by Travis Mateer
When I read about this ‘Housing For All’ conference happening in Missoula Monday and Tuesday, I quickly drove to the Holiday Inn downtown where our Mayor was supposedly addressing the attendees, but no one at the front desk of the hotel had a clue what I was talking about, so I read them this part of the KGVO article (emphasis mine):
“On Monday (today), Mayor Davis is going to open us up and welcome the cities at the Holiday Inn Parkside and then we’re going to have Damian Chase Begay from the University of Montana, talk about our indigenous communities, and then we’re going to move into talking about what the North Missoula Community Development Corporation has done with their housing and resident owned communities and Land Trust as well as NeighborWorks, Montana.”
Following this morning’s activities, Beczkiewicz said the party will move to the monthly City Club luncheon.
“Then we’re going to come down to City Club at the Double Tree and have a panel of local speakers, including a community developer and somebody from the city and Homeword to talk about our continuum of housing,” she said. “It sounds like there are over 200 other people from the community that will be there with us to engage with the city, so it’ll be really fun to have 50 people from other cities across the nation mixing and mingling with City Club.”
I could have tried attending the City Club event, but thanks to the totally fucked legal charade I’ve been attacked with, I decided risking jail to listen to Mayoral propaganda wasn’t worth it. Besides, all the “real” action in this clown town seems to happen on social media, where idiots reign.
Speaking of idiots, this image was re-posted from the new NO CAMP MISSOULA Facebook group, launched by Doc and Penny, my new favorite NIMBYs. For more context on this private Facebook group, here’s their purpose, goals and rules:
Will this non-profit effort have success in “communicating” their need to raise money in order to lobby lawmakers for legislation to protect their precious parks and sidewalks from being collateral damage in the drug war this country is badly losing by design? The only success I see happening from this NIMBY freakout is the deepening of partisan political ruts, but maybe I’m wrong.
Before I get to a bunch of links that those housing conference attendees would benefit from reading, I’m going to tell you about how I created a little PUBLIC/PRIVATE partnership yesterday using my unique skills as a TRASH ALCHEMIST.
When I noticed trash strewn across the parking lot of my TAAAAAZ 2.0 (where I experimented with harm reduction), I didn’t form a non-profit to start bitching and moaning on Facebook. No, I cleaned that shit up!
Before using my amazing skills to pick up trash items and place them within my trash bag, I analyzed the trash to determine what kind of behavior this trash indicated was happening in my parking lot. I made note of several sack lunches, probably dispersed by a Poverello Center program, with the sandwiches left uneaten. Why? Because, from working at the shelter, I know that sometimes lunches are taken for JUST the sweet stuff, and the rest is thrown away.
Other trash items included empty cans of alcoholic beverages and a pile of dirty clothes. I put most of the visible trash items that didn’t look to be near the pooping area into my trash bag, then drove across the river to the real estate office involved with this blighted PRIVATE property to show them the beneficial action I took to handle the problem they made worse by removing the trash can.
This is where my efforts became a PUBLIC/PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP. When I asked where I could put the trash, the lady in the real estate office suggested a CITY trash can. So that’s what I did!
Ok, that’s enough fun for this morning. Now, here are some links worth checking out if you’re from a midsize town stupid enough to duplicate what we’ve down here in Zoom Town.
Missoula County Commissioners Consider Larchmont Golf Course Affordable Housing Blue Line Scam Later Today (December 16th, 2021)
A Compilation Of Links Regarding Missoula’s Reserve Street Homeless Camps And Who Benefits From Our Community Response (I’m Looking At You, Blue Line Development) (July 19th, 2021)
Blue Line Development’s Larchmont Golf Course Scheme And Rep. Danny Tenenbaum’s Curious Support (November 18th, 2021)
Missoula County’s Movement Toward A Housing Plan (January 19th, 2022)
Missoula’s Narrative Controllers And Economic Elitists Virtue Signal Over Housing Affordability (February 15th, 2022)
Panel Of Hypocrite Contributors To Missoula’s Housing Crisis Gather To Complain About Missoula’s Housing Crisis (March 23rd, 2022)
A Well-Timed Affordable Housing Conversation Annoys Council President, Gwen Jones (June 24th, 2022)
Exploring The United Way’s Curious Pallet Partners (January 5th, 2023)
It’s A Mistake To Think Housing Will Solve The Houseless Drug Epidemic (May 2nd, 2023)
Taking A Closer Look At Missoula’s $107,500 Expenditure To Central Housing Strategies (July 7th, 2023)
OMG, Housing Providers Have Rules! (August 11th, 2023)
Missoula Needs More Housing, But The White Lion Sleeps Tonight (January 5th, 2024)
Is Missoula Harboring A Cancerous Growth Pretending To Be A Housing Developer? (February 26th, 2024)
Pushing Public Private Partnerships To Build Housing Isn’t Helping (June 12th, 2024)
Missoula County Duplicating City TIF Schemes With TEDD Because They’re Insane (July 9th, 2024)
Yeah, I’d say the context I’ve provided on the housing conversation over the years is pretty damn valuable, but I can’t tell if YOU think it’s valuable if you don’t show me with, you know, actual money. That’s why at the end of almost every insightful post, I virtually panhandle my readers for donations, which you can provide digitally at Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF). Any little bit helps.
Thanks for reading!
