Month: October 2024

by Travis Mateer

Postcards? Why would our Mayor be sending out postcards? Did Harvard tell Mayor Davis that using the postcard approach from a national survey organization is the best way to create the APPEARANCE of citizen engagement? Because if our Mayor is serious about hearing from citizens, then I suggest starting with FIXING the system that is currently disenfranchising me from making public comment.

While my ordeal plays out in the courts, our Mayor is busy with those postcards. I wish I was kidding, but I’m not (emphasis mine):

Some Missoula residents will receive a postcard in the mail in the next few days inviting them to share their opinions about quality of life and local government services. This is a legitimate professional survey being conducted for the City, and City leaders encourage residents to participate.

The postcard will have the City logo on it and will be signed by Mayor Andrea Davis. The 2024 National Community Survey was developed by the National Research Center at Polco, a leader in the fields of civic engagement and surveying. The probability-based sample survey has been distributed across the city’s six wards. It will allow the City to collect statistically significant information on residents’ opinions on the economy, community design, utilities, safety, the natural environment, inclusivity, engagement and transportation. National Community Survey results will provide benchmarks to allow comparisons with similar cities, and they will show trends during the coming years.

“I want to encourage folks to take this survey,” said Mayor Andrea Davis. “It’s important we learn from our constituents’ perspectives, and I look forward to hearing their thoughts.”

Does anyone really believe our Mayor wants to hear thoughts from citizens? Or, is it perhaps more likely that “legitimate” surveys like these are simply methods of providing narrative cover for the types of people who need Harvard to tell them how to be a Mayor?

Andrea Davis doesn’t need postcards to know that her leadership on JUST the issue of urban camping has been a monumental failure pissing off nearly everyone involved in the conversation. Add the economic pressures, the decline in safety, and stupid virtue-signaling efforts at “inclusivity” that even Heidi West balked at funding, and what you have is a VERY unhappy community.

A Missoula City Council member didn’t win any votes from the rest of the council earlier this week in her attempt to defund Missoula’s Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion program.

On Wednesday, Ward 1 representative Heidi West asked for the city’s budget to be amended so that the $147,180 allocated to the JEDI program would instead go to fund after-school recreation programming at Missoula Title I schools, which are federally recognized as having a certain amount of low-income students.

West told her fellow council members that the JEDI program was created in the aftermath of the summer of 2020.

“Several years into JEDI, it is still unclear what needs are being addressed, what this program is intended to do, or how success is defined,” she told the council in her request. “Program accomplishments to date, such as standardizing pay for city staff, should be addressed through existing human resources standards.”

That’s right, this bullshit costs REAL MONEY, so I don’t think anyone in Missoula will be happy to receive a postcard signed from our Mayor to further bolster the PERCEPTION that Mayor Davis is responsive to a struggling community that our cabal wants to transform into a multi-modal clusterfuck.

How much will the postcard scheme cost? I don’t know, the article doesn’t put a price tag on this stupid shit that will supposedly make our local government LESS stupid (emphasis mine):

“The National Community Survey is a great way for us to learn more about what our residents need and want,” said Eric Hallstrom, City of Missoula Chief Operations Officer. “It’ll also help us make smarter, data-driven decisions. By taking part, Missoula residents can share their thoughts on important topics like the local economy, transportation, safety and how we stay connected as a community. Their input will play a big role in shaping the future of our city.”

Do you believe Eric Hallstrom? Because I don’t, and that’s because I’ve actually attended the types of “community engagement” processes that are utilized by local government to con the public into thinking the public supports transforming Missoula into a carless “smart” city, when we DO NOT support this vision of the future for Missoula.

