New bus route; ideas from Mark Rivers

Hola! It's been a long time between blog posts (due to my crazy day job), but I want to share a few things I've come across, including a Valley Ride survey that ends TODAY (Sunday, March 6).

Valley Ride expects to bring bus service back to southwest Boise sometime this spring. The proposed route is a good one because:

It reinstates service to the Social Security office for our older and disabled neighbors.

It ties together one shopping and entertainment center (Boise Towne Square) with another (the Edwards cinemas and shopping west of Cole Road).

It provide service to Frank Church High School and the Boise School District offices (as well as one of the best auto mechanic shops in town).

Valley Ride has a survey about the new route. I believe it closes today, but I just heard about it.

In other urbanist news, Mark Rivers of Brix & Company has a new online flipbook, 10 Fresh Ideas for Downtowns in 2011. From comfy sidewalk benches with reading lamps to winter festivals (how about bringing back First Night?) to expanded truck-based commerce (why should taco trucks and bookmobiles have all the fun?), Rivers and crew are thought provoking as always. I still wish Mark would run for mayor; I'm still not surprised that he has no interest, since politics suck.

Bowling in Vegas

It's true that - with the exception of two bad quarters in Reno on November 26 - our Boise State Broncos played a season worthy of going to the Rose Bowl. TCU was just a little better than us, and they're going instead.

But this BSU fan is pleased with the Broncos' consolation prize - and when the "must-see bowl game" lists come out in the next day or two and the final story of this season is written, I'm betting that the Las Vegas Bowl will rank above the Fiesta Bowl and the Cotton Bowl. Forget the BCS and its forced qualifiers. (8-4 UConn in the Fiesta Bowl? Really?!?) Update: Indeed, ESPN ranks the Vegas Bowl #7 out of 35 games, higher than the Fiesta Bowl.

The biggest plus is probably the date. BSU fans hated just about everything about the idea of playing in San Francisco: the goofy name of the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, the idea of driving over Donner Pass to get there (Las Vegas is a mere 15 miles closer, but a bit less of a white-knuckle trip), and especially the prospect of playing 7-5 Boston College.

But the date was the worst aspect: At this point, our guys deserve to have a short break for finals and play their bowl game. By January 9, most fans are going to be bowled out, ready for the Oregon-Auburn BCS title game. (Go Ducks!) People will have been back on the job and students will have been back in school for a week. The Idaho Legislature starts January 10. Aside from being the final holiday buzz kill, that fact alone means many Boiseans would've had a hard time making a bowl trip to the Bay Area.

But on December 22? It's just the fifth day and the fifth game of bowl season, and the Vegas Bowl will be the first Top 20 match-up. Fans nationwide will watch this game, and Boise State fans - even those disappointed by the pick - ought to consider making the drive. There is no cheaper week to visit Vegas, and you can be home in time for Christmas.

My family usually plans trips months ahead, but we made a snap decision Sunday to go to this game. My husband and daughter were already off of work and school, and I can get away from my job, too. My family - all but me - loves Las Vegas. ("This is the only time you'll catch me voluntarily saying, 'Let's go to Vegas,'"I told them.) We nabbed a rental car for under $90 for four days and we see plenty of name-brand Strip hotel rooms in the $50-60 range (with even-cheaper rooms abundantly available). Game tickets are $62 with all fees included; not a bargain, but not much more than a BSU home game. Most of all, we'll be there for the Broncos.

Most memorable Thanksgivings

In thinking a bit this holiday morning about the most memorable Thanksgivings I've had in my life, it shocks me to realize they were all in my 20s.

Two of them came during an ill-advised first marriage in the middle of that decade. My husband and I had a good meal with my small family in Pittsburgh, then we went to see John Mellencamp in concert. It was at the height of Mellencamp's fame - around the "Lonesome Jubilee" - and it was a fine evening listening to him sing anthems of the heartland.

Either a year before or after that, the two of us trekked from Ohio to suburban Washington, D.C., where his eldest brother and family lived in the same cul de sac as a Supreme Court Justice. The sprawling house filled with people; the dinner was fairly exotic; and we all raked leaves outside afterward.

The last Thanksgiving of my 20s was my first out West. I'd wisely left my boy husband by then; my Dad, also on his own since my Mom's death two years before, flew from Pittsburgh to Salt Lake City on Thanksgiving morning. I drove down from Twin Falls to meet him, and we motored on to Moab. We had dinner at a restaurant overlooking the small town, then we spent the weekend exploring Utah's red-rocks country.

