A big story nationally - there being 567 big-box stores involved - but notable in the Northwest: Circuit City said today it is shuttering all its stores in the United States (though, for some reason, not in Canada). Jobs lost: About 30,000. The company has been in bankruptcy proceedings since November.

CC is a big retailer in the Pacific Northwest. It has nine stores in the Seattle-Tacoma area, one at Bellingham, two around Spokane, one at Richland, five at Portland, two at Salem, one at Springfield, one at Medford, two at Boise, one at Idaho Falls (Ammon) - 25 big stores in the region, employing a whole lot of people. Or, did employ.

On the consumer level, this has a notable impact in some of the smaller metros; Boise, Bellingham, the Tri-Cities and Idaho Falls will have relatively limited choices at this point for consumer electronics.