HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-20-23 Public Comment - P. Wherry - Public Comment on urban campingFrom:Peg Wherry
To:Agenda
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Public Comment on urban camping
Date:Tuesday, September 19, 2023 12:42:45 PM
Attachments:Wherry urban camping testimony.pdf
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I hope I uploaded this via the public comment online form. Here it is again, just to be sure.
Commissioners should read Billionaire Wilderness: The Ultra-Wealthy and the Remaking of the
American West” by Justin Farrell. It’s about Jackson WY but the Yellowstone Club gets several pages.
It should be a cautionary tale for Bozeman, but it may be too late.
Thank you for listening!
Peg Wherry
275 N Ferguson #2
September 19, 2023
To: City Commissioners
If I did not have a scheduling conflict, I would want to speak publicly at tonight’s meeting. Here is what I
would say.
I advocate extending the relocation time frame to every 14 days for several reasons. First, from what I
have learned about homelessness, the lack of stability is a major challenge. Imagine that you had to
move your domicile every five days. Monday, you arrive at your location, put out the chocks, do the
leveling, get out anything that had to be strapped down during transit. You then have until Friday to be
more or less “stable” before you have to reverse the process—tie things down, prepare to move, and
then start the count to five again. How stable is that?
Second—and this is very important—I assume there is a role for city staff in managing or monitoring
each relocation process. Doing that every 14 days instead of every 5 would reduce the staff impact by
about 1/3. The longer relocation time frame is the fiscally prudent way to use the city’s resources.
Third, the campers are already our neighbors. Being unable to afford conventional housing in Bozeman is
not illegal. More importantly, it is not a moral failing. If I were to move here today for the job that
brought me here about 15 years ago, I would be unable to afford rent or a house payment in Bozeman.
Those of us who have been drawn to and value Bozeman for what used to be our strong sense of
community—that “small town” feel--should deplore the divisiveness “market forces” have created.
Scorning those who work here but cannot afford to live here damages that sense of community. Some of
the rigs camped on our side streets are actually rather nice—if one pulled into an adjoining campsite in a
National Forest or Park Service campground, we’d go over and strike up conversation. But that same rig
on a side street is an “eyesore” and its occupants “undeserving.”
I do agree with the critics of urban camping on one thing: that it is a disgrace. But the disgrace—the
moral failing—is that our community and its “market forces” make it necessary. I may look fondly on
what the market value of my current home will make possible for my next relocation, but the lack of
opportunity and inclusion such increased values have forced on the very people who make our
community—teachers, nurses, cops, firefighters—is pushing me away from living in Bozeman. I’m
making plans to leave because Bozeman is becoming mean.
Peg Wherry
270 N Ferguson #2