In 1864, the corner was a famous stop on the Oregon Trail and became home to the Overland Hotel. Four decades later, the Eastman Building replaced the hotel and stood as a Downtown beacon until the 1970s, when the Boise Redevelopment Agency bought the building and evicted everyone in it. Billy Fong, the last living resident of Downtown’s Chinatown, cursed the ground before leaving town.  The Eastman Building sat vacant for 15 years before burning in a suspicious blaze. In 2001, work began on what would have been the 25-story Boise Tower; legal and financial problems stalled the project, leaving the “Boise Hole.” You couldn’t blame Boiseans for wondering if there wasn’t something to the curse of Billy Fong.

The Gardner Co. is proving doubters wrong. It’s less than seven months away from opening the tallest building in Idaho — an 18-story office/retail building that is more than 85 percent leased. J. Thomas “Tommy” Ahlquist of Meridian, chief operating officer of Gardner Co., will discuss how this symbol of life is a testament to our state’s and Boise’s economic recovery and take questions from the City Club audience.

Before merging Ahlquist Development with Gardner Co., Ahlquist successfully joint-ventured on several large Idaho projects with Gardner. Those projects include Portico, a 24-acre project in Meridian; Eagle Island Crossing, a 22.5-acre development in Eagle; and St. Luke’s Nampa Medical Plaza, a 34-acre medical/retail site in Nampa.

In 2012, Ahlquist was appointed to an eight-year term on the Idaho State University Foundation Board of Directors and serves on ISU President Arthur Vailas’ Southwestern Idaho Advisory Council on Health Science Education and Economic Excellence.  He received his bachelor’s degree in 1992 and medical degree in 1996 from the University of Utah. He completed a residency in emergency medicine in 1999 at the University of Arizona. Ahlquist married his high school sweetheart 24 years ago; they have four children. Ahlquist says his family motto is: “Work hard, play hard and give back.”

Both women were married to men who helped shape the city:  Arthur Foote planned the New York Canal, a massive irrigation project that brought irrigation water to agricultural fields throughout the Treasure Valley, and Tom Davis planted the first orchards in Boise, helped plat the city and founded the first electric company.

But both were influential in their own right as well. Mary Hallock Foote was famous for her drawings and stories of life in Boise and the West that were published in many magazines. She also penned 15 novels and short stories about life in the West. The late author Wallace Stegner liberally used Foote’s writings in his book, Angle of Repose.

Julia Davis, the namesake of Julia Davis Park, was active in Boise civic affairs and worked closely with her husband on the orchard and his many business ventures. Both Davis and Foote were members of the Columbian Club, a women’s civic club in Boise that took the Idaho exhibit to the Columbian Exposition at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 and backed the creation of the Boise Library.

The two women will be performed in period costume by Janet Worthington, Ph.D., a retired educator who taught technical writing at Boise State University, and Diane Myklegard, the great-granddaughter of Julia Davis. Boise historian and author Susan Stacy will provide historical context by describing the landscape of early Boise in which Foote and Davis lived, and will answer questions. The salon will include a sit-down dinner in a lovely mansion from the era on Main Street.

The salon is limited to 18 people. It is open only to City Club members (one guest per member is welcome).

Contact City Club at 208-371-2221 to register. No online registration is available for salons. 

In addition, the issues of creating a state-run health care exchange, eliminating the personal property tax, education policy and funding, and Medicaid funding all had the potential for some very contentious and heated debate.

Many longtime observers of the Idaho Legislature predicted a long and somewhat disjointed session. So how did it all shake out?

In this City Club salon, the Spokesman-Review’s “Eye on Boise” reporter and blogger Betsy Russell, a regular City Club panelist, and Dr. Jim Weatherby, a former City Club board member, Boise State University professor emeritus and frequent political commentator, will share their observations and insights on the session.

The salon is open only to City Club members (one guest per member is welcome). The cost for the dinner and wine in the “card room” of the Arid Club is $60 per person.  Seating is limited.  This event always fills up quickly!

Please RSVP by 5 p.m., Tuesday, April 16. Call 371-2221 to make reservations (online reservation is not available for salons).

Join City Club for a behind-the-scenes tour of the Morrison Center, including the backstage area, dressing rooms, scene shop, main stage and front of house. You’ll get an explanation of the “fly” (cable) system and how elaborate sets are moved from outside the building to the stage. The tour will include a special talk by James Patrick, executive director of the Morrison Center, who will address the center’s evolving role as a producing organization and one of the nation’s top 10 production tour venues.

