by Travis Mateer
There is a new outrage opportunity in Missoula for people who like to get upset about the wrong things, and that opportunity is the terrible existence of a crafting corporation that just had a grand opening at Missoula’s Southgate Mall a few days ago. The reaction on social media was quite predictable.
It’s kind of amazing to see the cognitive blockage here because what Millie is essentially saying is that she can’t believe women don’t automatically adhere to a form of monolithic thinking that prioritizes liberal ideals, like the freedom to fuck without procreating. This is what happens when national narratives infects the brains of local citizens: the REAL dynamics stay occluded from view.
For me, the mall property is more interesting as a cultural artifact that MUST be kept economically viable in order to redevelop Midtown, since the mall is the lynchpin of economic activity in this part of Missoula. That is why I covered the Southgate Mall Tax Increment Financing scheme that Adam Hertz prophetically criticized 4 years ago. Here’s a prescient quote about TIF money saving the mall from “blight”:
Hertz didn’t disagree with the program’s designed intent, though he believes that cities have abused the program and found ways to skirt state statute. He cited Southgate Mall as an example, saying it wasn’t considered blighted until it announced its plans for expansion.
Only then, Hertz said, did the Missoula Redevelopment Agency add the mall to Urban Renewal District III, qualifying it for tax increment financing.
“The mall had announced their intent to do a very large project,” said Hertz. “They had been excluded from URD III when it was created, because there were no findings of blight at the mall. When they began to announce their projects, MRA saw an opportunity to capture some of that new increment that otherwise would have gone to the taxing jurisdictions as it normally should.”
Yep, the mall got added to the incremental SIPHONING of money that funds Missoula’s shadow government, the Missoula Redevelopment Agency, a cancerous entity that turns first responders into panhandlers begging Missoula for a 7 million dollar levy.
Working at Hobby Lobby is not the same thing as paying taxes because one is a choice and the other is a requirement, so it might be more productive to get upset about the things you are REQUIRED to do, like handing over a portion of your tax money so this government bureaucrat can dole it out to her friends and political supporters:
Here’s Ellen doing some hilarious damage control after the TIF scheme resulted in Southgate Mall getting flipped to an Ohio conglomerate (emphasis mine):
The head of the Missoula Redevelopment Agency said on Monday that Southgate Mall does not have to repay monies from Tax Increment Financing (TIF’s) after being sold, for just one reason, no monies actually went directly to the mall.
MRA Executive Director Ellen Buchanan said the city has been trying to connect Brooks Street to Reserve Street for many years, but was unable to do so until the mall began its remodeling project.
“The tax increment money involved in this particular project is to pay for a public street that was built through the mall,” said Buchanan. “That area has never been penetrated by a public street, north-south, or east-west. So, what this does is it pays for a connection between Brooks and Reserve Street that the city has wanted to accomplish since at least the mid 1990’s and it’s been showing up in the long range transportation plans. So, that’s what the money’s for, it’s for a city street.”
Yes, Ellen put on her metaphorical strap-on and proceeded to penetrate this area but good with public tax dollars! If you’re worried this penetration could lead to little mall babies running around, don’t worry, I’m sure Ellen’s health coverage includes contraceptives.
If you find the idea of Ellen wearing a strap-on to be more repulsive than the reality of using public tax dollars to sweeten a massive corporate real estate deal, then you’re a perfect target for the stupid partisan outrage campaigns that get people riled up about conservative businesses like Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A, and NOT the very real sucking sound coming from your wallet.
The sounds coming from MY wallet are like the echoes one hears in an empty warehouse. Why? Because I am driven by a similar passion that motivates David Green, the head honcho of Hobby Lobby, and I never would have discovered this connection if it wasn’t for the eager culture warriors of liberal orthodoxy. Here’s the connection:
At least one example of the printed word is in great demand even in the digital age: ancient Bibles.
With a goal of establishing a national Bible museum of great depth and size, the evangelical Christian family behind the Hobby Lobby chain of craft stores has been spending heavily to amass a collection that has set dealers buzzing in the staid world of rare books.
Specialists estimate the family has bought illuminated, or decorated, manuscripts, Torahs, papyri and other works worth $20 million to $40 million from auction houses, dealers, private collectors and institutions, some of which may be selling because of financial pressure.
The man leading the effort is Steve Green, president of Hobby Lobby, a private company based here that is a favorite of scrapbook makers, do-it-yourselfers and home decorators. The company, founded by his father, David, in 1972, now numbers 439 stores and has generated a family fortune that Forbes magazine estimates at $2.5 billion.
I find this incredibly interesting, and I don’t think David and myself are alone in valuing physical copies of books, especially the old and rare ones. In fact, I think LOTS of people are becoming more and more concerned about what our reliance of digital technology means when it comes to ACTUALLY preserving history versus what the cultural terrorist, Max Wolf, is planning on doing to Fort Missoula.
One final thing, since the mall got publicly subsidized in order to exist beyond its exportation date, I’ll note the curious LACK of coverage regarding WHERE EXACTLY this young woman was taken into custody after a serious bomb threat last April shut down ALL schools in Missoula. Was it the mall? And, if it was, why did this detail never make it into local media?
If you appreciate how my amazing coverage of Missoula transforms stupid outrage into interesting content with useful local tie-ins, consider supporting my work here and do it quick before Ellen’s vacuum sucks anymore coins from your pockets!
Thanks for reading!