Results of first meeting

We had our first meeting on Oct. 5. Thanks to all 18 people that attended. The feedback was generally quite positive and many people volunteered for more involvement. We had some great food donations from On The Rise and Great Harvest, along with Erica Paradiso's bars.

I think we were able to explain what a neighborhood association is and what it isn't. The biggest thing it isn't is a "homeowners association" with covenants and membership fees. The biggest thing it is is a conduit for information between the city and people in the neighborhood. Some of the reasons for forming the association are:

1. Provide a more enhanced sense of community by organizing neighborhood events (and making it easier to organize meetings by having an official infrastructure in place).
2. Provide an organized voice for interactions with the high school, neighboring businesses, and the city related to neighborhood issues.
3. Provide organization for dissemination of information to and from the city about our neighborhood. 
4. Enhance notoriety of the neighborhood (this has already beginning to happen as our neighborhood name starts to gain notoriety).
5. Find ways to encourage better relationships between renters, homeowners, and businesses.
6. Obtain representation on the Inter-Neighborhood Council. 

Our next step is to start working on bylaws. We are hoping to adopt a block caption sort of model to running the association, so we will be looking for local representation within the different areas of the neighborhood. If you are interested in being involved in the next steps, please contact me at greenwood.stat@gmail.com.

First Meeting Agenda for Oct. 5

Our first meeting is scheduled for Oct. 5 at 7 pm in the high school in the old library, entering on the N 11th side of the building. A mailed notification should be arriving at all the neighbors houses soon, thanks to the city. If you can not make it to the meeting, please contact me especially if you would like to be involved in the remaining work to form the association. 

The following is our agenda for our first meeting:

1. Introductions: A chance for everyone attending to share their name, residence, and what they would like to see from a neighborhood association.
2. Reasons for forming a neighborhood association (Greenwood and Bristor)
3. Process of forming a neighborhood association (Bristor)
4. Discussion of name and priorities for neighborhood association - see below (Greenwood)
5. Formation of a steering committee (or something similar) to work on the bylaws and next steps to being an official organization. (Greenwood)

Some preliminary (and definitely negotiable) reasons for forming a neighborhood association are:

1. Provide a more enhanced sense of community by organizing neighborhood events.
2. Provide an organized voice for interactions with the high school, neighboring businesses, and the city related to neighborhood issues.
3. Provide organization for dissemination of information to and from the city about our neighborhood. 
4. Enhance notoriety of the neighborhood.
5. Find ways to encourage better relationships between renters, homeowners, and businesses.
6. Obtain representation on the Inter-Neighborhood Council.

So far I have secured a donation from On The Rise Bakery and am hoping to get us a few more treats to make the meeting more fun!

Others? Post them below and we can add them to the discussion in the meeting.

Encourage the development of a distinct neighborhood identity.

Update on forming a neighborhood association

We made a small change in the name to Midtown North. In this interesting article about development of N. 7th, they refer to our area (I think) as the Bozeman High neighborhood but I like Midtown North better: Perspective : Bozeman's Economic Promised Land.

One more reason to get a neighborhood association started is the Inter-Neighborhood Council (INC). To be represented on this council, you must live in a neighborhood with a neighborhood association. At the monthly meetings, each representative is allowed 3 minutes to present any neighborhood issues. As we move towards becoming a recognized neighborhood association, we will be looking for a representative on this council. I am going to attend the September INC meeting on behalf of the neighborhood association. Item I.1 on their agenda is really exciting - the highlighting was my own work - agenda for Sept. 8th INC meeting.

Our first meeting is on Oct. 5th at 7pm at the High School. The city is sending out a mailing to all the residents of the neighborhood. It will look just like the image at the top of this page.

Starting a neighborhood association in Bozeman, MT

This is a temporary (or permanent) home for information regarding the proposed and under development Midtown North Neighborhood Association (possible abbreviation: MTN) in Bozeman, MT. This is being run in conjunction with a facebook page (click on the link below to "like" that page). The main idea is to get our neighborhood organized a little so we can more directly communicate with each other and with the city, high school, police, etc. about issues related to our neighborhood. I have often chatted with neighbors about getting an association started, gotten positive feedback on the idea, and then nothing has happened. I am now trying to make something happen on this front. Based on recent feedback, the name has changed slightly to Midtown North.

As a first draft, I have the following goals for our neighborhood association:
1) Provide a more enhanced sense of community by organizing neighborhood events.

2) Provide an organized voice for interactions with the high school, neighboring businesses, and the city related to neighborhood issues with any of them.

3) Enhance notoriety of the neighborhood.

4) Find ways to encourage better relationships between renters, homeowners, and businesses.

This may be a little lofty but gives us some goals to discuss. I am still hoping to organize a first preliminary meeting in late September, where Allyson Bristor (the city's Neighborhood Coordinator) could come and tell us about the process of becoming a neighborhood association.

The name and the boundaries for the association are the first part of the conversation. My first idea was to constrain the association by the main road corridors surroundings us, N. 7th and N 11th and Main and Durston (see the map below). I like the idea of keeping the association small enough to have common issues and see each other once in a while.

We live in the SW corner of the area I proposed and I am excited to get to start meeting some of my more distant neighbors in the neighborhood. If you want more information, find the facebook page, follow this blog, and/or contact me (greenwood.stat AT gmail.com).

Mark Greenwood
Preliminary instigator for MTN and Associate Professor of Statistics at MSU