You may recall when 12-year-old Elliot McCann was riding his bike and was struck by a car, leaving him with five broken ribs and a broken collarbone. Or when 39-year-old Leslie Brown was crossing the street during a morning run and was struck and killed by a car.
For many, incidents like these have made Bozeman’s streets feel less safe. Now, one neighborhood group is taking action.
“I live blocks from where Leslie was hit. I walk those same paths and crosswalks that she did, and I think that was a wide awakening for so many of us,” said Courtney Johnson.
Johnson, a Bozeman resident of more than 25 years who lives near Gallatin High School, said she loves the parks, trails, families, and schools in her community — but lately, she hasn’t felt safe. And she’s not alone.
“Rather than just spending my time complaining or walking around aimlessly putting comments in different places, I wanted to do something about it,” said Kim Fauls, who also lives in the Flanders Mill area.
WATCH: Bozeman residents push for safer streets after crashes
Recently, Fauls, Johnson, and their neighborhood community organized a safety workshop, held on Monday night.
The workshop featured five stations asking attendees where they live, what safety concerns they have, possible solutions, what’s working now, and additional questions for the city of Bozeman.
For working mom Maricia Owens, one current safety measure stands out.
“Some of the things that are working? The blinking lights — we need those on every crosswalk,” Owens wrote down.
Owens, who also lives in the area, said she appreciated the opportunity to be part of the conversation.
“For the people that can’t come today for whatever reason — Even I really considered not coming because I’m tired. But it’s important that we all stick together. That’s the only way we can enforce change,” she said.
The workshop drew a crowd, including Bozeman Police Chief Jim Veltkamp, the city’s director of transportation and engineering Nick Ross, city commissioner Jennifer Madgic, and Deputy Mayor Douglas Fischer.
“That’s where we get these ideas. It’s not the five of us as a city commission. It’s not the city traffic engineer at his desk coming up with these ideas. It’s great to see the community come together and find these solutions,” Fischer said.
So what’s next for the initiative?
“We’re going to be summarizing all the information into an executive summary. We’ll deliver that to city management, the commission, the county — whoever would like to start making a proactive approach to this,” Johnson said.
For Johnson, the goal is clear.
“I don’t want to be putting more money toward a GoFundMe. I’d like to put money into solutions — into what we can do to safeguard what makes Bozeman so great,” she said.
