[MissoulaGov] Committee Update 11-19-08

[Bob Jaffe]

Greetings,

This morning in Public Safety we approved the purchase of a new
simulator for the police department for $80,000. About $75,000 is paid
for from grants. The balance is from the police department budget. The
equipment sounds pretty cool. Some of the council members got to see it
back when it was being demoed. The officer is in some kind of video
simulator. The instructor can steer the scenario in various ways
depending on how the officer reacts. The purpose is to train the
officers in how best to deescalate potentially violent situations but
also to help them to know when to use force. All of their actions are
recorded so they can be critiqued and reviewed. The device will actually
shoot plastic pellets at them. It also comes with the necessary
equipment to film our own scenarios.

 

In conservation we discussed Green tags one more time. This time we were
pretty close to approving a version of the program that had the City
endorsing it but not committing any funding. So the Green House
committee could pursue the thing with volunteer labor and incidental
city staff support. We then chose to hold off until the administration
had an opportunity to discuss how exactly this could be implemented with
staff. That discussion is likely to happen in the next couple of weeks
and then it will be back one more time.

 

In PAZ we dedicated the whole two hours to a presentation and discussion
on the downtown master plan. There was also a meeting this evening to do
a similar presentation for the public. I'm sure the details of the
presentation will be covered well in the paper. One of the memorable
points for me was something that Dick Haines raised. He has expressed
this opinion a number of times. He says that the biggest problem
downtown is that it is too hard to get there. The traffic and congestion
is simply too much for people to want to bother to come downtown. Even
if they live in East Missoula it is probably faster to get on the
highway and go to Reserve street then it is to go downtown. These
consultants may get favorable feedback when they present their ideas at
these workshops at the Missoula Children's Theater but if they did this
down in Lolo or Stevensville they would hear a different opinion.

 

In the past when I have heard Dick say these things I have taken it as a
confirmation that he lives in some kind of alternate universe to the one
I live in.  But this time I had a glimpse of understanding of what he
was talking about. Here is the way I see it: There are different kinds
of shopping experiences. In Missoula, we have the downtown, the mall,
and Reserve street.  On the upside Reserve has automotive convenience,
low prices, and large quantity. But it also has endless hardscape, is
completely depersonalized, and makes me feel like a little piece of my
soul has been lost every time I go there. 

The mall has everything under one roof, it's safe, the kids love it. On
the down side it makes me feel very middle aged, suburban, and like I
belong in my mini-van. It's not really that hip.

Downtown has variety, quality, feels alive and authentic. I meet people
and interact on the street. I know the merchants. I can get around on my
bike. But on the other hand it can be dirty, you can have uncomfortable
interactions with homeless people, and it's not where you go to find
basic necessities. 

But that's OK. All three of these experiences have a place in my life.
If we try to turn downtown into Reserve street we will ruin the essence
of downtown. I understand what Dick is saying. I imagine he and his
constituents are just more Reserve street oriented and don't relate to
the appeal of downtown. I'm sure the downtown merchants would love to
see more of their money but I think we need to look for other ways to
draw them in besides replicating the strip malls and controlled
environments they are comfortable with.

 

The other item I want to see brought up more is the homeless. The
complaints I have heard about downtown have to do with parking and
panhandlers. We are eagerly spending $7,000,000 without any controversy
to address parking. The homeless are another story. Social
responsibility and other liberal stuff aside, this is also an economic
development issue.  I don't know what the solutions are but it's
entirely absent from the discussion.

 

In A&F we voted to put Derek Goldman back on the Impact Fee Advisory
board. This was a split vote. The other candidate is a lady who is the
city attorney for Deer Lodge. She lives in Missoula and goes there once
a week. She sounded like she would be fine but I really appreciate the
work Derek has done on that board and I would like him to continue.

 

In Public Works we spent about $650,000 buying new dump trucks and
police cars. The police cars had been a bit controversial because some
of us wanted to see more economical vehicles used by the police.  During
lunch, Stacy, Dave, and I met with Chief Muir and heard all about why
they had to use the big cars for cruisers. By the end of the discussion
I was convinced that it was reasonable.  They need a car that comes with
a high performance package to address stuff like heavy duty brakes,
stiffer suspensions, tougher transmissions, more reinforcements for
crashes, passenger compartment designed for all the extra gear, airbags
positioned to work with the extra gear, etc... Only a few vehicles are
built specifically for this purpose. The Dodge Charger looked like the
best choice of the limited options. There is a company currently
building a "green" police car but it won't be available until 2012.
They indicated that they are more than willing to look at hybrids for
the detectives and other cars in the fleet.    

 

Then we finished the day with another PAZ session to review the urban
fringe development area (UFDA) plan.  Questions raised at the public
hearing were addressed and a motion passed to adopt the plan as an
amendment to the growth policy.  One of the issues discussed was the
request to lower the target numbers for the Mullan Road area to preserve
more Ag land.  Roger from OPG pointed out that even if you pulled the
prime soil areas out there was still enough area to meet the
projections. This satisfied the committee.

 

Thanks for your interest,

 

Bob Jaffe

Missoula City Council, Ward 3

bjaffe at ci.missoula.mt.us <mailto:bjaffe at ci.missoula.mt.us> 

406-728-1052

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