That was 21 years ago. I've had plenty of good and even interesting Thanksgivings since then - including one jet-lagged afternoon alone in Australia where I wound up having pasta al fresco and one with vegetarian friends who served lentil loaf and the best pies ever - but none that quite rank up with the trio from my 20s. This will change next year: the plan for 2011 is to fly to San Francisco to spend the holiday with my brother and his partner. It'll be the first Thanksgiving of my 50s and my daughter's last one before college. It's way past time to have a big-city holiday season kickoff.

Meanwhile, I am sure today will be lovely: the new "Harry Potter" movie followed by the buffet at the Owyhee Plaza. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

The people on the bus say 'Ride with us'

As an avid bus rider in Boise, I am part of this new video that shows a few reasons why it's cool and cost effective to take transit.

Zipping around Boise

Hooray! Zipcar is coming to Boise! I thought it would take far longer for the car-sharing service to arrive here, but through a partnership with Boise State, it's here now. Zipcar has citywide programs in only 14 cities, but it turns out that it's also on more than 100 campuses nationwide, now including BSU.

Zipcar is starting small in the City of Trees, which is probably a good idea. There are only four Zipcars parked on campus, but I'm sure that if demand is high, they'll add more. Membership is available for $35 for BSU students, faculty, and staff; community members can join for $50 a year.

For those who don't know, Zipcar is perfect for people who do not own a car, or who need an extra vehicle from time to time. Say you only need a car once a week to run some errands, or for a day trip or overnight to McCall. At $8 an hour ($9 on weekends) or $66/day - including insurance, gas, and 180 free miles per 24 hours - it sure beats owning a car for people who only need or want to drive occasionally. Since gas is included, it's probably cheaper than traditional car rental for close-by overnight trips - plus these are sweet rides, like a roomy Scion xB or Toyota Prius.

I'm not sure how often I'll use Zipcar, but as a BSU-area resident with an 11-year old car that I share with my daughter, I plan to become a community member and check it out for some road trips. I predict they're going to need to add more cars before too long!

Art time in the old town tonight

It's going to be a scorcher in Boise today, with an expected high of at least 100. But as the sun dips lower, downtown will be filled with cool activities for August First Thursday. From sky-high, one-night-only galleries at the Aspen Lofts to the spectacle of 30 artists creating a mural in the parking garage at Bannock and Capitol, there's plenty going on.

I'll be at the Pioneer Building with Idaho Indie Works and the Etsy Street Team to sign copies of the 8th edition (just out in June; $15) of Idaho Off the Beaten Path. This is probably the last appearance I'll do for the book this summer, so please plan to stop by!

Ask for local option

I recently got a letter from Idaho Smart Growth with the news that the Governor's Task Force on Modernizing Transportation Funding is investigating funding tools for public transportation. Idaho is one of only three states without a dedicated source of funding for transit.

Does this mean that, at long last, gentlemen ranchers Butch Otter and Mike Moyle are going to climb down off their high horses and confess that, yes, we live in an urban area? Hmmmm, as a veteran of too many years in the local option battle, I'm not placing any bets. But I've submitted my comments (due by September 15) and you can do the same. Here's what I wrote:

Idaho officials talk about local control and being fiscally responsible with tax dollars. That's the very reason the Idaho Legislature and governor MUST , at long last, allow local communities with the option of deciding for ourselves whether we want to pay a little extra in sales tax to have better public transportation, a new bridge, bike paths, or what have you.

Idaho is one of only three states that does not offer a dedicated state or local source of funding for public transportation. Please enact local option authority for Idaho, with no more than a 60 percent pass threshold. As our population ages and we continue to see the costs of our reliance on oil, Idahoans will want more transportation choices.

Thank you.

Boise through new eyes

Former Texans Michael and Maria Smith entertained many of us six months ago with their explanation on the Statesman editorial page of how they chose Boise as they new home. The Smiths are back in the paper today with a long list of what they've quickly learned to love about Boise - and a very short list of stuff with which they are not so pleased.

One of the pleasures of having friends and family visit is seeing a place anew through their eyes. Reading the Smiths' article is like that, too. Enjoy.

