Mark Rivers: Use Innovation to Counter Growth Issues

By Jill Kuraitis, 6-18-09

One of Boise’s best-known downtown developers, Mark Rivers, was a hit at today’s “Planning in the West” conference.

The group of 175 guests were engaged and laughing with the blunt and lively Rivers even though he issued stern warnings about the state of growth and development, the recession, and unemployment in the Treasure Valley.

“There is not enough job growth for new development right now,” he said. Citing a Brookings Institute report called “Tracking Economic Recession and Recovery in America’s 100 Largest Metropolitan Areas,” Rivers observed that local media report on every Top Ten list where Boise is mentioned but don’t often pick up on lists where there is bad news – and the Brookings study has bad news indeed.

Numbers for the rate of change in employment for the 4th quarter 2008 to the first of 2009 rates Boise/Nampa the second-worst metro area, with job losses at -3%.

Only Detroit was rated worse.

“It’s not as though six months from now everything will be the way it was – it’s not.  We’re hitting the reset button for the way we do things,” said Rivers. “We have to rethink, reimagine and reinvent ourselves.”

Rivers, who developed Boise’s BoDo and the Watercooler, thinks the economic downturn could be an opportunity, if innovative ways of forming public/private partnerships are used. He said city leaders should get educated and cheerlead these kinds of working groups.

“For new development, I think we need to bring all the horsepower to the table – developers, designers, planners, landscape architects, HUD, BSU, the state housing financing authority, cities, counties, private lenders and banks– we all have to bring something new to the table,” he said.

“I’m not a big government guy and Idaho isn’t a big government state, but there is a time and place for governments to play a role. There are agencies, authorities and resources that could be a part of inventive solutions about growth. Also, there are a bajillion programs out there providing money and support for green building, energy projects, and creative development.” Rivers said a way to approach those programs is to design the project specifically to qualify for support.

The next afternoon session at “Planning in the West” is about Agriculture, Open Space and Resource-Based Planning.