HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-13-25 Public Comment - D. Kaveney - Thank you Mayor C. and Com. Madgic_WARD education.From:Dan Kaveney
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Cc:Chuck Winn
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Thank you Mayor C. and Com. Madgic/WARD education.
Date:Wednesday, August 13, 2025 9:09:41 PM
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.
Dear Commissioners,
First of all, I’d like to thank Mayor Cunningham and Commissioner Madgic for voting against the
Boutique Hotel’s deviation request on Mendenhall. There are many reasons I find the deviationinto the watercourse setback and the decision to revisit a decision that had already been made
objectionable, the most important of which is that allowing the hotel patio and other amenitiesto encroach substantially into the setback precludes us from restoring Bozeman Creek in that
area – something that is far more important than some hotelier’s desire to capitalize on thetourism boom that is damaging our city so badly. I’m a big believer in the idea that the creek
itself has rights, and those rights were violated when our forebears buried it under concrete. Ascurrent residents of Bozeman we have a responsibility to correct those past mistakes if we can
and make some kind of reparation/restoration to the creek. The hotel’s encroachment will justmake it that much harder. It’s also clear from research in other over-touristed places (eg.
Barcelona) that too many hotels downtown convert downtown businesses from providingservices and residences to locals to providing services and residences to tourists, thereby
driving local residents from downtown areas. That’s already happening in Bozeman, but itwould have been nice to have avoided adding fuel to the fire. I could go on (and on), but I won’t,
other than to reiterate my thanks to Mayor Cunningham and Commissioner Madgic for doingthe wise and right thing.
I also want to thank Mayor Cunningham for working to educate the public about how our water
systems work in Bozeman. I thought I knew how this worked, but I learn a little something newevery time I hear one of these presentations. While I can see that he is bending over backwards
to be educational and present only facts, he does sometimes stray into argument. Forinstance, Mayor Cunningham’s assertion last night, August 12, that if WARD passed it would
drive developers out of the city and create sprawl is not a fact – it’s argument and conjecture.Maybe they’d just build the affordable housing we so desperately need and continue to use the
cash-in-lieu option. That’s also a valid conjecture that Mr. Cunningham didn’t mention, and anargument he didn’t make. Nobody really knows what might happen if WARD passes.
I’m not writing about this because I want to beat up on the mayor. I’m writing because I
continue to be concerned about the city’s planned educational program concerning WARD. Iam confident the city will try to be neutral in their presentation and will keep the program within
the loose boundaries outlined by state law. However, and despite their best efforts, I think itunlikely the city will be successful in their efforts to achieve neutrality. City staff and the city
commission oppose this initiative so vehemently that it’s hard to imagine they’ll be ABLE toremain unbiased. This bothers me because it sets up a situation where the city is using tax
dollars to oppose something many city taxpayers support. As a matter of principle, I think thisis a situation that needs to be avoided (as a point of information, I haven’t decided if I’ll vote for
WARD or not – this letter is about the principle, not the pros and cons of the WARD initiative).
I appreciate the position you took in the meeting the other night that a lot of people don’t knowanything about the initiative or Bozeman’s water supply, so an educational campaign is
needed. That makes sense as long as it’s educational and unbiased. You can have your cakeand eat it too by sending some money to the WARD organizers to conduct their own
educational campaign. Why not? We just spent $40,000 on a concept drawing we might notuse for the Fowler affordable housing project, so it seems as though the city could scare up
some money somewhere for this. It wouldn’t have to be the same amount as the city spends,but some funding would make it very clear that you’re conducting an effort to get the voters the
information they need, rather than conducting what amounts to a campaign against WARD thatfalls within the letter, but perhaps outside the spirit, of the law.
Sincerely,
Dan Kaveney
Bozeman