Making Butte clean, safe tops to-do list

Making Butte feel clean, attractive and safe to newcomers is near the top of community developers' to-do lists for improving the local economy.

"That has to be the same story told throughout the community," James Kiser, chief administrative officer of St. James Healthcare, said Wednesday at the Butte on the Move Conference.

The conference drew business people, public figures and civic groups together in the Thornton Building to report on projects and brainstorm for goals. It is part of Montana on the Move, a statewide economic development effort.

Plans for a $14 million surgery center at the hospital, a resurfaced track at East Middle School and a Montana Resources landscaping project are among several that painted a hopeful picture.

"I feel a vibrance in Butte, where I think change for the better is finally becoming possible," said Chuck Uggetti, superintendent of public schools.

Building and landscaping improvements, especially along busy streets, can pull in potential residents.

"It's important for us to attract health care officials to this community," Kiser said, adding that new doctors want things like beautiful surroundings, recreation and more high-end housing.

Others said recent homes for low-income people on Main Street have made Butte more attractive.

"This is our poorest folks investing in our town," said Barbara Miller, with the National Affordable Housing Network.

Meanwhile, the Butte-Silver Bow Chamber of Commerce's civic improvement committee is sprucing up the town with bedded flowers and hanging baskets.

"We've got to get this place green, and we've got to make it look nice," committee chairwoman Sharon Chebul said.

And Mainstreet Uptown Butte has given Uptown businesses money for fresh paint jobs, is promoting neighborhood revitalization plans and has helped light the mine head frames.

All the hard work points to Butte's strongest asset: people, said Susan Patton, vice chancellor for academic affairs at Montana Tech and spokeswoman for Project Green.

"You have a community that has a strength in the quality of the people," she said. "What do you want to see here?" Still, Butte's forward motion faces obstacles, including the notion, among some people, that soil contamination makes this an unsafe place to live.

"We will not have economic development in Butte as long as the rest of the world thinks this is not a safe place to live," said Sara Sparks, with the Environmental Protection Agency.

Erin Nicholes may be reached via e-mail at erin.nicholes@mtstandard.com.