HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-12-23 Public Comment - M. Gray - New Community West-Side Public CenterFrom:Monica Gray
To:Agenda
Subject:New Community West-Side Public Center
Date:Sunday, February 12, 2023 11:06:14 AM
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Hello,
I find the survey for the new Public Community Center proposal to be inadequate. The firsttime I took the survey, I thought, this is great, so many activities, so many offerings, but after
some time went by, I was able to actually talk about the proposal with some of my immediatecommunity members. I went back to try to take the survey again, and there seems to be no
way to actually write a written comment. The survey is designed for people who WANT theactivity center, and there is no real way to express, through the survey, any other opinions or
constructive criticism of this proposal. I have decided I would vote NO on the ballot inNovember, because, firstly, we already have a library, and a beautiful, complex library, at that.
Our current public library has an outdoor event venue as well as a huge beautiful park knownas Peets Hill.
Some questions that make me want to participate are below.
What is the problem with betterment of our current, beloved, downtown Bozeman library and
park? Why do city of Bozeman taxpayers have to support the new, westward growth of thecity, when we could protect and beautify what we already have? Remember, that meanwhile,
the City of Bozeman TM, proposes a glistening, new facility for 'community' activities, theCity of Bozeman TM is currently forcing the Methodist United church, that owns the
Deaconess Hospital's land, to sell out to developers, surely in the name of 'housing'. So, whilewe Bozemanites, focus our attention and taxdollars on the 'community' Center out there by
Belgrade, we are simultaneously relinquishing some of the greatest trail systems, surroundingthe Peets Hill, the hospital and the perfectly located Public Library. Does the city of Bozeman
really care that those 3 huge tracts of land adjacent to the hospital, that are used every day byhundreds of bikers, joggers, dog walkers, skiers, sledders, photographers, and, not to mention,
the corridor this land provides for everything from deer, fox, elk, birds, to insects... is nolonger important to our 'community'? While the City of Bozeman proposes the new
community acitivity center to be funded by our taxes, they are basically mandating theconsolidation of our main-street-to-mountains trail system, that keeps us healthy, happy and
with clean air to breath. Maybe there will be a funnel, through which pedestrians and peopleand dogs who like open, outdoor spaces can pass through the subdivisions that will be so
conveniently located next to the hospital, where health care is unaffordable to anyone besidesthe people who can afford to buy up the new lots that the City of Bozeman is hungering to sell
out from under the feet of outdoor-loving Bozemanites.
Would this new, west-side community center be constructed so that 'homeless' people couldcontinue to 'ravage' the current library, and the rich people who are moving here from accross
the nation could feel more safe at the new library on west-side?
We do not yet have such a huge city that we would really need a new library in the west-sideyet, but I know that developers and capitalists alike are excited to sprawl all the way to Three
Forks. Why can't tax payers be offered more proposals that would protect outdoor walkways,
pedestrian routes, bike lanes, parks and greenspaces?
The current library also includes the basement police facility. Why is there no mention of theinevitable police station that will be included in this new West-side facility?
Why does the survey ask what my race is? Because developers and city planners assume that it
is mostly white people moving here? Capitalism doesn't care what race you are, just that youcan afford to be part.
Unfortunately, most working folks cannot attend the February Town Hall meeting from 12-
1pm, even though it is Virtual, because that is in the middle of their work day. The March 11th"Belonging in Bozeman" meeting is also inaccessible to most tax-paying, working folks in
Bozeman, because, again, it is at a time of day that we are already busy making ends meet.
The planning process seems to me to cater towards those folks who work remotely, or haveenough money to not have to work very much, and the survey is geared towards those same
folks who would support, without question, a brand new facility to exercise and have fun at,without having to drive all the way from West-side sprawl back to the 'old' downtown
Bozeman. There is not much hope that my email here will reach very many eyes, though it issupposedly available on the public record online, if people know how to look it up.
Voting 'yes' or 'no' is not very much community involvement, but that is the world we live in,
and many of us never find out much background information before the ballot anyways,because we don't know where to search for it.
Sincerely, Monica Gray