For more on the steaming pile of bullshit peddled by this national survey company about their services, here’s a screenshot from their website:

Now that you’ve been told why you need the NCS, here are some links that show, I think, why you need a citizen journalist with two and a half decades of experience in Missoula, including a decade spent working in the non-profit sector:

A Question For Mayor Andrea Davis: Why Are The Majority Of Eligible Voters Still Not Voting? (November 8th, 2023)

Mayor Davis’ Bold Indecisiveness On Urban Camping Plus Mayor Hess’ Public Comment Tantrum Plus Fuck Missoula (November 15ht, 2023)

Mayor Davis Attends University That Taught Ted Kaczynski To Be A People Person (December 7th, 2023)

Sexism Against Women Isn’t Even Half The Story, But Don’t Tell That To The Missoulian (December 13th, 2023)

Is Mayor Davis Paying United Way Of Missoula For Some Narrative Damage Control? (March 13th, 2024)

Harvard Won’t Tell Mayor Davis How Going Woke Is A Precursor To Going Broke (July 16th, 2024)

When Storms Are Seen As Acts Of God (July 26th, 2024)

Missoula’s Bitter Budget Battle Blues (August 20th, 2024)

Maybe More Harvard Will Help? (August 27th, 2024)

Do Immigrants Have A Hotline To Missoula’s Mayor? (September 18th, 2024)

A Bloomberg Getaway In Mexico City For Mayor Davis Makes Mayor Davis A Better Mayor How? (October 16th, 2024)

Is Missoula One Of The Dumbest Municipalities In The Country? (October 25th, 2024)

If I get a postcard in the mail from the NCS I’ll add it to my collection of Missoula ephemera I’ve collected over the years, since MY work to counter the bullshit of the narrative controllers is a long-term project that will continue, in one form or another, regardless of what they come up with next to try and stop me.

If you would like to help the most hard-hitting journalist in Zoom Town, then donate to Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) today! Any little bit helps.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

What inspired Jeff Bezos to drop a massive truth bomb on his Washington Post and ALL of legacy media? Was it the fact that Congress is now more popular than American Media outlets, or was it the relative success of podcasters and other alt-media platforms? Regardless of the motivation, I was surprised to find myself nodding along with the words of a billionaire douche-nozzle as he eviscerated the tantrum-throwing reporters who can’t handle the reality that they are WIDELY DESPISED by the American public.

Let’s take a look at Bezos’ words of warning to his newspaper about why he decided an endorsement would be VERY STUPID to make in this current climate of political insanity (emphasis mine):

In the annual public surveys about trust and reputation, journalists and the media have regularly fallen near the very bottom, often just above Congress. But in this year’s Gallup poll, we have managed to fall below Congress. Our profession is now the least trusted of all. Something we are doing is clearly not working.

Let me give an analogy. Voting machines must meet two requirements. They must count the vote accurately, and people must believe they count the vote accurately. The second requirement is distinct from and just as important as the first.

Likewise with newspapers. We must be accurate, and we must be believed to be accurate. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but we are failing on the second requirement. Most people believe the media is biased. Anyone who doesn’t see this is paying scant attention to reality, and those who fight reality lose. Reality is an undefeated champion. It would be easy to blame others for our long and continuing fall in credibility (and, therefore, decline in impact), but a victim mentality will not help. Complaining is not a strategy. We must work harder to control what we can control to increase our credibility.

If regaining credibility is the goal for American media, then Bezos is correct, a victim mentality will not help, but if EVADING ACCOUNTABILITY is the goal, then deploying a victim mentality makes sense because it’s like a psychic form of protection for individuals who can’t handle the fact America’s media platforms have been integral in pissing Americans off so badly that a political middle finger named TRUMP seems not just desirable, but necessary.

Let’s continue.

After claiming presidential endorsements only create the perception of bias, and citing historical precedent for the decision to stop making them, Bezos offers two different ways of understanding his wealth, with one of them being the I’M TOO RICH TO INTIMIDATE benefit many see as a reason to ALSO support Trump.

