Boise Working Together
CONTACT: Dave Kangas, President (208) 841-0580
Boise Working Together Comments on the Zoning Code Rewrite Draft.

MuRGoitio Park / FootHills Land swaP
A terrible idea
Read our Letters to Mayor McLean and City Council
Letter FROM BOISE WORKING TOGETHER REQUESTING DISCLOSURE OF CoNFLICtS OF INTEREST regarding the Housing Bonus Ordinance

Boise's Fast-Tracked Housing Bonus Ordinance -- Letter To Neighborhood Associations
Scroll to see all 4 pages.
Additional Docs on the Housing Bonus Ordinance HERE:
response from boise mayor mclean to our letter regarding public process and transparency during the pandemic

Letter To Ada County Agencies Emphasizing the Need to Ensure PUblic Process and Transparency during the pandemic

Boise Working Together Has also sent a letter to governor brad little in support of an Emergency Moratorium on Evictions During the coronavirus pandemic.
We've extended our outreach to include the Governor's Office to deal with potential of a large upswing in homelessness during a pandemic. Ultimately, our goal is to allow people to shelter at home without unjustly shifting the burden of meeting emergency mandates to workers who still must make April rent. Whether the Governor acts swiftly and decisively, or the Mayor of Boise employs her broad police powers to uphold the health and safety of our citizens, we must ensure action.
As of March 25, five registered Neighborhood Associations of Boise have signed on to the Letter to Mayor McLean! You can sign on too here Letter to Sign. We will occasionally update the Governor as well as the Mayor with your name and comments.
You can read the letter to the Governor on our Documents page: https://www.boiseworkingtogether.com/documents !
Boise Working Together has sent a letter to the City of Boise in support of an Emergency Moratorium on Evictions During the coronavirus pandemic.
An eviction moratorium is a necessary corollary to the mandated closure of businesses. To create an emergency declaration that closes businesses, however necessary, with the result that many people simply will not be able to pay next month's rent, without an additional declaration to ensure these affected people can retain their housing, is inhumane and unjust, and also counter-productive to our emergency response to the pandemic: "flattening the curve" by maintaining social distance, will not be possible for people who are evicted -- they will be crowded into the homes of relatives or friends, or shelters. This, as all emergency measures, is not a complete solution but an essential first line of defense.
You or your organization can also sign onto this letter, ideally before April 1, 2020. See Letter to Sign
You can also read the letter at our Documents page: https://www.boiseworkingtogether.com/documents !
Former City Council Member Scot Ludwig claims the Citizen Stadium Ordinance will limit private property rights
Boise Working Together's response:
"Private development ventures — privately funded — are not prohibited by the November election, in which 75.2 percent of Boise voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 2 calling for future votes on major stadium projects where public money is involved.
No private developer has an inherent right to a city subsidy for a private project. When a stadium project is taking substantial public money, greater taxpayer oversight becomes necessary. That’s what the November vote mandated and is now codified as a city ordinance.
This “legal trial balloon” by a former city councilman who’s just returned to his developer roots is tone-deaf. It fails to hear the clear direction from the ballot box and the expressed intentions of a new Boise mayor and her administration, which today said they wish to 'reflect the priorities of the vast majority of our community.'
There’s a better path to a better ballpark."
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Read the ordinance yourself at https://www.boiseworkingtogether.com/documents !
Check out our Boise Working Together Mayoral and Candidate Questionnaire
5 of 7 Mayoral Candidates responded:
Brent Coles
Adriel Martinez
Lauren McLean
Cortney Nielsen
Wayne Richey
City Council Candidates:
Seat 1; 4 of 7 Candidates responded:
Karen Danley
Tecle Gebremicheal
Ryan Peck
Brittney Scigliano
Seat 3; 2 of 2 Candidates responded:
Jimmy Hallyburton
Meredith Stead
Seat 5; 2 of 3 Candidates responded:
Brady Fuller
Debbie Lombard-Bloom
Great Interview on Boise Public Radio with Adelia Simplot!
A couple of clips from our Uncle Jimmy Radio interview last august!


