Veterans Park Neighborhood Association

ACHD is exploring the possibility of constructing a new street connection between Willow Lane and Alamosa Street using property owned by ACHD.  Click here to view the handouts provided at the most recent open house and email comments to ACHD directly.  Or click here to fill out a short survey about this project before June 6th, 2011.  If you have more questions, contact Jeff Lowe ACHD Transportation Planner at 387-6235.

Five sections of the Greenbelt have been closed because of high flows on the Boise River.

Areas that have been closed include:

• The tunnel on the south side East Parkcenter Bridge near Bown Crossing
• Loggers Creek footbridge from Leadville Avenue east to the West ParkCenter Bridge in Southeast Boise.
• The Bethine Church River Trail, a gravel section from the Cottonwoods Apartments on Riverstone Lane east to the powerline corridor near East Gossamer Lane in Southeast Boise.
• The Broadway Avenue underpass on the north side of the river near Boise State University.
• The Main Street tunnel on the north side of the river near Bernardine Quinn Riverside Park

In case you missed it, VPNA won a Boise City neighborhood reinvestment grant for almost $16,000 to construct an interpretive walking trail through the 30^th Street neighborhoods.  The trail will lead from the new greenbelt bridge and future whitewater park, past points various points of interest to Fairview Park. For more information about the trail click here. The first organization meeting is coming up soon. All are encouraged to attend.

• Date:                     Thursday June 9, 2011
• Location:              2400 W Bannock St  (kitty corner across the street from the tennis courts)
• Pre-Meeting Potluck starts at 6pm (bring something to share and a lawn chair if possible)
• Interpretive Trail Meeting starts at 7:30pm

The committee that comes out of this meeting will organize community workshops, conduct oral history interviews, collect photos, pick the trail’s name, the trail’s final route and the information on interpretive signs.

Anyone interested in working together, building community and learning more about the neighborhood is welcome to join the committee. If you are interested but can’t make this meeting or want more information please contact Jeff Anderson at vpnatrail@gmail.com or at 608-2385.

Check out historian Tully Gerlach’s blog titled “The West End: The Name and the Place” on Preservation Idaho’s website. Tully draws attention to the interpretive trail that VPNA is planning in the 30th Street area (more on that from us later this week). His article also  offers some interesting history of why Veterans Park Neighborhood Association stretches from Thrift Way Lumber all to way to 19th Street. Perhaps most discussion worthy is Tully’s argument for using the name “West End” for the neighborhoods in the “30th Street area”.

Tell us what you think…

VPNA’s is interested to know your thoughts related to the the moniker “West End”. As residents how do you refer to the neighborhoods between State St and Main St and between 19th St and the river? Do you like West End or prefer something else?  Please email us at vpnaboise@gmail.com and we’ll pass along your thoughts to Stephanie Inman whose working on the 30th Street Area “branding” plan (see previous post for background on that project).

To share your feedback Stephanie came up with the following questionaire. Please answer the following questions and email them to sinman@stephanieinman.com by May 31, 2011.

Thank you for your interest in Boise’s 30th Street Extension Area branding project.