by Travis Mateer
That’s right, so much is going on that I decided a bonus post was in order. Why? Because HOUSING is a crisis and we MUST DO everything we can in Zoom Town to create MORE and DENSER housing everywhere possible. This is where the housing zealotry of Danny Tenenbaum comes into play. Danny is a former legislator who was one of the loudest supporters of developing Larchmont golf course because housing is such a BIG issue for him, it’s prominently displayed on his Twitter bio:

Since Danny Tenenbaum is PROBABLY THINKING ABOUT HOUSING I probably didn’t need to bring his attention to the worry being expressed over the plan to conserve over 20 acres of prime land in the Rattlesnake area (his hood), but I did anyway.

From the link:
Ward 3 Councilor Gwen Jones worried about the tradeoff from putting a conservation easement on otherwise developable land. She pointed out the Ten Spoon property is flat, close to residential neighborhoods and connected to city utilities, positioning the area for potential housing development in the future. A conservation easement would eliminate that option.
“It’s really a competing values type scenario,” Jones noted Wednesday. “I guess my concern is just the city being part of the equation and not ever having any development on that land.”
I was surprised to be NOT angry at something coming out of Gwen Jones’ mouth, so I’ll commend Jones for bringing up the competition of values on display here exposing WHERE the Missoula elitists want density, which is anywhere but their own backyard, obviously. This is clear NIMBYism, plain and simple.
The pushback to Jones’ common-sense concern came from Missoula’s most dangerous financial terrorist, Parks and Rec director, Donna Gaukler. Here she is:
But Parks and Recreation Director Donna Gaukler pointed out: “Individual property owners still do have individual property rights to choose to do with their property as they wish.”
Gaukler said the benefit of the project would be the preservation of agricultural land, something she believes the city hasn’t been very successful at achieving on its own. She called the Ten Spoon effort “heroic.”
Heroic? Are you fucking kidding, Gaukler? Maybe these winery snobs have been watching too much Yellowstone, since the patriarch of the show (Kevin Costner’s character) uses this strategy to save his ranch from future development.
Missoula is a stark microcosm of what’s coming: density for the urban core, where the poors can have their WORKFORCE housing, while elite enclaves like the Rattlesnake will be preserved in order to insulate wealthy complainers from the consequences of gentrification.
There is one kind of development I think Rattlesnake residents might want to consider, and that’s fencing. Why? Because America will continue to descend into chaos, so taking precautions is just the smart thing to do. To help get the brainstorming going, here is a free concept using plastic bricks:

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Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for the WEEK IN REVIEW this Sunday!
The upper Rattlesnake *will* be in-filled, with exception of the holdings of the mega-rich such as our own local billionaire, Dennis Washington. You’ve not inaccurately characterized this area as “exclusive” but the West Rattlesnake as well as the most upper East Rattlesnake, also have a lot of old, retired, fixed-income people who’ve lived in their modest single-family homes constructed in the 60s, for 60+ years. They aren”t wealthy There is no bus service in the West Rattlesnake.
The entire area now is deemed exclusive and the house prices are very high.
The most strident advocate of radical in-fill was probably former Ward 1 (which includes the Rattlesnake) Councilperson Bryan von Lossberg, who retired from the Council in 2021, with plans to live on his family’s 200-acre ranch.
Hypocrisy? Elitism?
Hell yeah.