HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-14-23 Public Comment - L. McGee - Bozeman.CC.SquattersDear Bozeman City Council members, September 14, 2023
I am writing this letter as a concerned property owner in Bozeman. We own a home in the Norton
Ranch subdivision. I have been tied to the Bozeman and Montana State University community for over
35 years. I am a native/Native American Montanan who was born and raised with deep ancestral roots
from the Blackfeet Reservation. A large part of my heart belongs to Bozeman. My husband, self and our
two of our three children are MSU alumni. Our oldest daughter graduated from the nursing program,
and now works at an Indian Health facility. Our son recently began his second year of dental school at
the University of Michigan, and will be the 26th Native American dentist to graduate from their 150th
year program! Our youngest is majoring in business. I was a first generation college graduation, which
changed the trajectory of my and my children’s lives.
Over the past several years our subdivision has not been immune from squatters. In fact, one person
tried to leave their ratty, broken window travel trailer on our very small residential street. It blocked our
son and his roommates from parking, along with our neighbor’s ability to do the same. It would have
also prevented both of us tax paying property owners from putting our garbage can onto the street for
city garbage collection. I immediately posted to Facebook that this trailer needed to be removed. It took
several hours, and a visit from a Bozeman City Police Officer, but the owner eventually moved it late
that night.
Our youngest daughter is a junior at MSU and resides in our home now with her roommates during the
school year. All of the girls work downtown. The master bedroom windows face the empty lots behind
us. For over a year there have been squatters that park on the street that face directly into the master
bedroom. This is unnerving for our daughter and for us, especially after the Idaho college murders last
fall, where four individuals were murdered by a stranger.
I am appalled that these squatters have more rights than property owners and often times, Montana
citizens! If our sidewalk isn’t shoveled in a timely fashion, we ARE fined. Our son got a ticket because
his car bumper was a few inches to far back from the garage and went to the public sidewalk (which we
had to pay for and have to maintain). Our daughter and her roommates have received multiple parking
tickets while downtown working because of the allotted time, or working overtime when the parking
garage time was up, etc. We have all paid fines for small infractions!!!
We are not illegally dumping sewage onto public roadways or into empty lots like many of the squatters
do. This sewage seeps into the ground water and soil, causing unknown damage. One illegal shanty has
trailers who have an entire outside house on the empty lots, with washing machines and the most
atrocious garbage! I grew up on an Indian Reservation in and around severe poverty, this even
surpasses the garbage I see there often! We don’t know if these people are sex offenders or violent
criminals, making it a safety issue. Will the city be ready to legally be responsible if and when a transit
rapes, murders and/or beats someone?
The pure insanity of even your verbiage needing to be softened is enraging! How will this curtail the
very problematic issue of squatting and the illegal sewage and water runoff onto land and roadways,
with only the “possibility” of being fined? We haven’t had the “possibility” soft language for snow
removal or our son being fined for inches onto the sidewalk.
There are plenty of people who can pay for lot rent, but refuse to do so. One truck and trailer that were
parked near our home was a brand-new unit, likely totaling $75K for the truck and $65K for the trailer.
Some people want to be nomadic and live for free, which isn’t tax paying citizens responsibility. How
are the Bozeman police able to enforce Megan’s Law in these shanty towns? Some people simply don’t
want to work! There are likely very few people who are desperate. But allowing them to trash our
beautiful city should not be legal or allowed.
Look what has happened to San Francisco, which was once a beautiful city to visit. Seattle and
Portland’s downtowns have been crossed off of our places to visit, as it does not feel safe. We would
take annual family trips to Seaside, Oregon and rent a cottage. One year our son and son-in-law were
verbally accosted and chased down the street to their car. A few months later a tourist was shot and
killed in that same spot. It is very likely that it was the same person.
Turning a blind eye to a very serious issue will not resolve the squatter issue! Are you all willing to let
our beautiful, thriving downtown succumb to what has happened in San Francisco, Seattle and
Portland? Will our residential areas be overcome with squatters, making it dangerous to live and reside
in Bozeman for the wellbeing of people who choose to live on the streets? Why don’t people research
Bozeman before moving? Is it the taxpayer’s responsibility to provide and give up our rights for other
person’s poor choices? Do we have to risk our safety, our livelihood and our homes?
Bozeman PD has their hands tied of what they can legally can do, based upon your previous decisions!
Again, another portion of our tax money being wasted on squatters, and taking away vital resources.
Who on the city council quantifies the waste of usage of controlling the shanty’s? It’s your duty to
protect and serve our city and its citizens, as we are your voting constituents. You are elected to make
our community safe, while using the taxes we pay.
I urge you all to take a strong stance of saying NO to our beautiful city being taken over by squatters! I
assume you all are educated enough to research what happens to cities that foster and allow squatters.
Will you all individually take personal responsibility for the crime, property damage, land damage, rapes,
theft, murders, and violent crimes that will happen sooner rather than later?
Respectively,
Laura McGee