You see, if you DO NOT have money, and you try telling the truth about a community, like I’m trying to do, you will get your ass kicked by people with more money, power and influence. But if you have WEALTH, like Bezos, then I you have the LUXURY of telling the truth without the fear that your life will be negatively impacted for trying to do the right thing. And the truth, according to Bezos, is that without credibility, scrappy little podcasters will succeed where the Post is currently failing (emphasis mine):

You can see my wealth and business interests as a bulwark against intimidation, or you can see them as a web of conflicting interests. Only my own principles can tip the balance from one to the other. I assure you that my views here are, in fact, principled, and I believe my track record as owner of The Post since 2013 backs this up. You are of course free to make your own determination, but I challenge you to find one instance in those 11 years where I have prevailed upon anyone at The Post in favor of my own interests. It hasn’t happened.

Lack of credibility isn’t unique to The Post. Our brethren newspapers have the same issue. And it’s a problem not only for media, but also for the nation. Many people are turning to off-the-cuff podcasts, inaccurate social media posts and other unverified news sources, which can quickly spread misinformation and deepen divisions. The Washington Post and the New York Times win prizes, but increasingly we talk only to a certain elite. More and more, we talk to ourselves. (It wasn’t always this way — in the 1990s we achieved 80 percent household penetration in the D.C. metro area.)

Yes, those who want accurate reports about reality no longer believe what’s coming from legacy media, and they have no one to blame but themselves. Locally, all you have to do is observe how a small percentage of shelter-resistant drug addicts and their enablers have been able to steer the homeless narrative towards their saintly victimhood and need for MORE services, while anyone who questions this narrative gets shamed for being heartless and lacking compassion.

When law enforcement institutions, like the FBI, put out bullshit numbers about crime GOING DOWN, which gets regurgitated by corporate stenographers LARPing as journalists, only to find out later how those bullshit numbers were quietly revised, the only thing that stands out is how BULLSHIT is the standard, just like the mindless repeating of press releases is the standard for our shitty national media (emphasis mine):

When the FBI originally released the “final” crime data for 2022 in September 2023, it reported that the nation’s violent crime rate fell by 2.1%. This quickly became, and remains, a Democratic Party talking point to counter Donald Trump’s claims of soaring crime.

But the FBI has quietly revised those numbers, releasing new data that shows violent crime increased in 2022 by 4.5%. The new data includes thousands more murders, rapes, robberies, and aggravated assaults.

The Bureau – which has been at the center of partisan storms – made no mention of these revisions in its September 2024 press release.

If objective reality helps out a conservative candidate, like Donald Trump, then Americans have come to expect our media to IGNORE REALITY because it’s apparently become more important to STOP CONSERVATIVES than it is to accurately reflect what’s happening across the country.

Going back to Bezos, he concludes his truth bomb with some funny fighting words I’ll have to see to believe. Here’s our supposedly benevolent billionaire telling us how his newspaper is going to fight back against the success of “unresearched podcasts” and “social media barbs” with his paper’s new found investment t in truthful, objective reporting:

While I do not and will not push my personal interest, I will also not allow this paper to stay on autopilot and fade into irrelevance — overtaken by unresearched podcasts and social media barbs — not without a fight. It’s too important. The stakes are too high. Now more than ever the world needs a credible, trusted, independent voice, and where better for that voice to originate than the capital city of the most important country in the world? To win this fight, we will have to exercise new muscles. Some changes will be a return to the past, and some will be new inventions. Criticism will be part and parcel of anything new, of course. This is the way of the world. None of this will be easy, but it will be worth it. I am so grateful to be part of this endeavor. Many of the finest journalists you’ll find anywhere work at The Washington Post, and they work painstakingly every day to get to the truth. They deserve to be believed.

This final sentiment is where I deviate from Bezos because I don’t think his journalists deserve a goddamn thing. It’s the AMERICAN PUBLIC who deserves something, and what we deserve is an APOLOGY from corporate media about their role as NARRATIVE CONTROLLERS vs. what we need them to be, which is truth-tellers challenging those in power.

