Board Meeting – July 16 at 6:30PM

With the high temps, we will meet at Casanova Pizza. Come early, have dinner. Mention to the wait staff or manager that you’re with the West End Neighborhood.

Tentative July Meeting Agenda

• Roll call
• Review June meeting minutes
• Discuss and vote on board nomination Tasymn Raleigh
• Committee reports
• New business

Meet Candidates for Boise’s Police Chief

From the Office of the Boise Mayor’s press release:

After reviewing 20 applications from prospective candidates hoping to serve as Boise’s next Chief of Police, three applicants have been selected for a series of panel interviews and two open houses later this month. They are:

• Jeffrey Bert currently serves as Chief of Police in Tomball, Texas. During his time in Tomball, Bert also served as Interim Assistant City Manager. Prior to that, Chief Bert served in several leadership roles in the Los Angeles Police Department.

• Chris Dennison is the Assistant Chief of Police for the Tucson Police Department, leading Central Investigations, Counter Narcotics Alliance, and Forensics. Dennison has been with the Tucson Police Department for twenty years, starting as an officer in 2004 and moving up through the ranks.

• Tom Worthy is Chief of Police in The Dalles, Oregon. Worthy’s prior experience includes over a decade with the Oregon State Police in increasingly elevated command positions and fifteen years as a trooper and patrol sergeant.

Candidates will arrive in Boise on Wednesday, July 17^th. Over two days, July 18 – 19, 2024, they will tour the city, participate in panel interviews, and meet the public, and BPD officers and staff.

Community members are invited to meet the candidates from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 18^th at the Boise Train Depot. The open house will begin with candidates answering a series of questions followed residents mingling and chatting with the candidates. Light refreshments will be available.

Meet New Board Member Katie Erley

Hi there! We’ve lived in the West End for about 3 years now and have felt so fortunate to be here. I returned to Idaho after 15 years out of state. Living elsewhere has given me a unique appreciation for this neighborhood. Our family greatly enjoys being so central (and nearly always bikeable!) to so many fun activities and options.

Since living here, I have been learning the value of having a neighborhood association. My first introduction was the events WENA has hosted, which have been a lot of fun and a great way to get to know our neighbors. Having young children, knowing our neighbors and fostering community feels more important to me than ever.

Projects that support and engage our neighborhood children is where my greatest interests lie. WENA has been a great fit for my interest of coordinating a holiday drive for our neighborhood’s women and children’s shelter the last couple of years. Now that I’ve joined the WENA board, I am continuing to learn the various ways WENA can make a positive impact. It has been inspiring to learn about other people’s ideas and passion to both maintain and make improvements to our lovely neighborhood!  

Special interests: community events, parent/children engagement, neighborhood charity opportunities 

Neighborhood Night Out – August 6

Join us in Fairview Park for some local fun. More details to follow.

Monthly Meeting June 18 at 6:30PM

Join the board at Fairview Park on Tuesday, June 18, at 6:30PM for our monthly meeting. Agenda includes electing officers, discussing nominations for vacant board seats, and any other new business.

Results from May Election

At the Annual General Meeting on May 13, the following people were elected to the board:

• David Anderson (incumbent)
• Andrea Bogle
• Katie Erley
• Lauren Pennisi (incumbent)
• Rachel Rudeen (incumbent)
• Brent Stewart

Minutes from May 13 Annual General Meeting

Monday, May 13 at 6PM. Fairview Park

Please join us for the WENA Annual Meeting to be held in May 13, 2024 at 6:00PM in Fairview Park. Elect. Learn. Join. Elect five board members. Learn about what your neighborhood association has done in the past year. Learn about our plans for the next year and how you can join the team.

Election Process

At the May meeting, you can nominate yourself or someone else to one of five board seats. To qualify, you must live or own a business in the West End neighborhood.

To vote, you must be present at the May 13 Annual General Meeting. Five candidates with the most votes win a seat on the board. Each seat serves for two years.

Officers are nominated and elected at the June meeting.

My Why

by Lauren Pennisi

I’m running for another term on the WENA board. Why? What’s my motivation? Probably one of the main reasons is that I’m a serially volunteer. Ever since I moved to Boise many, many years ago, I’ve found worthy causes to support with my time and talent. West End is one of those causes, and it’s a natural fit because I love this neighborhood if that’s even possible. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else in town. So, I’m here to stay and as long as I am, I want to be involved in the neighborhood and it seems the best way to do that is to serve on the WENA board. I hope you’ll vote for me today (May 13) at the Annual General Meeting!

Next Board Meeting April 16 at 6:30PM

The WENA board will meet at Casanova Pizza, 2431 Fairview Ave. at 6:30PM. Everyone is welcome to join us. We will be planning for our upcoming Annual General Meeting and election. A detailed agenda will be posted on NextDoor and Facebook. Or, just join us on the 16th. We’ll talk. No big whoop.

