Treasure State Judaism

Neighborhood Council 7 2010 Goals

2010-01-13T15:52:00.001-07:00

Neighborhood Council 7

Goals and Priorities for 2010

Public Safety

Downtown Police Officer

The downtown of Great Falls has been without the services of a dedicated, community-based policing officer for over a year and the result has been increased crime and an overall detriment to public safety. Neighborhood Council 7 strongly insists that this position be replaced and that the City ensure that this position is fully funded.

Community Based Policing

Neighborhood Council 7 is the most urban part of Great Falls. The challenges faced on the lower North and South sides of town are very different from most of our City’s other areas. Most of the residents of Great Falls come to the downtown at least once per day, and many residents of other neighborhoods come here to work and play. Unfortunately, as the most urban part of town, we have more crime than other neighborhoods.

Neighborhood Council 7 is convinced that community-based policing is the only way to effectively combat crime is areas like our lower North and South sides. We are very concerned that budgetary concerns have led the city to abandon community-based policing for traditional policing and we believe that the City should re-fund these efforts.

As we will discuss below, we feel that the Police Department should not be tasked with functions outside of its main mission. We feel that taking on additional responsibilities, like Animal Control, have been a detriment to the public safety budget and a distraction from the GFPD’s core mission.

Neighborhood Watch

The neighborhoods of the Lower North and South sides of Great Falls are communities. Here in the downtown, it is more likely that we know and socialize with our neighbors. We celebrate this part of life in our community.

This familiarity with our neighbors should be able to make Neighborhood Watch a vital part of our community public safety effort. Unfortunately, all of us must to a better job pulling together. Neighborhood Council 7 is committed to supporting Neighborhood Watch efforts and will do anything necessary and possible to lend its influence to the Watch.

For the past several years, our Council has met with the lower Northside Watch in an effort to spur increased attendance at Watch meetings. If this initiative is a benefit to the Watch, it should be continued. However, our Council needs to do a better job coordinating with Watch representatives prior to meetings.

Traffic

9th Street

9th Street has become a North-South throughway that unfortunately bisects an existing neighborhood. Children must cross that street each day to attend school at Longfellow and Whittier Elementary Schools. Pedestrian residents cross it each day to do their daily grocery shopping.

It is a priority for Neighborhood Council 7 that traffic on 9th Street be better controlled and slowed down. In the past few years, we have initiated conversations on this issue that have resulted in the pedestrian median at 4th Avenue North and the turning lane at 6th Avenue South. We continue to supports any efforts to control traffic on 9th Street.

School Zones

Traffic around the school zones at Whittier and Longfellow Elementary Schools remains a significant concern for Neighborhood Council 7. We believe that the recent enactment of Senator Tropila’s SB 88 by the Governor and Montana Legislature give the City of Great Falls additional resources to control traffic around these schools.

The School Zone at Whittier Elementary should be extended for a full city block around the school. We understand and applaud that this extension will mean that 9th Street between 3rd and 4th Avenues North will be part of a school zone.

We are also very concerned that uncontrolled traffic around the Longfellow School Zone may have contributed to the injury of a 5 year old Longfellow student as he was walking home from school (11/17/2009). We can and must do better to ensure the safety of our students.

We call upon the Great Falls Police Department to permanently increase their patrols and traffic enforcement efforts around Whittier and Longfellow Elementary Schools, especially around the times that school starts and ends for the day.

Park Drive

We are astounded that anyone thinks it reasonable for a 30 mph speedway to be located alongside the playgrounds of Gibson Park. Neighborhood Council 7 is committed to cutting through any necessary layers of bureaucracy to see this speed limit reduced.

We also suggest that most pedestrians and cyclists entering the park do so at the park entrance at 4th Avenue North. It is worth noting that 4th Avenue North is a recognized bicycle route, which connects to the River’s Edge Trail through the Gibson Park entrance. The crosswalk on Park Drive should be moved to this location with whatever traffic controls are necessary to ensure the safety of pedestrian and bicycle traffic.

Gibson Park Lighting

We are very excited that the Great Falls City Commission has voted to fund the initiative to light Gibson Park through a CTEP grant. As one of our premier initiatives over the last several years, we will continue to be part of the process to ensure that Gibson Park is lit and becomes a safer and more attractive resource for the City’s residents.

Parks and Recreation

Gibson Park

Walking Path

The status of the walking/jogging path around Gibson Park is abysmal. This path presently constitutes a tripping hazard that is dangerous to users and leaves the City open to lawsuits. The Path should be re-accomplished in such a way to minimize future disruptions from growing roots. City needs to maintain its resources. We understand that the City is applying for a grant for funds to repair the path. Neighborhood Council 7 stands ready to support this effort in any way necessary. At a minimum, we are very willing to write letters of support and to solicit letters of support from our neighbors.

Park and Ponder Restaurant

We believe that it is a significant detriment to the City that the City’s rental restaurant in Gibson Park has been empty for over a year. We believe that the City should redouble its efforts and actively try to find anew tenant. The City should write a clear and comprehensive lease with this new Tenant to ensure that the obligations of both parties to the agreement are clearly delineated.

Sprinkler System

It is our perception that this system has significant problems. The water that pools behind the bandshell each June almost becomes an additional City pool. In addition, it is our perception that much of the grass in the park become dry and dead by mid-August each year. The City needs to maintain its resources and fix these problems.

Aquatics

Lap Swimming

Neighborhood Council 7 is thrilled to see such extensive use of all the City’s aquatic resources by residents throughout town. We support swimming as a lifelong activity that improves health. We believe that daily lap swimming periods should be set aside at all city pools.

Natatorium

Physical Plant

The current Maroney Natatorium is now over forty years old. Many parts of the Natatorium’s physical plant are in poor condition due to age and deferred maintenance. The pool’s boiler is in poor condition and needs to be replaced, the decking is cracking and the bathroom plumbing can best be described as quirky.

The City needs to maintain its resources. In addition, creative ideas must be considered to maintain indoor swimming resource for residents while minimizing expenses. One option that deserves further study could be to eventually abandon/demolish the existing Natatorium and enclose the Mitchell Pool. The decking and boiler in the Mitchell Pool have been replaced in the last two years. We believe that implementation of this idea could reduce overall assets and expenses while leaving year-round swimming resources at almost the same level. While we do not yet endorse such an idea, we believe it is deserving of additional study.

Annual Maintenance Closure

For many years, it has been the City’s practice to close the Natatorium each December for maintenance. We submit that this closure; which annually falls during the School’s Winter Break; leaves lower-income City residents with virtually no recreation options at a time when they would be very welcome.

We submit that it would be a far better use of the City’s resources to annually close the Natatorium for repairs in July or August, when the outdoor neighborhood pools are available.

MItchell Pool status as Neighborhood Pool

The Mitchell Pool is a neighborhood pool. The children of the lower North and South side have historically used this neighborhood pool. The City’s decision to place the Flow Ride attraction next to the Mitchell Pool shouldn’t penalize lower-income residents from using this resource. Pricing decisions for the Mitchell should reflect this consideration. However, there is no reason that the Mitchell’s pricing should be required to be identical to the other neighborhood pools.

Electric City Water Park Pricing and Policies

The Electric City Water Park is an incredible city resource. We believe that this facility is generally well run, enjoyed by our residents and has become a a draw for badly needed tourist dollars.

However, we believe that this facility can be enhanced by some policy and pricing changes. In particular, we are very interested in the success that the City of Missoula is seeing with policies for their new outdoor water park. We believe that Great Falls should follow Missoula’s example here and enact several of those policies. These include:

One all-inclusive entrance fee for all attractions

The current wristband system for the three attractions at the Park creates a policing nightmare for Park staff that just fosters resentment on the part of users. This system should be abandoned in favor of one all-inclusive price for access to the entire facility. Missoula charges residents a $5 fee for one time access. This fee, which is higher than the current base fee for Mitchell Pool, is reasonable and the incorporation of such a rate structure may increase both use by residents and total revenue received.

Sale of season passes

Many residents, especially children, use the water park almost daily. The city should sell season passes for these residents. We understand that the City has had a negative experience with season passes at its golf courses. However, as use of a swimming pool does not depend on a pre-determined tee times, we suggest that any comparison between golf and swimming here is sophistry.

Resident v. non-resident pricing

The citizens of Great Falls paid for our facilities. There is no reason for the City to extend its subsidy for its aquatic resources to our tourists. The city should follow the example of municipal water parks throughout the United States, including the City of Missoula, and have resident pricing at subsidy and non-resident pricing at a reasonable, higher level.

Reform of concession stand to include healthier food and more options

Obesity is becoming a nationwide scourge. Childhood diabetes is becoming less of a tragedy than it is an expectation. At our water park, we do not allow outside food and only sell greasy, fat-laden and sweet concessions. As long as we do not allow outside food in the concession stand, a wide variety of menu options should be explored. As an idea, it may be valuable to discuss the water park concession menu with the nutritionist at the Great Falls School District.

Marketing of Park to local hotel guests

We believe that we are missing out on potential municipal revenue by inadequate marketing of the Great Falls Water Park to hotel guests. The City of Great Falls could try to maximize water park revenue by allowing local hotels to sell water park passes and/or include them in a guest’s hotel bill.

Use of Free Internet Marketing Tools

Our Electric City Water Park is a great draw for tourism and tourist dollars. We believe that the City could increase revenue at the Park by creating free Facebook Pages and marketing the park through regular Twitter posts.

Dog Park

Neighborhood Council 7 is thrilled with the success of the new Dog Park, and will do anything it can to support the efforts of animal lovers throughout Great Falls to continue to make the Dog Park a great place for our canine companions.

Economic Development

Support for Overall Economic Development Efforts

Many of the challenges facing the residents of the Lower North and South sides can be traced to insufficient employment opportunities. We support the efforts of the Great Falls Development Authority and other agencies to bring additional primary sector employment to our area and our City. We stand ready to support these efforts in any way required or necessary.

Parking Fees

We can not revitalize the retail sector of our downtown as long as the general public believes that it is inconvenient to shop on Central Avenue. We should remove all possible obstacles from those that may wish to spend their retail dollars downtown.

We believe that our downtown parking meters keep retail dollars away from downtown shops. We believe that these fees should be reduced or eliminated. In order to keep downtown employees from using shopper’s parking places, the fines for leaving a vehicle in place for several hours should be substantially increased.

Other Issues

Overnight Train Noise

Over the past several months, we have received increasing numbers of complaints about the train whistles blaring through town in the middle of the night. Safety on the tracks is and should remain our primary concern.

However, we are encouraged that other Montana cities, Billings in particular, has managed to maintain public safety and still turn their downtown into a “no-whistle” zone for train traffic. Neighborhood Council 7 is committed to beginning the process to see if changes can be made to our crossings and other areas so that a similar designation can be made here in Great Falls. These changes may include the erection of a fence along the train tracks next to Gibson Park. This may become an area where our council will have to work on fundraising.

Animal Control

As discussed above, we believe that part of the funding shortfall for the Police Department can be traced to the ongoing expenses and efforts that the department must make to run the City’s animal control efforts. We believe that this experiment has gone on long enough, and that the City should immediately issue a RFP for operation of animal control and award a contract to the best value offeror in order to divest the Police Department of this responsibility.

Whittier Staff Parking

Whittier Elementary has a staffing that fluctuates between 35 and 50 employees, depending on the time of day. It has only been able to secure 15 parking places for staff. Several of these spaces are located across a dark alley at the Heisey Memorial. We thank the Montana Diocese for making those spots available.

The staff at Whittier are predominantly young women, many of whom are justifiably concerned about walking through downtown alleys in the dark. We think that the City should make parking spaces at the Great Falls Recreation Center available to the Great Falls School District for the use of Whittier staff. We believe that GFPS should pay a reasonable fee to the city for the dedicated use of those spaces during school hours.

City Ordinance Enforcement Policies

We suggest that we have a fundamental problem in Great Falls with how we go about enforcing ordinances. Virtually all ordinance enforcement in Great Falls is complaint-driven.

The problem with this is that the City does not currently have the resources to enforce an ordinance without first receiving a complaint. This leads the situation where the exact same activity will either result in an ordinance violation letter or not, depending on whether a neighbor decides to complain about the activity. This effectively becomes selective enforcement and is unfair.

We should not have ordinances that are not universally enforced. We suggest that the City needs to reform its ordinance enactment and enforcement process to ensure that all of our residents are subject to the same rules.

In addition, some very valuable ordinances (such as snow removal) have effectively been repealed without a vote of the commission as a result an executive decisions not to enforce them. City staff should not have the option of enforcing some ordinances and ignoring others.

IGA!!

2008-06-23T15:39:00.002-07:00

It is now official; the rumors you have been hearing are true. The downtown grocery store, formerly Albertson's, has been purchased by the owner of the Cut Bank IGA.

The new downtown Great Falls IGA should be open by August 20.

Is the 80-20 Policy part of the problem here?

2008-04-24T14:27:00.002-07:00

It is my perception that criminal activity is rapidly spiking in urban areas throughout Montana. So, I find myself asking why?

It isn't just Great Falls, although we have a healthy share of the problem.

I submit to you that it is now the policy of the State Department of Corrections that only 20% of the individuals "in" the Department to be incarcerated. Too many criminals are being wholesale released from prison so that the DoC can meet this threshold.

If this is going to be our Governor's policy, he needs to provide our communities with extra funds for more parole and police officers.

Crime and Violence

2008-04-24T14:22:00.002-07:00

No, this blog is not off hiatus. I have made the mistake of taking on too many obligations lately, and I just do not have time to blog. However, I would like to solicit opinions on how we all should begin to deal with vexing problems that continue to crate problems throughout the lower North side.

Just to give proper attribution, this post is based on a comment I made on GF Girl's blog here.