In Missoula, those with narrative control power continue to act like they’re in damage control mode over their complete and utter fuck at managing “urban campers”. Part of where our local media has failed is showing the VIOLENCE happening among those seeking services for being homeless. That’s why four years ago I decided to do everything in my power to understand how Sean Stevenson came to be euthanized in a private hospital room by the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office.

The corporate media shill who helped those in power back then, Gwen Florio, ran away to Philadelphia and now writes fiction, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to forget her role in obscuring what happened almost five years ago inside the homeless shelter where I used to work. That’s why I reminded Florio that her former employer, Lee Enterprises, is a BIG part of the problem.

Here are the posts where I specifically detail Florio’s role in the narrative control of Sean Stevenson death at the hands of local law enforcement:

Gwen Florio’s Virtue Signaling Resignation Does Not Make The Missoulian A Good Newspaper While She Was Editor (October 12th, 2020)

On Podcasts, Local Media, And The Value Of A Closer Look (May 24th, 2020)

Stop Grabbing The Popcorn While Rome Burns… (August 10th, 2022)

On The “Fiction” Of Gwen Florio (November 26th, 2022)

On Living Life In Double-Standard Town Where Hypocrite Cowards Call The Shots (May 16th, 2023)

If you appreciated what my citizen journalism has done to counter and expose our local narrative controllers, then please consider donating to Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF). I’m not financially insulated from intimidation, like Jeff Bezos, so any financial assistance is GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

The AI image above is a creative rendering of Public Information Officer, Whitney Bennett, giving out a BILL for information while an ALPHA investor boards his private plane. Something similar happened to me yesterday as I attempted to do a follow up story on the collapse of Wags Capital and the growing realization that the former Missoulian building will NEVER be the kind of condo towers Aaron Wagner and Cole Bergquist envisioned for this prime piece of riverfront property.

The information I wanted from the police department included ALL the 2024 police reports related to the address of the former Missoulian building at 500 S. Higgins. I have sources who have told me that before boarding up the property in late spring, the interior had become a makeshift homeless shelter with several beds found inside the building. I also heard from a woman working at Bridge Pizza that last Thursday a LARGE police response occurred in the parking lot of the building, leaving the parking lot closed for the entire day.

What happened? I don’t know because my broke ass refused to shell out the $26 dollars I was quoted for the privilege of obtaining PUBLIC information. When I sent a subsequent email to our PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, I just got quoted the same price. When asked more basic questions, Officer Bennett chose to just NOT respond.

Before we get to my disenfranchisement, let’s take a look at some of the original reporting about this development project, including the funny claims from publisher, Jim Strauss, about the newspaper getting “walk-in traffic” at their new location. Here’s a quote from a 2021 article:

The Missoulian will move to a different location within the city. The printing press has already been removed from the building. The newspaper is now printed in Helena and trucked back for delivery.

Missoulian publisher Jim Strauss said the newspaper’s staff will move out of the building in early 2022. The exact location of the new office will be announced once additional details are hammered out.

“We have a large amount of walk-in traffic and the new location will be great for our customers and great for our staff,” Strauss said.

I’m highlighting this claim because, as far as I know, there has NEVER been “walk-in traffic” allowed at the Missoulian’s new location, which I covered in August of 2022. I even took a picture.

Back when Wagner was shit-talking this entire town, the Missoulian helped him attempt to rehab his image with this article. From the link (emphasis mine):

“I just want to apologize to all the people I offended,” Wagner said. “I was immature and childish in some of my responses. I know better and should have been sensitive to the concerns of the locals.”

However, as is common on social media, some commenters harshly attacked the project. One commenter with the username roxann_no-e posted, “Locals hate you, bro. You’re ruining Missoula.”

Other commenters took offense to other posts Wagner has made on his Instagram account, including a black screen with the words “Do Not Comply,” a reference to Wagner’s stance against vaccine mandates.

