Does anyone remember when Walmart wanted to come to town? Anyone remember what the Bozeman City Commission wanted then?

Only a few conditions for Walmart to grace elitist Bozeman with their presence.

I’m not sure I can remember all of them from memory, but I do remember they wanted Walmart to pay for a shuttle from Walmart to downtown and back again.

I think that was supposed to appease downtown business owners who were convinced that Walmart would put them out of business.

The city commission also thought it would be a good idea for Walmart to put affordable apartments on top of the store.

They also demanded that Walmart not use their common building design because that would violate the Bozeman Design Review Police. Plus, a small park near 7th Street.

I guess that was for the overnight motorhomes that park their all summer long.

I believe the city also wanted to extort six figures from them just to come to town.

WinFoods Said, “No Thanks Bozeman”

WinFoods wanted to open here but the city commission would have none of it. Not unless you make it a Taj Mahal WinFoods. They’re now in Helena instead.

I have heard rumors they’re going to take another shot at the city commission in the future.

Bozeman City Commission And The Costco Expansion

Costco and Walmart are major draws to our community. When people from out of town visit Bozeman they often spend money with our local merchants and that benefits us all.

Costco wants to double the size of their store and the city commission says OK. With a few conditions.

Why not pay for major road improvements that the commission should have done years ago. A lot of people shop at Costco. A sizeable portion of that money stays here in the form of salaries and visits to local merchants who buy their supplies there.

I guess that sort of thinking is lost of the city commission. Will Costco bend to the wishes of the thoroughfare gestapo’s or wait until the city commission can repair the entry corridors themselves?

Men will walk on Mars before the city coughs up enough to even repave those streets.

Some Final Thoughts

I appreciate our commission putting traffic congestion ahead of jobs and prosperity for Bozeman’s citizens, but would it hurt to take a look at the big picture?

We had one lane traffic across the I-90 bridge crossing 7th for almost a year while it was being replaced. Was that a benefit to the city after the work was completed?

Of course, that was a state road, no city money needed unless you think there’s a difference between Bozeman tax money and State tax money.

Who cares if it takes me two minutes longer to get in and out of Costco. I think you’d have more people complaining about the wait to checkout inside Costco than the roads outside.

I hope the commission can come up with a logical solution for this non-problem. Maybe they should head out to Costco and rethink the situation.

Costco will probably help the city to some extent — but not be extorted. What do you think? Comments below.

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