Important Issues around Bozeman


Dear Courtney,

          Bozeman’s history is very interesting.  So I wanted to tell you about MSU’s history.  MSU was established as a land grant college in 1893.  It was the second land grant college in the United States.  It’s first name, in 1893 was Montana State College, M.S.C. for short.  Formally though, it was the State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts.  When it was first started in 1893 only eight students were enrolled.  Over time the University has grown to over 10,000 students.  I hope you learned some things!

 

                                                                             Sincerely,

                                                                             Cayley



Parking

By Paige

            I think the most important issue in Bozeman is parking.  Parking is a big issue to be, because it doesn’t seem like there is enough around Main Street.  Bozeman is thinking about lots of things to help.  One of them is Bozeman is thinking of building a parking garage.  One thing that did help was the new library parking lot.  Another thing they’re thinking about to help is making Main Street three lanes and having diagonal parking instead of parallel parking.  Another thing they did was get a bus system.  I think that the town should get underground parking along with a parking garage.  My other thought is that there should be more busses.  What ever they do I am sure it will help.

 

Round Abouts

By Courtney

         This is my report on the public issue concerning round abouts.  Bozeman thinks round abouts should replace the stoplights.  Personally I think that we should not have round abouts.  Because you never know there are still people that are getting their license, but if we had a round about on some of the streets that would be fine.  That’s my opinion on round abouts.

            When we have round abouts there is a continuous flow.  So it would be a matter of courtesy.  There would be no lights and there would be no stopping.  It would be a continuous flow.  So if it was on North 7th and Main Street everyone would have to go clockwise.  That is only one issue.

            There are many other problems.  Another one is the new library parking space.  They’re following the Green Parking rule.  There are many complaints about the one many “special” rule that the government chose.  The rule is that there has to be a certain amount of parking spaces for the people who drive hybrid cars, motorcycles, motor scooters, bikes, and car pools.  These are the issues that concern me and my family.


 

Chief Joseph

By Douglas

 

            Bozeman thinks we need to build a new middle school, this is what we need and this is what we get.  The cost at first was 14.1 million bucks.  The additional cost is 5.75 million bucks.  The total cost to build the middle school is 19.76 million bucks.

            They will get a room for 750 students.  They will get four music rooms one for world music, band, choir, and orchestra.  They will get a full size gym.  Also they’ll get a playing field, lighting, library, and new orchestra instruments.

            The two locations they chose were West Babcock street and North 27th avenue.  The voting day is February 6th.

 


Bozeman’s Main Problems

By Cayley

 

            There are many problems Bozeman is facing these days.  One is that there is not enough parking downtown.  Another is that we don’t have enough money to fix up the high school.  But the one I chose to write about is the one with so many people moving here.  It is a problem because so many people are moving here that we have almost too many people.  The issue with too many people is mainly traffic.  I have noticed that whenever you go to the mall or somewhere nearby it takes you nearly ten to fifteen minutes to get anywhere.  And with every new car we are contributing even more and more to the ever shrinking ozone layer.

            Also the prices of our houses are way up so lots of families can’t afford a house.  This issue ties with other problems too.  More cars equal more people downtown that equals less parking.  More people equal more children, which equals more students.  Bozeman is very beautiful but if we are not careful it will end up like L.A. or some other city filled with crime and smoggy pollution.  Yes this is great for realtors, but is it great for us?  Think about it.


 

Traffic

By Sam

 

            I think that traffic is a big issue in Bozeman.  At 5:00 you can’t get from my house to the High School in under 15 minutes.  Willson and College are really busy too.  And on Black people go 60 in a 30 mph zone.  It is really weird how many people get in car accidents every year and that is one of the biggest issues in Bozeman.

 


Restoration

By Emilie

 

            I think restoration is important because the houses that are left are the only thing left of our history.  If we knock down those buildings we will be throwing away everything we have left.  Some people think that we should knock them down.  But think, if we really put our mind to it we can think of ways to use those buildings.  We could use them for weddings, parties, and maybe even as a hotel.  Some of the famous buildings in Bozeman are the Story Mansion.  Because T. Byron Story lived there and he was the son of Story and Ellen Story.  There is also the King Mansion where a happy family lives.  Also there is an addition being added.  These buildings are a huge asset to Bozeman.  Even if you might not know a lot about these houses they’re still important.  Also the McDonald house.  This is a family that came from Alabama and they were slaves.

