Published on
September 2, 2010 at
1:38 pm.
Even the best intentions oftentimes have unintended consequences. Traffic signals are put in to make intersections safer, yet they do lead to traffic slowdowns since one never hits the lights at every intersection. Signs that provide cautionary notes or speed limits proliferate into visual noise that drivers often ignore.
A few small towns in Holland and Germany are experimenting with doing away with all traffic signage/signals in the hopes of decongesting the roads and making driving less confusing.
Yes, it’s totally counterintuitive. Some in Europe believe that by removing all the signs, drivers must pay increased attention to the roadway. Currently they feel that the proliferation of signs is caused by the fear of litigation rather than safety concerns. Apparently the lawyers have been unchained in Europe as they have here.
Bizarrely, in Drachten Holland, they have even built a children’s playground in the middle of the road to force drivers to slow down. (Wonder who lets their kids actually play there?) Continue reading ‘A Sign of the Future?’
Published on
August 31, 2010 at
9:05 pm.
Last week, the ACHD Commission voted to approve a budget, that while it does not raise the aggregate amount of taxes ($31,700,000) levied upon the public, does give a 15% tax rate increase. I could not in good conscience approve that budget. Government should not try and hold itself harmless while those that actually pay the taxes suffer with lowered property values, lower personal incomes and all that go along with that.
The sad thing is that only one citizen bothered to discuss the budget. Mr David Klinchuch, who is running for the ACHD Commission from the Kuna/South Meridian/Southwest Boise area, made some good points. He mentioned that ACHD’s overhead is too high, that the impact fee and highway user’s fund revenue projections are unrealistically high based on the economy, and that every expense reduction imaginable must be considered. Alas, his comments were disregarded. Continue reading ‘A Tax Rate Hike and Almost Nobody Cares’
Published on
August 12, 2010 at
4:11 pm.
In less than 2 weeks, ACHD Commissioners will be voting on the 2010-2011 budget. While it was built with taking only the same amount of property tax next year as this, it still provides the property owners with a stunning 15% tax rate hike. That’s because the value of property has fallen dramatically through Ada County. Your house is worth 12-14% less than last year, but you get to pay the same amount of taxes.
Recently we had another bad piece of news in Idaho/Ada County. Our personal income fell 3% last year, almost double the national average. Housing prices down, personal income down, employment stagnant and perhaps 5-10 years before property values rebound.
Like last year, this is not a good year to raise taxes – or tax rates. Families are doing more with less or less with less. Government should do the same. Government should not be a leading indicator in the recession, it should be a lagging indicator.
Last year, I proposed cutting the property tax revenue by $1,000,000 over the previous year. Continue reading ‘The Budget is Nigh’
Published on
July 30, 2010 at
6:58 am.
Recently I had a call from someone asking about the construction on Main St in downtown Boise. There were some metal rods going in at the curbs and there was a big hole in the street. Also the corners were torn up. This person was adamant that the construction was in aid of the proposed trolley – that the hole in the street was the electrical for the trolley and that the curb and sidewalk work with the metal rods was to strengthen the street for the trolley.
I told her to relax. The street corner work you see in downtown Boise is ACHD installing new pedestrian ramps to conform with ADA requirements. And if you see a hole in the street, it’s utility work. In the case of Main St near City Hall, it was a sewer problem.
While the trolley might still be a hope of Boise City officials, so far it’s just a hope and not reality. That may change but not for a while, if ever.
The Three Cities River Crossing Bridge is a no go for now. The funding was just not ensured to take on a project of that magnitude. I did mention that the City of Eagle could take on a bond election as a project since they really want the bridge to be constructed. However, I don’t think they were too excited to do that.
Finally, the Commission did give the dentist the lease . The consultant pretty much stated the same points I made previously and the staff recommended that we sign the five year lease. The conversation was still like pulling teeth but at least that’s a win for the taxpayer.
Published on
July 20, 2010 at
1:22 pm.
On July 21, 2010, the ACHD Commission will hold a public hearing on the fate of the Three Cities River Crossing bridge which will link State St to Chinden Blvd in the three cities of Boise, Eagle and Garden City.
On July 19, 2010, the COMPASS board (made up of all localities in Ada and Canyon Counties) voted, with one dissenting voice, to go with the no build option. The lone voice was the City of Eagle, which has long supported the building of the bridge.
ACHD has already received letters from Boise, Garden City and Meridian going on record for the no build option.
It appears likely that the bridge will not be built under the funding scheme currently envisioned which is hope like heck that folks in Alabama and California fund it with federal tax dollars and we match it with 7-20% of local funds. That really is no way to plan for a $80-100 million facility. And if we embark down the path of building the bridge, spending federal dollars and then come to the conclusion that it really is not feasible, Ada County taxpayers are on the hook to repay those federal dollars.
