Archive for August, 2007
by Montana Firefighter Good to know my work is for naught. (Hat tip to bfunk!) Thanks Representative Sinrud. Thanks Montana Republicans. I’m sure the communities of Frenchtown, Arlee, Seeley Lake, Rock Creek, Darby, Billings, Plains, Livingston, etc. would love to have you come visit and present your point of view. As for me, I’ll be [...]
by Rebecca Schmitz There was an odd letter in the Missoulian’s Letter to the Editor column yesterday: Why can’t anyone running for the Missoula City Council or anything else send people information about themselves or go around and talk to people instead of putting signs up all over town that are an eyesore. We hardly [...]
by Pete Talbot Usually the folks at the WGM group can be seen at council meetings or at the Office of Planning and Grants. They’re there to mitigate regulations for subdivisions and other developments – things like siting of homes, allotment of open space, density, streets and curbs and gutters, etc. WGM is also often [...]
By Rebecca Schmitz Despite the efforts of a vocal minority, it looks like Missoulians might get to wake up to the cackling of a small number of hens after all. As Pete briefly mentioned below, last night City Council sent the “pro-chicken” ordinance back to committee last night for a little fine tuning–or, to extend [...]
by Pete Talbot Some local and regional tidbits that I found interesting. Three of the four items below were gleaned from the daily Missoulian (Tuesday, August 28). Governor Schweitzer has called a special session to deal with the extraordinary fire costs from the summer of 2007 (and it ain’t over yet). This seems like an [...]
by Jay Stevens To the driver of the Number Eight bus on Saturday, 5:18pm: When you see a man with his small daughter and a large bagful of books standing at a bus stop, it is customary for you to stop for them, especially if they are both gesticulating frantically, pointing at you. When you [...]
by Pete Talbot It looks like the mayor and city council may be changing their collective minds about buying power from Electric City Power but it’s not a wrap, yet. This email went out this morning from the mayor: Good morning, council members. About three weeks ago, I asked you to support a letter of [...]
by Pete Talbot I hate U-Haul. I usually write about weighty subjects like local and regional politics, energy and the environment, even the war in Iraq. Today, though, I’m going to use this soapbox to vent. Is there a worse run company in America than U-Haul? I suppose that Enron and W.R. Grace and some [...]
by Jay Stevens From The University of Montana’s 2007 fall orientation packet: City law requires you to register your bicycle. The fee is only $5. Bring your bike serial number. WTF??? That can’t be right! From Missoula’s Public Works Department website: Missoula City ordinance requires that all bikes ridden in the city be registered. Dealers [...]
by Jay Stevens Noodly asked for a fire update because of the apocalyptic smoke conditions on I-90. (And in Missoula we’ve made a lot of jokes recently about “end times,” what with the blood-red sun, a suffusing mustard-yellow light at sunset, and gusting winds under a gunmetal sky swirling smoke down the streets.) In lieu [...]
by Pete Talbot I took some big hits from people on council who I respect for the piece I wrote yesterday on Missoula buying into a coal-fired generating plant. Some of those hits were well deserved. I did not allow enough time for responses from the mayor and council before posting the story. Their comments [...]
by Pete Talbot Did I miss the local media coverage of this? Apparently Missoula City Council is considering buying power from the coal-fired generating plant being planned near Great Falls. The city of Great Falls has a 15 percent stake in the venture and is marketing the power from this 250-megawatt plant to cities throughout [...]
by Jay Stevens Two of the Democratically endorsed candidates for Missoula City Council, have websites up and running: Jason Wiener for Council & Elect Denver Henderson Check ‘em out, bookmark ‘em, sign up to help them out.
by Pete Talbot Missoula County Democrats endorsed candidates in all six wards at Tuesday night’s central committee meeting and forum. Incumbents Stacy Rye (Ward 3) and Ed Childers (Ward 6) got the nod. Rye’s opponent, Doug Harrison, did not seek the Democrat’s endorsement and chose not to attend the forum. The two other candidates in [...]
by Pete Talbot How do you control Missoula’s rampant growth? You could try strict zoning and subdivision regulations. You could limit the number of building permits. You could tie growth to the city’s carrying capacity (water, sewer, roads, etc.). But all that gets kind of messy, with lots of meetings and controversy, and it will [...]
by Jay Stevens Missoula’s cloaked in smoke: Most of the smoke that’s settled in the Missoula Valley has blown in from a host of active wildfires in Central Idaho, in particular the 21,000-acre Bridge Fire in the Clearwater National Forest about 45 miles southwest of here, according to the National Weather Service in Missoula. A [...]
by Pete Talbot A blogger could have a lot of fun with this one. The issue is urban chickens. I’ll play it straight, though. I got this email from the Missoula Government list serve, forwarded from Councilwomen Stacy Rye, I believe: “Missoula Neighborhoods office is doing their survey this month on chickens. A subcommittee is [...]
by Pete Talbot What a strange dichotomy: say the Pledge and get out of Iraq. The Iraq War resolution, for sure, will appear on the ballot this fall. Now it looks like a resolution for mandatory recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance at city council meetings could be on the ballot, too. How interesting that [...]
by jhwygirl The darkness and ash falling in town this evening tell the story. Jocko blew by two containment lines today as the fire continues to try and push eastward. Fire officers are doing their best to push this fire between Seeley and Placid, but it really does want to do what it wants to [...]
by Pete Talbot Missoula Democrats will hold a forum for city council candidates at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 14, at City Council Chambers, 140 W. Pine St. Following the forum, precinct committeeman and women will vote to endorse specific candidates in a ward, all candidates in a ward or not to endorse at all. [...]
by jhwygirl I’m told early air support (one plane, one helicopter) were key in putting out a fire called in during the late afternoon/early evening on Saturday. I guess it was somewhere near the Bonner side. And apparently those firefighters also quashed another fire up near Lincoln late Friday. Amazing work those guys and gals [...]
by jhwygirl Specialist Donald M. Young was killed Wednesday in Baghdad, from wounds sustained when his vehicle was struck with an IED. Young was the 2nd graduate of Capital High School killed in Iraq. Donald Young was the 5th Helena native killed in the Iraq war, and the 20th Montanan. Tears and prayers for the [...]
by Pete Talbot Here are some notes on the Montana Democratic Party Convention held in Helena last weekend. I wasn’t there. This puts me in the perfect position to critique what happened. It’s the first convention I’ve missed in a decade. Two reasons I didn’t make it: I had a paying gig elsewhere and it [...]
by Pete Talbot This was a first. I’m sitting on the banks of an anemic Gallatin River, taking a break from the horrendous traffic on Highway 191. I’m watching the fly-fishing folk negotiate the rocks when around the corner comes a raft. Wham. The raft nails a fly fisherman. Knocks him on his derriere. The [...]
by Pete Talbot There are just too damn many people in the world. This statement is accepted by most, I would think — conservatives, progressives, moderates – everyone except those that court the apocalypse. More people equal more pollution, fewer resources to go around, more conflict. This isn’t rocket science. Which is why I’m surprised [...]
by jhwygirl Held in the Public Works Committee, from the July 25th meeting, is the recommendation by the City Engineering department to sell two properties that were acquired as part of the right-of-way for the recently completed England Boulevard extension. The two properties are now 100 feet long by 47 feet in depth,having lost 53 [...]
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