Hello, faithful readers! Today is Thursday, September 21, 2023, and here are the topics that I am providing commentary about:
- Drive-Thru Flu Shot Clinic
- GF Public Safety Levy/Bond
- U.S. Senate Montana 2024
- 2023’s Most & Least Diverse States
DRIVE-THRU FLU SHOT CLINIC:
The Cascade City-County Health Department (CCHD) held its drive-thru flu shot clinic yesterday (Wednesday)at the Montana ExpoPark. The event started at 9:00 a.m. and was scheduled to last until 2:00 p.m. CCHD announced a few days before that they had received the new COVID-19 vaccines, so people could get both.
I arrived at 9:10 and there was a long line, double-wide. I almost left but decided to stay. The line moved pretty quickly and before I knew it I was filling out paperwork and not long after that I got into one of the six lines. I was done around 10:15 a.m. after receiving my flu and COVID shot. This was my fourth COVID shot.
The staff and volunteers I talked with were very nice and knowledgeable.
One interesting thing I saw when I was in the double line of vehicles was a City of Great Falls Fire Department car in line that had “Deputy Fire Chief” or “Deputy Fire Marshal” on it. I think one person was in it. I was thinking about how nice it is for the city to allow employees to drive city-owned vehicles to personal appointments.
GF PUBLIC SAFETY LEVY/BOND:
The Electric has a new report posted about the Great Falls Public Safety Levy/Bond town hall meeting held Monday evening.
It was reported by The Electric that the attendance was roughly the same as the meeting in June, with roughly 75 people in the room, at least two dozen of which were city staff, the city’s hired marketing firm and Mansfield Theater ushers.
In case you were wondering, Great Falls has a population of around 60,000.
It has been reported several times, but on the November 7 ballot will be a $21.17 million public safety infrastructure bond AND a separate $10.7 million public safety operations levy.
If either or both of these are approved our taxes will go up significantly. The Electric provides all the details about the tax increase in the article.
I will be voting “No” on both of these requests.
Check out the article from The Electric HERE.
U.S. SENATE MONTANA 2024:
Please bear with me if you have already heard this story…
The Daily Montanan reported that Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Tim Sheehy said in a recent interview with Breitbart News there were more bears than people in Montana, which estimates don’t support, and by a long shot.
The Daily Montanan did some research and according to U.S. Census data from 2022, there are more than 1.1 million people living in Montana, and Greg Lemon with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks said Tuesday the bear population isn’t that high in the state. “Fewer bears, deer, elk, combined than people,” Lemon told the Daily Montanan.
Sheehy has some learning to do. He needs to understand that every statement he makes will be fact-checked.
Read the Daily Montanan story HERE.
2023’S MOST & LEAST DIVERSE STATES:
WalletHub recently released its report on 2023’s Most & Least Diverse States in America with Montana coming in as one of the least diverse states (#46). West Virginia came in last, and California was the most diverse state. Texas was second.
I am not surprised about Montana’s ranking.
In order to determine the most and least diverse states in America, WalletHub compared the 50 states across six key dimensions: 1) Socio-economic Diversity, 2) Cultural Diversity, 3) Economic Diversity, 4) Household Diversity, 5) Religious Diversity and 6) Political Diversity.
You can read the full report HERE.
The Western Word 
Senate hopeful Sheehy seems to be in over his head … https://mooreonmontana.com/2023/09/22/the-bear-facts/
Since he’s holding a teddy bear, I wonder if he was counting teddy bears when he made that comment? Thanks, JmB
good blog larry
Thanks, John.
All economic development is not the same. My maxim has always been economic development has to make economic sense. If you have economic development that destroys your community, that makes no sense.
The best example I can give is the proposed slaughter plant. Anyone who’s done even cursory research, or lived in a slaughter plant town, knows that that would be the end of Great Falls as we know it. The city whines about lack of services now. But throw in twelve thousand newcomers from all around the globe speaking a hundred different languages, all expecting to receive basic services like schools, housing, etc. , and watch the fun begin.
It’s not theory. Alberta up north has just such a problem. One hundred and twenty different languages spoken in their schools. Do we have that many interpreters in our system? And where will they all live? Yet the county fathers think it’s a fantastic idea, and even broke the law in attempt to get it passed. And the really crazy thing is that it would be located in the county, yet the city would be the folks subsidizing this monstrosity. A lot of people said they would simply move rather than stay and watch the death of our city.
Many urban centers in the south west have basically reached their carrying capacity for humanity. And they’re scrambling for answers with no good options on the table. Lots of climate immigrants and others will be flooding to Montana seeking a better life. And that’s something we need to plan for. Those of us already here can’t pick up the entire tax burden for them.
It’s going to take some real leadership so we don’t go the way of Bozeman and Missoula. I’m not sure that we have that type of leadership now. Simply cheerleading growth and pushing taxes on us is not a viable solution or farsighted plan. Platitudes do not good policy make.
Hopefully we can get Casey Schreiner in as mayor. He is extremely intelligent and has the legislative experience to do the job.
Not a huge number at the mayoral debate last night either. Maybe 80-90. Lots of the usual faces who show up to local political/public interest events.
Casey Schreiner and Cory Reeves “won” according to me and the friend I ended up sitting with. The friend did not like McKenney at all. The 4th candidate Abby seemed well-meaning. But since there were so few people there in person and some X number watching the live stream, not sure exactly how many GF voters’ opinions will ultimately be swayed by this event.
The real big news of the evening that we didn’t already know was that all 4 candidates are not in favor of Great Falls becoming a sanctuary city – apparently the current hot topic #1 around local dinner tables and taverns.
Thanks for the info. -JmB
And oh yeah … apparently the housing/camps to be built for all the workers and families who are expected to come to the area for a few years to swap out the missiles will be near Lewistown and out west of GF somewhere like Vaughn. Not IN Great Falls at all. That should take some of the doomsday talk “future growth” pressure off our police and fire departments.
I found out for the second time that Walgreens will accept appointments ahead of time for Covid shots. You still get to stand in line for an hour to find out they haven’t got them yet. And in case I didn’t already know it I was also told my prescriptions were pretty pricey.
“ An audience member asked why the city annexed property when the city couldn’t support existing needs.
Doyon, the city manager, said it’s a balance of needing to grow the tax base and support economic growth while also ensuring core services can be provided.
Mayor Bob Kelly said that it’s a unique time in Great Falls with market forces brining more growth to the area.
He said the current strain on public safety would be exacerbated by growth without more resources.”
Can we finally lay to rest the notion that growth is good? Good for whom? The rah rah crowd endlessly harps about how we need growth to increase the tax base thereby alleviating the tax burden on the rest of us. Spreading it around so to speak.
But, it don’t work that way. We’ve got lots of new growth around town. Are they not paying their fair share of taxes? Why should we subsidize their needs? And why are we giving them tax breaks? Has the egg plant paid any taxes yet? How many hotels, motels, casinos and car washes do we need? And how do they benefit the average taxpayer? Is a bed tax in order?
Rather than throwing good money after bad, I would prefer that the local governments develop a comprehensive development plan that analyzes each proposed project to see how it will affect our tax structure so that we can stop getting hosed after the fact. If you want to build a hotel, here’s how you can do that without demolishing our existing tax structure. And if you can’t do that, good bye.
“Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of cancer”, Edward Abbey. Especially mindless growth. Playing catch up is definitely a product of mindless growth. If you’re paying attention at all you’d know that many areas of the country are suffering from all the problems associated with endless growth. We still have the chance to do it right without bankrupting our middle class. But that will require some leaders a whole lot smarter than our current crop of bozos who think the best policy is to punt!