BSU students host mayoral candidates for debate
BOISE, Idaho (CBS2) — Four candidates for Boise mayor took to the debate stage at Boise State University Monday evening.
Mayor Lauren McLean, retired Boise Police Chief Mike Masterson, Joe Evans and Aaron Reis answered questions from the Associated Students of BSU.
Candidates discussed their plans for managing growth, public safety, homelessness and housing affordability.
Mayor Mclean talked about the city's new zoning code rewrite the council approved this year, and what her administration has been doing to make affordable housing more accessible to working families.
"[The zoning code rewrite] puts density along transit corridors, which is geek speak for busy streets, so think State Street, Fairview, Vista, others, 600 feet from the center line. More people will live with coffee shops and jobs, and even daycares underneath to support transit, so that we have more opportunities for folks that are trying to make budgets, to be able to jump on a bus, get to a job," said McLean.
Dec. 1 is when that zoning code rewrite is set to be implemented.
Former Boise Police Chief Mike Masterson recently announced his housing plan. It includes working with builders, commercial property owners and neighbors to find vacant lots that can be turned into housing, and annexing land to build affordable, mixed-use neighborhoods.
"We need more houses. Our last large smart planned community was down at Harris Ranch. My family lived down there, had the opportunity to go there. I thought it was well done. We can do the same types of smart planned communities in the south desert on low agricultural land and provide the types of housing levels people can afford in the city that range from low-income all the way to single-family homes," said Masterson.
Evans was asked about what he saw as the single hardest thing facing young people in Boise. He said it's housing affordability.
"It's how do you create situations where you are allowed to succeed where you are allowed to work, and develop your skillset in such a way you can afford, eventually acquire that job that you want, that career that you want while you're earning wages that don't allow you to live here where you want to live. That's going to continue to be a problem for the very near future, at least another five, ten years. Reason one is because supply chain management. We simply do not have the ability to project whether or not we will indeed have the housing to meet the growth that is coming and the market always takes the path of least resistance, so how do we create opportunity for our students so that they can live here and enjoy their time here without necessarily being forced into the status quo of rent versus food versus medical care versus social life and the work-life dynamic that's being created under the current circumstances," said Evans.
Reis told the audience, "Please do not elect me mayor."
But he did offer a suggestion on homelessness for whoever becomes the next mayor, "One of these three people is going to be mayor. Something they can do is make the anti-homeless infrastructure that exists in this city just go away. The parks have those things that make the benches totally unlivable. You can't rest on them comfortably. I was homeless in Honolulu for probably longer than anyone else in this room," Reis said. "You could just make homelessness less painful."
On the subject of maintaining a business and job-friendly environment, Masterson said, "We are the hub for many emerging technologies, and we are glad that Micron will be bringing more jobs even in the future here. A young, educated workforce will continue to ensure that we have a thriving metropolitan area for decades to come. In the past decade, our job growth has increased more than 18 percent but wages in Idaho have not kept up with this growth. This makes a good relationship between the city and the legislature all the more important. Jobs have been created, thousands of hours of mentorship. Boise Valley Economic Partnership remains committed to attracting local businesses and there needs to be a good working relationship between the City of Boise and Chamber of Commerce... Vigorous economic development in partnership with neighboring communities, the state and our business community will require a leader who has a vision for the future and the ability to work with others to achieve these goals.."
"We could not have won Micron without being innovative, without being clear about the values that we have as a city... we're working really hard and really well with the governor, his commerce department, Idaho Power and so many others. Those 2,000 jobs on site will mean 15,000 jobs beyond that. I want opportunity for you all. It also means there will be jobs for the trades, the folks that will build Micron for the next several years and then continue to support Micron. But it's not just about tech jobs because we have people that need jobs of all things," McLean said. "We also have to support small businesses because they're the lifeblood of our community. We gave millions of dollars in grants to small businesses during the COVID pandemic.
Early voting for the Nov. 7 election starts Oct. 23 and runs through Nov. 3.
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