What does Boise need? (condos, townhouses, live)

[Syringaloid]

Originally Posted by Hp1167

NIMBY's keep Boise from becoming SLC (or Phoenix, or Portland, or Seattle, or Spokane, or any city in California....).

You can't have it both ways.

It can be both ways. The NIMBY's who are vocal in Boise are obnoxious and seem to hate everything in life or any growth that takes place in the city.

[ILI.EB]

Lets be realistic, it would be half a century or more before Boise ever became anything like Portland, Seattle, etc.

Salt Lake City.... that could happen and that wouldn't be so bad. My only real complaint about Salt Lake is that it is nearly ALL suburban look-a-like towns with the exception of Salt Lake itself. If Boise City were to be something more like Salt Lake, that wouldn't be so bad as long as our sprawl gained a little more identity.

[Syringaloid]

Agreed, but we are already much more cooler than SLC and I would hope that we aspire to not be like them. Boise is its own city, own identity. The only thing SLC has that I wish we had here is light rail. I know of people who come up from SLC to see what Boise is doing right pertaining to downtown and pedestrian vibrancy. SLC lacks in that category. We are going off track from the intent of the thread with our discussion though.

[jwest09]

Boise needs to host the Winter Olympics, or have a Formula One race downtown, or have a NBA game played in Boise, or have a preseason NFL game. Something bigger than Bronco ball.

[boisefan88]

Originally Posted by Syringaloid

It can be both ways. The NIMBY's who are vocal in Boise are obnoxious and seem to hate everything in life or any growth that takes place in the city.

That's just your perspective, one that comes from someone who moves from place to place with no real blood or link to a place.

Boise is my home. You might think it obnoxious I want to protect it, but that's because it's not your home.

[TohobitPeak]

Boise needs more skyscrapers.

I am going to digress into the off topic conversation taking place and add that I am a native of Idaho and grew up with Boise being my capitol city and I love it here and am proud, along with other family members, to call Boise my home and this fine city will probably always be my home. I also can get annoyed by nimbys in this city because they stoop so low to complain about smart infill and smart growth.

I would love seeing commuter rail here and even the trolley line downtown because it is foresight and preparing for the inevitable because this valley will continue to fill in with people.

[ILI.EB]

Stopping growth in the city isn't protecting it, it's quite the opposite.

I wouldn't like to see Boise turn into a huge city because part of the appeal is the size while still having mostly everything, but growth is definitely important. As long as it is planned, smart growth, it won't hurt anything. The cities that end up a mess are the ones that senselessly grow and sprawl.

[TohobitPeak]

Originally Posted by ILI.EB

Stopping growth in the city isn't protecting it, it's quite the opposite.

I wouldn't like to see Boise turn into a huge city because part of the appeal is the size while still having mostly everything, but growth is definitely important. As long as it is planned, smart growth, it won't hurt anything. The cities that end up a mess are the ones that senselessly grow and sprawl.

Well stated!! The Boise area, not Boise itself but rural Ada and Canyon Counties, experienced a lot of sprawl the past decade or two as people moving here wanted open space, but the tides are turning because there is a push for more density and smart growth, but the grumblers still complain.

[boisefan88]

Originally Posted by ILI.EB

Stopping growth in the city isn't protecting it, it's quite the opposite.

I wouldn't like to see Boise turn into a huge city because part of the appeal is the size while still having mostly everything, but growth is definitely important. As long as it is planned, smart growth, it won't hurt anything. The cities that end up a mess are the ones that senselessly grow and sprawl.

Name one city Boise's size or larger that matched Boise's rate of growth at some point in its history which grew properly.

I can't think of one, really.

With growth comes change, for sure. But is it change we want and need? Higher home prices? More traffic? More crime? More litter and trash in our parks and public lands? Worse air quality? How about when the city decides to restrict water use and instead of lawns we have rock gardens?

In my experience cities grow and improve, then reach a critical mass and the quality of life declines. I like Boise now, but I really think we're at that critical point.

[boisefan88]

Originally Posted by TohobitPeak

Well stated!! The Boise area, not Boise itself but rural Ada and Canyon Counties, experienced a lot of sprawl the past decade or two as people moving here wanted open space, but the tides are turning because there is a push for more density and smart growth, but the grumblers still complain.

The tides may have turned in Boise city... they are not in Eagle, Star, Nampa or Caldwell.

I'm not sure M3 Eagle qualifies as more density. Were in not for the economic downtown this valley would have added over 100,000 new homes as part of planned community development.

Problem is planners can't do much about density unless you're talking about infill, and every city outside of Boise competes for development dollars so they relax Comp plan recommendations to attract builders.