As you might have read in the paper today, Neighborhood Council 7 facilitated a town hall meeting for the residents of the 500 block of 5th Avenue North yesterday. The violence and drug activity there are unacceptable and we need to take steps to address those problems.

Neighbors on that block raised a lot of concerns at the meeting. Both 515 and 521 5th Avenue North are single family homes that have been converted into multi-family rental properties.

Both properties are in significant disrepair, and tenants often live in the properties for only weeks or months at a time. Residents of properties like these are responsible for much of the crime in the lower North and South sides of Great Falls.

As you can imagine, these properties are rented by those that are extremely low-income. What can only be regarded as a ramshackle slum is often their last resort before homelessness.

Anecdotally, the neighbors of those houses continue to observe activity consistent with the dealing of drugs. One neighbor said that she often observed dozens of cars stopping by 515 5th Avenue North in a period of one or two hours.

Most of the people at the meeting placed the blame on non-responsive landlords who "will rent to anyone" and "do not care what kind of illegal activity they do there."

Discussion turned to rental property standards and landlord licensing.

We have a problem on the lower North and South sides of Great Falls. By God, does it take finding a dead body in the street to wake us up?

We will clean up our downtown. I welcome your thoughts and ideas for the best way to do so.

Indefinite Hiatus

2008-01-17T09:04:00.000-07:00

As may be obvious to some, this site is on indefinite hiatus. There is a lot going on in Great Falls that deserves attention and analysis, but unfortunately, I find that I do not now have time to devote to my blogging hobby.

Sites like Electric City Weblog, Firefly, Greaterfalls and Cataract City are doing a great job and I salute these writers. I hope to be back soon.

Neighborhood Council 7 December Agenda

2007-12-07T16:30:00.000-07:00

AGENDA
NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL
DISTRICT 7
Monday, December 10, 2007
Longfellow School Library, West Entrance
6:30 p.m.

Appointment of Secretary for December meeting
Approval of November minutes
Installation of Ole Johnson as interim councilor
9th Street Left Turn Safety Issues

-->Deb Little and Principal Cal Gilbert
-->Jim Rearden

Problem Properties

-->512/516 6th Street North -> neighbors’ report of unauthorized tenancy
-->916 3rd Ave North -> court action in November
-->1021 5th Avenue North -> complaint by neighbor of trash in yard
-->116/112 12th Street North -> complaint between neighbors

Downtown Street Conversion -> Letter from Jeanne Wilson
Resurgence of Graffiti at Skate Park
Status of City Water Main replacement on Lower North Side
Other Old Business

NEW BUSINESS

Zoning at Quality Exhaust Building, 812 15th Street North -> Kevin Willems
Absentee Landlord Regulation--discussion
Confirmation of time and date of next meeting
Swearing In and Neighborhood Council Orientation--Patty
Neighborhood Concerns

REPORTS
Weed and Seed
Downtown Task Force
Police Advisory Board

ADJOURN

Agenda for Neighborhood Council 7 meeting on 11/12/2007 at Heisey Memorial

2007-11-09T13:27:00.001-07:00

AGENDA

NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL

DISTRICT 7

Monday, November 12, 2007

Heisey Center, 313 7^th Street North

6:30 p.m.

Please note: This agenda format allows citizens to speak on each issue prior to Council discussion. We encourage your participation. In the interest that all parties can be heard, please limit your comments.

CALL TO ORDER

OLD BUSINESS

Approval of October minutes

Pedestrian safety assemblies at Whittier and Longfellow Schools

Problem properties

512 & 516 6^th Street North

916 3^rd Avenue North

Others ?

Northside bicycle thefts

Replacement of Councilman Gaskell

NEW BUSINESS

Animal Foundation update—Melanie Lattin

Code violations on her block—Gudrun Linden

December meeting location

Carlie Boland—Montana House of Representatives

Neighborhood Concerns

REPORTS

Police Advisory Board—Donna Sadler

Weed & Seed—Jayci Braaten

Downtown Task Force—Erin Tropila

Council of Councils—Aaron Weissman

ADJOURN

Next meeting December 10, 2007

Thank you for your vote!

2007-11-07T14:41:00.000-07:00

I was pleased to finally learn this afternoon that I had been re-elected to Neighborhood Council 7. Thank you for your vote and support.

Great Falls First has Election Results; Congratulations Mayor Stebbins

2007-11-07T06:45:00.001-07:00

These results come from Tim Austin's greatfallsfirst.com site. 100% of precincts reporting; it looks like most of the absentee votes broke to Susan Kahn. Congratulations to Dona Stebbins, Mary Jolley and Bill Bronson.

Tim also bemoans the lack of any published Neighborhood Council results. Why the dearth of news?

Great Falls, Montana - Election Results

Great Falls Tribune - Montana Election Results - VIDEO
KRTV - Great Falls, Montana - Montana Election Results
Beartooth NBC - Election Results - Montana Election Results
Fox News - Election Results
ABC News - Election Results

GREAT FALLS, MONTANA - ELECTION RESULTS

Includes votes cast at the ExpoPark: 10,344
About 100% of total votes counted.
Updated: 5:00 a.m. - November 7th, 2007

CITY OF GREAT FALLS, MAYOR:
Dona Stebbins: 4,100 - with 40.7% of the votes
Ed McKnight: 3,824 - with 38.0% of the votes
Susan Kahn: 1,404 - with 14.0% of the votes
Larry Steele: 704 - with 7.0% of the votes

CITY OF GREAT FALLS, CITY COMMISSIONER:
Bill Bronson- 4,150 - with 21.3% of the votes
Mary Jolley- 5,148 - with 26.5% of the votes
Diane Jovick-Kuntz- 3,582 - with 18.4% of the votes
Stuart Lewin- 3,445 - with 17.7% of the votes
Elna Hensley- 2,069 - with 10.8% of the votes

CITY OF GREAT FALLS, NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL:
We are unable to find any information from any news source.
Hard to believe that elected council members cannot
find out who won in their Neighborhood council districts.
How do we change this???

Thank you for Voting - Great Falls

Why Not Publish Neighborhood Council Election Results?

2007-11-07T06:34:00.000-07:00

My paper just arrived at my door. I eagerly looked inside for the results on the Neighborhood Council races (there are six people running for the five spots on council 7).

For all the talk about Neighborhood Councils being a bright spot in our community, don't you think that they should rate some mention in our paper? At least some results, buried and a font size of only four points?

I mean, c'mon ...

Initial Election Observations

2007-11-07T04:34:00.000-07:00

As of the insanely early writing of this post (yes, I am an election junky), the Tribune is posting some early election results. Right now, the following information is available;

7,164 votes have been cast, which represents about 79% of the total. A little basic extrapolation, and we see that about 9,068 votes were cast in this election.

The votes for Mayor recorded thus far are as follows:

Dona Stebbins; 2,867 votes
Ed McKnight; 2,697 votes
Susan Kahn; 985 votes
Larry Steele; 455 votes

The votes for City Commission recorded thus far are as follows:

Mary Jolley; 3,561 votes
Bill Bronson; 2,981 votes
Diane Jovick-Kuntz; 2,427 votes
Stuart Lewin; 2,404 votes
Elna Hensley, 1,465 votes

Now, tempers ran hot in this race, and everyone seemed to have an opinion. This number isn't so different from two years ago and two years before that. I was expecting a higher number of votes cast, especially due to the wonderful weather yesterday.

Why is the vote so low? I submit to you that a lot of that blame can be placed on the boneheaded decision of the Cascade County Clerk and Recorder to combine the voting locations at the Expo Park. While it might have made her job easier to count the 4,000 votes made at the polls there, there could have been more votes to count if she had decided to do the job we elected her to perform.

So, I will fire the first shot for the 2008 elections; Lance Olson's job for county commissioner will be up for re-election next November. My vote will go to a competent candidate that will vote to give me back my local polling place. I hope that this becomes an issue in that race.

Now, of the 7,164 votes counted and published by the Tribune, the race for City Commission seems to be a pretty done deal. There is a 500 vote gap between Bronson and Jovick-Kuntz; I don't think that Lewin or Jovick-Kuntz are going to be able to overcome that kind of vote gap with only 2,000 votes left to be counted. I could be wrong, but I think that we can safely say that we have winners in that race, and they are Jolley and Bronson. I don't think this result is a real surprise to anyone.

However, look to the 3,561 votes achieved by Jolley. As the most level-headed coal plant opponent in this race, I think that those votes most cleanly represent the side of our electorate that want a change in our city government. With that in mind, look to the mayoral race.

You can see that McKnight and Kahn, together, represent about 3,600 votes. That voting block would have been enough to catapult any single candidate to the mayoral position. However, as GeeGuy observed last week, as two candidates they split the vote. McKnight is the clear choice of that bloc; and the 985 votes siphoned by Kahn make her the spoiler in this race if McKnight doesn't pull a rabbit out of his hat.

Don't get me wrong; this is still a horse race. There are only 170 votes separating Stebbins and McKnight. Let's see what news the morning brings.

Retraction

2007-10-31T07:24:00.000-07:00

I went a bit overboard in an earlier post about the October 20 candidate's forum. I used a word, jail, that was not mentioned by any candidate. However, to be fair, at least one candidate, Stuart Lewin, did talk about referring "stuff" to the Attorney General.

Mary is right. Neither she nor any other candidate specifically said that they wanted to put people in jail. That was only my inference. So, I apologize.

Revised Cost Estimates for One Way Conversion

2007-10-30T19:58:00.000-07:00

I just got back from the Council of Council's meeting. Andrew Finch,
the senior transportation planner for the city, gave a presentation
on the BID's proposal to convert downtown one way streets to two way.

I will spare you from the entirety of the discussion. However,
remember the city's original estimate of $500,000 to perform the
conversion? Mr. Finch told me that the State transportation
department added some requirements to any conversion that will push
the cost of the conversion to the range of $1.5 Million - $2.5 Million.

Anybody still think this is a good idea?

Logically Critical shutters its doors

2007-10-30T16:21:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite podcasts is Logically Critical. It is funny, thought provoking, intelligent and extremely well-produced. Unfortunately, as of October 28, it is also no more.

Before the audio files are pulled from the site, do yourself a favor and listen to some of the episodes.

Great Falls Citizen Council Agenda and Minutes

2007-10-30T16:16:00.001-07:00

TSJ's notes: Does anyone find anything interesting about the list of attendees at the last meeting? Or rather, by who is not on this list?

GREAT FALLS CITIZENS COUNCIL

Council of Councils Meeting

AGENDA

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Gibson Room—Civic Center—7:00 p.m.

Please note: The Great Falls Citizens Council agenda format allows citizens to speak on each issue prior to Council discussion. We encourage your participation. In the interest that all parties can be heard, please limit your comments.

CALL TO ORDER—Chairperson Ron Mathsen—Neighborhood Council #1

OLD BUSINESS

Approval of minutes from the last meeting

Other

NEW BUSINESS

Disaster Preparedness—Asst. Fire Chief Steve Hester & Emergency Preparedness Officer Sarah McCafferty (15 minutes)

One-way conversion—Sr. Transportation Planner Andrew Finch

(15 minutes)

Other

OTHER BUSINESS

Council information sharing

Other

ADJOURN

Great Falls Citizen's Council

Council of Councils Meeting Minutes

May 29, 2007

Delegates and voting members of the Council of Councils present were: Ron Mathsen, Neighborhood Council #1; Phyllis Hemstad, Neighborhood Council #2; Tim Austin, Neighborhood Council #3; Tawny Newth, Neighborhood Council #5; Matt Ott, Neighborhood Council #6; Aaron Weissman, Neighborhood Council #7; and Gary Schoenthal, Neighborhood Council #9.

Others present were Brandyce Berg, Emily Costea, Shelby Lilley, Ashley Lilley, Shannon Newth, Betty Stimac, Larry Stimac, and Patty Cadwell.

The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m. by acting Chairperson Gary Schoenthal, Delegate for Neighborhood Council #9.

The one order of Old Business was a discussion, and subsequent consensus of opinion, on the proposed Neighborhood Council boundary changes. All delegates present agreed that leaving the boundaries as they are would be best and several commented that "if it's not broken, let's not try to fix it." All agreed, also, that a goal of trying to match Council boundaries to voter precincts would be unattainable, now and in the future. Matt Ott, NC #6, and Phyllis Hemstad, NC#2 both expressed their concern about the already small size of their Councils. Gary also reminded everyone that the County has decided to have the single voting location at the Montana Expo Park, but for those who can't or don't care to vote there, absentee ballots are available for any reason. Aaron commented that he believes the single voting location will present a hardship for many of the citizens in his Neighborhood Council area.

The only item of New Business was a presentation by General Deltoro, Commander of the Montana Air National Guard (MANG). He was accompanied by and introduced Colonel Mike McDonald who will soon become the new Commander of the 120^th Fighter Wing of the Guard. He stated that MANG also oversees the 219^th Red Horse Squadron. He explained that MANG's responsibilities are to uphold the Constitution of the United States and to uphold the Constitution of the State of Montana. The members of the Guard are local people who stay here to protect the citizens of Montana. They all have been or will be deployed to Iraq, acting to protect the Constitution of the US, but they work for the Governor of the State of Montana all the time. He pointed out that concern for new missions at Malmstrom may not be GF citizens' highest priority—that building on the capacity of both MANG and Malmstrom would be the best benefit locally. Currently, MANG is working to implement a program where experienced MANG pilots will work with inexperienced Air Force pilots for the benefit of both. Other things MANG has done recently include development of a wireless system that enables MANG, GFPD, and Great Falls Fire Rescue to communicate, and chemical and biological detection and containment systems for disaster response. Future training for the Guard includes a train derailment exercise in August and a FEMA level exercise next year. General Deltoro also made a recruitment call to anyone in the audience who might be interested. Ron Mathsen and Phyllis Hemstad addressed the General on their concerns around the airplane noise containment issue which affects both of their areas.

