Month: July 2023

by Travis Mateer

I descended into a mental hellscape the other night and came out the other side with a poem. But before getting to the poem, we need to talk about clowns.

In my studio of books, toy bricks, and creepy artifacts, I have a book on JFK in Montana placed on a shelf with three clowns, two of which you can see in the image above. There’s 60’s Joker, there’s Heath Ledger Joker, and then there’s that thing on the left with wavy yellow hair, dark eyes, and monstrous teeth.

I got this evil looking clown from a vendor who used to have some spots at the Antique Mall here in Missoula, a vendor I met in person while I was making the documentary Engen’s Missoula. I got a copy of a short film this guy made about some French photographer, and one of the images he chose to include confirmed in my mind his creep status, at minimum. But was there something darker going on?

My hunch is yes, but one must be careful on how one follows up on hunches. Rabbit holes can quickly become blackholes with a gravity all their own, sucking your life into a lightless void. This seems to be how so many conspiracy researchers stumble into a fervent belief in the power of Jesus.

Paul Stobbs followed a hunch that had, as its catalyst, a parody Youtube video claiming clowns are actually representations of demonic Nephilim. The hunch became his own Youtube channel and an upcoming book. I recently listened to Stobbs’ pitch and, because of damn synchronicities, decided I should try and schedule a chat, which I’m currently in the process of doing.

There’s a strong hint of using bold colors and religious subversion in the new episode from Black Mirror, titled Joan Is Awful. Or maybe I’m reading too much into scrawling lipstick on the forehead, putting on a red cheerleader costume, then taking a hot diarrhea shit on the floor of a church.

There’s also the added mind-fuck of Salma Hayek helping this episode blur reality and fiction in a very technologically paranoid fashion, so considering I’ve ALREADY EXPERIENCED a Salma Hayek fiction/non-fiction bleed through, this one just heightens my pre-existing disorientation.

What the hell is going on here? Or maybe I should say what KIND of hell is going on here?

I don’t know, but I want some fucking answers, so as I wait to see what new hellscapes blossom on my personal timeline, here’s a poem:

The conclusion of the poem isn’t written on the page, but it’s on the audio recording. And that’s just how it’s going to be.

If you’d like to contribute to my content creation, in all its creative forms, Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is one way to help, and the donation button at my about page is another.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

Did you know that heat is hot?

Yes, heat can be VERY hot, especially for the victim class the Missoulian MUST write about constantly to shame the rest of Missoula into blind compliance with local dictates regarding the helping strategies devised by those who have presided over everything getting worse and worse.

Am I a heartless asshole to pushback against the pervasive victimhood status placed on these populations by our pathetic local media industry? Maybe, but am I wrong?

After recording the review portion of this week’s podcast episode, I got trolled hard by Netflix. What did I expect watching Black Mirror’s JOAN IS AWFUL? Did I expect anything less than Selma Hayek’s presence in an episode that takes the blurring of fiction/non-fiction to a whole new level?

Damn it, I’m STILL trying to figure out what the synchronicity hiding behind this image means:

Music played a big part of the rest of the day/night, watching kids play jazz on campus, then going from XXXXs to spotlight brewery beats to sidewalk performers while watching buses bringing people back from the amphitheater.

Did I see families with kids out late? Yes, and I’m not judging that part. I’ve been out with my own kids fairly late. But I wouldn’t do it in downtown Missoula, not anymore. I saw one tweaker acting really fucking crazy just minutes before a family walked up to the intersection. Luckily he had just quieted down, but that’s because he was smoking something off in the corner from some tinfoil.

I walked away from that potential train wreck and saw an old Native woman I know. I stopped to see if her, or her companion, knew the name of the tweaker, but they didn’t. The guy watching out for her, a Blackfeet dude, DID know some of the same people I used to know on the street, like Navaho.

Here’s Navaho from Ashley McKee’s (now Farr) book, Missoula Rabble:

We talked about Navaho and his friend, Jake. Jake was young and attractive and I heard stories about him getting picked up in very nice cars sometimes. Navaho and Jake are both dead now.

