by Travis Mateer
With only 19 days left until the biggest electoral show in American history, Missoula’s Mayor is returning from one of the funniest places I can imagine her visiting, considering the hot-button topic of immigration: MEXICO CITY!
Was it vacation? No, it was brain development, brought to you by BLOOMBERG (emphasis mine):
Missoula’s mayor joined local government leaders from across 40 countries this week for the Bloomberg CityLab conference, which brings leaders together to dissect local government issues.
Mayor Andrea Davis traveled to Mexico last weekend for the event. Davis is the only mayor from Montana and joined the summit at no cost to the city of Missoula.
I know the reporter, Griffen Smith, means FINANCIAL cost, but that’s not the only potential cost the Mayor could incur by going to Mexico City for Mayoral marching orders, or whatever the hell goes on at a CityLab conference.
We do get hints about the topics discussed in places like New York and Mexico City, and the emotions involved (gratitude), but how exactly that will translate to anything tangible for those in MISSOULA remains a mystery. Despite the persistent failure to deliver, we get reports about the TRYING that read as follows (emphasis mine):
Davis, who traveled to New York City for a similar conference in July, said she is grateful for the learning opportunity to share solutions to challenges like infrastructure and taxes.
“I am looking forward to focused time on navigating the evolving information landscape, art and architecture as ways to create social connections for residents, better addiction services for Cities, digital tools for responsive and adaptive governments, strategies for ensuring water security, paths to safer cities and so much more,” Davis said in a statement to the Missoulian.
It’s hard to know where to start with this, what with my perception that Montana is a failed state and all, but I would really like to know what Davis means by the EVOLVING INFORMATION LANDSCAPE.
If Davis identifies as a Democrat, and is getting ready to darken the bubble for Kamala, then it might be good to know what a former Democratic Presidential candidate like John Kerry thinks about quaint notions like free speech. This comment comes from Kerry’s attendance at a World Economic Forum “Sustainable Development Impact Meetings”
“Our First Amendment stands as a major block to the ability to be able to hammer [disinformation] out of existence. What we need is to win…the right to govern by hopefully winning enough votes that you’re free to be able to implement change,” Kerry said.
Kerry noted, “It’s very hard to govern today.”
Yep, I’m sure it IS hard to govern, especially when you set up the homeless Brads for disappointment with unrealistic expectations.
I didn’t set up people for disappointment when I led the Homeless Outreach Team because I knew back then our treatment options were terrible, and support services negligible for things like housing vouchers. In a recent Missoulian article, David Erickson details how the status of Montana’s voucher program is essentially fucked, a more direct assessment than you’re going to get from Mandy Rambo:
The statewide public housing authority is administered by the Montana Department of Commerce, and there are roughly 3,000 people on a waitlist to get vouchers from that organization. In Missoula, there are over 1,500 people on a waitlist to get vouchers from the Missoula Housing Authority. The story is the same in Billings and Kalispell and across the state.
Rambo said that nearly 57% of the households on the state’s waitlist are families with children or a family member with a disability.
She said that the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development uses a complex formula to determine Fair Market Rents. And, unfortunately, the last time Montana provided the federal government with data was before the current housing crisis got so severe.
“The result is that our Fair Market Rents are significantly below actually comparable market rents throughout the state,” Rambo said. “HUD has made some efforts to bring in private data sources but that has not occurred in Montana. That’s more often in very urban areas that occurs.”
Yes, people wait for YEARS to get a voucher, then they get one and it’s essentially useless. I heard this story so often, I repeated it to the newly homeless who would arrive from other states in an effort to get them NOT to assume Montana had anything resembling solutions for them.
My solution for urban camping? Jail, treatment, or another state, but that won’t happen with our Bloomberg Mayor, who was apparently doing ARTISTIC PERFORMANCES in between “excursions” (emphasis mine):
A major goal of the summit is to bring leaders together to share solutions to problems commonly faced by local governments.
“Through panel discussions, one-on-one interviews, interactive breakout sessions, artistic performances and excursions across Mexico City, the summit will delve into the solutions shaped by city halls around the world that are poised to reshape nations,” a release from Bloomberg CityLab said.
Reshape NATIONS? Lofty goal, Bloomberg CityLab. Here are some of the “speakers” educating Mayor Davis.
Is this what the Missoula voters who put Mayor Davis in office want? A fucking New York billionaire and his legion of social engineers telling our Mayor how to pander to refugee pimps and scapegoat State Republicans while NAVIGATING THE EVOLVING INFORMATION LANDSCAPE?
Fuck that. If Mayor Davis wants so badly to be a globalist pawn, then she should QUIT and find a more appropriate job. In New York.
If you appreciate someone who understands what’s at stake, and isn’t afraid to SAY IT OUT LOUD, then please consider donating to Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF). Any little bit helps.
Thanks for reading!