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