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Home My WebLink About07-25-22 Public Comment - A. Wallace - Transportation Board MeetingFrom:Adrianne Wallace To:Agenda Subject:Re: [WARNING: ATTACHMENT UNSCANNED]to: Transportation Board Meeting Date:Monday, July 25, 2022 1:01:23 PM CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Here is the survey: The City of Bozeman and Sanderson Stewart are working on plans to extend Fowler Avenue from Oak Street to Huffine Lane and turn Fowler Avenue into an "arterial road" withmultiple lanes to accommodate major thoroughfare. This project has been dubbed the "Fowler Avenue Connection."The Fowler Avenue Connection will cause enormous harm to the existing and established neighborhoods surrounding Fowler Avenue. Not only with the value of homes in theneighborhood drop significantly, but noise and traffic will increase ten-fold in this quiet residential community.Construction for the project is set to begin in Spring of 2023.Bozeman’s west side is currently represented in Bozeman’s Transportation Plan as a sea of houses with arterials bisecting neighborhoods and creating pollution, gridlock, and dangerous school crossings–often forgotten in discussions about walkability and livability. The south side can boast the Gallagator Trail, Story Mill Park and trails, Peet’s Hill, Lindley Park, the hospital trails, Bozeman’s historic downtown, and so many other brilliant features that make Bozeman Bozeman. The city’s proposal for connecting Fowler and Davis through pristine areas filled with old-growth trees and wildlife is a prime example of how our city planners consistently marginalize the quality of life for Bozeman’s west side. The proposed road–which could be as large as five lanes–will destroy neighborhoods, increase air pollution, decimate natural habitats, and tank property values. It also signals to the world that Bozeman lacks the vision and drive to be a true leader in fighting climate change, preferring to continue with business as usual policies that do nothing to make our city or our world better.What if we rejected the idea that what we need is more traffic, more cars, and more of the same? Instead of a big, noisy, dangerous road, let’s use this land to connect the Regional Park and Bozeman Ponds with a westside version of the Gallagator–an outstanding connector with limited vehicle intrusion. Being able to walk or bike to our destinations will get us out of our cars and rush hour traffic and into the community and nature.This westside Gallagator could connect us to existing grocery stores, restaurants, and the post office. It could also be the framework from which other important destinations can be planned for in the future, such as a designated space for a farmers’ market. Residents of the west side won’t need to always drive to the east side for these amenities - they can walk or bike along our beautiful Fowler Trail!In short, let’s make a commitment to walkability and livability for all of Bozeman. Let’s have a better vision for growth.We, the undersigned, are concerned citizens of Bozeman who urge the Bozeman City Commission to act now to stop the Fowler Avenue Connection and use the millions ofdollars earmarked for this project to act with integrity for Bozeman residents and stay true to its adopted Climate Plan. I had to download the signatures to my computer (they are png files) and put them in a filethen I uploaded the file to Drive. This is the link to that folder. I'm sure there's a better way to do it, but this is what I came up with. ;)' There are more signatures and comments coming in. Should I send the rest just before noon onWednesday? Thanks for your help! Adrianne On Mon, Jul 25, 2022 at 1:32 PM Agenda <agenda@bozeman.net> wrote: Hi Adrianne, We can open the Excel document, but we the links for the signatures will be broken in digital format. Additionally, I don’t see the survey itself. Did you want to include that? Thanks, Mike Maas, MPA| City Clerk City of Bozeman | 121 N. Rouse Ave. | Bozeman, MT 59715 D: 406.582.2321 | C: 406.599.0804 Pronouns: he/him/his www.bozeman.net From: Adrianne Wallace <avwallace@gmail.com> Sent: Monday, July 25, 2022 12:39 PM To: Agenda <agenda@BOZEMAN.NET> Subject: [WARNING: ATTACHMENT UNSCANNED]to: Transportation Board Meeting CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Hi there, I am submitting petition signatures including contact information and comments that have been collected since we sent this out on Saturday. Along with the public comments on theEngage Bozeman site, I think you will find several here from people on past advisory boards regarding transportation and parks who have some good ideas. We are also bringing ourpaper petitions with signatures on Wednesday. Please let me know if you are unable to open or see everything in this Excel Spreadsheet. I am happy to send it to you in another form.Thanks so much for reading and caring! See you soon, Adrianne Wallace City of Bozeman emails are subject to the Right to Know provisions of Montana’s Constitution (Art. II, Sect. 9) and may be considered a “public record” pursuant to Title 2, Chpt. 6, Montana Code Annotated. As such, this email, its sender and receiver, and the contents may be available for public disclosure and will be retained pursuant to the City’s record retention policies. Emails that contain confidential information such as information related to individual privacy may be protected from disclosure under law. -- Adrianne