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Hailey • Ketchum • Sun Valley • Bellevue • Carey • Fairfield • Shoshone • Picabo
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2.16.11 | Vol. 4 • No. 7
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(208) 928-7186 | 16 West Croy St., Hailey
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Who wins the race? A
ndrew Alburger has 10:30 a.m. Saturday, gone in cahoots Feb. 26, at the Ketchum with Aesop. Community Library, The result: A hu415 Spruce Ave. too good to miss morous musical makeNoon Saturday, over of Aesop’s fable, March 5, at the by: Karen Bossick “The Tortoise and the Children’s Art Festival Hare,� 2,500 years after at the Hailey Commuthe Greek sage penned the nity Campus on Fox Acres original. Road St. Thomas Playhouse Chil10:30 a.m. Wednesday, dren’s Theater Tour program March 9, at the Hailey Public will take the new version on the Library, Croy and Main streets. road this month and next for sevThe Children’s Theater Tour eral free family presentations. program will also take the play The humorous musical will to preschools and elementary open with a free show at 2 p.m. schools throughout the Wood Saturday at Iconoclast Books, River Valley, as well as the 671 Sun Valley Road. school in Fairfield. Three other public perfor“This is the second play for the mances will follow: theater program that Andrew
nuggets
has written and what I like is that he writes very humorously for adults, as well as children, so that everyone can enjoy it,� said theater patron Heather Black. Professional actor Sara Gorby will play Terry the Tortoise; Dawson Howard, Harry the Hare; Kristy Kuntz, the narrator, and Andrew Alburger, the Guitar Man. Together they reprise the story of the hare, who challenges a tortoise to a race and is so confident that he will win that he allows himself to become distracted before he completes the task. The tortoise wins the race by staying on task and never giving up—hence the moral, “slow and steady wins the race.� twp
Kristy Kuntz, left and Andrew Alburger, right, watch as Sara Gorby or Terry the Tortoise beats Dawson Howard or Harry the Hare. courtesy pHOto: Heather Black
Primer on Urban Renewal Areas
I
daho’s legislature will soon be revisiting the concept of Urban Renewal Areas, or URAs, to consider whether the state’s existby: JIMA ing URA law Rice, Ph.D. should be limited or perhaps even repealed. The central assertion by URA critics in the legislature, as reported in the Idaho Statesman, is that “the 45-year-old redevelopment law has been abused for purposes beyond improving blighted areas.� What the legislature decides could affect the Wood River Valley since Ketchum has an Urban Renewal Area while Hailey is thinking of designating one. Below is some basic information about URAs for local citizens to understand as we go forward. What is a URA? Idaho state law allows a city’s governing officials to designate deteriorated or deteriorating areas in their jurisdiction as urban renewal areas. Once designated, the area becomes a focus for economic development. A URA managing agency is appointed by local government and a master development plan created and implemented that is consonant with the city’s codes and ordinances. The concept comes from post-WWII efforts to clear urban slums but has since been enlarged to accommodate less drastic situations. The URA designation lasts for 24 years. During that time, the city can use what is called “tax increment financing,� or TIF, a mechanism explicitly designed to fund urban renewal. What is TIF? Once a URA is designated, the county assessor establishes the “base� property value for the entire URA property. As development occurs, the URA’s property values (and taxes) increase. The difference between the base year’s taxes and each subsequent year’s taxes goes into a fund for further development within the URA. This fund is made up, essentially, of tax monies that would otherwise have gone over the URA’s lifetime to other taxing districts in the city and county, as well as the school district. How can TIF be used? TIF monies are used to acquire land; construct, remove, or renovate buildings so as to benefit the local economy; stimulate job and business growth; improve safety and sanitation; and provide for public parking and public amenities, such as parks. They are also used for infrastructure improvements, such as streets, water, and sewage, that complement the private development of affordable housing, and office, retail, and commercial buildings. This helps to reduce the cost to businesses of relocating or
ahead of the curve
continued, page 5
inside: FREE REGGAE, P5 | KIDS’ CUPS, P8 | MRS. IDAHO KRISTI BEAR, SECTION TOO