Safety and Crime – Centennial Neighborhood Association

In recent weeks I have seen a few complaints of mail theft in various areas of Boise. So far in 2024 we have received four reports of mail being stolen.

Mail theft is a different problem than package theft. When someone steals a package, they are looking for a valuable item sitting on our doorstep. When a person steals mail, that are looking to steal your financial information or your identity.

What are thieves looking for? Cash, checks, gift cards, account numbers, your social security number, banking details, pay stubs, and identifying information like your name and date of birth.

Reduce the opportunity. Switching to paperless billing and statements can reduce the amount of sensitive mail you receive.

Purchase a lockable mailbox. A lockable mailbox allows the postal carrier to deliver mail through a slot in the mailbox but requires a key to open and retrieve mail.

Don’t flag your mailbox as a target. Using the red flag on your mailbox can alert thieves that there is something inside to be stolen. Hand your mail directly to a letter carrier, use a secured USPS blue mailbox, or go directly to your local Post Office to send mail.

Pick up your mail regularly. Don’t leave letters in the mailbox for several days, over the weekend or even overnight. Make checking your mailbox part of your daily routine.

Stop delivery. Alert the Post Office if you are going out of town and request them to temporarily stop the delivery of your mail. When you return, you can pick up your mail at the local post office and resume normal delivery. https://www.usps.com/manage/hold-mail.htm

Talk to your neighbors. If your mail was stolen, let your neighbors know. They may not realize their mail was stolen too. Watching out for your neighbors helps to build relationships and keep your neighborhood safe.

Be aware of and report suspicious activity. Notice an unknown individual looking at or tampering with mailboxes in your neighborhood? Report it to non-emergency dispatch 208-377-6790.

Sign up for Informed Delivery through the postal service. While this won’t prevent mail theft, it will provide you with a daily picture of all letter size mail that is on its way to your mailbox. You can sign up for this free service through the United States Postal Service at https://informeddelivery.usps.com.

How to report if your mail was stolen? You can report by calling 208-377-6790 or can report online on the Boise Police website. To file a complaint with the USPS you can use this link https://usps.my.site.com/emailus/s/daily-mail-delivery-inquiry or call 1-877-876-2455.

Crime Prevention Unit

Boise Police Department

Office: (208)570-6071

Crime and Safety

ACHD Proposed Changes in Neighborhood “Speed Calming” Policy

This is a recap of a proposed change in ACHD policy for those requesting speed calming. In the past applicants would need to collect data to prove excessive traffic speed, traffic volume, and cut-through. A cut-through is when traffic passes through a residential neighborhood that did not originate, nor arrive at a destination in that neighborhood. Additionally, a petition for speed mitigation needed signatures from 75% of affected residents. At that point, ACHD would consider if it would pay for the speed mitigation structures, or if the requesting party were responsible.

Under the proposed policy, calming applicants will have to prove either excessive speed or traffic volume in the area — not both — and get the required signatures on their petition. This eliminates the cut-through requirement. ACHD will pay for the cost of the structure installations.

Traffic speed and volume are typically determined by placing tube counters across the road at an agreed-upon location. According to the policy, a street must be over 750 feet in length and have more than 400 cars per day to be considered eligible for traffic calming evaluation. If a street has more than 4,000 vehicles per day, it surpasses the upper limit for traffic calming and is not eligible. Only residential streets and collector roads that have a speed limit of 30 MPH or less are eligible for traffic calming.

The default speed limit in Boise is 20 mph, so the majority of our side streets qualify.

We’re not sure how ADHD would define “affected residents” when requiring signatures. And, while now a moot point, we also don’t know how ACHD would define the boundaries of the “neighborhood” for cut-through.

We are expecting to hear more about where these proposed changes stand over the coming weeks. We’ll keep you posted!

Neighborhood Contact Officer – Presentation – May 16, 2023

Here is the Power Point presentation that was made to your Neighborhood Watch leaders at the West Boise Police Station, Mark Stall Place. There was good attendance and many questions addressed by BPD officers and staff. Many thanks to our BPD community for taking their time to keep our neighborhoods informed and protected!

National Night Out

National Night Out is Tuesday August 1. Registration for Nation Night Out 2023 opens today and runs through July 25, 2023.

Please do not wait until the last minute to register. While we encourage all to enjoy a great time with their neighbors and community, we can only guarantee City representatives (police/fire, etc.) for the first 50 parties to register.

Boise Neighborhood Watch Information and Documents

We will be adding updates and new information for Neighborhood Watch and BPD as we receive them.

Boise City Council Budget Meeting Talks Public Safety with Chief Winegar

At Tuesday’s (7-11-2023) City Council Meeting the adequacy of BPD staffing was discussed as it relates to Boise’s growth as well as the increased demand for services brought on by more and more out of town visitors.

See the Chief’s Testimony – Time Stamp 0:33:00

Budget Meeting Testimony

Gary Dufault also addressed CTNA’s in this area during his testimony. West Boise needs patrol services and not just emergency service.

City of Boise City Council Public Meeting 7/11/2023 – Lots of News and Good Information!

Of the nine people testifying, seven were either related to our Centennial Neighborhood Association or the “Citizens for a Library” group. It was all about our issues last night when it came to testimony.

Young 9-year-old Molly Froerer spoke about the importance of libraries to her personally. Well done, Molly! After the meeting, BPD Chief of Police, who also attended the meeting, commented that he “wanted to clap” for Molly after her testimony.Very positive and encouraging! “Citizens for a Library” and your Centennial Neighborhood representatives were there to testify. I just spent the last few hours watching and unpacking details, taking notes of the taped meeting at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv8Mre8G_UQ . Note that testimony was limited to three minutes per person for this meeting.

