By very short, do you mean the bike is very short , or the commute is very short ?

ITs easy to find adapters to convert to your threaded system to use a threadless stem ---- I like these if you are tinkering around with reach and height and things like that , --- then when you get it figured out, either call it good and ride on, --- or find a quill stem that duplicates the reach and height you need

I have used adapters from Profile designs on 2 bikes, --- look for Profile 1" to 1 1/8" adapters