“We posted some videos on Instagram and immediately got met with pretty angry folks,” Wagner said. “Locals pretty much said we were gentrifying Missoula and they didn’t want us here and we needed to take our development and money and everything back to where we came from.”

Wagner responded to scores of commenters angrily. In one response, he wrote, “Land abduction (with crying tears emojis). I paid $10mm for the land …More than your life and soul is worth … so here’s a little tip … f— off and get a life (with a middle finger emoji).”

The f— was spelled out.

I had forgotten that our legacy media was SO CONCERNED about coercing people to get jabbed with experimental Big Pharma products that Wagner’s stance on vaccinations became a part of the local conversation about gentrification. How fucking stupid, but that’s what I’ve come to expect from local media: utter stupidity.

Last week, while I sustained a perjury-laden deluge of testimony regarding my threatening behavior, the judge pushed back against my petitioner’s demand regarding my blog content and the attempt to ban me from downtown on Mondays and Wednesdays so that the people who are allegedly terrified of me can enjoy a TRAVIS-FREE zone for City Council meetings.

The judge explained to me, after denying my petitioner’s hope for a Monday/Wednesday ban, that she (the judge) was going to maintain the condition set by Judge Eli Parker that I am FORBIDDEN from making in-person appearances at City Council. This wasn’t disenfranchising me of my rights, it was further explained, because I had the ability to attend meetings virtually. This is based on TWO assumptions: one, that the technology works, and two, that I have the financial resources for an internet connection and/or smart phone.

Last night, I followed the process for joining virtually SEVERAL TIMES, but guess what? It didn’t work. I wonder why?

I’m going to wrap up this post with something that our PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER is more geared to dealing with, since my right to obtain public information without the barrier of an exorbitant costs is NOT within her skillset to handle.

So, what can Whitney Bennett, the PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, handle? How about police fashion? Is that more her speed? (emphasis mine):

The Missoula Police Department is working to educate the public about a change to officer uniforms.

In recent years, some officers shifted from the traditional uniforms to external carriers, where more equipment is carried on the chest instead of the belt.

Whitney Bennett, the department’s public information officer, said it’s important for the public to know the reason behind the different style of uniforms.

“We’re not necessarily wearing these to be more military-like or be more tactical and look tougher,” Bennett said. “What it is, is it’s more our health and our wellness.”

Before you think I’m being sexist, it’s actually the Missoula Police Department singling out women for needing safety training. Why else would they host a safety event JUST FOR WOMEN this Friday at the Butterfly House? (emphasis mine):

The Missoula Police Department invites community members to attend a free “Personal Safety for Women” luncheon, offering valuable safety tips and resources. The event will take place on Friday, November 1st, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Balsamroot Conference Room, located in the Butterfly House, 1075 South Ave W #2.

This event is open to the public, with 60 spots available, and requires registration. Attendees will gain practical knowledge about personal safety and self-defense, with presentations including:

Defensive Tactics Trainers: Offering guidance on the legal use of force in self-defense.

A representative from Reflex Protect: Discussing non-lethal defense products and situational awareness strategies.

Domestic violence awareness: Tips on what to do when you suspect someone is in a domestic violence situation.

Yes, ladies of Zoom Town, it’s important to have SITUATIONAL AWARENESS, and that is precisely why I’ve made sure those working on the Hip Strip understand that the DEVELOPMENT WHORES who run this town have been conned by an ALPHA CON, and the result is a building that’s been vacant for years now, thus attracting the kind of people women might want to avoid as they jog along the river trail and consider cutting through Wagner’s blighted property to shop at cute stores, like Betty’s Divine.

I’ll also add, down here, that part of MY situational awareness includes knowing that Whitney Bennett was one of the first police officers on scene at the Poverello Center on January 3rd, 2020, when Sean Stevenson was allegedly assaulted by JUST ONE other black man by the name of Johnny Lee Perry. Since both black men are now dead, with Johnny having been shot in the back by the Sheriff’s Office, maybe I should have a chat with this woman who seems to have been promoted to help our fair city control narratives so that no one knows what can be done to people in the shadows of our liberal utopia.

