King or queen for a day? Here’s what Boise council and mayoral candidates would change
If you had all the power and the money in the city of Boise, how would you use it? Improve housing? Improve life for the koi in the pond at the Boise Depot? Wear a tiara?
From taxes to conservation, the candidates for mayor as well as the three City Council seats have answered many of the same questions over and over again at public forums. At two forums hosted by Boise Young Professionals and the Idaho Statesman, however, candidates got a curveball: If they were royalty for just a day, what would they do to improve Boise?
Candidates for Boise City Council had 30 seconds to answer at their BYP forum on Oct. 16. A week later, mayoral candidates got only 10 seconds. Here’s what candidates said, in the order they said it, first at the council forum, then at the mayoral one:
‘I’d get a tiara first’
Council Seat 5
Debbie Lombard-Bloom: “Well I’d get a tiara first. I’ve always wanted one and I think I deserve it. I think Boise is a great community. I’ve always loved Boise. I’ve lived here my whole life. I just want to bring us back to the table, what’s having our community voice I think that we’ve lost it. We have two tiers. We have the city and the elected officials and then we have the residents. I would just bring us all back to the table again.”
Brady Fuller: “If I was king and I had complete power, I would buy up all the Foothills so that future generations can enjoy them just as much as we do today.”
City Council President Pro Tem Elaine Clegg: “I would enable local-option taxing and then I would run an initiative to get transit.”
‘Equitable access to open space’
Council Seat 3
Planning and Zoning Commissioner Meredith Stead: “So my first was funding Foothills and my second was solve transportation.”
Jimmy Hallyburton: “I want to make sure that everybody has equitable access to open space. I think that one of the ways that we can do that is by building bicycle and pedestrian pathways along every single canal access road in Boise that links to the Greenbelt. It makes it so everybody has access to a safe place to walk and ride.”
‘I would pay everybody’s property taxes’
Council Seat 1
Patrick Bageant: “It sounds like I would use the day to celebrate because Elaine took care of the problem. It’s the most important thing to me that we can fund a transportation plan that will work for people who live here in 2040 and 2050. If it’s option tax, if it’s changing the Idaho Legislature, I don’t care. It’s what we need to do.”
Karen Danley: “I would use the power to improve the process of how we make all these decisions and that would be to actually divide into districts for the city. That means that it would be more fair and more equitable because every part of the city will have a seat at the table. In 2001, like 14% of cities voted at large. And since then, there’s been three lawsuits because some demographics have been left out of the picture. And the others, they’ve been forced to move into districts.”
Chris Moeness: “If I was king for a day, I would have 10,000 different housing options built so we could kind of get caught up on the housing beat.”
Ryan Peck: “King for a day, I think that’s a Thompson Twins song. I’m gonna agree with transportation. We agree to fund the Foothills. I’m also going to say I will create instantly create numerous all-ages, cultural venues for our kids to have places to go and places to exchange powerful ideas. And since it’s all one day, and then I would have Radiohead, Coldplay and Beyoncé and a bunch of other really cool bands come in and play those venues and really activate the city.”
Brittney Scigliano: “I mean really, last? Like all these things, yes, yes, yes. I think there’s 10 things. Yes to all of that. Local option tax I think would be crucial, housing is absolutely crucial, keep those Foothills and the river protected. So what’s left, I would pay everybody’s property taxes for a year.”
‘A beautiful mass transit going through with a Starbucks’
Mayor
Ada County Highway District President Rebecca Arnold: “Reduce property taxes and make housing more affordable for everyone.”
Mayor David Bieter: “Get rid of ACHD and get our roads back.”
Brent Coles: “I look forward to a really, really wonderful transportation system. Reduce the congestion on our roads, have a good transit system so I can get on a bus and go wherever I want to go.”
City Council President Lauren McLean: “A home for everyone who works here to live here.”
Cortney Nielsen: “A new filtration system and an automatic feeder for the koi ponds at the train depot, and a beautiful mass transit going through with a Starbucks.”
Wayne Richey: “A $26 billion wall.” (The wall would be around Boise.)
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Tecle Gebremicheal, a candidate for Seat 1 on Boise City Council, and Adriel Martinez, running for mayor, were not at their respective forums and are not included.
The election is Tuesday, Nov. 5. Early voting is underway.
This story was originally published October 25, 2019 at 5:00 AM.
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