The Blackfeet man told me he feels some very dark things in this town, and he gets afraid walking around at night. We talked about how many indigenous woman are going missing, and I told him about the fake helpers who easily con outsiders who come here to make their content for Spotify, then leave.

Oh, and she’s NOT HAPPY with Oppenheimer!

Yes, I’ll tell anyone who will listen about the corruption in this town, even the drunk guy with cute friends who just wanted to know if Gianforte had made open containers legal so he could sit on his tailgate and pound some beers.

I wrote a crap-ton of posts this week because I’m trying to stay busy and my kitchen hours were minimal. The trials and tribulations of exposing corruption in Zoom Town is taking a heavy toll on me, so as I navigate multiple legal processes, I’m keeping my prospects for August and September VERY open.

My Version Of Monday Montanan (July 24th, 2023)

Local Media Is So Cute With Their Little Stories On Urban Camping Trash In The River And A Totally Not Conflicted Housing Deal (July 25th, 2023)

A Figurative Hand Job For Montana’s Attorney General, Courtesy of KGVO (July 25th, 2023)

Yes, Some Juveniles Were Stabbed, But Maybe It Was A Lawful Stabbing? (July 26th, 2023)

Remembering The Summer I Helped Identify A Homeless Killer (July 26th, 2023)

Taking A Closer Look At Missoula’s $107,500 Expenditure To Central Housing Strategies (July 27th, 2023)

On Seeing Stabbings In Missoula As Opportunities, Not Crimes (July 27th, 2023)

Defund The Ruse Of Missoula Economic Development Spending! (July 28th, 2023)

If you appreciate how I shift my personal strife into creating local content, Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is one way to support me, and the donation button at my about page is another. Lawyers aren’t cheap!

Thanks for listening/reading!

by Travis Mateer

This week a socialist-leaning City Councilor made a fiscally conservative move I can totally get behind, and that’s trying to slash the city’s expenditure to the Missoula Economic Partnership from ONE HUNDRED GRAND down to fifty thousand, a much less offensive number when it comes to funding an organization that lists the Riverfront Triangle as one of its development sites.

Here’s more from MEP framing the Urban Renewal District this site sits in for any future developers who might be enticed by such a scheme (emphasis mine):

Located in one of Missoula’s Urban Renewal Districts, the site has plenty of opportunities for public/private partnerships which could include working with the city for shared parking, using TIF funding for infrastructure or site improvements, or a commercial partnership with a locally-owned entertainment and events promotion company to manage an onsite event center.  The city, downtown businesses, and community are interested in seeing this site transform into model development project and welcome all creative ideas and partners to get that off the ground.

The slashing of the six figures down to five is still a long shot, but that doesn’t stop me from greatly enjoying the unexpected delay, along with the resulting propaganda consternation Martin “Gomer” Kidston has to put out from his CURRENT.

From the link (emphasis mine):

A simple effort to renew a contract with the city’s economic development partner failed to advance on Wednesday after City Council member Daniel Carlino sought to cut the contracted funding amount and offer other amendments to keep it from advancing.

For a decade or more, the city has contracted with the Missoula Economic Partnership to bring business and jobs to the community. The organization has been successful in growing the city’s economy and, more recently, it has been a strong advocate for the construction of workforce and affordable housing.

Both the city and county each provide MEP roughly $100,000 a year to sustain the work – a figure that has remained unchanged for years. But Carlino sought to cut that amount to $50,000 and divert the remainder to a range of social programs.

By RECENTLY showing “strong advocacy” lip service to subsidized housing, the head of MEP, Grant Kier, is hoping to fashion for his org a figurative umbrella for a real shit storm that’s brewing. Will it work?

I think it will, and the six figures will win out eventually, but for now, ending the week with palpable annoyance wafting like Pilsner fumes from Gomer’s words is deeply appreciated.

Grant Kier, president of MEP, said the organization has evolved over the past few years in response to the pandemic to focus on other community needs. After a public engagement process, MEP created a new comprehensive economic development strategy that looked toward housing and growing existing businesses.

