Open letter from Boise Mayor McLean: People, community come before ideology

Like most of you, I watched last month in horror as an angry mob beat on the doors of our statehouse chambers. It was a culmination of months of strife and anger and name-calling in our community and, more broadly, our nation. This intensity, this fervor of ideology over humanity, is alternately terrifying and heartbreaking.

But the loudest, angriest voices in the room are not who we are, Boise. I say this with deep and abiding clarity: I know who we are.

I’ve spent over 20 years working in and with this community, talking to thousands of Boiseans in every corner of this city, and I know who we are and what we want.

The priority of most of us? Community. To put people ahead of partisan ideology. To live a safe, healthy life. To look out for our neighbors. To build something that endures. And to hope that the generations after us will have the same.

And I carried those values and priorities in setting next year’s city budget: affordable housing, measures for clean energy, economic opportunity, and, yes, a 1.7% increase in our police budget as we grow. And I accounted for all these needs while still reducing the budget AND responding to the emerging needs of a pandemic.

That’s the truth: You can read it for yourself. Please do. The truth, admittedly, isn’t interesting.

Lies and distortions about an “agenda” are easier and more exciting. They are cheap, electric fodder for click-bait, for social media posts from the Idaho Freedom Foundation and, disappointedly, political fundraising letters from opportunistic legislators. Name-calling is an attractive tactic because it works.

And when wearing a cloth mask is “tyranny” and things like public pre-k are “radical socialism” — when the very idea of community, caring for our neighbors, is decried as “communism” — we’re down a dangerous path, one that leads right to the behavior we witnessed at the statehouse.

Listen, I’m no stranger to name-calling and the tactics of playground bullies. They call names, they intimidate. They seize any opportunity to stoke fear and divide us in order to rule the playground.

We can reject bully tactics. We can embrace truth over lies. We can reject the cheap allure of name-calling and remember that our neighbor is not our enemy, that we are truly a community and our destinies are inexorably, beautifully intertwined. And we can continue to address our current challenges with creativity, with our trademark Boise ingenuity, and, yes, civility. Because that’s who we are.

In the past months, I’ve been told to go back where I came from. I’m sure many of you have heard that, too.

Respectfully, this community has shaped me as my home for the entirety of my adult life. I have raised two kids, built a life and made a home here. I have proudly served this community for over 20 years in various ways, right alongside so many of you, and I will continue to fight for every Boisean to have the same opportunity to exist, thrive and give back.

I’m not going anywhere. I hope you aren’t, either.

This story was originally published September 3, 2020 at 2:09 PM.