Boise, NOT one of the most livable places at all.
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2/21/2019
We have lived in the Boise area for many years. It's an OK place to live, but all this hooey about "most livable place in America, etc" is WAY overblown. Especially recently. It's crowded. The traffic is terrible. If there's a half inch of snow on the ground, the traffic slows to a halt. All the main roads are jammed with traffic night and day. There is construction everywhere. Most of the "city planning" is driven entirely by money. Most of the outlying areas are as we say "10,000 houses surrounding a Walmart Supercenter." Prices on everything are spiking. The home prices are WAY higher than the median prices indicate. It's well over $300,000 for a decent 3/2 these days. It's VERY cold in the winter, and the wind blows all the time, year-round. The fabled bike trails by the river are heavily trafficked by people who don't know how to ride bikes. It's wet, cold and muddy all winter. If you are a fisherman or a hunter, be advised that the fishing is at best mediocre, even though there are many waterways. Like it or don't like it, this place is run by Mormons. The airport, which used to be a pleasant place to fly out of, has become so crowded during the week it's impossible to even get a parking space. There is so much "wannabe" about Boise, and the "wannabe" is all about trying to mimic California, which means a "Star Ten Bucks" on every place you might expect it to be in the LA area, There are some nice parks but there is so much dog poop everywhere, you have to watch where you walk very carefully. Much of the town is strip malls, or official malls of all the usual suspect outlets, with no sense of place or identify. If you're looking for unique or quaint or aesthetically pleasing, you aren't going to find it in the Boise area. Eagle is a disaster area as far as traffic and crowding go. Do not go anywhere near Eagle Road at any time night or day. The sugar beet factories give off an awful stench at all hours. It's VERY hot in the summer and VERY cold in the winter. This is a metropolitan area with NO identify or conscience. They invite any and every company to come in and create anything they want no matter how much it destroys the local economy. Amazon is getting ready to build a MASSIVE distribution center in a still-pretty rural area, which will ruin the landscape, put even MORE stress on already overstressed infrastructure. Corporations and their "everything is for profit" mentality have destroyed "Treasure Valley." I'm not bitter about Californians, as part of all of this, because everybody in California went THERE from every other place, and ruined California for all the same reasons. Now those same people are venturing out and destroying every other place they can find. Beware. It is NOT cheap to live here. The weather is mostly unpleasant. The traffic is horrible. The prices are high on real estate, groceries, utilities, entertainment and every other area of living; cost of living is skyrocketing.
Virgil | ,