by Travis Mateer
What will a million dollars do next year that $359,000 dollars couldn’t do during fiscal year 2024? That’s a GREAT question, and the former director of the Poverello Center, Eran Pehan, has some answers for you, and one of those answers is STAFFING! From the link (emphasis mine):
City officials said roughly $359,000 was budgeted for the program in the current fiscal year. But next year, the cost of the program is set to double as various departments seek the resources they need to carry out the demands of the ordinance.
“When we look at both budgets combined, it’s about $1 million in expenses to begin those implementation tasks in the ordinance, and continue doing what we’ve been doing throughout our encampment response in FY 24,” said Eran Pehan, the city’s director of development. “Some of these programs are quite staff intensive.”
Yes, Eran Pehan, I’m sure it will be quite intensive to expand local government in order to track homeless people like me who have NO INTEREST in signing up for your little car camping program. That’s because you want to coerce me into keeping my house on wheels in ONE place for 30 days, and in proximity to other car campers who I have no desire to be in proximity to. That’s not going to happen.
Here’s more from the article about what’s being planned by the city (emphasis mine):
The city’s new ordinance also permits camping in vehicles in the public right of way, so long as the camper has secured the proper permit and follows the rules within the ordinance. But ensuring that happens also carries a cost, the city said.
To manage the vehicle camping program, the city is seeking $152,000 to hire two additional employees. It’s an ongoing expense that covers the cost of educating, permitting, cleaning and ensuring camping compliance.
The request also includes $11,000 for protective gear, fuel and office supplies, and $73,000 to contract cleanup, garbage and towing assistance, Pehan said.
“There are quite a few conditions those campers need to meet that requires staff to physically go to each site or location,” Pehan said. “We check back to ensure they move within 30 days to another site. There’s a lot of in-the-field work for our team, and implementation on the back end.”
It’s going to be FUN watching our city officials try to deal with my car camping status while simultaneously hoping the criminal justice system crushes my ability to report on reality, as I experience it, on the streets of this retarded town. I hope reality doesn’t smack them in the face like a biological male kicking a woman’s ass at the Olympics.
This woman is upset that the culture war landed VERY hard blows to her face, brutally ending her Olympic ambitions. I guess she didn’t realize what kind of Olympics this was.
If Missoula’s virtue-signalers want to show me they care about marginalized populations, like homeless people, then they should help me understand how the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office can euthanize a black man, then shoot the other black man allegedly involved in the altercation that put the first black man in the hospital, where the plug was pulled on his life support. Explain how this can happen in a LIBERAL town like Missoula, and I’ll gladly permit my Bowie and Booty wheels for your adorable effort at “helping” the homeless.
If you appreciate what I’ve sacrificed to find answers about what’s happening in my community, Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is waiting to receive your financial generosity. Any little bit helps.
Thanks for reading!
The way you explain this is groundbreaking! As a fellow transsexual masquerading as a Hassidic Jew, I achingly relate to your analogy of the modern man as a Universal Monster like Frankenstein on on hot coals! Yes, I have howled like a Wolfman on lonely nights during the sabbath whether there be a full moon or not. Like you, I have seen a number of Gill Men running around these Black Lagoons myself. After reading what you said I have not felt this kind of pain since I was hogtied and strapped to the back of a horse as it ran through a cornfield, wildly galloping into the sunset like some headless horseman’s rabid taxi. At least we know we are of the same cloth.
A year ago, interim Mayor Jordan Hess declared a state of emergency regarding the homeless situation. The cost of that declaration was not immediately billed to the taxpayers of Missoula. My understanding was that the cost would be put on property tax bills for 2025. So will that cost (incurred in 2023) be seen on our property tax bills in three months, to be paid in 2025?