What is the worst thing about Boise? (Nampa: construction, high school)

[Crew Chief]

We loved our two years at MHAFB/Boise! The only thing (really minor) thing that got to us is that the Boise area is an oasis in the middle of nowhere. Yes, there's SO much beautiful wilderness in ID/Eastern OR to enjoy. But Boise is about 6 hours drive from any other larger metro area. (Guess that's a good thing for many. But we sometimes missed the variety that being in areas like the East Coast offers...)

[muse1110]

Seems like one of the 'worst things' about Boise could include the CDC stats on West Nile Virus. 966 confirmed human disease cases as of 2007. Even if the other States are under reporting, that is an extremely high level of confirmed human WNV disease cases for one state. Especially when I constantly hear from Boise residents 'there are no mosquitos here, only in the mountains'!

Very little public transportation is another 'worst' thing. Any talk of a light rail or other reasonable public transit is years and years away for Idaho generally, including Boise proper. Shame.

[HDL]

is because we don't ! I live 5 minutes from the Boise River and have been here close to 2 yrs with my dogs and I haven't had any problems. It's much better than Northern CA where I'm from and from all I've heard and read, mosquitos seem to thrive in moist humid climates (like FL, TX and many parts of the east coast), of which we are neither . We're dry and arid baby, which is why I love it here . Plus, few bugs of any kind due to cold winters which tend to decrease their populations (or so I've been told) .

Now, transportation is another issue . Boise knows how to build homes to keep up with growth, but planning for roads does not appear to be a core competence . Definitely an opportunity to improve here, but traffic is still better than CA for the most part!!!

Originally Posted by muse1110

Seems like one of the 'worst things' about Boise could include the CDC stats on West Nile Virus. 966 confirmed human disease cases as of 2007. Even if the other States are under reporting, that is an extremely high level of confirmed human WNV disease cases for one state. Especially when I constantly hear from Boise residents 'there are no mosquitos here, only in the mountains'!

Very little public transportation is another 'worst' thing. Any talk of a light rail or other reasonable public transit is years and years away for Idaho generally, including Boise proper. Shame.

[jeffrito]

I loved Boise when I visited in the summer- and I drove around with a real estate agent looking at the different neighborhoods - clean, artsy, good restaurants...like San Diego in the '60s. Without the beach (:

I'm from Socal and like warmth - so the only negative I could find in my searches was a period of dreary weather in the winter with an inversion layer. And supposedly the traffic.

The house prices are reasonable but not as cheap as I'd like.

J

[HDL]

Also, regarding weather, here's what I was told by Boiseans before I moved here: 2 months of cold weather in the winter, plus 2 months of hot weather in the summer equals 8 months of very comfortable weather the rest of the year . And so far, I've found this assessment to be 'right on' !

I found my first winter here in 2005, from ~ Dec 1st thru the 19th, got me thinking about moving back to CA . But then we had a week of rain, followed by a very mild January (as was almost the whole country in January 2006) with minimal precipitation. And while we were enjoying our especially nice weather in January, both WA and CA were experiencing some 25-35 days of 'straight' (that's right, I said STRAIGHT) RAINFALL !!! I really thought that I would have a more difficult time with the weather in Boise, but now for the most part, I actually enjoy it here (especially when we get a couple inches of snow) !

And regarding inversion, this year and last, it was almost non-existent, though I did experience it in 2005 for about a week in November. Hey, what they call 'inversion' in Boise is what we called 'tule fog' in the central valley area of CA. Personally the tule fog in CA was way worst JMHO .

Now regarding 'air quality', we had some of the worst last summer when every 'friggin' part of ID had a forest fire burning and probably half of them (just a guess mind you) DOF let burn themselves out. That was maddening . But then I remembered the summer of 2003 when San Diego had a horrible fire and soot was all over the city, homes, cars, you name it and people couldn't see half a mile away (okay, I'm guessing again ). So I thought 'geesh', at least it wasn't as bad as that!!! But it was bad and I hope last years' fires don't happen here again any time soon.

Originally Posted by jeffrito

I loved Boise when I visited in the summer- and I drove around with a real estate agent looking at the different neighborhoods - clean, artsy, good restaurants...like San Diego in the '60s. Without the beach (:

I'm from Socal and like warmth - so the only negative I could find in my searches was a period of dreary weather in the winter with an inversion layer. And supposedly the traffic.

The house prices are reasonable but not as cheap as I'd like.

J

[muse1110]

Originally Posted by happydawglady

is because we don't ! I live 5 minutes from the Boise River and have been here close to 2 yrs with my dogs and I haven't had any problems. It's much better than Northern CA where I'm from and from all I've heard and read, mosquitos seem to thrive in moist humid climates (like FL, TX and many parts of the east coast), of which we are neither .

Now that is amazing! All these confirmed CDC cases of human West Nile Virus disease, not to mention equine disease cases. And no mosquitos! Those 257 confirmed human disease cases in Ada County alone must have been some other malady.

Must be some kind of phantom disease transmission. WNV but no mosquitos. Wonder why the entire state has aerial spraying for mosquitos?