In Other Business, the Council Delegates commented on their thoughts concerning the upcoming Animal Appeal process and their involvement in same. Aaron Weissman offered his displeasure with the City Commission for "dropping this in our laps," referring to each Neighborhood Council's option to hear the appeals of Neighborhood Council area citizens denied or revoked the permit to own multiple animals. Gary Schoenthal saw no problem with the appeal process but did have concerns about the fee schedule that goes with the new Animal Ordinance. Ron Mathsen pointed out that each Council has the privilege of opting out of hearing appeals. Tawny Newth was concerned that the Council members would not have clear instructions on how to hear the appeals and Tim Austin also wants training. Patty Cadwell mentioned that Kory Larsen did indicate that he would do a training prior to the Animal Ordinance's effective date. Aaron Weissman anticipates problems with hearing some appeals and not hearing others. Ron Mathsen thought that hearings at neighborhood levels would be positive measures.

Also in Other Business, the Council Delegates expressed concern over the City Commission's lack of response to their February letter requesting that the Commission put in place funding for capital improvements to the City parks. Patty said she would follow up on that. Tawny talked about the New Neighbor Packets that were being developed by the members of the ACTION Team. Also mentioned was an upcoming Leadership training opportunity and the Councils' involvement in Riverfest.

Gary adjourned the meeting at 8:35 p.m.

0-3-1?? Worst Season Opening in Memory ...

2007-10-27T07:22:00.000-07:00

I can't remember a worse October for my Terriers. However, this looks like it was a good game.

Michigan's goaltender, Billy Sauer, turned away 27 shots on goal in just the first two periods, and held BU scoreless. I would say that this guy has a future.

Here's hoping to a better November ...

Candidate Stand on Downtown Street Reconfiguration

2007-10-22T12:33:00.000-07:00

Question: Do you support the idea to reconfigure 5th and 6th Streets, and/or 1st and 2nd Ave S, as two way roads?

Bronson: Did not attend October 20 forum.

Helnsley: Did not attend October 20 forum.

Jolley: Does not support without more public input. Thinks this may be "solution in search of a problem."

Jovick-Kuntz: Did not attend 10/20 forum.

Kahn: Does not support without more public input.

Lewin: Does not support, as he feels it will increase traffic on 9th Street. He thinks that 9th Street creates a "wall" through an existing neighborhood.

McKnight: Does not support.

Stebbins: Did not attend October 20 forum.

Steele: Does not support.

For those candidates that did not attend, or wish to further explain their answer, I offer comments to this post as a public forum on this issue.

Candidate Stand on Southern Arterial

2007-10-22T12:29:00.001-07:00

Question: Last month, the City and State held a public meeting to move forward their plans for a Southern Arterial connecting 57th Street to I-15. Their idea is not for a bypass, as was the original plan for this route. Do you support this plan, and if so, what do you envision for this new road? Will it be like I-115 in Butte, King Avenue in Billings, etc.?

Bronson: Did not attend October 20 forum.

Helnsley: Did not attend October 20 forum.

Jolley: Attended public meeting, and listened to about 70% of attendees that they did not want this route. She thinks this should be studied further, but wonders why we are building a bypass that will not be used by any through truck traffic.

Jovick-Kuntz: Did not attend 10/20 forum.

Kahn: Supports construction of road. Unclear as to design.

Lewin: Supports route as good opportunity for well planned commercial development, with service roads, etc. Does not think route should follow alongside Missouri, thinks it should cross it to minimize environmental impact.

McKnight: Does not support condemning any private property for public road. He discussed his grandparent's home in Western Montana, which is now under I-90.

Stebbins: Did not attend October 20 forum.

Steele: Thinks a bypass for truck traffic is a good idea. Agrees with Lewin that it should not be alongside river, as that makes roads icy.

For those candidates that either did not attend or wish to further explain their answer, I offer comments on this post as a public forum on this issue.

Candidate Stand on Police Staffing Levels

2007-10-22T12:04:00.000-07:00

During the last two candidate forums, I have had the opportunity to ask a few questions. In the next three posts, I will attempt to summarize my questions and the responses received.

Question: Over the past several months, the Great Falls Police Department has been operating at less than a full budgeted force. What are the reasons for the staffing shortfall? If this is a problem, what would you do to correct it?

Bronson: Insufficient pay is the reason for the problem. He would offer more pay to officers. He also feels that the new contract with the Police Beneficial Association will solve much of this problem. He says that he has reviewed the contract.

Helnsley: Insufficient pay. She would offer more.

Jolley: Insufficient pay. She would offer more.

Jovick-Kuntz: Insufficient pay. She would offer more. She also feels that it is a problem that communities like Missoula hire officers that we have trained in our police academy, which is recognized to be one of the best in the region. She feels that we are training individuals and then they are being hired immediately by other communities that offer more pay.

Kahn: Insufficient pay. She would offer more

Lewin: Lewin recognized that insufficient pay was part of the problem, and that we should offer more. He also referred to "the elephant in the basement," which was duplicative services being performed by both the city and the county. He would like to work with the county to combine services whenever possible.

McKnight: Insufficient pay. He would offer more.

Stebbins: Did not attend October 17 forum.

Steele: Insufficient pay. He would offer more.

For those candidates that did not attend or wish to further explain their answer, I offer comments on this post as a public forum on this issue.

UPDATE -- GeeGuy has posted a video of the candidate's answers on this question up on his blog. Instead of reading my very sparse notes, go view the candidate's answers yourself!

Lots of Red Meat at Last Night's Candidate Forum

2007-10-21T07:39:00.000-07:00

For a good part of the evening, I struggled with the best term to describe last night's event. Then I read GeeGuy's blog. Last night was certainly a forum for the anti-establishmentarians out there; both the candidates and the audience.

It was very disappointing that the incumbents, those that support them, and all of our local media chose to skip this forum. About three dozen people attended the forum, which was a 'debate' among Mary Jolley, Ed McKnight, Susan Kahn, Larry Steele and Stuart Lewin. And yes, most of the questions were about the coal plant.

However, these candidates responses among what ended up to be a mutual admiration society or campaign rally were still instructive. Quite frankly, I was horrified when Jolley, McKnight and Kahn suggested that the new commission spend its time investigating current city employees through use of its subpoena power.

Let me say that again. Jolly, McKnight and Kahn said that they want our commission to hold hearings and investigate current city employees over past acts. They want to exercise the commission's subpoena power, and they want to put people in jail.

I submit to you that we don't need a commission that spends our time and money making themselves into a Starr chamber. We have real problems in our city government and neighborhoods that need to be solved. Prosecuting a vendetta is not helpful to anyone.

Our city police department has been operating at less then full force for months, and I submit to you that this is part of the reason we have had a mini crime wave in the Lower North and South sides. Part of the reason for these department vacancies is not enough pay being offered to new recruits and current officers. However, a big part of the problem is that the city's recruitment officer, Lt. Lockerby, has had his hands full trying to run a dog pound. This is one of the unintended consequences when the commission goes half-cocked into ill advised adventures.

Lewin was actually the most reasoned and moderate of the candidates last night. He has it right; we need to move forward.

Bypass??? What Bypass?

2007-10-18T21:21:00.000-07:00

Dave over at Dave's Gift Shop Weblog has an interesting post up on his site supporting the idea of a Southern bypass. (Dave, I would have left this post as a comment on this site, but didn't want to deal with the tsuris of creating an account on your wordpress).

Now, I think that a Southern bypass is a good idea. I think that it has been a good idea for the 30 years it has been proposed. My only question about the current plans for the "Southern Arterial" is that the current plan is NOT a bypass. It will not be an "Interstate 25."

According to current plans, we are to spend between $100 Million - $162 Million for a 2 to 4 lane local road with controlled intersections every mile or so. The likely speed limit on this road will be 40 MPH.

So, why are we building this? It isn't to get a bypass. It is to get an Arterial; one that likely will be not too much more than an opportunity for commercial development.

Now, commercial development isn't a bad thing. However, it isn't a bypass.

Attend Candidate Debate Tonight

2007-10-17T11:13:00.000-07:00

As I have been posting, two local bloggers are sponsoring a mayoral and city commision candidates debate tonight. I encourage any reader of these pages to attend the debate. See you there!

October 17, 2007
7:00 p.m.

Northwest Center
2201 Northwest Bypass

View Larger Map

Admission: $5.00

To Vote for a Winner: $10.00

Bike Thefts in Lower North and South Side

2007-10-14T14:02:00.001-07:00

Over this Summer and early Fall, there have been a rash of bike thefts in the Lower North and South sides of our fair city. I haven't been unaffected by this; some young punk broke into my locked garage and stole my son's brand new West Coast Chopper bike, which we had given him for his birthday.

The city should do more to prevent bike theft. This is a gateway crime, that encourages punks to think of private property as something that is not worth respect.

In addition to taking bike thefts seriously, Great Falls should follow Missoula's lead and institute a voluntary bike registration program. A bike owner should be able to register the particulars about his or her bike, including serial number, with the GFPD. Pawn shops should be required to check against this registry before they are able to buy a bike. The registered owner should be contacted by the shop or the GFPD whenever a bike is brought into a pawn shop, and it should be returned to the lawful owner if it was stolen.

I understand that the management of such a registry database is a bit daunting. However, the fact that the city just pooh-poohs current thefts is deplorable.

Fifth Question for Candidate Forum; Point of Sale System for Golf and Swim

2007-10-14T09:25:00.000-07:00

This is my fifth question I submit for consideration for the upcoming candidate's forum:

In recent years, Park and Rec officials have stated that they cannot provide firm numbers on the usage of our Golf Courses and Swimming Pools because they do not have a Point of Sale computer system to track entrances to these parks. They have proposed spending about $100 thousand on such a system. Is this a valid concern?

If so, would you support the acquisition of such a system? How much would you propose spending?

If not, would you characterize current procedures as adequate? If not, would you support the implementation of more rigid manual point of sale procedures at our golf courses and swimming pools?

Fourth Question for Candidate Forum; Skate Park Usage

2007-10-14T09:20:00.000-07:00

Here is another question that I submit for inclusion in the candidates forum;

The Riverside Railyard is the most recent park built in Great Falls. It is used by many kids in Great Falls. However, there have been many public complaints about both profane graffiti and hooliganism at the park. Is this a problem, and if so, what would you do to help solve it?

Third Question for Candidate Forum; Police Staffing

2007-10-14T09:14:00.001-07:00

Here is my third question for the upcoming candidate's forum:

Over the past several months, the Great Falls Police Department has been operating at less than full force. For what reasons do you think that we have been unable to recruit and retain officers? Is this a problem, and if so, what would you do to solve this problem?

Second Question for Candidate Forum; Southern Arterial

2007-10-14T09:10:00.000-07:00

Here is another question I submit for inclusion in the upcoming blogger candidate forum:

In recent weeks, City and State planners have proposed spending $100 - $162 Million on a Southern Arterial, directly connecting 57th Street to I-15. This will require buying and demolishing anywhere from 13 - 21 private residences and building another bridge across the Missouri. Do you support this plan, and if so, how do you envision this road to be used? As a follow up question, what sort of zoning proposals would you support around this new route?

My First Question for Candidate Forum; 9th Street Safety

2007-10-14T09:04:00.001-07:00

In the next few posts, I will pose a few questions for our city commission and mayoral candidates. David and Geeguy have put together a great idea for a candidate forum this coming Wednesday, and I hope that they will consider these questions for submittal.

Ninth Street currently has multiple conflicting uses. It is a major North-South thoroughfare through Great Falls, connecting the Riverview area to 10th Avenue South. It also is a residential street, used by hundreds of pedestrians daily. The current location of school zones require pedestrian elementary students to cross this street every day to get to and from both Longfellow and Whittier Schools. Does anything need to be done about the uses for this street, and if so, what?

What are We Going to Get for $162 Million?

2007-10-14T08:46:00.000-07:00

With numbers like the ones being bandied around here, you would think I was talking about a coal plant. However, here we are talking about something as mundane as a new road.

Last week, I attended the public meeting for the planned Southern Arterial, which would connect traffic from I-15 to 57th Street. Over the past 30 years, this planned road has been thought of as a bypass, but that isn't what city planners are now thinking.

I have been hearing about plans for this road since I was in kindergarten. This route was first proposed in 1968. However, with the downturn in our economy in the early 1970's, the idea was shelved.

Now, it is back. However, this isn't a bypass to allow truck traffic from Calgary to Denver/Salt Lake to easily go around Great Falls and, in the process, stay off 10th Ave. South. Instead, this would be a local road (probably around 40 MPH), with controlled intersections every mile or so. According to city planners, they envision it to be used by people such as medical professionals living in Fox Farm going to the hospital and USAF drivers going to and from Malmstrom and MANG. They don't envision more than 8,000 - 10,000 vehicles on this road per day. This should be contrasted to 10th Avenue South, which currently has about 40,000 vehicles/day.

Now, I don't see an investment like this staying unused. If built, I see something more like King Avenue in Billings. That route has become a mecca for big-box stores, like the ones that were just built on 10th Avenue South at the Mall. Is that the real idea here?

To build this route, the City and State will have to condemn and purchase anywhere from 13 - 21 private residences. The completed route will cost anywhere from $100 - $162 Million, depending on final route configuration. Another bridge will have to be built across the Missouri.

Is this a good investment? Both City and State planners seem to think so. However, if we are not going to really provide a bypass for through truck traffic, what are we really accomplishing here? I look forward to your thoughts.

