Traditionally, the Boise City Council meetingset aside for public input on a proposed budget generates plenty of headlines. But the July 19 session will also include a proposed resolution that pushes back against the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to deny a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion.
But first things first: the proposed Fiscal Year 2023 budget includes new or remodeled fire stations, a new Mobile Command Center for police, investments in six parks and tangible goals to add hundreds of new affordable housing units.
“There's opportunity right now to talk about what our city, as we grow, looks like in terms of what gets built, and with the zoning code rewrite,” said McLean. “It's in that two-way engagement … that conversation, the listening that we come up with, that are the best ideas to carry our city forward.”
McLean visited with Morning Edition host George Prentice to talk about the budget, gun violence, abortion and the city’s response to triple-digit heat.
“These issues have become the business of the city because these issues impact our residents in day-to-day living.”
Read the full transcript below:
GEORGE PRENTICE: It is Morning Edition on Boise State Public Radio News. Good morning, I'm George Prentice. We always have a list of items to consider whenever we have an opportunity to spend some time with Boise Mayor Lauren McLean. So, we'll do our best this morning to check a few boxes. But first, let's welcome Boise Mayor Lauren McLean back to the program. Mayor McClean, good morning.
LAUREN MCLEAN: Good morning, George. Thanks for having me again. It's great to be here.
PRENTICE: Up first, I'd like to talk a bit about public input. Goodness knows our time is a limited asset, but recent history reminds us that significant change happens when people show up. We've heard about a new survey on the future of the library and of a more immediate nature. This evening is the all-important public hearing on the city budget for the next fiscal year.
MCLEAN: Yes. And thanks so much for bringing that up, George, because you're right, tonight at 6:00, we will be having our public hearing on the city's next budget. And it's incredibly important that we hear from residents. We've received lots of emails, I hear often from folks on the street and in the grocery store, etc.. But tonight's a great opportunity to either get online and zoom in or to join us in person at City Hall because your feedback is important. Residents feedback is really important. It's been really a hallmark of our time here, to create opportunities for residents to engage, whether that be that we want folks’ feedback on what the library and the services the library provides looks like moving ahead. There's opportunity right now to talk about what our city, as we grow, looks like in terms of what gets built, and with the zoning code rewrite.And we have an incredible community engagement team that's seeking creative and more opportunities for residents to engage because it's in that two-way engagement... that conversation, the listening that we come up with, that are the best ideas to carry our city forward.
PRENTICE: Gosh, the zoning code rewrite…change is in the air. This is going to be significant.
MCLEAN: It needs to be significant because there haven't been changes in, I want to say, 50-some years. It's zoning code that reflects cities of the mid-century last century. We are growing. And it's incredibly important that as we grow, we figure out how we do that best to maintain the character of the neighborhoods we have, protect the open spaces along the river, in the foothills and out into the desert that exist, and then create places for people to live and be able to walk, to work, to school, etc., to have a vibrant neighborhood, vibrant city as we continue to grow. And it's in doing that together that we're able to face these challenges and come out on the other side, as Boise always has, as Boise always is. This great place where people connect with each other, care about each other, and plan together for what's next.
PRENTICE: I'd like to talk about a couple of things that are not in the budget. The City Council recently passed a resolution that calls for more action to curb gun violence. And very soon after the Supreme Court recently overturned the constitutional right to an abortion, you were quick to speak out publicly… that you were, in your words, “infuriated and intensely worried.” There are some, including a minority voice on City Council, that say this is not the business of the city. But to that, you would say, what?
MCLEAN: These issues have become the business of the city because these issues impact our residents in day-to-day living, whether it be the resolution that called on our federal leaders that do have the power, the ability, the responsibility and the opportunity to pass meaningful gun safety laws in the absence of our ability to do so here at the city. But we're affected by that, whether it be the terrible mall shooting we had, the rise in death by suicide throughout our state and in our community. It is a city issue because it's a people issue. And on the Supreme Court decision to take away a fundamental right from 50% of our population, never before have we seen rights taken away after they've been gained is also a city issue because there's an expectation that as these extreme laws move forward, that our public safety would take resources away from keeping our community safe and put those resources into investigations that get right into private lives of people. And our residents are saying this impacts our ability to plan our families, our ability to seek education, to grow our economic opportunity in our lives and our daughters. Our kids have fewer lives than we did. It has without us wanting to have it become a city issue, because it gets at the very base of what it means to live in this community, to create a strong and vibrant life, to have rights of privacy and choice, and to build those lives as we all seek to do. And if if not us, then who? When it comes to calling this out, recognizing there's a problem, calling on and expecting this to be addressed, and then stating clearly the values that we have as here at the city of Boise, our residents, our city as a whole, and then what we can do about it and we'll do about it.
PRENTICE: I've only got a couple of minutes left, but I would be remiss if I didn't ask about the heat because I ask everyone else about it. This is a real public threat.
MCLEAN: And we're all probably feeling in different ways. This is not to make light of it, but just the other day I went for a run before the city council meeting, and I was so grateful that we had the river right there. So, I go down and run in the trees and I'm burning up. But I jumped in the river before I headed back to City Hall just to cool down a little bit because it is hot. And so, what we're seeing as a city is that more people are doing that. So, we're blessed to have a cool, refreshing river, but that means we've got to make sure that people along the river stay safe in the water. So, we are really deploying all of our city resources. We've got a lot of new cooling shelters and so we've let the public know where they can go during the day to cool off. Our libraries are used as cooling places here in City Hall. People can walk in and cool off. Our parks are installing more of the splash pads so that people can go cool off. We've got Parks Department and public safety crews keeping people safe along the river. And then, of course, I've got to point out that just last night I was in a neighborhood that had a lot fewer trees, and it was so much hotter than a neighborhood that I'd been in in the afternoon that had more trees. And that gets right to our cities of City of Trees challenge, where we have mapped out the tree canopy in our city and we know where we need to invest resources, which is really meaning planting trees to cool our city off in the long run. And it's why seeking climate action to meet our carbon neutrality goals matters. It is a public safety, a public health and economic issue in the long run that we address climate change through this action, do everything we can to mitigate the heat and the impacts of climate while harnessing the opportunity that it creates in that problem solving space.
PRENTICE: Boise Mayor Lauren McLean. Stay cool. I don't know how many people have asked you to jump in the river, but…
MCLEAN: They ask me. I'm good.
PRENTICE: Thank you for your time this morning and have yourself a good day.
MCLEAN: Thank you so much. Take care.
Find reporter George Prentice on Twitter @georgepren
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