Mayor Dave Bieter called for bold new action on ending family homelessness, building on the City of Boise’s ongoing work to combat climate change and calling on the business community to reduce waste during his annual State of the City address this afternoon.
Boise’s unique and nationally-recognized success may seem to have come so naturally that Boiseans “sometimes take that progress for granted.” Instead, he said, Boise’s success is the result of generations of clear-eyed collective “civic leadership that has thought big, then rolled up our sleeves and made it happen”
Invoking the foresight that brought the city’s beloved Boise River Greenbelt into existence 50 years ago, Mayor Bieter asked Boiseans to bring similar energy to building a new unique vision for Boise’s future.
“So as the Greenbelt turns 50, isn’t it time to channel that kind of effort to new goals?” Mayor Bieter asked. “Doesn’t that mean ensuring everyone has a home? Isn’t that making tough decisions now to avert the threats to our climate? But at the base of everything, isn’t that reaching out and being kind to each other? Don’t you believe like I do that this really is a place that isn’t like any other place?
The address, co-sponsored by the Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce, was delivered to a standing room only crowd at Boise’s Egyptian Theatre. The speech was live-streamed on the City of Boise’s website and can be viewed in its entirety here.
