N. Nampa Residents Association

North Nampa Residents Association
PO Box 233
Nampa, Id 83653

Idaho Press Tribune
17 Nov 1999, page 1a

Special meeting -- A special meeting of the Nampa Urban Renewal Agency is set for 7 p.m., Monday, Nov. 29 at City Hall, 411 3rd St. S., to discuss questions raised by the North Nampa Residents Association.
- A list of questions submitted by the North Nampa Residents Association. North Nampa Residents Association wants to help set priorities for area

NAMPA -- Urban Renewal Agency board members will meet with north Nampa residents later this month to mend relationships between the agency and its neighbors.
     Members of the North Nampa Residents Association entered the Tuesday's urban renewal meeting frustrated and full of questions about the agency's use of tax funds in north Nampa.
     But by the end of the session, they expressed hope that the board's proposed steps will resolve the issues.
     Residents said they seek "representation for the taxation" and want to help the board set priorities for north Nampa projects.
     Urban renewal board members vowed to answer all of the residents' questions at a special meeting Nov. 29. And Chairman Steve Tester suggested forming a subcommittee of urban renewal and neighborhood association members to help resolve issues.
     Agency members agreed there has been a serious lack of communication between the two groups and that something must be done to improve the flow of information in both directions.
     Residents association spokeswoman Shirley Dean said she felt the agency board was "running over" the neighborhood group by leaving questions unanswered Tuesday. But, she said, if the agency can answer the submitted questions to the residents' satisfaction, "that might be enough." She said the subcommittee is a good idea.

     Dean circulated a list of questions to the urban renewal board Tuesday.
     But that list was substantially revised later Tuesday at a special meeting of the residents association.
     "We do not have a political agenda," North Nampa Residents Association President Darin Eisenbarth said.
     A lot of people have questions and they want to set up a forum to get answers, he said.
     The residents' group asked for the session with the renewal agency in response to concerns that most of the tax money gathered by the five-year-old agency has gone to develop the Idaho Center rather than improvements in north Nampa neighborhoods.
     But the dominance of the arena in urban renewal budgets has lessened as Idaho Center projects have been completed.
     The Urban Renewal Agency's budget for 1999-2000 is about evenly split between the Idaho Center and other north Nampa projects.
     Urban renewal board member Ray Veloz said there must be some serious problems in the area for the people to form an association to voice their complaints.
     There is a need to "get residents involved in what the Urban Renewal Agency does," Veloz said.
     He welcomed an open forum so what the agency has done and its agenda for the future could be explained.
     Let's "reform and prioritize," Veloz said.

     - Press-Tribune reporter Mary Doherty contributed to this story.

Reprinted by permission of Idaho Press Tribune
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