HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-17-19 Public Comment - E. Culver - HRDC Warming Center SiteFrom:Eric Culver
To:Agenda
Subject:Figgins Addition-Proposed Warming Center
Date:Sunday, November 17, 2019 7:43:20 PM
Memorandum
To: The Mayor and all Members of the City Council
From: Wm. Eric Culver Re: HRDC and the Proposed Warming Center in Figgins Addition
Date: November 16, 2019
Recent disturbing facts have come to light during overwhelming citizen opposition to theproposed warming center in Figgins Addition. HRDC’s policies and actions regarding
persons lacking shelter, have the effect of expanding the financial power and communityfootprint of this non-profit corporation to the detriment of its hard working citizens and have
resulted in the usurpation of the authority and responsibilities of our City government.
In our system of government, the City is organized to foster and protect the health, safety andwelfare of its citizens. As policies are made by our elected officials they are implemented
through various agencies including, transportation, fire, police and urban planning, all with thepurpose of making Bozeman a better, more productive and safer place to live. In reliance upon
our elected officials and government action, people have chosen to be citizens of Bozeman.Their hard work and social responsibility have made Bozeman a very good place to live.
The recent Figgins incident demonstrates that HRDC does not share the above goals. Through
the strategy of minimal efforts to comply with applicable regulation avoiding publicparticipation and comment, driven by a financial grant and acting under Ordinance 1997,
HRDC, in effect, proposed a location which would endanger the health, safety and welfare ofthe citizens of South Bozeman. Had the Figgins location been approved we could undoubtedly
have expected HRDC to duplicate the Figgins strategy until “warming centers” were placed inmany residential neighborhoods to the same harmful effects.
In the end, HRDC’s primary objective is to raise money, much of which goes to salaries,
consulting fees and overhead. With no mention of the grants which it receives, HRDC resortsto public relations pleas for contributions, citing a lack of money. It continues to strum the
heart strings of its hard working citizens with appeals to help the nameless “homeless”.paternalistically referring to them as “friends and neighbors”. Recent acquisitions of the
Figgins property and the apartment house downtown belie this advertised poor financialcondition. In fact, HRDC has embarked on a plan to expand its institutional presence and
power in Bozeman, now getting into commercial real estate. Unfortunately, it appears thatHRDC is unwilling to fund what should be its real mission, to help the persons who really are
in need with the causes of their homelessness. To simply give a troubled person a place tosleep and turn them out at 7:00 the next morning to resume their difficult lives is only a brief
respite from the start of another “groundhog day” for these people. They will return for thewarm bed and so will others from surrounding communities who hear of the great place to
sleep in Bozeman. The warming center is not transitional to anything but will foster acontinuing dependency by its residents. Rather than measure success by how much it can
expand its warming centers, the litmus test for success for HDRC should be needy people didit help to break their current daily cycle, as demonstrated by a trending decrease in the number
of persons using the facility.
The Figgins incident also demonstrates the usurpation of City governmental power andresponsibility. The responsibility for the health, safety and welfare of South Bozeman is the
sole responsibility of the City government. Instead it appears that the City relinquished thatresponsibility to HRDC which primarily acts to serve its corporate objectives. I am certain that
the citizens of Bozeman require their elected officials to act on their behalf to protect this greatcity, rather than leaving it up to non-elected employees and consultants of HRDC to make
policy decisions regarding the health, safety and welfare of its citizens.
-- Wm. Eric Culver
Attorney-at-law4122 Graf Street
Bozeman, Montana 59715U.S.A.
Tele: (918) 625-2832
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