As a bonus, this article is appearing just days after the Society of American Travel Writers' Western chapter meeting happened here in Boise. Here's hoping some of them are still lingering in town and will be able to sample a few of the riches the Smiths suggest.

From the market, June 5

We actually had some rare (for this spring, anyway) good weather on Saturday morning, making it a pleasure to shop the Capital City Public Market. Some of this week's haul: several handmade greeting cards, a bag of lettuce, fresh eggs, butternut squash ravioli, Ballard Family cheese, granola bars, and a end-of-school gift (the glass musical note piece) for my daughter.

One big pleasure of the Market is stopping to chat with folks, including Michael Boss from Behind the Menu and Millie Hilgert from Miss Courageous. (I'm definitely buying one of her Lego business card cases some not-distant Saturday.) I also ducked into The Box in the Basement at the 8th Street Micro Mall (below Thomas Hammer and the former Coldstone) for a fun peasant-type top that I spotted on First Thursday two nights before, then hit Failla Drums' 11 a.m. drum group, newly relocated to A Novel Adventure on Main Street. It was a morning well spent!

Memorial Day Weekend quick takes

A few quick takes:

Check out the Downtown Boise Neighborhood Association's website. It's a work in progress, but it's looking good. I also learned at yesterday's DBNA meeting that we'll soon be seeing some more electric boxes bedecked with cool local art. (That photo atop the right-hand side of this blog is one of the current boxes, at Capitol and Main.)

Timberline High students have been hitting the streets this past week, gleaning stories about architecturally and historically significant buildings. Check out this blog post about one team's trip to the Owyhee Plaza Hotel, featured on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's "Preservation Nation" blog. I'll also be writing about the Boise Architecture Project - led by teacher Doug StanWiens (on his way to Boise High School) - in the summer issue of Treasure magazine.

Speaking of preservation, Preservation Idaho has a free bike tour of Art Deco architecture in Boise this Saturday. Info here.

In sad downtown news, Sweetwater's Tropic Zone has closed. Can it be that with the abundance of great restaurants on and within a block of 8th Street, 10th Street is just too far for diners to wander? Or is it simply a sign that we're not yet quite out of the economic woods here in the City of Trees?

Early bird gets the eggs (Market 5/15)

As much as I remember and/or have time, I am going to post a pic from my weekly haul from the Capital City Public Market here this spring, summer, and fall. Today's gets included little banty eggs (the bigger, terra cotta-colored ones are coming soon, they tell me), an awesome blackberry lime granola bar made in Meridian, spinach, tomatoes, and handmade asparagus ravioli.

Just a head's up, so you can mark your calendars now: I will be at the market to sign hot-off-the-press, 8th edition copies of Idaho Off the Beaten Path on Saturday, June 19. That's the day before Father's Day, and the book makes a great gift for all your guys who like exploring our fab state. I'll donate a buck from each book sold to the market's Fresh Fund, which - starting in June - will help food stamp users buy locally produced food at the market.

TOD workshop on May 20

If the phrase "transit oriented development" makes you happy, you'll want to know about a workshop set for 10:30 to noon next Thursday, May 20, at the U.S. Bank Building. Chris Zahas, a Portland-based planner, will talk about successful TOD principles and how they might apply here in Boise. Think "mixed use, walkable, location-efficient development in scale with the adjacent community and with sufficient density to support convenient transit." The State Street corridor is one such area being eyed for possible TOD in our town. Surely there are others, too.

The workshop is free and it is sponsored by Valley Regional Transit, the Ada County Highway District, the City of Boise and Kittelson and Associates Inc. For more info or to RSVP, contact Jackie Okun at 338-2683 or jokun at kittelson dot com.

See you at the Green Expo

Just a reminder: This weekend is the 3rd Annual Idaho Green Expo down at the Boise Centre. I am going to try and make it down there for the Green Jobs panel and the worm composting workshop. You'll find a full listing of events, exhibitors, etc. here.

Admission is free, and the first 500 moms attending on Sunday (Mother's Day) get a free stainless steel water bottle, too.

Plans and more plans

The Treasure Valley may have an inadequate transportation network, but - as Caldwell Mayor Garret Nancolas pointed out in a recent op-ed for the Idaho Statesman - it's not for a lack of planning.