Candidates for Neighborhood Council 7, and my Request for your Vote

2007-10-14T08:15:00.000-07:00

I am the current chair of Neighborhood Council 7, which represents the lower North and South sides of Great Falls. The council is up for re-election this November.

As of the August 23 filing deadline, the following individuals filed for election to the council. I have marked incumbents with an (i), and listed them in alphabetical order by last name:

Matt Anderson;
Ole Johnson;
Donna Sadler; (i)
Mike Taylor; (i)
Erin Tropila; (i)
Aaron Weissman; (i)

As I am running in this race, I am not going to make any recommendations, beyond asking for your vote (if you live in the downtown area). I don't know anything about the two individuals running for their first term on the council, but thank them both for expressing interest.

The council has five seats. Therefore, one of the six of us that have volunteered our time will not be elected to the council.

I ask for and would appreciate your vote. If elected, I will continue to urge the council to;

Slow down traffic on 9th Street. This is a residential street, partially as evidenced by the location of elementary school zones that require kids to cross this street to get to and from school. Since the new pedestrian median when in place on 4th Ave N., I have heard complaints that it has slowed down traffic on 9th. Good. I want the city to build more of these things.
Work to make the Make the Lower North and South Sides a Safe Place to Live, Work and Play. Great Falls is changing. The new courthouse and Medical centers mean that more and more Great Falls residents are working outside of the downtown. However, over 7,000 people live in the Lower North and South sides, and thousands of Great Falls residents work here. As the most 'urban' area of Great Falls, we have our problems. However, none of these problems are insurmountable. We need more police officers patrolling our area, more blocks protected by Neighborhood Watch and more proactive efforts by city and county code enforcement. Especially in the Summer months, this area gets too rowdy. It is up to us to make sure that our neighborhood is clean and safe.
Keep our Parks Presentable and Fun. Except for the golf courses, most of the city's Park and Rec resources are in the Lower North and South sides. This district includes the Skate Park, the Natatorium, Mitchell Pool and Gibson Park. The maintenance of these areas has significant challenges. These challenges include the profane (the Skate Park), the administrative (Usage of resources like the Nat and the Mitchell is difficult to track because of current cash register procedures) and the mundane (did you know that a Canadian Goose produces 2 lbs. of 'goose grease' per day? Do you know how many geese live in Gibson Park?) While the council has no direct oversight over the Park and Rec department, we will continue to urge the city to maintain these resources.

In addition to these overarching goals, if elected I will urge the council to continue meeting with the Neighborhood Watch and I will begin rotating meetings to locations throughout our council area, including the Lower South side. I am currently attempting to have our December meeting at the gym at Longfellow school.

Again, I ask for your vote. If you have any questions, please contact me at your convenience. A comment on this post is an excellent way to contact me. Thank you.

Debate Format is Brilliant

2007-09-27T13:12:00.000-07:00

Want a chance to make up your own mind in our upcoming election for Mayor and City Commission?

David over at Greaterfalls.com and GeeGuy at the Electric City Weblog have put their money in place of their mouths (or in this case, keyboards) to sponsor a candidates debate on October 17, 2007, at 7:00 p.m. at the Northwest Center (lcoated at 2201 Northwest Bypass).

David and Gregg have taken some flak from a few locals over their choice of debate format here. The controversy? Instead of opening the doors, they are charging $15 admission. $5 of the admission price goes to rental of the hall (with any overage donated to the CMR Debate Team, which will facilitate the event) and $10 goes into a pot, which will be distributed to the debate winner, chosen via polling the audience after the debate.

I am impressed with this methodology. I think it is unique, and quite frankly, a breath of fresh air from the standard town hall or talking head format debates that offer no clear winner except for a room full of spin doctors. Charging admission should also serve as a disincentive for campaigns to pack the hall with their supporters; there is more chance of a real independent audience.

Now, I recognize that this might not entirely be the case. A savvy campaign could bankroll a plethora of supporters to stack the ending poll in their favor. However, unless the debate is very well attended, it would be very expensive for a campaign to do so, as they only stand to gain 2/3 of their investment plus the 2/3 of the other attendees.

Further, such an effort might well reflect well on the candidate that does the stacking. If nothing else, pulling off such a feat will prove that the candidate possesses organizational skills that should prove useful if that individual is seated as our mayor or commissioner.

Several commenters have also decried that such a format makes the debate nothing but a popularity contest. Now, I suggest that this complaint rings hollow. What is an election but a popularity contest? When we all vote for someone to hold office, the most 'popular' wins due to the rules of the game.

Again, kudos to David and GeeGuy. I am looking forward to attending. I will also be sending you several questions.

An easy fast ...

2007-09-21T09:29:00.000-07:00

For my fellow MOT, I wish you an easy fast. May you and yours be signed and sealed in the book of life for a happy, healthy and sweet new year.

Par!?!?!?

2007-09-21T09:03:00.000-07:00

Well, what would have been unthinkable even five years ago has now happened. The Canadian dollar is now roughly equal to the US Dollar. As of this writing, the Loonie is equal to .99730 dollars, but was trading higher than the US dollar yesterday.

Why did this happen. Well, right now, everyone is pointing to the Fed rate cut this week. That might have been the impetus for this particular decline, but it isn't the real answer.

Part of the answer is that Canada has what we all want; oil. Another part of the reason is the fact that collectively, the US market has been buying goods on credit for far too long. We buy more than we sell, and as a result, our creditors (primarily China) are banking huge reserves of US Dollars.

Since about 2003, our Administration has been pushing a weaker dollar as part of the answer. Ideally, it should be strengthening our exports and putting the cold water on imports.

In any case, hopefully we will see more Alberta plates in front of our shopping establishments.

L'Shana Tova Tiketavu

2007-09-12T09:12:00.000-07:00

May your new year be as sweet as apples and honey.

TSJ

Recipes on the Spoon!

2007-09-10T13:38:00.000-07:00

Long time readers of these pages will know that I occasionally post a recipe or two. I enjoy cooking; it is often my best and most favorite relaxation technique.

Anyway, the inestimable Dave Budge has created a new MT foodie blog called "The Spoon." It is going to be hosted up at mtdiner.com.

Anyway, I have a few recipies posted up on the site. Go enjoy, and happy cooking!

MAJCO statement at the Installation of ELCA Bishop Jessica Crist

2007-09-08T06:49:00.000-07:00

This morning, I had the honor of representing the Montana Association of Jewish Communities at the installation of Bishop Jessica Crist. Bishop Crist has been a friend to the Montana Jewish communities for many years. I was honored to give the following remarks:

Twelve years ago, the Montana Association of Jewish Communities and the Montana Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America entered into a unique and I think historic compact. For the first time since Martin Luther, representatives of our faiths set aside hundreds of years of ethnic and religious animosity and misunderstanding, and committed ourselves to mutual concord and cooperation. This compact would not have existed were it not for the vision, coordination and hard work of the Reverend Jessica Crist.

I am honored today to represent the Montana Association of Jewish Communities, and witness the occasion of the Reverend’s installation as a Bishop within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The Jewish communities in our State send their welcome and and congratulations to the Reverend Crist and the Montana Synod.

Our faiths have a shared heritage dating back to Abraham. Unfortunately, that shared heritage has been marred by too many people and too many ideologies that were were more interested in fostering division than in dialogue.

However, since the the ELCA’s 1994 “Declaration of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to the Jewish Community,” Lutheran-Jewish dialogue has continued to grow and prosper. Indeed, today our synagogue in Great Falls shares space with an ELCA church. We welcome this dialogue, and continue to thank the Reverend Crist for all her efforts over the years to work toward understanding between our faiths.

While much has been accomplished, much work remains to be done. Centuries are not overcome in moments. However, we have built a strong foundation. With that foundation, I and Jews throughout our great State look forward to continuing to work with Bishop Crist to celebrate our diversity and to deepen our shared appreciation of our traditions and our cultures.

Mazel Tov, Bishop Crist!

Downtown One Way Streets and Avenues

2007-09-07T15:35:00.000-07:00

Lately, there has been a fair amount of talk about the most logical configuration of the one-way streets and avenues in our Downtown. Local business leaders have complained that the current status of 5th and 6th Street, and 1st and 2nd Ave S, make it difficult for shoppers to park near their businesses. They want those streets reset as two-way roads.

I blogged about this once before, last April, here. Since that time, the problems I brought up about 9th Street have not changed. I think it is not debatable that making 5th and 6th Street two way will increase traffic on 9th.

When this issue came up in the Tribune last week, local businessman Phil Kiser expressed his opinion that he believed 9th Street should be widened to four lanes.

Pardon, what was that? Four lanes? This is his answer to the neighborhoods question about pedestrian safety on a road that must be crossed by elementary school children to get to their schools? Talk about unhelpful ...

The next issue is the Avenues. What would be the affects of resetting these East-West roads to two-way?

While I think that the affect of this change would not be as severe as that of the North-South proposal, I have been approached by the Great Falls Transit District, wondering how they would navigate city buses into the bus depot if these roads are reset. These questions deserve analysis.

Unfortunately, the city planning department doesn't seem to be asking many questions at all. Last week, I read their "analysis" of the proposal to reset the one-way streets and avenues. In a 50 page paper, there was mention of neither repercussions on 9th Street and nor bus issues.

I understand the concerns of downtown businesses. I agree that we need to take any logical step to increase business opportunities in our downtown. However, we have to be very careful before we take action that has negative impacts.

We will be discussing this issue at our Neighborhood Council meeting on Monday evening. Please either come to the meeting or let me know any concerns you would like to see raised.

Too long since I have posted, mea culpa

2007-09-07T15:30:00.000-07:00

I know, I know. These pages have been filled with anything but fresh posts for much too long.

I would try to make excuses, but they would be lame. We all have lives, kids, jobs and volunteer activities that keep us busy. The truth is that I haven't posted because, well, I haven't felt like posting.

I hope, however, that the old writer's block is lifting and that you will see the resumption of more regular posts here very soon.

NC7 Agenda for September

2007-09-07T15:27:00.000-07:00

AGENDA
NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL
DISTRICT 7
Monday, September 10, 2007
Civic Center, Rainbow Room
6:30 p.m.

Please note: This agenda format allows citizens to speak on each issue prior to Council discussion. We encourage your participation. In the interest that all parties can be heard, please limit your comments.

CALL TO ORDER

OLD BUSINESS

Approval of August minutes
Downtown One-Way Reconfiguration—Andrew Finch, etal; Business Improvement District
Problem Properties
GFPD pedestrian safety presentation at Whittier School
Skate Park grafitti
Northside Neighborhood Watch—shall we continue meeting with them?

NEW BUSINESS

Community Policing—Sgt. Stinar
Neighborhood Concerns
Absent Council member—do we replace?
November meeting—Nov. 12—City Holiday
National Good Neighbor Day—September 23, 2007

REPORTS

Police Advisory Board
Downtown Task Force

ADJOURN

Next Meeting – October 8, 2007, Gibson Room, Civic Center

City to Reconfigure 9th Street at 4th Avenue N

2007-08-08T10:42:00.000-07:00

I guess the squeaky wheel does occasionally get some grease. Regular readers of these pages know that I have been harping on about the autobahn, or 9th Street, for some time. The traffic there is too fast for what is really a residential street.

The city did a study, and is going to reconfigure 9th Street at 4th Avenue North before the school year starts this year. As the photo to my left shows, they are going to install concrete pedestrian "islands" at the 4th Avenue North crosswalks. This will allow pedestrians more time to cross the road, as they only have to cross half of it at one time.

This is not without controversy, however. In return for this commonsense measure, the city would like to remove the school crossing at 3rd Avenue North. They say that their studies show more kids crossing at 4th, and they want to encourage the use of the islands.

Well and good, but kids -- especially those that walk to school without parental supervision -- are going to cross 9th at their first opportunity. For many kids, that is 3rd Ave N. As Whittier Principal Mende Kloppel noted at our most recent NC7 meeting, the playground is on 3rd, and that is where they are going to want to go.

The other controversy is parking. Installing these islands means that parking on 9th Street will have to be removed from "4th Alley North" to "5th Alley North". That is regrettable, but I think necessary.

At our meeting on Monday, NC7 voted to endorse the city's plan except for the removal of the 3rd Avenue crosswalk. We voted to retain that school crossing, and hopefully install identical islands on 3rd at some point in the near future.

Expect to see these islands installed this month.

Lower North Side and Black Eagle Awarded Weed and Seed Grant

2007-08-06T14:27:00.000-07:00

For the past year, a team of people around Great Falls have been working on a grant application from the US Department of Justice for the Lower North Side and Black Eagle to be named a site in the Weed and Seed program.

I just received word that the application, which had to be submitted last Winter, was successful. This is HUGE news, which will allow our community to increase law enforcement in the area. Many congratulations are due to the team, and in particular Jayci Kolar, for a job well done.

All Comers Swim Meet TOMORROW

2007-08-05T10:31:00.000-07:00

The city All-Comers Swim Meet has been rescheduled for TOMORROW at the Mitchell Pool at 6 p.m. It was going to be last week, but was postponed due to weather.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to compete this year. NC7 is meeting at virtually the same time at the Civic Center.

However, I encourage all of you to try your hand at the sport. Doesn't cost ANYTHING.

Thoughts on Ubuntu?

2007-08-05T10:29:00.001-07:00

Linux is one of the operating systems that I use regularly. My distro of choice has always been Mandriva/Mandrake.

However, I am hearing more and more about ubuntu lately. I would be interested in any thoughts you might have about comparisons between the distributions.

Hope to be Posting Again ...

2007-08-05T10:27:00.001-07:00

I have been pretty slow to post this month. I have a family member in a pretty tough medical situation, and been in the middle of a major project at work. However, the project is (almost) finished and the medical situation is almost stabilized. Hopefully, I will be able to add something to the community discussions going on around here ...