We made the switch!

To streamline our communication effort, the board will be sending monthly blog posts instead of emails. We made this switch mostly for you and we benefit too. Join or leave as needed. If you want to unsubscribe, scroll down to the bottom of this post and click Unsubscribe.

ICYMI

Our Happy Hour with Hallyburton was a success! Check out pics on our website.

Our neighborhood is mostly in District 6, and Jimmy Hallyburton represents our district on the City Council. If you have something to say or ask, Jimmy wants to hear from you! Send him an email jhallyburton@cityofboise.org.

Meet Justin Buckley – new board member

President Chris Testa nominated Justin to fill a vacant board seat and the board unanimously voted to approve him as our newest member. Read more about Justin here.

Feb 27 – Neighborhood Review re: CWI campus

Project Description: The project is located on the northwest corner of S. Whitewater Park Boulevard and W. Main Street.

Before submitting a formal development application, the City of Boise’s development code requires a meeting between the applicant and neighbors. A Neighborhood Review is intended to allow residents, property owners, businesses, and organizations in the area surrounding a proposed development and an early opportunity to learn about the project details and to provide feedback to the applicant before significant resources have been expended on project design and engineering. This is not a public hearing, and public officials will not be present.

• Date: Tuesday, February 27, 2024
• Time: 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm
• Location: The Riverside Hotel – Juniper Room
• 2900 Chinden Boulevard, Boise, Idaho 83714

Note: This will be a walk-in, open house-style meeting with several stations for both project phases.

March 11 – Happy Hour with Hallyburton

WENA Board organized an informal event with JImmy Hallyburton, our City Council representative for District 6. Join us:

• Date: Monday, March 11, 2024
• Time: 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm
• Location: Casanova Pizzeria
• 2431 Fairview Ave., Boise, 83702

WENA will buy pizzas for those in attendance. Drinks can be purchased at the bar. 

It will be a casual social event, but Jimmy will make remarks about midway through. If you have questions for Jimmy, write them in advance, and Chris Testa, our board president, will ask them during a brief Q&A session.  

March 19 – WENA Board meeting at 6:30PM

Location is to be determined.

Past Events

January 2024 – WENA Meeting Minutes

Attached you will find the approved January meeting. Here are some highlights:

• Big thank you to Katie Erley and Angie from Dandy & Dill for hosting a successful holiday drive in December!
• A goal for 2024 is recruiting new board members, the current acting President and Vice President will be vacating the board in May.
• The Board is preparing for upcoming election in May.
• Our Housing and Development committee is keeping a close eye on all the major developments that are transforming the footprint of the West End.

Don’t miss HalloWENA on Saturday, Oct 28. The West End and West Downtown are sponsoring their annual event beginning at 4PM.

Decoration Contest in Fairview Park

This year we are hosting the first neighborhood decoration contest IN THE PARK. If you want to participate, here’s how it works:

• Sign up individually or with a group by sending an email to westendboise@gmail.com
• Create a free-standing vignette (ie. a spooky scene that is self-contained in a part of the park). Reach out if you want possible examples…
• Set up at beginning at 10am Saturday, October 28th, and finish by 4pm.
• View vignettes from 4-7PM. Prizes will be awarded to the best decorations.
• Clean up and remove decorations from 7-8pm.

Candidate Forum was a success!

About 50 people attended last Thursday’s mayoral candidate forum (Oct 19) to hear Lauren McLean, Mike Masterson, and Joe Evans explain their positions and answer audience questions. District 5 candidates Meredith Stead and Jeremy Gugino also made their pitch to voters. Thanks to West Downtown, NorthEnd, and Downtown Neighborhood Associations for organizing this informative event.

Almost all of the West End neighborhood is in District 6. A small section is in District 5. Incumbent Jimmy Hallyburton is councilman for District 6 and is running unopposed.

In 2020, the Idaho Legislature passed a bill that changed our municipal elections. The two most significant changes are:

• Cities with over 100,000 residents are required to move to a geographic district system (instead of an at-large system)
• Unopposed candidates are automatically declared the winner and will not appear on the ballot

Voting day is Tuesday, November 7. To find your district, see this map.

September Meeting Minutes

Minutes from September were approved during October’s board meeting, and October’s minutes will be published soon.

Wow what a turnout from the neighborhood for our National Night Out event! I guess some of you do read my emails… It was a blast to have our community fully lean into the bubble party on Tuesday night (Aug 1st) but also a joy to host our Mayor, Police Chief, and several police and fire officials.

