Month: July 2024

by Travis Mateer

I’ve been thinking about this picture a lot since it was given to me recently. The name of the artist has since echoed synchronistically during my daily activities, most recently through the name of the drinking establishment in Missoula I’m currently parked in front of. Names, how they echo, and what they signify, have played a significant role in how I explore underlying narratives moving beneath the surface of consensus reality.

So, are you ready for story time, boys and girls? Ok, let’s get to it.

In hindsight of yesterday’s attempted assassination of Donald Trump, the dismissal of a case against a man who PLAYS Trump less than 48 hours before the shots rang out is very interesting. Also, rabbits.

What the hell is up with all the goddamn rabbits, boys?

When I went to look up some info on the Púca, which is the weird trickster energy I think is being invoked here, I got a name-echo that I was already primed to pay attention to. Why? Because THOMAS is both the name of Donald Trump’s attempted assassin, and the name of my father. From the link (emphasis mine):

The púca may be regarded as being either menacing or beneficial. Fairy mythologist Thomas Keightley said “notions respecting it are very vague”, and in a brief description gives an account collected by Croker from a boy living near Killarney that “old people used to say that the Pookas were very numerous … long ago … , were wicked-minded, black-looking, bad things … that would come in the form of wild colts, with chains hanging about them”, and that did much to harm unwary travellers. Also, little bad boys and girls were warned not to eat overripe blackberries, because this was a sign that the pooka has entered them.

Ok, I explained why I emphasized the name THOMAS, but why CROKER and COLTS? Well, because Croker is a vague echo of the presidential shooter’s last name, CROOKS, and COLT is the type of gun (F.lli Pietta long Colt 45 revolver, to be exact) Alec Baldwin used in the film Rust.

Rust? Isn’t that the name of a certain True Detective character played by MATTHEW McConaughey? Yeah, the one with the Daddy named Travis in the fourth season. Is this getting weird enough yet?

I’d say it’s been weird for a LONG time, but that’s because I’ve been studying the occult for long enough to know some VERY STRANGE things are happening, and the degree of manipulation I suspect is involved is too difficult to fathom, for most.

Not artists, though. I believe those of us actively mining our own creative depths for insights have known that this world operates along channels that differ greatly from what we’ve been told by parents, teachers, and other well-meaning, but false, conveyors of consensus reality when the reality is nothing is what it seems.

MATTHEW, of course, is the middle name of the would-be assassin. It’s also a book in the Bible where a piece of scripture is often used to discourage the reporting of sexual assault. I think this resonates with the fact Trump’s least-talked-about accuser, Katie Johnson, got VERY close to derailing Trump’s presidential rise, but backed out when very strange things started happening, and, wouldn’t you know, strange things have been happening around that name again.

I’ll wrap this post up by saying how disappointed I was to hear people around me last night express such dismay that the shooter missed. Instead of getting upset at this short-sighted and ill-informed sentiment that comes from listening to WAY TOO MUCH corporate media, I’ll model the behavior I’d like to see, and that’s to counter this insanity with ACTS OF CREATION!

The political backdrop of Donnie Darko includes another president who survived a bullet, not DONALD, but RONALD. Also, some dumbass in a tank named Michael.

Until I took this screenshot, I hadn’t noticed the little owl magnet on the refrigerator, but that will have to wait for a later post because now what I think my community needs is my LEGO LOVE!

And, if I’m in the mood, a little music.

Here’s a song I just wrote about my Daddy issues, and it even has a few lines for Donnie (not Donald). Because this world is SO MUCH WEIRDER than you can imagine.

If you appreciate my weird perspective on esoteric presidential matters, consider donating to Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF), although I think something may be BLOCKING my attempt to solicit fund online.

