Boise council candidates go toe-to-toe on housing, police, parks. Who stands where
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A slate of candidates for City Council in South and Southwest Boise traded positions on affordable housing, policing, parks, climate change and city management in front of a crowd of about 60 people at South Junior High School.
The panel of new faces for Districts 3 and 4 would all be new to elected office in districts without council representatives at City Hall. This year’s election is the first citywide with geographic districts.
District 3 extends from the Interstate 184 Connector south to Victory Road. District 4 runs from Micron in Southeast Boise to Cole Road in the Southwest.
‘We deserve to have parks and pathways’
In comments at Wednesday night’s debate, a chunk of air time was reserved for the controversy over Murgoitio Park in Southwest Boise.
When a developer proposed swapping the open Murgoitio parcel for land in the Boise Foothills, some locals resisted, saying they had been promised a park decades ago. The land swap would have kept seven acres of the 160-acre parcel as a park, with the rest slated for development.
After the opposition, Boise Mayor Lauren McLean shelved the city’s plans to annex the area, which is outside of city limits. Later, an overlapping group of locals gathered enough signatures to put a voter initiative on a citywide ballot requiring city leaders to consult voters before making changes to city green space. The City Council went ahead and made the proposal law in January, which kept it off the ballot.
“We’re going to get Murgoitio Park built,” said Chris Blanchard, a Boise Planning and Zoning commissioner running for the District 3 seat. He said he also wants an urban renewal district on the Bench, hoping it would help remove an oil tank farm that sits alongside residential neighborhoods.
Josh Johnston, another District 3 candidate, said he wants the park built but only alongside a commitment to bring other city services to what would be a newly annexed neighborhood.
“Murgoitio Park is only part of the services that we deserve out there,” Johnston said.
Kathy Corless, also running in District 3, was one of the opponents of the proposed land swap three years ago and is a former president of the South Cole Neighborhood Association. She said she thinks “that whole parcel” should become a park.
“We deserve to have parks and pathways out there,” she said.
Other candidates also supported parks but emphasized how large the property is.
Theresa Vawter, a fourth candidate in District 3, said she has heard from residents who were “not as adamant about the entire space being a park but having some sort of park space in there of different sizes.”
Jordan Morales, one of two candidates in District 4, which covers South Boise and extends nearly to the Murgoitio land, said voters should remember that the acreage is nearly the size of Ann Morrison Park, which serves much denser neighborhoods downtown.
“I think we need to look at that park site and develop a realistic vision for what we can get done as soon as possible,” he said.
‘Not everybody wants the same type of housing’
In comments about housing, candidates largely focused on the recent overhaul of Boise’s zoning code, which aims for denser, mixed-use development along transit corridors and in neighborhoods as part of an effort to make more public transit possible and reduce sprawl.
With new zoning laws on the books that will go into effect in December, candidates focused on how they would approach evaluating its successes or failures.
Vawter said she supports the new code, which could add “missing middle” housing in Boise’s high-priced housing market.
“Not everybody wants the same type of housing their entire life,” she said, pointing to the possibilities for apartments, cottage courts, duplexes, and single-family homes.
Johnston criticized the city for focusing on apartments, when “most of us want to live in single family houses,”adding that the city should focus on getting more units around the city’s perimeter.
He said he likes density downtown and in commercial areas but doesn’t want affordable neighborhoods to be demolished.
Corless said there are opportunities to build large apartment buildings around West Boise, and for the city to focus on examining the effects of the new law.
Blanchard said that while the City Council committed to reviewing the new code in a year, he wants to review it sooner.
“The neighborhood associations need to tell us what they want to see achieved in their neighborhoods and what they don’t want to happen in our neighborhoods, so that we can be on guard,” Blanchard said.
Morales said he supports mixed-use development, which helps keep areas of the city from emptying out during different parts of the day as residents commute to work. He highlighted that rents have risen precipitously in recent years.
“If you don’t have a renter in your family, a young kid looking for apartments or whatnot, you may not understand that we are very behind,” he said.
Police ‘absolutely demoralized’
Candidates took aim at city leaders over the management of the Police Department, as well as Boise’s civilian police oversight office.
Blanchard said he wants to undo the city’s Office of Police Accountability, which was created in 2021, and replace it with an ombudsman, which the city had in past years.
He said the department is “absolutely demoralized” and officers “feel abandoned by leadership at City Hall.”
Johnston said the department has suffered from “poor oversight” and has a number of vacancies.
Corless said she went to the City Council’s budget hearing this year to advocate for new police positions, and Vawter said she wants more behavioral health services available on police calls to address mental health issues.
Morales said the city needs to focus on the cost of living increases in Boise, which may make it difficult for officers to move here.
What should city do about climate?
Boise has seen record temperatures in recent summers, and Mayor Lauren McLean has set carbon neutrality goals for the city.
Corless said better bicycle pathways in District 3 would help reduce emissions from vehicle trips, and Vawter said she supports making the city’s vehicle fleet electric.
Blanchard said the new zoning code should incentivize building that puts housing close to where people work, reducing needed commute times.
Morales said he has family in Salt Lake City and doesn’t want the Utah city’s notorious inversions to be replicated in Boise.
“We probably don’t talk about (climate issues) enough,” he said.
Johnston said he has “concerns” about the city’s efforts to electrify its vehicles because of the demand on power, while adding that the city has a lot of issues to focus on.
The four candidates in District 3 are vying for one seat with a four-year term.
In District 4, Morales faces Janet Burke, who did not attend the forum. The winner would be in office for a two-year term, as the city aims to stagger elections in future years.
“I think it is incredibly important that those who are seeking to run for office are willing to stand before voters and communicate why they’re running and answer your questions,” Morales said. “To date, the other candidate in this race has not done that.”
This story was originally published October 25, 2023 at 12:16 PM.
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