Time to Kill Vehicle Emissions Testing

There is a significant push back from citizens to dismantle vehicle emissions testing this year and the rationale is not opinion based but fact/data based. 

The evidence put together to support VET in the first place was based on outdated data over ten years old.  As older cars with carburetors hit the scrap pile virtually all emissions data are trending downward or away from any non-atainment conclusion. 

Our friend Al Freeman in Nampa and his helpers in submitting data have found it difficult to get anyone in the legislature to pay attention to what he has discovered and the DEQ's flawed data to support VET in the first place.  However,  year there may be enough of a headcount in the legislature to dismantle VET in this valley.  It has been a dismal failure and has done nothing but inconvenience people in every way imaginable and costs vehicle owners have had to endure to get their cars checked by their mechanics when nothing was wrong in the first place is more than a minor inconvenience. 

Example, if you replace your car battery you will fail the test.  If you let your car battery go dead and head in for a test your car will fail.  If your gas cap gets put on incorrectly and the check engine light comes on you will fail the test.  The list goes on and on and the goofy waste of time people have to spend on this along with expensive trips to their mechanics for no good reason continue. 

Add to this most of us are not getting a two year cycle due to some goofy decision by DEQ that has resulted in a lot of folks having to go in again in a little over one year for another check. (had this very thing happen to me) 

Also, in the world of screwing up your cars computer; I took my trusty 98 Chevy pickup in for a early mandated VET and passed the test but not more than a mile down the road my check engine light came on right after the test.  Luckily, my mechanic did take the time to do more than a casual read of the codes and with some expertise was able to restore the system to normal function.  It is time for this waste of taxpayer time and money to simply go away.  We can only hope the Legislature makes it happen this year.

I would gladly pay the $10 to the DEQ every year for all their good works but the waste of time and lack of evidence this program is doing anything to improve air quality remains suspect from both a data and opinion view of vehicle owners.

Propety Taxes Much Less In ADA County

THE GUARDIAN has always maintained there is about a 40% difference in property taxation between Ada and Canyon Counties with Ada having the lower levy rates.  Today I opened my Gmail to find the following from a Guardian reader, Greg, who researched property taxes based on square foot comparisons between Kohl's Department Store in Meridian at Ustick and Eagle Roads and Kohl's at the Treasure Valley Marketplace.


Here's the data provided by the Ada and Canyon County Assessors:

Kohl's, Nampa Value $6.8MM  Value/Sq.Ft  $77.29   Taxes/SqFt     $1.92  Total taxes $169,295

Kohl's, Meridian Value  $7.3MM  Value/Sqft  $75.66   Taxes/Sqft    $1.14  Total taxes $109,101

Difference in property taxation  $1.92/$1.14 = 68.4% higher property taxes in Canyon County!

This is just one of many examples of how high property taxation is driving business decisions for companies to locate in Ada County.  It is also a stark picture of just how Urban Renewal property taxes are impacting businesses in Canyon County.  Nearly all of the property taxes in the Treasure Valley Market Place go to the Nampa Urban Renewal Agency. 

This is a great example of the difference in the property tax burden for like businesses in Ada v. Canyon County.  We thank Greg for the supporting information for this post.

Old Mercy Hosp. Another Urban Renewal Money Pit

The following is a letter to the editor of our local paper.  It appeared on January 2, 2013 and is here on the Caldwell Guardian by permission from Mr. Osborne. 

 Nampa City Council will hold a public hearing at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 7 (late note: the meeting has been pushed back to February 19th at the same hour) to hear input from the public on whether the city should, through the Nampa Redevelopment Corporation, put up $350,000 toward renovation of the old Mercy Hospital building to be renovated into low-income housing.

The cost of this renovation is estimated to be $7 million, or $150,000 per unit. Financing would come from a mixture of private and government funds. In material I’ve seen published by NRC, a new building could be put up for $100,000 per unit. It also compares with what I’ve heard is $75,000 per unit for new four-plexes being built on Birch Lane.

