After nearly two hours of testimony, the House Local Government Committee has overwhelmingly rejected HB 135, a proposal from Rep. Kathy Sims, R-Coeur d’Alene, to require a city-wide or county-wide vote before any urban renewal agency could establish a new revenue allocation area within its district. Urban renewal officials from Boise, Twin Falls and elsewhere spoke out against the bill, saying it posed serious legal and functional problems for urban renewal districts in their operations/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.

Question: It appears to me that most other cities with urban renewal districts see the value of them. I wish Sims and Vito Barbieri did, too. What do you think?