by Travis Mateer
There are so many different forms of communication, and I like to think I know some of them.
One form I’m familiar with, sadly, is the subtle art of stringing together multi-syllabic words to convince funders and the public that your homeless service-provider job is actually helping people and NOT perpetuating the systems locking them in cycles of dependency.
Knowing this form of communication, in addition to having my little stick/snake-detector, Sissy, means I was able to spot a VERY sneaky phrase used by our Mayor in an article about ANOTHER state of our community address.
I know what you’re thinking: how many of these “state of our community” does a retarded community need? Because if you’re answer is more than one, you might be trying a little TOO hard. Ya feel me?
So, what is the phrase that jumped out at me?
I’ll tell you, but first I’m going to string you along because I just had to put down my computer while publicly writing this post to address two inquisitive young ladies as they were walking down Ryman street.
“What’s going on here?” I was asked,
I get this kind of question a lot, and usually I have a number of different objects to help me respond, but last night it was just Virgil sitting on his lonely rusted metal stand with the Trump mask, so I explained where I picked Virgil up (Las Vegas, Super Bowl) and what I think he signifies (the grooming mockery of the psychopath class). Then, in my no-filter fashion, I utilized my special method of shit-talking echo-location to get yet ONE MORE assessment that a certain someone is more a helper than an investigator when it comes to a certain billion dollar skin industry.
As if summoning the spirits of addictive possession, a street person appeared with MANY trash bags to offer me some mascara, which I politely declined the first time, then emphatically declined the second and third time. How long did she rummage through mostly empty plastic bags after getting the hint I didn’t need mascara? Longer than someone NOT fucked up on drugs would take.
The plastic bag lady reminded me of a conversation Greg Carlwood had with Isaac Weishaupt on a recent Higherside Chat episode. Carlwood admitted that it was multiple aggressive interactions with street people that finally pushed him to leave San Diego with his wife and young child. One of the interactions was a mentally disturbed man who muttered under his breath “I SHOULD PUNCH THAT FUCKING BABY IN THE FACE!” as he walked by Carlwood and his 4 month old kid. Yeah.
Ok, enough edging. Here’s the phrase from the context of the Missoulian article (emphasis mine):
“One of the bigger challenges that we’re managing right now is folks that are sleeping in shelters and public spaces,” she said.
Davis noted that the U.S. Supreme Court held a hearing on Monday about an Oregon homeless state. The court’s decision on that matter will have wide-reaching ramifications for whether or not local governments can ban people from sleeping in public spaces if there are no shelter beds available.
“I will tell you that we have been given an unfunded mandate,” Davis continued. “One of the things I’ve done since taking office is convening a working group. I do believe one reason I was elected was my ability to bring people together. And part of this was folks that have very different perspectives and have different interests and bringing folks to the table to share those to come up with better solutions together.”
Yes, there you have it, Mayor Davis wants you to know she understands that her election signifies an UNFUNDED mandate to do something, which she has clearly done by convening a working group that seems poised to give us rehashed ideas, like safe outdoor spaces, with NO PLAN on where the money will come from.
Meanwhile, a former cop and current Council person recognized yesterday that citizens like myself and Kevin Davis can do pretty kick-ass things when we persist in addressing an area of Missoula that harbored all kinds of nefarious activity, including that murder I helped the Sheriff’s Office with.
One of the funny things about this working group is WHERE it’s convening its last meeting. Why? Because Stockman’s bank, along with First Interstate Bank, are WORSE than street panhandlers with their use of public money for their own development projects. From the link:
We’re following the money from tax increment financing projects in Missoula.
If you own property in a designated business improvement district in Missoula, part of your property taxes go into a special fund. That money is then used for projects in that area through tax increment financing.
Stockman Bank and First Interstate Bank both built multi-story buildings in downtown Missoula, and both used tax increment financing for the projects. Both banks also received payments from the city after their projects were completed.
This article is from 2019. Wouldn’t it be great if some local activists started a TIF uprising, then made a documentary about it? Yeah.
Anyway, I guess this community will just have to continue doing what it’s going to do, so instead of getting all worked up about it, I’ll continue trying to find the humor. If you’d like to help out a struggling independent journalist, Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is a great way to do it.
Thanks for reading!