This project is being sold as a way to furnish housing for low-income seniors and others, and preservation of a historic structure.
 

It is unknown how much money the city of Nampa has contributed to the museum downtown, but recent news suggests they could use more money, too.
 

Is it in the best interests of Nampa to send our money to Washington and get it back in the form of subsidies at 50 cents on the dollar?
 

Overhead of NRC has to be considerable and will extend the life of urban renewal. Good job security, no doubt, and as the library project is nearly done, what else can we think up?
 

Not much question this project is a waste of money, but it is being pitched as a good waste of money. The developer loves it. NRC loves it, and some city officials are on board as loving it, too. What could go wrong?
 

Since some of the proponents of this are the same ones who said a waste-to-energy plant in Nampa would pay for our new library, forgive me if I question the whole concept.
 

Hubert Osborne, Nampa

Legislative Ethics Need Honor Code

Legislative Ethics Need Honor Code Like U.S. Military Academy

 December 27, 2012  By David R. Frazier

 

Idaho’s legislature has a crisis in confidence following numerous ethical lapses on the part of members–some have been convicted, some have lost leadership roles, and others have lost face.

On the third day of the 2013 session they have devoted considerable time to “ethics training,” and they hired outside counsel.
The GUARDIAN has offered perhaps the easiest and most logical solution in the form of the U.S. Military Academy (West Point) HONOR CODE. The code says “a Cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.” The code in some form has served the Academy since 1802 with the final tweak adopted in 1970 to “not tolerate those who do.”

CARVED IN STONE…

We have suggested the plan to a Senator and a Representative–both Dems–who scoffed at the suggestion and walked away.

It seems like a pretty simple ethics policy for the members of the Idaho House and Senate to adopt. Just change “cadet” to “member” and it’s ready to adopt.
Three rules of thumb:
1. Does this action attempt to deceive anyone or allow anyone to be deceived?

2. Does this action gain or allow the gain of privilege or advantage to which I or someone else would not otherwise be entitled?

3. Would I be dissatisfied by the outcome if I were on the receiving end of this action?

We would suggest they use modified guidelines similar to West Point when it comes to adjudicating violations. They are tried by a jury of their peers (ethics committee). If they are found guilty, the case will go up to the (full House or Senate) who will give a recommendation to either impose sanctions (strip the member of committee assignments) or recommend impeachment.

Definitions of the tenets of the Honor Code:

LYING: Cadets violate the Honor Code by lying if they deliberately deceive another by stating an untruth or by any direct form of communication to include the telling of a partial truth and the vague or ambiguous use of information or language with the intent to deceive or mislead.

CHEATING: A violation of cheating would occur if a Cadet fraudulently acted out of self-interest or assisted another to do so with the intent to gain or to give an unfair advantage. Cheating includes such acts as plagiarism (presenting someone else’s ideas, words, data, or work as one’s own without documentation), misrepresentation (failing to document the assistance of another in the preparation, revision, or proofreading of an assignment), and using unauthorized notes.

STEALING: The wrongful taking, obtaining, or withholding by any means from the possession of the owner or any other person any money, personal property, article, or service of value of any kind, with intent to permanently deprive or defraud another person of the use and benefit of the property, or to appropriate it to either their own use or the use of any person other than the owner.

TOLERATION: Cadets violate the Honor Code by tolerating if they fail to report an unresolved incident with honor implications to proper authority within a reasonable length of time. “Proper authority” includes the Commandant, the Assistant Commandant, the Director of Military Training, the Athletic Director, a tactical officer, teacher or coach. A “reasonable length of time” is the time it takes to confront the Cadet candidate suspected of the honor violation and decide whether the incident was a misunderstanding or a possible violation of the Honor Code. A reasonable length of time is usually considered not to exceed 24 hours.

