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CCDC TO Reap Windfall Off Foothills Levy

The complex funding mechanism known as “tax increment financing,” diverts taxes on appreciated value and the value of new construction within an urban renewal district to the Capital City Development Corp. (CCDC).

With passage of the foothills levy, ALL Boise property will see a hike in property tax levy. But the increased property taxes (the increment portion) within the CCDC urban renewal districts are diverted to the urban renewal agency.

Last time around, when we brought up the “windfall profit issue,” CCDC agreed to refund the “windfall” to the Foothills Levy fund. Sounds cool, but wait, there’s more!

Here’s where it gets silly. By law, the CCDC is not allowed to spend funds outside its district. Pretty hard to justify spending urban renewal funds–even ill-gotten funds–not only outside the district, but outside the city limits. More fees for their lawyer.

REMINDER: Election Day, Please Vote

Local elections today, PLEASE VOTE.

Idaho To Get Additional Area Code–986

After 68 years—that’s correct 68 years–with a single 208 area code, Idaho will have an additional telephone area code of 986.

The Idaho Public Utilities Commission decided Monday to assign the new number to all NEW phone services…that way existing numbers will not change, regardless of location. The hitch is we will all have to include the area code in all calls, even local.

Here is the PUC: NEWS RELEASE

State regulators today approved a 16-month plan for Idaho’s second area code to be implemented in late 2017. An hour after the Idaho Public Utilities Commission issued its order approving the plan, the agency that contracts with the federal government to administer the nation’s area code numbering plan, Neustar, issued Idaho’s second area code: 986.

The second area code will be issued only to new telephone numbers beginning in late 2017. Idaho is one of few states that still has one area code, “208” issued in 1947.
Continue reading here…

Firefighters Pay Bieter More Than Peavey-Derr’s Entire Fund Raising

It comes as no surprise that nearly every builder, developer, and engineering firm along with lots of lawyers and realtors have made campaign payments to incumbent Mayor Dave Bieter’s campaign war chest. In the game of politics, you have to pay to play.

A post by Randy Stapilus at Ridenbaugh Press reveals Bieter has been paid $180,000 from supporters compared to Judy Peavey-Derr’s paltry $15,000.

The GUARDIAN took a look through the numerous pages of big spenders to the Bieter campaign and noted that firefighter unions from just about every town in Idaho made combined payments of about $17,000 to Boise’s mayor…that’s more than Peavey-Derr’s entire take so far. We noted smaller individual payments from firefighters and even volunteers as well.

Even with a former union lobbyist now chief of the Boise FD (“chief officers PAC” paid $500) and the current Boise FD union president on the Greater Boise Auditorium District Board, we find it hard to understand why firefighter unions from Washington, Spokane, Blackfoot, Middleton, Chubbuck, Ketchum, Nampa, and Pocatello–to name a few–would pony up $1,000 each to see Dave Bieter re-elected in Boise.

Are there plans afoot for a run at Gov. or Congress for Boise’s about-to-be fourth term mayor?

A story last year in the IDAHO STATESMAN by Sven Berg adds some perspective to the politics of pay and the pay to politicians. It showed Boise firefighters make on average $40,000 a year more than their union brothers in Salt Lake–$85,000 plus about $50,000 in benefits.

Office Of Police Oversight AWOL

Boise’s new Director of Police Oversight (ombudsman) has gotten off to a rocky start after failing to respond to the scene of a “critical incident” involving a police shooting near the Depot early this week. She told legacy media neither she nor an investigator responded. She said she is kept “apprised” of details. As we see it the only “apprisers” are coppers–no one representing the citizens.

The civilian review position was established after a series of police shootings more than 10 years ago led to a lack of confidence in the department on the part of citizens. Pierce Murphy served as the Community Ombudsman for about 10 years and made no bones about working on behalf of citizens as an independent investigator and judge with regard to police conduct. He left two years ago to accept a similar position in Seattle–a city rocked by police misconduct.

Boise elected officials refused to fill the post for more than two years and only recently hired Natalie Camacho Mendoza, a lawyer, to fill the post which was reduced to a part time position.

Boise City Code 2-22-04
H. Critical Incidents
In the event that an officer or employee of the Boise Police Department is involved in a
critical incident, defined below, as a principal, victim, witness or custodial officer, the
Office of Police Oversight shall be notified immediately and shall act as an observer to any criminal, administrative or civil investigation conducted by or on behalf of such
Departments. Hard to act as “an observer” when you are absent.

Failure to respond or have an investigator on the scene of a critical incident is like calling balls and strikes at a baseball game based on a radio broadcast. Ms Comacho Mendoza needs to be there to represent the citizens if she is to “oversee” police conduct. The days of judging police conduct based on the reports of coppers has long passed.

If she wants her work to be trusted, she needs to change tactics pronto. She let us down on her first critical incident.