HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-05-23 Public Comment - L. Schneider - Comment for the commision re_ UDC meeting next weekFrom:LOGAN SCHNEIDER
To:Agenda
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Comment for the commision re: UDC meeting next week
Date:Tuesday, October 3, 2023 9:46:53 PM
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Bozeman City Commissioners,
My name is Logan Schneider. I live on South 3rd Ave in Bozeman, with my wife Anje and two children. I love this beautiful
neighborhood that we call home. However, 22 years ago I was just a freshman at MSU living in the dorms at North Hedges. I was very
focused on school and friends, but every couple of weeks I would head down to main street to the US Bank building to make a
withdrawal. Each time I entered the building, I thought to myself, “What were they thinking? What an eyesore this is on our beautiful
main street.” It truly was one of the ugliest buildings I had ever been in, and represented a lack of consideration and respect for the
architecture around it. As far as I could tell, the feeling was universal.
Now, by some sort of minor miracle, and through millions of dollars, the beautiful building that lay beneath is being reclaimed. It is an
incredible addition to main street. This is exactly the type of miracle reclamation that will never be possible if we destroy the character of
our historic neighborhoods. This district is a treasure more fragile than it seems.
I love this neighborhood. It is one of the most charming, intact historic districts that I know of anywhere in the US. After college I lived
at Black and Olive, then for three years I rented half of a house at Curtiss and Black. In 2015 my wife and I bought our home on South
3rd. While I am a transplant, my wife’s family goes back nearly 150 years in Bozeman, and this neighborhood is dotted with homes that
housed her ancestors. In our view, caring for our home built in 1904, we are stewards of this place. Our generation will come and go, but
this neighborhood persists.
If we make the wrong decisions going forward, there will be no repairing the damage to this district. We will be looked at by future
generations with the same disdain of those that regarded the US Bank building as a short sighted act of cultural vandalism. There will be
no happy ending, no uncovering or rediscovery. The luxury condos that will follow aggressive rezoning in the area will not provide the
affordable housing we desperately need.
Future generations will judge us harshly if we discard our heritage.
Sincerely,
Logan Schneider