If you appreciate my perseverance to citizen journalist the BIG HOLE no one else in legacy media appears capable of filling, consider donating to Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF). Tomorrow I’ll be taking a look at a surprisingly candid op-ed assessment by Jeff Bezos regarding the decision to NOT allow his legacy media product to endorse one of the most pathetic presidential candidates this country has ever seen, so stay tuned.

And, as always, thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

To answer the question posed by the title of this post, I told Missoula months ago that Aaron Wagner was NOT a solvent developer capable of building condos where the Missoulian newspaper once got printed. Now, after Wagner was recently arrested by the FBI, a local reporter like Gomer can finally talk about what I was writing about in January.

Before we get to Gomer’s take, here’s MY reporting on Aaron Wagner, going back to his Missoula shit-talking:

Getting To Know Wags Capital While Speculating On A Brewing Oligarch Battle (December 2nd, 2021)

Wags Hands Off To Bergquist To Build The Archie, The Belle, And The Cam (September 21st, 2022)

Missoula Needs More Housing, But The White Lion Sleeps Tonight (January 5th, 2024)

Come Fight The White Lion Blight With The Trash Alchemist! (May 5th, 2024)

The Right Kind Of Pride For The Times? (May 6th, 2024)

The reason I started scrutinizing Wags Capital earlier this year is because a mother reached out to me after her daughter got screwed out of wages while working at a Wags Capital restaurant brand. I was already planning a road trip, so I visited Wagner’s corporate office, one of the restaurants, and I even checked out a stalled project in Scottsdale, Arizona, so with ALL THAT context I was pretty confident that Aaron Wagner was NOT going to build his condo towers in Missoula.

Now let’s take a look at how Gomer is “reporting” on this sad development for the “development team” who wanted to build those condos:

A member of a team looking to redevelop the old Missoulian property in downtown Missoula was arrested Thursday in Salt Lake City and was listed Friday on jail rosters as a federal detainee.

Aaron Wagner, owner of the investment firm Wags Capital, is charged with allegedly defrauding investors. The arresting agency was listed as the Federal Bureau of Investigations and Wagner was being held under an interstate agreement, according to Utah records.

If you want a rehashing of Wagner calling Missoulians “communist pricks” and “a bitchy little victim”, read Gomer, because that’s all his pathetic publication can manage, since nothing else could be found by this “reporter”.

Wagner is one member of a development team that has purchased the Missoulian property. Members of the development team couldn’t be reached on Friday morning for comment regarding Wagner’s arrest and alleged crime.

The Missoula Current requested comment but has yet to hear back from team members. No other information regarding the circumstances around Wagner’s arrest was immediately available.

Nothing more immediately available? Is that because Martin “Gomer” Kidston doesn’t know about Reddit? Because I’m learning LOTS about the circumstances leading up to this arrest, not to mention some perspective about the arrest itself:

While that’s interesting, it’s THIS comment that provides even MORE context for those who are interested, and according to Reddit, there are DEFINITELY locals who are interested in this story:

Aaron Wagner showed Missoula how MONEY is what’s important to the leaders of this town, not principles, quality of life, or making smart investments. And now, what was obvious to casual onlookers regarding this ALPHA douche, is becoming obvious to the local developers community who salivated at the dollar signs instead of asking themselves how effective former football players would be at playing the development game.

What a bunch of fucking idiots.

Should I call in to City Council tonight to let them know I TOLD YOU SO? Maybe I should, since I did, and now Wagner’s arrest indicates my instincts were pretty damn accurate.

If you want even MORE information (which Gomer couldn’t find with a search engine) there’s an article form Hindenburg Research worth checking out about Wagner’s alleged scamming.

On October 24th, Aaron Wagner, a social media financial influencer, and claimed successful entrepreneur managing $1 billion in investor assets, was arrested and taken into jail, per Salt Lake City’s prison inmate lookup.

