Enterprise zones in Idaho

Canyon County, small towns eye 'enterprise zone' to encourage commercial, industrial development. From the Idaho statesman:

Still in the early stages, the envisioned zone would be the first in Idaho, offering tax relief and incentives to industry and business locating around and between the western Canyon County towns of Greenleaf, Wilder, Notus and Parma.

Agriculture advocates say they're wary of the economic development proposal's girth - an early estimate spans more than 30,000 acres, including some of the county's best farmland - but encouraged that they'll have a voice in the process.

The affected small towns -populations range from 650 to 2,000 - embrace the prospect of pulling in new jobs, swelling the tax base and making it easier for rural community residents to work near their homes.

Read full story here.

The truth about Grand Avenue Condos

Dan Popkey of the Idaho Statesman's provides an in-depth look into the tragedy of uninformed real estate venturing in Boise.

Are "charter cities" the answer?

Freakonomics Q&A with renowned economist Paul Romer, famed for his work in endogenous growth theory, who recently resigned a tenured position at Stanford to pursue the idea of "Charter cities" full-time.

Economist William Easterly (author of one of my favorite books, "White Man's Burden") calls this "walking the thin line between revolutionary and crazy". What do you think?

Ever wonder who will sort your no-sort recycling?

ID Statesman explains:

The transformation of newspapers and shoe boxes begins in your recycling cart at the curb. After being dumped together into a truck, their first stop is Western Recycling, where they are pressed together with other recyclables into 1,200-pound cubes.

Since Boise's no-sort recycling program launched in June, Western Recycling has seen about a 40 percent increase in recyclable material, said plant manager Soron Root. The biggest problem so far? Residents don't seem to realize that glass still isn't accepted.

"The biggest deterrent is we're getting a lot of glass. We're ending up with glass on the floor, flat tires on fork lifts," Root said. "I realize everyone wants to recycle everything they can, but we have to do it the right way."

The bales are shipped to facilities in Tacoma, Wash., or Clackamas, Ore., where they are broken open.

The materials from the bale are put on inclined conveyor belts into several sorting devices.

Big things are separated from small. Newspapers are pushed to one side, plastic to another. At the end of the line, containers with magnets pull the "tin" cans out, and an electrical current pushes the aluminum away so it falls off onto another conveyor belt.

"Everything that comes off the conveyor, in theory, is plastic," Root said.

"Unfortunately," he said, "the quality of material you get has some contamination - with your cardboard you're going to have some junk mail. A tin can with a yogurt container in it may end up with the tin."

With other cities in the Treasure Valley looking into no-sort recycling, Western Recycling is considering buying land to build its own sorting facility, Root said.

"We would probably almost double our size," he said.

Boise residents have adapted quickly and easily to the new trash program, said Department of Public Works spokesman Vince Trimboli.

Read full story here.

With fewer miles driven, how does the govt make money for roads?

Hal Bunderson, chairman of Ada County Citizens for Better Transportation, outlines five options for road revenue generation in an opinion piece published in the ID Statesman. Excerpt:

There is general agreement that Idaho has serious transportation infrastructure problems. Idaho is a large state with several thousand miles of federal, state and local roads and a relatively small population to pay the costs. It is critical that we develop a balanced, long-term transportation-funding model.

Our existing model - a fossil fuel tax and a vehicle registration fee - is fundamentally flawed. In the face of inflation and increased demand, improved vehicle efficiency is providing less fuel tax revenue per mile driven.

Gov. Otter has appointed a "Task Force on Modernizing Transportation Funding in Idaho." It is not the first time policymakers have studied transportation funding. Some argue that they have studied it to death, confusing effort with results. Hopefully this time, policymakers will avoid politics and parochial interests and reach conclusions based on agreed guiding principles, disciplined evaluation and objective analysis of probable long-term consequences.

Read full story here.

Ada County families may lose financial assistance for rent, utilities

Families getting monthly financial assistance for rent and utilities were notified by the local housing authority late last week that their aid will be suspended on Aug. 1.

Deanna Watson, executive director of the Boise City/Ada County Housing Authority, expects that the wait for new families to get assistance could grow from about 2.5 years to 4.5 years. The program serves about 1,900 families, and another 4,700 are on the waiting list.

