Cities and towns--Growth

Scope and Contents From the Collection:

This collection contains recorded interviews with Boise citizens. Notable topics include Boise Bench history, Greenbelt history, Foothills Levy history, Boise Fire Department history, Boise Police Department history, and personal and political histories of former mayors and councilmembers.

Abstract In two interviews with Brandi Burns on July 13 and July 22, 2010, Jon Mason discusses his career in engineering at Morrison-Knudsen Company and as a professor at Boise State University. He describes how he worked on several committees prior to entering government including the Boise Vision Plan and his appointment to the Design Review Board by Mayor Coles. He explains how the city’s poor handling of transportation problems led him to run for city council and discusses the many solutions that...

Scope and Contents From the Collection:

This collection contains recorded interviews with Boise citizens. Notable topics include Boise Bench history, Greenbelt history, Foothills Levy history, Boise Fire Department history, Boise Police Department history, and personal and political histories of former mayors and councilmembers.

Abstract Mary Trail served on the council during the last years of the fight to bring the mall downtown before a new set of council members and mayor took office. The zoning for the mall to move to its suburban location was approved, and when the new council took office, downtown redevelopment pushed forward. Downtown Boise in the late 1980s and 1990s started to see construction of new buildings and other positive signs that revitalization was occurring.In an interview with Brandi Burns...

Abstract

In an interview with Adam Cotterell on October 2, 2017, MaryAnn Breskin discusses living in Ustick as a child beginning in 1923. She describes how rural the area was, her early memories, the apple orchards, some of the neighbors she remembers, and playing baseball with rival schools. She also discusses her family’s vinegar business, Wood Vinegar Company, the experimental apple orchard they grew, as well as her family’s history in the Idaho territory.

Abstract Mike Wetherell served seventeen years on the Boise City Council. Throughout that time Boise experienced many pivotal changes, notably, urban renewal. He started on the council at the end of years of development stagnation and served through the successful redevelopment of downtown, construction of the Towne Square Mall, and prosperity of the 1990s. His last years on the Council witnessed the controversy with Brent Coles, and the changing of the leadership in 2003.In an interview...

Abstract Paula Forney served on the Boise City Council during the 1990s and 2000s. Boise during the 1990s saw very little conflict; money was not tight at the city level; and the general feeling from the community was positive. Boise was growing quickly, and development was on the fringes of the city as well as in the downtown core. Brent Coles was mayor, and focused on transportation, fighting drugs, and neighborhood reinvestment. After the Coles’ controversy, Forney continued to serve and...

Abstract Ralph McAdams served on Boise City Council from 1974 to 1985 during the heyday of urban renewal in Boise. The local government and business leaders were intent on bringing a mall to the downtown and did not consider any other real alternative to redevelopment. McAdams served up to the point when the mall was approved to move to the suburbs, effectively ending the most controversial urban renewal project that Boise had.In two interviews with Brandi Burns on September 22 and...

Scope and Contents From the Collection:

This collection contains recorded interviews with Boise citizens. Notable topics include Boise Bench history, Greenbelt history, Foothills Levy history, Boise Fire Department history, Boise Police Department history, and personal and political histories of former mayors and councilmembers.