HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-10-23 Public Comment - S. Kirchoff - ORDINANCE 2147(UC)From:Cyndy Andrus
To:Agenda
Cc:Jeff Mihelich; Greg Sullivan
Subject:Fwd: [EXTERNAL]ORDINANCE 2147
Date:Tuesday, August 8, 2023 3:58:16 PM
Cynthia Andrus|MayorCity of Bozeman
P:406.582.2383|E:candrus@bozeman.net|W: www.bozeman.net
Begin forwarded message:
From: Steve Kirchhoff <skirchhoff3@gmail.com>Date: August 8, 2023 at 3:53:31 PM MDTTo: I-Ho Pomeroy <IPomeroy@bozeman.net>, Terry Cunningham
<TCunningham@bozeman.net>, Cyndy Andrus <CAndrus@bozeman.net>,Christopher Coburn <ccoburn@bozeman.net>, Jennifer Madgic
<jmadgic@gmail.com>Subject: [EXTERNAL]ORDINANCE 2147
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.Dear Bozeman City Commissioners: Thank you for the opportunity to comment on proposed Ordinance 2147,adopting regulations for homeless persons camping on city right of way. I am mindful of the fact that this item comes before you at the same meetingin which you will be discussing possible regulation of short-term rentalproperties, which have been linked to increasing rental prices and increaseddifficulty for working people to find permanent housing in our city. There issomething fateful about these two items being paired in a single meeting. It is now nearly two years since you began investigating the effects of short-term rentals on our community’s health, safety, and welfare. When it comesto dealing with the impacts of short-term rentals on rental housing price andavailability, you have engaged in numerous, thoughtful deliberations and youhave proceeded in a calm and measured fashion. You have given the short-term rental issue ample time, research, and community discussion before
proposing to make any policy shifts. On this issue you have shown athoughtfulness that citizens can respect in elected leaders who are faced with
difficult policy choices.
However, regarding the proposed Ordinance 2147, which would use police forceto push homeless encampments and their occupants from street to street every fivedays, the City seems to be moving with lightning swiftness. Ordinance 2147 willaffect the well-being of hundreds of homeless persons by regulating the placeswhere they can park vehicles, make shelters, sleep safely, keep belongings, cookmeals, and conduct the affairs of daily life. In other words, this ordinance reachesdeeply into the most intimate dimensions of homeless persons’ lives, and yet theCity Commission has not taken the time to study, research, discuss publicly, andascertain whether or not the police actions described in this ordinance are bestsuited to improving the lives of homeless persons and our community life as awhole.
In fact, the tone and tenor of the ordinance is dismissive of homeless persons andinattentive to their needs. The ordinance does not seek the best outcome for
homeless persons; instead, it seeks to “unencumber” streets, sidewalks, alleys orpublic grounds—as though these inanimate parts of our community needed more
protection than homeless persons themselves. Or as if living human beings werenothing more an encumbrance to these inanimate parts; and when homeless
persons are found to be encumbering inanimate parts, these persons should beremoved from the inanimate parts with regular police action.
I urge you to delay enacting this ordinance and to take more time to study,discuss, research, and devise approaches that might assist homeless persons andameliorate the problem this ordinance seeks to use police action to solve. Unlikeany contemplated regulatory ordinance for short-term rentals, Ordinance 2147comes with a hefty price tag: $353 thousand. I suggest the commission discussother possible uses for $353 thousand, including the following—a) increasing thehours of the current successful homeless shelter; b) providing a high barriershelter; c) increasing the stock of transitional housing; d) providing funding forsocial workers to act as liaisons between city and its homeless community,trouble-shooting and preventing the threats to the public domain that Ordinance2147 seeks to remedy; and e) establishing on public property a “safe camp” forhomeless persons, employing additional FTE to monitor camp safety and toprovide a liaison relationship between homeless persons and the city.
I thank you all for your service to our community and wish you well at thismeeting tonight.
Sincerely,
Steve Kirchhoff