Oppose new city ordinance Public Comment from Samantha McGowanAimee Brunckhorst
From: Samantha McGowan <sammi4991 @gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 24, 2023 12:43 PM
To: Kalispell Meetings Public Comment
Subject: EXTERNAL Oppose new city ordinance
Good afternoon,
My name is Samantha McGowan and I reside at 771 Capistrano Dr, Kalispell, MT 59901. 1 am writing to oppose the new
ordinance discussed at last night's council meeting that would criminalize having personal possessions in parks with you
and put a time limit of 90 minutes on people's visitation in parks.
Clearly this is a continuation of the war on homelessness that has become incredibly apparent in the past few weeks in
the Valley. I was ashamed to read the letter from the Whitefish City Council, and now this.
First of all, making it harder for homeless people to exist in public spaces does not get rid of homelessness. How many
times will we make ineffective laws that are meant to be a bandaid for a much larger problem?
Second of all, instead of making these harmful and futile laws, why don't we actually do something to help the larger
problem (rising housing costs, high prevalence of Airbnbs/VRBOs, etc).
Lastly, beyond this ordinance being harmful to the homeless population, this ordinance is also ridiculous for community
members who aren't homeless. Can you imagine a mother bringing her children to a park for a picnic and play time, and
being kicked out after 90 minutes? I imagine this scenario would never happen because this ordinance would only be
used on "unfavorable" people, which is disgusting.
I hope you find within yourself empathy and common sense to vote down this ordinance.
Samantha McGowan
771 Capistrano Dr.
Kalispell, MT 59901