…

The organization has the broad support of most council members.

“We need targeted economic growth and MEP provides that to us,” said council member Mirtha Becerra. “I think it’s important to have those with that area of expertise, that set of tools, to help us grow economically.”

The City Council will try again next week to ratify the contract.

Try and try again, you BROAD SUPPORTING City Councilors, because it’s only been how many weeks since you were so apoplectic over having no money for homeless solutions?

To wrap up this post, here’s an image of a sign that ended the forward progression of any multi-modal travelers that came across it on Thursday.

Why was a police cruiser on the bike path? Because a stabbing occurred earlier in the day, so the crime scene had to be secured.

I wonder what a drug crisis does to the task of pimping economic development to nice employers, like Cognizant?

If you’d like to help fund my pursuit of answers to questions like those, Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is one way to help, while making a donation at my about page is another.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

UPDATE BELOW

When I saw this post on Facebook, I immediately hopped on my bike and went to the location where this alleged stabbing took place. Why? Well, I am doing this journalist thing, so that’s one reason, but I am ALSO realizing that maybe I should see stabbings as OPPORTUNITIES instead of crimes. Let me explain.

Earlier in the week, the City Councilors who represent this ward communicated to their colleagues that their constituents are PISSED about the Johnson Street shelter reopening for an entire year. Where the Crisis Mill Levy was originally going to fund the improvements needed to make this seasonal shelter a year-round facility, the Missoula Redevelopment Agency is now being looked at to provide funding for bathrooms.

As I biked around this area, taking pictures, I got a strong sense that the preliminary work to handle the bathroom improvements is already well underway.

In this image, the Johnson Street Shelter is the building visible just above the blue Business Access sign. The stabbing occurred about a block away, near a playground and dog park. As I approached the scene, blocked off by yellow tape, I could see a basketball court where I suspect the stabbing took place.

I’m not looking at this stabbing as an opportunity for me, though I certainly take full advantage to talk to as many people as possible when I’m on location of a scene like this, so maybe it IS an opportunity for me.

For example, when I talk to law enforcement, I’m not expecting them to tell me anything about an active investigation. Instead, I discuss the larger dynamics of what’s happening in our community, and some of the badges I’m talking to about the drug crisis gripping this valley and this nation are able to say they’re familiar and appreciative of my work.

I’m also checking in with local businesses, and the visibility of drug activity, including obvious drug deals, is getting so normalized, there no longer seems to be an expectation that anything is going to be done about it. It’s just the way things seem to be now.

The opportunity I’m thinking about comes from the fact people are so fed up in this particular neighborhood, some are deciding to move. If the reopening of the Johnson Street Shelter drives enough property owners away, prices in this slice of Missoula could suffer. And because of the possibility of depressed prices–in a part of town which will most definitely being seeing LOTS of investment (Midtown)–I smell OPPORTUNITY for developers to make some money!

Getting back to the stabbing, the Missoula Current is reporting one person is in the hospital and one person is in custody. The jail roster has a young man booked for deliberate homicide. Is this the alleged stabber?

I don’t know, but after a stabbing reported just a few days ago, it appears violence with sharp objects is the theme of the week.

We have an opportunity this summer, as a community, to assess what our ACTUAL priorities are when it comes to the drug crisis pretending to be a homeless crisis. Are we going to continue throwing six figures sums at lobbyists and economic development, or are we going to get serious about the drug epidemic and our critical LACK of resources, like treatment options.

A few weeks ago I was biking around Wyoming Street, so I stopped at Recovery Center Missoula. This facility used to have beds for in-patient treatment, but it’s transitioning into some kind of group home, I was told by a client doing some yard work (I couldn’t enter the facility because I was carrying). If true, this is NOT good, but I haven’t seen any media on this yet, so I doubt anyone beyond service providers even knows this might be happening.

I called and left a message, so will try to follow up on this topic at a later date because our community’s capacity to provide treatment options for addicts is a VERY important part of dealing with the drug crisis.

If you appreciate the work I’m doing (and the speed with which I can do it), Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is one way to help me out, while using the donation button at my about page is another.