Time0:00 – Start of Boise City Council Meeting to vote on the 2023-2024 Budget Presentation

41:29 Beginning of citizen testimony, Council members questions and comments

1:24:45 Watch all but if you want to skip and hear Molly first, here’s your spot

Watching this meeting in its entirety, at least from the start of testimony, is highly informative. I was extremely impressed by the Mayor and Council interactions with those giving testimony. I’m not a fan of what are often dull and monotonous public meetings. This meeting was neither.

With Mark Salisbury’s permission I am posting his reflections on Tuesday’s meeting from the “Citizens for a Library” Facebook page. Great job, Mark

Hello Citizens for a Library in West Boise,

We made an impact last night but there’s more to do.

We’ve helped set the stage for the Boise library to act as they work on a new master plan over the next year.
Margaret Carmel of Boise Dev wrote a nice article summarizing the meeting titled Calls for West Boise library dominate Boise budget public hearing.
I’m keeping the petition open until we see money allocated and a location identified. Encourage people to sign it!

Thank you for supporting this initiative!

Unabridged Version

I posted this on Facebook earlier today: https://www.facebook.com/groups/westboiselibrary. <– join this group if you use FB.

Last night was a success. I delivered printed copies of our petition, with names of signers, and a few pieces of supporting information, to City Council Members, Mayor McLean, and Library Director Dorr. Besides myself, Gary Dufault, Amanda Salisbury, Jennifer Froerer, Molly Froerer, and Joe Lague offered testimony in support of this effort. Others expressed a desire to be there but for various reasons were unable to be (Nancy Cowles, Jennifer Gravel, and Tammy Rampton, and Codi Galloway have worked hard on this and weren’t able to attend). Molly Froerer was the youngest person to testify, and she stole the crowd — Police Chief Ron Winegar told her he wanted to clap when she finished!

They heard our message loud and clear. I know they recognize the gap that exists in West Boise, and I believe they would like to do something about it. They understand that many citizens care about this. I was encouraged by the questions that were asked by City Council members and the support they offered for improving library access. The conversation shifted to the mechanics of how we get this done.

Names of 835 Boise Citizens were included on the petition we delivered, including comments from many who have signed the petition online.

By signing this petition, by testifying, we’ve shown them that Boiseans do value library service, and believe equitable access is important.

We’re not without obstacles, however.

I’m learning how city government works through this process. When I started this, I believed that showing the City Council that there is a need to address, that there are enough people who believe this matters, would be sufficient to prioritize this problem and allocate funds to address it.

I knew that Library Director Jessica Dorr, the staff at the Boise Public Library, and the Boise Library Board of Trustees would need to back any development plans and ultimately request the funds from the city. (Did you know that Boise has a private foundation that supports the library? https://www.boisepubliclibrary.org/about/support-your-library/library-foundation/. Donors gave millions to build a new downtown Boise Library in 2019. These funds were returned after that effort failed). I understand the desire to not misstep right now. Last year the Boise Library collected citizen input. Included in this year’s city budget are funds to pay a consulting agency to help develop a new master plan, which will include examining how facilities are expanded and improved.

By showing them (library staff and city leadership) that citizens care about facilities (and the library knows this also through the outreach they did last year), we’re helping to provide evidence that citizens will support funds going towards library improvements.

There are really 2 options for how we could see library access improved in West Boise:

1) A facility is leased to add a library branch. Collister and Hillcrest are renovated shopping mall space. The city likes them because they are relatively inexpensive.

2) A dedicated facility is constructed. This could happen on land already owned by the city or land could be purchased.

At the conclusion of the study (which will look at the entire city), I believe multiple scenarios will be presented, ranging in cost and scope. To decide which scenario to pursue, I believe the library staff and board of trustees won’t want to hear just from the Mayor and City Council, they’ll want to hear from citizens also.

Our hope is that when this study is completed, we’re ready to turn to visible action.

We suggested that the library / city should examine West Boise in particular for how to expand while the study is taking place as the gap is so obvious.

What do we need to do in the meantime?

– Remain engaged. Find out what’s happening. Offer input to the city and library when the opportunity is available to do so.

– Build more support. Talk about this initiative. I’m leaving this petition open until money is allocated and a place is designated for a library in West Boise.

– Support and use the library.

– Finally, have some patience. Realizing this will take some time.

Big thanks to Council Member Luci Browning Willits for supporting this initiative and getting these great pictures!

Also, I want to acknowledge the efforts, prior to this meeting, of the Centennial Neighborhood Association. Gary Dufault, CTNAs’ President, in addition to speaking last night, has been very supportive and engaged in this effort. The Centennial Neighborhood Association, which has 13,000 Boise residents, is fully within the West Boise Library Desert. Larry Ice and Joe Lague, also members of the CTNA board, testified at the City Council Meeting last night as well. It’s awesome to see our Neighborhood Associations energizing Boise and representing their communities!

Sincerely,

Mark Salisbury

Citizens for a Library in West Boise Organizer

West Boise Needs a Library Too!

Gang Graffiti – Have you seen this in your neighborhood?

Last weekend someone(s) put this on a common area fence in the Mahogany Park subdivision. It was reported to Boise Police the next day. BPD quickly responded. According to the visiting officer, this type of graffiti is not normally seen in West Boise but is more commonly found in Nampa and Caldwell and is gang related. Gangs customarily use such marking to claim “their” territory. Mahogany Park is NOT gang territory. The Centennial neighborhood is NOT gang territory. Once notified the Mahogany Park HOA quickly removed this graffiti. If you see unsightly graffiti in your area, immediately report to Boise Graffiti 208-377-6790.

Category: Safety and Crime

Preventing Vehicle Burglary

Who’s Stealing Our Mail and Why?