I can't believe I was able to do it ...

2007-08-05T10:23:00.000-07:00

Lately, I have been reading the 43 folders blog as a means of personal organization. The blogger, a guy named Merlin Mann, just gave a talk at Google about something called Inbox Zero.

It took me a few hours of processing on a weekend, but my email inbox now has ZERO messages in it. This is the first time I have had a completely empty inbox since 1994.

What a cathartic experience. I recommend it heartily.

Neighborhood Council 7 Meeting Agenda

2007-08-03T12:48:00.000-07:00

AGENDA
NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL
DISTRICT 7
Monday, August, 2007
Civic Center, Gibson Room
6:30 p.m.

Please note: This agenda format allows citizens to speak on each issue prior to Council discussion. We encourage your participation. In the interest that all parties can be heard, please limit your comments.

CALL TO ORDER

OLD BUSINESS
Approval of July minutes
Pedestrian safety measures on 9th Street & 4th Avenue North
Marty Basta, Jim Rearden, Jerry McKinley of Public Works Department
Problem properties
Weed and Seed application status
Single poling place letter response
Whittier Principal’s letter

NEW BUSINESS
Neighborhood Concerns

REPORTS
City Commission
Police Advisory Board
Downtown Task Force

ADJOURN

Next Meeting – September 10, 2007, Gibson Room, Civic Center

Neighborhood Council 7 Meeting Date CHANGE

2007-08-03T12:47:00.000-07:00

Neighborhood Council 7 will be meeting this coming Monday, August 6. This is a change, due to the scheduled availability of City Staff that will be discussing safety issues on 9th Street.

Agenda to follow ...

NC7 Agenda

2007-07-09T15:47:00.000-07:00

REVISED AGENDA
NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL
DISTRICT 7
Monday, July 9, 2007
Heisey Center, 313 7th Street North
6:30 p.m.

Please note: This agenda format allows citizens to speak on each issue prior to Council discussion. We encourage your participation. In the interest that all parties can be heard, please limit your comments.

NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH
CALL TO ORDER
OLD BUSINESS
1. Approval of June minutes
2. Problem properties
  1. 824 6th Avenue North
  2. 512/516 6th Street North
  3. 916 3rd Avenue North
3. Graffiti on 3rd Avenue North between 9th and 10th Street
4. 9th Street Traffic – results of city study
5. Mitchell Pool
6. Weed and Seed Application Status
7. Riverfest booth
8. Single Polling location letter
NEW BUSINESS
1. Downtown Task Force – Brett Doney from GFDA
2. Problem properties
  1. 112 12st North – per email from Mike Taylor
  2. 601 5th Avenue North —Dona Walker
3. 2nd Avenue South Sidewalks – Aaron Weissman
4. Neighborhood Concerns
REPORTS
1. City Commission
2. Police Advisory Board
ADJOURN

Next Meeting – August 13, 2007, Gibson Room, Civic Center

You Get What You Pay For

2007-07-03T20:04:00.000-07:00

Recently, there have been a lot of complaints about how our city commission does little other than rubber stamp the decisions of city staff. I wonder why we are all so surprised. I also wonder why anyone would run for such a position.

We pay our city commission nothing. We pay our mayor about $9k a year. Therefore, we have created a situation where all we can hope to get in these jobs are part-time volunteers.

I believe that our current mayor and commissioners are a group of decent, hardworking and committed volunteers. However, that is all they are. They are part time amateurs who depend on full time professional city staffers. In addition to "overseeing" a $90 Million organization (that pays them bubkis), they also have to find ways to put food on their plates and a roof over their heads. Is there any wonder why they are ineffective?

We, the people of Great Falls, have determined that we want to be governed by staff and with loose oversight by our elected public servants. When you have a deadline at work, do you put it aside to handle something going on at an organization for which you volunteer? Is it reasonable to expect more out of our commission?

Yes, they did run for those jobs. Yes, they should be held accountable for their decisions. However, we all need to realize that we are lying in a bed of our own making.

Animal Welfare and City Oversight

2007-07-03T14:01:00.000-07:00

I have spent a great deal of time reading through (at least some) of the information that has been posted on various websites on this issue. Unfortunately, this looks like a situation where unprofessionalism and lack of communication have exploded into an unnecessary crisis.

First and foremost, we, the citizens, owe Geeguy a debt of at least gratitude for the time he spends researching issues that affect our body politic. A lawyer's time is a very expensive commodity, and I do not see where Geeguy is spending that time in any way that personally benefits him (other than as a citizen of our community). Geeguy, thank you very much for the thorough and balanced information and opinions you have presented. Unfortunately, you will see nothing so thorough in these pages.

However, I would also like to put in my 2¢. What I am going to say has less to do with the specifics of animal control issues in our town and more to do with a general philosophy of how to run this particular railroad.

In this case, we have a contract set to expire. This is a great time to reevaluate how things are to be done and for a governmental agency to define its requirements. It is also a great time to continue the evaluation of an incumbent contractor.

It is not, however, the best time to first discuss problems that the incumbent contractor may have had with the operation of their existing contract. Like many that have posted on this subject, the first I heard that there was a problem was when it came up on the front page of the paper. Now, I hear that there is a dysfunctional board and many complaints about the Humane Society's operation of the facility.

The time to bring these issues up is DURING contract performance; most specifically during regular contract progress meetings. If performance was bad, why have there been no written letters, cure notices, meeting minute notes, etc.? Why are we just hearing about this now?

Worse, the problems we have heard about seem minute, unsubstantiated and subjective. Even more shocking, the story published today in the paper (but not online) said that city officials have not investigated even problems.

So, because of unsubstantiated allegations that have never been documented, we are being asked to pony up hundreds of thousands of dollars in increased annual expenses. I can't wait for the justification for the coming bond issue.

Now, I haven't looked at the RFP the city put out this Spring. However, for a contract of this size (five years at $200k - $500k/year), it would be very reasonable to expect a contract with a rigidly defined Statement of Work / Performance Work Statement setting specific requirements and performance objectives. These specific requirements and performance objectives should be constructed in ways to make them measurable. Then, the resulting metrics should be analyzed during regular contract performance review meetings. To be really innovative, contract payments could be tied to those metrics (incentives for performance?? Shocking!)

Quite frankly, I have read reports in blog comments that I certainly hope are not true. However, we should all hold our city leaders accountable if (when) they present us the bill for their lack of management.

Back in town

2007-07-03T13:03:00.000-07:00

Wow; leave for ten days and it looks like a whole year worth of city news happens. I think there are more than 100 blog posts on ECB and Firefly that look extremely relevant. That, and trying to find my desk for all the stack of papers.

The wife and I took our first vacation of more than a few days in about a decade. We drove to Washington and visited some incredible wineries along I-5 South of Portland. We stayed in campgrounds (usually KOA) along the way; it was a great amount of fun.

Anyway, it looks like tonight's city commission meeting will be fairly interesting. More later ...

Sharing

2007-06-22T07:20:00.000-07:00

Heard from the son yesterday;

"Can I have beef jerky in my lunch today?" asked my six year old boy.

"But, you don't like beef jerky. Why?" said my wife.

"I know. But my friend likes beef jerky, and that way I get his fruit roll-up!" replied the little stinker.

Well, at least he's honest.

Want People to Pay Attention?

2007-06-22T07:19:00.000-07:00

Quote Shakespeare.

A Fair and Equitable Process

2007-06-20T14:05:00.000-07:00

Something very interesting is going on; a presently outsourced function (operation and management of the animal shelter and animal control functions) is being re-evaluated by the city for operation by either the present, private (but non-profit) contractor or a city agency.

I would categorize this as an attempted in-sourcing of a presently out-sourced function. At least in federal procurement, there are rules governing how that is supposed to happen. Those rules are written in an Office of Management and Budget circular called A-76.

Now, the city has no obligation to follow federal rules of procurement. However, these rules are time-tested and have been proven to be both fair and equitable. I challenge the city to apply similar rules to their procurement process for animal control functions. To do so would remove any doubt about the fairness and honesty of the city's final decision.

Procurement

2007-06-20T13:43:00.000-07:00

I guess I am not the only person questioning why the city is apparently ram-roading a $330 thousand increase in expenditures in order to give the GFPD responsibility over animal control functions. Last night, a citizen was thrown out of the city commission meeting and arrested over her comments on just this issue.

There is a healthy discussion going on over at Geeguy's place over the three minute rule. My 2¢ about that is as long as it is equitably and fairly enforced it is probably OK. However, that is not the subject of this post. I would rather use this space here to talk a little bit about the problem that this unfortunate woman raised.

I brought this up yesterday. I would like to see it articulated exactly where the Humane Society has failed to perform their contract. If they have, this point is moot and they should probably be fired from this job. However, if they have performed, why is the city even considering such an expensive replacement?

Worse, this procurement process seems to be flawed. All I know about this is what I read in the paper. However, what I have read does not reasonably equate with what I know of how the government is supposed to procure goods and services.

Comments to City Commission, 6/19/2007

2007-06-19T19:50:00.000-07:00

Madame Mayor and Honorable Commissioners;

My name is Aaron Weissman, and I am the chairman of Neighborhood Council 7.

At our last neighborhood council meeting, concerned neighbors brought to our attention no less than five problem properties plagued by petty crime, gang graffiti and drugs. In addition, we have been made aware of continued vehicle break-ins during the night.

I would like to also take this opportunity to encourage my neighbors and all city residents to take common sense actions to avoid vehicle break-ins. Do not leave anything of value in your vehicle, and especially not in visible areas. Lock your vehicle. If at all possible, park it inside or in a lighted area.

All of these problems seem to be centered on the lower North side, mostly along the 9th Street corridor. Our council feels that the only way to positively affect these problems is for the city to spend increased attention on the area.

Unfortunately, the same neighbors that came to us about their neighborhoods also reported slow responses to their complaints from the police department.

We all know that the summer brings out the worst in some people. As the season progresses, we need to increase our attention on the problems to keep them from getting out of control.

In addition, our council would like to thank the city for beginning a study of traffic on 9th Street. We continue to feel that the speed of traffic along this street is inappropriate for the neighborhood. Please keep us in the loop as to the results of your study and for your ideas to control that traffic.

Is it worth $330k to fire the Humane Society?

2007-06-19T15:06:00.000-07:00

Color me puzzled. In last Sunday's Trib, I read this article. Apparently, the city is re-competing its requirements for animal control and operation of the animal shelter.

The city received two bids, one from the Humane Society for $186 thousand, and one from the Police Department for $516 thousand. The Humane Society is the incumbent contractor.

What confounds me is that with a $330 thousand difference in bids received, the city is not automatically awarding the contract to the incumbent contractor who is also the low bid. Instead, the city has given a copy of the Humane Society's bid to the Police Department (by the by, the other bidder for that contract) for their critique. Is this really how things are (or should be) done? Has the Police Department's bid been given to the Humane Society for their critique?

Now, I freely admit that I haven't paid a great deal of attention to how the Humane Society is doing in their operation of these functions in recent years. I adopted my dog from the shelter several years ago, and found it to be a rather depressing and underfunded place -- but run by caring and dedicated people. In any case, many citizens in Great Falls are attempting to build a new shelter, funded through private donations. In any case, the status of the old, city-owned building is not something that should be blamed on the Humane Society.

If the city awards this contract to the GFPD for $330 thousand more than the next lowest bid, then they will certainly have to explain why it is worth a third of a million dollars to give this additional work to the police department.

NC7 Letter to County Commission on Polling Place Consolidation

2007-06-11T19:36:00.000-07:00

Neighborhood Council 7
PO Box 5021 * Great Falls, MT 59403
Representing the Lower North and South Sides of Historic Great Falls
June 11, 2007

Cascade County Board of Commissioners
The Honorable Joe Briggs
The Honorable Lance Olson
The Honorable Peggy Beltrone
525 2nd Avenue North, Room 111
Great Falls, MT 59401

Dear Commissioners Briggs, Olson and Beltrone;

We write today to address your recent decision to consolidate polling locations in Great Falls to the fairgrounds. Quite simply, we believe that this decision will serve as a detriment to the people in downtown Great Falls and will discourage them from voting. We encourage and ask you to revisit that decision.

We understand and agree that this move will make things easier for the administration of the election. However, we suggest to you that some difficult things are worth the effort. Neighborhood polling is one of these things.

Winston Churchill once said that “democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” He was right; it is a messy and complicated business to keep an election running smoothly. However, that does not mean that we should abdicate our efforts. It would surely be easiest to not have an election at all.

The 7,000 people that live within the borders of Neighborhood Council 7 are the ones that are least likely to own vehicles or other modes of transportation. They are also the population most likely to throw up their hands at any complications in their voting process. Mail ballots are not the answer. If this decision moves forward, we believe that it will result in the de facto disenfranchisement of many of our downtown residents.

Again, we ask you to revisit this decision. We submit to you that neighborhood polling places are inherently beneficial. They encourage local civic discussion and participation. Please do not eliminate this benefit just to gain a little efficiency.

Sincerely,

Aaron Weissman
Mike Taylor
Erin Tropila
Donna Sadler

Neighborhood Council 7 Meeting Agenda

2007-06-08T13:05:00.000-07:00

AGENDA
NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL
DISTRICT 7
Monday, June 11, 2007
Gibson Room, Civic Center
6:30 p.m.

Please note: This agenda format allows citizens to speak on each issue prior to Council discussion. We encourage your participation. In the interest that all parties can be heard, please limit your comments.