When they were freed after the Civil War they said “lets get out of this place.”  And they moved west.  When they got here they built a house.  With very little money they built a house that is still standing.  Their house is the oldest house here.  People live inside of this magnificent house.  This shows that old houses are still cared for and should always be cared for.

            All that I’m saying is that it is up to us.   We can take away this lovely piece of history or we can try to keep it forever.  We make the choice so the choice is ours.  What choice will you make?

 


What I Think Bozeman’s Biggest Problem Is

By Sonny

 

            Bozeman’s biggest problem to me is probably that we need a new skate park because our present skate park is one of the smallest and worst in Montana, compared to the skate parks in Butte, Missoula, Whitefish, Anaconda, and Helena.  It might affect our town because kids get bored with our skate park.  (There’s another kind of skateboarding called street skating where you jump stairs and grind rails around town.)  So the skateboarders will go street skating and they might go to illegal spots to skate and get in trouble with the police.

            I think they are planning to build a new skate park.  Here’s how I envision it:  inside a good sized building with a heating system and a bunch of lines from beginners to experts, a seven foot bowl, a mini-bowl for beginners, rails from six to thirty inches, little pyramids, a street section with stairs from two to ten and really rounded humps.  It should also have an air conditioning system for the summer.

            Our skate park in Bozeman is also too small for the number of skateboarders.  Another problem is the people who are doing drugs – at the new skate park there should be video cameras so drugs and graffiti don’t happen.  Finally we can all skate in peace.

 


Over Populated Dogs and Cats

By Baylee

 

            Cats and dogs are everywhere!  And the animal shelters can’t take in any more!  There are so many cats and dogs running around Bozeman.  This is because people don’t bother to spay or neuter their pets.  So they breed with other cats or other dogs.  One or two dogs or cats are fine but ten or twelve is not cool.  Breeders have a special contract that lets them have lots of animals.

            I think that Bozeman should lower spaying and neutering costs.  That way people would spay and neuter their animals and the shelters wouldn’t have to put them to sleep.  This way people can live with their animals without worrying about putting them to sleep.  And the animals can live long, happy lives with their owners!!

 


Street Lamps

By Steve

 

            What I think the biggest problem facing Bozeman is there are barely any street lights out of town.  The whole reason you can see the stars is because there is barely any light outside of town.  That is the problem at night but the problem in the daytime is that there needs to be other parking places other than on the side of the street because if you want to turn you practically have to guess when you can go.

            These two things can be mass disaster, if you’re driving at night on a busy street it can be really hard to see when a car is going to hit you.  Because of lack of streetlights and parallel parking in front of a four way intersection can make driving a lot more dangerous.  If you’re thinking I’m crazy because you know there are street lamps but streetlights are different.  Streetlights hang over the road so it’s lit up but street lamps light up the sidewalk.

            There is always danger in the world but there is always a way to fix it.  Streetlights can make it a lot less scenic but it can make things safer.  Bozeman people can also make special star seeing dark places but not on roads.

            In conclusion people should make streetlamps so people can see outside of Bozeman.  If Bozeman had street lamps that can let you at least see outside of Bozeman.  People should also make new parking places and more streetlights inside and out of Bozeman.

 


My Essay About Poverty

By Hannah

 

            My essay is about poverty in Bozeman, which means “homeless.”  Poverty in Bozeman is getting bad.  Parents can’t afford food for kids!  Kids are homeless and the shelters just think every piece of food Bozeman wasted could feed all the people with no food!  I’m sure even a tiny piece of food could please a person!  So next time you waste food think of poverty!  Poverty is like the commercial with ketchup packets.


 

The New Bozeman Public Library

By Kyle B.

 

            The new Bozeman Public Library is a great place for children and young adults.  On November 13th, the Grand Opening of the new Bozeman Public Library was being held on East Main Street.  The workers have been moving items for a month to get ready for people to come in.  Some people left with no books because there was twenty people in line waiting to check out.

            The new library is double the size of the old library but uses the same amount of electricity.  The second floor there is two computer labs one is an hour and one is a fifteen-minute.  They have built an environmental building with solar panels on the roof and made of recycled materials.

            It cost $17 million to build and they still have to pay one to two million dollars.  I’m happy that they made an environmental building.