Regardless, I’ll be getting back to the local reporting our local elites are trying to SHUT DOWN tomorrow.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

I had no idea that a Missoulian article about a hilariously stupid library expenditure would post this morning, but I’m sure glad it did because the article compliments my Wednesday effort to finance my Lego Meth Lab. As you can see from the image above, I’ve brought in Jesse Pinkman, from Breaking Bad, to help out the Lego Urban Crisis Campers produce a higher quality of meth with the idea that better drugs will spark the motivation needed to clean up the river corridor.

Before continuing, make sure to read my article at Western Montana News this week asking the question Am I Seeing the Twilight of Missoula’s Rattlesnake Democrats? You don’t get absurd spending on library features without having a uni-party of cognitively impaired officials, so read up on the political context that makes this madness possible.

The build I’m currently working on is a removable extension of my Weapon of Mass Instruction and it’s portable, so I’m able to take my Lego vision of better drugs for campers to the places where money flows like obnoxiously named craft beer.

Here’s my inaugural trip to the Headwaters Foundation, an organizational receptacle that holds one hundred MILLION dollars of loot generated by Community Medical Center’s transformation from a well-run public asset to a privately-held dumpster fire of alleged sexual assault and shitty work conditions.

Now, let’s compare my idea of wasting money on something ridiculous to the ACTUAL spending of public money on something ridiculous, with the added civic joy of the ridiculous thing NOT EVEN WORKING as intended, which means Missoula County might have to spend MORE MONEY on lawyers.

Here’s the beginning of the article detailing this insanity (emphasis mine):

Missoula County is considering filing a lawsuit against a Salt Lake City company because an expensive climbing structure installed in the Missoula Public Library years ago still hasn’t passed two safety inspections.

On Thursday, the Missoula County commissioners discussed authorizing the use of the county risk fund for litigation involving the contractor responsible for design and construction of the “DNA Climber” inside the library.

Erica Grinde, the director of the county’s risk and benefits department, said the city was awarded a $1.3 million Science Education Partnership grant from the National Institutes for Health in 2019.

At least $365,000 of the money, which came from the federal government, was used to build a two-story structure modeled after DNA in the library, and it was supposed to be climbable by kids and accompanied by exhibits.

I’m not a fan of making up laws willy nilly, but Missoula might need to consider an anti-bullshit ordinance that defines bullshit as anything our city staff does beyond providing bare essentials and necessities, and the punishment needs to be severe, like public flogging. Without this ordinance our local funding-junkies are going to keep spending YOUR money on the dumbest shit imaginable.

Let’s return to the article now to see what in the hell this bullshit was supposed to do, and who is responsible for it sucking so bad:

The company that was selected to build the exhibit is called Process Curiosity, based in Salt Lake. Two subcontractors, called L&S Distribution and Beecher Walker and Associates, also worked on the project. 

The project was completed in 2022 on the east side of the library, and the county took over management of the structure because the county manages the library.

Public officials touted the structure before it was built, saying it would be a unique and attractive amenity for the library. With large windows allowing the public to view the structure from the outside, it was to be the signature piece of the library design on that side of the building.

But the county’s excitement over the structure soon turned to disappointment.

For those who thought it was unnecessary for me to assess the state of our community as being retarded, or to speculate that our future may be retarded, tell me that triggering word doesn’t feel appropriate after reading about this insane shit?

I went to the Process Curiosity website to check out this project and here’s how they describe the process of making this financial monstrosity (emphasis mine):

The design team collaborated with many community members to nail down what the structure was to be and the message it would send. This highly involved process helped us fabricate an eye-popping 30 ft tall DNA climber, the central art piece for the Missoula Public Library. In addition, we designed and fabricated custom railings, netting, and ADA-accessible areas to ensure all guests could experience the climber. We carefully chose materials and colors that made for a fantastic sculpture and complimented all the existing colors in the space. The guests enter the climber from the second floor, then proceed to the lower platform before climbing up the sugar molecule stairs to the upper exhibits and down the slide. It’s fun for climbers of all ages and will be a destination spot in Missoula.

