HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-17-23 Public Comment - J. Boyle - Planning in BozemanFrom:JEFFREY BOYLE
To:Agenda
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Public Comment
Date:Saturday, October 14, 2023 11:34:55 AM
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Dear Bozeman Commissioners,
I am respectfully writing to you in regard to the direction you are guiding the City of Bozeman. I am NOT writing to
you in my capacity as President of the Gallatin County Planning Board. I live in the County but own properties in
the City limits.
I am a 45 year resident of Bozeman and have lived through a great deal of change. I firmly believe the direction
Bozeman is headed now will degrade the safety, quality of life and the long term future of our city.
I have invested my life savings and the future of my family in this community I love. We have always believed in
Bozeman’s future.
You have to ask yourself , who do you want to bring to Bozeman as our new residents? If you cater to particular
groups, if you provide assistance and public dollars to sustain the small percentage of people who are unwilling or
unable to meet the very basic levels of our society. You both encourage and enable them to come to Bozeman. I
believe people are moving to Bozeman because it’s tolerant of a lifestyle that is not tolerated in their own
communities.
Just because well meaning organized groups rally around their causes and flood public meetings, it doesn’t mean
they represent the majority of Bozeman residents. If you want a true perspective of the community put these hard
questions to a public vote. The majority of hard working, family oriented citizens raising families don’t have time
for Focus Groups or opinion poles.
Our residential neighborhoods are being degraded. The size and quality of developments happening is on an
unprecedented scale. This is going to create long term community shift that promote less safety and more crime. Just
look at all the communities that built many projects of large scale low income housing that are now decades old and
have become run down and a social problem. Those communities are reversing direction and are tearing these large
scale developments down.
Urban RV and Tent living in public spaces is unacceptable to the majority of our community. To allow these
conditions in which private property owners are asked to accept their investments in their own community to be
devalued by transients is not right. They are the people who help build our City. It’s misguided compassion to
believe we are helping people by encouraging them to live this lifestyle in a community and especially one that has
below freezing temperatures 5 months out of the year. It defies logic.
Please consider that the pandemic is over, there is a very robust job market and you are currently headed down the
path of unending litigation by taxpayers who can no longer tolerate the worsening problems of the lack of
enforcement of basic laws that already exist.
I do not envy your position and I do understand a little about the pressures of Planning in our community. Please
consider changing the policies that allows large scale development and residents that live in public places before the
problem multiplies.
Thank you for listening to my input.