 

The Most Important Issue Facing Bozeman at This Time

By Rylea

 

            I think the most important issue facing Bozeman is that we are tearing up beautiful land to build houses.  Tearing up land makes no sense if the houses cost so much that most people can’t afford them.  Yet the cost of the loss of this land is felt more than only monetary ways.

            Farms, meadows, and woods are some of the victims that are being torn apart and replaced with houses and other unnatural things.  Destruction of the land can result in loss of animal habitat.  When animals have no place to live there is sometimes conflict with humans.  For example sometimes bears eat out of trashcans.  It is also taking away children’s play areas so there are getting to be less and less places to roam around.  It is also unfortunate when the beautiful view is blocked by buildings.

            The people in the old times would be very disappointed in the way Bozeman is being developed if they came back today.  The natural appearances are more pleasant than the artificial ones.  Bozeman is very historical and we should keep it that way, from the mountains to the prairie, not from the houses to the condos.

 


Issues In Bozeman

By Gabriel

 

            An issue in Bozeman is that there are not enough sidewalks so in some neighborhoods it’s not easy to walk to the store or the library so people have to drive.

            Another issue is that houses are too expensive so more people are choosing to move to Three Forks or Manhattan.

            That we always have too many prisoners in the jail so they don’t have any room for other people they need to arrest.

            Some people don’t want dogs in the parks anymore because they think they make the park dirty.

            People don’t want places like Wal-Mart in Bozeman because it hurts other stores.

            A lot of people are coming here from other places like California or New York because they don’t want to live in a big city so now Bozeman is getting to crowded.

            The high school sports they are cutting the seniors so the juniors will have more time to play so it’s not fair.


 

Development of the Land

By Sophie

 

            Bozeman is a booming town with lots of people moving in.  My opinion is that many places that could be horse farms or cattle ranches are being converted into large housing areas.  The places that are being changed are usually land that could be used more efficiently.  By efficiently I mean that there could be more space for crops so we could have more variety of homegrown foods.  This city is getting bigger and bigger as we speak and there is nothing we can really do about it, except keep the land that we have now and use it wisely.  In the land that we have in this “Bozeman” is not exactly what you would call “big” and we have used up a lot of the space that we have in the city for houses.

            On the other hand, contractors are getting paid loads of money to develop the small city we call Bozeman.  We now have a large community, so we need the houses to fill the need of the people that work for our shops around Bozeman.  The land that Bozeman has is very useful because it has all the stores that we need, it has clothing stores, sport stores, kitchen stores, and we even have pet stores.  The development of these houses has made a lot of lives easier by housing them into very nice houses and giving them nice clean water to drink.

            The houses that people are building are taking up beautiful land that could be used for horses and or cattle and these animals had to go to different homes or be sent to a different area.  There is more polluting being contributed into the earth’s atmosphere causing a more polluted environment.  Traffic is very high because the streets in Bozeman were not built for so many cars and pedestrians.

            There are good and bad things about the growth of our city.  I just hope the city holds up for all these people.

 


What’s the Problem in Bozeman?

By Madi

 

            I think the problem in Bozeman is the growth.  Too many people are moving into the valley and causing more and more traffic jams everyday.  There’s not always a side road that you can escape the traffic on so you just sit and wait there forever and ever.

            Also, with all these people moving in, you can never be sure what other things might happen.  There could be a sudden water shortage or a long-term reduction of open space, wildlife habitat, and sense of Big Sky.  One of the problems in my neighborhood is the city is letting them build houses in one of the fields and making the dead end not a dead end anymore.  This is ruining the walking trail where we walk our dog Mia every evening and also ruining the excruciating view of the sunset!!!!

            Another problem with Bozeman’s growth is the over crowding in schools and now some kids don’t get to pick their own schools.  Instead the parents get to pick and with that you probably don’t have very much fun with the teachers and kids.  Last but not least the BIGGEST problem of them all I think is all of the drug users, robbers, heavy drinkers, and the murderers.  Ever since we have grown bigger and BIGGER we’ve been getting even more and more disappointing people in our neighborhoods.


 

Global Warming

By Theo

 

            Global warming is one of the most serious issues Bozeman faces.  Global warming can destroy the environment, melt the polar ice caps, raise the sea levels, create storms (Katrina), and … warm up the planet.  Global warming is generated by greenhouse gasses (car emission), electricity (coal), and water heating.  We can help it by using energy efficient stoves, washing machines, lights, heaters, refrigerators, etc.  Coal mining can be very harsh to the environment; coal companies blast entire mountaintops off just to get coal.  This is a VERY big issue.