CALL TO ORDER

OLD BUSINESS
Approval of May minutes
824 6th Avenue North—drug activity--Aaron
9th Street traffic--Aaron

NEW BUSINESS
Mitch Tropila—report from MT Senate and questions
Single poling location—letter to County Commissioners--Aaron
916 3rd Avenue North—abandoned property--Aaron
Riverfest booth--Aaron
Neighborhood Concerns

REPORTS
City Commission
ACTION Team
Council of Councils
Police Advisory Board

ADJOURN

Next Meeting – July 9, 2007, Heisey Center

Those Darned Rose Colored Glasses

2007-06-05T07:41:00.000-07:00

Remember the survey last Summer on the pools? You know, the one in our water bill where about a solid majority of the people in Great Falls told our City Commission that neighborhood pools were worth saving. Well, whoever that was adding together the figures was certainly pulling something out of somewhere.

If you remember those surveys, our options were to spend nothing (and close down the neighborhood pools) or to spend $2.2 Million in repairs to the Jaycee, the Water Tower and the Mitchell.

Well, $2.2 Million seems to be not quite accurate. Now that we have committed to spend the money, the lowest bid is coming in at something like $2.5 Million. That’s about 14% over the estimate.

This is not the first error in estimation that the City has made in our very recent history. Not by a long shot.

If we move the decimal place over a digit or two to the right, we can recall the city’s estimates for the cost of the coal plant. You remember current cost estimate for the plant we were originally told would cost $515 Million plant is now hovering somewhere around $678 Million.

Moving back in time a few years, we can recall similar unrealistic cost estimates for the golf courses and other public works projects. Moving away from costs, there were a number of similar unrealistic revenue expectations for city ventures, most notably the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Party and the White Water Elephant.

Now, I am not alleging anything inappropriate here. I think that city planners did a study and really thought that the repairs to those pools would come in at the lower number. However, whoever was doing the math and studying the work involved made some major errors. Fourteen percent is a pretty huge variance.

Now, I am pretty sure that Great Falls taxpayers would have supported $2.5 Million to revitalize our neighborhood pools. However, we never got the chance to make a statement either way since the numbers on which most of us based our vote had only a tenuous relationship with reality.

Which leads me to the point of this particular post. Over at ECB, Geeguy has been doing a great job telling truth to power over the seeming inability of city estimators to plan for worst cast scenarios. Our recent news just highlights the point. This is a very important obligation, because these estimators are playing with our money.

I grant you that estimating public works projects is something throwing a dart at a moving target. However, it ain’t rocket science either. At the very least, the city could have put out some informational/non-binding requests for proposals; the responses to those RFPs would have given the city some important information as to the actual costs involved.

Umm, Should't We Encourage Voting???

2007-05-18T07:41:00.000-07:00

Here we go again.

Every couple of years, this seems to come up again. You know, the idea that we need to consolidate our polling places into one warehouse to make things easier for the County to administer election day.

While I am all for efficiency, I am not persuaded. Putting more tsuris on the voter is not the answer to declining participation at the polls. Instead of treating the franchise like an onerous burden, we need to remember that our democracy depends on its vibrancy.

Let me be clear; it was a mistake and a shanda to decrease the amount of polling places as was done several years ago. Neighborhood voting should be encouraged.

Our county clerk and recorder seems to want to push us all to mail ballots. While this would make her job easier, it is no good as an answer to her logistical difficulties. Over the past ten years, our country has been moving more and more toward voting-by-mail and as a result, the principle of the secret ballot has suffered. Your vote is your vote; there needs to be no question as to whether you were able to vote your conscience when presented with your ballot.

There may be no law requiring neighborhood voting. However, there is no law requiring common sense, either. Resigning our community to have to either wait in long lines in a confusing warehouse environment or to vote by mail will only decrease participation in the polls. It is a bad idea and deserves to be thrown out again.

An Open Question about "our" Ownership in the Coal Plant

2007-05-16T08:46:00.000-07:00

For the past several months, I haven't been speaking about the Coal Plant much. Others in our local blogging community are doing a much more comprehensive job, and I haven't felt the need to insert my 2¢.

However, I was struck by the City's recent announcement that "our" share of ownership in the plant would be reduced to 15%. So, I have a few questions:

As best I understand it, SME (a semi-private corporation wholly owned by the City of Great Falls) was to kick in 25% of the construction costs for the coal plant. Will "our" share of the capital costs also be rolled back to 15%?

If not, how can the city possibly justify paying one-fourth of the costs of an asset when we will only own less than one-sixth of it?

Someone please explain this to me. Does the term fiduciary responsibility mean anything?

May Neighborhood Council 7 Agenda

2007-05-14T14:43:00.000-07:00

AGENDA
NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL
DISTRICT 7
Monday, May 14, 2007
Heisey Center, 313 7th Street North
6:30 p.m.

Please note: This agenda format allows citizens to speak on each issue prior to Council discussion. We encourage your participation. In the interest that all parties can be heard, please limit your comments.

NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH

CALL TO ORDER

OLD BUSINESS
Approval of April minutes

NEW BUSINESS
Community Policing
Guardianship & Gatekeepers programs—Jason Kindsvatter & Diana Meyers
Antenna on 9th Street—Denise Cardinal
Conditional Use—Willy Weaver
Summer meetings
Neighborhood Concerns

REPORTS
City Commission
ACTION Team

ADJOURN

Next Meeting – June 11, 2007

Summer Borscht

2007-04-25T08:46:00.000-07:00

Several months ago, I complained about the hot beet soup served by a local resident. I have since been corrected by those more knowledgeable than I, but it is my experience that winter borscht, served hot, is a beef and cabbage soup.

Now that it is a bit warmer and I have unpacked by short-sleeved shirts, I am getting ready for summer borscht, a refreshing cold beet soup that is perfect on a hot day.

Summer borscht, in my experience, is a cold, dairy soup. I fry the veggies in butter and it's best with a dollop of sour cream, so I make it with no meat.

Try out this recipe; you might just find you like it!

Ingredients:

Water
NACL and pepper
Miripoix, diced
Green pepper, diced
Beets
Tomatoes, diced
Tomato sauce
Vegetable stock
Potatoes, 3 quartered and 1/4 cup diced
Butter
Cabbage, shredded
Dill

Directions:

Boil the beets in H2O with salt, carrots, some of the bell pepper, celery and quartered potatoes until tender in stockpot.

In separate skillet, fry the miripoix and the green pepper in the butter until tender. Add tomatoes and stir to deglaze. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add in some cabbage and continue simmering for five more minutes.

Remove potatoes and beet from pot and mash with butter and vegetable stock until smooth.

Add contents of skillet to stockpot, stir in diced potatoes and simmer until tender. Increase heat to low boil and add tomato sauce, more cabbage and mashed potato/beet mixture. Reduce heat to simmer, and stir in a bit more bell pepper.

In the soup bowl, add black pepper and a dollop of sour cream.

Enjoy. Suggestion: don't wear a white shirt!

Tsar Vlad

2007-04-25T08:31:00.000-07:00

I don't know much about Russia. However, I remain very interested in the land my family called home until the beginning of the 20th Century.

All this week, I have been reading eulogies and obits about former Russian President Boris Yeltsin. I am struck by the credit that these writers give him for opening Russia to democracy and pluralism.

I find these platitudes to be disingenuous. Yeltsin did try to open Russia, but his personal failings doomed the effort.

He handpicked Vladimir Putin to be his successor; if for no other reason than a promise that Putin gave Yeltsin to keep him out of the gulag. Putin quickly undid Yeltsin's reforms and began cementing in yet another Russian totalitarian regime.

Russia may not now resemble the former Soviet Union. However, every year that Putin remains in power it reminds me more and more of the czarist monarchy. Perhaps Russia is not ready for democracy. However, giving credit to a corrupt drunkard who sold his country's future in order to get away with his crimes seems inappropriate.

Guest Post: Lewin Calls for Consolidation of City, County

2007-04-23T07:16:00.000-07:00

This weekend, I received an email from former City commission candidate Stuart Lewin. Stuart is a smart guy, and he has some wisdom. Although he and I disagree about a great many things, I have a great deal of respect for his viewpoints and judgements.

Stuart has asked me to post this idea on my blog. I am very glad to do so.

These are my ideas for a new and better government. What do you think? Do
you have any suggestions for improvement?

“Greater Cascade” (Great Falls/Cascade County) a idea revisited whose time
has now come:

1. Combine city/county like Butte/Silverbow and call the new government
entity “Greater Cascade” and give it home rule powers.

2. Give Current County areas (as set forth herein) at least one extra
commissioner so that county residents know that their voices will be heard
and their interests protected.

3. Have commissioners elected by wards they represent. Commissioners would
be non partisan. Commissioners to be elected for 6 year terms (after first
election all commissioners would draw straws for length of first term 2, 4
or 6 years – thereafter approximately 1/3 of commissioners would be elected
every 2 years)

4. Every two years the commissioners would select one of their number to be
their spokesperson and the official representative of the government at
events/ official functions etc. The spokespersons can be chosen for
additional two year terms. Because of the additional time required as
official representative of the government. The spokesperson shall receive a
salary of one and 1/2 times the regular commissioner’s salary

5. suggested wards (could be more or less): 1. Riverview/Blackeagle/westside
(to 10th Avenue South); 2. Northside; 3. south side; 4. river road (south of
10th Ave S)/Palised heights/Wilson Butte road; 5. FoxFarm/Floodroad; 6.
Cascade/Ulm (east to current city limits); 7. Sunriver/Fairfield Bench; 8.
Vaughn/east to current city limits; 9. North from Sky-line Drive (and west
of Ft Benton hwy) to county Boarder; 10. Belt/Highwood west to current city
limits; 11. Monarch/Neihart/Sand Colley/Centerville west to current city
limits;

6. Pay all commissioners a reasonable part-time salary. The initial salary
of commissioners shall be determined by taking the current salaries of city
and county commissioners and the mayor adding them together and dividing by
the number of new commissioners.

7. Hire one professional manager for new government,
combine planning staffs; manager to hire new planning director and staff and
other government workers.

8. develop a new all-over growth policy plan for our new government and new
zoning and other regulations in line with the all-over plan to provide for
enforceable county-wide: ‘smart growth’; ‘economic development’; protection
and balancing of ‘private property rights’ with the public’s right and
obligation to provide ‘a clean and healthful environment’ as provided for in
the Montana State Constitution; designating and protecting open space,
farm/ranch land, natural areas, historic and cultural areas, rivers, streams
and their natural corridors.

Advantages:
1.Reduce costs (by efficiency, reduction of duplication, hire good
professional staff)

2.Make government more responsive to local concerns (each commissioner would
be account able to his neighbors from his ward for their cotes and not by a
county-wide vote which allows certain groups to control all positions).

3.Provide for smart planning to accommodate anticipated growth (to avoid
mistakes of other Counties - egg Gallatin County)

4. Develop countywide policies which will avoid uncertainties for developers
and land owners

5.Move forward countywide with Missouri/sun River Corridor plan

6. Provide for public power and conservation plans

7. Provide an inventive for our best people to get involved in government at
all levels because they will feel part of a winning team where their ideas
and efforts can make a difference

8. Stop the duplication and bickering between city and county government.
One notable example when the County approve the Urquhart zoning change,
Commissioner Briggs said: “the city has an industrial park, we want one
too!”

Disadvantages (raised by others):

1. Change is often disconcerting most often for those in power – ANSWER:
tough its time for a change

2. Ward bosses may develop and corruption follow - ANSWER: we will need to
fight this locally and be vigilant.

3. As we grow in numbers and increase regulations to provide for consensus
in how we manage our lives, we may wish to return to simpler days and equate
our new lives with loss of freedom. ANSWER: In actual fact we are probably
more free in a different sense.

4. We studied this 10 years ago and rejected it because unlike Silverbow
county which has only one town (Butte), we have many towns. ANSWER: Butte
always had Anaconda and poor planning in Gallatin County has allowed
Belgrade to be overwhelmed.

I SUGGEST WE WORK TO PUT THIS ON THE BALLOT COUNTYWIDE AS A REFERENDUM THIS
ELECTION, WITH A TIME TABLE FOR BEGINNING THE NEW GOVERNMENT (SAY ELECTION
OF COMMISSIONERS AND BEGINNING OF THE NEW GOVERNMENT DURING THE NEXT
ELECTION CYCLE.) WE DO NOT NEED A NEW STUDY COMMISSION WHICH CAN BE
CONTROLLED BY CURRENT POLITICAL FACTIONS TO WASTE TIME AND PREVENT CHANGE.
LET US SEE IF THE PEOPLE AGREE THAT THIS CHANGE WOULD BE ADVANTAGEOUS AND
ACCEPTABLE

I have always suspected that we duplicate many efforts between the city and the county; specifically in areas of public safety and transportation. I voted for the city/county consolidation referendum when it was on the ballot 10 (or was it 12) years ago, and still think it a good idea.

I don't know that we need a ward system, as Stuart suggests. However, if consolidation were to happen, we need to make sure the the interests of, say, Neihart, are represented as are those of the various neighborhoods of Great Falls.

SoulTrain Israel Fair to Make Stop in Missoula

2007-04-23T07:13:00.000-07:00

(Great Falls, April 22) – Can’t you just smell the frying falafel? A taste of Israel is coming to Missoula!

The Montana Association of Jewish Communities; Missoula’s Congregation Har Shalom and the University of Montana Hillel House have arranged for the Soultrain Israel Fair to make a stop in Missoula. The Fair, which will highlight Israeli culture through food, music, dance and crafts, will take place at Har Shalom’s new synagogue at 3035 S. Russell on Thursday, May 3 from 3 to 8 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

The Fair will bring a small part of Israel to Montana. Programming for the event is directed to adults, children and teenagers throughout the State. Participants will get to know Israeli culture, get information about Israel, taste Jewish and Israeli food, dance Israeli dances, listen to Israeli music. In addition to a mini Israeli bazaar, with vendors stocking Israeli products, there will be arts and crafts projects, fun games and Israeli films for both the young and old.

