A note from the editor Sept. 16

Is it just me, or are there a lot of events happening? I’ve got some highlights from a few I’ve recently attended: 

The current commute from Caldwell into Boise, which is currently about 45 minutes, is projected to increase to about two hours. That’s based on analysis done by the Community Planning Association of Southwest Idaho, or COMPASS. Granted, this is expected for around the year 2050, with hundreds of thousands of new residents contributing to the traffic; that shocked me. This information was presented during a panel discussion on infrastructure by City Club.

Last week brought some good news, during Downtown Boise’s annual State of Downtown address. Downtown Boise Association announced a new nonprofit, Downtown Boise Foundation, that will provide more opportunity for the area, such as increased access to potential grant funding. Additionally, 27 new businesses opened last year and four visitor-facing ones expanded; the state of downtown, overall, has a lot of positives. More of that in this edition.   

Today (Sept. 14) I attended Boise Metro Chamber’s CEO Speaker Series, and you can bet I’m going to write about it.  

While this was not announced at any particular event, another thing that surprised me this week was that, despite being touted as one of the best places to live in the country, Idaho is not really that great of a place to work, according to a recent report. More on that in this edition as well. 

Looking ahead to next edition (Sept. 30), we have got articles planned to cover a range of industries, and our focus sections will highlight legal and infrastructure news. 

Also looking ahead, we ourselves have some dynamic events planned, with our annual Women of the Year gala on Sept. 22, our final (for the year) Breakfast Series event Oct. 6 and Top Projects on Oct. 27. 

With that, until next time! 

— Alx Stevens is the managing editor for the Idaho Business Review. Contact her at [email protected]