 


Pollution

By Keavon

 

            Pollution is a huge problem because of global warming.  If we don’t stop we could kill ourselves.  Shark attacks are going up.  These things are very dangerous.  This is why global warming is a bad thing.

            Pollution is very bad for out lungs.  We are loosing more and more forests every year.  Just because we need cars doesn’t mean we have to use them every day.  Not only are we polluting our lungs, but our animals too.  This is what is happening to our lungs and animals and forests.

            When we pollute it is hurting us and everyone.  When we turn on a light it is like blowing up a mountain.  Just think what it is like to be an animal.  It must be hard on them too.  That is why we should stop polluting.


 

The Most Important Issues in Bozeman

By Uri

 

            A big issue in Bozeman is I think that Bozeman does not need so many hotels.  Because if you go to the mall there are 15 big hotels that can probably hold 300 people.  Bozeman is making hotels that have 400 rooms now.  Hotels use a lot of energy too.  Hotels usually have almost all their lights on.

            A solution to this can be to not build hotels for a few years.  Bozeman could see how many people come to hotels and see if Bozeman needs more hotels or not.  So Bozeman has a good amount of hotels.  Bozeman will use less water energy per day if Bozeman does it.  It will help nature.

            Bozeman will be able to build more schools and museums with the space.  Bozeman will improve a lot too.  Bozeman is probably going to build very helpful things.  Bozeman will save a lot of money too.  I hope all this happens.

 


Growth in Bozeman

By Karenna

 

            Growth in Bozeman has affected us greatly.  Sure growth has it’s good things, but it has it’s bad things too.  One is too much traffic, two is more pollution, three is crowded stores, four is crowded schools, five is too many people, six is more crime.  So growth has is bad things but it also has it’s good things too, one is more neighbors to help you, two is more places to go to get things, three is bigger schools, four is bigger libraries, five is more places to go to have fun.

            I think that Bozeman is a great place to live because we have clean air, hardly any crime, a great outdoors to bike, hike, ski, swim, cross-country skiing, etc.  I hope Bozeman will live on forever as a small town or as a big city.  I will always love Bozeman Montana.


 

The Problem With Bozeman

By Shelby

 

            The problem with Bozeman, MT is that lots of people are moving here.  They moved here because it is pretty and the houses were  inexpensive.  Lots of people came to Bozeman and bought lots of houses.  The number of people living in Bozeman grew and grew.  The increase in people over crowded the schools, caused traffic jams on the small streets and the cost of houses went higher and higher.  So, people moved to neighboring territories and bought houses there.  They drove to Bozeman for work and shopping.  This made more traffic jams and accidents.  Some things that might solve this problem are for people to ride their bikes or walk to work or shopping.  If we had busses to take us to places we normally drive.  This would help us by taking cars off the streets.  We need to stop overcrowding and that would help solve Bozeman’s biggest problem.

 


Pollution/Growth

By Gunnar

 

            I think that pollution is a big problem because it is killing all the animals and killing the earth too.  It is also a big problem because it is polluting the water we drink and the air we breathe and eventually it starts killing things more and more.  My opinion is they should make a community service day.  I also think that growth is a problem because of more and more illegal immigrants.  So that means more children are coming in so Bozeman is getting more and more packed and soon there will be no room for people who were here first.  My opinion is that we should build more schools and more stores.

 


Electricity

By Kaj

 

            A thing that Bozeman needs to do is save electricity.  Not just Bozeman, but everywhere.  Just by the switch of a light switch it could save a lot of energy.  We use so much coal every day.  If Bozeman could not use so much energy it could help the world so much.  Islands are being fended just from our laziness.  So do everyone a favor and turn off the light.

            So if Bozeman could do it, it might inspire other places.  But not all energy is bad.  Solar panels are not bad energy and windmill energy isn’t bad.  Fossil fuel is bad.  By taking this stuff from the earth and burning it we are killing the earth and it’s atmosphere.  Human life will destroy all life.  Just from our laziness.

            If all life is destroyed by us that’s not fair.  Imagine if a house could take two pieces of coal imagine how much coal the whole would takes.  It would take an island of coal energy a day.  And when the world is over populating.  I think if you save your energy it might save more time to fine a cure.

            Cars take gas and can take a lot of energy.  If there’s no one in the room just turn off the light.