HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-11-25 Public Comment - N. Nakamura - Messy Middle and the AHOFrom:Natsuki Nakamura
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Messy Middle and the AHO
Date:Saturday, January 11, 2025 5:49:28 PM
Attachments:1.11.25 Public Comment.pdf
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Please share my attached public comment with the Community Development Board ahead oftheir 1/13/25 discussion of the revisions to the Affordable Housing Ordinance. Thank you!
To the CDB: Below are some of my other written public comments last year on this topic that I
sent to the City Commission that may or may not have made it to the CDB.
12/17/24 on the misrepresentation of NOAH (Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing)11/26/24 on how the AHO can't rely on reduced parking mandates
8/12/24 on rethinking the "public good"Comparisons of cost per sqft of recent developments
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Natsuki NakamuraBozeman resident
Dear CDB and City Commission,
I appreciate all of the time that City staff, Commissioners, and board members have taken to attend
engagement events around the UDC and the Affordable Housing Ordinance.
One statement by Director Ross at one of these events has stuck with me, about how we are
growing and right now we are in the "messy middle." There is certainly a level of density needed in
order to be more walkable and less reliant on cars, and Bozeman is not there. But I think it is
important to note that more growth and density do not automatically get us out of cars, especially if
we don't have reliable public transit and valued amenities are still far away.
Some estimates show Gallatin Valley growing up to 300,000 people by 2060, with most of that
growth likely in the Bozeman/Belgrade/Triangle area. Our new Urban Transportation District has the
ambitious task of building a transit network across an area of about 80 sq miles.
Before living in Bozeman, I lived in Anchorage, AK and in Pittsburgh, PA. Anchorage has a population
of a bit under 300k, with most of the residents living within the Anchorage Bowl of about 100 sq
miles. Pittsburgh has a population of a bit over 300k living within city limits of about 50 sq miles. My
time living in these 2 different cities has shown me perhaps 2 possible outcomes if we continue to
grow through this messy middle.
Anchorage's People Mover bus system has been around since 1974. Today it has 14 running routes.
Most of the routes run from early in the morning to late at night every 15 to 30 minutes, providing a
viable option to get to work or the grocery store for many people, though depending on how far you
need to walk or if you need to change buses, it could take an hour to get somewhere that would take
only 10 minutes to drive. All the bus routes go in and out of downtown, which is an important hub
for tourism during the summer, but doesn’t include major employers such as the hospitals,
university, or airport, which means many commutes would require two buses (which means two
fares in Anchorage). The Anchorage bus drivers and streets employees are highly skilled and
unionized workers, but with the long winter, bus stops and sidewalks are hard to maintain, and
some inevitably get buried in piles of snow and ice. A network of trails maintained by the City allow
some with quality fat bikes to safely commute year-round on bike. Like in Bozeman, many bikers opt
to bike on sidewalks in the summer for their safety when there is no protected bike lane or proper
shared-use path. Also like in Bozeman, many in Anchorage prefer to have a car for the convenience
of accessing outdoor amenities, but the folks I saw who were most reliant on having a car were
working-class people who juggle multiple jobs, deliver food or drive Uber for work, or have kids with
various drop off and pick up schedules. Cars are expensive, but busy working people also can't
afford to rely on or wait for the bus.
Figure 2. Bike routes in downtown Anchorage (dashed lines are dedicated
multi-use pathways; solid lines are on-street bikeable streets)
Figure 3. Pittsburgh Regional Transit routes, with many routing through
downtown and servicing popular commercial districts
Figure 4. Pittsburgh Regional Transit
routes serving the greater Pittsburgh
area
Figure 1. City of Anchorage People Mover Bus Routes Map,
with all routes going in and out of downtown Anchorage
The Pittsburgh Regional Transit was formed through the consolidation of various private systems in
1964. They now have over 100 different bus or rail routes. The campuses, downtown, major
hospitals, and popular commercial districts are frequently serviced by multiple bus lines, making it
easy for students and workers to get around these areas without having to worry about paying for
parking. Mild winters, the use of salt on the road, and established bike paths allow for residents to
commute by bike year-round. The price of one fare includes unlimited transfers within 3 hours,
making it easier to change between routes or pay only once when running an errand or going to an
appointment. Tireless community advocacy has improved public transit service to underserved
areas across the rivers, but the lower frequency and routes to these poorer and working-class
neighborhoods make it infeasible for many to not rely on a car, especially if you need to get
anywhere other than downtown.
With the long winters and large urban planning area, Bozeman probably has more in common with
Anchorage than Pittsburgh, meaning it will take an extraordinary amount of work and thoughtful
planning to build up sufficiently robust infrastructure to support non-car transit options. Simply
growing and adding density does not guarantee less reliance on cars, and in particular, equitable
access to new and positive amenities as we grow as a city is definitely not guaranteed. Bozeman is
certainly messily in the middle of some sort of transition, and we mustn't assume that it will
automatically resolve itself once we have just grown enough. Bozeman has a long way to go to
improve its Streamline service (with currently only 6 lines and limited hours) and bike routes that
are safe for bikers as well as pedestrians trying to use the sidewalk.
Before drastically reducing parking, we need viable non-car options for people who need to get to
work, run errands, and enjoy Bozeman and Montana. We need to focus on building and preserving
the missing middle housing we need, not just dense complexes that we don’t have the resources
and infrastructure to support and that might remain vacant due to their unaffordability. We need
neighborhood-level planning and to develop with intention in order for our community to make it
out of this messy middle.
Thank you for your consideration of these and my past comments on how we approach housing and
specifically the AHO incentives.
Natsuki Nakamura
Bozeman Resident