CITY COMMISSION ELECTIONS

What Does It Mean to be a Pro-Business Candidate?

By Nancy Mahoney, 10-27-05

	Moose Creek Manor Antiques Photo: Erica Swenson

The Bozeman Area Chamber of Commerce just endorsed two candidates for the three slots open in the November 8th election for City Commission. Based on questionnaire prepared by the Chamber, the organization explained that they endorsed only two candidates, Jeff Rupp and incumbent Lee Hietala, because both men were the only ones that have a track record demonstrating they are fiscally conservative and supportive of businesses. But what does it mean to be supportive of Bozeman businesses?

City commissioners will regularly have to make decisions that greatly impact not only the climate for business in and around Bozeman, but handle the more complicated economic challenges the area faces in attracting businesses to an area that lacks a ready supply of labor for hourly-wage jobs. They will also be addressing zoning issues that can make or break opportunities for local small business owners that sometimes run against the grain.

Bozeman’s unemployment rate hovers around 3%, and home-grown manufacturing companies such as Simms Fishing Products Corp. of Bozeman have publicly reported to the Daily Chronicle that they are having difficulty finding people who will work for $9/hr (plus substantial benefits) needed to expand its manufacturing operation. They will have to outsource if they can't find enough local labor. Despite this reality, several of the current city commissioners (Hietala included) saw wisdom is allowing Lowe’s Home Improvement to build a big-box store that will exceed the 75,000 square foot restriction on retail stores.

This is puzzling on many fronts. Is Bozeman that desperate for home improvement items that they are willing to build a huge new store, given we already have a Home Depot on 19th Avenue (the area for the proposed Lowe’s location), and Kenyon Noble is building a brand new 53,000 square foot retail store (plus warehouse behind) just down the road on Oak Street? Or was this decision based on the misguided notion that Bozeman needs more service jobs that are likely to pay hourly rates less than Simms?

And why such a huge store? I get it that 19th Avenue is already given over to all kinds of big-box and chain stores ranging from Barnes and Noble to Gap to Wal*Mart, but is anyone really clamoring for more of those architectural treasures to enhance our city-scape? The decision to give Lowe’s the green light was made on the very same August evening that the City Commissioners voted to shut down another Bozeman business—a funky-cultural-tourist-attraction of sorts: Paul Landsgaard’s Moose Creek Manor Antiques on Huffine Lane (see image). Landsgaard has dozens of rusted antique cars sitting in rows in front of his store, which he says are his biggest seller. But the city didn’t see it that way. They sent Landsgaard a letter stating his business didn’t meet zoning requirements, and that the old cars needed to be moved because that area was not zoned as a salvage yard.

But Landsgaard doesn’t sell parts from the cars, so technically he does not run a salvage yard operation. Nevertheless, two commissioners stated that his antique business looked like a junkyard, and voted to find it in violation of code. This was all that was needed to shut him down.

Three commissioners, including Hietala, voted in favor of overturning the classification—which I would indeed interpret as a “pro-business�? stance, and one that is appropriate to preserve some of the independent, quirky, funky charm of Bozeman area businesses—or what’s left of them. These are the kind of decisions that fundamentally alter the climate for not only small business owners, but those of us to shop at, or just visit these places, and value them as local landmarks. After all, several MSU students in my husband’s photography course chose to photograph Landsgaard’s business for class projects (see inset image). Indeed, it will be a shame more than just Landsgaard if he loses his appeal in District Court There many people who’d prefer to work (or shop) at an antique shop than at Lowe’s, even if it pays less.

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