Month: September 2021

Moving Homeless Vets Out Of The Poverello Center And Adding Racial Inequality Window Dressing

by Travis Mateer

When the new Poverello Center was built on West Broadway, one of the features of the new facility was its on-site Veteran program. Visually, the most prominent part of the building is the atrium on the second floor built JUST FOR the Veterans using the program.

Well, sounds like that will be changing. Tucked away in an article about how the County plans to spend millions in ARPA funding, I found this tidbit (emphasis mine):

The shelter recently landed a $1 million grant and is looking to move its homeless veterans program from the shelter to another independent location. In partnership with other local entities, one particular hotel property on Broadway has come up in conversations, and it could be purchased to house the veterans program.

“By helping fund (the program), it would free up additional space in the shelter to help address some housing needs, and help the homeless veterans program find a permanent home,” said Lounsbury.

Wait, what? Is this quote referring to the Sleepy Inn, or is there ANOTHER nasty motel on Broadway that is being eyed for purchase?

And I’ll note once again that the Sleepy Inn is currently EMPTY because Missoula is apparently helpless without Uncle Sam’s $50,000 monthly dispersement.

While the population that was used to sell Missoula on a new emergency shelter is shifted to an off-site location, a new mobile housing team is being developed. From the link:

The city created a new housing team called the Housing Support Mobile Care Team. They’ll go to new homeless camps soon to be established by Operation Shelter, a city-county initiative, and existing homeless resources like the Poverello Center or winter emergency shelters. The goal is to connect the homeless with housing and services through the Missoula Coordinated Entry System.

Is this mobile housing team DIFFERENT than the Homeless Outreach Team? Why is another team needed? And how can they connect people to services if those services, like housing, don’t exist?

Maybe housing homeless people isn’t the actual goal. Maybe this is just a virtue-signaling scam to siphon more money for bullshit like this:

Emily Armstrong, the city’s Reaching Home program manager, said the city provided funding for the new team, and they’re waiting for the county’s contribution. We reached out to the city to see how much they spent on the team, and we’re waiting to hear back.

Armstrong says the bigger issue is equity.

Yes, EQUITY is the bigger issue, so it’s good that Emily Armstrong knows what the priorities are. Remember that Veteran and his rotting foot? He’s white, so fuck him. Another homeless man I’m hoping to interview is ALSO a white man.

I know! If enough homeless white men DIE then the numbers could look more equitable. Is that the plan?

Racial inequality is a great problem to focus on for systemic cogs like Emily Armstrong because it’s a problem that won’t be solved and is not intended to be solved. Instead, racial inequality is a convenient distraction from the socio-economic realities creating MASSIVE gaps in Missoula between the haves and the have nots.

I suspect that focusing on socio-economic realities instead of racial window-dressing might be detrimental to the 16 year reign of an administration that has grown Missoula’s homeless industrial complex while the actual problem gets worse and worse. This won’t change until Engen is no longer our Mayor.

Will that happen this year? Doubtful, but after today’s primary deadline, we will at least know which mayoral candidate will be moving on to the general.

So stay tuned…

Weathering The Covid Financial Storm Is Easier With Uncle Sam’s Umbrella, Right Ellie?

by Travis Mateer

I think about how lucky I am that my family isn’t being financially decimated by Covid policies. With two of my kids still unable to attend their school this week, I’m grateful their mother is able to stay with them at home instead of us having to find and pay for childcare.

Luck is NOT the way I would describe the financial assistance some people in Missoula were able to get for their small businesses earlier this year amidst lockdowns and economic uncertainty. No, that money was “first come, first serve”, so instead of “luck”, I’d say “timing” was a bigger factor in who got help.

While I’ve written about one politically-connected recipient of local Covid money, I failed to show the hand-written gratitude expressed by this state senator for the assistance she received for her business, Ellie Hill Smith Law Firm.

Well, today I’ll remedy this oversight by including an image from a public records request I made earlier this summer. Here is the screenshot of the last page of the Duplication of Benefits Report:

I’m glad a HUGE breath infusion of money helped this WOMAN-OWNED business, though I’m saddened that Ellie’s husband didn’t think of any virtue-signaling to include in his paperwork submission, like how he’s a cancer survivor, or how he likes to help young interns with their political ambitions.

Instead it’s just this:

Boring! I guess Tyler Smith didn’t get any pointers from his wife on how to virtue-signal. But, at the end of the day, as long as you get the money, it doesn’t really matter. And from what I currently know about this funding, they got the loot.

Here’s the breakdown for Senator Boldman:

Notice the whiteout? That’s because this lawyer/state senator/former non-profit executive director didn’t fill out the form with accurate numbers the first time, so she had to amend the paperwork.

What would our local, politically-connected business people do without their government connections insulating them from financial downturns?

I’m glad they don’t have to worry about that harsh reality because Uncle Sam knows how to take care of his own.

Can Public School Teachers Be Members Of A Death Cult?

by Travis Mateer

While the title of this post is obviously designed to get your attention, the impetus for asking it may surprise you.

Before getting to the reveal, a less provocative question would be this: can public school teachers be Republicans?

Obviously, yes, public school teachers CAN be Republicans, and I wonder how those men and women would feel if they knew the husband of their union president thought this about them:

While Amanda Curtis’ hubby has never exhibited much self-control across the Montana blogosphere in the past, that doesn’t mean he can’t make better choices, like get away from the screen and go on a hike, for Christ’s sake!

And if we’re gonna talk about death cults, how about nominating ANY president that presides over the casual slaughter of a family getting water.

But don’t listen to me, I’m a vile anti-vaxxer currently hiding out from a Biden strike force. Because THAT is how much liberals love this former progressive.