Tour leader: Carole Whiteleather, director of outreach and education. She is also a noted Idaho Shakespeare Festival actor who has appeared frequently on the MC stage. She will tell the “backstory” of how the center was built and the donors who made it possible.

Cost: $10. The tour is limited to 30 City Club members (one guest per member is welcome).  

RSVP by noon Friday, March 15 to Cityclub@amgidaho.com or call 371-2221. 

Several years ago, Idaho’s Criminal Justice Commission (CJC) evaluated trial-level public defender services and concluded that state and district courts sometimes fail to provide the level of representation required by the U.S. Constitution. Advocates argue that without a more robust system of public defense, innocent people are wrongly convicted, incarcerated and even sentenced to death. We’ll hear more about those concerns, the challenges facing Idaho’s public defender system and potential solutions in this City Club forum on the rights of defendants in our judicial system.

The speakers are:

• Sara Thomas, director of the Idaho Appellate Public Defender’s office and a member of the CJC. She’s a graduate of Boise State University and the University of Idaho College of Law.
• Dawn Porter, director/producer of the movie “Gideon’s Army,” which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and is scheduled to air on HBO this summer. It details the heart-wrenching stories of people caught in an often-crumbling public defense system. Before becoming a filmmaker, Porter, an attorney, was director of news standards and practices at ABC News. She is a graduate of Swarthmore College and Georgetown University Law Center.

But there are key areas where Idaho — and its people — are slipping financially compared to other states, according to Mike Ferguson, Idaho’s former chief economist and the director of the Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy. Ferguson will talk to City Club about the state of Idaho’s economy and take questions from the audience.

Taking a long view, Ferguson says there are some areas of concern, including wage growth, per capita personal income and per-student spending on education. State budget cuts, tax swaps and tax breaks have caused Idaho to lose important revenues streams for public education, higher education and health care, Ferguson says.

Ferguson served as chief economist in the state Division of Financial Management for 25 years, working in both Democratic and Republican administrations. Prior to that time, he worked as an economist at the Idaho Public Utilities Commission and as an econometrician at a large regional bank. Ferguson has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Boise State University, and he completed graduate work at the University of Oregon in urban/regional economics, resource economics and public finance. 

The four panelists are:   

• Susan Stacy, author of Legacy of Light: A History of the Idaho Power Company, Tom and Julia Davis: Some Good Place, and When the River Rises: Flood Control on the Boise River. Stacy will talk about Boise’s original landscape and early water and energy development.
• Carol MacGregor, who has a Ph.D. in history, chronicles the early history of Boise in her book, Boise, Idaho, 1882-1919: Prosperity in Isolation. She will talk about early pioneers and settlers of Boise, prominent people and families.   
• Keith Petersen writes and lectures frequently on Idaho history. An author of more than five books, Petersen will talk about how Boise became the capital of Idaho and how Boise’s early development contrasted to the rest of Idaho.
• Ernie Hoidal, vice president of the Idaho Legal History Society, has done extensive research on members of Boise’s legal community.  Hoidal will talk about early legal issues and noteworthy lawyers and judges.

After the initial presentation, the panel will take questions from the audience. 

Totoricagüena and Anderson will reflect on the state of Washington’s experience of converting to private liquor sales in the last year. But both will also discuss a larger issue: What is the core role of government? Why should Idaho government be involved in selling alcohol?

In Washington, liquor sales increased by 14.3 percent in the first three months of sales after privatization and tax revenues have gone up. While liquor is more readily available to consumers, liquor prices are increasing.

Idaho’s system of state liquor control has been in place for 80 years. According to Anderson, state control results in lower per capita consumption (15% less than in an open state), and liquor revenues are shared with local government — to the tune of $63 million last year, he said. In a free market system, Anderson says, easier access to alcohol raises questions about drunken driving and public safety. 

Anderson has served as director of the Idaho State Liquor Division since April 2010 and director of the Idaho Lottery for six years. He has a bachelor’s degree from CaliforniaStateUniversity, Chico, with a double major in communications.

Totoricagüena has had a career in academia, consulting and lobbying. She has a Ph.D. in comparative politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a master’s degree in education from Boise State University.

The exhibit helps illustrate various medical conditions such as obesity, breast cancer, colon cancer, cirrhosis of the liver, ectopic pregnancy, arthritis, osteoporosis and bone fractures. The exhibition also highlights damage done to organs due to the perils of smoking and dietary excesses.

Light refreshments will be served following the tour.   

The tour is limited to 50 people (members only; one guest).

Cost: $20, which includes the admission fee