If you are disgusted by spending addicts who literally think up new and creative ways to waste money while property taxes crush beleaguered Missoulians, then I suggest PAYING ATTENTION and SHOWING UP when necessary to tell our elected officials they are out-of-control and need either a citizen intervention, or a citizen uprising.

If you appreciate my relentless approach to exposing local bullshit, please consider donating to Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) and help make my Lego Meth Lab dreams come true. You won’t regret it!

And, as always, thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

Before we get to the NO on an affordable housing project in Bozeman, let’s take a quick look at how the New York Times depicted Bozeman 18 years ago:

No longer a cow town, Bozeman — in Big Sky Country, Montana — has been nicknamed Boz Angeles because of an influx of Californians and celebrities. This has resulted in ranchers cashing out and Wal-Mart moving in, although downtown Bozeman still has plenty of charm, along with mountain views. And while it has been known to snow in August, on most weekends you’ll find the whole town — and its many dogs — floating down the Madison and Yellowstone Rivers on inner tubes.

With this framing in mind, the next article I’ll quote from is co-written by former Bozeman Mayor, Jeff Krauss, an outspoken Mayor who I used to interact with on Twitter back when I posted under the pseudonym “lizard” at 4&20 Blackbirds. For a trip down memory lane, this post from 2014 is about buffer zones for anti-abortion “street counselors” and how a Supreme Court decision could impact panhandlers.

The article I’m quoting from for this post counters the claim that the housing crisis in places like Bozeman will be solved by increasing density, which I call the SARDINE CAN plan. From the link:

We would like to pose a question to the Bozeman City Commission. Imagine we could wave a magic wand and dramatically increase Bozeman’s housing supply overnight. Let’s say we could wake up tomorrow to 1,000 new units of all kinds of housing. Do you think the average housing price would decrease?

Our hunch is that most, if not all of you, believe the answer is yes. Your actions are those of people who believe unaffordability in housing is caused mostly by low supply in the market, and that we can build our way to affordability. But we suggest that is a false premise. We don’t have a supply problem in our market; instead, we have a market that caters to Wall Street instead of answering the needs of working Bozemanites.

Is Jeff taking on Wall Street? Yes, it would appear so, and I attribute this to Jeff Krauss’ ability to deal with reality, which he breaks down in the following paragraph with his informed speculation on what would happen to those new units if a thousand hit the market tomorrow.

If we woke up tomorrow to 1,000 brand-new housing units, they would be snatched up by same people who are snatching them up today: 20 percent would go to wealthy people from Bozeman who can afford to move up or invest; fifty percent would go to wealthy newcomers; and the remaining thirty percent would go to out-of-state investors.

Jeff Krauss isn’t the only one looking at reality and saying NO to the claims of local officials that poor developers just need LESS red tape in order for them to magically fix the housing crisis. The public commenters who kept Bozeman officials up late on Tuesday night included comments like this one (emphasis mine):

“This whole system is corrupt. The way the city works in the interest of the developer is corrupt, and it needs to change,” said Bozeman resident Stuart Mitchell. “Maybe you should recognize why the public is so upset, and standing here repeatedly, and being very emotional, because they’re not heard, and they don’t trust you.”

Back here in Missoula, when a petulant, punk-ass developer by the name of Max Wolf held a historic building hostage in order to build townhomes, the historic preservation society DID listen to concerns about how Fort Missoula would be negatively impacted, but in the end none of it mattered because Max Wolf shot the hostage in the head anyway, while Side-Rail Bob (who doesn’t like subsidized farms), blamed the victims and not the cultural terrorist.

Going back to the Bozeman article, here’s a more detailed description of why this particular housing project got nixed Tuesday night:

Developers proposed 111 units, 9 of which would have two bedrooms, with the remaining 102 being one-bedroom units. 56 of the total units were to be priced affordably for those making 80% of area median income, with one-bedroom units permitted to be priced with an occupancy of two people in mind.

