GO-GETTERS AND TRAILBLAZERS: A Conversation with Boise Mayor Lauren McLean

BY HEATHER HAMILTON-POST

When Josh Davis (you may know him as the owner of JD’s Bodega) tried to get Boise Mayor Lauren McLean on a skateboard at the grand opening of Molenaar Skate Park, she hesitated, then adapted. “It was a little risky because I’m in knee rehab,” she said. “And then this kid said, ‘Mayor, take my scooter.’ So I grabbed it and rode it around for a little while instead.”

In many ways, that resilience, the ability to reconsider in the moment, is the story of her first term. Even today, Mayor McLean joins the interview on the heels of a fire drill that had her pulling picnic tables together in the park to continue an interrupted meeting. “And the weather today is gorgeous!” she exclaimed. Since the beginning, McLean’s remained committed to uncovering the silver lining.

“This first term has been marked by incredible challenge, a lot of hard work, and turning those challenges into opportunities so we can deliver for Boise,” McLean said. Enter challenge number one, a global pandemic that picked up while she was still assembling her team. “We were making decisions nobody ever anticipated, and I was juggling my intention to deliver on the issues that brought me here,” she explained, adding that she found inspiration in the way the community rallied together during that time.

During the election, she ran on a platform that promised, among other things, that she’d work hard and fast to deliver homes for Boise. Now, McLean says the city is catching up. “We’re in get ahead mode now. I made a commitment to ensure that everyone who works in Boise has access to a home that’s affordable in Boise,” she said. “This week, we broke ground on what will be over 100 homes for families on State Street. Ten percent of those will be for families exiting homelessness.”

And there’s more. McLean notes apartments on the Boise Bench set to open in October, a public/private partnership with a first floor daycare and easy access to the bus line, and an upcoming partnership with Boise State University and the Urban Renewal Agency for development that will bring a variety of homes at different prices. “We’re seeing the fruits of this hard work and collaboration start to come together, and it’s pretty exciting,” she said.

McLean describes the role of mayor as deeply fulfilling, not in spite of the challenges, but often, because of them. “So much of the job of being mayor is to be present in the community and in common cause with the people and to have conversations and listen to folks. A big part of my life is centered around how much I love this community and love living here. I’m still mayor when I’m out running or mountain biking or taking a walk on the Greenbelt. But I get to do those things in a really special place. And the people that I’m encountering appreciate the city in the same way. It’s a job that’s easy to balance because I love it so much,” she said.

McLean says she speaks often with young girls who want to share their career aspirations, and teenage girls concerned about Idaho politics. “I impress upon them that Boise has a place for everyone,” she said. “I look around and see an incredible medical community of women, practicing doctors, attorneys, and women leading companies, female leaders at the City of Boise. We live in a special place surrounded by super special women that have always been go-getters and trailblazers. We always will if we don’t give up on this place that is rightly our home. There’s so much opportunity here.”

Former Idaho Governor Cecil Andrus once advised McLean to “always be hungry. To work hard to take advantage of opportunities I had in service to get stuff done. And that’s really the approach I’ve taken these four years,” she said. approach I’ve taken these four years,” she said.