Issues

The increased cost of living for Nampa residents, and all Idahoans, affects all of us, whether we think of ourselves as being on the left, the right, or neither. The biggest chunk of our personal budgets is usually our rent or mortgage, and the cost of housing has increased dramatically over the past 10 years. The economic forces behind this are complicated, as they often are, but basic supply and demand is a big part of it.

So, we need to increase the supply of quality, affordable housing in a way that’s responsible and sustainable. Unfortunately, there’s no quick and easy fix for this. Solutions range from incentives for developers, to changing zoning laws, to public-private partnerships.

We can also make it easier for folks to get new housing or to be able to stay in their existing homes. This might mean housing vouchers and rental assistance, stronger renter’s protections, or other direct aid to renters.

We need to study all the options, and choose the most promising ones, regardless of whether it fits with our political ideology. This isn’t a left vs. right issue. This is about taking care of each other, and helping folks to have the dignity of being able to take care of themselves.

Nampa’s school system is at a crossroads. Building maintenance needs have been ignored and delayed, largely due to lack of funding from either bonds or state funds. There has also been a decrease in enrollment due to changing demographics within the school district boundaries. The end result is that multiple schools will be closed, and the Nampa school district may even go to a 4 day week.

Meanwhile, school boards, librarians, and even the very idea of having public education have come under attack by political extremists.

We need to invest in our future, and that means investing in our children and their education. Our schools need quality facilities, happy staff, and safe learning environments. The Nampa School District, in particular, needs our special attention to get them through this transition.

That means more funding, and putting a stop to the politicizing of the folks who are just trying to do one of the most important jobs in our community.

Healthcare has become a bigger issue than ever in Idaho in recent years. Federal attempts to increase access to the Medicaid program were rejected by our legislature for purely political reasons. In response, a grassroots effort to put Medicaid expansion on the ballot was successful, and yet our legislators still tried to cripple those efforts. To this day, they are trying to make it harder for future ballot initiatives, of any sort, to succeed.

Meanwhile, rural hospitals are struggling. Healthcare “deserts” have become a problem in much of the state.

And of course, Idaho virtually banned all abortion after the Roe v. Wade decision was overturned. This has resulted in OB-GYNs fleeing the state for fear of being prosecuted for saving a woman’s life. This hostile environment has made it nearly impossible to attract new talent. Even big businesses that have nothing to do with the medical industry say they’re discouraged from investing in Idaho because of the ban.

Despite being seen as a partisan hot-button issue, the truth is, the majority of Idahoans support some level of expansion of abortion rights in the state, even if they don’t all approve of it personally. Idahoans recognize that their personal choice to oppose or support abortion doesn’t mean other people shouldn’t be allowed to make their own decisions about it.

We need to encourage and support health providers in rural areas. We need to honor the mandate given by Idahoans to expand access to the Medicaid program. And we need to increase access to quality women’s health care, which includes abortion procedures.

I can’t believe that I have to say this, but reading books is a pretty good thing. Encouraging our kids to read is even better. Books let us experience the world through the eyes of others, allowing us to see points of view we otherwise might never imagine. I’ve never heard someone say that they regret having read a book as a child. They may not always like it, but they’re never worse off for it.

Despite what some political activists claim, our librarians do not stock “pornography” on their shelves. Certainly not in the children’s section. Age-appropriate sex education or medical references are not pornography. Books that acknowledge that gay or trans people exist are not pornography. Hustler magazine is pornography. I trust that you know the difference, and I know our librarians certainly do. These attacks on librarians are not about protecting children or anyone else. They are about intolerance towards the gay and trans community. These attempts to ban books say more about the book-banners than they do about anyone else. Stop the book bans, let the librarians and teachers do their jobs, and leave the “culture wars” out of our libraries.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual people are… people. And that’s all that matters. All anybody is asking for is that we be civil to each other. That we treat each other fairly. That’s it. Sadly, in Idaho, we still aren’t very good at doing this.

It’s still legal in the state of Idaho to fire people just for being gay, evict them from their apartment for being trans, or refuse to serve a gay couple at a restaurant. The majority in the Legislature has resisted all attempts to amend this bizarre and outdated gap in our legal protections, to my constant bafflement. We need to enact those same protections that we extend to everyone else. It won’t cost us anything. We won’t have to give up anything. There’s enough room in Idaho and in our hearts for everyone.

The population of Nampa has grown by 36% since the 2010 census. That’s a lot of growth, very quickly. We all see it around us every day, and not everyone is pleased.

Growth isn’t inherently good or bad, but it does mean changes and challenges, whether we like it or not. We will be best served by planning for our growth as best we can. Letting developers and businesses just do whatever they like, without any sort of plan, can lead to all kinds of problems. We need to think about and plan for land use, housing, transportation, even water… we do live on the edge of the desert, after all.

While the City of Nampa has their own plans for controlling growth in the city, a coordinated effort within the entire region would be helpful to everyone in the community. Working together, we can study and plan how best to let the Treasure Valley grow in a way that’s beneficial without causing headaches.

I think we are past the point where we can really debate whether climate change is real. The evidence is all around, from vanishing ice sheets to changing ocean currents. We don’t even need to go to the oceans or the poles to see the proof. We’re seeing it here in Idaho with our own eyes, every day.

Wildfires are becoming bigger and more frequent, and fire season is getting longer each year. The weather has gotten harder to predict. Heat waves seem more common. Spring came early this year, but it very well may never come this late again. Every summer is probably the coolest summer we will ever see for the rest of our lives.

We can’t turn back the clock, but there’s still so much we can do right now to avoid the worst of it. We know what we need to do, we just need to decide how best to do it.

We can transition all of our power generation to renewable energy. Luckily, we have a head start on this compared to most other states, due to the large amount of hydroelectric power we have access to.

We can improve and expand our electrical infrastructure. We can encourage rooftop solar and energy-efficient buildings. We can encourage electric vehicles. We can work with agriculture and industry to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide and methane.

It’s all possible, and there’s no reason any of it has to have any negative impact on the economy or our daily lives. We don’t need to ban hamburgers or take away your pickup truck. We just have to be thoughtful about how we do it, and be willing to change.

Open primaries and ranked choice voting may be on the ballot this year, as work continues to complete a ballot initiative to include the question in the November election.

Open primaries are just like they sound: open for anyone to vote in, regardless of your party. Ranked choice voting refers to the way these primaries would be run, where you simply list the candidates in the order of your preference. I can’t do any better than to just link to the Idahoans For Open Primaries website, where you can learn all about the proposal.

The upshot is, this system of voting would have two big advantages, at least in theory. One, it would make it less likely that extremists of any sort would be able to win. That means crazy people on the left and the right would have a tougher time getting into office. It would also mean that you could take third party or independent candidates more seriously, because you would never be throwing your vote away on a long shot candidate. If your top choice didn’t make the cut, then your vote would just go to the next person on your list. You would finally be able to vote for people who best represent your values without worrying about helping out a candidate you really disliked. If you’re tired of division and having to vote for the “lesser of two evils”, then you should seriously look into this ballot initiative.