Idaho's Capitol reopens

Despite today's chilly weather, a good crowd turned out for the grand re-opening of the Idaho State Capitol. If you missed the event, you can see it on Idaho Public TV at 6:30 MT/PT tonight.

Click here for more info on the Capitol's normal operating hours, including the guided tours that will start February 1 and the new gift shop. (Hmmmm, now maybe there's part of the solution to our state's budget woes.) And click here for information on how you can follow the Idaho Legislature no matter where you live. The action starts Monday, January 11.

Filling the Macy's hole

Many of us are disappointed to hear that Macy's will be closing its downtown Boise store. I haven't been here long enough to remember the earlier retail incarnations that Tim Woodward described in his Idaho Statesman article today. I just know that, whenever I was lured by Macy's One-Day Sales or holiday blow-outs, I always tried the downtown store first to see what they had before even considering a trip to Mallville. Sure, the selection was never as good, but the vibe was friendlier.

Now the big question turns to whether and how downtown Boise can fill the void at 10th & Idaho. In Cynthia Sewell's main Statesman story today, key players including Capital City Development Corporation director Phil Kushlan and downtown revivalist Mark Rivers were fairly downbeat about the possibilities, though they said that this does give Boise an opportunity to re-imagine future uses for the space,since it's unlikely any national retailers will want it. Here are a few possibilities I'd propose:

Make it multi-use. It's unlikely that one tenant will need the 118,000 square feet Macy's occupies. Besides, some of the most compelling spaces in our downtown and those of other cities feature a mix of retail, offices, cultural attractions, and even residential space.

Boise State will continue to grow, and its campus boundaries become more porous every year. Could BSU claim part of the Macy's real estate for a downtown campus, perhaps for its political science or community and regional planning classes?

Central downtown really needs a grocery store and/or a public market. Winco's flagship behemoth is too far east to serve people living and working in the downtown core, especially people who'd like to quickly hit a store on foot at lunchtime or before heading home. Whole Foods' plans for a Boise store have been on the back burner during the downturn - but if it does move forward, perhaps it would consider taking over part of Macy's. (The first Whole Foods I ever visited, while researching for Lonely Planet in the chain's hometown of Austin, Texas, was a multi-level store.)

Perhaps the Boise Co-Op, crammed into its current Fort Street location, might take a look. Or how about a year-round, indoor public market a la Seattle's Pike Place or Vancouver's Granville Island? Yes, parking will always be an issue, but not an insurmountable one, especially for the thousands of people who will be living downtown in another decade or so.

Bowling! Say no more. Macy's basement would be a rocking spot for a bowling alley/nightclub/performance space.

What are your ideas?

My last morning on Facebook

Here's a slightly edited version of something I originally posted as a note at Facebook. In the comments there, many people said that it reflects the sort of balance they're struggling to attain in a life that's increasingly, for many of us, lived online. Enjoy, ponder, and please post any thoughts you have, too.

Here's my resolution for 2010: I won't log onto Facebook - or anywhere else online, for that matter - until after I've put in three hours each weekday morning of working without the 'net.

I love being a netizen, and I especially love Facebook. My recent tenure as communications director at the Idaho Democratic Party coincided with the period when seemingly everyone signed up on Facebook. During the 2009 Idaho Legislature, Democrats and our allies used the social media site to organize everything from a campaign calling for better child care laws to protesting the first-ever state budget cuts to our neighborhood schools. Just before the end of the year, Facebook helped rapidly spread awareness of the gubernatorial campaign of Keith Allred, who promises to move beyond hyper-partisan politics to get Idaho working again. Facebook is, hands down, the best organizing tool that political, social and community activists have today. Anyone drawing a paycheck as an organizer of any sort can now justify being on Facebook throughout one's workday.

Facebook has its personal rewards, too. From reconnecting with friends to seeking advice, it's always a cool place to hang. But I have to be honest: Too often, I find myself spending way more time on Facebook than I intend to. It's a diversion in the best sense of the word, and in the worst. There are, as my fellow writer Patti said the other day, too many shiny things to distract me from the work at hand. Some of my side trips on Facebook may well lead to a story idea or a connection that will bring a paycheck, but most will not. Now that I'm self employed again, it's important that I spend my time wisely.

