by Travis Mateer

If I was a savvy developer, like Blue Line Development’s Nate Richmond, I would position myself in every possible way to siphon public money from the naive voting public that enables Zoom Town’s public sector regime.

In a recent Martin “Gomer” Kidston piece, titled Missoula to vacate Sussex, make room for housing project, some of the projects Blue Line has been involved in are listed in a manner that bolsters the positive profile of this regional player in the affordable housing game. From the link:

The project is planned by BlueLine Development, a group that specializes in affordable and workforce housing and has its fingerprint on a number of affordable projects taking place across Missoula, including the Trinity project and Villagio.

The organization has crunched the numbers and adhered to national standards on ensuring the units in Casa Loma are affordable for a period of at least 35 years. At that point in time, most modern buildings are in need of repair and the loans needed to cover the expense would be hard to secure if the terms were extended beyond that point.

The rest of the article is just the same standard political hit by Gomer Kidston on his favorite target, City Council member Daniel Carlino, who continues to make me smile by challenging the political cabal’s fig leaves, like only ensuring SUBSIDIZED affordability for 35 years.

While Gomer continues to punish Daniel Carlino for his insubordination, Nate Richmond’s plans for Midtown go unscrutinized. And why should they? Why should ANYONE criticize the noble plans of a savvy developer to build affordable housing?

Less than two weeks ago, after I wrote about the brazen bond begging for a new ice skating rink and AG facilities, a helpful reader emailed me a screenshot of Glacier Ice Rink’s board of directors and, BIG SURPRISE, there’s good ‘ol Nate Richmond as Vice President.

Isn’t that nice? It’s almost as nice as that scheme Blue Line cooked up to develop Larchmont golf course.

Maybe it’s just me, but I think these dynamics are important to consider, especially when the public is being asked to support a levy to generate 5 million dollars to replace the Federal ARPA smack with property tax methadone.

I’ll be writing more about that mill levy soon. Thanks for reading!