Church has a good plan

Dear editor:

At the last city council meeting, the council took up the proposed Catholic parish consolidation project.

Present at the meeting were representatives from the Boise Catholic diocese as well as the project engineer and architect.

The contractor of the project presented the council with a very detailed and comprehensive presentation. Included in the presentation was a parking survey which was conducted over a six-month period.

The survey concluded that at any given time of date and time of week, there is never a parking problem, in fact, the survey showed a relatively high vacancy of parking slots during the highest peak hours and day. The presentation also added that the project would add an additional 30 or more parking slots.

Overall, the presentation was extremely informative and professionally done.

After the presentation was completed, one councilmember commented: "The presentation was very informative, and has answered most, if not all, of my concerns." Another councilmember indicated that because of the in-depth information provided that he would need time to look it over.

It was at this time that councilmember Isaac started her "interrogation" of the presentation. Her tone was very direct and somewhat combative.

The good councilwoman started to pick apart the validation of the survey, stating that" this is only a snapshot of time" and that "it does not truly paint a picture of the parking situation in and around that area."

This resulted in a back-and-forth between the church representatives and Isaac. During the exchange, Issac was very forceful and hostile. She indicated that the parish will need to compromise with the city. She continued on by stating that the project was "too big and intrusive for downtown" and that the parish needs to "give a little," by either "to scale down the size of the project, or limit the amount of church functions and services." The last word out of the councilwoman's mouth was "You gotta give us more"

What more does the parish need to give? The Catholic church has stood on this exact site since 1953, that is over a half of century.

In that time, parking has NEVER been an issue. If the city is so concerned about parking, then I know an "eyesore" called the King building that the city can purchase and turn into a parking lot. This proposed project would enhance the beautification of the downtown area, which right now is anything but beautiful.

The same time the Catholic parish is trying to build, our local Mormon community is building a "colossal" structure adjacent to a heavily populated residential and business area, to include a school. What are the concerns of the city council in regards to parking with that project? Where were the concerns of the city council and P&Z? And oddly enough, after speaking to numerous residents who reside around that project, they were "unaware" of the project... uhm, makes you think about what's going on!

The bottom line is the Catholic parish only wants FAIR and EQUAL treatment by the P&Z and our elected city officials. The church only wants to consolidate its operations by building a beautiful complex that the parish and the entire community as a whole can be proud of. It's a win-win for all!

I strongly encourage not only the city council but the community to take a long look at what the parish is proposing, and then all will see that the positives outweigh the negatives.

Lastly, during the entire meeting, there was not one person and or business that commented negatively on the project. On the contrary, the chamber was packed with supporters as well as a local business owner who indicated that he would "love to have a church like this next to his business any day."

I do stand corrected about the one person opposed, that of course is the good councilwoman Isaac...whom I'd like to remind, if she decides to run again for city council, will NOT be running unopposed. That's one thing you can count on... and I will guarantee it will be a very "intrusive" election.

- John Jackson