Lots to celebrate in WENA meeting. Our last Fitness at Fairview session is August 19; it was our second year sponsoring this summer event series. Plans are also beginning for our HalloWENA event in October. Come bring new ideas to the table to help make this Halloween a fun and unique event.

Below is the proposed agenda for tomorrow’s meeting at Fairview Park (6:30pm).

Chris

WENA Board Meeting – Tues, Aug 17, at 6:30PM

West End N.A. Board Meeting Agenda, Aug 15, 2023

 Location: Fairview Park

6:30pm- Welcome to neighborhood members and attendees

6:35pm- Approve July Meeting Minutes

6:40pm- Discuss Storage Shed Location

6:45pm- Committee Reports

• Community Building- Rachel Rudeen
• Communications- Lauren Pennisi
• Housing and Development – David Anderson
• Street Signs- David Anderson
• Fundraising and Grants – Anita Claridge
• Neighborhood Watch- Cecilia Lopes 

7:45pm- New Business

This is a new agenda item where new topics can be brought up by board members or other members in attendance. If action will need to be taken on an item it will be added to the agenda for the following meeting.

Fitness at Fairview – Sat, Aug 19, at 9:00AM

Our last session of the summer session will be held at Fairview Park. Please join us! Either Ally will lead us in a High Fitness session or a new instructor will lead a yoga class. Lauren is working out the details.

If you attended a session and have not completed our survey, you can do that here: https://forms.gle/ukkYAhTaGTpwyYQL6

We’d like to incorporate your ideas into next year’s program.

July 22 -Fitness at Fairview

July 22 at 9AM – Fairview Park

Don’t miss our Pilates/Yoga session with Carla. Join us under the trees for combinations of several yoga poses and Pilates exercises, including core, balance and stretching. All fitness levels are welcome and will benefit from this one-hour session. Bring your mat and water, and wear stretchy clothing Donations accepted.

August 1 -Neighborhood Night Out

West End Neighborhood Association Board Meeting

Tuesday, July 18, at 6:30PM. Fairview Park

Tentative agenda

6:30pm- Welcome to neighborhood members and attendees

6:35pm- Approval of May AGM Meeting Minutes and June Meeting Minutes

6:40pm- Update on Stewart Street Apartments Completion

6:45pm- Storage Shed Purchase Discussion- Grant Approved, Vote on Purchase

6:50pm- Planning the Neighborhood Night Out event (Tuesday, Aug 1st at Fairview Park)

7:20pm- Committee Reports

• Community Building- Rachel Rudeen
• Communications- Lauren Pennisi
• Housing and Development – David Anderson
• Street Signs- David Anderson
• Fundraising and Grants – Anita Claridge
• Neighborhood Watch- Cecilia Lopes
• Elections Committee- Chris Testa

7:45pm- New Business

This is a new agenda item where new topics can be brought up by board members or other members in attendance. If action will need to be taken on an item it will be added to the agenda for the following meeting.

Fitness at Fairview

Fitness at Fairview – July 22 at 9AM – Fairview Park

Pilates/Yoga session with Carla. Join us under the trees for combinations of several yoga poses and Pilates exercises, including core, balance and stretching. All fitness levels are welcome and will benefit from this one-hour session. Bring your mat and water, and wear stretchy clothing Donations accepted.

https://nextdoor.com/p/GrybJr_PJnwm?utm_source=share&extras=MTQyMDIyNw%3D%3D

Happy Fourth!

June meeting minutes

Fitness at Fairview – June 24

Thank you, Ally, for leading a high energy, High Fitness session on Saturday, June 24.

Modern Zoning Code (ZCR) Rewrite

From the City of Boise:

After three days of public testimony, City Council unanimously passed the Modern Zoning Code with an effective date of December 1, 2023 with several changes. The changes that City Council made can be found on the Modern Zoning Code website. The code was modified to reflect council’s changes and can be found online here.

What’s Next?

Planning and Development Services will complete three readings at upcoming City Council meetings, with an effective date for the Modern Zoning Code on December 1, 2023.

• 1^st Reading: June 27, 2023
• 2^nd Reading: July 11, 2023
• 3^rd Reading: July 18, 2023

City Council also directed staff to bring forward minor amendments to the code November 2023 and bring the code back to City Council in one year from the effective date to evaluate the effectiveness and make the appropriate amendments.

We want to ensure each neighborhood has the opportunity to engage and ask questions during this transition. You will be hearing from staff in the coming weeks to continue education and outreach so our neighbors know what to expect with these changes in the coming months.

July Events

Fitness at Fairview – Saturday, July 8, at 9AM. Join us for Gentle Morning Yoga Flow with Carolyn. We’ll meet under the trees.

WENA Board Meeting – Tuesday, July 18, at 6:30PM. Fairview Park. Agenda to follow.