by Travis Mateer
Longtime readers of my local reporting will see the title of this post and know EXACTLY who I’m talking about, and that’s “reporter” Martin “Gomer” Kidston.
While I’m sure it’s somewhat entertaining to have my take on Gomer’s propagandist/watercolor-with-words style, I think it’s more significant to highlight what a City Council person has to say about Martin’s “reporting”, so here’s Kristen Jordan calling out Gomer on Facebook:
The “article” Kristen Jordan is frustrated with can be read here and features this misleading headline:
This title is supposed to describe what happened on Monday night at City Council, but I’m struggling to understand how the amendments proposed by Daniel Carlino would have added expenses. I called the Missoula Current’s publisher, Lisa Vachio, to ask if she could clarify what this headline is referring to, but I never heard back.
One of the more confusing parts of the article is the two paragraphs below. What is being accomplished by awkwardly inserting the tax increase after referring the Trust Fund?
I think by squishing these two topics together in this manner, Gomer is hoping the stink of the tax increase will somehow waft onto the Carlino/Jordan effort to divert money to the affordable housing trust fund. Will it work? If anyone actually read the Missoula Current, it might, but I don’t think people with functioning brains rush to Martin’s publication for accurate reporting.
I also took a look at how the Missoulian reported on Monday night’s budget wrangling. Here’s an excerpt (emphasis mine):
Carlino, with the backing of Ward 6 council member Kristen Jordan, sought repeatedly to boost the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, the Mobile Support Team first responders and to cut funding for Rogers International security services, but he met concerns about appropriating funds already designated to help Missoula’s houseless population through other programs.
“When we talk about a housing crisis as a council, as a government, our budget should match up with what we’re saying,” Carlino insisted. “If it’s a crisis then we should put funding to help the crisis and that’s what I’m trying to do with this amendment.”
That particular amendment referred to an attempt to use $600,000 in surplus ARPA funds for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
But Ward 1 council member Heidi West said, “I think it’s disingenuous to frame the contribution to the Housing Trust Fund as a totality of what we do as a council, or as a city, or as a community overall in the realm of affordable housing. I think that the current funding decision is prudent based on the unknowns.”
What is Heidi West referring to when she references “unknowns”? I think West, along with other Councilors, are concerned that the $5 million dollar crisis service levy will be killed by voters who don’t like the idea of fiscal self-immolation.
The wrangling that lasted into the wee hours Monday night only touched on a minuscule portion of the $267 million dollar budget, less than a million dollars. The money being discussed would have helped out those less fortunate than, say, the tourists our elected leaders our banking our economic vitality on.
To exemplify this, the Missoulian has an article today about OVER A MILLION in ARPA funds going to Caras Park to make this image into a reality:
From the link:
You won’t have to pick your way down a steep, boulder-strewn, ad-hoc dirt path to get to the river at Caras Park in downtown Missoula much longer, thanks to a massive federal grant award for significant accessibility improvements.
On Tuesday, the administration of President Joe Biden announced that $1.2 million from the federal American Rescue Plan Act has been awarded to the city of Missoula to support a river access construction project.
Caras Park will get a new viewing platform, retaining walls, an Americans with Disabilities Act-approved path to the river and new steps. The project is meant to create greater access to the park and river and to support local tourism. The federal grant will be matched by $305,076 in local funds and is expected to create 21 jobs, according to a city estimate.
If the last few days haven’t made clear what our Council prioritizes, and what they just give lip-service to, that’s because local reporting, like Kidston’s Missoula Current, is misleading by design.
Thanks for reading!