by Travis Mateer
When you live in a failed state like Montana, it’s tempting to pin one’s hope on things like VOTING, since we’ve been conditioned to assume casting a vote is a meaningful way of participating in the decision-making process that governs our lives, but this state is too far gone, in my opinion, to expect anything from election cycles anymore, though that won’t stop partisan idiots from going through the motions.
In Missoula, critical community infrastructure, like hospitals and bridges, are in such a protracted state of crisis that even our pathetic media is beginning to take notice, like this article about the widespread dysfunction at Community Medical Center. From the link (emphasis mine):
Nurses “leaving in droves,” managers resigning, broken equipment, proposals to increase the workload without a pay raise and a general lack of support from administration have workers at Community Medical Center at a breaking point, according to several current and former employees.
And all of them say most of the problems stem from the management of private equity-backed LifePoint Health, a Tennessee-based for-profit company that took over the hospital in 2018 (in a joint venture with Billings Clinic). The hospital has roughly 1,000 workers, making it one of the largest and most important employers in the county.
“Morale is at an all-time low since I’ve been there, for sure,” said one caregiver. “Even co-workers who typically have a positive attitude, you can see it in people’s faces. People just look defeated. There’s so many issues. It’s so broken that after a while, you want to try to make improvements but there’s so many things that are dysfunctional that you eventually kind of give up. It’s not a good environment for new nurses.”
Yep, this crisis in morale stems from the sale our Attorney General at the time, Tim Fox, enabled by allowing Missoula’s PUBLIC asset to be privatized. And what did Missoula get for all this? We got a foundation called the Headwaters Foundation, a “non-profit” that was created to trickle out money from the 100 million dollar fund created by the sale of this once PUBLIC hospital.
If you click on the link, and scroll down, you can see how I tracked the creation and influence of the Headwaters Foundation, an organization I visited earlier this week to chat about a different issue, though I couldn’t resist asking the receptionist if she saw the article about Community Medical Center.
Community Medical Center is located in a part of Missoula that has seen some serious public spending, like the 42 million dollar bond that went to developing soccer fields and other amenities, which a few years later led to this:
Taxpayers are fed up with field conditions at Fort Missoula’s turf fields after funding approximately $5 million for improvements. Our viewers told us about the problem last July.
Now, before the spring sports season starts, Missoula’s Parks and Recreation Department is hoping to get more opinions on the condition of the fields.
“We want to invite that conversation to happen where people who may have been disappointed with various things or have concerns, they have questions, we want to give them an avenue in which they can ask those questions,” recreation facilities manager Spencer McCorkel said.
Isn’t local government amazing? Let’s move on to Maclay Bridge, which is one of several bridges getting shutdown around Missoula County because they are supposedly no longer safe to use. From the link (emphasis mine):
Stack broke down how Missoula County has several bridges that need replacement. In Missoula, the Maclay Flats bridge closed last month because of structural concerns. A new bridge is expected to be built nearby on South Avenue.
On the other side of the county, two bridges in Clinton have been labeled as “scour critical,” meaning some of the foundation points are unstable.
Five more bridges need replacement in Seeley Lake, including the Boy Scout Road bridge, which was closed in September. The county needs well over $20 million just for the bridges near Seeley Lake.
Stack said the county simply does not have the money on-hand to fund all of such projects. He said the annual county bridge budget is about $1.1 million, mostly generated through property taxes.
“If I have got a million-dollar budget for the bridge program, there is no way we can manage these large bridges,” Stack said. “We are underfunded.“
Underfunded? Isn’t this the same County telling us how we need to buy a fucking mountain? Yes, yes it is. Here’s more from the County that CAN afford to buy mountains but can NOT afford to maintain bridges:
Stack said some other funding mechanisms, like a local-option gas tax, have been banned by the Montana Legislature. He said higher taxes and limited staffing have slowed addressing and replacing aging bridges.
On the statewide level, there is also limited available funding for projects. Many grants come from the federal government, which Boucher said can slow the process.
The Legislature set aside $100 million for local road and bridge projects as a part of House Bill 536. Missoula County has already received $1 million from the bill, which will be reserved for matching grant funds.
Another issue that I suspect is souring dynamics between the COUNTY and the STATE Department of Transportation (MDOT) is the fact MDOT had to literally SUE the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office to get them to “evict” homeless residents from the Reserve Street encampments, residents that included the Sheriff Office’s favorite non-compliant sex offender, Todd Spence, a real fun guy who got criminally physical with MDOT staff during a cleanup I was present at a few years ago.
To add financial insult to physical injury, MDOT has the CONTINUED cost of contracting with private security in order to keep this area from becoming re-inhabited with the dangerous criminal elements I’m sure have nothing to do with my report of dead bodies being found in this area of town.
Speaking of dead bodies, while our Sheriff’s Office can’t seem to effectively handle ONE murder investigation of a grandma beaten to death with an antler, the TOP DOG overseeing Montana’s criminal justice clusterfuck is busy playing with crayons and elementary school kids.
From the link:
“One missing child in Montana is too many. At the Montana Department of Justice, we are committed to bringing missing children home and holding those who prey on them accountable,” Attorney General Austin Knudsen said. “The Montana fifth graders who participate in this contest help us raise awareness and accomplish that mission.”
Yes, I’m glad we’re talking about missing children because Austin’s pals at the LifeGuard Group probably don’t want ANYONE talking about their recent work NOT searching for missing white women. Would that be a correct assumption, Lowell?
Lowell Hochhalter, the “chaplain” of the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office AND president of his professional/familial PASSION to save victims of human trafficking from despair (so they can fix horse saddles somewhere in the Bitterroot valley) is the dude pictured top left. Bottom left is Montana’s Attorney General, and the guy holding the pen is our proud Governor, someone very concerned about borders as long as we’re talking about TEXAS and NOT a County bordering Idaho, like Mineral County. From the link:
Gov. Gianforte announced on Tuesday that he is directing the Montana National Guard to begin to identify resources needed to assist in the national security crisis and secure the southern border.
“National security is the number one responsibility of the federal government, and President Joe Biden has left Americans and our country completely vulnerable with his failure to address the cartel-fueled surge in illegal immigration and drugs,” Gov. Gianforte said.
Oh really, Greg? Perhaps you should be looking a little closer to home for vulnerabilities in your State’s security, vulnerabilities that inspired me to write this welcome letter to human traffickers during the spring of 2022.
So here we are, heading toward the spring of 2024, and I’m writing ANOTHER “welcome” post about Big Sky Country. Lovely. Since that billion dollar surplus Montana had was obviously squandered by idiots at the legislature last spring, and a new funding mechanism will have to be found to fix our failing infrastructure, I have an idea: let’s tax every moron who slapped a UKRAINE sticker on their car to help fund bridges. I think that sounds fair and reasonable, don’t you?
Instead of fair and reasonable, let’s get loud and passionate! Because it’s Valentine’s Day, and those who know me can probably appreciate why there is no better day than today to premier my song about my poop bucket. Sure, the musical talk might be all Pearl Jam right now (cue inevitable Jon Tester appearance), but lyrically, no one matches my artful approach to defecation.
Stay tuned for more fun from the failed stated of Montana!