The Missoula Current sent a candidate questionnaire to all City Council candidates ahead of the General Election in November. Below is the response from Ward 1 council candidate Eric Melson.
David Stalling writes, "A growing and expanding homeless population is a symptom of a societal illness. We need to examine, diagnose and treat it or it will continue to get worse."
The folks at Logjam Presents are bringing in locals, along with lesser-known bands on the weekends for their Groove Concert Series, which looks to showcase the vibrant music scene in our state.
Development interest in a number of properties owned by the City of Missoula is high, and officials believe activity could begin within the coming year on some of them.
A pilot program that looks to boost the construction of workforce housing and direct revenue into the city's Affordable Housing Trust Fund was approved by the Missoula Redevelopment Agency's board of commissioners on Thursday.
Richard Manning writes, "At the very least, the lands’ management needs to be forcibly amputated from the parks department and entrusted to a separate, stand-alone entity run by restoration ecologists."
Missoula County this week approved a $900,000 contribution to help fund the operation and management of the Johnson Street shelter through next October, when the money runs out.
The new budgets adopted by the city and county of Missoula include funding to begin remediation work on the old federal building, along with money to cover operating costs over the next year.