To have violated the honor code, a Cadet must have lied, cheated, stolen, or attempted to do so, or tolerated such action on the part of another Cadet. The procedural element of the Honor System examines the two elements that must be present for a Cadet to have committed an honor violation: the act and the intent to commit that act. The latter does not mean intent to violate the Honor Code, but rather the intent to commit the act itself.

Mental Health Hospitals or Gun Control??

THE GUARDIAN has watched the media frenzy over the latest killing of all the beautiful little children and adults at the Sandy Hook School to the point I can't watch or listen to it anymore.  The media has latched onto this and is trying to make it a "tipping point" for more gun laws and that will do nothing to reduce the killing by mentally ill people.  They will simply figure out another way to carry out their well thought out plans to kill others.

The real issue in my mind is more and better control of people with serious mental issues.  Most people with mental problems are not violent.  However, there are a few that do and we need more and better protection from them and for them.

I am old enough to remember when President Reagan shut down the mental hospitals back in 1986 in an effort to control the federal budget.  Mental hospitals were painted as torture chambers and places not fit for human occupancy in order to sell this to the public.  The media bought it hook line and sinker as did the public. 

I can think of no instance where people were shot in wholesale manner by anyone who was not dealing with mental issues.  Additionally, shootings like what we all have seen in recent times were very rare before 1986 when mental hospitals were up and running to accomodate those with mental issues.

 President Reagan was shot by a citizen with mental issues.  Just think of all the instances recently involving people with mental issues and the consequences of not keeping them in a safe haven and controlled environment. 

In every instance shootings of people by people with mental issues were thought out in well planned detail.  Parents of the people who did these horrible acts were at the end of their rope on what to do and very few options to deal with their children who carried out these unthinkable acts.

I can remember when you could see advertisements for war surplus guns of all makes and kinds in comic books, Sports Afield, and other magazines for as little as $10 each.  President Kennedy was shot by a mentally unstable person with just such a gun.  The reaction was to shut down mail order gun sales of cheap guns and not deal with the mental health aspects of this terrible acts.

Today, we have the media in lock-step trying to get more and tougher gun control laws on the books as a result of the Sandy Hook School shootings.  I would offer we need more and better mental health laws and facilities in this country.  Right now the only place most cities and counties have are jails and prisons for these folks.  This is a very costly environment and it does nothing to address the problems of mental health confinement needs.  The mother of the young man who did the killings was at her wits end on how to deal with her son.

Caldwell Code Enforcement Dissolved!

THE GUARDIAN has long been a supporter of Code Enforcement in Caldwell.  There are a certain number of people and property owners who simply consider it a right to create BLIGHT.  Weeds, trash, junk cars, and you name it all over their property.  I learned yesterday the people doing this job will be gone as of the first of the new year.  Here's the reply I received from the City Finance Director, Eljay Waite:

"Code enforcement is being streamlined, overlapping responsibilities are being removed or consolidated, unnecessary duties are being removed and several city departments will share the responsibility of code enforcement. Government is downsizing and combining resources to become more efficient. Great idea. An official announcement will be coming soon. "

Back in the bad old days the junior officer on the Caldwell Police Department was the sole code enforcement officer for the city.  They knew it was a short time they would be in this position so, for a lack of a better description, they did a lousy job of it.  About 10 years ago the city of Caldwell looked like a dump site.  The Mayor and City Councilors decided to get some political will to clean up Caldwell and hired dedicated people to this effort.  It was an uphill battle for the first couple of years but today, Caldwell is anything but what it used to be.  This can only be attributed to the people working for Caldwell Code Enforcement.  Trash, weeds and junk cars all over town are gone for the most part.

Another Legislative Year To Repeal Urban Renewal

This year there are about 25 new members of the Idaho Legislature.  It presents another opportunity to get URA's reformed to allow voters to weigh in on bonding debt or continue down the road we have been on with all the tax and spend abuses and NO Voter Oversight. 

