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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-16-24 Public Comment - S. Boyd - Public comment on Consent Item F.4. for 4_16 commission meetingFrom:Scott and Frances Boyd To:Bozeman Public Comment Subject:[EXTERNAL]Public comment on Consent Item F.4. for 4/16 commission meeting Date:Tuesday, April 16, 2024 11:27:54 AM Attachments:Mark Egge Guest column.docx 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. I read with dismay Mark Egge’s guest column in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle on April 12, “To bring down housing costs, we must build, build, build.” His byline read “MarkEgge serves on the Governor’s Housing Task Force and the Bozeman Community Development Board. He’s a Bozeman-based advocate for policies at the intersection ofclimate, housing, and transportation solutions.” This gave the column the appearance that what he wrote represented Montana’s and Bozeman’s thinking and stance with regards toour affordable housing efforts. Nowhere did the article disclaim that he was representing his own opinion as a private citizen, which further added to the authority he presented. From that perspective it was extremely troubling the opening of his guest column with an ad hominem attack, equating those that oppose the Guthrie to climate deniers. He continuedhis defamatory and inaccurate rant by insulting the opponents’ intelligence, asserting that “a vocal contingent of NIMBY (“Not In My Backyard”) disbelievers reject the notion thathousing costs are linked to supply and demand, giving themselves free rein to protest against inconvenient infill construction.” This kind of public vitriol from a member of one ofour city’s most important boards is not only unprofessional, but it represents a disdain for those who don’t agree with him and displays an arrogance that only his opinions arecorrect. I’ll not bother to refute the inaccuracies in his article but, as a person who makes his living in the world of finance, I can assure the commission that in my opinion hisopening paragraph’s economic thesis is from the most generous interpretation, naïve and incomplete. I was doubly dismayed to see consent item F.4.on tonight’s agenda, “Authorize the CityManager to Sign a Professional Services Agreement (PSA) with High Street Consulting LLC for the Bicycle and Pedestrian Gap Analysis project (Mastel)” offered to Mark Eggeand his firm. First, I believe it is a conflict of interest to serve on a community board while receiving remuneration from the city for projects under the purview of that board. Furthermore, Mr. Egge has communicated his contempt for those who disagree with him and based on these comments cannot be trusted to complete this engagement in a fair andunbiased manner, representing the interests of all. The city received nine respondents to this RFP and I urge you to please select another contractor. Finally, I request that thecommission remove Mr. Egge from his position on the city’s Community Development Board. A member who projects such public scorn on those who do not agree with himcannot hold such an important public role. He is free to advocate as a private citizen but has forfeited his right to serve and advise the Community Development Board with suchdisappointing, demeaning behavior. The citizens of Bozeman deserve and demand better. Sincerely, Scott Boyd Bozeman Enc: Bozeman Daily Chronicle Guest Column Guest column: To bring down housing costs, we must build, build, build Mark Egge Guest columnist Apr 12, 2024 Climate change deniers are known to say, “if global warming is real, then why does it still get so cold?” They trust their own observations over the consensus of the experts (and perhaps in doing so avoid an inconvenient truth). We see a similar logic in another crisis of our times: housing costs. The consensus among experts is that the laws of supply and demand apply to housing just the same as other goods (“supply goes up, cost go down”). Nevertheless, a vocal contingent of NIMBY (“Not In My Backyard”) disbelievers reject the notion that housing costs are linked to supply and demand, giving themselves free rein to protest against inconvenient infill construction. Like the evidence for climate change, the evidence grows by the day that building more housing (even high-end housing) brings down costs across the spectrum. After Austin’s population surged during the pandemic, rents spiked. Austin rents are now trending down, even as its population grows. “Austin built more apartments in 2023 than any other city in the United States,” said Chito Vela, an Austin city council member, at a recent pro-housing conference. “You know what happened? Rents are going down. That’s not a coincidence folks.” A glance at the Austin rental market speaks for itself — a brand new one-bedroom apartment in an Austin “luxury” complex can be had for as little as $1300 a month (as opposed to $1,900+ here in Bozeman). Last month, the Minneapolis Federal Reserve published a study on Minneapolis’s flat and declining rents caused by its robust growth in housing stock. The study finds that for every 100 market rate apartments built, 70 existing apartments were freed up in lower-income neighborhoods through a “chain of moves,” as one family moved into a newer unit, freeing up their older unit, and so on. Housing prices have skyrocketed in Bozeman because nearly 19,000 people moved to Bozeman since 2010 but only 5,000 homes were built. So long as population growth outstrips housing production, we’ll have a game of musical chairs, where new players are being added much faster than chairs, and where affluent people can bid up prices and lower-income people get pushed out. The controversial Guthrie development is case in point. This brand new, conveniently located development will add 111 homes to Midtown. Half of these will be affordable to folks earning less than the area’s average wages. The others will provide “move up” opportunities, creating vacancies in older and more affordable rentals elsewhere. All 111 contribute to closing the gap between demand for housing in Bozeman and its supply. “The bottom line is we have to build, build, build,” President Biden said in a speech to the National League of Cities last month. “That’s how we bring down housing costs for good.” The current housing shortage is the result of decades of underproduction caused in part by city rules like exclusionary zoning and parking mandates that stifle the production of starter homes and attainably priced apartments. The city has relaxed parking and height requirements for The Guthrie as part of its incentives to get more housing for middle income residents. Population growth rates in Gallatin County are trending down, from a peak of 3.8% in 2016 to just 1.2% last year. More building and slower growth can bring balance back to our housing market. Building our way out of the present housing deficit may take years — but cities like Austin and Minneapolis show it can be done. Speaking of climate change, it turns out that infill projects like The Guthrie are one of the most potent ways to fight climate change, even while producing the housing our community needs. A new study from the Rocky Mountain Institute environmental group finds that building more housing in developed areas with good walkability delivers climate impacts similar to “the country’s most aspirational transportation decarbonization policy,” concluding, “How’s that for a two-for-one deal?” Mark Egge serves on the Governor’s Housing Task Force and the Bozeman Community Development Board. He’s a Bozeman-based advocate for policies at the intersection of climate, housing, and transportation solutions.