Day: May 18, 2021

by Travis Mateer

I’d like to give a special thanks to my co-host, Tim Adams, for the fantastic perspective he brings to our conversations.

And thanks for listening!

by Travis Mateer

After last week’s clearing of the homeless encampment on the West Broadway Island, outgoing Poverello director, Amy Allison Thompson, issued a statement critical of the police action via a press release.

Why did Thompson choose a public press release to convey her criticism? This action is even MORE curious when you consider the Poverello Center has a police officer on its governing board:

When I first read Thompson’s statement last week I was confused because I figured having a cop on your board meant having a direct communication channel to law enforcement. Was Thompson’s statement just theatrics to create the IMPRESSION of criticism in order to gain some street-cred from its clientele, I wondered?

Another interpretation I’m developing is that Thompson has realized that a cozy relationship with law enforcement has more cost than benefit. This interpretation comes from a direct conversation I had with Amy about the death of Sean Stevenson. I told her some of my concerns about what happened and her response to me was that the police had told the Poverello NOTHING about the investigation and that they ONLY knew what was being reported in the media.

One potential cost of this seemingly (but not really) cozy relationship with police is that the Poverello Center may have damaged its reputation with its clients by being seen as too closely aligned with law enforcement. This could impact the difficult work of building trusting relationships with shelter-resistant individuals who are already reluctant to stay inside an emergency shelter.

If this cop criticism was just theatrics from an outgoing director to build some street-cred then I doubt Mayor Engen would have dressed down Amy Allison Thompson by making the following statement to the Missoula Current about her criticism:

Engen said he understands Thompson’s frustrations but said they should be “expressed in a collaborative way, not through a short press release.”

He said the city and its partners, including the Poverello, would continue to seek solutions to a challenge faced by cities across the country – one exacerbated by the pandemic.

“The City of Missoula, Missoula County and our partners take very seriously the plight of our residents without stable housing, but have to balance those interests with public safety, including the safety of the unhoused,” Engen said.

Clearly our Mayor for life is sensitive to this criticism, ESPECIALLY during an election year. Maybe Thompson didn’t realize she was dealing with a political narcissist, or maybe she realized a golden parachute job offering wasn’t going to materialize the way it did for Eran Pehan.

Regardless of the motivation, I’m glad Thompson is taking a more critical position against the city during her final days at the shelter. It’s amazing the freedom of expression one can experience when maintaining your job and keeping the PR lid on for your city funders is no longer a main consideration.

I’ll be talking about this and the implosion of Jacob Elder’s campaign for Mayor in this week’s episode of Zoom Town so stay tuned.

And thanks for reading.