Thanks for reading!

UPDATE:

A commenter provided a link to a Facebook page that led to a defunct GoFundMe for Jathan Moreno, here’s some context from the link:

by Travis Mateer

As I was looking through the agendas for Wednesday’s committee meetings, I got curious about Central Housing Strategies, a lobbying/advocacy company created in 2020 by SK Rossi (pictured below). Why was the city hiring this lobbyist for $107,500, I wondered? The more I looked, the more curious I got.

And here’s the screen-shot of the committee agenda item indicating approval of the contract will be on the agenda for the Public Safety, Health and Operations committee:

A quick search of SK Rossi’s work in Helena turned up an interesting article about the Central Housing Strategy’s work for the city of Bozeman during the last legislative session. From the link (emphasis mine):

A zoning reform bill that’s officially opposed by the city of Missoula and Mayor Jordan Hess was endorsed on Thursday at the Montana Legislature by two Missoula City Council members and a representative from a Missoula affordable housing nonprofit.

Senate Bill 245, sponsored by Sen. Daniel Zolnikov, R-Billings, would revise Montana’s zoning laws to allow multifamily housing and mixed-used development in urban areas zoned for office, retail and parking with existing sewer and water systems. It would only apply to towns and cities with a population over 7,000. The bill passed out of the Montana Senate on a 40-10 vote and had a hearing in the House local government committee on Thursday afternoon.

…

Missoula City Council member Daniel Carlino went to Helena to support the bill and said he’s a “struggling renter.”

“It’s much better to allow communities to build up and in rather than build out and cause sprawl,” Carlino said.

Missoula City Council member Sandra Vasecka was also there to support the bill.

Why would our placeholder Mayor, Jordan Hess, along with the city of Missoula, oppose this bill? I thought reforming zoning to increase density was something our local cabal WANTED?

Here’s Hess explaining his opposition, a position that aligns with the city of Bozeman, as articulated by SK Rossi (emphasis mine):

The city of Missoula and Mayor Jordan Hess have said they oppose the bill on the grounds that Missoula is undertaking a code reform process already and that local decisions should be made locally with local public input.

…

SK Rossi, a lobbyist for the city of Bozeman, said that municipality opposes the bill as well.

“All of these bills that are supposed to ‘fix’ the housing problem in Montana are one-sided,” Rossi said. “It’s all about deregulation and clearing the path to developers and the big broad solutions that actually invest dollars in building affordable housing are being left to the wayside.”

Instead of focusing on this aspect of the contract in my public comment, I decided to go with the speculative impression I got from some research that SK Rossi is raking in the lobbying contracts with an eye toward running for state government.

Could this be true?

If it WERE true, I wanted to make sure that our Council members knew that I knew of this rumor BEFORE our poor city spent $107,500 to put someone in Helena NO ONE outside of Missoula will listen to anyway.

Turns out, I wasn’t the only one curious about the selection of this new lobbying entity. Here is a comment from Mr. Larson, followed by my less-than-articulate response.

https://vimeo.com/848878907?share=copy

After I made my comment, Councilor Vasecka indicated her NON support of this expenditure as well (link to the full video here), explaining that individual Councilors and/or Mayors can go to Helena themselves and lobby directly if they feel strongly about certain legislation.

Councilor Carlino asked if the city’s interim legislative priorities would be posted on the city’s website, then he had the temerity to ask if Council members could have MORE say in those priorities. Do I feel a Gomer media slap-down coming? After the questions, Carlino referenced the housing disagreement I failed to mention in my public comment. In response, it was Bickell time, but I’m not going to waste MY time paraphrasing his response beyond saying Central Housing Strategies is going to be the little legislative lapdog of the Mayor’s office.

Did I get that right, Bickell?

Gwen Jones commented next, indicating that “foundations” for legislative bills really are built during the interim period between active legislative sessions.

So, did the motion pass? Yes, it passed on a 9-2 vote. Congratulations, SK Rossi!

If you appreciate my local reporting, Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is one way to support me, while making a donation at my about page is another.

Thanks for reading!