Read more here.

Boise Streetcar: Update

Pasting an article from the ID Statesman archives (published Jun 14, 2009):
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Boise leaders raise streetcar concerns

Possible federal funding may alleviate the worries some Downtown powerhouses voiced this spring.

Some of Downtown Boise's biggest property owners and company CEOs laid out a series of high expectations they want met before the city moves ahead with one of Mayor Dave Bieter's top priorities - a 15-block streetcar loop through the center of town.
They want the city to better understand how many people may ride the streetcar, to develop a planon how to pay the operating costs and to make sure to take the time to do the whole thing right.
Seven members of the city's 36-member streetcar task force sent a letter April 23 with the litany of concerns to Gary Michael, chairman of Bieter's streetcar task force, and Capital City Development Corporation Director Phil Kushlan.
Many members of the task force "have become frustrated with the many questions and concerns that have been left unaddressed," said the letter, signed by Idaho Power CEO Lamont Keen, St. Luke's CEO Ed Dahlberg and others.
Bieter says the letter is "old news" because the city now plans to pursue up to $25 million in federal stimulus money, and that could help resolve one of the biggest concerns the business leaders have: How will the city pay for the $40 million to $65 million project?
At least one of the letter's signers, George Iliff, Colliers International managing partner, agreed that the federal money went a long way in answering his concerns.
But the question of funding may matter the most to the major property owners in town - like Rafanelli and Nahas, which owns the former Boise Cascade building and several surrounding blocks, and whose project manager Scott Schoenherr signed onto the letter.
The most likely source of the money discussed so far has been a "local improvement district," which would tax the landowners within it. And it can be created without a vote of those landowners - by Bieter and just three members of the City Council.
Plus, the letter states, the city has yet to make a plan for the operating costs of the streetcar: "This is an unacceptable response given the magnitude of the decision."
Bieter said he was confident he had the support of the business leaders because of the federal money.
"We went from zero (federal funding) to half - that's a fundamental change," Bieter said.
But that money is a long way off - even if all goes to plan.
Just Friday, Idaho's congressional delegation joined eight other federal lawmakers in asking the U.S. Department of Transportation to dedicate $300 million of its stimulus money toward streetcar projects around the country.
Boise's share would come from that money, but to get the full amount, federal officials would have to set aside a full 20 percent of the $1.5 billion the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act dedicated to surface transportation.
Still, the possibility does temper some of the concerns.
"CCDC and the city of Boise have been receptive to the concerns we addressed in our April letter," Colliers CEO Iliff told the Statesman. "The issues in the letter still need further resolution and are in the process of being addressed by the city and its consultants."
Keen, Schoenherr and John Lamb, senior vice president for U.S. Bank Plaza owner Unico, said they are waiting to receive more information before taking a position on whether the streetcar project is headed in the right direction. The other business leaders could not be reached.
In the letter, they said they also were concerned that the city had never conducted a ridership survey to see how many people would use the streetcar, and that the project seemed to be proceeding too hastily.
Bieter said reports and evaluations under way now will address these concerns.
Gary Michael and Kushlan started tackling the problems at a May 15 meeting of the task force, which is composed of business and civic leaders and has been meeting monthly since November. The meetings have not been opened to the public.
Iliff said he's confident the questions will be answered.
"In the coming months the task force will be able to reach informed conclusions and make recommendations about the viability of the project and how it will affect the Downtown stake-holders and the community as a whole," he said.

DETAILS ON THE MEMO:

A three-page letter outlining concerns with a plan to build a Downtown streetcar was signed by seven local business leaders:

- George Iliff, Colliers International managing partner;
- Ed Dahlberg, St. Luke's CEO and president;
- Lamont Keen, Idaho Power CEO and president;
- Jim Kissler, Norco CEO;
- John Lamb, senior vice president for U.S. Bank Plaza owner Unico;
- Doug and Skip Oppenheimer from Oppenheimer Companies; and
- Scott Schoenherr project manager for Boise Plaza owner Rafanelli and Nahas.

Cynthia Sewell
cmsewell@idahostatesman.com
Cynthia Sewell: 377-6428
© 2009 Idaho Statesman

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~