SoulTrain is an Israeli outreach group that began in the Pacific Northwest in 1999. They have since expanded their activities across the United State, Europe and Africa, dedicated to bring Jewish and Israeli culture to small communities throughout the world. The organization has brought many Israeli cultural figures to Montana over the years. It’s mission is to connect to smaller Jewish communities in order to offer them a direct connection to Israel. Come learn about Israeli culture at this fun-filled family event!

For more information, call Congregation Har Shalom at 406-549-9595.

Apparently, I am Going to be Judged More Harshly ...

2007-04-16T11:13:00.000-07:00

And I am OK with that.

Yesterday was Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Memorial Day. To commemorate those that perished and those that fought back, I helped to organize a service at the YWCA of Great Falls. I especially want to thank community leaders like Commissioner Beltrone, Mayor Stebbins and Chaplain McCain for taking part in the service.

The service was well attended and, I think, a very nice event. We certainly were able to both commemorate the fallen and raise awareness of current genocides, most specifically the crimes now happening daily in Darfur.

While we were setting up, a protester came by. A real-life protester at a HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL SERVICE. This guy, whom I will name Schmuckity McSchmuck henceforth on these pages, had a 15 foot pole on which he had a 3' square sign with "REPENT SINNERS" on one side and "ACCEPT JESUS" on the other. He spend about an hour standing in front of the Y reading out loud from the New Testament.

At one point, I went out to talk to Schmuckity. I invited him into the service, since we were talking about peace and I thought that the guy he was talking about also had something to say about peace. Schmuckity wasn't too interested in peace, apparently. He told me that us Jews were going to be judged more harshly for forsaking his savior.

Bizarre, no?

Anyway, despite Schmuckity, the service went very well. I especially want to thank the mayor for her gestures of support.

Great Job GFECSC Webmaster!

2007-04-12T18:25:00.000-07:00

For the third year, I am coaching my son's Minibolt (soccer) team. My first practice with the new team (they voted on the name "Seahawks" -- I guess a few of them like the American Football) was this everning.

Anyway, I am not a soccer guru. For six year old soccer, my main focus is to make sure that a parent brings a team treat after each game.

For that reason, my kids have fun -- but the drilling of the soccer fundamentals might be a bit behind schedule.

This year, I was looking through the new website for the Electric City Soccer Club. Low and behold; lesson plans! Simple games/drills for the kids; and they actually learn something about the game.

Anyway, many thanks to the club and the the clubs webmaster for putting such useful information online. The boys had (and kicked) a ball!

Lower North Side Mapril Cleanup

2007-04-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

Neighborhood Council 7 and the Northside Neighborhood Watch are getting together to organize the annual MAPRIL CLEAN UP for our neighborhood on April 28, 2007.

Please volunteer to help disadvantaged Northside neighbors and to clean streets, avenues and alleys between Central Avenue and 8th Avenue North from River Drive to 9th Street.

To participate, show up at the community rec center (800 2nd Avenue North) at 8 a.m. on April 28.

Coffee, donuts and a picnic lunch will be provided.

Do you like the Lower-Side One Way Streets?

2007-04-10T07:34:00.000-07:00

Three posts in two days may spell the end of my hiatus, but only time will really tell.

Another lower North and South side issue has arisen about which I need input. A group of downtown business owners are advocating for Fifth and Sixth Streets (North of Tenth Avenue South) be reset as two-way, instead of one-way throughfares.

They say that their current configuration makes visiting downtown businesses more difficult. In addition, the existence of these one-way streets increases the speed of traffic through residential neighborhoods. I suspect that this is all true.

In addition, conversations with city staff confirm that these Streets just do not see the traffic that might justify their existence as one-way. They were reset as one way streets many years ago with the idea of relieving traffic off Ninth Street. That idea has not worked.

HOWEVER, resetting these streets as two-way would certainly increase traffic on Ninth. I remain very concerned about all the traffic on Ninth -- it remains a dangerous and poorly planned North-South throughfare. This idea might make the problem all the worse.

So, what do you think? Is it a good idea to reset 5th and 6th? Or is the idea all wet?

How About a Mural?

2007-04-09T13:06:00.000-07:00

First, let me be clear. I am not off hiatus. When I have the urge to blog, I will be posting more regularly.

However, I am taking a break in my hiatus to make a proposal for our local concussion generator (the Skate Park). As any recent visitor knows, the graffiti there has gotten much worse. Some of it is offensive, obscene and racist.

My six year old son has decided that he wants to learn to skate, especially now that ski season is over. Therefore, I am spending much more time there. To be honest, a great deal of that graffiti raises questions I don't really want my son asking yet. One of which is whether it is OK to "color" on city property.

It appears that our city commission has decided that it isn't worth their time to police the graffiti regs at the skate park. To be honest, I can understand their reasoning. However, there has to be a middle ground.

We are an extremely artistic community. Why don't we make the entire skate park into not just a place for kids to congregate, but also into urban art?

The city should invite local artists to cover every last inch of concrete with art. It could even be made into an event (with a juried competition). Whaddya think?

Neighborhood Council 7 Meeting Agenda

2007-04-09T13:04:00.000-07:00

AGENDA
NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL
DISTRICT 7
Monday, April 9, 2007
Gibson Room, Civic Center
6:30 p.m.

Please note: This agenda format allows citizens to speak on each issue prior to Council discussion. We encourage your participation. In the interest that all parties can be heard, please limit your comments.

CALL TO ORDER

OLD BUSINESS
Approval of March minutes

NEW BUSINESS
Council Boundary changes—Peggy Bourne
Mapril planning
Neighborhood Concerns

REPORTS
City Commission
Council of Councils
ACTION Team
Police Advisory Board

ADJOURN

Next Meeting – May 14, 2007 – Heisey Center, 6:30 p.m.

Tribune should be Ashamed at their Coal Plant Coverage

2007-03-01T09:18:00.000-07:00

Don't get excited, I am not back from hiatus. However, today's Trib has spurred me to post.

I still really want to support the coal plant. In my opinion, this could be a great example of adding value of North-central Montana's natural resources here in North-central Montana. I like the idea of generating excess power and selling it out of State, instead of just mining the coal and shipping it out of State to be processed by "others".

However, the questions that GeeGuy has raised in recent weeks have given me substantial pause. As citizens of Great Falls (and therefore owners in Electric City Power, and by extension -- at least in theory -- SME), we have the right to know how our tax dollars are being used and we have the right to examine the business model of the Highwood Generating Station. I am offended (but not really surprised) that GeeGuy has been stonewalled in his attempt to get basic information about our commitments here.

If you didn't read it, there is a front page story today, leading into a full page of coverage on the Coal Plant on page 3A. The articles on the inside ask a series of questions on the coal plant, and quote replies gleaned from comments made by a series of public officials. The article was written by Richard Ecke, a man for whom I have a great deal of respect and who usually does a great job of investigative reporting.

Missing from these queries are most of GeeGuy's questions regarding the financing, feasibility, business model and taxpayer commitment. These questions need to be answered.

For whatever it is worth, I still think it possible that the Highwood Generating Station could be beneficial. However, the City, ECP and SME will have to put all of their cards on the table give us complete transparency for that conclusion to be really determinable.

Don't Look Here for Fresh Content

2007-01-26T10:00:00.000-07:00

I thought that I should make some sort of note that I will continue to be on hiatus for a while longer. No inclination to write, lately.

I do, however, encourage you to read what Geeguy and Firefly are saying about the financial position of our proposed coal plant. They are raising some very cogent questions; ones that the city needs to answer.

Neighborhood Council 7 meeting agenda

2007-01-04T15:56:00.001-07:00

AGENDA
NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL
DISTRICT 7
Monday, January 8, 2007
Heisey Memorial, 313 7th Street North
6:30 p.m.

Please note: This agenda format allows citizens to speak on each issue prior to Council discussion. We encourage your participation. In the interest that all parties can be heard, please limit your comments.

CALL TO ORDER

NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH

OLD BUSINESS
Approval of November minutes

NEW BUSINESS
Community Policing Officer’s report
B & B Loan building status
Nativity scenes at the Civic Center
Council of Councils topic suggestions
Neighborhood Concerns

REPORTS
City Commission meetings
Coordinator’s Report

ADJOURN

Next Meeting – February 12, 2006 – Civic Center, Gibson Room, 6:30 p.m.

Umm, I guess we get to choose?

2006-12-20T13:10:00.000-07:00

I was intrigued by the story on Multiple Sclerosis featured on page one of today's Trib.

Apparently, Vitamin D may keep one from contracting MS. Where does one get Vitamin D? Sunlight.

Yes, the same sunlight that can cause skin cancer. The reason that so many people wear floppy hats and long-sleeved shirts at the beach.

If this study proves to be true, do we have to choose which we want, MS or Skin Cancer?

Remember Carl Sagan Today

2006-12-20T10:44:00.000-07:00

Today is the 10th anniversary of Carl Sagan's death.

Sagan was one of the most important popularizers of science. His vision created a respect for the scientific process, reason and for nature in generations of children (and adults).

I miss this man. Today, we should remember him and his vision.

Why Does the City Erect Crèches on Municipal Property?

2006-12-20T10:13:00.000-07:00

I have thought a long time about this post. I still don't know whether it is a good idea to write it or not. Quite frankly, I don't want my yarmulke nailed to the wall right next to Rabbi Bogomilsky's.

However, every time I pass by the crèche (manger scene) on the civic center steps or the one on flag hill, I get upset. By erecting these displays (or allowing them to be erected), the city is telling me that I really am not welcome here. Sure, I can live here; but just don't get too uppity.

I have no problem with the trees. For that matter, I can deal with (but am still unhappy with) the way that normal life grinds to a halt the day after Thanksgiving and only starts back up after January 1st. Truth be told, I think that the lights are pretty and I do like the smell of pine.

I also don't want to erect an "equivalent display." I neither need nor want to display a series of big, municipal chanukiot. The little menorah in my window is fine for me, thanks.

When it comes down to it, a crèche is just too much and just too in my face. It is overtly religious and Christian, and just does not belong on city property. If it does belong, why doesn't the city just put up a sign that says "Christians Only" at the gates of our town?

Bah, Humbug.

Labels???

2006-12-20T09:47:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed labels cropping up on my blog posts over the last month or so. I switched over to blogger's new beta, and labels were the feature that swung me over.

Not all my posts are categorized (yet?). Especially the older ones. However, as time permits I hope to put labels on my golden oldies.

While you are at it, check out the "label roll" to the left.

We Need to Put Up or Shut Up

2006-12-20T08:29:00.000-07:00

Let me be clear; Great Falls and Cascade county would be fools to allow any encroachment on Malmstrom's runway. Our future is tied to Malmstrom AFB. We need to give the Pentagon every assurance that we support the base.

If you think that they are not watching our local municipal decision here, you are crazy. Whether or not we allow any development in the runway's potential accident zone will send a message straight to Arlington about whether or not we support the Air Force here. We need to send a full throated vote of support.

If we don't, I suggest you look to places like Havre and Fort Benton. Because within a very few short years, Great Falls will very strongly resemble those places. If we are lucky, we will be as successful as Shelby.

Not that my 2¢ means much, but I will work to oppose any city, county or state politician that votes to allow encroachment. I work hard to not be a single-issue voter, but this one is too important for the future of our town.

HOWEVER, we need to put our money in place of our mouths. We could not, and should not, take away property owner's rights to their own property without fully reimbursing them. To do otherwise would be as bad as stealing these landowner's property.

Whatever the vehicle used (an easement, eminent domain, etc.), the city and/or the county needs to buy that land and lock it away from development for as long as it takes. What's more, we should pay whatever the appraised value of that land would be if they were allowed their development.

Borscht for Beginners

2006-12-13T21:31:00.000-07:00

Today for lunch, I visited an establishment in downtown Great Falls that shall remain nameless. This establishment prepares a different soup of the day, each day.

I was delighted to see "Borscht" on the menu. For the benefit of those of you whose ancestors were not living in fear of the Tzar 110 years ago (Fiddler on the Roof most resembles a family history to the Weissmans), Borscht (or "soup" in Russian) is what I call Jewish soul food. Absolute heaven. Such a meal!

I, of course, inquired about the Borscht. I was informed that it was a vegetarian beet soup, served hot. The horror! Quite frankly, I had never heard anything so goyish since I first saw a blueberry bagel.

So, a lesson is in order. During the summer, borscht is a COLD vegetarian beet soup, best served with a cold slice of baked potato and sour cream. Summer borscht is simply not served in the Winter, and December in Montana qualifies as Winter.

December in Montana, however, is a perfect time for Winter Borscht. Winter Borscht is a hot cabbage and beef stew. No beets. Beets belong in Summer Borscht. I can't imagine anything worse than hot beet soup.

I will dig out a recipe in the next few days.

Dror Edar to Perform in Great Falls on December 14

2006-12-12T15:57:00.000-07:00

Dror Eydar, a lecturer in Hebrew literature, Jewish thought, Jewish mysticism and Israeli politics at universities throughout Israel, will present an evening of chosen Israeli and Jewish songs in Great Falls on Thursday, December 14 at 7 p.m. at the Cozy Tea Hut, 200 Central Avenue.

Eydar's performance, called "Heaven and Earth: The Israel Experience" comes to Great Falls courtesy of the Israeli outreach group SoulTrain in cooperation with Aitz Chaim, the Great Falls Hebrew Association.

Absence continues ...

2006-12-12T14:40:00.000-07:00

Not a lot of fresh content here, and I can't promise much before the New Year. Of course, then it is tax and ski season, so I can't promise much then, either!

Do yourself a favor; go over to Firefly's place and read what she has been writing about Flag Hill. Then, go over to ECW and read about the finances of the new proposed coal plant. Good writing by thoughtful people.