The Community Planning Association of Southwest Idaho plans three open houses next week to seek public comment on the updated long-range transportation plan it must adopt this summer. The open houses are:

Boise - Monday, May 10, 4 to 7:30 p.m., Boise Senior Activities Center, Room E, 690 Robbins Road

Meridian - Wednesday, May 12, 2010, 4 to 7:30 p.m., Joint School District #2, District Service Center, 1303 E. Central Drive

Nampa - Thursday, May 13, 2010, 4 to 7:30 p.m., Karcher Mall lobby, 1509 Caldwell Boulevard

As Nancolas noted, all the plans in the world won't get us anywhere without funding. That means electing state legislators who will give local residents the right - currently denied - to fund local transportation options. Consider that when casting your primary votes this May and especially when you vote in November. Meanwhile, attend an open house and offer your input on the updated plan. You can learn more at the COMPASS website.

Walk and talk about downtown Boise

See this woman? She was the fabulous Jane Jacobs, an amateur urbanist who wrote one of the most important books of the 20th century, The Death and Life of Great American Cities. She believed that cities ought to be planned by the people who live in them; that density (within reason) and diversity bring vitality; that cool old buildings ought to be saved when at all possible; and that above all, cities are meant for walking.

This weekend, Jacobs' legacy will be honored with "Jane's Walks" in dozens of cities across North America, including one in Boise. We'll meet on The Grove at 1:30 p.m. Saturday (May 1), walk and talk around downtown for about 90 minutes, and (for those interested) continue the conversation afterward at Red Feather Lounge. (Thanks to Dave Krick for promising some goodies for us.)

We want to keep the group size smallish, but we really do have room for another four or five people. If you are interested, please RSVP by Friday evening, April 30, to walkboise@gmail.com. And if you are reading this too late but would like to be involved in Jane's Walk for 2011 - perhaps in other Treasure valley neighborhoods - give me a shout at that same email address.

Busker do

Here's Boise's own internationally known jazzman Curtis Stigers, busking outside the Record Exchange on Saturday aka Record Store Day. In addition to two in-store performances by Idahoan-turned-Brooklynite Josh Ritter and the band Everest, many local musicians sang and played on the sidewalks outside throughout the day.

Busking is a trend that the local music advocacy group Go Listen Boise would like to encourage. "Our city is so safe, and our downtown core is so pedestrian friendly, why shouldn't the streets be filled with music?" the group wrote on "Busking Basics" cards distributed throughout the day.

Why not, indeed? As last summer's Curb Cup showed, Boiseans love street performing. Go Listen Boise says that there currently are no regulations or licenses for busking in Boise, and that with common courtesy and good sense, we can keep it that way. I've seen and heard some great busking downtown in recent weeks as the weather has warmed, and I'm going to try and catch some of it on FlipCam to post here on Sidewalk 208.

P.S. Curtis graciously kept his guitar gig bag closed to tips so other, lesser-known acts could get the day's spoils. Go Listen Boise held a killer bake sale for the cause, too. This town rocks.

Play ball! (And blog about it, too ...)

The 2010 baseball season is about 10 days old. I've been an avid baseball fan since childhood, when I rooted for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the days of Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, and (a little later) "Goose" Gossage. These days, as far as I am concerned, there is no better way to spend a fine summer Southwestern Idaho evening than at a Boise Hawks game.

The Hawks have been in the news lately since the team is mulling the possibility of building a new stadium in the not-distant future. So it's great to see that Hawks General Manager Todd Rahr has tossed out the opening pitch of a new blog, Rahr Insight. (Todd, by the way, is a fellow graduate of Ohio University, lately famous for beating Georgetown in the first round of March Madness. And if we're lucky, our 'cats are going to show up at the H-Bowl one of the next few years, hopefully not against Boise State. But I digress ...)

Todd's first post is rather long but definitely worth reading, as he addresses several issues surrounding the Hawks' future. Personally, I'd love to see a new ballpark near downtown Boise, ideally along the Greenbelt and/or with skyline views. I also like the possibility of a new, upgraded stadium being the centerpiece of a true riverside downtown district for Garden City. However, I can see the advantages of building in Meridian, which is more centrally located for the entire Treasure Valley. Real baseball fans will follow the Hawks wherever they go.

Todd also promises to blog more about the possibility of Triple-A baseball coming to Southwestern Idaho someday. It won't be soon, but given our growth in the past few decades, we may be ready in another dozen years or so. That's another reason why I'll be rooting for the Hawks to continue to prosper in 2010 and beyond. You can follow the Hawks at their website, as well as on Facebook and Twitter. See you at the ballpark!

