Council gets lively for the holidays
Yesterday, a Missoula City Council committee meeting got rowdy, and lots of folks from the Bitterroot and Missoula and elsewhere showed up.
Councilwoman Stacy Rye, chairing the meeting, actually banged her gavel, which I found out later was a computer battery and not a gavel because she probably didn’t think she’d need a gavel.
Someone called the police when a couple folks in the audience got loud. An officer showed up after the ruckus during the discussion about the Hotel Fox and probably wondered what all the fuss was about.
It was about paying $1,200 membership dues to ICLEI, the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives.
The goals and link to the U.N. and “Agenda 21″ have some folks up in arms, and Councilman Bob Jaffe gives his take in a report on his listserv. Here’s part of it:
The conspiracy theorists read Agenda 21 to mean that all people will be removed from their energy wasting ranchettes and made to live in dense “Population zones.” Their pickups will be outlawed and everyone will be forced to ride bicycles. Only non-humans (wildlife) will be permitted to exist outside the dense cities. All those who support concepts like smart growth are treasonous pawns of the UN plot to eliminate American sovereignty and make us all slaves.
Chapters under section 21 talk about combating poverty and protecting the atmosphere. Those things don’t sound scary, but I haven’t read the thing in depth.
Lost in the conversation, though, was the actual benefit to folks in Missoula of paying that $1,200, and for 15 years so far. (I don’t know if the dues have been the same the whole time, btw.)
Ross Keogh, co-chair of a mayor-appointed greenhouse gas and conservation task force, said the membership gives the city access to a sustainability calculator that’s been helpful. Also, the task force gets help from ICLEI instead of taking up the time of city staff.
But what else? Are the benefits really worth it? I haven’t heard anyone spell all of them out in detail.
Maybe it’s small potatoes in the big picture, some $18,000 altogether if the dues have stayed about the same. But that’s real money, and it’d be awesome to have someone explain what Missoula gets out of it.
In fact, I think someone in City Hall compiled a list. I’ll post it once I get it.
Also, I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. I sure did.
– Keila Szpaller
December 1st, 2011 at 6:07 pm
Would love to have an emmission calculator on the pickups from the Bitterroot that drove out to Missoula for this debate.
December 1st, 2011 at 7:40 pm
So I guess any yahoo with a gripe can interfere with civil discourse? Who do these guys think they are, the 1%?
December 2nd, 2011 at 11:01 am
We’ll probably see another round Monday, but bets security will already be there or close at hand, and the mayor will probably warn folks right off the bat to remain calm. But it’ll be another live one. And Ric, thanks for the comment, and if you’d use both your first and last name in the future, I’d really appreciate it. Thank you!!
– Keila
December 2nd, 2011 at 2:59 pm
Notice you cherry picked the listserv ? You know about these folks being the kind that would shoot public officials. Ever the water carrying. Hope the Missoulian doesn’t run out of ink patting the left on the back.
December 6th, 2011 at 6:47 pm
I’m not sure how this post is “patting the left on the back,” and to say I’m all ears for someone to explain the old saw just wouldn’t be true.
But cherry picking? You bet. I’m not going to post the boring stuff.
- Keila
December 7th, 2011 at 12:27 pm
Accusing some folks as “those that shoot public officials” is not boring to us that are not liberal. Shame on you, and Betsy your co-worker. I used to expect better from our Lee reporters. It seems, when fresh out of college, we get balanced reporting, but as time on the job progresses it seems we get more biased reporting, or at the very least, reporters deciding for us, what’s best for us to know. But, This is Missoula, and you do need to get readers. You just lost a conservative.
December 12th, 2011 at 3:47 pm
We are entering the age of Aquarius. The earth heats up during this 2100 year cycle of Aquarius, they are aware of this. The polar caps melt forming more water on the earth. Thus it is called age of Aquarius, the city council sold you out in meetings behind closed doors. They should all be arrested for treason to the people of Missoula and America. Agenda 21 is not a Democratic Agenda. Its implemented by the elite for the elite. Yet their use of fossil fuels is a worse environmental hazard then the populous. The people pushing for population reduction should take their own lives to show their loyalty to the cause. They will all be charged with crimes against humanity. We all where born with the right to live. They have no right to decide how who or when or why we should die. Ted Turner who put up the Georgia Guide Stones is a father of 5 children, is he willing to add them to the population reduction plan. If he isn’t then he has no right to give a opinion on the Agenda or over population. One goal in Agenda 21 is to reduce the worlds population by 90% that means 1 out of every 10 Americans is deemed unworthy of life. Do we really want us or our children to be judged unworthy to live or as they call us useless eaters by they power hungry elite. It is what George H.W. Bush or if u want to use his families Nazi name George H. W Scherf called it The New World Order that Hitler Tried to achieve. Its not a conspiracy theory its a fact. Albert Pike in a letter to Mazzini said “in order for there to be a new world order we need 3 world wars and 3 revolutions the 3rd world war should be started by Israel against Iran”. He was a 33rd degree mason of the ancient order of the Bavarian seers and a Jesuit Illuminati of German decent. That letter was written in 1823. Who are they trying to get to start the 3rd world war with as if you don’t already know? Its the secret societies that are to blame. There should be no place for secret societies in any society. If its a secret society they have something to hide. Our Government should be transparent, any meeting held behind closed doors is an act of treason!!! Any Government official that attends a Bilderberg meeting, Council of Foreign Relations meeting is committing an act of treason and should be held accountable for their actions of Treason. In 1982 Washington Dc declared itself to be The District of Columbia. A separate entity of the United States of America. So its laws should not be held governable by the United States of America.
December 12th, 2011 at 4:12 pm
Thank you, A. Jones. For future reference, please use your real first and last names here. Thanks!
– Keila
December 12th, 2011 at 5:20 pm
I meant 9 out of 10 will be deemed unworthy of life