The latest abuse of URA law in Idaho is in Nampa where they want to create a one block UR District to accommodate a Caldwell developer.  The site is the old Mercy Hospital and is nothing more than an effort to cut taxpayers out of the funding decisions for this very questionable project.  Make no mistake the developer is not in this to restore a piece of Nampa's history.  He is there to make money on the backs of Nampa and Canyon County taxpayers and federal taxpayers. 

There was plenty of evidence of taxpayer abuse presented last year at the Idaho Legislature but the political will to actually do anything was severely lacking.  The pro URA people launched a statewide organization of URA's headed up by former CCDC head Phil Kushlan.  Mr. Kushlan is funded by annual dues from all state URA's via a $500.00 fee from each URA in Idaho.  Once again using taxpayer dollars to lobby state legislators to keep URA laws as they are and promote all the taxpayer abuse intact.

The best solution for all this is to simply abolish Urban Renewal Districts statewide.  They are allowed to pick "winners and losers" in how cities get developed.  They do almost zero urban renewal and promote crony capitalism in the process.  The answer to all this is to level the playing field in Idaho Cities and get local levy rates low enough to give all potential developers and their projects and equal opportunity.  And in the process let capital investments go where the best opportunities lie in our communities.

What you can do is get on the Idaho Legislature web pages and let your local legislators know how you feel about URA's.  The total lack of voter oversight of URA's in Idaho is simply wrong and it won't change without your help.

Public Hearing on County Admin. Building Bonding

On Monday, November 26th there will be a hearing on the bonding for the county admin. building. The meeting will be held at noon in the Caldwell Police Station Community Room. Bonds will be bought by Banner Bank with an interest rate of  2.89% over the life of the bond debt. 

Preliminary construction estimates are the building will cost $6.8 MM. Bonds will be issued in the amount of $7.8 MM with any funds left over from the building to be used to remodel the existing courthouse into more courtroom space and other projects.

THE GUARDIAN hopes the new admin. building will result in closure of the Nampa Courthouse.  The costs of running that place do not justify the expense.  Closure of the Nampa Courthouse and selling off that property should result in enough money saved to put a serious dent in the cost of the new admin building by centralizing court needs in Caldwell.

What Are the Plans to Fight Colorado and Washington on New Pot Laws

The states of Washington and Colorado have voted to legalize marijuana in their states for recreational use.  Now comes the question how the federal government intends to enforce their stance on this matter.  The reality is they can't and everyone knows it. 

Laws depend on the populace voluntarily complying with the law.  That isn't going to happen anymore in these two states.  The Federal Govt. hasn't got the jail and prison space to lock up offenders and both states know that.  Once you have more than about 3% of any given population ignoring a law it becomes impossible to enforce.  Don't believe it?  Do the math and see how much jail and prison space would have to be built to lock up all the violators.  Backing up before prisons become overrun with marijuana violators the courts would become clogged and brought to total gridlock.

It will be interesting to see how the Obama Justice Department deals with this turn of events in Washington and Colorado.  THE GUARDIAN has long advocated that marijuana be decriminalized, taxed and sold at the local 7-11's and other retail outlets.

Banner Bank To Underwrite $7.8 MM County Admin. Bldg. Project

It has been reported to THE GUARDIAN, Banner Bank will be underwriting the new county administration building.  The project will be located on the north side of Albany Street between the 10th Avenue overpass and 11th Avenue. 

The building site is now a parking lot and to offset parking needs the county has acquired property next to the railroad tracks between 10th Avenue and Albany Street.

Funding will come from tax anticipation monies from Caldwell East Urban Renewal Agency with $7.8 million towards this project.  The plan calls for the county to use $6.7 million for the new building and hold back $1.1 to cover cost overrides and rising material costs.  Should there be any funds left over from this project they will be dedicated to courtrooms and remodel costs in the existing courthouse.