homeless problem Public Comment from Clarice DuyckAimee Brunckhorst
From: clarice duyck <clarice.duyck@yahoo.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 2, 2023 4:23 PM
To: Kalispell Meetings Public Comment
Subject: EXTERNAL homeless problem
Dear City Manager,
I would like to voice my concern over the increase in drug addict bums hanging out in our city. I no longer feel safe
coming into town with my child. For months now, we have been visiting the library and the same bums act as if it were
their home. One in particular would be in the same chair no matter what time of day I arrived. I even got there on opening
once and saw him rush up with his blanket to claim "his" chair. As I browsed aisles, his smell assailed me as he sat there
with his eyes following my every move. I can tell you, I never feel comfortable taking my time. I grab what I want and get
out. I don't feel safe allowing my 8-year old to use the restroom by herself when they are congregating near the entrance.
It is not only in the library, but outside as well. To access it, we usually have to pass through a gauntlet of them as they
exhale their cigarette smoke and jabber (sometimes swear volubly) to the voices in their head. This last week, there was
the usual crowd gathered a building down at the entrance to a place of worship. They had all their usual belongings
strewn around them and a pit bull in the process. Waiting in the car for my child to get out of a class, I watched as the
woman took her drugs while mothers with little children uncomfortably hurried past the woman and her dog.
Furthermore, I have noticed an increase in trash at the parks. Having come from a large city were nothing was done to
clean up the homeless population, I have seen clean cities turn into places of refuse. Parks I once took my child to were
no longer safe as the bums slept under the playground structures, leaving their needles strewn everywhere. It got so bad,
we moved away, and now I see the same thing happening here.
Solution: Drive them out of town or put them to work cleaning the city, and STOP encouraging them to come here with
your warming centers. I pay my taxes, they don't. You are government, not charity works. If individuals or businesses want
to show charity, that is their right, but stop stealing government money for charity. Furthermore, stop endorsing these
problems (with warming centers, etc.) then spending more money to hire security for the libraries. Stop the problem at its
core!
Concerned citizen