City Councilmember Elaine Clegg is using her experience with smart growth development to create great neighborhoods in Boise, Idaho.
First elected to the City Council in 2003, Clegg believes Boise’s wealth of natural assets and existing infrastructure can be utilized to attract the kind of young, educated workers many leading companies demand. To accomplish those goals, however, the city must invest in the things that make a difference, creating places where people want to live and where they can walk or bike to shops, restaurants, schools and other amenities.
“A great neighborhood is one that has a center of some kind, that has open space of some kind, and that has good, connected streets,” Clegg says, noting that from an economic and financial side especially, it just makes sense to spend a few extra moments considering how and where you develop communities.
“Paying as you go – it’’s about much more than getting upfront capital costs right,” Clegg adds. “It’s about making sure that what you build over the long-term can be maintained with the money it’s going to generate.”