Happy Start Walking Day!

From this morning's news roundup at Treasured Valley, I learned that this is National Start Walking Day. And what a lovely day for it, with blue skies, budding trees, and light winds.

According to the news release:

The annual American Heart Association program aims to get people walking for 30 minutes a day, with at least some of that walk time happening during work breaks or lunch.

Exercise physiologist Steve Sanders says regular exercise is a key factor in cardiovascular health.

"Walking helps reduce the risk of heart disease, which is the nation's number-one killer - for both men and women - and it helps reduce obesity. You have to make you and your fitness a priority."

Yesterday at lunchtime, I walked the three blocks to my local Albertson's to pick up some groceries. As I stood waiting for the light at Vista and Overland I heard a woman's voice say, "No wonder you're so skinny. You walk everywhere!" It was my next-door neighbor, pulled up at the light. I smiled and rubbed my belly as to say, "Skinny? Me?"

But it's true: I do walk a lot, up to 10,000 steps a day, as experts recommend. I walk for fun. I walk on errands in my neighborhood. At least once a week, I walk downtown instead of driving. That gets me the 10K right there if I walk both ways.

And while I don't feel I am especially skinny at around 140 pounds, this longtime habit - I've had it my whole adult life - helps keep me reasonably fit. So give it a try, if you're not already walking. It's the perfect exercise, and - as gas nudges $3 a gallon again - a good transportation mode, too.

The arts: no longer a political hot potato

The chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, Rocco Landesman, was in southern Idaho on Monday to get a firsthand look at how NEA funding helps our state. His visit, arranged by Rep. Mike Simpson, was covered by the Idaho Statesman and The Times-News.

It's heartening to see that the NEA is not the political hot potato it was in the 1990s, when I wrote this op-ed for The Wall Street Journal to share some of the same sort of success stories Landesman saw yesterday in Boise, Jerome and Twin Falls. Despite stories like mine from all over the nation, Congress slashed NEA funding that decade, mostly in response to outcries over the works of a few controversial artists who'd received NEA grants. Funding levels have risen gradually since then, but the NEA remains smaller than it was 15 years ago. The Obama Administration's FY 2011 request for the NEA is $161.3 million, or about 52 cents per American.

BSU students take fresh looks at downtown

Anyone who loves downtown Boise ought to have a look at the Statesman today. Page 1 of the print edition has two very cool stories that - combined with news of the first drop in Idaho's unemployment rate in 32 months - show Boise's brightest days may yet be ahead of us.

First of all comes the news that BoDo developer Mark Rivers has toured the old Macy's building and is at least thinking of a purchase. Kathleen Kreller's story notes that others are looking at the property, too. Let's hope that something can come together in "the big old barn" (Rivers' words) while the market is still down. The costs of the cavernous building - and of neglecting it - are only certain to rise in the future; on the flipside, the psychological and financial rewards of investing in such an iconic property could ripple valleywide.

Bethann Stewart covered the first-ever spring break innovate@boisestate conference, showing how five teams of students envisioned infill projects for downtown parcels. The first-place team proposed something called Zenabuki Village along Broadway between Front and Myrtle streets, described as "a mixed-use housing and retail development of condos and apartments where students, young professionals and other community members would interact."

Whole Foods Market has plans to build on this parcel (if we can't interest them in the old Macy's instead), and the students made the grocer the anchor tenant of their proposal. But they also envisioned a skywalk to the Boise State campus and a living center where at-risk teens could mix with college students to see the benefits of higher education.

The second-place team envisions an "Urban-Outdoor Nirvana" at Myrtle and 11th streets, including a transportation center with Zipcar and bike rentals; a concert venue; a children's museum; citywide volunteer center; and more. Read the whole story here, and see the proposals on display at the BSU Undergraduate Research and Scholarship conference, set for from 1 to 4 p.m. Monday, April 12, in the Student Union Building. And bravo to BSU for an activity that shows how in-person higher ed can remain relevant in the Internet era.

P.S. If these stories set your heart and mind racing, please consider joining us for Jane's Walk 2010 on May 1 in downtown Boise. See the link for more details and sign up soon; the event will be limited to the first 15 people.