[idahomama]

If you take a look at forest health in areas like the Stanley basin you might predict that forest fires are going to continue to be a way of life in Idaho for some time. The pine beetle has ravaged the forests in these areas and therefore there are enormous amounts of dead standing trees. In drought and stress conditions the pine beetles rule. In earlier times, forests fires were a way that naturally maintained forest health. By not letting fires burn, we have increased tree densities beyond normal, healthy conditions and therefore have weakened our forests during times of stress (ie. drought) The DOF made good decisions by letting some of these fires burn.

[deboise]

You'll really have to dig deep to find much negative about living here. It's the best place on earth, in my opinion, to raise a family. I'm a REALTOR here, and on first blush it would seem I'm biased. I'm a mom first and a member of the community, so those words are spoken from the heart. I've lived in many different places in and out of the US, and this is the only place to be, day in and day out. Traffic has become a pain, no question, but also nothing compared to 24 lanes of Phoenix interstate or the Seattle commute. Folks from LA wonder what we complain about--until they've lived here a few months. It's all relative, really. It's still the best...

[nunusguy]

Originally Posted by Crew Chief

We loved our two years at MHAFB/Boise! The only thing (really minor) thing that got to us is that the Boise area is an oasis in the middle of nowhere. Yes, there's SO much beautiful wilderness in ID/Eastern OR to enjoy. But Boise is about 6 hours drive from any other larger metro area. (Guess that's a good thing for many. But we sometimes missed the variety that being in areas like the East Coast offers...)

I worked and lived in Boise for 'bout 13 months back in the early 90s. Actually
it was from Nov., '91- Dec., 92 and it was one of the best years of my life !
I absolutely loved Boise ! Begged my wife to leave Houston and join me, but all of her family (including children from her first marriage) lived there and as a
result she wouldn't move. It's understandable because family does come first, but I still remind her to this day that she just barely edged out Boise.
But I worked in Boise with a guy from Chicago and he complained about it being so far from anyplace else, and I always told him that was one of the
attractions of Boise. You weren't maybe 40 or 50 miles from a big city and
all of the undersireable elements that go with it. Because trust me, those elements would spill into Boise if they were in close proximity.
Now if one just needs all of the cultural and sports attractions of a very large urban area, Boise is probably not for you. But it was not not a priority for me,
really not even a consideration with all of the other things Boise offered.
I am a native Missourian, so I prefer the 4 seasons climate and Boise was my most favorite climate of any place I've been. Not much snow in the winter,
with a 6 week to 2 month summer but dry unlike Texan or even the midwest. But not too dry. Not NM or AZ arid.
And the values of the people were reasonable while being tolerant. More like
central time zone than West Coast, FWIW. But of course we're talking 15
years ago, and there was already an appreciable influx of Californias, so
don't know what the current status in the area might be ?

[websurfer56]

I was born fairly close to Boise spending a good portion of time living and
working there. Moved from Boise several years ago and really dont miss it at
all.......................... for new and better opportunities since my experience
was the low wages and the cost of living was outspending my income.

Boise was a great town ten years ago or so when you could actually afford
to live there. I remember when Eagle was farm land and now its 500,000
$$$$$ ranchettes where my sister lives in hers. I now live in Nevada and
some people I knew in Boise now work where I am employed for the same
reasons. Boredom and no moolah! Boise is great if you have kids and
want to live like Ma and Pa Kettle and need somewhere to park the
horse and buggy. Yes, houses are more exprensive here. But, I still am
doing much better financially.

I did the Sawtooth trails and jogged the foothills and biked up to Bogus
on saturdays and did the usual Boise thing on sundays..........church,
lunch and an afternoon at Julia Davis Park which I enjoyed. But, it
got old(not church)and I needed to see some new territory and some
new challenges. I guess Boise is just to layed back for me. To moderate.

Also, if there are no mosquitos in Boise, they must of packed up and moved
elsewhere since I use run into swarms of them. I used a product called
Cutter to keep the pesky bugs off. Be careful of the rattle snakes also.
They are all over the place up in the foot hills and around the area. The
ticks are really bad in spring time. My advice to all newbies.......stay on
the road when you go into the foothills. I use to jog the eighth street
up into the foot hills and also Bogus basin rd. I did a lot of time off
trail and never got bit. But you could hear those rattles going off.

We are thinking of moving to Colorado in a few years and plan on doing
some high elevation activities and hiking . Did the Mt Borah hike and
that was a breeze. Good view at about 12,400 feet. Thats a good
stretch of the legs not to far from Boise. Its not like going up to Pikes
or Mt Elbert in Colorado. A total different experience.

Anyway........whatever makes you happy and if Boise makes your day I
would say its a great place to live. I have see worse and better.

Idaho is good for moderate style living with a sort of lifesytle that easy
going people like to live. The high part of the night was.......lets go to
Chuck-a-rama for an average buffet. The nightlife in Boise was pretty
much the same. I didnt really do much of it and didnt miss a thing.

Its gotta have more bugs per square inch than any other state I have been
to. Bugs Bugs Bugs...............things grow very well there in that rich Idaho
dirt and so do all the bugs. Every kind of bug is there and so be prepared
to deal with them. If you own a home and have a garden. Good Luck!!!!!!
You will have a real fight on your hands fighting all the bugs that will eat
your garden up.

And when you get a sniff of cow pooh from the farms upwind in the late
summer. And the winter time you will get cold air trapped down low in
Boise and warm up in the higher elevations and that is dirtly and miserable.

Enjoy!