High property taxes. Costly homes. Panhandling. What Boise’s new mayor says she’ll do
Lauren McLean is starting her new job as mayor largely the same way she campaigned to win it: with promises to listen to people with concerns and ideas about Boise city government.
That, more than any policy initiatives, propelled her to victory over incumbent David Bieter in December’s runoff election. Now, though, she has started to outline some changes she’ll make at City Hall.
She has parted with some of Bieter’s key people, including spokesman Mike Journee, while keeping others, including Bieter’s chief of staff Jade Riley, who stayed on as chief operating officer. She put out a news release Thursday pledging steps to increase transparency and openness and to keep refusing campaign donations from corporations or corporate political action committees.
McLean also said she would change ethics rules to prohibit mayoral solicitations of campaign donations from city employees. Employees, as well as unions made up of city employees, can donate, but McLean and future mayors would not be able to ask for money. Several city employees donated to Bieter’s fall campaign. Bieter, in a text message delivered through his former campaign manager, said any thought that his campaign “pressured city employees to support my campaign is false.”
In an interview Thursday in her City Hall office, McLean also pledged to push for a housing trust, a city fund to pay for land that affordable homes could be built upon. She pledged to search the city budget for savings to limit property tax increases. And she answered several questions a Statesman reporter asked on behalf of more than 100 people who responded to the Statesman’s invitation on social media.
Here’s what McLean said about affordable housing, taxes, the proposed new main library, traffic, homelessness and more:
Affordable housing in Boise
Mayor David Bieter proposed a city land trust in 2018, but the City Council has yet to create it. McLean said one of her biggest goals is to see a trust “being used to its full potential.”
“We’re looking right now at ways that we can save money within the city in order to move that money into a housing land trust,” McLean said.
She’s also considering changing the zoning code to include affordable housing overlay zones.
Beyond that, she said she will await recommendations from her affordable housing task force, one of six task forces she named after her election that are made up mostly of citizens plus some city employees.
She said she has charged the task force to “not feel fettered by what’s been done or hasn’t been done,” instead focusing on creative solutions to address the high cost of housing in the city.
A reader asked if she would want any city financial incentives to be offered for historic preservation. McLean said that if she were forced to choose, she would prioritize financial incentives for affordable housing over ones for historic preservation.
Taxes
Lessening property tax burdens is also a high priority, McLean said. On Wednesday, her first day in office, McLean spoke with the heads of Boise’s city departments to see where money could be saved.
For years, the Boise City Council, with McLean’s support, has taken the maximum 3% tax increase allowed by state law each year plus allowances for new development and growth. While she didn’t commit to any sort of change in tax policy, she said she recognizes that many people in Boise are struggling to get by, and that for many, “taxes are a part of that.”
“I believe it’s my job to look at all the scenarios and have a new and fresh conversation around how much we can increase taxes moving forward, and what the trade-offs are if we don’t, then to hear from the public what they think about that,” she said
New main Boise library
McLean, along with Bieter, served on a committee that helped to choose architect Moshe Safdie to design the most recent plans for a new main library, whose estimated cost topped $100 million.
Plans for that library had advanced substantially — with millions of dollars pledged in private fundraising, a contract signed with Safdie, and a council vote to relocate the historic The Cabin just south of the library — before voters demanded a say. They passed overwhelmingly a ballot measure to requires voter approval of any library project costing $25 million or more.
McLean said that was a “clear signal” that Boiseans want to be more involved in the decision-making process. That means the delay, but not the end, of plans for a new library.
“I believe we can have a downtown library that’s worthy of our city that provides us what we need and signals the importance of opportunity within the confines of the ballot measure,” she said.
She wants to have “a conversation” with stakeholders on how to move forward. That includes Boise Working Together, the community group that used a signature initiative to get the library on the ballot. It also includes groups like Boise’s Library Foundation and The Cabin literary center.
She wants to move forward on a new library only when the timing is right, she said.