The Department of Justice unsealed a complaint that had been filed the previous day alleging wire fraud. Per the complaint, Wagner diverted funds raised from an investor—that were supposed to be used to build certain restaurants—to instead purchase a private plane. We are glad to see the DoJ take swift action and hope these steps help maximize recovery for any of Wagner’s aggrieved investors.

We began researching Wagner in August 2023, following outreach from multiple whistleblowers who reported how he had misrepresented his investment performance, falsified financial records, and illicitly skimmed investor assets. We examined these issues in addition to evidence that he fabricated key elements of his background.

Today, we are publishing some of our findings to hopefully shed more light on the story of Aaron Wagner.

Yep, there’s LOTS of information out there available to peruse if you’re not a propagandist like Gomer who gets paid to cheerlead development projects, then do damage control when controversy arises. I wonder, will The Pulp write anything “juicy” about this? Maybe they’re get around to it later this week.

If you appreciate what my citizen journalist produces MONTHS before the narrative controllers, then please consider donating to Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF). Any little bit helps.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

Have you ever spent $800,000 dollars on something then changed your mind about it? If you live in possibly the stupidest municipality in America–which appears at this point to be Missoula–that is what might happen with one of the stupidest pieces of infrastructure this stupid town has ever produced: the bridge to nowhere.

I first started writing about this project in 2019, when the cost was “only” a half million bucks. Why was this bridge supposedly necessary? Here’s the quote (emphasis mine):

The project aims to protect and enhance the recreational value of the island. Its natural setting includes views, river sounds, birds and small wildlife, according to a news release.

Did this project succeed in its stated goal? NOPE! In fact, the exact opposite of “protection” happened, just like I suspected it would, because creating “access” just made it easier for the drug addicts to entrench themselves deeper into this plot of city land. Is that why “concept 3” suggests REMOVING this access?

The third concept also includes rapids and enhances trail connections. However, it removes the two bridges that serve Broadway Island, reserving it primarily as urban habitat. The proposal also deepens the irrigation ditch and creates a new surfing wave.

Yes, that’s right, improvements that cost HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of dollars in public investment might now just have to be “removed”. And here is my the skepticism I expressed four years ago, when this project was only a cool half million dollars:

From conversations I have had with Morgan Valiant, the Parks and Rec. lead on this project, the city didn’t know what it was getting itself into when they got this parcel of land, and not because of any of its natural features, but because of the human problem.

I did plenty of outreach in this area after the Poverello Center opened its new center on West Broadway, so I am quite familiar with the terrain and with the hope articulated by Parks and Rec. that building a bridge would somehow encourage a different kind of use of this area.

Did I think spending a half million dollars in public money on a bridge across the street from the homeless shelter was going to somehow bring in an barrage of dog walkers to run out the meth users? Hell no. But I don’t get to direct public money to projects that any bank would laugh at funding.

In another article that highlights how stupid our leadership in Missoula is, here’s a MAN who works for the organization Montana WOMEN Votes telling Mayor Davis and her cadre of dumb virtue-signalers how much they suck with the urban camping charade (emphasis mine):

The meeting – which was to set a public hearing to amend the ordinance had hours of public comment. In a unique turn of events – the power went out in downtown Missoula putting a pause on the usual proceedings. As soon as the power came back – the comments continued.

“When you’re faced with an option you are faced with two options – you can either try or you can do nothing,” said John Rhoades, a representative for Montana Women Vote. “This council has found a mystical third option of making things worse.”

Yep, things are NOT improving in this stupid town, and perhaps that’s because the people who make decisions are THEMSELVES stupid? I think that is a distinct possibility, and one I will CONTINUE to write about since I was assured yesterday by a judge that the first amendment DOES INDEED apply to me and my citizen journalism.

If you would like to support that citizen journalism, Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is the way to do it, and any little bit helps.

Thanks for reading!