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!
These surveys usually are made with questions that are constructed to give the entity creating the justification in their minds for laundering, I mean spending $$
“Strongly disagree”, etc.
That community will never improve as long as the stupid voters continue to vote stupidly. You can’t expect a bunch of stump jumping inbred hicks to critically think or educate themselves instead of relying on word-of-mouth and actually become politically aware. A Proudly isolated community filled with willful, ignorant, white drug heads cannot be expected to think clearly