Mayor Tells 'Stakeholders' He has sTashed $50 Million for Library despite ballot initiative Prop 1
Why is it that Mayor Bieter is telling a small group of “stakeholders” that he will spend at least $50 million of the new taxpayer money he recently “found” on a library - regardless of what the citizens want? It is remarkable that Mayor Bieter is already enacting a plan to overturn the citizens’ will — before a vote has even taken place!
And why wasn’t this meeting held in the light of day? Why do we only find out that the mayor plans to ignore the will of the people via a public records request by reporter Margaret Carmel?
And just who are the stakeholders that were invited to this meeting? Aren’t ALL taxpayers stakeholders on a large municipal project?
#VoteYESonProps1and2 #BoiseLetsVote
“To stakeholders in August, Bieter said if the ballot initiative were to pass, the city would likely take it before a judge, according to a set of talking points given to the mayor prior to meeting with stakeholders. The Idaho Press obtained the talking points via public records request.
“… I think one way or another we’ll find ourselves in court,” the talking points for Bieter said. “I don’t ever want to predict what the outcome of a court case will be, because you never know, but we’re pretty confident that (the initiative) would be found unconstitutional.”
David Klinger, a member of Boise Working Together, said the group is confident the language will hold up in court.
“I think we’re on very solid ground,” he said. “This is an accountability set of propositions that asks for greater citizen oversight of their city government. That’s the essence of democracy.”
Straw poll foregoes costly PR, relies on voter instincts and values.
The citizens of Boise were recently polled and showed a more intuitive understanding of the city’s priority needs than their own leaders.
At this weekend’s Hyde Park Street Fair, one of the biggest community gatherings of the year, 564 citizens voted with their pennies to indicate what their budget priorities would be if they were setting them as mayor or city council.
Boise Working Together’s straw poll was a chance for the citizens to weigh in and see if their priorities align with those coming from city hall.
The straw poll was made up of 10 spending categories and alternatively NOT spending money and instead returning it to citizens in the form of lower property taxes.
We told participants that there were no wrong answers, your budget should reflect your values and what you think Boise needs the most.
The final results indicate an overwhelming support for investment in affordable housing, with public transportation coming strongly in second while interest in the stadium is virtually nonexistent. This stood in contrast to Mayor Bieter who consistently has placed both a new expensive downtown main library and a publicly-subsidized stadium as his priorities.
Boise Working Together ran a short but successful initiative campaign in the spring to get the question of the proposed new main library and stadium on the ballot so that citizens can vote on large expenditures of our public money. Despite the city’s efforts to oppose it at every turn, BWT’s efforts gave Boise voters the opportunity to vote on the resulting Propositions 1 & 2 on November 5th’s ballot, along with 3 city council and the mayor’s seat.
Thank you Boise!
Whether you signed the petition, got 1 or 100 signatures from your family, friends, and neighbors, if you shared our social media posts, or served on a strategy committee, our immense gratitude to you for your individual contribution to this community-wide effort! We couldn’t have done it - and especially in such a short time - without the help of hundreds of committed Boiseans. Thank you!! We we will now await the results as the county clerk does their due diligence reviewing the signatures.
MEDIA RELEASE
May 30, 2019
"Today, David Levine, director of the Ada County Elections Division, notified us that his staff had verified 5,610 valid signatures for the stadium petition and 5,698 valid signatures for the Library petition. The number of valid signatures needed to meet the threshold for both petitions was 4,962.
Boise Working Together is gratified that the citizens of Boise have achieved the one thing we promised we would seek for them — an opportunity to be heard, in the form of a vote in November 2019 on two city-altering civic projects, the proposed downtown sports park and the proposed downtown events center/library. The many citizens who signed our petitions now have a better opportunity to more fully inform themselves about the benefits and the drawbacks, the costs and the impacts of these two projects, and then to vote any way they choose. A vote is their right.
“Everywhere, people told us they want to be involved in major city decisions affecting their lives and pocketbooks; they want transparency in city decision-making and they want clear explanations of where money will come from to pay for these projects. They share our trust in the wisdom of the people", said Adelia Simplot, chair of Boise Working Together.
We’re honored to have gotten it for them. Now, over the next five months, our fellow citizens must do their part, by fully educating themselves about the implications of the stadium and library projects before they vote this fall. Boise Working Together will be participating in this open analysis, but — as we have said all along — it is the right of Boise citizens to vote their conscience on the future of their city. Now, they have that right affirmed."
Boise Working Together - Board of Directors: Adelia Simplot, chair; Mark Baltes, John Bertram, Alex Jones, Dave Kangas, David Klinger, Richard Llewellyn, Ed McLuskie, Diane Ronayne.
A great city grows best when it grows … together.
We are Boise Working Together.
We are a volunteer group of citizens who believe that a great city and its future rest on maximum accountability from our city government … and meaningful involvement of citizens from all corners of Boise.
We reflect all ages, occupations, backgrounds, and viewpoints. We are your neighbors, co-workers, and friends. We are West Boise and Southeast Boise. We are North End and Boise Bench. We are Northwest Boise and East Boise.
And we are united in our belief that Boise needs a new approach in how it hears its citizens … spends their taxes … and charts the future of a great city.
Boise Working Together has asked for two ballot initiatives in 2019 that matter to you.
See KTVB's coverage here : KTVB Boise Working Together
See the Idaho Statesman's coverage here: ID Statesman Boise Working Together
WORKING TO ENSURE TRANSPARENCY AND PUBLIC PROCESS DURING THE PANDEMIC AND BEYOND