SPONSORED BY
BOISE BLUE ART SUPPLY
COVERARTIST
TITLE: The Astonishing Production of a Common Doe ARTIST: Holly Streekstra MEDIUM: Inkjet print STATEMENT: ‘Well!’ thought Alice to herself, ‘after such a fall as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling down stairs! How brave they’ll all think me at home! Why, I wouldn’t say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the house!’ —Charles Dodgson
S U B M I T Boise Weekly pays $150 for every published cover plus a $25 gift certificate to Boise Blue Art Supply. We request that all published original covers be donated to a charity cover auction in the fall. Proceeds from the cover art auction will fund a public art opportunity for local artists. Drop your artwork by the BW offices at 523 Broad St. Downtown. (Square format preferred, all mediums including photography accepted.) Artworks not used are available for pickup anytime.
MAIL THIS WEEK’S WEB Boise Weekly’s new Web site is a hotbed of reader activity. A few months ago, we’d get a dozen comments online within a week and consider it a busy week for reader commentary. Times have changed. Last week alone readers had something to say about everything from restaurants to the county’s emergency medical system, and I’m proud to say that every discussion was productive and civil without degenerating into the crass personal insults so common on other Web sites. Perhaps the most noteworthy discussion happening online regards a story published several weeks ago. “Double EMS” (BW, News, May 20, 2009), detailed Ada County’s rejection of efforts by the Boise Fire Department to coordinate paramedic services despite what appears to be a duplication of services across the county by Ada County Paramedics and Boise Fire Department. Here are portions of a few readers’ comments: It sounds like Ada County Paramedics is more concerned with sole control of Ada County and the cities seem to be concerned about the best, quickest and most efficient service. You would think that it would be most
beneficial to patients if Ada County Paramedics would work with the cities not against them. Note: how can placement of ambulance stations affect the transport time from the patient’s residence to the hospital? —Observer There is the huge misconception out there, that the local EMS is funded by the tax monies collected on your property tax bill as with police, fire and other services operated by the cities. This is not true. The tax monies collected only cover a small percentage of the operating budgets of your local EMS agencies. The user fees (fees for service) pay for the remainder of the operating costs. These fees are subject to the rules of Medicare and Medicaid ... I do find it interesting that the title of this article is “Double EMS.” This is very true that there is a duplication of services with Boise, Meridian, Kuna, Parma and Nampa Fire Departments as they have pushed their “Paramedic Program” through their leaders. Prior to this they provided basic and/or intermediate life support services to their citizens as part of their EMS System, meeting and exceeding national standards for response times, etc. Many
TOC BILL COPE . . . . . . TED RALL . . . . . . NEWS . . . . . . . . . CITIZEN . . . . . . . . CURIOUS TIMES/ MONDO GAGA FEATURE The Idea of America . . . . . . 8 DAYS OUT . . . . . NOISE . . . . . . . . . ARTS . . . . . . . . . SCREEN. . . . . . . . REC . . . . . . . . . . FOOD . . . . . . . . . CLASSIFIEDS . . .
other departments in the Treasure Valley continue to provide these services as part of their local EMS System. However, the question should be asked, especially in these tough economic times with cities announcing layoffs, budget cuts, and reduction in services, why are we duplicating services already provided and cutting other services that are not provided? —Boise City Taxpayer Patient care is clearly an issue in the debate that the recent article stirred up. Throw in the words cheaper, faster and more effective and you have my attention. Except Ada County does that already for the City of Boise, as well as the rest of the entire county (including backup to Kuna). Ada County covers about 1,060 square miles, 380,920 people (2008 Census) and does so with a budget of which only $4.4 million is tax money. The rest of the $13.2 million dollars is from patient revenue and insurance. Boise Fire’s budget is $35 million to cover 120 square miles (or so, the land grabs continue) with 214,490 people. Of that $35 million, almost 100 percent of that is taxes. By simple comparison, Ada County covers
INFORMATION
. 6 . 7 . 8 10
Boise Weekly prints 35,000 copies every Wednesday and is available free of charge at more than 750 locations, limited to one copy per reader. Additional copies of the current issue of Boise Weekly may be purchased for $1.00, payable in advance. No person may, without permission of the publisher, take more than one copy of each issue.
. . 11
SUBSCRIPTIONS: 4 months-$40, 6 months-$50, 12 months-$95, Life-$1,000. Boise Weekly ISSN 1944-6314 (print) ISSN 1944-6322 (online) is owned and operated by Bar Bar Inc., an Idaho corporation.
. . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . . .
. . . . . . . .
12 14 22 26 28 31 32 37
WWW.BOISEWEEKLY.COM
Address editorial, business and production correspondence to:
Boise Weekly, PO Box 1657, Boise, ID 83701
The entire contents and design of Boise Weekly are ©2009 by Bar Bar, Inc. EDITORIAL DEADLINE: Thursday at noon before publication date. SALES DEADLINE: Thursday at 3 p.m. before publication date. Deadlines may shift at the discretion of the publisher. Boise Weekly was founded in 1992 by Andy and Debi HeddenNicely. Larry Ragan had a lot to do with it too. All contents copyright Bar Bar, Inc. 2009. BOISE WEEKLY IS AN INDEPENDENTLY OWNED AND OPERATED NEWSPAPER.
TO CONTACT US: Boise Weekly’s office is located at 523 Broad Street Boise, ID 83702 Phone: 208-344-2055 Fax: 208-342-4733 E-mail: info@boiseweekly.com www.boiseweekly.com
BOISEweekly
| JUNE 10–16, 2009 | 3