Yet my resolution to stay offline each morning springs from something deeper than a desire to be productive. I feel a strong pull toward reclaiming some of the style of writing life I had when I started as a freelancer in the early 1990s. Most of us had email and were taking part in forums or list serves, but the World Wide Web was still in its infancy, so research and writing generally meant the sort of thing I'd learned in journalism school and practiced as a newspaper reporter: Interviewing people face to face, or at least on the phone. Showing up at an event. Going to the library or a museum archive and reading. It was all very slow and focused, and it took some real effort for me to become distracted.

Two decades into the Internet era, distraction is our way of life. We have access to tsunamis of information, and I find myself willingly chasing tangents every few minutes, if I am online. My brain has adjusted to keep up with the deluge. My soul has not. And that is why, for the start of 2010, anyway, I will be practicing media-less mornings.

From the time I begin work each morning until no less than three hours later, I will be reading and writing and creating, but I won't go online to do any of it. It will take the discipline of having a plan for things I can do each morning without the Internet. Invariably, as I write or read, I will feel a pull to go online to check a fact or scan my emails or take one quick peek at my live news feed at Facebook. But I'll resist.

Can I do this in an era when we are all expected to be hyper-connected and always available? I think so. I do not plan to fall off the grid. I will be reviewing emails and phone messages by late morning each day, and I am sure I'll be online every weekday afternoon, checking facts, researching stories, and - yes - getting caught up on Facebook.

But I'm not attempting this shift for anyone but me. After a decade spent as one of Idaho's pioneering political bloggers and someone who had to soak in an increasingly toxic bath of news and opinion nearly 24/7 for half a dozen years, my soul needs a break. No one needs my immediate reaction to anything, and the subjects I most want to write about this new decade - livable cities, neighborhood renewal, education, the arts, travel, history - are ones that require more reflection and rumination, anyway. I want to spend hours rather than minutes developing my ideas before I share them with the world. I also, generally speaking, want to be paid for most of what I write.

The Two Thousand-Oughts were a decade of intense acceleration. This is just one writer's way of saying "enough." It's time for me to slow down and think and live a more deliberate life, if only for a few hours each day.

Detours

Sorry to say I haven't been updating Sidewalk 208 in a long, long time. I'm still blogging like mad at my day job (for Everyday Democracy) and on my "hobby blogs" including the Boise Bus Blog and Red State Rebels. So have a look at those for now, and read some of my past posts for a look at why Boise is simply the most.

Bikes for Boise refugees

I loved this story in the Idaho Statesman last month, and I'm glad to see it's still online for blogging.

Working with the International Rescue Committee, three Boise High School students collected bicycles all fall, made sure they were all in good repair, then distributed them to local refugees.

Boise has a surprisingly high refugee population. Alas, our public transit system is so poor that for many people, bikes are their best bet for getting around - even in winter.

Anyway, it's wonderful to see students taking the initiative to meet the needs of our newest neighbors.

New Library! cards

The Boise Public Library is offering seven new library card designs for new patrons or as trade-ins. The only problem will be choosing which one you like best.

It also sounds like our first neighborhood branch libraries are on track to open soon - Collister in late January and Hillcrest by late February. Boise has been the largest metro area in the country without a branch library network. It's good to see that turning around.

Shop local

Spurred in part by a book club discussion of Bill McKibben's book Deep Economy, I'm trying to do most of my holiday shopping locally this season. A week ago tonight, I hit the annual Bonus Club sale at the Record Exchange. (What a scene that was ... I saw everyone from Curtis Stigers to Built to Spill's Doug Martsch to hip local artist Grant Olsen.) With the evening's discounts, I scooped up three CDs, one EP, and two DVDs for about $86. Just out of curiosity, I tallied up the same items at amazon.com. They were all cheaper online, but with the RX sale prices, shopping at amazon.com would have saved me only about $10.

Ten bucks is nothing to sneeze at, and if you missed the RX sale, you are looking at an even greater difference. But shopping locally helps keep our money circulating around our community, and it's just a cool thing to do. For an even more local experience, check out the Capital City Market on 8th Street from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. these next two Saturdays. You'll find locally made breads, wreaths, baby blankets, dog bandannas, soy candles, jewelry, and much more, all available direct from our neighbors. Happy holidays!