I was biking to the mall the other day when I saw a camera filming people walking out of a bank, the shiny new one that got a public money boost from MRA (Missoula Redevelopment Agency).
Was it the media filming? No, it was the architects, A&E, out documenting their shiny new display of success through publicly-funded gentrification.
The Missoula Redevelopment Agency agrees to help with the redevelopment of a major new bank building with one of the largest investments in the Midtown neighborhood in several years.
First Security Bank is planning to spend over $ 23 million for a new, three-story building, consolidating operations from multiple older buildings into a single new location.
Thursday, the MRA board approved a request to invest in the redevelopment using $711,000 in Tax Increment Financing, helping to pay for additional community improvements surrounding the new building.
For more on the galling history of the Missoula Redevelopment Agency helping those poor banks build their bank buildings, read this.
The only thing I can think of that would be more insane for MRA to throw more money at than bank buildings is the trillion dollar library where I’ve found drugs in the bathroom not once but twice.
When I saw that a request for $75,000 was being made by the library I asked myself WHAT could the library possibly need $75,000 dollars for? Especially considering they already panhandled MRA after their trillion dollar bond wasn’t enough public money to fully realize their wildest library dreams.
For those who don’t remember the library doing this, here’s an excerpt:
The Missoula Redevelopment Agency’s board of directors on Thursday agreed to give $200,000 to the Missoula Public Library and pledged an additional $300,000 over the next four years to help the facility retain the top floor of its new building, as envisioned in its design.
Members of the library board approached MRA last month with their initial request seeking $500,000 from the Front Street Urban Renewal District. The district doesn’t have that amount of funding on hand, however, and MRA was reluctant to issue debt to cover the cost.
MRA director Ellen Buchanan said the resulting agreement will see MRA contribute $200,000 in cash from the district and pledge an additional $300,000 over four years, not to exceed $75,000 in any given year, and only if there’s excess increment available.
That satisfied members of the library board, who lobbied strongly for the contribution.
After this 2018 request for more money, and the hilarious double-helix disaster, I really can’t believe the library has cooked up the following bullshit (thanks to Western Montana News for making me aware of this insanity) to justify asking EVEN MORE of the public MRA piggy bank:
With all this context in mind, who would support a hypothetical random urine testing program for the library board AND maybe the MRA board as well–you know, to see if they’re possibly high AF?
Stay tuned later this week for clips of me bringing my good ideas directly to the important people make the important decisions despite a nearly constant refrain of being broke AF
Coming from a caffeine/cannabis/Lego/b0ok-buying addict, this pattern of behavior is quite familiar to me.
Thanks for reading!