Transportation
The key to better transportation is approaching it regionally, McLean said. She has already met with Bruce Wong, the director of the Ada County Highway District, and Rebecca Arnold, ACHD’s former commission president who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in November.
McLean said she will talk with legislators from the Boise area and meet with other local mayors — Eagle, Star and Meridian also have new mayors — in coming days.
A reader asked what McLean would do about the “recklessness” of some e-scooter users. McLean said the council will keep monitoring scooters and adjust rules as necessary. She said her focus now is on making sure scooters aren’t affecting the accessibility of others and that Boise is enforcing rules it has already in place.
Homelessness
McLean said she supports the city’s recent efforts to end family homelessness. She and the rest of the council in December approved spending $2 million to help keep families in their current housing, offer short-term assistance to families that need immediate help, and provide long-term supportive housing.
Her plan to help people who are homeless is to work to “get at the root cause and the systems that are creating the environment in which we’re finding ourselves.”
She has asked city staff members to put together a proposal on how the city can best help those experiencing homelessness to move into a shelter or a home while connecting them with services they need.
She expects that Boise will “any day now” have a proposal on “street service teams” that would meet with people who are homeless and help them find the services they need most. Wyatt Schroeder will continue in his role as director of community partnerships, in which he helps to spearhead Boise’s “Housing First” approach for the homeless.
A reader asked if McLean believes housing is a human right. She considered the question before saying yes.
“I’ve never thought of it in that way,” she said. “I thought about health care in terms of health care is a right that we all have. We all deserve and ought to have a home and how we as a community make that possible.”
More questions from Statesman readers
When will we have weekly recycling pickup?
“That’s actually something that has come up often through the years when I’ve been sitting on council, because so many people have their recycle bins filled before their garbage bins now, which is a really good sign. And it’s something that ought to be on the list if it’s not, in terms of connecting with Public Works about it.”
Do you plan to create safe injection sites (for drugs)?
“I need to know more about that. I got that question towards the end of the campaign, and from parties on both sides, and it’s something that I don’t know enough about to have been able to give an answer.
“I would want to talk with addiction specialists, mental health providers, the police and others before making any decision on that.”
Would you consider a ban on panhandling?
“No. And I can elaborate on that. I voted against the ban on panhandling back in ... my early days on council. I believed it was not the right solution to a problem. And also had concerns that there was some speech infringement there. And the city was taken to court after passing a panhandling ban and had to settle because it was clear that it infringed on speech rights.”
Considering Mayor Bieter’s comments on the inherent power that comes with the job, what are your plans to remain aware of hubris and stay grounded in the realization that you serve the community?
“I serve the community. And it’s incumbent on me to remember that every day. It’s part of the reason that I said on the campaign trail that no more than three terms would be where I would be if I was ever so blessed to have one, let alone two or three.
“Because over time, you do risk forgetting where you come from or how you interact with the public when you’re in these offices. And cities evolve and leadership ought to evolve with it.
“I believe that my listening sessions, my text line, my commitment to roam this building and connect with employees in the same way that I will be out in community connecting with citizens, will help me remain grounded.”
In a news release, McLean said she would post her business calendar online, talk to residents who drop into City Hall whenever she is available, provide a dedicated phone line for Boiseans to text her, hold monthly listening sessions around the city, and meet with the press in roundtables twice per month.
Are you OK with Boise supporting a cannabis black market and watching millions of potential tax revenue dollars go to Oregon, or is the time to revisit cannabis laws in Boise?
“Well, the state has to decide whether or not marijuana is legal. And there is a petition circulating for medical marijuana to be placed on the ballot. After that might be regular marijuana. But that’s entirely up to the state.”
How will your term look different than the last mayor?
“I will make true my commitment to the public to remain transparent and accessible. I will do all that I can to build the relationships we need to move the needle on transportation so that our residents can get from home to work and everywhere in between. I will be more than willing to try new things, ask new questions, admit if something doesn’t work, and try again. And really, really look forward to doing that with the City Council, with the staff of the city and the public that so wants to be engaged in charting our future.”
This story was originally published January 10, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
.jpg)