But commissioners pointed out that the one-bedroom units were similar to studios in size, layout and lack of a true kitchen, leading to a discrepancy in the calculation of affordable rent.

“I do think that a reasonable person would look at both the one bedroom and the one bedroom plus arrangements and discern that that is a studio apartment,” said Commissioner Bode.

Other rationale put forth by commissioners for denial of the application included questions of whether the affordable units were equitable in terms of views and location within the building, questions of ADA compliance in regard to the cramped site plan, and concerns about traffic congestion and safety impacts on the midtown neighborhood.

Are officials in Missoula paying attention to this? I bet they are, and they should be, because locals here are also getting very tired of the corrupt self-dealing that’s rampant, obvious, and ultimately self-destructive to the supposed goals of HELPING those who struggle to afford a roof over their head.

If you appreciate a local journalist who refuses to let massive political retaliation stop him from truth-telling, then consider donating to Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF). I’ve hit more than a few nerves with our corrupt officials and non-profit influencers, I’m over their entire nerve-center dropping truth bombs and the response has been nasty, vindictive, and very predictable.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

Bob Campbell is suddenly my favorite City Council person. Previously, I didn’t have a favorite, but now Bob is it. I’ll get to why in just a moment.

First, on January 11th, I wrote this post about Bob, urban camping, and the term “side-rails”, which showed me that Bob was going to try REALLY HARD to be a politician. Part of being a politician is raising money, and that’s where Bob has a problem, and that problem is whether or not to subsidize a farm connected to County Commissioner, Josh Slotnick.

Here’s an excerpt from the Missoulian article where the title does most of the heavy lifting: Missoula City Council member alleges ‘pay to play’ scheme, draws sharp rebukes. From the link (emphasis mine):

Campbell made the accusation when speaking in opposition to a motion before the council to award up to $310,000 in 2018 Open Space Bond funds to the Corner Farm. The money will allow Corner Farm, an 8-acre working veggie farm on Tower Road, to be purchased by a nonprofit called Trust Montana. The land, including a riparian area, will be protected from development in perpetuity so that it can be used for agriculture. The farm produces about 40,000 pounds of food per year and is currently owned by Neva Hassanein. At the end of the meeting, the council approved using the funding on an 8-2 vote.

In a prepared statement, Campbell said he had “cause for concern” with the project because Hassanein has made political donations to several elected officials, including county commissioner Dave Strohmaier, city council member Mirtha Becerra and mayor Andrea Davis.

Campbell said county commissioner Strohmaier and commissioner Juanita Vero voted to approve a zoning variance that would allow an agricultural business as an accessory use on the property.

“One of my main concerns with this proposal today is the appearance of reproach by my constituents and the public in general,” Campbell said.

I’m glad that Bob is concerned about appearances because, as I’ve written about on this topic, the appearance isn’t great, but that’s why narrative control is so important. With the decision before council to subsidize Corner Farms, Bob’s public accusation is damaging that narrative control and I LOVE IT!

Part of my enjoyment is seeing how political cuckoldry works. To demonstrate this process, here’s Mike Nugent’s approach to dealing with bad optics:

City council member Mike Nugent was the first to respond. He said that land use has put lots of pressure on agriculture in Missoula, and protecting farmland is something the city has struggled with for a long time, he added.

“This is something we’ve been directed by the voters to try,” he explained.

Then, Nugent said he had some concerns with Campbell’s speech. Nugent noted that Hassanein had opposed his campaign for mayor, and that county commissioner Josh Slotnick (who used to own the Corner Farm land) also opposed his campaign. But, Nugent said, he was still voting for the project.

“Just like I’m not voting ‘no’ because I have previous political disagreements with some of the people involved, I believe that my colleagues are also voting yes outside of any of those things,” Nugent said. “I give them the benefit of the doubt on that. I appreciate (Campbell) bringing that up, and it’s a conversation that’s OK to have. I think we need to have a lot of respect and deference for our colleagues and be really careful on the comments that we make.”

