City seeks spot for SUV assigned to Otter

BY HEATH DRUZIN - hdruzin@idahostatesman.com

Published: 07/17/08


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The city of Boise is trying to find a parking space for the sport utility vehicle State Police use to drive Gov. Butch Otter around.

The city has received complaints that the black Chevrolet Suburban has been parked on the sidewalk behind the Borah Building, the governor's temporary office in Downtown Boise.

A spokesman said the governor has nothing to do with the parking place. He directed calls to the State Police.

"It's an ISP vehicle," spokesman Mark Warbis said. "We make no decision about its use, its parking, its maintenance."

State Police Col. Jerry Russell said he told troopers to park the car on the sidewalk because the city has not granted the State Police a street parking space and because the big SUV takes up too much space in the Borah Building's small parking lot.

The sidewalk parking also allows a state trooper assigned to the governor, whose office overlooks the parking site, to keep an eye on the vehicle from the office.

Russell said he's had a good dialogue with the city since hearing about the complaints.

"Everybody is working together on it," he said.

The SUV has not been ticketed because the city does not ticket law-enforcement vehicles, said Adam Park, a spokesman for Boise Mayor Dave Bieter.

State Police requested a specific parking spot from the city about a year and a half ago, but the city rejected the request because the spot was reserved for disabled drivers, Park said.

After the city called Otter's office to let his staff know about the complaints, State Police made a new request for two parking spaces - one for the Suburban and one for a squad car assigned to the governor. Park said the city hopes to resolve the issue in the next couple of weeks.

"We're going to try to make sure that we find spots," he said.

The parking story was first reported Wednesday by the Boise Weekly.

Heath Druzin: 373-6617

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