Endorsement roundup: Boise City Council districts 1, 3 & 5, and the $570 million bond
The Idaho Statesman has worked since 1864 to keep citizens of Boise informed about important events. Among the most important are local elections, where voters get to decide who will run the government closest to them in the coming years.
The Statesman’s editorial board has interviewed all candidates in City Council races who showed up for interviews. We also interviewed city staff about the city’s proposed $570 million wastewater bond. Video recordings of those interviews can be found attached to the relevant stories, so voters can watch and make their own decision.
Here is a breakdown of our endorsements in each race, with links to the full editorials:
Boise City Council, District 1
The two candidates for Boise City Council, District 1, Laura Metzler and Luci Willits, are both smart, kind and clearly passionate about West Boise.
Neither candidate, in interviewing with this editorial board, demonstrated a deep understanding of what the job entails, giving us pause in this endorsement.
The editorial board had a difficult time eliciting definitive answers to questions about important issues such as housing density, property taxes, inclusionary zoning and affordable housing.
Since council members are now elected only by those voters who live in their district, we are concerned this could exacerbate the already pervasive problem of NIMBYism — the attitude of “not in my backyard.”
We fear voting by district could lead to council members listening only to those loud voices of neighbors who shout down any kind of proposal that includes higher density and not making decisions based on what’s best for the city.
Read the full editorial endorsement here.
Boise City Council, District 3
Boise City Council President Pro Tem Lisa Sánchez is being targeted by an ugly smear campaign by the political action committee Conservative Citizens for Thoughtful Growth.
That PAC raised and spent $83,000 last year on similar vicious attack ads against Democratic Ada County Commissioner Diana Lachiondo, who lost to Republican Ryan Davidson, who has since made some horrible and consequential decisions on the commission.
In the four years that Sánchez has been on the City Council, she has grown into an important and necessary voice, demonstrating a broad knowledge of issues facing the city of Boise and championing underrepresented voices in our community.
Maria Santa Cruz Cernik, an owner of a local hair salon, is enthusiastic and has a unique background that would benefit City Council, but she did not demonstrate a deep knowledge of several key issues, including affordable housing, property taxes and the proposed water renewal bond on the Nov. 2 ballot.
Greg MacMillan, a real estate agent, seems to be a one-issue candidate trying to play on the issue of police funding that’s being used as a political weapon against Sánchez.
Nick Domeny did not show up for a scheduled interview with the Idaho Statesman editorial board.
Read the full editorial endorsement here.
Boise City Council, District 5
Holli Woodings has been an outstanding Boise City Council member for the past four years. It would take a very strong candidate to unseat her.
Her opponents are Katie Fite, Crispin Gravatt and Steve Madden.
Fite, a public lands advocate for Wildlands Defense, wants more transparency in city government and affordable housing. She also wants to protect public land and expressed her displeasure with a proposal to sell Murgoitio Park land to developers.
Madden is a semi-retired newcomer who moved to Boise three years ago to get away from the liberal politics of California. He advocates for slowing down growth, saying that too many people are moving into Boise. He said he did not see the irony in his position, and he seemed to incorrectly assume that building new buildings and housing is spurring growth rather than recognizing our construction boom is in response to people, like Madden, moving to Boise.
Perhaps Woodings’ strongest challenger is Crispin Gravatt, who is chair of the city’s Public Works Commission and a senior research analyst for the Idaho STEM Action Center, is energetic, upbeat, positive and full of ideas.
Read the full editorial endorsement here.
Boise wastewater bond
Sometimes a bond is a choice between incurring a significant expense and forgoing it. The $570 million water bond is not such a case. The costs the bond will cover must be incurred.
The Lander Street Water Renewal Facility, built just after the end of Word War II, is on its last legs and has perhaps a decade of life remaining. The city has miles of pipe in need of replacement. Boise is growing quickly, and so are the demands on its water system.
New sewer and water treatment capacity have to keep ahead of growth, not follow behind it. So it’s necessary to build more now.
The only major project that could be considered optional is starting an industrial recycled water program, but that idea has obvious merit. Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of droughts in Idaho. The plights of salmon and steelhead are increasingly dire. A project that will improve water conservation and reuse will be a long-term asset for Boise.
The question at issue in the bond is not whether these things will be done but how they will be paid for.
Read the full editorial endorsement here.