Yes, Mike wants Bob to be REALLY CAREFUL about words and how those words are put into sentences and spoken out loud in public. Also, give those colleagues of yours the benefit of the doubt, Bob! Because this is just how politics works these days.

I’m writing this post at Break Espresso this morning and I’ve made note of TWO customers I’m sharing a space with–Mike Colyer, the police chief I mentioned in Monday’s post, and Josh Slotnick, the Commissioner at the center of this farm drama. Funny.

Later this week, at Western Montana News, I’ll examine a piece of exclusive geography in Missoula where political influence has been emanating for many years, so stay tuned, and if you’d like to assist my local reporting, Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is the place to do it. I also accept direct cash donations, like the $20 I got yesterday while using my weapon of mass instruction.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

I’m sure supporters of Tax Increment Financing think they are very sane and responsible people when they use public money to prime private development. To help feed this delusion, the Missoulian recently reported on HUGE redevelopment projects on the horizon and the quoter from Ellen Buchanan about Urban Renewal District II is absolutely hilarious.

Before we get to the quote, here’s the geography that URD II covers:

Now, here’s the quote from Ellen Buchanan, the director of the Missoula Redevelopment Agency, where she tries to scapegoat “special districts” as being responsible for gentrification and NOT the use of Tax Increment Financing (emphasis mine):

The oldest Urban Renewal District, called URD II, was once home to many nonprofits and social services organizations that didn’t generate property taxes to the city, schools, county and other taxing jurisdictions.

“But in more recent years we’ve had a great deal of investment. Because of the investment in TIF and in infrastructure we now are seeing the benefits of the development at, for instance, the Old Sawmill District,” Buchanan explained. “So this district has strong revenue sources that it didn’t have in its early years at all.”

The district sunsets in 2031, and the agency is looking at about eight large projects to complete before then. Those include building out sidewalks, building out water mains, completing the pedestrian/bicycle bridge over the Clark Fork River at the old railroad crossing, redeveloping the former Sleepy Inn site at the corner of West Broadway and Russell, rebuilding California Street, acquiring land for housing and lighting the Bitterroot trail.

“So we’re kind of marching down a path where we’re trying to tick off these different projects that were identified as priorities,” Buchanan said, noting that some projects like the Bitterroot trail lighting are funded and well underway.

Buchanan said it’s important for the sidewalks in that district to get built using TIF funds rather than special assessments, because the latter method would cause gentrification.

Yes, that’s right, Ellen Buchanan seems to be doing a little misdirection here by setting up a different payment scheme as being the TRUE stimulator of gentrification. Too bad Ellen is full of shit, which you can determine for yourself by watching the documentary I made on this topic, titled Engen’s Missoula.

https://vimeo.com/662046674

This TIF insanity is now being duplicated by Missoula County, but through a mechanism that uses a different acronym. Here’s the most recent news on TEDD, the County equivalent to TIF (emphasis mine):

The county has purchased land in the past for other projects, including the Larchmont Golf Course and the development park near the airport. It has also created a number of Targeted Economic Development Districts that generate tax increments, which in turn could help leverage affordable housing.

“Any initiative or program the county supports, there’s different ways we can support or incentivize it,” Harmel said. “Maybe it’s just to start the conversation or bring people together, and the process goes from there. All those different things are really good. There’s going to be a lot to do. Those are the avenues to attack housing on different fronts.”

This perspective is coming from the OUTGOING housing specialist for the County, Garrick Harmel, so of course he thinks the public financing tools he’s using are REALLY GOOD, but outside the bureaucrat bubble, the use of this tool looks just a little bit different.

Later this week, at Western Montana News, I’ll be writing about an exclusive piece of geography that extends political tentacles across this valley, so stay tuned! And if you’d like to assist me in my local reporting, please consider donating to Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF). Any little bit helps.

Thanks for reading!