Draft Ordinance for Roadway Transactions Public Comment from Keith BlaylockAimee Brunckhorst
From: Keith Blaylock <kblay211 @gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2023 2:15 PM
To: Kalispell Meetings Public Comment
Subject: EXTERNAL Draft Ordinance for Roadway Transactions
TO: Kalispell City Mayor Mark Johnson and all Council Members.
Hello, my name is Keith Blaylock, I live in Kalispell, MT. This letter is regarding: Review of Draft Ordinance for Roadway
Transactions. I find it very hard to believe this restrictive proposed ordinance is actually a topic of your obviously not
very busy schedule. Punishing citizen's with a potential $300.00 fine for giving a few bucks to a person in need is beyond
ridiculous in my opinion. Can you actually cite one instance where this "transaction" has caused any damaging effect at
all? Are you prepared to have at least one officer of the law present at all of the potential transaction locations? Can the
City of Kalispell afford to pay the court fees necessary to ensure these criminal donors to panhandlers are legally cited,
adjudicated, and convicted by a Kalispell City Judge? Then, how much will it cost taxpayers to collect the "penalties"
($300.00) (Ord. 779 § 7)? Do our police officers have the time to enforce this farce? It appears to me that City Councilor
Chad Graham should spend more time outside in our community looking for more important issues to tackle than
picking on people who are obviously in need of assistance. Also, how much time has already been dedicated to this
"ordinance" so far, and at what cost? How much dedication was spent searching the websites of big cities and counties
like Springville, Utah, and Pasco County, Florida for new ways to impose a special behavior tax on empathetic citizens?
Did you know there are already panhandling ordinances in place? Please look it up as your waste of taxpayer dollars is
not impressive.
Please DO NOT support this ill conceived, human "encroachment" ordinance.
Thankyou