Eagle is pretty adamant that they want the bridge. Under the circumstances, I think there are two options for moving the bridge forward. Eagle can propose and champion a bond election and hope they can convince the other 366,000 people in the County to vote to raise their taxes. Or they can pursue a toll bridge concept which would require finding a venture capitalist or some investor to fund the cost.
Published on
July 12, 2010 at
4:37 pm.
It’s budget time for local governments around the Treasure Valley and you know what that means right? It’s time to raise taxes. Or at least that’s whats being proposed at a number of jurisdictions including ACHD.
So let’s do our yearly examination of why it might not be such a good idea after all.
Assessed values of property have fallen 14.3% from 2009 to 2010 and the average residential property value has fallen from $186,400 to $159,800. While we don’t know how many more people have now gone “underwater” from the 35.1% at the end of the first quarter of 2010 in their mortgages, in May 2010 there were 735 foreclosures. The good news? This was down from 1053 foreclosures in April. The bad news? There were 735 foreclosures in Ada County in May.
Unemployment in Ada County is holding pretty steady at a whopping 9.1%, down from 10% earlier this year but is higher than the State average. This lower rate incorporates a decline in the workforce of more than 2000 people. However, the total U-6 unemployment for Idaho, which takes into account those who have given up, who are underemployed or who are marginally attached to the economic system is 16.9%. Continue reading ‘Is It Time to Raise the Taxes ?’
Published on
July 7, 2010 at
11:03 pm.
About 4-5 years ago, ACHD undertook to widen Ustick Rd from 3 to 5 lanes from Cole Rd to Five Mile Rd. This project cost the taxpayers of Ada County about $20,000,000 when everything from right of way to construction to drainage to soup to nuts was added in. A lot of the right of way costs (about $3 million) were attributed to 3 office buildings at the corner of Ustick and Maple Grove and a house to the east. Dentists occupied 2 buildings, a doctor the third. The doctor’s office was torn down to make way for the widened intersection. Both dental offices still stand. One was purchased, I surmise, because the dentist would have ended up very close to the road, but perhaps it was going to be torn down. A house, directly to the east was also purchased perhaps to be torn down to allow for access to the two remaining offices but perhaps not. That house still stands, and today stands empty. The plans obviously changed with the direction of the wind. Fascinating how a project of this magnitude was not better planned. Ah well. Continue reading ‘ACHD Commission Says No to Bird in Hand’
Published on
July 6, 2010 at
1:04 am.
Sorry it’s been so long folks. Trouble with the site plus a vacation makes for long periods with no blogging.
I thought that this story would have made it into the daily “newspaper” by now, but if so, I couldn’t find even a blip. (Great business model they have now. If you don’t pay extra for an “enhanced” tv guide that most, if not all, daily newspapers in America provide on Sundays or Wednesdays, then you get nothing! But I digress.)
Out of the $787 Billion stimulus bill or American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, 6% or $48 Billion went for transportation projects. Even though it’s absurd that people in Ohio, Florida and New Hampshire are paying for Idaho roads while bankrupting our children’s future, ACHD applied for almost $15 million in stimulus funds. If ACHD hadn’t gotten stimulus money, then some other state would have spent it, and our children would have been bankrupted anyway with nothing to show for it. Continue reading ‘ARRA, JFMS, and the Stimulus Brothers’
Published on
June 14, 2010 at
12:39 am.
The City of Boise is nearing the end of their work on rewriting their comprehensive plan, named Blueprint Boise. ACHD staff has reviewed the plan with an eye towards the subjects that have an impact on transportation or the delivery of the transportation element like roads vs transit or “complete streets”.
The comments provided by ACHD will be advisory but the hope is that Boise will take them into account and perhaps tweak the plan element so that ACHD and Boise are on the same page, so to speak. ACHD’s comments are not binding on Boise, but actually, the comp plan is not binding on ACHD. Yet, again, the hope is that ACHD and Boise will work together, just as the hope is that ACHD and any city in Ada County or Ada County itself can work together, and in the case of Boise, let’s hope that hope actually does triumph over experience. Continue reading ‘Blueprint Boise’
Published on
June 9, 2010 at
10:56 pm.
Today, the ACHD Commission hosted a number of local elected officials to present information on the potential Three Cities River Crossing and get some feedback. We had participation from Garden City, Boise, Eagle, Meridian and Ada County.
Lisa Applebee of ACHD presented an overview of the history of the project with the end result being a build v a no build decision we must make in the near future. This bridge was to provide another crossing over the Boise River between Eagle Rd and Glenwood to relieve traffic from the existing bridges. This was originally a recommendation out of the Bench-Valley Transportation Study in the early 1990′s. The preferred alternative has one entrance/exit at the north end linking to State Hwy 55 and then a coat hook effect at the south entrance/exit linking to Cloverdale Rd and Mountain View/Mulberry. The cost of the bridge will range from $60 million to $83 million, but could possibly be well over $100 million when all is said and done. Continue reading ‘See, We CAN Work Together’