Check back here every once in a while; I might even have something worthwhile for you to read. Not today, though.

Game called for fog?

2006-12-02T07:41:00.000-07:00

To Terrier or Eagle alum, the annual BU/BC mens hockey game is a really big deal. Boston's version of the Cat-Griz game. To make things even better, CSTV was scheduled to broadcast the game last night.

So, I popped the popcorn, uncapped a brew (bought in a nice six-pack) and settled in to watch the game.

However, the game was called 10 minutes in due to ... fog. Couldn't even see the puck on the ice. Never saw that one coming.

Game is rescheduled for tonight. And damn, it isn't going to be on the tube here.

Skate Park Covered with Graffiti

2006-11-24T15:39:00.000-07:00

On this blustery day after Thanksgiving, I took a long bike ride instead of fighting shoppers. I know, I know, I am not doing much to help our consumer driven economy. However, I had much turkey that needed to be worked off.

During the workout, I rode by our municipal concussion generator. I was surprised to see that most of the park is covered with graffiti. Examples of all this spray-paint artistry are displayed on this post.

Now, the city is very quick to notify property owners that they only have 72 hours to remove graffiti on their property. If not, the city will remove it for the property owner at $200 per hour.

These paintings look like they have been up for a lot longer than three days. I would guess that the pumpkin display above has been up since before Halloween. Other paintings have been up for so long that they are beginning to fade.

I am assuming that the city just doesn't know about it; otherwise they would be following their own regulations, right? Right. And if you believe that, come see me about some beachfront property in Kansas. Unfortunately, the city is damned either way here. Either they are not following their own regs or they are not paying attention to their own facilities.

The city needs to clean up this mess.

Welcome to Chaim and Chavie!

2006-11-21T11:12:00.000-07:00

Chabad is coming to the Big Sky State!

I just received an email from Rabbi Chaim Bruk. He and his wife, Chavie, are planning on moving to Bozeman this Spring! They will open the first Montana branch of the worldwide Chabad Lubavitch movement.

Organized Orthodox Judaism has existed in Montana before. At the turn of the last century, there was an Orthodox synagogue (and even a schochet) in Butte. However, almost all of present-day Montana Jewry is either affiliated with the Reform Judaism movement or is very liberal in its practice.

Personally, I am very excited to learn from Rabbi Bruk. May he and his wife have safe travels!

Twenty-Four Percent ?!?!?!?!

2006-11-21T11:00:00.000-07:00

My company just received our annual Health Insurance renewal quote from Blue-Cross/Blue Shield. An across the board twenty-four percent increase. 24%. That is on top of double digit increases every year for the past ten years.

Who can pay this kind of rate? This year, the individual rate is as much as the family rate was when my daughter was born eight years ago.

Obscene and disgusting. Makes me want to throw up.

Say it Ain't So!

2006-11-20T13:29:00.000-07:00

A short break from local Great Falls political ramblings ...

A news item just crossed my inbox. Apparently, New Line cinema has fired Peter Jackson from directing their upcoming Hobbit movie due to a contract dispute over the Lord of the Rings movies.

LOTR would never have been such a faithful interpretation of Professor Tolkein's vision if it were not for Peter Jackson. As a result of his actions, those of that have spent part of our lives living and breathing Tolkein were shown three very majestic and inspiring films. There and Back Again should be nothing less.

Bring back Jackson! New Line should be ashamed.

Channel 5 wants to hear what I have to say

2006-11-20T11:42:00.000-07:00

I was just interviewed for News Channel 5. I think that the story will air tonight.

They are doing another story on local bloggers. They are following up after their story about greaterfalls.~~net~~com, which was broadcast yesterday.

Beer Sales Issue Needs More Attention

2006-11-20T10:32:00.000-07:00

As I have discussed before (here and here), there is a public vagrancy problem in Great Falls that need attention. However, I think I have been too hasty in supporting a proposed measure to ban convenience stores from selling single cans of beer.

The more I read and discuss about this issue, the more unworkable this ban seems to be. Most problematic is the definition of a single can of beer; is a 24 oz. bottle to be banned? It is very difficult to construct an ordinance that narrowly does what is necessary here without raising additional questions.

In addition, such an ordinance would also inappropriately affect merchants, like Vintage Sellers on the West side of town, that import high-end beer that is only available by the single bottle. I have no desire to impact that business in any way.

However, I think it a mistake to throw out the baby with the bath-water. We still have vagrancy, public drunkenness, and public nuisance problems in our downtown. Many of those problems could be solved by restricting access to single cans of been.

So how do we do it? How do we write an ordinance that works to clean up our downtown without painting with too broad a brush?

I suggest that the ordinance be amended, to state that the total transaction for any sale involving carry out alcohol must total at least $3. The effect is the same (it is still more difficult to panhandle that much) and one can still buy a can of Bud at the M&H. However, you will have to buy some chips and maybe a sandwich with your brew.

What do you think?

Neighborhood Council 7 Meeting Agenda

2006-11-10T08:25:00.000-07:00

AGENDA
NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL
DISTRICT 7
Monday, November 13, 2006
Heisey Memorial, 313 7th Street North
6:30 p.m.

Please note: This agenda format allows citizens to speak on each issue prior to Council discussion. We encourage your participation. In the interest that all parties can be heard, please limit your comments.

CALL TO ORDER

SPECIAL GUEST
Great Falls Public Schools—Trustee Stuart Nicholson

NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH

OLD BUSINESS
Approval of October minutes
Weed and Seed application for the North side—Jayci Kolar
Whittier teacher parking

NEW BUSINESS
Longfellow School traffic problems
Neighborhood Concerns

REPORTS
City Commission meetings
Coordinator’s Report

ADJOURN

Next Meeting – December 11, 2006 – Civic Center, Gibson Room, 6:30 p.m.

Benefis Deserves Hurrah

2006-11-08T14:28:00.000-07:00

Also swept aside with the election was news that Benefis decided to drop their suit against the Clinic. Personally, I think that Benefis deserves some community hurrahs for taking the first step toward a détente in the war among health care providers in our community.

Benefis could have continued their suit, and patient care in our community would have suffered. Yesterday, Benefis signaled that they were more interested in caring for their patients than they are in fighting.

Now is the time for the Clinic to make the next step. There is no reason that our hospital and our doctors can not work together.

Northside Schmucks should return Teacher's bike

2006-11-08T14:18:00.000-07:00

Lost among the election news in today's paper is a blurb about a 3 Wheeled bike that was stolen from Mrs. Staiger, a handicapped HANDS teacher at Whittier elementary. Whoever stole this bike should be ashamed.

As a community, we can help right this wrong. I have priced a replacement bike; it will cost about $475 to purchase a new bike. The Whittier PTA will raise that money.

Want to help? Please send a check to the Whittier PTA, c/o Whittier Elementary, 305 8th Street North, Great Falls, MT 59401. Please mark on the subject line that the funds are to be used to replace Mrs. Staiger's bike.

Yesterday was a Good Day

2006-11-08T14:08:00.000-07:00

When I started this blog, it was with the idea that I would highlight what I believe to be the "purple" majority in this country; people that are less Democrats or Republicans than they are Americans.

Yesterday was a very good day for that majority. Personally, I think that part of the reason that the GOP Congress did such a good job from 1995-2000 was that our country had a Democratic President.

The past six years have been something of an anomaly in our post-war history. Having one party hold undivided power is neither common nor is it good for our nation. I welcome the new Democratic majority in Congress, and hope that it provides a necessary check on our government.

Let the hearings begin!

If you haven't done so already, go and VOTE already!

2006-11-07T11:47:00.000-07:00

The one thing that separates the great idea of democracy from other forms of government is the ability of a plurality of the people to determine who governs.

Today, options are before us regarding not only who will make our laws, but about what many of those laws should be. In the past several days, I have posted some of my opinions about those laws.

Whether or not you agree with me, I urge you to go to your polling place and VOTE.

Vote Yes on Aquatics Bond Issue

2006-11-04T12:25:00.000-07:00

Another issue that Electric City voters will have before them on Tuesday will be the aquatics bond issue. If passed, this initiative will spend $2.3 Million to fix up our neighborhood pools.

Specifically, about half the funds borrowed through this initiative will fix up the Jaycee and Water Tower pools so that they can be reopened. The other half will go to maintenance on the Mitchell Pool.

We need to keep our city aquatics facilities. Without this initiative, the Jaycee and Water Tower pools will have to be shuttered permanently.

Vote Yes on the Aquatics Bond Issue.

Vote No on I-151

2006-11-04T12:15:00.000-07:00

This Tuesday, we have some decisions to make. One of those decisions will be whether or not to increase the minimum wage.

As I have argued before, a $1 increase really doesn't make too much difference in today's economy. The market has taken care of things; there is no real job (except service jobs primarily held by high school kids) that pays the "legal" minimum. In the business I run, the starting wage is now over $8; that is really the case anywhere in our State.

The real danger of I-151 is mandated annual increases in the minimum wage, based on the growth of the federal Consumer Price Index. The CPI is based on the average federal inflation rate.

Now, prices in New York or Los Angeles do not necessarily have any relation to prices in Great Falls, MT. To tie our minimum wage laws to the national economy is a recipe for disaster for many Montana small businesses.

Like I said, a $1 increase will not have much impact on either Montana workers or the (mostly) small businesses that employ them. However, annual increases will. If such a thing happens, one of two things will have to happen; either prices will have to go up or businesses will have to reduce growth and potentially shutter their doors.

There is only so much room a business has to raise prices. When they reach that ceiling, the next decision will have to be to, say, hire five people for a new venture instead of ten. Worse, the decision might be to not open a new business instead of be forced to pay more for a job than the position is really worth.

Vote no on I-151. It takes control of our economy out of our hands.

Benefis ER is Top Notch

2006-10-27T09:14:00.000-07:00

In this space, I have reserved a great deal of criticism for the administration and management of medical care here in the Electric City. However, I would like to take this opportunity to note what wonderful care we do have here, despite the bickering and fighting between the CEO offices of the various institutions providing that care.

I spent a great deal of last night in the Benefis emergency room, tending to an elderly aunt who had fallen earlier in the evening. The ER staff was professional, kind, considerate and attentive to her needs. She had broken her femur, and the staff their deserves all the kudos and kind words I can muster.

I fear, however, that the professionalism and devotion to patient care that was so evident to me last night does not extend to management offices of the Hospital or the Clinic. Despite this, their staff does a great job.

If any of you read this space, thank you for the care and attention you gave my Aunt.

Treasure State Judaism

Neighborhood Council 7 2010 Goals

IGA!!

Is the 80-20 Policy part of the problem here?

Crime and Violence

Indefinite Hiatus

Neighborhood Council 7 December Agenda

Agenda for Neighborhood Council 7 meeting on 11/12/2007 at Heisey Memorial

Thank you for your vote!

Great Falls First has Election Results; Congratulations Mayor Stebbins

Why Not Publish Neighborhood Council Election Results?

Initial Election Observations

Retraction

Revised Cost Estimates for One Way Conversion

Logically Critical shutters its doors

Great Falls Citizen Council Agenda and Minutes

0-3-1?? Worst Season Opening in Memory ...

Candidate Stand on Downtown Street Reconfiguration

Candidate Stand on Southern Arterial

Candidate Stand on Police Staffing Levels

Lots of Red Meat at Last Night's Candidate Forum

Bypass??? What Bypass?

Attend Candidate Debate Tonight

Bike Thefts in Lower North and South Side

More Ideas for Questions

Fifth Question for Candidate Forum; Point of Sale System for Golf and Swim

Fourth Question for Candidate Forum; Skate Park Usage

Third Question for Candidate Forum; Police Staffing

Second Question for Candidate Forum; Southern Arterial

My First Question for Candidate Forum; 9th Street Safety

What are We Going to Get for $162 Million?

Candidates for Neighborhood Council 7, and my Request for your Vote

Debate Format is Brilliant

An easy fast ...

Par!?!?!?

L'Shana Tova Tiketavu

Recipes on the Spoon!

MAJCO statement at the Installation of ELCA Bishop Jessica Crist

Downtown One Way Streets and Avenues

Too long since I have posted, mea culpa

NC7 Agenda for September

City to Reconfigure 9th Street at 4th Avenue N

Lower North Side and Black Eagle Awarded Weed and Seed Grant

All Comers Swim Meet TOMORROW

Thoughts on Ubuntu?

Hope to be Posting Again ...

I can't believe I was able to do it ...

Neighborhood Council 7 Meeting Agenda

Neighborhood Council 7 Meeting Date CHANGE

NC7 Agenda

You Get What You Pay For

Animal Welfare and City Oversight

Back in town

Sharing

Want People to Pay Attention?

A Fair and Equitable Process

Procurement

Comments to City Commission, 6/19/2007

Is it worth $330k to fire the Humane Society?

NC7 Letter to County Commission on Polling Place Consolidation

Neighborhood Council 7 Meeting Agenda

Those Darned Rose Colored Glasses

Umm, Should't We Encourage Voting???

An Open Question about "our" Ownership in the Coal Plant

May Neighborhood Council 7 Agenda

Summer Borscht

Tsar Vlad

Guest Post: Lewin Calls for Consolidation of City, County

SoulTrain Israel Fair to Make Stop in Missoula

Apparently, I am Going to be Judged More Harshly ...

Great Job GFECSC Webmaster!

Lower North Side Mapril Cleanup

Do you like the Lower-Side One Way Streets?

How About a Mural?

Neighborhood Council 7 Meeting Agenda

Tribune should be Ashamed at their Coal Plant Coverage

Don't Look Here for Fresh Content

Neighborhood Council 7 meeting agenda

Umm, I guess we get to choose?

Remember Carl Sagan Today